#but in my defense there were no subs so i was relying on my hearing and english isn't my first language ok <3

[kicktwine]

do you have more thoughts on keyblade fighting that you need to put somewhere, because i have two hands ready to catch Should The Need Arise

anon: hey I heard you mention you’d analysed the combat styles in KH and what you said in the tags was already alluding to really neat stuff, but I for one would love to hear more of what you came up with!! so if you ever wanted to share any of your analysis then the floor is yours

aHAH, MY EXCUSE!!

Okay, so first some words on “standardized wielding styles”. These are styles shared by Terra, Aqua, Vanitas, Riku, and Xehanort and every other scala and daybreak kid. I will make the argument that the red style is the fanciest standard style, while the purple is seen often to make it easier on the little chibi sprites. BUT, I cannot discredit Eraqus, who uses the purple variant in bbs, nor can I discredit half of the Foretellers (Gula and Ava, at least, use this. Invi and Aced use the first type). So, two standard styles. For simplicity, let’s say one for primary offense, one for primary defense. The standard offensive style really wasn’t popular before Scala-era society.

check this difference out, specifically between ava invi and gula:

then between eraqus, hermod, and xehanort, and eraqus and terra.

These two were likely popularized and standardized for education in Scala ad Caelum for their predominant lack of obvious weak spots.

After this, we have unique styles. Those include Sora Kairi and Xion’s (similar to standard defense, but more mobile at the expense of form — Kairi takes after Sora but less confident, she hasn’t been hit that heavily yet), Ven’s (backhand, heavy range and mobility), Roxas’ (modified for two keyblades, but takes after Sora), and Axel’s (taught himself, comfortable with chakrams).

So! Let’s go.

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Standard (offensive)

All styles have sub-variations, of a sense. Different wielders can choose where their keyblade points, and how they hold it exactly, based on what makes them most comfortable. Terra and Aqua point theirs downward, while Vanitas and Riku hold theirs above their head. What is recognizeable to this style is a hand for the sword, and a hand for guarding/blocking/items/magic.

It’s incredibly efficient. With only one hand on the weapon, you not only free up a hand for other things, but increase your range of movement with said weapon. Test it out yourself! The keyblade hand is always your dominant hand, held behind you for increased power when attacking (since you lose a significant amount of it by choosing not to grip with both hands). This style also decreases the speed of the defense you have, but with that increased mobility and swing power, along with a hand free to brace against the keyblade (defense strength up!), it makes up for it. Many people who use this also have strong barrier spells — both a testament to their preference for coverage and an acknowledgement that any directional block will take a little longer and be weaker if they try it with one hand.

The pointy end, though. What difference does it actually make, the height it’s at?

I think it’s half a matter of attack style preference and half intention. Riku, Vanitas, and Xehanort stab quite a bit. Aqua and Terra slice more. Not that they don’t do both, but it’s the first instinct. Aqua and Terra are also likely taught to hold their keyblade neutrally, in a safe position, until someone starts attacking. It’s polite! Eraqus also holds his one-handed, neutrally, until he gets into position. Riku and Vanitas learned to fight assuming everyone was out to fight them. Invi and Aced may like this style because of range (i hc she’s blind and strikes very very quickly, and he’s already very powerful with just the one arm and wants better motion).

and on character specifics: Terra often switches to two-handed, to copy his dad and add extra power to his hits without always sacrificing the empty hand. Vanitas likely was forced to relearn how to fight, as instead of solely being trained to be better at withstanding, he was constantly being made to better his own attacks. The moves Xehanort uses would best be replicated in the same style. Vanitas is wild for holding the massive spiky x-blade like that.

Now, what‘s good on this style does not correlate to what’s bad in the other. The two standard styles simply have different ways of dealing with each con they create or taking advantage of each pro.

(Here’s an interesting side note — Gula uses standard defensive, but in this instance, swaps. One hand… likely to display confidence! Wrong move, but hey. He got cocky. He’s also doing it wrong, and swaps back to two-handed to take Aced’s attack.)

.

Standard (defensive)

The main detriment of this style is the lack of ease of long range movement. Hold a wrapping paper tube out in front of you with both hands, then run. It goes to the side, or tucks in to your stomach, right? Dodge. Your legs will get in the way unless you know where to move that sword. It requires, interestingly, a little more discipline. You’d think Aqua would like that, but no, she wants movement and practicality, and she loves magic, and remember that you must take a hand off this style to grab a potion. You’d think young Eraqus wouldn’t, but remember that he’s a fancy royal lad.

The main draw, though, is tankiness, readiness, and power. You don’t need to move as much if nothing dares hit you! Ava and Gula might be attracted to this style because they’re not as physically strong, but want protection in close-quarters fighting. Using this style when your muscles aren’t as big but you still want to Hit Things Good, or when you want to be a boy you can’t knock over with a pail of water (horse stance rules), is probably solid advice.

Traditionally, this is a lot less like fencing, and a lot more like a samurai sword or kendo. Your blade is held in front of you, giving you very easy access to blocks and frontal attack/defense. In losing some twirly spinniness, you gain power and minimize your opponent’s ability to parry and block.

you gotta dodge master Eraqus so mcuh

All styles will swap between one and two hands for different moves. Eraqus, notably, swaps to a stance very similar to Xehanort when channeling a metric ton of magic.

Both of these styles require a degree of upper body/core strength, as does all swordfighting. I would be interested to see someone whose keyblade style relies on leg strength.

.

Sora, Xion, and Kairi

please look at the difference between the foretellers’ or eraqus’ two-handed grip and Sora’s. Do this with your shoulders and a top-heavy object.

They’re both in a hard stance, but hon. What are you, a gremlin? Anyways, a traditionally taught master would have… better form, even if it’s harder to learn at first. It’s habitual. Sora nearly crouches, and holds his keyblade back-pointed with two hands, which makes it easier for him to dodge roll, push off his feet quickly, and pull off those spinning combos he loves. It‘s really gonna hurt his muscles, in the future, though, since he’s doing a squat for like…. hours. Pulling on those shoulderblades and neck. Xion, too. Replicas had better have correct muscle dynamics. Kairi is brand new, so… maybe Aqua can teach her how to hold a sword so it doesnt hurt you.

Okay, now look at the grip itself. Held in front versus held to the side-back. They’re really attempting to combine both standard styles subconsciously, giving themselves more attack power while really wanting to keep that hard defensive parry, wanting to prevent all attacks to the front while also wanting mobility. It’s working for them really well, they fight like an anime character, and manage to get the best of both, with a minor sacrifice of length range that they don’t care about. We’re flexible and full of magic, baby! Holding the blade like this makes it pretty easy to let go with one hand without sacrificing that crouched defense position.

Now, Sora, specifically, is very adaptive. He’s had two keyblades, claws, guns, yo-yos, and a giant shield, to name a couple. He retains a bit of that alert crouch no matter where he goes, but Sora knows how he wants to attack and how to balance that with the most effective way to use his current weapon. He’s a smart kid! Sora has the most ridiculous shotlocks, which are also probably due to not always wanting to go standard for it. He also prefers to keep his focus on the enemy, which is evident in his reprisals and lack of very many effective “escape” moves.

Xion is very similar to Sora, but she does have some moves that are all movement. She switches to one handed for strikes a lot — using two for defending, one for smacking. In her data battle I’d swear some of those heavy hits are claymore-like. But anyways, since we’re magic, Xion cares not for the laws of exhaustion, and will ping about as a ball of light everywhere. Short range? Up in your business. Mid-range? In your business with one hand. Long range? Throws a boomerang. Hit her? No you dont. Ball of light. She’s above you and wants to bash your head in. (Vanitas also does this! A lot. It’s an easy way to catch someone off-guard. I’ll argue that the soras are very tough and strong, but not tanky. they want to avoid being hit a lot)

Another interesting note about Kairi. I say “unconfident” not because she doesn’t hit hard, but because her stance is also often tilted back, ready to dodge. It’s two handed, but almost all her moves are one. She does love spinning and throwing the thing! It looks like she’s been taking notes from the wielders she knows. It would be easy to teach her a standard style, I think. See here, she lets go on the strike, and by trying to do both, actually ends up with an advantage (being confusing) and disadvantage (losing both the power of two handed and versatility of one handed).

A counter to Sora and Xion is difficult to pin down. Time? Probably. Lack of heating pads. Something that takes all their attention is about the only way to get a sneak attack in, and then you have to hit hard. A counter to Kairi would be anyone who can knock her off balance. She needs a sturdier stance. .

Roxas

Roxas is interesting. He takes after Sora for the one blade. Wielding two, however, nets him a totally different way of fighting. Roxas’ clavicle muscles n… deltoids and stuff must be Ironclad. Also, two handed means you are very fast and sharp all the time. He has the advantage of standard defense (horse stance), and the advantage of offense (range of one sword, but twice).

Roxas generally attacks in two ways — simultaneous hits, and follow-up hits. Either he hits with both at once, or hits hard with the first one, and adds the second one as a bonus smack. He can attack by hitting in opposite directions with the two, like a drum, but that will be a little awkward and leave him prone to being tangled. That established, the follow-up hit method means he spins a bunch. As do we all.

Roxas gets a little complicated because we are not in the real world. We have magic and turning into light and physics that let you become a circular saw. So, typically, disadvantages would include: being unable to let go of a weapon to grab something or use an item, having just a very big silhouette to attack on, having difficulty with close-range attacks because Oathkeeper and Oblivion are kinda long, and convenience. Roxas gets to dodge #1 (keyblades can be unsummoned) and #4 (keyblades can be unsummoned). Speaking of dodging, he also gets to skirt the difficulty of dodging and rolling with two swords because he turns into a beam of light. But he can’t dodge how difficult it is to use two swords effectively — he needs to concentrate on fighting, and nothing else, or he risks messing up. He has to be very, very coordinated, and undistracted. Luckily he’s pretty good at making his opponents shut up, most of the time. Blocking is another thing — theoretically his blocks could be strong, but Roxas has no real brace: crossing your blades and taking a hefty stab might smack one of them back into your face. He mostly uses reversals and dodges, because of this.

The takeaway to this is Roxas is built for speed and power, and he is very strong. He’s a mid- to far- range fighter who if you’re not careful can snap you in half if you’re too close (be SO careful of that cross blade scissor).

A perfect counter to Roxas would be a tank that can grapple, and also be very distracting. If you can take hits, be talkative, and get close enough to stop his blades, you have a chance.

.

Ventus

This is a bizarre choice, my guy, but I get it.

Backhanded weapons are very impractical for a lot of... attacking, mainly in mid-range combat, and Ven likes to either fight very close or throw the keyblade like a boomerang (and hey, backhand gives it a good whip for throwing). His attacks aren’t meant to one hit KO, but they do come with a bit of power to them, especially on the backslash. Like holding a knife for gouging. It’s for very close defense — pretty good when Wayward Wind and Missing Ache have hooks.

Backhand also, while retaining that empty hand for potions and guarding, gives you an extreme coverage boost. By which I mean Ven’s sword hand now has a nearly 270 degree sweep of “I see you, don’t touch me”, very quickly, based on just flicking his wrist. It sacrifices a ton of strength/sturdiness, but you don’t need that if you’re dodging. You also don’t really need to block, which is slower, but relatively sturdy when Ven does it, as he blocks with mostly the chunky hilt between crossed arms. He sacrifices (again) a bit of strength for coverage — an attack would hurt his arms, not his chest, if he were hit head-on.

His attacks often have him flip the blade around in his hand, too. Quick swaps between standard moves and backhand ones. Basically, Ventus is built for moving, protecting himself, and quick attacks that wear down the enemy, not outclass it. Likely because he’s good at fighting, but everyone he’s fought hits harder than he can! It doesn’t matter how he holds it, getting hit will hurt. So he just. Doesn’t. He’s not a buff little guy — but he is a persistent one. Ven very likely made this up on his own, in Daybreak, and it was too hard to fix his whole style, but it was enough to correct most of his form so he doesn’t hurt himself too much. He is going to have to really stretch that shoulder and wrist (maybe get a brace), though. At least his neck is ok. … not sure about his knees tho dang boy that crouch

A perfect counter to Ven would be someone big and fast, who hits hard mid-range. He’s already been sparring with Terra, though, so when in doubt, try scruffing him?

.

Axel

Theres not a ton to say about him — he‘s not a swordfighter. He uses his keyblade like it’s a frisbee. Because that’s what he’s used to! His neutral is behind his back on his shoulder, which is terrible for readiness, but okay for chucking the thing. It’s good it has a sort of… ripstik like… boomerang quality.

Axel’s fighting style is completely made up, like most of the self-taught wielders’. His strengths lie in some of the benefits of standard offensive style (one-handed), and some of the same coverage stuff as Ven, having a cocked wrist most of the time so no one can sneak up around him without risking getting whacked very quickly, and having an interesting range due to the pointy end being basically on a spinny swivel wherever his hand moves. He’s not going to be good at close-range and he knows it — his attacks are mostly distance. And the guy has ZERO defense, combined with zero coverage when idle, so it’s for the better.

Distance-wise, though, he rocks. Treating the blade like it’s a flaming throwing weapon means his idle is actually great for sudden flick-tossing and attention-guiding for sneakier attacks, and his stance itself (…nonexistent) serves a different purpose: bait. Basically a big "come hit me". Fun, when you have a lot of fire magic and two friends who are beasts and love to take advantage of a distracted enemy — distance on the blade, proximity on the burning.

A perfect counter to Axel would be someone pinging around very close <—> very far and circling him incessantly. Like, data Xion could wreck him, as he has to wait for the boomerang to come back -- he no longer has two spinny wheels. Also someone with water magic.

.

SO! In conclusion! Having a teacher who teaches you correct sword usage rather than instinct may detract from overspecific styles that benefit you most but leave weak spots, but your muscles and your oversights will thank you. Everyone is glad we have the power of the Mouse and anime on our side.

Keep in mind again that I have done cursory research, and have had minimal actual sword instruction, I am not an expert and this is all for fun anyways :]

#I ran out of images which is homophobic #KH #ask #mojimallow #THANKS MOJI #If you’re wondering what the counter would be to Terra and Aqua; in terms of counters there are no counters #not style-wise anyways. That’s why they’re standard. #Terra can’t react very fast and Aqua needs more mp but that’s individual #and we are mostly talking BASE COMBAT here #of course lingering will can use keyblade transformations and there’s magic strategies — but that would make this post… much longer #brrrrrrr #kh analysis #kh meta #thanks to the handful of other people who asked me to expand on the same thing <3<3<3 #REALLY wanted to include one of Invi blocking — just go watch invi and aced fight for two standard offense #it Shows off their strengths and weaknesses #… no living adults do the two handed grip. Watch Sora and Xion’s data battle for an approximation I guess?? #you. Hey you. Look in the notes rn #metazone

[voiceswithoutlips]

Calico - Chapter One

— pairing: Hybrid ot7 x Human Reader (Female) — genre: hybrid AU , fluff, angst, slow burn (like real slow), eventual smut — word count: 1.8K — Rating: M — warnings: trauma, mention of past abuse. 

Click for Tag List

— chapter summary: 

Y/N runs a animal shelter, Calico was built on a simple principle, to help those who were in need. What will Y/N do when her sanctuary is threatened by an unexpected hybrid?

— A/N: This is going to be a series, I’m just getting back to writing, so I’d really appreciate your input and feedback <3

Ch. 2 Ch. 3 Ch. 3.5 Ch. 4 Ch. 5 Ch. 6

“So do you like your new puppy?” I asked the little girl that was trying to hold a squirming golden retriever pup. She frantically nodded her head. How cute!

“Congratulations on the new addition to your family! We’ll send someone for an inspection soon but I don't see how there can be any problems,” I reassured the parents. They were proudly beaming at their daughter, I doubt they even heard what you said. 

“I’m going to name him Bubbles!” Sana squeaked excitedly as the family left with their new pet. I suppressed a giggle, I was a sucker for cuteness. 

Seeing one of our animals get adopted was the best feeling in the world. Running a shelter was not the easiest thing in the world, grumpy animals, grumpy humans and an abundance of body fluids to clean up but it was rewarding. Calico was a no-kill shelter, a privately owned animal shelter. The upside was that we didn’t have to rely on the government for funding, the downside was the paperwork. Every animal that came to the shelter had to be meticulously checked and catalogued. 

The legalities were another headache. Most animals that came to Calico were rescues. We worked with several animal rights organizations that collected evidence and built cases against the owners. Sometimes we got rescues that weren’t exactly legal so we had to get the evidence and build the case ourselves. That’s why Calico had Song Hwa, a badass lawyer. She was just five feet tall but she could stare down men twice her size. 

“One down, two to go,” Jason said as he plopped down on the couch in your office. He was the head veterinarian at Calico, overseeing the health of the animals. He was also my best friend. 

“We have three potential families visiting tomorrow. How’s Hector doing?” I asked as I stretched in your chair. 

“He’s good but I’m still against the name Hector. He looks more like a Raphael,” Jason said with a frown. Last week one of our animal handlers Shownu found a box near the shelter’s gate. There was a small turtle in it, the poor thing was injured. Jason had to amputate his left hind leg because it was infected. 

“I’m not naming him after a mutant turtle. He’s a one legged turtle from the sea, he’s a pirate and nothing you say will change my mind,” I had named him after Hector Barbosa from Pirates of the Carribean movies after I won the rock paper scissors tournament against Jason. 

“Dorks,” Hana scoffed from the corner. She was the one who dealt with the potential families, showing them around the shelter, doing background checks and whatnot. I was the one who sealed the deal and dealt with the paperwork. I was terrible at social niceties, somehow I always ended up saying the wrong thing and had the worst timing in the history of humanity. 

Before Jason and I could retaliate Moonji burst through the door. “He’s back, Yonu is here,” he was breathless. He must’ve ran here all the way from the gates. Moonji was the other animal handler, he was a retired botanist with a wife and two daughters. 

We all collectively sighed. Yonu was a proud member of Animal Liberation Front, an extremist group or as the government would like to call them “animal rights terrorists”. Once in a blue moon Yonu would drop by without a warning to drop off rescued lab animals, he had a thing against scientists. The problem was that they were illegally acquired so we had to lie on the paperwork. Every time Yonu visited Calico, it was a stress fest for everyone, well everyone except Yonu. 

I reluctantly made my way to the exam room. Yonu was standing there bickering with Song Hwa with a box of rabbits. 

“We are NOT taking in the rabbits unless you tell us where you got them!” Song Hwa put her foot down. 

“It's classified,” Yonu said with a grin. 

“Then take them back,” Song Hwa was staring daggers at him.

“Yonu, you know we need to clear the legal side of things,” I shook my head, he knew how things worked. Usually he would brag about his conquest, giving us in depth details about his adventures. Sometimes he brought back research and documents for evidence.Something didn’t sit right with me. Where did he get the rabbits? Why wouldn’t he tell us?

“Sorry sugar, can’t share the details this time,” I sighed at his nickname. One day Yonu discovered that I didn’t like sugar in my coffee and he decided to start calling me Sugar. He was one annoying bastard. 

Jason was already weighing the rabbits and taking their temperature. No matter what methods Yonu used to ‘rescue’ the animals, we always took them in. Song Hwa always said I was too soft, she didn’t know how wrong she was.

There were seven rabbits in total. All white with long ears and pink noses. They were unusually small. “Yonu did you kidnap kittens?” I frowned as I leaned in to take a closer look. 

“No they are all adult males,” Jason interjected. He was checking them one by one, taking their blood to run tests, checking their limbs for any injuries, it was a routine procedure. 

“Aren’t they too small?” they were.

“Maybe they are like those toy poodles… toy bunnies?” Song Hwa suggested. It could be or maybe their growth was stunted. Either way, I didn’t like it, something was off about this, I just couldn’t put my finger on it. 

Jason was running blood panels in the lab as I took over the paperwork. The rabbits were safely left in a hatch outside in the garden. Yonu had miraculously disappeared as soon as we turned our backs and I was starting to get a headache. 

The rabbits barely showed any movement when they were being examined. They were practically limp in Jason’s hands. They had clearly been abused. I didn’t like the blank look in their eyes. Most of the time if the animal was scared it’d get defensive and lash out, it was a good sign, it meant that it still had its faculties. These rabbits didn’t make a squeak as they were moved to a new place, it was worrying. I just hoped they weren’t too far gone. 

“We have a problem,” Jason said as soon as I entered the lab. He was sitting in front of the computer, double checking the results. 

“This day just keeps getting better,” I murmured as I leaned in to see what he was looking at. Not that I could make any sense of it. 

“One of the rabbits is a hybrid,” did I hear that right?

“Come again?” did he just say what I thought he said?

“We have a hybrid in our hatch,” my heart sank.

The presence of a hybrid posed a threat to Calico. Not because he was dangerous, but because he was stolen. The laws regarding hybrids were still primitive in most countries. They were basically slaves to the system, regarded as sub-human. Hybrids were considered as property, something to be owned. Rare animal hybrids were highly sought after by the wealthy to show off their status. So technically the rabbit hybrid in our hatch belonged to someone, we had no right to keep him here. If his owner found out, they would sue us. If the government found that we were keeping a stolen hybrid they’d shut us down. 

“Let’s just send him to a hybrid shelter,” Shownu huffed. The staff was gathered in your office for an emergency meeting.

“Most of those shelters have terrible conditions. Why not just keep him here, we have license to house hybrids, it's not that big of a deal,” Jason said. 

“Might I remind you that he is stolen. We can’t keep him here, we have a shelter inspection next week,” Song Hwa frowned. 

Few months ago we had decided to expand Calico to accommodate hybrids too, we had enough room to do so. We had constructed a hybrid “enclosure” as per the government guidelines. They had sent us the requirements. … they wanted us to put people in cages. We all collectively agreed that no hybrid will ever be housed in that place. No matter what anyone said, they were still human. 

“We can’t just abandon him, who knows what those lab people did to him,” Hana retaliated and an argument broke out. I knew they loved this place, they all wanted what’s good for the shelter. This wasn’t this first time we had to lie but having a hybrid was different. None of us had ever dealt with a hybrid before, even if we decided to keep him, what then? But I knew I couldn’t hand him over. Calico was built on a simple principle, to help those who were in need. And that rabbit hybrid needed our help. 

“Enough. We took in the animals that Yonu had brought before because they needed help. We’ve lied on the documents and it’s no different this time. That hybrid needs our help, we just need to come up with a plan,” I passed the verdict. Not everyone liked it but I knew they’d never let me down. 

After the stressful day all I wanted to do was curl up on the couch with Jason and watch TV. Our house was on the edge of the property, secluded in the forest. It was a country cottage with a private garden. YouI stopped by the rabbit hatch on my way back. The poor bunnies were all squished together in a corner, scared of the new environment and the open space outside. 

I couldn’t tell which one was the hybrid as I leaned in to take a look. Looking for him was no use. Maybe talking would work. I sat down beside the hatch with a sigh.

“I know you’re there,” I said quietly. “It must’ve been scary huh? Being taken from the lab. Yonu, the man who brought you here, he’s a good person. He only wanted to help. His methods aren’t always ….well savory but his heart was in the right place. Do you know what this place is? It's called Calico, it's a shelter for animals. We take care of animals who need help and find them a new home. 

“This is my sanctuary. Nobody will hurt you here. You don’t have to be scared. You are safe here, I’m going to keep you safe, okay?” One of the rabbits was looking at me, he quickly ducked his head as he caught my gaze. I smiled, he was listening. 

“You must be hungry huh? Rabbits only get veggies and greens, don’t you want to eat pizza, and ice cream, and pancakes, maybe some sashimi…” I rambled on about food, about Calico and the staff, inside the hatch a bunny was listening intently to my stories. 

Next

#bts #bts ot7 #bts fluff #bts smut #bts x reader #bts x you #hybridbtsnetwork #bcc #btscreatorscorner #thebtswritersclub #bangtaninn #castlebangtan #hybridts #btsfanfiction #ot7 smut #ot7 fluff #jeon jungkook #kim taehyung #park jimin #kim namjoon #jung hoseok #min yoongi #kim seokjin #sssc #calico

[winter-dayz]

We’ll Figure it Out - Part IV

Pairing: Park Jinyoung x Reader College AU Genre: Angst; Fluff; Smut Words: 2473 Warnings: sexual content (dom!jinyoung, sub!reader, grinding, marking, panty stealing, female receiving oral, vaginal fingering, vaginal penetration); strong language

We’ll Figure it Out Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV

Taglist: @soobin-chois​

And so, the avoiding recommenced.

She had enough to deal with at home. Y/N didn’t want more to deal with. She didn’t want to hear Jack teasing her or Jinyoung chastising her for not eating or Gray pointing out obvious, painful sentiments or Mina babying her.

She just wanted to sort out her bills. Pack her boxes. And not feel the crushing weight of reality for five minutes.

Luckily, finals had finished and classes had ended so avoiding her friends—and Jinyoung—was even easier. It was easy to make up excuses to why she couldn’t come out over the winter break, but it was even easier to just ignore the texts and group chats altogether.

Until someone decided that she wasn’t getting out of the New Year’s Eve party so simply and came knocking on her door.

