#resulting in them smoothing things over and becoming good friends

[good-beanswrites]

Hello, I've been thinking about your actors au. Are you doing anything about Rei and Mikio being the only side characters with faces in the first trial? Because I do have a theory about that which I haven't posted but I always thought that was really interesting. Even Yamanaka pointed it out in the first anniversary stream.

Ah, I definitely want to!! Mikio is the man in Harrow, right? (There's also maybe-Rumerie in Bring it On who drives me crazy to this day asdfsd) I'm hoping once the project ends and we get the bigger picture, I can really highlight their relationships more. I'll touch on some of my ideas real quick, but I'd love to hear your theory if you ever end up posting it 👀

My problem is, I originally thought the faces show the prisoners' love towards them, and not necessarily mutual relationship -- which causes some hiccups with including them as characters in the au... (Including t2 faces), Haruka hungers for his mother's love, but given her abuse, they couldn't in good conscience have her on set with him. Rumerie may have been some sort of friend, but he didn't seem so close that he'd be okay seeing Fuuta again and being implicated in his crime. Muu cares very deeply for Rei, but even if the murders never occurred, I can't picture a young girl would feel safe filming her own death at the hands of her bully... I ran into a similar issue with Mahiru and Kazui's partners, but as adults I felt like it was easier and safer for them to consent to the situation.

However! The fact that Kotoko's victim has a clear face really interests me, because that's the only one that (seemingly) has no established relationship or love between them. What could Muu's realtionship with her classmate have in common with Kotoko's and the victim she hunted down from a distance? So I'd love to compare with your thoughts and reevaluate my theory as the new mvs come out...

#milgram #rei #mikio #rumerie #ah thank you for the question -- im glad youre enjoying the au :)) #(i know you didnt really ask for all my thoughts asdfdsf but ah well) #as a big fuuta fan that those arcade guys have been driving me insane and i still have nothing to show for it lmao #but yeah -- i do want to include something eventually that their connection was the most important #because even though hinako hsa a face now theres something to be said about her appearance in half #kazui really wasnt thinking as deeply about her as muu was thinking of rei and so on #itd be sweet in the au if - after everything settles down - rei can see muus videos somehow and realize she did deeply care about her #resulting in them smoothing things over and becoming good friends #i do love the reimuu theory so ill see how much room i have for interpretation when everything ends hehe... #(i dont want to promise writing years ahead of time but i want to add an epilogue chapter once we actually know who es is and get #the full story on the prisoners) #id love to hear your theory about them! #especially mikio! its shameful how little ive analyzed meme/harrow compared to some of the others -_- itd be cool to hear more about him #later ill make an official tag for this au #i think its time #ask #lights camera sing your sins

[lesbianfakir]

Something that is an example of good character writing in Princess Tutu is how Fakir and Duck have little incompatibilities in their personalities (you know. Beyond the obvious). It makes it a little harder for them to get along and understand one another but you get the sense that they’re both putting the effort in. It’s sweet and it makes the relationship feel all the more real.

Fakir is serious, blunt, and he doesn’t sugarcoat things. His words often come across as harsh, even when there’s real care behind them. As a result, Duck—who reads his tone but not always the intentions behind it—doesn’t always pick up on when he’s doing something nice for her. For example, when Duck starts to tell Mytho she’s Princess Tutu, Fakir startles her to interrupt her, causing her to turn back into a duck. She takes offense and only later realizes he did it so she wouldn’t reveal her identity to mytho before she was ready (and even then I don’t think she picks up on the full extent of it). There’s another scene where he tells her point blank if she doesn’t want to fight the raven she needs to stop being princess tutu. It comes across as quite harsh and seems to visibly sadden Duck, though he cares about her deeply and is only trying to keep her safe.

The other “incompatibility” that comes to mind is how Fakir is sensitive and easily offended while Duck tends to blurt out whatever’s on her mind. While there are many scenes where he does get upset (take the scene in the Wandering Knight where he takes her request to stop getting in fights as an attack on his character), there are just as many where he doesn’t take the bait. Watch the show a few times and you’ll notice Fakir has a habit of going silent when Duck says something insensitive. He waits for her to finish speaking and he either ignores her or moves on. In those moments, you can feel the conscious effort he’s making to not lash out. Duck’s earnest naïveté is part of why draws him to her but at the same time it causes friction between then when she’s overly hopeful about something delicate to him, like his writing.

Anyways tldr; Fakir tends to hide what he’s feeling and thinking behind a deadpan demeanor, which sometimes obscures his true intentions from Duck. Meanwhile Duck tends to trample over the things Fakir is sensitive about in conversation, and he often has to stop himself from getting upset. In these moments you see how these characters may not completely understand each other but they care about each other a lot and actively work to smooth out their differences. Also it’s very cute when Duck realizes after the fact Fakir did something nice for her and her face lights up.

These little quirks make room for natural misunderstandings between the characters. Honestly, I like how Princess Tutu doesn’t smooth out compatibility issues or completely rewrite Fakir’s character when he and Duck become friends. The same flaws and tendencies are present, we just see the characters taking more active, conscious steps towards getting along.

#if you need receipts I have them I just didn’t feel like getting screencaps #ask me about specific examples #princess tutu #fakiru #my children #I looooove psychoanalzying characters #if anyone cares I would be so so down to just sit down and do a full character analysis of my thoughts on all the tutu characters #and what makes them tick #but again! anything I say might be super obvious I can’t tell

[celaenaeiln]

I feel like Dick is good at making everyone view him as an equal, even when it’s not in his best interest. It’s not because he can’t reach their level or bring them up to his ofc (it’s one of his strengths!), but it leaves people looking for him in roles he shouldn’t necessarily be in. For instance, Bruce relied on a literal child to balance out his weaknesses because Dick went out of his way to be seen as a partner and friend, someone he could open up to, and that got in the way of his own needs. Then people like Deathstroke and other criminals look for him as an accomplice because he knows how to appear sympathetic while simultaneously making his skill set appeal to them, and while having their potential interest can be advantageous (like making team ups, deals, and truces easier), it’s also proven to be a pain with how their villainous disputes get personal. Obviously they’re already on opposing sides, but Dick doing what he set out to do suddenly stings if he doesn’t make the move to smooth things over. Making himself into an equal is a VERY good quality of his that I adore, but I thought it’d be fun to share some of the repercussions to it and make you think!

og post in reference

Anon, sorry for the wait, but you had me speechless.

This is such a brilliantly written speech about Dick's relationships and the impacts that I was frankly stunned by the beauty of it.

As you said, everyone relies on Dick to do everything for them. As Robin, it was mainly Bruce, the Titans, and a little Slade.

But a negative side effect of a child forced to become the equal to genius adults and metas is it results in massive insecurities and frustrations when those adults take away those responsibilities. The reason Dick wanted to quit being Robin in his later years is because he felt overwhelmingly like Bruce was treating him like a child. He had spent a decade by Bruce's side doing the exact same things. At 15 he was driving a batplane by himself while Bruce was canoodling in the back with someone. It's not even just meeting expectations, he was talking a guardianship role and responsibilities.

"Then people like Deathstroke and other criminals look for him as an accomplice because he knows how to appear sympathetic while simultaneously making his skill set appeal to them, and while having their potential interest can be advantageous (like making team ups, deals, and truces easier), it’s also proven to be a pain with how their villainous disputes get personal."

fantastic

Robin: Year One Issue #4

Because that is exactly what Dick does. He runs away from Bruce and goes undercover in Shrike's academy, an League of Assassins Instructor and he becomes the star pupil.

Robin: Year One Issue #4

The betrayal Shrike feels, it enrages him. He would've paved the entire way for him, praised him to the heavens, done everything for his pupil because he was so amazed, impressed, with Dick. He's never had another student like him.

But Dick was never really on his side

Robin: Year One Issue #4

The crying boy is Boone, the next Shrike and the one who gets defeated easily time and time again by Dick as Nightwing.

But putting his aside, the original Shrike feels the same was as Deathstroke does.

Dick's skillset is so good he easily impresses meta being and assassins but on top of which he has the emotional range to play them like a fiddle. When the villains finally realize, they're hurt and betrayed and outrages because they fell so hard for his charms and talents they never saw the betrayal coming.

Just like Slade never thought Dick would turn Rose on him.

He just has a special kind of talent that lets him do that. That's why like you said all his fights are so personal. Because his enemies know him but he knows them too and they both know what he did.

Obviously they’re already on opposing sides, but Dick doing what he set out to do suddenly stings if he doesn’t make the move to smooth things over.

That's right because betrayal isn't betrayal if they were always on your side. So when he doesn't reach out, it hurts and angers them because they fell for him and he didn't fall for them and for egotistical maniacs and people at the top of their game who don't believe in someone greater, that's unacceptable.

#dick grayson #robin dick grayson #nightwing #bruce wayne #batman #slade wilson #deathstroke #the shrike #cl anon asks #thanks for the ask!

[shslskaterboy]

I often time find myself thinking about missed opportunities in persona 5 and the many writing blunders it makes, but I think probably the most baffling one that still plagues me to this day is the complete lack of proper resolution for Ryuji and Morgana’s arc. It seems like such a classic use of the “two characters who are always bickering” trope, just an ongoing bit that they have, but the writers actually take it in kind of a different way by having it become too real. Things become actually tense as the story progresses, and the benign banter stops being so benign and becomes a lot more pointed, until we get to the point that they’re pretty much taking very personal jabs at each other’s specific insecurities, and it’s really not playful anymore. This of course results in the whole Morgana running of don his own thing, and the first time I was playing through the game I thought the obvious way the arc would go would be: Track him down, maybe a botched apology to build tension further, have some sort of breaking point where everything overflows, and then much the way it does in canon, there is some sort of event (ie Ryuji standing up for him against Haru’s fiancé) that demonstrates the actual care they have and allows for them to smooth things out juuuuust enough to get to the point where they can talk as a group and resolve things. So okay, at this point we’re almost in line with what I expected, so clearly the only thing left to do is have the heartfelt scene where Ryuji and Morgana apologize to each other, right? “I’m sorry I let the fame go to my head,” and “I’m sorry I lashed out bc of my insecurities,” at the very least, then they reconcile and agree that they are really friends and this whole fight was stupid, and they’re sorry, they make up, and the banter can resume but in a more lighthearted manner that clearly displays the growth they both made along the way.

And yet.

We get absolutely nothing of the sort, and I was absolutely fucking flabbergasted by it. It seemed so obvious for that to be the direction they took, because why else would they do all that set up? Why would they make a point of demonstrating that Ryuji was being such a fuckin asshole about it? Why would they double down on Morgana’s bitchiness? It all seemed like the perfect lead into a really good character arc for both of them, and instead they just gloss over it and go “don’t worry they’re fine now” like HELLO?? Are you sure??? Bc that shit got pretty damn personal at the peak there, and you’re telling me they just smile and nod and work together without ever addressing it? Like. Boy atlus what on fucking earth are you doing at this point, just padding for time in a 130+ hour game? What was the point? Truly I will never get over it because it could have been so good for both of them, but instead we get nothing but a half assed apology that doesn’t even land, and I think that is sucks and I’ll never get over it

#atlus hire me challenge!!!! #I could fix your shit just gimme a chance!!!! #persona 5 #p5 #ryuji sakamoto #morgana persona 5 #skaterboy speaks #about: Ryuji <3 #about: Mona <3

[eastgaysian]

Hey, as you are the resident Tom expert: why do think Naomi and Stewy seem to pick up on the fact that logan is abusive or at least damaging, but Tom remains almost willfully oblivious / genuinely oblivious the whole show? Do you think he was playing dumb? Or is it out of his desire to *be* powerful, be wealthy, be like Logan? just really interested in your thoughts if you’re still up for analyzing that insane slimy man clown <3

it's been fully a month since i got this ask i was on a trip with my friends and then went into lemming lockdown. but i have been thinking about it and i do still have thoughts on succession i prommy

this is kind of a complicated knot to untangle - i'll say first off that the way logan treats kendall vs shiv is markedly different, and kendall and shiv respond very differently. naomi and stewy also come from wealthy backgrounds and have some amount of disillusionment with Wealth and Power as a result while tom is, obviously, fixated on social climbing and caught up in the allure of money being a superpower.

with stewy, the biggest thing is that he's been a part of kendall's life since they were kids. while cut script canonicity is always iffy wrt things like 'dinner for winners' etc he's known kendall for, what, 30+ years? the fact is he's been around long enough and closely enough to see a lot more of the roys than most people do - he's also not going to turn a blind eye and enable or excuse like members of the old guard. he doesn't work for logan, he's kendall's best friend. while this doesn't necessarily mean he has always kendall's best interests in mind or that he encourages him towards what we'd consider 'healthy' behaviors, he's had a front row seat to the Kendall Show for decades. he knows first-hand how damaging it is for kendall to remain in logan's proximity/under his control

naomi obviously picks up on How Bad It Is much more quickly, which i would say is a combination of her seeing a lot of herself in kendall, not only with regards to addiction but also wanting to get the money and get out from the family company and all its baggage. in season 2 kendall is also at his absolute lowest, completely under logan's thumb, and everyone's aware of this.

on the whole it's just much more immediately obvious that kendall's fucked and that logan plays a huge role in this. compared to shiv generally being understood as logan's 'favorite,' trying to distance herself from logan/royness at the beginning of the show, and presenting a Cool and Composed front to everyone while kendall walks around with his big brown doe eyes and injured baby bird swagger. neither of them are fully willing to acknowledge just how much damage logan has done, but shiv is much better at hiding the extent of it from other people than kendall is

which is not to say that tom doesn't have some serious cognitive dissonance/conflicts of interest going on, like him asking shiv at the beginning of austerlitz if it's cool to speak to logan 'in a bridge-building way' despite the fact logan accused shiv of knowing about kendall's coup and blew up at her as a result. tom's not totally, willfully blind of what's going on - he saw logan hit iverson at thanksgiving, he got boar on the floor'ed. he correctly assesses in vaulter that 'you saw what your dad did to kendall. there's gotta be the chance he'll do the same to you? get bored of you, once he's got you?' which is again not totally separate from his own self-interest. he needs (or 'needs') to be in logan's proximity and in his good graces in a way stewy or naomi don't, which means smoothing over the fact he's abusive and awful

but i also don't think tom would be able to justify sucking up to logan to himself if shiv didn't okay tom talking to logan in austerlitz, then take logan up on his offer in the summer palace/fixate on the idea of becoming ceo. in an objective sense it's still awful for him to do, of course, but logan has kind of always been between tom and shiv. from his perspective shiv's chosen logan over him before and hasn't stopped him from choosing logan over her in small ways. shiv is chronically unwilling/unable to admit when she's been hurt and tom is unwilling/unable to look past that and recognize when he does something terrible, especially when everyone else is doing the same terrible things

#mingbox #chalkboard #i guess tl;dr is i think tom definitely like. Knows but sees it as something that everyone's accepted as a fact of the world #or the necessary cost of the game being played

[1dmonthlyficroundup]

— 1D Monthly Fic Roundup —

Hi, and welcome to the 1D Monthly Fic Roundup for July 2023! Below you’ll find 1D fics that were all published this month in the order they were submitted to the blog. We hope you’ll check out these new fics! If you would like to submit your own fic, please check this post on how to submit or visit our blog @1dmonthlyficroundup​. You can find all our other posts here.

Happy reading!

＊ Not Safe For Work by bluegreenish / @greenblueish [E, 23k, Harry/Louis]

I want to drown myself in Harry’s scent until I smell like him.

“I think I'm open to trying that too. Sounds very good.”

Louis shakes his head a little to get out of the Harry’s-scent-spiral. “Huh?”

“The dish your finger's pointing at. I thought that might be what you’re choosing?”

“Oh. Yeah.”

or, the one where the boys work at Niall's fashion start-up 28 Programme Designs, and omega Louis has a lot of not safe for work thoughts about his colleague Harry, but little does he know that the alpha can read minds.

＊ Let The Ocean Worry About Being Blue by bluegreenish / @greenblueish [E, 5k, Louis/Harry]

In a society where young adults go through the so-called Colour Test which determines their affiliation to a Colour - Blue, Yellow, Red or Green - and thus where they'll live, work and socialise for the rest of their lives, Harry is finally about to take the Test. Born and raised in Yellow, he met his boyfriend when he was still a teenager - against the government's recommendation. Louis, however, changed from Yellow to Blue two years ago. The problem: Harry needs to receive a Blue Test result as well, because a relationship between two people who live in different Colours is forbidden.

＊ The Truth In Me by @hellolovers13 [G, 1k, Harry & Zayn]

Harry is ready to come out to her best friend. Series. Part 2 of She

＊ Hold On Tighter by @hellolovers13 [G, 1k, Harry]

Harry finally has the house to herself again. Or so she thought. Series. Part 3 of She

＊ Take the Moment and Taste It by @hellolovers13 [E, 4k, Louis/Harry]

“You made him a bracelet?”

“Yeah. It’s a whole thing, people make these friendship bracelets and trade them at the shows. I got a bunch from fans while I was there, but I wanted to give Harry one, with my number on it.”

“Your number as in 28, your squad number, or your phone number?”

Louis smirked. “You know which one.”

or Louis didn't get the chance to give Harry his bracelet in person, but Harry isn't one to leave fate alone.

＊ Glasgow by @hellolovers13 [T, 859 words, Harry/Louis]

Louis' first moments with his newborn daughter. Part 3 of When the City’s Sleeping

＊ Paris in the Rain by @aquamarinedaffodil [T, 17k, Louis/Harry]

“Of course, I want to go to Paris with you,” Harry declares fondly, pushing himself up with one warm palm on Louis’ chest. Pleased, Louis smooths his hands over Harry’s thighs and licks his lips. His vision narrows as his eyes crinkle with the grin unfurling on his face.

“I was hoping you’d say that.” His cheeks heat up as Harry stares at him with a mix of excitement and disbelief in his eyes, those gorgeous emerald eyes that have become Louis’ favourite thing to wake up to. Reaching for Harry’s hand on his chest, he interlaces their fingers, pressing a tender kiss to Harry’s knuckles. “Happy Birthday, baby.”

I love you, Louis thinks but doesn’t say.

That’s what Paris is for.

— Or Louis attempts his first-ever grand romantic gesture and things don’t go according to plan.

Series. Part 2 of Darling Universe

＊ Suddenly Last Summer by @disgruntledkittenface [E, 44k, Harry/Louis]

Louis is bored, rich and lonely. He has no reason to expect that this summer in the Hamptons with his friends will be different from any other – until he meets Harry. Suddenly he has someone who listens to him and cares about what he thinks. Someone who really sees him. But their happily ever after is forever marred by an incident at a party during Labor Day weekend, and Louis is left with a choice to make.

＊ A Social Construct by YesIsAWorld / @louandhazaf [E, 7k, Louis/Harry]

Five times Harry and Louis try to lose their virginity and one time they finally do. Part 4 of Swallow My Words

＊ does it always end in heartbreak? by fearsparks / @onlythebravest [E, 47k, Harry/Louis]

It was only when Harry and Niall were on the bus on their way home that Harry got the chance to ask him what he thought of Louis.

“He’s great. I really like him.”

“Yeah?”

Niall nodded. “Think you’ve found a jealous one though,” he added. “A jealous and protective one.”

Harry sighed. “If he stays.”

“You haven’t told him yet?”

“You think I wouldn’t call you the moment I did so and tell you?” His voice changed, turned a bit shakier, when he continued, “I’m going to. Next date. I just –”

(Life never plays out the way one wants it to and no one ever goes through it unharmed. A story of two relationships, two life stages and more than only two broken hearts.)

＊ Running Over Thoughts That Make My Feet Hurt by @enchantedlandcoffee [E, 4k, Louis/Harry]

Louis is the little league coach of 'The Ducklings', the team that Harry's daughter plays for. Whilst she tries her best, she doesn't quite have the skills so Coach Tommo steps in. He offers private lessons to try and help her, and if he gets in her dad's good books? Well that'd just be a bonus.

