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writingwithcolor · 3 years

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Announcement: No Longer Answering Rubber Stamp Questions

Introduction

Here at Writing With Color, we’ve noticed a shift in the questions we are receiving. In the past, the majority of questions challenged the necessity of diversity in fiction or asked for assistance in making diversity seem more plausible in world-building. We also received many questions on how to describe and characterize people of color in respectful ways that didn’t demonize different races, ethnicities and religions.

By and large, we see that our followers understand why these concepts are important, and for that we congratulate you! This kind of progress takes real, long-term, internal work. Our team hopes that any advice or input you received from us over the years has helped you continue to develop as a writer. We hope you will continue to support us in the future and are especially pleased to hear from our non-white commenters who have let us know when our content has let them feel seen or heard.

However…

We have noticed a recent trend in asks that is discouraging. Many askers seem concerned with receiving our blanket approval of a particular concept or character. These asks often don’t provide us with the direction and context crucial to providing advice from a race or ethnicity-based perspective. Examples include:

“I’m writing a character from [insert background] who has [insert traits]. Is this ok?”

“I’m creating a world where I have made [insert concept] the basis of my world-building. Is this allowed?”

Hi, I’m a [insert identity]. Is it problematic to have [concept/ character] in my story?

“I’m creating a [Race A] character with [these] traits, a [Ethnicity 1] character with [those] traits, a [Race B] character with [some other traits] and a [sex/ gender minority] character with a [different set of traits]. Is this combination offensive?

We call these questions rubber stamp questions. If this describes your question, there’s no need to feel bad. We realize that there was never an explicit explanation of this concept. In addition, our team is mindful of the changing demographics of tumblr that might make it mean we are receiving questions from a younger user-base are not yet familiar with many of the principles we outline on this website. However, on that note…

What is Rubber Stamping?

Rubber stamping refers to the practice of seeking an endorsement without questioning or seeking to alter the status quo. The purpose of Writing With Color is to be a focal point for discussion about diversity in writing rather than simply prescribe a series of corrective measures. Without knowing the asker’s intent (Which we can’t, since we aren’t mind readers), our moderators are not in a position to provide you with carte blanche for your writing concept in the name of all other non-white people. Yes, we have a certain level of skill and expertise on many of these topics, but we are not here to take on the burden of all PoC to approve your writing choices. Nor would it be fair to other PoC if you took our response as a reason to dismiss the perspectives of other PoC (An unfortunately common phenomenon).

Bluntly, on the moderator end, these asks are also incredibly frustrating because they are vague and thus:

Time consuming

Labor intensive (mentally and emotionally)

The last example from the previous section (AKA “Laundry lists”) is particularly time consuming because multiple moderators must collaborate to produce an answer that boils down to each moderator saying, “I guess it depends??? *shrug*” but in slightly different ways.

Perhaps the biggest problem with rubber stamp asks is they feel (to us) like they are more about the asker’s desire for closure/ approval/ virtue signaling than a willingness to participate in the kind of education and discussion on diversity we are trying to foster on this blog.

To that effect: We will no longer be answering such questions.

(If you sent in such ask before this goes up on November 15th, 2020, a moderator may reach out to you individually to better address your inquiry as submitted.)

However: Don’t worry! We also are here to teach you how to makes these questions better!

Fixing Rubber Stamp questions:

1. Be specific.

Instead of Can I/ May I, try “How can I” or “When can I” or “What can I”?

Thus instead of: “I’m Christian. May I create a Jewish character seeking to become an actress in 1920s Hollywood?” —> “How do I, as a Christian, create a compelling Jewish character while being mindful of the interplay between my own intrinsic bias and historical accounts of prominent Jewish figures in early Hollywood?”Or, instead of: “I want to write a story about a modern day piracy in the East Indian Ocean, but with magic. Is this problematic? —> “Given the continuation of modern day piracy in the East Indian Ocean, what are some tropes I should avoid if I decide to go with a modern fantasy set in this region?”

2. Remember: The goal is improved understanding, not approval. Sometimes, you really just want to know *why* you can’t use a particular concept, and that curiosity is good! Questions that ask “Why?” in good faith are often how you can learn a lot about your own intrinsic biases and the limits of your own knowledge.

Thus, instead of: If I write about [controversial topic], am I a bad person? —> Why is it better for someone like me to not write about [controversial topic]?

This approach has the bonus effect of making us feel like you actually care about what we think.

3. Write your question as a draft: Edit your ask at least once or twice to provide as much information as possible while being concise. I’ve told this to college students before, but I can tell when a person wrote their assignment by the quality of the writing. Writing done late at night, when sleep deprived and without at least one edit contains extraneous information while not having a clear point.

Going through your question (Preferably a day after you wrote it) will help you narrow down what you really want to know.

Remember: You all have free will and can write whatever you please. We presume that you seek WWC’s input because you wish to write on issues pertaining to people of color with greater levels of awareness. On a practical note, we recognize that social media, trolling, call-outs, doxxing and other dimensions of cyberbullying make writers online hesitant to do anything unless they think they have the majority of the public on their side. There are times when it is obvious that the asker is asking more because they need approval to feel less anxious when they share their work with others.

However, if the above is your worry, either you aren’t ready to write on this topic or you need to rethink the boundaries you set with the online communities/ individuals you interact with as well as how you manage your internet presence. With respect to personal anxieties when it comes to writing, morality, your conscience and so forth, we recommend turning to your own support systems IRL. As relative strangers on the internet, we are not well-qualified to allay personal concerns.

Remember: Writing with diversity is like training for a marathon. Give yourself permission to expand your comfort zone at the pace your research capabilities and experience allow!

We appreciate that you all trust us to provide helpful, well-thought out feedback for your ideas, and we also thank you for respecting our perspectives even if you may disagree. In the same vein, we request that you put the level of thought into your questions you think appropriate given that another human being is going to spend, at a minimum, several hours coming up with their response. We look forward to hearing from you!

- The WWC Team

(A link to this article will be added to the pinned FAQ for everyone’s reference)

#WWC #Announcements #Housekeeping #FAQ article #Rubber Stamp #Question Guidelines #Updates #WWC Updates

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lovethisletters · 3 years

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The Bat & The Lantern || Batman x Reader

Hi, lovely! I had so much fun writing this (I'm not gonna lie, I was quite nervous at first, since I don't know that much about the whole green lantern universe, but guess it turned out...ok?) so I hope you enjoy it as much as I did and to be honest, I would like to revisit this story again in the future!

Little disclaimer: The reader is a Human green lantern but similar to star-lord she lived the majority of her life in space, that's why she's so oblivious as to whom Batman is, also this takes place during Dick Grayson early years as robin (12-13).

Word count: 2233!!!

Summary: Reader is a new member of the Justice League...but Batman doesn't seem too happy about it.

Keys: Y/S/N: Your Superhero Name | Y/N: Your (real) Name.

Hal Jordan was your friend since you joined the green lanterns (which it was barely 3 or 4 years ago)

Basically...you were "new"

But that didn't stop your fellow green lanterns (?) From seeing all your potential.

Everyone is convinced that with the right training and perseverance, you will become one of the greatest green lanterns of all time.

So, it didn't take long before you proved yourself to be capable enough to join the big leagues.

More specifically, The Justice League.

Hal was the one to introduce you to his companions.

The Amazonian, the human looking alien, the speedster, the other Alien not so human looking, the half robot; everyone was so nice to you since they met you.

Everyone except...The grumpy bat.

When you first introduced yourself, he didn't even bother to be as welcoming as the others.

He just stood there, looking all big and serious that you almost thought it was a statue or the poor guy had catatonic lapses or was way too shy or socially awkward to approach you.

You felt bad, so you approached him instead.

—Hi! I'm Y/S/N...—You said enthusiastically before being abruptly interrupted.

—I know, I heard your introduction already—His voice so devoid of any kind of emotion that you may as well had been talking to a machine.

"Scanning complete, Batman"

A voice inside his cowl informed him, it sounded like an older man with a British accent.

—Thank you, I'll check it later.

That’s when it hit you…the reason why he was watching you so intensely and standing so incredibly still: He was scanning you.

Fucking. Son. Of. A. Bitch.

You stayed there, your face paralyzed with surprise and anger, without knowing very well what to answer; you didn't want to cause a scene on your first day, but this man was just so rude; That is not an appropriate way to receive a new member. yes, it is normal to have suspicions, but you would appreciate if he had the decency to let his suspicions be known when you weren't present.

—she just introduced herself and already on with the paranoic behavior, Bats? seriously? —Hal stepped in your defense.

—this is a routine procedure; I'm just being cautious.

—He was like that at the beginning with all of us too, don’t worry he’ll warm up to you in no time—Wonder woman whispered in your ear after watching your uncomfortable expression.

Ultimatedly you decided to listen to the amazonian and let that one slide, “is normal to be wary of new things anyways” you repeated yourself.

As the months passed you have grown quite frustrated. Between all the missions and meetings even though you felt your relationship with the rest of the team grow closer and they began to trust you and respect you; your relationship with the Batman stayed pretty much the same.

Yes, there was a bit of progress….a bit.

He was bit more talkative to you, a bit more “friendly”, a bit more trusting.

But it was always just a bit never actually fully a teammate to you, your relationship felt more like distant coworkers.

At the beginning it didn’t worry you too much, until your lack of communication started to mess with your performance in the missions, sometimes something completely bizarre and unexpected would happen and because both of you didn’t know each other very well, the mission would take the double amount of time to resolve since you couldn’t coordinate at all.

One time he almost ran you over with his batwing…

The whole thing was kinda funny looking back on it but at the time you were furious (rightfully so)

In his defense, he didn’t knew you were there…I mean…you basically where standing in his parking spot (not that you knew there was such a thing, most members could fly or at least jump really high, so you kinda always forgot he couldn’t…and to be honest you didn’t know his exact powers)

—Sorry—was all he said as he got out of the strangely shaped flying vehicle and directed only one glance at you to make sure you where ok before entering the building, always maintaining that characteristic calm and cold demeanor.

One day you entered the hall of justice earlier than usual only to find an unexpected guest sitting in one of the empty chairs his gaze fixated on a book, he was wearing a rather colorful suit of some sort matching his green mask, then you realized when you were close enough…he was a C H I L D.

You panicked, why was a child here? Is he some sort of mini spy? How was he able to get through the security system? Did he touch anything dangerous?

This and many more questions ran through your mind, the child noticed you were looking at him and only gave a polite nod as a greeting before returning his attention to his book.

Perhaps a school trip that you weren’t aware of was taking place and this kid strayed from his class? Perhaps he was looking for one of your teammates to ask for a photo and got lost and decided to wait here for his teacher? That will explain why everyone wasn’t here in the meetings room, perhaps they were busy giving the (hypothetical) group of children a tour?

—Hey kiddo! Are you lost? —you began the conversation in a friendly tone before kneeling down a little in order to appear less imposing…after all he was a child you didn’t wanna scare him.

He looked at you so incredulously.

You could almost hear him think “ma’am wtf are you doing???” through his expressions.

—What’s your name?

—Ummm…uh…Robin?—He spoke like it was something obvious while signaling the “R” symbol on his chest.

—Robin, uh? What a pretty name! tell me Robin…why are you here? Are you lost?

Poor boy he was so confused, you didn’t know who he was? Didn’t any of the members told you about him? And more importantly…Why where you talking to him like if he was a 5-year-old?

—No, ma’am…I’m just waiting for Batman.

“Batman? Was he a fan of Batman of all superheroes?” It surprised you a bit, usually kids tend to like superman or wonder woman more since they are nicer and charismatic, and Batman was the opposite.

—Sorry Kiddo, I don’t think he’s one for photos, perhaps you could ask the others some other time! — you began explaining trying to dissuade the kid while guiding him towards the exit.

—He’s not here for photos—smooth as ever…the Bat was behind you.

—He’s my sidekick.

Your jaw dropped, a sidekick? He’s a CHILD! You knew superheroes had sidekicks, but you never knew they were that young!

Before you could even begin to protest, Batman ignored you, looking down at the child and instructing him to collect his things.

—Hurry, you’ll be late for class again. — He said before disappearing behind the door that led to his parking spot.

Robin quickly followed, hanging his backpack over his shoulder before stopping in his tracks directing an apologetic smile towards you and saying:

—Don’t worry miss, I can take care of myself! — He must have noticed the concern on your face before leaving.

Since that day your routine changed.

You would wake up earlier, many times you’ll be the first to arrive to the Hall of justice, and even have breakfast flying on your way there all for one thing: Robin.

Once you learned he was Batman’s sidekick you couldn’t help but worry over that poor child, “what if he gets hurt? Is he eating/sleeping/resting properly?” you just couldn’t help yourself.

At first it was just checking on the kid by just…seeing him in the morning and greeting him casually but there were times he wasn’t there, and you would panic internally and there was no other way to calm your anxiety until you would ask the Bat about the child.

He would always replay shortly: “He’s at home” “He’s at school” “He’s busy” and your conversations always would end there.

One day that Robin was there however, instead of your usual ‘greeting nod’ he started talking to you.

He asked you all sorts of things (that weren’t compromising to your real identity ofc) “What’s your favorite color?” “What music do you like?” “What’s your favorite movie?”

And it started from there.

The conversations with Robin grew not only more frequent but also more personal (as personal as someone with a superhero lifestyle can be), to the point it had become a routine for you to come early and talk to the boy, sometimes you had breakfast together or even helped him with his homework before the Bat would take him to school.

Perhaps it was because you didn’t have many acquittances here on earth, but Robin became family to you.

And family takes care of each other.

It had been a rather difficult and spontaneous mission; Lex Luthor was starting to act a little bit fishy (more than usual) using his connections and money Luthor had been acquiring/robbing very specifically concerning items all over the US, his next objectives: a Radion sample being investigated in a secret laboratory in Star city and a Dionesium sample...contained in the Wayne tower laboratories...

The team decided to split to put a stop to Luthor’s minions and his plan.

The Bat insisted the rest of the team should go to Star city, telling them that he and Robin could handle it, but everyone was immediately against it: Luthor had already collected relatively powerful items and being the intelligent motherfucker he is, probably transformed some of those items to give to his goon’s so they might have a chance in harming any of the members if they were to interfere.

Ultimately, the team agreed you and cyborg would accompany them to Wayne Tower.

Robin was stoked, he would get the opportunity to fight alongside you! But Batman…not so much…he kept trying to lose the two of you on the way there; fortunately, cyborg put a tracker on the batwing, he wasn’t going to get rid of you that easy.

Upon your arrival, you could spot several men (armed like if they were military but with a much more upgraded equipment) already leaving the building, carrying two tanks (presumably full of that substance Martian Manhunter had mentioned before) and heading to a truck without any plates.

Long story short: you organized a plan as quickly as you could but…something went wrong…Cyborg and Robin were supposed to create a distraction while the two of you recovered the tanks without damaging them, since the properties of the substance within remained unknown.

But something went wrong: You and Batman failed to coordinate and so you were spotted by the henchmen, they started aiming their weapons at the two of you, initially you thought a force field generated by the power of your ring would be enough...oh no, honey, you’re so wrong.

Sonic weapons were able to not only break your concentration quickly, but also made your ears bleed! One after another you kept re-making the fields, but the sonic waves so deathly and loud just kept coming.

You don’t know how but you were able to stand your ground long enough to make cover not only for Batman and allow him to get the tanks back safely but also for the rest of your team and give them a slight advantage to take down as many of Luthor’s minions as they could.

And then…you passed out.

You woke up at the infirmary in Justice Hall, your head a mess and wrapped in bandages, you had broken your arm because that shit inside a cast too for some reason…and…your ring was gone!

Panic!

No, never mind it was on the nightstand next to the chair in which batman was sitting on.

WAIT…next to the chair in which batman was sitting on?!?!?!

—How are you feeling? — you didn’t know if it was him suddenly talking or the genuine concern on his voice that startle you, so you just nodded slightly while he approached you.

—Can you hear me properly? —Surprisingly you could, but you still were a bit taken aback by his presence.

—I…—Before responding your brain reminded you of the fact that you didn’t had your ring on, hence your secret identity was revealed to Batman. Your hands practically flew to your face in embarrassment. You didn’t know why but without your mask you felt naked and vulnerable.

He noticed.

His gaze studying your pained expression before he let out a small sigh.

—I came here…to thank you…and apologize— hesitantly his hands moved to the back of his cowl.

—You not only put yourself in danger for Cyborg and Robin, but you also concerned yourself with my safety even when it was probably my fault that we ended up in that situation —He admitted pressing a hidden button loosing up his cowl before finally taking it off and reviling the most gorgeous man you’ve had ever lay your eyes on.

—And for that I thank you and apologize…sincerely—Such sudden action left you speechless for a while, Batman not only had thanked you and apologized, but he had entrusted his identity to you.

—I think-…I think we started with the wrong foot; you know? —You finally were able to respond, breaking the silence that filled the room and surprising him slightly by your sudden declaration.

—Let’s start again…Hi! I’m Y/N—You imitated the same friendly voice tone you first used to talk to him.

The lips on the man in front of you curved forming a subtle almost imperceptive grin.

—Hello, Y/N, I’m Bruce…Bruce Wayne.

♡♤♡♤♡♤♡♤

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! IT. TOOK. SO. LONG. Sorry :c

I had a bunch of ideas for this request but ended up going with this one since I wanted to expand on their beginning, I’m still trying to figure out a way to write Bruce and this was my first attempt, so…sorry if it was…bad :c I’ll try harder next time!!!

Any errors you might see, please let me know; English is not my first language so I’m trying to improve.

In the final scene I wanted Bruce to show he recognized the Reader as an equal so that’s why he took it off…still I felt like it could improve.

♡♤♡♤♡♤♡♤

I will forever thank you if you go check out my other profile: @aileysmirnov where I post things about my OC: edits, one-shots, imagines, art, etc. If you like Greek mythology and the bat family maybe you would get to be a little bit fond of her as much as I am!

Anyway! Thank you for reading!

#batman x reader #batman hc #batman #batman imagine #bruce wayne x reader #bruce wayne #batfamily #green lantern #justice league #batfam #fanfic #batman fic #dick grayson #robin

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genshin-djinn · 3 years

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my assorted thoughts on Historia Antiqua Act 1

The Plot

I’m a sap for dark and introspective character stories and Zhongli’s, as expected from the former oldest archon of Teyvat, did not disappoint. I loved watching the story of the salt god unfold (juxtaposed with Zhongli’s own identity as a former archon and as one of the two winners of the Archon war still alive today).

Wanyan and Climate (I don’t like the guy so I gave him a nickname early on into the quest) were interesting participants in the quest to find relics/ learn more about Liyue’s history/ get rich. I’m pretty sure that Climate learned about Zhongli from Childe. Wanyan’s perspective is quite fascinating because while she’s proven wrong in the end of this story, Rex Lapis was indeed a merciless warlord who likely did kill less than demonic gods during the Archon War.

I enjoyed beating up Climate. some of the English lines during that part of the quest are strangely hilarious (‘the wrath of the rock’, ‘punish climate’).

I also kind of liked how even though Zhongli’s story quest was focused around a domain, it wasn’t really combat- heavy. Did I almost die to the five million level 80 hydro mimics? Yes. But the domain itself wasn’t really super big on combat, it was just enough to be a really solid showcase of Zhongli’s abilities and a lot of plot. And I kind of like that, especially as someone who just hit WL 6 and would’ve died in a heartbeat if the domain had beefier monsters.

I also really liked the unfinished feeling of Wanyan’s story.

The Domain

Prior to Zhongli’s character stories my two favorite dungeons in Genshin were the Toy Factory from Childe’s story and the Cryo Regisvine Jungle from Xiangling’s story. And this dungeon?? It just took the two of them and mashed them together and added an extra scoop of angst and an extra scoop of plot.

This domain was visually fantastic and was intertwined with the plot and the story of the quest really well.

Walking past salt corpses, all in various phases of terror and prayer, was absolutely excellent. The progression of the corpses from praying to desperately running as the player moves through the domain heightens the intensity. It’s pretty obvious who killed all the people who once lived in the domain, but sort of seeing it play out in slow motion while you move towards the final room of the dungeon is very nice.

Zhongli (the combat)

I don’t know what it was. The ridiculously high HP? The max ascension level? The weapon? The constellations? But I absolutely loved using Zhongli during this story quest.

While playing Genshin I have a tendency to ignore everything except offense and just run around, screaming at my various support characters to gain energy faster while just spamming Diluc’s E. And that makes me take a hell of a lot of damage at WL6. I come out of basically every fight involving more than one decently powerful mob with my team half- dead. But in this domain, Zhongli’s shield made it all better.

Zhongli’s shield is fecking nice. I got hit by nearly every one of that Pyro abyss mage’s attacks and took maybe 40 points of damage because Zhongli accidentally walked over a campfire.

Here are my feelings on the rest of Zhongli’s kit: his basic attacks hit like a wet noodle, I didn’t even try his charged attack (but it looks so fecking cool), his pillar is probably mainly for dive attacks and I don’t care about it too much yet but its CD is so fecking low it’s astonishing, I only tried his petrify meteor once but I got rid of the effect about a second in with Diluc and didn’t get a chance to see it properly.