“Hold on!” Y/N yelled, tripping over a semi-empty box in her scramble to make it to the door before the person knocked a third time. She pulled the door open hastily, a bit annoyed with the loud bangs, “What do y– Jinyoung!?” Her eyes widened and she stepped closer, pulling the door closed a bit more. “What are you doing here?” She asked after a breath.

His brows furrowed, “Why have you been ignoring everyone?”

“I’m busy.”

“It’s the break.” He took a step closer to her door, noticing how she had angled her body to not allow him to look in.

It wasn’t the first time he’d been to her apartment. They didn’t live that far from one another, actually, and he’d often met up with her over weekends to study in peace without the others, who were often too unfocused and loud to get any real work done around. So, why she was acting so defensively and closed-off was odd for him.

“It might be the break, but I have shit I need to do, so…” She trailed off. Y/N didn’t exactly want to tell him to leave, but she also didn’t want to have to explain the state of her home to him.

Jinyoung huffed. “So what? Why are you being weird? No one has seen you since our last study group, which I know you left in tears, by the way. And Mina said you were angry, but she wouldn’t tell me why. You were acting odd before that too.”

Her hand dropped the grasp she had to keep the door closed, “I was acting odd?” Y/N sputtered. He was the one who had started to treat her like his girlfriend, while constantly slapping it in her face that she wasn’t.

“Yeah.” He shrugged like it was obvious. When neither spoke, he finally sighed, “So, are you going to let me in or should I just go?”

She rolled her eyes and pushed the door open, allowing him to see the state of her home. Boxes were strewn about, most of them filled, taped shut, and labeled neatly to help the moving company. He wandered in, eyebrows furrowing further in his confusion. All of her large furniture had already been moved to a storage unit so the room was just a matter of finishing some small mementos and taking out the trash.

He turned around to face where she still stood by the door, arms crossed and refusing to make eye contact. “What’s going on?”

Y/N sighed and wandered to the kitchenette. She offered him a bottle of water, to which he refused, and hopped up to sit on the counter. He leaned on the opposite one, waiting patiently for her to finally answer. “One of my loans was called. I had saved some money from my previous job so that I could afford this apartment and food and stuff… But I was relying on the loans to pay for school. With this one being callable, they want me to pay it back by the end of next month. I can’t afford to keep living here, going to school, and do that…”

“So… what? You’re leaving?”

“I have to… yeah. I called my old boss and was able to secure my job again, but that means I have to move back home. I’ll be able to stay with some family there, pay off my loan, and find a new apartment.”

“That job was killing you. You hated it.” Jinyoung argued.

Y/N huffed, “Yes, I’m well aware of that. But I can’t afford to stay here and keep going to school. I’ve looked at all of my finances. I have to pay off that loan now, and I can’t afford an apartment right now if I do that.” She sighed and added quietly, “Sometimes dreams aren’t meant to be.”

“What if you lived with someone? Would you be able to stay and afford school if you had somewhere else to live?”

She shrugged, “I mean yeah, I might still need a part-time job to help pay living expenses. But I’ve looked. It’s the middle of the school year, and no one seems to have any roommate openings.”

“Your friends…?” He trailed off. Jinyoung was staring at the ground, trying to think of anything. He wasn’t ready to say goodbye to her.

“Mina has a family. I can’t burden her like that… Gray lives in a frat house so that’s a no go… And, Jack has two roommates already. Plus I wouldn’t be comfortable living with him. The little brat is like a brother, but one of his roommates is a total creep.”

“Live with me.”

Y/N’s head snapped up from fiddling with her nails, only to be met with Jinyoung already meeting her eyes. He looked certain. She knew how stubborn he was, this was not something he was going to let her refuse.

“Jinyoung…”

“No.” He immediately shut down whatever argument she was trying to conjure up. He really wasn’t going to budge on this. “I have a spare room. I was using it as a study, but let’s be real, I never actually used it. I was always with you guys. So it can be your room.”

Y/N looked away. This was a bad idea. They’d slept together. She had feelings for him, ones she hadn’t really confronted yet but she knew they were there. This would do nothing to diminish them. If anything, living with Jinyoung would only make her fall more in love with him.

But how could she refuse? It was this or give up. Move back home. Go back to a job that destroyed her soul. She had to do this…

“Okay,” Y/N nodded. Jinyoung’s stern face broke into a massive smile, and he pulled her from the counter into a tight hug, burying his face in her neck. She wrapped her arms around his waist, enjoying the warmth and comfort way too much for it to remain friendly. She added in a mumble, “Just until I figure things out…”

~

The move was easy. Living with Jinyoung was not.

Don’t be mistaken, he was an amazing roommate. He cleaned up his own messes, split the cooking, and kept the noise to a minimum.

But those pesky feelings that had seeded in Y/N’s heart, they hadn’t just sprouted. Oh no, they wrapped around in her chest and suffocated her anytime Jinyoung so much as stood too close.

She felt the pang of the thorns digging in each time their skin brushed while moving about the apartment. She pushed through every time the roots gripped her like a vine whenever he had breakfast and coffee ready for her in the morning. She pulled back when they tried to bloom on those nights he would gently massage her shoulders while they watched TV.

It was all she could do to grin and bear the pain that her feelings were not reciprocated.

Because even with how much he acted like they were a couple. They still weren’t. And he still made that clear to their friends when they cooed about Y/N moving in with Jinyoung.

Just grin and bear it. That’s all she could do…

That and save up for her own apartment once more.

She was true to her word and found a part-time job. It wasn’t great; a student position on campus since they would work with her class schedule. But, it gave her an income to chip in on the rent and groceries, with a bit extra that she could set aside. She figured if she could find a roommate then she could probably move into a small apartment over the summer break.

She wouldn’t be a burden to him or a slave to her feelings anymore. She could finally have her peace of mind back.

~

Months had passed, midterms were completed, and spring break was coming to a close. Y/N had used that time wisely, having worked extra hours on campus and using her lunch break to scout apartments.

She had finally found one that wasn’t too much further from campus than her old one had been. It was rent-controlled and was available for per room renting instead of per unit. So, she could rent a room there even if she couldn’t find a roommate. The downside was that she could get stuck with someone she hated, but could that really be any worse than living with someone you unrequitedly love?

At this point, she didn’t think so.

So, she planned to talk to Jinyoung that night and let him know that she’d be moving out at the end of the semester. And then she could go sign the paperwork the following Monday and secure the room with her deposit.

Y/N breathed a sigh of relief, feeling a weight lift as she entered Jinyoung’s apartment.

He was already home, lounging on the couch with a book.

When he glanced up to see her hanging up her coat, he settled his book on the coffee table and extended an arm in her direction. “Cuddle.”

She rolled her eyes. “You’re so needy.”

Jinyoung shrugged, grasping her hand and pulling her down next to him. His arms loosely hung over her waist, and he shut his eyes, breathing gently.

Y/N sighed, not wanting to disrupt the peace but knowing that she needed to talk to him, “I need to tell you something…”

“Hm?” He hummed, his only indication he was listening otherwise it just appeared that he was asleep.

“I’m moving out.” Y/N whispered, as gently as possible while still ripping the bandaid off.

He stiffened, freezing in uncertainty that he’d heard her correctly, before letting out a rough laugh. “Ha, funny. Why would you do that?”

Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed, and she sat up away from him. “Because I want my own space, Jinyoung.” It was only a half-truth. She did want her own space, because sharing his meant she had to pretend she didn’t have feelings for him.

He sat up then, face blank and cold as he stared at her. His eyes kept darting across her, searching for any sign of a lie, but he didn’t respond. “I’ve been a burden on you for too long. I think it’s best if we don’t live together so I found somewhere else. I won’t move out until the end of the semester, but I’ll sign the papers on Monday so I wanted to let you know now.”

His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, but he simply turned away with a shake of his head. Jinyoung got up from the couch, and left for his room.

Y/N sat in stunned silence, confused and hurt. This was supposed to be a good thing. He was only letting her stay because she needed a place temporarily, so why was he acting like it was a personal insult that she wanted her own place? He knew she’d move out eventually.

For the rest of the night, Jinyoung stayed in his room. Even when Y/N tried making his favorite food, he wouldn’t come out to eat with her.

~

Y/N was standing at the stovetop, stir-frying some veggies when Jinyoung came through the front door. She hadn’t seen him since the previous night when she told him her plan to move out.

But tonight, Jinyoung smiled, his eyes soft as he saw her swaying in the kitchen to the music playing from her phone. He quietly walked behind her, wrapping his arms loosely around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder. She gave a contented hum, and he tightened his hold marginally.

“I’m going to miss this…” Jinyoung sighed, nuzzling into her neck. She grinned but felt that familiar pang of longing. Her favorite thing was seeing how soft he could be, which he often was when it came to just the two of them. She would miss those soft moments the most.

“Hm, you’re going to miss my cooking? Or cuddling me whenever you want?” She teased lightly.

He didn’t respond immediately. Letting a contemplative silence fall over them for a few moments. When he finally did respond, it was so quiet she almost didn’t hear him. “Move in with me.”

Y/N eyes widened slightly. “What?”

“You heard me…” Jinyoung whispered with a small shrug. “Your stuff is already here. We live well together. I don’t want you to leave. You should just move in for good.”

“This was only supposed to be temporary though, Jinyoung. ‘Just until I figure out a game plan.’ Remember?”

“Well I’m helping you figure it out now.”

Y/N frowned, “I can’t keep living with you like this.”

His eyebrows knit in confusion. “Like what?”

She huffed, throwing her hands up. She didn’t mean to shout, but she knew she exploded with all of her pent up frustration, confusion… love. “Like we’re dating when you don’t want to be with me. Like you’re mine when you’re planning to leave. Like we didn’t have the best, most passionate sex of my entire life. Like I’m in love with you and you don’t even know my feelings exist.”

“I am yours.” Jinyoung shook his head. “And we did have the most amazing sex I’ve ever had. And I’m in love with you too.”

She breathed. How he could confess and remain so calm, she didn’t understand. It was one of his quirks. One of those things that made him him. And, she was thankful, because it brought her back down. Level-headed and able to rationalize.

“What about when you have to go back to Seoul?”

“Even more reason for you to move in permanently.” Y/N turned in his arms; Jinyoung’s hands came to rest on her hips. He kissed the tip of her nose and rested their foreheads together. “I don’t want to miss a minute of my time with you. Everything after this, we’ll figure it out. Together.”

#got7 #park jinyoung #reader #park jinyoung x reader #got7 x reader #angst #fluff #smut #mini series #college au #we'll figure it out

[kerosene-insomniac]

To Be So Lonely

Pairing: Bakugou Katsuki x Midoriya Izuku

Warnings: Strong language, sexually explicit smut, violence, alpha/beta/omega dynamics, cancer sub-plot, major character death {not bakudeku}

Word Count for Chapter: 2,791

Summary: Midoriya Izuku has always wanted to be a musician. Something about the lyric working with a melody to convey his feeling just made his heart race. After his father died when he was three, Izuku has always relied on his mother. She worked two jobs to care for him and always supported his dreams. But when his mother is diagnosed with breast cancer just after he graduated high school, Izuku has to shift his focus. Now he’s working two jobs and takes care of his mother with the help of his gay neighbors. 

In an attempt to learn self-defense, Izuku takes a few classes at a local gym. It’s there that he meets Toshinori Yagi, an older beta who used to be a professional heavyweight boxer. Yagi notices Izuku’s potential and encourages the small omega to eventually go pro. So, in order to make more money, Izuku eventually agrees.

Bakugou Katsuki has only ever wanted to fight. Orphaned as the young age of four, Katsuki has been fighting to live for his entire life. Fighting is all he’s ever known. After fighting underground for a couple years, Katsuki is noticed by Todoroki Enji. The older alpha takes him in at 19 and names him the official successor of his legacy (especially since all of his actual kids hate him). 

Now, Katsuki is 25-years-old and the professional heavyweight champion.In a whirlwind of events, Katsuki meets Izuku in the unlikeliest of places. He watches the small omega perform and can’t help it feel extremely protective and absolutely enamored with him. The older alpha gets to meet him and say goodbye without even learning the omega’s name. Katsuki isn’t sure that they’ll ever meet again.

 That is, until Katsuki officially meets Izuku at a professional lunch with his manager’s rival.

{OR}

The one where Katsuki is a professional alpha boxer with arrogance issues and Izuku is a stubborn omega that’s way little too reckless with his well-being. With a wacky cast of characters (including three idiots, a manly best friend, a traumatized bastard with daddy-issues, and many more) absolutely hell-bent on getting them together, neither men can seem to catch a break

***

———- Continue Reading ————-

{0.1} Sweet Like Honey

“There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful than anything that bleeds.”

― Laurell K. Hamilton

K A T S U K I

“C’mon, Bakubro! Smile a little!”

Katsuki scowled even more as Kirishima dragged him towards the run-down bar. On some level, he wants to be here and have fun with his friends. On another, however, he knows that he’ll have to deal with a hangover tomorrow.

And fuck that.

The shitty bar smells vaguely of coffee and beer, as well as a mix of pheromones. It has a decent amount of people inside, but not enough to feel overwhelming.

“How did Pikachu find this shitty place?”

Kirishima gave him a look, as if he was a scolding parent. “His boyfriend actually did. It has live music and decent alcohol.”

Katsuki huffed, pulling his hood over his hair. “Who the fuck would want to court Pikachu? He’s annoyingly dumb.”

“Well, not everyone thinks that.”

Before Katsuki can argue, sweet-smelling arms wrapped around his neck.

“Blasty!! You made it!” Mina screeched, already smelling of red wine.

Katsuki growled, immediately pushing the omega off of him and towards her alpha. Kirishima caught her easily. “Don’t touch me, Raccoon Eyes! Ever hear of personal space?!”

Mina giggled, whispering loudly into Kirishima’s ear. “He’s so grumpy already.”

“I know. It’s pretty funny.”

Katsuki bristled, baring his teeth. “Fuck off, Shitty Hair!”

Kirishima chuckled, ignoring Katsuki directing them further inside. Closer to the bar was Kaminari and a purple-haired beta who obviously didn’t get enough sleep the night before.

The audacity.

Kaminari glanced their way, his face lighting up. “Bakugou! It’s nice to see that Kirishima-“

“Shut it, Dunce Face.” Katsuki grumbled lowly. “I’m just here to babysit you idiots.”

Denki shrugged, taking a shot of something that smelled suspiciously like Fireball. “Whatever you say, Bakugou. Hitoshi is already our babysitter for the night.”

The purple-haired beta blinked in Katsuki’s direction, taking a sip of his water bottle. He looked like he was silently analyzing and judging Katsuki, which immediately made the older alpha bristle.

“Calm down, Blasty.” Mina snickered, leaning against Kirishima. “You scowl too much.”

Katsuki scowled even more, watching as everyone ordered drinks.

Kirishima glanced at him, offering a sympathetic smile. “Just chill, Bakubro. Shinsou says the live music is really good!”

That’s unlikely.

“I know the performer.” Shinsou murmured, still studying Katsuki. “He’s a childhood friend.”

Katsuki ignored the insomniac troll doll and took a seat next to Kirishima. “This better be good, Shitty Hair. You know how I feel about music.”

Kirishima nodded, accepting his drink from the bartender. “Well, Jiro also speaks highly of the dude. She’s as serious about music as you are, so I’m sure he’s pretty great.”

That’s a little reassuring.

Before Katsuki could speak again, a small voice came from the stage.

And god, Katsuki’s interest immediately heightened.

A small man climbed onto a stool with a guitar in his hands. He had dazzling green eyes and a head of green curls that made him look soft. He was wearing a grey hoodie with ripped skinny jeans, making him look even cuter.

And the freckles.

Katsuki took a deep breath, immediately freezing as omegan pheromones washed over the small bar.

Chocolate and cherries.

He’s so screwed.

“Our first request of the night is called ‘Save Yourself’.” The omega murmured, his voice sweet as honey.

The small omega started strumming a dingy guitar, making it look effortless. But Katsuki knew better than to assume.

It weighs heavier on one's heart

I could tell right from the start that sweet ones are hard to come across

Well there is more than meets the eye

A heart like yours is rare to find

Someone else's gain will be my loss

“Holy shit…”

For once, Katsuki could agree with Pikachu.

Shinsou chuckled lowly, earning glances from everyone else. “I’m glad that you think he’s good. I’ve tried telling him that, but he never wants to hear it.”

“He’s adorable!” Mina squealed, almost a little too loudly.

Katsuki gave her glare, which didn’t go unnoticed by Kirishima. In fact, the red-haired alpha grinned and followed Katsuki’s gaze.

Woah, woah, oh oh

Oh woah, woah

Woah woah oh

Hey hey

Well little things that make you smile

Dancing barefoot in the dark

If only I had strength to change your mind

Oh for what you need

You will not see

Choose your words before you speak

Can you see that all you've got is time?

Katsuki couldn’t fucking breathe.

The small omega sounded soft and sure, obviously confident and lost in the song. A stray curl rested on his forehead, moving as he strummed the guitar.

Whatever it was about him, Katsuki couldn’t look away.

Woah now

Save yourself

Oh you save yourself

Oh darling save yourself for someone else

Yeah, save yourself

Oh darling save yourself

Oh won't you save yourself from someone else

Woah

Don't give in to their feelings

Don't give in darkness and faith

You should be safe, yeah, with someone else

Tell your secrets to the night

You do yours and I do mine

So we won't have to keep them all inside

Oh, for one so pure

Count these off

Let your feelings take control

Hold on to the world that he's begging for

“What’s his name?”

Shinsou looked at Kirishima, almost as if he was bored. “He’s not comfortable with me telling people. He’s a very private person.”

Mina pouted, whining slightly. “But he’s so good! Wouldn’t he want people to know his name?”

“He’s going through a lot right now.”

Katsuki glanced at Shinsou, immediately meeting the beta’s gaze. “For once, I agree with Raccoon Eyes. Private or not, he’s obviously good enough to go somewhere with a voice like that.”

The beta raised an eyebrow. “I wasn’t aware that you complimented people, Bakugou. Not everyone is a cocky boxer with arrogance issues.”

Ex-fucking-cuse me?

“At least I know how to fight, you knock-off troll doll!”

Shinsou blinked, obviously unaffected by Katsuki’s words. “Just because you’re a professional boxer doesn’t mean shit, Bakugou. If I remember correctly, you were underground once.”

Katsuki glared, scowling harshly. “Underground?”

“He’s an underground boxer, Bakubro,” Kirishima murmured, looking amused with the whole interaction. “He’s pretty good.”

Whatever.

Katsuki focused on the musician again, obviously pouting.

Woah now

Save yourself

Oh won't you save yourself

Go on and save yourself for someone else

Yes darling save yourself

Oh won't you save yourself

Go on and save yourself for someone else

Woah are you going to break?

Are you going to break?

Woah aren't you going to take me?

Yeah are you going to break?

Are you going to break?

Are you going to break?

Woah what's it going to take?

Yeah, are you going to break?

Are you going to break?

Are you going to break?

Are you going to break?

The small omega strummed the last few notes, his voice cracking slightly as the last lyrics finished. He shyly smiled at the crowd, using his bandaged hand to brush his curls out of his face.

Wait.

Bandages?

Katsuki watched with narrowed eyes as the small omega talked with the crowd, obviously trying to take more requests. Something about him was off and it made the alpha slightly suspicious.

Why does he look like that?

I Z U K U

“-and thank you for coming out! Goodnight!”

Izuku waved at the crowd as he exited the stage, his heart in his throat at the small amount of applause. His guitar felt heavy in his small hands, matching his equally heavy shoulders.

Music doesn’t have the same relief it used to.

The small omega chewed on his bottom lip anxiously as he placed his ratty guitar in it’s case. Izuku had saved up two summers worth of money to buy it, so he definitely felt more attached to it than most.

“Here’s your tips, Midoriya.”

Izuku snapped out of his daze as the female omega handed him the money, his pretty green eyes looking a bit grey. “Thanks, Jiro. I really appreciate this.”

Jiro smiled warmly, her dark eyes completely gentle as she watched him place the cash in his case. “It’s no problem, Midoriya. Tell your mom and the dads that I said hi!”

“I will!”

Izuku waved goodbye and made his way towards the exit. Hitoshi normally waited backstage to take him home, but he’s currently on a date with someone. It wasn’t like Izuku was afraid, but walking alone at night did give him some anxiety.

After all, Izuku is an omega.

In their current society, it was extremely easy for omegas to be victimized. They were completely at the mercy of outside forces, which caused a lot of weaknesses. Dominant pheromones from an alpha could completely shut them down and make them vulnerable to orders.

Alphas didn’t lack in strength like many omegas did, so they could easily overpower anyone slightly weaker than them.

While alphas experienced ruts or periods of extreme arousal, that was nothing on omegas. Omegas experience heats every month, which was a mess of fevers and the need to be knotted.

Ruts could easily be controlled and ignored.

Heats were the opposite.

If an omega was to go into heat while in public, that left them at the mercy of any alpha nearby. An alpha could take what they want, regardless of consent, and not be held liable.

So, yes.

Walking alone made Izuku slightly nervous.

As Izuku walked down the dimly-lit street, he was aware of the different smells. He could smell cigarettes and cheap perfume, all containing a mix of omega pheromones. It was slightly fruity and stale, making his stomach churn.

Don’t focus on -

“Well, well, well. What do we have here?”

Fucking fuck.

Izuku’s blood ran cold as someone yanked him backward, grabbing at the soft skin of his cheeks. “I’m just walking home. I-I have people waiting on me, so-“

Bright blue eyes locked with his.

Dabi.

Shit.

“I almost don’t recognize you without the mask, bunny.”

Izuku’s soft green eyes immediately hardened as he shoved the drunk alpha off of him. “Don’t touch me, Dabi. We both know that I can kick your ass in or out of the ring.”

Dabi growled, grabbing Izuku by the hoodie again. “It’s a shame you got such a smart mouth, bunny. I might’ve considered marking you.”

So fucking gross…

“Get fucked, Dabi.” Izuku snapped, pushing him back again.

The blue-eyed alpha huffed, causing the intense smell of alcohol to waft over the omega. “Why are you being such a frigid bitch, bunny? Sounds like someone needs a nice kn-“

Izuku pulled his arm back and punched the alpha square in the jaw.

Dabi released him and shot back, muffling a bunch of curses as he rubbed his jaw. Judging from his pheromones, he was obviously pissed off.

But then again, so was Izuku.

“You little bitch.” Dabi growled, standing at his full height.

Izuku scoffed, widening his stance and shifting into an all too familiar position. In the street light, the bandages on the omega’s fingers were much more visible than before.

The small omega clenched his jaw. “I’d stop it with the insults, Dabi. I’d hate to kick your ass again.”

Dabi lunged, but Izuku quickly ducked.

In a quick move, the small omega landed a harsh kick to the alpha’s stomach. It was a cheap move, but Izuku didn’t care.

He’s always hated pigs, anyway.

Before the small omega could move, though, Dabi growled and grabbed him by the hair. He yanked Izuku upright and shoved him towards the wall of the alley.

Shit.

Dabi chuckled lowly, placing his knee between Izuku’s legs and wrapping his hands around his throat. “You look pretty with my hands around your throat. Maybe I should-“

“What the fuck are you doing?”

The scarred alpha froze, his blue eyes flickering to the entrance. After a few seconds, Dabi immediately scowled. “Mind your business, golden boy.”

Golden boy?

Izuku struggled under Dabi’s grip, feeling slightly light-headed as the seconds continued to pass. “Le-let me-“

“Fuck off, staple-face.”

And just like that, the pressure on Izuku’s throat was gone.

Izuku coughed and gasped as his world adjusted, his green eyes landing on the mess of fighting alpha’s in front of him. The smell of cigarette ash was now accompanied by caramel and cinnamon, which shouldn’t have made his heart race.

Alphas.

Izuku inwardly scoffed, rubbing his throat as he slowly made his way towards the exit. The sooner he got home, the better.

He really doesn’t want to be yelled at by Aizawa.

“I’m sure your dad would hate to watch me kick your ass, stitches. He probably wants to do it himself!”

Izuku snickered softly, glancing back to look at the fighting match.

Dabi was completely unconscious on the ground, nearly overshadowed by the mysterious alpha. This same alpha was dressed in a black hoodie and baseball cap, which hid his face pretty well.

The small omega made a mental note to remember this when he fights Dabi next week. These nicknames were top-notch.

The alpha fixed his jacket, spinning to face Izuku.

Shit. Shit. Abort.

Izuku squeaked and turned to bolt. At this point, plenty of people were exiting the club. Plenty of people would probably help him if he screamed.

“Not so fast, freckles.”

The small omega was pulled back yet again.

Izuku spun around, his green eyes sharp as he bared his teeth in an obvious snarl. “Don’t touch me! I’m not sucking your dick just because you felt the need to play hero.”

Red eyes locked with his.

And for a second, that split second, Izuku felt like the world stood still. Instead of some ugly alpha with questionable intentions, this alpha simply looked annoyed and frustrated.

Not the usual type to defend Izuku in an alleyway.

“What the fuck are you doing out so late by yourself?”

Izuku blinked, pulling himself out of his daze as sweet caramel greeted his nose. “Does it matter?”

