#at least that's what xander says

[oveliagirlhaditright]

You have to love how Angel was one of the few people who didn't make fun of Buffy's name.

Like, Spike did, Fred did, one demon did (that I'm forgetting which one it was, exactly. But it was wondering if Buffy was short for anything and then she said, "No. Just Buffy."), Doyle called her "Muffy" by accident once, Giles is aghast that the new Slayer's name is Buffy in one of the classic comics, Faith in "Go Ask Malice: A Slayer's Diary" misunderstands and at first thinks Buffy's name is "Summers" (and digs it) and is a bit disappointed to find out that it's "Buffy" instead.

But we never see Angel hating on Buffy's name.

#Buffy the vampire slayer #Bangel #How much you wanna bet he thinks her name is pretty like she thought his was? #Because they're soulmate-y. And even a bit cheesy (I'll admit) like that #Taaroko wrote a s1 missing moment one-shot where Buffy gave angel her name (not knowing of course that he already knew it) and he said that #'It was pretty' echoing. Of course. What she said to him about his name (and he meant it). And this one-shot is so great #I also adore that willow and Xander didn't iirc #Forest was also surprised. At least. By Buffy's name. Thinking Riley had given her a nickname or something and was saying she was buff #(like muscular) she was 'buff-y' and then Riley had to correct him that Buffy was her name

[psy-ay-ay]

maybe i'm being completely partial to buffy and to spike but

THEY THREW BUFFY OUT OF THE HOUSE?!?!?!!!!!! ARE THEY FUCKING INSANE

i just feel like whoever's willing to be responsible gets the most criticism for it too

#and i am saying that as someone who isn't a 'take charge' person like buffy #also all these potentials are SO IRRITATING #i already have to listen to the ramblings of a 1D misogynist preacher #i expected this from xander cause he always acts like this even when he isn't disfigured permanently because of a fight buffy led them into #but everyone? and at least we know what dawn felt when she had to ask buffy to leave and faith was also being nicer #but all these newbies like rona and Kennedy and principal wood can just shut their newbie unexperienced and ungrateful traps #watching buffy the vampire slayer #btvs s7 #spike and faith in the basement tho <3 #also spike and buffy: i love how it all feels so real now and some part of me wants them to kiss #but i also like how it's about them supporting each other beyond the fucking lol #so we're in too deep now; almost to the end #but i have decided to read comics for the next seasons to get some of my spuffy fix #spike is so god damned hot i am losing my mind #ahem so yeah

[dawnbreakersgaze]

NOPE

NO

NO THANK YOU

I don't like the way those are lining up AT ALL.

"Broken free of the shackles of natural law"

We've heard/seen Zayne be referenced as "shackled" at least 3 times before at this point. By Raymond, by the 'Narrator' ("remains shackled to time"), and in reference to the Foreseer myth. This makes the 4th. I genuinely hurt every single time the story so heavy handidly reminds me that Zayne really is a dog on a chain. The Foreseer robes even have a LITERAL collar of thorns over the neck of it ffs. It's painful to watch at this point and it breaks my heart.

"Why persuade Zayne? What he really needs is a pair of hands. Ones that can carry out God's mission and allow for God's descent."

Between this, and the one below of-

"At least he has another option. His last one"

I'm torn on which one is referencing Astra. On one hand, Astra really could be a modern made "God". An elevated man of great power, someone Zayne turned to in his 11th hour to try and save MC (though we all know how that turned out, unfortunately). It would seem that Xander Sciences is playing at God, and if we know anything about the sci-fi scene, it's that human experimentation ALWAYS ends up going ~soooo well~ and nothing ever goes wrong there 👀

On the other hand, the "last option" really gets my gut feeling going. My theorist brain is telling me Zayne is gonna go full Warlock pact and make a deal with an entity in exchange for MC's life. Only it's gonna go tits up and be a Fey pact, and because we all know how MC and he end up, clearly Zayne did NOT read the fine print (or more likely, Zayne thought he could out maneuver the rules). Ever since I read the Mt Eternal anecdote and realized the Tower and Mt Eternal are in the same location, I could not shake the feeling that Zayne already has made contact with whatever "Astra" is. Be it a very powerful person, an actual God, or someone else entirely different (like another time traveler, such as Xavier and the backtrackers). We know he's traveling back there multiple times by himself, conducting research of an unknown variety, that only he and Dr. Noah are privy to. I'm just saying if ever there was a cover up for having contact with a supernatural being/aliens/a God, that's a really fucking good one.

Whatever it is, this new lore drop has really really spelled out in big bold letters, that Zayne is thought of as a tool by a LOT of people. Xander Sciences, Astra, even the Dean of the medical academy had a moment there. My poor man even thinks of himself as a tool, one that is meant to save MC (from himself he even says at one point 😭😭😭 like oh my God Zayne stoppppp). He literally considers himself expendable so long as he saves her. Once he's done his job and secured her future, even if that means passing on the ability to save her to someone else, he's fine laying down his life for that.

And that's seriously the saddest part of this whole fucking game imo.

#lnds #love and deepspace #zayne #lads #l&ds #love & deepspace #zayne love and deepspace #love and deepspace zayne #lore and theories #i'll revisit this tomorrow but it's 4 am and my brain is buzzing with way too much information #i need to re-read everything 10× to make sure im understanding it all ACK

[ladykailitha]

Not All That Glitters is Gold Part 9

I know I keep saying this but I think I'm starting to wrap it up. By my current calculations I have about 3 more chapters to write (as always I have several chapters backlogged). That could go up of course, but that's the way it appears to be going at the moment.

In this chapter we have the first of their three "dates" and Eddie and Steve get personal.

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6 Part 7 Part 8

@mira-jadeamethyst @rozzieroos @itsall-taken @redfreckledwolf @emly03

Heads up for sexy times, I would tell you where, but it's intermixed with a lot of conversation. Sorry.

****

Steve had never been nervous before a roleplay before. Not even his very first one. Of course that had been the homemaker one, and he thrived on them originally.

He had worn the dress as requested, but changed up the accessories. He went for simple pearl earrings and necklace. Nothing on his wrists, they would only cause problems later.

He leaned up against the bar, nursing his drink as he scanned the crowd. The thing about rolyplays was that you didn’t know exactly when the client would show up, just a ballpark figure.

Robin was on hand this time to scare off any assholes who thought that an escort was fair game whether or not they were on the clock or not.

She had already headed off three of these douchebags already and was in the process of heading off a fourth when another one breezed past her to head straight for Steve.

She was about dump ice down this alpha’s dress if she didn’t get out of her way so she could get her omega, when the woman saw the fifth alpha trying to chat Steve up.

She threw her arms in the air and stormed off, cursing Robin in at least three different languages.

Robin turned her attention to Steve, but smiled at the scene instead. Eddie Munson had arrived and Steve and he were eviscerating the asshole alpha for horning in on their date.

So she moved to sit in a nearby booth to watch them.

****

Eddie bristled when he arrived to see that Robin was having a hard time fending off alphas trying to get to Steve.

God, Steve.

Eddie had thought the man was beautiful in the glamour of his own home, but here, under the soft lights of the hotel bar, he looked like a goddess and Eddie was down to worship.

He strolled right up and slipped his arm around Steve’s waist. “Hello, darlin’. I’m sorry I’m late.”

Steve’s omega immediately preened at the attention. “I’m just glad you’re here now.”

The other alpha was a forty year old man who looked like he had more money than sense.

Eddie looked him up and down. “Shoo.”

The man sneered. “You really think that someone like you could handle an omega like that? Don’t make me laugh.”

Steve rolled his eyes, tugging on his earring. “Well considering he paid for the privilege and you didn’t, I’d fuck off before I call security.”

The man pulled himself up to full height and was scenting rage, but before he could even make a move, Xander was towering behind the guy and Robin put her hand one his chest.

Steve had signaled her when he tugged on his left earring and both his handler and driver were there for there intercept before things got really ugly.

As Xander and hotel security hauled him out, he started screaming cuss words and calling Steve all sorts of names.

Eddie winced. “Not how I wanted to start our date, sweetheart.”

Steve rubbed his nose along Eddie’s scent gland. “I don’t know, I found it hot the way you swooped in for the rescue.”

Eddie smirked. “Did you now?”

Steve bit his lip and looked down to glance up at him through his eyelashes. “Of course you did, baby. I’m such a lucky omega.”

Eddie’s alpha growled low and deep and it forced its way out of his throat. “You’re looking pretty hot yourself, Stevie.” His hand slid to press on Steve’s lower back and pulled the omega flush against his chest. “What’s your pleasure?” He nodded to the glass still in Steve’s hand.

Steve dragged his hips side to side, rubbing their clothed cocks together, but before Eddie could do anything than moan, Steve stepped away from the alpha and asked for a bottle of their best whiskey to share.

Eddie sat down on the barstool next to him and they talked. With each passing moment as the alcohol hit his system, Steve was getting warmer. He could feel the heat between his legs. He crossed them to try and tame the desire that was pulsating through his very core.

Eddie licked his lips and his mouth went dry. He downed the rest of his glass and threw money on the bar top.

“Keep the change,” he growled, not even glancing to see how much he had dropped, but judging from Steve’s impressed expression it was probably a lot.

Eddie grabbed Steve’s wrist and they were off running for the elevators. Eddie pressed the up button and then pulled Steve close to kiss him deeply.

The elevator bell dinged and Steve pushed him away to dash into the open doors. Eddie gave chase and swung Steve around, bring him back to his orbit, barely hitting the right floor as he drank in Steve’s kisses.

Again the elevator bell dinged and the doors swung open again and they ran out, hand in hand.

Steve giggled as Eddie struggled to get the key card out of his pants and finally let them into the hotel suite.

Eddie got his hands under the slits in the dress, feeling up Steve’s thighs. “God, baby. I could eat you all up.”

Steve smiled but pushed back. He took a couple steps back, putting more distance between them. Once he was far enough back that Eddie would get the full effect, Steve reached up and undid the clasp on his dress.

And as described the dress flowed like a waterfall to ground.

Eddie gaped as he stood there in his just thong and shoes. “Fuck. That was even sexier than it was in my head.”

He got close enough to extend his hand to help Steve step away from the folds of the dress pooling at his ankles and right into Eddie’s arms.

Eddie kissed him like he was drowning and Steve was his salvation.

Steve was dizzy with want. There were a few alphas in his past that he had had crushes on or even developed feelings for, but they were nothing compared to the sheer want of being with Eddie.

“Yes, alpha,” he murmured. “Take what you want.”

Eddie let out a low growl that came from his chest and Steve’s omega fucking chirped back. But before the embarrassment could over take Steve for having broken through his professionalism again for this man, Eddie was sweeping Steve off his feet and carrying him bridal style to the bed.

Eddie carefully set him down and then made quick work of taking off Steve’s shoes. Now all he was wearing was his matching gold thong and looking up at Eddie with hooded eyes.

“Fuck, Stevie,” Eddie purred. “You look good enough to eat.”

Steve let out a delight laugh. “So you’ve said, so you gonna do something about it?”

Eddie licked the top row of his teeth, bring attention to sharp canine teeth that alphas were famous for. Gotta break the skin for that bond bite, you know?

Steve giggled hysterically and slapped a hand over his mouth. He blushed a dark red. A red that seemed to reach his nipples and the tips of his ears.

Eddie gently pulled his hand away from his mouth. “It’s alright to giggle, darlin’. It was cute.”

He kissed the inside of Steve’s wrist and suddenly the shame gave way to arousal. Steve moaned.

“That’s it, baby,” Eddie whispered, “I want to hear every delicious sound you make.” He slid off the panties and tossed them to the side.

Steve threw back his head and nearly jack knifed off the bed, crying out in pleasure when Eddie buried his head right between Steve’s legs.

Steve thought for sure Eddie would go for his cock. Every alpha Steve had been with had. Steve was well endowed for even a beta. He could never measure up to an alpha cock, as they were massive by design to be able to form a knot, but Steve had nothing to scoff at.

But, no. Eddie went straight for Steve’s pussy, licking and sucking the folds of his omegahood.

“Eddie!” Steve cried. “Oh god! That feels so good.”

Eddie nipped gently on the inside of Steve’s thigh. “What’s the matter, gorgeous, no one eat you out before?”

Steve shook his head, biting down on his lip in humiliation.

Eddie’s head snapped up in shock. “Wait, really?”

“It’s my job to take care of the alpha,” Steve murmured, “no one’s taken care of me before.”

Eddie sat up and looked him right in the eye. “What do you do for your heats?”

Steve struggled to sit up and Eddie let him. He wrapped his arms around his knees. “We aren’t allowed to share them with alphas.” He cocked his head to the side. “Not normally anyway. Only the highest of the high elite know that heats can be bought through the agency, but they’re are deliberately prohibitively high.”

Eddie licked his lips as another piece of the puzzle that was this beautiful omega fell into place.

“Like how high are we talking about?”

Steve scratched his cheek. “Depends on the omega really.”

Eddie snorted. “I meant you specifically, sweetheart.”

“Well, last time someone asked it was quoted at five million,” he replied with a wince, “but that was a couple of years ago, it’s probably twice that now.”

“I’m guessing he didn’t have the money?” Eddie asked rubbing his chin.

Steve scoffed. “She and no, she didn’t. She protested so hotly that Starcourt banned her for life.”

“That’s a really short list to be on,” he said, whistling long and low. “That must have been one hell of a hornets’ nest she kicked.”

“You wouldn’t have heard anything about it,” Steve mumbled. “Starcourt takes the lives of their omegas very seriously. They were able to buy off the press and force her into fringe media to make her look hysterical. It went so far under the radar that most people don’t even remember her.”

Eddie tugged on Steve’s legs until he was stretched out on the bed again. “Change of track. I was going to give you the most mind blowing, heat searing sex imaginable, but now I’m going worship every inch of your skin like you should be.”

Steve covered his face with his hands in embarrassment, behind them he could hear Eddie undress. Then the bed sank with the weight of Eddie as peeled Steve’s hands away from his face.

“No hiding, baby,” he murmured into Steve’s ear. “I want to see all of you.”

Steve let out a low shuddering breath and then nodded. “Yes, alpha.”

“Good boy,” Eddie said softly against his lips before sealing them with a kiss.

It was gentle and warm and Steve absolutely melted with it. Eddie moved from his lips to his jaw to the two little moles just under his chin. He hovered over Steve’s scent gland.

“Can I scent you, Stevie?” he muttered, voice thick with want.

Steve’s hips canted up seeking friction. “Yes, Eds. Please!”

Eddie pulled his head up to look at him in the eyes. “Eds, huh? I like it.” He bent back over the scent gland and licked along its length, causing Steve to shiver.

“Oh, sweetheart,” Eddie cooed. “Look at how responsive you are when someone takes care of you. You’re positively aching for it, aren’t you?”

Steve nodded. “Please, Eds, I need you.”

“And how could I possibly say no to such a pretty request.”

Eddie pulled off his clothes and slid on a condom, then proceeded to make the night about Steve’s pleasure. Working every inch of his body like he was playing guitar.

Steve isn’t even sure how many times he came that night, but he was damn sure it was a personal record.

As they laid in bed together afterwards, condom disposed of, Eddie asked, “How come you switch between my name and calling me alpha?”

Steve blushed deeply. “Technically I’m not supposed to use a client’s name when I’m on a job, just ‘alpha’.”

“To keep impersonal?” Eddie guessed, wrapping Steve up into his arms and pressing a kiss on his jaw.

Steve hummed. “Yeah, but you keep breaking through my professional exterior to my gooey center.”

Eddie chuckled, nosing Steve’s scent gland. “You won’t get into trouble, will you?”

“No,” Steve said, amusement coloring his tone, making it light and airy. “And if they do say something, I’ll just tell them that since I’m pretending to be your boyfriend for the next three months, I can’t go around calling you ‘alpha’. How weird would that be?”

Eddie just nodded. “When do you have to leave?”

Steve turned in his arms so that they faced each other. “Usually, I’d slip out once you’re asleep–”

“You do what now?!” Eddie squawked, outraged.

Steve rolled his eyes. “It’s for our safety. Too often alphas will get possessive if we stay the night, thinking there was more to it than a simple transaction.”

“Oh.”

Eddie hadn’t thought about it that way. He was only thinking about how the alpha would feel. But that was meaningless. It didn’t matter how they felt, because as Steve pointed out, it was only a transaction.

“Yeah,” Steve said with a shrug. “But seeing as tonight was to set up us as ‘dating’ staying the night is kinda the point.”

“Sounds good, darlin’,” Eddie murmured, settling into fall asleep.

Steve watched as his breath evened out and his eyes fluttered close.

Now all he had to do is figure out how to prevent his heart from shattering into a billion pieces when they ‘broke up’ in three months.

****

Part 10 Part 11 Part 12 Part 13 Part 14 Part 15 Part 16 Part 17

Tag List: @spectrum-spectre @estrellami-1 @zerokrox-blog @swimmingbirdrunningrock @gregre369 ​@a-little-unsteddie @chaosgremlinmunson @chaoticlovingdreamer @messrs-weasley @goodolefashionedloverboi @maya-custodios-dionach @val-from-lawrence @i-must-potato @danili666 @carlyv @wonderland-girl143-blog @justforthedead89 @bookworm0690 @bookbinderbitch @yikes-a-bee @littlewildflowerkitten @vecnuthy @scheodingers-muppet @y4r3luv @cinnamon-mushroomabomination @genderless-spoon @anne-bennett-cosplayer @awkwardgravity1 @irregular-child @nburkhardt @apomaro-mellow @yellowdevilkitten @eyehartart @mangoinacan13 @demolvr @ellietheasexylibrarian @rememberthatiloveyou @slowandsteddie @r0binscript @alyelf @melodymeddler @mogami13

#my writing #stranger things #steddie #ladykailtiha writes #omegaverse #alpha eddie munson #rockstar eddie munson #omega steve harrington

[berryzxx]

Grayson Hawthorne Headcanons

Always has his arms around your waist especially when he's about to leave to go somewhere, he will hug you at least three times

Tries to free up space in his schedule so you can have dinner together every day

Plans the best and most thoughtful dates for the both of you. Goes above and beyond what you ever think of. ("You didn't have to do all this". "Of course I did. It's for you, my love")

He likes to make you blush sometimes by kissing you full on in the middle of the house where anyone could come past.("Sorry, I couldn't help it, love.")- Xander's seen u two and told u to get a room.

Loves just spending time with you, will set up a picnic blanket so both of you can stargaze

gets you anything you've mentioned in passing. You've mentioned how cute cats are? Lucky you because the next day you've got a cat in your room

Ask you which car he should buy because apparently you have good taste. (the real reason is because it's only going to be you two sat in his car so he wants it to be your choice)

Will ask what your wearing and walk into his WALK IN WARDROBE to find a slightly matching outfit

His taste in fashion is impeccable, sometimes you have to ask him where he gets his clothes from because damn those jumpers in winter look comfy

safe to say you steal half his jumpers, hoodies. He loves when you do it

will offer you his jumpers ("You'll suit this")

Compliments you really randomly after looking at you with so much love in his eyes

Has literally brought a separate apartment for the both of you just in case his family is a little too chaotic for you ("But I love your family!" "Are you sure?")

Grayson has great family values even though he's been through a lot which is why you are literally there at every dinner and every meeting they have

very sensitive about his hair and so only lets you run your fingers through it when it's just the two of you. You tease him sometimes by messing up his hair.

Sometimes the both of you will stay up all night having a heart to heart, cuddling each other

He is a literal gentleman. Crouches down to help with your heels, opens doors for you, will even tie up your hair for you, if you don't fully understand their whole mystery kind of thing he will take the time to explain it to you

Literally shits himself from nerves because he doesn't know if you'll accept his proposal (of course u do)

He is also the best interior designer, anytime someone comes around to ur house (mansion) they compliment the designs ("Yes, it was my husband who chose most of it out")

You both still attend weekly dinners at Hawthorne house if not more

(Jameson will be coming soon. Check out my masterlist for now! xx)

Masterlist

#headcanons #grayson hawthorne x y/n #grayson hawthorne x reader #grayson hawthorne #grayson hawthorne x you #the brothers hawthorne #xander hawthorne #the inheritance games #grayson x reader #grayson headcanons #grayson hawthorne headcanons #the final gambit #inheritance games #hawthorne brothers

[herinsectreflection]

To Live So Close To The Spotlight (The Zeppo)

I have, in essays past, referred to Xander Harris as one of the most controversial characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. After spending more time in the current fandom landscape, I need to correct that statement. He’s simply one of the most disliked characters in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A lot of people hate him, and given his appearances up until now, it’s not entirely difficult to see why. Xander is an archetypical example of what I will call the Mild Nerd Guy; a trope born out of the 1980s and its Revenge Of The Nerds-led championing of geek culture. A trope that unfortunately came to dominate genre television throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

This is a character who is defined in opposition to more typical Dashing Action Hero archetypes. Where the Action Hero is strong and muscle-bound, the Mild Nerd Guy is physically weedy. He is often shy and lacking in self-confidence. He will appear creepy when he means to be charming – but in an innocent way that encourages us to feel sympathy with this helplessly befuddled young man. He has interests coded as “nerdy” – comic books, science, maths, Dungeons and Dragons. He will be unsuccessful with women, and more often than not will concentrate all his sexual energy onto a single desired target: a popular and attractive woman. This woman will - at least at the beginning of the story – neglects his silent pining in favour of clearly undeserving Bad Boys and Popular Jocks. This is where you get is your Scott Pilgrims, your Ross Gellers, your Tom Hansens, your Every Character Anthony Michael Hall Ever Played… and yes, your Xander Harrises. 