Zhongli (the character)

this man really is just a vending machine full of history and trivia about Liyue.

We already knew a decent bit about Zhongli’s personality from Chapter 1 of the archon quests, but Zhongli’s story quest really hit home his devotion to contracts— more specifically, what happens when you break one and a solid bit about how Zhongli uses contracts to manipulate people.

Firstly, when you break a verbal contract you either get beat up. Or you get told information you don’t want to hear. Or something else. Zhongli doesn’t seem to harbor any resentment towards those who break contracts, but sees punishing those who do as his own contractual duty.

Secondly, Zhongli isn’t above using contracts to force people into doing certain things. He knows that Wanyan and Climate are entering the domain for their own purposes (justice for/ knowledge about the God of Salt and money, respectively) and creates a contract to force their hands in certain situations.

Climate is greedy, and won’t pass up a chance for more treasure— so Zhongli uses this breach of their previous contract to abandon his role as Climate’s guide/ consultant and get the man to leave. Wanyan is only interested in information about the salt god, and her breach of the contract lets Zhongli tell her the full truth.

Zhongli is excellent at understanding people and what they want, and uses this knowledge to further his own goals— it’s what he did in the Archon quest, and it’s what he did going into Sal Terrae.

Another interesting thing about Zhongli that was sort of shown previously (but that was made a lot clearer in this quest) is his strict adherence to unwritten/ unverbalized contracts. He absolutely never lies to Aether or any other characters— he’ll omit the truth easily, and will either say nothing or change the subject if he doesn’t want to answer a question, but Zhongli doesn’t actually speak any lies. Zhongli also obeys all the contracts, written and unwritten, that come with his job as a consultant and doesn’t actually attack Climate or reject him from the group until the guy breaks a contract.

To sum it all up,

Historia Antiqua Act 1 was a lot of fun. The domain was very well made, the plot was nice, and I can’t wait to roll Zhongli. This story quest seems to hint towards an Act 2 in the future. I’m looking forward to it.

#genshin impact #genshin zhongli #zhongli #genshin spoilers

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starrybethany · 3 years

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I’m Sure - Adam Boqvist Imagine Part 1

Word count: 3.3K

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

I heard about Adam before I met him. The guys had hung around my office, claiming they wanted to catch up with me, but I really know it’s just because they want to gossip. Hockey players are like that. We were catching up on how their summers went.

“Hey, did you see who was drafted, Y/N?” Dylan asks, wandering around the small room and staring at various objects.

“Nope,” I pop the ‘p’, scanning over the email recently sent to me. “Who was it?”

“This Swedish kids with sick hands,” Alex gushes.

“Really? Is he gonna be the next Patty Kane?”

“Please, like anyone could be like Showtime,” he scoffs.

Dylan pulled up some videos of his highlights, showing them to me.

I nod in approval. “Looks like hockey.”

They give me unamused looks.

We’ve had this talk plenty of times- they think that since I work at the United Center, I should understand hockey more, I think that since I work for United Center and not for the Blackhawks, it really doesn’t matter.

Adam had spent that season in London with the Knights. I had heard about him sprinkled into conversations here and there but really, I just focused on my work as being the suites advisor and making sure everything went smoothly. It was a great year for bookings, and apparently a great year for him.

Alex tried explaining the kid’s talent to me when we were on a double date with our partners, but I still couldn’t understand hockey that well, so I just smiled and nodded. He let that slip by.

It wasn’t until he was here in Chicago that I got it.

For some reason I had been down at the rink, watching practice take place. He had spent a few weeks with the Hawks- weeks that I had taken off to take care of my boyfriend after his knee surgery- and was sent down to Rockford almost as soon as I had returned.

The boys were really upset that I hadn’t met their new friend, Kirby especially, who was a new addition to our group almost as soon as Dominik introduced him to me.

But then there he was, back on the ice. I squinted my eyes, not remembering a ‘27’ on the team. The last name clicks, and I watch as he flies around on the ice, joking with the guys and passing the puck skillfully.

I got it. I understood then why the boys thought he was so talented and why he was back in the NHL at the mere age of nineteen. He played with confidence and speed, a conscious defenseman- something the boys tell me they’ve been struggling with.

Then I un-got it.

Alex had invited a couple of us over for drinks one night and my boyfriend, as he did often, accompanied me.

“Oh, you guys haven’t met yet,” Alex comments, pouring glasses of wine for all of us. “Y/N, this is Adam, the defenseman we’ve been telling you about. Adam, this is Y/N, she works as a suites advisor for the UC.”

“Nice to meet you,” I reach out, shaking his hand. I thought he was attractive, I won’t lie. From the detailed tattoos to the messy hair, he was just my type. But my boyfriend was sitting right next to me, so that was a line I didn’t want to cross.

It didn’t matter to Adam, though. He winked at me as we shook hands, which I found distasteful, but allowed myself to send him a tight-lipped smile.

“And this is my boyfriend, Steven,” I emphasis, resting my hand on Steven’s thigh.

“Oh yeah,” Alex mutters.

Alex always tended to forget about Steven. In fact, everyone seemed to forget about Steven.

“So, suites’ advisor?” Adam questions, ignoring the man sitting next to me. I could feel my boyfriend freeze up at the clear dismissal.

“Yep.”

“What do you do? Just say hello to all of the rich investors?” By the smirk on his face and the small sip of wine, I can tell the dig is intentional.

He knows there is much more that goes into this job than that, so I don’t know why he’s trying to get under my skin. Especially when we just met.

“Um, no, actually, I schedule who books suites for when, what suites are available, who caters what suite. A lot goes into it, actually,” I send him a fake smile.

His smirk just widens, digging under my skin even more.

Steven and I had left early that night.

I ungot it again at the family skate. I’ve never learned how to skate- the guys tried to teach me, but I get frustrated easily so they stopped attempting. I’m stumbling around on the ice by myself, the boys stopping by once and a while to check on me but quickly rushing off to be with their significant others. Steven has work today and we had an argument a few days ago, so I didn’t even bother inviting him to the family skate.

A hard body runs into me from behind, causing me to become unbalanced and hit the boards, catching myself before I fall right onto the ice.

“Ow,” I turn around to glare at the person who pushed me, narrowing my eyes even more when I see the familiar blonde boy and the smirk that he’s always wearing. “What’s your problem, dude?”

“What do you mean?” His accent is thick with his words, making my stomach flutter but the irritation replaces the fluttering quickly.

“You’ve just been rude to me for no reason. What’s up with that?”

He gives me a surprised look, like he didn’t expect me to confront him on it. But I don’t know why he would think that- if you’re going to be a dick, I have a right to call you out on it.

He scoffs quickly, an annoyed expression quickly replacing his surprised one. “You’re overthinking everything.”

I watch as he skates away in annoyance, Kirby replacing his spot next to me.

“You two are close, right?” I question.

He nods.

“Why does he hate me so much?”

He laughs at that and I’m the one who’s shocked now. “Isn’t it obvious? He likes you.”

I give him an unimpressed look. “You’re saying he’s acting like an asshole because he likes me?”

“Hey, I didn’t say it was logical,” he puts his hands up in defense, skating away.

I’ve always thought that was ridiculous. If you like someone, just tell them. And if you don’t, just avoid them. There is no reason that meanness is needed, especially if it’s because you really like that person.

I try to avoid Adam after that.

It doesn’t last long. About a week of avoiding him goes by before I find myself out at a bar with him and a few other players. I had just broken up with Steven, discovering that I no longer did my ‘in love’ giggle with him or smiled when I saw his name pop up on my phone.

But just because I fell out of love with him didn’t mean that it didn’t hurt. It hurt. It really hurt. So that’s how I found myself one, two, three, four drinks in at the bar, too drunk to remember what I was saying and too drunk to care about how I might feel the next day.

I went on the dance floor to blow off some steam, swaying along to pop songs and screaming the lyrics.

Arms wind around my waist and I look down at them, spotting a familiar sleeve. I turn around in his arms, careful to not move my hands. I’m worried of what I might do if that happens- even though Steven and I had just broken up, I’ve been touch-deprived for weeks.

“What are you doing, Adam?” I question, leaning closer so that he can hear me.

“You’re single now, right?”

“Yes, but did I give you permission to touch me?” I raise my eyebrows.

He takes a step back with amusement, raising his arms defensively to show me that he’s respecting my boundaries.

Then I can’t help but think: fuck it. After being in a committed relationship for years, why not mess around with some guy I have intense sexual chemistry with? He’s hot, he’s sexy, sure he’s an asshole but I’m sure that confidence would do wonders in bed.

So, I throw myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and tangling in his blonde locks as I pull him as close to me as he can get. One of his hands rests on my ass while the other rests on my hip, tugging me closer and closer to him.

He’s staying with Alex and Lyndsey, so we end up at my apartment in my bedroom. And when I wake up in the morning, I don’t regret it.

I regret it when I go to work the next day. He gives me a knowing look every time he passes me in the hall and even Kirby sends me a look or two.

It happens for a couple more days until one day he finds himself in my office with Dylan and Alex Nylander, another young rookie.

I’d been struggling with work all day, people bitching at me on the phone and numbers not adding up so all I really wanted was to finish the last hour of work and go home.

Then Adam gives me a look.

“What’s your problem?” I snap.

He gives me a confused expression, causing me to elaborate. “We slept with each other once and now you think you know so much about me? Do you think you can hold this over my head or something?”

Dylan chokes on his spit and Alex stifles his laughter, Adam flustering with words.

I organize a stack of papers on my desk, not even bothering to make eye contact with any of them. “I think it’s best if you three leave.”

They respect my wishes. An hour later I lock my door with a deep sigh, turning to make my way towards the parking lot. A body pushes me up against my door suddenly, causing me to gasp and dart my eyes up to see who my attacker is.

My eyes meet familiar blue ones and my body relaxes at the sight, then freezes up again when I realize I’m stuck in between his arms.

“You know, I didn’t really like that stunt you pulled earlier,” Adam breathes out, breath fanning over my face. His head leans down and he nibbles at the skin on my neck teasingly.

I hold back a moan at the action. “You didn’t?”

“No,” he bites down a little bit harder, causing me to wince. “I think you’re going to have to be punished for that.”

“You think so?” I whisper out.

“I think so.”

“Then I think we should get started on this now, don’t you think?”

“I agree.”

And that’s how I began sleeping with Adam Boqvist. Neither of us are looking for anything serious- I want to live the single life after being in a committed relationship for so long and he wants to enjoy his single, youth years in the great city of Chicago.

Plus, he would be the last person I would date.

He’s cocky, selfish, obnoxious, loud- I could keep going.

But either way, the relationship between us, or whatever you want to call it, isn’t end game. He isn’t the person I want to spend the rest of my life with. He’s not the one I want to raise children with or sit with on rocking chairs on the porch.

He’s just a guy I want to have sex with until I find the right person for me.

So, tell me why I’m sitting in my shitty apartment bathroom with two pregnancy tests sitting on the small basin of the sink.

I crisscross my legs on the toilet, fiddling with my fingers anxiously. They have to be negative. They have to be.

I can’t have a child right now. I want to focus on my career and build my reputation in the field. I don’t want to have a baby just a couple years into starting this job. I can’t afford a baby anyways; Chicago is an insanely expensive city and I can barely afford to live by myself.

Hell, I live in a loft.

Besides, I can’t be connected to Adam for the rest of my life. I can hardly stand the guy as it is.

As the minutes slowly pass by, I convince myself that I’m not actually pregnant. The ache in my ankles and lower back are due to stress from work and the vomiting is because my eating habits haven’t been as consistent as they usually are.

I’m just going to completely ignore the fact that I let Adam have sex with me without a condom while I was off my birth control for a while due to the weird side effects it was giving me.

It’s like I’m watching from outside of my own body as I reach forward, grabbing the sticks and holding one in each hand.

Positive. Positive.

My heartbeat fastens and I can feel my breath getting shallow. I try to focus my breathing, counting to four over and over and it slowly helps.

My eyes open back up as I ground myself and I can’t help but just stare at the sticks, switching between the two. I’m pregnant. I’m having Adam Boqvist’s baby.

I really didn’t prepare myself for the next time that I’d see him. I’ve already prepared myself to deal with this on my own- whichever way I decide to do that. I haven’t really decided that yet either.

“Hey,” he grins at me as he enters my office, shutting the door behind him. “I have about ten minutes before Kirby starts to look for me, let’s have a quickie.”

“No, Adam,” I sigh, swallowing the lump in my throat. The words are just begging to come out. I’m pregnant. You’re going to be a dad.

“Why not? Is it because we’re at work? We’ve done it in your office before,” he protests.

I set the pen down next to the pad of paper gently, crossing my hands on the top of the desk and turning to focus him with a serious expression. His mischievous grin fades when he notices that I’m not in the playful or teasing mood that I’m usually in when I see him.

“What’s up?” He questions.

“Adam, I’m pregnant.”

His reaction is not one I expect. His face turns to one of confusion, like he’s genuinely unsure why I would be telling him this.

“Congratulations?” He says it more like a question.

My eyes narrow into a glare at the word. He doesn’t believe that it’s his child. I feel hurt, disrespected, and angry. Who does he think I am, the type of girl who has unprotected sex with everyone who walks?

Not that there’s anything wrong with those girls, more power to them, it’s just- he knows me. We’ve been in each other’s beds most of the time for the past couple of months. I spend practically every night with him, and he has the nerve to doubt paternity?

“It’s yours, idiot.” I can’t help but let that dig slide.

“Well how do you know that?”

“Because if I’m not working, I’m having sex with you,” I say slowly, like I have to spell it out for him.

“Well how do you know it’s not- uh- what’s that guy’s name- Steven’s kid?” Adam inquires, his eyes showing that he’s searching hard for an excuse to not take responsibility.

I scoff, leaning back in my chair. “Whatever, Adam, I don’t care if you believe me. I’m going to figure it out.”

“You better.” And by the way he says it, I know what he wants me to do. I know that he doesn’t want to be a father- although actions do have consequences, there is a reason that abortion and adoption are options.

I can also tell that now he knows for sure that he is the father. And he sure as hell doesn’t want to be the father.

I don’t know why I’m so nervous. It’s just scheduling an appointment- I can always cancel or reschedule.

But my finger rests over the call button for a long time, ‘Planned Parenthood’ looking up at me, mocking me, taunting me.

Do you want an abortion or not? Do you want to be a mother or not? Do you want to go through this pregnancy or not?

There are so many questions flashing through my head. Quite frankly, I don’t know what I want to do. I have no one to turn to- as much as I love the team, I don’t want to cause a rift between them and Adam, and I don’t want to think that we’re closer than we actually are.

I cut out my family years ago.

My friends are all party girls, they wouldn’t know the first thing about a baby if it hit them.

Everything is telling me that I shouldn’t do this. I shouldn’t want to raise a baby on my own, I shouldn’t want to be a single mother.

But why do I so desperately yearn for it? Why did I feel joy when I looked at those sticks and why do I get excited at the thought of little footsteps running around on hardwood floors?

I press the call button.

It gets two rings in before I end it, knowing I’ve made my choice despite all odds.

I need to keep this baby. I know Adam won’t be there for me, but he doesn’t need to be. All this baby needs is to feel love and support and it’ll get that from me and me alone. I need to start fresh, though, to make sure that I’m the best mom that I can be.

“I can’t believe you quit, just like that,” Alex states with a disappointed tone.

I told the guys I quit because I want a change in scenery. That’s not a lie, I’m excited to be moving to the beautiful state of Colorado to start new. But I also hid the news about the baby. They don’t follow me on social media, so they’ll never know- unless Adam says something to them about it. But I doubt he will.

“We’ll miss you,” Dylan adds.

“I’ll miss you guys too,” I respond, closing the cardboard box containing all of my office supplies. Picture frames, pens, cool knick-knacks. All packed into a box ready to be shipped to the mountain zone.

“Hey Adam, Y/N was just getting ready to say goodbye,” Alex says, making me look up from taping up the box with wide eyes.

Sure enough, the blonde is leaning in the doorway, looking unsure for the first time since I’ve met him. It’s weird to see him so hesitant. It’s not him.

But I also don’t feel bad for him. A real dad would step up and want to be there for their kid. A good dad would do that. But clearly, and unfortunately, I was right. Adam Boqvist is and always will be selfish.

I say my goodbyes to Alex and Dylan, the box in one arm while I lock the office with the other hand.

“You’re really leaving?”

“Let’s just get this over with, Adam,” I start, turning to him. He winces when I look him in the eye, seeing all of the resentment and anger I feel towards him. “I’m keeping the baby. I’m raising the baby on my own. Don’t worry, I won’t put you down on the birth certificate. You’ll never see us again.”

His mouth opens then closes. “Are you sure?”

I scoff at the question, shaking my head in disbelief. I go to push past him. “Oh, trust me, I’m sure.”

#NHL imagines #Chicago Blackhawks imagine #Adam boqvist #Adam boqvist imagine #hockey imagines #bimsure

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thedumpsterqueen · 4 years

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Standards of Performance, Chapter 7: Hangovers and Confrontations

Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6

AO3 Link

I’ve been crazy busy this week, so this one is a bit short, I’m sorry! Thank you for your kind, complimentary, and h*rny thoughts in my messages this week. They truly keep me going. Big shoutout, also, to the few people that have messaged me angry about how long it’s taking Hotch and reader to get together - you had ample warning I was gonna drag this out ;) Final bit of business: there will be no chapter next Friday. I’m going to take the next two weeks to get ahead on writing so I’m not panicking when the content starts to get longer and more ~intense~. I’m sorry for that :( Thank you so much for your continued support, truly. You’re all amazing. Lastly - shoutout to @honeyshores for your advice on this one <3

Summary: You’re the BAU’s newest intern, desperate to prove yourself amongst an established team of much more experienced profilers. Agent Hotchner, the seemingly infallible team leader, sets strict expectations for your performance. He commands your respect without even trying, but is there something more to your relationship than a simple desire to impress your stony-faced boss?

Chapter Summary: You try to determine whether it's the hangover or Hotch causing more of your headache.

Words: 2320

Rating: Explicit, 18+. Warnings on AO3.

Pairings: Hotch x Reader, Hotch x You

Your phone’s ringtone blared into your ear, waking you up from a dreamless sleep. Opening it to check the notification, you groaned at the bright light emitting from the screen. Upon seeing it was a text from Hotch, all traces of unconsciousness dissipated, and you sat up in bed, head pounding.

Ok, so you were really fucking hungover.

After Hotch freaked out on you last night and you ditched Cooper, you’d made it your mission to have fun with the rest of the team, which involved you buying everyone many more drinks. It worked - you didn’t leave until 2 am - but you were about to pay the price, because Hotch apparently wanted everyone at the office in 30 minutes. You checked the time.

7:00 am.

If you didn’t know better, you would’ve thought he was doing this on purpose.

You showered and threw on a dress, praying the commute to the BAU would give the 3 ibuprofen currently digesting in your otherwise empty stomach time to work.

It didn’t - in fact, it just provided ample time for the nausea to set in. But by the haggard looks everyone else was shooting as they settled into the meeting room, they seemed to be in the same boat.

Garcia, wearing massive sunglasses and laying on the couch in the corner, spoke first. “I threw up in the shower this morning.”

Morgan raised his head out of his crossed arms on the table, probably about to make some quip about Garcia and showers, but seemed to think better of being upright and laid his head back down with a grunt.

“I feel great,” Reid said with a smile, prompting groans out of everyone, including yourself.

“That’s because you had like, 3 drinks.” JJ said. “And 2 of them were beer.”

“It’s also because I drank an appropriate amount of water. Did you know if you consume 8 ounces of water with each alcoholic drink, you can reduce the incidence of hangovers by-”

“Kid,” Rossi interrupted, taking a break from gulping down a massive mug of coffee. “Know your audience.”

“Everyone here?” Hotch asked, walking in and flicking on the lights, which earned him a collective hiss from the rest of the team. His shock at the reaction quickly turned to faint amusement. “More importantly, is everyone capable of working today without throwing up in a trashcan?”

“I’ll do my best, Sir, but I make no promises,” said Garcia, who definitely looked the worst for wear.

“Well, good, because Internal Affairs requested the Use of Deadly Force reviews early this year.”

Another groan from everyone, with the exception of you, who had no idea what reports he was referring to. As if reading your mind, Hotch turned to you and explained, “Use of Deadly Force reviews are required reports we fill out annually in which we analyze and justify every situation where deadly force was used against a subject. I know you weren’t here for most of these, but you can still help type them up, and it’ll be helpful to go over the cases for your learning.”

You nodded, not thrilled to watch the team dredge up the worst moments of the past year, but thrilled that today’s task didn’t require you to move from your chair. Hotch slid a box of files onto the table, reminded you all that he’d be in his office if you needed anything, and took his leave.

“Doesn’t he have to go over these with us, seeing as…” you trailed off, unsure how to speculate that Hotch was probably the one to take the shot in at least half of these cases.