＊ Are you ready for a new sensation? by yeah_alright / @uhoh-but-yeah-alright [E, 2k, Harry/Louis]

Louis's never had his toes sucked. Harry can't let that stand.

＊ No (Birth) Control by @haztobegood [E, 2k, Louis/Harry]

They’d been so careful the past few years, ever since the twins were born. Two pups were quite a handful. But, the twins just turned four. They’d be nearly five. They knew someday they’d try for more. Was that distant someday finally now?

“Or maybe…” Harry paused unsure how to say what he was thinking. He bit his lower lip, averted his eyes. Would Louis be on the same page?

Louis waited a few moments before prodding, “Maybe, what?”

“Maybe we go without,” Harry said. Dropping his voice, he whispered a suggestion into Louis’ ear. “Maybe you could breed me for real this time.”

Or, An unfortunate situation left Harry without contraceptives a day before his heat.

＊ Into The Mist by @babyhoneyhslt [M, 15k+, wip, Harry/Louis]

Sneaking on board the famous pirate ship Compass Arrow to get a story for his journalist father, Harry must do everything to keep a low profile. But when one of the crew discovers him, hiding from the ruthless Captain Tommo becomes almost impossible.

＊ Meet In A Minute At The Rendezvous by LiveLaughLoveLarry / @loveislarryislove [E, 3k, Louis/Harry]

Harry and Louis' sons are on rival high school football teams. And whenever they play each other, Harry and Louis sneak off to hook up in the restrooms after halftime. They've never been caught yet -- and if they were, it's anyone's guess whether people would be more scandalized by what they're doing or who they're doing it with. When their sons are injured on the field, Niall comes to find them.

＊ Truth Is I'm Gonna Dare by LiveLaughLoveLarry / @loveislarryislove [E, 3k, Harry/Louis]

“Truth or dare?” Louis asks.Harry takes a sip from his beer. “Dare.”Louis’ eyebrows rise. “Feeling brave, are we?” His forehead wrinkles for a moment as he considers the possibilities, and Harry feels a pang of unease twist in his gut, though it’s quickly drowned by another sip of his drink.A billow of laughter rises up from below, some group of strangers wandering home from their own festivities, and a wicked grin spreads across Louis’ face as he peers down through the railing. “I dare you to piss off this balcony.”

Or, Harry and Louis are groomsmen for Niall and Shawn's wedding. At the bachelor party, they realize they have a few things in common.

＊ Make Me Your Aphrodite by LiveLaughLoveLarry / @loveislarryislove [M, 16k, Louis/Harry]

“I just – I don’t know." Harry sighs. "I go on so many dates, and they’re all just… nothing. The guys are boring, or they’re terrible in bed, or there’s just no chemistry. It’s just so frustrating. Enough to make a girl want to give up on men altogether.”

“I mean, I did give up on men, like a decade ago,” Louis says, laughing. “Have you tried dating girls?”

It’s meant as a joke, but Harry looks thoughtful. “Maybe I should,” she says. “I’ve considered it, but never actually tried – I mean, goodness knows it can’t be any worse than some of the guys I’ve gone out with.”

Louis blinks. “Wait, do you – are you serious?”

“Why not?” Harry says, pulling out her phone. “I’ll change my Tinder settings right now, look.” She taps the screen a few times, navigating through the pages. “If it doesn’t pan out, then oh well, I’ve had some nice conversations with some nice girls – not the worst thing. Maybe we can even be friends. And if it does…” She smiles. “Well. You know.”

Written for the 1D Astro Fic Fest, based on the prompting heavenly body: Venus.

＊ Ice, Ice, Baby by cherrylarry / @beelou [G, 1k, Louis/Harry]

Figure skater Harry takes Louis out on the ice for the first time

＊ (Gimme a Solution and) Watch Me Run With It by @lululawrence [NR, 21k, Louis/Harry]

This second, this minute, this hour, this day... hell, this week the trend was for Harry to feel overwhelmed. He was having a hard time not drowning in all of the responsibilities he had heaped upon himself and it had exhausted him. Beyond that, really. He had gotten to the point where he didn't even remember why he used to be so focused on getting back on stage every night.

Fine. Maybe this trend had been going on for even longer than a week. It might have even been months.

Harry is getting dangerously close to his breaking point, and that is when things start to change, starting with a favorite childhood sweet a member of the touring crew leaves for him in his dressing room.

＊ U-Pop Truck Stop by @kingsofeverything [E, 4k, Harry/Louis]

After driving their big rigs all day, Harry and Louis park at the same truck stop.

＊ In Shining Armour of Trackie and Trainers by LadyAJ_13 / @ladyaj-13 [T, 9k, Louis/Harry]

Online dating isn't exactly working for Harry. In fact, it couldn't really be going much worse. But then the door of the bar opens, and the pack of friends walking in parts and - that’s Louis Tomlinson.

Louis fucking Tomlinson.

＊ The Touch of Your Hand by larry_hiatus / @larry-hiatus [E, 8k, Harry/Louis]

Louis has decided to bite the bullet and get himself a dick piercing. He knows it’s going to hurt, but what he doesn’t know is how to calm down when he finds himself on the brink of a panic attack in front of the incredibly attractive piercer, Harry. Luckily, Harry is really sweet and offers to help ease his nerves.

＊ Proper Little Darling by larry_hiatus / @larry-hiatus [E, 6k, Louis/Harry]

Harry loves the days when Louis makes him dress up pretty and tells him not to go to the loo. Today is one of those days. Their fun, however, does not go quite as planned…

＊ I got me an appetite, now I can taste it by @enchantedlandcoffee [E, 935 words, Harry/Louis]

"Haz, are you sure about this? I don't want to hurt you, love." Louis asked, hovering over Harry's chest.

"Lou..." The omega whined, bringing his hands to the alpha's butt in an attempt to bring him closer. "You won't hurt me."

"Are you sure?" Louis asked again, staying rooted in his position until he was sure he wouldn't hurt the omega.

"I'm sure," Harry whined, moving his hands to the top of Louis' thighs. "How about this? If I'm uncomfortable in any way, I'll tap you twice, like this, okay?" The omega demonstrated the movement for Louis, tapping twice on the alpha's upper thigh.

OR Louis and Harry try something new in the bedroom.

＊ (drippin' on me) till my feet are wet by @justanothershadeofblue [E, 3k, Louis/Harry]

They’ve known each other so long, is the thing. More than a decade, at this point; their entire adult lives. They know each other with a deep and abiding familiarity, know each other's ins and outs, hopes and fears, secrets and kinks. There’s nothing hidden between them, and little that escapes each other’s notice.

All of which is to say, Louis knows exactly what Harry’s up to, making this huge pitcher of lemonade and waiting until the lads were out the door to bring it outside and press a cold glass into Louis’ hand. He’d poured the liquid carefully, sunglasses concealing his gaze as he filled it to the top.

“Drink up,” Harry had said, and Louis had, tipping the contents down his throat in one long pull, letting a few drops slip free and run down, chilled and sweet, into his short beard. He’d caught Harry’s eye and held out his glass for more. “Good,” Harry had said, voice deep, and filled it again.

＊ The Beautiful Game (Group Stage) by @justanothershadeofblue [E, 2k+, wip, ot5]

Neil: Right, lads, you ready for this?

LouLou🍋: bloody christ

Neil: Kick on the first game is in three days!!

Leeyum: kick on wut?

Neil: *slaps you* The Women’s World Cup, you eejit! Where have you been?

Leeyum: London mostly

Z: ☘️ gon 2 win it all thn?

Neil: Obviously! Have you seen Katie McCabe play lately?

Z: she is good u rt

Haz: What are we doing?

Neil: Right, there are 32 teams going in. Five elimination rounds. We’ll leave England and Ireland out of it, since we’re all biased there.

LouLou🍋: oh god here it comes

Neil: I’ve assigned us all six teams each. We’re playing old tour rules.

＊ Play for Keeps by Rearviewdreamer / @all-these-larrythings [M, 18k, Harry/Louis]

Aside from being a supportive friend, all Louis expects from being dragged to an annual board game convention is boredom. Then, he meets Harry, and suddenly conventions aren’t as boring as he thought.

＊ Speed Dates and Slow Lanes by zita17 / @louisandtheaquarian [E, 35k, Louis/Harry]

Overworked drama TA and script reader Louis Tomlinson just wants to make it through the end of the semester unscathed when an impromptu road trip turns his relationship with his best friend and roommate Harry Styles upside down.

Basically, this is the story of what happens AFTER a pair of idiots try to become lovers.

Co-starring Harry’s vintage Mercedes named Delilah, with cameos by Shakespeare, mix tapes, Denny’s, Walmart, Frank Sinatra, Joshua Tree National Park, Harry’s crocheted bucket hat, and Louis’ mesh tank top.

Based on the prompt: "harry & louis not together but living together get into a fight, and harry goes: "get in the car” “what” “get in the car. we are going for a drive and we are not coming home until we figure this out" “harry, it’s 11pm on a tuesday” “so what. get in.” and they solve their issues and end up having to stay at a bnb cause they drove too far, and guess what yea baby there is only one bed."

＊ The Heart's Home by @homosociallyyours [T, 10k, Harry/Louis]

Louis is alone in the world, working long hours at a restaurant job that barely pays his bills, when he's roped into helping his bosses with a scheme. All he has to do is guard the special catch they've brought in, the one that they expect will bring them unbelievable wealth. But there's a problem: the creature they've caught is definitely half human, with the heart and soul of a human and the voice of an angel. Louis knows immediately that he can't let this mer-squid, Harry, become a wealthy person's dinner. As they spend more time together, growing ever closer, Louis realizes that he's got to find a way to get Harry back to his home-- the sea --even if the thought of losing him hurts and doing it means risking everything.

#28th appreciation #ficrec #1dficvillage #trackinghappily #trackinghome #tracksintheam #ficsfor4am #hltracks #1dsource

[zeloinator]

I was tagged by so so many wonderful followers but i do not have enough spoons to gather everyone I’m so so sorry, thank you so much for the tags 🩵

B A S I C S of Zee

-Name: Zee Zalinos

-Nicknames: ‘Zee’ is such a short name she doesn’t often get nicknames. 

-Age: 28 

-Nameday:  

-Race: Raen Au’ra

-Gender: Female 

-Orientation: Bisexual/Pansexual  

-Profession: White Mage, traveling healer, crafter, and carer of disabled creatures~

P H Y S I C A L    A S P E C T S

-Hair: Thick, slightly wavy, white hair. Once she had pink highlights, but around mid-Shadowbringers they were completely bleached away and have never grown back in. She chopped her long hair to chin-shoulder length hair around the beginning of Endwalker and has been wearing it in its much more free-ly/naturally styled way than before when she took tedious care of straightening and putting it into different long hairstyles. 

-Eyes: Zee’s left eye is a blue-green color and her right a bright pink with light blue limbal rings around each. Her limbal rings turn white white she is casting magic and their glow intensity growing stronger the longer she’s been without performing the ritual to release the pooling of aether within her.

-Skin: Light cool blue~

-Tattoos/scars: her biggest scars are the one from her two amputations, her left arm stump and her right leg stump (with her right leg having the most prolific and obvious scaring which is why she always keeps it covered). 

F A M I L Y

-Parents: Thought to be deceased / disappeared (more about them coming soon I’ve been working on Zee’s family lore)

-Siblings: Thought to be deceased / Disappeared

-Grandparents: All dead but her grandmother on her mother’s side was very close with Zee as a child and taught her so much about healing magics. That grandmother was the same one to encourage her dreams of traveling and cooking.

-In-laws and Other: Sadu Dotharl and Erenville are Zee’s main two significant others~ 

-Pets: Calling them her pets would NOT be something that Zee does but her island sanctuary is filled with tons of disabled creatures from all over the world! She cares for their needs and builds them mobility aids for their needs with the help of her friends.

S K I L L S

Abilities:   

~Able to store up aether over time, if she isn't careful this can result in an aether ‘bomb’ where the stored aether explodes out when she cannot handle anymore in her body. (By ‘store up’ its more of a water balloon type deal, she can carry over a certain amount of aether but once she becomes to ‘thin’ in places she will pop)

~Created the ‘Blood Lily Rage’ spell which allows her to enter a raged state using her own blood to fuel her boost in strength and ability. She is faster, able to cast everything near immediately, and her mind is blanketed in a haze that covers up her pain, feeling and most of her personality. 

~Has been learning how to craft magic accessibility items for those who need them but are unable to travel to the big cities (or at all) to get the items they need. Zee works with a good friend of hers, Ellaeuxlynn, for crafting mobility aids and other more personalized accessibility items. 

Hobbies: 

-Crafting for others in her spare time

-Gardening and cooking with what shes grown!

-Zee isn’t very good at taking time for herself so her hobbies are mostly other jobs she does to keep busy and distracted from her pain.

T R A I T S

-Most Positive Trait: Caring, if there is one thing that Zee is she is caring, a ‘natural’ healer and hero

-Most Negative Trait: Self Sacrificing,  she will give up all of herself if someone she loves asks her to. 

L I K E S

-Colors:  Pastel Blue, Midnight Blue, (in the past her favorites have been pastel green and iris pink as well)

-Smells: Petricore / rain, citrus, musk, flowers (specifically lilacs, honeysuckle, and hyacinths) 

-Textures: soft and plush, smooth and sharp, the roughness of stone and the smoothness of silk.

-Drink: Hot teas mostly

O T H E R   D E T A I L S

Smokes: No~

Drinks: Rarely, and when she does she barely drinks any

Drugs: Zee often deals with her chronic pain with shrug usage~ Zee and Erenville can often be found sharing a smoke in the middle of the night under the stars.

Mount Issuance: Her beloved chocobo Ariadne has been getting more and more rest and treats in her stable as Zee is often flying with Ehll Tou while not doing her Warrior of Light duties and spending her time crafting. But she can often be seen riding a blue and white mechanical flying horse in her battle armor as well. 

Been Arrested: Nope~

#Zee Zalinos #ffxiv wol #ffxiv oc

[hawkinsgirlnextdoor]

Being An Older Sister Figure to the Party

Headcanons for being an older sister to the party from seasons 1 to 3 (for now, I'll probably add more ideas that pop into my head, especially for season 4). I might even do a part two if someone requests it.

You’ve been babysitting Will since he was nine and as a result you’ve become very protective of him and his friends. 

You and Jonathan have always worked as a team to make Will feel accepted. You started coming over every weekend to watch movies or listen to music with the two of them, making sure that it was stuff that he liked. 

You listen carefully when Will tries to explain D&D to and you smile at the way he talks about “Will the Wise” and the adventures he goes on with his friends. Eventually Will’s party gives you a rundown of how to play and you participate sometimes (usually reading lines for an NPC Mike wrote beforehand).

Dustin and Lucas really like having you around. They always try to impress you with random references and facts that are pretty cringe-worthy but you find them charming. 

Even when Joyce couldn’t afford to pay you after Lonnie left you still stick around because you care about Will so much. It kills you to see how he and his friends get bullied and you try to help any way you can but it doesn’t always work. 

You and Joyce have always been really close and she treats you like a daughter. 

After Will came back from the upside down you visited him every day in the hospital and brought him a box full of his favorite things (art supplies, books, his favorite movies). 

You never really recover from what happened but you try to be a pillar of strength for him. 

When Max moves to Hawkins you quickly get wind of her home life. You make it your mission to make sure she has a place where she can feel comfortable, letting her stay over at your house whenever she needs a break from Billy or Niel. 

Max has never been traditionally “girly” but you help her feel comfortable in her femininity. Painting her nails, braiding her hair, taking her shopping for clothes because her mom is too overbearing, etc. 

She’s always struggled with finding positive female role models but you show her the strength in being vulnerable and tell her that she doesn’t have to act tough all the time.

When Steve Harrington enters the picture you’re a little skeptical. He never seemed like the kind of person who would spend his time worrying about anyone but himself and his asshole friends. You’re especially worried about Dustin trying to emulate him but soon enough you come around. He shows you that he cares about the kids just as much as you do even if its in a different way. You start to bond and anytime he worries about people still seeing him as “King Steve”, you assure him that he’s a great guy who’s doing his best. 

Eleven is your baby. After season two you make a point of treating her like a normal preteen girl. When she grows out her hair you buy her clips and look in every magazine to find hairstyles that she can wear. 

When Lucas and Max get together they break up constantly which leads to Lucas crying on your doorstep begging you to help him get her back. Lucas insists that he did it himself because he’s just that smooth (and he’s embarrassed about blubbering in your arms about missing Max). 

When Dustin comes back from camp you’re the only one who believes him about Suzie being his girlfriend. You even talk with her on Cerebro and quickly become pen pals. 

After season 3 you like to keep tabs on Erica. Mostly just to check if she’s having any problems sleeping after what happened on the Fourth of July, or sometimes just to hear her rant about her D&D character. 

You and Mike have an interesting relationship. He’s been Will’s best friend for as long as you remember and has been one of the only people who’s ever made him feel normal but at the same time he’s put that boy through the emotional wringer. 

He annoys you a lot of the time but at the end of the day you know he’s a good kid and who doesn’t have a lot of love in his life. 

Sometimes Mike comes to you about stuff he doesn’t tell anyone else. He sees you as one of the only older people in his life who won’t scold him for his mistakes. You always tease him or set him straight but at the end of the day you let him know you care.

You're the first person Will ever comes out to, and you make sure to guard that secret with your life.

At the end of the day all the kids love you and feel like they can come to you for anything, especially end-of-the-world stuff <3.

#stranger things #stranger things headcanons #stranger things x reader #will byers #mike wheeler #dustin henderson #lucas sinclair #erica sinclair #max mayfield #el hopper #steve harrington #jonathan byers #joyce byers #the party

[dumbbanana]

Could you maybe explore your characterizations for Monomon and Herrah? Your take on Lurien is incredible!

Ahhh so sorry this took a while! Thank you for waiting!

I'll use this post to answer about Herrah because I think she needs more love. Monomon will be in a another post (` v ´)

As with before, the answer will be under the cut!

When I was thinking about my human design for her, several inspirations came to mind:

Genghis Khan - Founder of the Mongolian Empire, one of the largest empires ever

Khutulun - Mongolian princess and warrior who famously refused to marry anyone unless they could defeat her in a wrestling match (no one ever did). She is the main basis and inspiration for my human Herrah design

Zheng Shi/Zheng Yi Sao - The most succesful pirate ever; a woman who took over her husband's pirate fleet after his death and became so powerful that the combined forces of the Chinese, Portuguese and British navies were unable to stop her

One of the lore tablets in the game states that her partner, a noble, passed away leaving her, a commoner behind. I like to think that she worked to take her husband's place as leader; perhaps even having to participate in some tough politics and fights to get there.

As such, I have it in my mind that she came to power by more of less declaring "I'll surrender the throne to anyone who can beat me in a fight" and basically won against every challenger to her throne by either beating them to a pulp or politically outmanouvering them.

Like most people, I think of her as a rather headstrong person and smart. After all, she's the leader of Deepnest and appears to have a following that's is almost, if not the same, level of devotion from Deepnest's citizens as the Pale King (PK) has with Hallownest's citizens. The difference is that, she's not a god! And I think that says volumes about what kind of leader she must have been! From what I gathered in game, the Spider Tribe located in the Distant Village and the Weavers seemed to be two distinct groups yet, they have a common devotion to Herrah. I think it's not unreasonable to imagine that maybe part of her coming to power was in uniting the various tribes in the territory to form/expand Deepnest. Uniting them in rejection of PK as the leader probably made it easier but she seems to have gone the extra step in ensuring that they remained loyal to her, thus amassing such a large following. In turn, I think she also respected and cared for her citizens as evidenced by her becoming a Dreamer for their sakes.

Like her desgin inspirations, I think she would have been a good military strategist and her devout following would have made any campaigns and battles rather smooth for her. That being said she's not a brute (as I sometimes sadly see her being depicted as). Being a leader of a large (and it seems dangerous!) territory would likely mean she picks her battles and would know when to show off her power.

