#head in hands. i’m still not the meta mutual if you couldn’t tell

[angomay]

Please do talk more about Ryuunosuke's arm guard and the stuff you found out while researching it

Ah! Well, Ryunosuke’s arm guard is never explained in game (or out of), and I don’t believe it’s ever commented upon, either? So it’s hard to know it’s exact purpose, or why Ryunosuke is so insistent on wearing it (even in his DLC outfit, where he sheds Kazuma’s armband, instead). The official art book gives us a reason for its existence, visually speaking; but no character driven one, as far as I know.

From what I’ve seen there are three possible things it could be (well… technically two, IMO, but I’ll get to that soon enough). I touched upon this in my last post, but I’ll go into a bit more detail this time.

1.) A kyudo arm guard.

This is the most popular assumption. However, I believe it’s the most unlikeliest of the three.

[ID: Official concept art of Ryunosuke Naruhodo. He is wearing traditional Japanese clothing and two arm guards. He is looking to the side, holding up a bow used for kyudo. End ID]

The biggest reason why I don’t believe it’s a kyudo arm guard is this image here; this is the only time we’ve ever seen him with a bow… and he’s using a separate armguard! This isn’t a definitive clue, per se — there’s a possibility that armguard could be for something else entirely, but then… why include it in this sketch specifically?

However, I will admit that a kyudo armguard wouldn’t be entirely out of place for Ryunosuke. Armguards are typically used by beginners — which Ryunosuke may very well be. He’s said to be bad at archery (while stationary), so it would make sense for him to use an armguard. However, since there’s so little connecting him to archery… I just don’t think this is the case.

(Side note: This sketch is also the foundation for my “Left-handed Ryu” theory… but I’ll save that for another time.)

So, onto the more likelier candidates:

2.) A kendo armguard.

[ID: An arm modeling a kendo armguard, shown from above. End ID]

The biggest factor here is how well it visually matches. I’m aware armguards are wont to look similar, no matter their purpose, but this is the closest resemblance I’ve seen. It would also connect extremely well to the most outstanding part of Ryunosuke’s design: Karuma.

Though I will admit, I’m not entirely sure about this one, either. The main reason I started considering this as a possibility is because the localization director mentions kendo directly when speaking about Ryunosuke’s bracer.

My biggest issue with this explanation is the same as kyudo; there’s so little connecting him to either sport, making it strange to include it in his design (especially when it’s one of the few aspects that are meant to help him stand out — but more on that later). The fact remains, however, that he probably did take up kendo and kyudo (especially with having Kazuma for a friend), so it’s not entirely implausible.

3.) A tekou.

Finally, there’s a tekou.

[ID: An arm modeling a tekou, shown from above. End ID]

This is the most fitting, in my opinion, and what I lean towards the most. A tekou is a traditional Japanese armguard that is worn for travel and work. It makes sense that something included with the sole purpose of distinguishing his design would be related to travel, since a lot of Ryunosuke’s character is built upon his status as an exchange student. It’s also much more logical, since, well… we never see Ryunosuke practice archery or sword fighting in either game. This post here goes more into a bit more depth about it, if you’re interested.

Now! That’s all well and good — I can sit here and talk all day about what it might or might not be. But in truth, it wasn’t really meant to mean much at all. It exists only to help differentiate his design from any other university student of the time, and to help draw attention to his objection sprite. Here’s the official quote from the art book (curtesy of this post):

“TakumiD actually told me that he wanted the guard taken away many times over, but since it was one part I couldn't compromise in the design sense, I fought hard to keep it (LOL). I considered that the arm guard would help emphasize the "finger point" signature pose; it would avoid having Ryuunosuke look like a normal student character without the Japanese sword; and it was an insurance to maintain the atmosphere of that period.”

So! Yeah. That’s about it. I’m still no closer to an answer. I don’t think I ever will be, either, because it doesn’t matter. It’s just a design quirk. Either way, thank you for letting me yell about it! It’s been driving me crazy for the past two days, and now google thinks I’m in the market for a kendo armguard. The things I do for DGS.

#TLDR; it’s (probably) a tekou #either that or a kendo armguard #head in hands. i’m still not the meta mutual if you couldn’t tell #anyway. if any of this is wrong please feel free to correct me #and if there’s something obvious i’m missing please feel free to beat my ass in the replies. the tags. my inbox even #whatever floats your boat #asks #anon

[dogsliampaynedoesntinstagram]

Hi! Encampment anon again. It's going okay so far, though the police with visible guns circling us is unnerving even though they just say hello and monitor us (while we monitor them). I'm the same anon from ages ago who struggled finding balance and getting overwhelmed at protests and I think I might still have that problem. Yesterday I was working from 4am to 10pm: some time at the encampment, then distributing meal leftovers to unhoused folks around there, then cooking trays of dinner (1/4)

for the campers, helping design pamphlets, and the in-between periods working on my final exams. But by evening when I was cooking I was extremely overwhelmed by the loud and messy kitchen and couldn’t speak to the people coming to transport the food which felt rude, since I was signing to my friend and she was talking for me, even though I could technically have spoken if I had tried more. I know part of mutual aid is community, but the social part of that seems quite hard, even if I am (2/4)

ready and willing to help. I also missed the two fun things I had planned for the day because of how busy it was, and while that’s fine, I’m also not sure how much time I am supposed to be taking for fun when I have exams as well as all this. People helped me yesterday, a lot, and I helped them, but I feel like I should be helping them more and require less support because I technically could. I also can’t really cut back because I will feel terrible if any of these things don’t get done (3/4)

when I could have done them; if food gets thrown away because no one else hands it out, then the waste of food is my fault. But I know thinking like this is not helping me, so I don’t really know what to do. [Also I don’t know if this is relevant but it may inform what advice you give, a counselor has suggested I might be autistic, though I’m not sure whether or not I agree. Either way, even before all of this began I was struggling a lot to keep things together.] (4/4)

Oh also I just realized that I have not slept much, eaten most of my meals, showered, cleaned my room, or such things since this has all begun (like three days or so). So I definitely need to change something about my approach but I can't figure out what. I just forget to do those things, and if I remember I should, I still don't have the energy to. Sorry for the really long rant, you've just helped me a lot with your advice in the past and I need some more help I think. (5/4)

***********

Oh anon - sending you so much love and solidarity. You're doing amazing - and like I said before - you have everything you need.

When I read this - it feels like what you're asking is what am I doing wrong or how can I be better at it? And the answer is, of course, absolutely nothing - there's no need to be better and also it's not really possible. The difficulties you're facing aren't because there's something unique about you that means that you get overwhelmed after working from 4am to 10pm. The difficulties are the nature of organising in this sort of heightened political moment. All student occupations have been people in them who were exhausted and overwhelmed and not eaten or showered.

Moments of collective resistance in political crisis are not times for intentional improvement (you are of course growing and learning and changing - you can't help it). But the only problem you're describing here is your anxiety that you're doing something wrong. And the only thing that you could work on - is gently telling the voices in your head that there's something wrong with you to fuck off. But it's not really the time - it's far too easy get involved with meta anxiety - you already describe being anxious about being anxious

Does it help if I'm gentle with you - and tell you you're doing great. It's not your fault if food is wasted. It really doesn't matter that you haven't tidied your room. And people who haven't showered for three days are more common and socially acceptable political occupations than most of the rest of society - even when people aren't overwhelmed. You describe yourself as accepting help and identifying when you're overwhelmed and withdrawing - that's incredible and not something I knew how to do when I was your age (and for a long time after).

I remember at a time of intense political crisis getting very worked up about whether I was coping well - and looking back and all I can think of how absurd it was that I expected myself to cope at all.

I will give a couple of pieces of practical advice. Prioritise eating - not eating does make things harder. You describe yourself as giving out food, but not eating. What do you need from the situation so that you can eat yourself? If you can't figure it out - can you talk it through with a friend? Don't let the perfect be the enemy of any sustenance is good here. What do you need so you'll eat some food several times a day?

The other is - do you have any friends (or family - but if I understand that's less likely in the US) who are sympathetic, but not involved? I also have vivid memories of going to a friend's house - five days into crisis organising. Hanging out and then going to a movie. That was really replenishing. If you have someone who values the work that you're doing, but isn't part of it - spending some time away from it all can make a real difference.

I guess what both of these having in common is that they're looking after yourself in gentle ways - relying on other people a little bit. Recognising what you need - but also accepting that this is really hard and it's going to have an impact on you and it's OK that it has an impact on you.

Again sending you all the love and solidarity. Don't apologise for the long rant. I loved hearing from you - come back any time.

#lovely anon #working through the shoulds in your brain #is a long term project #And it will get easier

[robinrequiems]

mmm more clishes.... Idk reverse background or personality kind of au? :/

ill do you one better 1 of my favorite mutual, reverse & personality au, they’re the same age bc I have a tiny idea *shy hands*

this is uh. a really long one thay started to lag my phone too

• oh god guys I got vivid memories of ra’s being a good grandfather and I can’t get it out of my head

• i hate it ur honor

• but ok. krypton didn’t get blown up, instead, they all migrated to earth, more specifically kansas.

• the kryptonians are angry and enraged, they are treated as if they are monsters when they arrived peacefully. they tried to kill them.

• so in return, the aliens killed the humans.

• they created a secret underground. that secret underground is to help aliens or meta humans and kill humans.

• all of them hated aliens and sought to destroy them. until kal el found a reporter trying to help aliens who were injured due to an explosion the government did to take out one of their bases.

• kal el.. fell in love with her. lois lane, she is an reporter fighting for alien rights.

• he met with her. in secret. and they.. had formed a connection. an amazing one.

• and then they had a baby.

• at the alien base, but.. she was human and people did not like that. so they wiped her mind and made her believe that they never had a kid. like the last few months.. wasnt real. she had gone missing those months since the aliens didn’t want her trying to hide the baby, they made her believe the last few months was spent in a coma and kal had found her and taken her to a hospital.

• he couldn’t see her anymore. he mourned for her lost presence, but they would have killed her if she stayed.

• but now they had precious jon el. he would be the highlight of their cause.

• they noticed his powers came in faster than kal’s, so they perfected his powers.

• he was going to bring humanity down on order of his grandfather, jor el

• kal saw his son break slowly. loses that childhood innocence that kal tried to maintain.

• his sons amazing bright blue eyes dulling, loses the spark that he cherished.

• kal was going to get him out of there, try to refuge the remaining childhood he had. even if it killed him.

—

• damian wayne! the bright bubbly and prodigal son of bruce and talia wayne ( b & t are married, suck my— ). the press loved him, he was just.. him. he was the baby and was cute, the cutest ever

• he was an expert in martial arts due to the training his grandfather, father, mother, & so much more gave him

• ra’s owns a farm. he’s.. sorry all i get is farm ra’s vibes due to.. something:) think endgame thanos, yk?

• he was the baby robin, one that you never messed with due to the herd of heroes who would come save him

—

• kalel left jon with Lois, a brief note explaining the current situation

• it was weird, jon was ten and was meeting lois for the first time

“Hi, honey.. I’m lois.”

“I know.. Dad told me about you.”

“Oh.. right. What do you want for dinner?”

“I’m not hungry.”

“You have to eat.”

“No! I’m not hungry!”

• an explosive, superpower alien. Lois is way out of her head.

• he had outbursts, a lot of them. it was hard, really hard for Lois; she took some time off from the planet and focused on jon

• he broke a lot of stuff. he sometimes could not control his strength, but she was working with him

• but then one night he ran away, or flew away. he felt remorse for making Lois cry. she saw this as a win, but she lost her kid

• but then a little robin found him

“Um. Are you okay?”

“Huh-what- what do you want? Why are you talking to me?”

“Because you look sad? Yknow - hugs make people feel better. My ahki ( brother ) hugs me when I’m upset and it makes me feel better.”

“Don’t touch me.”

*Damian walked to him, smiling softly* “cmon, i won’t hurt you, silly. I’m robin.”

“A bird?”

“Haha- no, a vigilante- i sorta snuck out. My family can be a bit overbearing- and I sorta embarrassed myself at this theater thing.. some person—“

“Did I ask?”

“No.. sorry.”

“Hey— what are you doing - !”

“Hugging you.”

Jon won’t admit that he likes it, it’s different and weird, like this traffic cone in front of him. Jon pushed him off though, making himself stumble and fall on his ass.

“Ow..”

“Don’t touch me.” With rhat, Jon flew off into the night. Damian didn’t know who this boy was. But he intended on finding out. Even if it killed him. ( maybe not that extreme, but- )

• look damian was smart, right? smarter than average, and smarter than everyone in his school. teachers included ( ha ha )

• so he had to find this boy! so he started looking into aliens. until his family put an end to it

“Damian, this is dangerous.”

“But baba ( dad )”

“No. Go to your room.”

“Ugh!”

• he did slam his door shut if you were wondering

• he will find the mysterious alien boy, okay? he will!

• his brothers teased him and said he had a crush

• no he didn’t! the boy was really mean, he pushed damian- why would he do that? whatta jerk!

• but damian did find him again when he ventured off to metropolis to visit an old friend, colin.

“Alien boy!”

“That’s not my name, bird boy.”

“And that’s not mine. You didn’t tell me yours!”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“It’s safer for you.”

“I can defend myself. You sound so silly, please tell me your name?”

“No.”

“‘Least the first initial?”

“Fine. J.”

“J it is.”

“Yours?”

“Wha- what? I told you my code named.”

“It’s only fair.”

“.. Okay. D.”

“D. Okay.”

• damian talked to him for a bit before jon did fly off when damian was talking about the stars, damian knew he was getting closer to him

• but he got grounded. whoops. he wasn’t supposed to go out

“Give me your phone, Damian.”

“What if I go out? I need a phone, baba.”

“I.. Your computer”

“School work.”

“Switch.”

“What! No- but-!”

“Damian.”

• yeah damian was very mad, but what made him madder was that apparently, his family was listening to the secret conversations between J and him. but d didn’t know that yet..

• his family needed to track down J, they didn’t care if people were aliens, the JL had aliens.. but they had no idea who this boy was, and the way damian was looking into the underground alien sanctuary, that worried rhem. Damian was smart and cunning, but he is able to portray an innocent persona, they all had the habit of undermining his intellect, so if damian began looking into this, it was for a reason

—

• jon found that D rambled. A lot. Even when jon didn’t respond. Jon doesn’t even know how D always found where he was. It’s so weird.

• but Lois noticed a change in jon.. he was. calmer. she didn’t know how, but when he went out, he came back calmer.

“I have to go to Gotham for a gala hosted by Bruce Wayne, would you.. like to come?”

“Do you want me to?”

“I’d like you to, but you don’t have to.”

“.. Fine.”

—

• lois walked to bruce with Jon in tow.

• “bruce.” “Lois, looking lovely as always.. who is this?” “Jon, my son. Say hi, Jon.” “Hi..” “He can hang around one of my sons— Damian, if you want? I’m sure him and his friends would love to have Jon around.” “What do you say Jon? Would you like that?” “Not really..” “I assume you, Damian doesn’t bite. Not anymore. And he’s pretty accepting.” “.. Fine.”

• damian was called over by his father and he did a double take. J. Was here. In front of him. Damian just internally shrugged and held a hand out, “Hi! I’m Damian! Wanna go play with my friends! there’s a game room so we don’t have to be with the gross adults.. you can also just.. sit there. My friends are pretty.. Loud?” “Okay.”

• jon had to take his hand back from damian since damian began eagerly tugging him.

“Damian seems to be accepting him pretty easily.” “I hope they can be friends, Jon.. doesn’t have any. I have only recently got him from his.. father.” “Odd, does he go to school?” “No, not yet, I’m still trying to get him adjusted.” “Ah.. Damian goes to West-Reeves. Maybe he could go there?” “That private school? Bruce.. I cannot afford that- not all of us are millionaires.” “Mhm.. I could pay.” “I can’t let you do that.” “He could get a scholarship.” “In what?” “Academics or athletics.” “Ill.. Talk to him about it. “ “well, ms lane, I just go talk with potential partners, I’ll see you later.”

—

• j got accepted into west reeves under a athletic thingy.

• that was cool. they became best friends!

• sorta

• flashforward 5 years to 15, their dynamic only grew. Damian told Jon his identity, jon didn’t become a hero, but did learn how to stitch damian up because tje idiot showed up bleeding a lot.

• everything was going great

On the phone, Damian: J! J! Guess what’

J: you’re so loud, D, what?

D: I got the lead! In the play!

J: no fucking way?

D: way!

J: Good j—— *crash*

D: J-?

D: J- Jonathan?

D: oh no.

• the call was ended abruptly. Jon always finished his sentences. Something was wrong. Something was really wrong.

• so damian called Lois quickly and ran downstairs to the batcave, lois wasn’t picking up either, she normally always picked up or at least sent a text. She did neither

“Baba!”

“Damian? You should be asleep.”

“Something’s wrong! Somethings really wrong!”

“Jon and Lois- Jon- I heard a crash- and- and”

“Habibi.”

“Mama?”

“Breathe; tell me what’s wrong.”

“I was on a call with Jon.. I told him about the play since I wanted him to go and stuff. Then I heard a crash. And then the line went dead. I’m scared— what if something happened!”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions, what happened with Lois?”

“She didn’t pick up the phone— she normally does! Or she texts me and says she will call back!”

“Maybe she is asleep.”

“No! You need to believe me!”

“Damian, calm down, I do, we will go to see if they’re okay, you get back to bed.”

“No. I’m coming with.”

“No you arent.”

“But!”

“Listen to your father.”

• okay fine. He’ll listen, damian went back up to his room for half an hour before calling his friends to do a rescue mission. He had an extra suit in his room, he can do this.

• with his team, it consisted of shazam, abuse, nobody, and green lantern, himself too, of course.

• captain marvel picked him up once he was ready and they met up with the other 3.

Maya: you said he’s in trouble?

Dami: Yes.

Colin: than let’s go save him!

• they went and saved the bestie, nearly got killed too

• oh and now damians sorta probably grounded when batman shows up 🤡

J:You came for me..?

D:We all did.. why are you so surprised?

J: * wraps his arms around damian * thank you

D: i- yeah.. anytime. what’re friends for?

• friends. Jon liked that. Jon also liked the way Damian’s cheeks went red when jon hugged him

• jon knew he chuckled before Damian’s arms wrapped around him. hard. Damian was a hard hugger

• jon became a superhero at 16. Damian had even more of a reason to sneak into his window every night now! Lois had began thinking the two were dating

D: Us? Dating? Please! He is way too good for me!

J:

L: awwww, gosh, how haven’t you been swept off your feet yet?

J: he has, but he has rejected them all

D: what can I say? I’m a gay theater kid ( this is a /j i promise a big big joke ) so they gotta be dramatic enough to put up with me, AND they need to do something big and bold to actually catch my eye

L: *laughs* take notes, jon

J: mom!

• jon has gone to a few of Damian’s plays and to dress rehearsals

• he was also there to watch damian wreck a car during his drivers test

D: there was a fricking squirrel there, J!

J: are you sure? maybe you’re just a shitty driver?

D: you’re a shitty driver!

J: cmon don’t pout

D: ‘m not!

• he was pouting. oopsie. jon did get him ice cream after

• jon goes by abnormal, because he’s an alien and because I don’t have any other ideas

J: this girl asked me out

M: oh? who! tell us!

D: ..what?

J: yeah, in my physics class

T: ooh! get it, jonno

M: give us a name, coward!

J: her name is Charlotte— but she goes by charlie. she’s.. different. red head. pretty freckles—

M: pretty freckles? does Jonny have a crush?! Oh my gosh, our sons growing up, Tai!

T: im about to start sobbing

J: fuck offff— D?

D: huh?

J: you’re being quiet, you plotting??

D: uh. yeah! duh- *he nudged jons shoulder with his, forcing a grin* figuring out ways to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend.

J: sucha brat- * jon ended up putting Damian into a playfully chokehold *

• damian just played along. he just smiled and watched as jon began walking with her instead of their friend group

M: hey- kid- you alright?

D: I’m onto a year younger than you Maya.

M: tou didn’t answer the question

D: I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be? You’re silly.

• tai ended up pulling him aside

T: when are you going to tell him?

D: how am I supposed to when he basically has a girlfriend now?

T: are you just gonna sit there and pine all day??

D: yes, thank you for understanding

• he’s a stubborn little shit and will absolutely not confess, his best friend is happy, who is he to ruin that?

T: he’s totally jealous.

J: so- do you- do you think it’ll work? That he’ll be surprised?

T: totally

J: thank you for lending me your girlfriend, Maya

M: anytime- not literally- you aren’t having her again

• this was all a trick, sorry, d.. jon does like you

• ( hope you all saw that foreshadowing earlier :) )

• damian needed big and dramatic. jon was gonna do that. even if he was uh. sorta aloof and shy.

• he learned how to sing and play the guitar for Damian. maya and tai were gonna scatter flower petals onto the floor for Damian to follow ( they will tell him too too )

• the whole school will probably watch as Damian finally gets a big dramatic proposal

• damian will love it

M: just follow the petals!

D: I’m confused

M: trust us

• damian did and followed the petals and low and behold, jon kent with a guitar and small smile

D: j-jon?

J: hey. I wrote you a song

D: no you didn’t

J: shut up and listen dumbass

*after that amazing song of how Jon asked damian out to homecoming*

D: that was amazing

J: dramatic enough for you?

D: YES! ( damian went and sprinted to jon, hugging him so tightly before leaning in to kiss him ) we are boyfriends now right

J: yeah, idiot

D: ur the idiot

• I can’t add anymore because myphones really laggy, I hope you enjot

#cliche asks #jondami #damijon #personality swap #Damian wayne #Jon kent #background swap

[duelistkingdom]

you’d come back to me

chapter nine: the same fool

[first chapter] [previous chapter] [master list] [next chapter] [read on ao3]

Summary: Seto Kaiba has been presumed dead for four years after the events of Dark Side of Dimensions. His return causes both unresolved feelings of grief to be brought to the surface and the past to be dragged right back up. In hopes of helping Seto move on and reintegrate back into society at large, Mokuba asks Yugi to work on Spherium II with Seto. Never one to leave a friend hanging, Yugi agrees. Over the course of the project, Seto and Yugi both come to terms with their mutual grief and grow towards a better understanding of each other.

Rating: T

Ships: Yugi Mutou/Seto Kaiba, Mokuba Kaiba/Rebecca Hopkins, Katusya Jonouchi/Mai Kujaku

Warnings: aged up characters, grief, references to suicide

consider supporting me on kofi / battle city tiers & above get first access to chapters!

Yugi was extremely stressed out. While Seto had certainly made progress in accepting that he was working in a team, other things were certainly still just as bad as the first day. Seto still seemed to be under the belief that everyone enjoyed working all hours of the night. It was even worse now that Seto had his own apartment. Last night, Yugi and Mokuba had to work together to drag Seto out of the office and deny him a key to Kaiba Corp so he could not just go in to work all hours of the night. They’d had to lecture Seto about the new Kaiba Corp bylaws.

Even worse, Spherium II’s development got held up by legal with Industrial Illusions filing an injunction. It seemed like the issue was that Pegasus now wanted to invest and was holding back the rights to use Duel Monster likeness until something was worked out. While Yugi was somewhat flattered that Pegasus believed in the project, he was very much irked that it meant that they needed to freeze progress until a deal was struck.

He’d complained to Anzu several times about the hold up in development and for the most part, Anzu was willing to listen to Yugi’s complaints. Last night, however, she reminded him that whenever he called, it was usually during the day and she had rehearsals. Jonouchi had long ago told him that he wanted to know nothing about Kaiba Corp inner workings and Honda generally passed out after work. Mokuba had asked Yugi to not tell his family about the inner workings of Kaiba Corp due to his father and grandfather running Kame Game and Yugi honored that.

He was prepared for another day of the same. However, Mokuba was actually waiting in Yugi’s office with dark circles under his eyes. “I’ve got great news, Yugi,” Mokuba said as he held up a manila envelope. “A deal was struck last night with Industrial Illusions last night to allow Industrial Illusions distribution rights. Even better? Pegasus agreed to let you use the agreed upon Duel Monsters likenesses for your game as part of an agreement for allowing him to invest in the project. Congratulations. Spherium II’s development can move forward again.”

Yugi gave a sigh of relief before laughing as he took the envelope from Mokuba. “That’s awesome ,” he said, taking a swig of his coffee as the envelope opened in his hands. Yugi took a brief scan of the agreement. It seems Mokuba had been right - Yugi had nothing to worry about. “Really glad you could get Pegasus to agree to allow me to put Dark Magician in.”

“Hey, it’s no problem,” Mokuba said. “I’ve already told Seto that the project’s able to go forward again. He should be in his office already.”

There was no doubt in Yugi’s mind that Seto was, indeed, already in his office. Seto liked to get to work as early as he was allowed and work as late as he could. He was certain that if he and Mokuba hadn’t set strict boundaries on how long Seto could stay in office, Seto would actually stay as long as he could. “Alright,” Yugi said as he tossed the folder onto his desk with the rest of the paperwork that he needed to go through. “I’ll go chat with Seto in a bit, then. Thanks for making this work, Mokuba.”

He went to turn on his computer, mostly because he knew he’d have an inbox full of emails if the deal was made last night. It’d be better to actually take care of it now rather than wait too long. Plenty of questions to be answered too, he noted as he looked at the first email from one of the team members. He’d also found quite a few more tournaments begging him to participate and he sighed. Yugi didn’t like disappointing these organizers but there was little point in competing. He wound up agreeing to another exhibition duel against Seto, however.