Morgan knew what you were trying to say. “He goes over them before we submit the reports to Internal Affairs.” He grabbed the top file from the box and grimaced. “The Toelle case, man, remember that one?”

Prentiss sighed and rubbed her temples. “Just when I thought I might get through the day without losing my breakfast.”

____________

You pushed your laptop away and slouched back into your chair. “I need a break.”

It was a miracle you’d made it to this point, honestly - your headache was now raging despite pain relievers, and you’d spent half the day meticulously poring over the actions of some of the BAU’s most gruesome killers. (Prentiss was right - the Toelle file had been enough to make everyone, even Reid, turn a little green).

“You doing alright, kiddo?” Rossi asked, peering over the file he was reading.

“Just hungover. Went a little harder than I expected to, ya know?”

“What happened with Hotch last night?” Reid asked.

“Reid!” JJ admonished.

Morgan shrugged. “Hey, we’re all thinking it. We saw him drag you outside, then he stormed back in and left. How’d you manage to piss him off so bad?”

“I’m surprised you noticed anything. You were pretty occupied,” Rossi said, raising his eyebrows towards Garcia, who flushed scarlet.

You laughed and sent a silent thank you to Rossi for taking the heat off of you.

“He just told me the guy I was dancing with was on coke and that I shouldn’t hang out with him.” You shrugged. “It was weird and I kinda freaked out on him at first, but I guess he was right.”

That didn’t get the nonchalant response you expected - everyone looked just as confused as you were when Hotch had initially approached you.

“Wait, hold on,” Prentiss said, sitting forward. “He told you not to dance with that guy because he was on drugs?”

“Yeah,” you replied, “He said after Garcia got attacked by that one man, everyone on the team needs to be more careful about who they associate with. Is that not… the case…?”

You trailed off, because judging by the looks the rest of the team were exchanging, it definitely wasn’t .

JJ shook her head. “Hotch has never really cared what we do in our private lives unless it affects our job.”

“Yeah, like remember that time you dated Will for a year without telling us and we had to pretend we didn’t know?” Prentiss asked, grinning.

“Or that time you hooked up with the mail guy and you made us sign for your packages for the next month?” Morgan ribbed back at Prentiss.

“I was drunk -”

“I think you should talk to Aaron,” Rossi suggested gently over what was quickly becoming a team debate over who had the craziest love life.

Still reeling over the knowledge that Hotch’s erratic behavior towards you wasn’t merely some standard attempt to keep the team safe, you nodded and stood.

It was time for some answers, god damn it.

The righteous indignation that spurred you towards Hotch’s office was quickly being replaced by nervousness as you neared. You considered turning back, but you were sure he heard you stomping down the hall, and you weren’t trying to make a habit of awkwardly hesitating outside like you had at his apartment. Despite his door being ajar, you knocked gently, and he looked up from his standard mound of paperwork and nodded.

“Come in.”

You obliged and sat down across the desk from him, twiddling your fingers. He waited for you to speak, never one to opt out of awkward silence.

“I think we should talk about what happened last night. Sir.”

He cocked his head slightly, setting down his pen and folding his hands in front of him.

“What are you referring to?”

You hated how he did this - it was an interrogation tactic, you knew that. He’d make the subject describe a situation with which both parties were clearly familiar to get their interpretation of events, which was usually very telling. And, more importantly, it made them uncomfortable.

You rolled your eyes. “I’m referring to you pulling me away from the group and telling me not to dance with that guy at the club.”

Hotch sighed and picked his pen back up, scanning his paperwork, making it very clear he felt this conversation wasn’t worth his time. “I explained my reasoning last night. If you take issue with the standards I expect of my team outside of the office-”

“But you don’t,” you blurted out, cutting him off.

“Don’t what?” he asked, now looking at you.

“Don’t expect that of your team,” you explained. “I talked to them about it just now. They said you’ve never acted that way before.”

“Their interpretation of events may be different-”

“It’s not their interpretation,” you interrupted for the second time. “They told me about all their dating escapades and you’ve never made it your business, not once. Why am I different to you?”

You hadn’t intended that last part to come out the way it did, and you cringed at the vulnerability in your tone. He was silent for one, two seconds, and you knew then he was making a decision, that the answer to your question wasn’t the simple truth he’d projected it to be.

“You’re the youngest member of the team, and the least experienced. I feel a responsibility to make sure you don’t make any decisions that you may regret. I’m sorry if you felt I was out of line.”

The detachment in his tone felt like a punch to the gut. Some part of you had been secretly wishing, you supposed, that his actions betrayed something deeper - that you were different to him, and not just because you were young and naive. And when the team had reacted the way they did, you’d gotten your hopes up that it had meant something. Just like him telling you about his past. Just like him killing Matthews. Just like… it didn’t matter . Even if he had been lying just now, it wouldn’t have changed anything. He wasn’t letting you in because he didn’t want to. You’d overestimated your significance in his life, but in reality, you were probably no more than a blip on his radar. Hotch was the sun, the central point to which everyone around him was drawn, and you were a lonely, distant planet that had somehow convinced yourself you were close enough to have gotten burned.

Choking back undeserved tears, you left his office, fighting the bile that was finally rising from your stomach, realizing that this was about to be the second time in as many days that your feelings for him had made you puke.

____________

When Matthews lunged at you, he hadn’t spared a thought, not a moment for consideration before breaking his neck. He knew, even as he felt the vertebra detach from its seat in the base of the skull, that there had been other paths - not that killing him was unrequited, of course, but it was a last-resort type of action, and Hotch had never been a last-resort type of man. Morgan hadn’t questioned it, not beyond a hushed, “You good?” after the whole thing went down, but he could sense his shock at the fact that Hotch was the one to go straight for lethality.

And your reaction - that was what kept him awake at night. Not killing the suspect; it was a sick truth, but he’d killed far too many people by now to have that same nauseous, horrified reaction he did the first few times. No, it was the way you looked at him afterwards. He’d expected shock, panic - hell, even complete disgust - but you’d looked at him like he was your hero. Like he was good, somehow. And he’d wanted to correct every day since, say, “No, you’ve got me wrong, I’m not what you think I am,” but he hadn’t mustered up the courage. He’d grown to need that look, if he was being honest with himself; needed someone to gaze upon him with the admiration and respect and doe-eyed awe that you did, because sometimes it was the only thing that kept him from going home alone to his apartment and shattering every mirror in the fucking place so he didn’t have to look at his reflection.

So when you’d asked him - all flushed face and halting words and twisting fingers - why he’d acted the way he did, he couldn’t be truthful with you. He’d answered with what should’ve been the truth, because he couldn’t tell you that he’d wanted to kick that boy’s teeth in from the minute he saw him touch you for daring to defile something so innocent and pure and good, even if you’d wanted it. Especially if you’d wanted it, if he was being honest with himself.

This was all twisted, of course. There were a million ways to profile a man in his 50’s who thought the way he did about someone your age (not to mention his employee, for fuck’s sake), none of them good. He’d deserved the raised eyebrow Rossi gave him before he stalked off to drag you from the dancefloor, and he’d more than deserved the constant, chiding internal voice scolding him whenever he paid too much attention to you, asked you an easy question just so he could see you light up at knowing the answer, divulged information he hadn’t talked about with anyone in years.

He saw how much his words affected you. You’d tried to hide it, but you were so endearingly bad at masking your feelings, and even though his stomach twisted to see you crushed, he felt a twinge of hope knowing you’d wanted a different answer. He could’ve given you one that would have made you happier:

“You’re important to me.”

“I was worried about you.”

Even, “I wanted to spend time with you last night, instead.”

But those were all too adjacent to a truth that he starkly refused to consider.

So he let you down, because letting people down was something with which Aaron Hotchner had plenty of goddamn practice.

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romanceboys · 4 years

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(interview) vogue korea april issue 2020 - perfect taemin

1. superm was another chance for taemin’s ever-evolving performance to be showcased. i thought a lot about how to create synergy with these exceptional performers. to put it simply, i wanted us to come off as energetic. but these days i’ve had a change of heart. our identity is definitely important. rather than just working hard, for superm to show off their colours well we need to show our personalities; we should be seen as one team. to be able to formulate a solid and clear colour is our homework. that’s why it’s regrettable. we couldn’t come up with a novel choreography to carry our new identity. we tried a lot in the practice room. superm seems to have found its musical identity but hasn’t gotten a hold of its performance character yet. the stages are too vague. 2. now that you are finally promoting with your best friend kai in one group, you two must’ve shared your concerns. since this friend is someone who has a lot of passion and ambition, he talks about various things. for instance, this style is pretty good, this choreography is quite trendy. thanks to him i’ve learned a lot. he is also very knowledgeable about the latest ‘hottest’ genres. we talk about these things often and even watch videos together. kai gives off ‘popular’ vibes. compared to him, my interests are quite unusual. nowadays kai is interested in music while i am into science. 3. is it science fiction? these days we’ve been watching videos on the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics together. 4. what aspect of it interested you? originally i was very curious, after seeing a recommended video on youtube i learned about quantum mechanics for the first time. i couldn’t understand the explanation, even those who were explaining it said it was a difficult concept. that was very fascinating to me. kind of like magic. 5. are you reading books on the subject too? the subjects of the books i read are different (laughs). there’s a book that was published long ago called ‘regarding the pain of others.’ it is a pessimistic book that gathers contradictory opinions of people for instance ‘people find joy in the pain of others, it is instinctual.’ as a celebrity, there are times when you are criticized but there are also times when you receive comfort from people. rather than blaming others, while reading this book, i began to think ‘people are like that, at most i shouldn’t behave like them.’ my interests are all over the place. 6. what makes you and kai click? we converse well. our opinions almost never clash and we respect each other. moreover, we fully understand our own roles in superm. 7. what position do you hold in superm? since i can’t ask if it’s the main dancer. in pictures and interviews, i’m the center. baekhyun hyung is the leader (laughs). 8. when the conversation wasn’t flowing well during the talkshow interview, i saw you neatly concluding it. that does happen. nct and wayv are still in the learning phase. that’s why i first listen to all of their thoughts during interviews then flesh it out with details later. 9. compared to when you set out abroad as shinee then promoting overseas as superm now, the status of k-pop has changed. looking at how superm was able to start off with an arena tour in the us and europe made me feel that k-pop is a ‘hot’ topic. in the past, we’d use venues of this scale for smtown concerts. even if you promote mainly in asia, seeing the audience section will make you realise the perception of k-pop has changed. 10. though k-pop’s scope has expanded and diversified, its definition has become simple. what are your concerns? my first concern is language. after i was able to communicate via language during my japanese activities, there were so many advantages. though each country overseas has its own language, i felt that i needed to learn english first. there are many international fans who want to experience the chemistry between our members, they’d feel much closer to us if we communicated using (a common) language. k-pop isn’t one dimensional. it’s not only about the music, there is music video, style, etc. included. people would make dance covers in the past, now they even emulate the styling. all of this is korean pop culture. 11. superm were on the ellen degeneres show and jimmy kimmel live. before we went on the ellen show we really rehearsed the interview a lot. america’s atmosphere is different so you receive questions that are never asked in korea. they don’t disclose the questions in advance either. we were also worried because the emcee could ad-lib. we came up with the most probable questions and practiced, we also received lessons from american comedians. compared to that, we went on jimmy kimmel live without any prep. 12. what went according to plan and what didn’t? the questions were not as intense as expected, ellen was well aware about k-pop culture so it went smoothly. 13. is there a dance genre you’re into these days? contemporary, lyrical hiphop, in the future as superm i think i’ll be able to show more, not the kind of dancing that you do after learning a given choreography but the kind that is full of emotions. it’s about giving meaning to your gestures. it isn’t out yet but my concert vcr features lyrical hiphop. in it i think i’m dancing alone with a giant full moon as my backdrop but get confused when there are two of us, either it’s another person or a shadow. a choreographer with a body type similar to mine had to dress in all black to come across as my shadow. i wore an oriental outfit with smokey makeup. 14. how do you usually come up with your ideas? i get inspired by the choreographers and creative directors. i imagine it as we converse then the idea develops. 15. was there a time you were inspired by fashion? of course. art begins with the five senses. what you see with your eyes, the things you can feel, clothes, food, perfume, music that you listen to are all sources of inspiration. i create private accounts to follow fashion brands. 16. having debuted at the age of 16, you are still young but your work experience has been long. i was in certain situations because of this. it doesn’t happen as often now but even in my early 20s, i completely belonged to the senior category at broadcasting stations. they are my juniors but many of them are also hyungs, i’m their senior but i’m also the youngest. now there are even staff members who are younger than me. they’re too formal with me (laughs). 17. are there juniors that ask you for advice or help? the superm members! especially ten, he is very curious. when we come out of a company meeting, he’ll get surprised and say “wow, hyung everything you said was right.” i even hear things like ‘veteran’ and ‘seer.’ apparently my predictions come true. but i try not to advise them as much. taking the initiative to say something feels overwhelming. 18. born in 1993 between millennials and gen z, do you share any characteristics with those in your age bracket? we’ve picked out a few of their traits. the first one is ‘they don’t eat fast food.’ me too! i took care of my health well ever since i started out with shinee. i was brainwashed from home to avoid foods that harmed the body. not even ramyeon, snacks were also banned. and just like that in my 20s i started carrying out the regime on my own. it’s become a habit to look after my health ever since i moved out. i always eat things that are good for my body, if the hyungs are taking vitamins, i’d ask for one too. 19. i suddenly recall a variety show where you were the only one who skipped the sauce and ate the meat on its own! one should not eat irritable foods. my mother’s words. 20. how about ‘they watch videos on youtube rather than tv. even the ads don’t particularly bother them.’ that’s right. i watch youtube more often than tv, while watching the ads i'd even marvel at their production quality. i’ve signed up for the premium package now so i don’t see the ads anymore. 21. ‘marrying or wanting to buy their own house.’ i currently live alone and i have no interest in decking out my house. at first, i didn’t think like that but a month later my interest dissipated. i’m lazy. it’s not like my house is for others to see, i’m fine with the incomplete feeling for now. 22. and finally ‘they avoid investing in financial companies.’ i don’t do that. my parents manage that, if there’s a good tip i’ll just let them know. 23. hiphop musicians tend to express their success through music. as an idol musician how have you been using the wealth you accumulated all these years? i invest in food instead of saving up (laughs). honestly, i don’t spend much. i don’t have anything i want. though i do spend on others a lot. 24. what kind of household did you grow up in? what gifts did you inherit from your family as a musician? i inherited my body type. all of my cousins have model-like physiques, they’re taller and slimmer than me. my mother sings well. my father plays instruments as a hobby. oh, and my paternal aunt used to be a ballerina. so perhaps i inherited such genes? 25. you’ve been doing the same thing for more than 10 years. what is the purpose behind creating music and showcasing it? in the past, i would think i should do well, i need to be number one, these days i’ve become ambitious for other aspects. i take pride in the fact that my work supplies others with positive energy. i feel a sense of accomplishment when fans like my music, i want to make them as happy as i am. everyone’s profession is different but i hope this synergy gained from mutual dependence leaves a good impression. 26. are you still composing songs? i used to but now i only participate in lyric writing. it differs with each song, at times the lyrics are emotional or talk about abstract love. it seems like my next solo album will include a song i wrote the lyrics to. sometimes songs composed by overseas composers might prove too difficult for the general public to understand. so i participate a lot in the arrangement or mixing phase. i point out the parts that should be added to the composition and those that are unneeded. teacher lee soo man does give advice but it often feels like i do the producing of my own solo album. 27. taemin’s originality is the clearest when he promotes as a solo artist. which song has best represented your identity? i worked hard on all of them but there was a turning point. at first there was ‘danger’ then ‘press your number’ was a conceptual performance, the transition to ‘move’ turned out well. i wanted to break out from the typical choreography routine and create my own identity, the resulting performances were ‘move’ and ‘want.’ my next solo album is again different. i’ve been making a lot of changes these days. 28. you seem to have high standards when it comes to composing music. was there ever an occasion where you absolutely refused to compromise and gave others a hard time? everyone is used to it (laughs). it’s something i learned from the head manager hyung who’s been with me since debut. the belief that ‘there is nothing that can’t be done. there is no such thing as impossible.’ another team manager hyung would tell me ‘you remind me of our head’ (laughs). honestly, the staff around me work beyond their given roles and with affection. normally work timings are from 9 to 7, they stay back till 10-11 pm for me. they don’t hold it against me, and when things do well, they too feel a sense of fulfillment together with me. 29. the new unreleased song must be quite different from the original then. there are already 12 versions of the song. when i thought we were somewhat done, we recently started arranging it again (laughs). 30. you hold your body to specific standards for the best performance outcome. i don’t ‘bulk up.’ previously, i used to work out when i ate a lot but my body would feel weighed down, it wasn’t what i wanted. if i gain a lot of muscles or become thick, it hampers my dancing form. that’s why i don’t put on weight. i train my stamina and strength and avoid bulking up my shoulders and arms. 31. by the way, do you do neck exercises as well? i was touched looking at your long neck in the vogue photoshoot. i had been noticing this too, now i know the reason! i think it’s because i dance. a lot of resistance goes into the neck when you dance. our head is the heaviest and it’s the neck that supports it. it goes away when i rest for a few days. we’re shooting amidst the superm tour maybe that’s why it looks thicker now. 32. an editor who has been watching you closely for a long time said that you’ve become extroverted. could it be that experience and relationships have made you comfortable and secure? i’ve lowered my guard. i couldn’t reveal my current self to others before. as a child i used to be so introverted that i’d hide behind my mother when strangers would get into the elevator. i changed with time. 33. is your ever-present smile a product of your personality or just business decorum? i’m always smiling. i even laugh at things other people don’t find funny (laughs). 34. shinee members are currently serving in the army. when they’re on break what kind of advice or nagging do they subject you to? i wish they would do that. we have a group chat on kakaotalk and i always revive it by asking “what’s up” “happy new year.” but as soon as the conversation picks up they only talk about the army. when i inform them about an issue at the company they say “really?” then it’s military talk again. when i feel left out and tell them to stop, they reply with “you’ll understand when you get here.” 35. in your career as a musician, when do you feel the best? when it’s time to reveal all that i’ve been preparing for so long! it feels different from finishing it. the first stage after debuting, shinee’s first concert, performing at tokyo dome, receiving the award... these are the moments that come to mind. 36. watching taemin grow for the past decade has been a huge source of strength. what are your dreams now? there are many. first of all, once shinee comes back again, i want the entire group to give off a feeling of revival. usually after getting discharged, it’s hard to keep up with the next generation, i want to avoid that. i’ve imagined it all when the shinee members return. second, i want to perform a lot on various stages as a solo artist. superm topped the billboard 200 album chart, it’d be nice to enter the top 10 on the hot 100 digital chart as well. 37. you are really talented at setting goals. i’ve gotten greedier. it’s just not for myself but i want to do it for the fans and members, even the staff. they become my driving force. i really am lucky. everybody works hard but i even get the recognition for it. come to think of it, i was given many opportunities and i worked hard to make the most of them, i’m really happy my efforts paid off in the end. i’m surrounded by good people. shinee, superm, many people fill in the gaps for me that i can’t solve on my own. 38. superm’s concert title is ‘we are the future.’ when you hear the word ‘future’ what are you reminded of? first, it’s h.o.t. (laughs). future-oriented things come to mind like artificial intelligence, drones, 3d hologram concerts. then again, in the future, though people might be able to watch concerts through holograms, i think humans will not give up on the tasks they themselves can do. my work will still be the same in the future. 39. the reason you don’t write anything on instagram. i don’t have anything to say yet (laughs). i don’t know if i should make my instagram cool or approachable. when fretting between writing a caption or using an emoticon, i just end up leaving it blank. actually i signed up after my manager hyung suggested that instagram would be good. so i’ve made one but i still don’t know what to upload. i get teased by the people around me for putting up selfies. i even took lots of pictures especially for instagram but... 40. did you not post the pictures? the point of instagram is real-time communication. is that so! i didn’t know (laughs).

translated by romanceboys — take out with full credit (source)

#shinee #taemin #p:taemin #vogue korea april issue 2020 #interview #translations #e:superm #enjoy!

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crystalelemental · 3 years

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Since @patchun brought up Hugh as a rival, here’s my personal take on each rival character in Pokemon, because I’m bored.

Blue - I actually do like the guy, and I think that overall he’s a solid rival. Story-wise, he’s one of the few that is always one step ahead of you, and clears the entire league before you. His team is solid, and he makes adjustments based on the starter Pokemon he picks. I also think he’s just kinda fun. He’ll make excuses about why he lost (”I picked the wrong Pokemon!”) and gives you shit as someone he considered less than him, but there’s still some level at which he’s like “Oh hey, you’re improving!” He’s a solid rival character.