As awesome as she must be, I imagine being a leader must be so tiring. If she's not busy leading the people, I imagine she'd be caught up in things like thwarting potential coups and dissenters trying to oust her. On top of that, she is a mother! So it's not like she can completely rest when she's not being Herrah the Queen, Herrah the Beast or any other titles and responsibilities that have been bestowed upon her and I imagine it only got more exhasting when dealing with Hallownest and it's court. As a result, I like to think that she'd have a tendency to fall asleep on her feet or zone out from not having enough rest. I also like to think of her as a somewhat introverted individual so I think it's fun that she maybe doesn't always realise or care how she comes off outwardly to the people around her.

As an aside, I have it in my head that her friendship with Monomon and Lurien stems from the fact that she holds no responsibilities or titles when she is with them. They do not think of her as "The Beast", "Queen of Deepnest", "Mum Friend" or whatever. To them, she is just Herrah.

This is purely me being silly with headcanons, but since she is a spider, I like to play with the headcanon that she'd have an instinctive talent for the natural sciences (physics, biology and chemistry - because spiders can have venom), engineering (building intricate webs) and mechanical mathematics (goes with engineering). The architecture in Deepnest is rather distinct to Hallownest and the Weavers appear to be capable of some impressive engineering feats (if the den and what looks to be the giant loom in there is anything to go by). Maybe she has little side projects for herself to get her mind off things or conduct research for her kingdom!

Anyways.. yeah! That's the main thoughts in my head when it comes to Herrah!

Thank you for your interest! I am always so thrilled when I get asks like this!

Hope you have a lovely day!

#ask #ido100 #hollow knight #herrah the beast #hk gijinka #augh I've been working on this ffor months! #I promise!

[ramzawrites]

Petty Love - Rise!Leonardo x Reader

FEM

Pairings: Leonardo x Reader

Characters included: Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, Big Mama, Draxum

Warnings: swearing

Series: A request!

Summary: From the first moment Y/N and Leo interacted with each other, the two knew they despised the other. Leo was an annoying, egotistical ninja while Y/N was an annoying, egotistical ninja herself. What was the saying again? Opposite attract and similar repel? Surprisingly though over time the two had to admit they did enjoy the fights the two had. It was fun to test their mettle on each other whenever they had the chance. When another person enters Y/N’s life and begins to challenge her how Leo used to do, he had to admit, this didn’t sit quite well with him.

An enemies to friend to lovers fic

Word count: 13950

Authors Note: 1) If you saw this fic before, no you didn’t. Okay, yeah I posted it before but I was kind of really unhappy with the way it ended and a few other things but this means I looked it over more and 2k words more! Yay? I don’t know, this is the biggest one part fic i ever wrote. My fic that has 4 parts has only like 2k more words than this lmao 2) I hope I caught most mistake, I did my best, please tell me if this all feels maybe too disjointed or so, I read this so often now that I have no idea how it all flows (besides i can always appreciate some feedback)

Request: The request can be found here and was by @/mitarashi01 (dunno if I can tag you, so xD)

Big Mama has always been a thorn in the mutants’ sides. Mostly because she wasn’t just an enemy they could fight and that’s it. No, she had a whole organization behind her. They could try but frankly she might just be out of commission for a few days and even during that time her henchmen would keep her business up.

So, the best they could do was sometimes keep an eye on the spider yokai and deal with any weird schemes they come across. Personally, they liked to believe they have become just such a big thorn in her side similar how she has been to them. Wasn’t there a saying of do unto others as you wish they did on yourself? Something like that.

Keeping eyes on Big Mama usually meant sneaking around her hotel and trying to see what info the group can find out. At one point Leo did try to get information out of multiple employees but that usually resulted in them being chased out by big yokai with big weapons.

Now they never gave up though. They won against the Shredder! They fought back a whole alien invasion, preventing a horrible apocalypse! A measly little, but actually kind of big, spider wouldn’t deter them!

It was one of those casual sneak-in missions, that also doubled as stealth training, because might as well, when they spotted someone unusual in the hotel.

Most yokai there wore the hotel’s uniform. Those who didn’t usually belonged to security or were the guests. But even between those people this woman stood out. She was shrouded in dark cloth. Silver wrappings around her ankles and hands, closed off sandals on her feet, a silvery scarf was wrapped around her neck, two ends flying behind her back. The dark cloth was also wrapped around their head, a mask pulled over her nose. A katana was strapped to her hip. Besides the few flashy accents, they would say that this person looked like your stereotypical ninja.

This of course pulled the turtle ninja’s attention, even more so when she walked through the hotel towards Big Mama’s office as if she had done it a thousand times already. Her movements smooth and quiet against the carpeted floor. Over the years the brothers could at least tell when someone clearly had some sort of training, which this woman definitely had with the way she carried herself.

It took only a few glances between all of them that they knew that this was a person they all should follow for now. Maybe a new contractor of Big Mama’s? Maybe an assassin even, Leo mused. Either way it was probably a good idea to find out exactly why she was here and marching through the hotel straight towards Big Mama’s office.

The group broke off, Leo and Mikey stayed inside to try to get through the vents to maybe hear what is going on while Raph and Donnie tried to gather intel from outside using one of Donnie’s machines.

There was indeed a vent that still led straight through Big Mama’s office on the ceiling. Honestly it was a miracle she hadn’t made a move to close off said vent in any way, but Leo didn’t want to look a gifted horse in the mouth. With Mikey at his side, both inched closer to a grate to also try to take a look into the room.

Leo knew for a fact that Raph and Donnie were in position, but he couldn’t spot them when he looked at the huge window. Seems like the constant sneak training was actually doing something.

The door to Big Mama’s office opened and the weird ninja woman stepped inside, it was only when she closed the door that Big Mama finally looked off her paperwork. Her expression was at first a stern, annoyed one, probably assuming it was someone else interrupting her work, but when her eyes landed on the ninja, she sported a big smile.

She stood up to walk over to her guest, her arms wide open “Ah! There you are my little Sneaklypoo!”

Leo really had to pull himself together to not laugh at that name. He could only assume how the mystery woman might be grimacing behind her mask. The way Mikey’s shoulders shook for a moment, he assumed he had to withhold a laugh as well. Honestly it wouldn’t be the first time that one of their sneak missions went south because of a rogue laugh.

The ninja in the room took a deep bow to greet the spider yokai “It’s nice to see you again, Big Mama.” Her voice was steadfast. No ounce of fear seeped through. Either she might be overly confident right now or she really didn’t have a reason to fear Big Mama.

“I’m so happy to see you again. Now come over, little one, I reckon you know why I have called you?” Big Mama walked back over to desk to sit down on to her pretty gaudy chair.

The mystery ninja followed suit and sat down on the chair in front of the yokai. She pulled her legs up to sit crossed legged on it. The way the other employees reacted to Big Mama usually, Leo figured he’d never see anyone sit as nonchalantly as she did in this office. Once again either this was because she was stupid or was actually capable. Maybe a mix of both.

The ninja sighed “Yeah, I’m here for my missing payment and you probably want to schedule more fights but also I had a request to make concerning those.”

Oh, bad move. You do not bargain with Big Mama in any way. There were too many strings attached. Or webs attached. You know since she is a spider.

Leo had to physically shake his head to figuratively throw out his joke, this was not the time to joke. Well, there was no harm in it really, but Leo should really concentrate on what was happening. Not only was Big Mama paying this ninja for something, but this ninja had the gall to ask a request of her as well.

“Mhm, I told you your payment would arrive in due time.” She didn’t look at the ninja, staring down at one of the papers, tapping her pen that she was suddenly holding against the desk.

“Mama” the ninja spoke. Her voice now stern and laced with what Leo assumed was a wordless threat. Strike two. Strike three and he can already see her getting chased out the building by security.

“Y/N.” Big Mama responded with the same kind of vitriol.

Mystery ninja had a name! It was getting quite annoying to call her just the ninja. Quite forthcoming of Big Mama to reveal it.

Mikey side-eyed Leo as if to also silently confirm that he caught the name as well. The name didn’t stick out to Leo. Never once heard of her, so he huffed a quiet breath out, shrugging as a silent answer. As a response Mikey nodded. This sounded more like something they would have to ask Barry about. If anyone would maybe know about the people that worked with Big Mama, it might be him.

Y/N let out a big, disappointed sigh. If he could, Leo would tell her “Told you so, can’t bargain with Big Mama like a normal person.”

Instead of Y/N laying in on Big Mama more to maybe brute force her way through this discussion, Leo assumed that’s just something she would do, she just moved her open hand into the air, which in return made Big Mama raise one of her eyebrows.

This time when she spoke her voice was almost playful, she seemed to almost chide the crime boss teasingly in front of her, a stark contrast from before “Mama, I thought this was a private discussion!”

It was now that Leo had to painfully realize that Y/N was pointing with her hand towards the vent. The vent that both Leo and Mikey were squished inside. Mikey must have realized this as well by the way he looked at Leo with a painful grimace.

Big Mama sighed exasperatedly “Not again. Oh, turtleypoos! Come out!” She looked at Y/N for a second “I have a new playmate for you guys!” How did she immediately know it was them? Well, maybe it made sense seeing how often they have been annoying her recently.

“I’ll pay you triple your usual fee if you deal with them.”

At this point Leo tried his best to crawl back out but he forgot how small vents could be. Especially to turtles with big shells. Oops. He couldn’t even grab his swords to teleport out of this cramped space.

“Well, you are my boss! Wouldn’t want to disappoint you.” Y/N chuckled.

Leo had to watch in horror as Y/N gracefully jumped up, held on to the grid of the vent, seemed to open it without much trouble, pulled herself up and just stared at him and Mikey. Her eyes glinting in the darkness of the vent.

“Nice to meet you, I would shake your hand, but I am kind of indisposed.” Leo chuckled. His coping mechanism was still humor and will be for the rest of his life. Mikey just let his head fall down onto the cold metal, making a loud clung sound in response.

There wasn’t even so much a twitch in the facial expression that Leo could see on Y/N’s face.

“And you are the guys that have been Big Mama’s pain in the neck? How cute.”

Something about that comment just hit Leo in a way that made him uncharacteristically angry. Sure, they weren’t in the ideal position right now, but they were plenty capable. Probably more capable than her! They’ve been at this for how long now? This is the first time he even heard of her. Sure, ninja and all if she even is one, but also where the hell did she get her confidence from? She was just another henchman of Big Mama’s.

Before Leo could respond though Y/N disappeared. Falling back down onto the ground, standing directly under the vents. Then there was the horrible sound of metal colliding with metal followed by the sudden feeling of vertigo as the front part of the vent flew down, gravity literally pulling both Mikey and Leo out of it.

Both reacted immediately, pulling their weapons out, expecting to see Big Mama in her huge yokai form. But she was standing at the back, still in her human business attire. Her arms crossed as she just observed what was happening with amusement.

That said Y/N was standing in front of the two turtles with her katana out. She moved it up towards her head. Falling into some sort of fighting stance, further proving to Leo that she must have had some sort of training.

“Oh, two Battle Nexus Champions are about to fight, it’s a shame this isn’t being recorded. But that is life, no? Deal with them however you wish, my little magpie.” Big Mama waved her hand, as if finally giving Y/N the sign to attack.

By the way her legs tensed she would have if Raph and Donnie didn’t came crashing through the window in a big red glow. Raph immediately landed in front of his brothers, Donnie had his bo-staff in hand, standing at his eldest brother’s side.

“Sorry Big Mama but no entertainment for you today. Me and my brothers are leaving.” Raph growled, twirling his sais in his hands.

Leo would have expected for Big Mama to call in reinforcements, gnash her teeth together, finally transform, but no. She just stood there as if the four mutants weren’t ready to beat her up once again. As if she was just watching a show.

“Guys, jump! I’ll catch you!” Raph yelled out, running over to the now broken window but before he could reach the window, Y/N suddenly stood in front of him. As soon as he moved, Y/N quite literally jumped into action to cut their escape off.

“Already leaving the party, big guy? That’s rude you know?”

She fell back into her fighting stance “Besides, I’m finally getting my chance to test my mettle against the turtleypoos? I’m not giving this up. Let’s tango.”

Something about her was just so infuriating to Leo. Maybe it was just because she simply was the enemy. He should be annoyed at the enemy, right? But even with Hypno or Big Mama he could keep his composure rather well. Maybe her attitude just reminded him too much of himself. Damn, was this how his enemies felt when they had to fight him? Nah, she was just genuinely infuriating.

Leo got his katanas out “You wanna dance? Then let’s dance.” His mind wandering back to what Big Mama said before “Champion versus Champion” It shouldn’t surprise him that a Big Mama’s henchman might fight in the Battle Nexus as well. He had to admit, he was intrigued as to what her abilities were.

“Nardo, let’s just leave while we can.“ Donnie sounded more than annoyed.

Yet Leo stepped forward, ignoring the pointed looks of his brothers. Was this selfish? Yeah. Was this stupid? Yeah. It’s just, he couldn’t wrap his head around the person standing in front of him. She exuded confidence, Big Mama seemed to trust her as well, more than the average employee at least. Besides, couldn’t hurt to test out the abilities of their new enemy, right? After all she clearly worked for Big Mama.

“Alright, Blue.” Y/N’s eyes were now fully trained on Leo. Her eyes making sure to catch any sudden movements of his.

He rolled his shoulders before he too got into his own fighting stance “Leonardo.”

“Leonardo.” She repeated.

Both sprang into action. Leo tried using his height to attack her from the top with both of his swords, Y/N must have seen through this, ducking down, her own sword sliding across the two blades to stop them from colliding with her head, while she used her own momentum to slip past him. Her knees hitting the ground only for a second before she jumped up and was suddenly standing behind the turtle.

Both turning around to look at each other. Leo had to admit he was impressed and by the slightly narrowed eyes combined with the small crinkles around them, he assumed that she must be smiling beneath her mask. Oh, so she was enjoying this? Let’s see for how long.

He jumped again towards her, this time before he could even properly get into contact with her, he opened a portal to fly through and drop down on her from a different angle. Her eyes widened as she saw him disappear, only barely being able to dodge the turtle that was literally flying down on her from the back.

As she rolled to the side, she angled her hips and swung her legs around. Connecting with Leo’s ankles as he made contact with the ground again. He lost his balance, forcing him to catch himself with his hands. Y/N took the chance to jump back up on her own feet again. Trying to swipe at the turtle in the process but Leo just had to push himself off the ground and away from her. He immediately jumped back up, his sword in a defensive position, expecting Y/N to attack him but she didn’t.

No, why would she attack him if she could play with him? She didn’t even take this seriously, did she? At this point Leo was sure he could see her smiling beneath her mask! She definitely knew what she was doing. It was different than fighting any of the other villains. In a weird way, both their fighting styles just flowed seamlessly together. He had to wonder what kind of aces she might have up her sleeves if the two started to go full out.

“Leo! We are going!” Raph spoke up before either Leo or Y/N could attack each other again. There was a finality to his tone, a promise of getting chewed out later at home for this frankly reckless stunt. Genuinely Leo was incredibly lucky that Big Mama seemed to get enough entertainment from this and wasn’t annoyed enough to call security. And the worst part was, he knew that.

Leo took another glance at Y/N who was still ready to fight. His grip tightened around the hilts of his swords. The next time he swung them was to open a blue portal in front of his siblings. All four didn’t waste a second to jump through. Landing in the living room of their lair.

Once the portal was closed all three of his brothers turned to Leo.

“What was that?!” Raph asked. Oh, he was angry, and Leo couldn’t even fault him.

Leo put his swords back on his shell, his hands on his face as he groaned “I don’t know! I guess I wanted to know what she can do? A ninja looking person working for Big Mama? I- I don’t know.” He sighed “I know this was stupid. This could have gone really bad, I know. This is on me.”

He really meant it. He didn’t go through an almost apocalypse without learning a few things. This included how to best work in a team, and this was not it. Even if there was an admittedly intriguing person out there that just managed to somehow really get under his skin with simple taunts.

Raph sighed, his own shoulders relaxing as he let the tension out “Well. It all went well, let’s just make sure this doesn’t happen again.”

Leo might be the leader now, but Raph will always be the big brother.

Mikey and Donnie still seemed somewhat skeptical.

“So, what do we do? Should we try learning more about her? Is learning about Y/N even… useful? She is one of many employees of Big Mama after all.” Mikey spoke up, probably trying to keep things going so there wasn’t any room for more arguments. He knew that Leo would beat himself up for this enough anyhow.

Dr. Feelings or even Dr. Delicate Touch might come around for a visit.

“We could ask Draxum? If she was or is the current Battle Nexus Champion, then there is a chance that he might know about her? She might have done some work for Big Mama beforehand that he caught wind of. If he does know something we can still decide if she is another person to keep tabs on.” Donnie offered.

So as soon as they could, the group visited their other dad. The relationship between the turtles and Draxum was still on the tense side, but they were working on it. Mikey firmly believed that he was a good person and if he was willing to offer Draxum this chance, they might as well follow suit for now.

Draxum sat awkwardly at the table while the turtles sat at the other side. All of them had a cup of tea but no one, including Draxum himself, but Mikey dared to touch it.

The yokai sighed “I haven’t heard much about a Y/N if at all but from the description I would wager that she is indeed the current Battle Nexus Champion. I don’t keep up with frivolous things like that, but the Champion is usually pretty well known in the Hidden City.”

Really? And Leo never got the chance to properly take advantage of that? Damn.

He leaned forward “I think her stage name might be Silver Magpie. Always thought it was a rather… weak name. Too showy.”

“Says the Warring Warrior Scientist.” Leo deadpanned.

Draxum scoffed “It’s a strong name!”

Before Leo could make another quip Donnie interrupted him “The name does make sense though, right? Wore silver and Big Mama did call her magpie once. So, let’s assume the current champion is Y/N. What else do you know about her, Draxum?”

“Only that she isn’t always in the Battle Nexus. There were talks about her if she will even defend her title since she tends to disappear for a while before returning. That’s all I can really tell you. I can only hypothesize that if she keeps fighting in the Arena, that Big Mama might use her talents for her business. Makes sense, no?”

“Nothing more?” Leo asked.

Draxum nodded “Like I told you. I never much cared for the Battle Nexus. Not like the average viewer might at least.”

Leo narrowed his eyes at that. He didn’t particular like the sound of that.

“So, what do we do?” Raph asked his brothers “Should we try to seek her out and what, ask what her deal is? Or do we just keep our ears and eyes open for what might happen.”

Leo huffed, not particularly liking what he is about to say “Frankly, I think it wouldn’t do us any good to chase her down. Sure, she works for Big Mama but what will we do? Ask her why and then beg her to stop? Something tells me this won’t work. Besides, maybe we are lucky, and she disappears again for a while, and we won’t have to deal with her.”

His brothers eyed him warily. Draxum eyed the display curiously.

“What?” Leo cut through the silence, feeling the judgment of his brothers.

Mikey rose one side of his eyebrow ridge in an accusing gaze “And here I thought you would jump at the opportunity to fight her again.”

“It was one time!”

“We only met her once, bro, and you have never done anything like that before. Well, not for a while.” Mikey explained.

“Okay, she annoyed me! Happy? Besides we now know that she isn’t just hot air.” Sure, they barely fought and the fact that she was Champion could have tipped him off as well but now it was proven fact. He didn’t need to explain himself, okay? Actually, his brothers deserved an explanation, there just wasn’t a good one.

Either way the turtles kept their usual routine up from that point on. Acting like this meeting never happened in the first place. They went patrolling at night when they could, sometimes fought off some of their usual enemies, trained, watched movies and the like. Life was flowing along normally.

Y/N didn’t make another appearance for months.

Then suddenly she did. The group was fighting off Hypno on a school campus and Y/N just suddenly jumped in. Deflecting all of Hypno’s attacks on their own. Leo had to admit he was a bit in awe seeing how focused she was as she fought back. Showing amazing control over her own blade. How long has she been training and fighting to gain such skill?