And well, he was certain that he’d like to see if Seto had managed to grasp the current meta at all over the past year. It hit Yugi hard when he realized that it really had been a year since Seto crashed back into their lives. Strange, Yugi thought. It didn’t feel like a year. His phone buzzed with a text from Seto, asking him what the hold up was. Yugi was about to reply when a message from saggithedarkclown buzzed in soon after. It took a Yugi a minute but there was something odd about the two messages side by side. He tried to piece together why the two messages next to each other would seem so odd and it hit him like a train. The texting style was identical.

Much like Kaiba, saggithedarkclown was stiff and just a bit too formal and a stickler for grammar. Surely this had to be a coincidence, right? Seto couldn’t be the only person in the world to type that way, after all. Instead of responding right away to Seto, Yugi sent a few messages to saggithedarkclown about the questions they’d had on his previous duel. They were about the final combo that had ended the duel and wanted to know exactly how he pulled it off. Eventually, he finally texted Seto back that he was heading over to his office now.

Yugi was not surprised when he entered Seto’s office to find him looking annoyed already. Seto was easily irritated but he supposed this time he could let it slide. He was, after all, late. “You’re late,” Seto said sharply. “We should’ve gotten started two hours ago. What were you doing that took you so long?”

“Had a few emails to the team to respond to,” Yugi said with a shrug as he moved to stand behind Seto’s chair to examine exactly what Seto had been working on. His hand came to rest on the back of Seto’s chair and Yugi noted that Seto seemed to stiffen. Still tense around him, then. “What do you have for me today?”

Surprisingly, it took Seto a moment to respond. “I saw that Pegasus has allowed us to use the likeness of some Duel Monsters,” he said, sounding even more formal than usual. “So I started to see how the program would handle it.”

“Oh, of course,” Yugi said, not all surprised that Kaiba would immediately zero in on that. He supposed if anyone could handle figuring out how to render them in Spherium II’s graphics, it would be Seto. He was the one who invented Solid Vision, after all. “I’m guessing you’ve already got an idea how to make it work?”

“Of course,” Seto said stiffly as he pulled up the specs to show Yugi. “What kind of idiot do you take me for?”

“Excellent,” Yugi said as he glanced over what Kaiba had managed to do in the past two hours and was somewhat stunned to see it was already almost fully functional. Kaiba was, of course, nothing short of obsessive when it came to a project. “How about I take you out for lunch to celebrate then?”

He’d been trying for the past few weeks already to put Anzu’s advice into motion. Every time he had offered, Kaiba rebuffed him. He was expecting Kaiba to refuse again. What he did not expect was Seto to somehow manage to find a way to get even more tense . How did Seto manage to find new ways to tense up? Yugi should probably mention to Mokuba that Seto could use a day off. “Er,” Seto finally said after a moment. “I suppose that would be fine.”

“Awesome,” Yugi said, distracted now that he’d finally managed to get Seto to agree to at least lunch. He wondered if saggithedarkclown had responded while he was busy with Seto. “I’ll see you again at lunchtime, then.”

Seto was still trying to relax an hour later. He was fixated on how casually Yugi had put his hand on the back of his chair. How was he supposed to actually go to lunch with Yugi without looking like an idiot? He’d already forgotten he had the counterpoint that they were still considered rivals by the general public. That was, after all, how he’d managed to worm out of all the other invites that Yugi had extended.. Might dampen the excitement for the upcoming exhibition match. Too bad he’d thought of the excuse just a little too late and besides, he’d have a counterpoint against the argument anyway.

He shouldn’t care this much, anyway. It was just a lunch between two coworkers working on the same project. Kaiba had been blowing it off for too long. It was inevitable that he’d wind up having to go out with someone from the team. He shouldn’t put too much thought into it. Yugi probably thought he was just being friendly.

Now why did that bother Seto? Surely he could logic his way out of this emotion. It wasn’t like Yugi was acting any differently than he’d ever had. Wasn’t that what Seto wanted? For Yugi to act the way he used to around him? It was just frustratingly confusing to not fully understand why he couldn’t just relax around Yugi. It was just lunch between coworkers. That’s all it was. He could do lunch, after all. How many business lunches had Seto done before? This was no different.

Just because Yugi was younger than most of the businessmen Seto had dealt with when he was CEO doesn’t mean that Seto had to lose his mind over it. Embarrassingly, the details of last night’s dreams of Yugi started to stir up again. He tried to push that aside. He didn’t have time to get embarrassed over dreams he could not control at work . He was at work . He was supposed to be professional, not lose his entire head. He jumped when Mokuba entered his office. “Mokuba,” he said sharply. “What is it?”

That was more rude than Seto intended. Mokuba did not seem to react to this, however. It was probably because Mokuba knew Seto well enough to not get offended when he was rude. “Just wanted to let you know that the due date on those models isn’t until next month,” Mokuba said, looking concerned as ever. “You don’t have to push yourself to get them all done today.”

“Is that all,” Seto asked, turning back to his computer. He knew the deadlines on the project. He’d fought with Yugi about them. As far as Seto was concerned, they were too spread out. Surely they could streamline it. Yugi had argued that the rest of the team didn’t want to work around the clock on the project and get locked out of leaving the building. He still didn’t see Yugi’s point. “I know when the deadline is. I’ll still have them done before then.”

Mokuba sighed. “Please tell me you’re at least going to get lunch today.”

An explanation for why Yugi might have asked Seto to lunch just arrived, hadn’t it? Of course. Mokuba probably had asked Yugi to babysit Seto, the same way Mokuba had forced Seto onto this project with Yugi. “Did you put Yugi up to ask me to go to lunch, then?”

“No,” Mokuba said, a shocked expression on his face that disappeared as quickly as it appeared. That was enough to assure Seto that he hadn’t lied. It did, however, open up new questions. “But you should go. It’d be good for you to find common ground.”

For a second, Seto started immediately wondering why Yugi would do such a thing on his own accord. Seto couldn’t help but overthink every possible motive that Yugi possibly could have. He spent too much time with Yugi taking up focus. Kaiba was sick of how often he thought about Yugi but he couldn’t seem to stop. “I already agreed,” Seto said with a shrug as he stared at his screen. “You don’t have to worry. I’ll eat lunch today.”

“Good,” Mokuba said and Seto felt a little bit guilty over how happy Mokuba sounded at this response. Seto knew that this meant that he shouldn’t be skipping lunch as often as he did. However, it wasn’t like this was a new behavior of his. Had Mokuba always been worried about Seto skipping lunch? He didn’t dare ask. “Alright. I’ll get out of your hair so you can get back to work.”

Seto was stunned to discover that Yugi had a car and that he would rather drive it to lunch than let Isono drive them. Seto had folded his arms across his chest, staring at the window as he noted all the ways Domino City was different than it was five years ago. He’d mostly gotten used to the changes but there was still that strange feeling about how much he’d truly missed. “Where are you taking me anyway,” Seto said finally, breaking the silence in the car.

“Burger World,” Yugi responded. “Another location reopened.”

“That place that a guy was set on fire at,” Seto asked in alarm. “Aren’t you worried about the type of people that hang out at a place like that?”

A brief flash of something crossed Yugi’s face before it settled into a slight smirk. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about getting set on fire there,” Yugi said, as if sharing a private joke with himself. Seto didn’t understand how Yugi could be so lighthearted about someone getting set on fire. “Besides, no one’s been set on fire in Burger World in seven years. I wouldn’t worry about it.”

It was true that the incident had to have been seven years ago now but that didn’t change that someone had gotten set on fire at one of their locations. “I think I have the right to be worried when I might get set on fire,” Seto said. “Especially when you seem to think it’s funny .”

“No one’s going to set you on fire, Kaiba,” Yugi said, sounding somewhat exasperated. “Why would anyone set you on fire, anyway?”

“Why would anyone set someone on fire,” Kaiba countered. “Why do you think it’s so funny, anyway?”

The smile vanished from Yugi’s face. Suddenly, Seto irrationally wished he could shove the words back in his mouth. Which ones? Whatever the ones were that made Yugi stop smiling. He felt like there was something he was missing. “It’s not, I guess,” Yugi said softly, not revealing anything. “Just… made me think of someone, is all.”

“Oh,” Seto said, still just as confused as ever. He wanted to know why Yugi had stopped smiling but he couldn’t bring himself to ask. “You really don’t think we’d get set on fire there?”

“No,” Yugi said as he turned into the parking lot of the restaurant. Seto was unsurprised to note that it was mostly empty. He was actually surprised that Burger World was even still open after that bout of negative press. Then again, the same could be said for Kaiba Corp after Death-T. Kaiba pushed the memory out of his mind. “There’s no risk of getting set on fire. C’mon. Let’s go eat.”

Seto was still doubtful but he did tell Mokuba he would actually go eat with Yugi. And it wasn’t like Seto could just ask Yugi to lend him his car to go get something else to eat. This left Seto with the only option of going forward. Besides… if Yugi really did seem so sure that there was no risk, then he’d have to trust him. The interior of Burger World, Seto noted, was a tacky nightmare of neon and booths and what seemed to be plastic tables. “You actually eat here?”

“All the time,” Yugi replied as he led Seto towards one of the more private booths. “I really like the burgers they serve here.”

Seto paused as he tried to figure out what Yugi was talking about. The way Yugi referred to it was as if everyone would know what it was. Rather than risk looking like an idiot, Seto merely sat across from Yugi and said nothing. Seto wondered where the hostess was and why they had to seat themselves. “How does eating here even work?”

Yugi looked at Seto as if he’d just asked how to tribute summon a monster. So much for avoiding looking like an idiot in front of Yugi. “Have you never eaten at a casual restaurant before?”

The answer to that was a resounding no. While he’d sometimes handed Mokuba money to go to a restaurant like this, Seto avoided places like this. Most of the restaurants Seto went to would be out of Yugi’s price range. However, Seto got the feeling saying that out loud would not go over well and he was supposed to be trying to work with Yugi. “There was no hostess,” Seto remarked instead, looking back over at the entrance. “How is the wait staff supposed to know there’s someone here?”

“They just do,” Yugi said with a shrug as he checked his watch. “Typically a waitress comes over in a few minutes.”

Seto was about to remark upon how he thought this was a poor business model when an overly perky blonde approached them with two menus in hand. “Sorry about the wait,” she said as she placed the menus in front of them. Yugi gave Seto a sharp look and any retort he had died on his tongue. “My name’s Haruka and I’ll be your waitress today. What can I get started for you guys today?”

“I’ll have my usual,” Yugi said. Haruka nodded and wrote something down on her notepad. “I think Seto needs to try one of the classic burgers. I get the feeling he’s never had a burger before.”

Instantly, Seto was torn from snapping at Yugi that he could order for himself and being flushed that Yugi would actually be that bold. He was surprised that Yugi had realized that Seto hadn’t ever really had a burger before. “Never had a burger before,” Haruka said, sounding surprised. “Well, you’re in luck. We have the best burgers.”

Before Seto could remark on that, Yugi gave him another glare as if he knew what Seto was about to say. He gave a soft “tch” as he folded his arms over his chest. “Fine,” Seto said, figuring it was better than trying to decide what to order for himself. “I’ll try one.”

“And what will you have to drink,” she asked.

Seto glanced at the list of things to drink on the back of the menu. He noted that the only choices were soda, lemonade, or water. “Water’s fine,” Seto said.

Yugi rolled his eyes as she noted it and left the table. “Didn’t Mokuba tell you that you’re supposed to be nice,” Yugi asked, sounding exasperated. Seto opened his mouth to point out that he’d been perfectly courteous and Yugi shook his head. “You were glaring at her the whole time. Just relax, Seto.”

Was that how Yugi could tell when Seto was about to say something? Did he really have a tell? How long had he had this tell? “I’m being perfectly agreeable,” Seto replied, well aware he sounded curt. “Can I help that you regular places like this dump?”

“Seto, please,” Yugi said, reaching out the table to cover Seto’s hand with his and once again, Seto froze. The motion was just a little overly familiar. As usual, it did not seem to impact Yugi the same way it impacted Seto. “Can you at least try to be normal for one lunch?”

“Okay,” Seto said automatically, not sure where it came from. Yugi squeezed his hand and smiled and Seto’s heart began to beat irregularly. Seto was starting to get annoyed by the random arrhythmia that being around Yugi seemed to bring on. “You and Mokuba are both massive thrones in my side, by the way.”

This didn’t seem to bother Yugi. In fact, he laughed. The stupid arrhythmia acted up again and Seto did his best to ignore it. “Good,” Yugi said. “That means you aren’t doing anything stupid any time soon.”

“I never do anything stupid,” Seto retorted, wondering what were the common causes of arrhythmia. Maybe he should be writing down when it happened? Perhaps that would better help the doctor when Seto got it checked out. “Not sure why you and Mokuba would both think that I would.”

Yugi gave Seto a strange look as he pulled his hand away. Seto didn’t know why that bothered him, either. The waitress had already come back with their drinks, setting them down in front of them. She said nothing and left quickly after. “Seto, do you really not get why people might be worried about you?”

He didn’t understand Yugi’s question. On some level, he did understand why Mokuba was worried. However, it wasn’t like Seto intended for his actions to look like… He pushed it aside. “If this is about the dimension jumping again, I already took it apart. I wasn’t going to do it again.”

“That’s not the only reason w… Mokuba’s worried about you,” Yugi said, his eyebrows furrowing as his gaze bore into Seto. Seto looked away, uncomfortable now. “Look… I… I know that none of this has been easy…”

Now he understood what Yugi was getting at. “I’m not depressed,” Seto snapped. He’d heard the same concern from the therapist that Mokuba was making him go to. He was starting to get a little tired of everyone insisting that he had to be weak . “I’m fine , Yugi. No one needs to get concerned about me.”

“It’s okay, Seto,” Yugi said and for once, Seto could actually tell what Yugi’s expression was communicating. However, Seto couldn’t figure out for the life of him what Yugi might be pleading from him. There was nothing he could give Yugi. “You really aren’t alone, okay? I… I’m here for you, Seto. I… I just need you to be open with me.”

Open? Has Yugi lost his mind? “I don’t need your help,” Seto said automatically, looking for a way out of this conversation. How had they even ended up on this topic? Must everyone be this concerned with his mental health? “Mind your business.”

Rather than seem put off by this reaction, Yugi seemed to be actually expecting it. He hated that Yugi actually seemed honestly concerned. Yugi’s head tilted, as if trying to figure something out. “Seto,” he said and it was like a gut punch. “Surely you can see that no one would understand better than me how it would feel to lose Atem. If you would just talk to me -”

Seto cut Yugi off, his heart racing as he snapped, “I don’t need your help, Yugi. Have I made myself clear?”

Yugi sighed, shaking his head. “Fine,” he said and he sounded more resigned than anything. “If you won’t talk now, that’s fine. We have the rest of this project for you to start talking about.”

This time, Yugi had the same look he had just before he’d threatened Seto. This was, in fact, a threat. Must Yugi be this insistent on being friends with him? Seto supposed he shouldn’t be surprised. He’d never once known Yugi to back down from a challenge. “Don’t expect this to go your way,” Seto said, slumping back in the booth. “You can’t make me open up to you.”

“Stop acting like a child,” Yugi said with a roll of his eyes. “You know that Mokuba and I are coming from a place of care. If we didn’t care, we’d let you just push us away. Neither Mokuba nor I are going to let you do that. So you can pout, stomp your feet, act like a dick all you want. Neither of us are going anyway. Get used to it.”

Seto was taken aback by the ferocity in Yugi’s eyes. Something told him that Yugi absolutely meant it too. At this point, Seto wasn’t sure how to keep Yugi at arm’s length anymore. That didn’t mean he wouldn’t try.

“I can’t believe you got Kaiba to try a burger,” Jonouchi remarked with a laugh as Mai passed him another gift to unwrap. “Seriously, how did he react?”

“He seemed to think that he was going to get set on fire at Burger World the entire time,” Yugi said with a shrug, leaving out the gritty details of the conversation he’d had with Seto. “I don’t think he cared much for it, either. Claimed it was too greasy.”

Jonouchi laughed even harder at this as he unwrapped the gift that Yugi had gotten him. “You know, you whippin rich boy’s ass tomorrow would’ve made a fine birthday gift,” Jonouchi remarked, looking rather amazed at the framed picture from the last tournament that Yugi ever did with Jonouchi. Yugi’s arm was thrown around Jonouchi and the two of them looked thrilled about doing a tag team duel together. “Though I will admit… this is nice.”

“Oh, I’m sure Yugi’s gonna kick Kaiba’s ass tomorrow,” Mai said with a light laugh as she leaned back in her chair and her head resting on Jonouchi’s shoulder. Jonouchi’s arm snaked around her waist as he gave her a soft smile. “Seriously, the guy’s been out of the loop for the past four years. No way he’ll be able to be duel ready in only a year. And Yugi’s only gotten better since Battle City.”

“Kaiba’s not like any other opponent that Yugi’s had, though,” Ryou remarked with a slight frown. “I wouldn’t expect this to be a cake walk. Yugi should really be taking this seriously.”

“Please, no one’s even come close to unseating Yugi in the past six years,” Honda pointed out as he took a swing of his beer. “Do we really think Kaiba’s gonna figure out how to beat Yugi now?”

“I dunno,” Otogi said with a raised brow. “Hate to disagree with you, babe, but Bakura’s got a point. Kaiba’s always been weirdly intense about Yugi.”

“Seto’s not going to win,” Yugi said confidently. While there was a point when their points may have rattled him, he was prepared. He’d been looking forward to Dueling Kaiba again. He knew Kaiba had been improving and was expecting an actual challenge this time now that Kaiba was familiar with the meta. “He’s improved his game a lot in the past year but I still know a few tricks.”

“He better not,” Jonouchi said with an easy going grin. “After all, you beating Kaiba’s your primary birthday gift to me.”

Yugi had another reason for wanting to win this Duel that he didn’t tell his friends. From previous experience, Seto was more willing to be open during a Duel. Sure, winning didn’t exactly seem to change that but he’d noticed that Seto tended to be more willing to rant when he lost. He almost felt nervous as he walked out onto the pitch, his gaze set firm on Seto. He’d barely noticed the cheers when he’d entered and only vaguely remembered to smile and wave at the crowd. He noted that Seto’s Duel Disk was activated. “Kaiba,” he said simply, carefully examining the expression on Seto’s face. “Are you ready for me to beat you again?”

“I’d like to see you try,” Seto replied, glaring at Yugi. Yugi could only assume that this was because Seto had some level of wariness when it came to dueling Yugi again. “I know it’s been four years but I assure you: I’m still going to crush you.”

As per usual, they shuffled each other’s decks and Yugi stared Kaiba down the entire time. For once, it seemed like Kaiba might not actually be as revealing during the duel. That wasn’t good. He needed Kaiba to actually start talking. Well, Yugi had a plan to start the conversation and it rested right in his deck. His first hand was perfect to make sure that he’d wind up in control of the board early. It was Kaiba’s turn first. Another advantage on his side: Kaiba was surely going to try to set up.

“I’m activating Cards of Consonance, allowing me to discard the White Stone of Legend from my hand to draw two cards,” Kaiba called out. It seemed Kaiba still had the same type of deck. Yugi could only assume it must have been updated. “I’m setting a monster face down, two cards face down, and ending my turn. During my end phase, when the White Stone of Legend was sent to the graveyard, it allows me to add a Blue Eyes White Dragon to my hand. Make your move, Yugi.”

If Yugi knew his archetypes - and he did - then it was most likely White Stone of the Ancients that Kaiba had placed face down. Its Graveyard effect would ensure that Kaiba got out Blue Eyes White Dragon fairly early. He needed to cut its effect off early before clearing the way to Kaiba’s life points. “Fine,” Yugi said as he drew, noting it was Gravekeeper’s Priestess. A precautionary card at most. If Kaiba removed Necrovalley, Priestess could act as Necrovalley. “I activate the spell card, Terraforming! This allows me to add a field spell from my deck to my hand. And I chose Necrovalley!”

“What,” Kaiba said, clearly caught off guard.

“And now, I activate Necrovalley,” Yugi said as the field around them reflected this change. The pitch’s concrete now had sand across it that felt almost lifelike as the temple pushed up from the ground. Yugi might’ve previously reacted to the Solid Vision’s lifelike rumbling and been knocked over. Now, he held his ground. “Necrovalley’s effect now takes effect! Both our graveyards have been locked down. No graveyard effects can be activated and no monster can be banished from the graveyard and no monster can be special summoned. The dead stay dead.”

The look on Kaiba’s face said everything. He’d seen that look before when he’d shown Kaiba that Atem no longer would come out from the puzzle. “You dare?”

“That’s right, Kaiba,” Yugi said as he placed Gravekeeper’s Heretic on his Duel Disk and set Spell Vanishing and Imperial Tombs of Necrovalley. “And now, I summon Gravekeeper’s Heretic in attack mode and place two cards face down. Now, Heretic will attack your facedown!” As expected, it was White Stone of the Ancients. The magic blast from Heretic sent the stone shattering around them and Yugi ducked out of the way of the blast. Kaiba, for his part, looked pissed. “I bet you were expecting that effect to activate. Unfortunately for you, you won’t be getting Blue Eyes out that easy. I end my turn!”

Kaiba gave a “tch” before he drew, narrowing his eyes at Yugi. “You dare to interfere with my plans again, Yugi,” Kaiba said, examining the card he drew. “I won’t let you! I reveal from my hand a Blue Eyes White Dragon to special summon Blue Eyes Alternative Dragon!” Yugi’s eyes widened as the Alternative’s wings spread out, a loud screech coming from her. He knew that there was no hope of saving Heretic once she attacked but he knew Kaiba just a little bit better than that. “I activate Alternative’s effect to destroy Heretic!”

“Now! I reveal my facedown card, Imperial Tombs of Necrovalley! I can activate this card whenever you activate a spell, trap, or monster effect,” Yugi said as the card flipped face up. Instantly, Blue Eyes Alternative Dragon was yanked into a coffin that sunk back into the sand. “It allows me to negate the activation of your monster’s effect and destroy your monster! Say goodbye to your dragon, Kaiba!”

Control of the board remained firmly in Yugi’s hands. Yugi suspected any other Duelist might have an actual issue against Kaiba’s formidable strategy. Yugi glared back at Kaiba defiantly, daring Kaiba to actually lay a finger on him. Kaiba’s stare became rather guarded before he looked away, a slight smirk forming on his face. “Suppose I should’ve expected you to have a counter,” Kaiba said. Yugi raised a brow at Kaiba, trying to figure out exactly what Kaiba was thinking. “Fine. Let’s see you negate this: I summon Protector with Eyes of Blue! This allows me to special summon a level one light tuner from my hand and I’m summoning Maiden with Eyes of Blue!”

Protector and Maiden both summoned out and Yugi recognized this combo. In fact, something was in the back of his head as he remembered mentioning it offhand to saggithedarkclown. It had been a hypothetical scenario. “I see you’ve gone and updated your deck,” Yugi remarked. “Maybe you’ll actually be able to keep up with me for once.”

“Oh, I’ve always been able to keep up with you, Yugi,” Kaiba said. “Now I target Maiden with Protector’s effect, sending her to the graveyard to special summon Blue Eyes White Dragon from my hand! But that’s not all, Yugi. Because Maiden was targeted, she also summons out a second Blue Eyes! Now! I bring forth Blue Eyes Twin Burst Dragon!”

Yugi might’ve been able to prevent Alternative from coming out but now he was staring down the duel headed Blue Eyes and she looked pissed . Yugi ran through his options. Raigeki was in his deck but there was only one copy of it so he couldn’t hope to rely on it. So far, Kaiba has already run through two of his Blue Eyes but there were still two more Alternatives and another Blue Eyes in his deck. If Yugi could ensure that Kaiba could not summon any more Blue Eyes cards, then his victory was all but assured. “Kaiba,” Yugi said, well aware that Kaiba wouldn’t listen to him. “You won’t be able to bring back your Blue Eyes once they’re in the Graveyard. They will stay there for the rest of the Duel.”

“That’s what you think, Yugi,” Kaiba said with a glare. “I will destroy Necrovalley! For now, Twin Burst will destroy your Heretic! Twin Burst Stream!”

Twin Burst launched two lightning blasts at Heretic and Yugi put the card in his graveyard. Yugi’s life points went down to 7300, barely a scratch. The Duel Disk still assured that it caused a little sting. Yugi had gotten used to the feeling of the shock going up his arm from lifepoint damage. “Well played, Kaiba,” Yugi said, examining Kaiba. Oddly guarded. “You did, indeed, come prepared.”

“Don’t you dare try to flatter me,” Kaiba said, his careful mask slipping for just a second for Yugi to notice he’d gotten flustered by the compliment. Yugi smirked slightly: there it was. Kaiba didn’t seem to anticipate Yugi being nice to him. “I’m setting two cards and ending my turn!”

“Then it’s my turn,” Yugi said as he drew, anticipating one of Kaiba’s facedowns to be a way to destroy Necrovalley. “I set a card and now I activate Necrovalley Throne! This card allows me to search out a Gravekeeper monster from my deck and immediately after, I have to summon a Gravekeeper monster!” He added Gravekeeper’s Spiritualist to hand, glancing at the cards in hand. Getting Gravekeeper’s Supernaturalist out would help him out here. He had Gravekeeper’s Oracle, which would give him enough attack points to beat over Twin Burst. This Duel could end quickly if he did that. However, if he did that, he could not make sure that Kaiba opened up. Instead, he needed to drag this Duel out. He glanced up at Kaiba before looking back at his cards.