Silver - I kinda feel like Silver isn’t really your rival, he’s just someone that shows up a lot that you have to deal with. Like it’s never entirely established that the two of you are competing, he just wants to kick your ass for funsies in all his earlier encounters, and only comes to respect you at all at the end of his entire quest. Which is cool! I actually like Silver a lot, I think he’s got a ton going on and is a pretty unique change from Blue. Blue was super invested in the League and being the best, while Silver’s also about being the best, but seems to have little interest in the League itself. His motives are outside of the League, and frankly outside of your own. He grows into the role of rival to the player more as a result of Lance’s comments to him and his own soul-searching. I think that’s great.

Brendan/May - And then there’s these two. I’m not entirely sure what the plan was behind these two. I’ve heard they shifted off of the antagonistic rivals because bullying was a problem, and that’s why every rival since has been your friend rather than an opponent, but these two aren’t even that really. They barely exist. As characters, they rarely show up and don’t really do a whole lot at any point, and as a rival trainer, they’re so bad they never fully evolve their starter. Brendan and May are, to me at least, the worst rivals in the series. If it was because they thought early rivals were too mean and toned it down, they did so without accounting for any alternative traits to make them interesting, but at least they started getting it right soon after.

Barry - I actually really like Barry. Initially, he was a bit annoying with the whole “I’m fining you!” gimmick, and being supremely absent-minded half the time, but he grows on you a lot. Kinda like Blue, Barry spends most of the game ahead of you, and is a pretty competent trainer. But instead of being aggressive in his rivalry, he is your friend and acknowledges how good you are. He never seems to even acknowledge his defeat to any extreme degree, he’s just having fun and doing his own journey while using you as a point of comparison, while still taking this really seriously, in part because his father is a renowned trainer that he wants to live up to. Which is solid. Also I gotta admit, the situation with the lake guardians was really cute, how Rowan recognizes him and gives him the tougher mission, how into it he gets, and then how hurt he is that he wasn’t able to protect Uxie. Barry just a sweet kid and a solid rival.

Cheren - Cheren is much like Barry, in that his focus is on battling at its core. Contrary to Barry though, Cheren is actively irritated that he can’t seem to beat you. He keeps pace with you, but I don’t think actually gets ahead of you at any point in the story. If anything, he’s interesting because he’s someone driven by the same journey to be a great trainer that you are, but is coming face to face with the realization that he’s not making the same gains, and may not be able to achieve that initial dream. He has to adapt, and ultimately settles into the Gym Leader role, and is a bit of a mentor in BW2, which is really cool. That’s really what makes the BW rivals so good, is that instead of just being another super good trainer who’s ahead of you all the time, they explore the idea of someone who wants to be the best but isn’t, and how he handles that. I like it a lot.

Bianca - Best rival, fight me. What makes Bianca interesting is that she’s kinda like Brendan and May, in that she’s not...really here to be a spectacular trainer. She is but she isn’t. She starts out on her journey to become a trainer, but isn’t super motivated by competition like Cheren. In fact, Bianca doesn’t really know what she wants to do at all. What makes her interesting is that change from being just another trainer to battle, to finding her own path in life that doesn’t involve the competition. It’s not what she wants to do, and I always really liked that. She eventually settles on being a professor’s assistant, and I think it’s great seeing her settle into a role that makes her happy. The series has always posited this idea that people exist with Pokemon in different ways, but this is honestly the first time we really get a rival who comes to engage with Pokemon and battling in a different way from the usual.

Hugh - I don’t like Hugh. I get the attempt with him, and appreciate it. A lot of Gen 5 centers around Team Plasma, and in this case, Hugh is a character who was directly impacted by their actions when they stole his sister’s Purrloin. He was a child and couldn’t do anything, so he’s grown up resentful of Team Plasma and determined to become strong enough to protect his sister and those he cares about. He’s along on your journey to improve, but never once does he seem all that invested in the League itself. He’s more invested in taking down Team Plasma and getting his sister’s Purrloin back, and all of that should come together into a really cool rival for this generation’s thematic narrative. His problem is really just that he talks. “You’re about to feel my rage!” Hugh, please. You’re embarrassing me in front of Zinzolin. I can’t say I hate Hugh, but I feel like he’s a character who just missed the mark they were aiming for, largely by being more of an edgy nuisance than an interesting character study.

Serena/Calem - I am only talking about these two because fuck the XY friend group. Honestly, they’re...pretty forgettable. Like I honestly can’t remember any significant personality traits from them at all. They’re like Brendan and May, only slightly better because they keep at it even if they’re constantly behind you. I think by biggest problem is how they never feel like they amount to much thematically. A big focus in XY is meant to be on scarcity. Mega Bracelts are rare, and not everyone can own one or utilize mega evolution. You battle them to get one, which by default means they don’t. And that sets up some interesting ideas, right? Like, how does that impact things? When there’s legitimate scarcity and not everyone can make use of this, are you willing to crush the dream of your childhood friend to make your own come true? Well actually it doesn’t matter because it’s never really brought up. The great tragedy of XY was lost potential, and the rival’s a big source of that.

Hau - Hau is...a mixed bag for me. On the one hand, SuMo. On the other, USUM. In SuMo, I like Hau a lot. He feels a lot like Barry, if Barry didn’t give a shit about competition. Hau is very laid back as a rival, and challenges you while attempting to keep pace, but ultimately exists to have fun and enjoy his journey. This is the trait that makes him and Gladion such fun counterparts. But then USUM rolls around, and makes up this whole subplot about how he’s not actually trying and that this is a betrayal of his Pokemon? And then it leads to this whole crisis where suddenly he’s super invested in competition and being the best, and ends up as your Champion battle? And it just doesn’t feel as interesting. If anything it feels like USUM’s eternal Gen 1 dick sucking coming back to reference your rival as the champion, rather than actually focusing on the character’s development.

Gladion - Okay, I really like Gladion. He’s a bit more like Silver than anything else, in that I don’t think he ever like...expresses wanting to be your rival? He just shows up and challenges you because fuck you in particular. But through interactions, and your eventual assistance with stopping his mother and breaking down those emotional walls, Gladion grows into someone who still wants to be a great trainer, but is no longer driven by the need to be the best to protect his sister and stop his mother. Rather, he just learns to enjoy competition for its own sake. And I really like that! I feel like he’s Silver, but refined to be a more interesting character.

Hop - Okay stop me if you’ve heard this one. Hop’s a rival who’s invested in the competition, and is largely driven by living up to a family member’s legacy. He’s generally friendly, but expresses intense dissatisfaction with his performance because he can’t beat you or Bede. He’s been competitive, but ultimately very laid back until a sudden realization that he needs to try harder and is suddenly super driven to become the best. His post-game arc is entirely about finding out that maybe he doesn’t want to be a trainer all that much, and finding his own calling, which is a professor’s assistant. That’s Barry, Cheren, Hau, and Bianca, in that order. I do not love Hop. I don’t hate him. There are definitely worse rivals with less going on. But Hop feels like an amalgamation of previous rivals rather than his own being. He goes from laid-back but invested in your rivalry, to super serious and determined to be the best, and ending on maybe not even wanting to be a trainer that much. It’s a weird shift in his journey that I don’t think meshes as well. He takes the parts of these previous rivals that made them interesting, but it turns out slapping them all together makes a character that’s less than the sum of its parts. However, I will give points for one thing I actually love about Hop: when he keeps losing, he completely changes up his team. That’s something no rival has done. Minor adjustments, like Blue dropping Raticate, have happened, but we’ve never seen a complete shuffle in who they lead with or what the team composition is. So I do think there’s merit to Hop, even if he’s not my favorite. It could be worse. It could be...

Marnie - A literal nothing. She does announce that you are her rival, so I guess I have to talk about her. She’s nothing. Like, I kinda have to give more points to her than Brandan/May solely because she does at least try, but she never really has anything going for her. Her brother is more compelling than she is, being a gym leader in charge of an area that is really struggling, and trying to showcase that Dynamaxing isn’t required to be a good trainer. Marnie...has none of that. At all. She just has the freedom to be a challenger for the Champion title, and the town is insistent on her winning to prove...something. I honestly do not understand the plan. It wouldn’t change that their territory has no ability to Dynamax, and unlike Piers, Marnie has no qualms about using Dynamax to win. She has no real convictions, and if memory serves only battles you twice. And she’s not exactly that good either time. I never once felt like Marnie mattered. People just liked her design and decided she was great, but she...she doesn’t do anything.

Bede - I’m hesitant to count Bede, but you battle him more often than you battle Marnie, and he does eventually consider you an obstacle to overcome so I’ll count him. Honestly, don’t like him that much, but he’s better than nothing. Bede’s interesting in that he’s kind of a rival that’s ahead of you? At least implicitly. I don’t think we get hard confirmation that he’s beaten any of the challenges before you, but a lot of his battles involve him being in a location before you got there. I do kinda like his arc, in that he’s a bit of an inverted Cheren? In the sense that his ultimate endpoint is as a Gym Leader, but not because he’s looking at things in terms of adjusting his goal due to always losing, but adjusting his goal because it turns out that’s just really what he wants to do. At first he hates it, and his final challenge to you is a means of saying he’ll quit forever if he can’t win, but ultimately he settles into an appreciation for being a Gym Leader, and I really like that. While I dislike him more on a personal level, I will say I think he’s a better rival than Hop. Has more going on for himself, anyway.

#pokemon

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tartaghetti · 4 years

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stronger than you | strong! fem! reader hcs

you are a 2nd year manager of karasuno and here are hcs on how noya, tanaka, and ennoshita react to you being physically stronger than you seem

☆ nishinoya yuu

you, along with yachi, were introduced by kiyoko as new managers for the club. you've been in the club for quite some time now and you're well acquainted with everyone now

especiall noya since the both of you are in the same year (and he's very excited about how they have a manager who's in the same year as him)

noya is just an energetic and spontaneous ball

he'll go to your classroom and shout your name so you could go to the clubroom together

you would find it very endearing if it weren't for the knowing looks your friends would give you whenever noya came by

OKAY SO

you joined in your 2nd year after leaving the martial arts club

why'd you leave? you weren't too keen on the suffocating competitive atmosphere in the club

the club president wasn't very good in keeping everyone organised

the club was overall just a mess and you didn't want to get involved in any more problems

while everyone's cleaning up, hinata and kageyama snuck to the court a bit a do extra spiking drills

you heard them bickering but you didn't actually expect they'd do anymore drills

but at this point, you weren't surprised anymore

this time, hinata went a bit all out and the ball came flying towards an unsuspecting noya who was drinking what's left of his water bottle

fortunately, you were nearby

you immediately drop whatever you were holding (which were brooms) and immediately go in front of noya, fixing your stance (like how you would during a hand to hand spar)

you use your arm and hover it steadily in front of your face where the ball was going towards

you successfully stop the ball, which you grab from the floor

you're unaware of the stares from the other people in the gym

"hinata! kageyama! be careful! you could have hurt someone!" you lecture the first years, to which they immediately apologize for (after they've completely processed what you just did)

you turn around and look at noya, who's just looking at you in awe

"noya-san? you okay there?" you wave your hand in front of him, where he finally responds by blinking

he finally processes everything, he's confused, he's blushing, he's staring at you in awe because a girl saved him?? a v v pretty girl saved him from a ball that could've hit his head??

he's just shocked, my dood

for the first time, he's at a loss for words

"earth to noya-san?"

he finally speaks

"[y/n]-san... that... that was so aWESOME! you're... i guess you were stronger than i had initially thought, y'know? thanks for saving my head there! you're so cool, [y/n]-san!"

you're blushing now too

sure, you've been called cool by other people, but it seems that when noya says it, it just feels so different

"thank you, noya-san..."

the next few days, he'll just bother you about where you got so strong and when he learns that you know martial arts, he just WANTS you to teach him some self-defense

he was already attracted to you when you joined the club as a manager

now he learns that you're actually physically stronger than you seem??

bro, he's infatuated

wait no, scratch that

he's head over heels for you

expect a lot of compliments from him

also expect a lot of, "[y/n], do you think you can carry me?"

"for the last time, noya, i am NOT carrying you"

☆ tanaka ryuunosuke

you already knew tanaka, during your 1st year, even before joining the karasuno volleyball club because of ennoshita

but you've only met with him once or twice on the rare occasions where you'd do a group project with ennoshita

you joined the volleyball club in your 2nd year as a manager for the boy's team when the club that you were previously in had disbanded due to lack of members

to everyone's surprise, tanaka recognizes you the moment you enter the gym

you quickly become well acquainted with everyone

it's been like 3 months since you've joined the club and you're comfortable with walking home with everyone

especially with tanaka since coincidentally, you live in the same neighborhood as him

this one particular day, tanaka says he'd forgotten his textbook in coach ukai's shop while you were already walking home with him

you guys weren't that far from his shop but you were already tired enough to go back with him

you let him go and retrieve his textbook, assuring that you'll be fine on your own

he runs back to the shop and you lean onto a pole nearby, waiting patiently for him

that's when two creepy men approach you and begin small talk, getting into your personal space too many times

they crossed the line when one of them tried to lift up your skirt, the other one pinning you onto the wall

before they could do anything else, you immediately go under his arm and out while it was still a bit loose and you immediately strike your hand on his nape, earning a pained groan from the man

the other one hesitated to attack you but he did, trying to punch you, but you immediately dodge, making him stumble and fall

using whatever strength you had left, with your adrenaline helping, you lift the other and drop him onto his companion, earning groans from the two of them

the moment tanaka comes back, he's immediately in front of you, in a very defensive stance, barking at the strangers

he doesn't look at you as he grabs your arms, pulling you close to him as you continue walking home

finally, he looks at you and notices the state that you are in

your blazer's unbuttoned, the blouse underneath lost the top button, your clothes are creased and your hair is just everywhere

you're sweating, still not recovering from the adrenaline rush from earlier

lowkey you look attractive rn

"[y/n]! are you okay?! are you hurt?! the hell happened back there?! did those guys try to touch you?!"

"tanaka, chill, i'm fine. just some random dudes trying to get touchy with me. nothing i can't handle"

he's relieved that you're okay and he makes sure you get home safely (ohoho what a gentleman) and once he gets everything in his head, he's in love

i mean, who wouldn't be attracted to a girl who just DESTROYED two men trying to touch her

the next day when you greet him, he's all blushy and scared because you might beat his ass if you felt like it

he later learns that you were taught self-defense at an early age and continued training up until now

tanaka will stare at you whenever you're talking with someone, hoping you wouldn't notice, but boy's just too obvious about his infatuation

the whole team probably knows his crush on you without him confirming it

☆ ennoshita chikara

you joined the volleyball club shortly after transferring to karasuno in your 2nd year

you're classmates with ennoshita, so you were relieved that you knew someone in the team

you quickly became friends with everyone on the team a few days later due to them being very friendly and kiyoko never leaving you confused during practice

once you're comfortable enough with them, you've shown your very playful side

leading you, along with noya and tanaka, to get some lectures from ennoshita

you were never one to actually do dumb things, but you always encouraged them to do the dumb thing

"im not a bad influence i swear" turns into "lmao yea, you should totally give that snake a pat"

even though you seem playful, you're still very reliable when the situation calls for it

you stopped a good amount of class fights and bickering to avoid it elevating to a physical fight

you've also stopped hinata and kageyama's bickering a few times

of course, ennoshita's noticed this and has developed an admiration to you

he didn't notice the thin line between admiration and infatuation

he finds himself staring at you a lot during practice now, always denying that he had a crush on you and just convinced himself that "i just respect her a lot"

it's currently the last day of the tokyo summer training camp, and you're helping out unloading a few more stuff that they bought

you're carrying two fairly heavy coolers, both of which are filled with refreshments

ennoshita sees you and sprints up to you, offering to help

"oh, there's no need ennoshita-kun, go ahead and eat, you should enjoy yourself"

there it is, that very sweet consideration that sends ennoshita's heart flying

"don't worry [y/n], i want to help you"

you smile and take up his offer, giving him one of the coolers

he almost droos the cooler from how heavy it was

he initially thought it wasn't at all heavy since you didn't at all look like you were having a hard time, he underestimated the weight of the cooler

you look at him in worry but then you burst into a fit of laughter, earning some attention your way

ennoshita was embarrassed as he tried to tell you to stop laughing at him

"sorry ennoshita-kun, but that was the reason i didn't want you to carry it, come on, give that back to me"

he stares at you for a bit, still not over the shock of learning how strong you actually are

you wave your hand in front of his face and he comes back to reality

"no, no, i can carry this, your shoulders might get sore, [y/n]"

AWWWW HE'S CONCERNEDD

while the both of you walk, you tell him about how you underwent some intense (somewhat unnecessary) training during middle school as you were part of the track & field club

once you deemed that the training was far too much and your body couldn't take it anymore so you quit when you went into high school

the reason you transferred was because your mom landed a job as a teacher for karasuno high

he's in awe about... just about everything about you

it's honestly not hard for him to fall for you at this point

he'll listen to you the rest of the day, wanting to get to know you more and more

when someone goes to help you carry something particularly heavy, he anticipates for their reaction over you being stronger than they are

he just loves you at this point, really

i hope i depicted them properly TwT

#haikyuu #hq #haikyuu x reader #hq x reader #strong fem! reader #haikyuu headcannons #hq headcannons #ennoshita chikara #nishinoya yuu #tanaka ryuunosuke #ennoshita chikara x reader #nishinoya yuu x reader #tanaka ryuunosuke x reader #haikyuu imagines

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not-majestic-bluenicorn · 3 years

Text

Crescent || Chapter 13

Fandom(s): ATEEZ

AU: Treasure Hunters

Genre: Action, Fantasy, Sci-Fi

Relationship: Everyone x Everyone, Established Hongjoong x Yunho

Language: English

Status: Ongoing

Chapter WC: 5,954 words

Warnings: Character Death, Stabbing, Fighting, Blood, Aliens, War, Funerals, Kidnapping, Attempted Kidnapping, Mentions of Child Abuse / Child Work, Explosions, Murder Attempt, Robbery, Homeless/Runaway Character, Torture, Mentions of Slavery more will be added.

Chapter Warnings: Mentions of slavery, Mentions of Child Abuse / Child Work.

Summary:

AO3

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Tagged: @angel0taiyo

Early the next day, Hongjoong called in the most important members of the crew for a meeting. They needed to discuss how they would proceed after the deviation they had taken to save Seonghwa and the rest from the slave traders. Everyone met with him in his quarters, where Yeosang and San were working on the map while they had the meeting.

At first it had been difficult for them to work together, because they had completely different methods. However, once they had learned to work around their differences, they had actually sped up the work and were becoming more and more successful at deciphering the codes ingrained in the map. They had become such a good team that they basically didn't need Hongjoong, but he was still there to offer his help.

"Our expenses are getting a bit out of hand," said Siyeon once the meeting had started and the formalities had been left aside. "It's taking too long to find this treasure."

"I know, personally I also believe it's taken more than I would like it to," Hongjoong sighed. He turned to look at San and Yeosang, and caught them just as they turned back to their work. "Yeosang and San are working very hard in deciphering the map though, and we've made an amazing progress compared to when we first started out."

"I think we'll be better off once we drop everyone off so they can go to their home planets," Yunho intervened, also looking at Yeosang and San. "Naturally it costs a lot to maintain a crew that has doubled in size, but I believe that once we go back to normal, we'll be okay."

"That is a good point," Siyeon accepted. "I'm worried about the fuel though, we consumed a lot of it during the rescue."

"True, while the warp speed helped with the surprise attack and with our escape, it consumes a lot of fuel," Hwanwoong agreed.

"I have word from one of our crew members that we should be able to get more fuel at a better price, I'll talk to them." Hongjoong grinned, already thinking of the first mission he would give to Seonghwa.

As the leaders discussed how they would manage the situation they were in, Yeosang and San worked on the map. Yeosang kind of liked San. He was serious and hard working, and he made Yeosang feel important when they worked together because he was a good listener. But for all he had tried for them to become friends, he wasn't so sure San liked him back. San was quiet and serious, and according to everyone he was always working on the map with Hongjoong, so they rarely ever saw him.

Despite the fact that they were working, Yeosang found it hard to concentrate. He kept listening in to the meeting and looking over at Hongjoong, almost like he was in a trance. Yeosang was kind of Hongjoong's fan. He admired him for his fighting and leadership skills, and also for his kind heart that was always ready for rescuing others. He respected Hongjoong for having saved him and given him a second chance. Yeosang just couldn't stop looking at him.

San noticed this, not only because he was observant, but because he too had caught himself looking at Hongjoong more than once. It was annoying, the way he felt like he was losing control of himself and he couldn't quite understand why. So he forced himself to look at Yeosang instead, which turned out to not be difficult at all. Yeosang was quiet, the bottom of his pen pressed to his lips as his eyes were fixed on Hongjoong.

There were all sorts of things in his eyes, San knew them all too well, since he had used those feelings to his advantage in previous missions. There was admiration and respect in his eyes, but there was also something far more profound. San decided it was yearning. Yeosang yearned for Hongjoong in such an obvious way that it was almost painful to watch. And nonetheless San understood, and wondered if he looked at Hongjoong in a similar way. He hoped not.