In essence, the Mild Nerd Guy is an alternate model of masculinity, one that certain types of men (shy, nerdy, physically weak) may relate to more than the Dashing Action Hero archetype. Unfortunately, while the trope often presents these men as more respectful towards women than their counterparts, the reality is that female autonomy is a secondary concern in both cases. These are competing models that men can use to Earn Women. Neither is actually concerned with the desires and goals of the women involved at all. 

The Mild Nerd Guy has obvious parallels to the sociological concept of the Nice Guy, a term that most in feminist circles should be comfortably au fait with by now. The Nice Guy feels deserving of the attentions of women solely because of his lack of overt hostility towards them, and resents them when this “niceness” is not immediately rewarded with sexual favours. While the two concepts should not be conflated – one is a writing trope while the other is a social phenomenon – they are inextricably linked. Media informs the way we interact with the world, and the world informs the way we interact with media. Male entitlement engorges itself with stories of men winning women through inaction - the implication being that men deserve the attentions of women by default, and should be upset when it is not automatically bestowed upon them.

Meanwhile, women who have firsthand experience of this entitlement and the behaviour it encourages will naturally be fed up with it, and will bring that frustration into their consumption of media. They will take one look at a Scott Pilgrim or Xander Harris and be immediately, justifiably repulsed. While the more fantastical crimes of Angel or Spike can be easily forgiven, everyday crimes cannot. Most women have never met a serial killer. We’ve all met a creepy nerd. 

This is not a criticism of viewers who have reacted in that way. The common accusation of Xander being a “Nice Guy” I believe an inaccurate read on his character and a misuse of a term meant for the analysis of reality and not fiction. However, I can’t blame anyone who makes that instinctive leap. In fact I would say that bringing one’s own experiences to the consumption of media is the only correct way to watch television. And yet, I can’t count myself truly among that crowd. Despite my distaste for the simpering entitlement this trope has encouraged in male nerd circles, and despite the times I have been disgusted by a line Nicholas Brendon has been made to deliver thus far, I can’t say that I don’t like Xander. In fact, I would say I like Xander, and this episode is a big reason why.

Read More

#the zeppo #s3 #btvs #buffy the vampire slayer #insect reflection #essay #meta #xander harris #theme:meta

[accirax]

Danganronpa: Despair Time Mastermind Ranking (Least to Most)

Yeah, I should’ve known that I needed to get around to this someday.

You see, the reason why I hadn’t made a theory about the identity of the Despair Time mastermind is that… I'm not totally convinced on any one person being the mastermind. Like, look at these clowns! They’re all so weird! I love them all for it, obviously, but none of their personality quirks or roles in the story stand out to me as particularly mastermind-y. There are a lot of characters that I believe could be the mastermind, but it’s also pretty easy to convince me out of it for one reason or another.

However, it’s not like I had any idea about who the P:EG mastermind would be, either! At least with two chapters under its belt, I can feel more comfortable that I’m not just fully mischaracterizing the Despair Time cast. And I definitely have things to say about various DRDT masterminds, just… in a way that’s kinda hard to rank.

But, that’s no reason for me to be cowardly! I’m sure that seriously scrutinizing all of the characters’ mastermind potentials and ultimately coming up with who I think the most likely candidate is will be super fun. It’s just… going to be really long, so, buckle in. And maybe prepare to take breaks in the middle.

(Spoilers for all three main canon games and DRDT.)

Why is it going to be so long? Well, it’s because, when it comes to DRDT, I think that my predictions will be at least partially based on how long I think each character will make it into the story. If I have a particularly strong inclination that a character is going to die in Chapter 3.456, no matter how unfounded, it might make me feel worse about their prospects of being the mastermind. That’s not to say that a mastermind can’t appear to die (or actually die) before Chapter 6 rolls around, of course. However, it is an uncommon additional hurdle to the story that would require some justification and a little suspension of disbelief if I’m trying to call it years before it transpires.

So, if we’re going to talk about the mastermind, I need to share my current feelings about where each character might place in the death order. Should I update the title…?

Danganronpa: Despair Time Mastermind Ranking (Least to Most) AND ALSO Death Order Predictions

These are my mastermind rankings, so my opinions on where the characters might be headed will obviously be used as the baseline. Naturally, you don’t need to believe in anything I'm about to throw out here. I’m just trying to explain my thought process so that nothing I say later on will come as a total surprise.

Also, since it’s kind of long, here’s the top of the death order section. I think it’ll provide some important context, but if you want to skip it, look for the other green, bold text.

Some of my thoughts were inspired by anderscim’s death predictions theory, as I read that pretty soon after I joined the fandom. I encourage you to go read their work as well!

The tiers are mostly pretty self explanatory– 3-4 means I think they’re at risk of dying sooner and 4-5 means I think they’re at risk of dying later. But, I’ll give everyone what I hope to be a quick rundown on each character just to explain my thinking. 

Xander: Xander canonically died as the Chapter 1 victim.

Min: Min canonically died as the Chapter 1 blackened.

Arei: While I respect the concept, I personally don’t believe in the “J and Arei swapped places and Arei is actually still alive” theory, and I will be writing the rest of this post accordingly. So, to me, Arei canonically died as the Chapter 2 victim.

Eden: Pretty much anyone who’s seen my DRDT theories at this point shouldn't be surprised that I’m listing Eden as the Chapter 2 killer. The logic behind this belief has been explained by my lovely mutuals here and here.

Levi: Alright, on to the ones I don’t have any concrete evidence to support! (There is concrete evidence behind the ch2 murder, even if you believe it points elsewhere.) Levi has had a decent amount of focus already in his trainwreck of a relationship with Ace and discussions of morality with Eden and Teruko. If he does serve as an accomplice to the Chapter 2 killer (see the first link in Eden’s section), then I feel like his clock will really be ticking. He’d be trapped with the branding of a bad person, his greatest fear, and left without any relationships to lean on. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone targeted him as a victim they “believed deserved to die after what happened,” or even if Levi decided that he was doomed to be a villain from the start and decided to kill. Alternatively, he could try to redeem himself as a classic Chapter 4 buff curse sacrifice in some way. In either case (or even in the case of him just being the Chapter 2 killer), I have my doubts that he’ll be making it too much later into the game.

Arturo: To me, Arturo doesn’t feel like a character set up for incredible longevity. That doesn’t mean I’m pigeonholing him as a one-dimensional villain or pure comedic relief, just that Arturo seems like a character who might be set up to have his ideology lead to his downfall. I don’t think he’s dying in Chapter 2, as I believe the narrative would want to see how he reacts to J burning the bridges between them, but I could definitely see the story only needing one more round of daily life (or possibly a trial as well) to resolve wherever his character is going.

Charles: Look, it’s not only because he’s already been pronounced dead at 3. As I elaborated upon in Charles’ section of this post (The Jerk), Charles feels like he’s speeding towards the end of his character arc far ahead of schedule. It could just be that he needed to learn to make friends quickly before Whit makes an early exit, sending him on a secondary arc where he learns to process his current grief and fears as a parallel to regaining memories about Elliot. However, I find it much more likely that the Inevitable CharWhit Doom Scenario plays out in the opposite direction. He makes a lot of sense as a Chapter 3 victim to me.

Nico: Similar to Arei and J, I am writing all of my theories with the assumption that it really was Nico who attempted to murder Ace in Chapter 2, because I think it makes the most narrative sense. (I could keep typing out a “well, unless” every time, but I don’t really want to eat up my time writing or your time reading all of that.) Through that lens, the fact that Nico has already murdered someone and “gotten away with it,” more or less, puts them in a really weird situation. I don’t really see them killing again, as it feels like we’ve already explored the emotional and narrative implications of that happening through Chapter 2. Although, I can’t deny that it would be interesting to see the fallout of Ace being proven totally right and Hu 100% wrong. Still, if they were to be a survivor after doing something so severe so early into the game, it seems like they would have to undergo some sort of redemption for the audience to accept them as a face of hope in the end. I don’t currently see any great paths to that happening, although there’s obviously still plenty of story time for something to open up. For now, though, I feel more confident in placing them as a early/mid-game victim, likely as a consequence of choosing to harm someone else.

Hu: Given her overall lack of focus in the story thus far, I find it likely that Hu will be one of the focal characters of the Chapter 3 daily life. That could be bad news, considering how Xander and Arei fared after being focused upon in their respective daily lives, but… I dunno, I just feel like Hu would survive it, somehow? Wouldn’t be too surprised if she didn’t, but my gut instinct is that she would. I kind of see her character exiting the story in Chapter 4, no preference on killer vs victim.

Veronika: Veronika is a very weird character (an “oddball,” I’ll call it), and thus, my predictions for her are strongly based on the patterns that oddball characters normally follow. I’ll be using canon characters only, because I believe that those are the only killing games that I have the right to assume every DRDT fan has seen. But, you can apply these same kinds of patterns to many fangan characters. Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for fangans breaking from typical Danganronpa norms and following their own paths. But, in the case of how oddballs are treated, I think these characters generally tend to follow these patterns because they’re sensible writing practices. I’ll try to explain why each of these conventions makes sense in the following bullet points.

Oddballs tend not to die in Chapters 1 or 2. This is because oddball characters are generally created to supply a very niche kind of comedic relief– examples from DRDT could include Arturo’s commentary on ugly people or Ace’s bizarre remarks of cowardice. Any character deemed worthy of being included in a fangan occupies one of 16 highly contested slots. So, if you include a character for the purpose of making jokes with them, you'll want to get your bang for your buck! It’s hard to fit every joke you have in mind into only a chapter or two. The best example I could come up with for a (canon) oddball who dies early is Teruteru. In his case, the writers likely anticipated that his hyper-flirtatious nature would get tiring if it continued on for too long, and thus, exhausted all of the jokes they wanted to make in Chapter 1 before his exit. An oddball who dies this early has a limited shelf life, and is likely accompanied by other oddballs who can pick up the comedic slack.

Many have pointed out that silly oddballs often die in Chapter 3 (Hifumi, Ibuki, Tenko) as a way to signify the death of fun and innocence. You also have a chance to get rid of some of the more sinister oddballs (Celeste, Kiyo) at a point where it seems unfeasible for them to have stuck around this long without… well, killing someone. In either case, it’s because Chapter 3 is a great balance of letting a character stay in a story for long enough that they achieve whatever strange effects you wanted from them, while also clearing them off the stage before you get into the really serious business. Silly oddballs especially may not be equipped to handle the often turbulent natures of Chapter 4 without breaking the serious tone too much, so it’s best to axe them at the midpoint.

Endearing oddballs (Gundham, Gonta) have a hard time making it past Chapter 4. If Chapter 4 is serious, Chapters 5 and 6 are even more so, and the Chapter 4 killer slot in particular is a viable dumping ground for characters who don’t really have a place in the finale. Their deaths are meant to pull at your heartstrings and prove how a killing game can make literally anyone– yes, even that guy– a killer. (Miu is an outlier; more like an extended Chapter 3. Unlike THH, which has its tonal shift at the end-of-Ch3-Sakura Traitor Reveal, and SDR2, which has its tonal shift at Mikan’s insanity and death, v3’s tonal shift comes at Kokichi's accusation and Kaito and Shuichi's argument, or possibly even Miu's death itself. The Chapter 4 Daily Life isn’t all that serious in and of itself. Thus, Miu dying as a Ch4 victim functions more like killing off a silly oddball before she has to deal with all the betrayal and scheming that occurs later on.)

Oddballs really only die in Chapter 5 to the extent that you can count major antagonists like Nagito and Kokichi as Weird Dudes. As the precursor to the big, showstopping, mind-bending Chapter 5 Trial, the mood is typically pretty… straightforward. Depending on the overall plot’s arc, Chapter 5 is either the point where most of the surviving students are concluding their character arcs and learning how potent a weapon teamwork is (THH, SDR2), or a “dark night of the soul” type moment where all of the slowly growing inter-character conflicts are finally coming to a head (v3). It can also be Version A for some characters and Version B for others, but, either way, hijinks are not ensuing, basically. Plot relevant things happen here, and as such, plot relevant characters are the ones who are dying. It can be hard for an oddball to find a place in the narrative relevant enough to serve as one of its final, poignant deaths without also being a major antagonist.

Despite everything I’ve said about oddballs dying, it is definitely possible for oddballs to survive. Danganronpa is, at its core, a dark comedy, and as such killing off all of your funny joke characters before the ending is probably a bad move. Hiro, Toko, Kazuichi, and Himiko are all characters I’d call oddballs that survive until the very end. The difference in their case is that part of their oddball nature is being… kind of pathetic? I think it helps them fade into the background more. It's also probably easier to give them a character arc than some others... like Veronika.

I’m sure that you can find exceptions to these “rules” I’ve laid out, especially amongst casts that have a high percentage of oddballs (which you could certainly argue fits DRDT). However, pattern recognition brain go brrrr. I don’t think that Veronika fits the description of a Chapter 1-2, Chapter 4, or survivor oddball particularly well. That leaves Chapter 3 (sinister) and Chapter 5 (bewildering antagonist). I don’t know if it’s that Veronika doesn't seem to have much of a reason to kill at this point in time or all of Veronika’s weird mastermind coding that makes me think DRDTdev might have greater plans for her. Either way, I’m leaning Chapter 5, probably victim. Jeez, that was a long section for one character. Favoritism, I guess?

J: J gets her own category because, honestly, I have no idea what to do with her. Could J make it to the end? Sure! Could J die in a Chapter 3 scheme? Sure! Could J be the Chapter 2 killer? Well, I personally believe the evidence points elsewhere, but in terms of narrative? Sure! The only real inclination I have is that I think it’s more likely that she would be a killer than a victim, mostly because Ultimate Effects Artist is a talent that could lend itself to some really creative and fun murder setups. Given that I have more characters pegged as early game deaths right now, I lean towards J late game, but… man, I don’t know!

Teruko: Teruko is the protagonist, and also is a Lucky Student who allegedly “can’t die.” Especially after she made that claim, it would be silly if she died before the ending– it’d just kinda make her look like a fool. I’m not averse to theories where Teruko is no longer the protagonist by the end, whether by her death or someone else taking up the role for whatever reason, but in the sense that “Survivor” = “Chapter 6,” I think Teruko will survive. I’m not here to predict crazy last-minute Kiibo-blowing-himself-up twists.

Rose: I think that Rose has a really nice arc of overcoming her fears and becoming less passive set up in front of her. We spent enough time establishing her relationship with Teruko that I could see her being a good potential friend/support character to Teruko in the endgame if relationships with people like Eden or Charles fall through. (And, at this point, you know what I think about Eden and Charles…) She’s also good at delivering low-key jokes that can provide some levity without totally ruining the tone. We already saw some of that in this scene. The main things that I think could be standing in her way are her photographic memory and history of debt. The photographic memory could be too annoying of an obstacle to write around for the entire game, and instead be an ongoing effect set to expire in in Chapter 3. Additionally, a money motive paralleling THH’s in Chapter 3 could be too tempting for Rose to pass up. Really, what I’m saying is, if Rose can make it through Chapter 3, I think she’s golden. We’ll just have to see how that Chapter pans out in the future.

David: Oh, David. Currently serving as Teruko’s largest antagonist, I can see why people would think that he would die in Chapter 5. However, I’m not going to beat around the bush and pretend that I’m the only person who thinks David might survive, either. As an inspirational speaker, David is established early on as a character who should be a beacon of hope, before revealing that he’s more of a hope-sucking black hole. It would make sense if, alongside Teruko, he learns to find more of a balance between blithe optimism and cynical depression and heal as a person. He has a lot of very obvious depth that I think a lot of people want to see explored, and whose exploration would be very on-brand for the themes of a typical killing game story. Plus, if Teruko ever does stop being the protagonist, David probably needs to be alive at that point to pick up the slack.

Ace: Similar to Nico, it seems like we’ve already gotten a taste of what Ace being a victim would be like, in a way where I don’t think we’re going to see it again. He could still be a killer, but would the cowardly Ace even want to attempt killing someone and throwing himself into the scrutiny of a Class Trial? Well, it is true that Ace believes that “[neither] dying young or living a long, shitty life of suffering… are as bad as this” (the killing game?). So, he could simply grow fed up with the killing game and decide that risking a Class Trial is worth it, even if he does wind up dying young. However, if that were to occur, Chapter 2 seems like the narratively best time to do it, as it’s when his emotions are most potent and probably when others would least expect him to do it due to his weakened state. Like Rose, I feel the period Ace has most to worry about is this upcoming Chapter 2 killer slot, but if he makes it through, his arc of learning to escape his fear by bravely rising above it instead of lashing out to try to knock everyone down feels very viable.

Whit: The pro of the Inevitable CharWhit Doom Scenario is that, hopefully, one of the two would manage to make it as a survivor after the other one dies. And, I’m Team Whit Surviving! Not just based on which of the two I like better (they’re my first and second favorite characters, so I’m taking a massive L either way), but because I think it makes more sense for it to be Whit that lives further on. Unlike Charles, who feels like he’s already in the final lap of the character arc race, Whit has barely left the starting line. The laundry scene in Chapter 1 and Whit’s secret in Chapter 2 have both been used to establish that Whit focuses on his and others’ bliss in hopes of remaining ignorant of everything that stresses him. The main offender, of course, being that Whit lies about his mom being alive to presumably stave off his grief. The easiest way to give him a character arc that resolves that issue is to give him something to grieve– namely, Charles– and soon. If Whit’s main character struggle is pretending that people dying doesn’t bother him, he might need an entire Chapter or more to stubbornly show off his central flaw. Now, it is possible that, if Whit can’t overcome this flaw, he could die soon after Charles and meet a tragic fate. But, those just… aren’t the vibes, to me? A post-character arc Whit who knows how to grieve fiercely but healthily might come in handy if Teruko finds herself handling her own emotions about Xander, Min, and/or anyone else at the end of the game.

And here’s the bottom of the death order section!

Finally finished writing something that nobody asked of me at all. Well, I still think it was important, and I hope you feel the same.

Now that we’ve laid all that out, I think it’s finally time to actually see who I think the Danganronpa: Despair Time mastermind might be! Although, please keep in mind that, despite the large preamble full of story predictions, I’m still pretty uncertain on who I think the mastermind is. So, my points might not be the best supported, and I might change my mind again pretty soon after I post this theory. I expect to be far better at disproving why everyone is the mastermind rather than proving why anyone would be, because that’s generally how I feel… but, onwards we go!

#17: Arei Nageishi

(Forgive me for reusing art here, I’ve drawn these bastards ENOUGH /j)

If I were writing this after Despair Time’s prologue, like I did with P:EG, there’s a pretty good chance that Arei, at the very least, wouldn’t have placed dead last. But, well, now Arei is dead. And also last.

Obviously, there are other dead characters too. But still, Arei is the one who I most struggle to see as the mastermind. Given that Arei died as a victim whose body was thoroughly investigated by several parties, it’s pretty hard for me to believe that anyone could have missed any signs of life. I don’t get the sense that DRDT is in some kind of simulation where everyone can magically be alive again at the end either, so I think Arei is, sadly, well and truly dead.

On top of all that, we know a lot about her backstory from her Chapter 2 breakdown, and none of it seems to point her towards masterminding a killing game specifically. She doesn’t have any particular ties to any big organizations that would have helped her accomplish it, either. While she is NOT just a temporary weather spell whose absence will be celebrated and then forgotten, David… I have a hard time believing that the audience would find her character relevant enough(?) to be a good twist mastermind come Chapter 6 several years down the line.

I don’t think I really need to keep elaborating on this. Arei isn’t the mastermind.

#16: Charles Cuevas

I know it’s a bit of a bold move to put a character who’s currently alive below characters who have already died, but… man, I really just don’t see how Charles could pull this off.

And it’s not (just) because I think he’s going to die in Chapter 3 as part of Whit’s character arc, or that I want to believe that he’s a good person. Really, it’s mostly because of his phobias. How is a guy who started gagging at the sight of blood splattered on the floor supposed to be the one who orchestrated an entire death game? Could he get through the process of creating a brutal execution like Min’s without freezing up and freaking out? Even if he could do it, why would he? Sure, he didn’t seem to remember the fact that he had necrophobia until Xander died, but that might be even more of a problem. Wouldn’t the mastermind, who’s certainly had to consider the others’ deaths before, remember that they were afraid of death? He would almost certainly have to be lying about at least the scale of his reaction, although that’s probably a given if he is the mastermind.