“Are you going to actually make a move,” Kaiba sneered, a look of victory on his face. It seemed like Kaiba believed that Yugi had no out to the position he’d put Yugi in. “Or are you too scared?”

“Kaiba, you have never once managed to scare me,” Yugi remarked casually as he passed over Visionary. “I summon Gravekeeper’s Recruiter! And now I activate Gravekeeper’s Servant. This continuous trap makes it so you can only attack if you discard a card!”

“I activate the quick play spell Twin Twisters,” Kaiba declared, flipping over one of his set cards and discarding a card from his hand. “And I’m choosing to destroy both Necrovalley and Gravekeeper’s Servant!”

As expected. “I reveal my counter trap,” Yugi said, flipping over Spell Vanishing. “Sure, I have to discard two cards to activate it,” Yugi said as he discarded Gravekeeper’s Spy and Monster Reborn. He wouldn’t need either card anyway. “But once it negates Twin Twisters, it seeks out every copy of Twin Twisters in your deck and discards them! How does it feel to have your own deck destruction strategies aimed right back at you?”

Kaiba had a stunned look on his face. Yugi was certain that he was more surprised about the fact that Yugi had set Spell Vanishing in the expectation of having to negate one of Kaiba’s quick play spells. “You expected me to use Twin Twisters?”

“Of course,” Yugi said. “You never could let the dead rest, could you? Don’t worry, Kaiba. It won’t be the first time I’ll know what you’re planning to do before you even do it.” He glanced back to the remaining three cards in hand. The Duel ending combo would have to wait. “I end my turn.”

Gravekeeper’s Recruiter wasn’t going to stay out on the field long. Yugi regretted that. He felt a little bad, knowing Recruiter was little more than cannon fodder. Twin Burst would dispatch it easily. He doubted the cost of discarding a card from his deck would actually bother Kaiba. What really concerned Yugi, however, was the other set card on Kaiba’s field. It could be anything. Yugi needed to prepare to deal with whatever Kaiba could have set. “My turn,” Kaiba declared as he drew. “If you think having to discard a card from my deck will stop me from attacking Yugi, you’re wrong! I’ll gladly pay the cost if it means I can finally destroy you!”

“Do you really want to destroy me, Kaiba,” Yugi retorted, a sly smirk forming on his face as he noted that Kaiba actually seemed to get flustered by this too. Was it really that easy to throw Kaiba off his game? “You’ve been unable to ever actually beat me, Kaiba. I’d like to see if you actually could.”

“How dare you,” Kaiba said as he looked at the card he discarded from the top of his deck to declare his attack. Yugi couldn’t tell if Kaiba had lost a good card. He’d managed to get that carefully controlled look back on his face. “Twin Burst Stream!”

There went Recruiter. And down went Yugi’s lifepoints again to 6000. “When Recruiter is destroyed, I can add a Gravekeeper monster from my deck to my hand that has 1500 or less defense,” Yugi said as he added Gravekeeper’s Headman to hand.  “You know that you can’t actually win, Kaiba. Your Graveyard is locked down and two of your Blue Eyes and one of your Alternatives rests there as well.”

“Then why are you down two thousand life points already, Yugi,” Kaiba said as he set another card. Already drawing this out was getting dangerous. Duels these days were decided in a single turn. It seemed like Kaiba felt so secure that Yugi could not actually destroy Twin Burst that he was not bothering to summon another monster. Kaiba was right that Twin Burst was a formidable monster. Destroying it by battle was not an option - Twin Burst would merely banish the monster that battled that had higher attack. “My Blue Eyes will return to me. I will destroy Necrovalley.”

“You have to know that life points don’t matter unless they’re 0 and that I won’t let you destroy Necrovalley,” Yugi replied calmly. Certainly this didn’t look great for him but he wasn’t concerned. “Besides, Kaiba, this duel isn’t about winning for me. It’s about getting you to actually talk to me.”

“I’ve got nothing to say to you, Yugi, besides that if you don’t care about winning, then you’ll easily be crushed,” Kaiba said, glaring at Yugi. “You always want to talk, Yugi. Enough talking! Show me what your point is with your cards! I end my turn!”

“If that’s what you want, then fine,” Yugi said as he drew his next card. Raigeki. Out of all the cards to draw. “I activate Raigeki! Twin Burst is destroyed!” A bolt of lightning hit the field and vaporized Twin Burst. There went one of his problems. “Your Blue Eyes Twin Burst Dragon will rest in the Graveyard for the rest of the Duel, never to return to the field.”

A dark look crossed Kaiba’s face. “You’re going to regret that, Yugi!”

“I doubt it,” Yugi replied. “Now I summon Gravekeeper’s Headman! With this card, I can special summon a Gravekeeper monster from my graveyard. This effect is unaffected by Necrovalley. And I choose Gravekeeper’s Heretic!”

Gravekeeper’s Heretic returned to the field, a look of amazement on the monster’s face as he looked behind him to give a nod to Yugi. Yugi nodded back, well aware this wouldn’t end the Duel but it would definitely put a dent in Kaiba's life points and keep the crowd from getting restless. “Thought you wanted to make a point about graveyards being closed,” Kaiba said, a nasty look on his face. “Undermining your point there, Yugi.”

“I’m not the one refusing to let go of the dead, Kaiba,” Yugi said. The one thing he knew was that the dead wouldn’t come back to life. However, he could keep their memories close to his chest. He could remember Atem and honor him. “When we lose someone, they’re gone but we keep the memory of them. In that, we never truly lose them. We move forward, Kaiba, without forgetting what we had with them. We carry the lessons they teach us in our heart. Now, Headman and Heretic will attack you directly!”

Both of them hit Kaiba directly, dropping Kaiba from 8000 life points to 4700 in one swift blow. The crowd might not understand why Yugi was doing what he was doing but they seemed to enjoy seeing Yugi finally get an attack in. Yugi looked up towards the crowd and spotted Mokuba and Rebecca close to the pitch. Mokuba met Yugi’s eyes and nodded. Yugi then locked eyes with Kaiba again as Kaiba staggered upright. “You claim that you won’t bring back the dead but I bet you could if you weren’t a coward,” Kaiba spat. “You accepted the Pharaoh’s fate so easily. You aren’t the first to blindly follow destiny.”

Yugi stared at Kaiba, sighing. “I end my turn, Kaiba,” Yugi said. “This Duel will be over soon. By the end of the Duel, you will have to accept that in order to move forward, you have to accept that you cannot change that he’s dead. The past is set in stone, Kaiba. I would think that you would understand that better than anyone.”

“I don’t accept limitations, unlike some people,” Kaiba said as he drew a card. “I activate the Melody of Awakening Dragon! This allows me to add two dragons from my deck with 3000 or more attack from my deck and 2500 or less defense as long as I discard a card! Now, I bring out Blue Eyes Alternative Dragon.” Out came the second Alternative and Yugi knew that meant that the final Blue Eyes was in Kaiba’s hand. Kaiba’s deck would be rendered worthless once all Blue Eyes were incapable of being summoned. “And I activate its effect, allowing me to destroy Headman!”

“Once that effect is activated, you cannot declare an attack on me this turn,” Yugi remarked as Headman was destroyed. Yugi was surprised he didn’t pick Heretic. Headman had less attack compared to Heretic. Certainly there was a plan for this move. “So you must be planning on summoning another monster.”

“For once, you’re wrong, Yugi,” he said as he set a card facedown. “I’m setting a card and ending my turn. You can’t hope to defeat me, Yugi.”

There was only one way to assure the Duel didn’t go sideways. He drew, noting the card. “I’m activating my continuous trap, Necrovalley Temple,” Yugi declared. “Whenever I have a Gravekeeper monster and Necrovalley on the field, your monsters lose 500 attack!” That wasn’t all it did but the rest of the effects weren’t as important. Heretic still couldn’t beat over it, however. “I summon Gravekeeper’s Spiritualist!” Spiritualist twirled out. “When she’s summoned, she fusion summons out any fusion monster I have using cards from my hand and field as well as herself.”

She began to wave her staff around as Heretic was pulled in as well as Oracle from his hand. “I bring out Gravekeeper’s Supernaturalist! As long as he’s out, cards in my field zone cannot be destroyed. During the end phase of this turn, I can add any Gravekeeper or Necrovalley card from my deck to my hand. That’s not all: it gains 100 attack points for each level of the monsters used to fuse him out on top of the 500 attack.”

This made Supernaturalist the strongest monster on the field. Not only that, both Yugi and Kaiba knew there was now no real way for Kaiba to win. “You think I’m going to let your monster scare me into no longer fighting,” Kaiba asked, looking irked. “I’m not like the other opponents you might have faced in the past four years, Yugi.”

“Of course you’re not,” Yugi said, standing his ground. He had to get through to Kaiba. He needed Kaiba to understand. At this point, he wasn’t even sure what he needed Kaiba to understand. Everything about the past four years felt like a fresh wound. Mokuba arriving at the Kame Game Shop, tears in his eyes as he informed Yugi that Seto was gone. Accepting a job at Kaiba Corp because Mokuba admitted he needed help. The AI that Kaiba had built before he left that looked exactly like Atem. “Because none of them understood me like you do, Kaiba. You and I are connected by the same tragedy,” came spilling out of Yugi, desperately reaching out towards Kaiba. “No one but you understands how it felt. Kaiba, please. I need you to be willing to talk to me.”

The grief was plain on Kaiba’s face and Yugi was almost certain he’d bridged the gap between Kaiba and him. Kaiba had to understand that Yugi cared, right? It occurred to Yugi that he was wrong about wanting to force Kaiba to stay for Mokuba’s sake. He needed Kaiba here too. “I already told you that you can talk to me through your cards,” Kaiba said, annoyed. “I activate Heavy Storm Duster! I’ll blow away you, your Necrovalley, and Necrovalley Temple!”

“You think that will work,” Yugi asked as the storm swarmed around them, bent on destroying Necrovalley and the Temple that had formed on the field. It whipped around his clothes and he could barely hear the crowd anymore. “When Necrovalley Temple is destroyed, I can set a Necrovalley spell or trap card from my deck directly to the field besides Necrovalley Temple! Not only that, you fail to destroy Necrovalley due to Spiritualist's effect!” The dust settled and Necrovalley remained on the field. Yugi glared at Kaiba. “You cannot fight the inevitable, Kaiba. You are going to lose this Duel. The sooner you accept this, the better.”

“I’ll never accept that, Yugi,” Kaiba said, taking a step back as Yugi took a step forward. It was like Kaiba was trying to rapidly build walls between them, preventing Yugi from ever fully reaching him. Yugi sighed, shaking his head yet again. “Not as long as I can still fight. You aren’t the first one to tell me what isn’t possible and I’ve proven them wrong before. I’ll prove you wrong too, Yugi!”

Yugi then realized the only way he’d be able to get through to Kaiba is to actually defeat him. “As you just said, Kaiba… I’m not like the other opponents you’ve faced,” Yugi said, pointing to Blue Eyes Alternative Dragon. “Supernaturalist attacks Blue Eyes Alternative Dragon!”

Instantly, Supernaturalist pounced upwards, his staff high above his head as energy gathered at its tip. And then the attack hit, tearing through Alternative. Alternative’s cry of agony tugged at Yugi’s heart, feeling almost bad for having to destroy such a nice looking monster. Once again, Kaiba did not activate his other facedown card. Yugi was reminded vaguely of the duel they had five years ago, when Kaiba had set a card that was never activated. What could possibly be set? “You can’t keep my graveyard locked forever,” Kaiba said, glaring at Yugi as his life points dropped down. There wasn’t much time left in this Duel. “I’ll show you I can raise the dead.”

“You can’t,” Yugi said, pleading with Kaiba to understand that the dead needed their rest as he set Fiendish Chain. “I add a card to my hand due to Supernaturalist’s effect,” Yugi said as he added Gravekeeper’s Priestess to hand, anticipating on using her to end the Duel the next turn. Whatever powerful monster Kaiba brought out would not be enough to change the outcome. What a shame , Yugi thought. He thought he might be able to pull this out longer and instead, Kaiba blew through his resources rapidly, leaving him with nothing. “My turn is over, Kaiba. Take your last turn.”

Even Kaiba seemed well aware that this was the final turn. No one could say that Kaiba wasn’t stubborn, however. He drew his next card. “The final chance to end this has arrived,” Kaiba said as he revealed the final Blue Eyes Alternative Dragon from his hand. “Your defense will be shattered,” Kaiba said with a rather manic sounding laugh. Yugi, for his part, was certain he seemed bored if only because he knew for a fact how this would end. Yugi’s trap card flipped over the second the dragon was summoned and the chains grabbed Alternative, dragging her down as she yelled in shock. “What?”

“My trap card activated, Kaiba,” Yugi said calmly, realizing how much grief had felt exactly like he’d been drowning. He’d felt exactly like that - chained to his own sorrow and being dragged down and held back. Yugi was done with it. He needed Kaiba to join him in resurfacing. “Fiendish Chain activates by targeting an effect monster and negating their effects and preventing them from attacking.”

Kaiba seemed stunned by this, staring at the dragon as if he was expecting her to become unchained. Alternative struggled against the chains and yet, nothing changed. She remained chained. “You had this planned,” Kaiba said slowly. “You expected me to go through my resources.”

“Some things never change, Kaiba, and I still know you,” Yugi said softly as he examined the field. The end game was here and there was no use in putting it off. Nothing Kaiba did this turn would prevent Yugi’s victory the very next turn. “I know that’s hard to believe when so much has changed these past four years… I know. But we’re still here for you, Kaiba. That hasn’t changed.”

The only thing that reminded Yugi that they were not alone was that the stadium full of people was still cheering so loudly that it hurt Yugi’s ears. It was like wind whipping around him - easily ignored. Kaiba finally hung his head and Yugi felt like an arrow had run through his heart. “There’s nothing else I can do,” Kaiba said after a long pause, before the judges could intervene that Kaiba needed to make a move. “I end my turn.”

“My turn, then,” Yugi said as he drew, summoning out Gravekeeper’s Priestess. He was almost amazed by the fact that she seemed well aware of what was going on. The determined look settled on Priestess’s face. “I summon Gravekeeper’s Priestess. And now, Supernaturalist will destroy Alternative.” Once again, Supernaturalist’s attack blasted through the Dragon, turning it to dust on the ground. “Kaiba… Are you ready?”

It didn’t matter if he was ready. Priestess’s attack went barrelling towards Kaiba, a violent flash of golden light filling the arena. When the light cleared, Yugi could swear he saw a tear rolling down Kaiba’s cheek but it must have been a trick of the light. Kaiba’s life points hit zero as the crowd roared in approval. Yugi started to walk towards Kaiba as the holograms cleared but Kaiba turned away, walking off the pitch in a brisk stride. He barely even heard the announcer declare him the winner and still world champion. He wasn’t even sure if he was playing his part right when Pegasus’s arm wrapped around his shoulders, congratulating him on yet another win.

Seto hated weakness. He hated that he saw it in himself when he’d had to hurry off the pitch after Yugi won, desperate to try to collect himself. It was a weakness that Yugi had managed to bring him to tears and Yugi had exploited every weakness Kaiba had. Every part of him felt raw but he put that down to the Duel Disk giving him a hard jolt when Priestess had attacked. He swore he’d seen that face before. It couldn’t have been Isis Ishtar, though. It was just a trading card. He was simply unsettled by Yugi’s vicious attacks. It had completely unsettled him to the point where Kaiba pressed his foot down harder into the ground to assure that he was still on Earth.

The view of Blue Eyes Alternative Dragon chained by Yugi’s trap card remained fresh in his mind. Yugi had planned for Kaiba to run through his resources like that. He had expected Kaiba’s strategy and had known all the weaknesses to exploit. Even worse, Kaiba knew what Yugi was trying to communicate to him. “You and I are connected by the same tragedy” rattled around Kaiba’s head and once again, the entire world was off-kilter again. Yugi had made it very clear what he meant and Kaiba wanted to pretend he didn’t understand. He wanted to pretend he didn’t understand that Yugi was referring to Atem’s death and the impact it had on the both of them. He wanted to pretend that Yugi couldn’t possibly understand his grief; Kaiba couldn’t pretend anymore. He couldn’t look away from the fact that Yugi was right . He reached for his phone and called his therapist for an emergency session.

“I see,” Reiki said after Kaiba finished explaining everything that had happened in the Duel. Funny how there was a time when Kaiba would have just let this fester. Perhaps he was getting something out of these sessions with Reiki, even if it was just somewhere he could vent all his anger and frustration. “I’ll confess: I don’t know much about Duel Monsters. I only know what my daughter says about the game. However, that does sound like a rather intense Duel. Have you given any thought to what Yugi had said during the duel?”

“I’ve given it nothing but thought,” Kaiba said as he stood up and headed down the hallway now that the weight was fully off chest, images from the Duel flashing through his head. He glanced around, surprised that no one had bothered him yet. “I just keep thinking about my dragon chained down and how Yugi had been so confident about his assured victory.”

“He is an undefeated champion,” Reiki pointed out. “Just like you had been confident that you might have won because you’re adapting to the meta, he had reason to be confident in his victory too.”

“I thought you were supposed to be helping me.”

“I am,” Reiki said, sounding amused. “Sometimes help is reminding you about the world you live in. Just like how I have to remind you that Mokuba isn’t out to get you by enforcing the new rules of the company.”

Kaiba scoffed. It seemed like no one was on his side when it came to spending more time at work. “I should replace you.”

“By all means, Seto. Make my life easier,” Reiki said and Kaiba couldn’t help but grin at the familiar rib. It was becoming easier to trust Reiki. Partly because it had been months of Kaiba revealing himself and none of it showed up elsewhere. Reiki had kept his promise, allowing Kaiba to return to full time work and had been the one to sign off that he was ready to live on his own. Kaiba owed a lot to Reiki. “Though, you did call for a reason. This Duel seems to have stirred up old feelings that you wanted to forget.”

Unfortunately, part of the problem with having opened up to Reiki is that Reiki now knew him far too well. More than he was comfortable with. “I suppose,” he admitted as he stepped into his dressing room, closing the door behind him. There was no point in lying. Reiki would know. “It was… Uncomfortable.”

“Growth involves a lot of discomfort, Seto,” Reiki said gently. “Whenever you move past grief, you’re growing. And it won’t be easy. Grief has a tendency to consume and it demands to be felt.”

Seto felt tears pricking at his eyes and hated that sometimes, he couldn’t contain his emotions anymore. He locked his dressing room door, putting the phone on speaker and setting it on a dresser. He shrugged his jacket off and glanced around at the bare bones room. “I don’t want to feel grief,” Seto finally said, emotions overtaking him that he could not name. “I don’t want to feel anything.”

“No one can feel nothing,” Reiki countered. “Unfortunately, Seto, you’re human. You’re going to feel emotions, whether you like it or not. It is better you be prepared to feel emotions you don’t want to feel and have coping skills for them rather than deny you have emotions.”

As much as he wanted to argue, Seto knew he could not. Reiki was right.

#fic: you'd come back to me #myfanfic #hello chapter nine is here

[dented-nado]

So a little bird told me you were taking Sebwill prompts. I thought I should take advantage of that! May I request something along the lines of SebWill superheroes/villains? Maybe they are mortal enemies by day, and lovers by night?

This is such a perfect combination of my interests, I am so damn here for it. I hope you enjoy it!

This ended up a little long, oops! Lol! I also absolutely kind of made a soup of DC hero/villain origins and mixed them together for this lol. Bonus points to anyone who can spot every one that I made a reference to! :D

 ==================================

Years ago, William had hid in his room after a horrible day. He was only about 15, wishing he could just fly away and leave.

Then… suddenly he found himself lying on his ceiling. It had taken him several long moments of panicking to realize he wasn’t dreaming, longer to realize he could move around as he wished.

And so… he opened his bedroom window, and left home, never to look back.

Anyone who knew him now would be shocked to find that at one point, William T. Spears who stood so straightly and kept every bit of him tidy and proper… had once been a scruffy, scrawny little teenage meta-human wandering the streets of London, getting into trouble and being chased by the authorities trying to take him into and orphanage or foster care… or worse, back home.

William had learned to live off the streets. At a certain point he had even gotten a little cocky, he was so fast that no one would even see him as he stole whatever he needed or wanted. He’d lead cops on a wild goose chase into alleyways that he knew like the back of his hand, only to float away to the rooftops out of sight.

He didn’t really make friends either. He mostly just had a small pack of birds that he split some of the spoils from his day out with when they came to the cracked window of the abandoned flat he had hid in.

He had always heard of heroes… saving the earth from threats both domestic and extra-terrestrial. Hell, he had seen one of them blast through London. On one hand he was curious, if maybe he and that super-being came from similar origins. But on another hand… he couldn’t help but resent the whole idea of heroes.

They certainly never protected kids like him.

That was the first time William had a sort of haunting thought. He had escaped because… he just happened to have these abilities that he still didn’t know the origin of… how many kids out there weren’t so lucky that weren’t being saved??

Well… maybe he could save them but, well when he looked around himself this was a fine nest for himself, but more than one person? Potentially kids even younger than him? How would he even look after them? He was 17 now… maybe he could pass as 18 if he cleaned up a bit, then maybe if he had enough money by then he could buy a better place and own it himself. How much did houses cost? It couldn’t be that much if lots of adults had them right?

He’d start stealing things to sell, he decided. He could get away with it, surely.

Well, his plan had fallen short, when he had been caught, stealing the tires off a rather fancy car since he was sure he could sell them for quite a bit.

The presumed owner of said car seemed oddly amused and calm at a scraggly un-kempt seventeen-year old stealing the tires of her car.

It was then another person came around the corner rambling on her phone, she seemed almost the same age as William, though maybe a little younger. She stared at William and who William now supposed was this young lady’s mother.

William decided now was the time to up up and away out of there, only suddenly, in a red blur, the young girl had jumped up and pulled him back down, she was fast… almost as fast as him.

“Excuse you! You can’t just steal our tires and go!” She scolded.

William had tried to escape, he’d found it easy to lift incredibly heavy objects including cars above his head, but now he couldn’t seem to pull her arms off him.

“Let me go!” He demanded.

“Now young man…” The girl’s mother said patiently. “How about you land yourself right back down on the ground and we can see about helping you out so you aren’t out here on the streets stealing tires.”

William glowered distrustfully, still thrashing in frustration as the young redheaded girl pulled him back down to the ground.

“If you haven’t noticed… we’re like you. We can help you… if you replace the tires and calm down.”

William had bit his lip. He didn’t trust this strange red-headed mother and daughter pair but then again… maybe… it would be nice to meet other people like him.

Begrudgingly he had put the tires back on quickly, and hesitantly sat in the back seat of the vehicle beside said girl who had been grinning at him since she had pulled him down to the ground.

“I’m Grell, what’s your name boy?”

William stared at her like she had grown horns for a moment before finally answering, realizing he hadn’t said his own name in a while.

“William.”

“William… you’d be rather handsome if you cleaned up a bit.” She teased with a small giggle.

 It was that decision that led him to where he was now. It turned out he had been picked up and adopted by a very, very wealthy family that practically owned half the city. He learned he was a meta-human, and certain supernatural genetics had caused his abilities to develop. While he had flight and a decent amount of strength down, he eventually found his most key ability was telekinesis, allowing him to move around almost anything with solid mass with his mind.

Grell seemed to have both flight and strength as he did, but she also was far faster than him and caused fire to ignite out of thin air. It suited her red hair and personality perfectly in his mind.

Grell and him also saw rather eye to eye on using their meta-human abilities to give more attention to the people trapped in bad homes that needed saving and she became a pseudo-sister to him. He found out her mother had taken Grell when she was only 9 years old and run away with her in the middle of the night. Running far away from the father who had treated them both poorly. Then, Grell’s mother had been lucky enough to find love, not even knowing she was going to be marrying into a vast amount of money, but that had certainly been a nice bonus.

Outwardly of course, they were both celebrities of sorts, especially when they turned 18, they became public figures. Grell flourished happily in the spotlight. William on the other hand… could handle being polite and interacting with others at important events, but he really did hate all the attention – he was relieved when… at night, him and Grell would dawn garments to hide their well known identities, and would do the vigilante style work of trying to find and save kids from bad situations, feed those who needed it, and punch a few robbers and other criminals on the way if it served them.

William did sort of understand the superhero dilemma more now. It seemed as if something was always happening that would distract from the “smaller” work. He had been more than frustrated when a man… no…a demon it seemed that controlled and moved through the shadows decided to make William his arch nemesis. There was no clue to who this man causing chaos could be. His entire face was covered, not only making it seem as if he had no facial features, but it also made William wonder if there was a man under there how he saw or breathed with that thing on. It was also clear when this villain spoke he had some sort of voice filter on that scrambled the tone of his voice, causing it to sound garbled and off-putting.

His only solace between the stress of his daytime persona, and his ‘night job’ – was the boyfriend he had managed to be with despite at all. Sebastian Michaelis. They had met at a gala, and despite himself, after one dance, William could already feel himself being swept off his feet by the raven-haired man with a mischievous glint in his eyes. And so… after that, he had made a point to see him. Grell had teased him that he was absolutely head over heels for the gothic man that stuck out like a sore thumb against the light colors most of the people at gatherings tend to wear. Sebastian was dashing in his own right… and well, William had been called “Goth lite” by Grell as well as their mutual friend Ronald Knox. So they had something in common.

It wasn’t long before William had to admit he was head over heels for Sebastian, and they had begun their romantic outings. Of course their relationship eventually got media attention, they couldn’t go on dates for long without someone recognizing them. Somehow though, while it seemed Sebastian was also someone who reveled in the spotlight much more than William, the way Sebastian would hold him or rub his back soothingly made him feel more confident in handling such attention.