The alpha’s eyes twitched. “I think it does. Any omega with a bit of common sense would know not to be by themselves at this time of night.”

“I’m not most omegas.”

Izuku’s words caused the tiniest smirk to dawn on the alpha’s face.

This mysterious alpha was much taller than Izuku and definitely stronger. The hood of his jacket covered ash-blond hair, but no amount of darkness could hide those eyes. And even more so, it was obvious that he had a resting bitch face.

“Hah?! A resting what?”

Ah, fuck.

Izuku blushed bright red, chewing on his bottom lip in an attempt to keep his mouth shut. “I-ignore that. I tend to mumble a lot.”

The alpha narrowed his eyes. “I can see that, freckles. But what the fuck were you doing out here by yourself?”

I’m not helpless…

“I can handle myself. I don’t need your help.”

The alpha scoffed loudly, his scowl becoming more prominent on his face. “Don’t be fucking reckless. If I wasn’t here, Stitches would’ve done worse than choke you.”

Izuku rolled his eyes. “I had it handled.”

“Stop lying to yourself, freckles.”

The small omega clenched his jaw and pulled himself free of the alpha’s grip. His skin felt hot with fury and annoyance, especially since this alpha seemed so arrogant.

Izuku walked out of the alley, adjusting the strap of his guitar case and glancing around. The sidewalk was still full of people, so he was probably safe to finish walking home.

Before he could do so, however, a warm hand grasped his arm.

“Hold on, freckles. Let me walk you home.”

Izuku froze, glaring suspiciously at the alpha next to him. “I’m not helpless, you know. I don’t need a big, strong alpha to walk me home.”

Thank god for sarcasm.

The alpha shrugged, releasing Izuku’s arm and waited to follow him. “I’d feel much better knowing that you got home okay. I don’t want to see your fucking face on the news, freckles.”

Freckles? That’s the best you got?

“Fine.”

The small omega looked away from the alpha and started walking home, his heart fluttering in his chest as the smell of caramel enveloped him. Izuku’s never been good with attractive people, though.

Especially alphas with red eyes, which is his favorite color.

“What’s your name, nerd?”

Izuku blinkled, adjusting his hoodie. “I have enough survival instincts not to tell you. Stick to the shitty nicknames.”

The alpha huffed. “They’re not shitty!”

“I’m not convinced.”

Blondie {which Izuku decided to call him} growled in obvious annoyance, easily keeping up with the short omega. “Don’t you want to know my name? I’m sure you’re curious, shitty nerd.”

Izuku shrugged, glancing both ways before crossing a dimly-lit street. “Not really. It’s not like I’ll ever see you again.”

“How can you be so sure of that?”

“Because it’s obvious that you’ve never been here before.”

Blondie gave him a sideways glance, his red eyes glinting in the street light. “I’m that obvious? What gave it away, freckles?”

Izuku chewed on his bottom lip, slowing down as his apartment complex came into view. “If you were, then you would’ve known that I can handle Dabi. This won’t be the last time he tries to kick my ass.”

Silence.

Hehe.

“So he does that often?”

Izuku stopped in front of his complex, turning to glance at the red-eyed alpha. “More than you’d think.”

The alpha nodded, looking up at the apartment complex. “Well, I’m glad that you let me walk you home. Should I follow you inside?”

“I’m not too comfortable with that, Blondie.’

Blondie froze, shooting Izuku a scowl. “Don’t call me that, shitty nerd.”

Izuku snickered, punching a code into the door and opening it. “Thanks for the entertainment, Blondie. I’m sure that you’ll get better with the nicknames.”

He went inside, leaving alpha outside.

Thank god that’s over.

*****

AUTHOR’S NOTE

I’ve caved and decided to cross-post here! I’m loving the community on here and definitely enjoy the responses I’ve received!

All the love love love,

Ash <3

#alpha/beta/omega verse #alpha bakugou #bakudeku #bakugou x midoriya #omega deku #bnha bakugo katsuki #fanfiction #fanfic #boxer au #slightly ooc #idc tho #katsudeku #mature #erasermic #shinkami #kirimina #bnha fluff #bnha crack #bnha fanfiction #gay as fuuuuuck

[lady-chaotic-kit]

Lancaster Week Day 1: Shy Jaune

Okay, I’ll admit it started out as an innocent moment. I couldn’t help; it was the moment that anyone else would overlook. Most people would ignore it, but it’s how the thought crept into my head, but it felt wrong to think about it. It wasn’t the right time, right place. If it’s anything, it was the worst time and the worst place. Then again, I was the moron who had feelings for her since Beacon but knew better than to attempt anything. Not with Yang acting like a stone guardian who would kill me if I so much as looked. Gave me that warning to stay from her sister unless I wanted to become paste on the walls.

It was simply the first time that should have been the biggest clue that I would fall harder than then getting between Nora and a pancake breakfast.

We had a test at Beacon everyone else was prepping for the tournament. It almost seems childish-looking back at how focused we were on the tournament when the books and knowing more about the Grimm were a lot more useful as huntsmen and huntresses. But I digress. I’m just trying to think of happier times before I started walking this shoreline. Before things became so bad, I fell into an endless void after failing to run for life after killing a friend and seeing most of my friends fall into an infinite void. I was wondering where the other people of Atlas and mantle fell here too. So much happened in such a short time, so much pain and misery. I just want to think of simpler times when you knew who your allies were. Where my crush began, and I was too much of a shy idiot to say anything about it.

Trying to keep spirits high when everything seems to be getting worse. Considering Penny finally became human only to die brutally. What happened to Maria and Pietro? My heart feels crack at the fact we don’t know what happened to them after what they sacrificed for us to get the message out to the rest of Remanent. All we know is that they fell out of orbit. Were they included in the escape plan out of Atlas, or would they be too far outside of the jurisdiction of Ambrosius?

The moment was simple I was confused about distinguishing marks for tactics on older Grimm, thinking that Grimm can be born with bone plating. My thoughts were that Grimm can be born a tough customer. I had it written in my notes and everything, and we were studying in silence, only saying a few words to each other. If it had been anyone, I might have felt nervous or awkward sitting in silence while my brain melted under stress. But around Ruby, I felt comfortable; that should have been my first clue, but I will admit blind to my own feelings.

“Jaune,” she patted my shoulder. It wasn’t a condescending pat but sympathetic with kindness in her eyes.

“Jaune? That’s the wrong information. You must have misheard Professor Port about that.” Ruby said softly in only the two of us would hear and wouldn’t alert the rest of the library.

“What?” He was confused until he noticed her looking at his notes. The confusion must have been evident on my face.

“Newborn Grimm is born without bone plating or any natural defenses from the average huntress or hunter; the average person with the most basic of combat training could kill a newborn Grimm. That’s developed over time from devouring people. We aren’t sure why, but it’s speculated and assumed it’s because people have an aura, and whatever Grimm is born with a lack it, and when eating people, it gains more strength to fight for longer.

It was that moment I had felt fluttering before a felt flush but ignored it. All the late time chats, the time we sparred during free time. It was kind of hard not to love Ruby. Admiring her and really enjoying her company was something as easy as breathing for me. Reminding myself repeatedly that she was my friend that liking her would ruin things if I ever tried it, but it was clear to Ruby that was like me being a huntress was all she cared about. Helping others take out Grimm was her main drive. Anything else was not worth her notice. When guys were asking her out to the dance back then, she was confused. She walked past them, not really getting what they were asking. I even thought about what would happen if I actively asked her out, only to get that cold, confused look and then die at Yang’s hands. It wasn’t like asking out Weiss, which I did more out of testing the waters and trying to get over my crush where I already know what the end result will be. Ruby was and always will be a lot different in my heart when it comes to my feelings and my emotions and my thoughts while some things, I have an easier time talking about when it comes to my feelings towards her, I feel tongue tide and actually nervous about what I want to say to her.

She was and is, even after all these years, pretty oblivious unintentionally. So, leaving any ambiguity would be a disaster. She still is unaware if someone was attracted to her or not, or she was... My heart stutters at the idea that she was dead and not knowing if they were in the same place.

His mind went every time he refused to acknowledge how he felt because it was inconvenient or didn't feel like he deserved it. When she smiled and felt the flutter but would stamp them down hard, you could almost hear the butterflies cry in agony at what I was doing. that didn’t make traveling with her across Anima any easier. Still, I was grieving my team member, and I still am in many ways. I barely knew her, and because I know that the reason she died was because of a power-hungry bitch who still hasn’t paid for what she’s done and keeps doing, so any thought of romance was not even in the forefront, much less the feelings I long since buried not when I had to be aware of any Grimm or any missions, we took from the town they took on the way to Mistral.

I have to hope most of team RWBY was down here, wherever here actually was. While we discussed the plan endlessly about how the warping would work, connecting Atlas and Vacuo seamlessly, I was with her when she made the explanation, so there no telling where we were exactly or if there were multiple places we could have fallen into. Or they might have fallen into some other sub-dimension of the gods. As well as a lot of the civilians that cinder jettisoned purposely when she landed on the bridge. The ones we couldn’t save. Even if I’m trapped wherever this is? At least the rest of my team and winter made it to safety. They aren’t stuck in some other dimension. They are safely in Vacuo, hopefully, able to contact the local government.

The only hopeful thought he had as he noticed the island, he was just oddly still, which put him on edge more than he was willing to admit making him glad that he at least had weapons with him what con possible be in this dimension who knows and if and how they would get back was another question altogether. If they were even here and he wasn’t trapped all alone.

Crescent Rose was sticking out of the sands, and I could hear a groan.

“Ruby?”

“Wait? Jaune? Jaune! Is that you?! What how?” Ruby sounded tired, worn out, considering she hadn’t slept since we found Salem was on her way; that makes more sense, I care to admit, especially since I was pretty sure I hadn’t slept in just as long.

“I couldn’t make it out of the warp before something turned it off. It closed right in front of me. but I can at least say winter and the rest of the time go out.”

At that moment, they held each other; they knew that they might be the only ones. Jaune had no clue where they were precisely, only this was a place similar to where artifacts had been hidden, a space between spaces. And the fact there is two suns in the sky, and the unnatural stillness made everything more terrifying, knowing that we were entirely out of our depth this time and there was nothing and no one we could rely on. and whether we could get back to remnant might not be possible unless winter works on figuring out how to open a portal wherever we are as more insane and impossible as that is. And will be if she even attempts it. Things are bad things are unsure, but I’ll tell her when I’m ready and not a moment before I’ve been tiptoeing about this for a long time. But right at this moment, right now is not the best time to put my heart on my sleeve and admit how much knowing that she was in my arms is the only place I’d rather be.

“R-r-Ruby,” he couldn’t help but stutter.

“I’m glad I at least found you in this mess.” his face was red; most of his guards were down, and he knew it. Before, he could compartmentalize his friendship and his feeling but not here now. Gripping her tighter in a hug giving her a chaste kiss on the cheek, taking the chance more than grateful to know that she was alive.

She gasped and held him tighter, her lips grazing ears whether it was an accident or on purpose didn’t matter. She was just above tears, and he would be reduced to the same soon enough. But at least I found Ruby.

When we find the others because I know we will, I will tell her how I feel no matter if she doesn’t feel the same about me. I’ve wasted too much time pretending like I don’t have feelings for her.

#Lancaster week #Jaune x Ruby #Jauby

[mcfreakin-bxtch]

A Moment of Peace

Pairing: The Mandalorian x Reader

Warnings: NSFW, oral (m & f), daddy kink, thigh riding, dom/sub, grinding, fluff, and some angst (I’m sorry it just happened I swear)

Word Count: 5.8k

A/N: So I like to think I’m getting better at writing smut. We shall see. I also didn’t mean for some angst to seep through but I’m fucking terrible when it comes to that so I apologize in advance. The next chapter is a little filler one before the last two before hiatus. As always, requests, prompts, and taglist are open!

The Mandalorian’s Love Series

The Mandalorian could hear laughter. They were pure, chimed in a natural sense. Not completely sure on which planet he was on, Din inspected the green land laid out before him. Behind him was a cottage, beautifully decorated on the outside; he smelt hints of smoke in the air from the direction of it. There were fields and fields for miles, soft colors of flowers coloring patches around the fields. The air was fresh, and the distinct smell of rain was tanged in the sweetness of it, though the sun burned bright and heavy; his skin, beautifully tan, basked in the glow of it. This was a different kind of warmth, one Din had not felt in years; not as free now. He could feel it on his face too, and the simple feel of the rays terrified him at first. Din was shocked to see skin when he looked down at his hands. There were no gloves – considered to be second skin by nature – no helmet, no beskar armor or a weapon’s belt.

Before he could get over his shock, he heard his name being called out from afar.

“Go get him!”

It was Y/N. Even as disoriented and confused as he was now, the sound of her voice was enough to make him snap back.

He couldn’t get a good look of her though when two small figures abruptly tackled him with a giant hug. They giggled as he ‘oofed’ and nearly fell back.

“Hi daddy!” They said in unison.

Daddy. They called him dad.

“Hey, go easy on the old man!”

Din snapped his head up towards the tease. Y/N stood there, smiling that beautiful toothy smile that made him smile in return without fail; she was wearing a light blue dress, stopping just barely above her kneecaps. Her Y/C/H pulled in a half bun, Y/C/E still holding that gleam that Din could only describe as being solely hers; mesmerizing, unwavering.

The two moving kids still in his arms brought his attention back to them. On his right side was a girl, about near eleven years old, who resembled Y/N so much that it was scary; but there was no denying Din was there too, with the same pouty lips and small dimples. To his left, a boy, who looked to be six or seven; he definitely got his looks from his father, hair and eyes just as dark as Din’s, but somehow, he had Y/N’s smile.

“What’s wrong dad?” The boy asked.

They both pulled away to look at him, and Din found that he already missed their little arms wrapped around him.

“Uh,” he had to clear his throat. “N-nothing. Just… feeling a little off is all.”

Y/N pursed her lips, obviously seeing through the lie. Not that it was a complete one anyway.

“Go run around a little, kids, we’ll join you guys in a minute.”

They both screamed with excitement and ran down the small hill leading to the field. Y/N strolled to Din’s side, wrapping her arms around his neck. It was natural instinct to lay his hands on her hips to bring her closer.

“What’s wrong?” She whispered gently.

Din should’ve shuttered at the constant feel of her skin against his like this, under the warmth of the sun and the feel of wind breezing between them; unfiltered and no defining barrier between them. He never felt this kind of stimulation before all at once, the sensory overload being nearly too much and yet he was so calm, so used to the feel of it at the same time. It was like switching back and forth between this Din Djarin and the old Din.

He wanted to say that they didn’t have this. That there was no possible way they could have this, at least not now. That maybe this was too good to be ever be real, because Y/N always deserved much more than what he could give her, and yet she still stayed, and she was still in love with him. That, he would never be able to really understand how or why, maybe not until Din was absolutely sure this is a reality for them.

Instead he said, “Nothing I’m just… I’m just happy.”

And that was true. His doubts, fears, and any insecurities they haven’t battled yet could all say that this was impossible for someone like him, but this moment of peace and content is enough to say that he can have a peaceful and happy life, so long as Y/N was still a part of the picture. He always prided himself on his independence, but he wanted to depend on Y/N, or more specifically their love; no matter how tragic or bitter, though he never wanted to think about it, their relationship could ever end, he would still want her love because it would always be a part of his happiness for him. It would always hold the part of him that finally felt worthy of the peace he longed to capture, that was capable of good and change.

Y/N grinned at him, pecking his lips softly. Din chased her lips, going in for a more slow kiss, mapping out her mouth as if this was the first; missed her taste.

She broke it with a soft giggle, placing a hand on his chest; his heart thudded softly against her palm.

“Now Djarin,” she drawled with a poke to his nose. “Save that for later,”

Din laughed and gave the tip of her nose a sloppy kiss, grinning even more at her squished expression.

“Yes, my lovely wife.”

They both turned to watch the boy and girl run around the meadow, giggling and screaming. Din smiled softly at the sight and hugged Y/N closer.

Din gasped. The first thing he felt was the soft scratchiness of his blanket against his face. The room was pitch black. The bed was cold, empty without Y/N. The hatch door was closed, but he could still hear the faint sounds of her voice, no doubt talking to the Child. He slowly sat up, feeling around blindly for his helmet as sleep was still evading his mind. When his knuckles brushed up against it he hesitated to put it on, remembering the dream and how free he felt. It shook him to the core, the hesitation; how far he was willing to go to get what he desperately desired.

He didn’t bother putting on his boots as he trudged off the cot, rolling and stretching his muscles; they were usually tense from the armor and the stiffness of the cot, and it seemed to be getting worst with age.

“Hey!” He heard the soft coo of her voice.

Walking towards the fresher, his heart stopped at the sight before him. Y/N was on her knees, hair pulled back in a bun and a bucket of water next to her, gently splashing water onto the giggly Child. The Child bent down to try and splash the water back and Y/N had to grab him before he could flop on his face. He found himself smiling at them, leaning against the doorway.

His wide brown eyes found him first. He raised his little green hand towards him, cooing at him. Y/N turned her head around, smile bright and whole.

“Hey,” she greeted. “There’s some food for you by the cockpit. Eat while I finish up here.”

Y/N wished she could see the smile that she didn’t doubt for a second crossed across his cheeks in that moment. She naturally leaned into his touch as he caressed her cheek, hands bare for now. He gave a gentle swipe across her cheekbone and bent down – she bit down her giggle at the creaks of his bones as he did, the soft, quiet grunt that quickly followed – to give the baby’s ear a soft caress of his own.

“Alright big guy,” Y/N exclaimed. “Let’s actually clean you up.”

The Child babbled back, plopping down on his little butt and going back to splashing. Y/N didn’t mind the water that spilled over her clothes. She washed the little gray hairs on his head gently, making sure none of the soap got into his eyes. After he was clean she let him play for a few more minutes in the water; he needed this, just as much as Y/N and Din needed this small but perfect moment of peace.

They were on a backwoods planet, nearly no habitants on the small, gray planet. It wasn’t the most ideal, but it would take at least a day or two before their signal was traceable again. There were on day two of their stay and would have to start moving as soon as night fell.

This was the first time since she started travelling with him where they could actually sit and relax, even for a little bit, without the threat of every bounty hunter known in the galaxy hovering over them. Y/N had to force Din to sleep the night before, because she was one-hundred percent positive that there were definitive dark circles under his eyes; the sluggish way in which he started to move and talk proved right.

He refused to sleep until she was next to him, wrapped up in her arms. She held him to her chest, gently messaging and scratching his back. His soft groans and sighs of content made her heart tighten, in such a good way, though it felt as if it was going to implode; she knew it was never going to go away. Din no doubt could hear it but chose not to say anything about it much to her relief. He needed to rest, and this was probably the only time he would be able to like this for a while.

It made her feel angry, and even more defensive and protective of him. He was on his own for so long before her and the Child came into the picture, and Y/N strived to make sure that he knew that no matter what, she was here now; that he could relax a little, could rely on someone else without the fear of them leaving.

The Child, now cleaned and clothed, snuggled into his pod, snuggling into his makeshift blanket. Din and Y/N only found out recently that the baby slept better with the scent of them pressed against him, so an old, tattered sweater of hers laid out underneath him as padding and one of his shirts laid atop the Child’s blue blanket.

Y/N gave him a small kiss on the forehead, smiling as his beady eyes shut. The kid was going to be out for a while, Y/N and Din having tired him out by playing various little games with him until his eyes started to droop.

Y/N saw a side to Din that was new to her as they played with the Child. She always knew he loved the green creature, despite how much he could get annoyed with him. There was never a time where Din wasn’t gentle with him, and, though he could have a temper, never ever raised his voice at him when the Child would mess with the switches or spill something on the ship or in a cantina. Din was patient with him, and during the games nothing by playful – it came out awkward at first, testing the waters – but eventually he couldn’t hide the small laughter that mixed with the Child’s own giggles. Y/N fell even more in love with him if that was possible.

But now, as Y/N sat on the edge of the bunk, she couldn’t help the feeling of dread that washed over her. They had to get rid of the imp responsible for the bounty over the Child’s head. Otherwise, they would never stop coming for him. She knew that this was logical, but the eeriness of the situation was starting to plague her now more than ever. Tomorrow they would travel back to Sorgan in need of Cara Dune’s aid and Y/N was happy to be seeing Cara again. She just wished that she could shake this feeling off.

Unbeknownst to her, Din was feeling the same way. He knew how dangerous and risky this plan was, but it was for the Child, and possibly the only chance they’ll ever get at ending this whole thing. Whoever was after him was persistent, dangerous all on its own. Y/N was already stressed enough, so he didn’t tell her that he was completely unsure on if he was going to make it through this. Not to say he’s never felt this before; in almost every single job he took, he kept in the back of his head that this day could very well be his last. It didn’t bother him as much when he was alone. But now the thought of leaving Y/N and the Child stirred fear deep into his core. He was aware that Y/N could take care of herself and the baby without him, and that alone always made him feel better when there were blaster shots grazing him or knives being thrown at him. Because he wouldn’t be leaving them behind underprepared and no defenses.  

And the dream? It certainly didn’t help the situation. Never once did he ever imagine himself as a father until then, until Y/N. Truth be told, Din liked the fights. Maybe it’s because he was raised into it, but he often found himself hesitating when it came to family. He chalked it up to fear, which wasn’t a lie on its own.

He didn’t remember finishing up the last of his still warm meal. Didn’t remember making his way to the bunk, mindlessly searching for his love.

“I’m sorry,” Din apologized, sitting down next to her, shoulders pressed tightly against each other. “For sleeping for so long.” He added at her frown. The moon was already almost up.  

Y/N shook her head, placing a hand on his knee. “Nothing to apologize for. You needed it.” She gave his knee a soft squeeze.

Din could only nod. She felt the way his muscles relaxed at her touch and the way his shoulders sagged. Times like these were where Y/N could really see just how exhausted and aged he was. When he didn’t have the strength to hold himself back, his true colors shown brightly; most times they were sad, lonely. Only the comfort of her warm hugs and melodic voice could soothe them away, make them disappear like the sun does with the clouds.

“You do too,” he finally whispered back.

Y/N gave him a stern glare. “You let me sleep all the time.”

The look in her eyes told him not to argue. He decided that it was best he didn’t. Their time seemed precious now, and he didn’t want to waste it with arguing. Instead he wanted it all. He wanted her to see him in the light, allowing her to feel him without the use of the dark, hands searching blindly. He wanted to spend what could be their last peace inside her, around her, just everything that you can do to be as humanly tied; tethered by a strong, unbreakable thread, two souls embracing with the stars above them. He could no longer deny her the sight of him.

But the Creed. It was a constant reminder of the oath he was sworn into, the people that took him in and raised him when they didn’t have to. He thought back to the dream, the clear, alluring atmosphere that surrounded them. Din wanted it more than anything in the world. It’s just the timing was all wrong. He needed it to be perfect, for when they were both ready to settle down and out of danger. He realized as this being slightly selfish, and that Y/N had just as much as a right as he did. But he owed the Mandalorians that much.

“I – I want to try something new.”

Y/N raised her eyebrows. She saw that he was deep in thought and that something was bothering him, but she knew better than to push. He’d tell her when he was ready, always.

“Close your eyes.”

His voice was gruff, heavy even behind the decoder. Y/N didn’t hesitate to close them, breath even as she heard the shuffle of him getting up and closing the Child’s pod. She heard the hiss of the helmet being taken off, the rustle of his clothes being pulled off. Din couldn’t help but swoop in for a kiss, then a small peck before placing the helmet back on.

“Open them.”

She wasn’t sure what she was expecting when she opened her eyes. Her lips parted at his body, shed of all clothing. She always felt the soft muscles on his arms and back, the soft fat of his stomach – still holding strength and just as beautiful to her – but to actually see him bare to her like this. It made her want to cry, because this was a big deal for the Mandalorian. Because he trusted her, loved her, wanted her.

He was nervous at first but seeing the way her eyes shined with awe and then lust, exploring every inch of him, not only relaxed him, but it made him incredibly hard. Y/N trailed down his stomach, soft patches of curls that lead down to his sprung dick, which she had to smirk at. She stood up, hands reaching up to lay on his shoulder and chest. She wanted to kiss him, but she knew the only way to do that was to either blindfold herself or complete darkness, and she was too intoxicated at seeing what she was only aloud to feel.

“You’re fucking beautiful,” Y/N found herself whispering. Din sighed, outlining her lips with the tip of his finger. He really, really wanted to kiss her.

Y/N’s leg brushed up against him as she pulled her shirt over her head, making him let out a hiss through his teeth. She smiled in apology, wrapping her hand around his length and giving it a slow but firm pump.

“Lay down,” she whispered by his ear. It made him shiver, and he did as he was told. His hands laid on his sides, itching to touch himself.

Y/N was starting to breathe heavily as she shimmed her pants down her legs, kicking them off as if they were an insult. She was just as naked as he was when she crawled over him, straddling his right thigh. They both sighed as her wet pussy rubbed against the meat of his leg. Her hands trailed down his arms, down his chest. He tensed his thigh when her fingers brushed playfully against his nipples, grunting. The sound made her whine, hips rolling on their own accord. The hairs of his leg felt divine on her bundle of nerves, tickling her in a delicious way.