He looked back at the discussion group, and his eyes met with Yunho. The First Mate was looking at him with such intensity that, for the first time in his life, San felt vulnerable. He immediately looked away, hoping that Yunho hadn't noticed his reaction. San wondered if Yunho had noticed the way Yeosang looked at Hongjoong. He probably had, because Yunho was observant and protective about Hongjoong, but he wondered if he cared.

San didn't want to admit it, but he had not only come to care about Hongjoong, but also about what he represented. He cared about the ship, and the crew, and with each passing day he put more sincerity in his job of deciphering the map. He worried about conflict arising between Yunho and Yeosang if the first one got jealous over Hongjoong. It was so stupid how his worries had become almost petty when compared to the fact that he had joined the crew to kill the Captain.

Sighing, he went back to his work, there was nothing else to do. He felt Yeosang turn to look at him, felt the worry oozing from him as he wondered if he should ask San about what was on his mind. San hoped he didn't ask, because he would want to tell him. He would want to get all the confusion out of his chest, to just scream it out. And that wasn't what he had been taught to do. Emotions and feelings were a stone that dragged you down until you drowned.

"Do you want to take a break?" Yeosang asked instead. San raised his head to look at him and then looked at the meeting going on. He nodded, and both of them left the main quarters.

Once the meeting was over, Hongjoong and Yunho were left alone in the main quarters. Hongjoong busied himself ordering some of the materials San and Yeosang had left behind, to make sure nothing would be lost in the mess of their provisional meeting room. Yunho stood still in his place, arms crossed over his chest and observing Hongjoong critically.

"You know, San and Yeosang wouldn't stop looking at you," Yunho commented. "Especially Yeosang, I think he has something going on for you."

Hongjoong stopped in his tracks and just stared at the table where Yeosang and San had been working. He sighed and turned around. Yunho had been very insistent about this matter for a while now, and it was starting to mess with Hongjoong's head. There was nothing going on between Hongjoong and anyone in the crew, and Yunho knew it.

"Why do you insist so much with that topic?" Hongjoong muttered.

"Because I think you might have a thing for some of them too," Yunho pointed out calmly.

"I don't." Hongjoong said, marking each word.

"Why do you deny it so much?" Yunho put his arms down. "You know I don't mind, why won't you let yourself explore your feelings?"

"Because, Yunho," Hongjoong took a deep breath, "the Hongjoong they know isn't real. We're lying to them, remember? They don't know who I truly am.They can't like someone they don't know."

"Your title doesn't define everything you are Hongjoong," Yunho insisted. "You're more than that, despite what your father has made you think. You've shown them your authentic self, your last name means nothing."

"I'm here to find a treasure and get revenge on my brother's death," Hongjoong was quick to say, his tone was final, "not to collect boyfriends."

"Then make it less obvious, don't give them so much attention," Yunho muttered.

"Who even is 'them'?" Hongjoong asked, a little exasperated.

"San, Yeosang, Mingi, Jongho," Yunho listed, lifting his fingers one by one. "They are the only crew members you spend time with aside from me, Hwanwoong and Siyeon."

"That is-" He wanted to say it wasn't true, but thinking back to it, it kind of was. "Look, let's stop talking about this, okay? It really doesn't matter because at the end of the day we're going back to the castle and back to the war."

"Okay, fine," Yunho gave in, sighing. "Just don't be too hard on yourself, okay?"

"Sure," Hongjoong nodded, glad that the talk was over. "Now I need to go find Yeosang and San so we can get back to work, we're so close to finding the treasure."

"I'll go with you."

San and Yeosang were just taking a breath of fresh air in silence when Mingi made his way to them. He looked a little wary of San, who did his best to not look intimidating, but only managed to make Yeosang laugh at his awkwardness. Mingi, still a little afraid, looking at both of them in confusion.

"He's not scary Mingi, I promise, he's actually very nice." Yeosang said with a smile, passing an arm around San's shoulders. "He's just really bad at being a normal human being."

"Are you trying to help me or to insult me?" San muttered, glaring at Yeosang.

"Hmm, whatever makes you feel better." Yeosang smiled. "Did you need something Mingi?"

"Well, actually..." Mingi began, but he couldn't get the words out of his mouth. He was nervous. His heart was making a mess of his pulse and his cheeks were suddenly turning very much red. He tried to speak but stuttered, and Yeosang smiled at him, endeared.

"You can tell me another time, if you want?" Yeosang kind of knew what Mingi wanted to say, because he was very transparent, but he didn’t want to force it out of him.

"No! I-" Mingi tries again, but the fact that San and Yeosang's eyes are focused on him doesn't help.

"Is something wrong?" A familiar voice asked from behind him and made Mingi yelp, surprised by Jongho's sudden appearance. "You seem to be on edge Mingi, is everything alright?"

Mingi liked that Jongho was worried about him. What he did not like though, was how his presence actually made him feel even more nervous and out of control. If Jongho's intention was to help him, he was doing the complete opposite. Mingi was trying so hard to calm down, but now there were three sets of eyes fixed on him, two of them belonging to people he liked. He was not having a good time.

"Oh, Seonghwa!" Jongho exclaimed suddenly, as he spotted someone walking at the other side of the deck. "Come here!" Jongho called over. Seonghwa looked a little wary at first before he recognized Jongho, and gladly walked up to them.

"Wait, Seonghwa?" Mingi's eyes widened, and he immediately took a step forward and grabbed Seonghwa by the arm. "You're Seonghwa?"

Seonghwa looked at him with wide eyes, confused and a little taken aback. Mingi didn't see the way Yeosang tensed up behind him, or how San looked at Yeosang in mild understanding, or how Jongho looked a little disappointed. All he could see was Seonghwa, the person that had worried Wooyoung so much. One of the eight, along with Hongjoong and possibly Yeosang.

"I- Yes, that would be me?" Seonghwa asked, looking towards Jongho for a little help.

"I'm so glad you're okay!" He leaned in closer to whisper to him so the others couldn't hear. "Wooyoung was asking for you last night."

Seonghwa stepped back and looked at him in surprise. He looked at Jongho as well, who could almost guess what Mingi had told him, and Jongho nodded at him. Seonghwa smiled brightly at Mingi, but before he could do anything like ask him his name, Yeosang stepped right in the middle, staring Seonghwa down.

"Uh, excuse me?" Seonghwa asked, a little confused.

"I should be asking that," Yeosang muttered. He didn't know why, but he immediately didn't like this Seonghwa guy. "Who are you? Why are you so close to my friend?"

"I'm your new crew member," Seonghwa raised an eyebrow. "I was not expecting this welcome, with how polite the Captain is. I guess he can't represent all of you, huh?"

"Uhm, guys..." Mingi muttered softly. He didn't understand what was going on, but he didn't like it. Jongho looked just as confused.

"Well, he certainly doesn't represent your kind either," Yeosang bit back, "our Captain is way more humble."

"Look, you little-" Seonghwa began, but he was interrupted by Hongjoong, who was walking towards them while calling their names.

"Glad to see you're all together and getting along!" Hongjoong said, smiling widely, ignorant to the fact that they had been seconds away from jumping at each other’s throats. "Yeosang, San, we need to get back to work."

"Yes sir," they said in unison. Yeosang glared at Seonghwa once before San pulled him away towards the main quarters.

"Seonghwa, I would like to talk to you later today, put your skills to use," Hongjoong commented before patting the man on the back. "See me later in my quarters, please."

"Of course, Captain," Seonghwa nodded. Hongjoong marched away with Yeosang and San, and Seonghwa sighed. "I better go back to my exercises, the nurse said they would help me recover faster. If you'll excuse me." He gave a slight bow to both Jongho and Yunho, and then left.

"I better go see if someone needs help with their tasks, since I already finished with the ship maintenance," Jongho was quick to excuse himself, but he didn't get to leave before Yunho stopped him.

"Jongho, wait," Yunho said. "Can we talk for a minute?" Jongho looked at him, a bit confused, but nodded nonetheless.

Yunho took him to the forecastle deck, which was currently empty. They leaned against the rail, silent for a moment while Yunho tried to put together what he wanted to say. It wasn't easy talking about his past, but he could still remember what Hongjoong had told him about Jongho, and he wanted to offer his help, his support. He finally sighed and looked at Jongho, giving him a smile.

"Hongjoong told me a little bit about your past," Yunho said, trying to hold Jongho's gaze, but the other looked away instead.

"How much did he tell you?" Jongho asked, feeling a little uncomfortable about Yunho knowing about it.

"Not much, I promise," Yunho sighed. "He just mentioned that you had negative memories related to child work... And I just wanted to say that if you ever need someone to lean on, I'm here for you."

"I appreciate that," Jongho muttered, "but why? We haven't really talked much before?"

"Well, I went through a similar situation when I was a kid," Yunho looked down at his hands, feeling Jongho's eyes turn to him. "I was captured by slave traders and forced to work on the ship as a Powder Monkey; I thought I wouldn't last much if I'm honest."

"Then how are you...?" Jongho didn't want to finish the question. He realized it just was too rude, too inappropriate.

"Alive? Here?" Yunho completed it for him, and then smiled. "Don't be afraid of being crude with me, I can handle it."

Jongho nodded, but didn't really say anything. He couldn't help but feel curious, and wanted to know more about Yunho's story, but he didn't want to rush him or pressure him into telling him more. Yunho seemed like he wanted to speak about it, but he was having a hard time forming the words.

"Well, I've only made it this far thanks to Hongjoong, to be honest," Yunho shrugged, trying to look unaffected.

"You two are dating, right?" Jongho asked. He hadn't wanted to intrude before, but Hongjoong and Yunho had always seemed particularly close, and he couldn't help but feel curious.

"Yeah, pretty much," Yunho nodded. "We've been dating for quite a few years now."

"And how did he help you, back then?" Jongho decided to ask finally, trying to help Yunho get the words out.

"Well, I told you I was forced to work as a powder monkey right?" Yunho confirmed, and Jongho nodded. "There were a few other kids with me, and we were treated really poorly. The royal guard of the Kim Empire detained the ship and rescued us, Hongjoong's family was one of the families that were offering their homes for the kidnapped kids."

"Oh," Jongho's mouth opened in surprise, he hadn't expected that. "They took you in?"

"Yes, I was ten back then and he was already eleven," Yunho smiled. "We clicked instantly, actually, he was the one to 'choose me', when they were finding us a home."

"That's kinda cute," Jongho chuckled. "I can't really picture it, but it sounds nice."

"We became best friends and later on we began dating, and now we're here," Yunho shrugged. "His support has helped me overcome everything that happened when I was on the ship. It's not perfect, but it's better." Yunho looked at Jongho again. Jongho was looking at him, smiling, looking more comfortable and relaxed. "So I want to be there for you, as well."

"Thank you Yunho," Jongho smiled.

"No need to thank me," Yunho smiled. "We're part of Hongjoong's crew, we're basically family now."

The day passed and everyone was relieved of their duties as it was time to head to sleep. Yeosang dragged San with him so he would join him at the dinner table with Jongho and Mingi. He had really taken a liking to San, who had become more relaxed around him and talked more than he did before; and now that he knew he wasn't actually scary, he wanted the others to notice too.

San didn't think the same way as Yeosang. Naturally, Yeosang probably didn't have any ulterior motives, so he didn't have to worry about making friends with people that would potentially become his enemies. He wasn't planning on killing Hongjoong anymore, he had come to accept he couldn't do it, but that didn't mean the others wouldn't try to kill him the moment they knew who he was.

Mingi and Jongho were just a little uncomfortable, still unsure about San's presence. Yeosang just smiled at them and San bowed his head slightly as a way of greeting. All of them felt awkward except Yeosang, but he pretended like it was all fine and guided the conversation, trying to make them feel a little more comfortable. And little by little, it worked.

"We haven't really talked about it, how did your side of the rescue go?" Jongho asked, looking at Yeosang and Mingi first, and then at San.

"It went great, Mingi was so cool!" Yeosang exclaimed, a big smile plastered on his face. "He was a bit nervous at first, but you should've seen him installing the bomb." Yeosang smiled suggestively towards Mingi, who turned beet red and just stared at his food in silence.

"I bet he looked really cool," Jongho chuckled. "I had to beat up a dude to save Seonghwa, but other than that I'd say it went pretty well."

Yeosang's expression immediately turned sour when Jongho mentioned Seonghwa, and all of them noticed. San looked at Mingi and Jongho first, who were sitting opposite to him, and then at Yeosang, who was sitting by his side. They had all noticed the tension that had flourished between the two men before, but they had no clue as to why it was there in the first place. San decided it would be best to just change topics.

"I was in the front line, along with Captain Hongjoong and Yunho," San commented, deviating the attention to him.

"No surprise there!" Yeosang commented, glad that the topic had changed. "You're an amazing fighter, I noticed it when you first captured me." San looked sheepish for a moment. He hadn't liked Yeosang much at first, but he was the only one other than Hongjoong and Yunho who treated him normally, so he had come to like him even if just a little bit.

"Sorry about that..." San muttered. "But yes, my father worked in the military and he trained me for a long time before I became a researcher." Those were all lies, but only he knew that.

"What did it feel like to fight alongside Captain Hongjoong and Yunho?" Mingi asked, finally recovering from his previous embarrassment. "I glanced at them when we were going in, and it looked really cool."

"Honestly they're a scary pair, I wouldn't like to go against them," San replied honestly.

He had observed them fight during the rescue and they were unstoppable when together. They had very different styles though. Hongjoong was like an unpredictable storm, striking anywhere he saw fit and almost impossible to stop. Yunho was more calm and calculating, always knowing where to hit his enemy, which made him an elegant fighter. But the most impressive part was how aware they were of their surroundings.

They always knew where the other was and were ready to jump in front of a blade for the other, but they also paid attention to the rest of their crew and came to their aid if it was necessary. Just like how Hongjoong had saved him. San found himself telling them as much, unable to hide a certain spark of excitement as he retold what had happened during the battle. He of course left behind the part where he had had a revelation about his feelings.

"That is amazing..." Mingi breathed out, food forgotten on his plate. Jongho and Yeosang nodded next to him.

"I'm so glad Captain Hongjoong decided to take pity on me..." Yeosang muttered. "Yunho was scary when he was interrogating me back when I tried to steal from this ship."

"Hope you've learned your lesson," San said with a slightly mocking grin, and Yeosang punched his shoulder slightly, making him laugh. Mingi and Jongho both stared at him in disbelief, and when San noticed, he looked at them with confusion. "What?"

"You laughed," Mingi gasped.

"I'm human, of course I laughed!" San exclaimed, in disbelief. "I know I'm terrible at socializing but that's a bit too much." He complained.

"Sorry, sorry," Mingi smiled apologetically. "I'm honestly glad you're talking to us now, you're pretty nice."

"I agree, I feel a bit sorry for misjudging you before," Jongho nodded. "Not that you really knew about it, but still."

"Thanks, I guess?" San was a bit confused about their reactions, and also a bit conflicted. He didn't want them to like him, but he was also starting to wish he could belong in this ship like the others did.

"This is not related to what we were talking just now but..." Mingi began, thinking his words carefully, "when I went to tell Hongjoong about the slave ship, he and Yunho..." He ended up trailing off, not able to continue talking, as he remembered how Yunho had been sleeping shirtless next to the Captain.

"They're dating," Jongho and San confirmed in unison, looking at each other in surprise.

"They are?!" Mingi and Yeosang both exclaimed at the same time, equally shocked by the news.

"You hadn't noticed?" Jongho asked them, raising an eyebrow. It was disgustingly obvious that the two were an item.

"Well, I was suspicious but I didn't really want to assume..." Yeosang muttered, and Mingi nodded in agreement.

"You should have known better when we saw them sleeping on the same bed, with Yunho half naked," Jongho shook his head at Mingi, truly not believing that his friend hadn't thought of it.

"You what?!" Yeosang yelled again, and San was quick to shush him so he would stop screaming and making everyone around them uncomfortable. "Sorry..."

"That's what I was trying to say earlier, but it's embarrassing..." Mingi muttered.

"You get embarrassed too easily," Jongho chuckled.

"Sorry..." Mingi apologized, looking at his food instead.

"No, it's cute, don't worry about it," Jongho looked at Mingi and Mingi looked back.

San and Yeosang looked at them before looking at each other, clearly noticing that something was going on between the two of them. San then looked at Yeosang, because if his suspicion was right, Yeosang liked Mingi, which was why he had acted like that in front of Seonghwa. However, Yeosang was smiling this time, and didn't look even remotely as jealous as he had with Seonghwa. Maybe San was wrong about his theory.

"How did you know about the slave trading ship, by the way?" San decided to ask to change the topic.

"Uhm..." Mingi hesitated, looking at Jongho for help. "I dreamed about it?"

"That's... interesting," San nodded, but decided not to question Mingi more about it, as it seemed to be making him nervous.

San instantly remembered Wooyoung's visit to his dreams. Of course, that was the only explanation. He had said he was visiting Mingi, Hongjoong and Yeosang as well, and had mentioned Yunho and Jongho as well. He had said that they were supposed to fall in love. San dropped his fork and motioned to stand up. He could feel his own face turning red with embarrassment as he remembered Wooyoung's words and the realization he had felt with Hongjoong. It wasn't right.

"San?" Yeosang asked, looking at him with worry, but San refused to meet eyes with him.

"Sorry, I don't feel too well, I think I'm gonna retire for the night." He explained quickly, picking up his plate and putting it away before leaving the dining hall.

The three of them stared at San as he left. Yeosang made a movement to follow him, but Jongho stopped him right on his tracks and shook his head. Yeosang looked once more to where San had disappeared and sighed, knowing Jongho was right. If San needed time alone then it was best if they gave it to him.

Shortly after they were done with dinner, they went to the deck to walk a little. Eventually, Mingi became too tired and decided to turn in for the night, wishing Yeosang and Jongho a good night and leaving them by themselves. Both of them continued to lap around the deck until they eventually stopped and just leaned next to the border, admiring the emptiness of the space surrounding them.

"Can I ask you something and you try to not get too angry?" Jongho asked. His tone was playful as he was half-joking, but he still hoped Yeosang wouldn't be mad at his question.

"What is it?" Yeosang turned to him, raising an eyebrow.

"Why did you get so angry at Seonghwa before? When I called him over to ask how he was," Jongho looked back at him in time to see Yeosang frown before he turned away.

"I just don't like him very much," Yeosang muttered. "He seems to think very high of himself, or something, and I don't like people like that," he exclaimed.

"I see," Jongho hummed, thinking his answer over, "he does seem to move differently to us."

"Probably not a good enough reason to dislike him, I guess, but I'm a bit impulsive," Yeosang shrugged.

They stayed in silence for another while, both of them just looking out into space. Jongho had worked with ships all of his life, but he had never really been out of orbit for such a long time. It was different to being locked in a workshop, working without rest. That experience had been scary, and he had thought it would never end; but the vastness of the galaxy was a different sort of scary, almost like it was trying to drown him out.

Yeosang on the other hand, had spent a lot of time in traveling ships, accompanying his father at his job when he was a child. He was used to this vastness, to not seeing anything for miles at a time. He was used to not knowing what time it was. To him it had been more scary to think he would never be able to leave his planet again, that he would be trapped inside its limited frame.

Jongho and Yeosang were widely different, and yet something had put them inside that ship. And Jongho was certain they had something in common that neither had expected. He sighed, because he was tired of beating around the bush. The only way to clear his doubts was to ask him about it.

"Are you sure you don't hate Seonghwa because of how he approached Mingi?" Jongho asked again. He put his hands together and did everything to avoid looking at Yeosang, who he could feel staring.

"You're probably right," Yeosang said after a moment of considering his answer.

"So... do you like Mingi too?" Jongho asked, a bit hesitant, not wanting to overstep some sort of invisible boundary. Yeosang let out a deep breath.

"Yeah, a little..." He admitted, feeling himself blush as he looked away.

"Right," Jongho nodded. However, Yeosang's answer only filled him with more questions. "Then... Do you hate me too?"

"What?" Yeosang turned to look at him abruptly. "No! Why would I?"

"Because I like Mingi too," Jongho muttered, blushing as well, but he was still looking at Yeosang.

"I know that, but why would that make me hate you?" Yeosang asked, genuinely confused.

"That is such a double standard..." Jongho muttered, chuckling slightly because of Yeosang's expression. "You don't like Seonghwa who got close to Mingi once but you don't mind me when I just told you I like Mingi?"

"Would you prefer I don't like you?" Yeosang raised an eyebrow, but somehow his expression only made Jongho laugh more. "Besides, you were here before me... I actually thought you and Mingi were dating from how close you were. If anything, you should be mad at me."

Jongho stopped laughing and looking at Yeosang with a smile. He didn't know why he found it so funny, but he did. He wasn't even a bit mad about Yeosang liking Mingi, it was not like he owned Mingi (or like he could own him to begin with). He was also not in charge of Yeosang's feelings, so why would he be mad for someone else liking Mingi when, in reality, it was quite understandable.

"We're not dating, and if you couldn't tell, I'm not mad at you," Jongho shrugged. "That's not how feelings work, I can't control who you like, why should I be angry?"