After about a year and a half of dates and nights spent together, William officially asked Sebastian to stay with him in his apartment. It was more of a condo than an apartment, but William didn’t like that word much. It was one of the properties that had been gifted to him that hadn’t been turned into a high-quality rescue shelter for children.

William… hadn’t told him about his night life yet, and Sebastian always seemed to take his word for it. It wasn’t he didn’t trust Sebastian, in fact he was beginning to feel as if he’d do just about everything for this man. Yet… well, vigilante-ing was dangerous business, even if you could fly and move things with your mind. He swore he’d tell Sebastian about his night life well before they got married.

But for now… he enjoyed moments like this, laying on top of him while they slept, ear pressed against his chest, listening to his heartbeat for comfort. Sebastian would often run his hand through William’s hair, effectively petting him until the stern man slept. He didn’t want these quiet, comforting moments to ever end….

…and he’d be damned if he let any sort of super-villain or threat come between them.

#sebawill #sebwill #au #hero au #villain au #hero x villain au #prompt fill #writing prompt fill #sebastian x william #black butler #kuroshitsuji #sebastian michaelis #william t spears #tw #tw for past abuse mention #no detailed descriptions or flashbacks though.

[digressfromreality]

The Future is Upon Us pt 8

All For One asked for a favor that only this villain can provide for his successor. 

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

“You’re one of the few that really make me work hard for my money.” Giran admitted, ashing his cigarette. It had been some time since he had to haggle his services, and the woman before him was a formidable negotiator, friend or not.

Persuasion on the other hand, was thrilled to give the broker a hard time. She dug into her handbag, pushing a stack of large bills toward him. “For your troubles,” she stated trying to ease Giran’s chagrin, “And I’ll even cover lunch for today.”

The broker smirked, agreeing to her proposal. “Who could say no to such pretty face? I’m flatter for the meal sweetheart.” He scoured the menu with a new vigor, a meal on her was going to be expensive. “But let’s not call this a date, I can’t be having the boyfriend angry with me when the second one is born.”

She let out a dry chuckle, no matter how great of an ally, men of his stature couldn’t seem to help themselves when around a younger woman. “Hate to break the fantasy, but that would imply two things. One, I’d allow you to get that close.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he tapped his temple, “I have all your measurements memorized.” She shook her head, this dirty old coot, it was last time she would ask him to get her some designer support items.

“Two, you would have be able to get hard to even try. Don’t know many at your age that don’t need a little pill to assist.” She snickered, handing her menu back to the waiter. Giran didn’t bother with a reply, he knew he wouldn’t win against such a vicious little thing. He raised his hands in defeat and accepted her offer.

After dining on such an extravagant meal, he was feeling rather charitable. “Tell me what you really want.”

There was definitely something, and she replied with haste.

“Do you have a way to contact the League?” He smirked, it wasn’t very often that he saw Persuasion as vulnerable as she appeared now. Anxious. She rested her chin in her palm, staring at him softly.

What her companion didn’t see was her other hand fidgeting with the hem of skirt, she hadn’t heard any news about Tomura’s movements after losing contact with Kurogiri. All she could ascertain was what the media outlets were allowed to report. Heroes burst into the Shie Hassaikai and rounded up whatever underlings were left and their creepy boss, Overhaul. Then the League of Villains had targeted Overhaul’s prison transport. Not to free him, but for reparations.

Utter radio silence. She was getting antsy. She had always wiped their memories of her visits so none of Tomura’s band of misfits would be accessible to her. The broker was her only option unless the doctor reached out to her.

“Okay, babydoll. This one will be on the house.” She swooned, seeing he already had his cell phone in his hand. “Hey Jin. Yes, yes. I’m good. I have someone that wants talk to the big boss, put Shigaraki on the phone.”

“Thank you, thank you.” She mouthed quietly as he shook his head amused. It didn’t take much to please her. “Tomura,” she breathed, listening to him grumble, “when am I going to see you?” Just him hearing him sigh, she could feel his exhaustion.  

“Master left me with something to do. I’ll see you when I see you.” “When...” She laughed, he’s still a huffy brat. “Are you doing...?” Tomura sighed loudly this time. She could hear scrapping from the other side, he was probably scratching his neck, which sounded dry as fuck. She hadn’t been able to communicate with Tomura for weeks, or gauge his stability. Without master or Kurogiri, she feared for the struggles that lied ahead for her lover. “Do you need me to send you some money?” She stared at her fingers, she could probably hock a few of her rings, get them a million yen or so without dipping into her back up funds. She needed to bankroll and acquire assets for now, because her master wouldn’t be incarcerated indefinitely. “I could scrounge up some funds to give you in a pinch, but it won’t be nearly enough.” “No need.” “Tomura, please.” She sighed, leaning against Mira’s stroller. “I won’t be able to help for a while, it will take me months, almost a year, before I’m up at where I used to run.”

“Listen. Worry about the kid for now, I’ll take care of myself.” She could hear murmuring from the background. Something about 3 hours are almost up. “I need to focus on the mission at hand—

“Shigaraki! He’s waking up!” A panicked voice interrupted.

“Gotta go, the boss battle is starting.” And with that, Tomura hung up. Giran noticed her mood sour, as she handed his phone back.

“What’s up sweetcheeks?” He chuckled, when she huffed and got up abruptly to leave. Her heels were digging hard into the laminate as she stormed away.

She was irate. She had spent all this time worrying about Tomura, and he’s too busy playing a fucking video game?!

----

“So?”

The grand commander asked while thumbing through the report. From the few pictures they had, this woman definitely had the charisma and skills to align herself with several heavy hitters in the underworld. Yakuza, high rolling businessmen, vigilantes, run of the street thugs and possibly... the league of villains. ReDestro’s fingers stop short of her pouty lips, certainly her looks and Meta ability make her an irresistible ally.

Curious smirked, giving her intel excitedly, “Persuasion’s connections and meta ability makes her extremely valuable. She probably can get juicier information that we could ever get from wiretapping or satellite.” Curious was practically jittery thinking of all the possibilities.

“Weaknesses?” Grand Commander turned toward Skeptic.

“If she can’t speak or be heard, her commands don’t work. It is unknown whether her commands have to be worded specifically or her tone effects the potency.”

Tapping the folder, ReDestro asked, “Mhmm…How about recordings? Can she use her ability from recordings?” His question was met with a litany of shrugs.

This villainess was difficult to collect information on. She would make a great asset to the Liberation army.

Unfortunately, without knowing 100%, it would be unwise to think the woman didn’t have a trump card to protect herself. She operated primarily by herself, she had confidence in her abilities. They couldn’t force her, under distress she could say anything. The Liberation army needs her compliance, mutually.

“Does anyone have any ideas on how to make a connection with her? Inviting and nonthreatening would be ideal.”

“Approach her at an event, you are her type. Rich, well known and influential.” Hanabata offered. Smiling, ReDestro nodded his head in agreement. “Could be the same said of Skeptic,” the man mentioned sneered, “nevermind. Grand commander you’re the superior choice.”

“You could offer her security.” Nodding, ReDestro understood. Persuasion had a level of safety and certainty working under All For One, and with his incarceration her protection was severely lacking. Especially with her child, who his underlings could not confirm its father or his affiliation to Persuasion. Without a DNA sample of her child and potential paternal candidates, it may stay unknown.

He glanced at the reports again. Recently, she had an encounter with the pros. The heroes had to close down a entire public park to corner her. She rebuffed and deflected questions about The League by asking Eraserhead if he wanted to be the father. Maybe she wants to scope out a reliable man for her kid? Or perhaps she had information about that band of misfit scum?

Tracking her down would be beneficial either way.

“Is there any event coming up that she might show up at?”

#boku no hero academia #my hero academia imagine #my hero academia #mha imagines #shigaraki tomura x reader #tomura shigaraki #shigaraki mha #shigaraki bnha #shigaraki x reader #shigaraki imagine #shigaraki x you

[amandaoftherosemire]

The Perfect Fit

Fandom: Marvel Avengers AU

Pairing: Steve Rogers x Reader

Characters: Steve Rogers, Natasha Romanoff, Bucky Barnes, Sam Wilson, Wanda Maximoff

Author: @amandaoftherosemire​

Rating: Mature

Word Count: 3,062

Format: One-shot

Warning: Language, mild angst, fluff, implied smut, oh so much fluff, adult and light sexual situations.

Summary: Steve Rogers always seems to be wearing shirts that are way too tight for your peace of mind. One day you get the whole story.

A/N: The meta regarding Steve’s smedium shirts inspired this light little one-shot. I had the time to finish one thing this week and wanted to show Steve some love since it’s been awhile. I’m in a mood to smother him in fluff, so here we go.

 The Perfect Fit

You came skidding to a halt in the communal kitchen, a sweaty t-shirt in your hand, and a hooting crow on your lips. "I knew it! I knew it!"

Surprisingly, several members of the team were still there. Bucky and Sam were plowing through a massive pile of eggs and bacon while Natasha and Wanda delicately spooned up the oatmeal and berries porridge Vision had made with Wanda's supervision. Delighted to have such an audience, you held up your prize.

"Size small! He wears size fucking small t-shirts!" You were shaking the t-shirt in your fist, your voice strident with mock insult but wobbling with repressed laughter. "I fucking told you guys!"

Natasha stood up. "Let me see." She held her hand out for the shirt, then, sneering at the sweat, took it between the fingernails of her thumb and forefinger. Looking at the label printed on the inside of the shirt, she raised a brow. "Nonsense," she scoffed. She had been sure he wore at least a medium. Her eyes met yours, and the amused exasperation there matched how you felt exactly. Medium could be explained.

Small was simply gratuitous.

"Doll," Bucky started as Natasha delicately handed the shirt back to you and returned to her oatmeal, "so he wears small shirts. What's your point?"

"Yeah, doll," said an unamused voice behind you, "what is your point?"

On the premise that a good defense is a good offense, you spun around to shake the shirt in Steve's face. His hair was wet and slicked back from his face, evidence he'd hopped out of the shower to chase you down when you stole the t-shirt from the locker room after his morning workout.

Unfortunately for you, he was also wearing nothing but the gray sweats he’d hurriedly tugged on, leaving you even more distracted by Steve's chest than usual. Normally you at least had a size small t-shirt between your eyes and all… that… muscle. Your fingertips itched to touch, which is why size small offended you so much.

The least he could do is not be so fucking tempting all the damn time.

“Size small, my ass! You’re the size of a semi-truck!” You went on the attack, trying to make it about the fact that he wore ridiculously small shirts considering his size. Hell, it was like he picked everything he wore based on how much his chest stretched the fabric.

You shot Bucky a vicious look when he called out, "Yeah, but why do you care?"

"I'm not saying I do," you retorted haughtily. "I just wanted to prove that Cap wears a size small even though that's insane. Why he does so is up for debate."

"So, what's your theory, beautiful?" Sam asked, a smirk pulling the corner of his mouth up in pure merriment. He was hopeful that if he and Bucky pushed you in the right way you'd finally give up and admit to Steve you had a thing for him. If you did that, maybe they could push Steve into admitting he had an almost painful crush on you. And then maybe the rest of them could stop walking through the mutual pining clouds.

You scanned Steve's chest, trying and failing to keep your gaze from heating. Even Steve couldn't miss the pure sexual appreciation that raked his body along with your eyes. His heart picked up at the thought that maybe you were more receptive than he'd thought.

You'd always been playful, but carefully detached. You were never unfriendly, but you always remained carefully separate. He was beginning to wonder, based on the speed of your heart as your eyes roved over his chest, if your aloof demeanor hid a secret.

"I think he's showing off," you laughed. You winked and tossed the shirt back to him. "And who can blame him?"

The last thing you saw before you sauntered out, figuring there was no way you were going to get a better exit line, was Steve's blushingly pleased smile.

Much, much later, well into the evening, you sat reading in the library. The stereo was on low, as were the lights but for the reading lamp over your shoulder. You were staring at the page, but you weren't really seeing it, too focused on the memory of Steve's smile that morning. Could he see that it was more than just harmless flirting? Could he tell that it was more for you? If he could, did he like it?

Should you ask? Or leave it be? If Steve was interested, he was more than capable of making a move. You’d always kept a deliberate platonic barrier between yourself and your colleagues, however, wary of mixing the personal and professional. Should you make it clear you’d be receptive? Were you receptive? Were you making an exception in this case? It was Steve, after all. Sweet, kind, amazing Steve. Wouldn’t anyone make an exception for him?

The sound of the door opening and closing as someone came into the room had goosebumps inexplicably running over your skin. You scolded yourself that it could be anyone, that just because your unruly heart was jumping up and down didn't mean Steve had come in. Even if it was Steve, that didn’t mean he was looking for you.

"There you are." Steve's voice, warm and friendly, had you melting like chocolate on the tongue. He sounded happy to see you and had you beaming a welcoming smile back as you looked up from your book.

"Here I am," you flirted, your smile taking on a hint of the coquette as he came further into the room. Fuck it; you were making an exception.

His cheeks went pink. It was the cutest fucking thing you'd ever seen. Big frat-bro looking men like this shouldn't be so bashful and blushy. It wasn't fucking fair. "Is it okay if I join you?" he asked gently, as though there was a universe in which you were capable of saying no.

"Of course," you said incredulously, grinning at him. Still pink and smiling, he settled onto the couch next to you.

"I wanted to tell you the real reason I have so many small shirts."

You felt a rush of chagrin at the thought that you might have hurt his feelings. You’d been teasing, flirting, and hated the idea that you may have inadvertently caused pain. Without thinking, you reached out to touch his knee with an apologetic smile.

“I’m so sorry if you thought I was complaining.” You chuckled a little and opted to flirt more overtly than was your usual so he’d could see you’d meant the whole thing as a joke. “‘Have you seen how good I look in size small t-shirts?' is more than enough reason for me, Steve.”

Steve looked down at your hand on his knee; the warmth seeming to seep into his skin. He practically lived for the accidental brush of your skin against his; your deliberate touch made his heart race. Which is why, when your gaze followed his and you started to pull away, he couldn’t stop his own hand from coming up to cover yours and stop your retreat.

Your breath caught and your eyes lifted to his adorably pink face. He looked both embarrassed and terrified as he smiled, a little weakly, at you. Your heart pounding like a drum, you threw caution to the winds and smiled fully at him as you turned your hand in his until you were palm to palm with him.

The smile that lit up his face in response nearly blinded you. "Still," he said, his face turning shy as he looked down at his hand closing gently around yours, "it's because I'm terrified of department stores."

You frowned a little in confusion. “Why?” You ducked your head a little to try and catch his eye.

Steve couldn’t resist the sweet expression on your face, couldn’t help but smile shyly into your eyes when you squeezed his hand gently.

“They're so complicated,” he confessed, a little ashamed. You could hear the genuine anxiety in his voice and you almost sighed as you melted. “There’s so much stuff and a lot of it doesn't make sense.”

Steve kept going, not noticing that the pink staining his perfect cheeks, the shy, sweet curve to his lips, the bashful, embarrassed dip to his eyelids was absolutely destroying you. Now that he was telling someone, he couldn’t stop, the words tumbling out.

“I just grab whatever looks closest to what I need and escape.” He shrugged, a lost look in his eyes as he imagined it. "I grab small because for a lot of my life, even the smallest stuff was too big. I'm in panic mode, so I don't think, I just grab and go."

"Oh my god," you muttered, practically losing your mind at how unbelievably fucking cute he was. You could barely resist Steve as it was; this sweet, lost softness was demolishing what little resistance you still possessed. It was taking everything you had to not crawl into his lap. "How are you this…" You trailed off, not able to articulate how much you adored him in this moment.

Steve thought for a moment that you were disgusted with him and the sick feeling that caused in his stomach only intensified when you pulled your hand out from under his. He existed in an endless moment of torment until your hands came up to cup his face. His eyes lifted and caught yours and in the next moment he was drowning in the affection he found there.

"…perfect." Your voice was breath of devotion. Something about his vulnerability made you feel like you could be vulnerable back and you heard yourself saying, your voice an ache of sound, "Steve, is it okay if I kiss you?"

Steve couldn’t understand, lost and confused by your sudden overt adoration. "Why?"

Your eyebrows lifted both at the question and at the look of surprise on Steve's face. Apparently, you weren't the only one not thinking before you spoke this evening. It gave you even more courage. "Because I've wanted to almost since I met you and I can't keep my mouth shut about it anymore."

The next moment Steve’s lips were on yours and you were sighing giddily into his mouth as your arms slid gently around his neck and his came around your waist. He had you folded close almost immediately, delighted with both your answer and the feel of your body against his. Your last resistance had crumbled, and you'd slid into his lap as you'd pulled yourself close to him.

"Y/n," he chuckled gently when you pulled your lips from his to brush them all over his sweet face, "I would love for you to kiss me."

You heard yourself giggle and if his smile had been less cheerful, you would have been embarrassed to hear yourself make such a noise. Steve looked overjoyed, however, at being the inspiration for such a happy sound bubbling out of you and you couldn't resent or regret it.

You also couldn't resist his eyes when the sadness lifted, when he was looking at you with the lightness of the young man he was never allowed to be. You'd had a girly crush on him for what felt like forever, and the sight of his happiness, because of you, left you reeling. You decided not to question your good fortune, opting instead to take him at his word. Your lips met his and you sank into his kiss with a hum.

Steve couldn't have been happier with the direction this conversation had gone. He’d meant merely to take an opportunity to talk to you, put your relationship on a more friendly footing by sharing a part of himself with you. He'd never expected to reap this kind of reward.

Your world narrowed to Steve, and in his solid yet gentle arms you found a soft and generous place where nothing existed but the two of you. His lips tenderly coaxed yours apart until his tongue was sweeping in and you were tasting the honey sweetness and cinnamon spice of his mouth. Soft plump lips gave enough to leave you obsessed almost immediately. If you’d known kissing Steve would be like this, you’d never have waited this long.

Sweetness held sway as your lips and tongues tangled together. Almost innocently, his hands moved from your back, one down to your hip to squeeze tight and pull you close, the other up to cup to the back of your neck.

Your arms were tight around his neck, your hands buried in thick blond hair. For a long, beautiful moment you simply caressed his lips with your own, tasting his mouth, breathing his breath, bright and joyous.

All too soon, your hands started to clench with heat rather than only warmth, his soft hair tempting you to use it for leverage to tilt his head for a deeper, hotter angle. His hand at your hip was gripping and releasing as he pulled you closer to his chest. His arms tightened as innocent affection heated until he was hard as iron beneath you.

You pulled back to look at Steve and the expression there took your breath away. Flushed and pretty, his lips were swollen from yours and parted to let gasps of excitement escape. His bright blue eyes were shining with both desire and affection and had you feeling like you were falling in to drown. You nuzzled your mouth and nose against his as you shifted and breathed, “Steve?”

“Yeah?” he breathed back, his eyes fluttering at the feel of your ass rubbing against his erection as you shifted in his lap. You couldn't help yourself; you found him both sweet as sugar and so sexy you were having to stop yourself from ripping his too tight shirt off.

"Should I ever" --you stopped to brush your lips over his pretty pink cheek-- "suspect that" --you kissed his other cheek-- "you are wearing" --his left eyelid-- "any size shirt” --his right eyelid-- "other than small" --the right corner of his mouth-- "I will sneak into your room" --the left corner of his mouth-- "remove the offending garment…"

Now that you were at his mouth, you couldn't resist it and you trailed off to sink in again with another hum of enjoyment. After another long, even more heated kiss that had you wondering how he'd respond if you invited him back to your rooms, you broke the kiss gently to finish in a whisper against his lips, "…and replace it with one of the proper size. Clear?"

Steve's smile spread, slow and wickedly sexy. "Yes, ma'am." He took your lower lip between his teeth and purred in his throat. You were astonished to find you could actually feel yourself clench in excitement at the sound. "You don't need to sneak, though," he murmured against your mouth, his voice both an ache and a temptation. "You're always welcome."

Steve was nearly blinded by your smile, and his mind nearly blanked by the slow roll of your hips, when you replied, breathless, “Is tonight too soon?”

Steve could barely believe that his inability to shop could lead to this. He'd been pining away for you, certain he'd only make you uncomfortable should he confess his feelings. To hear you offer him all he'd wanted, just that simple, made his heart race.

“I don’t know,” he replied, and the dimming of your smile had him kissing you quickly and grinning into your face to show you he was teasing. “If I say yes, you’ll discover my secret right away.”

Now that you knew he was flirting rather than rejecting, you teased back, your fingers combing through his hair, fingernails dragging gently over his scalp. “I love secrets,” you breathed into his ear. “Do tell.”

Steve’s eyes were rolling back in his head as his hand slid up and down the outside of your thigh, the heat of his palm seeping easily through the denim into your skin, setting it aflame. He adored the tingling pleasure of your hands in his hair, the shivers from your breath on his skin.

“I have plenty of shirts that fit,” he confessed, his voice low and tight with lust. You were rocking your body seductively against him as your grin spread. “Thanks to Nat, because I really am hopeless in department stores.” You narrowed your eyes in amused suspicion when he shrugged sheepishly. “I only wear the small stuff around you.”

You sat back, a little surprised, but utterly charmed, both by the confession and the sweet pink all over his face as he made it. “You wanna wear me?” The words were out of your mouth before you could think better of it, though when you could you wanted to take back the crude phrasing rather than the sentiment.

Not that it mattered when Steve’s arms were sliding under you as his jaw clenched, the muscle in his cheek jumping and inexplicably making your underwear wet. He stood in a burst of motion, carrying you quickly toward the door.

“Your bed or mine?” he growled, and the relief had you fastening your mouth at his neck to taste the salt of his skin. Your arms were tight around his shoulders, one hand in his hair, the other with your fingertips caressing the soft skin in the hollow of his throat.

You answered against his skin, your voice a rasping ache, “Against the wall for all I care." Steve shuddered and burst into the next thing to a run when your voice breathed the words he’d never thought to hear but ached for, nonetheless. “Steve,” you whispered, “I just want you.”

Now that he was hearing them, nothing could stand in his way.

A gloriously long time later, Steve lay on his back in his bed, staring at the ceiling with a decidedly smug grin on his face. His big warm palm was smoothing up and down your spine and if you were still solid, it’d be melting you. As it was, his lovemaking had left you boneless and satisfied. You were cheerfully draped across the bare chest that had so obsessed you.

You lifted your head to smile into Steve’s pretty face. “Perfect fit.”

The End

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#Steve Rogers x reader #Steve Rogers fanfiction #Steve Rogers fanfic #steve rogers fluff #marvel fanfiction #marvel fanfic #mcu fanfiction #mcu fanfic #marvel au #mcu au #the perfect fit #pantswrites #one shot

[toflyandfall]

YAY :D! OK, I wanted to please ask what your thoughts were on Dick and Shawn's relationship. Did you feel it was in character? Did you feel it made sense? Did you want them to last or did you feel it came out of left field and didn't make any sense? How did you feel about the pregnancy scare and how they broke up ("I know what I said/did was shitty but we can fix this. We can make this work!") - does it sound like Dick? I'm also happy ur still here. I'm so used to asking you & Shelly so thank u!

I'll be honest with you, anon--DC burnt me hard with the Spyral travesty and then putting Tom King on Batman and keeping Seeley on Nightwing, so I don't keep up with current DC comics.�� I don’t enjoy them and nearly without exception I don’t find them to be written well or in character. However, you're very sweet and I want to help fill the meta void in your life, so I read through Dick and Shawn's arc together and here's my analysis.

 I’m dividing this into two parts.  The first half will be as objective as possible and analyze your questions on whether Dick seems in character, what he says during the break up, etc.  It’s roughly chronological, starting when we first meet Shawn and continuing through to the break up itself.

The second half I’ll put under a readmore, as it’ll answer your questions about my more subjective opinions about the arc.

 Let’s start by looking at Dick’s previous and most happy relationships to see what good indicators for an in-character relationship would be.

  Getting physically involved with someone -before- having a secure emotional connection with them is not in character for him.  All of Dick's major relationships have been preceded by extended periods of mutual flirtation and bonding before physical overtures.  His most significant and longest lasting romantic connections began by building emotional and romantic attachment before sexual intimacy, frequently paired with a shared history together that precedes even the flirtation.  

There’s significant canon evidence that he’s demi sexual: a comprehensive, though hardly exhaustive, collection of it can be found here and here (the latter half of the second link relates to the Grayson series specifically, but overall it offers a nice long view on his relationship history since character creation and also addresses beyond-canon factors at DC that impacted some relevant canon writings.)  Whether you use the label demi for him or not, it’s canon that he’s not comfortable jumping into bed without a secure emotional connection.

 So let’s look at Shawn’s relationship with Dick through the lens of relationships in which he was the happiest and most comfortable.  Those relationships have these things in common:  

He has a stable, safe emotional connection to the individual.

He is willing and comfortable engaging in banter and flirtation.  

Relationship is based on mutual respect and affection, often paired with shared history together.

Now, let’s look at Shawn’s relationship.

Their ‘history’ together (as Defacer and Robin) is antagonistic, and their interaction in the past leave Dick feeling uneasy. Sure, he seems to think about her situation, but as this panel reads, the kindest that can be said of any emotional connection there seems to be here is one-sided pity.