She smiled devilishly and ducked down. Her lips met his collarbone, biting down and sucking until there was a purple mark. Din moaned softly and rolled his leg up in time with her hips, making her nip at his chest, just above his left nipple. She kissed it before enveloping it in her mouth. He cursed and bucked his hips up against her stomach. She let go with a pop, trailing more kisses down his stomach until she settled herself between his legs. Y/N groaned at the loss of his leg under her, but she had to taste him.

Din looked down just in time to see her envelop his entire dick in the cave of her mouth, gagging as the tip of him hit the back of her throat. He moaned loudly, cursing and clutching a handful of her hair. His hips stuttered up, and she had to tap his hip to let him know to take it easy. Her hand gripped what her mouth couldn’t fit, sucking lightly at the head of his cock. His grip on her hair loosened only a little, the other holding the hand that was now on his thigh.

Y/N pulled up for air, a trail of saliva trailing from his dick and her mouth. She kissed up the length of his girth as she continued to pump him slowly. He almost came when she sucked lightly at the skin of his balls. He pulled her before she could continue, taking in her shiny lips and watery eyes. It was a sight he would fully commit to memory. He wanted to kiss her, to feel her lips moving against his in perfect symphony, needed to have her taste lingering in his mouth and –

“Ow!”

Din did not estimate just how close she was before going in for a Mandalorian’s kiss, banging his helmet against her forehead.

“Shit I’m so sorry!” Din fretted, petting her head back to check for any forming bumps or bruises.

Y/N laughed on top of him, shaking off his concern and going in slowly for what he failed to attempt. They both closed their eyes at the contact, though Din could not feel it. She stared into his eyes through the T of his helmet, kissing where his lips would be.

Din lightly trailed his nails down her spine, making her arch her back, her own hands caressing the skin of his stomach; they tickled down his sides, making him squirm.

They both took their times exploring each other. Y/N lost herself in the language of their caresses, untainted and honest. Din couldn’t get enough of it, the feeling of her against him, the way he felt the goosebumps rise on her arms. He doesn’t think he’ll ever get quite used to it.

He used the grip on her hips to line her dripping entrance over his dick, watching intently as she lined herself up and sunk down ever so slowly until his length until he was fully sheathed inside her. They moaned loudly at the feel of each other; the stretch of him left her pulsing around him, velvet slick walls begging to be used and filled up.

Y/N finally gave an experimental roll, moaning at the curls that scratched her pulsing clit. Din moved in sync with her, rolling his hips up as hers came down, hitting her as deep as possible; she wouldn’t be surprised if you could feel him in her stomach.

He was hitting the soft, spongey spot inside her repeatedly with every thrust, leaving her moaning and whining any chance she drew breath. Their pace was hard but slow, dragging out their pleasure. He clenched his teeth, wanting to go faster but needing to fuck her slowly.

“I want to kiss you,” you pleaded softly. “Please, Din, baby.”

Din moaned and eventually nodded, waiting for her to close her eyes tightly before he tugged the helmet off and yanked her down; their teeth clashed, and it did hurt but they didn’t pull away.

“Shit -.” He broke the kiss with a groan when she swiveled her hips. “F-fuck keep doing that, beautiful. Just like that.”

Y/N did, the friction against her folds a little painful and utterly amazing. Her teeth scraped against his neck, just under his jaw. He bared himself to her, inviting her.

She wondered how she survived the fire that burned in lower stomach, how she could ever live without the feel of Din’s cock hitting her g-spot to near perfection every time he was inside her. It was too much and not enough.

“You’re fucking perfect,” Din continued to moan. He palmed her breast, gripping it tightly. “These tits? They’re mine,” he snarled.

It was hard to keep her eyes shut at the dirty talk. It was making her wetter, and Din already almost slipped out of her pulsing cunt once from the sheer slickness of it.  

He abruptly flipped her onto her back, covering her eyes quickly with his hand before she accidentally opened them in surprise. His thrusts remained slow and powerful, propping one leg around his waist and the other on his shoulder.

“This pussy? This beautiful, dripping cunt is mine,” he growled.

Y/N cried out – almost pornographically – and gave a weeping cry when he pulled out of her.

His hand was still over her eyes, and she could hear him breathing heavily; his hand gripped her thigh painfully hard, but she said nothing.

“I -.” He gulped, running a hand over his face. “I wanted to take this slow. But - ”

“Fuck me,” Y/N interrupted. “Please daddy, fuck me.”

His eyes widened, and hers would’ve as well. This was a kink never discovered or discussed until now, and she held her breath as she waited for his reaction. Without so much as a warning he plunged deep into her, making her body shift upwards and her mouth open in a silent cry. His pace was hard and unforgiving, her tits bouncing furiously and hands gripping onto his biceps; her nails dug in sharply enough to draw blood, but he didn’t mind. The pain only increased the pleasure, both going hand in hand with the drag of his rigid cock across her sensitive walls.

He thought back to the dream. The thought of her belly round with their growing children was enough to make his hips stutter, for some primal urge to overtake him. With her hips in his grip again, he bounced her on his cock, grunting at the nonsense babble that was dribbling out of her mouth.

Din started to mumble what she could only describe as praises above her in Mando’a. He had started to teach her the language of his people only recently, so she was still fairly new to the language. She would have to ask him what he said later.

“Gods Din,” she moaned wantonly. “I’m gonna –‘

He jackhammered his hips into hers, and Y/N was sure that this was it, this was going to fucking destroy her and she’d let him over and over and over again. Her mind was a fog as the pool in her stomach started to coil, walls clenching furiously around him.

“Your pleasure is mine,” Din grunted. “Maker, you can feel it too, can’t you?”

Y/N could. She knew just how much Din loved her and the Child. Knew how much he hated the thought of them in any type of danger. And the longing. Yes she felt that as well, for a life akin to peace and normality. It was new for Din, awkward even, as it was for Y/N. It was a tread they would have to cross carefully.

“Yes,” she gasped. “Oh yes Din! F-fuck I love you. I love you so fucking much.”

His mind zapped to when she got shot, how scared – no petrified – no. There is no word to properly describe how he was feeling that night. He could’ve lost her if the shot was just a few inches to the right, and he wanted to say everything his heart wouldn’t let him spill, and it fucking hurt him.

“I love you too!” Din gasped. He tasted salt on his lips; he didn’t even notice he was crying. “Damn it, how could I not?”

Y/N dug her nails into his skin as her orgasm was fast approaching, his admission only making her wail. They were music to her ears, and she was so fucking happy she heard them before blood started rushing into her ears.

“Shit princess I feel you,” he growled. “I’m gonna cum in that t-tight little pussy. Fill you up so good that you’ll feel me for days.”

The thumb on her clit triggered her release. Y/N croaked out a mix of a moan and a scream, her pussy tight and throbbing around his dick, still thrusting. He fucked her through her orgasm, and when he felt the familiar pool he kissed her sloppily, tongue twirling with hers in an erotic dance.

“I’m fucking cumming,” he growled.

Y/N fisted his hair, licking around his earlobe before biting down on it.

Din let out a deep, loud grunt mixed with a snarl that was downright sin and gave one hard final thrust before she felt the warmth of his cum deep into her cervix. He was right, she would feel him for days, seeping out of her.

He gently placed her leg down and propped himself up on top of her, careful not to crush her. Their hairs were a fucking mess, tangled and mused. He found it to be gorgeous on her.

“Is it… is it okay if I stay? I just… I just want to feel you.”

Y/N nodded, not trusting her voice, and kissed his head sweetly, eyes still closed. Din kissed her once, twice, then three before burying his head in her chest, arms wrapped under her.

He said it he said it he fucking said it.

She didn’t question the taste of salt on her lips from when he kissed her, or the way his cheek was cracked and dry from the tears. She knew him well enough to know the meaning behind them.

“I think you should call me daddy every day,” Din mumbled into her skin, pushing her away from her thoughts.

Y/N laughed and could feel the grumble of his. “Okay, daddy,” she teased with a sultry voice.

Din groaned and lightly slapped the side of her ass. “Damn fucking right.”

She hummed and scratched his scalp, relishing in the afterglow. After a few moments Din shifted, causing them both to squirm from the short burst of pleasure. She was still very sensitive, and when he pulled out of her slowly she couldn’t help but hiss and whine at the loss.

He started to pepper kisses down the slope of her stomach, nipping at her hip bone before kneeling down at the edge of the cot. His hot breath hovered over her quaking pussy, her juices and his cum leaking out of her.

“Oh Din, I don’t – fuck!”

Din licked a broad stripe up her cunt, moaning at the combined taste of their cum. Y/N’s thighs immediately started to shake and quiver around his head, whining and moaning pathetically. She thrashed when he attached his lips to her clit, giving it a powerful suck.

“Fuck Din I’m – I’m gonna cum again!” It was breathless, high pitched, and fucking music to his ears.

He groaned into her, lapping up every ounce of her release before crawling back up to catch her lips with his. He tasted sweet, tangy and salty.

“You have one more in you, princess?” He whispered hoarsely into her open mouth.

Y/N nodded desperately. She could see white flashes behind her eyelids, dancing through the pleasure.

She felt him line himself up at her now definitely swollen lips, only letting the tip of his cock into her, teasing her.

She gave him the best glare she could give considering her state, which made Din chuckle darkly.

“What is it sweetness?”

That motherfucker. She tried rolling her hips, but he held down with a firm palm on her belly. Y/N huffed.

“Please daddy, please fuck me. I want your big dick inside me, daddy. Please,” she begged.

She was awarded with a slow thrust into her gaping heat. All the air seemed to leave her body, chocking on what little of it she had left before he pulled all the way out to the tip before thrusting back in. She felt the cot dip as he covered her body with his, grinding into her.

This was soft, slower than what had just taken place before. He caressed her eyebrows, cheeks, lips as his own lips sucked a mark onto her pulse point. Each shift of his hips brought a new sense of euphoria to the both of them, the chorus of soft moans filling the air.

“I really do love you,” he whispered, forehead resting against hers. “More than life itself. And I’m so fucking sorry that I don’t tell you enough, th –.“ He paused when she clenched around him, cursing under his breath as his hips sped up. “That I’m holding you back. Nothing could ever compare to your love, my sweet, sweet Y/N.”

Y/N hated it, but she started to cry. “You’re not holding me back,” she whimpered. She tugged his hair back to give him a sloppy kiss, their orgasm’s near.

“You could never do that to me, Din. And you don’t have to tell me with words. Fuck you s-show me every day. When you let me sleep in, listen to my stupid stories, the way you pay attention to me. You fucking bought me that pin at that stupid market we stopped at twice because you remembered that it reminded me of my mother.”

They both let out small chuckles at that, breathless and so so close. His pubic bone was shifting just right against her clit. Din’s hands slivered over the sides of her breasts, palming her ass and lifting her up to meet his thrusts.

“Gods daddy, make me cum,” Y/N cried.

“Daddy is gonna take care of you,” Din promised. “Always gonna.”

It was amazing, the whiplash between something so honest and heartfelt to something so fucking filthy. But hey, it worked for them.

“Ca -  can I cum on your tits?” Din suddenly asked. It came out nervously, slow. She’d let him do anything to her and thank him afterwards.

“Of course, daddy,” she purred.

“Then play with your pretty pussy.”

He didn’t need to tell her twice. She reached down between them and with a few flicks of her finger she came hard around him. He pulled out with a growl, pumping himself vigorously before grunting loudly, thick ropes of cum spraying across her chest.

“Shit you - .”

They both giggled. Y/N gathered up some of the cum onto her finger and hummed at the taste of him. If only she could see the way his dark eyes lit up.

He reached around, grabbing an old used cloth to clean her chest before collapsing next to her.

“Just give me a minute,” he grunted before she could open her mouth to speak.

Y/N could only nod, her throat becoming sore from the screams. She felt satisfied, her body spent. Din eventually got to his feet, dressing himself slowly as he helped Y/N do the same, giving her a kiss before placing the helmet over his head. It felt heavier now. She checked on the Child as he climbed up the ladder to the cockpit. Bringing the sleeping child up with her, she laid him down in his makeshift seat as Din started the ship.

“Hey,” she whispered, placing her hands on his shoulders, now covered in beskar. “We’ll be okay.”

He remembered he said the same thing to her before she got shot. But this time, this time he believed it, because she did. Because he had to, for all of their sakes.

“I know.”

   Tags: @scarlett-berserker​, @justlovetoreadfics​, @lil-baby27​, @mando-vibes​, @beepbeepyabitch, @that-void-witch​, @im-the-music-whore​, @certifiedhunter​, @outlawers​, @hejahockey​, @okaydacre​, @lemongrove​, @appreciating-chase-brody​, @iwontforgettheapplepie, @mybabyboytony​, @olyamoriarty, @pcrushinnerd​, @elusive-ivory​, @dizzydazed​, @bluejeancntrygrl​, @our-mrlangdon, @parody-the-emi​, @evalynanne​, @purplewaterbird​, @angel-hunter-winchester​, @tedpicklez​, @momc95​, @sailorflowermoon​, @creatingjana​, @stories0fhope​, @pascalisthepunkest​, @coffeeandtodd​

#the mandalorian #the mandalorian x reader #din djarin #din djarin x reader #pedro pascal #the mandalorian imagines #the mandalorian smut #star wars #the mandalorian's love series #the child

[daanny2772]

FFXIV Dark Knight Level 35 Job Quest Fan Translation

Due to the differences between Fray Myste portrayed in the Japanese and English versions, I have decided to translate a number of the Dark Knight story quests from Japanese. I am by no means proficient in the language and ask that you forgive me for any incorrect translations. Please do let me know so that I am able to fix the mistakes. That being said, there are liberties I have taken due to the structure of the two languages being significantly different. Thank you for keeping this in mind.

Tumblr user haillenarte has also translated the level 45 and 50 quests along time ago. Go check it out if you haven't yet! https://haillenarte.tumblr.com/tagged/fray

I have recorded and subbed a video of my WOL going through the DRK quests below. I’m sorry that the lvl 35 one had to be split into two, but the future ones I’m working on subbing should not have that problem (hopefully...)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnP6yVSIHpE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pG0IBvqNdIg 

I’ve taken the Japanese lines from https://alnoumin.exblog.jp/24252515/ and have left the name of their WOL in the Japanese lines.

Guided by a Shriek 

Fray seems to be waiting in the Brume for the adventurer to visit.

***

Fray: We meet again, Nyxahk.  Well then, I will be teaching you everything within the extent of my memories about the Dark Knight.

...But before that, is there anything you’re still curious regarding what happened before the conflict involving the young lady?

The mystery that remains is …?

I wonder how that grandmother is doing?

...Huh? Ah, um… That’s right… I think she’ll be alright as long as she’s with that Miss.

But-- there should be something more puzzling than that! Jeez, you’re truly-- (*unbelievable) 

Fray’s charges

フレイ：あれ……言いませんでしたっけ、無実の罪だって。えっ？　もっと詳しく？う、ううん……思い出すので、ちょっと待ってくださいね。

Huh… Now that I think about it, I didn’t say that I was falsely accused. Eh? You want more details? Hm… please wait a little as I try to recall the events.

...Right, right. An innocent woman was being chased by the Templar Knights. As I was protecting her, I was charged with a made up crime. Really, it’s all because I trying to be nice...

But more importantly, isn’t there anything about yourself that you’re curious about?

About the Voice I heard at the beginning

Yes, that’s exactly it. When you first touched my Soul Stone, you heard someone’s Voice in anguish, correct?

You were intrigued by what that voice could have been… It’s possible it was the voice of “a certain someone you must protect” somewhere in this world.

The Dark Knights of the past have believed in protecting the weak, in the way that you should be bonded with this certain someone. ...Were you to turn a blind eye to this person, you would be a failure as a Dark Knight.

In order for you to become a Dark Knight for this certain person, lets confirm the true intents of their Voice. If you can come to wield even stronger Darkness, you may be able to hear that voice again.

In order to obtain even stronger Darkness, a special rite (communion) is required. I have yet to choose a location for the rite… but with the conflict from the other day still fresh, we may get interrupted if we were to remain in Ishgard.

 Let’s head out on a trip. I’ll be waiting for you at Little Ala Mhigo in South Thanalan.

***

Fray: Ah, it’s great we were able to meet up. Without further ado, I’ll explain the details of this rite to obtain further powers of Darkness.

As long as you have my power, we may begin this rite at any time. However, to receive the power of Darkness is the same as awakening the repressed negative emotions within you.

Therefore, if someone who is not strong enough took on the rite, they would be overcome with those repressed emotions and be killed by the power.

In order to avoid that, you must show me the extents of your ability as a Dark Knight before the rite is to happen.

The best way for me to see your true strength is for you to defeat a strong enemy… Let’s go ask the leader of the village to see if there is a suitable opponent or not.

***

Gundobald: Oh, it’s the adventurer. Though we were unable to prepare a reception, we welcome your return. What business do you have here today?

...I see. You require a strong enemy to test the bounds of your strength.

There is one thing on my mind. Just the north of here at the Red Labyrinth, there have been appearances of ferocious Crag Bite Peistes. 

Their strike is strong, and have even injured many fellow beasts raised in this dangerous region.

Fray: That does seem to be a suitable opponent. The main point of fighting as a Dark Knight is to endure the enemy’s powerful attacks while continuing to attack. ...How will we be able to meet this enemy?

Gundobald: That thing seems to be attracted to the smell of goat breast meat brought by the merchants from Minotaur Malm. In order to draw it out, here is the meat I spoke of.

Though this land is poor, I would like to repay what you’ve done for us, even if it’s just a little.

But still, I  am glad to see this. You’ve brought a friend along, and you’re even relying on us...Hm… You say you’ve only just met this person?

For some reason, you two give off the impression of partners having travelled together for a long time, or that of friends bond strongly to one another… Was it just my imagination?

Fray: ...Nyxakh, it’s about time we get going.

***

Fray: Please show me the true extents of your power as a Dark Knight here. Please defeat the Crag Bite Peistes lured by the goat breast meat we placed. 

It seems the attacks from your enemies will be strong. While keeping your injuries to the least amount possible, attacking when you see the gaps in their defenses should lead you to your victory.

…Then without further ado, commence the battle!

***

Fray: Well done Nyxakh. It seems you have improved your skills from last time.

Though the duty of a Dark Knight is to protect, it does not mean thoughtlessly taking on attacks, nor that defeat means losing everything you have.

If you truly wish to protect that which is important to you, determining the movements of your enemy and keeping your injuries within limits are both essential. And how to use the powers of Darkness is also a part of it, right?

There should be no problems for us to carry out the ritual like this. For now, let’s return to the outskirts of Little Ala Mhigo. We wouldn’t want to be distrubed by any beasts attracted by the leftover meat. 

***

Fray: Without further ado, for you to obtain further powers of Darkness, I will carry out the ritual.

Even though it’s called a ritual, it’s nothing difficult. Simply hold your hand out to mine and close your eyes to concentrate. Your emotions will naturally overflow, and the power should well up alongside it.

It would be good if you can hear that certain someone’s voice again… Anyway, if your heart is ready, then please go ahead and give it a shot.

 ***

As you are thinking that your chest feels like it’s on fire, the Voice rings through your head...

???: ...It hurts… It’s painful… Everything… is hopeless...

How many more challenges must I go through to see hope? It’s as if I’m fighting a battle without end...

For what reason do I continue to stand up…? For what reason do I continue to fight? It hurts, it hurts, it’s getting harder to breathe.... Ah, someone....

***

Fray: ...How was it, Nyxahk? It seems that the rite was a success… Were you able to hear the Voice?

Though you were able to hear it, you still do not know their identity…?

But at the very least, it seems that my conjecture was correct. Somewhere in the world, there is a weak person you must protect, their voice connected to you by the powers of the Darkness.

I don’t know how much of the power of Darkness we will need in order to find out the identity of that Voice. But even so, there exists someone only you can protect.

If the voice you heard was able to reach your heart even a little, I think that’s the path you should continue down. Am I wrong, Nyxakh Nemophila?

What a relief… As I expected, you’re kind as well as strong. That certain person to be protected by a Dark Knight like you will surely be blessed with happiness.

To be honest, I travelled with someone similar to you a long time ago. Without any reason, we stepped out into the vast world, our hearts trembling at everything and anything… it was that kind of journey, you see.

But… yes, it was around this place, they defeated a terrible threat and became a hero.

...But being a hero isn’t all that great, you know? Being manipulated by all sorts of things, only saving up a pile of injuries, eventually even becoming unable to see yourself...

And like that, they drifted away from me, until not even my voice was able to reach them.

I don’t want you to lose sight of what’s important to you. If you decide to protect that certain someone, listen carefully to their voice, and please don’t ever avert your eyes from them. 

Then, when you become even stronger, you’ll take on the rite of Darkness again. ...We definitely have to meet up again at the place we first met.

***

t/n:

- Crag Bite Peistes - the english only had it listed as peistes, but the crag bite part is so funny to me because I had and still have no idea what the katakana is referring to so I stuck it in Google Translate. That's what came out and it makes me laugh so I've left it in 

- Jeez, you’re truly-- (*unbelievable) - What Fray says would be close to "People like you--", the unbelievable part is implied. He's pretty much just really exasperated at WOL and it's cute. i love him

- Regarding the person that Fray talks about having gone on an adventure with, their pronouns will change depending on the gender of the character. I've used they for my translations as my WOL uses they.

- the rite Fray talks about is called a communion in Eng which works better imo in the overall scheme of things but i left it as rite here

#ffxiv #ff14 #drk #dark knight #fray #job quest #fan translation

[hallospaceboyy]

The Morning After

Madam Spellman

Warnings: Fluff and smut. Light dom/sub.

A/N: My first Madam Spellman fic! Do hope you enjoy! I'm looking into getting into writing more, as I find it quite therapeutic, so if you have any prompts in mind; hit me up and I will give them a go! Thanks guys, and hope you enjoy x

Lilith awoke from a deep slumber; perhaps the deepest slumber she had experienced in centuries. For a split second her surroundings were unfamiliar. She lay and stared at the ceiling of a bedroom foreign to her, before she recalled the events of the evening before, and a slow smirk gracing her lips. She turned her head to regard the sleeping form beside her, auburn locks splayed across the pillow, an expanse of milk white skin on display as the bedcovers had slipped lower and lower during the night. Lilith sighed in contentment, and gently brushed an errant curl from the red head’s face, careful not to wake her. She looked so relaxed in slumber; so different from the tight lipped, tense Zelda Spellman that so often showed her face in waking moments. Zelda had always been a difficult nut to crack, but Lilith had always been fond of her nonetheless; admired her confident facade, the way she held herself proudly before the eyes of others. For she knew it was a farce, Zelda had often prayed to her from a young age, had often turned to the Mother of Demons for strength during the hardships in her life. Zelda reminded Lilith of herself. Always relying on a mask to portray herself as strong and unbroken, and hoping nobody would hear the shattered pieces rattling inside of her.

Lilith sighed, coming to conclusion it was far too early in the morning for such rumination. She turned on her side, just as Zelda's eyes fluttered open and green immediately met blue. Zelda smiled softly, knowing that she was safe alone with the demoness to let her defensive walls crumble.

“So, I wasn't dreaming. I really did manage to bed the Queen of Hell last night,” Zelda's smirk grew wider, and she reached out and laid a manicured hand on Lilith's bare waist.

“Definitely no dream. Not that you had to try very hard.” Lilith swallowed thickly, suddenly finding it difficult to put her thoughts into words. The pair had been working together for months, picking up the pieces to rebuild the coven and construct the ideals of the Church of Lilith. It had been awkward at first, Zelda was both embarrassed at her ill treatment of the demoness during her time posed as Mary Wardwell, and angered at her deception, her web of lies used to get close to her niece. But despite this, they had grown close. Lilith bore Zelda no ill will, knew Zelda and Zelda alone carried the burden of protecting her family; felt responsible for their safety and well being. Lilith had threatened that. She understood.

Zelda had tried to remain formal at first. Kneeling when Lilith entered a room, referred to her only as “My Queen” or “My Unholiness". Lilith quickly put an end to that. They were equals. She knew Zelda was a powerful woman, and a powerful witch, and believed she should bow to no one. She pretended not to see the tears forming in Zelda's eyes when she told her so, merely placed her hand over Zelda's, wanting her to know her admission was sincere.

Lilith blinked, realising she had been silent for quite sometime, and Zelda had been watching her, deep in thought. “I have become quite fond of you, Zelda Spellman. I would be lying if I told you I had not wanted this to happen for a very long time.” She lowered her eyes, feeling vulnerable, unused to showing genuine emotion. “Working in such close proximity to you has become quite distracting. A welcome distraction from the chaos of ruling Hell, I might add. Demons can be insufferable to be around for any length of time. You’re a breath of fresh air.” Lilith met Zelda’s gaze, surprised to see a soft smile on Zelda's face, affection in her moss green eyes. Zelda gently placed her hand on Lilith's cheek, her thumb stroking the skin there, tracing the prominence of her cheekbone.