When Hypno threw his weapons and they came flying around, Leo jumped in automatically to deflect those attacks. Standing back-to-back with Y/N as his brothers took the chance to destroy the loudspeakers that he hid all around. Why he jumped in to protect his enemy? Out of the good of his heart of course. Letting two enemies distract each other could have been easy but sadly he had morals.

“Miss me?” Leo grunted as he deflected yet another attack.

Y/N laughed “You wish! Saw you struggling and decided you needed a hand.”

“Pretty sure if I didn’t deflect the last few attacks, you’d be sliced cheese.”

The two switched positions so Leo was now the one attacking Hypno directly while Y/N dealt with the attacks flying towards the two. It was a wordless transition. Their feet and bodies moving around almost as if they weren’t fighting but dancing.

“That’s what you think! I’m quite nimble, not the slow turtle type, you know?” She gasped out as one projectile connected with her blade.

He could practically hear her smirking which made him involuntarily roll his eyes.

A few loud crashes and suddenly heaps of electronics flew towards the ground, turning into scrap metal.

His brothers took care of the loudspeakers before Hypno could use them on people. It was actually only by pure coincidence that they caught him as he was just setting his stuff up.

With his brothers back in action it didn’t take long for them to send Hypno limping away. Before he could flee though, Y/N approached him and grabbed a necklace he had around his neck. It was a red ruby with a golden chain. So, Leo wasn’t just imagining it, it probably was a new item.

“You intervened just for the jewelry?” Leo asked as Y/N pocketed the necklace, “So you are a thief? Do we need to beat you up after all? And here I thought you wanted to collect some good karma.”

Y/N snorted “I still am. I’m here on the behalf of the original owner. Wants his little amplifier back.”

Leo narrowed his eyes “You know by the company you keep I do have to wonder what kind of person this owner is. I have to ask. Are you just evil or are you so naïve to trust anybody around the Hidden City? I’m leaning more towards you just being simply stupid.” He was clearly referencing their first meet at Big Mama’s place.

“Say, do you always belittle the people around you when you feel inferior or is this just your quirky personality coming out?”

“Inferior? Me? I’d beat you any day.” He snarled out, trying to hide his annoyance with a smug smile.

Y/N was still holding on to her own katana, twirling it around, both Leo and her began circling each other “Wanna put money where your mouth is because by the looks of it I did save your bacon today.”

Sensing that the tension was rising Mikey jumped over to Leo “Come on. Let’s go home. We just got out of a fight let’s not start a new one.”

“Yeah, listen to him, Leonardo.” The way she spoke his name was full of distaste “Don’t start fights you can’t finish.”

Donnie and Raph walked past Leo, pulling him along.

“Home. Now. We don’t wanna hang out with Big Mama’s guard dog.” Donnie spoke.

Right. Leo didn’t want to waste more time if he could be at home and be eating something nice. Before he walked through his own portal though, he looked back to look at Y/N but she was already gone. Probably took the chance when his brothers pulled him along. He couldn’t decide if he was disappointed or happy about this.

From that point on the group sometimes met Y/N again. Usually, she would come in in the middle of fights, help here and there but only when it aligned with her own goal. These could range from everything to collecting a bounty in the Hidden City to grabbing something one of the people carried with them.

Either way, whenever Y/N and Leo’s eyes met, insults flew. Throwing whatever petty comment they had at their disposal. Both taking any chances they had to exchange blows. Often enough they would start fighting each other while simultaneously fighting the same enemy. These fights were always very interesting. If you’d ask them, they both would deny that they enjoyed the little fights, but others would see their smiles whenever the two readied their weapons. Excitement shining in their eyes.

Now, Leo’s brothers didn’t particular care about Y/N as well, but the way Leo reacted around her was more extreme. Whenever she insulted his abilities, he would immediately respond with a venom filled quip. It was only after yet another meet between the two, when the three figured it must be because the two were more similar than Leo might realize. After all, opposite attract and similar repel.

Both were sassy, flashy and flamboyant with their attitude, fought similarly and it certainly didn’t help that both were also at some point Champion of the Battle Nexus.

Things began shifting though when Leo one night was sitting on one of his favorite roofs alone. Just wanting to spend time on his own. He held his sword in front of him in his lap, looking at the blade. Watching how the lights of the city reflected off the cold metal. He moved it around a bit to see how the colorful specks of lights danced across it.

There were soft footsteps behind him, and a black, silvery reflection appeared on his blade.

“Appreciating your own looks, are we?” Y/N spoke.

Leo ignored her, just huffing out to show how unimpressed he was.

Yet Y/N took it as an invitation, sitting down next to him, letting one of her legs dangle off the roof. Maybe Leo should have been more alarmed when she appeared but one thing he soon learned was that she did follow some sort of honor code. Never once has she attacked him without the two making it clear that they wanted to fight each other.

“I didn’t think I would see you out without your brothers.”

Leo frowned and finally he looked over at her, she had her eyes firmly up into the sky, probably watching the moon and the clouds moving along.

“What do you want?” His voice cold, not trusting this situation at all. Leo’s grip around the hilt of the sword got stronger.

Y/N finally turned to pay attention to him. She seemed to mull something over. Her eyes practically burning through him. It made him uncomfortable to say the least. It was like she was trying to communicate something to him. Then suddenly she moved her hands to remove the hood and mask, showing of her full face to Leo.

He felt almost embarrassed. Felt like this was some sort of show of trust, never expecting her to show herself like that to one of her enemies. It felt private even. This time he could watch as the corner of her mouth turned up into a smug smile as she noticed how his eyes darted all over her face, as he gulped, surprised by this action.

Taking in the new sight. He had to admit she didn’t look half bad. She was his rival after all, only natural he supposed. Not that he would ever tell her that.

He cleared his throat “Hi.”

She smiled “Hi.”

And for a moment there was just the background noise of the city. Leo trying to understand what was going on and getting used to the new sight while she seemed to analyze his reaction.

“What’s the occasion?” he eyed her curiously, burning her facial features into his memory. Thinking this might be his only chance.

Even though she had right now a bit of a playful expression on her face he could see something hardened there as well. Something he only saw on other people who went through their own battles over time. He could have guessed that by her fighting abilities but now he could actually see it.

That was an actual person in front of him and not just the ninja that annoyed him. She was still that but there was more now. Leo couldn’t decide if he preferred this or not.

She shrugged “I’m not here for business. Thought it would be rude.”

“So, you aren’t here to stab me in the back?” He retorted. It was a rhetorical question.

“Clearly missed my window for that.” She quipped.

Leo nodded, turning his gaze back to the city. Both fell into a comfortable silence. Frankly he didn’t even know it was possible between them. Maybe he was more tired today than he realized. Tired of fighting. Of fighting her.

“Can I ask you something?” Leo tried. Might as well satisfy his own curiosity while this was happening.

Y/N just gave him an affirmative hum. If this was her way to be non-committal or if she was earnestly open to answer questions he couldn’t tell.

“What is your deal? How did you get wrapped into all this nonsense?”

“You mean the constant fighting?”

He nodded, not even looking if Y/N saw it.

She sighed as she no doubt looked for the right words “I- I’d wager it would be similar to you guys. I think at least. Not that I’d know. It’s just something I was born into. Something I could do.”

“You were born into being a ninja?”

“Something like that, yeah. My family belongs to an old clan that used to live in Japan and came over to America ages ago. I just know this is the reason why I was always aware of Topside and the Hidden City. Mom and Dad started with my training mostly to just ensure I’d be safe but then I figured I might as well use my talents and knowledge.”

Leo chuckled “So, Big Mama was your first choice, or…”

Y/N let out a soft laugh as well. A rare treat to Leo’s ears. Usually, her laugh was steeped in sarcasm and mockery. This was a light and easy one.

“No, it’s mostly a thing of she is using me, and I am using her. I use her Battle Nexus as training.”

Now this pulled Leo away from the city lights to look at Y/N who had at this point her back on the roof. Her arms behind her head. The silver scarf almost framing her face.

“Really? Training? The Battle Nexus?”

She moved her head a bit so she could look better at the turtle who was now leaning back on his hands, one side of his eyebrow ridge pulled up in disbelief.

“Honestly, it’s the best place to train. It’s also the only reason I’m wearing this gaudy scarf. The Battle Nexus appreciates a good show and if you give them that they give you interesting fights.”

Leo hummed as something seemed to click in his mind “The Silver Magpie, huh?” The name must be part of showing off.

He laughed when Y/N broke out into an embarrassed blush and she purposefully looked away, not daring to look into his eyes any longer “Not my idea. It was Big Mama’s. But if it meant that I could have interesting fights I was willing to go along.”

“Because you clearly would have better ideas.”

“I’m sure my ideas would be better than yours. Besides, I will forever life in the knowledge that Big Mama probably would have just called you Blue because you’d never make it to main stage.”

He rolled his eyes “May I remind you, I was Champion as well.”

She moved her head up so she had an easier time to snap her finger before dropping her head again “Yeah. Was.”

“So were you! Didn’t this bull yokai become the new champion?”

“Mhm, but you forget.” She mused with a grin “All that counts is that I’d be able to beat you if we ever got the proper chance to fight.”

Leo would have loved to retort that now was the perfect time since his brothers weren’t here to intervene but surprisingly, he didn’t want to.

It was the first time he talked to her and didn’t feel incredibly aggravated. Maybe it was the causal environment. Maybe both just got tired over the months. Maybe it was just somehow a special night.

Instead, he too laid down on his back, propping his head on his arms “Nope. I’d win easily. I have actual magical powers. Don’t think you have any, do you?”

“Don’t need them. I actually use my head.”

This time as they argued it didn’t feel as filled with venom like it usually was. Leo managed to somehow connect to Y/N. She didn’t come over as malicious. Thinking back on it she never once stopped a fleeing enemy to continue the fight and she did jump in multiple times to help the four turtles out. Protecting them.

Maybe it really was a big worst first impression for the two. Yet it still didn’t sit with him all to comfortably that she worked for Big Mama just so she could continue fighting in the Battle Nexus. It wasn’t worry for her but more disappointment of her decisions.

When the Mad Dogs met Y/N once again as they chased someone through the Hidden City, a group stole from the police department which was very ironic and funny to Leo, the new dynamic between Y/N and Leo was immediately noticeable.

Instead of the immediate curses and insults they gave each other a quick nod. As if they were going mentally through the plan of catching these guys. Hell, Leo even teleported Y/N so she could be in front of the thieves and cut their escape of. Mikey used the chance to wrap his Kusari-fundo around them, holding them in place for the Hidden City police to collect them.

And when Leo caught up with her, he just made a quip of that he couldn’t believe he had to help Y/N only because she was way too slow. Apparently, it was hard to watch.

And she chuckled. She chuckled!

The fighting was tame, still biting but tamer nonetheless. Nothing like how it used to be. It was obvious that the group missed something between the two.

Once they all were back in the lair, they immediately interrogated Leo. He gave them a quick rundown of Y/N’s apparent deal.

Mikey went on the tip of his toes to lay his arm on Leo’s shoulder “I can’t believe you actually were the bigger person and didn’t immediately go for the kill. You actually talked to her.”

Leo scratched the back of his head embarrassed “Well, I think she was the bigger person. She just sat down and took her mask off.”

“Wait you saw her face?” Raph’s eyes were wide.

“And here I thought similar repel.” Donnie spoke and Leo could only watch in confusion as both Raph and Mikey nodded along. He was sure he was missing out on something.

“But this confirms it! Y/N isn’t a bad person. She might be a little confused, but she’s got the spirit.” Mikey suddenly exclaimed.

To which Raph shrugged “Eh, I figured but I do trust your sense on these things more than mine. Haven’t been wrong about Draxum, yet.”

A big toothy grin appeared on Mikey’s face as he hugged Raph “I know. I’m always correct when it comes to these things.”

Soon Leo and Y/N met every few weeks on the same roof. Just sitting and talking. Both vowing that this place was neutral land. No ninjas. Just two tired warriors talking. The two even exchanged phone numbers and when Y/N suddenly stood inside the lair to the surprise of Raph, Mikey and Donnie, they quickly realized that they went from being enemies to finally being friends.

In fact, this was Leo’s first friend that wasn’t also his brother’s friend. Y/N was doing fine with them but somehow Leo and Y/N just clicked. It almost seemed like the whole Cass situation all over again. An enemy becoming a friend.

“I’m-a going, bros!” Leo yelled through the lair, ready to open a portal.

“Going out to meet Y/N?” Raph leaned into the living room where Leo was standing.

He nodded “Yep. She decided she wanted to get back into Battle Nexus and asked me if I wanted to come along.”

Raph looked at him, worried “You… Will you fight?”

Leo blew a raspberry “I might firmly believe that I could beat Y/N and be champion over her, our scores are currently 18 to 17 in my favor after all, but I honestly don’t want to deal with Big Mama and her stupid deals. No, I’m just watching and playing coach. Also I can make sure this was nothing weird is happening.”

His brother relaxed at that “Okay. Good. Not that I don’t trust you, but-“

“I know.” Leo smiled “Just worried, I get it. Now, I gotta go or she will think I screwed up my teleport.”

“Have fun!” but Leo was already through the portal. With a shrug Raph returned back to his own room.

He stepped out of the portal and arrived in the Hidden City. Y/N was already standing close by. The way she had her eyebrows pulled up he already knew what was coming.

“Did you mi-“

“Nope. No wrong teleports. Just a worried brother.”

Y/N chuckled, lightly patting the back of his shell “Sorry, forgot. Sore topic. Still on training wheels and all.”

“What does that even mean?”

“You are still a novice, now let’s move. I wanna get into the Battle Nexus and train and warm up before the first fight starts. Come on, old man.”

Y/N pulled her ninja hood up and moved the mask over her mouth. Leo couldn’t help but miss her full face. Now he can’t see how her mouth always quirked up right before she tries to deliver a new quip. The prouder she felt the more shit eating was that grin. He liked that grin.

Before the two entered the building Leo turned to her with a snicker “Do I gotta start referring to you as the Silver Magpie?”

Y/N poked his plastron, looking up into his eyes with her own narrowed ones “Oh no you don’t. I’ll kick you if you do.”

Now he was actually laughing, moving his hands up in defeat “Alright! Alright! Feisty today, aren’t we?”

With a roll of her eyes, Y/N moved again, grabbing Leo’s wrist to make sure he would come along.

They walked through the doors, Y/N ignored the counter with a secretary right in front of them but instead walked down a flight of stairs to walk into a small office. Never letting go of Leo who was walking along as if he was a lost child.

In the office sat a tired looking alligator yokai. When Y/N saw him, she hissed in surprise. At first this alarmed Leo, but Y/N let out a snort.

“What did you do to get put down on sign-in duty?”

The yokai let out a deep grumble what Leo thought must be his way to sigh.

“The nexus isn’t doing so hot at the moment. I’m filling in.”

For some reason Leo felt like he has seen this particular yokai before. So, he clearly worked for Big Mama, this wasn’t his usual position and Leo saw him somewhere.

That’s when it hit him “It’s you!” He but yelled out. Finger pointing at him.

The Alligator sighed again “Yeah. Well. You are lucky I’m off duty. I’m not the security chief right now. My second in command took over for the time being and frankly I’m way too tired to chase after you, turtle.”

Guess some of his adversaries only chase him around for the paycheck. No passion for their jobs nowadays.

“Anyway, Leatherhead. Write me down for the fights. I want my belt back. And, oh, he is my coach. Never had one but I think I have to tell you that. Might wanna use a nickname for him.”

He nodded “Yep. You got it. One Silver Magpie accompanied by Blue Bird written down.” Suddenly he stopped moving and stared at the paper in front of him, before he looked up again at Y/N with a mischievous expression. As mischievous as it can be with his teeth and huge snout.

“It’s good that you decided to come back again now.”

Y/N looked at him, eyebrows pulled together in a silent question.

“The people will be happy to see The Silver Magpie again. If you help bring Big Mama the money back in again, I’m sure she would be grateful towards you. Do good and I’m sure Mama will be happy to pay you extra.”

There was an understanding glint in Y/N’s eyes. At this point Leo knew her well enough to know that she must be grinning.

“Coach and I will go train then. I need to be ready to show off.”

He waved his huge, clawed hand dismissively towards her “Go ahead. You are a regular, I think I can fill the rest out for you.”

“You are a sweetheart!” Y/N just said and begun pulling Leo along again. Walking down the corridor to reach an open space outside with sandy ground. Other yokai were walking around, doing shadowboxing, swinging around weapons or fighting each other. Apparently this was one of the smaller arenas the Nexus sometimes used.

“So, as your coach I can order you to run like fifty rounds around here, right?” Leo asked as Y/N settled at one corner of the place, beginning to do her stretches.

“You could but I won’t do it. As a fellow ninja I can respect your abilities, but I doubt you warm up like that.”

Before Leo could retort to one of her rare compliments, that definitely didn’t inflate his ego at all, there was suddenly a fox yokai standing behind Y/N, coughing to get her attention.

He wore traditional Japanese clothing and with the sword at his side it screamed Samurai to him.

He had one of his eyebrows pulled up as he carefully eyed Y/N up and down “You… are a ninja?” His voice was smooth as he spoke. He sounded well put together. Not the type of person Leo would think to meet here.

A bit confused by him suddenly approaching Y/N, she slowly nodded her head “Uh, yeah. Trained as a ninja. Curious or do you want to try to fight a ninja?”

The fox scoffed.

As if to see if Leo also heard that Y/N looked at him before pulling their attention back on the fox who took a few steps around them.

And then he let out a laugh.

“You are not ninja.”

“What the hell dude. I’m not walking around telling people what they are and what they aren’t. What’s your problem?” Y/N crossed her arms, squaring her shoulders. Leo took unconsciously a step towards her. As a fellow ninja he felt insulted on her behalf.

“Tell me, ninja.” He practically spat out the word “How come that you are here when you are meant to be in the shadows. This place is not for ninja. You might believe you are, but you are lying to yourself.”

“Well, this ninja wants to earn a good paycheck and get better at martial arts. The way you speak I’m surprised you are still walking around and not dust already with how ancient your views are.”

Leo recognized this tone of voice. It’s the one Y/N used to direct towards him. Now that he was not involved, he was surprised how hostile it sounded. Maybe now that the two were friends his memory was skewed?

“Who are you that you can tell her what she can and can’t do?” Leo finally spoke. Not liking the look of all of this.

The fox looked at Leo “I’m Akira and I’m a samurai. I’m here for glory and honor.”

Y/N and Leo immediately locked eyes, both bursting into laughter. It took a few moments for them to calm themselves down again. Oh, this was too good.

Y/N wiped a tear away that threatened to run down towards her dark mask “Oh man. Listen Akira, you won’t find honor here. Glory? Money? Maybe. But honor? No. Not when you deal with Big Mama in any capacity.” She might be a lot of things but not self-aware wasn’t one of them. Well, sometimes.

“Why should I trust the word of a ninja. You work from the shadows, you are tricksters, you don’t know the first thing about honor.” Akira was fast to retort.

Y/N moved closer, putting her hands on her hips “Listen here furball. You were the one who approached me! You were the one who made wild accusations out of nowhere! I’m telling you how it is! You can either take it or leave it! I’ll be training and hey if you are lucky, we both will meet one day to fight in the arena. I’ve been fighting here for years now. I know how this works and I can tell you, with your attitude, you will sink. And believe me, I will watch. Now move along and leave me be. I have actually important things to do. I don’t need to try to belittle my opponents, so I have a chance to win because I’m actually good at what I do.”

The yokai scoffed, turning around to do whatever he was doing before he thought this was a good idea.

“God damn superiority complex.” Y/N grumbled as she turned around towards Leo.

Leo looked at her for a long second “Do you tend to make enemies wherever you go?”

He expected a laugh from Y/N, but she just stared at him.

“No. This is only a thing I do for special people apparently. Fair, when we two met, I was a bit cocky and all, but I was trying to impress Big Mama, but this here was just plain unnecessary. I don’t want to waste my thoughts on this weirdo. Let’s train, Leo.”

“Well training it is. Don’t want you to eat dirt here, as your coach this would look horrible on me.”