"I don't know, because I'm your rival?" Yeosang said, but he didn't look convinced at all.

"I'm gonna have to stop you there," Jongho shook his head. "Mingi's feelings are not a competition, and we're not rivals. We're friends Yeosang, and we're just gonna let him figure things out by himself."

"Okay, yeah..." Yeosang nodded. "That makes sense, thanks..."

"But seriously, don't give Seonghwa such a hard time just because you're jealous," Jongho chuckled, enjoying the way Yeosang's ears turned red.

"He still antagonized me back there so we'll see how I go about that," Yeosang grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Okay then," Jongho raised his hands in defeat. They didn't say anything else, and just continued admiring the vastness of space.

Wooyoung felt urgency as he looked for Hongjoong's dreams. He didn't know why the Universe hadn't sent the vision earlier, but they were in danger and he needed to at least warn them so they could be ready. He had been nervous ever since they had saved Seonghwa, because he had a bad feeling about the results they had obtained, like everything had gone too well. And now he had confirmation that he had been right about being worried.

He quickly navigated the spider web of dreams in front of him until he got to Hongjoong's. The prince was once again dreaming of the life he had left behind, but this time he was in the palace, doing sword training. Wooyoung didn't have time to wake him gently, and instead just barged into the dream causing everything to become black. Hongjoong turned to him with sword in hand, but stopped his attempted attack as soon as he distinguished it was Wooyoung.

"You're finally here!" Hongjoong exclaimed, and Wooyoung could tell by his tone that he wasn't too happy about Wooyoung being radio silent for so long. "It certainly took you awhile, huh? Are you finally here to tell me what the heck is going on?"

"I promise I will but right now it's not the time!" Wooyoung exclaimed, walking closer to Hongjoong.

"Oh, come on, are you going to ask me to save someone else?" Hongjoong sighed. "Mingi said you told him we were supposed to be eight in total, it would only make sense if you need me to find more people." Wooyoung shook his head.

"None of that, everyone is in your ship now, except for me," Wooyoung breathed in deeply. "But that doesn't matter right now! Listen to me!"

"Okay, okay, what is it?" Hongjoong nodded, deciding to leave the questions for later.

"Your ship is going to be raided at any second now, you need to make sure all of your crew stay together, especially Seonghwa, don't let them take him away with the rest of the rescues," Wooyoung explained quickly, breathing harshly like he had been running a race.

"What do you me-" Hongjoong began to ask, a bit confused, but he couldn't finish as he was abruptly pulled out of his dreams.

He woke up to an urgent Yunho quickly getting dressed while he yelled at him to wake up. Hongjoong felt lost and disoriented as he looked around and tried to understand. Yunho explained everything to him in short and quick sentences and he finally shot up as he understood what Wooyoung had been trying to say. He dressed up quickly just like Yunho and exited the quarters to find two bigger ships stationed next to them.

They had immobilized The Crescent and it was clear this was very much an arrest. Soldiers were going around arresting his crew members and the people they had rescued without stopping to distinguish who was who. He spotted Yeosang and Jongho handcuffed next to each at the forecastle deck, but he was stopped by an official when he tried to make his way to them.

"Are you the Captain of this ship?" The official asked.

"Yes, that would be me," Hongjoong nodded, immediately standing straight.These were soldiers of his empire, he was above them, but at that moment, he was nothing more than a treasure hunter.

"You're under arrest for attacking and damaging another ship, The Sailfish, and we would appreciate your cooperation," the official explained. Hongjoong knew that acting up would only bring more trouble to them, but he at least had to try to protect his crew.

"I understand, and we'll cooperate," Hongjoong nodded, "but first I would like to make you aware that what we did was rescue some people from a slave ship. Nothing more and nothing less."

"I'm certain that's true, but it was still damaging of a private property and physical assault, so we have to take care of things properly," the official smiled, but they certainly weren't in the mood to negotiate for things. They quickly pulled out a pair of handcuffs and handcuffed both Hongjoong and Yunho, who didn't resist. "Now, I would appreciate it if you could help me identify the members of your crew, since you say you're carrying extra people right now."

"Of course," Hongjoong accepted. He did his best to appear calm, but he was very nervous inside. How would they get out of this situation without his secret being brought to light? He only hoped he could protect all of his crew without leaving anyone behind.

#kwritersworldnet #kdiarynet #kpopscape #8makes1teamnet #ateez #ateez fanfic #ateez fic #ateez fanfiction #atz #kpop #kpop fanfic #kpop fic #kpop fanfiction #crescent #bluenicorn writes

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helloprettybb · 4 years

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previews

I have a lot of things in the works, so I thought, why not show some previews. I don’t know when a majority of these are coming out, but I promise they will eventually. There are a lot more than just these, but they aren’t as fledged out. The title names may change in the future, once I finish, but the summaries will be the same. The eta’s may be really off, but I’ll try to get them out.

orders

summary- you disobey Steve on a mission and now you have to pay the consequences.

current word count- 2.3k

eta- 8/17-8/21

“What did I say?” Steve asks, once you close the bedroom door behind you. His voice is low and angry, which is scarier than if he were yelling. If you were being honest, you deserved his exasperation. What you did was reckless and completely disobeyed orders, but in the heat of the moment, you didn’t really care.

“Retreat,” you mumbled, knowing how much trouble you were in. Steve hadn’t spoken to you since the mission ended and the two of you could be alone. The moment the jet landed, he stormed off to his room. Steve didn’t even need to tell you to follow him, because you knew whatever was coming would be much worse if you didn’t.

“And what did you do?” Steve questions, knowing you knew the answer.

“I proceeded with the mission,” you replied, head low and eyes stuck on the ground. You were usually confident and brimming with enthusiasm, but on the receiving end of Steve’s anger, you couldn’t even lift your head up. Steve senses your timidness, so he grabs your chin and forces you to meet his eyes. Unlike their usual softness, his eyes are tough and piercing. You fight a little to lower your head, but Steve’s strong grip stops any resistance. You know he’s angry with you, but you can’t stop the dirty thoughts that rushed in your mind.

“You did. And what happens when you disobey orders?” Steve asks, his tone leaving you trembling beneath him.

“I get punished,” you answer meekly.

captain idiot

summary- Steve finally tells you how he feels, but then tells you it won’t work. Maybe a couple of people can knock some sense into him.

current word count- 943

eta- late august-early september

It’s the day you’ve looked forward to since you joined the Avengers and you’ve never wanted a day to end more. It was actually a good day and when Steve told you he wanted to talk, you thought it would be even better. Oh, how ignorant you were.

“So, what do you want to talk about?” you ask, trying to contain your excitement. You bite the inside of your lip to prevent the giddy smile from forming. Sitting beside him in the common room, you force your leg still as you wait for him to speak.

You’ve had a massive crush on Steve ever since you joined the team. Actually, you liked him even before that, when you saw him on TV for the first time. You were only sixteen at the time, but seeing people like you saving New York inspired you. All of your life, you’ve been ostracized and cast out for your abilities. While your parents tried to be supportive, they still held some fear. You don’t blame them, especially after your accidentally split the house in half with a tree.

You were only seventeen when you first met Fury. He offered a position on the team. At the time, you wanted to attend college, so you declined, but you kept in touch and after graduating, you decided to join the team. Tensions between the team were high as Steve, Natasha and Sam just rejoined the team and the Accords were dropped. But gradually, strain eased and the team seemed back to normal. Tony started talking to Steve and Bucky even joined the group. Everyone lived in harmony, until today.

“I don’t know how to say this, so I’ll just be blunt.” Steve states, his intense eye contact piercing into your soul. “I like you. More than just a friend.”

You try to remain calm, but you can feel the childish joy rise in your chest. Steadying your tone, you reply, “I like you, too.” For some reason, Steve doesn’t smile, but looks more serious.

He sighs and asserts, “I was afraid you’d say that.”

swindler’s trick

summary- Steve Rogers needed to clear his head. Haunted from the war and his past relationship, Steve sets sail for England to reunite with an old friend and hopefully distract himself from his life in America. His distraction comes in the form of a beautiful young girl, who proves to be a worthy distraction, but will she be enough to help Steve move on from his past?

current word count- 7.3k

eta- mid-september

“Perfection is relative, old friend. You’ll understand when you find it.” Anthony advises wisely and as if on cue, an angel walks through the doorway. Well, not literally, but you are the closest thing to a saint on earth.

With your smooth hands and polished nails, you don’t look like a servant, but for your status, you dressed rather simply. As opposed to a large, decorated dress, you donned a dark, modest gown. You dressed closer to a middle-class maiden than a noblewoman, yet Steve took note that no outfit could diminish your beauty. Instead of the intricate up-dos he’s seen many high-class women wear, you have your hair down and pulled back.

Anthony notices your entrance and greets, “Y/n, dear!”

Steve knew Anthony favored beautiful women, but he did not expect for him to marry someone so young. Steve’s seen his fair share of older men and young partners, but he didn’t think Anthony would be that kind of man.

Strolling up to Anthony, you greet him lovingly by placing a gentle kiss on his cheek. Turning to Steve, you acknowledge politely, “Hello, sir. To what name shall I call you?” The moment you address him, Steve forgets every word in the English language. His mouth runs dry and he starts to regret denying Anthony’s tea offer.

Your stunning beauty and air of confidence fluster Steve and he manages to stutter out,“I- I am Captain America Rogers. I mean, Steve Rogers.” Attempting to recover, he clarifies, “I’m from America and I served as a Captain in the Army.”

You laugh lightly and Steve could have sworn an angel acquired its wings. “Well, Captain America. I appreciate the background information, but I figured from your accent that you were not from here.” you quip.

Anthony glares as you and gently scolds, “He is an old friend, y/n. Please be nice.”

You smile softly and tell him, “Oh papa, I hold no malice. It was a simple jest.” You turn to him and say, “But if any offense was taken, I do apologize. I’m aware that my tongue can be quite scathing.”

powers of persuasion

summary- you’re an expert assassin with ‘powers of persuasion’ who happens to be at the top of S.H.I.E.L.D’s most wanted list. catching you was the easiest part, now comes the hard part: turning you into an Avenger.

current word count- 1.4k

eta- mid-september

You are one of the most insufferable, arrogant, rude people he’s ever met. You are the one handcuffed to the chair, not him. Yet you acted like you were the one in control. No, he had the upper hand in the conversation. You definitely did not fluster him when you implied something about the handcuffs and Steve certainly didn’t imagine a scenario where he’d put the handcuffs to use.

Fine, you’re attractive, but you already knew that, which is one of the worst qualities about you. You know that you’re beautiful and use that to your advantage just to mess with people’s minds. That and your actual ability to mess with people’s minds.

Steve didn’t think he’d get that angry in such a short span of time, but something about the smug look on your face and unfazed teasing made Steve want to snap the table in half. He had to leave and clear his head.

Steve leaves the interrogation area altogether, needing to get as far away as possible. He talked to you by yourself, which was his mistake. Hopefully back at the base, he can find someone who will sympathize and agree that you are selfish, annoying, disrespectful...

“She’s joining the team,” Fury states. Steve couldn’t even hide his reaction, as his jaw dropped and eyebrows furrowed.

“Fury, are you serious?” Steve asks instinctively. While they are basically the same rank, Steve still treats Fury with respect, but right now, all of that flew out the window.

“Yes, Rogers. She’s useful.” Fury responds, “Not only is she an expect fighter, her persuasion ability will be advantageous.”

“So what? She’s untrustworthy!” Steve exclaimed, his voice rising more than he’d like.

“Well, learn to trust her,” Fury says in his blunt tone that shuts everyone down. “Besides, it’s better to have her on our side.” His last sentence shut all of Steve’s protests down. When Fury sees that he ended the argument, he places a key in Steve’s hand and commands, “Bring her to the Compound. You’re training her starting tomorrow morning.”

Before Steve could start another argument, Fury walks away and leaves Steve alone with his angry self.

the flirt

summary- Peter’s a sucker for British accents. Especially when they’re attached to a beautiful girl with glowing eyes.

current word count- 1.1k

eta- unknown

Peter Parker is a very anxious person. Whether it was asking strangers for help or working in group projects, he found it very difficult to speak up to newcomers. So when Mr. Stark called from a mysterious location and told him the Avengers gained a new member, Peter instantly began to worry. He asked for any information on them, but Tony insisted that it should be a surprise.

“Do you know who it is?” Peter asked Clint. He’s spent his entire morning bugging everyone at the compound. So far, he’s received a groan from Bucky, a ‘go away’ from Sam and an ‘I don’t know’ from Wanda.

“No,” Clint replied bluntly. subtly turning the knob on his hearing aid to block out Peter’s pestering. Nat looks up from her phone and shakes her head.

“You’re not going to get anything from us, kid.” Natasha simply states. Peter plops beside her on the couch and Natasha doesn’t even try to hide her eye roll.

“Wait, so you do know something?” he asked. His bouncing irritates Nat and she puts her phone down.

“Yes, but I won’t tell you. Besides, Tony will be here in a couple hours.” Nat says. Peter flops on the couch dramatically.

“But I can’t wait a couple hours!” he announces. Fed up with his antics, Nat gets up from the couch and leaves Peter to his thoughts. What if the new person doesn’t like him? It took him years for the others to like him and they still get annoyed. Now he has to get another person to tolerate him!

Peter bounced between pacing his room and annoying the other Avengers as he waits for Tony’s arrival. He only stops when Bucky threatens to ‘put him to sleep.’ Peter then, on his own, decides that he’ll stay in his room for the rest of the time. He’s pulled out of his thoughts when F.R.I.D.A.Y announces, “Mr. Stark has arrived.”

“O-okay voice lady,” Peter replies nervously. He sprints downstairs and meets with the others at the compound’s entrance. Steve’s standing with his arms crossed and stoic like usual. Bucky’s arms are also crossed, but he has a bored expression on his face. He doesn’t know why he’s so bored. There is going to be someone new living with them!

Natasha and Wanda on their phones, probably texting each other so they don’t have to talk in front of the guys. Sam leans down and tells Peter, “They call her the Green-Eyed Monster.”

He knows Sam only said it to scare him, but what kind of name is the Green-Eyed Monster. She must be evil to get a name like that. And if she’s evil, why would Tony willing bring her in. Wait, Sam said her?

As if on cue, Tony Stark opens the doors and following behind him is the most beautiful girl Peter’s ever seen.

#steve rogers #steve rogers smut #steve rogers fanfiction #steve rogers x reader #steve x reader #steve rogers imagines #marvel #marvel imagines #marvel fanfiction #peter parker #peter parker x reader #peter parker imagines #peter parker fanfiction

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thepapercutpost · 3 years

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Women’s Gymnastics Reminds Me of Marvel's Black Widow. That's Not Okay.

July 2021 saw both the long-awaited release of Black Widow and the return of these young women to the Olympics.

“Scarlett Johansson by Gage Skidmore 2 (cropped)“ by Gage Skidmore is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 (left). "Nadia Comaneci #1" by eye2eye is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0 (right).

Last summer, the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic seemed to put everything on hold. With movie theaters shut down, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, in the midst of its longest pause in between theatrical releases, experienced the first of three eventual delays to the release of the film Black Widow, which was originally scheduled for May 2020.

Delays also found one of the biggest sporting events in the world. The 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games had to be postponed. Thousands of athletes who had spent their lives preparing to represent their countries at the Games were forced to put their plans on hold. Among them were several Team USA hopefuls for women’s gymnastics.

July 2021 saw both the long-awaited release of Black Widow and the return of these young women to the Olympics.

In 2016, the Larry Nassar scandal, in which Nassar, a doctor affiliated with USA Gymnastics, was accused and convicted of sexually abusing over 250 women and girls, pulled the curtain back on the realities of elite gymnastics. Soon after Nassar’s abuse came to light, it was revealed that USAG had covered up complaints of sex abuse from hundreds of gymnasts against coaches, gym owners, and staff.

When asked how they thought this behavior was allowed to occur for so long, gymnasts cited the culture of fear and toxicity that permeated the gymnastics community.

From one angle, Nassar was a friendly and trustworthy face in a sea of strict training and harsh discipline. When Béla and Márta Károlyi, husband and wife coaches who defected to the U.S. from Romania in 1981, took over USA Gymnastics, they brought with them a controlling and abusive method of training. In Athlete A, a Netflix documentary centered on the sex abuse scandal, Olympic gymnast Jamie Dantzscher recalls Nassar being “the only nice adult” and that he gave the girls food and candy in secret. Naturally, the gymnasts trusted him and his methods.

And from another angle, the athletes had been conditioned from a young age, in most cases, to doubt their own instincts about their bodies.

You think you’re hungry, you think your ankle hurts, you think that you’re working really hard. But you’re told and you’re screamed at that you’re lazy and you’re fat and there’s nothing wrong with your ankle. So, when a man puts his un-gloved hand into your vagina without asking you, I can only imagine that what you feel is, ‘He’s this great doctor, and I’m lucky to be here, so I’m not going to say anything.’

—Jennifer Sey, USA Gymnastics National Champion, 1986 (Athlete A)

Letting alone the ramifications of coming forward as a gymnast against a well-respected member of the community such as Nassar, many of his victims didn’t speak out because, as a result of being raised in an already abusive system, they were unable to identify his actions as abuse.

In a similar sense, Black Widow depicts a group of women and girls who have undergone rigorous training and have been brainwashed into carrying out the KGB’s missions. The fictional Red Room provides a mirror to the very real world of competitive Gymnastics.

Even before the recent film, Marvel fans were familiar with the Red Room as the program that trained Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and other Russian girls as Black Widows, an elite class of spies and assassins. In Avengers: Age of Ultron, we see a flashback of Natasha’s time as a trainee. One memory is of an intensive ballet lesson, and the scene shows her looking on with her instructor at the studio of young women.

“You’ll break them,” Natasha says to the teacher.

“Only the breakable ones,” is her response.

Other allusions are made to the cruelty of the Widow program. When telling Natasha about the reincarnation of the Red Room, Yelena, her sister (Florence Pugh), says that only about one in twenty girls who Dreykov takes survives the initial stages. To Alexei, the girls’ father (David Harbour), Yelena elaborates on the “involuntary hysterectomy” given to them by the Red Room, a process which removes a woman’s reproductive organs and, as Natasha had mentioned in Age of Ultron, makes her unable to have children.

The brutal training process and forced assault upon women’s bodies, which they were made to believe was normal, should sound familiar.

Johansson said in an interview that the story for Black Widow began to take shape in 2017, when the #MeToo movement was rising to prominence, and is essentially a story about women supporting other women. She wasn’t shy to say the film was inspired by that moment in history, a movement that provided support to and was benefited by the USA Gymnastics scandal.

For Red Room graduates, training is followed by executing missions. The character of Dreykov (Ray Winstone) provides a face to the dark and secretive organization who gives the Widows orders. Although they are highly trained and skilled, they still face danger during these operations.

The same is true of gymnasts at their competitions. Gymnastics is one of the most dangerous sports, especially for girls and young women. Gymnasts experience both acute injuries, which occur after a single landing or other impact, and chronic injuries, which develops over time, usually during the course of frequent practice. They are often expected to compete with their injuries. In the 1996 Olympics, Kerri Strug, part of the American team known as the Magnificent Seven, won the gold for her team in the all-around by landing the final vault on one foot, as she had severely injured the other during her first attempt. The Peacock docuseries Golden: The Journey of USA's Elite Gymnasts reveals that gymnasts continue to compete with injuries today. Team USA’s 2021 all-around women’s gold medalist Suni Lee began the competition season with a broken foot while MyKayla Skinner, silver medalist on vault, began the season still fighting lingering COVID symptoms months after contracting the virus.

Injuries are one of several reasons elite gymnasts today are younger than they were 50 years ago. When Nadia Comaneci from Romania became the first gymnast to earn a perfect score at the Olympics in 1976, she was fourteen years old. From that point on, the standard for Olympic gymnasts became younger and younger. One advantage to training a younger gymnast is that the body is more resilient, and the part of the brain that recognizes the danger in the more difficult moves is not yet fully developed, which results in less of the hesitation that causes some injuries.

But with more malleability comes more potential for abuse. The younger a girl begins to learn gymnastics, the more susceptible she is to mental health issues such as anxiety and eating disorders, both common in athletes across the board, as we are learning during these 2021 Games. There is more opportunity to shape her thinking, and if she is told by coaches that she is not injured or should perform anyway when she is in severe pain, she will be less inclined to get help when something is severely wrong. Dominique Moceanu, Kerri Strug’s teammate in the 1996 Olympics, told BBC in a recent interview regarding being forced to compete with injuries, “I didn't even care about my well-being, to be honest, because no one cared about it ever.”

In Black Widow, Yelena is taken to the Red Room at only six years old, and it is later revealed that Natasha was identified and taken from her birth parents by a KGB program that measured the genetic potential in infants. Like the Károlyis, the Red Room discovered that getting to the girls at an early age made it easier to exploit and mistreat them without raising questions.