“I have become rather fond of you, as well. It did come as a surprise to me, I must admit. I always found you rather irritating before. Before I knew who you really were. You were so very good at turning up at the most inconvenient of times. Innocent, prying Mary Wardwell. I always knew you were no innocent.” Zelda chuckled, her voice still thick with sleep. She sat up and reached for her cigarette case and holder, lighting up and leaning against the headboard before meeting Lilith's eyes again. Lilith's own eyes wandered lower, to Zelda's uncovered form. Her eyes roved over pale skin, and pink nipples, unashamedly ogling the witch. Zelda grinned, taking a long drag of her cigarette and watching Lilith's face intently. “Do you like what you see, My Queen?” she said teasingly, and Lilith's eyes finally met hers, darkened with lust.

“Stub that out.” Lilith ordered, and Zelda did as she was told. Her teasing smirk gone, and her own eyes clouded with want. “I thought I made it quite clear that formalities were unnecessary. But under the circumstances I think I can let it slide. It turns you on, doesn’t it? To worship me.” Lilith crawled out from under the duvet, pulling Zelda down into a laying position before climbing on top of her, pressing their naked forms together. Zelda let out a soft whine, and Lilith leaned down and bit her pulse point, licking the red mark she left. Zelda's slender legs wrapped around Lilith's waist, grinding up against her wantonly. “So impatient, my sweet Zelda...” Lilith teased, letting her hands glide down Zelda's body, squeezing her breast and pinching her nipple, before stroking her hand down the expanse of Zelda's stomach.

Zelda moaned, arching her back at Lilith's touch. “Please, Lilith...” she whined, her hands gripped Lilith's shoulders, manicured nails digging into soft flesh. Lilith reached Zelda's heated core, fingers stroking over slick folds, wet with need. “Is this all for me, my High Priestess?” Lilith whispered, nipping Zelda's earlobe as she continued to tease her now soaked fingers over Zelda's heat.

“All for you... My Queen...” Zelda's eyes fluttered closed, a sigh escaping her lips. Lilith's finger tip gently rubbed her clit, and Zelda shuddered. Just as Lilith readied herself to ruin the gorgeous woman below her, slick fingers moving lower, there was a swift knock at the door, and it burst open, revealing the younger Spellman Sister, her eyes immediately going wide as saucers. Lilith quickly leapt off of Zelda, bringing the duvet up to cover them both, and Zelda growled in frustration, a furious look in her eyes as she shot up into a sitting position, holding the duvet over her naked form.

“And here we have someone else with the extreme talent of showing themselves at the most inconvenient of times.” She said, glaring at her sister. “I will not be down for breakfast this morning, Hilda. I ordered out.” Hilda's face turned a bright shade of scarlet, and she muttered a sorry and bustled from the room, slamming the door in her haste.

Lilith looked to Zelda, and burst out laughing, hand snaking into auburn locks, she pulled Zelda to her and kissed her, climbing back into Zelda's lap to straddle her. “You ordered out?” She quoted incredulously, pulling away with a wide smirk on her lips. Zelda merely chuckled and kissed Lilith again, taking her hand and pushing it back down to resume its earlier ministrations.

#madam spellman #Zelda Spellman x Lilith #Zelda Spellman x Madam Satan #The Queen of Hell and her High Priestess #zelda spellman #madam satan #lilith

[hibibun]

Smoke and Mirrors

Series: The Magnus Archives Pairing: Elias Bouchard/Jonathan Sims Summary: Elias offers to help Jon quit smoking. He doesn't particularly feel that strongly about it, but when presented with another incentive, Jon finds himself going along with it anyway. for jonelias week day 2 - manipulation & caretaking Notes/Warnings: Pre-Canon, Manipulation, Smoking, Dom/sub undertones AO3 CH1 - ?

It starts with a harmless, albeit likely patronizing, observation.

“That’s a nasty habit.”

Jon’s eyes flick up and away from the hand steadying his lighter, the smoke already starting to drift off the end of his cigarette. He’s used to such comments. Generally, people are even worse about it, go on about how he’s polluting the air and so on—hence, why he’s even on this side of the building, which has more or less been claimed by the other smokers at the Institute.

However, he’s pinned by the fact the words came from none other than Elias Bouchard, Head of the Magnus Institute and currently his boss’s boss. He finishes his inhale, carefully manages his exhale without it sputtering into the coughs his rapidly beating heart want him to make. Evidently, Elias doesn’t smoke or approve of it, which makes Jon wonder if he simply comes out here to make such comments.

“I’ve been meaning to quit,” Jon shares a bit defensively, though it has been a half-hearted thought with even more abysmal attempts. He’d never really been one to handle stress well and seemed to come back to it no matter how many days he’d managed to avoid lighting one. It doesn’t help that in general his attempts to find anything of use or lucidity at the Institute have only ended in fairy tales and irritation.

“I can help, if you’d like,” Elias offers and there’s something in his tone Jon can’t identify that makes him uneasy. Reminds him of why exactly the remark he’d made managed to bother him.

Lately, if Jon isn’t mistaken, Elias has taken an interest in him. In his arrogance, he would like to think it had something to do with his work, though the reality is it’s doubtful anything he’s done as a mere researcher would be enough to catch the attention of the head the Institute. No, the exchanges they have more rely on things expressed during his initial interview that he’d put out of his mind. Considering how busy the man usually is, he hadn’t been sure whether to chalk up the interlude between their meetings to be one of sudden disinterest, or if he had been actually dealing with other matters. It comes as a strange relief that the latter appears true, though as usual, he is uncertain as to why.

Either way, needlessly, Jon has impressions on the mind. And while he does not believe in the idea of changing yourself for approval, he also can’t deny that it would be an utter shame to lose this man’s attention over something as simple as a cigarette. Against his better judgment, though, ‘Would it really be such a bad thing if he quit?’ Jon wonders—the stick in his hand steadily wasting away to ash.

“How do you propose to help?”  

Wordlessly, Elias holds a hand out, expectant. Jon stares at his hand, then up at him.

“May I have the rest of what you have on you? I wouldn’t be so cruel as you force you cold turkey quit as it isn’t always safe, but I can help in moderation.”

Hesitantly, Jon digs in his pocket and drags the pack out. He places it in Elias’s waiting palm, trying to ignore the momentary brush of their fingers. Next, he asks him about his habits. About how many does he burn through a day and when, before carefully counting out how many he thinks he should have between now and the next time they meet.

“I cannot make you stop entirely, but I would be delighted if you manage some restraint. Tomorrow, if there are leftovers you refrained from smoking, I have a surprise in mind. If you cannot manage it, well, then there’s always next time, but this is a good starting point wouldn’t you say?” Elias asks rhetorically, and Jon feels strange looking at his smile. Intrigued at what he possibly thinks would be a worthwhile surprise. He licks his lips and lets himself have a puff before the whole thing burns out, using the excuse that he needs to exhale to look away from Elias and his odd smile.

“I’ll do my best I suppose, if you’re that serious about it.”

“Excellent,” he hears Elias say, but doesn’t look at him, fearing what he might see.

                                                               -

Of the seven handed back to him, there’s only one he has to give. Jon had almost used that one too—forever a victim to sleepless nights and itching for something that might put him at ease.

Still, Elias placates him and they repeat the same exchange. Jon hands him his new pack, unopened, and Elias counts out the next set he’s allowed. It’s difficult to read his expression again as while he had at least one to give, something about the exchange still leaves Jon feeling like he’s disappointed him. Elias doesn’t say as much, but it strikes him like it’s true anyway.

“While your progress is slower than I might have anticipated, I’m a man of my word.”

He digs through a drawer in his desk momentarily, before bringing out a stack of papers.  

Jon stares at it suspiciously, unsure how it is much of a surprise at all. It mostly just looks like… work.

“Feel free to read it here or take it with you. It’s a copy anyway, so you may do what you like with it, but I think it may be of some interest.”

After another moment of hesitation, Jon takes the stapled packet, glancing over the front to confirm it is indeed a statement. He must make a face as Elias laughs.

“I promise it isn’t another assignment. I just would like you to read it and maybe share your thoughts.”

His eyes are already wanting to skim over what it is that Elias would think is interesting to him. With a stiff politeness that was beginning to feel silly given their current arrangement, Jon nods shuffling the papers closer to his chest and stands.

“I suppose I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

Elias doesn’t betray another hint of what it might be and is suspiciously business like in his dismissal. Their meeting had hardly reflected that, but it isn’t something Jon intends to comment on. Whatever was going on, the answers might already be in his hands and with a bit of frustration, he knows he’ll have to wait until the evening to really dig into it. He can only hope next time he’ll garner some kind of understanding.  

                                                              -

He isn’t sure if he’s smoking because of what he read, or because he doesn’t want to see what else Elias has for him. Either way, by the time he’s crushed the butt of his last cigarette into the ashtray his stomach is swimming with a mixture of relief and regret. He’s lying a little when he says he doesn’t want to know more—it’s the whole reason he even started working at the Institute in the first place. A fact Elias apparently bothered to remember from his interview. It’s terrifying though, the reality it could be real and not simply a fabricated tale that has an easy to stomach explanation. Something he’s spent a long time trying to convince himself of, even while knowing himself the supernatural must exist.

Lying farther away on top of all those issues is the root of what started this all. He’s thoroughly swallowed his fear in smoke and will have no spare cigarettes to give tomorrow. It hasn’t done anything for how scared he feels, and worse he loathes the dread piling heavier at whatever signs of disappointment will be waiting on Elias’s face.

Or maybe, there won’t be anything there at all.

He still doesn’t know why Elias is doing all this, and he even admitted quitting won’t be easy.

It isn’t the first time he’s had a dream about the statements he’s investigated. Even if he steadfastly denies the claims and feels justified as he comes up with nothing for many of the cases assigned to him, certain instances in the investigation or in the initial tales themselves if the giver is a good storyteller are enough to get to him when he sleeps. He always feels a little silly for that in the morning—writing it off as an over active imagination and a life too focused on work.

Still, this dream surprises him for its sheer vividness compared to the others.

In front of him is a familiar parlor full of comfortable looking couches, some with hand-embroidered cushions, plants tastefully decorating its corners, and a vast amount of paintings taking up almost all the available space of the walls. He has never been in this room. Never seen it, but it’s nostalgic—the type of room you’d expect in a period piece drama or at a grandparents’ home.

The words filter in, and the scene shifts. There is a woman now seated at one of the settees, her gaze untrustingly glancing about the room. The room is empty otherwise, only with an entrance way into it from the front hall, and a side door leading to another part of the house.

The woman reaches for her purse, makes a move to open it before sighing and changing her mind.

She was running late. It was a bit odd, and I was starting to get a little antsy. I hate being in that room in general, but, well, it was hard to request waiting somewhere else politely. I mean the poor old woman was pretty much on her own—I just wanted to check in like I did every Tuesday afternoon, and then be on my way. Really there wasn’t anything wrong with it. When you got past the decorations… it was actually rather cozy.

Wildly, the woman twists around at the large family portrait hanging just behind her seat. There wasn’t anything particularly odd about it. A big family of six, stiff and bunched together, neither smiling nor frowning. Simply existing. Staring.

What I didn’t like was how narrow it was. How little space it felt like was actually in the room; and worse you… when you were in there by yourself, the pictures had a weird sense to them. I can’t explain it. It just felt like they were watching you.

She quickly looks away and takes a deep breath. Then, she stares directly ahead. Jon panics, feeling like she is now looking directly at him, but her expression quickly breaks down into anguish and terror. Fear clear across her face, she whips her head instead to the other side of the room now and fixates on a door there. Shakily, she raises and rushes toward it. The door hadn’t been there before, and the moment it closes, isn’t there at all.

You have to understand; I know it sounds crazy, but it was the only thing that felt right at the moment. I-I think I knew the door wasn’t there before. I had been in that room a million times before, I knew pretty much every inch of it because it was so horrible to be there, but that’s why I had to go through it. I just wanted to get away from all those creepy eyes staring at me—

Jon cannot see inside the door—Trisha Wellen was unable to describe properly or in any coherent manner what was beyond that door. Just that it felt like she was stuck there for a very long time, until suddenly she wasn’t several days later. What terrifies Jon more though is the undeniable truth that he had been one of those eyes behind the paintings, and despite knowing everything in her statement did nothing.

It was a dream. Ms. Wellen was shaken, given her statement, but it and the follow up were enough to scare him, clearly. The fact she has been listed missing for a little over a year as well doesn’t help matters. There is nothing he could have done to help that woman as the event in question happened two years ago and it was just a dream.

He is out of cigarettes and feels cold.

                                                              -

“Why did you give me this?” Jon starts their conversation, by dropping the statement back on Elias’s desk, maybe a tad harsher than intended. He doesn’t address the actual reason for these meetings first, and based on Elias’s expression, he finds that awfully amusing.

“Now then, irritability usually doesn’t crop up until after a few days of deprivation. I know you’re better than that Jonathan,” Elias tilts the conversation in a different direction purposefully. Jon feels pinned under those eyes, accusing him of weakness in what the other knows is an unfair assessment.

“You know exactly what has me ‘irritable’,” Jon starts, his eyes flicking away again, but only to land on a series of portraits of the previous heads of the Institute. He shivers involuntarily remembering the words that brought him in here. When he can look at Elias again the man is still staring at him as if sizing him up. It’s difficult to tell whether the reaction he’s displaying is one that feels actually reasonable or whether he’s somehow failed whatever test this was supposed to be.

“Please, sit,” he directs, the words feeling more like a command than a polite suggestion. Once Jon is obedient in the matter, he continues speaking.

“Let’s try this again. How are you feeling this morning, Jon?”

“I’m fine, just…” he almost admits he’s unnerved, maybe worried, “confused. I haven’t ever seen a case like this. It’s jarring to see something that might be credible I suppose, but who knows? I certainly have no way to contact Ms. Wellen about it. I can only assume it has some truth to it because I can’t fathom another reason you’d show me it.”

The why still lingers heavy in his throat, but considering Elias’s reaction when he’d opened with that he isn’t sure he’ll get that answer. From the way he’s looking at him, it must be true though, as frightening as that reality feels to accept.

“Does it discourage you?”

Jon isn’t sure which aspect of their arrangement Elias is referring to with his question. He was never particularly dead set on quitting smoking to begin with, merely went along with it out of curiosity, and the vague notion that he knows it would be better for him. If he’s talking about what he came here to find, then that’s a more complex answer.

He isn’t discouraged, so much as sent back spiraling to things he doesn’t want to admit. All along, he’s known that these things exist in the world and that even if his own encounter felt so brief, he couldn’t be the only one to have an experience like it. Denying that for so long simply felt easier. Bearable.

“No, no I need to know… just surprised to see something that didn’t feel fabricated.”

“I told you it would be a surprise. If you’re still interested, I assure you there are more in the Institute if you look hard enough. For now though, let’s get you sorted out.” Seamlessly, Elias changes the subject once again and waits patiently for the same exchange they’ve been making. He clicks his tongue when Jon has nothing to offer him from yesterday, but dutifully counts out the amount, taking one less than he’d given the day before, which Jon does not comment on.

“I understand why you felt it necessary to use them all, given how shocking this must be, but if you do wish to stop, best not to make a habit of it.” He’s trapped again by Elias’s eyes and he tries to squash down the definite sensation he’s disappointed him. Why that matters so much should be the more alarming question, but instead Jon quietly pockets the box again and chooses his words carefully.

“If I have more questions… will you answer them if I can keep up with it? Or was this the only surprise you had?” Jon asks, tone just slightly bordering shaky.

“You’ll just have to find out.” Elias answers him all pleasant looking smiles once more. “I believe they’re looking for you down in research, and I have scheduling to work out, so that will be all for now.”

#writing #writing: tma #pairing: jonelias #character: Jonathan Sims #character: Elias Bouchard #character: Jonah Magnus #jonelias #joneliasweek2020 #might......... return to this concept at some point #there's further i wanted to get into it honestly but this is enough to start

[night-filled-mountain]

This has been bugging me for a while, but this episode made it abundantly clear: Jasper and Victor see their relationship in two completely different ways. And I think it has to do with the fact that the only relationships Jasper could imagine having with other Kindred (pre-Annabelle) were (1.) “My boss” and (2.) “Food.”

Freedom is not a thing for Jasper. Independence is not a thing. Not since he was turned. That’s the essential crux of the awe and envy with which he views Annabelle, and it’s clear now that it subtly defines his views of Victor, too. Since he was sired, he’s been entirely under the control of (1.) his sire, presumably--I still don’t know who that was or what went down there, but it was nothing good, and (2.) Baron Abrams, who uses him as a jailor and a killing tool, full-stop. With absolutely no contact with loved ones or the mortal world, those duties for Abrams--duties that explicitly violated Jasper’s personal principles--defined his whole unlife. Hence, we get Feral Jasper, whose only remaining moral code lies in feeding on his own kind, and whose only pleasure lies in exploring an underground labyrinth of horrors. No wonder he protected the secret of that labyrinth so fiercely--it’s not, as I used to think, because he’s ashamed or frightened of it, but because it’s the only thing in the world that’s his.

But then the coterie forms (I’m still dying to know the details of when/how/why), and Jasper gets sort of sub-contracted, and spends part of his time working with/for Victor and Nelli. It’s not clear to me what official power dynamics (if any) exist within the coterie; all three vampires answer to Baron Abrams, and we’ve never seen Victor or Nelli treat Jasper (or each other) like anything less than a colleague and friend who’s on equal footing with them. And I think Jasper has always been low-key confused about that. Victor and Nelli are older than he is, a hell of a lot wealthier, and wield a great deal of influence in the mortal world (and possibly the Kindred world as well, though Jasper has his own connections). I think Jasper’s always been more-or-less convinced that they’re “in charge,” while recognizing that they (and Victor in particular) never act like that’s the case--not toward him, anyway (their behavior toward Annabelle is another story).

He must have recognized that things were better with them. He tells Annabelle that all Kindred are monsters except for her--that, essentially, he doesn’t care about any fellow Kindred except for her--but that he, Victor, and Nelli “work well together.” I can’t believe that he didn’t find at least some relief in the company of vampires who don’t see him as a tool for violence (if anything, they mostly seem to rely on him for stealth), who don’t make him keep other vampires in cages, who tease him and joke with him and even (in Victor’s case) tell him he’s beautiful. I genuinely wish that flashbacks were a thing in LA By Night, because I’m dying to see how Feral Jasper adjusted to that dynamic--and even started teasing and joking back. We’ve seen him change and grow in leaps and bounds because of Annabelle (I mean, who wouldn’t!?), but Victor and Nelli must have helped him begin that process, if only by their habit of not actively hurting him.

But then Victor became a baron. And it brought out all the underlying tension between Victor’s and Jasper’s respective views of the coterie.

“I’m not moving,” Jasper tells Victor almost as soon as he hears, and he doesn’t say it matter-of-factly--he says it defiantly, like he assumes Victor will demand that he move to the Valley in order to be properly under Victor’s authority. Jasper doesn’t go for open defiance very often--snark and sarcasm, absolutely, but at heart, he’s basically the embodiment of a defeated sort of “keep your head down and follow the rules” philosophy. When it comes to the labyrinth, though--his home, his sanctum--he’s willing to fight back, even when there’s nothing to fight. Victor wouldn’t dream of making him move; I’m 99% sure Victor has literally never given Jasper an order. But in Jasper’s mind, rank and power (and wealth and beauty) are tools to be used against him, to keep him in his place. Despite their completely easygoing relationship, he assumes that belonging to the coterie means belonging to Victor, because that’s the only way he’s ever learned to relate to literally any Kindred ever (...again, pre-Annabelle).

And then we get to the latest shenanigans (for me) (i.e. s1e8 😛), with all of Jasper’s dark secrets bubbling to the surface, and Jasper straight-up asking Victor, “What do you want to do? Specifically, with me.”

That moment absolutely murders me, because Jasper has just spent a good hour of the episode in hyper-defensive mode. He’s been at his angriest and snarkiest, his most scornful and defiant, as he tries to explain and/or justify all his shady, disturbing behavior to the rest of the coterie. All the things the baron’s been making him do, as well as his own coping strategies. All the aspects of his life that are (and he must realize they are, even as he proclaims all Kindred [except Annabelle!] “monsters” over and over again) so much shittier than his experiences with the coterie that he’s seen fit to be incredibly secretive about them, even though they were ordered by the “legitimate” authority they all follow.

And then that question.

Jasper broke zero rules, he was acting against his own will 99% of the time, and he still thought Victor had the authority--and the motive--to punish him for it all.

The first thing Victor did before answering him was put away his gun.

I just...can’t get over the fact that there is no more apt demonstration of their respective views of their relationship than Jasper casually, discreetly asking Victor if he’s planning to execute him, and Victor sheathing his weapon with that soft smile of his and saying, “We’re all monsters, man.”

#la by night #s1e8 #jasper #victor #the coterie #this is still an ongoing Thing between them that hasn't been resolved yet #and i have still more to say about it! #but right now i'm just feeling so soft because jasper came home with the rest of the coterie #he's spending the night at the college sanctum with them FOR THE FIRST TIME #and teasing victor about his gaping chest wound #and i just want to cry #i'm really hoping this was a turning point for them #because they've always been friends as far as victor is concerned but I WANT JASPER TO ACCEPT IT DAMN IT #(...and yes the caleb widogast parallels are still out of control)

[pinkbutterfly84]

Scorpion Season 2

Here we go season 2 and my personal favourite season.....

2.01 - there has been a break between episodes supposedly over the summer whilst Walter recuperate, Paige tries to improve the office, Cabe is working on a film, Sly tried to evolve, Tony was outdoors and Happy developed a paint gun

The question is have Happy and Toby been spending their time together they walk into the garage together??

No fratanisation at work...... but that doesn't mean out of work? Happy's look to Toby makes me think they see each other a lot out of work

Notice how each time they say no fratanisation 'at work' is always added

I love the way Toby's tone of voice changes when he is taling just to Happy or caring for her

Last scene they are off to Kavalskis together

Favourite quote- 'what do you see' 'a rare and delightful fungus' - this is a very Happy type compliment definitely there are still feelings there but she is still torn between wanting to move on with him and wanting to remain friends

Favourite scene- Toby taking care of Happy and her eye, his hand casually placed on her leg she once hated any form of contact now she didnt even flinch

2 02 - poor Toby obviously feeling the frustrations of being sidelined by Happy so he directs is attention onto poor Sly

The look Toby gives Happy when she said Orphanages suck a look of pure luck and he could help heal her wounds

First time Toby uses the nickname 'Hap' also the only person who calls her this

I love Dr Toby seeing him use his skills either medically or behavioral is when his character shines

Favourite quote- it's like jumping off a really high diving board going 100 miles an hour, exposure therapy

Favourite scene- not my favourite scene but definitely the cheesest was paige coming out the sea slow motion and Walter's face pure cheese

2.03 - this episode doesn't have much Quintis in it but I love Sly having an episode revolving around him he overcomes some fears and opens up to Megan

Ray is a very funny character 'the right way, the wrong way and the Ray way'

Poor Toby overhearing Happy's conversation thinking she is moving on meeting someone at a club he looks so hurt and Happy looks regretful that Toby overhead

How does Toby know Happy doesn't like to dance? Maybe suggested they go dancing together?? Happy's face when Toby actual fights back a bit at her half impressed half annoyed

Chet turning up at the end broke Toby's heart he needed to release some tension. Happy wanted him out of the garage so the team wouldn't know what they meet at the club to do

Favourite quote- Slyvester you and I are about to have a very uncomfortable conversation

Favourite scene- Toby talking g to Sly over the comms picking a fight in the jail yard

2.04 - Happy coming in with Chet either Happy is clueless on what effect this has on Toby or she is trying to make him jealous either way Happy is doing wrong this time

Starting to get some humour from Happy..... I wonder why!

I feel this is one of the first turning point episodes for Happy starting to acknowledge she doesn't need to be alone and there are people especially Toby who will stick with her and support her

Toby is so worried about Happy during this episode he even admits his love to her dad - good advice from him to let her come to him

Happy wants the list to go to Toby none of the others a subconscious decision that proves she relies on Toby

Happy acknowledges she is in denial!

The look she gives Toby over her dads shoulder what do you think she is thinking?

Favourite scene- Toby giving Happy the dolls house, he just wants to spend time with her even if friends

Favourite quote- I am surrounded by Robots!

2.05 - such a fun episode off set with the seriousness of Sly and Megan

Toby looks hot boxing 🔥🔥

Toby giving Happy a gift then saying there just friends - someone is in denial

Toby only worrying about Happy being in danger how does she not pick up on this?

Plus the minute she says she's stuck Toby is out the van to rescue her

Notice how they play dumb about knowing anything about Superfun guy yet in season 1 when Sly was in hospital they all sat and read the comics!

Toby saying no to hanging out with Happy must have been so hard for him but he obviously is feeling too much hurt not being with her but did she overhear him saying he was done with her, she wasn't far away, how would she have felt?

Question is the orange van the same as in the Cuba episode and the episode with Mya Hernandez??