This finally elicited a chuckle from Y/N.

According to Y/N the first few fights were mostly against monsters. Some sort of plant, beast like beings. Those were mostly there to weed out the weaklings. Haha, get it? It does start with four people in the same ring as they try to defeat as many as possible.

Leo was allowed to sit at the sidelines since he was officially written down as her coach. It was just as a way so that he didn’t have to be stuck with the other viewers and Y/N promised she’d deal with Big Mama should she catch wind of him being there. And apparently Leo lives in a crazy enough world now where he trusted Y/N like that.

When Y/N walked into the arena with the other three fighters, Leo could already see how tense she was with how she was swinging her sword around in anticipation. And judging by the simple fact that Akira stood next to her with crossed arms, he wagered that her being tense wasn’t because of the upcoming fight.

As expected, Y/N didn’t have a lot of trouble with the monsters. Flipping and jumping around as if this was just another Thursday, which to her very much was. After all it wasn’t her first time going into the ring.

Leo did understand Y/N’s outfit a bit more now. The way that the silver scarf flew behind her, combined with the lights of the arena, it did kind of look like silvery wings. Only if you squinted though.

There were people in the audience who held up posters and cards, screaming out Y/N’s stage name. Sometimes he forgot that she was a known quantity here.

At one point Y/N stood in the middle of the arena while the other fighters fought, she moved her hands up in a manner to encourage the audience to cheer louder. Even doing some spinning flips to egg them on. It worked. The lights were on Y/N like a spotlight and between all the general yelling and screaming there were a few “Silver Magpie!” No wonder Big Mama appreciated her the way she was able to make the audience roar.

This must have annoyed Akira since from that point every time Y/N was about to deal with another newly grown plant monster, he swooped in and dealt with it in her stead. Leo didn’t need to be in the ring to see how Y/N was getting more and more frustrated. She tried her best to combat his aggressive attacks by using her speed to weave through the chaos and deal her own strikes.

At this point the other two contestants were forgotten. This was clearly now only a power struggle between Y/N and Akira. The time was up, and the fighters walked out of the arena. It took a good few minutes before Y/N returned. Leo was greeted by an icy stare, the last time he saw that one was way back when he and Y/N had another one of their fights and he just kept teleporting her a few feet away from him, all the while he made comments about her being all out of breath while he was fine. This was a day where he particularly pissed her off.

He grimaced “Hey, fighter. You did awesome!”

She grabbed his arm and began pulling him out of the Battle Nexus “Big Mama will have to pay me if I have to keep dealing with that asshole.”

“Doesn’t she already pay you?”

“Only for special fights. Basically, buys me to fight for her to rile up the people. This? This here is all about the price money at the end. It’s also the best way to get your name out and for me it’s amazing for training since all kinds of new people appear but also shows that I’m still useful to Big Mama.”

She stopped moving when they were out of the building. Heaving a heavy sigh.

“That bad, huh?”

“I’m this close to committing manslaughter, Leo.” When she held her fingers up to show the exact amount, her fingers were touching.

Leo blinked “Oh, damn. You already killed him? Do I need to help to hide the body?”

“No, just the amount is so small it’s hard to see. Let’s just go. The next fight will be in the next few days. Actually no, wanna train a bit? We haven’t fought in a while. Like properly. I need to work through my frustration.”

When Leo laughed, Y/N just stared at him confused.

“It’s just weird. This is how you used to react to me and now I’m the person helping you through your anger.”

“Oh, this is nothing. There were times where you got under my skin worse than this.” She chuckled and laid her hand on his shoulder “Don’t worry, Leo. You will always be my number one.”

“Good because if I get beaten by that weird dude that would be a bit of a blow to my ego, not gonna lie. I worked hard for that position.”

During training for the championship Akira would sometimes approach Y/N and the two just began spitting out insults. The fights where both were involved riled the audience up more since it was obvious the two tried to show each other up.

Made only sense that the Battle Nexus would begin pairing the two up for every challenge.

This meant though that Y/N would meet up with Leo and just grumble about Akira and what stupid stuff he said last time during prep or during fights.

One day Y/N burst into Leo’s room unannounced, throwing herself on his bed with a huge groan.

“Knock knock. Who’s there? Y/N, can I come in? Yes, of course my lovely friend, you may! It’s nice to see you! Aw, thank you Leo! It’s so good to see you!”

He gave her a pointed look, but she had her hands on her face, a muffled yell came out behind them.

“Okay. So. What’s up?” He sat down next to her on the bed.

She was an emotional person so it didn’t surprise him to see her like this and yet something big must have happened.

Only a muffled mess came out of her mouth, Leo couldn’t understand anything. So, he just carefully grabbed her wrists and pulled them away from her despair ridden expression.

“Can you say that again now?”

Her wrists still in his gentle grasp.

“He got a name!”

Leo narrowed his eyes “I feel like I’m missing something essential here. Almost sounds like your son received a name and you, as the horrible mother that you are, are in despair over that.”

Y/N just rolled her eyes. Not even a chuckle. Yikes.

“No, you don’t get it. Big Mama gave Akira a stage name. The Samurai Blitz. Stupid name but that’s just Big Mama, I guess. Do you know what that means though?”

When Leo shook his head, Y/N sat up, never removing her arms out of Leo’s own hands. He was at this point rubbing circles with his thumb into her skin, trying to distract her a bit from her anger.

“Basically, that means Big Mama is sponsoring him. He is going to be one of the main fighters in the Battle Nexus and do you know what that in return means?”

Once again, he shook his head.

“I’m stuck with him! Knowing Big Mama, she will try to schedule fights between us, and you know me. I’d love nothing more than to beat the snot out of him but it’s just… frustrating!”

“Well, he is a newcomer, and you are like one of their star fighters. Just beat him up in the fight then maybe Big Mama will drop him?” Frankly he had no idea, and this sounded easier than it was, but he wanted to ease her anger and worries a bit.

“Maybe. I hope. Let’s just do something else so I can ignore this whole part of my life for a moment?”

“I came up with a new skating trick using portals. Wanna see?”

Y/N laughed, Leo has been trying to teach her skateboarding since this was apparently something she never did “Yes, of course. Go ahead, Master Leonardo.”

The next time Akira’s name came up was when Y/N and he had to fight for the next spot in the championship. Y/N really began to drill herself and basically trained every free moment. She was tense. Her temper short and downright petty at moments. Being frankly used to her being petty towards him, Leo tried his best to help where he could.

Leo wanted to watch her big fight but alas crime doesn’t like to call in to make an appointment.

When he did have time though he made his way towards the Battle Nexus, expecting to see Y/N in front of it after having texted her that he would be coming over. When he couldn’t find her, he snuck in to investigate the pre-fight locker rooms.

Y/N was still sitting on a bench. Her arms propped on her legs, leaning over.

“Hey, Y/N.” he almost whispered, trying not to scare her.

It took a moment for her to look up, her expression was somber. Leo couldn’t help the small pang of guilt seeing her like that. Wishing he could have been there for her fight since whatever happened made her upset. He preferred her smile much more than seeing her like this.

“Did you… loose?”

Honestly, it happens. She knows it. But he also knew that one loss wouldn’t hit her that hard. Sure, might be annoyed but this wasn’t the reaction he imagined on her. Something else happened.

“N-No…”

Now that confused him “So, you won? Why are you looking like someone just kicked your puppy?”

“Leo. He forfeited.”

“He… what? Why? That’s good though, right?”

She slowly nodded “Yeah. I guess. It’s just. We fought and suddenly he apologized and forfeited.”

Leo sat down on the bench in front of her “He apologized? For forfeiting?”

“Yes. No. I don’t know. It felt like he tried to apologize for his comments before? But maybe not? I don’t know. It was weird. Maybe I’m reading too much into it. It’s just-“she stopped herself. Since her mask was down Leo could see her biting her lip. She was conflicted.

“It’s what?”

She shrugged “I don’t know. He was kind of sad. I worked myself up so much for this fight and then he just stood there all depressed and then he did this. I think I’m just still reeling from it all. I’m just confused.”

Not really knowing what to do, Leo moved to sit down next to her. Putting his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against him “Well. Let’s get out of here. To me this means you won and that means I’m treating you to some good grub.”

She leaned softly against him “Food does sound good right now.”

“Onwards! To Run Of The Mill Pizza!” he exclaimed, throwing his fist into the air as if he was about to run into battle.

“What did your dad do wrong that you guys are so obsessed with pizza? Or is it a mutant thing?”

“So, you are saying no to pizza?”

“No! No. Pizza is good.”

At first Leo didn’t think much about all of this. Akira somehow might have changed his mind or someone else laid into him for being stupid. With his personality? Very possible. Or he simply didn’t saw any honor in fighting Y/N but if that was the case, he knew that Y/N would have caught on that fact and would have been even more angry.

Then Y/N told Leo that she met Akira in the Hidden City. A chance meeting apparently. And while she still grumbled about him acting all high and mighty the two did apparently start talking. After all Y/N was very much curious as to why he forfeited the fight.

It was then that a thought entered Leo’s mind “Huh, that sounds very much like what me and Y/N went through. Funny.” It wasn’t funny. Somehow it made him feel uneasy even.

Leo was on the phone with Y/N while she had to spend some time with her family, and he was busy taking care of his weapons. They might be mystical and stuff, but they still needed care.

“Ah, sorry. I’m busy on Saturday. Got a fight and you know how much I love my fights.” Her voice came from his phone that he had at this point on his desk.

“Oh, I know, Bruiser. Knuckles. Gym Bro.” He counted off more stupid martial arts related nicknames, making Y/N sigh.

“I swear. Give a man a bruise once and he will never let you forget it.”

Leo paused “Y/N. You gave me more bruises than I can count. You almost broke my wrist once!”

“Oh, don’t start this, Leo! It takes two to tango! Because of you I couldn’t use my right foot for like four weeks! You sprained it!” It was a bit funny how the static of the phone speaker mixed in with her loud exclamations. It really added to her mock anger.

“Alright! Got it! We both suck. Anyway, what kind of fight is it on Saturday? Thought there wasn’t anything scheduled for you then, Miss Champion.”

When Akira forfeited, her biggest danger to victory disappeared as well. To Leo it just made sense that she managed to reclaim her title. She was good at what she did, he knew from firsthand experience after all.

She hummed thoughtfully “Mhm, yeah. I’m just meeting up with Akira for a fight.”

Wait did he hear that correctly?

“You are meeting up with Akira? You know the guy that you love to complain about? The dude who insulted your whole family one time?”

Reminding her of this, she let out an annoyed groan “Yeah, I know! It’s just… Apparently things happened, and he wants to fight me in a less official manner. So, we decided on a neutral space to meet up and just fight. You know. For training purposes.”

This really reminded him of… well him and her. The exact same happened. The roof being a neutral space where they met up just to talk about whatever. When it all started, they also met up often to fight. Trying to figure each other out.

“Huh.”

“I don’t need to see your face to know that something about this isn’t sitting well with you. What’s up? I promise I won’t be stupid.”

“No, it’s not that.” He paused. He didn’t know what to say, really. It just felt weird to him. Something about this just rubbed him the wrong way “Do you want a referee? I could play one.”

There was an awkward silence. Maybe it was just awkward to him. He hoped it was.

“It’s not that I don’t want you there, it’s just… You know how he is not a people person and this kind of just feels personal? I don’t know. It’s a thing between the two of us.”

“Oh, yeah. Got it. No problem.” He chuckled. Trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach.

Luckily Y/N picked the conversation up again by talking about what she has been up to with her family as well as talking about her favorite topic, training. Soon the conversation flowed more naturally again.

He couldn’t let go of the weird pit in his stomach. It even stayed the day after. He just felt like there was something up with Akira. He said sorry, forfeited and now he searched her out? He seemed to have such a low opinion of ninja in general as well. Leo knew something was wrong, he just couldn’t put his finger on it.

But what he knew was that Y/N wanted to meet him on Saturday and he bet he even knew where. He sparred with her enough to know a lot of her favorite training places.

Maybe it was rude for him to sneak into the Hidden City to keep an eye on Y/N. Maybe it was petty even. But he just wanted to make sure she would be fine! Usually, his gut feeling was pretty accurate, after all. Besides he’ll stay far enough away that she won’t notice him. Even as a fellow ninja.

This wasn’t him not trusting her, this was him just being a worried friend. If anything, he didn’t trust Akira. At all. Y/N could be an ass at times, but she was also forgiving, and he feared that Akira took advantage of that.

He found her at the Hidden City beach with Akira. The two were just casually chatting. He could sometimes see the two cocking one of their eyebrows up accusingly. And for a while they just stood there talking. He wasn’t close enough to hear anything, but he could tell both were somewhat tense. Both had their hands each on their own sword.

Suddenly Y/N’s hands moved to remove her hood and mask. Leo couldn’t fathom why she would do that. Not to Akira. Hell, it even took a while for her to show her face to his brothers.

And then both shook their hands with a smile. Letting go to walk a few paces back. She got her sword out and Akira followed suit.

Both fought with only one sword, but each had their own stance. Akira’s exuded more aggression while Y/N’s was more defensive.

And then they dashed at each other.

Their sword making immediate contact. Akira wasn’t deterred, trying to push with his strength and weight against Y/N. In return Y/N pressed once with all her strength at his sword, giving her the chance to jump back a few feet.

Akira immediately pursued her. Striking at her with all he got but Y/N being nimble dodges his strikes. Jumping around him, flipping over his head to try to strike his back.

The two almost fell in a bit of a dance. Their swords making contact every now and again. Y/N moving around Akira in fluid motion while he attacked with powerful and precise blows. Sometimes she would throw throwing stars towards him to distract him, but he was able to block them with his sword, not scared to use his feet or shoulder to push her.

While their fight was impressive and interesting to watch how both were able to work off of each other, Leo’s attention was on something else.

They were smiling. Both looked focused when they started out but as they kept going, getting a sense of each other’s fighting style, smiles snuck onto their faces.

They had fun and Leo did not like that. That was something he and Y/N used to do. Meeting up at a quiet place to fight. Test each other’s mettle. It’s how they got to know each other! It’s how they became friends. It was their thing. Hell, this was one of their first places they met for a sparring match.

Leo ducked down behind the rock he was hiding. Grimacing. He was jealous, wasn’t he? Of Akira? No, what Y/N and he had was special. They worked hard to earn each other’s trust, their friendship being stronger for it. But here the two were, fighting each other like how Leo and Y/N used to do and smiling with awe and excitement in their eyes. What was this all about anyway?

Was this even the first time the two fought like that? Y/N would tell him if she met up with Akira, right? Why wouldn’t she? Well, she did say this was something personal.

He hated it. The mixed feelings and the uncertainty and the worst part of all of this was that normally when he was conflicted like that he would go to Y/N with it. He can’t possibly go to Y/N right now. But then again, maybe she’d understand? This was horrible. Annoying. He wanted to bash his hand against the surface of the rock.

A few hours later, when Y/N returned to her own apartment, she didn’t expect to see Leo standing in front of her door in his casual human get up. She didn’t get any texts from him on her phone as well, so this was definitely a surprise.

“How long have you been standing here?” She asked, her keys hanging uselessly from her finger.

Leo gasped in surprised, he was too deep in his own thoughts that he didn’t even notice her walking up to her own home.

“Uh, wha-?”

“How long have you been waiting in front of my home? Also scoot so I can unlock my door.” She was light on her feet. Acting like she just came back from a grocery run instead from a fight with an incredibly annoying person she should dislike.

He did as she asked so she could let herself and Leo into her apartment. He had been in here a couple of times. A few of those times the two might have broken a few things when they began rough housing a bit. Rest in peace coffee table. You held their snacks bravely until both Y/N and Leo jumped up on you.

“Not long. Wanted to check up on you. How was the battle? Did you commit manslaughter?” Not his finest work, it still made Y/N chuckle, making his heart beat faster in relief.

She walked with Leo into the kitchen, pushing off the hood and mask, grabbing some things out of the fridge to make a sandwich. In a silent question she held the bread into the air.

“Not hungry.” He settled down on the chair at her kitchen table. He was a bit unsettled that she didn’t immediately start to complain about Akira like she used to.

She moved her back to Leo, now concentrating on preparing her food.

“No, by the way. No manslaughter committed. Just a fair fight. Won this one, though.” She sounded happy. Naturally but she didn’t gloat like Leo expected her too.

Leo furrowed his brows “This one?”

“Well technically we fought before in the arena. This was just the first time we actually finished it.”

“And he actually was fighting fair?”

She chuckled “Yep. He did. He does take his honor seriously after all, even if his people skills say otherwise.”

“And you are okay with all of this? Not wondering what’s up with his sudden change of mind and all? It is a bit suspicious, right?”

This time Y/N finally turned around, her brows furrowed as well but out of confusion not anger “Leo, what is going on? If you have something to say, then just say it.”

He huffed, hesitating for a moment. What did he want to tell her? There was a lot actually but nothing too coherent. There were emotions that swirled around in him, unpleasant ones. “I don’t think you should meet up with Akira alone like that. Could be dangerous.”

“What?” She was genuinely confused at his statement. It did kind of come out of nowhere.

“Sure, he didn’t pull anything this time but who knows what will happen next time. Are you sure he isn’t taking advantage of your good nature?”

She scoffed “What? You think I’m that stupid to let something like that happen? Besides, I know a few things about him now. Don’t get me wrong I’m still kind of pissed at him for certain things but his behavior makes sense now, you know?”

At this point Leo was bouncing his leg. Nervous but also anger slowly making their way to the forefront of his mind. She was just dismissing these valid worries without a second thought! What possibly could he have told her to make her change her mind like that.

“Are you certain he didn’t just dish you a sob story, so he had an easier time to get on your good side?”

Leo flinched when Y/N suddenly slammed her hands on the table. He must have hit a nerve.

“Oh, because you would know, right? You talked to him and heard his side of all of this, right? Leo, I didn’t forget all the stupid things he said but I’m ready to move on!”

His eyes traveled to her hands that were slowly forming into fists “Why, though? Why does he deserve that?” It was a simple question.

To her though, she looked at him like he just said something incredibly stupid “Are you- Are you serious?”

Leo leaned forward, his eyes firmly locked onto hers “I am. I think this all is a huge mistake.”

She let out a huge sigh, as if she was trying to release the emotions that were slowly building up inside of her “May I remind you that if I hadn’t been so gracious to offer my hand to you first, we wouldn’t even be having this conversation? I know what I’m doing! I’m being cautious! You are acting like he will kill me!”

Leo threw his hands into the air “He is from the Hidden City! There are yokai around that threaten and do eat each other when they just make weird eye contact with each other! But right, you work for Big Mama, as if you’d have actually a good sense when it comes to people from there.”

“Oh, fuck you, Leo! I probably know more about the Hidden City and its people than you! The hell is your problem!”

He groaned, feeling like they were going around in circles “If you’d listen to me you would know! Just listen for once! I’m positive that Akira has some sort of- of- of hidden agenda!”

Y/N laughed in disbelief “Oh my god, you have lost it! What could he possible do with me that would be beneficial to him like that? If anything, we both know he is your typical honor boy, he wouldn’t pull anything weird! This is all so hypocritical of you! You were not long ago in Akira’s shoes yourself! If I would do as you said I would also have to cut contact with you, you absolute idiot!”

At this point, both were raising their voices. The tension was getting worse by the second as both stared angrily at each other. Leo was just trying to warn her, but she just ignored everything he said!

“Hey, you know we both worked on trusting each other! We put actual work into it! Do you think a nice walk and sparring match at the beach is enough?! Come on! Use your head!”

“I am! That’s why I’m so frustrated with you because you-“ she stopped yelling at him, her eyes widening as realization hit her, “The beach? Leo. How did you know that?”

God damn it. He screwed up. Big time.

“You- You watched us! You spied on me! I knew something felt off!” Her voice cut right into Leo, guilt settled down in his gut like a heavy boulder.