In 2016, when the film is set, Natasha and Yelena kill Dreykov and bring an end to the Black Widow program. Although the real-world events of 2016 in USA Gymnastics, and even the conviction of Larry Nassar, didn’t end with the toxic culture of U.S. gymnastics falling from the sky in flames, things are getting better. The 2021 Olympics are coming to a conclusion in Tokyo today, but if we are to learn and grow from recent horrifying history, we must not forget what these Games and decades of competitive gymnastics have taught us.

Among all the abominable similarities elite gymnastics and the Red Room share, there is one beautiful thing they have in common: sisterhood.

Natasha and Yelena set out to protect the young women and girls who have been captured and free them of Dreykov's mind control, having experienced that trauma themselves. In doing so, they revisit and repair their own relationship as sisters.

By all accounts, gymnasts feel a similar kinship with their peers. They bond over their shared experience: the stress of competing, the aches of injuries, long days and nights spent practicing their sport. They support each other, cheering each other on and celebrating each other's accomplishments. The women who came forward about their abuse did so not for themselves but for the sake of other gymnasts. The vulnerablities women face in this world mean that we are also tasked with the responsibility and the privilege of protecting each other.

#opinion #sports #entertainment

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burnedbyshoto · 4 years

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Todoroki-sensei

pairing: todoroki natsuo x fem!reader

warning: fluff

word count: 3,715

a/n: me writing for a todoroki that’s not shouto??? weird I know BAHAHAHA, please enjoyyyy. AND TODOROKI-SENSEI IS HOW THEY ADDRESS DOCTORS (apparently at least from what I found) IN JAPAN ITS NOT A WEIRD KINK THING!!!!!!!

Summary: Todoroki Natsuo is an esteemed trauma surgeon, and you’re the volunteer that won’t leave his mind.

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

“Patient Kuzo was removed from the ICU today.”

“Patient Fukuda suffered another seizure two hours ago. She’s in stable condition now but we are waiting on your confirmation to see if she’s okay for another surgery.”

“Todoroki-sensei, I was wondering if you knew where Nurse Ha went?”

Todoroki Natsuo blinked as he tossed his dirty surgery scrubs into the biohazard bin. It was currently four in the afternoon and the trauma surgeon had just completed a grueling eight-hour surgery on a villain attack victim. His grey eyes focused on the three people who seemed to be waiting for him. A kind smile overcame his features.

Heroes smiled to ease tension after all.

“Alright, I’ll make sure to visit Patient Fukuda at the end of my shift, has their family visited yet?”

“No, doctor, not that I’m aware of.”

“For Patient Kuzo, have an MRI done, we may need the assistance of the neurosurgeons because of the seizure. We may have missed some bleeding in the brain.”

“Okay, should I order it?”

Natsuo nodded at the resident who nodded in return before running off. Finally, the white-haired man turned toward the final resident.

“Doctor Kang, does it look like I would know where Nurse Ha is?” Natsuo asked as he turned to wash his hands.

“I thought she was in surgery with you,” the resident spoke and Natsuo nodded.

“She was, I believe she’s getting cleaned up as well. A blood clot burst on us and Nurse Ha was among the most soaked,” Natsuo explains.

The blood that stained his scrubs and the small portion of his skin that remained visible during surgery finally making sense.

“The patient?!” The resident panicked as Natsuo carefully wiped away the dried blood from his skin. “Is the patient okay?”

“Well, the patient suffered massive internal damage and we will be watching them overnight, but they are expected to have a full recovery,” Natsuo smiled as the resident clutched their chest.

“Oh, thank goodness,” the resident exhaled a heavy breath. “It’s all thanks to you, I’m sure.”

Natsuo’s face twitched at the praise. To this day it always made him uncomfortable, a sense of imposter syndrome if anything. “I did what every other surgeon would have done.”

The resident shakes their head as Natsuo begins walking back toward the locker rooms. He wasn’t due for anymore surgeries today, and with his shift ending in ten minutes, he had to make rounds for his ICU patients and those on the floor.

“Well, you Todoroki’s sure are superhuman! Your dad was the number one hero, your baby brother is already well within the legendary heroes, and you?! You’re the best trauma surgeon on the planet, you’re still extremely young, and you don’t even have a healing quirk!” The resident exclaims as they follow after Natsuo’s large strides.

Those words haunt Natsuo still.

The last name Todoroki was common, Natsuo had treated many other Todoroki’s before, and not a single one had been his family. Yet everyone knew his Todoroki was the Todoroki people knew.

The Todoroki that defined Pro Heroes Endeavor and Shouto.

Natsuo hated his last name.

He loved his family, but fuck, he craved to not be associated with them. Natsuo loved his baby brother, Natsuo could respect his father's career as the number one hero, but Natsuo hated the whispers that surrounded him because of his family.

The whispers that spoke kindly of his father, the whispers that lusted over his baby brother, the whispers that reminded him that he was never good enough to be a Pro Hero himself. He hated hearing about how his mother was a psychotic patient, that she deserved jail for ruining Shouto's face. He hated that he never heard anything about Fuyumi who always went the extra mile for this nightmare family. He hated that the only reason why he was known was because he made a name for himself, and yet his accomplishments were tied to his father’s doing, not his own. Then those whispers about Touya — the whispers about Dabi — of how he was a traitor, a menace, and a mistake.

Whispers are what they were, but they were loud and insistent. They consumed Natsuo’s attention and demanded that he responded.

There were times that Natsuo wanted to yell at them all. To reveal a truth that would mean nothing to them.

“I just try my best,” Natsuo settled with. “Now, I do believe you have your own rounds to complete. I have thirty patients to look at and I have fifteen minutes before they kick me out, so I have to go.”

The resident stared as Natsuo placed on new scrubs that were navy blue in color, and his coat was slipped on.

“Of course, Todoroki-sensei! I’ll be going now!”

Natsuo waved goodbye as he grabbed his pager, his neck tilting as his tense muscles cracked.

It was time to get on his rounds.

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

“Ah, volunteer y/l/n, we were wondering if you were going to be showing up today!” The nurse at the reception desk greeted you as you tried making your frazzled aura look... less so.

“My students took forever getting ready to leave! I wouldn’t have missed this day anyways! I heard that Patient Kuzo is finally out on the floor?” You say as you take the visitor badge that had more or less become yours.

“He is and he hasn’t had any visitors yet, so I think your beautiful soul would really cheer him up!” The nurse laughed as she gave you an update of all the patients who were in need of a visitor, a visitor that wasn’t a part of their medical team.

There were only five names on the list, which was relatively large for what you specialized in for your volunteer work. You smile in thanks as you scan the list, bowing in gratitude as you take off.

Five patients. Two and a half hours.

You weren’t going to be leaving until six-thirty p.m. it seems.

“Patient Kuzo,” you laugh as the man attempted to read your kindergarten student's writings. “It’s rude to make fun of their writing! They’re learning still! Plus, there is a bit of confusion since they are also studying English.”

“But they clearly said something very inappropriate here, I don’t know how you teachers don’t laugh in front of them!” Kuzo, a car accident victim, was an elder in his sixties. His body was covered in bandages, his head was also shaved bald. Most likely meaning that he had brain surgery too.

“If you laugh, they will continue doing the same mistakes because they think it’s fine!” You insist as you take your students writing back.

You found out early on that elders enjoyed reading your student's works. The chaotic and young energy your students possessed were palatable through their writings alone. Adults were a bit trickier in getting them to speak to you, but they always caved. Teens and children, those broke your hearts to see without any visitors, but they occurred rarely. Then you would make sure to do all in your power to make them happy.

“Bah, you’re teaching those kids better manners than their parents sometimes,” Kuzo sighs as he rests against his pillows. “I think you deserve to laugh when it’s funny like that!”

You laugh again as your mouth opens to speak, but the door opens and a voice pierced through the room.

“So, you’re finally doing well enough to be released from the ICU, Patient Kuzo,” a voice sighs as papers rustle.

You look behind you and immediately smile at who you see.

Tall, broad, and tired stands the one doctor you always seemed to be running into on the hospital floor. Natsuo stands by the door ruffling through Kuzo’s charts, his eyes intensely focused on it.

His white hair is falling out of place and you immediately assume he had a long surgery today, especially seeing the news of the villain attack earlier.

“I’m glad to see that you’re doing well—” Natsuo looked up finally, his grey eyes locking on you. The smile on your face broadened as he froze, his eyes widening as he stiffened as the charts came to press tightly against his chest. “Y/l/n-san!”

You stood from the chair and bowed in greeting, “Good to see you again, Todoroki-sensei!”

“Y/l/n-san, I told you already you don’t have to refer to me with that dumb title,” he shakes his head, but the soft grin on his face says that he isn’t upset about it. “But, Patient Kuzo, how are you feeling?”

“Well, my shoulder is still in a lot of pain, but I am feeling a lot better now. Y/l/n-chan has been entertaining me for a few minutes now, she’s quite good at having the pain feel less,” Kuzo explains as you watch as Natsuo places a stethoscope on Kuzo’s chest. As Natsuo continues through his check-list for his patients you continued to stare at him.

The life of a doctor was no joke, and in fact, your co-worker turned good friend had a younger brother who was a doctor as well. She had always expressed her sorrow in the fact that he was always holed up in the hospital and not attending family events.

“Y/l/n-san is a volunteer that we are lucky to have,” Natsuo agrees as he writes some things onto the charts. Your eyes focus on the white-haired doctor who looks at Kuzo with a kind smile, one that reminds you of a Pro Hero saving a civilian. “I can give you stronger morphine for now, if the pain is unbearable. Besides that, Patient Kuzo, it seems that you will be needing in-hospice care with physical therapy for two weeks for the shoulder. Then afterward an additional two months of P.T., the worst of things have thankfully passed.”

Kuzo’s face melted into one of relief as he sighs, “Thank goodness… it must be my quirks doing as well!”

Thus a small conversation erupted about Kuzo’s quirk and if it played a hidden role in his recovery.

Laughter filled the room as you talked with exaggeration with the two men in the room. Stories from Kuzo and yourself bringing smiles to Natsuo’s face and soon enough you were doing everything in your power to make the smile into a grin.

“When did you say you started teaching?” Natsuo asks you after you finished your wild goose chase of a story surrounding a student of your managing to stick seventeen — yes, seventeen — pencils up his nose.

Pausing from the small interaction you were having with Kuzo, you stared at Natsuo as if he had asked you to reveal a secret to him.

Coming to your senses, you rubbed the back of your head as you laughed, “I began six years ago! I’m still the youngest teacher at my school too!”

Your smile weirdly tightened as you replayed that last sentence over in your head, what the hell were you thinking? Why did you include that?!

“I’m the youngest person on the trauma surgery board,” Natsuo teases as you roll your eyes at him.

“And I’m the youngest one in this room,” Kuzo jokes which send the three of you into rounds of amused laughter.

That is until a soft alarm goes off.

You watch as Natsuo pulls out his phone and silences it.

“My shift is over, and Patient Kuzo was the last one on my rounds,” Natsuo explains as he gathers his papers together. “I have to go, I have only a few hours of rest before I’m needed back. I’ll see you next time, Patient Kuzo, and whenever I happen to see you again, y/l/n-san.”

“Have a safe trip home, Todoroki-sensei, thank you for helping,” you say to Natsuo as he smiles one last time at you and leaves.

“Are you two dating?” Kuzo asks you as the door closes behind Natsuo.

Your eyebrows scrunch together as you turn your attention towards the bed-bound elder, “No! I only ever talk to him when he’s making his rounds, and our conversations only last five minutes at max!”

“You both talk like lovers, that’s all.”

You resist the urge to blush as you take your seat again, your mind attempting to ignore how your heartbeat picks up at the thought of getting Natsuo to be interested in you.

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

“Fuyumi,” Natsuo groaned as he stared into his mirror, his hands still as he shaves the stubble on his cheeks. “I’m not going on a blind date with your coworker of all people!”

“Come on Natsuo,” Fuyumi’s voice sounded extremely disappointed and sad at the rejection. “You’ve never met her before, and I think she would be amazing for you! She’s super sweet, pretty, understands doctor's busy schedules, AND she thinks having sashimi near the sea is romantic.”

“I feel like that’s what you say about every girl you want to set me up with,” Natuso sighs as he places his razor down. “In that exact order, too.”

“Well, it’s the same girl! I don’t want to give you all her fun little secrets until you actually meet her! Why won’t you just go on one little date, I’ll even give you the money needed to take her out!”

She seemed frustrated as her voice pitched. Natsuo felt a bit guilty as he could hear the disappointment in her voice. With a sigh, he brushed back his unstyled hair groaning as he confessed a secret to his sister.

“I would go out on a date with her, but the thing is…” Natsuo pauses, cringing at how childish this was. “I’m interested in someone else at this moment. It's not that I'm not grateful for you looking out for me, but I want to see where this is going with this one girl.”

“There's a girl?!” Fuyumi exclaimed, her voice changing from disappointment to one of elation.

“I'm only telling you this because I feel bad, but there is a volunteer who has been around in the hospital a lot and I am interested in her. And before you ask, no I haven't done anything about it yet.”

“Fine…” Fuyumi’s voice huffs, there’s mixed excitement and disappointment in her tone. “But if you are ever interested in going out with her will you please let me know?”

Natsuo sighed but nodded his head, “If I ever need a date I will make sure to come to you first and get this blind dates name from you.”

“That's all I wanted to hear, okay but I have a meeting with the principal, so I will talk to you later, okay? I love you and have a great night shift, see you soon!”

“Bye, Fuyumi. I love you too, have fun.”

Natuso stared at his phone that went dark as the call ended.

It was supposed to be his day off today, but he needed to go in for a few minutes to assess a case as a second and more informed opinion.

Finishing up his morning routine, Natsuo continued to the hospital which was conveniently a five-minute walk away.

The opinion didn’t take long, and in fact, by the time he got there, the decision had been agreed upon. Natsuo had also agreed with their decision on going forward with the surgery, and now he was on his way out.

He stood outside the hospital entrance, his back to the doors as he made a mental outline of just what he would be going.

However, Natsuo realized that he wasn’t doing anything tonight, so maybe he could go home again, order some take out and watch movies he’s been meaning to watch. Checking his watch he sighed, he just hoped that Fuyumi wouldn’t call him again tonight.

“Todoroki-sensei!” A voice called for him, and Natsuo turned around to see you walking out of the hospital. Your jacket held in your hands as you bowed respectfully. “They were just telling me that you didn’t work today and here I find you still lingering about!”

Natsuo's mind flipped as he returned the bow, watching as you walked on over, a kind smile on your face.

“Good evening, y/l/n-san,” Natsuo greeted as you stopped in front of him. “I didn’t work today; I was called in for a second opinion, that’s all.”

Natsuo watched as your headed nodded in understanding, “Well I’m glad it didn’t eat up your time! I couldn’t volunteer today but I dropped some flowers off for Aiko-chan.”

“Patient Moto,” Natsuo instinctively mutters with a nod. “She’s been out of the ICU for a few days, but she still worries me.”

“Her parents refuse to come to visit her, I’m worried about her too.”

Natsuo nodded as he stared at your face, it was twisted in dissatisfaction and need to do something. What should he do?

“Would you like to have dinner with me?” Natsuo found himself blurting out as your eyes widen. “I mean you don’t have to by any means! You’re just a great volunteer who is also a teacher and that’s not easy to juggle. I also—“

“I’d love to get dinner with you, Todoroki-sensei,” you laugh as you nudge him. Natsuo nods as his cheeks flush as he watches as you pull on your jacket.

“Please don’t call me Todoroki-sensei in public…”

“It’s a habit!”

✩✶✩❇✩✶✩

Natsuo focused on you as your eyes sparkled as they placed an appetizer between the two of you. It was only edamame, but your fingers stretched out happily after thanking the waiter. Natsuo found himself unable to look away from you, the small details surrounding your personality intriguing him, only making the way his heart beat faster.

“So, y/l/n what made you want to become a teacher?” Natsuo asks as you happily much onto the food.

“My parents were educators, and I don’t know,” you shrug as you place the empty hull down. “It just seemed right to do the same thing. Plus, my quirk is so not suited to being a hero! I can make grass grow! Talk about becoming the next All Might with that!”

Natsuo grins as he listens to you ramble about how you considered other options before settling with teaching. Of how you could never see yourself not being a teacher now.

“How about you? Were you always out to be a trauma surgeon?”

Natsuo shifted in his seat as he shook his head, “I wanted to be a psychologist at first, actually.”

“Oh? What made you change your mind?”

“I did some practical rounds during med school…” Natsuo shrugs as he shakes his head. “My mother dealt with abuse and I felt a sense of obligation to help with people who suffered at the hands of their abusers or from abuse… but as soon as I went to try it, I froze. I couldn’t do it. So I watched a few surgeries and it was the best way I could feel like I was helping her out without mentally helping them.”

“That’s… very noble of you,” Natsuo hears you whisper as you nod your head. “Is that what you want to do though? Feeling obligated to do something this grand for your family is important, but by no means should that be the reason you stay!”

“No, no, I love my job! Really, I do! It just sucks I couldn’t do what I originally wanted to do.”

“I’m sure your mother is proud of you regardless, Todoroki-san.”

Natsuo’s eyes shift on your hand that is placed gently on top of his, the warm smile on your face further intensifying the warm aura coming from you. His hand shifts under yours and turns to squeeze your hand softly.

“No wonder why you’re well-liked, you have a very pleasant aura about you.”

Your head drops with embarrassment and Natsuo laughs as the plates of sashimi were brought over for the two of you to eat. The meal was eaten with soft chatter, the two of you talking when it seemed fit, and it felt right.

What interrupted the night was a loud buzz from Natsuo’s phone.

Being a surgeon, Natsuo always had his phone alarm on for calls and texts in case he was needed. With an apologetic smile, Natsuo opened his phone, the main screen shining momentarily as he looked to see that it was merely a text from Fuyumi about setting up a date with her teacher friend.

“Sorry, that was just my sister,” Natsuo apologizes as he puts away his phone. His grey eyes return to your face, but his body stiffens at the look on your face.

“You’re…” you whisper as you point at where his phone would be at. “You’re the Todoroki Natsuo. As in the son of Endeavor?!”

Natsuo feels his skin crawl as he nods his head, it wasn’t that big of a secret, but he preferred the people he was pursuing to not be aware of his parentage.

“I know your sibling!”

Double fuck.

Natsuo pulled his arms closer to himself as he watched your mouth move to speak again. Everyone always said that about Shouto. Every girl always knew him, every girl begged Natsuo to let him meet his younger brother! This was in no shape or form was Shouto’s fault, but it wasn’t the most pleasant feeling when girls were interested in the other Todoroki son when they were on a date with him.

“I love Fuyumi! We work together! You’re the brother who refused to go on a blind date with me!”

As a surgeon, Natuso prided himself on his nimble fingers and his quick thinking, but right now he was stumped. Natsuo gawked at you as you pulled out your own phone, demonstrating the various photos you had with his older sister.

“You don’t… you don’t care about Shouto?”

“Just because he’s a Pro Hero doesn’t mean I want to date him! Besides he’s younger than me and I’m much more interested in another Todoroki right now anyways!” You lean forward, resting your chin on your palms as you grin. “Now tell me, Todoroki-san, what about me made you not want to try a blind date?”

Natsuo chuckles as he shakes his head, “Sorry, we Todoroki’s are a bit dense.”

“That’s okay, you did ask me out to dinner!”

for everything tag list (message to be added):

@flayvus @antigenius @mariahschoices @cherry-pie-shay @the-secret-thief @vampire-dumbass

#todoroki x reader #todoroki #todoroki natsuo #todoroki natsuo x reader #natsuo x reader #todoroki fluff #todoroki natsuo fluff #bnha writing blog #bnha #bnha x reader #bnha todoroki #bnha imagines #mha #mha x reader #mha imagines #mha todoroki

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hitsuackerman · 4 years

Text

What in the World? (Akaashi Keiji x Reader) pt.3

Sorry for the long wait but... Here is part 3 of WINTW? :D Enjoy!

Akaashi’s lineup: @alluring-akaashi @oikawalmart-hq @extrasugafree @bbykiyoomi @apricotjihyo @simpformiya @colorseeingchick @something-that-idk

links: part 1, part 2, part 4

To answer your question from 2 nights ago, the reason why you never saw Akaashi leave his house was because he got up early for volleyball practice and arrived late as well. Due to the circumstances, the both of you made a silent agreement to go home together. Only if there was practice of course.

School had already ended and the walk back home finished. Seated on your desk, you practiced your quirk. Morphing the leaves into different shapes and sizes, manipulating the soil to quicken its growth or whatever your mind could think of.

The little sessions you were doing made you remember your childhood. The day you found out about your quirk was similar to what you were doing. 4 years old with a soiled shirt. A gigantic carrot in the back of the house followed by leaps of joy of having a daughter with an enlargement quirk. It wasn’t until you were 6 years of age that you realized you could not only enlarge things but manipulate them as well.

Not long after, your quirk finally showed its potential.