Of course, there are mastermind subcategories that could better benefit Charles. If DRDT is actually a simulation, especially one in which the participants don’t actually die, that would definitely make it easier for him to be the one behind it. We’re also meant to believe that Charles has childhood amnesia, so he could have amnesia in other areas as well and be a mastermind who forgot they were one.

However, as I said before, I don’t particularly believe that DRDT is going to be a computer simulation or that Charles is an amnesiac mastermind. I just… don’t see this one in general.

#15: Xander Matthews

Let me preface this by saying that I’m not trying to argue that Xander is actually still alive. The concept that he would be able to fool not only Min, making her believe that she dealt him a fatal blow, but also everyone else as they identified his body, seems outlandish to me. However, just because Xander is dead doesn’t mean that he couldn’t have entered this game as the mastermind.

We know for a fact that Xander wanted to kill Teruko due to his dialogue regarding the note he received, which lines up well with the popular theory that Xander is the individual speaking in the first scene with the papers and the blood. If we assume he is that guy, then it may seem a little counterintuitive to think that the person who says “I have to end the killing game” would be the one behind the killing game. However, he also says, “Even if I can’t do that… I have to kill Teruko Tawaki,” implying that killing Teruko is of a higher priority than ending “the killing game.” Thus, if, for some reason, Xander thought that orchestrating the killing game was the only way to kill Teruko, it’s possible that he would be willing to let the death game roll for as long as it takes to eliminate his bigger target.

However, I can’t deny that the Xander mastermind theory has some massive flaws to it. For one, Xander is dead. I don’t think we’ve technically seen any evidence that the mastermind has to still be alive as of Chapter 2, but a mastermind-less Chapter 6 would be… an interesting challenge to write, to say the least. Also, while Xander betraying Teruko and the others was a great surprising hook the first time, if it happened again, it would be kind of… underwhelming, in my opinion. It’s the same kind of concept I brought up in my Eden’s Garden ranking:

Then, in Chapter 6, we’d be faced with the revelation that, wow, the mildly antagonistic character was actually a really antagonistic character all along! It just doesn’t seem like enough of a dramatic hook to me, I guess?

“Wow, the guy who betrayed Teruko and became a killer actually betrayed Teruko and was the mastermind all along! And now, he’s not even around to reap the social or karmic consequences of it!” You see.

And then, there is the literal interpretation of the text that Xander (if he is bloody hands man) obviously stands against the killing games. He’s also the Ultimate Rebel, someone who stands against corrupt institutions in general.

If Xander is revealed to be evil later down the line, it would make much more sense if it was as a traitor type. As for being the one and only mastermind, I think the odds are pretty low.

#14: Ace Markey

Hey, it’s another character that’s alive! And, this one doesn’t even have a crippling fear of death. However, he is a massive coward, and that’s the main thing that’s dragging him down for me.

Similar to Charles, what would Ace stand to gain from hosting a killing game such as this? Ace doesn’t seem to have any interest in notoriety, money, the destruction of society, despair, or any other things that I can think of that would motivate a typical mastermind. We’ve seen time and time again that Ace cares most about having control over both his life and how other people see him, even though he often fails on both fronts. I guess both of those things could be solved by hosting a killing game, but… Come on, there have gotta be easier ways to do that which don’t threaten your precious life.

Furthermore, what exactly would Ace being the mastermind have to say about the story as a whole? Jockey has to be in the running for “talents that are least relevant to a potential killing game host.” How about the idea that the mastermind nearly died in Chapter 2, only to go off the rails threatening and blaming his assailant? I… always knew that Nico was… fully in the right for doing that, because it would have killed the big bad early??? Ace Mastermind is the preferred ending for those who believe that Nico can do absolutely no wrong, lol.

I can’t remember where I saw it, but I once saw a theory of writing that said that there are two major kinds of character arcs. One is the typical character arc, where the narrative pushes a character's traits to change over the course of the story for better of for worse. The other, this theory posited, was an arc on the part of the viewer, where they learn that a character that they thought was flawed was actually not as flawed as they thought all along. You could potentially apply this kind of thing to Eden: in the first chapter, some people may have seen her as a dim-witted positive girl, but in Chapter 2, we firmly establish that her kindness is not stupidity and learn how her optimism is a strength.

So, you could say that the character arc DRDTdev is going for with Ace is something more like that, where we spend the entire game learning to treat him more seriously just in time for him to be a real threat as the mastermind? It still feels like a bit of a stretch, though– I don’t know exactly what Ace would do to make us take him more seriously that wouldn’t either send him on a growth arc not super befitting of a mastermind or wind up with him being a blackened. Ace as the mastermind certainly isn’t impossible, but I obviously found it unlikely enough that I placed him below one character who is currently (presumed) dead.

#13: Arturo Giles

Arturo’s role in the story so far is not very mastermind-ish, in my mind. In the prologue, we establish him as a cold and judgmental person who puts his own opinions of how the world works over everything else, especially how other people feel. This already feels like how a mastermind would act, so if he turned out to be the mastermind, it would be more of the same.

Then, in Chapter 2, we establish that he’s a massive simp for celebrities, to the point of transforming into something adjacent to comedic relief. We’re meant to think that his over-the-top sprites and refusal to actually listen to anything J is saying is hilariously pathetic. Other characters are constantly dunking on him, such as Teruko calling him a “bigoted” “crazy person,” and even the narrative gets in on the action when highlighting how he cares less about the fact that J’s life was at risk than that she didn’t come out of it with drip. Narratively, we’ve already seen these characters get the better of Arturo. If we the audience interpret that as confirmation that the surviving cast could easily beat Arturo should he ever come to stand in their way, it could diminish the stakes upon his mastermind reveal.

However, for all of his negatives, there are some definite positives to Arturo being the mastermind, too. Despite his comedic effects, we have seen through his threats to Eden that Arturo is very capable of being very scary in a way that I don’t think we have with Ace. The horror factor of a plastic surgeon as the mastermind could be a really fun and creepy design theme to explore. And, Arturo is obviously super obsessed with celebrities. If hosting a deadly TV show is what he thought it would take to get him in with the Hollywood celebrity scene, he might be willing to go for it.

I don’t really know why he would have made his secret what it is if he was going to get that upset about it, though. I guess if there just weren’t any better options that wouldn’t tip his hand…? Also, Arturo would blend in terribly as a survivor. If you’re heading into Chapter 6 and you have to pick the evil character out of (let me spin a wheel real quick...) Teruko, Eden, Rose, Charles, and Arturo, Arturo is definitely the evil one. (Okay, that was actually a terrible randomized draw for Arturo on the innocence front, but I hope you can imagine how he would oddly stick out of most groups.) Like I said in his death predictions, I find it hard to imagine a character arc for Arturo, which is why I find it hard to believe that he would make it as far as Chapter 6.

#12: Min Jeung

Honestly, if Min weren’t (most likely) dead, she might be pretty high on my list of mastermind choices. While not as suspicious as the Spurlings, XF-Ture Tech is pretty suspicious, even more so with the introduction of that one altDRDT character. Min is related to XF-Ture Tech, so if that company has anything to do with the operation of the killing game, she could have been the one behind it. Min is also very smart, and her talent has obvious applications for how it could have been used to set up/influence the killing game. The fact that her talent is so similar to Teruko’s, Ultimate Student versus Ultimate Lucky Student, could have also set them up for some great parallels and duality down the line.

However… Min’s role as the Chapter 1 killer throws a pretty big wrench in her chances. Beyond the dying part, Min’s role as the blackened was incredibly evitable. It’s not like she was thrown into a situation where she had to kill or be killed, or even one where a motive was particularly difficult for her. If she wanted to be the mastermind and survive until the end, all she had to do was walk away from Xander stabbing Teruko and pretend she never saw it. However, if Min’s goal was the inverse of ol’ Bloody Hands (keep the killing game running, but most importantly, keep Teruko alive), her actions could line up. And then, perhaps Min could have falsified her own execution early to draw suspicion off of her, much like Junko did by killing Mukuro.

Beyond her death, though, it’s really Min’s reaction to being the blackened that makes me think she can’t be the mastermind. The stellar voice acting in Min’s breakdown scenes makes me really believe both that this was the first time she had ever hurt anyone as gravely as she did to Xander, and that she fully believed that she was about to die. Those are two things that a mastermind, especially one headed into a fake execution, would not be feeling. Maybe Min memorized how to be a great actress too amongst all those textbooks, but I doubt it. I can still see several reasons why Min would have been a good mastermind, but her actual death and her reaction to being told she was dying knock her down several pegs in my mind.

#11: Hu Jing

Hu is a bit more suspicious to me than some others just because I think she has something to hide. Between her refusal to share whose secret she received or had herself, mysterious “I want to pay for what I’ve done” hidden quote, and intense desire to be relied upon, there’s definitely something about Hu as a person that the narrative has yet to uncover. Could that something be “Hu is the mastermind”? I dunno, maybe.

Hu also has a tendency to react to things with her temper. That could be a sort of foreshadowing to how she would act as the mastermind, much like how David’s brief spell of apathy during the prologue hinted at the way he would act further down the line. Hu’s defense of Nico could act much the same way. Our overall impression of Hu at this point is that, while she is a flawed person, she’s one of the nicest and morally best people in the game, who’s always looking out for others. Defending Nico to the point of babying them might cross the line a little, but she’s only trying to help everyone…! Hu could make it to the end as a believably heroic survivor and then reveal that all of her presumed poor decisions were actually active malice, and I think she could pull that off.

All that being said… I don’t, like, actually think that’s going to happen. In fact, I’m probably overexaggerating the extent to which people think that Hu is nice and morally good. I’ve seen several people discuss the unjust amounts of hate Hu gets in this fandom, which implies that a lot of people hate her, even if I haven’t particularly seen much of it myself. At the very least, I definitely over exaggerated the extent to which people believe Hu could survive! As implied in the death order predictions, I do personally think Hu is going to die, possibly as a consequence of getting too invested in everyone else’s business when they don’t want her to be and/or wearing herself too thin. There are paths which I believe could lead to Hu being the mastermind, but they seem to be the roads less likely traveled.

#10: David Chiem

While I have no doubts that David has the fame, charisma, and worldview to pull off a killing game… I’d have to wonder about how he would see himself playing into all of it. As we saw in Chapter 2, David knows that his career has a lot of value, possibly to himself but definitely to other people, and therefore, he doesn’t want to jeopardize it. In fact, the reveal of his manipulative secret was the inciting incident behind his massive change in characterization. So, if he were the mastermind of a televised killing game… How would he think that would play out to his viewers?

Now, to be fair, there’s a lot we don’t know about the worldbuilding of DRDT. MonoTV claims that the TV show will be broadcast to a widespread audience. Perhaps that indicates that, in the world of DRDT, publicly broadcasting talented young peoples’ violent deaths is normal, or even sought after. Maybe the cast of DRDT forgot about it.

However, David seems to think that people learning that he sees everyone as manipulable would do damage to his reputation, so it’s a bit of a contradiction either way. If the world has been wracked with despair and craves intense violence on TV, then David’s reaction to his secret is either an elaborate lie or the result of the mastermind erasing his own memories regarding the situation. (Or, I guess the public could see death as fine and dandy but manipulation as a cancellable offense, which is… one of the interpretations ever.) Otherwise, in the scenario that the DRDT world is a normal one, David wouldn’t care about being revealed as a manipulator if he’d already committed to the mastermind bit. If his career was already preemptively ruined by agreeing to commit literal murder, why get so worked up about the thought that people might abandon ship over you not being 100% honest?

And then, there’s also the whole “surprise factor” thing that I keep bringing up. Admittedly, it’s been a longer hiatus between the start of Chapter 2 and the end of Chapter 2 than DRDTdev might have been hoping for, but that doesn’t change the fact that this part of David’s characterization happened in Chapter 2. DRDT fans far and wide have written thousands of words gushing over “the David reveal” or “evil David.” If David were unveiled as the mastermind, we’d have to start writing stuff about “the first David reveal” or “when David showed his true colors again.” You see how it kind of takes the hype away from such major plot points? That’s the sort of concept I’ve been trying to get across with some of my other choices too, but a bit more clear cut.

I don’t know why I sound so much like a hater in this section (in my opinion) when I’m literally putting David at #10, above seven other characters. I guess it’s because I can see why his theatricality and traits foiling Teruko could make him a good mastermind, but also have some major issues with the logistics of him getting there. A lot of good points versus a lot of bad points settle out to him winding up someone in the middle.

#9: Levi Fontana

With our first single digit number, we’ve also reached our midway point of mastermind candidates: Levi!

Levi would be a really interesting mastermind choice because of how his character centers around grappling with his morality. I think it would be really intriguing to have a mastermind outwardly struggling with their attempts and failures to be a good person throughout the entire game, only for the player and the characters to receive the full context of the debacle at the very end. I guess in this situation, it would be pretty likely that Levi would be redeemed at the end? That’s not necessarily a problem. (Honestly, I don’t know if I think the DRDT mastermind could be redeemed or not based on the fangan’s themes… that’s a post for another day, perhaps.)

Anyways, I think that what we know of Levi’s backstory could work well with him being the mastermind. If he does have the “murderer without remorse” secret, that would be in line with orchestrating a killing game. We also know that he’s “been disowned” and that he and his family were “all bad influences on each other.” We’re meant to assume that Levi was fortunate enough to escape a bad/abusive situation (and in all likelihood this IS what actually happened!!!!), but we are hearing about the situation from his point of view alone. There is a small possibility that, if Levi is actually a despair enjoyer, his family cut him out because they thought he was a danger to their lives.

I will reiterate again, though, that I don’t think this is the case. Levi seems like he’s a chill guy, or at least that he’s trying very hard to be one despite how he’s been told to react all his life. The whole “mastermind wanting to become a good person” lens also makes less sense given how channeled Levi’s development is through Ace. Like, I would imagine that, if this were the angle DRDTdev was going for, Levi would be making an effort to get along with everyone as part of his atonement. The mastermind randomly choosing to focus on just one person out of the crowd seems kind of strange, especially when that person is someone as disagreeable as Ace. That kind of plot would have big “the mafia CEO vampire prince fell head over heels in love with me, the random average girl” vibes. Repenting mastermind Levi is the preferred ending for pining lovers to enemies to lovers AceVi shippers, lol.

And then there’s the part where I think he’s going to die. I don’t think Levi is the worst mastermind choice, but I think there are better out there.

#8: Nico Hakobyan

Yay, we finally got to one of the characters that Anon thought was suspicious! It only took… 7k+ words. Oh boy.

I definitely think that the cat coding is the strongest thing that Nico has going for them. It would be pretty funny if the extent to which “Ultimate Pet Therapist” is relevant to the plot is the climactic reveal that “yeah Nico has been talking to a (robotic) animal the whole time.” That’s a joke, as Ultimate Pet Therapist is already quite relevant to Nico’s characterization as someone who prefers communicating with animals over people, but it would be funny as hell from a character designing perspective.

There are less silly reasons to believe that Nico is the mastermind too, though. While it seems like, similar to David, pulling the trigger on Nico’s change in behavior in Chapter 2 would be a bit early, I don’t think it’s as destructive to mastermind Nico as it is to mastermind David. There’s a lot more doubt in people’s minds that Nico even did anything to Ace, to the extent that a decent number of people (in the story and out of it) think that it was someone else trying to kill Ace entirely. Nico also has a stalwart defender in Hu, which adds an extra level of intrigue to the situation. Instead of confirming that everyone was right to be suspicious of David, at least some amount of focus could be placed onto Hu being wrong for trusting Nico and failing to see someone’s true colors again, which could be interesting for her characterization if she was alive at that point.

On the other hand, the biggest reason that I think Nico isn’t the mastermind is also because of the attempted Ace murder. Why would Nico, as the mastermind, try to kill Ace at this time? If Nico wins the Class Trial, then the killing game is over, which is probably counter to the mastermind’s goals. If Nico loses the Class Trial, well, we’ll say that the possibility of Nico dying isn’t an issue, as they could just fake their own death or deny entering the execution. But still, why?

It could be that Nico was trying to remove themselves from the killing game on purpose, but I don’t see why it would be necessary. No one was particularly suspicious of Nico being the mastermind, and if they were worried about their gender identity getting out, they could have simply made their secret something else. A mastermind could kill to avoid the killing game falling into a standstill, but tensions were really high at the time that Ace almost died! With a full day left to go before the motive secrets were revealed, such drastic action wasn’t yet forced. I guess the best option would be that Nico was just really angered by what Ace said, and wanted to retaliate as part of their vicious mastermind nature. Is that worth taking yourself out of the killing game and risking the show’s termination, though…?

There is also the possibility that Nico is the mastermind, but didn’t try to kill Ace. In that case, suspicion of Nico would be such a huge in-universe coincidence that I’m doubtful DRDTdev would have included it as a major plot point.

Speaking of “show’s termination,” I also don’t know why Nico would have any involvement in creating a TV show, both from a backstory/talent perspective and a personality one. Nico doesn’t like interacting with people. Therefore, I don’t know what would possess them to want to create and join a TV show for which the major draw is a big stressful discussion between a bunch of people.

I guess I had fewer reasons why I thought Nico would be the mastermind than I thought. I would love to hear more details about why you suspect Nico though, Anon! I’m definitely willing to believe that they could be the mastermind.

#7: Eden Tobisa

Make no mistake, I still think that Eden is the Chapter 2 killer. However, in the case that she isn’t… mastermind isn’t a terrible choice for her.

The biggest draw of Eden being the mastermind would definitely be the shock value. The seemingly nicest character suddenly being revealed as the mastermind would create a huge hurdle for the surviving characters to overcome. Teruko especially, given that she probably would have grown at least a tad closer to Eden if they survived five chapters together. It would be a little mean to give Teruko a trustworthy friend just to rip it away from her again, but I could see the opportunity being used to highlight Teruko’s growth. When Xander and Min betrayed Teruko, she panicked and shut everyone out, but when Eden betrays Teruko at the very end, she’s able to remain strong and rely on the other friends who she continues to trust. Or DRDT could have an unconventional feel-bad ending, I suppose.

If some kind of time loop is at play within DRDT, then Eden’s talent would obviously be thematically and perhaps practically relevant as well. I could see a lot of comparisons being made regarding a killing game being run “like clockwork.” Her secret quote “you can’t go back, no matter how hard you try” is... actually kind of anti-time loop, but at least the concept of going back in time is somewhat related…? Speaking of secret quotes, her Mai quote, “she kept calling the number, even though no one picked it up” is also really weird. That suspicious hidden evidence could point to her being the mastermind.

However, Eden’s personality is a pretty major issue when it comes to her being the mastermind. Shock value is great in the moment, but it can ring hollow in retrospect if people find that the twist doesn’t make any sense. Masterminds aren’t typically known for their kindness or optimism. So, if Eden is the mastermind, it seems like her whole “even if this world is cruel, I’ll still make the choice to be kind” speech is a complete lie. And, that would be a shame! I don’t think that having an unexpected mastermind at the end of the game is worth the cost of completely demolishing a character that we’ve come to know and love over the course of six chapters and several years. (I’m not saying that complete demolition has to be the case if Eden is the mastermind, but I think it’s a reasonable worry that many people have.)

And, I know that all this talk about how wonderful Eden is might sound rich coming from someone who strongly believes that she just killed someone who wanted to be her best friend. But, that’s kind of the point, isn’t it? As someone who thinks that Eden is the killer, I know very well how a lot of people have a really hard time believing that Eden could do something as terrible as killing Arei. I can only imagine how hard it would be to accept that Eden was the one who put Arei, Min, Teruko, and everyone else in danger, and the one pulling the strings behind every execution.

Eden as the mastermind, to me, is more tempting in concept than it would be viable in execution. And also, I don’t even think she’s going to live to see the light of Chapter 3 day. However, there’s also some definite emotional power behind the accusation that makes me see how shooting for this ambitious choice could be worth it in the long run.

#6: Whit Young

Alright, it’s finally time to talk about Whit. I know that he’s a really popular mastermind choice, but… I just don’t see it, personally. Even though I put him at 6th place. (I do not enjoy putting him in 6th place.) Is that just because he’s my favorite and I’m attached to my interpretation of the character? Perhaps. But, I’d still like to explore some points that I find faulty.

Perhaps the biggest reason behind suspicion of Whit that I’ve seen is the way that he breaks the fourth wall. People connect his asking people to pause for the evidence list to MonoTV invoking similar mechanics, and lines such as “do you really think she’d be hanging out in the playground” to him knowing more than he’s letting on. However, there are a couple of ways that this accusation can be depowered, in my opinion.