Nightwing #10 (Nightwing: Back to Bludhaven)

Once they meet again, she’s his boss.  Even or perhaps especially in the world of #MeToo, it’s important to address workplace relationships, particularly boss/employee scenarios, with care and sensitivity.  Seeley sidesteps this by just…having her later quit the non-profit she founded and giving Dick her position for a while.  However, even if she’d just worked in HR at an equal level with him when they met instead of being his boss, let’s look at the amount of participation he shows in their first meeting:

Nightwing #10 (Nightwing: Back to Bludhaven)

There is a lot of her talking and almost none of him.  He’s not engaged in their interaction here.  Where he tries later as Nightwing to engage more personally, he’s immediately shut down.  The most dialogue we hear from him is in his own head—in their first meeting, the ratio of her dialogue to his is literally 22 sentences to 9.  Of those 9 sentences, one is a lie he gives to avoid establishing an emotional connection with her, another she interrupts, and three of which were less than five words long: “Sorry.” “You can call me Dick” and “Thanks, Ms Chang”.  Even taking the workplace environment into account as best we can, this is not meeting any of the three criteria for Dick to be feeling emotionally attachment or attraction.  No one would look at those 9 almost-sentences and that flashback and say, “Ah yes, this man is deeply infatuated with her.”  

This is made even more jarring by the fact that the internal narration frequently doesn’t match the actual scenes we’ve witnessed.   

Nightwing #11 (Nightwing: Back to Bludhaven)

Nothing about the few sentences Dick has managed to finish around Shawn when this narration comes up has said ‘attraction’, physical or otherwise, but the dialogue here reads like Dick was laying the flirtations on thick every time he saw her.  Same with when they talk about the flashback scene later.  There’s a lot of cognitive disconnect between what Seeley wants to tell us happened and what we actually see and hear and have evidence of between the characters.

If you’re wondering why I’m examining these initial interactions with particular depth, it is because frankly, these are the most interactions the two have together for roughly the first five issues of their ‘getting to know each other’ phase...and when they reunite at the end of those issues, we are supposed to believe they are already heavily, life-changingly in love.  So, for all intents and purposes, this scattered handful of conversations is all we have to analyze to examine whether this fits the qualifications for whether Dick would feel comfortable and emotionally attached enough to approach a physical relationship.

We have three chances in their various guises for Dick and Shawn to meet and start developing that all-important rapport.  This is our first initiation to their relationship and it certainly doesn’t read as a positive one.  The next one, she yells at him and kicks him out—again, a whole page of her dialogue to a fragmented sentence of his.  The third one, the flashback panel posted above, they don’t even speak to each other. Two of them are actively red-flags of being unable to establish a closer connection with that person; the third is a neutral connection.  This is not the kind of two-way interaction we see where he’s comfortable and interested in someone, and this is not an emotionally secure connection.  

Shawn disappears for three issues or so, during which they have, obviously, no interactions.

The very next after that, by the end of it, she lunges into him to kiss him.  

The next issue after that, they’re evidently in honeymoon heaven and already shacking up.  

Trust me, we’ll be going over that under the readmore later.

Back in the area of the objective, if you ever need to know the number of days Tim Seeley thinks is needed for two people with self-admitted enormous trust issues to form the ideal Hollywood manic pixie dream girl relationship, we were given a careful timeline.  

68 days—first date

Nightwing #15 (Nightwing: Back to Bludhaven)

62 days—first intercourse.

Nightwing #15 (Nightwing: Back to Bludhaven)

Six days.  Not even a week.

They’ve met each other, then met each other’s parents and are living together and are one baby scare away from the suburbs in less time than it takes for someone to finish a semester at college.  It took literally longer for the issues of Nightwing where Shawn was an absent character in her own arc to get published in our real lives than it did for their on-panel romance to go from not even knowing each other to Nightwing (not Dick, but Nightwing) kissing Shawn (not Defacer, but Shawn) upside down in the middle of the city.

Trust issues, amirite?

Nightwing #15 (Nightwing: Back to Bludhaven)

Meanwhile during that mostly off-panel ‘dating’ period we have these wildly out of character moments. In particular, there are two noteworthy things.

Shawn says she never would have pinned Dick for being a traditionalist.  

That directly contradicts…well…most of the statements people close to him have made of his dating views, and also his own self-stated views of them, whose top tracks include things like “…this might sound unhip, but I feel strange about living with someone I’m not married to”, “I gotta be honest, Roy—I couldn’t make love to someone I didn’t really love”, and “Love should be between two people”.  

We have a direct parallel of an in-character Dick moment walking someone home after an early date to use for comparison.  

Nightwing #31  

Things Dick does in this panel: reassures his date there is no pressure for sex and the night will not be ending that way, plan out just about the most traditional date experience, and engage in light-hearted mutual bantering.  

Additional relevant context around this panel: Dick and Clancy have known each other for months and have a friendly, mutually respectful connection.  Dick’s turned down a sizable number of invitations from her because despite living in the same building, the vigilante life made it difficult for him to make and keep plans.  This is their second date because Dick had to bail in the middle of their first.  It took months both in comics-time and in real-time of developing a mutual interest to lead up to that first real date.  And by then, the reader is invested in the status of that relationship, too.

To contrast the then vs now, we also have in that same moment with Shawn Dick, of all people, ignores a phone call without a second thought in favor of trying for a booty call. On the first date.  Let’s take a look at Dick and Clancy’s first date, 9 issues earlier than the one we just saw.

Nightwing #22  

Dick is a chronic workaholic, with all the associated inability to disconnect from his work while in relationships even during date night or intimate moments. It’s perfectly reasonable, considering that with his lifestyle choice, that phone call could be life or death for someone he loves, a stranger, or many, many someones, and it’s put significant strain on his past relationships when dating those not actively in the superhero lifestyle.  Clancy is, again, a great example of this--despite genuine interest on both sides, he blew her off at least half a dozen times because of vigilante emergencies before they even got to their first date.  And then despite their great rapport and a genuine interest in being there, he still ditched her in the middle of it when his phone rang.

What we see in Seeley’s Nightwing #15 not only runs directly contrary to significant chunks of his history and personality, it also tells a deeply upsetting story of a world where exists a horndog Dick Grayson who would risk other people’s lives to get laid with a chick he’s known less than a week.

They handle vigilante interruptions more in character in later issues once the relationship is established, but...yikes. 

Not in character.

We’re going to take a little jump here to move from discussing whether their relationship is in character for Dick to whether their breakup was in character.  

In general, it actually is pretty in character for Dick to panic himself into commitment in a romantic relationship even if he’s not really sure about it.  Dick is very interesting that way: he runs away from platonic relationships under tension, either by throwing himself into casework or by literally setting up in a new location.  If his romantic relationship is undergoing trauma, however, he's very capable of reacting the opposite, like in this example with Kory.

Team Titans #2

There’s even an awkward Devin Grayson incident where he thinks a woman is serial-murdering her husbands, fake-marries her to solve the case, uncovers the real killer who wasn’t her, and feels bad enough afterward that he offers to date her for real. (An interesting side-note: this makes Devin Grayson responsible for not one but two of Dick’s emotionally compromised almost-marriages. This one, at least, came before she jumped the shark with the dreaded Catalina Flores arc.)

Nightwing Annual #1

So let’s take a look at where Shawn’s exact circumstance falls in against those.

  To me, the lines that sound the most like Dick are actually the lines he says that cause their break-up.  

Nightwing #23 (Nightwing: Back to Bludhaven)

Dick has a lot of darkness and anger in him. He’s a lot like Bruce and he’s a lot scared of how much he’s like Bruce.  We’ve seen several timelines where Dick’s had biological children and we’ve also seen how he tempered Damian’s darkness when Bruce was lost in the timestream.  Though this arc and timeline does not show it well (and that’s a whole different meta), we have the advantage of having known how Dick behaves as a father in a way this particular Dick has never had to experience.  And we know that when kids are in the picture he does work hard at repressing or concealing his anger and darkness to be a good role model, often in a way he isn’t sure he has the capacity to do when there are no children involved.  Despite some of the specific phrasings being iffy, the general sentiments here do feel like legitimate concerns Dick would have.

With this knowledge, that moment felt significantly more honest to Dick Grayson’s character than most of the rest of their relationship.  

Nightwing #25 (Nightwing: Back to Bludhaven)

The actual break-up dialogue itself is…well, it’s not out of character, exactly, because as shown, Dick has been known to clutch onto potential romances hardest when he feels they’re about to slip away. But the delivery of it isn’t in character.  Yes, in general, Dick has a temper and he lashes out. However, he’s clearly aggressive and angry in this panel, where previous experience has showed us he should be at his most emotionally vulnerable and pleading.  Dick, who is a generally emotionally closed-off person despite his extroverted demeanor, reacts to these kind of romance scares by showing emotional vulnerability in ways he frequently is unable to do during the relationship itself.  And the panel that he’s apologizing for as being a crappy thing to have said, is…as mentioned, the panel that comes closest to a consistent Dick Grayson.

And the thing they’re fighting about is that Dick missed a job interview because he was doing Nightwing things.  Shawn fell in love with Dick knowing he was Nightwing (somehow), he’s been Nightwing the whole time they dated, constant interruptions and all, but she breaks up with him because somehow 'the thing I always loved most…you.’ apparently wasn’t one that included the Nightwing schedule.  She also seems to be both blaming him for wanting the baby and also accusing him of not wanting it.  At the risk of getting off-topic and subjective, I’ll be honest and say Shawn’s dialogue here makes no sense to me at all.

Dick’s tried not being Nightwing, in both pre-52 and new-52.  Dick spends a fair amount of pre-52 time either bouncing from job to job or lacking a day job entirely.  In both pre-52 and new-52, the Dick she’s claiming is the one she’s always loved the most…doesn’t exist anywhere I can think of. Certainly not anywhere during their on-panel relationship.

Now that we’ve looked at what we see of Dick and Shawn on-panel, it’s time to talk about the impact this has off-panel.

I happen to have been re-reading a lot of Chuck Dixon’s original Nightwing’s run lately.  And here’s the thing.  Clancy’s been showing up consistently in that run as someone Dick could be attracted to for for oh, about...two full graphic novels now (that’s 17 single-issues) and they haven’t so much as gone on a date, let alone shared a smooch. It takes 20 issues before they make it to the first date we saw from Nightwing #22.  I don’t remember if she’s in every single issue of that period, so I’m going to round down by probably a lot and say that’s a minimum of a year when this was getting published for us as readers to get to know her and how she interacts with Dick, to get interested and invested in a potential relationship.  In comics-time, it’s weeks before Dick actually sees her face, not just hears her voice.  Even if you’re reading post-publication like me, that’s hours and hours where we watch she and Dick bond and banter and develop a mutual interest.

That’s build up.  That’s emotional investment developed over time.

I’m not saying every single relationship has to take more than a year’s worth of issues on-panel to develop.  However, she does summarize one of the single biggest struggles for DC’s cadre of writers over the last few years.  Basically, the problem I have with this beyond just the characterizations is the same that made me stop reading from New 52 onward: DC constantly trying to skip out on the process of creating meaningful emotional build-up or connections but still expecting to cash in on an emotional payoff.  

You can’t go from ‘kissed once’ to ‘been together for years like an old married couple couple vibes’ off-pages like Nightwing #15 tries to do.  Even if you expect the readers to believe the protagonist now feels that connection (which, frankly, I don’t), we don’t have that connection to the relationship.  It’s a cheap paper cutout with no actual emotional content behind it--why should we care if it tears under pressure?  We have no stake in it; we don’t know why the protagonist has a stake in it.  It’s meaningless.  

As a reader, my experience with Shawn and Dick’s relationship is as follows: a) they meet in a scenario where she is his boss (strong do not date vibes) b) they meet as vigilante and paroled ex-villain and she doesn’t even let him finish a sentence (would not date) c) they show a flashback where they don’t even speak to each other (Robin pities her; no ‘date/no date’ vibe data gathered), d) they share a confusingly out of nowhere ‘emotional’ moment that didn’t match up with my prior understanding of either what I extrapolated from the flashback or what I saw in their on-panel interactions (vibe check, please??) then she disappears for several issues into police custody (no ‘date/no date’ vibe data gathered)  The very next time she sees him, she betrays him  (STRONG do not/would not date).  Then all of a sudden at the end of that issue she kisses him.  

My context for their relationship is based on two ‘emotional’ conversations of dubious quality and consistency, one ‘look’ where their dialogue contradicts my own understanding of the on-panel events, a shouting match or two, and a very major betrayal that just happened to work out alright for everybody but is never actually addressed.  Most of her introductory arc where we’d be piecing out how she fits in with Dick and how they interact together, she isn’t even there for.  They’ve known each other for less than a week.  I the reader have known them for, in my case, maybe an hour of read-time. 

And the very next time I see them, I’m supposed to believe, and more importantly, feel emotionally attached to the fact that They Are The Most In Love Couple To Ever Be In Love.  

Trying to put a timeline on intimacy as a gimmick instead of establishing genuine emotional connection never works.  Yes, maybe we knew that one person in high school or know someone in college who falls hard and often and met and married someone within two months, but Dick Grayson has never been that person.  Maybe this style of flashback manic pixie romance would be more believable if they’d tried it on a different character with a different history and personality, but it especially never works on a character like Dick Grayson with a strong history of being slow to decide his feelings and even slower to jump into bed. 

In order to work, the entire arc that follows with the kidnapping by Pyg is predicated on the fact that I, the reader, am supposed to already care about Shawn’s relationship with Dick, and that I, the reader, believe in the validity of Shawn’s relationship with Dick and in Dick’s commitment to it.  But I haven’t been given time or reason to do either of those things by the time that arc starts.  

You cannot shortcut relationships and expect them to be meaningful to the reader.

So they threw in a baby.  Because even if you don’t care about a relationship, everyone cares about babies.

Throwing in a baby to up the emotional stakes is just a further step up that same problematic cheap-shortcuts ladder I was talking about: like in a stereotyped failing marriage, if you feel like you have to add a kid just to put meaning into your relationship again, maybe what you actually need to do is take time and consider what that relationship is built on.

#dick grayson #dc #nightwing #meta #tim seeley #panels #o.c. #relationships #asks #anonymous #analysis #shawn tsang #character analysis #relationship analysis #long post #love and relationships #I realized toward the end I hadn't addressed the pregnancy itself very much but I covered the jyst of my thoughts on it in the readmore #Dick's reaction to it felt like it was separate from his relationship to Shawn so I stuck to what it seemed like you were more interested in

[softolivarry]

What if you just kiss him? | olivarry au

Barry realized he was bisexual after a very looong period of time of him doubting everything he had ever known.

It wasn't because Joe and Iris wouldn't accept him, it was because maybe he couldn't accept himself.

Because Barry "Of course I'm straight" Allen have been telling that lie for so long that he believed it, and discarded every thought other than friendly towards literally every person he met.

But the moment he realized was after Cisco started joking with him.

"Dude, you literally dropped everything to go to another city!" He teased him, holding his laughter while drinking his slushie.

"There's nothing deep about it, Oliver's a good friend" Barry smiled, taking it the importance.

"Oh! Oh!" Cisco dramatized while pressing his hands on the table "I'm getting a vibe!"

Barry immediately was walking towards him "What? What are you seeing?"

"Oh false alarm" he moved his hair to its place "It wasn't that kind of vibe" the speedster looked at him, confused "Just my gaydard screaming" he smirked at the flush of Barry's cheeks.

"Wh-What do you mean?" He instantly started to stutter.

"Oh come on dude, haven't you at least thought you might not be thaat straight?"

After a lot of tests and searching around in google, he was more than sure he wasn't straight.

And when he teamed again with Oliver, it all clicked.

Shit! He had a major crush on his vigilante partner.

When he came back from Star City, he arrived the cortex only to find Cisco and Caitlin working in something he didn't really care.

"How did it go with Mr. Queen?" the latino moved his eyebrows, suggestively.

Barry sat on the floor of the cortex, staring at the wall.

"Barry, are you okay?" Cait stopped what she was doing and walked towards the speedster.

"I like Oliver" he kept staring at the wall.

The cortex filled with a dead silence.

Before Cisco interrupted it "Yes!" he moved his hands, celebrating "Snow, pay up!" he pointed at her.

That brought Barry back to the reality.

"Did you jus-"

"I told Caitlin you were going to realize it very soon but she stated you will notice after like thirty years"

Now Barry looked at Caitlin.

"You can be pretty oblivious" she raised his shoulders.

"I mean, haven't you noticed how Oliver looks at you?"

Barry turned at Cisco so fast he almost broke his own neck.

"What?!" Cisco mutted him with his hand.

"Ok, we need to focus on this new plan: How can Oliver and Barry be together" He smiled.

"What If you just kiss him?" Caitlin asked, obvious, but with the looks on her teammates' face, she continued "Come on! Now we know Barry likes Oliver and we are pretty sure it's mutual"

"No we aren't" Barry almost shouted, panicking "And also, he thinks I'm straight"

"Then tell him you're not" said the latino while eating a red vine.

"Oh sure, what about "Hey Ollie, I noticed I'm bisexual as fuck and I like you a lot, let's date"? Is it enough direct for you?" he moved his hands exagerating.

"Okay, okay, I get it!" Cisco raised his hands in sign of peace.

"Okay, then show it" Cait intervened and looked at them "When the times were rough, lgbt people had their own signs to recognize each other, and as far as I know, Oliver's bisexual too, so he might recognize them" she moved her hands while explaining.

That night, Barry stayed up till 4 am searching in all sources he could found... even memes.

And the next week. he started to think about more and more excuses to team up with the emerald archer.

He's desperate, he has tried everything, literally e v e r y t h i n g, he has ever crossed through internet.

So after he decides to be agressive, he really hopes it works or he will be very embarassed.

When Oliver saw the speedster entering the coffee shop, he felt his jaw hurt after how hard it dropped.

But it was totally worth it when he saw Barry Allen, the Barry Allen that has been acting strange for like half a year or more, the Barry "Of course I'm straight" Allen, his Barry Allen; with high waisted jeans and a white crop top with a tiny rainbow in the pocket over his heart.

He avoided looking at him while he drank a sip of his coffee but it was a terrible idea when he almost choked because Barry decided to connect their eyes and smile.

Oliver loved his smiles, it made him feel at peace. However, at the moment he was feeling everything but at peace.

And his thoughts... oh lord. He thanked the universe Barry didn't get the ability to read minds because right now his thoughts weren't very innocent.

"What are you wearing?" Oliver finally asked with a smile on his face.

"Oh... I-" the speedster doubted for a second "This is Iris', I couldn't... do laundry this week" He smiled nervous, wanting to hit his head with the table repeatedly.

"Oh..." Oliver was literally speechless, he couldn't stop looking at the man in front of him.

And he thanked whoever was attacking the city because if he kept looking at him, he will end up kissing him.

And it will all be very awkward since Barry's straight. Right?

"Um yeah... there's someone... attacking Central City's bank, so I should go" he pointed at the exit very nervous while he stood up.

But he was in fact mad and embarassed, because Oliver just kept ignoring him and taking slow sips of his coffee and he only waited for that stupid drink to end so he could focus on him; but now there was a meta attacking his city and screwing his date with Oliver.

"Yeah, you should" he nodded at he saw him turning around and leaving. Two seconds later he reacted and went behind him "You know what?" He grabbed Barry's shoulder "I think I can go and... you know... watch you make your move"

Barry's excited smile came again as they were out of Jitters and walking in the alley. Oliver couldn't resist anymore and slammed the younger man against a wall; but Barry was who wrapped his arms around the archer's neck and kissed him.

Disagreeing with his body, the blue eyed man stopped the kiss "Are you sure you want this? I mean... you're straight"

Barry rolled his eyes "Ollie, shut the fuck up" he pulled the blonde again to his lips.

They really don't know how many hours they spent but the only thing that could interrupt them was an incoming insistent call from Cisco.

Barry finally answered and before he could say anything, Cisco demanded "Both of you. Cortex. Right now!"

Oliver, who heard everything due to how close they were, couldn't help but smile and kiss Barry again.

This exact moment, he thought, was the first time he ever felt this happy.

At the cortex, Oliver was still wrapping Barry's hips with his arms.

"Where were you?!" Frost yelled.

Cisco who seemed very serious before looking at the detail, sighed and covered his face "While you two lovebirds were busy, Frost, Ralph and I saved the entire city!"

"But you did it!" Barry raised his hands, trying to congratulate them.

None of them knew who wanted to punch Barry more.

"I really hope it was worth it" Cisco mumbled with his face still covered.

"Oh believe me..." Oliver smirked and looked at Barry "It was"

#olivarry #flarrow #oliver x barry #barry x oliver #barry allen x oliver queen #oliver queen x barry allen #bisexual mess!barry allen #bi!barry allen #bi!oliver queen #bisexual barry allen #bisexual oliver queen #bi!flash #bi!green arrow #bi!arrow #olivarry headcanon #flarrow headcanon #olivarry au #flarrow au

[adventure-hearts]

20th Anniversary = 20 questions (Day 14 / 21)

FEB 14: FAVOURITE SHIP / OTP

All right. I know what is expected of me. Time to give one for the team.

*cracks knuckles*

It’s a strange time to be a Sora/Yamato fan. Just when everyone had kind of grown out of the shipping wars and when most have accepted that the Epilogue outcome was going nowhere, we got new canon that ended up challenging many people’s expectations and not paying too much attention to the ship. The Result: some of the people who are more invested in the canon portrayal of Sorato are the ones that were left more disappointed. 

But this isn’t going to be a discussion of the “Highschool is Complicated!” approach that tri. (and so far, Kizuna’s promo) have taken. No, fam, this is a good old-fashioned analysis about why this ship freaking works.

*

I’ve been uninspired lately, and it’s been a while since I wrote a proper, long Sora/Yamato analysis. Consider this post a sequel to my very first meta, one of the very first things I wrote when I started AH. You can also check the sorato / soraxyamato tags to read few smaller pieces I’ve written since. 

I think it’s time to move on from the whole “here’s 97699 hints and foreshadowing you missed in the original series”. By now, everyone knows the appeal of the couple is based on their parallel journeys, the symbolism of the crests, the perfect balance that it gives to the triangle, their similar yet compatible personalities... I don’t feel the need to keep justifying it or trying to convert people. 

For the Kizuna Countdown, I’m going to write a few words about Yamato and Sora’s mutual understanding and uncanny empathy for each other, focusing in particular on the portrayal of their relationship in tri., and even more specifically about their scene in Chapter 6, which, is to my mind, one of the best canon Sora/Yamato scenes we ever got in canon. I’ve actually written briefly about it before, but I’m just going to analyze it again, because it’s such a perfect moment of shipping bliss. 

It is my contention that tri. didn’t give us much, but the little it did give was spot on.

The scene takes place early in Chapter 6, after Taichi’s disappearance. Yamato has assumed the role of the leader and is making sure the group moves forward and keeps fighting, in spite of what happened. However, although he is acting calm and pragmatic and determined, other feelings lurk inside. For a split second, Yamato drops his mask and looks back at the mountain where Taichi went missing, and his true feelings emerge to the surface.

Everyone else seems oblivious to this moment of vulnerability. Except for Sora. Yamato tries to hide it, embarrassed that she caught him, but eventually relents. This shit doesn’t work with her. While everyone moves on, Yamato and Sora stay back to have a one-on-one.

At this point, I have to address the elephant in the room, which is that tri. makes zero acknowledgment of the current relationship status of these two, or even about whatever happened between them during 02. 

Is this a scene between boyfriend and girlfriend? (tri. surely peppered the episodes with enough material not to completely erase this interpretation — arriving together all time, etc.). And if they’re not together, do they have a romantic history? Did the 02 fling go nowhere? Are they exes? Who broke up with whom? (lbr, Sora did.) Are there lingering feelings between them? (This, I will argue, is obvious — from Yamato’s side, at least)

The fact is we don’t know the answers to any of these pertinent questions. It’s let to the viewers to imagine the background of the relationship according to their own interpretations. It’s a bad writing decision, obviously. But I believe that, despite of this uncertainty, this scene still works wonderfully to establish and develop why Sora/Yamato makes so much sense.

Back to the scene. Sora doesn’t even need to ask Yamato what’s up. She immediately knows what is going to his head. In fact, she is the one who verbalizes what he doesn’t dare to. Yamato is surprised that she read through him so well.

Then Sora decides to do the most “unhealthily-Sora-thing” she can do. She tells Yamato he can go find Taichi, if he wants to, and that everyone else will be fine. It’s obviously not true. Sora is putting Yamato’s emotional needs first, ignoring her own.  She knows that the whole “let’s save our tears for later and fight on” is something he’s doing for the sake of others, not necessarily what his heart wants him to do.

But Yamato doesn’t even think twice. He immediately reaffirms his choice. He’s not leaving the group at this crucial time, when he has a job to do. It’s the right thing to do, it’s what Taichi would want. Yet, he is conflicted. Part of him is pulling in the opposite direction, as his natural instinct (his Crest, remember?) is pulling him towards his friend. The fact that Yamato is making a decision with his head rather than with his feelings is a huge sign of growth for him. But it’s a tough choice, and he’s not immune to the inner conflict and the responsibility of stepping into Taichi’s shoes, as later scenes in the episode will show.

Sora is reaction to this is just The Best. She doesn’t judge. She gets it. After all — and every tri. scene is always echoing what came before, always sending us back to moments in the previous series — this has happened before. Once, it was Sora who made a different choice. She was the one who left to find Taichi, and the group suffered (as did she, who had to be alone with her grief). At another point, Yamato also left the group — not to find others, but to find himself.  Then, Sora was the one who provided reassurance and who understood why he needed to go. This is to show that, if anyone understands the urge to leave, it’s Sora. She’s giving Yamato permission to make a different choice, taking the pressure off his shoulders. So that when he decides to stay, it’s much more powerful.  