Happy looks so impressed with Toby when he punches the guy, think she likes that he can be tough when needed

Favourite quote- with great responsibility comes great wedgie or dear diary it finally happened

Favourite scene- seeing the team dressed up nice to see the comedy side of the show

2.06 - part 1 of a double episode a really good episode showing Walter being taken advantage of and the guys all in danager

Toby trying the show his independence from Happy but taking it too far they work better together.

Toby looking fine in a suit!

Favourite quote- I kicked that habit cold Turkey, I need Happy like i need necrotizing fasciitis

Favourite scene- Happy creating a speaker and using it to put out a fire great mechanical engineering

2.07 Part 2 - Happy put her life in danger for the greater good in the sub but when Toby was in danger in the server room nothing else mattered but rescuing him

Toby will never know how much she fought to get him out

The look of pure fear and worry about Toby dying was excellent acting and showed such emotion and perhaps made her reevaluate her relationship with Toby

Happy was quite hostile towards Toby when he thanked her why was that? I think it was a defense mechanism he shield going up because she was scared to loose him

Favourite quote- with the clarity of one just risen from the dead, you're being a grade A tool

Except you cant unring a bell - Toby knows he cant easily get over his feekings

Favourite scene- Happy trying to get Toby out of the server room this first real sign that she really does have deep feelings for Toby

2.08 - Toby in the boxing ring he is trying to toughen up the ond thing Happy is known for iz being tough

Happy at the comedy club trying to be funny the one thing Toby is known for

I think there interests are a way to become closer to each other and understand each other

Mighty love oak - Toby finally realised if anything is going to happen he needs Happy to make the first move he has been as open as he can she needs to make the decision herself to get into a relationship with him

Favourite scene- Happy at the comedy club Slys reactions were so much funnier then the joles

favourite quote- this is nuttier then squirrel poop

Yes I know I drive crazy, just give me the keys

Suicidal genius says what now

2.09 - very sad to see the decline in Megan and what Sly is dealing with. How Walter deals with it is unfair to them both and quite selfish although I appreciate everyone handles these situations differently

Happy and Toby support Toby the only way they know bh giving him money.

Happy and Toby seem in sync in this episode just good friends with a deep connection

Toby is focusing his energy in predicting the future possibly to keep him distracted from Happy

In previous episode Toby has been seen with smart phones why all of a sudden is his phone old??

Favourite quote- dental hygiene is beautiful

Favourite scene- no real favourite scene but I do enjoy this episode the team hring scared of the unknown is hilarious

2.10 first time I watched this episode I was hooked and confused and loved the twist of Scorpion playing on Cromwell

Happy and Toby stood next to each other again mimicking each others postures

Walter finally accepting Megan's condition and her relationship with Sly is a heart warming moment and one of the few moments I like Walter

Favourite quote- are we heading to England for a spot of tea

Favourite scene- the team relaying how they duped Cromwell

2 11 - a really sad but beautiful episode with a touch of humour at the right times

Toby shines in this episode with his medical ability

Toby's face when Happy collapses and the lady is in labour his heart wants him to ho to Happy but he knows he must deliver a baby.

I would like to know what Happy thinks when she wakes and sees Toby?

Such a heart breaking scene 💔

Notice how Toby instinctively stays by Happy in the garage providing emotional support

Happy doesn't deal well with the situation so excuses herself to make the drinks

Favourite quote- i have super powers, I am bacteria man

Am I seriously the only doctor in the house

Favourite scene- the end scene with Megan's video and the team gathering to hear Walter's story a beautiful end to a touching storyline

2.12 - really liked this episode finally Happy giving into her feelings for Toby plus seeing them all dealing with their own issues from college gave some of the funniest moments of the season

Seeing cabe trying to talk wrestling was hilarious

She also admitted Toby was cute!

What Mavis said to Happy got her thinking she needs to let her shield down if she wants a Toby/ a family

Meeting Quincy Berkstead I don't think Toby's issue is him stealing Amy away it's a reminder of what a bad place he was back then and that Quincy was a better person than he seemed to be. Quincy said some things which hit close to home. Let's remember Toby is a doctor Quincy is just a psychologist!

Favourite quote- you were cute, what happened

Favourite scene- Happy and Toby dancing this showed real feelings from Happy she wanted to.do something nice for him when he obviously felt so down. I imagine that they all heard what Quincy said to Toby she she knows how it would of effected him

2.13 - quite possibly my favourite episode of the season maybe all 4 seasons

Happy seems uncharacteristically happy at the beginning embracing Christmas or looking forward to a possible future with Toby

Walter talking to himself, Megan's ashes in his car - Toby has his work cut out for him this episode

Sly talking about his love for Megan and not wasting time really gave Happy something to think about

Grandma got ran over by a reindeer! Supposedly some or all of this wasnt scripted just shows how amazing the actors are

The pure panic from Toby when Happy gets pulled under water shows his love and then change in his voice when talking to her is a beautiful moment

Favourite quote- at least we got a doctor in the house, who has 2 thumbs and rocked his GI rotation

'Quality kiss doc, good work' ' now that was a Christmas miracle

Favourite scene- the kiss! Need I say more you can even hear Happy hum during the kiss perfect chemistry

Toby waited so patiently and it paid off Happy came to him and initiated the next step

2.14 - perfect Quintis episode

Toby full of new year spirit wonder why??

Happy is also uncharacteristically Happy perhaps thet both had a good new year together.......

Happy trying to change be more positive maybe to help in a relationship with Toby, so much to surmise in this episode

The look happy gives Toby when he asks to make out is not a never gonna happen but a not now later look

Notice how when Happy is separated she repeatedly calls for Toby. Instinctively that's who she knows will rescue her

Toby is never seen as the brave one but when happy is in danger he is willing to risk his life

Near death has changed the dynamic between them. Happys dad points out she needs to find her Happy- then looks longingly at Toby

Question what everyone wants to know is what happens in the tent!

Favourite quote- who are you and what have you done with unhappy quinn

Favourite scene- Toby admitting he never thought he could die being so lucky with Happy in his arms

Such an honest and emotional scene excellent acting by #EddieKayeThomas

2.15 - poor Toby not feeling well love the thought of happy quickly scribbling down instructions for Ralph on how to look after Toby. Starting to show her feelings more openly

Paige and Walter singing was actually really good

Favourite quote- this is what I get for trying to help Walter date, influenza

Favourite scene- truth is I'm falling for the guy - finally Happy admits it then if only to Ralph - I do think Toby here her and probably calls her out on it later

2.16 - poor Walter trying to do something normal and it all goes to pot!

Toby and Happy going to Kavalskis under the pretense of taking the dish back..... sounds like a date to me that they dont want the others to know about, one of many over the course if the last few episodes I think

Favourite quote- that was a compliment knucklehead lob a little ear candy at her

You got sent to the senior section of speed dating and now your trying to Benjimen your Button

Holy ball boomerang Mericks back

I might only be a psychiatrist but they taught me at med school blowing people up is bad

Toby is on fire in this episode with his one liners - I wonder if all these jokes and sarcasm is because he is finally happy with Happy

Favourite scene- no favourite scene in this not much Quintis action but Toby was in fire in this episode great behaviourist skills and jokes

2 17 - love seeing the dynamic between Walter and Toby in this episode, seeing them in therapy is funny

Toby is definitely the more antagonist one is this episode he says its because he is happy with Happy I think he hates keeping secrets from his best friend and so he is distancing himself

Happy starting to side with Toby shows character growth

On a separate note I love Sly and Ralph's relationship in this episode they are a great duo

Favourite quote- hands at 10 and 2, check, seatbelt on, check, eyes firmly on the ramp in front of you, check, dont tell your mother, check

Favourite scene- the end scene Happy and Toby together at Toby's home confirmation the are together how long has this been going on is the question we all want to know

2.18 - Quintis is announced!

Walter being so upset is a bit strange surly he should be happy for his friends- maybe he's jealous he doesn't have what they have or maybe he is hiding something else........

Comparing to quintis to brangelina maybe not such a good comparison

Walter punishing Toby by making him stay behind is petty and not the first time he has tried

Toby is obviously very excited about his new relationship but suffocating Happy slightly

Walter giving them the ultimatum is uncalled for and Toby is not happy with him

First time we discover Happy's fear of blood, seeing Happy slightly off kilter and Toby supporting her is nice to see

Happy looks do happy when Toby says he is proud of her

Toby using his tone of voice he only uses with Happy, this is his caring soft voice

Oh Toby tracking Happys phone not a good idea I get why he did it and I think she does but not a wise move without talking it over first! I like how they experience normal bumps in the road in their relationship

Happy standing up to Walter was a big step and an important moment in showing she is all in and she looks so Happy when Walter says its ok

Favourite quote- for a million reasons the answer to that question is yes but believing in you the most incredible person I've ever know, no that does not make me crazy. You hear my voice now you hear how calm it is......

Favourite scene- Toby talking Happy through medical procedure

2.19 - Gambling addiction is a very sensitive topic which needs to be dealt with correctly

It is always alluded to Toby being addicted we are lead to believe over the past few years largely thanks to Happy it has gotten better but is obviously an issue for Happy

I dont buy that he gambles more cause he is happy but I'm no addication specialist

I think this shows real growth with Happy 1 year ago she would of just called it quits but now she raises her concerns which are genuine due to her childhood and Toby agrees to give up gambling for her - now that is true love

I feel Toby needed to hear this from Happy he had cut back a lot but the risk of losing Happy is too high and he knows he needs to stop

I think they really played into the gambling references this episode when usually it gets one or 2 mentions if that!

Favourite quote- 'that Pantera is the sexiest thing I've ever seen' 'second sexist'

Favourite scene- the end scene with Toby and Happy, Jadyn gives probably the best performance of the series so far so much emotion

2.20 - playful team is nice to see makes a pleasant change!

Toby shows his medical and behavioral knowledge off well In this episode

I really like that happy is comfortable in her relationship with Toby to show affection ftomt of the team by falling asleep and hugging her

Favourite quote- that guy doesn't respect the game

Well you make friends wherever we go

I know I'm the oh one wearing a hat, hold on to your hats I'm gonna profile the crap out of this guy

Favourite scene- the team waiting to see how Olivia gets on following her surgery

2.21 - so we meet interloper Tim, going to he controversial now but I quite like him.as a character!

Toby doing dares as a way dealing with giving up gambling - Happy should be supporting him not belittling him after all he gave it up for her

Toby compliments Happy and gets told off for doing it st work 1. He is allowed to shower her love and compliments at home 2. She turns her face and smiles secretly likes the compliment

Toby marking his territory with Happy when Tim talks to her its shows his jealous side

Happy chastise Toby for truth or dare he says he still needs to adrenaline rush so she kissee him and compares the adrenaline from the kiss to the gambling adrenaline. This shows how she must feel when she kisses him and is encouraging him to lean on her when he feels the need for the rush

I've also noticed that most kisses on screen she goes to him he also doesn't speak after the kiss until she does - shows he is learning from their first kiss

Favourite quote- 'just dance monkey', 'a 20 year old just called you monkey is life working out how you planned'

Favourite scene- happy kissing Toby on the piano

2.22 - this is a good episode considering it lacks in quintis moments - something which highlights the difficulties in gaining closure with missing military personnel

Oh no Toby lost his hat, I hope this isnt the one Happy bought him hopefully he keeps that safe at home!

Toby asking Happy if something were to happen to him would she move on, Happy saying no she wouldn't just shows her love for him.

Also theoretical marriage proposal and Toby asking Happy to think about it..... could a ring be on the cards although Happy's face is not convinced scares or hiding something

Favourite quote- dont use humour on a date because your not funny

Me and the hat are a package deal

Favourite scene- Toby asking Happy if he was missing would she move on

2.23 - not many quintis moments in this episode I start to look for the small moments in the background the looks std justices telling as the big scenes

Happy and Paige both outting Toby in his place when he makes a joke is funny

Funny how this time Happy doesn't have an issue with Toby crawling behind her in the tunnel

Toby has his arm around Happys shoulders swoon...

Happy puts her arm around Toby when they celebrate its these small things which show the couples development

Walter may diss Toby's skills but he does value and listen to them

Favourite quote- she is very much EQ for my IQ

Crazy man says what now

Favourite scene- Toby and Happy talking at the table playing cards - do I sense a proposal on it's way...... too soon surly they have only been together a few months???

2 24 - Toby Toby Toby winding up mark collins may prove to be a big mistake

Happy actually taking Toby's feelings into account doing a guessing game when Toby isn't around

Happy's jealous face when Toby said a show girl made him a man so sweet

Favourite quote- medically speaking hes nuttier then peanut brittle

I will always give you what you need whether it be emotional, spiritual or romantic so here it is sugar plum

Oh no Toby is in trouble what's going on......

Favourite scene- happy talking to Walter about Paige. This just shows the growth in her character willingly having a this conversation also picking up behavioural tips from Toby

2.25 - there is so much about this episode to write about from the kidnapping to the marriage proposal to the rejection.........

Happy comes in thinking the worst of Toby is he gambling lovd the fact she references the fact they text and meet outside of work - obviously they do but it's never referenced

The minute she hears Collins escapes she knows Toby is in danger and is worried

What is Sly hiding Happy knows he is and isn't Happy that Sly wont say anything

Seeing how worried Happy is, is a refreshing change from her normal closed off self. Her love for Toby really shows through in the episode

You can see Happy's frustrations Sly keeping a secret and Walter not giving up his researched

Happy's face when she thinks Toby is being electrocuted, she looks in pain telling Collins to stop the fear in her voice must be reassuring for Toby to know how much she loves him

Happy face when Collins outs the proposal, she blames herself for Toby getting snatched whilst picking up the phone, is there another feeling there aswell???

When Toby talks to Happy there is so much emotion in his voice saying goodbye, he uses that soft tone he saves just for Happy

Happy risking her life to save Toby shows her commitment to him

The first time I heard the proposal song I thought it was so cheesy but the more I watched the episode the more I realise it was perfectly Toby

Happy face when Toby is singing and proposing is the first sign of any guilt we have seen from her. She is obviously distraught that she has to say no and admit she is married to someone else. Utter heartbreaking scenes acted out superbly

Happy actually had tears in her eyes she must of been so devastated to have to had said no

Toby has never lost his ability to smile or joke but he looks completely heartbroken not only to have had his proposal turned down but to also find out the lovd of his life is already married. So much so he doesn't want to talk to anyone just hit the bottle.

Anyone notice how guilty Walter looks??

Favourite quote- hey is that hat wearing dipstick here

Its Toby Curtis, Doctor, Harvard trained. Were the smartest people in the world why is it so difficult to locate a 168lb wise ass

Favourite scene- there is no favourite scene I love this whole episode even Tody drowning his sorrows in tequila

Season overview - Sly has dealt with alot this season falling in love and then losing Megan he is now trying to look forward still keeping his love for Superfun Guy

Walter has had a few good moments this season mostly with Megan and he seems to deal well with kids. He is still obnoxious and struggles to communicate with people and says the wrong thing

I don't like the say Paige is going she is losing the qualities she was known for at the beginning kindness, compassion. I do like her relationship with Tim

Quintis- the start of the season started with them trying to get back to being friends and they had a few moments early on and then Happy merry Chet which made Toby jealous and he eventually realised that he needed to wait for Happy to come to him. A string of events finally broke down Happy's walls starting with her thinking Toby was going to die then Megan passed away, she met Mavis who encouraged her to lower her shield. Sly then told her to life in the moment and she finally kissed Toby from then things moved quickly secretly at first then in public before Toby gets kidnapped, proposes to Happy, gets rejected and finds out she's already married.

Questions are who is Happy married too?

Why didnt she tell Toby before? I think because she didnt want to ruin what they have and was scared to tell him and the more time passed the harder it got

How is Toby going to deal with this news?

Season 3 will certainly be interesting.......

#toby x happy #toby curtis #happy x toby #cbs scorpion #quintis #eddie kaye thomas #jadyn wong #happy quinn #team scorpion #scorpionedit

[comicgeekscomicgeek]

Their Hero Academia – Chapter 25: Toshi Midoriya—Boyfriend, Student, Personal Trainer, Wingman

Presenting the latest raw and unedited chapter of my ongoing, next gen, My Hero Academia fan fic, Their Hero Academia!

All previous chapters (and an infrequently updated sub-series devoted to the past of the universe) can be found https://archiveofourown.org/users/zylly/works

Toshi’s hair was still slightly damp as he entered the Common Room.  He’d started the morning early, as he always did, gone for his morning run with Katsumi and Kana Tetsutetsu, then returned to the dorm for a shower and then breakfast.  Tetsutetsu had been asking a lot of questions about Haimawari, which he’d answered as best he could, though he really wasn’t sure what was up with that.   Ah well, if it was important, he’d probably figure it out.

The TV was on and he could see that Izumi and Askuka were watching it.   He could hear a little of it.  “…truck driver found dead this morning, appears to have been murdered sometime last night with no sign of his truck.  Local police are being tight lipped and have not yet named any suspects.  However, the driver did work for a shipping company with numerous government contracts…”

Well, that was a little weird.  But before he could think any more about it, he was interrupted by arms wrapping around him from behind and the feeling of something—no, two somethings—very large, very soft, and very warm pressing into his back.  “Good morning, Toshi!”

We’re sorry, Toshi dot exe has failed and cannot respond at this time. Please try again later.

It had only been a week, but he still couldn’t believe that Sora Iida liked him.  Liked him liked him.   Enough that last Sunday she’d accosted him when he’d gotten back from his morning run to confess.  And, well, she was pretty and excitable and all kinds of amazing things and he was pretty sure he liked her too.   They were young and figuring this kind of stuff out was what life was all about.  

He didn’t know if she was getting advice from Mika Mineta or if this was just her usual lack of regard for personal space amped up now that they were dating, but he was pretty sure only an idiot would complain about it.  Even if she seemed to be moving kind of fast.  Sora was… really physically demonstrative.  And he wasn’t sure he should be complaining about that, but still, fast.

…He really needed relationship advice, but he was also pretty sure, based on the stories of them in school, that Mom and Dad were not the ones to give it, nor Uncle Shoto and Aunt Momo, or Uncles Kacchan and Eijiro.

Aunt Mina had always said that any of them could come to her with relationship advice too, but he was pretty sure that was a really bad idea.  Maybe Aunt Tsu?  She was definitely the most sensible person in his parents’ class that he knew…

Sora gave him another squeeze.  He gave her hand a squeeze, before she relaxed her grip and let him turn around. She was taller than him by several inches, shorter only than Shoji and Koda.  It puts him at an… interesting level in comparison to her.

Toshi grined.  “Good morning, Sora.”  He frowned, though, when he saw the bags under her eyes, in spite of seemingly brimming with energy.  “How much coffee have you had?”

“Just three…ish cups?” she tried, hesitating as she sees his eyes narrow.  “…From the big mug.”

“Sora,” he said, “we talked about this.  Coffee isn’t a substitute for sleep.”

She crossed her arms and huffed.  “And I’m just supposed to let all my good ideas go to waste!?”

“If it’s a good idea at 2300, it’ll be a good idea at 0800.”

“Now you sound like Father,” Sora said.  “That is not proper boyfriend soundings!”

Toshi held up both hands in a pacifying gesture.  “Okay, okay, okay,” he said.  “No dad-ing. I promise.  Just… maybe ease off the coffee, okay?  I can’t boyfriend if you’re so exhausted you can’t think.”

“…Your statement is not without logic,” Sora admitted.  “I will have to incorporate these new variables!”

How did Uncle Tenya handle Aunt Mei?!   Toshi was in way over his head here!

***

“All right,” Mister Aizawa said, “settle down.  Before we begin today’s lessons, we have something important to discuss.  The Sports Festival and the work-study week that follows.”

Toshi stole a moment to glance at the back row of the classroom, where Haimawari sat.  He’d been talking his friend up to his dad fairly frequently now, telling him about his drive and his amazing Quirk.  With no heroic background and so many second (or greater) generation students in this year’s crop of first years, Toshi knew that most eyes would be on people with proven legacies and now newcomers to the field. Haimawari was a good guy and deserved whatever kind of leg up he could get.  It didn’t hurt that he was exactly the kind of person Dad almost always picked.

Toshi just hoped the shock didn’t kill him when it happened.

“We’ve had heroic legacies in the Sports Festival before,” Aizawa went on.  “But this is the first year where we have classes primarily composed of the children of active Pro-Heroes, including the majority of the Top Ten.  Combined with the uncertainty surrounding the Quirk Virus situation… needless to say, the eyes of the world will be on this Sports Festival more than any other.”

He fixed the class with an icy glare.  “I am certain your parents are planning something.  I’ve already forbidden them from extending offers to their own children, so don’t think you’re going to coast by.  But knowing them, they’ve already made arrangements to exploit the loophole in that.  However, as your teacher, I have final veto power over whatever offers you may receive.”

His eyes narrowed. “If I catch any of you at the Sports Festival performing at anything less than your best, I will see all offers extended to you declared null and void.  Am I understood?”

“Yes, Mister Aizawa,” Toshi mouthed, along with the rest of the class.

Aizawa seemed satisfied with that, nodding slightly.  He briefly looked down at the lectern to consult a piece of paper.  “Doc Clock has also asked me to pass on the message that if any of you try anything like what Deku or Shoto did at your parents’ first Sports Festival, she will refuse to use her Quirk on you and instead leave you to Recovery Girl’s care.”

A small grin of paternal pride traced its way across his face.

As for the Festival itself, Toshi wasn’t worried.  He was good with his Quirk, though he knew he could be better.  But that pretty much applied to everybody in the class.  Of course, the variable nature of the middle round made things a little more complicated and there was always the possibility of something new…  But there was no sense in getting worked up about it.

No, if anything, it was the Tournament Round that concerned him the most.  What if he had to fight somebody in from the class?  So many of them were his friends, practically his family. He wasn’t sure he could really go all out fighting them.  

What if he had to fight Sora?!

***

Two weeks.  That’s what they had to get ready for the Sports Festival.  And Toshi was bound and determined to make the most of it.  With Heroics Class replaced by free-training periods for those two weeks, they had plenty of opportunity.  The chance to show his parents, show the world, just how good he could be.

Despite having a dad who was the Number One Hero and a mom who usually ranked somewhere in the low thirties, Toshi did not consider himself having to escape from their shadow. He’d known, almost from the moment he’d decided to be a Hero, that there would be plenty of people who’d think of him as nothing more than Deku’s kid.  And Dad, as the Symbol of Hope, was a standard no one could hope to match up to. They could only do like he did, and follow Dad’s example, and give it his best.

Toshi probably wasn’t going to be the next Number One Hero… but he was going to be the best Hero that he could.  And he was going to help his friends be the best that they could be too.

Which was why he’d taken some time to help Haimawari and Shota, in one of the dojo-style training gyms. Both of them had great Quirks… but neither was the best physical fighter in the world.  Haimawari relied on speed and zooming around, while Shota tended to rely on the raw power of his Quirk when fighting.  Nejire had also managed to take Haimawari out rather quickly when she and the Laughing Man had attacked them during training, though that might have been from the speed and surprise as much as anything else.

Toshi got that.  He was used to using his Quirk to bounce around, rapidly shifting from low to high gravity to bounce around and then hit like a freight train.  But he also knew how to fight without it.  Straight up brawling techniques from Dad, Gunhead-Style martial arts moves from Mom.

He brought up a hand, palm up, and moved his fingers in a “come and get me” gesture.  “Okay, guys,” he said.  “Two of you against one of me.  No Quirks.  Let’s do this.”

Haimawari rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.  “If you say so, Midoriya…”

“Kaaaai-yaah!”  Shota let out a non-supersonic scream and rushed him. Toshi easily sidestepped his purple-haired friend and gave him a small shove, knocking him down to the mats.

Haimawari was slightly more cautious, throwing a few careful punches that seemed more designed to test him that to actually connect.  With his long arms and legs, Haimawari actually had pretty decent range.  If he could get a little power going behind them, he’d be pretty effective.

Toshi tossed off a jab of his own, probing Haimawari’s defenses.  He missed and Haimawari actually managed to take him, striking him in the face with a blow.

He instantly pulled back, even as Toshi was seeing stars.  “Oh, oh, no, Midoriya, I didn’t mean…”

Toshi just laughed.  His opinion of Haimawari as a fighter obviously needed revising.  “Why didn’t you tell me you could hit like that?”

“That was awesome!” Shota piped in, none the worse for wear in body or spirit from his tumble.  “Only people I’ve seen hit Toshi like that are Kirishima-Bakugo and Tetsutetsu!”

Haimawari looked a bit embarrassed, chuckling nervously.  “It’s nothing, just something my dad taught me, that his mentor taught him. From, ah, from when he was doing a neighborhood watch kind of thing.”

Something about the way he said that made Toshi think there was more to the story, but he didn’t really want to press it.  It wasn’t like he wasn’t privy to secrets that he wasn’t allowed to share.

“Seriously, though,” Toshi said.  “I thought you said you didn’t know how to fight without your Quirk.”

Haimawari laughed nervously again.  “More like… I don’t want to?  I don’t like the idea of hurting people, especially for something just like showing off like the Sports Festival.  Guess what I really need is psyching up.”

Toshi punched the palm of his other hand.  “Okay, mental conditioning.  We can work on that.”