“No! I just- I had to be sure he didn’t try anything… I had one of those feelings and-“

He barely managed to stumble through the sentence before Y/N cut him off, shaking her head “No! That is not a good enough reason to fucking spy on me! I can understand you not trusting Akira, but you clearly don’t even trust me! You just said that we worked on building up this trust but, Leo, what trust? Not only do you not trust me when I want to work on getting past this animosity I have with Akira, but you also felt the need to spy on me as if I didn’t know how to defend myself if push came to shove! I know what I’m doing!”

Finally, Leo stood up as well, he might tower over Y/N by a good few inches, but she didn’t look intimidated at all. She just kept staring right into his eyes, silently challenging him.

“I do trust you! I really do! I was just-“

Again Y/N interrupted him, which infuriated the turtle even more “You are such a hypocrite! At first you are trying to forbid me from hanging out with Akira when you never once took the chance to talk to him yourself and now as it turns out you spy on me! Have you done this before? Was this even the first time? It’s so obvious you are just grasping for straws at this point!”

When Leo tried to open his mouth to retort, Y/N was faster “You are such an ass, Leonardo.”

Leo growled as his frustration finally reached the boiling point “I was jealous, okay!?”

This time when Y/N opened her mouth it was out of shock. No sound coming out of her as she processed these words.

Leo clenched his jaw “Okay, here. I admit it. I was jealous! I did have a bad feeling about him, which is why I followed you, and then I saw you fight and… and I couldn’t help but think that was our thing! And I know it’s stupid! It’s just- Fuck. Y/N I’m crushing on you hard and when I saw you two fight, I was just- I was scared, okay? I was scared I’d somehow lose you!”

Y/N was sometimes opening her mouth as if trying to say something only to snap her jaws shut again. She was visibly fighting with herself as she searched for the right words, no doubt overwhelmed with this whole situation.

Leo acted ridiculous, hurt her trust in him and then just suddenly dropped this bombshell on her. That was a lot. When her eyes glazed over in unshed tears, Leo’s feeling of guilt pulled even heavier on him.

He took a deep breath, trying to ground himself again. Most of the hot air seemed to have left both of them.

“I’m genuinely sorry, Y/N. My emotions took the better of me and I didn’t fight that at all. It all started because I had a bad feeling when it came to Akira because I thought he would do something but at the beach I realized I was jealous. The worst part is, I then took me frustration out on you of all people. I wanted to talk this through with you but… emotions… You don’t deserve this.”

God, he was an idiot. What did he expect to happen? He knew what the problem was. He was the problem from the very start and here he tried to push it on Akira and Y/N. That was unfair. That’s not how friends should treat each other. He broke the trust the two worked so hard on establishing.

He really was a hypocrite and an ass.

“I’m gonna leave you be. This is my fault not yours. If you want to talk this through, I’ll be there. If you don’t wanna talk to me for a while or at all, I can understand.”

Y/N was still standing in the kitchen like a statue. Her wide eyes following his movements as he suddenly went from angry to sad. Suddenly admitting to what was the underlying issue here. She knew that something else must have happened since this argument from the start was weird but this, she did not expect.

When she didn’t react, Leo slowly turned around and took a few steps to walk out of her apartment, but a warm hand landed on his arm. Stopping him in his tracks.

Surprised Leo turned around to see Y/N standing right in front of him.

“Y/N?”

Instead of saying anything she just pulled Leo into a big hug. Wrapping her arms around his neck. Confused by this, frankly undeserving, display of affection, Leo couldn’t help but stare at her as she let out a soft sob mixed with a chuckle.

She let go of him to wipe at her eyes, her other hand still laying on his shoulder “God. You are stupid.”

He couldn’t help but let out a chuckle himself “Yeah. Yeah, I am.”

“We really need to work on our communication.”

“Well, I do, for sure. This time this is all on me, but I’m, uh, you still want to be friends? Even after this stupid thing I pulled? Because I can understand it if you need some time for yourself and all.” Even after the hug he was still surprised by this. He was overjoyed if this was the case, but he still expected her to take a few days for herself to sort through this all.

The smile on her face softened, her eyes were now full with an unexplained warm expression Leo couldn’t pinpoint. He just knew it was far removed from the expression a minute ago when the two were still arguing.

“You remember when I told you, you will always be my number one?”

He nodded.

Instead of answering him, Y/N laid her arms back around his neck and slowly pulled him down, while she leaned up. Planting her lips softly on his own.

What?

Leo was happy, overjoyed even, as she suddenly kissed him, but he was equally as confused at this point. He didn’t deserve this.

Y/N broke the kiss off “I really meant it when I said it.”

“But- I just- I was so- Why?”

“I’ve had a crush on you for ages, numbnuts.”

Finally, the heat rushed to Leo’s head. He was sure that his blush was obvious at this point and together with his flabbergasted expression, this must look quite amusing.

“I screwed up though…” He almost whispered.

She nodded, agreeing with him “Yeah, but you apologized and call me crazy, but I know that I can talk this through with you. We used to literally beat each other up multiple times a week and we managed to get through that. I’m willing to work through this as well. Are you?”

Of course, he was. Leo nodded. In awe at her forgiveness but also still reeling from her own confession.

“Yeah. Yeah, I am. I’m really, really sorry.”

“I know.”

Suddenly Leo laughed “Oh my god, you like me!”

Y/N burst out into laughter as well “Yeah, I do! Glad you caught up!”

“Can… Can I kiss you?”

She let out an amused snort that he knew she thought was embarrassing but he thought was adorable “Yeah. You can. Let’s chill out today and tomorrow we can talk about all of this.”

He didn’t give her a proper reply. Instead, his hand flew towards her neck, pulling her up against him again, placing his own lips softly on hers.

#rottmnt leo x reader #rise leonardo x reader #rise leo x reader #rise!leo x reader #rise!leonardo x reader #rise leonardo #leonardo x reader #rottmnt #reader insert #rottmnt x reader #rise of the teenage mutant ninja turtles reader insert #ramza writes #mitarashi01

[bangtanhandholding]

fic like therapy: Spudcity’s How to mend with gold

POV Taehyung

AU: Contemporary American (NYC 2020)

Ship: Kim Taehyung/Min Yoongi

Length: 72k in 9 chapters

Summary: Taehyung has a list of things to do to become a better person, and that's how he ends up volunteering at a queer youth centre. There’s only one problem – Yoongi works there. The same Yoongi who rejected him years ago and hasn’t given him the time of day since.

Themes: Social media and celebrity, consent, LGBTQ youth, anxiety, PTSD

Why it resonates: Written in Taehyung's pov, the text captures the dizzying effort to reconcile one’s murky subjective experience with contrary evidence in other parties’ actions and words. This Taehyung is used to negotiating his social reality, deferring to others when they aren't interested in his perspective and lying when reframing isn't enough to keep it pleasant. Some of these discrepancies are deliberate constructions (influencer image, gaslighting “friend”, impossible mother), others are a misunderstanding or the result of broken self esteem. Taehyung starts in crisis, isolated by these tactics and unable to understand his own hurt. Through the fic, Taehyung learns how to trust himself and others by finding a safer way to live and accepting help from those who care.

Personally: A lot of Tae’s struggles feel familiar. The mindfuck of people feeling entitled to your body, the impulse to smooth over failings that don't seem justifiable, and the emotional wall he has built to keep even good friends safe from his “too much” mess. It's soothing to watch Taehyung break this all down, bit by bit, and heal. Especially sweet is Yoongi’s support, first grudgingly and then gently offering the tools and space for Taehyung to find his feet. Also every time a weird Taehyung is loved for his whole self, my heart grows three sizes.

Warnings: Sexual assault (off camera), Stalking, PTSD, Messed up family dynamics, Drug and alcohol use, Homophobia, Child abuse (off camera), The Idle Rich. Read the full tags and the authors notes per chapter and take care.

Highlights: they/them Hoseok, Drag queen Seokjin, Jungkook as 13 year old brat, gruff guncle, therapeutic ice cream, shameless Taehyung vs stone Yoongi, constructively coercive VMin, literal brothers TaeJoon, and demonstrated character growth (all show, no tell)

fic like therapy: Sometimes stories help us understand ourselves and our lives, illuminating experiences in ways that change the lessons learned. Sometimes, they walk us past familiar traumas to firmer ground. While this impact is not always intended by the authors, but we can still thank them for their art. I'm using this tag to highlight some favourite works in my current fandom corner: BTS RPF.

#fic rec #fic like therapy #BTS fanfiction #taegi fic #spudcity

[hisaacswrites]

Bake Room in Your Heart for Me? Chapter 3

【 Fandom: Call of Duty 【 Main Pairing: Simon "Ghost" Riley x John "Soap" MacTavish 【 Rating: M for Mature 【 Trigger Warnings: -

Summary:

When Simon first interviewed for The Great British Baking Show, he hadn’t expected anything to come of it. He certainly didn’t expect to win. Despite the chaos it brought to his life, he couldn’t really complain. It landed him the best job he could ask for and a close circle of friends who actually seemed to enjoy his company. It also led him to his biggest fan, one John MacTavish, who’s determined to win him over one baked good at a time. — Or, The baking AU that no one asked for

← Chapter 2 】 ⦿ Chapter 3 ⦿ 【 Chapter 4 →

☆ Read on AO3

【 Chapter Specific Warnings: - 【 Notes: Un-beta'd, as always! Did brainstorm this fic and it's now fully outlined. Have a total of 12 chapters planned, though I may go for 13 for that sweet baker's dozen. No set update schedule in mind yet; will hopefully nail down something consistent once I get into the swing of things.

Bake Room in Your Heart for Me? Masterlist ⦿ CoD Library ⦿ Hayden Isaacs Library

🍰 Chapter 3

"And then he says, 'Do you knead a baking partner? Because I promise I could fire up your oven like no other!'"

Alejandro choked on a breath at Rudy's delivery, his shoulders shaking as he quaked with laughter.

"I swear, Ale, I've never seen Soap so red or Ghost run away so quickly!"

His back to his two gossiping assistants, Simon scowled to himself and forcefully ignored them as he finished the base layer of frosting for the cake he was working on. Relegating Rudy and Alejandro's conversation to background noise, he gave the cake one last spin on the turntable to make sure the sides were perfectly smooth. As he reached for one of his prepared piping bags, a bolt of pain rocketed through his arm, branching from his inner elbow up to his shoulder and down to his fingertips. The sudden pain had his fingers seizing up, and the bag slipped from his hold to land back onto the countertop with a muted flop.

Gritting his teeth against the pain and frustration, Simon pretended that he couldn't hear the pause in his coworkers’ conversation or feel their eyes on his back. It had been nearly three years since the injury that had resulted in his medical discharge from the service, but the damage was done - and permanent. Some days were better than others: he could go a month without any flair-ups from the nerve damage, only then to be in debilitating pain and have a persistent tremor for an entire week.

As he picked up the piping bag again and ignored the faint tingling in his fingertips, Simon tried to put the anger and resentment out of his mind. He had dedicated his life to the SAS. For the longest time, his military career kept him going and to have it cut brutally short by some stupid FUBAR’d mission had been (and still was) a hard pill to swallow. Baking had become his saving grace. His injury had fucked up his already questionable life; having it affect the one thing that he had found to keep him sane was devastating.

Rudy and Alejandro were still laughing about Soap and his "Lack of rizz", whatever that meant, when Simon raised the piping bag to his cake. His hands trembled as he spun the stand and piped his swags but his eyes resumed laser-focused until he completed a full circuit. Putting the bag down and pretending he couldn’t feel his hands shake, Simon took a mental step back to look over his handiwork.

His pulse thrummed in his ears as he stared at the crooked and broken swags of frosting he had just piped and he struggled to not completely shut down. He felt like a precariously stacked Jenga tower, one already filled with gaping holes and leaning bricks. He was teetering on the edge, struggling to remain balanced but helpless in the face of one more piece getting removed. He had no idea if he would be able to stay standing or if he, and everything he had struggled to build and rebuild and fight for, would come crashing down on top of him.

Simon clenched his jaw as he reached for his straight-edged scraper and angrily dragged it across the sides of the cake. The tremble in his hand persisted, causing the edge of the scraper to gauge erratic trenches into the cake, some so deep that they reached through the layer of dirty icing to the cake layers themselves. Setting the scraper down next to the cake with a clatter, Simon gripped the edge of the counter with white knuckles. Shoulders hunched to his ears, he could see his entire arm shaking even as he forcefully tried to keep it steady. His nerves were on fire, and he knew that trying to force his muscles to work the way he wanted to like this was doing more harm than good, but he just wanted to bake, dammit, and-

Tanned knuckles rapped on the counter next to him and Simon blinked, jolted out of his thoughts mid-spiral. Unclenching his stiff fingers from around the counter, he straightened up and glanced over to see Rudy looking at him with a concerned expression.

"All good, hermano?"

Simon could hear Alejandro mixing something behind him, but he could also feel the furtive glances he was no doubt sending their way.

"Fine," Simon grunted in response, reaching for his frosting spatula and ignoring the way Rudy’s eyes darted to the butchered cake.

Rudy watched Simon load up the spatula with frosting, rhythmically tapping his fingers on the counter while his superior started slathering on frosting to fix the gauged cake. The process required little finesse, but Rudy’s sharp eyes could still spot the way Ghost’s hand was shaking and causing the spatula to dig into the sides of the cake.

"You’ve been at these display cakes for hours, Ghost." Rudy said suddenly, "Why don’t you let me finish this one up so you can take a break?"

Simon stiffened, ready to refute the need for a break, when Alejandro chimed in as if they had planned the conversation. "Rudy’s right, Ghost! You’ve been working all morning; let Rudy and I take over for a bit. We’re your assistants. We have to earn our keep, no?"

Simon's brow furrowed as he looked from Rudy to Alejandro, and then back down to his last cake. He wanted to argue, to insist that he was fine and that he would finish out his shift according to schedule, but his eyes couldn't help but catch on the jagged marks and remnants of crooked frosting on the cake. His arm ached, and he knew that even if he took his time, his work would be unacceptably sloppy compared to Rudy's in his current state. He could feel something in his chest crack at the realization, but he refused to let it show, especially with both Rudy and Alejandro still staring at him.

"Alright," Simon agreed roughly, his gruff tone clearly reluctant. "But remember—"

"To pipe the mini carrots on the border, I've got it!" Rudy interrupted, lightly hip-checking Simon out of the way and taking the frosting spatula from him. Simon huffed. Usually, he'd have a witty retort ready to fire off, but he just didn't have the energy today. The pain, both physical and mental, had taken it from him.

Alejandro had clearly noticed, as he was quick to add, "Why don't you just call it a day, amigo? There's not much else to do and we're ahead of schedule for the rest of the week."

Simon thought about arguing, about insisting on finishing out his shift, but... Alejandro was technically right. It was later in the afternoon, and if he just took a break, there wouldn't be much left of his shift to finish out anyways. The cafe had had a huge influx of custom orders this week, so he, Rudy, and Alejandro had been pushing to finish everything ahead of time just in case something else came up. And, honestly, licking his wounds in private over a cup of hot tea sounded perfect. (It wasn't brooding, okay? It was self-reflection.)

Simon sighed, knowing that Rudy and Alejandro had won and hating having to admit defeat. Sensing their manager's resignation, the two assistant bakers shared a grin but chose not to rub any further salt into the wound. Instead, they waved Simon out of the kitchen, barely hearing his grumbled goodbyes as they chatted lightheartedly in Spanish.

Simon let the door swing quietly behind him as he entered the dark hallway that connected the kitchen to the other back rooms, only allowing his shoulders to slump when he was sure he was alone. His whole body had started to ache, his arm most of all, and he could feel the exhaustion settling in over his mind. It was a struggle untying his apron and hanging it from its hook, and, not for the first time, he lamented over his uselessness. He had been one of the best operatives the SAS had ever seen, one of the most renowned snipers in the world, and now he couldn't even pipe a cake properly. His self-deprecating chuckle was dry and bitter as he pulled on his hoodie and settled his backpack on his shoulders, soldiering through the resulting ache that shot through his bad arm. The raised hood and facemask made him feel a bit more secure, a bit more normal, but Simon knew he wouldn't truly be comfortable until he was locked safely in his flat.

Resting his arm in the front pocket of his hoodie as a sort of makeshift sling, Simon walked through the back hallway of the cafe. Price was in today, so Simon figured he'd tell him he'd be leaving early on his way out. Price's office was empty, though, as was the break room, and the bathroom was dark. As he approached the door connecting the back of the cafe to the public area, Simon could hear Price's distinctive rough baritone amongst the rest of the cafe chatter.

Nudging the door open with his boot, Simon entered Cafe 141 proper. It was busy but not packed, the mellow music and muted conversation creating an ambiance that would have been soothing on any other day. Gaz manned the counter with his customary cheeky grin and Simon could see Price seated at the windows at the front of the cafe. It looked like he was having a drink with someone, but it wasn't until Simon was halfway across the cafe that he realized it was Soap.

He paused.

Simon had seen Soap a few times since their first interaction but hadn't actually spoken to him since then. He wasn't sure how to act around the Scot, in all honesty, so it was perfect that so far he was able to stay back in the kitchen and bake while Gaz amused his long-time friend when he showed up in the cafe's front. Simon's luck seemed to have run out, though, as Price was chatting with Soap and looked to be quite enthralled in the conversation.

He weighed his options. Simon really didn't want to interrupt Price while he was in the middle of something, and he especially didn't want to navigate the awkwardness that would be speaking to Soap. Neither Simon nor Price were especially fond of phones, preferring to discuss things face to face, but beggars couldn't be choosers; he'd just head out and text Price that he was leaving a bit early while on his way home.

Mind made up, he wove his way through the tables and patrons towards the front door. He was in the home stretch when a young man, too enthralled with his phone to pay attention to where he was going, shoulder-checked Simon with a muted curse. Simon was able to dodge the sloshing of the coffee mug in the other man's hand, but the owner of the cup wasn't so lucky and he spun to berate the person he had run into. Once he looked up and saw just who (and how tall, broad, and gloomy Simon appeared) it was, the patron seemed much more apologetic and hurried off without another word.

Unfortunately, the damage had already been done.

"Simon!" Price called out, having paused his conversation with Soap at the commotion. "C'mere and meet someone!"

Simon glanced at the door, debating whether he could pretend he hadn't heard Price and make it out of the cafe in one piece. When Price met his eyes and waved, however, he resigned himself to his fate and detoured towards the window table. Looming over Price like a dark shadow, Simon refused to look over at Soap, unsure of what he'd find — or if he even wanted to know.

If  Price could sense the tension between the two men, he skillfully ignored it. "Soap, this dreary bastard is Simon, the head baker of Cafe 141 'nd our baking genius. Simon, this is Soap, a long-term pain in my arse but my favorite brilliant pyromaniac."

Simon cringed at his introduction and could see Soap's cheeks flushing a bright red out of the corner of his eye at his own. He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"We've, uh... Met before. Gaz introduced us the other day." Simon nodded in Soap's direction, finally meeting his gaze. The other man was staring at him again, but Simon couldn't decipher his expression. Price spoke up before he could try to read his face, regaining his attention.

"Did ya, now? Tha' would explain some of Gaz's cackling, I'd imagine. Thought his cap might've been on too tight with the way he was carrying on." Price looked over to Soap, taking in how the Scot's blush was intensifying and spreading. The poor man looked to be at a loss for words and Simon decided to cut him some slack, if only to save himself from the conversation as well.

"I'm actually about to head out now, Price," he murmured. "Rudy and Alejandro are wrappin' up for the rest of the day and we're ahead of schedule for this week's orders."

Price's heavy brows lowered, the thin line of his mouth disappearing behind his beard as he considered Simon. It was clear that he knew that there was something else going on–Simon rarely left before the official end of his shift without being dragged out–but he kept his questions to himself with Soap present.

"Alrigh'," He said, tipping his bucket hat at Simon. "Won't be in tomorrow, so have a good night, 'nd see you next week."

Another sharp jolt of pain sparked up his elbow, reminding him to hurry things along, but Simon grit his teeth and managed a gruff "Aye, you as well," in response. He turned to Soap to offer a perfunctory goodbye but was beaten to the punch.