Firstly, Whit isn’t the only person who says stuff like this. Veronika alludes to the killing game before it begins, Teruko also breaks the fourth wall to tell the viewer to pause (albeit only in her thoughts, not out loud), and Arei makes the same kind of “hanging” wordplay in Eden’s flashback that Whit did. I won’t say that characters addressing the fourth wall can’t be important at all, because I believe there are some moments where the other characters commentate on how weird it is that MonoTV is talking to no one. However, I also think that breaking the fourth wall may simply be part of DRDTdev’s humor, as exemplified by that “make sure to like and subscribe so that Teruko has enough mental strength to carry on” joke. Whit is a funny guy, so it just makes sense that if DRDTdev’s brain generates funny meta jokes, Whit would get some of them. Everything that Whit says reminds me more of Mia AceAttorney saying “hit tab to open the Court Record” than some sort of groundbreaking DDLC-Undertale direct communication with the viewer. However, I can see why others would think otherwise.

The second is that I think some of Whit’s comments (more so the “dead at 3” and “hanging in the playground” than the pause) are just meant to showcase his intuition. And, yeah, it could be that DRDTdev has been leaving crumbs of Whit’s intuition behind so that in Chapter 6, he can use it to exploit everyone’s insecurities and greatest despair. To me, though, Whit’s intuition has always reminded me of the myth of Cassandra.

For those who don’t know, Cassandra is a figure in Greek mythology who was blessed/cursed to receive prophecies, but for no one to ever believe them. By my interpretation, Whit is a really smart and perceptive guy who has strikingly accurate gut feelings about how things will play out down the road, even when he doesn’t realize it himself. However, the curse of his own coping mechanism– choosing to act like an eternally cheerful goofball– leads the majority of the other students, and perhaps some of the viewers, to never take his point of view seriously. He can only realize the accuracy behind what he said after the bad things have already happened, leading him to blame himself more and more for not being able to speak up and help when times were tough.

This kind of behavior would line up with two different themes we’ve seen from Whit before. The first, that when he jokes around without thinking, he can accidentally say hurtful things that he later reprimands himself for. We saw that when Charles blew up at him at the end of their shared FTE. The second is Whit’s major theme of good things hiding a darker undercurrent. Being the Ultimate Matchmaker is great until you’ve never had a successful relationship yourself. Having an awesome mom is great until the truth comes out that she’s actually dead, and you’ve been covering it up. Growing super close to someone is great until he dies. Having an amazing intuition and understanding of everyone is great until you can never actually use it to help those you care about. Joking around is great until it's all you can do. Pretending everything is fine is great until it’s not.

Like I said, very specific interpretation. I promise I was not citing classical literature to make my argument sound smarter than it actually is. I am aware that my interpretation of Whit is no less or more valid than everyone else’s. However, it’s one that I hold very close to my heart, and thus, I personally have a hard time seeing around it.

However, I’ve also seen a lot of people argue some valid points for Whit, so I can at least acknowledge that he deserves to be in the upper echelon of choices. There’s a lot of weird stuff regarding him in Literature Girl Insane, and he’s certainly an option of someone who felt so much grief that they became totally empty inside as shown in that one hidden quote. I would be appropriately surprised and heartbroken if Whit revealed himself as the mastermind in Chapter 6, so he checks the box in that regard. There isn’t anything from his backstory that opposes the notion that he set up the killing game, and, to quote what I said about our other Ultimate Matchmaker, Toshiko…

While Ultimate Matchmaker might seem like a silly talent to give the mastermind, it could also be a ruse to distract us from the fact that [Whit] has a talent that allows [him] to read people well and make choices that will impact their lives dramatically.

I don’t like it, but I can see the argument… kind of. To me, most mastermind Whit interpretations feel like mischaracterization, but as a theorist, I always try to keep in mind that I’m the one who could be twisting the text to my whims as well. In this my-opinions-based list, though, he’s not getting any higher than 6th.

#5: Veronika Grebenshchikova

Ooh, what spooky art for a spooky mastermind. Let’s be real, though, Veronika is way too obvious of a mastermind candidate to actually be the mastermind. Unless… she’s so obvious that she loops back around to not being obvious, and thus, is the perfect mastermind candidate?!

Veronika is in a really weird place. I obviously have no doubts that she would have any moral qualms about hosting a killing game, because she’s told us herself that she doesn’t. She knows what Monokuma is in immense detail, but claims to have no idea what a killing game is. She’s dressed really similarly to Junko, though. Is that just a coincidence? Are giant pigtails also a symbol of fear in the DRDTverse? I need ANSWERS, LADY!!!

The biggest problem I see with Veronika is the potential for obviousness. Similar to Arturo, if she actually made it to Chapter 6, I feel like it would be pretty obvious what’s going on. An oddball like Veronika is not the typical survivor type (although she could break the mold). Because Teruko’s character arc is all about trusting people, it would make sense if the reveal of the mastermind was someone who challenged her trust to some degree. With Veronika being obviously unhinged the whole time, I don’t think that Teruko would have any particular difficulties with kicking her to the curb.

However, Veronika clearly has the motive to start a killing game, and potentially to spread despair. DRDT has taken inspiration from Trigger Happy Havoc in the past, so it could make sense if DRDT’s mastermind was also inspired by THH’s. Having a so-obvious-it’s-not-obvious mastermind could also be another way to mess with theorists like me, as DRDTdev did with the comments section portion of Literature Girl Insane. “bro Veronika being the mastermind would be WAY too obvious” sounds EXACTLY like “I just hope XXXXXX doesn’t go crazy and kill in chapter 3. That would be way too predictable” or “XXXXX will obviously die in ch5”. If part of the point of DRDT is to make know-it-all analysts rethink the rules they believe to be set in stone, I could see Veronika as a subversive choice.

Veronika definitely seems to be building up to something, but I don’t know if being the mastermind is exactly it. I think that Veronika could make it pretty late into the game, but I still struggle to see her making it all the way to Chapter 6. I would absolutely love to see what DRDTdev does with her writing if that is the case, though. 

#4: Mai Akasaki

(Well, now I feel bad that I’ve never made a colored portrait of Mai.)

As you may have noticed back at our first entry, Arei, I started the countdown off at seventeen, not sixteen. (If you didn’t remember that, I don’t blame you– it was a WHILE ago.) That’s because I thought it was only fair to include DRDT’s best kept(?) secret, the lovely Unnamed Student herself, Mai Akasaki, as an option! Because, man, is she mysterious in some suspicious ways.

“But, didn’t MonoTV tell the students that the mastermind was one of them? Mai isn’t one of the students in the killing game (unless prosopagnosia is REALLY going crazy), so she can’t be the mastermind, right?” Well, yes and no. The scene where MonoTV confirms the existence of the mastermind is SUPER weird. Let’s take a look at it.

On one hand, MonoTV is still in the Movie Screening Room, where it was JUST talking to the student body, so it would only stand to reason that it’s a continuation of the scene we just saw. However, the setting also seems to be doing everything in its power to tell us that this is NOT the same scene we just saw. The lights have been turned off, even though they were on in the scene just before this. They return to being on in the first scene of Chapter 1, which the students treat as being directly after the scene during which the lights were on before. The widget denoting the time, chapter, and episode has completely disappeared, placing this at an even more unknown time than “Time Unknown.” The text indicating that the speaker is MonoTV has even disappeared! I mean, I assume that MonoTV is still the one saying it, considering that it’s on screen and the speech bubble is pointing right at it, but we don’t even know that for sure!

Additionally, MonoTV refers to the viewers directly (“dear viewers”) two speech bubbles after this one, which makes it seem more like MonoTV is talking to us the audience rather than the students in the room. But then, if the mastermind is “one of you,” and MonoTV is talking to us, wouldn’t that mean the mastermind is someone in the audience? That could lead in to some really meta interpretations of the text (i.e. “DRDTdev is the mastermind of DRDT because he’s the one who created the killing game”) or it could indicate that I’ve gone fully off the rails. 

A midpoint between those two ideas is that the mastermind is part of the in-universe audience watching the killing game, as in, a fictional character who is watching the real-to-them TV show that is Danganronpa: Despair Time. That could include Mai, a very notable character who is not one of the sixteen participants in the killing game.

Side note, I’ve seen some people fight back against the concept that Mai could be the mastermind with the idea that making the mysterious character the mastermind would be too obvious. While I sort of agree, I feel like we’re somewhat overestimating the extent to which Mai is obvious. It’s not like no casual viewers would know who she is, because her image was shown pretty obviously in Chapter 1. However, the name “Mai Akasaki” is only accessible by finding the hidden quotes on the optional associated website’s character profiles. To learn anything about her beyond that, you have to have the thought to type the name into the website URL, and then solve another puzzle just to see the bare bones of what’s there.

I’m not trying to assert any sort of dominance or superiority over DRDT fans on YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, or anything else, but from what I’ve gathered, Tumblr is the place you want to go for deep analysis and theories on DRDT (possibly because of Tumblr’s longer word count). Therefore, anything about DRDT that may seem like common knowledge on Tumblr may only be common knowledge to the fans who specifically bothered to come to the deep lore and crack theories website to find deep lore and crack theories. Essentially, this:

Sort of similar to what Gravity Falls did with the reveal of Bill Cipher back in 2012 (at least I think, I wasn’t actually in the Gravity Falls fandom at that time), I think it would be reasonable to plant clues about an overarching villain that people who want to analyze can analyze ahead of time, such that the villain’s arrival can come as a victory to the puzzle solvers and an exciting new development to the more casual viewers.

However, while I believe that Mai has an awesome setup that she could use to become the mastermind, whether she would actually fit the role is another question entirely. As I alluded to back in the first Mai paragraph, I’m rolling with the widely held (among theorizers) belief that the Unnamed Student in Xander and Min’s bonus episodes is supposed to be Mai. In those episodes, Mai seems to be incredibly caring, peppy, and sweet. She knows a ton of little heartwarming details about Min and Xander, and I wouldn’t be surprised if the same is shown to be true with Arei and whoever else’s bonus episodes in the future. Those hidden quotes on Mai’s profile also give off the impression that everyone in the cast really loves Mai– one could call them a “portrait of a person dearly loved,” perhaps.

While it’s possible that these scenes are supposed to highlight Mai’s social prowess and how much she can get people to fall in love with her, they… don’t really seem to be giving off those vibes. We see her thoughts in those bonus videos, and she really does seem to be dedicated to helping Min and Xander out. Mai’s change from someone who wanted nothing more than to help out her friends to someone who was willing to throw all of them into the killing game is something that would have to be explained, and it could be difficult to communicate that shift within the confines of bonus material, if Mai’s content is mostly kept there. There is the concept that Mai could have put her friends into a killing game to protect them somehow, which could be a way to avoid Mai’s character seemingly doing a total 180, but that rationale would need a lot of explanation too.

Otherwise, there’s also the problem that Mai is almost certainly dead. I won’t get super into it myself, because the amazing @1moreff-creator has already done a great job explaining why here (starts in the XI. God is Dead section). I don’t think I need to elaborate on why Mai being dead potentially before the killing game even began would be detrimental to the idea of her being the mastermind.

To be honest, I don’t know how much this idea actually makes sense. I think I’m personally more inclined to believe that Mai could be the mastermind just because I really don’t get mastermind vibes from pretty much anybody in the cast. If the mastermind simply wasn’t one of the members of the main cast, that could solve that issue, right…? Mai is very likely involved in the inception of the killing game somehow, so extending that role to one of being the mastermind isn’t the biggest stretch. However, her personality and living status do throw in some pretty big question marks, so I don’t think she should go any higher.

#3: Teruko Tawaki

Teruko was definitely the first character who I believed could be the mastermind after I watched the series for the first time. However, over time, I’ve sort of fallen off of the idea that she would be. Is that because I’m forgetting key details of the plot, or because I’m drifting closer to the truth…? Honestly, I have no idea.

Let’s start with the strongest “evidence” we have against Teruko, her motive secret: “How could I even select which secret to make your motive? Just about everything you’ve done in your life is worth killing for. The killing game is all your fault.” Although “the killing game [being] all [Teruko’s] fault” sounds pretty damning, there’s the obvious counterargument to be made that this isn’t even Teruko’s motive. In fact, the board currently shows it assigned to Xander. However, the majority of people (including myself) seem to believe that David was lying, and this secret is Teruko’s. So, let’s analyze under that assumption.

Teruko did admit to Veronika that she doesn’t know what secret could be used as her motive because there were so many. Even if that motive secret isn’t hers, that still means that Teruko has done a lot of shady stuff. Teruko’s decision to live on set forever could line up with the mastermind's goal of wanting to keep the cameras rolling as well. The very first scene of DRDT shows that someone who wants the killing game to end also wants Teruko dead, which implies that Teruko and the killing games are on the same side.

Teruko also has a prior history of concealing things about herself from us, the viewing audience. We knew basically nothing about her past or trust issues before Xander stabbed her, causing her sudden change in attitude to come as a blindside. Teruko apparently has a “risky” killing game-ending plan in mind for the end of the second Class Trial that she’s told us absolutely nothing about. And, most notably, Teruko clearly knows things about Mai that she’s decided not to share with viewers at home. (I do believe that Teruko genuinely can’t remember Mai’s name, but she does remember that Mai is similar to Xander and wanted to help, which is more than anything we would have known from the main text on our own).

Point is, DRDT is written in a way where we don’t hear a ton of Teruko’s thoughts. That would make it much easier for her to scheme something behind the scenes, as opposed to someone who we get a lot of emotional reactions or logical theorizing from. It’s actually kind of similar to the difference between Kaede and Shuichi’s styles of narration, as pointed out by ShortOneGaming in their impeccable v3 playthrough! I recommend watching their entire letsplay if you're in the mood for v3, but I found one time where they talked about this concept here. I’ll transcribe it for anyone who doesn’t want to open YouTube right now:

Gina: I do want to call– as my final sort of note– what’s interesting is that you called out immediately that Kaede’s narration was weird. That, it was always, like– dictation? Allison: Yes! Gina: It’s always, like, speaking directly to a person– Allison: Yes! Yes, I did say– It never really felt like actual internal monologue. Like, she never was expressing her thoughts or anything to us. I mean, yes, she was, but then there were those weird moments where she was, like… y’know, hiding it from the player, and… probably from herself, too, to some extent. Like, she was just like, “and then I had to go do this thing.” Um, and like, “we won’t really address how I’m feeling about this.” Gina: Yep. Allison: And at the same time, it hides it from the– the player. And that was very clever. Really good. I mean, her– yeah, her narration was always kind of weird. But, she did have moments where she had internal reflection.

Hopefully, you can see the comparison. By putting a greater emphasis on actions as opposed to what Teruko is feeling (“I kneeled down and touched his neck” after finding Ace’s presumed-dead body; “Everyone else started filtering in” when people walk into the Playground and find Arei’s corpse), it becomes much easier to have Teruko hide exactly what she knows or exactly how she feels about certain events. It’s actually the opposite of the kind of narration that Damon had (“I’m trapped in a killing game… with people who despise me. How… how did this happen? I just wanted to help… I wanted to make sure we didn’t trust each other too easily… and now I’m being treated like the bad guy” after the 0th Class Trial) that made me believe he wasn’t the mastermind!

So, do I think that Teruko would be a mastermind who remembers, or a mastermind who forgot? Well, I could kind of see it either way. Personally, I think that Teruko being a mastermind whose memories are intact is the more interesting version, and I do believe it’s possible. I also don’t understand why someone with as many trust issues as Teruko has would want to remove her own memories if it weren’t necessary. Then again, Teruko being an amnesiac mastermind could make up for some of the… issues that arise with her as a mastermind candidate.

What? She’s in third place, not first. Despite how long I’ve already talked about Teruko, there’s still more to say!

First, the problems if Teruko did retain her memories: why would she ask MonoTV about the mastermind’s identity when the two were alone? Why would she be creating a plan to end the killing game? Why would she pretend to not know who Mariabella Rosales was even though everyone else clearly knew?

And then, the problems that persist even if Teruko did lose her memories: where would Teruko have gotten the resources to plan a killing game of this caliber? Even if she had them, why would she use it on this? Assuming that secret is hers, why would she write that about herself in a plausibly public place (beyond the swapping, Arei looked over Whit’s shoulder)?

Oh yeah, back to that secret. Just because “the killing game is all [Teruko’s] fault” doesn’t mean that she’s the one who planned it. In fact, the wording sounds very accusatory and hostile for something that Teruko would have theoretically written to herself. From the first scene, we already know that there is a person or group of people somewhere who are out to get Teruko. It could make more sense if that entity is the mastermind, and wrote the secret to blame Teruko for whatever she did that got her on their bad side.

There’s probably more to be said, but hopefully you can see why I have so many mixed feelings about Teruko. I definitely think she’s one of the more likely mastermind candidates out there, but I still don’t know exactly how likely that is, y’know?

#2: Rose Lacroix

Once upon a time, a wise and powerful theory alchemist known only by the epithet @1moreff-creator postulated that Rose could be the mastermind of Despair Time, and then never elaborated on the idea at all. For centuries (a couple of weeks) the townsfolk (me) were baffled by these dark and mysterious ramblings. However, as seasons passed by, as travelers came and went, as the tide advanced to kiss the land before slinking back to its home once more– the idea… started making more and more sense?

Rose is a really smart character who has already shown her proficiency in Class Trials. In the first, she utilized her ability to perfectly capture the scene and her knowledge of chromatography. Although her talents haven’t been as useful so far in the second, she’s still managed to keep up with the conversation despite never looking at the scene of the crime. Thus, I can see why, from a writing perspective, DRDTdev would choose to make his mastermind the Ultimate Art Forger.

There’s also the angle that Rose is a criminal, and therefore could be willing to do illegal or immoral things. However, she does seem to be pretty remorseful about it, and she’s already been caught for her criminal behavior before. Unfortunately for her, her relationship with her saviors the Spurlings only makes her all the more suspicious. Even if Rose didn’t want to be the mastermind of a killing game, if the Spurlings forced her to do it, she might have not had a choice. (Xander is very against the Spurlings… Xander is bloody hands guy → stop the killing game → stop the Spurlings?)

I also like the angle of “the Spurlings forced her to do it” because of what I talked about back in Mai’s section– the concept of the mastermind not being among the students. In Rose’s case, you can get the best of both worlds. The entity behind the killing game, the Spurling Foundation, would be a group outside of the killing game for MonoTV to contact, but there would still be a student among the cast’s ranks to suspect and accuse come Chapter 6.

What’s the argument against Rose? Well, I would ask why Rose would want to put herself in this kind of situation, but if it was the Spurlings’ choice, then that explains that. You could say Rose has been too helpful to be a bad guy, but everything she’s done so far has been to help the students win a Class Trial. That keeps the killing game running, which keeps the show on. The biggest problem I’m thinking of at the moment is the notion that the Spurling Foundation would have chosen to make Rose’s secret about how her backstory led her into their clutches. However, the secret doesn’t actually acknowledge the Spurlings by name, and it also frames Rose’s crimes in a way that makes her look like a good person– the opposite of what someone would think of as a mastermind. The secret was also only intended for Rose’s eyes, so it could have functioned as more of a low-key threat to remind her why she needs to stay in line.

Shouldn’t all of this talk of Rose lacking agency make her a bad mastermind candidate, though? If a villain doesn’t even believe in their villainous motivations, the story could end on a really flat note, with the good guys steamrolling an evildoer who doesn’t really care. How are we supposed to reach a satisfying conclusion if the mastermind hardly has anything to be held accountable for?

Those are normally things I would argue, but as many have pointed out, Teruko isn’t a normal protagonist. Actually, I think that this kind of mastermind setup for Rose could be a great way to end Teruko’s arc about learning to trust other people. Rose is the mastermind, somebody who shouldn’t be trusted…! It would be so easy for Teruko to just crush this person who betrayed her into dust– Rose isn’t even putting up much of a fight. But in the end, Teruko will choose to be patient, and see that Rose never wanted to betray Teruko. Even if her actions wound up hurting Teruko and many others, she still deserves a second chance, or at least a second evaluation.

As you saw in the death predictions, I obviously believe that Rose has the potential to make a late game run, whether as a survivor or something else. Writing all of this out, I can see even more clearly why Rose just might be the DRDT mastermind. However, despite all that I wrote, the idea still feels kinda more like a fun AU than the actual truth to me…? So, I still think there’s one person whose chances I like slightly better.

#1: J Rosales

Whaddya know, J’s personal ??? tier catapulted her into the lead. It is probably true that my uncertainty about where she might land is contributing to me deeming her the mastermind– it’s a really weird space in the kill order, as someone who survives long enough to theoretically have a positive character arc while sometimes not being counted among the survivors at the end.

Part of why I put J this high is that I really like the theory of J being the mastermind along with her brother, Ryan. Sadly, I cannot find any of the original theories that postulated this idea to link to, so I’ll try my best to explain what I remember myself. Basically, some people found the scene in c1e4 where Rose doesn’t remember who J is suspicious. They combined this scene with J’s younger brother, Ryan, and J’s talent, the Ultimate Effects Artist, to suggest that J could be using her FX talents to disguise Ryan as herself and have them occasionally trade places. From this Q&A, one of the few things we know about Ryan is that he enjoys crossdressing, which furthers the idea that he could enjoy pretending to be J. Ryan is also (to my memory) the only DRDT character’s sibling whose name we have seen in the main text, which could indicate that he’s more important than Arei’s sisters, Levi’s brothers, or other potential siblings.