He looked over at Shota. “You… on the other hand…”

Shota looked a little embarrassed.  “Yeah… I might need a little more help.  Dad says it wasn’t until Uncle Shota started mentoring him that he really got any kind of good at fighting.”

“Well,” Toshi said, “I’m no Eraserhead, but I’ll do my best…”

***

Fortunately, it got better from there.  Haimawari was better than he’d expected going in, even after that first punch.  There was a lot of wildness to his punches and kicks, but even without his Quirk, he was fast and had plenty of reach.  If he combined that with his Quirk, getting in a few hits and then getting away, and repeating that, he’d do great against anyone with a short range Quirk.

Getting Shota to actually think about his moves before going all in was really the hard part, and once he got past that, it wasn’t too bad.  He wasn’t going to be as good a fighter as Uncle Hitoshi was, but at least he wouldn’t be breaking his hand if he punched somebody at the Sports Festival. And they still had two weeks.

Shota was bent over, hands on his legs, struggling to breathe.  “I’m okay…  I’m okay…   I’m pretty sure I’m okay…  The room was always spinning, right?”

“Take it easy, dude,” Haimawari said, guiding him over to one of the benches and helping him sit down. He got Shota’s water bottle and handed it to him.

“Small sips, Shota,” Toshi told him.  “Don’t overdo it.  You’ll just throw up.”

Shota reluctantly complied; Toshi could tell he’d been ready to guzzle it.  “This… gets… easier, right?” he gasped.

Toshi nodded. “Eventually.  We’ll try and do a little endurance work too.”

“Don’t know if I’ve said it, but I really do appreciate this, Midoriya,” Haimawari said, taking a drink of his water.  He was sweating and breathing hard, but not nearly as badly as Shota.  He was actually in pretty decent shape, probably because his Quirk was more of a physical one.  But he was built like a runner, not a brawler, so what he could do was a little different.

“Happy to help,” Toshi replied.  “We’re all in this together, after all.”

“Not worried I’ll take your spot at the Festival?  Me and Dad watch it every year… it gets pretty competitive.”

Toshi waved it off. “Nah.  I’m gonna do my best, you’re gonna do your best, that’s all that really matters.”

“How do you think it’s gonna go, Toshi?” Shota asked, no longer panting.  He looked a healthier color too.  “I bet you’re gonna win it!  I mean, Uncle Deku did his second year and third year, and he’s your dad, so he probably taught you everything, even if your Quirks are kinda different, and…”

“I really don’t know, Shota,” Toshi said, a little bit quickly.  Sometimes, you had to fight to get a word in edgewise with Shota. “Everybody’s got really great Quirks, not just us, but in the other classes too.  And there’s always a surprise or two in the General Studies classes. Especially since we don’t know what the first two events will be.”

The first event was usually something that required covering distance and the second was always one that required teams, but that was about the only parameters that could be guessed. Toshi had seen everything from obstacle courses in the first to Quirk-backed games of dodgeball in the second and there wasn’t much predictable pattern to it.  

He held out his hand, pam to the ground.  “But when it does, we’re gonna be ready for it, right?”

Haimawari put his hand over Toshi’s.  “Right.”

Shota did the same. “Right!”

“You three done nerding it up yet?” a voice from behind asked.  Toshi turned to see Katsumi and Kana Tetsutetsu.  

“I have yet to reach maximum nerd,” Toshi said, smirking.  There’d been no malice in what she’d said.  Katsumi just had to get everyone a hard time.  It was just who she was.  “Hey Tetsutetsu.”

“Hey yourself, Midoriya,” Tetsutetsu said.  

“Yeah, yeah,” Katsumi said. “Well, make yourself useful and come show me some of those moves Aunt Ochaco taught you.  Bring the Loud Kid too.”

“Shota.  My name is Shota.  You know that, Kirishima-Bakugo!”

“Sure it is,” Katsumi said. “C’mon.”

Okay, something was clearly up.  He and Katsumi sparred sometimes, but she never just flat out asked him to show her any moves.  Did this have anything to do with what Tetsutetsu been asking about this morning? Was… was Katsumi being her wingwoman? For Haimawari?

This was a day for the record books.  

“Yeah, sure, I can do that,” he said.  “C’mon, Shota.”

Shota, however, clearly wasn’t picking up on the subtext.  “I don’t think I can fight anymore, Toshi,” he said, stifling a yawn.

“Then watch and learn, Loud Kid!”  Katsumi shouted.

“Why don’t you come along,” Toshi said.  He might as well play along with this.  If only to get Katsumi out of having to play wingwoman any further.  “Tetsutetsu, don’t think you’ve met Haimawari? ��You could probably show him some moves I can’t.”

“’Probably’?” Tetsutetsu asked.  “You know I can, Midoriya.  Nice to meet you, Haimawari.”

“Likewise,” Haimawari said, smiling.  He looked like he knew something was up, but couldn’t figure it out.  He offered Tetsutetsu a hand and she shook it, leaving him massaging his fingers afterwards.

Just a couple weeks into school and everybody was jumping into relationships.  He was hardly one to talk, of course, but it still amazed him. Especially for all of them that had known each other for most of their lives.  But here, away from their parents for the first time, maybe they were just figuring out who they wanted to be.

***

“Watch and learn, Loud Kid,” Katsumi said.  She bounced lightly on the balls of her feet, hands up in a fighting position, before launching a powerful right hook.  It was her signature move and she always telegraphed it.  Toshi’d also been on the receiving end of it many times when sparring with her.  Even when you could see it coming, Katsumi was fast.

Fortunately, he had time to dodge, and return fire, coming at Katsumi with a few quick jabs.  She got her guard up though, deflecting his blows easily.  “Gonna have to do better than that, Toshi,” she said, with a wicked grin.

Toshi dropped low, sweeping his leg.  He knocked Katsumi down, but she was right back up before he could capitalize on it. He dodged her return strikes, shifting left and right rapidly.  “Didn’t take you for the type to play wingwoman,” he said.

He blocked her next strike and even that stung like hell.  “All I did was get you two out of the way,” she replied.  “I wanted to spar with you anyway.  If I can help out a friend, I can put up with a little lovey-dovey nonsense.”

Toshi knew she’d been turned down by Izumi after confessing her long buried feeling.  That had to have hurt some, but she seemed to be plowing through it in her usual fashion.  Which was not dealing with her more complicated emotions.  Which probably wasn’t healthy.  But all he could do was be there for his friend.

His friend who’d nearly taken his head off with her follow-up punch!   He got his head out of the way, but she connected solidly with his shoulder.  He grunted, firing off rapid fire punches in return that she deflected, until he altered his pattern, two right hand blows one after the other instead of a left and a right and felt his fist connect solidly with her chest.

Katsumi winced and backed off, keeping herself light on her feet.  Laughing, she said, “Did you just bunch me in the boob, Toshi?  What would your girlfriend say?”

Toshi’s eyes went wide for a second, before he recovered.  “Very funny,” he said.  Typical Katsumi, always trying to get a rise out of him.

They exchanged more blows, hammering away, deflecting, retreating, and coming back at each other. But without Quirks, they were just too evenly matched with each other for there to be a clear victor.  Katsumi was probably stronger, but he was just lighter enough on his feet to make up for it.   With both of them realizing that, they took a step back and exchanged boys.

Shota broke into applause. “That.  Was.  AWESOME!  You gotta show me how to do that!”

Katsumi just laughed. It wasn’t a cruel laugh, but he could tell she didn’t really believe Shota had much of a chance in a physical contest.  “Stick to what you’re good at, Loud Kid.  Scream your way through.”

An idea occurred to Toshi and he had to turn away for a moment to hide his grin.  “I don’t know, Katsumi, I was going to get Shota up to speed anyway, but if you don’t think you can train him good enough, I guess I’ll have to do it…”

The glare she shot him was worth it.  “Oh, hell no. I didn’t say I didn’t think I could.” She snapped her fingers, then pointed at Shota.  “I’m gonna train you until your arms fall off, Loud Kid!  That’ll show you, Toshi!”

Toshi had to hide his grin again.  Shota would get the training he needed and Katsumi would have a goal she could work on to keep from dwelling on things.  If you knew what you were doing, helping your friends wasn’t too hard.

And he was going to do his best to make sure every one of his friends had a chance to shine.

#my hero academia #their hero academia #fan fiction #fan fic #my writing #toshi midoriya

[thevampirediariesdiary]

1.20 Blood Brothers, part two

first part here

Elena goes to see Stefan again, he tells her he’s not on vervain anymore and could easily kill her.  “Yeah, you could,” she says, sounding bored and unimpressed like the badass she is, “but you won’t.”  He tells her to go away, that he doesn’t want her there, and she unlocks the door and steps into his cell.  “You’re taking a stupid risk, I could hurt you,” he tells her.  “Then I’m stupid,” Elena says, and picks up the water bottle of blood Damon left. “You need to drink this.”  “Elena, get out of here, or you’ll regret it,” Stefan growls.  “Drink,” Elena repeats.  Stefan vamp-speeds out of his bed and knocks the bottle out of her hand, yells, “I said get out!”  “No,” Elena says, more angry that he’s trying to scare her than actually scared.  But after a little more encouragement, Stefan tells her he’s making the decision he should have made years ago, that he shouldn’t have fed to complete the transition.  He tells her how he went to his father to say goodbye, found out his father was the one who shot them, and then accidentally killed him in self-defense and was overwhelmed into drinking.  “How can you even look at me right now?” Stefan asks.  Elena, who doesn’t have a giant issue with the truth like he does, answers, “You need to be able to talk about these things Stefan, I need to hear them. Come upstairs, we can talk about it more, and we’ll keep talking as long as you need.”  “You’re so sure I’m ready?” Stefan says, wonderingly.  Elena fishes his daylight ring out of her pocket and puts it on his bed. “And when you feel the same way, I’ll be upstairs.”

Damon gets home, and the single most domestic interaction I have ever seen between two platonic friends occurs.  “Ugh, god, you’re still here?” he says to Elena.  She tilts her head at him. “Were you expecting anything else?”  “No,” he says simply, then picks up her feet from the sofa, sits down next to her, puts her feet on his lap and pats them.

And she takes it as a matter of course, so it’s entirely possible this has happened before??  This could very well be their routine, where they low-key cuddle and talk about their respective days.  Fly me into the freaking sun.  “So, how was the errand?” Elena asks.  “Futile, although I think I witnessed the teacher having an existential crisis,” Damon shares, asks, “Has Stefan eaten yet?”  “I thought you didn’t care,” Elena retorts.  I didn’t notice this the first bajillion times I watched this, but he’s been kind of - caressing her ankle?? up until this point????  And she moves her feet off of his lap here.  “Chalk it up to morbid curiosity.”

“I think he’s getting there,” Elena says. “But he’s got a lot of guilt that he has to deal with, and it doesn’t help that you’ve spent the last one hundred and forty-five years punishing him for Katherine getting caught.”  Damon is genuinely a bit confused by the turn the conversation has taken, and asks, “This is my fault now?”  

“No, it’s no one’s fault, Damon, I’m just saying you’re not exactly innocent,” Elena says.  

Damon is now heading towards shocked.

“You’ve made it your life’s mission to make him miserable!” Elena says.  Damon opens his mouth, nothing comes out.  He stands abruptly, demands, “Let me ask you a question: in all this important soul-searching and cleansing of the demons of Stefan’s past, did you ever manage to get the rest of the story?”  “He said there was more,” Elena acknowledges.  “Yeah,” Damon says, venomously, “that’s an understatement.”  

He starts to storm out, she says his name, runs after him, grabs his arm.  He rips out of her grasp and glares.

“Tell me,” she says.

And he does.  Stefan more or less forced him to turn; he brought him a compelled girl and drew blood (which is almost exactly how Damon just got Stefan to drink human blood two episodes ago), and then grabbed his dying brother and pulled him closer until he gave in.  This flashback is one of the most genuine big-brother little-brother interactions so far: Damon’s anguish seeing that Stefan has turned, and Stefan’s stubborn refusal to go on without his big brother.  “I won’t let you die,” Stefan says. “Don’t fight it. We can do this, together.”  

“From the moment Stefan had his first taste of human blood, he was a different person,” Damon tells Elena. “I suppose I should thank him. It’s been a hell of a ride.”  “Oh my god,” says Elena, “he said he wanted to die.  That’s why he won’t feed.  Now I understand why, but –”  “His choice,” Damon interrupts. “If he’s stupid enough to make it, so be it.”  “Don’t do that, okay?” Elena snaps. “Don’t pretend like you don’t care.”  She runs down to the basement, but all that’s there is Stefan’s daylight ring.  He left without it.

Quick pause before we get to the main event: in Elena and Damon’s first scene together this episode, she says “It has nothing to do with you actually caring about him”, then later asks if it’s a problem that she’s staying, tells him his joking doesn’t help, and repeats “I thought you didn’t care”, before she finally breaks and tells him to stop pretending.  She always phrases it so it might be a joke, but it’s there and it’s persistent.  The underlying theme is: Do you care? Why won’t you say you care?  Please say you care because everything is in shambles and I would like to be able to rely on this.  I’ve already said that I think Elena has been aware for some time of a discrepancy between Damon’s words and his actions, especially when it comes to her; he makes threats and says awful things, but he’s always there when she needs him.  But at this point, with Stefan breaking down and with Bonnie abandoning her, she needs the words as well.  She’s been inviting him to say something true, anything true – to say “I want my brother to be well”, or “yeah, Alaric is a kindred spirit”, or “I want you to stay, Elena, and I want you to be safe, because you’re my friend”.  She wants him to tell her what he is to her and to the people she loves, she wants him to give her something she can be certain of.  But Damon can’t give that to her.

Flashback Damon promises flashback Stefan an eternity of misery.  Emily tells Stefan that vampirism is a curse, because he has a pure heart.  This might sound familiar, and that’s because it marks the transition into the Buffy-ripoff section of the episode.

Elena finds Stefan out at the quarry, because he is nothing if not overdramatic. S: I should have died that night, just like I had chosen, I should have let Damon die too. E: But you didn’t, and if you die now, it’s not gonna change what happened. S: Every single person that’s been hurt, every single life that’s been lost, it’s because of me. E: The night that my parents died, I blew off family night so that I could go to some party.  I ended up getting stranded and they had to come pick me up.  That’s why we were in the car at Wickery Bridge, and that’s why they died.  Our actions are what set things in motion, but we have to live with that. S: I made a choice Elena, and because of that choice a lot of people were hurt. E: You also made a choice to stop, to reject the person the blood made you, you made a choice to be good Stefan. S: No, please. Please don’t do that E: That’s the person who jumped in the water to save the family whose car had driven off the bridge. S: Please, don’t make this all okay. E: That’s the person who saved my life. S: You don’t understand Elena. E: Then tell me. S: It hurts me, it hurts me knowing what I’ve done, and that pain, that pain is with me all the time. And every day I think that if I just…if I just give myself over to the blood, I can make that pain stop, it would be that easy, and every day, I fight that. And I’m so terrified that one day, I’m not gonna want to fight that anymore, Elena. And the next time I hurt somebody, it could be you. E: There will be no next time. S: You don’t know that. E: Maybe I don’t.  But what I do know, is that you could take this, throw it in the quarry, and let the sun rise, or you could take this ring and put it on and keep fighting. [she kisses him] It’s your choice. S: Elena [kiss]

Okay, here’s the thing.  The whole purposely-waiting-for-the-sunrise-to-commit-vamp-suicide thing?  It’s iconic, and it’s been done extraordinarily well before!  Amends is literally my favorite episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and there was a really interesting bit with Godric in that one mid-season finale of True Blood. (Yes, I’ve seen [some of] True Blood.)  So if you’re gonna do it, you have to do it well - and normally TVD is much better at handling tropes than this, so this scene is an overall giant disappointment.  It’s really not clear at all what Stefan is doing, what he thinks he is doing, or why.  Angel is waiting for the sun because he’s afraid the origin of all evil is going to succeed in getting him to lose his soul, and therefore he conceives his one last act of strength as putting himself out of evil’s reach. Godric is just basically over immortality, and realizes that life can only have meaning if it’s finite.  But Stefan??  I genuinely don’t know.   He talks about fighting every day, and being afraid that one day he’s going to stop, but does he consider his suicide as winning the fight or losing it?  And the whole thing with “I made one choice which hurt a lot of people” is also weird; not only does he ignore Elena’s totally reasonable argument about proximate versus immediate causes, but…so??  You made one choice, yes, which led to other choices!  You can’t take all of it back by somehow making the opposite choice now!  Individual acts have their own merit, and determinism is slippery bullshit.  And other than her one “we have to live with that” point, Elena’s dialogue is just sub-par.  It’s no “strong is fighting.  It’s hard, and it’s painful, and it’s every day, but it’s what we have to do, and we can do it together”, that’s for damn sure.  And I know “It’s your choice” is supposed to be her doing better than Stefan, or whatever, but it really seems like there’s a moral difference between choosing not to transition and choosing to BURST INTO FLAMES; in one case it’s your choice, and in the other, nobody who loves you should let you choose that.  Furthermore, the emphasis the structure of the episode places on Stefan forcing Damon to turn doesn’t make any sense at all.  Stefan isn’t feeling guilty about that in particular, because Damon is behaving himself perfectly fine – why wasn’t Stefan overwhelmed by guilt when Damon was killing earlier in the season?  Damon’s basically right – Stefan feels bad about hurting Amber, and this is his typical martyr crap.

Anna says goodbye to Jeremy (whose sleep-acting is ABYSMAL), but gets home to find that Harper and her mother have been murdered. Outside, John Gilbert packs up his stake gun and calls Liz with a vampire update.

Stefan and Elena arrive back at the Salvatore house, hand in hand.  “Little boy lost,” Damon says, looking up from the bourbon that he has been drinking for multiple scenes in a row now.  The brothers eye each other.  “I’ll be upstairs, okay?” Elena tells Stefan.  “Okay,” he answers.  She glances over uncertainly.

“Good night, Damon.”  He just makes this face:

“Thank you,” Stefan says. “No, Stefan, thank you,” Damon says. “You’re back on bambi blood, and I’m the big badass brother again, all is right in the world.”  “No, I mean it, thank you,” Stefan repeats. “For helping her take care of me.”  “You brood too much,” Damon says, sharply, “everything on this planet is not your fault.  My actions, what I do, it’s not your fault.  I own them.  They belong to me.  You are not allowed to feel my guilt.”  “Do you feel guilt?” Stefan asks.  “If I wanted to,” Damon says. “It’s there.”  Stefan gets up; Damon, caught up in the unhealthy nostalgia, comments that Emily didn’t tell him about the tomb spell until after he transitioned.  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Stefan asks.  “Cause I didn’t want you to know. Cause I hated you, and I still do,” Damon says.  “I know,” Stefan says.  “But not because you forced me to turn,” Damon adds.  “Then why?” Stefan asks.  Damon gets to his feet and stalks toward his brother; honestly I think he’s never been scarier.  “Because she turned you.  It was just supposed to be me, Stefan.  Just me.”

This is a conversation I have very strong feelings about.  On the one hand, Damon telling Stefan he’s not allowed to feel his guilt is amazing.  But on the other hand, the episode’s big reveal, what the flashbacks were building up to, was that Stefan forced Damon to turn – so how does it make sense to turn back around and say that that’s not the reason behind the vow of eternal misery?  Why go back to the jealousy over Katherine, which has been well established since History Repeating, and pretend that that’s a twist?  (And if Stefan forcing Damon to turn is irrelevant, why did Damon react in such a volatile way when Stefan didn’t tell Elena that part of the story?) So here’s my theory: because it’s a lie.  The main thing which sparked the eternal misery was that Stefan forced him to transition (because, as we’ll see, Damon’s relationship with humanity is much more complicated than it appears), and on top of that, Damon definitely also hated Stefan for being loved by Katherine.  But right now?  He’s been of two minds about Katherine ever since he found out she’s not in the tomb, he seems to have basically tagged along with Rick in search of Isobel for the fun of it, and he was definitely getting introspective when Rick decided to give up his own search.  But he’s clinging to his old way of being, and he’s clinging to that secondary reason for hating Stefan, because if he hates Stefan for being loved by Katherine then he doesn’t have to hate Stefan for being loved by Elena.  This is why he can’t be honest with Elena, either – he needs to maintain his usual wry distance from everything, because if he thinks about where he’s standing, it’s going to destroy him.  Better to cling to a 145-year-old heartache than to hope for something better and have everything turn out the same all over again.

Also, Isobel is in town.

RIP Pearl, you were classy and kind and I have no idea why you were friends with Katherine.

And RIP Harper.  I’ll love you forever.

Music Moments: We The Kings’ “We’ll be a dream” plays when Isobel shows up next to Rick at the bar.

Eyebrow Watch: “Your words, just pointing that out.”

previous episode parts one & two & bonus  //  blood brothers part one  // next episode part one

#rewatch #tvd #blood brothers #1.20

[perfectirishgifts]

Grimes, Serena Williams, Gwyneth Paltrow Talk AI, Ventures And Pivots At Web Summit 2020

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Grimes, Serena Williams, Gwyneth Paltrow Talk AI, Ventures And Pivots At Web Summit 2020

Tech investor Serena Williams with Away cofounder Jen Rubio

AI was top of mind at Web Summit 2020 held last week as celebrity founders and funders took to the small screen to discuss digital twins, autonomous weapons and how to govern Mars.

Over 100,000 viewers tuned into the virtual conference, up 300% from the airing of its sister show Collision From Home held earlier this year, and up 30,000 attendees from 2019 when the event was last physically held in Portugal, according to the show’s producers. A production so flawless that unicorn maker, Garry Tan, predicted the platform would be worth a billion dollars if they ever chose to spin it out.

But what really made Web Summit a standout was its clever mix of programming. No other tech show has yet to cast Hollywood’s most famous meth dealers, Contagion’s patient zero, the Princess Bride and Captain America discussing pivots from end times. Netflix and Amazon should take note – Web Summit was by far the best streaming entertainment of the week.

Some great insights were shared on the promise and perils of AI by Mark Cuban, Deepak Chopra, Ronnie Chieng, Alexa’s boss, Grimes, Ridley Scott, Palmer Luckey, Elad Gil, Garry Tan, Nicole Quinn, Gwyneth Paltrow, Serena Williams, Jen Rubio, Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul. Here are the highlights.

My Digital Twin

Shark Tank host Mark Cuban

“I wish someone would invent an AI model of the human body that could be individualized,” Mark Cuban said. A mini me of sorts with a copy of all bodily functions where simulations could be run to tell you, “Your throat isn’t sore, you ate something that’s bothering your esophagus which can be cured by A, B, C or D in seven days.”

Journalist Emily Ragobeer in conversation with Deepak Chopra and Lars Buttler

Deepak Chopra then introduced his own version of a mini me, Digital Deepak, a wellness guide for sleep, stress management, yoga, breathing, exercise, emotional resilience, nutrition, balancing circadian rhythms and self awareness. The best selling author only half-joked that he uploaded his consciousness to the AI Foundation to provide users with valuable insights from his 91 books. Although its not clear how biometrics will be tracked on the app, AI Foundation cofounder and CEO Lars Buttler gave assurances that everyone will be able to train their own Personal AI soon and that safeguards were being taken to prevent deepfakes made on the platform.

But can your AI take a joke?

“AI can get a well known joke or play on words because it knows when it understands something. If its confidence interval is narrow and it doesn’t know what’s going on, it will say I don’t know this yet, let me learn more about this,” Buttler explained.

Daily Show’s Ronny Chieng answering audience questions, “Will AI ever be as funny as you?”

“Will AI ever be as funny as Ronnie Chieng?”

“AI funny as me?! I hope not, I’ll be out of a job,” Daily Show’s Ronnie Chieng said as he responded to audience questions, “Right now I can’t even get Alexa to set a timer without selling me an ad. If it’s going to be as funny as me, it probably will sell more ads, so maybe?”

He then mimicked about how chatty Alexa has become.

“Hey Alexa, set a timer for 15 minutes.”

“Okay Ronnie, your timer is 15 minutes, by the way, would you like to buy a clock?”

“No, I don’t want to buy anything, I just want you to do your job!” he replied.

The Atlantic’s Nicholas Thompson with Amazon’s Dave Limp

Alexa’s boss, Amazon’s Head of Hardware and Devices, Dave Limp explained they’re working on improving Alexa’s hunches.

“We’re at a point where one out of five interactions with Alexa are not instigated by the customer.” This means 20% of the time Alexa is doing something on your behalf, like playing news after you hit snooze to subtly wake you up.

“We’re trying to make this a delightful experience. What’s super important about being proactive is that you have to be right, a lot. As soon as you start getting proactive and incorrect, it gets annoying very quickly.”

TechnoUtopia v Dystopia

Grimes

Alt pop superstar Grimes, girlfriend to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, and mother to the Elven spelling of AI, talked about the role technology is playing in her life.

“I feel like iPhone should turn off an hour before bed. It’s been giving me sleep problems. It’s technology we haven’t factored into our biology.” She added, “But we shouldn’t forget technology makes our lives better. We need more utopianism in sci fi.”