"'Twas good seeing ye again, Simon." Soap said. Quick, easy, and polite. The perfect send-off. Or, it would have been if he had stopped there.

"Yer cake looked delicious today, am glad I got a taste."

There was a pause, Soap looking increasingly mortified and Simon unsure if Soap had meant the double entendre.

"Thanks? I'm, uh, glad you liked them?"

The lackluster response from Simon seemed to make Soap realize exactly what he had said, and he rushed to correct himself. "Ah meant yer cake! Nae like yer cake, cake, but the cake that ye bake! In the oven! Nae tae say that yer personal cake isnae stoatin, tis top tier, pure, 'n ye must work out fer a bum like that, but–" Soap forcibly shut his mouth with a choked noise, the beet red color of his face clashing with the spattering of freckles across his nose. His accent seemed to only get stronger as he wound himself up. Simon thought, in bemusement, that it would have been cute if wasn't taken aback by the word vomit and could actually understand what the Scot was trying to say.

"I just meant," Soap rushed on to say, "That yer special cake, wait, nae, yer cake special fer t'day, the lemon blueberry, was delicious, those layers were sae light 'n fluffy, 'n that ye must be an expert at beating it."

Simon stared at Soap. He could see Price struggling to contain himself in his peripheral vision, but Soap looked so earnest, if a bit embarrassed. Still, he had no idea how to respond to all... that without just piling on the awkwardness.

"Thanks," Simon grunted, backing up slowly before jerking his thumb over his shoulder. "I'm just going to. Head out. Uh, now. Bye." He spun on his heel and made it out of the door in a few long strides, quickly disappearing down the sidewalk. (He wasn't running away, dammit! He had places to be.)

Silence stretched between Price and Soap at their table, the men silent as the cafe chatter continued around them. It was only when Simon was out of eyesight that Price spoke up, leveling Soap with a judgmental stare.

"I've been shot before, lad, and that was the most painful thing I've ever had to endure."

"Absolutely rizz-less," Gaz agreed, appearing from nowhere to nod sagely.

"I dinnae ken what's wrong with me," Soap groaned, tugging at his mohawk with both hands as he slumped in his seat.

#soapghost #ghostsoap #fanfic #writing #fanfiction #cod fanfic #cod mwii #cod mw2 #cod #call of duty #baking au #simon riley #john mactavish #ghost #ghost cod #simon ghost riley #bake room in your heart for me #baking puns #soap the rizzless #john soap mactavish

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

The Body Hymnal

A new bartender captures Eddie's attention, but he's not the only one smitten.

AKA I asked for someone to write something about Eddie being worhshipped and I fucking talked myself into a idea.

Gender Neutral Character Described.

CW: Smut (18+ content). Sub!Eddie (you don't have to squint too hard, but it's not the main focus). Body workshop (Eddie receiving). Do not interact if you are underage.

Eddie Munson is not a cliché. 

He is not. He is the antithesis of clichés. Maybe it’s more accurate that Eddie doesn’t care about the things that he’s been told to care out. He doesn’t care for parties. He doesn’t care for sports. He doesn’t care if he’s actually acing his classes, because the reality is he’s doomed. He’s doomed to either get a wrap sheet as long as his dad’s or wind up like his Uncle Wayne working for pennies and just barely getting by. 

That doesn’t mean he doesn’t desire another option. It’s why he’s still in the band. It’s why he plays The Hideout every Tuesday night. He still wants like any other person, but the reality of the fact is that once Gareth, Jeff, and he graduate it’s most likely not going to go anywhere. He’s going to be stuck between a rock and a hard place. Eddie will have to become a statistic, another cog in the machine even if it kills him. 

But Eddie Munson is not and will not be a cliché. 

Until he comes off the stage one Tuesday night and he slums his way through the crowd which doesn’t really give a shit about him and drapes himself onto the bar. Eddie knows if Darrell, the normal guy, is working, he won’t get an ounce of booze. Darrell’s stingy about checking ID’s and good at sniffing out the fake ones. So Eddie’s okay with taking just a few Coke’s and some water for the rest of the guys back to help load up the van and he can get them back home. 

But as Eddie slides in, guitar still hanging behind his back, he spots a new face. High cheekbones and dazzling smile. Eddie’s heart hammers in his chest, watching the slender fingers grab onto the handle for draft beer. Somehow his mouth goes dry while his pits starts to gather dampness. Holy shit, he thinks to himself. 

They hand over the glass and eyes scan the bar for more bodies. When they land on Eddie, they start over almost immediately. “Fuck,” Eddie exhales, trying to remember how to use his fingers again. What are these appendages even supposed to do? 

“Hey, your band put on a nice show. What can I do you for? On the house,” they offer. The voice is smooth. 

“Uh, oh, thanks. Just four Cokes. Four please,” Eddie croaks out. He hates the slight squeak in his voice. 

“Nothing else?” The question comes out with a little shock, like they might’ve been anticipating a longer list. 

Eddie shakes his head. “No, uh, just that. Thanks.”

“Yeah of course. Do you want water too?”

Water is probably a smart idea too. “Yeah, sure. Thanks.” When Eddie’s alone, alone as one can be at a bar, he drops his head on his neck. He’s a fumbling stumbling fool. And this is not a shock of course. Eddie’s always known his actual attempts to flirt never go anywhere. He’s much better when he’s not trying to flirt. He’s much better when he has to be on the offensive in social situations. The first girl he dated back in his freshman year of high school had been the result of awkward teenage fumbling, a lot note passing, his friends calling him a fucking idiot, and it abruptly ended two months before summer started. He hadn’t really tried dating anyone since then. He’d had flings of sorts since and even those were few and far between. He is the epitome of being too awkward in romantic situations for his own good. 

The cans click down on the bar in front of him and Eddie snaps his head up. 

“Four cokes. Waters coming up in just a second.”

Eddie nods and he shakes his head at his own ineptness. What the fuck, Munson? He scolds himself. Just speak. Ask their name. Like it’s not hard. 

“And four waters. Anything else?”

“No, no,” Eddie rushes out. “Thanks. For the drinks and before. About our set. I realized I totally froze up on that part.”

Another dazzling smile. “No sweat. I’ll see you next Tuesday? Unless you plan on hanging out here sober?”

“Next Tuesday,” Eddie answers. 

They nod. “Next Tuesday.” Then they’re gone, sliding over to the next person, the next patron to serve. Eddie slots the waters between his side and holds them in place to his body with his arm. He carries the Cokes in twos in each palm. He waits only for a moment to turn back, watching them flipping over cups and shoveling ice into tumblers. It’s like second nature the way they walk behind the bar. 

The waters start to slip and Eddie’s quick to get a tighter hold and then hurries to the backroom. When he returns most of the equipment is starting to get back into the cases. Eddie offers the drinks to the room and two of the waters go while only one of the Cokes is taken. Eddie drops the rest down onto the table and then starts to get his guitar into its case. He wants to kick himself. He is not supposed to be this much of an idiot and nor should he be building a crush this fast either. But he finds himself hoping to God that when next Tuesday comes, they’re working again. 

Eddie Munson is not a cliché, but damn, the new bartender just might make him into one. 

******

Jeff sighs from Eddie’s left. “What do you mean we have to get there early?” he asks. 

Eddie snaps the head of the goldfish between his teeth. “I mean we need to get there early,” he huffs. “Would you like me to repeat it in pig latin?”

“But why?” Gareth counters. “We don’t go on until 8--it only takes us twenty minutes or so to set up. Us showing up at 7:30, like we have been doing is fine.”

God, Eddie really doesn’t want to say it. He doesn’t want to have to admit that he’s praying to the universe that he can get there early and run the risk of seeing the bartender. Maybe this time he can get their name. Maybe he can try and ask them out for a date. But what should he even offer to do? Was a movie too boring? Would it be weird to offer some kind of activity? Eddie worried that he wouldn’t really be able to off a dinner date and something else. He’s been helping Wayne as he can with a few bills--mostly water, gas, and the lights. 

Eddie drops his head onto his forearms. “I am going to die alone,” he mutters into the table. 

“What?” Gareth asks. He’s about 75% sure he understood what Eddie was hinting at, but he can’t let go of such a perfect opportunity. “What do you mean you’re going to die alone? Is The Eddie Munson….growing a soft sport in his heart?”

Eddie pops his head up and glares at Gareth. “Shut the hell up, okay. Just pipe the fuck down.”

The snickers of laughter float around the table. Jeff tries to cover his by shoveling a spoonful of corn up and into his mouth. But it’s amusing to watch Eddie rest his cheek into this palm and gaze off into the distance. “I haven’t see Eddie this love struck in a while,” Jeff teases after his bite. 

“Yeah, I’m not sure I know who this man is right now,” Gareth tacks on. Eddie throws them a middle finger and then goes back for another goldfish, this time snapping into the tail. 

“I can be ready at 6:30 if you can be,” Jeff states over to Gareth. Gareth gives a nod. The very least they can do is bear witness to how terrible Eddie is at flirting in real time and not have to get it all secondhand. 

“Really?” Eddie asks, a bit more hope than he wanted to let out seeping into his tone.

“Guess, it’ll give us plenty of fuel for the rest of the year when you tank this,” Gareth snickers into his slice of pizza. 

“Oh what friends you two are,” Eddie huffs. But all three of them only take one look at each other and a small fit of laughter falls from all of them. 

The van rolls up to The Hideout at exactly 7:00 PM sharp on Tuesday. Eddie’s thumbs are a constant thump against the steering wheel. He gets the van into park and then just stares. What was he even thinking trying to come here early? All it would be are the miserables who drink themselves into a stupor and then go home to be miserable some more. What would he eve say? Does he ask for their name? Does he give his name? Does any of this even really matter?

“Munson, look alive, you dragged us here. The least we can do is actually go inside,” Jeff calls out, standing outside the passenger side of the van. He holds the door open but it’s clear he was in the process of shutting it. 

“Right, right,” Eddie quickly returns, tossing his seat belt aside and hoping down. They can just get here early. They can just have a couple drinks. It can all be normal. 

It’s all that Eddie expected it to be. When he imagined coming into the bar with it dead and hoping to be spared just a measly minute or two to gather his nerves, he thought the worst thing that could happen is that they weren’t there or that the bar would be so empty that he’d have no time to try and find something sauve to say. 

And it is dead. The only saving grace is that when his group wonders up to the bar, the dazzling smile is still there, “You’re here early, fellas.”

“Scoping out the crowd,” Jeff jokes but only for a moment and then he stops not fully approaching the bar. It’s when he turns back around to see Eddie frozen. Like totally and utterly frozen. 

“A crowd it is,” comes the reply. It’s easy as they laugh and start grabbing glasses to take orders. But Eddie can’t quite seem to get his feet to move. What if he does make a foot of himself? Not that he wasn’t already do that. Not that he wasn’t making himself out to be some creep just by staring. But holy mother of Mary, Eddie melts just at the sound of their laughter and cannot physically go on any longer. 

“Four cokes again? Something else?”

“Cokes are fine,” Gareth returns. He offers his name and then turns to Jeff, then the drummer, and finally--

“Eddie,” he answers. “And this might be like totally inappropriate and I can feel myself sort of panicking and maybe rambling on much too long, but holy shit I worry if I don’t say something now I’ll chicken out again, but I-I would like to take you out on Saturday? If you’re free and want to as well?”

There it’s said--no work up to it, no smooth introduction, no flirting just straight. Like a drink with no chaser. His heart hammers in his chest. They lean into the corner of the bar, grin darkening from light to something more mischievous. Dare Eddie might even say flirtatious. “Well, don’t you cut right to the chase?”

Eddie closes the gap, catching on the teasing lilt in their voice. “I am a man who knows what he wants.”

“Huh, could’ve fooled me. Just a few seconds ago you were a kid who could barely speak.”

“Just because I happen to have my moments of shyness does not mean I don’t know what I want.”

The moment hangs. Eddie can feel the slight brush of heat rushing up on his cheeks but he refuses to back down. They keep their lean into the counter, lips peeling back into a dangerous smile. If Eddie wanted too, he could reach out, tap a ring cladded knuckle to their chin, but that feels like crossing a line, like he’s trying to hard. So he leans into the bar, elbow and forearm resting onto the worn down wood and he just waits. Because he has the time. The blessing to such an early arrival. 

“What are we doing?”

“Whatever you want.”

They laugh. “The balls to ask but still unsure not to make a plan.”

Eddie drops his gaze. He picks at one of his nails. Yeah, he didn’t do that. “An air of humility, is that so bad?” Eddie laughs. It’s soft as it falls from his throat. 

A soft coo leaves their throat. “You’re killing me,” they sigh. “Those big brown eyes, god. Are you a fan of bowling?”

Eddie nods. “I’ll pick you up?”

“I’m twenty minutes out of town. I’ll meet you there. But I promise after that I’ll let you be the gentleman you so desperately, but humbly, want to be.”

“Deal.” He pauses. He wants to fill the space with their name. How could he forget to get their name. His eyes start to fall down to hide the shame and then pinned right there to the shirt, “Nyx.” He says it so easily, flicking his eyes back up to their face. He likes the way his tongue hisses on the x. 

“You’re so goddamn lucky, I wore it today,” Nyx laughs. “Now, four cokes--anything else?” They level a finger at Eddie. “And no, any special orders your brain is cooking up are not on the menu.”

Eddie holds up his hands in defeat. He is lucky. He is not thinking that a side of them would be nice too. But he’ll save that for later. “You do realize our justice system is reliant on the principle of innocence until proven guilty, right?”

“Ain’t nothing on you innocent, Eddie.”

*****

Nyx said nothing on Eddie was innocent, but they hadn’t clarified what it was on Eddie. Not until after about three dates and a month and a half of flirting does it become clear what it is--the adjective that better suited Eddie and the air he carried. It’s not even supposed to happen like this. Eddie offered up his place for a movie night after one of Nyx’s shift at the Hideout. It’s dumb considering it was a school night and though Nyx is only a year older than Eddie he still hadn’t been fully truthful about his repeated attempts at his senior year. He didn’t think they’d care--when Eddie said he was taking classes during the day, Nyx had only nodded and asked if it was more general studies or if he had an end goal insight. Eddie didn’t exactly tell a lie, but he didn’t exactly tell the truth. 

But he knew Wayne would be gone--having yet another night shift at the factory. Eddie didn’t lie about that. 

It’s just supposed to be a movie. At first it is, Nyx settles in the middle of the couch and they lean into Eddie but aren’t fully resting against him. It’s like testing the water--a toe in but never fully submerging. Eddie reclines back into the couch, one arm draped over their shoulder the other supporting his head as he tries his gaze trained on the TV. He’s all too aware of the heat of Nyx filtering in through the worn Metallica t-shirt he’s carelessly dawned today. He’s all too aware of how Nyx curls their feet under themselves and with the action a hand of theirs brushes over his thigh--it’s low, in the area near his knee but high enough to be distinctly thigh. 

“If I didn’t know better,” Eddie teases when Nyx shifts again a few minutes later. Another brush of their hand against his thigh--higher this time. 

“Hmm?” Nyx starts, turning and landing a wide eyed gaze on Eddie. 

He shakes his head, giving them a small squeeze. “Nothing.” Maybe it’s nothing, Eddie thinks to himself. Maybe it really is nothing. But he flicks a gaze back to Nyx and they were a slight grin. Or maybe it’s not. Eddie sits up a little straighter with the action Nyx slips down into Eddie’s side. He reaches slowly of course, inches at a time, for their knee and when he gets fingers firmly into the meat of their knee he gives a yank. Nyx only laughs and hoists themselves up. When they settle, they are straddling Eddie’s hips. 

“What are you doing?” they ask. There’s no shock, no surprise that colors their tone. 

“Giving you what you want. Isn’t it obvious?” His hands hover over their sides like he’s teasing, like he wants them to fall into the desire. 

They smirk. “What is it do you think I want?”

The question halts Eddie for a moment. It’s not that he thinks Nyx is being malicious. It’s not that he thinks it’s too obvious. The question halts Eddie because he wants to be meticulous with how he answers. He wants to give every ounce of detail he can conjure up, but what happens if he’s wrong? What happens if he doesn’t answer right? But the silence seems to be misinterpreted. 

“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Nyx starts, pushing up. Eddie’s quick to grab their wrist, to tug them back. “I totally misread that.”

“No, Nyx, if you slowed down for just two seconds I could tell you that as much as I want to answer that, I want you to tell me.”

If it weren’t for the blaring of The Breakfast Club in the background, the trailer would be filled with absolute silence. It’s Nyx’s suggestion--the movie--and Eddie felt as though maybe slashers weren’t going to be a good look so he left it up to them. 

“You want me to tell you?” Nyx’s voice fills the room like they spoke into a microphone with speakers blasing at the highest volume. 

Eddie nods. “Yeah, I want you to tell me what you want. I want to treat you right,” he offers the last part quietly, like he’s shocked by his own reasons. And he is--partially. Sure he wanted Nyx to enjoy themselves, but the last thing he thinks is true is that Eddie almost wants someone to boss him around. He imagines the praise sounds heavenly from their lips when he does just what they want. 

Nyx smiles. They slip down again, straddling Eddie’s waist again. Their fingers trace his jaw and the action alone causes him to cast his gaze up. “You want me to tell you what I want?”

“Ye-yes,” Eddie nods. “Has no one ever wanted to fulfill every fantasy?”

The sound of Eddie’s voice soft and dripping with sincerity makes Nyx groan. They throw their head back for just a second, hips grinding down into Eddie’s. SOmething like a pur crawls up their throat and when Nyx brings their head back down and looks Eddie in his eyes again, the shy smile is replaced by something more devilish. 

“Do you want to do that? Fulfill every fantasy?” Nyx asks. 

“If you’ll let me,” Eddie returns, his hands which has taken purchase on Nyx’s hips, ghost up their body and to their jaw. “Will you let me?” he asks bringing their lips to his, but not quite kissing. 

Nyx exhales. Their breath becomes Eddie’s inhale. “What if I just want to kiss down your jaw, hmm?” Nyx starts. “What if I want to just kiss you to start? What if I want to trail kisses down to your neck--such a pretty, gorgeous neck? I think I could spend forever there.” Nyx watches Eddie’s eyes flutter close. His heads cup their cheeks still, but they’re going lax as Nyx talks. They laugh before they continues on, “I wonder what’s underneath the shirt. Do you have tattoos littered beneath, Eddie? Are you keeping me in suspense? I’d take the shirt off, nice and slow and not to ruin those wild curls. I’ll spare those just for the moment. What would you do if I wanted to kiss down your chest like I could paint you with my lips. I bet,” Nyx starts, pressing a hand down on Eddie’s lower stomach just above the belt. “I bet you’re a man that keeps it natural. And I’d follow it down, take you out of your pants and kiss over your hips.”

Eddie groans at the imagined weight of their kisses and then tightens his hold on their face before looking back up at them. “I don’t care what you do as long as it’s you doing it,” Eddie sighs. 

Nyx grins, “Is that a yes?”

“God damn, yes, it’s a yes.” 

Nyx closes the gap. Their lips slot around Eddie’s and it’s like an exhale. They fall chest to chest with each other. Eddie’s hands slide up to the back of them and their hands cup his jaw. But the kisses feel thick and heavy and they are the sweetest thing Eddie’s had in a long time. He sighs into their mouth and they take the moment as a sign to attach lips to jaw. Nyx lingers on the skin that’s not quite growing stubble but is definitely trying too. Eddie holds to Nyx like they are a lifeline, like they aren’t the thing drowning him in pleasure. 

It’s in his toes, when Nyx moves to kiss along his neck Eddie feels it in his fucking toes. He ruts up into their clothed body, like it’s actually going to fix the growing erection. Nyx takes it in stride and laughs. “Not yet. Slow your roll. I haven’t even started with you yet,” Nyx teases. 

“Fuck,” Eddie sighs. “I’d hate to see how you finish with me.”