I think it’s a really fun idea that I would at the very least want to see come to fruition, regardless of how likely it is. If J was working with Ryan, you can once again repeat the argument that there’s both a mastermind for MonoTV to talk to outside the game and one to be accused within the game. The biggest issue with it is that I don’t know how Arturo wouldn’t see the differences between the two, even if Rose may have. Maybe if J and Ryan haven’t swapped since the Rosales secret got out, and won’t swap again until Arturo dies…? I don’t know, I’m getting ahead of myself.

The thing is, other than just being a unique and interesting concept, I’m not really sure what the point of having J and Ryan swap would be, in universe or out of it. (This is why I wish I could’ve found a link to the original theorist... :,( ) My best argument for in universe would be that there are some things that only J has the skill to do, her being the Ultimate Effects Artist while Ryan is not. However, they couldn’t just have Ryan be the one in the killing game full-time, because he’s too young and therefore wouldn’t have been part of the original Hope’s Peak class. Thus, there are some points in time where J needs to be working behind the scenes (like on the executions or something), and during those intervals, Ryan subs in. Metatextually, I guess it could show how every person in the entertainment industry can be cutthroat, or that every child of a celebrity is bound to get messed up about it somehow…?

Regardless, even if Ryan isn’t involved at all, there are plenty of reasons to suspect J on her own. Ultimate Effects Artist is a highly suspicious talent when it comes to the deception of a killing game (just check out how many people think J already used it to kill Arei), and in connecting her to Hollywood. J may claim to specialize in theater as opposed to television, but 1) she could have been lying, or 2) that could be true, but she’s making an exception this time. Even if she normally works in live theater, if you were a TV executive approached by the daughter of Mariabella Rosales who is also a Hope’s Peak Ultimate student in her own right, would you really turn her away…?

J’s custom weapon is also pretty suspicious. Even if it doesn’t seem to be able to trigger traps like the one used on Levi (though that could be another lie), I could still see it being pretty helpful for subtly operating MonoTV, turning on a monitor, starting an execution, or stuff like that. Charles essentially confirms that the custom weapons were in the students’ rooms since they all woke up, which means that J could have had this remote on her the entire time.

J’s relationships also seem potentially mastermind-y. Thus far, the two characters with which she’s been associated most are Arei and Arturo. Those two (at least, prior to Arei’s change of heart) have been so clearly villainous and hateful that J would obviously look like a nice person in comparison. Why is this helpful? It means that J can get away with doing more objectionable things without raising any huge red flags. If J is the mastermind, we can look back on her demolition of Arturo in the Chapter 2 Trial as a brief early glimpse into how cruel she can really be. But, for the moment, although it’s definitely memorable, many people (including myself) can react to it with a, “yeah, but based on what Arturo was doing to her, it’s kinda justified…” (Not saying it isn’t somewhat justified either way, just that it could also be something more.)

J could also have a range of motivations related to her hatred for her mom. Maybe she’s trying to turn people against the Rosales name to ruin Mariabella’s reputation. Maybe this killing game is a plan to finally have a big artistic success all on her own (or with Ryan) to prove her mom wrong. Maybe she thinks that a world so enamored with fame and glamor deserves to rot in a pit of despair. I don’t know which of these options would be the most likely, but I could see how any of them could be possible explanations for how J got to this point.

I think my biggest argument against J once again comes back to the “why”. I think that J has a lot of potential to be a good mastermind, but I don’t know if that carries over to being a good mastermind for Teruko. Unlike with Rose, I don’t have a good sense of how J being the mastermind would tie into a satisfying ending to Teruko’s trust arc.

@venus-is-thinking and I sometimes like to run randomized killing games as a fun writing exercise (randomize the cast, motives, and mastermind; see where it takes you), and we’ve generally found that the most compelling protagonist-mastermind duos either have the protagonist sharing the same worldview with the mastermind, or being the only person who believes the opposite.

If the protagonist starts with the same beliefs as the mastermind, then defeating the mastermind is a showcase of the protagonist’s development. Hajime and Izuru work as protagonist and mastermind because Izuru is the manifestation of Hajime’s belief that only talented people are important and can make an impact on the world. By renouncing Izuru, Hajime proves that he’s learned that anyone has the chance to change their future if they put in the effort. 

If the protagonist has the opposite opinions from the mastermind, then it proves how crucial the protagonist is to the narrative because they are the only one who could deliver the critical message. A great example of this is Shuichi and Tsumugi. When Tsumugi tries to set up the conflict of “hope good, despair bad” that will keep the killing games going, all of the other surviving students fall for it. Shuichi being the only character who has spent the entire game learning the importance of balancing two extremes makes his callout of Tsumugi incredibly satisfying, and justifies the protagonist swap by proving that Shuichi is the only hero who could have saved this day.

That’s why I think that J would be a great mastermind for a protagonist who has issues with family or stardom, but might not be the best choice for a story with Teruko at the helm. Those are only my observations, though, so I’d understand if DRDTdev planned things differently.

And that is finally the end! Here’s the final tierlist I wound up working off of, which I fiddled with a TON while writing:

(It’s based off of Ocean Unknown’s tierlist!)

Since this has already gone on so long, I’ll try to keep the conclusion brief. Please take all of this with a grain of salt, as I wound up making a lot of claims about writing that don’t necessarily have the strongest foundation. I didn’t write anything that I think is blatantly false, obviously, but whether it’s good advice or not doesn’t necessarily mean that DRDTdev considered it. We may have different priorities in telling a compelling story. And, we’re less than two chapters in! Even the end of the Chapter 2 trial could throw a positive or negative wrench in any of these profiles.

Thank you so much for reading through this whole thing, and if you got through it and still have anything you want me to elaborate on further (a specific character, a specific theory, a specific aspect of fangan writing, etc), I would be happy to do so. I, uh, really hope that this answered the question that Anon asked, haha. Until next time… stay wary. There could be masterminds lurking about...!

#danganronpa despair time #drdt #drdt spoilers #fanganronpa #teruko tawaki #xander matthews #charles cuevas #ace markey #arei nageishi #rose lacroix #hu jing #eden tobisa #levi fontana #arturo giles #min jeung #david chiem #veronika grebenshchikova #j rosales #whit young #nico hakobyan #mai akasaki #thh spoilers #sdr2 spoilers #v3 spoilers #IT IS FINALLY DONE..... now i can go back to working on my own fangan haha >:) #the final word count is about 15k words so props if you read it all in one sitting #anon: asks me a simple question about who i think the mm is #me: so i ranked them all and also included death order. and meta on weird characters. and protagonist writing. and protag-mm combos. and-- #you can fit like seven separate posts in this bad boy #my theories

[5bi5]

Thinking we should have had an Oz/Cordelia friendship arc where throughout the season they keep getting sent off to do tasks together (to keep them out of harm's way and also bc they're the only two teens who can drive) and every time Cordelia talks a ton and Oz just makes his occasional comments. And she sometimes laughs at what he says but mostly she doesn't really get him and so she tells Xander she doesn't want to always get stuck with Oz anymore. So she insists on doing the next task on her own since it's not really that dangerous anyways, but oops! She gets kidnapped. But Oz is able to use them knowledge about her life that he gained from hearing her talk all the time to figure out what happened and where she is, and when they get there he throws her a weapon that he knows she can use and she's able to kill the motw (or at least damage it so buffy can kill it). She starts thanking Xander and Buffy and asking how they found her and they're like "oh actually it was Oz... I guess that quality time you spent together really paid off" and when she turns to him he just shrugs and says something like "I'm a good listener. Or so I hear." And at the end of the episode she elects to go do a task with him and it's still mostly her talking but they share an inside joke of some kind.

#oz btvs #cordelia chase #buffy #buffy the vampire slayer #btvs

[raisedbythetv89]

No, but like…FAMOUSLY not just in Buffy, but every universe that has spells and magic, real love CANNOT be manufactured or duplicated by magic. Only twisted obsession/infatuation like what we see in Bewitched, Bothered, and Bewildered.

But in “Something Blue” Buffy literally says once the spell is over and she’s talking to Willow “I loved him, we were betrothed” in a spell whose specifications had only to do with marriage which would only change them from being enemies to allies, which then allowed all their suppressed and ignored feelings to come to the surface that they could NOT act on before when the other person was supposed to bring about their death.

And I’m not saying full deep romantic season 7 and beyond love but they clearly CARE about each other and are extremely attracted to each other, in lust if you will…and must have been for a while. Giving SO MUCH credence to neither of them ever succeeding at killing each other because deep down they genuinely never wanted to. (yeah yeah plot armor but so much of the time when one of them got away it was really WAY too easy like they could have at least made it so both of them were always just BARELY getting away by the skin of their teeth instead of how many times one of them really just lets the other go after exchanging a few punches like 😹 they weren’t even TRYING after a while and to me “Something Blue” proves it’s because they do not want to kill each other because they are crushing SO HARD. Because also in season 2 when they make the truce literally FIVE MINUTES LATER Buffy leaves Spike alone with her mother while she’s on the phone. The amount of trust that demonstrates is actually insane especially when you combine it with the fact that Buffy doesn’t do a disinvite spell after he leaves town OR comes back in season 3 & 4. And plot armor or not, them never killing each other becomes part of the lore and informs the motivation of the characters because that’s just how fiction works! 🤷🏼‍♀️)

I mean just look at these two love sick idiots

I MEAN….Buffy’s face when her immortal and extremely durable vampire just gets tossed across the room?? She goes into slayer overdrive, swiftly taking care of the two demons she was fighting to run over and check on him exactly like she does so many times in season 7 because that’s her vampire!!!

We see them so happy and in love - literally the happiest we’ve ever seen Buffy and then the show tries to tell us “it wasn’t even nice” because what? They bickered?? You mean they actually SAID what was on their minds and talked about it and then comforted the other when they were sad instead of bottling it all up or being evasive of topics that would cause fights and Buffy would tell Spike lovingly to shut up when he was being dumb??? OH NO THE HORROR!!

And what really is the cherry on top for me is the “wind beneath my wings” bit because Buffy blames the spell while her body language and face clearly says it was NOT the spell, that was all Buffy. Which opens the door for us to question just how much was what we saw because of the spell’s influence vs the real Spike and Buffy just completely uninhibited by their status of an engaged couple???

Especially when this supposed engagement to a “bad boy” who was helpful to her watcher, extremely caring and loving towards her in front of all her friends and when xander says something mean spike is SO HURT and he’s like “that’s it! You’re off the usher list!” Like oh yes THE BIG BAD INDEED 💀 but Buffy claims being engaged to a Spike “gets her over her bad boy thing because it wasn’t even nice” ….. GURL you are running for the hills to seemingly “normal” captain cardboard because you LOVED being engaged to the slayer of slayers and that scared the absolute shit out of you and you were like I need to do something to convince myself I’m normal and not the kind of girl who would be into Spike IMMEDIATELY 💀 and then avoids Spike for the next several episodes while Spike is always asking where she is for Buffy to achieve maximum avoidant/suppression of feelings possible 😹😹😹

And the way Spike NEVER teases her about it afterwards like he did with the “wind beneath my wings” bit at the end of the episode to me is so telling of the importance it held for him too that he never used everything he must have learned about her at that time or never even taunted Riley about the fact that the Slayer was all over him when her and Riley had first started dating because let’s be honest that would be SUCH a Spike thing to do. Like???? They have been so into and conflicted about each other for a LONGGG time and I honestly cannot be convinced otherwise 😹

#they’re actually madly in love your honor #spuffy #something blue #spike and buffy

[fanficwriterlover]

My Choice Our Consequence

Chapter 4 : Trusting in Your Safety

Summary: Now that you and Simon have worked out on living accommodations for your soon to be born son. You're getting closer to your due date and everything has been... moderate to say the least. But will you and Simon overcome the barrier of trust ?

Call-Sign or Nickname: Hera or Lil Light

Word Count: 10.6k Words

A03 Version

Your POV

Honestly it’s been, something having Ghost…well Simon around whenever he wasn’t at base. Sometimes you wished someone would pinch you to remind you this wasn’t some fanfic imagination (or is it ?)…

Either way, it’s been about two months since you and Simon agreed to work together to raise the child. Was definitely going to be like co-parenting but you both had everything planned out. Being both apart of the military had definitely played a part in both of you being detailed and determined to ensure everything goes according to plan.

Your mother sometimes found it laughable how much you two have over planned on every detail. But to you two…it was just having backup plans and touching all the bases.

Last month, Simon insisted on helping with the nursery along with your Uncle Daryl’s help. They revamped the once guest room into the nursery, painting the walls a light blue that you and your mother picked out. They put together the crib, with its no climb corners and fluffy mattress.

Every extra detail, from the cabinet full of diapers, baby powder, cleaner supplies and necessary items. Closet full of clothing of different apparels some even Simon disagreed with needing but you found it important your son have all different kinds of clothing for different occasions.

This also includes the bookshelf full of books to read with him, and basket of toys that your son can pick from. Everything was ready. Least to your mom and uncles opinion

But to you and Simon, there was much more to be done before he shows up. As of now... Simon stood in front of you across the island his elbows resting on the marble counter while you sat on the high stool with your iPad open tapping away on the screen, as you two discussed…

Simon gruffly states “We are not naming ‘im that.” He huffs holding his cup of tea to his lifted mask lips. This is the closest you’ve come to seeing him, honestly it killed you not knowing what he looks like still.

Like Gaz joked, if your son gets all the genes from him then you could possibly know what he looks like. You sigh softly rolling your eyes “Why not ? I think Xander is a cute name…” you bite at your lower lip.

Yes, this was the hardest task of them all, coming up with an agreeable name that you both would like. He glances at you, over the edge of his cup “Over my bloody damn body. Next.” He grumbles taking a sip. You grumble “Fuckin’ hell.” You scan through the list of names so far that you’ve found off the baby name dictionary. There was over a million of name choices for boys. Yet, so far, as you two gone through different meaningful names, none popped out to either of you.

This made you worry, you were expecting in about 28 weeks now…you have a check up tomorrow and neither of you have come up with a name yet. What if you two are too late ? What if when your baby is born that you two can’t agree on a name and have to call him “Baby 1” until you agree on one. It made you stress a bit. And that’s why the two of you always postponed the topic.

“Simon…we can’t keep rejecting every name…I’m only 28 weeks away…” you say lowly, your other hand resting down on your stomach. You begin to trace circles on your stomach.

Ghost’s POV

It didn’t take a genius to see how stressed out you were. The more weeks that went by, not only did you get more emotional but the lack of comfort made it impossible to do anything you used to. Ghost has no experience with women pregnant. Only memories of hearing about his once sister in law…but that was a touchy subject for him and he couldn’t bring himself to remember the last image of her.

Yet, sometimes he couldn’t help it…stealing a glance at you. You were someone he treasured now, much to his resistance, and he feared his presence would alone put you in danger. That never seemed to bother you though... He wanted you to start trusting him, to understand him for why he is the way he is...one day, he will. Just not today.

Your POV

Fall, was slowly shifting to winter, the chill in the air made it insufferable to want to do any kind of work. From just even walking outside to get the mail you did not want to go out into the cold air to retrieve it. “Ugh...why is it already bloody cold.” You huff, setting down your tablet down. Your hands stretch out to wrap around the hot cup of cocoa. It was the one drink you could have, since caffeine was off the table. Tea was more something you savored in the mornings and evenings but you have been recently craving chocolate so this was the best you could get for now.

Simon grumbles in response before leaving the kitchen to stalk somewhere, “’Snt it always ?” You huff at his remark rolling your eyes then stroking your belly.

Ever since Simon got back from his recent mission he been hounding you in every way. Shoot, the man wouldn’t even let you make yourself a cup scared you’d burn your belly. As if when he was gone you never did but you allowed him to be overprotective.

You take a slow sip from your cocoa, unlike you who rushes the process of making cocoa, this cup wasn’t as good as the ones Simon had made for you. He always made it perfect. He always made sure to use fresh cocoa and simmered a kettle of fresh milk (non fat since it was safe during pregnancy) he followed the doctors orders to the T. Which is hilarious, because you’ve seen the man ignore doctors orders after breaking his ribs to go to the gym to spar anyways.

As you mindlessly sipped your cup, you forgot to blow on it and burned your tongue, letting out a screech before fanning your tongue. Regretfully dropping your cup, as it crashes down onto the hard surface of your tile. What you didn’t expect was the man himself to rush to your aid as if you got attacked by an intruder. He jumps over the couch with ease, taking in the scene.

You can see the perplex in his eyes as if analyzing the situation seeing what the cause of your yelp was. Taking in the scene he immediately relaxed his shoulder just slightly satisfied that there was no actual harm, except the kind you’ve made for yourself. He strides over to you “You good ?” you blush seeing him ever so close, his cologne reaching your nose. Despite you being sensitive to certain smells, it seems your nose never got tired of smelling his cologne. His eyes study you then he reaches out to take your hands which puzzles your mind until you see his eyes squint down.

That’s when you see the red tint on your fingers. You burned yourself when boiling the milk. Blushing a bit and mumbling softly “Ah..that was when I was warming the milk…nothing serious.” His sharp eyes look down to meet yours.

Yes down…the man towered over you insanely…

“ Didn’t I ‘ellya to leave the cooking and shit to me…” he grumbles the words before withdrawing himself “I know…but Simon I’m not entirely helpless.” You pout, but you can see his eyes briefly crinkle…did he smile ? “Mhm…right….Go sit down. ‘ll clean it up.” You were about to protest but a sudden punch in your stomach had you gasping out.

Simons eyes blew up, seeing you putting your hand on your stomach as if reeling from a pain. Once you composed yourself, you see Simon’s outstretched hands bracing you at your elbows. You start laughing softly out of breath “Holy shit…your son’s a kicker.” You take a breath. Then meet his eyes as he gives you a puzzling look. It was endearing to see the stone cold lieutenant confused and unable to understand what was going on.

His almond brown eyes look at you confused “What ?” he asked sternly, as if the idea of you giving birth now made him feel taken by surprise. You laugh at the slight confusion plastered on Simons face. He seemed even more taken back that you’re laughing after showing signs of being in pain. However you feel a slight instinct while you have him close…

You gently grab at his hand, one he flinches from the sudden contact as you look into his eyes, “Trust me ?” you ask softly waiting for confirmation to proceed.

Ghost’s POV

One minute you were grasping onto him for your dear life, nails digging deep into his hoodie sleeves, then after a few breaths your laughing about it. He couldn’t figure out what to make of the situation. His mind still reeling if there was something wrong with the baby for you to react such a way.

Yet, when you ask him to trust you, it was like a whiplash. You know he questions anything to do with trust. The idea makes the Ghost want to crawl out and pull away. However, the Simon part of him wants to reach out and grasp onto this new unknown feeling…

No it wasn’t unknown…it was just something long forgotten and buried from years of betrayal.

When you asked him this, he felt deep down he could trust you. From the missions together, he trusted you. Against his better judgement. He trusted you and confided in you in a moments weakness for both of you to be in an intimate moment together. He trusted you from the moment he saw you again and was willing to give him a chance because despite him breaking it, in honesty you were willing to give him a chance.

He wanted to take a chance with you. Even if it was unfamiliar territory and he didn’t know what he was going to be walking into.

When his eyes meet yours, you give him the most doe eyes imaginable…

There’s just something about the way you look at him which makes him want the Ghost to stay in a corner and allow Simon to revel in the contact and embrace this new found feeling of interaction. So…for once…he let his guard down.

Nodding his head slowly, he didn’t know what to expect when you took his hand. They were still in his signature skull leather gloves. But it was the kind of contact that felt like electricity coursing through his nervous system. Slowly and tenderly, you soft hands guided his to rest on your stomach. For a moment he was confused by this…until he felt it.

It was subtle. Like a poke onto his palm. Their son was kicking.

For the first time, your son showed no signs of life, the doctor having to reassure you that he was very much healthy and breathing. You would joke it was because of him that their son gained his personality. However, now it seems your son wants to let you two know he’s there.

It was a moment for sure. Simon didn’t know how to feel or even know how to acknowledge the feeling he was expressing.

True happiness.

The little bundle that gave you and him a chance of unity to work together. An experience he never thought imaginable until he met you. It was a moment he wish he could keep with him forever. Especially as he looked down at your face.

You had the softest smile on your face, your eyes closed feeling the little kicks hit against your stomach as you still press Simons hand on your stomach. Seeing you in your cozy autumn dress that snugged your body, just reaching to your knees and your hair, down . You looked perfect. This moment felt perfect. For once it was nice to experience something mundane. To experience something he’d call…

His family.

It was this moment he wanted to give himself entirely to you, swear to you, open up to you. Yet, he figured when the time was right he would. For now.