Sora then decides to open up. She’s very cautious about it, but she ends up admit she’s struggling with all the loss they’ve been experiencing lately. Yamato admits he feels the same.

This a pretty vulnerable moment for Sora. As previously established, she’s one of the characters who represses her emotions the most, preferring to focus on others instead of herself. In such a moment of crisis, of course she’s doing her best to hide her fears. She’s far from an optimist, but her job is to keep morale up, to reassure others. So, for her to expose her own doubts to someone else is also a big step.

I’d just like to point out that the framing of this scene is really interesting. Next time you’re watching it, notice where the characters stand at the beginning and at the end. 

When Sora starts talking about her feelings to Yamato, their backs are turned to each other. She’s looking at the mountain behind them, he’s staring at the goggles in his hand. Taichi is on both of their minds, as their pain about his disappearance rise to the surface. This is a point when each of them is kind of lonely in their own grief.

But when Sora asks if Taichi is dead, Yamato turns around immediately, focusing on her. She doesn’t want to believe he’s dead, but she doesn’t want to fool herself either. You can feel her despair at the moment, so carefully controlled until now.

Then Sora turns to him, tears in his eyes. A pretty vulnerable moment for both, when every pretense is dropped.  They are facing each other, now. 

And Yamato just… gives her the most affectionate smile ever.

Smiling! When she’s crying! I can hear some people sharpening their pitchforks as we speak. Our Yamato would never respond so callously to her pain! Just go and hug her, you big dork!

But think for a second.  

Yamato gets that she isn’t asking him a question, not really. She’s just telling him how she feels. Yamato gets that trusts him enough to drop the mask that everything is okay. He gets that doesn’t necessarily expect him to lie or to comfort her… she just needed him to listen.

Flashback to Chapter 4:  Sora’s complaint was that she wasn’t listened to, that her feelings weren’t being taken into consideration, that no-one seemed to care. The conflict back then was caused because Yamato and Taichi couldn’t see through her silence, and also because that she would refuse to talk about what was bothering her, and expected others to guess.

But now Yamato has grown, Sora has grown. They got to a place where they feel totally at ease admitting their deepest, darkest feelings to each other. They know the other will listen and empathize.

They’ve reached a moment of pure mutual understanding. Yamato totally gets Sora, is flattered that she trusted him, and he is full of tenderness for her. That’s why he’s smiling.

Yamato just asks if she’s okay and she thanks him, for listening. 

By the end of the scene, they are facing each other, a lot closer, looking at each other with adoring eyes affection and trust. 

That’s what Piyomon sees when she and finds them together. Piyomon goes into Protective Mother Hen mode and decides to interrupt this lovely moment. To ad insult to injury, he Yamato aghast at the accusation that he would break into “a cheesy love song.” (Would he? HAS HE?)

To sum up, I find this small scene to be a perfect example of why Sora/Yamato is so compelling to me, and why I think tri. (in spite of its issues) was such a wonderful addition to the history of this couple.

The trust and love between them (whether romantic or not) are palpable. Look at Yamato’s smile (and all the looks he gives her during tri.) The boy freaking adores her. Sora is more guarded, but actions speak louder than words. Lots of people complain Yamato and Sora “came out of nowhere” and “have no relationship outside of Taichi”. I redirect you to this scene. There’s history and depth between these two.

The scene also shows that their personalities are different enough to cause friction, but similar enough so that, when they are open and honest enough, they can understand each other’s thoughts and feelings easily and completely, without much need for words. This is important, since both Sora and Yamato aren’t good at expressing their feelings in a healthy and open way, although they are so empathetic and passionate. Yamato and Sora have never been a case of “opposites attract”. Similar personalities can cause their own set of issues, but they can still make for a compelling and fulfilling kind of relationship.

It also explains why gravitate towards one another and why they have what it takes to make each other happy in the future. Yes, they are probably the two people who are more invested in Taichi’s fate and the ones who are more concerned in keeping the group together under these specific circumstances. But who else would see though Yamato’s tough resolve and allow him to confess his inner conflict freely? Who else would let Sora vent out without jumping in with words of empty comfort? (The Digimon partners don’t count!) They give each other exactly what they need, in this specific moment and (one can only imagine) in other similar hard times. They make each other feel safe, understood and, ultimately, loved.  Not a bad place to start.

*Dido’s White Flag plays in the distance*

#KizunaCountdown #digimon #sora x yamato #shipping

[inyoursheets]

2, 16, 18, 23!

Tell us about what you’re most looking forward to writing – in your current project, or a future project

wow ok this is surprisingly hard to answer! confronting! im not even sure, there isn’t anything specific ive got planned out that im excited to write. i don’t have any future projects planned out yet. or. i mean.....there are some things at the tips of my writing fingers but i can’t allow myself to think about them properly yet bc i need to focus on and commit to finishing warm water. and my thesis (ugh).

there are some things from warm water that ive already written that im excited to share, but right now im in a place where writing just isn’t going smoothly, so whenever i have an idea (like the eloquent “sweatpants dick” note i took recently) (my only contribution that day) im not all that confident or excited about it bc im afraid the actual writing itself will be a pain? that i’ll drag my feet for days and it won’t come easy and i’ll hate every second of it -- until things click and the words start flowing, not unlike this post describes. idk i keep really wanting to write and sitting down for it and then it just--won’t happen. or if i do actually try putting pen to paper i just start hating it all, which i don’t want.

so! this is a sad note to end on! here’s some vague things i am looking forward to: i’m looking forward to being excited about writing in general! i’m looking forward to writing something i’m proud of, either in terms of plot or theme or characterization or dialogue or whatever! i’m also looking forward to having that oh-my-god-the-words-are-flowing-from-me moment, regardless of the result tbh, bc i just love that feeling of loving writing and having it come easily. that’s what im excited about -- being excited about writing again.  

Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)

ok so i have this terrible writing tendency to not know how to not describe every single action characters make -- every movement, every gesture. particularly on first drafts i feel the urge to describe it all, otherwise i can’t continue. i know that it’s not always necessary to write what happens every single second of a scene, but i can’t seem to stop?

idk if im explaining what i mean correctly -- there’s probably terms for this that i dont know -- but someone who i think manages to do the opposite of what i do very well is @fairhairedkings, who is really good at time jumps and not going overboard w the minute-to-minute descriptions, the way i tend to.

i know it can be pretty tiresome and it’s one of the things that annoys me a lot about my own writing, both in terms of reading it (it can be plain boring?) and for the writing itself. it blocks me! but i can’t seem to stop doing it, feel like i’m glazing over things otherwise or lose track of where im going. i have to keep reminding myself that leaving out certain things doesn’t mean that nothing happens or that people assume nothing happens.

so, to answer the question, ive tried to be a bit more concise with it’s hidden in heartbeats, exhales and in the hope of open hands when i started writing it. that fic is a product of being fed up with my other WIPs and it didn’t take more than a week from its initial idea to the finished product, so i really wanted it to be a quickie, and i thought something tight and concise could work for the plot. i didn’t actually manage to succeed though, still ended up describing just about every action there, too. i don’t think i’ll ever manage to write something concise tbh. i do bad with time jumps, i do bad with less is more, which is unfortunate, bc less can truly, truly be more. so! im gonna try this again some time!

Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

mmm well, warm water originally didn’t include mutual pining -- beth wasn’t supposed to be in love with rio yet, we were gonna watch her fall in love slowly, while he already felt things. but then i ended up almost turning that entirely on its head and now we’ve got the mess that is that this fic in its current state lol. there’s also an AU to warm water that i briefly considered bc of you which i won’t go into now bc of possible spoilers -- but ive considered things!!! 

also for it’s hidden in heartbeats, it was supposed to be more about petty!rio and haha, look, exes trying to get “revenge”, and to be light and funny, but i realized that idk how relationships work, let alone how exes work, so i couldn’t really find any good reasons for them splitting up, at least nothing that could generate comedy, so it ended up getting fairly angsty? idk why this keeps happening -- me planning to do something rom com-esque and it developing into something wayyyyy angstier, but it did!

What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

oh wow idek! ive definitely been working on warm water the longest, so i guess technically that one, but there are some other ideas that have been drifting near the surface that have been there longer and are very underdeveloped and need time and nourishment and attention and love, all of which i can’t give them yet bc im trying to stay focused on warm water and thesis writing. maybe the beth/stan friendship snippet ive got hidden in somewhere in my docs!

thank youuuu for indulging me!!! meta writing asks!!!!

#ask #ask games #foxmagpie #my fic #why am i so wordy

[laufire]

Black Sails s3

This one took me longer because RL got in the way LOL. I’ve loved it as much as the other two (even if I am IN PAIN over you-know-who’s death DD:). I don’t know when I’ll have the time to finish the last season, but I wanted to post about this one before starting it; otherwise it’d accumulate with the 10+ and counting metas I want to write about this show once I have the full picture LMAO.

Max

As always, I have to start with her because she’s THE FUCKING BEST. This woman is currently competing for the number one spot among fictional characters in my heart LOL (I mean. I have loved Caroline Forbes --who I actually think Max has a lot in common with lmao. Everything I love is the same, as I always say-- for too many years for her to ever be truly dethroned; unless something goes really wrong with Legacies I guess. However, it’s still remarkable that a character could make me doubt).

I’ve absolutely adored her plot this season; watching her growing sphere of influence, the way she affects and upends others’ lives. That’s very much being present since season one, especially with her and Silver in tandem (I have a lot of Thoughts(TM) about those too as a driving/disruptive force in the show --they’ll go to one of those metas--; I’m put off by the fact that I didn’t get to enjoy them conspiring together this season lol. Though her reaction to the fake Long John Silver letter was kind of hilarious xDD. Still. I kind of wish we’d seen the scene where Silver tells her he renounces to his part of the price. It could’ve been very interesting --I guess he could’ve told Jack but that wouldn’t’ve been as good, so this is my headcanon).

The most obvious storyline where this manifest is in her relationship with Anne and Jack. I love everything about it, but well. I have to admit, the ~betrayal/different sides element appeals to me xD. I like that Max prioritices herself and her safety. That she sees the writing on the wall with the English invasion or with Vane’s execution and acts accordingly, the way she calculates her decisions and forms alliances without letting past grievances get in the way --with Eleanor, Rogers, Mrs. Mapleton...--, the choices she makes because she doesn’t want to be “on the outside looking in” ever again and how they always end reverting in her benefit, ultimately (I’m getting ahead because I am spoiled of quite a few things about s4, but I LOVE that eventually she mends her relationship with Anne and Jack. Because it fits into this: how even the possible mistakes and emotional compromises she makes are within a very specific frame that works out for her in the end).

Her relationship with Anne gets even better this season. I think my favourite scene is where Max tells Anne that she nows Anne “cannot fathom leaving me”. Can I get this woman’s confidence LMFAO. But seriously. I luff them. I love how Max convinces Jack of going along her plan to replace the gold with good easier to transport (and how THAT ends up being Flint’s treasure asdñlfkasfj. MY GIRL DIRECTLY CAUSED THE EVENTS IN TREASURE ISLAND OKAY) by appealing to their mutual love for Anne. That she trusts Anne with the story about her father. That she knows just as well as Jack that Anne wouldn’t give up the treasure so easily and she’ll try to save him (and that Anne won’t stomach the thought of Jack being tortured because she couldn’t bear MAX’S torture. My heart).

Another highlight of the season for me was her relationship with Eleanor, which keeps being a huge surprise no matter what xDD (even if, again, never in a shippy way. I’m very glad the season doesn’t go there). I love the reversal of expectation in a general fandom landscape: how ultimately, Eleanor doesn’t have an emotional hold over Max (and that she lost it as early as 1x02, IMO. I’m not saying “Max doesn’t feel anything about Eleanor”, but the truth of the matter is, narratively Eleanor serves Max, not the other way around. And I’m happy and relieved about it, ngl), and that the same isn’t true the other way around. I thought two very telling scenes where a.) Max hosting parody trials of Eleanor that paint her under a completely undignified light, but clearly deriving no pleasure from it: it simply was yet another thing she does for practically, level-headed political reasons; and b.) that Eleanor orders Rogers’ men not to hurt Anne in the exchange because Max’s love for Anne.

Continuing down with Max’s relationships, I’ve grown to really like hers with Idelle. I think Max find Idelle fun, likeable, uncomplicated (the scene where Featherstone tells Idelle he hopes his pardon doesn’t diminish her attraction to her was hilarious and clearly the moment Max was enjoying herself the most in the whole season lmfao. BTW, I kinda liked Idelle/Featherstone since the moment he told Jack he wasn’t concerned because “he was in love with a good woman” and Jack was like “Idelle??”. Yes, it’s fun because client-falling-for-sex-worker is a pitiful cliché, but here’s the thing: he’s right xD. He didn’t say “I’m in love with a woman who loves me”. He said he was in love with someone GOOD and Idelle IS a good woman, dammit xDD).

Max doesn’t concern herself much with the idea of Idelle going behind her back because Idelle loves her, respects her, and is a loyal friend (and yet clearly sees Max exactly as she is and doesn’t have any delusions about it. Luckily for her Max is probably the type to feel angry but not vengeful about this lol, if only because it could reflect on her). And Max is right about that. But I love that Idelle still has it in her to take a different path by allying herself with the pirates. I’m curious about the reasoning being after Max makes Mrs. Mapleton madam again; it’s clear the girls aren’t happy about her and she didn’t seem like she took good care of them in s1, to put it mildly, so there’s some of that, but I like to think part of it was Idelle going, “seriously Max? I’m right here! I could be the Madam!” xDD.

Her dynamic with Mrs. Mapleton was really interesting too; I like how she too puts aside any old grudge and decides to put her bets with Max over Eleanor or Rogers, because she has confidence that Max and her methods (“I choose to let the players reveal themselves to me, least I make an enemy out of someone I might wish to call a friend one day”) will outlast them (btw, that line/her approach in general --as well as Silver’s “liked is a good as feared” MO--, kind of reminded me to Sansa Stark’s “If I am ever queen, I will make them love me.” line. Food for thought). Yet I think Mrs. Mapleton instructed Georgia to  attempt to ~seduce Max to get information out of her, which is very much in line with her. I loled at Max’s reaction basically being “gurl, who do you think you’re talking to. I practically invented this. GTFO” xDD

Basically, her entire storyline this season was pure gold. I love how all of those dynamics come from her maneuvers to keep herself safe, in power, and with influence (because those go hand in hand). I love her pride and her confidence, the way she refuses the scraps Eleanor and Rogers intend to give her at first (and how she firmly says to Eleanor “people do not speak to me that way anymore”, how she establishes a new normal between them), and how she pays her way out of trouble/into power with the gold she stole from Flint & co xDD.

My favourite moment of hers is devided between “in another time, in another place, they would call me a queen”, and “I AM Nassau” (that made me decide that if I ever write fic where Max needs a last name for any reason, it’s going to be Nassau. It is law), and how meta they’ll turn out to be :DD. I also have Thoughts about the evolution of her styles (beyond the obvious “omg she’s soooooo beautifuuuuul” lmao) but I’ll leave that for another show-encompassing meta too :P

Madi

She catapulted herself to Forever Fave status pretty quickly (I may have too many of those in this show.  W h a t e v e r  xDD). I love how self-assured she is (“when I speak my men listen, and they do as I say”), and how she always thinks of the big picture (like when she fought her impulse to order her men to fight against the pirates after one of them beat one of hers). And I have a lot of Feels about how this is explicitly linked to her heritage, her mother and father, their ~legacies.

Speaking of: one of the few major spoilers I seem to have avoided was that Mr. Scott was Madi’s father LOL. I was DELIGHTED by that reveal, and how it makes you reconsider his story. His relationship with Eleanor could’ve been a frankly off-putting cliché, but this completely circumvents that; it’s true that he’d shown more independence from her than I would’ve expected in another show, by leaving her side to do his own thing and further contributing to her vulnerability. But giving him a real* family, one that he prioritises over Eleanor and HID FROM HER, using her position to their benefit... That’s on a whole other level.

*I know some people are going to object to this qualifier. Fandom gets like that about found families, adopted families, etc. And I get it, but this is NOT like those situations. Mr. Scott was Eleanor’s SLAVE, FFS. That is incompatible with being her family, her father figure, no matter what she thought. And I love that the show made it explicit, when Madi tried to talk about his “two daughters” and he said “NO. ONLY YOU” in his deathbed (I might or might not have cried, okay. It may be one of my favourite scenes in the whole series). Especially when there’s a very obvious trend of characters of color COINCIDENTALLY being written as prioritizing white characters over their biological families, at the cost of their health and even their lives (I am still not over Monty being forced to kill his own mother to protect Octavia in The 100. Fuck that shit, seriously). Black Sails deciding to do the oposite here is FUCKING REVOLUTIONARY and I love it to pieces.

Another thing I loved is that they picked an actress that looks more like Mr. Scott than like her mother or Max (darker skin etc.): aka how the few black female characters that usually get what Madi will from Silver --that ~eternal devotion, willing to go against anything and anyone for her etc.-- tend to look.

Unsurprisingly, I like Madi/Silver VERY MUCH lol. I like that he is immediately ~drawn to her, in a subtle way, and viceversa (like in the scene where he’s still in the cage watching how she has trouble breathing after seeing her wounded father, or when they hug after his death). All their talks about power, responsibility, succession etc. are really good. And her concern for him is as palpable as probably inconvenient for her xD. I love the scene where she holds her hand as his leg is treated, or her worry one Silver calls himself a “one legged creature”. Though my favourite might be when he smiles when she shows concern for his state after killing Dufresne, and she’s like “well duh, if you fall apart the alliance between my people and yours is screwed” xDD

And though there hasn’t been much development yet on that side, I’m already so onboard with Flint/Madi/Silver lmfao. I love that nod of ~acknowledgment between Flint and Madi with the Maroon Queen’s voiceover about how Madi will have as much authority as Flint in his own ship xD. Her concern about Silver’s relationship with him is kind of ironic knowing that they’ll eventually find themselves more aligned between them than with Silver, by virtue of their many commonalities LOL. And there’s already traces of that ot3 feels, like when Madi tells Silver that the mistake of those “other people close to Flint” that he’s so scared of following to the grave was trying to deal with Flint alone (Madi’s seduction technique: kindness, understanding, and offers of partnership. I dig it).

I want more scenes of and with her mother, too. And between her mother and Silver, since apparently the Maroon Queen trusts him among all the pirates NOT to betray them for money (Jack saying the irony wasn’t lost on him and Flitn was hilarious xD) and that has to be thanks to Madi’s opinion of him. I’m kind of bitter we never got a Mr. Scott & Silver scene, too, especially after Silver and Madi become romantically involved. I love that stuff.

Miranda

I could just upload a bunch of gifs of various crying/in pain/etc. states here because WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS THE PAINNN. I was ~feeling Flint’s grief the entire time, I swear (though... did it have to express itself by shaving his head... asking for a friend). The violence he kept inflicting in her name (her word will be the last word); how he convinced his crew, Silver included, to go into the storm rather than surrendering, for her (and narratively speaking Silver is right, he did conjure it xDD). How fucking tired he is of it all (“you can talk your way part it”, “I don’t know that I have any more lies left in me”).

As far as I’m concerned he could be hallucinating her the rest of the show (I’m going to miss seeing her so much... especially in light of the ending), as painful as I find those scenes. At this point “But when I lost you... I am ruined over you” is an instant tear-jerker, ugh. So is Flint wantint to let go and “be with her”, and ghost!Miranda saying she’d resent him for giving up. Though my favourite is when Miranda basically describes herself as his “maker”, about how she ~shaped him *clenches fist*. I love those kinds of ships.

BTW: I think the moment Rogers mentioned Thomas, Miranda’s ghost, Flint, and I, yelled “HOW DARE YOU SAY HIS NAME” on the inside xD

Flint & Silver

Sometimes fandom gets it right because the relationship between these two is... A Lot. A LOT. I anticipate a lot of suffering on my part in the near future xD

I loved the evolution in the first half of the season, from Flint telling Silver that “in my head, you’re not welcome”, or Silver resenting that Flint’s words convinced HIM (HE’S the convincer!! It’s not supposed to happen to ME!! xDD) and rambling about how Flint is “able to ~conjure the reality he desires”, to Silver finally confessing about his part on the Urca gold robbery (which I’m at least 60% sure Flint suspected already tbh. That was not one of Silver’s best lies lbr) in order to force Flint to “account for ME” --but ofc still grabbing the nearest weapon as he confeses, just in case xDD. I am also incredibly delighted by the fact that the fandom calls that episode “shark date” asdñflkasjdf (*Flint and Silver barely manage to kill one shark*; Flint, challenging: again? *Silver grins*. Shark hunting = foreplay now, apparently).

I want it known that I end up ENRAGED every time they talk about their ~partnership lmfao. It comes off very intimate and gives me too many feelings xD. “When you and I talk with one voice, we can convince them of anything”; “your words opened that door [Flint convincing the Maroon Queen to spare their lives and join their fight]”; “you didn’t tell me the journey into the dark feels good”; “he doesn’t know how to say no to the both of us at the same time”; “I’m afraid I will be the end of you”. JUST STOP YOU ASSHOLES XDD

One of my favourite moments is when Silver convinces Flint to live. To go on, to talk to the Maroon Queen without a safeguard (that knife would’ve been his doom) and get her on their side (which Flint does with a super passionate speech about fighting England’s empire. ILH). Another is when Silver tells him he enjoyed killing Dufresne WITH HIS PROSTHETIC LEG OMFG (I personally think killing Dufresne was very valid of him lmfao), or Flint says Silver enjoyed punishing Dobbs (which in Silver fashion, worked perfectly for him because it made Dobbs MORE susceptible to him). Though obviously everything pales when compared to the scene where CAPTAIN FLINT COMES OUT TO LONG JOHN SILVER OVER A BONFIRE LMFAO. I loved that scene; it was so gentle. And then Silver made it about him and their relationship xDD (this show is not subtle). Flint’s apparent lack of concern about Silver replacing him is stressing me out though. I dread the series finale xD

Outside of Flint/Silver, Silver’s journey remains awe-inspiring. I just... love him. I love that he gave up his share of the Urca gold because he had to hold onto the crew, but that he is terrified of their bow to take care of him. His concern for his image in front of them was heartbreaking and hit waaaaay too close to home, too. And I wonder how he’s going to react to Billy’s King Long John Silver stratagem xD

BTW, I lowkey shipped him with Muldoon LOL. They should’ve had ~tender sex~~ (on screen, I headcanon it did happen off-screen, whatever) at some point (if only so there was one measly mlm sex scene in the show amidst all the rest. It’s troubling, to say the least, that there’s not a single one when it has a queer male lead tbh. And I get why they didn’t go that route with Flint outside of Thomas and can even see why they didn’t do it with Flint/Thomas even if I judge the hell out of them for it, but given how they go out of their way for the other options... yeah, I side eye them).

Jack

I LOVE HIM SO MUCH AND I WISH HE HAD MORE SCREENTIME, OKAY. Every time he opens his mouth the show gets just a little bit better, if you ask me xD. “If you’re going to behave like children, I will be your daddy” WHO SAYS THAT JACK XDD.

I loved him even more when he decided to deny Rogers & co the cache, Spanish invasion or not, to not give up and assure “his legacy”. And OF COURSE he could write his intentions in a way that only Anne would understand (Max reaaaally understimated him there). Their relationship remains the sweetest (weird adjective, maybe, but it’s true) part of the show, btw. I love that how Jack describes how hurt Anne would feel after knowing she might’ve unwittingly betrayed him. Or when he knew Anne giving up to easily meant she had a plan and he cheerfully told Rogers Anne would find a way to save him xD (the scene where he absolutely drags Rogers about his privilege --“but did I make up a lot of ground to catch you!”-- is perfect. And their reunion kiss was so, so cute.

Other highlights were when he threw away the key of the cache in front of Flint to secure it, or made his pitch to be his fellow captain in the fight. I also take a petty pleasure in the fact that Vane sacrificed himself when he went to his rescue LOL. 

I like that he convinced Blackbeard to fight alongside them, but sweetie, you have NOTHING to prove to that asshole. His opinion is worthless (between his “strife is good” and Vane’s “comfort is for women” takes... ugh. They remind me of the exact discourse among leftism I hate okay xDD. In Vane’s case I at least get where he’s coming from and I even agree in part, but Blackbeard is even more boring).

Misc

-I love Billy’s more and more insidious antagonism towards Flint lmfao (yes, Flint is also one of my Forever Faves. This is compatible AND the kind of thing that would make me appreciate Billy more. I love irreverence, period). It starts with subtle ways of trying to poison Flint and Silver’s relationship (telling Silver Flint doesn’t see him as an equal, sending Silver to deliver Flint’s message instead of Flint himself, etc.). I laughed at him saying he’s all for Flint sacrificing himself for the crew since it’d be the “first selfless thing I’ve seen him do!” lol. Or that he “wants a good view when things catch up with Flint and the world makes sense again”. And ofc, creating the legend of Long John Silver. You just know he remembered Flint’s out of left field “I AM YOUR KING” and said “not on my fucking watch” xDD. And I love the irony of him being the one delivering black spots LOL.

-Did it really took that long for Anne and Flint to share some freaking words smh. Barely, but I’ll take it. I liked the moment where Jack references Max as “Anne’s lost love” and Flint does that Closeted Queer Observing A Queer Couple Look lol (he did the same when he was witness to Max and Eleanor’s fight. You need more queer friends, Flint :P).