Matter Manipulation. The thought of having such an intense quirk scared you. But, being that gifted, being a hero would probably be a walk in the park

Upon seeing just how blessed you were, they ended up boasting you in their agency. Once the word spread, they received a letter coming from Endeavor’s agency hence the arranged quirk-marriage.

It always made you wonder. Why didn’t you develop romantic feelings for Shoto? Maybe it was how the situation began or because he took care of you like a brother you’ve always yearned for. Probably the latter.

Leaning onto your chair, you put the plant back in its original state. Something as little as that shouldn’t have been so tiring on your part. If anything, it felt as if your quirk was slowly disappearing.

“How would it feel to be quirkless though?”

Recalling the Shie Hassaikai Raid, Overhaul had envisioned a world without quirks. Maybe he was just born in the wrong dimension. He was a hypocrite, of course. In a way, every single being relied on their quirks to the point where things were patterned after them. Remembering the Quirk Singularity theory, maybe the garbage man wasn’t a hundred percent wrong.

“Jeez.” You dragged your chair to your window and peaked at the neighbor’s. Bless him for pulling the curtains to the side. “This dimension’s turning me into a stalker and praising a villain.”

Reaching for your phone, you scrolled through some group chats and found what you were looking for. You promised those 2 girls you would call them, but with how you were not able to use your quirk for everyday living, you just fell asleep before you could hit the dial button.

“Hey girl!” Asami greeted as she adjusted her video. Her room was the embodiment of a pink princess. Pink walls, pillows, and even her chair. Mina entered your mind. How was your alien friend doing?

“How was the volleyball practice?” Akiko entered the video conference. Hair a mess and screen focused on the upper half of her face.

“First. Mimi was right.” Seeing that Akaashi’s room was still empty, you looked at the two girls on the screen. “Bokuto-senpai is really beefy. He’s tall too. Reminds me of a very hyper owl.”

“Did you hear his slogan?” Asami was a fan girl. It was clear by now.

“Slogan? You mean his ‘Hey! Hey! Hey!’?” A loud screech echoed through your walls. “Yes. I hear it multiple times a day. It’s pretty cute though. He’s like a child on steroids.”

“What’s the second point?” Akiko asked.

“I almost got hit by a ball. Other than that, that’s pretty much it.”

“And who saved your clumsy ass?”

“Akaashi-san did. Bokuto-san’s setter.” The gasps and their sudden change of posture was something you were not in the mood for. “And no. Before you two go feral, nothing else happened. That’s it.”

“No fun!” The two girls exclaimed.

The rest of the call, you managed to get a bit more information about the two girls. From random memories you don’t know about, small mannerisms that they do when they get all excited, or even just the gist that they would do anything a friend would do. When you heard about the problems they were having, hero instinct kicked in.

Their problems were nothing compared to what you had back home. Giving advice made you feel like a therapist but seeing their thankful expressions, it was all worth it.

When the morning came, you opened your window and looked at your neighbor’s. Any minute now, he would do the same and ask if you were ready to go. With the small window of time, you stared at the gray sky. The clouds looked heavy with rain. Though you had your jacket ready, you couldn’t help but miss your personal heater.

“I wonder how half and half is doing?” You began to drift. Staring at your palm, you made sure it was facing the opposite way from Akaashi’s window before activating your quirk. Despite only practicing on a plant, you could feel your quirk gaining a bit more power. “35%. And it’s too straining, even for me. Fuck.”

“Everything alright?”

Clenching your fist immediately, your eyes snapped to the direction of the voice. Mouth slightly open. Just how long had he been watching.

“I honestly don’t know but it’s fine.” You shrugged. “No practice today?”

“Coach said to take a break for today. We can head to school now if you want.”

“D’you wanna grab a snack bar first?”

“Okay.” Closing both your windows at the same time, you proceeded in getting ready.

It wasn’t long before both of you were inside the convenience store. Your eyebrows furrowing at the sight of foreign snack bars. The one’s back home usually had certain nutrients that enhanced quirks a tiny bit. Sort of like a coffee rush. The one’s in front of you were a bit dull. Or maybe you weren’t sure which flavor to get.

“Akaashi-san.” Gunmetal blue eyes met yours. “What can you recommend?”

The small tilt of his head was rather pleasing to look at. Watching how he scanned for a potential candidate, Akaashi reached for a blueberry-oatmeal variant. Flipping it to read the ingredients, he extended his arm a bit and offered you the snack.

“Bokuto-san likes that flavor. You might too.” When you took the snack from his hand, his eyes widened a fraction of a second. Sure, he felt random sparks but this one was a bit more intense. Brushing it off, he ushered you to the cashier. Offering to pay for the food, he watched as your eyes brightened up a tiny bit.

As he was paying, you exited the convenience store. That small jolt of electricity was something much bigger than the ball incident. Peaking at your hand, you activated your quirk and saw how the yellow glow was brighter than before.

‘What the hell even is this? If this is the second time for this to happen then something must be up. But, Akaashi doesn’t have a quirk so there’s no way our quirks are colliding or some shit. Or maybe he does have a quirk he’s just not telling it. But maybe this is an after effect of having a quirk in a different place?’ Your thoughts would make Deku’s mumbling look slow.

The glow on your palm suddenly expanded till it just burst like Bakugo’s explosions. Eyes widening at the feeling of not being able to control your own power.

‘What the fuck??’

Being so lost in thought, you were startled when you felt a hand pulling your arm. The next thing you felt was your body colliding with another. Your cheek touching his tie as his arm was protectively wrapped around your shoulder. Looking up, you saw how his eyes were focused on a bike that had stopped a few feet away.

“Are you okay, miss?!” The biker exclaimed. “My brakes gave way!”

“It’s my fault, mister! Sorry.” You bowed but struggled a bit. Akaashi still holding on to your shoulder. “I was distracted and so lost in thought I probably didn’t hear you calling out for me.”

After apologizing to the man for not taking into account your surroundings, you offered to help in fixing his brakes. Though he refused, you waved him off and told him a wire or screw must have been loose. So when he turned around and apologized to Akaashi, you quickly put your quirk to use and repaired the brakes.

With things going back to the way they were, the both of you were now approaching the school. Every few steps, you would stare at his hands. Come to think of it, you wondered if he saw the explosion coming from your palms.

“About a while back,” You opened the topic. “Sorry for the trouble.”

“It’s nothing.” He answered. Eyes focused on the approaching school gate. “Just be more careful next time.”

“Yes sir.”

“I do have a question, though.” Hearing you hum, he proceeded. This time his gaze was towards you. “Why are you carrying firecrackers?”

‘So he did see.’ You mentally cursed. Even if you used the ‘it was just light reflected from the glass windows’, there was no way the tall male would believe you. Trying to think up a reason, you began to chew on your lower lip.

“AKAASHI! (Y/N)-CHAN!”

‘Oh thank the quirk gods…’

“I HAVE GREAT NEWS!” Bokuto said as he jumped with excitement. Just in time, he managed to catch you eyeing his childhood friend. There was a moment of silence that even Akaashi wondered why he suddenly stopped yapping. “Anyway! Karasuno and Nekoma will be visiting us during the weekends for some practice matches. AAAHHH! TSUKKI AND KUROO WILL BE THERE AND WE CAN HAVE ANOTHER MATCH, AGAASHI!”

“I’m looking forward to it, Bokuto-san.” He turned to face you as all you three head up the stairs towards your respective classrooms. “You’ve never met the other teams right?”

“No. But I did do research~” One of the lighter things when it came to learning about this place. The teams were pretty interesting and it would be awesome to witness a match with other schools.

Sliding the door open for you, the both of you entered your room with a few greetings here and there. Once the bell rang, you took out your notebook and pen. Again, you caught yourself thinking, what was going on in your own world? Was there another you struggling as well? Twirling your pen, you allowed yourself to drown in your thoughts.

- - - -

and yes! part 4 is now up :) mostly because nothing much happens in this chapter and i had to make ya’ll wait :* Akaashi’s lineup is still accepting tags :) comment if youd like to be a part of it

#akaashi #akaashi keiji x reader #akaashi keiji #akaashi x reader #haikyuu x reader #haikyuxbnha

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faedawayyy · 3 years

Text

DALLAS JACKSON.

my forever obsession. i feel like his story and margo’s story go hand in hand and when they’re put together, it makes so much sense why they are the way they are.

TW: DRUGS, ALCOHOL, VERBAL AND PHYSICAL ABUSE

CHILDHOOD (0 - 11)

dallas is the youngest of two. he was born in april and from the moment he was born, he became the centre of his mum’s universe. he never did anything to be that way; she always told him that he came at just the right time. he never really knew what that meant but it’d end up being the main thing that sent so many other things spiralling in the wrong direction as he grew up.

anywhere his mother went, dallas would be taken too. their parents couldn’t go on dinner dates without dallas coming along in his pushchair while margo stayed with her nanny. he’d go to lunch dates with friends and parties he was too young to be at. his mother was incredibly attached but to him, it felt like love and what child doesn’t want that? she’d suffered with postpartum after margo and dallas was her chance to redo motherhood the “right” way.

dallas never saw much of his dad growing up and when he did, it was during the late hours of the nigh when he’d come home in his suit looking tired. around the same time dallas would go to bed. they were fine though and had a better relationship than margo did with her parents.

dallas spent very little time with anybody his own age. he was desperate to be close to margo but jealousy pushed them away. he’d spend most of his time going to events with his parents and being around other adults.

he loved school because it gave him independence. he was free from his mother’s attachment and he got to make friends with kids his own age. he loved maths, sports and music the most; he was a member of many sports teams and also took part in any school concert that came his way. he was best on the drums and didn’t start singing until much later.

spending a lot of time at home meant that he got to see his dad’s career grow and has more happy memories of his childhood and his parent’s marriage than margo does. however, his mother’s obsession with him did used to make him feel like his dad resented him in a weird way, though. it never showed in huge ways and he came to the conclusion it was just in his head. he was only 11, after all.

TEEN YEARS (12-18)

high school started out weird for dallas. knowing who he is now, people would expect him to have been popular from the get go but he actually really struggled to make friends. spending most of his childhood with adults over 30, he struggled to connect with teenagers - and especially boys - his own age.

he did get in with a group of guys but he was very clearly the weakest link or the one they’d bully and pick on just because they could. he’d shrug it off as a joke but it made him hate school. a lot. it was in the 12 - 14 year old range that he stopped doing sports or putting a lot of effort into school. it didn’t effect his grades because he’s naturally gifted in academics, but he lost his love for learning and school in general.

dallas spent most of his younger teen years not being invited out and watching his friends have fun without him. he still went to events with his parents just to get out of the house. agreeing to sing at a christmas party led him to signing a contract with charles hamilton’s music label. over a summer, he made his debut EP and released a single.

he blew up. almost instantly. the song ‘one time’ was a hit and he was almost certain that this would earn him respect at school. it turned out to be the reverse; he was mocked. people would play his songs ironically and he was called every name you could think of. he even got beat up a few times because of it. it made him miserable and he begged charles to terminate his contract. that never happened but he never, ever wanted to make music.

studying and working on his first full length album, dallas met ruby at school at around 13 and she was the first friend he had that didn’t insist on making a joke of him. he learnt she was adopted by edwin carmichael which made her a family friend; she was the person he mainly started hanging out with and he gradually got to know her friends which opened him up to a new circle too.

separating from his first friendship group was positive, he started to love sports and music again and school became somewhere he could tolerate. he posted music online and ended up releasing ‘baby’ - another song that absolutely blew up and sent him into stardom way too early.

his mum became his manager and helped him balance school and all of his new career success, something else that earned him a string of horrible texts and comments from margo. at this point, he never saw her and she despised him for taking everything she wanted.

he didn’t have much time to think about it. the older dallas got, the more financially successful he became and by the time he hit 15, he was the highest earner in his family. at around he same time, cracks in his parents marriage was showing at home.

his dad never tried to hide the fact that he hated dallas for earning more than him and for a good few years, his father had control over his money. anything he earned went straight to mr jackson. dallas never saw a penny...and because his dad had a gambling addiction, a lot of it went down the drain.

by the time dallas reached 18, he had multiple offers from talent academies and academic universities. he originally chose to go to yale and study physics. he’d had a taste of fame and the music industry and didn’t want it.

dallas’s father had put money aside for him when he was 18 for college. so, he used that to pay his tuition fees. however, after only one term, the account was drained and he didn’t have the money to stay. he worked jobs at bars and shops to pay his way but one job payed more than most and that was drug dealing. not hard to come by on a campus of over privileged kids. however, he was quickly caught and asked to leave.

dallas came home to a completely different environment. his family were bankrupt and his dad had sold the law firm. they were living on loans and their parent’s marriage became massively toxic. he saw his dad beat his mum, multiple times, and when he rushed to defend her - which he would every time - he’d get the same treatment.

he felt like he didn’t have the option to move away like margo, who would take care of their mum? that’s what drove his decision to stay local and go to st judes. but, he hated margo to leave him to deal with his dad’s mess and find a way...on his own...to get them money. suddenly, he was trying to find a way to pay rent, his sister’s rehab bills AND tuition for st judes so it was back to dealing.

YOUNG ADULT (18 - 23)

easily the hardest years of his life. his young adult years have been stress, after stress, after stress, but he’s also not one to ask for help. still being massively successful in music, he threw himself into his rising fame with his albums ‘BELIEVE’ and ‘PURPOSE.’

any chance he got to act like a kid and forget about the responsibility he has, he takes it. whether that’s getting into petty fights, dating around, getting too drunk or acting impulsively.

pressure from both being a big name at the academy and from his family has driven him to darker places. he’s struggled - multiple times - to have healthy romantic connections because he’s used to people being dependant on him; starting with his own mother. the minute somebody gets too attached or asks too much of him, he’ll lash out. on the flip side though, he likes to be needed.

mental pressure is mainly what led his last relationship to become abusive and after that, he hit rock bottom. believe it or not, it’s definitely learnt behaviour and the last position he wanted to find himself in.

dallas’s mental health has taken the biggest blow. after a handful of seriously failed relationships and having no home life anymore, he was diagnosed with depression mid-2020. something else he rejects intensely. he refuses to have the same diagnosis as his dad and refuses to speak of it or tell anyone or ask for help.

TW: SUICIDE

2020 and early 2021 had him make two separate suicide attempts that were recorded in the press as drug overdoses. the truth of the matter is that he isn’t an addict. he takes drugs but isn’t a slave to them. he doesn’t want to ruin his life or become numb to it; just end it.

END OF TW

in more recent months, dallas has picked up on his music career again and is STILL trying his best to support his parents and pay margo’s withstanding rehab bills. after being in hospital, the academy have forced him to go to therapy, something he does privately and this accounts for him slowly improving in his behaviour again but he’s definitely forever on thin ice with how his life’s going.

#character saves #my favourite always

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geekgirles · 4 years

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Goodbye & Broppy

After the song was released, I felt the need of doing something I haven't done in a while for the Trolls fandom: an in-depth analysis.

The lyrics of the song were a real tearjerker; the separation, the longing, the sadness, the impression of giving up as the only option... And, considering it said Justin Timberlake was supposed to sing it, and the mentions of "My queen", "My love"; it totally sounds like a Broppy song.

Now, I know @georgebeard mentioned they'd talked to an animator who confirmed the scene was indeed deleted from the film. However, as a loyal and experienced member of the Miraculous fandom, I know better than to cross out the possibility of being misled in order to avoid spoilers (I'm looking at you guys, Chloé redemption, Félix , and Chat Blanc). So, there's that.

And even if the song did not make it in the end, we must not forget the first movie and its extra content.

If you purchased a DVD copy (like myself), or were obsessed enough to search for every possible Trolls-related video on YouTube (like myself), you must have surely found the deleted scenes from the film.

Poppy's dresses.

Poppy's storytelling.

"Bringing Back Happy."

And that's what I wanna talk about!

Bringing Back Happy was a, rather early (considering its storyboard stage), villain song that Chef was supposed to sing. So, even if Goodbye doesn't make it into Trolls World Tour, the chances of it appearing as extra content are pretty high, considering it was even mentioned before the release of the movie.

If that weren't enough for ya, there's more. Don't worry.

As I mentioned earlier, if you're familiar with the deleted scenes, you'll know 2/3 were in a very advanced stage of animation before being scrapped. Not to mention, the one major change we got no info about: turning Poppy's coronation party to the 20 year anniversary since they escaped the bergens. Again, a scene so advanced in its animation stage that even made it to the trailer!

Moreover, there's this detail in the very first trailer of Trolls World Tour that stuck with me: Branch's quote "This is a terrible idea that will blow up in your face!"

Which, if we compare it to his supportive attitude in the latest trailer ("I'm coming with you"), is completely different and even unexpected.

And that leads me to this: there are many reasons why a scene would be deleted; it gives a character a quality they didn't want, Chef didn't get to sing because it made her too funny, while Poppy didn't wear her dresses because it made her look spoiled; it becomes longer than they expected, another reason for the dresses and, I think, for the storytelling; or it changes the vibe of the movie greatly (if you guys knew the original script for How to train your dragon 2...).

On a side note, I remember a post from long ago that explained that one of the reasons its OP liked trolls so much was because, unlike the vast majority of films, Poppy and Branch never really had a fall out. They were always together.

What do I mean with this?

What if their fall out happens in this movie? What if Branch says that line out of frustration and Poppy and him, both devastated, are forced to go their separate ways?

That would be the perfect cue for a song as romantic and heartbreaking as Goodbye.

Not to mention, it would also explain how on Earth Poppy could be captured by Barb, alone. Because there's no way Branch wouldn't go down with her otherwise, and you know it.

Now that the song analysis and theorizing is out of the way, let's move on to the deeper part of the analysis: Broppy itself.

As someone who's been a hardcore Broppy shipper even before watching the movie, you can believe me when I say that it'll devastate me if they killed Broppy.

Even so, I also consider myself as someone both highly emotional and analytical, hence, why I create such analysis on the things I love. Trolls being no exception.

Something I want to talk about to make you all understand my point of view is the way Dreamworks works (as I see it). And for that, I'd like to compare Trolls, HTTYD, their tv shows, and their main ships, Broppy and Hiccstrid; respectively.

If there's something I've noticed about Dreamworks and Disney, that's that Disney movies have a much greater stand-alone value than Dreamworks'. That's why 95% of its films end with an extra-official couple or why their sequels are either shitty compared to the original (Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Mulan...) or a fucking masterpiece. I mean, take Frozen, for instance. The film made a major point on criticising Disney's "I get together with someone I barely know and we live happily ever after" trope. And yet, even if it was much subtler and less intense than usual, that's exactly what happened with Anna and Kristoff. Maybe they weren't married, but they got officially together. And as for Frozen II... I haven't seen it, but I've been told it's very, very different than the first one, and very, very good.

So, yeah. Stand-alone value.

But Dreamworks... Dreamworks manages to reach beautiful conclusions that, at the same time, let the plot perfectly open for more stories to be told.

Seriously, just watch How to Train your Dragon!

Every film had its ending, but it also made you wonder what was gonna happen next. It made you understand that the saga wasn't over, just a part of it. And I think that's what they're trying to achieve with Trolls.

I mean, sure. The plot of the sequel wasn't what we expected at all and made many of us think about the astounding amount of fanfics that delved in the possible existence of different kinds of trolls... But it left us all with one question in our minds, "what now?" And, at the same time, the film had reached a beautiful conclusion.

See what I mean?

I wholeheartedly believe this is something Dreamworks aim to achieve with its pairings. They don't want them to be rushed, they want to develop them. Sure, they want us to see there are ships, but they strive to form deep, strong relationships with much more meaning behind than just sharing an adventure together.

And that, that is something I can clearly see with Hiccstrid and Broppy.

If we take HTTYD, the hints on the romantic relationship between Hiccup and Astrid were even greater than Poppy and Branch's. Heck, they even kissed. And you know what was their official description for Riders of Berk to half of Race to the Edge? Not-so-platonic best friends.

But that's because they took the time to naturally develop and strengthen their bond!

Which is what I think is supposed to happen to Poppy and Branch.

Sure, they are close. Sure, they were on a life-changing adventure together. Sure, they are countless hints on their romantic feelings.

But they still spent 20 years being practically strangers.

They still need to learn how to be a team together. They still need to learn how the other works. They still need some basic ground.

If we keep on comparing the two films, we must not forget that HTTYD 2, despite having Hiccup and Astrid as betrothed, wasn't as heavy on their romance as the first and third movie were.

Because the focus of the film was Hiccup becoming a leader. Not becoming Astrid's husband.

And, considering the plot of Trolls World Tour, it's still very possible that it won't be as heavy on Broppy as it was the prequel. After all, TWT is more about diversity and harmony than happiness, which is what made the contrast between the optimistic princess and the cynical survivalist so important for Trolls.

But, please, fear not. This does not necessarily mean that Broppy is dead. It just means we might have to be careful about letting our hopes up and, more importantly, in case nothing is conclusive about these two in Trolls World Tour, that we just have to be a little more patient.

After all, a good written ship never disappoints.

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