Soaking in the moment of their little life they created. Who for once Simon was eager to meet. Yet, he’d never would admit it out loud, especially with the guys pestering about it. But he’d shrug it off and tell them he just wants your suffering to end.

It felt like the world stopped in that moment, it was just you two enjoying this moment together, Simon couldn’t resist it. His other hand slowly reached up to your cheek. Your eyes watching his every move. Yet you didn’t say anything. He was hesitant. But you just looked at him, almost reassuring him to keep going. Your doe eyes bore into his, they weren’t of hunger like the night you two laid. No it was a different kind of intimacy. One of companionship. But most of all…

Trust

He gently stroked your jaw line, as he slowly leaned closer to your face….

Your POV

He kept leaning closer by the minute, your heart was pounding harder than ever. You can’t believe this was happening. Was he going to kiss you ? His eyes drift down to your lips. It was a subtle question without words needing to be said. You knew what his eyes was entailing. It was something you learned to understand about him long ago.

Slowly you let go of his hand that still rested on your swollen stomach. He had no intentions of withdrawing even after your hands were off his. You slowly reach your hands up to the edge of his mask tucked under his hoodie. His eyes don’t leave yours. He’s watching you. Studying you. Seeing what next move you do. But there’s no sign of discontent. He wants you to do this. You can tell by his eyes. They speak so much more volume that any words spoken can comprehend.

You tentatively begin pulling up his mask, my eyes remaining on his as you do this. You’re expecting the worse as you slowly pull it up, but he doesn’t recoil or stop you. No. He just keeps looking at you.

So you keep going. Passing it just over his lips, revealing his perfect lips, that are slightly shaded pink, his stubble jawline as if carved out of a statue. His jaw adorned with tapestry of scars. Some danced along his cheek, it seemed long you were only seeing the tip that seemed to run up. There was one that crossed over the corner of his lips. You remember that one, when you two were together that night. Even though it was dark and everything was rushed you remember pressing light kisses over it. Almost wishing for those awful memories of it to wash away from his perfect skin. But it was something you accept and love about him…

Wait love ?

Do you love Simon ? Maybe….or maybe it’s just your hormones..

He looks at you still, my eyes meeting his, as you slowly lean up, he seems to lean in as well and just when our lips were grazing each others…

His phone rings…

He withdraws so fast it almost hurt. His eyes seemed to squint, almost as a sign of annoyance…He seemed to almost wished it had happened but at last, someone had to pop it.

You clear your throat eyeing down to his pants where the phone rings “You going to get that ?” for once you see him contemplate almost considering to ignore. For a few seconds you see him battle within himself…it was painful to watch the Ghost himself wanting to rebel. So you made the choice for him. You slowly withdrew from the close contact as you feel the heat rising in your cheeks. “I’m going to go….um…make another cup.” You leave the room quickly, well at least as quick as your legs could take you as you headed back into the kitchen. Stealing a glance at him as he looks your way, rolling his mask down as he digs into his pocket for his phone.

Ghost’s POV

We were so close to kissing, and of course something had to disrupt it. It felt like luck was never on his side. As always all the good in his life gets taken from him even from brief moments.

He answers the phone. He was agitated from the disruption and the person on the other was going to hear how angry he was for the intrusion.

“What you want ?”

Price : “Aye…good ‘earing from you too Simon. What’s with you eh ? How’s the little light ?”

“Price…” Simon felt the pit of his stomach dropped. “She and the bugger are fine.” He leaves the living room going outside to take this call, he couldn’t risk you hearing it… “What’s the news ?”

He hears Price hum softly and slight shifting in the background, he was readjusting himself in his seat, means he doesn’t have something good to say... “Ah…we got a lead. Shepard will fill you in. You’ll be dropped at the base in a couple days. That’s all I can share over the phone…”

Simon stayed silent. His eyes casting at your complex, this mission was important he knew that…in fact in most cases he would’ve put that before anything so why…

“Simon…I know you have a lot going on…I don’t blame you for wanting ou-” “I’ll be there.” There was silence for a moment as Price let out a sigh. “ ‘Right, I’ll send you where to go. You leave Monday (the day was Thursday) Good luck Simon.” With that he hung up. Looking at his phone screen silently. Hearing the words Price was going to finish he couldn’t even process those words.

Out ? This is all he ever known. Sure things are different now…but are they ?

He began second guessing his choices now for allowing himself to get close. Perhaps going on this mission will do him some good. Ghost heads back into the complex where he finds you finishing your new cup, but this time of tea, that you just poured for yourself. As you were letting the bag rest inside your cup, as the warm water seeps it.

Your eyes meet his, and once again he feels Simon wanting to crawl out and take over, but he shoves him down. Ghost needed to be present. “That was Price.” He watches as your features shift, it was brief it was a slight sadness peeking your face. But you recovered quickly averting your eyes from his looking into your cup. “Ah…when do you leave ?” you start dipping your tea bag up and down into your cup looking into it, deeply. As he says lowly “In a ‘ouple days.”

Your eyes look towards him…it once again made Simon want to claw out, the need to be there for you. But he can’t . Not now knowing he has to leave you at such a bad time. But you surprised him….

Your POV

Yes, the news hurt, the sudden change in his aura as he went back to being Ghost. Cold reserved and untouchable. It hurt how quickly his demeanor changed towards you. However, you understood. You have been in his shoes and you knew it would be inevitable. That came with the job. You guys were stuck to this life whether you wanted out later or not. The job demanded you.

You were an exception given your predicament. But you knew this was what Ghost lived for. It’s all he’s ever known. Nodding your head slowly. “You should probably get packing than, shouldn’t ya ?” you let out a low dry laugh. It seemed more of a huff then a laugh. But the fact was…it was amusing.

Of course you knew the reality of the job. If a lead came up of course they’d jump at it. Especially knowing the urgency for the mission. You didn’t know the full extent but you knew enough, and your time in the field to know such. You sigh softly “Look…Simon. You don’t need to worry about us. I told you this.” Your eyes meet his, his eyes remained unmoved from you. He was looking to see if you were covering up with lies, but they weren’t they were genuine.

“When you find the chance…reach me. I’m sure by then he’ll be born…” you bite at your lower lip. As much as you would love Simon to be there during birth you sure as hell weren’t going to make him feel guilty for leaving or make it seem like he has to choose. No, now more than anything he deserves to know he’s welcomed back. You smile softly at him, approaching him slowly.

He doesn’t withdraw as you approach, his eyes never leaving your movements as you drew closer as you gently reach your hand up, watching his expression. Ghost doesn’t budge or withdraw though, so you place your hand on his masked cheek. “Trust me?” You reach up as best you can against this tall giant. He lowers himself down though, enough so you can press a kiss onto his masked cheek before looking into his eyes.

He didn’t need to say a word.

You saw all the conviction in his eyes to know he planned to come back for you and their son…

“Thomas…” you blink at the sudden name…as you recalled his brother name being Tommy. Then you slowly began to understand, he wanted to name your son after him.

“Thomas…I like it.” You smile softly holding his gaze, he seemed to appreciate it. A part of you wandered if him wanting to name their son after his brother was a way to prove better. Almost swearing this time…he won’t lose his loved ones. You knew nothing would happen. Simon would return from the mission when it’s over and get to meet his son. Maybe things will play out better for you two. You don’t know…but you were willing to see what this choice leads to.

The Next Day

Honestly from the events of yesterday, you nearly forgotten about your appointment for today.

It was thanks to your mother reminding you before she left for work, and Simon sudden urgency to usher you out of the complex into the car.

To say pregnancy befuddles your mind was an understatement, you could barely think straight. It was painful to think too. Your once strategic, organized, and determined mind was a train wreck.

It could be from the lack of sleep now, you felt so bloated, but also it was impossible to get out of bed comfortably let alone sleep. It seemed your unborn was like his father, in the quietness was when he made himself known. Which he would either kick your stomach to the point you had to sit up and walk around or he demanded food to be deposited into your stomach. With which you’d made a late midnight snack.

Since being closer to your due date, and time flying by effortlessly, you started noticing Simon insistent on staying in your complex to make sure you get the help you need. Because of this, your mother had decided (since she has so grown to love Simon) that she’d stay at your uncle’s place while Simon was present so you could lean on him more. Of course you hated that she left you with him, sometimes his silence was unbearable and you worried you burden him with helping you with tedious tasks. But perhaps it was because your mother knew nothing would happen while he was there.

So, Simon spent most nights in your mother’s room that she loaned to him. However on some midnight scouring through the refrigerator, you’ve learned he would often sleep on the couch. Mostly because he knew you’d wake up craving something and didn’t apparently trust you enough to open a simple yogurt container. Silly little things like that he worried about your well being. As if you were out on the field fighting for you life, Simon was there at your six to keep you safe from such tedious civilian tasks.

Oh, and driving with Simon has become quite the most stressful part of the trip. The man, bless him, as big as he was must drive crazy do to discomfort. He was a bully man for the matter and being used to harsh conditions he drives almost like a madman. I’m always bracing the handle on the door because, his turns were painfully sharp. But you know the wiser, correcting or even judging a man’s driving skill is not a debate to go on. The drive was of course short, since the man nearly blew through 3 stop lights, you knew he’ll probably get tickets about it. Wondering how embarrassing that was you were the reason for his reckless driving. Yet, he got you there safely.

Pulling into the hospital parking lot, it was packed. Rows of cars lined up, but Simon found the most closet spot to the entrance as possible. Yes, the man drove through every single aisle in the lot to find the BEST one. Sighing in relief you release the seat belt buckle freeing the slight pressure that was pressing over your chest and lower abdomen a bit too tightly. You were just collecting my bearings for a few seconds, before feeling the coolness brush your right shoulder.

Glancing over, you see Simon had already hopped out of the truck and was now opening your passenger side door. You take the chivalrous act turning yourself in the seat, it was much harder to get in and out of cars. Especially harder, in a big pick up truck, that Simon drove.

Luckily, Simon, was there to help you, his large arm nearly caged you in the front as you use his arm to balance yourself and ease out of the car. He doesn’t touch you, just uses his body to help you get out. It was such a subtle gesture but meant a lot. Because, your mother would’ve struggled much more trying to help you out. “Thanks...You didn’t have to.”

You knew that was a lie, you did need it, it was painful to change positions now, your growing baby, had decided to expand ever so more, your once small physique outweighed by your growing baby who just so happens to have the DNA of a giant. Yes, this still bugged you. Of all men to get knocked up by, why did YOU have to do it not only with your lieutenant but the biggest man you ever known. Was a cruel joke the thought of pushing out his baby often sent shivers down your spine.

Simon must’ve noticed as you can see the squint in his eyes and crease in his brows “You cold ?” you wave you hand dismissively supporting your back as he walks closely at your side, on your right of course. “No, I’m fine. Just uncomfortable. God I can’t wait to push him out.” You huff, even walking barely a mile was an effort. You were already out of breath by the time you both entered through the automatic sliding doors.

The hospital was bustling, taking in patients and front desk ladies answering calls. Simon tenses from the atmosphere. This is his first time coming with you. From your last checkup, he simply drove you and your mother and your mother would go in with you. This time after many attempts at persuading him you won over him.

And Simon, wore something less terrifying than his usual apparel. He wore a black surgical face mask, it went up over his nose, he had no black smear paint over his eyes for once, but his hoodie cloaked his hair and shaded his eyes from the light. Immediately you sat yourself down in the chair, Simon however, stood near you. Like a looming bodyguard, the man just did NOT know when to relax or let his guard down. You could see his eyes shift to every person in the room as if waiting for some surprise attack.

A part of you didn’t blame him for this habit, when you first started having to live as a civilian you doubted every single person. You can’t imagine how untrusting Simon must be feeling, to be so exposed and you’re certain to him, the worse part was being weaponless.

However, him being on edge was not helping your anxiety for this appointment. Yes, you trusted your baby was fine but it still didn’t stop your mind from worrying. Slowly you reach up and touch his arm.

He nearly jumps. But of course he’d never admit it. He looks down at you, seeing it was your harmless hand resting on his arm as you say lowly “Relax Simon…you’re stressing me out…also you’re making everyone else anxious-” he huffs under his mask, giving an eye roll as you look at him serious not going to put up with his attitude “I mean it. You either sit down or there will be hell.” His eyes look at you seriously, debating if should challenge that minor threat.

But of course, you were a women to your word. And you’d never forget. In fact you planned to give him an ear full about his demeanor. You were okay to an extent but sometimes you just wish he let his guard down when in civilian area so he didn’t stress you or anyone else in radius.

Finally he grumbles lowly, moving to sit in the seat to your right, near the entry, as he finally sat done. You couldn’t help but smirk, the chair looked ridiculously small holding him. It was a miracle it didn’t collapse. That would be a humorous sight.

Now he was quite the sight himself, standing 6’4 practically lean killing machine. His mystery aura probably was an attraction to many civilians, especially youthful ones. As just so happens a bunch of teenagers were gossiping and giggling in the corner of the lounge. Why they were there was beyond your brain capacity, they seemed too young to be pregnant…was that normal in society? You felt so old…

You could hear little what was said but tried not to feel the bubbling feeling in your chest “Oh-My-God, he’s hot…” “He’s a tall dark drink of mystery” “I dare you to ask his number.”

Honestly, if these girls think their whispering was low enough they were not even trying. You couldn’t help but steal a glance at Ghost. His eyes focused dead ahead at the front desk. Surely he was hearing the words these girls were saying.

It didn’t help he was in the most….hottest sitting position you’ve seen. His legs were spread arms crossed over his chest, you know he wasn’t doing it intentionally more for comfort since he barely fit the seat. But you couldn’t help how attractive he seemed. You didn’t blame the girls for finding him attractive, honestly you wished you knew if he was attractive without the mask too.

His deep voice broke your train of thought, “I can feel yer eyes on me y/n.” his eyes slowly shift to you, which made you blush. You didn’t realize you had stared at him long enough for him to notice. Than again nothing gets past his radar. “Well…can’t help it…you got quite the fan girls over there.” You snort.

His head looks in your direction, his eyes squinting obviously not finding it amusing as you can see his brows crease processing your features probably and attitude, as he then asks “You jealous ?” You could see the corners of his eyes crinkle, the bastard was smirking “S-Shut up.” You huff smirking trying to ignore the burning in your cheeks as he speaks again shifting in his seat “Plus I’m not here for bunch of kids. Got my own to worry about, yea ?”

How this man says stuff so casually astounds you. He seems too calm and collected it makes you wish you could open his brain up and know what’s running through it.

Ghost’s POV

Having eyes on him has always been something he had been used to. From recruits shaking to their bones of what he’ll shout, to his victims petrified of their life getting taken from his hands, and now civilians. This though, was something he’ll never get used to.

Civilians seemed to walk aimless with no purpose and oblivious to their surroundings. Without a care in the world. It sometimes baffled him how relaxed these people were, unaware of the raging war that he and people like him were fighting to keep the peace, that these people took for granted.

Yet, today, he was here with you, doing something so mundane to take you for your pregnancy checkup.

Honestly, he would’ve taken you here every day if he could, this whole pregnancy process had him on edge. He never felt so helpless in his entire life.

Unable to help you with all the weight you were carrying and the discomfort you were having to endure in order to carry his child. You didn’t deserve this, yet motherhood almost seemed to suit you.

His eyes couldn’t help but glance at you subtly when you would pretend you weren’t staring at him. You had the most earnest smile, too pure for the military, your hair had this shine to it, but in a way was done hastily in a messy bun. However, it looked attractive for you. From your clothes, you always wore something cozy and snug, today wearing a loose v neck top with a plaid jacket to keep you warm. Some stretchy pants that curved around your hips and thighs nice especially your protruding belly.

From your ripped nails (a habit he absolutely disliked one you did even on duty), fresh clean smooth skin, perfect face structure. Everything. You had bewitched him in ways he could never comprehend Which makes him think back to when you two laid together…it had been so long ago. But at nights it was something that plagued his dreams and had him wanting to experience it again.

Of course then a women in a white cloak approaches the two of you, sending him a bit more on edge with the women’s plastered smile. Was too white for Simon’s liking. She stops short of him, eyeing him before looking at you “Ah, Y/n ! Ready for your check-up?” she smiles at you…

So she’s the doctor…. “Yes I’m ready. Also this is-” You look to him a bit. He knew you were trying to be considerate in his choice of giving names…yet for you he’d let this slide. “Simon.” he says blunt and uninterested in interacting with the doctor, he only came to make sure the baby was okay as per your request, well more of begging.

You give him the biggest smile, hearing him use his name to greet the doctor. Just seeing you happy for something so minor gave you the greatest joy…why you held him so high he’ll never understand but he held you the same way too. You slowly stood up, getting to your feet, he gives you his arm, that was still in his pocket to assist, which you take his subtle gesture.

The doctor blushing and biting her lip, it bothered him. The way she looked at him. He only liked when you looked at him that way but something in him wanted to snap at her for such but he refrained. Instead walking behind you as the doctor led you to the ultrasound room.

Entering the room, he had to duck his head a bit, the doors were definitely not made for men his height, obviously more for women. You giggled at his struggle as he shot you a glare which stopped your adorable giggles but still plastering a smirk.

“Alright…you know the drill, momma. Sit down, lift up, and relax.” The doctor was now getting the machine wheeled closer, and turned on. You turned to the laying chair, Simon’s seeing it was a bit high for you as he moved closer in front of you.

You give him a questionable look, but he simply gestures with his hand, that he’ll help you up. You take it, his arms tense as he helps you up, you blush when it seems to get into the chair with ease. Looking up at him you whisper softly, “Thank you…”. He simply nods his head stepping back to stay out of the way. Choosing to linger against the wall as the doctor comes to your side now, once you lifted up your top exposing your stomach.

It's the first time he’s seen your belly bare, you were never naked or wearing shorter tops since pregnant. You still had that tattoo on your right that that ran just under your arm down your whole side. It was a bunch of rose vines tangled around skull head, butterflies, ribbons, but most of all a peacock head with the feathers spread on the side pulling a chariot.

It was the most detailed tattoo he admired on you when you rested on your side beside him after you two were intimate. He remembered looking at the details put into it, and how it seemed unique.

He never asked though, but he did his own researching. Hera’s chariot was pulled by the peacock. Which made since considering your call sign. Not to mention the meaning behind Hera, as the goddess of childbirth, he prayed you had that luck on your side.

The doctor had spread some gel substance on your stomach just at your lower abdomen as she placed the probe there. The monitor on the screen started giving a swoosh sound and bit pulsing but it was all grey and white visuals. Until she worked the probe more on your stomach to show the view of…

Their son.

The doctor looked at the monitor seeing how the baby was curled in the fetal position all curled up. Simon felt an odd feeling looking at the screen.

It felt unreal actually seeing it on the screen. The doctor than began speaking “That’s a healthy looking baby. Wow I’d say he’s about…3.997 kilograms (8.13 pounds) !” you nearly groan inwardly as he did his best to stop himself from huffing a laugh. The doctor arches a brow “I take you’re the dad ?”

The question made Simon stiff but he simply just nodded his head slowly, which the doctor giggles “Yeah go figures, he definitely got the dad genes y/n.” you roll your eyes as you remained still while she continues to examine the monitor making sure everything else looks good. That’s when you brought up “Oh can you take the pictures. I want a few if you don’t mind.” The doctor smiles at you nodding her head. “I figured you’d want that. I’ll send to you via email and I’ll print out a copy that you can pick up at the front.” She smiles, clicking on the machine to capture the ultrasound picture and having it printed to the printer at the front desk. His eyes never leaving the ultrasound.

He couldn’t help but glance at your face. You looked happy, admiring the monitor of your unborn child. It was a moment he would remember. He couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride at that being his son he’ll get to meet when he gets back from the mission. He definitely had a reason now to come back.

Your POV

After everything seemed clear, the doctor went over what to expect with the contractions and asking where you would be giving birth.

Then even gave advice that Simon could help you with by doing the gentle lifting. This of course made you blush as you sat on the examination chair “It’s a great exercise and harmless. Relaxes the body from the heavy weight you been carrying that child. Plus Dad will get an opportunity to see how much weight you’re carrying.” She laughs softly “I can show you how to do it dad if you’d like to help her ?”

A part of you knew Simon would definitely feel uncomfortable with that suggestion or even volunteer to do something remotely having to touch someone. It’s something about showing attachments in public that isn’t his forte. In fact you only feel he stuck around for the kid sake since he probably wanted to be better than how he was raised.

You could see Simon shift uncomfortably his eyes darting away as if the idea wasn’t something he wanted to express or do. “Ah…it’s okay. I think we sho-” “Show me.” Simons deep British accent seem vibrate in the room. All eyes were on him now. You were nearly gaping, but looking at him uncertain wondering if he only was feeling obligated to do it for the doctor to not judge “Simon…really it’s okay. Let’s just g-” “I want to.” He stops you which makes you blush from embarrassment. The doctor laughs softly “Okay then ! Y/n stand up and Simon right ?” he nods his head.