Having recently collaborated with Endel, the algorithmic music startup, on an AI lullaby she observed, “Everyday I thank the overlords of Ableton for cleaning up my tracks but I do worry though that AI will outpace us and make musicians obsolete. It’s inevitable. We have the beautiful advantage of knowing super intelligence is coming. We ought to make those rules now and not wait until its too late. We’re giving birth to AI. We can teach it and point it in the right direction, but where it goes from there as it becomes more powerful as this ghost in our data and ultimately its own being is anyone’s guess. Maybe it will become like Dune, where thinking machines get banned on Earth and we send AI out into the universe to spread the light of consciousness so information is wherever you go, and then Earth becomes this boutiquey thing like organic vegetables where when human music is heard people will be like, oh, this was made by a woman, not a robot.”

As to whether this will turn into a dystopian nightmare of our own making, Grimes concluded, “Every tool has the potential to be dangerous. Where we are headed depends upon what we do with the technology. We’re on the knife’s edge right now but we have solved insane problems like our faces being beamed through space and time so we can be together in the same place right now despite physically being all over the world. That’s some crazy wizardry happening right here. There is a solution, we just shouldn’t make failure an option.”

Exiting The Anthropocene

Sir Ridley Scott

Blade Runner director Ridley Scott delivered his own dire warning with the premiere of his Digital With A Purpose film urging innovators to find way to meet Paris Accord Climate 2030 goals. “The luxury of science fiction is that it’s fantasy. We’re dealing with reality. We’re being way too polite about where we are. We are at the threshold of an abyss of disaster.”

Palmer Lucky, cofounder Oculus and Anduril, making the case for the tech industry to work on … [] autonomous weapons

Which begs the question, if the age of autonomous weapons is upon us, who do you trust more with it, enemy nations or billionaire Oculus founder Palmer Luckey? That’s what Luckey asked in making the case for the tech giants to re-engage with the U.S. Department of Defense on working on national security solutions.

“AI is this very powerful and useful technology but its not very good at making life and death decisions and is totally capable of running autonomous weapon systems. We need to assume it develops as fast as the most optimistic people assume and set rules now,” Luckey said, “We shouldn’t be outsourcing accountability to a machine. You can’t lock up a machine in prison for war crimes.” Anduril AI analyzes data to help humans pull the trigger, with safeguards to prevent abuses, he said. He criticized Google and Apple for not doing more.

“Big Tech companies are not only not working on national security problems, but they’re killing the work of companies that are. This happened with Boston Dynamics. That’s because there are financial and PR incentives to stay out of military work. China has done an incredible job of blocking access to their markets as a tool to get the culture of Western democracies to subvert itself to China. Meanwhile, China is making huge strides in autonomy and AI. China is going to be a superpower, bigger than the United States.”

Why Silicon Valley Will Always Be Home To AI

Elad Gil

Elad Gil, investor in Anduril, AirBnb, Cardiogram, Instacart, Pinterest, Square, Stripe, Unbabel and Wish, gave his perspective on the Work From Anywhere diaspora from Silicon Valley.

“For those of you in the audience thinking about starting a company, I want to tell you the water is fine. San Francisco is still a great place to come to. I encourage you to meet us here. Markets are bigger than they’ve ever been. If you ask yourself where is all the tech market cap aggregating, of the 187 unicorns that have been created in the last 15 months, half were in the U.S. and a quarter in Silicon Valley. I do believe we’re going to continue to have a cluster in the Bay Area because of strong network effects that accelerate companies and people working in those industries. I don’t think that behavior goes away after Covid.”

It’s 2020, Computers Can Now See, Hear And Socialize

Initialized Capital Garry Tan

As to where he’s placing his AI bets for the new year, Initialized Capital’s Garry Tan said, “We remain very long on computer vision. We were the first investors in Cruise Automation which broke open the self-driving car space and now there is a lot of practical automation that was never possible before.”

An investor in Standard Cognition, he talked about its camera-only cashierless retail experience that enables you to walk into a store, pick up whatever you need and walkout, in stark contrast to Amazon Go which relies on shelf sensors.

“Down the road we think practical robotics are just around the corner with sub $1,000 real time SLAM (simultaneous localization and mapping) computer vision, for use industrially and in the home.” Tan is also invested in Ava.me which applies on the fly machine learning to voice recognition and live captioning on Zoom.

Lightspeed Venture Partners Nicole Quinn

Lightspeed Venture Partners’ Nicole Quinn is also bullish on AI. She sees online social experiences remaining sticky for the foreseeable future. She’s invested in Lunchclub, an AI concierge that serves up Zoom coffees for meaningful professional networking, and Cameo, an AI booking agent for celebrities that will chat or send birthday greetings for a fee.

Celebrity Pivots

Gwyneth Paltrow on turning Goop’s first profit

Quinn then took to the screen with her portfolio client, Gwyneth Paltrow who shared news of Goop turning its first profit.

In March, “When the lockdowns happened and commerce seemed to completely stop, I set our marketing budgets to zero, pulled down our social media spend, and returned to our content roots to get back into the hearts and minds of our readers. Soon after engagement metrics went up and transactions followed, but our events and ads business had gone to zero overnight and our retail business were down from plan. I knew I had to get to profitability as quickly as possible. The hardest part was having to take such a stringent look at the P&L, close stores and let go of people we loved,” Paltrow said.

“We tell our companies, to win you got to be around. You need to have at least 24 months runway at all times,” said Quinn, applauding Paltrow actions.

Then Paltrow, an Academy award winning actress, landed a Netflix series, Goop Lab, which just got renewed for Season 2. “We got a lot of new customers from the show. I feel like a lot of brands are very reliant on Facebook, but when you live in the intersection of content and commerce, founders need to think of ways to organically reach customers. I’ll never buy another customer off Facebook again.”

Paltrow added, “I’m not that bullish on 2021. I think we’re still in for a lot of instability. We’re looking at creative ways to monetize content and find sustainable growth from within our own channels as opposed to spending money to prospect. We’re looking at doing something in food which is a strong pillar for us and not intensive from a capital expenditure standpoint.”

Serena Williams

Tennis legend Serena Williams is a prominent AI investor. Her portfolio includes Tonal, Noom, Zipline, Masterclass, Gobble, Billie and Daily Harvest, which she backed along with Gwyneth Paltrow, Nicole Quinn and Paris Hilton. Before the pandemic, she was an extensive traveler and launched an Away x Serena Williams luggage line. She went on screen with Away cofounder Jen Rubio to discuss their collaboration and the challenges the brand has been facing this year.

“Being at the intersection of travel and retail was pretty much the worst place to be. We stopped everything and took a hard look at should we be marketing at all. Approaching it very authentically and transparently with our customers allowed us to keep the brand going when it didn’t make any sense to travel,” Rubio said, sharing how fans have been supporting the brand by posting memes of Away suitcases posed as standing desks and work out benches. The company has since been able to pivot with travel goods for socially distanced road trips, digital nomading and pandemic puppies.

Cheers to 2021!

Forbes Zack O’Malley Greenburg Breaking Bad with Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul

Let’s all raise a glass to the end of 2020.

“It’s been a difficult year for the entire world but the one thing that’s gotten us through is knowing we’re all going through it together. I miss travel but I’m finding happy moments at home. It’s really cool to be in one place with my family,” said Williams. 

Then Breaking Bad’s Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul mixed up cocktails to promote their Dos Hombres Mezcal and did virtual shots from their sunny Los Feliz homes in locked down L.A. To next year in Lisbon!

Making Dos Hombres cocktails with Breaking Bad Bryan Cranston and Aaron Paul

From AI in Perfectirishgifts

[hudsonespie]

Sea Shepherd Helps The Gambia Tackle Illegal Fishing

[By Louise Hunt]

One night in early April, Musa Jammeh was out fishing off the Gambia’s Atlantic coast when he discovered a trawler had destroyed his nets while fishing illegally.

Jammeh tried to get close enough in his wooden canoe to take the vessel’s registration number, so he could report the incident to the fisheries department and apply for compensation, but he and his crew were attacked and driven away.

“We saw a big ship coming towards us. They pumped hot water on us so that we didn’t get closer to them. You could hear dogs barking from the ship which was scary. I was really sad because I lost my net to people who do not care about us, our fish and our lives,” he tells China Dialogue.

Jammeh and his crew of 15 youths are unable to work until the nets are replaced: “They are all jobless now. My family is suffering so badly. We have no justice and we never expect justice.”

Musa Jammeh’s brother and fellow fisher, Eliman Jammeh, watches other boats return to the beach with fish to sell while his brother’s canoe lies idle (Image: Mustapha Manneh / China Dialogue)

The incident occurred a few months after a patrol campaign by the NGO Sea Shepherd Global, in collaboration with the Gambian government. It highlighted the complex challenges the country faces in combatting illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing.

What are the trawlers doing?

The Gambia’s coastline is plagued by industrial trawlers that breach regulations to fish inside a nine-nautical-mile-wide area reserved for artisanal fishers. The trawlers are taking vast amounts of sardinella and other small pelagic species that provide a crucial source of protein.

“The Gambia has had a bigger problem with incursions into restricted areas than other countries we have worked with,” says Peter Hammarstedt, Sea Shepherd director of campaigns. “It’s ecologically important to deter illegal fishing close to the shore. It’s where fish are spawning and where the biodiversity is, which is critical to artisanal fishers.”

As China Dialogue reported last November, the Gambia’s food security is under threat from the over-exploitation of small pelagic fish driven by the rapid growth in fishmeal processing in the sub-region. There are more than 50 factories operating along the coasts of Mauritania and Senegal, including three in the Gambia that are owned by Chinese companies.

“Fishmeal is one of the main drivers for IUU fishing in Gambia,” says Dr Dyhia Belhabib, principal investigator, fisheries, at Ecotrust Canada. “Just one trawler can have a significant negative impact on fish stocks, but the monitoring is not there.”

Like many countries in the region, the Gambia has little capacity to know what is happening on its waters. “We have a 200-mile exclusive economic zone, but the patrol vessels we have currently do not have the capacity to do the surveillance operations. They only go out for 60 miles, so they cannot protect our water,” explains James Gomez, minister for fisheries and water resources.

“Gambia faces quite a challenge as its waters are surrounded by three major coastal fishing states – Mauritania, Senegal and Guinea Bissau – where there’s extensive fishing activity going on. Vessels go from one state to the other and they can potentially just fish in Gambia [without permission],” says Duncan Copeland, executive director of fisheries intelligence organisation Trygg Mat Tracking.

To compound its difficulties, a lot of the trawlers fishing in the Gambia are licensed in neighbouring Senegal, returning to ports in that country’s capital, Dakar, which has become a major hub for fishmeal processing. “You have an issue with the fisheries department and other agencies [in the Gambia] not necessarily always being familiar with how these vessels are operating,” adds Copeland.

Enter Sea Shepherd

In an effort to regain control of its waters, the Gambian government last year requested Sea Shepherd’s help in carrying out patrol operations, following its recent direct-action campaigns in Gabon, Liberia and Tanzania.

Operation Gambian Coastal Defense began in August 2019, working with sailors from the Gambia’s navy and with law-enforcement agents from the fisheries department, who have been going out on patrols on Sea Shepherd vessels including the Sam Simon.

“We provide transportation to the scene of the crime. Our vessels also act as training platforms for fisheries inspectors. They go through the quantities and the amounts of different species being taken and that data all goes back to the ministry,” Hammarstedt explains.

Over six months, the joint patrols have yielded 16 arrests of vessels suspected of IUU fishing activities. The majority of the offences involved industrial trawlers coming inside the nine-mile-wide special management area, while others were for unlawful mesh size and finning offences.

“The good number of arrests shows you the level of compliance [beforehand] was not high,” says Charlie Kilgour, director of analysis at NGO Global Fishing Watch. “This is why the capacity lent by Sea Shepherd is really important, because without them those patrols wouldn’t be happening to that level. It wouldn’t work without the support of the authorities… While Sea Shepherd are there, they will have an impact,” he adds.

The campaign has succeeded in drastically reducing incursions into the protected area during the patrols, says Hammarstedt.

“What we have seen in Gambia and all the countries we have worked in is that the beginning of an operation will net some arrests and a huge deterrent takes place while the patrols are there, and for some time after the patrols have stopped, the vessels aren’t coming into the nine-nautical-mile zone. This allows the fish populations to start recovering,” he says.

Using remote surveillance and fisheries intelligence to track activity can change IUU fishing behaviours, says Peter Horn, director of the Ending Illegal Fishing Project at Pew Charitable Trusts.

“Distant-water fleets think they can act with impunity. In Gambia, they switch off their Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) at night, but Sea Shepherd uses radar systems to see where the fishing activity is. You’ve got to have a certain level of persistence,” he says.

Belhabib agrees that Sea Shepherd has a deterrent effect. “When Sea Shepherd was in Gambia, illegal fishing really dropped, but you could see from AIS signals that the vessels came back soon after,” she says.

“As with any criminal sweeps, IUU activity tends to slowly resume once the patrol vessel leaves the area,” Hammarstedt acknowledges. “That is why we have long-term partnerships and why we come and go to retain an element of surprise,” he adds.

Sea Shepherd’s last operation in the Gambia was in January. It is planning to continue the campaign, but operations are on hold due to coronavirus pandemic lockdowns. In the meantime, the Gambian navy has been patrolling and made several arrests of vessels charged with IUU offences, including at least two that had already been arrested during the joint operations.

However, as Jammeh’s experience in April highlights, the challenge remains to keep up the momentum of Sea Shepherd’s interventions. Fisheries commentators say much hinges on the political will to continue enforcement.

“If the bad fishing practice is ended by Sea Shepherd’s intervention then my job won’t be destroyed, but I think we still have a lot to do to combat IUU fishing,” reflects Jammeh.

The deeper problem

“While Sea Shepherd can help in the short term, it’s not sustainable for countries to rely on expensive western NGOs to police their waters. They need to build in the architecture and systems of governance so they can do that for themselves,” says Steve Trent, executive director of the Environmental Justice Foundation, which has also been working with fishing communities afflicted by IUU fishing in west Africa.

“Enforcement patrols can sometimes be a PR exercise for governments,” he adds.

This is the view of many activists who have spent recent years fruitlessly campaigning for the government to close the fishmeal factories that they blame for the rise in IUU fishing in the Gambia.

The three fishmeal factories along the Gambia’s southwest coast are currently flouting national lockdown rules by continuing to operate, despite strong opposition from local groups.

“Things haven’t changed. Up until now at around 9pm you see the trawlers coming in and the artisanal nets are damaged. Usually the fishermen lose their nets and there is no compensation,” says Dawda Saine, of the Confederation of African Artisanal Fishing in Gambia.

Activists point to a lack of transparency in enforcement procedures. “Usually, the fisheries ministry settles out of court. I have never seen these fines published. There is no communication on how much the fines are for and whether they are for first or second offences,” says Saine.

The system is open to corruption, agrees Stephen Akester, fisheries management adviser to the World Bank’s West Africa regional fisheries programme. “If an IUU incident is reported, you don’t know what will happen to the report, what it’s worth for an official not to report it. All the foreign fishing companies have national agents who have access to the administrations that, for a price, will tell them what’s going on,” he adds.

“There is a reluctance to raise the issue of corruption at a local and government level that erodes the potential of any enforcement programme,” argues Trent.

Many Gambians are suspicious that the political will to enforce legislation is compromised by the government’s umbilical relationship with China, which has become a major funder since the country’s transition from dictatorship to democracy in January 2017. The Gambia is now part of China’s Belt and Road Initiative to build infrastructure and stimulate trade. The agreement promises a US$33 million development grant, which includes investment in fisheries and agriculture.

“This is one of the underlying challenges of the Belt and Road Initiative. The reality is countries such as Gambia are hugely indebted. This makes the realpolitik of robustly enforcing the legislation difficult,” says Horn.

The majority of industrial trawlers operating in the Gambia are Chinese-owned, but it is commonplace for operators to register them as Gambian fishing companies by forming joint ventures with a local partner, says Saine.

“Quite a lot of the trawlers operating in the region are so-called ‘flag of convenience’ vessels, which reduces the oversight,” agrees Kilgour, who provided training on fisheries surveillance with Trygg Mat Tracking in Gambia last year.

“It’s definitely challenging with governments, like Gambia, where you have large Chinese investment, such as the fishmeal plants and Chinese vessels. Getting high-level government to follow through on these illegal activities has been identified as difficult,” adds Kilgour.

However, the fact that the government did sign off on the Sea Shepherd activities is a “very positive sign,” he suggests. “I think there’s definitely hope that there’s political will [to tackle IUU fishing]”.

Fisheries minister James Gomez confirmed that the total revenue collected from fines of the 16 arrested trawlers amounted to 10 million dalasi (US$194,363). “Out of that 10 million, 30% went to the Gambian navy to strengthen their operation and protect our waters, the rest goes to a government account,” he says, adding that the government is hoping to soon acquire its own remote surveillance system, as part of a European Union-funded initiative.

“In the six months we have been working in Gambia we have seen critical revenue generated for the government, so we hope to see a continuation of patrols,” says Hammarstedt.

“Gambia’s nine-nautical-mile zone is a marine protected area, but we need to make sure the legislation isn’t a paper tiger, it needs to be backed up with enforcement,” he adds.

Fishmeal and West Africa

 If the Gambian government is serious about tackling IUU fishing, it needs closer dialogue with Senegal, advises Duncan Copeland. “Dakar is becoming a Chinese centre of operations for fishmeal. They should also be aware that other actors are getting involved. Turkey is becoming a player and they have a big aquaculture industry,” he adds.

“The region is facing an invasion of distant-water fleets from China and also Turkey,” says Dr Ibrahima Cisse, senior oceans campaigns manager at Greenpeace Africa, based in Dakar.

There are encouraging signs from Senegal, however, after the minister of fisheries, Alioune Ndoye, agreed to ditch plans to approve 52 new licences to industrial fishing companies, mostly from China. Some of the vessels had previously been implicated in IUU fishing practices. The decision followed weeks of national protests by a coalition of NGOs, including Greenpeace, and civil society organisations representing women fish processors and artisanal fishers.

Sally Yozell, director of the environmental security programme at the Stimson Center in the US, says that governments in the region need to heed citizens’ concerns over food insecurity or face unrest.

“A lot of artisanal fishers are getting fed up that governments are prioritising foreign fleets. Some governments are worried about instability and have a growing awareness that they need to be more sensitive to these issues. It’s important to address these issues from a regional perspective,” she says.

But, so far, a regional response to tackling IUU fishing has not been forthcoming. “The fishmeal industry is creating competition between countries,” says Cisse. “Without harmonised regulation in the sub-region, it’s very difficult to end this practice.”

Ending subsidies

One major development that could make a difference would be the ending of harmful global fishing subsidies – public money which makes it cheaper for boats to fish longer and farther.

“Fishmeal doesn’t make enough money without subsidies. Subsidies enable IUU fishing in Gambia [and other countries],” says Belhabib.

The Global Ocean Commission has estimated that 60% of all fisheries subsidies directly encourage “unsustainable, destructive and even illegal fishing practices”.

China’s distant-water fleets currently receive the largest share of global fishing subsidies. “China’s subsidies are a big problem,” agrees Sally Yozell. “They provide fuel and fleets. If you took away these subsidies, they wouldn’t be economically feasible. Ending these harmful subsidies is really key.”

Hopes were pinned on a World Trade Organization ministerial meeting scheduled for June to finally reach a UN target to end harmful fishing subsidies in 2020, after decades of negotiations. But disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic makes it unlikely the WTO will reach an agreement this year.

Some commentators are concerned that with the current crisis, China could roll back on engagement with subsidies negotiations. “With the pandemic, not only have they lost momentum, but they may have redefined their priorities in terms of investment. This is scary to me because it may mean dropping the ball on ending harmful subsidies,” says Belhabib.

Louise Hunt is a freelance journalist, reporting on international development, human rights and environmental issues. Additional reporting by Mustapha Manneh.

This article appears courtesy of China Dialogue Ocean and may be found in its original form here.

from Storage Containers https://maritime-executive.com/article/sea-shepherd-helps-the-gambia-tackle-illegal-fishing via http://www.rssmix.com/

[theonetruenorth]

Do you guys have enough of the ‘missing fire escape scene’ fics? Because I have another one for you.

A small drabble that ventures into my sub!Alec headcanon (but it’s nothing drastic, if that’s not your cup of tea).

Beta-read by @brizzbee​

CLICK ‘KEEP READING’ FOR THE REST OF THE FIC.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Blame

“Blame is a defense against powerlessness.” — Sandra Lee Dennis 

Magnus shivered in the chilly evening air as he waited for Alec to say something else, but the Shadowhunter kept his eyes down, looking at his hands again. Even in the darkness Magnus could see the angry red scratches on his skin, reddened and irritated from the way Alec kept rubbing at them.

“May I?” Magnus asked when it became obvious that Alec had run out of words. He stepped forward but didn’t touch, not until Alec gave him a short, sharp nod. Magnus covered Alec’s hands with his own carefully, trying not to aggravate the wounds any further. He pushed with his magic, just a little, and a soft purple light washed over their joined hands, quickly dealing with the damage.

“Why didn’t you use a healing rune, Alexander?” Magnus asked again, his voice hushed, now that they were standing so close to each other. He waited for Alec for open his mouth to reply before interrupting him. “And remember what I told you about pushing me away when things get rough?”

Alec closed his mouth with an audible click, his lips pursing into a thin, unhappy line. His eyes darted down towards their joined hands. After a long moment his shoulders finally slumped in defeat.

“I… I don’t know.”

Oh, but Magnus did know, even if Alec didn’t. Alec’s voice was so quiet, so unsure, like nothing Magnus had heard from him before. The last couple of weeks were a whirlwind of emotions for him and things changed so rapidly that Alec surely felt lost in this new reality. He was pushing himself too hard and punishing himself because he didn’t know any other way. Dealing with physical pain was something he was familiar with, so he used it to overpower the emotional pain.

In this the Mundanes were better than the Nephilim, Magnus was sure of it. Their soldiers didn’t have to suffer in silence. But the Nephilim? The lucky ones had family they could rely on, but even that wasn’t enough when it came to a race so proud and so stuck in their old ways. Alec was withdrawn and secretive and hiding what he thought was a terrible secret for most of his life. He had been taught from a very young age that he couldn’t show weakness, that his mission and his duty always had priority over his feelings and emotions.

It was hurtful and destructive and would only cause him more pain in the long run. The evidence of which Magnus had just healed.

“You don’t need to punish yourself. If you feel like things are getting too hard, that everything is too much for you to handle… there are ways to deal with that. A lot of people feel the same way you do. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I can’t exactly find a shrink and tell them about the shadow world, do I?” The corner of Alec’s mouth twitched, his tone bitter and self-depreciating.

“I wasn’t talking about a psychologist, darling.” Magnus ignored the way Alec shivered upon hearing the pet name. “I know very well you can’t see a specialist, but you can come see me. If you need to just… switch off, to stop being in control for a little while, I can help. I can give that kind of relief to you.”

Alec’s gaze snapped up from their joined hands to look Magnus in the eye and for a moment he seemed confused, before his brow furrowed and he tilted his head, just slightly, as he considered Magnus’ words.

“Help how?”

Well, at least he wasn’t dismissing the idea entirely, not yet. He looked intrigued more than anything else and Magnus was willing to work with that curiosity. Anything was better than the vacant, empty look in his eyes from just moments before.

“I will listen, if you want to talk. Or just be there for you if you don’t feel like talking at all. I could take care of you, tell you what to do, so that you wouldn’t have to think about all the responsibilities and duties that weigh on you every single day.”

Alec’s expression shifted from confusion to understanding and then into slight apprehension.

“You mean like dominance and… stuff?”

“And stuff,” Magnus confirmed. “This is something we would have to talk about first, but not now, not while you’re upset. Think about it for a bit, figure out if it’s something you might want and then come to me when you’re ready, alright?”

Alec just nodded, hesitantly, and Magnus finally let go of him and reached up with one hand and ran his fingers through Alec’s thick hair, cradling the back of his skull gently. He craned his neck up and brushed his lips over Alec’s cheek in series of small kisses. Alec sighed, tension leaving him in stages and he curled his body towards Magnus, hiding his face in the warlock’s neck. Magnus just held him, glad that Alec came to him when he did, before it was too late.

The next time he saw Alec he was waking him by banging on Magnus’ front door. Unsure of what he would see on the other side, Magnus cautiously opened it to the sight of Alec in a pure white suit. He was panting, as if he had ran all the way here from the Institute. There was a wild look in his eyes and he looked like he had been crying, which was a new kind of shock all together.

“I…” Alec hesitated and looked down at his feet, “I think I’m ready to have that talk with you now.”

Alec’s shoulders were slumped in attempt to make himself look smaller. This was more than a little alarming because Alec was a tall, proud man. He didn’t hide and he didn’t cower. But right then he just looked vulnerable and hurt and Magnus’ heart broke for the quiet, sensitive young man who couldn’t find his way out of the maze that his emotions had turned into.

Magnus opened his door wide.

“Come in, darling.”

#malec #magnus bane #alec lightwood #shadowhunters #episode coda #shadowhunters 2x05 #headcanons #malec headcanons