Nyx only answers by getting their hands up and under the t-shirt. They rest their fingers-splayed-over his lower torso and then meet his neck with more kisses. The heat bubbles between them. Sucking at flesh and sighs just barely escaping from throats, fingers burying into the meat of each other--it’s intoxicating and heavy. 

Nyx is slow to shed the shirt, only moving to remove the article of clothing once they are satisfied that Eddie’s neck will be littered with purple marks for at least a week and a half. It’s slowly, unlike a child unwrapping a present, Nyx is painfully slow as they remove the soft and worn in shirt. Two tattoos peer back at them and Nyx laughs. “I was right.” 

The kisses to the tattoos are soft, almost too soft. Eddie barely feels them but what he does feel is the tease of Nyx’s tongue around his nipple. He yelps, fingers digging into their arms. “That-now that was not apart of your previous decision,” he huffs. 

“You said you didn’t care as long as it was me,” Nyx returns. Their lips hover his left nipple and they flick their tongue out when Eddie opens his mouth to reply. All that comes inside is a tuft of laughter before it dissolves into a moan. “Does it not stand anymore?”

“No, no, it stands,” Eddie’s words fall like it pains him when they stop. 

Nyx grins and kisses on, kissing down his chest. Their hands settle onto the belt. Eddie’s going to die here. He’s going to die a consumed man and he doesn’t care if nothing is left of him. He wants Nyx to have it all. They’re slow to undo the belt and even slower to get the jeans down. But when they do, when Nyx feels Eddie to almost naked, leaving him only in his boxer, it feels like a release in and off its own. 

There is Eddie chest heaving as Nyx stands above him. There’s nothing to hide him. Not even the thick of night as they left the lights on for the movie. There’s nothing between Eddie and Nyx--besides the underwear on Eddie’s behalf. 

“Do you remember, Eddie, when I said nothing on you was innocent?” 

Eddie nods, “Yeah, yeah I remember.”

“It’s because everything is going on you is fucking sinfully handsome,” Nyx returns, straddling his waist again. The friction of their jeans over the thin boxers makes Eddie jolt. A broken whimper leaves his throat as Nyx kisses over the bruises. It hurts, just a little, but it feels so good. 

Eddie’s sure he’s lost his head. He can only feel because that’s all the nerves are good for, but he’s not sure he’s really processing anything anymore as Nyx grinds onto his cock. They sigh just a little, bringing their lips to his ear. “If I asked you to come just like this, in your boxers, would you do it?”

“Shit, shit, shit,” Eddie whines. The pressure deepens from Nyx’s grind and he nods. It’s pathetic really. It’s utterly pathetic but he could and all he’d need it Nyx to ask him to do it. “Yes, if you asked, yes.”

“You’re what they make art about, Eddie. You know that? A thing we call a muse. Just look at you,” Nyx whispers. “I don’t know if it was God or Satan, but you were carved by some mighty being.”

His eyes are a mess. There’s a sting just behind them--tears he knows because he doesn’t want to come like this unless Nyx wants it. But it feels so good and he wants to let himself just go completely over to them. He wants to shuts his eyes, but he alway wants to see what Nyx looks like when they are all but begging to him, all but a mess because they’re giving him pleasure. He wants to see what Nyx looks like when they grovel and he wants nothing more than let himself melt into the steady grind of their hips. 

God, he can’t, he can’t--but he wants to.

But he should. It’s taking everything in him to hold off. But he should. Eddie gets a grip around Nyx’s hips and ass and toss them into the couch. They go willingly and when Eddie hovers over them, still nearly naked and barely keeping together from the edge he backed himself from, Nyx laughs. His hair falls like a curtain around them. It makes the moment private. Like it’s just the two of them. 

Eddie holds one of Nyx’s hips up and over his hip. The denim is rough under his hands as he glides his palm up and down their jean covered thigh. He keeps Nyx close, as he breathes hard and heavy above them. “You are going to ruin me,” he exhales. 

Nyx says nothing as their hands trace up Eddie’s chest. The trace abstract and loopy lines over his skin, transfixed. “But you stopped me.”

“Because I refuse to be the only one naked,” Eddie returns with a laugh. 

He presses down and kisses their lips gingerly. Like he’s not even sure he should be stopping them. But his hands trail down their thigh, to their hip and then up and then rests just the tips of his fingers onto the flesh of their stomach under the t-shirt. Nyx sighs below him at the feeling of his fingers. Eddie continues up and up, pushing the cotton of the shirt up as he goes. He moves from their lips to pressing kisses to their neck.  

Nyx thread their fingers into the waves of Eddie’s hair and tugs just a little as he sucks a hickey into their flesh. “Eddie,” they shudder. 

“Ssh, I know. Let me--just one more kiss,” Eddie asks as he kisses the bruising skin and then continues up, pushing the t-shirt up full and exposing their chest to him. He kisses over their chest, down to their stomach and the button of their jeans is easy to pop but he doesn’t pop it just yet. He kisses back up, thinking that it feels like marking a map. Whenever he finds a spot that makes Nyx moans, he lingers at the spot, then leaves for just a moment before coming back to the spot again. He’s got to make sure he knows where he is going. Eddie’s got to make sure that he’s not the only one that understands what it feels to have such a tender touch. 

It doesn’t even matter to them that the movie’s still playing around them. It doesn't matter to them that every second that they think they’re spending is really minutes drinking in the pleasures of each other’s bodies. Nyx, utterly drunk on the feeling of Eddie’s lips on their skin, pulls his hips into theirs. Their jeans are still in the way, but like there’s no barrier, Eddie ruts up. God, Eddie just wants to give into them, let himself slide in and out of them, but he’s too gone in the haze of pleasure. 

Would it even matter where he came if he came under the hands of Nyx?

His thoughts give him a monetary slack and Nyx pushes up. They climb off the couch before pulling themselves out of the jeans. Eddie reclines back into the arm of the couch, pushing some of his hair out of his face. He follows the lines of Nyx’s body down. He watches how the lights bounce off their skin and he grins to himself. 

“If I am sinfully handsome, then I think you’re going to give me a run for my money,” Eddie quips. “And I ain’t got much.”

“Something tells me you have much more than you think.” Nyx punctuates the sentence by gripping Eddie’s obvious erection. Their fingers release him only a second later and their palm slides up over him, finding the opening in his boxers to rub their thumb over his shaft. “May I?” Nyx asks, looking up from their lashes. 

Eddie scrubs a hand over his face, the groan erupting from him as the feeling of their tender touch. “God-Sh-yeah, yeah you can. You’re driving me wild.”

Nyx slips the boxes down and kneels between Eddie’s waiting legs. They moan at the sight of Eddie’s cock--swollen and pink--in their hand. It’s reverent at first, the way Nyx kisses the tip and drags kisses up and down his length. Eddie gets a fistful of he cover on the couch in his hands at the way the teasing hurts. His whole body just wants to sink into the feeling of pleasure. 

Then it’s warmth and Eddie rears up just a little at the warmth of Nyx’s mouth on the head of his cock. “Fuck,” he cries out. He feels clumsy, watching through squinted eyes as Nyx works their mouth over his length, tongue lapping and wrapping around him. He’s not sure what to do with his hands for a moment. 

“A gorgeous cock,” Nyx whispers. Then they’re diving back in for more and Eddie’s heart nearly bursts. He caresses their jaw--did Nyx just say what he thinks they said? He can’t even get the question fully formed on his tongue before another ripple of pleasure is washing over Eddie. 

“Oh God,” he heaves, throwing his head back. “Shit, Nyx,” he whines. 

And it’s all they need. Nyx only needs the praise to crank up the intensity. Eddie’s seeing white behind his eyes. He thinks he’s saying Nyx’s name. He thinks he’s chanting out how good he feels. Eddie hopes his gratitude is coming across with the ‘thank you’s but he’s not sure as his orgasm crashes over him. 

The kisses comes with a hiss and Eddie knows it’s too far, but he keeps going until Nyx whines out his name, hands pushing his hips away from them. “Okay, okay,” he whispers, kissing at the corner of their mouth gently. “You’re okay. I got you.”

Nyx giggles as the drag and soft bump of Eddie’s nose over their jaw. The stillness of Eddie’s hips easing the after affects of their orgasm and it’s nice to have Eddie’s weight atop them. Nyx winds their arms around Eddie’s neck to bring him in even closer. “Thank you,” Nyx whispers into his ear. 

“Your wish is my command,” Eddie returns. 

“Do not say that. You don’t know what you’re asking for.” Nyx turns their head to look up into Eddie’s face. There’s the wrinkled skin around his eyes as he smiles that always makes him look so much younger and Nyx swears they never want to crawl out of the depth of Eddie's brown eyes. If to be swallowed means to voluntarily go into the space behind Eddie’s eyes and always keep a flicker of light there, Nyx wants that for him. It suits him, a happy smile. 

Eddie shrugs as best as he can while still keeping himself supported somewhat. “You’ll just have to show me what I’m asking for next time then.”

#eddie munson #eddie munson x gender neutral character #eddie munso smut #eddie munson fanfic #eddie munson fi #eddie munson imagine #eddie munson blurb #h writes #eddie munson fic #eddie munson x gender neutral reader #eddie munson x reader

[thelolzblog]

Putting the "Pen" in "Pencil"

I do not like to write with pencils. I will, when needed. I try to avoid it as much as possible, though. I’ve tried different “models” of mechanical pencils, including those that boasted pen-like casings that coworkers recommended. But none quite worked for me. 

Until this week. Or weekend really. Let’s not get pedantic here.

I prefer pens, and a really good, smooth pen? *chef’s kiss* I have horrible handwriting, and I cramp up very easily (fingers, hands, wrist, you name it). But a really good pen can transcend its job as a writing instrument and become the tool that harmonizes your hand with the paper. 

My primary pen of choice for over a decade has been the BiC Atlantis. Its price makes it more of an economy class model, but that’s okay because I need them in bulk so I can bring them to work, too. Additionally, my purse, bags, and desk drawers are where pens go to die — or at least hang out in limbo until they’re unearthed on the archaeological expeditions that are decluttering attempts. 

Because of how much I prefer pens over pencils, I have always done crossword puzzles in pen. It’s not usually a problem, and I didn’t even think it was that big of deal until others pointed it out to me. I love crosswords. I love pens. It just made sense. (Semi-brag: friends have handed puzzles over to me they get stuck on so I can finish it.)  I also have tons of crossword books, and they’re a great stress relief that also wakes your brain up — the good part, not the part that is going Chicken Little in the moment. Most are “easy” NY Times ones, and the one actual Sunday puzzle collection I bought was just too tricky for me to try and figure out. It now remains in my spare room just in case I need to rip it up for cat litter in an emergency. 

A friend recently gave me a (very late) Christmas present: an NYT crossword book. Hooray! I kept it at work to do a couple clues between tasks to feed my ADHD and keep me going. However! These are medium-level puzzles. And they mean it! I realized after a few that doing them in pen was probably not the best thing anymore. It was time to admit my puzzle prowess was weakened. It was time to admit that I needed to get a good pencil. You always remember where you were when these kind of life turns happen, and I was at my desk wondering if my friend purposefully got me the harder book to mess with me. 

But finding the right pencil for crosswords was…wait for it…the real puzzle to solve.

The search began, and unfortunately Google kept giving me results for pens that write like pencils, and not the other way around. (Okay, okay. We GET it. There are erasable pens. Papermate has been on top of that since I was in school. I’ve also used some that wrote well, but the erasing is really just applying heat through friction. Which means things disappear if your paper gets hot. ANYWAY.)

I just started searching on my next grocery order. BiC had some promising options — smooth and hard-to-break. The store ended up being out of one type, but they did have the .9 (thick) Velocity Max. I tried them, and they weren’t bad. The large eraser is convenient. It both comforts and mocks you: “We know you’re going to make huge mistakes, and we don’t want your arm to get tired trying to remove them. Here’s your big eraser, you big screw up!” They even come with extra lead and erasers. How thoughtful! The problem is the grip: the softer, gel-like part is too high. I did manage to slide it down lower. It looks odd, but it’s more comfortable. The bottom part is just too narrow and has nothing added to it for comfort. Not ideal, but doable. Even if one of the two colors they came in was orange, and we all know that orange is a color that tries too hard.

Luckily I tend to go into hyper obsessive research and testing mode. This usually just wastes my time away, but this time it came in handy! While looking online, I saw an item that I couldn’t help but add to my cart. A Wish List is no place for a pen like this. It was a 4-color BiC pen, with 3 ink colors and 1 option for pencil. It was a sleeker, multi-functional upgrade from those multi-colored pens I adored in childhood: it was the pen version of when the Power Rangers all put their vehicles together and made the big, large thing. Megazord. It was the Megazord. I couldn’t pull it out of my memory, but that’s to be expected from my pencil-for-crossword-needing old brain.

I am happy to report there was a fairy tale ending here. The good, non-messy kind that doesn’t leave a dead witch, giant, or talking wolf in its wake.  (I can confirm no fantasy beings were harmed in the testing of these pens.)  The grip on the 4-color pen is wide and feels great, much better than the Velocity model. The grip and lead make for a truly smooth writing experience, and I have tested it out on at least 10 crosswords at this point. 

And what of the actual pen colors on it? This thing could’ve settled for just being a good pencil, but no. BiC said, “We don’t stop here. We keep going. We make this pen worth every penny.” Which was nice of them because it is not cheap, and it will run you between $5.50 to $7 — more than 1 dollar for each option. (They do throw in extra lead and erasers, just to note.) The width makes for a great writing experience for all colors. I actually used it at work yesterday to color code some notes, and it is definitely going to be in regular rotation for more than just the pencil part.

Very happy I purchased it, and I also bought some new highlighters. But that’s a review for another day.

#z writes things #this is literally a review on pens/pencils #but you asked for it #and by you #chicgeekgirl89 #sspaz1000

[heyitsthatonesmolgay]

Hi, Connie!! I hope you are having a good day :) Here are some random title things that I thought you might like:

Two Roads Diverged (In A Yellow Wood)

Up a Tree / Down a Well

You Stayed

Tied Together (Torn Apart)

Keep Your Head Above Water

I'll Be There For You

Who Needs Neckties

Apples and Pairs

Tea Parties (With Snacks!)

Feel free to ignore if you don't want to use any/all of these <3 (I tried to include both angsty and more happy sounding titles, because I know you love to throw the book at some of our beloved characters before being nice to them)

Hoo boy, not gonna lie, I've been too exhausted to muster up energy for a day or two, but I think I have enough in me now for a couple ideas!

Two Roads Diverged (In A Yellow Wood)

Something something, SQ and Constance are very similar but choose to take their creativity in massively different ways. They bicker and fight at first when SQ and Curtain move into the Benedict household, but then one day they realize they can team up with their artistic talents and create the most beautiful illustrations to the most rude poetry known to man.

Up a Tree / Down a Well

A fantasy AU where Nicholas is a tree spirit and Nathaniel is a water spirit, and they grow up together because the tree is right next to the well. Then, one day the tree gets chopped down and the well runs dry, and these two nature spirits somehow find themselves in physical bodies, unsure what to do with themselves.

You Stayed

Apocalypse AU! Nicholas tells someone (maybe one of the kids) to stay put while he handles the danger outside their shelter (maybe zombies, maybe scavengers, whatever). Listening to instructions for once, they stay put. But Nicholas hears a chilling scream just as he turns to check on the child(ren).

Tied Together (Torn Apart)

Something with the twins, for sure. Maybe...hm. I'm in an AU mood, so Ghost AU. For whatever reason, when the twins pass, they find their spirits tied to the orphanage they had grown up in. And there they find the children/Executives from the books, and gently help the kids grow. The only problem becomes, then, when rumors strike that the place is haunted, and ghost hunters, exorcists, and cultists all try to harness the twins' powers, or eradicate them entirely.

Keep Your Head Above Water

Constance hears so many thoughts, from so many people, day in and day out. This fic explains how she drowns in them, and how she learns to drown them out.

I'll Be There For You

Sickfic, where Curtain is sick, and a child!SQ, wanting to take care of his dad the way his dad does when he gets sick, does all the things he can to make his dad feel better, accidentally making a mess in the process. Curtain has to help clean it up while feeling like he might vomit, but at the end of the day, he can't even find it in him to scold SQ, because it showed that SQ truly loved him.

Who Needs Neckties

Sticky-centric fic! Sticky tries so hard to be taken seriously by everyone when he feels like he's only ever known as the extra, or a nervous wreck. He starts dressing up (especially with neckties) as a result, until his friends reassure him that he isn't just an afterthought, but an important member of the Society.

Apples and Pairs

Kate and Milligan fluff, which might start as hurt/comfort as they return to the farm and have to learn how to live together again, but as things slowly smooth over between them, they start to get into a groove and work as a perfect pair in order to get the farm up and running.

Tea Parties (With Snacks!)

A what-if AU where Number Two gets sucked into the Happiness before Nicholas does. She adores having tea with Curtain, and over time he sees through her casual, happy nonchalance about talking with him about his brother, how Nicholas really never stopped caring about him. Except Number Two then freezes, and Nicholas and Nathaniel have to bring her back...provided neither of them wring the other's neck first.

#connie.txt #mbs disney #ask game #plot bunnies

[blacktobackmesa]

Streamman Files: Meet Fang0riously

I recently realized that I've never given a full visual of Fang, Gordon's dependable IRL friend from my HLVRAI stories. On one hand, that puts the reader on even footing with the AI characters, who only know him as a voice. But you're not them, so I'm gonna share this drawing along with a rundown of who he is.

Among friends, he goes by Fang, from the username he's been using for accounts since middle school. Professionally, he uses his first name, but honestly he doesn't mind either. He and Gordon met in high school, where they were both in the same general friend groups. They got along well, sharing plenty of common interests, but didn't really become close until after graduation, where they went to the same college and didn't want to share a dorm with a total stranger. They've been tight ever since.

Aside from being Gordon's friend, Fang's role in the Streamman saga is centered around his career in video work. While his day job is freelance editing for various companies, he's also employed by Gordon as a producer, managing OBS and keeping things smooth during Gordon's streams. He was a silent observer for the Half Life VR But the AI is Self Aware streams, and was the one to send Gordon the final message that Dr. Coomer had sent once Gordon had left the game.

Here's some more details in no order!

Wearing a beanie and a heavy jacket are his golden zone for sensory goodness. He has a variety of hats, but just the one perfect jacket.

Doesn't have a VR headset. Virtual Reality makes him get dizzy real quick, and it's not fun. As a result, he either interacts with the team as a disembodied voice or with a more standard-controlled avatar.

The Science Team has mixed feelings toward him. In addition to it being kind of creepy that he was watching them through the whole ResCas and didn't do anything, he also once argued against Gordon taking the AIs out of the game. It was a very complicated situation, both parties did things they regret.

He's on fantastic terms with Benrey and Darnold though.

He has a pet bearded dragon named Jumanji

Big fan of psychological horror games! He had a PS4 with PT still on it, and his favorite game is Silent Hill 2. He loves to talk about themes and symbolism in games. It can get insufferable in the right context, but he's no gatekeeper. Just mildly pretentious.

Doesn't think of himself as good with kids-- not because he doesn't like them, but because he will give a child whatever they want to make them stop crying. Easily manipulated by small children.

That being said, you know he gives Joshua excellent presents when Gordon brings him over for a night of Hanukkah.

He likes to affectionately shorten names. Gordon is Gord. Expect a lot of gourd jokes in Autumn.

Not a big soda guy, but he's got this ritual down with this one pizza chain in town. When he eats pizza, he's gotta mix two parts coke, two parts sprite, and one part lemonade. He started doing it as a kid and can't break the habit. Darnold thinks he'd make a fine mixologist.

A firm believer in "You can't give from an empty bowl", he prioritizes taking care of one's self before taking on other peoples' problems. If It Sucks Hit The Bricks.

That being said, if he sees that someone he cares about IS giving from an empty bowl, that's immediately his problem. He will let you know you need a break.

#gordon streamman #fang0riously #oc #not going in the main tag bc its just oc time