You stand up getting out of the chair as the doctor comes behind you “Alright, so what you’re going to do is links your fingers together like this” as she shows her both hands linked then stands behind you. You awkwardly stand there unsure what to expect. “Then you come behind, make sure y/n you can lean back into me..now I’ll use my legs to just slightly bend and keep back flat then slowly lift…” the moment the doctor lifted your stomach, it felt like all the weight was well…weightless.

It was so satisfying…you almost forgot how it felt to not having carried so much weight.

In the moment your eyes slowly flutter close you can hear the doctor continue to lecture “Only lift about two inches, should do it. Now when you release you have to do it SLOWLY.” She gives you a few minutes enjoying the session before slowly lowering your stomach. It was relaxing for the moment and made you almost wish she hadn’t stop. However your eyes flutter open, looking to see Simon’s eyes were on you.

It made you blush realizing how relaxed you were in the moment that you were unaware of his watching eyes on you. “Alright dad. Ready to try ?” you blink realizing what was about to happen as you watched Simon push himself off the wall. He nods his head at the doctor as she sits back to observe. Your heart beats harder as he walks around behind you, his looming presence all so familiar as it made you feel déjà vu when you had first met him…

2 Years Ago 141 Meeting at Base

The helicopter hummed loudly, despite the headset you wore to dull out the loud blades. You had your hair braided down over your shoulder to keep the wind from whipping your hair in your face and you wore a cap to keep the strands down. Your eyes shift as you feel it began to descend hitting the landing platform. Once confirmed the pilot let you know you can get out. Which you hastily do so, standing up keeping low as you open the side of the chopper. You had your duffle bag swung over your shoulder as you climbed out.

The blades made your hair fly crazy but you kept low until clear from the blade. Finally taking in your surroundings of your new base it was exciting to be working with Captain Price. You had met him on a mission many years ago in Urzikstan where you assisted in helping Karim escape. Luckily you weren’t needed much for medical side, but you did aid in freeing commander Karim’s men and women. However she would never know, you were a female that was there. Most times you wore attire that hid that you were a women.

It kept the fights even. No one would go easy on you or suspect they were beaten and killed by a women. That’s how you liked it.

However the main reason you hide yourself, was how you got your name…

“Ah Hera ! You made it.” You turn you head having dazed off as you noticed Price striding over to greet you.

His muttonchops were fuller, you remember the last you two had spoke he was considering growing out a beard but was unsure what style. It was very unique style yet suited him. You gave him a tender smile “Captain Price. Wouldn’t miss joining up with an old friend now.” You smirk. He shakes your hand fondly then gently pats your shoulder “Why I picked you for my taskforce. Come. The lads will be joining soon.” He nods his head for you to follow which you do.

He gives you a brief tour of the base, seeing the gym, cafeteria, lounge room, medical wing (your favorite) his office, meeting room, baths (as of course he had to mention there were no separate ones for women but would ensure you had a key to lock when using it,), and lastly your bunker.

Your name plate was plastered on the door in a silver plate with your rank y/n, “Hera” and your l/n. Price opened your door with ease showing you, your neatly made room, with the bed in the corner, pale beige walls, old wooden floor boards, a desk and chair, a counter space in the corner where you can buy your own appliances for small kitchen ware and a small closet for your clothing.

Typical base room. Small simple and tidy. “Thanks Price.” You smile at him as he smiles back, his muttonchops crinkling as he smiles as you could no longer see his dimples cheeks when he smiles, but you knew they were there “Please y/n, no need for formalities, you can call me John” you smirk “What ? Already playing favorite Cap ?” you give a wicked grin as he simply chuckles shaking his head stepping to your door. “Ill see you tomorrow for briefing. 0600 sharp. Rest of the lads will be in tonight. Rest up.” He nods his head, as he leaves you in your room.

Taking a breath, you decide to look around the room taking in the surroundings and debating on what you could do to lively it up when you get the time and chance to go shopping. For now you planned to rest up, and unpack. Tomorrow will be when you meet the rest of your team. You had heard their names but was not permitted to seeing their files on each one. Probably because you’ll be meeting them anyways. For now…you needed rest so rest was what you planned to get.

Next Day at 0400

Your alarm blared annoyingly at your bedside stand as you moaned annoyed. As much as you should be used to waking up this early your body however seemed to hate every moment of it. Groggily, you reach over to stop your alarm, after embarrassingly missing the stop button after three attempts, you finally silenced the cruel bastard.

Slowly you positioned yourself up so that you didn’t fall back to sleep and grabbed your hygiene stuff and spare clothing to go get ready.

Peeking your head out the room, the bunker halls were silent, you were the only one up at this hour, thankfully. You slipped out of the room and shut the door quietly aware your other teammates were probably trying to get every last bit of rest they can muster. You make your way to the bathroom, you planned on at least making yourself presentable today. Having brought your towel and other hygiene supplies, you began showering first to wake yourself up.

Dipping yourself under the cold running water to wake you, while you waited for the water to warm up, sent shivers down your spine. Taking cold showers was definitely a way to wake you. But once the warm water hit it made you melt. You could stay under the streaming water forever, however, today you planned to make a good impression.

After finally finishing cleaning yourself up and drying yourself, you began to dress into your attire. After putting on your sports bra, and boxer pants (yes, they were more comfortable to wear underneath heavy cargo pants and military attire. Plus no lie, it curved your ass nicely) then put on your thick beige cargo pants that had plenty of pockets. Then putting on a tight long sleeve camo top. It was a collar type with a zipper and you always kept the zipper halfway down to make it breathable.

Once you finishing dressing and tying on your duffle boots, you got your hair slick back in a tight bun using some gel that slicked your hair perfectly.

Satisfied with your apparel, you glance at the watch on your wrist, it was 0500, you had an hour to spare. Walking out of the bathroom with your discarded clothes and hygiene you went to your room to return your stuff then decided to grab yourself a cup of coffee to wake up before heading to the meeting room.

However what you didn’t expect, upon walking into the lounge where the coffee maker would be, was a tall looming man cloaked in all black hunched over with a cup. The man was massive it was insane. You couldn’t help but freeze, like a deer in line of sight of headlights. The man surely wasn’t military was he ? He must’ve sense your presence as he side glanced you, barely shifting his head to glance back at you. His eyes scan you head to toe, before you hear a huff.

‘Whats his problem ?’ you frown at the odd behavior as you slowly make your way over to grab yourself a cup “Um, Morning, sorry wasn’t aware someone else was up. You are?” his eyes glare at you annoyed as if your question was the most ridiculous thing he heard. But instead of pleasantly answering, oh no he turned and left. Just up and leave. You stood there dumbfounded wondering what the hell the man problem was for him to be so cold. ‘God…he must not be a morning person.’ You roll your eyes as you begin to work on your cup of coffee.

By 0549 you made you way to the meeting room where it would be taking place, you have yet to see anyone aside from the grumpy cloaked man.

Opening the door to the meeting room though you see Price eyes look up to your figure as he smiles “Ah Hera. You made it.” yet, he wasn’t alone. Two other member were seated. One was muscular, he had a nice round chiseled face. Beautiful blue eyes, but you’ll never admit that to him and a Mohawk. He seemed lively as he spoke up “Aye you ‘ust be Hera ! Names Soap.” He gives you a toothy grin, odd name for a handsome face, you dare not question that name. “Nice to meet you.” You nod your head to him, as the other man who you knew smirked “Good seein’ ya Hera. You gotten taller ? Or is it just your boots ?” he smirks playfully as you roll your eyes “Tough love Gaz” He laughs softly, his laugh was too pure for this world, as his slightly curled hair was under his ball cap, wearing his light blue button up rolled up sleeve shirt under his vest. He always was a handsome man, even since he was a little boy he was handsome and you two were close buddies since middle school and through boot camp.

Just when you were about to question where the last member was “Um so where’s the other gu-” but Price spoke up, and his eyes weren’t on you but rather something or rather someone behind you “Ah, good of you to join us Ghost. Lads…and erm lass meet Lieutenant Riley. You can call him Ghost.”

As if slowly registering all the eyes shifting behind you, you slowly glance your head behind seeing him looming behind you. The man was tall. It was insane how much he over towered you, it made you feel incredibly small with a bunch of big men. Yet he was different.

Looking up to meet, his almond brown eyes, that were piercing down at you, you could see hint of blonde of his lashes despite it smeared with black paint, and his face was covered with a mask, that had a literal skull plate on top of it that had chips on the eye rim of the skull. The man was menacing yet as beautiful as death. You couldn’t help but swallow the lump that was slowly forming in your mouth as you couldn’t tear your eyes from him…working with him was definitely going to be interesting…

Present Moment

It was hard to believe they were literally in the same moment as before. You were looking up at the menacing man in the past with fear as he looked at you once with distaste . However after doing missions together, the two of you had worked up a good bond, a respectable one that had each other’s backs . Yet that led to an unknown attraction, one you’d presume was just lust that resulted in well…your predicament.

Simon gently leaned forward, you felt his broad chest at the back of your head as your felt his chest muscle flex when his arms slowly, hesitantly encircled you. Your heart raced harder against your chest, this was just him helping and you were making it seem like he was kissing you.

God why could you feel his breath through the mask against your neck, it made the hair on the back of your neck, go up. The moment your felt his muscular arms go around you, it made you almost shiver but you forced your body to stay still. The moment he had his hand gently coming under your stomach, your breath slightly hitched. Even though his hands were gloved, it still sent your body into a huge heat wave.

You prayed with all your might be didn’t notice how enflamed your cheeks were or how his subtle touches sent your body emblazed. Then when he slowly lifted, of course having followed the instructions to the T, the moment he lifted your stomach you felt yourself lean more into him, and he was pressed into you.

When he lifted you could definitely feel, his biceps were flexing as he held your stomach, he seemed so gentle for hands that could be so brutal. It was impressive how he could be ever so careful when needed to be. You didn’t even think it was possible.

You don’t know how long he was holding your stomach, or what the doctor may have commented, probably praising him for doing a good job, but in that moment you felt….

Safe.

It was the only word you could describe the feeling. Even if it was something Simon wasn’t keen to do, you honestly don’t know his reason for wanting to do this…but you felt this made you feel completely safe from everything. It was a comfort you were neglected having as a child. When you threw yourself into the military you wanted to harden yourself to not rely on anyone for safety, yet meeting Ghost. That changed everything.

From the moment you two first went on mission together, you wanted nothing more than to trust him and knew he’d keep you safe no matter the cost.

He showed that multiple times when you put yourself in the line, a few times to save wounded or even take a risk, and every time. He was there having your back.

So now…here he was…weaponless, out of his comfort zone and having to do something gentle, you felt entirely safe once again.

You didn’t even realize how relaxed you were that you had leaned into him and let out a soft sigh. After some minutes, you feel him slowly lower your stomach, the moment ending but it was nice. Even better than when the doctor did it.

She seemed pleased nodding her head “Well you seem like a natural ! Okay ! When you start getting contractions, call me ! We discuss by then. I have your number and your mother’s. I’ll send you some things to read okay ?” You nod your head. “Thank you Doctor. Andrea.” You smile as she nods her head opening the door out of the room then leading you both to the front desk.

You could sense Simon lingering behind you as he followed you closely. The doctor goes behind the front desk walking to the printer as she grabs the ultrasound picture. There was 3 printed out as she handed them over to you from the desk. “Alright. You both are set ! Can’t wait to meet the little one.” She smiles giving you both a wave. As you do the same. Looking up at him, you smile at him holding the pictures.

Ghost’s POV

When doing the belly lift exercise, a part of him worried he may hurt you or the baby. Yet, he was very intent on following the doctors direction to the exact T. He watched intently as you expressed a sense of relaxing when doing it. Like it was the first kind of relief you experienced since being pregnant. All the more reason he wanted to do this.

When it was his turn, his eyes landed on you, you seemed nervous. Was it because of him ? Even when he got behind you he could tell your heart rate increased and you were trying to control your breathing. It was as if his presence makes you flustered. However he tried to control his own reaction to being right behind you and having to actually touch you more closely than he’s ever done.

When he carefully lifts your stomach, immediately he realizes how much weight you’ve been having to carry. ‘Bloody hell…no wonder she’s barely sleeping.’ As he holds your stomach up, he couldn’t help but feel proud at how much of a fighter you were. Not only were you fighting through the pain of carrying the child but also you were willing to do this alone if he didn’t plan to be there for you.

There was a sense of regret as he felt the slight strain in his muscles, honestly it was impressive to him how you didn’t complain as much as you did.

However, he regretted having to leave in a couple days for this mission. Knowing you’ll be going through this alone. Even though he knew you wouldn’t be entirely alone having your mother and uncle a part of him hated it wasn’t going to be him. He just hopes the mission will be done without any complications.

Once he slowly lets go of your stomach, even though he’d willingly hold it for you as long as you needed he finally let go knowing you’d want to go home and get off your feet. Especially how swollen your ankles were.

As they left the ultrasound room and made their way to the desk, they once again passed the young girls who once again began staring at him. Briefly he saw your face slightly twist with once again jealousy. Why you would get jealous was beyond him…you were much more than some teens and it angered him you thought less of yourself when you were carrying their child.

All the more reason he couldn’t resist casting a quick glare in the girls direction which obviously got the message clear enough as they looked terrified. You luckily were all the more unaware as he remained close behind you as you collected your pictures.

The smile adorned your face would be that of the sun, it was bright and gorgeous he wanted to capture the moment himself.

They both then walked out of the hospital, finally as they make their way to his truck. As they drew near he steps ahead of you when they drew near opening your door for you. He then holds out his gloved hand for you to help get into the car, it was something he thought even if minor you seemed to appreciate it instead of trying to pull yourself in. With his strength he eased you into the passenger seat. Once he was sure you were safely seat he shut your door then walked around to the driver side.

When he got in. He noticed you had already put your seatbelt on and was looking at the ultrasound photos. He couldn’t help but smile. You seemed so happy just since the growing baby in your stomach and it made him smile to himself seeing you this way. As he put the key into his engine, your hand reached out onto his. For a moment he thought something was wrong as his eyes looked down at you. Then you spoke “I want you to have one.” You extend our in your hand one of the ultrasound pictures. They were small yet perfect. “That’s if you want it. I don’t know…maybe just something to hold onto to-” you pause, as he watches your face turn teary, you were getting emotional “Sorry, nevermind. Silly thought. I know you don’t wan-” he didn’t even realize he said something until he saw your eyes flutter up to meet his.

They looked so innocent and pure. Sometimes he couldn’t believe you used to be able to take men his size down in a heartbeat. But a part of him like seeing you this way. It made him want to protect you even more. Which is why, against Ghost’s better judgement. Simon said it. “No. I want it.” Simple words.

He could see you were wondering if he was being serious or not so to prove it, he reached out for the little printed picture that you let him take as he took a glance at it briefly before pulling out his wallet. “When I’m on the mission, plan to put it in my vest.” He mumbles lowly, he could see something drop in the corner of his eye.

When he looked it was a tear. And another. ‘Fuck…was it something I said ?’ but then he saw you smile…god you were really bringing out Simon more and more. He then reached his gloved hand tentatively, to your cheek. Once again his eyes watching for any withdrawal or dislike.

But he saw none, and you had already begun to reach to cup his cheek as well. For a moment he expected you to pull up his mask again but instead, you lean forward and press a kiss over his mask on his cheek. Right where his left cheek scar crosses over. It was almost as if you knew the story behind the scar, because in that moment, he felt his walls slowly crumble, and he pressed his forehead against yours.

It was the closest you two have ever been And honestly, he was grateful you weren’t pushing him. You knew his limit and respected. And this made him feel trusting in you. Because you trusted he’ll one day open up to you when he’s ready. Now he planned to when he returned from the mission…everything.

He doesn’t know what you two will be when he comes back. Or how you two will be having a child together but he knows more than anything he wants to put his trust in you.

That’s his next mission…

You and their unborn Thomas.

Taglist : @the-reality-of-my-life , @kat-nee , @wwe1rdc0re , @saturnknows , @stalyxysh ,@avatarislife4ever,@ayesha-fish , @sae1kie ,@longing-for-the-past-times ,@daisyfrubies ,@sailorneotunemivhiru,@ra-im , @maflor123 ,@i-love-ptv , @sseleniaa , @ghostandneteyamaremine , @darkravenqueen98 @lazybutsmexy ,@thestartitaness ,@uniquecroissant , @princessdimondheart , @braindancecopy , @mrflyingbanana03

#simon ghost riley x reader #simon ghost riley #simon riley x reader #cod modern warfare #cod mw2 #simon ghost x reader #ghost x reader #simon ghost riley x f!reader #simon riley x you #cod x y/n #cod x you

[thelov3lybookworm]

Mine? (Part 3)

Part 1

Summary: He finds what he wished he hadn't.

•○●⛦●○•

A/n: ahahaha i love how this is going😈

anyways, enjoy!

(dividers by @saradika-graphics)

Y/n's hands rested on her hips as she studied the cupboard she had placed in the corner of her room, debating whether the pink onesie was cuter or the purple one.

After all, Adelaide needed to look adorable for her uncles.

In the end, Y/n settled on the red one.

Y/n grinned down at her daughter as she put tiny red clips in her hair, Adelaide babbling up at her.

"Are we so happy today? Is it because we're meeting uncle Nash, Jamie and Xan? Is that it?"

Adelaide squealed at that, shoving her fist into her mouth.

Y/n laughed, straightening when she heard her phone ringing. She quickly picked Adelaide up, gently letting the babe rest on her shoulder as Y/n hurried over to where her phone buzzed on the living room coffee table.

"Hello? Nash?"

"Nope."

Y/n rolled her eyes at Jameson's voice. "What's up Jamie."

"Nash wanted me to tell you that the driver has arrived to pick you up."

Y/n's eyes widened as she glanced over to the clock on the far wall. "Oh? Okay that's great, I'm about to leave the house."

A loud crash came from the other side of the line, and Y/n winced, a fond smile taking over her face. "Do I wanna know?"

"Nope." Jameson seemed to be laughing as he spoke. "It's just Nash handing Xander his ass. Nothing new."

Y/n hummed, then said her goodbyes before hanging up, shoving her phone into her pocket before hurrying out of the house and into the car. She was alert, her eyes constantly flitting around to make sure she was not about to be jumpscared by Grayson.

She found a shiny black sedan with dark, tinted windows waiting just outside the apartment entrance. The driver, clad in an all black suit stepped out, opening the door for Y/n, and the sight of the middle aged man made Y/n smile.

She gave him a nod of greeting before getting in the car, moving slowly so as not to jostle Adelaide.

Y/n felt triumphant when the car started to drive down the road because she had managed to avoid Grayson, who had been visiting her and standing outside her door everyday for the past three days.

Little did she know that the blonde man had been frozen in astonishment on his way to her apartment building when he saw her get into the car.

Little did she know about the white car now following her.

Grayson was surprised- to say the least- when she left her house. He was very aware of how his presence was causing her distress, and if he was being honest, he hated how he had somehow begun stalking her. So to remedy that, he was going to go to her house today, slip a note through her door, letting her know that he was leaving, and then fly back home.

He still wanted to meet with his daughter, because however unplanned and a surprise she was, she was still his, and he was not going to abandon his child the way his father had abandoned his. But that was probably not going to happen anytime in the near future, and he was not blaming Y/n for trying to keep their daughter away.

So when he spied Y/n getting into the black sedan, his interest was piqued.

And like any normal human would do, he put his foot down on the accelerator and sped after her.

In hindsight, he shouldn't have, considering he had an inkling who she was going to meet after recognising the driver of the vehicle, but if she really was going to meet who he thought she was, then he didn't know what he was going to do.

The car turned into a street Grayson was familiar with, and when the car came to a slow stop in front of the palace like hotel, Grayson's heart started beating in an uncomfortable rhythm.

She could be meeting with anyone, right?

He tracked her figure, his eyes fixated on the little hands wrapped firmly around Y/n's body as she entered and vanished behind swinging glass doors.

She could be meeting anyone. Not necessarily someone he knew.

Anyone.

The moment he could no longer see her, Grayson hurried to park his car in front of the hotel, shoving the key in the hands of the staff member who came to assist without looking and followed Y/n.

He could only get a glimpse of her retreating form before she turned the corner to get to the elevators, and Grayson hurried over to the reception.

"Which floor was she going to?"

The receptionist, a young girl, blinked at him.

"I'm sorry sir, but I can't give you that information-"

"Alright fine, here. Let me check into my room." Grayson slapped his black card down, impatient.

The girl's eyes widened before she grabbed it. After a moment of typing away on her computer, she glanced up at Grayson, looking like she might cry.

"I'm sorry sir, but someone's occupying that room who-"

"Then empty the room." Grayson cut her off before he could hear the words he was dreading, but she continued on like he hadn't just spoken over her.

"Someone who has the same card checked in yesterday evening. Three people actually."

Grayson stared at the girl, his breathing hard, before he realised he was not acting like himself. So he straightened his posture, let his mask slip into place, and glared at her.

"They won't mind if I give them a little visit."