-I liked Mrs. Hudson from the moment that she told Eleanor that the only difference she saw between her and other ladies is that their families have better lawyer --which meant Eleanor was the first one she could be rude towards xD--, and accused her of living of her father’s nepotism LOL. I hope she ends up in a good place and safe back with her kids.

-I can’t say I care much about Vane or his relationship with Eleanor, but his death and her hand on it were very well written IMO.

-I find Rogers so inherently unlikeable in every way LMFAO. And as hypocritical as it might sound, part of it is the extramarital affair ngl. I hate storylines where a man married to a more “conventional” woman is ~attracted to one he perceives as “stronger”, “fiercer”, and more worthy of himself (as if his opinion on the matter is worth shit) --only to eventually try and make the new woman more conventional once he “has” her. This one hasn’t gone all the way there but it has traces of that trope and I loathe it with all my heart.

-The only moment I managed to pay attention to Blackbeard was when he mentioned he had shrapnel advancing towards his heart, and for anyone who knows me a little, you know it’s because my brain linked that to Tony Stark lmfao. *Sighs* I just never like any version of Blackbeard, period. I find them so boring. He’s the opposite of Long John Silver that way, because I’ve loved every single version I’ve encountered so far.

-The way Spain is portrayed in this show is so... unusual. Especially for USA content in my experience. One day I’m going to have to do some more research and write about how Spain (and in particular Spanish violence -inter and intranational) is portrayed across the ocean.

#bsmax #bsmadi #miranda barlow #flintmiranda #silverflint #john silver #james flint #black sails #black sails thoughts #talking to the void #my thoughs #black sails s3 #anne x jack x max #maxanne #rackanne #jack rackham #silvermadi #mr. scott #billy bones #bsidelle #i'll have to tag everyone else in a self reblog :/ #long post for ts

[awhitehead17]

30 Days of Domestic Fluff: Day Thirty - I Love You’s

Summary: The first time Tim and Kon both say I love you, the other happens to be unconscious. The second time they say it to one another, they’re surprised to find it’s a mutual feeling

Enjoy! :D 

Tim wasn’t breathing. He wasn’t fucking breathing and it felt like Kon couldn’t breathe.

The Titans we’re in the midst of a battle against an extraterrestrial force, they’ve all been at it for a couple hours now but they were slowly gaining the upper hand.

As Kon was fighting off three forces who had teamed up against him, from the corner of his eye he sees a figure take a plunge into the river nearby. The flash of red and the long stick gives Kon enough time to work out it was Tim just before he dives into the water with a large splash. 

At first Kon wasn’t concerned, the water would have somewhat softened Tim’s fall and he knew his best friend was a brilliant swimmer, so he wasn’t too worried. His attention goes back to the things he was fighting, he punches one and knocks it to the ground where it doesn’t get back up and kicks the second one away to the other side of the city with his super strength

The concern comes back when he glances at the river and doesn’t find Tim at all. His best friend wasn’t on the water surface swimming back to shore nor was he already at the shore anywhere. Kon’s stomach drops at what that could mean. In record time he knocks the alien in front of him out before rushing over the water and without thinking dives into it.

He finds Tim’s unmoving body slowly sinking downwards and rushes to grab it. Once he’s got his best friend in his arms he kicks up towards the surface and swims them both to shore. He pulls Tim up and checks him over only to find that Tim wasn’t breathing.

For a dreadful moment Kon’s mind shuts down at what this could mean, it couldn’t be happening, there’s no was this was happening, Tim was not dying on him.

While his mind clocked out it seemed like his body was on auto pilot because when his mind clicks back into place he finds himself doing compressions on Tim’s chest and performing CPR. He leans over, tips Tim’s head back and blows into his airway before doing compressions again.

“Come on you son of a bitch, you are not dying on me. I won’t allow it.” He repeats the cycle again. “Come on man, please, I love you stubborn ass human being! You can’t die! Tim please!”

It was in that moment Tim’s body jerks and he’s coughing. Kon immediately rolls him onto his side while Tim empties his body of the water it had consumed. Once Tim was done Kon drags him up into a loose hug and leans against his best friend, enjoying the fact he’s alive.

As he holds his best friend’s shaking form, Kon’s mind goes back to what he had said in his panic and he freezes. He loves Tim. Not in the friendly way either, he loves Tim and he admitted it out loud. He doesn’t know whether he’s pleased or thankful that Tim was unconscious when he slipped up.

A loud explosion to the side gets his attention, right, there’s still a battle going on. For now he’ll push those feelings to the side and deal with them later on. He’ll deal with the fact that he’s in love with his best friend.

 ----

It’s been over four days since Kon fell into a coma. It’s been three days since Tim last left the room his best friend is situated in.

Tim holds Kon’s limp hand in his own. His best friend was laid up in bed with an oxygen mask over his face and blankets that covered him up to his chest. The mask was there as a precaution, but Kon’s body should be mostly healing itself by now, when they first put him in this room to recover they specifically placed him under the window where the sun would shine through, having that extra light meant that Kon should hopefully recover quicker.

Five days ago the Titans were dealing with a crisis going on in San Fran thanks to the asshole known as Lex Luthor. He had sent an army of robots to attack the city just to the Titan’s attention, or more specifically, Kon’s attention.

While the rest of them had been busy trying to deal with the city Kon had fought against Luthor. It had been a long couple of hours but eventually Kon came and joined them in the fight against the robots and helped them win.

Tim didn’t think anything of it, his best friend seemed alright when he joined them and continued to fight as if he was at 100%. It wasn’t until the end when everything had been solved that Tim realised something was very wrong. Once everything had been dealt with they all grouped together, it was then that Kon keeled over, collapsing on the group unconscious.

As he looks back now Tim couldn’t really remember all the details, everything had blurred into one once he saw Kon go down. All he can recall is lots of yelling, pushing, shoving, panic and distress. The next thing he knows is that two days had gone by and he was now in a room where his best friend was placed when he fell into a coma.

During his time with Luthor, Kon had been stabbed with kryptonite but because of how deep it was in Kon, they had to perform surgery in order to get it all out of him. Tim’s not sure who did the surgery but all he knows is during that time, Kon fell into the coma and no one knows when he’s going to wake up. By now it’s been a few days but there’s still hope yet. It reminds Tim of when his dad fell into that coma and he took up residence with Bruce all those years ago.

Tim strokes his thumb along Kon’s knuckles as he looks at Kon’s still pale face. He wants his best friend back, there’s no way he’s going to be able to go through losing him again. “Kon you better wake up you hear me? You’re strong Kon, please just wake up man.”

His voice disappears in the quietness of the room, evaporating into nothing.

“Once you’re awake I’m going to give you such a beating to your stubborn and stupid ass,” which is true, he’s going to lecture Kon on not telling them he was stabbed as soon as it happened, “Please Kon, I love you and I can’t lose you again.”

As soon as he stops speaking, he freezes, registering the words he just said. He loves Kon. Of course he loves him, Kon’s his best friend but deep down Tim knows his feelings go way beyond friendly. He loves Kon and he just admitted it out loud. He doesn’t know whether to be grateful or disappointed Kon’s unconscious when he said that.

Tim wasn’t religious but in that moment he could kiss God because Kon starts to shift underneath the blanket and lets out a low groan, “What…?”

Tim then knew he was going to be alright.

 ----

“Man, how do you even put up with these things?” Kon mutters irritably as they sit down on a bench.

Tim chuckles as he watches Kon yank the tie from around his neck off and as he undoes a couple buttons of his shirt, “With a great amount of patience and the knowledge of Alfred helping to cater the food.”

Kon shakes his head, “I don’t know how you do it, these lives that you live. One minute your Tim Drake, next your fearless Red Robin, then you’re Timothy Drake Wayne.”

“I’m just… used to it I guess. I haven’t really known anything else.” Tim comments quietly. It’s true of course, it’s all he’s ever known since his early teen years, and now it’s easy to slip into the mask he needs at that moment. He doesn’t particularly like it but it’s who he is.

They sit on the bench in silence, both of them taking in the warm night and the rare sight of a clear sky, if Tim looks close enough he could see stars sparkling up there.

They’re both at a Wayne Gala charity event. Bruce had told Tim he could have a plus one, so he asked Kon to come along to keep him company. His best friend had only mildly protested at the idea but came nonetheless. They’ve decided to get a breather only two hours into the thing.

“Thanks for coming Kon, I appreciate it.” Tim says glancing at the meta beside him.

Kon looks at him back and waves a hand dismissively, “Ah it’s alright, thanks for asking me.”

“Well it was either you or Bart,” Tim says smirking, “You just happened to be the one I can control easier.”

Kon snorts at that, “Yeah right, like you could control me? Be honest and just tell me that you didn’t want Bart here because you want food left for everyone else.”

“Alright you got me!” Tim laughs putting his hands up in a surrender gesture. “But seriously, thanks I know these aren’t the most exciting.”

They share a smile and fall silent. It was comfortable but Tim couldn’t help but get a sense that there was something else in the air, there was something buzzing between the two of them. Tim could probably guess what it was but didn’t want to admit.

“Hey dude,” Kon starts, he moves so he’s sitting up and facing Tim, “There's something I need to talk to you about.”

Tim feels his heart starting to pound inside of his chest, “Anything. I’m here.”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed but something’s been off between the both of us. I can’t say what it is but I need to get something off my chest,” his best friend looks almost pained as he talks and without thinking Tim leans over and grabs his hand, holding it reassuringly. It seems to encourage Kon to go on, “God, I don’t even know how to say this, it could ruin everything and I don’t want it to because you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me and I don’t know what I would do-”

“I love you.”

“-without you… What?”

Tim blinks at him in horror, he just admitted he loved Kon in front of Kon. “I love you.” He did it again! He gapes hopelessly at Kon, after a moment seeming to find his words that all pour out like word vomit, “I love you Kon and have done for a long time. Only this isn’t like a friendly love anymore, I can’t live without you and when you were in that coma weeks ago I was so petrified but I knew then that I loved you.”

Kon’s blinking at him and Tim wishes he would just say something, anything! When Kon swallows Tim could hear it, he gives the meta’s hand a squeeze before pulling away, however before he could move it Kon’s hand captured his own and laced their fingers together.

“I love you too dude, and have done for a while now as well. As I was saying I don’t know what I would do with you. The other month when you almost drowned I was so scared that I was going to lose you, that’s when I realised it.”

Tim smiles, feeling a massive weight lifted up off of his shoulder as they look at one another. Not a moment later he slides across the bench to capture Kon in a hug. He plants his lips against Kon’s and feels his best friend press back, his lips move against Tim’s and his arms wrap around him.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

#timkon #Tim Drake #Kon-El #30 days of domestic fluff #I Love You's #fluff #sappy shit #injuries #coma #getting together #fanfiction #light humour #idiots in love

[dear-selena]

Omg, if you’re feeling it could you make a Caught Web Handed part two? I loved part one sm!

Caught Web Handed (Pt. 2)

Peter Parker x Reader

Request: “Omg, if you’re feeling it could you make a Caught Web Handed part two? I loved part one sm!”

Summary: When a new Tumblr blogger who claims to be Spider-Man starts reblogging a ton of Spider-Man fanfiction, including yours, the community goes into a frenzy and you confront the boy who promised not to say anything. 

Warnings: Some swearing, this is literally so meta be warned

A/N: I would like to thank the anon who requested this two months ago! I’m sorry it took me so long to write this out! I genuinely didn’t know how to continue this story until recently. If you want me to continue this, please let me know! I could possibly write one more part to this, but only if you guys want it. 

Words: 1971

REQUESTS ARE OPEN 

Part 1

—————-

You love that Tumblr started the group chat feature, but damn, you wish you got notifications from it.

Yawning, you cover your mouth and suddenly crave your bed. Last night, you stayed up messaging a ton of bloggers in a new group chat someone created for your favorite web-slinging hero and didn’t even realize how late it was when the conversation whined down. 

The group chat is called “Them Spider-Man OCs 😩😍🕸🕷❤️💙” and is filled with a bunch of your mutuals. The entire night was spent complimenting one another on each other’s fanfictions, and sharing anything and everything about everyone’s OC’s. You couldn’t help the giddiness you felt when people told you how much they loved Trevor Trenton, your Spider-Man OC. 

Because Tumblr mobile refuses to send notifications when you get new messages, you stayed on the app for hours to make sure you were as involved in the conversation as possible. You knew you could have left the conversation at any moment, but you were just way too excited to finally bond with all your mutuals at once. 

Walking down the halls of Midtown High, you lazily stroll to your first class as if you had all the time in the world to get there. You hadn’t seen your friends yet this morning, making time go especially slow. Not knowing what else to do, you decide to open the Tumblr mobile app and check for new notifications in your group chat. To your surprise, a green circle appeared on the group chat photo someone edited of Spider-Man swinging through Queens with heart emojis all around him. 

You open the chat, and your heart jumps immediately. 

(Your Favorite Spider-Man Blog): Guys did TheOfficialSpiderMan account reblog your work too or is it just me?!?!

Suddenly frozen in place, you reread (Favorite Spider-Man Blog)’s message. With your heart bouncing in your chest, full of uncomfortable adrenaline, you quickly leave the chat and check messages and had to stop yourself from screaming. 

An account called TheOfficialSpiderMan had indeed reblogged your latest update on your Trevor Trenton fanfiction. 

Tapping on the blogger’s icon, you start investigating if this was truly the “Official” Spider-Man. The first thing you do is read the bio: 

“Yes, I’m the real Spider-Man XD. Still trying to figure out how to use this site so bear with me.

Queens, NY | Avenger | Science Nerd”

Looking at the blog’s avatar, you see that it’s a selfie that the hero took while swinging in the air. You’ve never seen a photo of Spider-Man like this before, but you couldn’t tell if it was edited or not. If this is a fake account, this person must be really good at photoshop… 

Scrolling through the blog, you notice that this person’s not only reblogged your fanfiction but almost all your mutuals too. You recognized some of the stories as one’s you’ve read prior and almost all of them were from people who were in the Spider-Man group chat with you. Eventually, however, you scrolled to the bottom of the blog and found a simple text post. 

“Hey Everyone! It’s me, Spider-Man. I’m just here to interact with you guys cause I’ve heard that I have fans on this site. I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for supporting me. Love you all

The post, although wholehearted and sweet, immediately fills you with worry. If this truly was Spider-Man, that means your favorite hero, the hero you’ve been fantasizing about through your writing, was reading your stuff. He was reading this personified version of himself that you created for your silly romantic pleasure, and that scares you shitless. A part of you feels exposed in a way you never thought possible, and even though your Tumblr username doesn’t quite give away your identity, you still feel extremely vulnerable. The thought of the man behind the mask seeing your work makes you feel quite uneasy, especially because you don’t know who the man behind the mask is. 

Suddenly, the bell for first-period rings, and you’re brought back to reality. As peers shuffle through the halls around you, you shove your phone in your pocket and pick up the pace to get to your first class. While walking, you couldn’t help but wonder Why Spider-Man chose to solely reblog fanfiction. There are plenty of Spider-Man Tumblr posts consisting of gif-sets, fan edits, and general news about him, so why fanfiction? 

It was as if Spider-Man has some sort of motivated intentions. 

——————

Peter Parker hits the reblog button on yet another well-written story about him. 

Well, better yet, him as a superhero. 

Ever since he found out that you write fanfiction about Spider-Man a couple of months back, Peter couldn’t stop wondering what else was written about him. After a self-debate for whether or not it’d be a good idea to actually make a Tumblr account and find your work, he decided to go for it. After all, he was pretty bored last night, and what better way to interact with fans that through a popular fandom website? 

So he created “TheOfficialSpiderMan” and immediately started reading fanfiction. 

He has to say, he was quite amazed at how talented his fans were. A lot of the stories and characters they created were so unique, and the plots they wrote up were quite clever! He instantly picked up on some tropes people would write about, including ones where the reader was Iron Man’s child (he has to admit, he found those stories quite meta). 

And after a ton of scrolling and reblogging, he came across a story about a version of Spider-Man named Trevor Trenton. He immediately knew that this story was yours, and took notice of your Tumblr name, (Your Tumblr blog name). He wanted to follow you but figured he should lay low right now. ‘I shouldn’t be giving certain fans special attention… especially if this certain fan is a good friend of his and possibly his crus-.’ 

“Hey, Peter!” 

Peter turns around to see Ned with his usual smile on his face. 

“Oh, Ned! Guess what?” Peter proceeds to shove his phone in his best friend’s hand. “I found (Y/N)’s Tumblr account!” 

Ned’s eyes go wide as he examines Peter’s phone, seeing a post with your blog name on it. “Oh my god, Peter,” Ned starts to laugh. “You did not just join Tumblr to find her fanfiction.” 

“Of course not,” Peter protests, going to show the blog account. “Spider-Man did.” 

Ned looks up at Peter with a raised eyebrow and a smirk. “Damn Peter,” Ned says sarcastically. “Didn’t think you’d be one to join fandom culture.” 

Peter rolls his eyes as the bell rings, indicating that second-period was about to start. Saying a quick goodbye to Ned, Peter quickly makes his way to his robotics class, a class that you just so happen to share with him. As Peter enters the room, he scans it and instantly spots you at one of the workshop tables, head buried in your phone, and wide-eyed. 

Peter smirks. He knows exactly what’s going on. 

He makes his way over you, and plops down in the seat next to you, causing you to look up at him in surprise. “Oh, hey Peter.” you squeak out, completely caught off-guard. 

Peter couldn’t help but stifle a laugh. The last time he saw you this flustered was when MJ caught you writing Spider-Man fanfiction back at his place, and he had to admit, you looked pretty cute. “Hey, (Y/N). What are you looking at?” 

You look back at your phone and quickly snooze the screen, shoving your phone in your pocket. “Oh, i-it’s nothing…” You say unconfidently, a blush appearing on your face. “Just a stupid Tumblr update.” 

“Oh?” Peter asks, knowing what you meant by ‘update’. “Does it have to do with Spider-Man?” He couldn’t help but push the conversation on you. He was too excited to see your reaction. 

“Actually, yeah.” You finally admit after a moment. “My mutuals and I are kinda freaking out cause a blog that claims to be Spider-Man is reblogging our stories. It’s weird.” 

“Really, weird?” He questions. “What makes that so weird?” 

“Why would a superhero go online just to read fanfiction. Superheroes shouldn’t even know about this kinda stuff. They should be focused on, I don’t know… saving the world or something. It’s just weird that he’s only reblogging fanfiction and-.” You cut yourself off when you look up at Peter and see he’s just sitting there, head propped up against his hand, leaning on the table with his elbow, sporting a knowing smirk of some sort. Confused at why he was looking at you like that, you almost question him. But that was when you started to connect the dots. 

It feels like Spider-Man has some motivated intentions. Peter Parker is intentionally talking about this with you. 

You squint your eyes at the boy in front of you. “Peter, did you tell Spider-Man about fanfiction?” 

Peter blinks, his smirk off his face. “W-what? No, I didn’t.” 

Your glare intensifies, and Peter sits up straight. “Are you lying to me? You just had your ‘I-know-something-you-don’t face on.” 

Peter swallows, suddenly nervous. He didn’t think you’d react like this. “I’m not lying, (Y/N). I did not tell Spider-Man about fanfiction.” 

You did… a couple of months ago… 

You look away, now glaring at the table. “Then explain how Spider-Man knows about fanfiction and why he only reblogs it?” 

Peter starts to sweat. “Uh, I-I don’t know. Maybe he likes to read?” 

“Or someone told him to find it?” You look back up at Peter, whose clearly uncomfortable, making it easier for you to believe that he’s lying. “Maybe while they were at their Stark Internship or something?” 

Peter mentally facepalms. He’s not getting out of this, is he? 

“(Y/N), please.” Peter pleads. “I promise I didn’t say anything to S-Spider-Man. And even if I did, why is it so bad? Why is it bad that he’s reading fanfiction?” 

“Because!” You shout, catching the attention of some of your classmates. Embarrassed, you force Peter to crouch down close to you so you can whisper. “The stories on Tumblr can get a bit uncanny. What if he finds smut about himself?” 

Peter raises an eyebrow. “What’s a smut?” 

You roll your eyes. “Exactly, and I’m NOT going into that right now.” You shudder, realizing what could happen if your favorite hero finds stories like… that.

Nevertheless, you push those thoughts out of your head and continue on. “But seriously Peter. You told me you wouldn’t tell him about this stuff, and how he’s reading a ton of it? Something doesn’t add up.” 

Peter wants to argue back, but he honestly doesn’t know what to say. He can’t assure you that your writing is good and that he’s enjoying seeing his fans’ creativity because he’d have to reveal his secret to you, and that’s the last thing he wants to do. Especially now. 

Before he knows it, your packing your stuff back up, getting out of your seat and slinging your backpack over your shoulder. “Find me when you can tell me the truth.” With that, you walk to the other side of the room and sit at a new table, just in time for the teacher to walk in and discuss the new project. 

Peter couldn’t help but mentally beat himself up. Was doing all this a mistake? He genuinely just wanted to find your work and actually interact with his fans. He never expected it to backfire like this. Now he has to find a way to assure you he wasn’t technically lying, all while keeping his identity a secret. With all the thoughts racing through his mind, there was one that stood out: 

He fucked up.

————–

-Peter Parker Tag List-

@sweetcoffeeblandtea // @house-arya // @jovialpeanut // @bookstoreblossom // @jackiehollanderr

-Marvel Tag List-

@sammghgecko

-Permanent Tag List-  

@mindset-jupiter // @romance-geek // @imcharishope // @fakindob // @cutiekoa // @wowursofunny // @cals-cigarette // @supernerdycookietrashblr // @delicately-important-trash // @unlikelygalaxygive

#peter parker fanfiction #peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker x y/n #spiderman #spiderman fanfiction #spiderman homecoming #spiderman ffh #spiderman far from home #ffh #marvel #mcu #tom holland #tom holland x reader #dear-selena fanfiction

[mbavholidayexchange]

To @demonicbutterflies, from @pixiepaintt

Title: Piecewise Equations & The Inner Turmoil of a Mathlete

Rating: T

Summary:  It was a day of completely no consequence. Small and tiny against the mass of the calendar; itty-bitty in the grand scheme of chronological order. It was no holiday nor commemoration. It was a Tuesday unlike any other Tuesday to have ever been invented, but to Benny Weir, grand amateur spellcaster and goof, it was the most important day of his life.

It was the day he was going to confess to Ethan fucking Morgan.

Ao3 Link: Link

Content

It was a day of completely no consequence. Small and tiny against the mass of the calendar; itty-bitty in the grand scheme of chronological order. It was no holiday nor commemoration. It was a Tuesday unlike any other Tuesday to have ever been invented, but to Benny Weir, grand amateur spellcaster and goof, it was the most important day of his life.

It was the day he was going to confess to Ethan fucking Morgan. AKA the smartest guy in the whole world. AKA an angel disguised as a human. AKA the person that Benny has been pining over for three years.

In Freshman year, he was just figuring out that he was even into dudes-- he spent most of the year pondering if he liked Ethan as a friend or liked him like that . In Sophomore year, he fawned over Ethan and decided that there was no way the feeling was mutual, especially not with Sarah around. In Junior year, he started out thinking the same, but then-- then Sarah confessed to Erica, and she apparently didn’t like dudes, and Ethan seemed relieved, and he felt like maybe, just maybe, this was his chance. So Benny convinced himself to confess.

The days couldn’t have passed any quicker; he had set a date to confess right after he learned he had a speck of hope (a week ago). Then he blinked, and it was the morning of his confession.

He forced himself to confess before lunch.

That failed.

He forced himself to confess during his last period English class.

That failed.

English class had just been dismissed by the bell, there were no hours left in the school day now, Ethan was still oblivious, and Benny was freaking out. If he didn’t do it now, he knew for a fact he’d back out and hide in his feelings for the rest of his lonely life. He’d done that for two years already; he didn’t want to go back now. Not when he had an opportunity in front of him.

“B? You coming?” Ethan asked, hefting his shoulder bag over his body and ambling to the door. He was probably excited to go home and play the new update of Zombies: Brains, Brains, and More! Benny wished all of his troubles were a zombie apocalypse; that would be infinitesimally easier than what he was going through now.

“Uh-- I--” Benny half-responded, still sitting in his desk. His feet wouldn’t move.

“Benny?” Ethan asked, lifting up a worried smile. He paused momentarily on his journey to the exit.

“You-- I don’t--” Benny managed, pointing a hand to the door. He was shaking.

“Let me just grab my stuff out my locker and we can walk home together?” Ethan promised, walking back towards the door.

“Wait!” Benny yelled, regaining his footing finally, “E, wait.”

“Yeah?”

Benny held his pointing hand straighter, flailing for the right words. He couldn’t think of any Latin with this state of a frazzled mind, so he settled for a simple English spell. Under his breath, sweating with nerves, he muttered:

“ Fire deflection, passionate perfection, grant the door unyielding connection !”

“Did you say something?” Ethan asked. Luckily he didn’t have super-hearing to go with his seer abilities.

“Uh.”

“I’m going to get the nurse. B, you’re worrying me.”

Ethan tried for the door’s handle. He tried again. It gave no budge at all-- not even a sliver of movement in any direction. Benny hesitantly smiled; at least his spell had worked. That was the only thing working for him in the moment; everything else was disorganized mayhem. Just call him Dr. Homo Doom, because his teenage life was descending into a frenzy of unrequited love!

Ethan kicked the door. Immediately after, he scowled tightly and rubbed his foot.

“The door is jammed.”

“Yeah,” Benny nervously responded. Oh God, was he too obvious? Was his plan failing? Was Ethan onto him?

“Are you,” Ethan dithered, choosing his words carefully as he checked Benny up and down, “better now?”