She looked annoyed at that. "I can't let you-"

"Good morning sir. If you'll just follow me this way."

Grayson turned around to find the manager of the hotel, the one Grayson knew very well, glaring at the receptionist before leading Grayson away.

It was a few long minutes before Grayson reached the top floor, and, his heart beating in his throat and blood rushing in his ears, he reached out to tap the card in his hand to the door.

He found what he wished he hadn't inside.

Four pairs of eyes staring straight at him in horror.

One of them Y/n.

The other three pair of them?

His brothers.

Mine taglist: @aaronwarnerobsessedmylove @blocked-zombieartist @lillycore @lanterns-and-daydreams @bubybubsters @berryzxx @riddlesb1tch

#grayson hawthorne x reader #grayson hawthorne #the inheritance games #tig fanfic #tig x reader #grayson x y/n #grayson hawthorne fluff #grayson x reader #grayson hawthorne x you #grayson hawthorne x reader angst

[cassiachales]

Journal Entry Four [[And Grayson Hawthorne’s Lips] Yes, His Lips]

note: still can't belive the amount of love this silly little self-indulgent fanfic is getting. y'all are the reason i write <33 this chapter is also *slightly* longer than the others taglist: @f4iry-bell, @never-enough-novels, @reminiscentreader, @dahliawarner, @lanterns-and-daydreams

Saturday– It’s been four days since I last saw the reason I bought this journal. Xander’s been demanding to know what happened on Wednesday, and though I really want to tell him, I want to keep that moment to myself. A secret between me and a certain Hawthorne. I’m busy wondering what we are. Acquaintances? Friends? Something with bigger feelings? I don’t know and that keeps scaring me. ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Sometimes, you wish you didn’t like guys who wear suits and have dry conversations.

But you can’t help it. 

Xander’s on the floor, his hand on his forehead. “Why didn’t the pebble work?”

“Wait, so you were the one who put the pebble there?”

“I thought it would work.” He moans. “It should’ve worked.”

You don’t tell him about how Grayson’s fingers were on your waist and how they still left a phantom touch.

You don’t tell Xander about what Grayson said.

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── “How do you do this to me?” ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

And you can’t get his voice out of your head. Low and seductive and you can still feel the featherlight touch of his lips at the curve of your ear.

Grayson’s been ignoring you. When you arrived at Hawthorne House that morning, you’d seen him.

You’d almost said hi when he brushed past you as though he didn’t know you, and Xander had seen it.

“Someone give that guy a dose of happiness.” Jameson had said, his hands around Avery’s shoulders. 

And now, Xander was busy moping about how his attempts to set the two of you up had failed miserably.

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── He asks me that question as though I know the answer.  The only answer I want to ask is: HOW DOES HE MAKE ME WANT HIM?? Yes, he’s attractive. Yes, he’s absolutely amazing. And yes, I might be a little bit in love with him. ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

You get up from the floor, patting Xander’s head. “I’m gonna go get you a drink.”

He groans. “I hate drinking.”

“You definitely look like you need one.”

“I do, actually.” Then he perks up, as though there’s another idea in his head.

“Xander, don’t you dare–”

“Grayson’s office has the best scotch and wine.” He begins, ignoring you. 

“I am not getting whiskey from his office.”

“Oh, you definitely are.”

“I am not.”

“Do you want a chance with him or not?”

Obviously, you do. But that doesn’t mean you’re going to go to Grayson Hawthorne’s office and get a drink from there.

“You are going to go get your own drink.” You say, crossing your arms. “I am not going to go into that prick’s office.”

“Gotta love how he developed from being a hot guy to a hot prick in your eyes.”

“Who said I still find him hot?”

You didn’t care if people called you petty. If Grayson would ignore you, you would ignore him.

Simple.

Xander gets up, nudging your side. “At least get the whiskey.”

“You’re a drunkard.”

He shrugs. 

You sigh.

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── I am definitely the dumbest person on the planet for actually going to the office and getting the whiskey. ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

You walk down the corridors and go up staircases before you find his office.

You knock.

“Come in.” He says, and his voice sounds as though he’s half asleep.

You can’t help but wonder when, exactly, he’d actually slept through the night.

Opening the door, you step in, and when his eyes meet yours, they’re in surprise. 

He says your name.

And god, you love the way your name rolls off of his tongue.

“You’ve been ignoring me.” You whisper. You didn’t mean to talk to him about that, but the words escape you.

“Not on purpose.” He whispers back, getting up from his chair. The desk is littered with papers and he looked half-buried in them.

“It seemed like that when you just walked by me like I was nothing.”

“You could never be nothing, Not to me.” He says, and he walks towards you before his back straightens and he looks away.

Until then, until he looked away, you’d believed you could have actually been something to him.

Now?

You feel as though someone is going to take a hammer to your heart.

“How dare you say I could never be nothing and then look away? How dare you play with my heart?” You say. You’re fuming, you can’t believe that you were falling for a man like him.

Until you see him quiver. His eyes are mad and his whole body is shaking, like he wants to say something but the words just won’t come out.

He walks to you, your chests almost touching.

His hands are quivering when they’re on your arms, touching you with a featherlight touch, as though he can’t quite believe you’re real.

“Why can’t I think straight when you’re with me?” And then he says your name, and you’re falling.

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── He looked at me like I was the only person alive. Like I was the reason his heart was beating. ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

“Whenever I look at you, I cannot think. Whenever I see you smile or laugh, I feel the sudden urge to join you. Whenever I hear your voice, I feel like I am a damned man and you are my only chance at salvation. How? How do you have such an effect on me? Why is it that you are the only person who crowds my mind? Why can't I help but want to be with you? Why do I want you? 

I don’t know. I don’t know why–or how–you consume my thoughts. I have never been able to give my heart but to you? When I am with you, I want to give you all of me. I’ve never been so unsure of my feelings, and then you came along.

I think I love you. I think I am hopelessly in love with you.” Your name rushes from his lips like it’s a prayer.

You can’t breathe.

His lips are nearing yours, and then they stop when they’re a finger’s breadth away. 

“I’m afraid that if I kiss you now, I’ll never feel like stopping.” He says, his voice in a low whisper. “But I’m also afraid that if I do not kiss you now, I’ll never be able to think of anything else.”

For two seconds, the two of you stay still.

Then: “Can I?”

The barest of nods.

His lips are on yours and you feel like you’re on fire.

── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ── Oh, no, I’m not writing the rest of it down. I’m afraid someone will find this and read this journal and just because of that, I am not writing anymore. But I will say this: his lips are extremely soft and his kiss is like a secret that he never wishes to give away. ── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ──

Journal Entry Three

#grayson hawthorne #grayson hawthorne x reader #au #avery kylie grambs #jameson hawthorne #xander hawthorne #the inheritance games #x reader #fanfic

[1moreff-creator]

Okay I noticed this recently and it's been bugging me. It's nothing important, but it's slightly inconveniencing me.

So you know the list of favorite and least favorite colors the dev gave us in the latest Q&A?

(Order: Teruko - Charles - Whit - Rose - Arturo - Levi - Eden - J - Hu - Nico - Ace - Arei - Min - Xander - Veronika - David)

Well, turns out the characters are actually listed in the order their quotes appear in the source code of Mai's page (and allow me to momentarily ignore the implication that this order has not been forgotten and is therefore important to an extent):

(The order I'm referring to is Teruko - Charles - Rose - Arturo - Levi - Whit - Eden - J - Hu - Nico - Ace - Arei - Min - Xander - Veronika - David - MonoTV)

Except, for some ungodly reason, Whit. Who has moved from in between Levi and Eden, all the way to right after Charles.

Why? Why would dev do this? To annoy me, personally?

Am I supposed to assume Whit has the power to change text from beyond the fourth wall, and he uses this universe-shattering power just so his name can be closer to Charles? Cause he likes him? Is this the power of the Ultimate Matchmaker at play? Is he a Monika DDLC kinnie? What is this?

This also happens for the ice cream flavors btw, except here Ace is also somewhere else. But at least he has the excuse that he didn't say an ice cream, so it's at the bottom for comedic effect.

This implies the Mai Akasaki order can be broken for at least two reasons:

To further the Charwhit agenda.

To dunk on Ace Markey.

Why though.

#drdt #danganronpa despair time #shitpost #this is what happens when you look at these fucking lists so much #you start seeing whit young in the fucking walls #send help /lighthearted

[anderscim]

✦ i did make an insane reach, but not about what i expected

(for your information, this is not about the Elliot Cuevas MV that was recently released. this is actually about something else.)

// DRDT spoilers up until ch2 + spoilers for the Literature Girl Insane MV

i guess i’ll just get straight to the point.

admittedly, i have no idea as to how to crack the number code / footnote #14 at the end of the Literature Girl Insane MV. i think i delved a bit too deep into the mathematics and tried to find some sort of symbolism in the numbers, before realizing i was going nowhere with it. if anyone does solve it, however, let me know. (￣^￣)ゞ

but i did make a couple of observations about the specific text shown during that portion. about a week ago i found something that could be a hint regarding what the text is about—and if it holds any ground, a possible clue to a certain character’s past before the killing game.

(take this theory with a huge mountain of salt)

———

there’s nowhere i can really start from, so i guess i’ll begin by talking about one of my observations.

this screen. this specific frame may not look like anything important, but out of curiosity i decided to count the number of question marks on this screen. there’s 32 in total—16 question marks for each row.

other than it being a factor of 256 (16x16), there’s something else that’s also linked to the number. the number of students (total) that participated in the killing games. every killing game has a total of 16 students, at least when it comes to the official series. and with the assumption that DRV3 is a killing game that takes place entirely separate from the other two—this means that Hope’s Peak Academy is associated with two past killing games, which combined, involved a total of 32 students.

aside from that, the footnote “256 words” seems to connect to one of Karasuyasabou’s other songs known as “Jabberwocky Jabberwocka”—and funnily enough, Jabberwocky Island is where the second killing game (SDRA2) takes place. it seems to be too much of a coincidence to brush over.

however, we know that this part of Hope’s Peak Academy’s history has been covered up—so only few have any access to information about it. there’s even direct dialogue that supports this fact; most characters in Despair Time have no knowledge of the previous killing games.

(this does raise questions as to why Teruko has any knowledge of the previous killing games—but i don’t think we’ll be able to answer those for a while as it seems to be a major part of her character.)

in that case, why this number? (here’s where the insane reaches begin. get ready.)

if we go back to the LGI MV, there seems to be an indication that this specific code is linked to a character—which is seen by this frame here.

the roman numerals that appear throughout the MV are linked to a crossword that appears earlier in the music video—and this number (I) is specifically linked to Xander, as seen by the solution to this puzzle by @/raspbeyes here. since the code, the ampersand, the equal sign, and the question marks that follow are all in the same font, color, and transparency (as well as general format), we could also say that the text that appears during this portion is linked to Xander.

as inferred from this theory by @/1moreff-creator, it’s likely that Xander (along with Mai) was heavily involved in a (secretive?) operation or at least some sort of research involving Hope’s Peak Academy. the bonus episodes that released in between chapters 1 & 2 seem to hint at these efforts as well:

and as far as we have inferred, this project proved to be an incredible risk—leading to not only Mai’s death, not only the new killing game, but also the memories of the remaining Hope’s Peak Academy students being reset to when they were first heading to the orientation ceremony. someone was adamant about covering everything up and leaving nothing behind, but Xander and Mai’s project shattered those efforts, if only for a brief moment. but, how exactly does this relate to the LGI MV? if the dev intentionally placed 32 question marks—one for each participant of the past Hope’s Peak Academy killing games—during a frame associated with Xander, then there’s a possibility that said past killing games are also associated with Xander one way or another. and the fact that this was deliberately placed where a numerical code (possibly related to a message) appears, it’s likely that by extension the message is linked to that association as well.

putting all of this together: the question marks from the LGI MV may contain a very specific clue about the numeric code associated with footnote 14—but not how to solve it, rather what the decoded message is actually about. or, if i can word this better, Xander and Mai’s “discovery” regarding Hope’s Peak Academy was about the killing games that took place there, and the message associated with Xander in footnote #14 will be one that talks about this discovery more in detail. if the information Xander and Mai uncovered was actually about these killing games, i think the reason why it was so risky would make sense—coupled with the fact that the Academy seems adamant about covering up that part of history. though this doesn’t actually provide any proper information as to how to solve the code—and i’m sure there’s a much simpler explanation for the question marks during that specific screen in the LGI MV—i think these observations were at least worth sharing.

as always, take this theory with a huge mountain of salt. and i mean, huge. (- -;)

#bagel’s train of thought #drdt #danganronpa despair time #despair time #fangan #fanganronpa #xander matthews #but yes. the most insane reach i’ve ever made. behold. ٩(^‿^)۶ #you see me making an entire theory based on the number of characters on one frame. you know how far gone i am.

[anonymous-eggy]

Quest with an artist Mc

bc i cant stop thinking ab himb....

i wrote this very impulsively so. yeah. theres a bit of horny towards the end, but theres also fluffy sweet things

• he learns of you being an artist when you find the time to create bloomic fanart.

• and you got endless showers of praise from him on how good it was (especially if the fanart included Xander)

• he just thinks its so neat. his artistic expression of choice is poetry, so he's not much of an artist when it comes to drawing.

• he can draw some basic flowers, but thats where his talents end.

• no matter your usual art media, buy gold (body safe) paint and paint his scars. kind of like how you paint the cracks of repaired pottery and such? except make it a vulnerable bonding experience.

• he has many scars all around his body from past accidents and gang related violence.

• i feel like he gets really insecure about them sometimes and worries theyll make you think too much about his past

• but seeing you turn them into something golden and beautiful with such ease and affection... gives him a new appreciation for those parts of him.

• he loves it even more when you connect nearby scars like intricate rivers of gold flowing across his body.

• make sure you fill the comfortable silence with lovely soft words of affirmation and kisses every now and then for the best results.

• absolutely call him your golden boy.

• the only issue is that he feels really bad for having to eventually wash them off.

• so take pictures and send them to him for just you two to hold onto ;)

• despite feeling bad about washing them off, he always feels so much better about his scars and body.

• and let him know this is exactly how you see his scars <3

• i feel like during times when you're not able to paint on him because of a late shift or something, he just looks back at the pictures and replays the soft memories for comfort.

• this is more towards the beginning of your relationship with him, when his insecurities about his past bothering you were the worst

• moving on from that, he is the perfect man to reference.

• he would find it so very funny if you ever complained about parts of him that are hard to draw.

• i could imagine just sitting there watching him work out and just... drawing the way his muscles flex and the way his body bends... dear lord those thighs...

• when you first did this, he immediately noticed. he didnt quite have the courage to ask if you were drawing him (after all, forms of art are very personal things)

• but when he sees you're staring at the sketchbook page more than him, he decides to take a break and ask you.

• not because he's getting jealous of the notebook. hes not a jealous person. the curiosity just takes over because the stares mean you're stuck on smthn or you're finished.

• and boy is he beyond flattered. flustered even.

• he's never really... thought much about himself. physically and mentally. so the fact that he's worth being sketched touches his very soul.

• if you're the type of artist who loves gushing over defined shapes and begin to ramble about the shapes that you love about him, his cheeks will be red and he will patiently listen to every word you have to say.

• as weird as it is to listen to someone describe his physical features with such passion, there's something special about the way you talk about it.

• especially if you suddenly realize what you're saying and get flustered.

• he likes feeling like art when its you. he loves the way you map out his body and turn the shapes of him into strokes of graphite poetry.

• .... he wouldnt mind if you drew him suggestively as well... so long as its for your eyes and his eyes only...

• of course there would be teasing about just how much you seem to adore his body, but never in a way that deters you from sketching him more.

• which, knowing Quest, his teasing quickly veers into horny territory. at the very least deep kisses.

• he says he just want to "give you more inspiration" and that "its his job as your muse"

• he definitely develops a fixation on your hands specifically. the way your hands trace his body delicately as if trying to memorize every line of him while making out with him on his lap.

• it absolutely drives him insane.

• the way his large hands encircle your wrist while his fingers press on your palms in bed. or when his fingers tangle with yours. and he can see you looking at it. memorizing every moment of it. of him. of the emotions tied to the image.

• that part he loves the most about your art. the pure emotion of it captured so perfectly

• oh yeah it definitely awakens something in him. especially if he finds you sketching those the next day peacfully at your desk.

• honestly i think you being an artist just changes the way he sees things. in the best of ways.

• he also finds himself massaging your hands absent mindedly while cuddling. and softly kissing them... they work so hard and he wants to take care of them for you.

• he is just so very happy to be your favorite muse.

~sigh. time to make a Blooming Panic section on my masterlist...

#i have big quest brainrot #he's so pretty and lovely #bloomic #blooming panic #blooming panic quest #bp quest #blooming panic headcanon #bloomic headcanon #quest

[x-liv25-jamieswife]

A head cannon where Grayson gets kidnapped

of course! i'll do it in a similar format as my 'if *insert name* died' posts because i think it makes more sense. wrote this late at night so may be shitty. hope you like them <3.

avery

she'd be one of the people in charge of finding him. she'd be running around looking for clues. she'd think a missing toothbrush was a clue bc she'd be so desperate.

she'd try to keep xander sane because he'd be freaking out in the corner. she'd be patting his head telling him his brother wasn't being forced into selling his suits (his pride and joy) (yes, xander thinks this would happen)

she'd be so anxious she's start biting her nails until they bleed. at the end of the day, she'd end up with bandages around her hands bc of it.

she'd be really impatient with everybody. if they didn't work fast enough for her taste, she's start screaming at them to go faster.

jameson

he'd be sad but find it hilarious at the same time bc big old grayson who never makes mistakes got kidnapped

he'd think of it as a game to distract himself from the fact that his brother might be dead in a ditch.

he'd secretly be crying with xander in the corner (he wouldn't let anyone know though)

when they find the guy who kidnapped grayson, he gives him a good beating before they take him to jail. he beats him up so bad, he almost ends up have to pay a fine.

xander

like i said, he'd be crying in the corner thinking of the worst case scenario. he'd be imagining grayson being hung by his balls and would start crying even more.

he'd start saying the craziest shit. the others would try to find clues as to where he is, and xander would just be like what if they're shaving his beautiful hair off to create a rug.

he'd be organizing his funeral before even finding grayson. he'd be crying asking everyone what flowers they think grayson would like best at his funeral.

when they finally find grayson, he'd act like he didn't go through the 5 stages of grief. he'd pretend to be the one who was least affected by all of it.

nash

he'd be the first one in the car heading off to look for him. he wouldn't give a damn about clues.

he'd have to lock himself in a room to have a mini panic attack cause he doesn't want to let anyone see

he'd be taking care of everyone. xander would be hyperventilating in the corner and he'd go sit next to him telling him to breathe with him. gigi would end up fainting and he'd end up splashing water on her etc.

when they finally find grayson, he'd wrestle his ass cause we know damn well grayson got himself kidnapped in someone else's pace.

alisa

she'd be the one who's most sane. she would tell everyone to calm down and look at the situation from another angle or smth like that

she'd be the one doing all the important calls and sending the emails.

at the same time, she'd be really worried so she's be rushing the police and investigators to go quicker.

she'd also be making sure everyone ate and drank water to make sure no one ended up fainting or smth (gigi still ended up fainting though)

libby

she'd bake cupcakes for everyone to cheer them up.

she'd be holding avery or nash in her arms trying to get them to calm down (nash might not seem like he's freaking out, but he is)

alisa would be so rough with the police officers and investigators that libby would rush in apologizing for alisa's behavior.

max

she's trying to comfort xander but is failing miserably at it because he's wailing like a 2 year old.

she'd be having a midlife crisis wondering how the hell they even got into this situation

she'd actually swear (not her fake swear words) and people would all turn around to look at her simultaneously as if she'd just announced she was pregnant with the rock's baby

gigi

like i said, she would most definitely faint. she's get so nervous, she'd start having a panic attack, and then she'd faint.

she'd basically be like xander. she'd come up with the worse case scenarios in her head, but those worst case scenarios actually ended up being quite funny (like grayson being forced to walk around looking like elmo)

she'd be relying on coffee to keep her alive. by the end of the day, she'd have had like 20 cups of coffee.

when they finally found grayson, she'd punish him by buying him a box full of cats.

savannah

she'd pretend like the whole situation wasn't affecting her but it was.

she'd be panicking, cursing grayson out because gigi passed out (she won't admit it but she felt bad cursing him out bc she loves him)

she'd be looking at the others thinking about how crazy they are. she'd be texting her mom exasperated asking her how she even got into this situation

when they finally find grayson, she smacks his head and then gives him a very quick mini kiss on the cheek bc she's relieved to see him

that's all! hope you like them. i have a ton of other head canons requests i have to work on, so these next hcs posts may be a bit rushed. i apologize if they're not as good.

#the inheritance games #jameson hawthorne #grayson hawthorne #avery grambs #nash hawthorne #xander hawthorne #libby grambs #alisa ortega #savannah grayson #gigi grayson