“Yeah. Swell as an Orc in the Highlands of Manoria!”

Ethan tried to suppress a grin at the mention of their favorite fantasy MMORPG. They always made fun of the janky 3D mechanics together.

“Valiant Orc, I shall slay you with my enchanted Ice Protection III Sword of Elysia!”

“Oh heavens above, not the enchanted Ice Protection III Sword of Elysia!” Benny yelled, clutching his chest. He made a pained ‘gh’ sound and collapsed onto his desk, twitching dramatically and trying to hide his giggles.

“Didn’t a new mob just get released?”

“Bro, yes, ah-- spear goblins, I think. Definitely OP. I wanted to play during last class but stupid Ms. Wallon won’t let us bring our phones in the room.”

“Some of us are trying to learn,” Ethan teased, smiling with his eyes, and god did that make Benny’s heart clench .

“And some of us are trying to learn strategy techs for the new meta!” Benny quickly responded. He regarded competitive gaming very seriously.

Ethan sighed. Although he, too, was heavily invested in gaming, he preferred singular player free roaming modes, or, at the very most, campaign modes. Competitive and ranked games gave him too much anxiety. He loved to watch Benny play rankings and rage at smurfs, though.

“Anyway, we should head home. We can play ZBBM?” Ethan pointedly looked at the door, “Can you, uh, do your thing?” He wiggled his fingers, and Benny snorted.

“That’s the issue. See,” he took a deep breath (it was now or never!), “I’ve been wanting to tell you something really kinda important.”

“Okay?” Ethan answered, and that confirmation sent Benny spiraling. This was really, really happening. It wasn’t just in his imagination anymore.

Benny’s breathing quickened, and he briefly considered backing out. Ethan certainly didn’t feel the same way. If he confessed now, he’d lose his best friend. Benny gulped and backtracked.

“Eh, I just--”

And then the door started hissing. And shaking. And glowing.

Ethan gasped. Benny cursed.

“Shit, Grandma always told me English spells were more tricky,” Benny muttered. He flexed his fingers. Something wasn’t right-- he may not be the most proficient spellcaster, but a simple spell like that certainly shouldn’t cause the door to rumble like a giant was full-throttle rattling it.

English spells often had a looser sense of interpretation; something about the translation from the original latin being lost in the magic altered them. He had pronounced the spell with all of the right intentions, but--

But the door was still shaking like an earthquake.

Benny blanched.

“Water pyre, built from needs dire, extinguish this door’s mental fire!”

Nothing.

“Succulent wind, in which all, uh, things end, to my cause a hand you should lend!”

Zero effect.

“Powers from earth, strengthened by girth, to a peaceful door you should give birth!”

Still, no response.

Ethan looked to Benny with wide deer eyes. He had the pinched inner brow expression that meant only one thing: he had been thinking through a problem, and reached a conclusion.

“Did you spell the door earlier?” He accused.

“Uh, heh… the thing is--”

“Benny!” Ethan whined, fretting a hand through his hair.

“I know, I know, I’m trying to find a reversal spell.”

“Because that’s going so smoothly,” Ethan snarked, then paled, “Sorry. I’m just-- agh, I don’t know what’s going on.”

Benny nodded. He didn’t either.

To be fair, he didn’t deserve all the blame. He’d only glanced over the spell once in a decades-old book with more dust than ink-- and then amateurly attempted it. At least it wasn’t a reanimated animal this time.

He could handle a door. Right?

“Let’s just calm down and think about this rationally,” Ethan suggested. He pulled out a chair and sat next to Benny.

Somehow, just Ethan’s very presence soothed Benny’s worries. When Ethan was near him, it was similar to a feeling of… indestructibility. Like nothing could stop them. Benny didn’t know how to feel about that.

Ethan smiled worriedly, always trying to stay lucid in tough situations, and Benny smiled in response. With Ethan by his side, he had no doubt that they could fix this.

“What spell did you use?”

“Well… uh… fire something, made the door lock.”

“Which spell, though?”

Benny grimaced.

“E, you know I have less than one brain cell. I don’t remember. It was pretty simple, though.”

“...Okay.” Ethan sighed, “Then why did you lock it?”

“Oh.” Benny sucked in a breath and froze.

“B?” Ethan asked, scooting closer.

“I-- I wanted to talk.” Benny settled on. Hopefully that was vague enough.

His hands were shaking, so Ethan settled put a hand on his shoulder.

“We can talk. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine, just-- nervous,” Benny replied, uncharacteristically grave.

And suddenly the door stilled.

It was clattering viciously, intent on nearly breaking, until it abruptly suspended all movement. It was… quiet. The room seemed to shrink without the raucous noise. Benny and Ethan both stared at the quasi-normal door. There was not even a hint of a glow anymore; no sign of any previous activity.

Benny was the first to crush the silence.

“What… happened?”

“Touch my arm.”

Benny shrilly laughed. It seemed too ironic to be true. Ethan asking for physical contact? At a time like this? Right after Benny had chickened out from his confession? He couldn’t tell if it was bad or good luck, but fate was certainly poking fun at him. There was an irregular bit of hope stirring in the pit of his chest.

“Wha-- Why?” Benny choked out, chuckling.

“Vision,” Ethan said impatiently, holding out his hand.

Oh.

A vision. Not because he actually wanted to touch Benny or anything. Okay. Benny shrugged and touched Ethan’s hand hesitantly. Not that he was paying attention, but it was quite warm.

Benny was snapped out of it when Ethan shook his head.

“Nothing happened,” he frowned. He took back his arm and pursed his lips.

“Okay,” Benny simply responded.

“At least the door’s stopped, though. Maybe it opened?” Ethan got up to check. He paused before wrapping a hand around the handle, taking a deep breath.

He shook it, and the handle didn’t move.

Benny couldn’t help but chuckle deprecatingly. Oh, how the tables had turned on him. He had trapped himself in a room with the boy he was infatuated with, stuck in a crappy school building past dismissal time. It seemed destiny was pulling his leg, and he had no choice in the matter.

Ethan raised an eyebrow at the laughing.

“Nothing,” Benny quickly assured, “Just… We couldn’t even get stuck in a cool classroom like biology.”

“And we don’t have our phones,” Ethan noted, his eyebrows furrowed in thought, “No possible way of contacting others.”

Benny nodded. He didn’t know what to tag on; it was his fault they were stuck, anyway. He didn’t want to worsen it and make Ethan despise him even more .

“I… just give me a minute to think about the situation,” stressed Ethan. Benny nodded again.

Ethan sat back down and tapped his fingers on his desk. A minute passed. Benny watched him think, so lost in thought that he didn’t even notice Benny’s stares. A few more minutes passed, and the crease in Ethan’s brows was only deepening. Benny wanted to help him so badly, but he’d already messed everything up. Not only did his confession go haywire, but he botched a simple spell and trapped Ethan.

He had never regretted a spell more. Not even when he had accidentally hexed Erica’s hair green and she threatened to sacrifice him to the council for weeks. Not even when he spelled Mr. G to give him an A, and his grandma found out. Not even when he tried magicking some of Sarah’s fake blood to taste like soda and tasted it himself. Nothing could be worse than this-- this cacophony of confusion and guilt. God, he really shouldn’t dwell in his thoughts, but he couldn’t help it. Ethan looked so utterly pensive, and Benny just knew that he was the root cause of it.

His worst fears were being realized, and he didn’t have a clue about how to amend it. His relationship with Ethan was the most important thing in his life, and like everything else he touched, he ruined it.

By this time, they would have both been beyond home, probably settling in for dinner and video games.

Benny waited for Ethan to say something-- anything-- because the silence was nearly killing him, but he didn’t. Ethan just kept tapping his fingers. The desk reverberated back at him. Benny was out of the loop.

Time streamed by them fruitlessly; it stole the light from the windows and the confidence that they had. It was on a different, faster river; Benny was left to run after it.

Eventually, Ethan sighed and broke away from his thoughtful silence. He grabbed a water bottle out of his nearby bag and drank from it. He paused and held it out to Benny as an afterthought.

“You thirsty?”

In more ways than one.

Benny nodded, and snatched the bottle from Ethan’s loose grip. He chugged it, small rivulets of water catching his cheek and strolling down. He pulled away after a second and grinned, garbling through a mouth full of water.

“Imdirect kiff.”

Ethan flushed red. His ears turned a rosy shade, and he tugged some hair forward to cover them.

“Huh?” He asked, voice airy with an odd mixture of confusion and hope.

Benny didn’t reply. He was too busy gulping back the water and despairing in self-negative thoughts. He had no clue why he had done that.

Ethan was still staring at him.

Benny looked away, willing his cheeks to stop burning. They didn’t comply. And hindsight was truly a bitch. He refused to meet Ethan’s inquisitive gaze; he stared at the floor and picked at his short nails instead. Somehow, among this entire mess, he had managed to do something completely ridiculous and irrational again . In his peripheral vision, he saw Ethan twine his fingers together tightly, to the point of whiteness (one of his nervous tics). Benny’s heart stuttered.

Neither of them moved or made a sound for several minutes. There was only the combined noise of their breathing: Benny’s stilted and Ethan’s indecisively heavy.

God, nothing had ever been this awkward between them. It was so unusual-- so innately deafening for Benny to not be completely comfortable around Ethan. He was abruptly dunked in a pit of ice water, and he was left to flail in the bitterness. He was so accustomed to the warmth, and a fire was near, but-- he hadn’t the courage to pursue it. So he was silent.

It took everything in his limited willpower to not crack open a half-assed joke about being about as straight as 2 radians (because that was equal to a circle, and Ethan would love a math reference) but he didn’t. He couldn’t let himself ruin their relationship even further. Well-- if they still had a relationship and Ethan didn’t completely despise him by this point.

But then the object of his worries spoke.

“Unless… it didn’t have to be indirect?” Ethan’s voice wavered, pitchy and breaking on every other word, but Benny had never heard anything so beautiful .

Benny sputtered for a second, then managed to choke out a few words.

“Not indirect-- wait, what--”

He didn’t have the chance to finish, because Ethan was promptly burrowing under his desk and tucking his limbs away from view, husking himself into a neat shell. When he wanted to be, he could be very flexible. His shoulders folded between his knees, his head ducked into his chest, and his feet slipped underneath his body. He was nearly cornered into a fetal position, if it weren’t for the tremor in his chest and wild, watering eyes. Benny was all too familiar with these symptoms; Ethan was extremely anxious.

“E, it’s okay,” Benny soothed, forgetting all of his stressors in lieu of seeing his best friend hurting. That possessed the utmost priority.

Ethan didn’t respond, so Benny took a little step forward and continued to talk.

“I promise everything’s fine.”

“Just-- Just forget I said anything,” Ethan pleaded, lifting his head just enough to meet Benny’s eyes.

Benny didn’t know quite how to respond to that. How could he simply forget the most suggestive thing his crush has said to him in the history of their friendship? That moment was already ingrained into his memory, and he doubted it would ever leave. But instead of telling Ethan that, he simply extended a hand.

Ethan paused and took a couple of deep breaths, steadying himself. He took the hand, and Benny gently hauled him up. And then, in the same motion, pulled Ethan into his chest.

“Wh--” Ethan began to squeak, but was quickly muffled by Benny’s classically striped shirt. He relaxed into the hug after a few awkward moments, tentatively wrapping his arms around Benny in reciprocation.

They had hugged before, sure, but it was never truly intimate. Usually it was a quick pull and release, or a light half-hug in pictures. They friendship was never very physically close; that was largely a result of the stigmatic culture that they grew up in. Besides, playing video games together was much more fun than have tickle-fights. This time, though, this hug was different-- it was a mental connection as well as physical.

Benny sighed into the hug; it was such a simple gesture, but it seemed that all of his chaotic fretting was vanquished as soon as he was pressed against Ethan. The naturally subduing aura of Ethan was only amplified through physical contact.

Idly, he noticed that more than a few seconds had passed. Was this too long of a hug? Was he making this awkward? Benny grimaced and pulled back, suddenly feeling bad, but--

Ethan didn’t let him get far at all, tugging him back into the hug with a strength neither of them knew he possessed.

“Stay,” mumbled Ethan.

“Okay.” Benny surprisedly breathed out in response. The things he would do for this boy .

“I’m sorry,” said Ethan, ever-apologetic, and Benny couldn’t help but shaking his head against Ethan’s hair.

“Don’t be sorry. I-- uh-- I wanted to talk to you about-- stuff. Actually.”

“Stuff?”

“Yeah.”

Benny failed to elaborate. Ethan lifted his head just enough to stare Benny directly in his eyes, maintaining fierce eye contact. He wasn’t joking around.

“Stuff?” Ethan repeated. He raised a hand, almost as if he were to tuck back the hair falling in front of Benny’s eyes, but then changed his mind and dropped it.

Benny averted his eyes, opting to stare at the door. The moment was finally here. Ethan was asking him so directly, so intently that he couldn’t bring himself to lie. It was actually happening; he was going to confess his undying love for Ethan Morgan. Where he had been previously anxious, Ethan’s “indirect” comment was fueling him. He was on top of the world with adrenaline.

“Uh, well, there aren’t any cherry blossoms falling around us like, uh, all successful anime confessions go, but-- but yeah. So basically I’m in lo-- I love you.” Benny nervously chuckled. He studied Ethan’s face very closely, noting all of the emotions that cycled through it: first confusion, then surprise, then contemplation, a bit of sadness, and then contentedness. Or what Benny hoped was some form of contentedness. Ethan’s face settled on that last emotion, holding it for a time akin to forever; neither of them moved in fear of… so many things. The unknown, rejection, loss of each other-- But it didn’t happen.

After several long moments, Ethan’s thin smile cracked into a wide grin.

“I love you too, dork.”

“So…” Benny prompted, lopsidedly grinning just as wide as Ethan now.

Ethan quirked his brows as a silent question.

“Maybe we could get started on making it not indirect--”

And then the door shuddered, trembled, and rounded it all off with a clicking noise. It wasn’t glowing or moaning anymore, just… still.

Ethan, who had been curled against Benny’s chest, pulled away and hesitantly stepped toward the door. He watched it carefully for a few seconds, before deciding something in his head and walking up to it. Benny almost called out to him, was on the verge of warning him to not mess with fickle magic or he might get hurt, but Ethan had his hand wrapped around the handle before he could. With a subtle but effective flick of the wrist, he turned the knob, and the door… opened. It hinged into the classroom, revealing the empty hallways behind it, inanimate and soundless as ever. It was so normal .

The next thing Benny registered, Ethan was doubled over laughing.

“E…?” He asked, confused beyond belief.

“I-- It--” Ethan laughed.

“What’s so funny?” Benny didn’t understand at all.

“I had a hunch. It-- Your spell was fire-based, right? Fire is connected to passion, and draws power from intensity and enthusiasm. When you cast it, it… Latched onto your conflicted feelings, and created a warped version of a piecewise equation.”

“E, I don’t get how algebra messed up my magic.”

“Imagine it like this: if you still had unexpressed feelings, the door would be shut, and if you had expressed feelings, the door would open.”

“Bruh,” Benny said, at a loss for words. His magic spell had held him hostage in an attempt to get him to disclose his crush? Shit. He would have to ask his Grandma about that later (if she didn’t kill him for his stunt in the first place). Magic backfiring against him was a lot more worrisome than him merely messing up a spell (which he had assumed he had done).

“It’s okay,” Ethan assured him, “It’s all better now. Just… be careful with your powers, okay?”

“Thanks, Mom,” Benny bit back without any real anger. He was more upset with himself for letting this happen.

“B,” called Ethan affectionately, “Come on. Let’s go home, play some new meta, and forget this ever happened.”

Benny looked up from his inner turmoil like a possum caught in headlights.

“Forget… all of it?” Benny asked.

“No. Not all of it. Forget your worries.”

“Hakuna matata,” Benny weakly responded.

“Forget the feeling that you’d ever have to be scared of me,” Ethan clarified. He stepped away from the unlocked door and returned to Benny’s side. He held a hand up and finally brushed that piece of hair out of Benny’s face-- this time, without any hesitancy.

“I--” Benny started, but then Ethan was getting closer, so close, and--

Well, with the way that their lips connected like two halves forming a whole, and the way Ethan’s arms slid seamlessly behind Benny’s neck, and the way time slowed for their benefit--

There was no way it was indirect.

#bethan #mbav #my babysitter's a vampire #mbavholidayexchange #mbav holiday exchange

[spacemilkies]

Bart Allen x reader

summary: He’d ran to the past purely by the determination to unselfishly prevent the future from fallling into ruin.

For that for that act of valor, wasn’t he allowed this one selfish want ?

Notes: It took me awhile to come up with something. Sorry for the lateness. Here’s a little snippet drabble thing.

When he’d first appeared he wasn’t quite sure who was more surprised. Naturally he managed to send the premature flock of superheroes into a mild panic.

That wasn’t entirely intentional. So far into the future calculations were somewhat accurate at best. Nathaniel had planned for the when, but the where was more abstract in nature.

So yes, Bart was equally as astonished to not only find the machine in working order but to find himself at the center control panel of Mount Justice?

Now that was crash.

All his idols were in attendance.

The creative and instinct driven Beast Boy.

The premature and determined Robin.  

And oh man, the notorious Nightwing in the flesh.

And then there was you.

For a moment Bart wished for nothing more than looser suit to drag away the spandex from red itch crawling up his neck. The poster on his wall had depicted you as an older hero, matured in both your talents and prowess. But there had been plenty of opportunities for him to imagine what it might have been like to fight beside you.

Share the excitement and spoils of victory.

If only he’d been born a few decades earlier.

If only you hadn’t-

The time capsule hero jerked in response,“Careful now, watch the claws!”

As part of the infamous Allen lineage, all speedsters relied on that split second decision where time slowed to their advantage.

It separated life from death.

Freedom from capture.

“Now that would have not been crash. Seriously Robin ? I have your action figure man. “

Bart shook a non threatening fist from his perch atop the massive screen. He’d narrowly managed to avoid quick shot of cable. The young hero hadn’t even been aware of his speed inclement yet smartly chose to go after his legs.

He couldn’t put it past the detective.

It was obvious that his window of opportunity would have dwindled. During his fanboy episode the startlement had worn off.

And now he was outnumbered.

… yet still a little crash.

Yeah, he expected to feel the mode shortly after.

But damn did he enjoy going head to head with the best of the best.

Sure, they were still in their youth and nothing compared to what they would be in the future but damn wasn’t it still a thrill.

No one could blame him for at least attempting to shift out of the bindings. His vibrations only managed to encourage the current Robin to tighten the ropes further.

Bart wasn’t entirely certain that he hadn’t taken a bit of pleasure in the act.

“You’re from the future? Ha, right dude.”

Bart’s attention whipped over to the green meta human, taking in the distinctively furry texture of his skin. Funnily it had been a small detail the cameras managed to miss when capturing his likeness.

“Oh man, Beastboy if only I could get started on you.” Unfortunately, Bart had seen enough movies depicting the consequences of speaking so openly about what was to come.

No, he would need to be sensible here.

Regardless of how easy it would be to drag these chump- eh- heroic deities.

“Look, no hard feelings. I’m one of you!” His hand twitched from the desire to bring it to his chest in emphasis. “ Name’s Bart Allen. You know, of the Barry Allen legacy? Really, the speed should have been an indicator.”

Among the skeptical faces it was yours he kept darting to the most. He couldn’t help it. You were just so young and so here.

And right in front-

Oh well … was right in front of him before Robin had taken the initiative to cut in between, effectively severing the point of contact.

Bart would have been more baffled had he not understood the root of the protective stance.

It didn’t help that bat family was incredibly rich.

They just had to be eligible bachelors to boot.

Speaking of the family, where had the older bat flown off to?

“Dude if you’re honest we can figure this out. And then you can go.”

Bart tried extremely hard not to roll his eyes but it was painful. The littlest bat really needed to brush up on his interrogations. The summation of this little group was only the junior leagues.

Once he really got started talking they were going to have to draw out the majors.

“What if he is? It wouldn’t be the craziest thing to happen here,” your voice trilled over silence.

Okay, maybe crossing spacial dimensions was a little different but it was the future! He obviously shared some connection to the Flash- grandson did he say?

All you were saying is that you couldn’t rule out the impossible without considering the possibility.

Your gaze flickered uncertainly to the bulky machine sitting like a quiet observer.

Beside you Robin scuffed I’m firm disbelief. Granted it too a lot to get the junior detective to think outside of the realm of possible. You were starting to think he was being a bit close minded.

The two of them had barley known one another for twenty minutes and you could already feel the bad blood thrumming under the veins. It was obvious that Bart knew something they didn’t but was it so inherent that Tim would react out of instinct ?

“Not you too,” he groaned. He caught your eyes from the side. “A tourist ?”

Okay, that was an odd thing to call oneself given the situation. It was hard to determine what was more concerning.

That fact that a kid would travel so lightheartedly into the past without considering the consequences or how easily accessible it was for him to do so.

Beastboy settles his arms across his chest,”I don’t know man. I mean, yeah, I’m green but from the future? That’s a little crazy.”

“Batman will deal with him,” Tim reasoned under his breath.

As subtly as you could, you reached for him, finger tips just skimming the callouses of his own. While his face didn’t portray emotion, your loose grip tingled with the ripple of calm you were trying to make mutual.

Unbeknownst to you, the red haired speedster followed the minuscule movement with a grimace.

“Easy, Robin. If he travel from the future he must have accumulated quite the thirst. Barry’s grandson, right? That’s quite the journey.”

Bart watched Nightwing with interest as he reapplied with a glass of water in hand. Bringing his tied hands up, he accepted it with a shallow nod. He was a little thirsty but more in the lack of proper clean water kind of way and less of a time travel exhaustion.

It wasn’t until he’d taken a few sips before the subtle insinuation of the offer became apparent.

Now he was realizing how one graduated out of the Robin role.

“Ah, you’re not really worried about the culprit. You just want this.” Bart probably added more of the wanted specimen than necessary when he spit heartily into the glass much to the grimaced disgust of some of the observers. “There you go. Authentic DNA of the Allen family. Just don’t go cloning anyone.”

His gaze widened comically at the thought. “Oh man, that’d be so crash though. Surely Dick Grayson could figure out the proper cloning sequence. Just ask Connor.”

It had started off as a joke and tumbled horridly into a snowball effect after that. What could he say? Once he got started talking, it was just downhill from there.

To say the hero was affronted would be putting it off lightly.

“I know all of you guys? Future guy remember ?”

He gestured to each member individually.

“Dick Grayson.”

“Garfield Logan.”

“Newly appointed Robin, Tim Drake.”

And then there was you. Your eyes were already comically wide by this point as if already knowing your fate.

It didn’t matter really. He was immediately overshadowed by Beast- Garfield was who didn’t find it very crash to be the last one to get he knowledge party.

By the end of it all, he’d left the heroes more confused than the moment he’d arrived.

His ride had unfortunately arrived before he alleviate some of their obvious worries. The tell tale sound of the dimensional portal gate called out the name of another rememberable hero, but he was already shaking past the restraints before the computer could finish the introduction.

Besides he had his own history to change.

And somehow managed to alter his own future in the midst of it.

With the current Flash properly save and hopefully alive in his future, he was more than ready to return to a brighter more lively lifestyle.

When he returned, you were all better prepared for his arrival. Not so much for the older man that ‘Impule’ had hastily referred to as his great grandfather with no little excitement and current Flash and Kid Flash in tow.

It was like a backwards family reunion.

Nightwing’s analytical results had proved the impossible, well possible. Bart Allen was a direct descendant of the Allen family.

The red haired future superhero seemed to take the news with the strongest stride, not doubting his truth for a second. Part of you felt for him, this had to be his only chance to properly meet the senior Flash.

Regrettably, the meeting was cut relatively short as his urge to go home out ran the present desires. He was still an erratic variable of the future and had no place here.

A few hugs were exchanged amongst family, the current leagued Flash expressing his anticipation on meeting him again in a proper timeline.

You found yourself longing for the same. Eager to see his origin and watching the child become what you’d witnessed today.

“Well this has been crash, but gotta run.”

God, were you not looking forward to the puns though. A mutual groan rumbled amongst the gathered crowd in agreement.

Impulse had nearly disappeared into the awaiting machine before his body staled as if forgetting something. After saving the life of a hero you couldn’t imagine what other time altering event he could have on his agenda.

Then his gaze locked with yours.  

Your hair fluttered behind you from the sharp gust of wind from, a noise of shock barely escaping your lips before his swallowed it down.

Somewhere behind you the sound of Tim’s shock tried to reach you but it was lost to the soft press of lips molding against your own.

Then it was over.

And you were left wading in a pool of soft baby blues.

“Oh man, I wish you could have married me instead of Drake.”

And left you stranded.

“Now I should really get going. Be nice to me in the future!”

He raced back to the machine with a sloppy salute, before sliding inside the machine. The only sound it gave was a clank of metal as the latch sealed.

And then the silence stretched on for several seconds.

“Isn’t he supposed to be in the future by now,” Garfield asked unhelpfully.

“He better be.” You felt Tim appear at your back, his growl echoing a darker intent.

There was a drawn out groan, as the metal protested the slow opening of the door. It was likely the slowest you’d ever seen and of the speedsters move as Bart reluctantly stepped out of the machine.

Something told you he wouldn’t be returning home anytime soon.

A sheepish smile pulled at his lips as his gaze darted across the room.  

“Anyone else feeling the mode?”

#Anonymous #young justice imagines #bart allen x reader #bart allen imagine #bart allen fanfic #young justice x reader #yj imagine #bart allen