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travoltacustom-translates · 11 months

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Decisive Battle: Easter in the Mysterious Forest - Ran Haitani | 決戦！不思議な森のイースター～灰谷蘭編～

Want to read along, but don’t have the game? Here’s a link to the event recorded!:

youtube

Event Period: 10 of April - 24 of April 2023

FEATURED CHARACTERS

Featured cards: Ran Haitani / Takemichi Hanagaki

Event box: Rindou Haitani

Event pass: Atsushi Sendo

CLICK READ MORE TO VIEW THE EVENT STORY

STORY TRANSLATION

BEFORE BATTLE (BEGINNER)

AKKUN

タケミチ！起きろ！！タケミチ！！！

Takemichi! Wake up!! Takemichi!!!

TAKEMICHI

ん～？アっくん・・・？

なんでアっくんが家にいるんだよ？

Mm~? Akkun…?

Why are you in my house?

AKKUN

なんでって・・・今日はマコトたちと遊び行く約束してただろ

Why?... Cause you said you’d hang out with all of us today.

TAKEMICHI

あ、そっか。今日5人で遊びに行くんだったな。それで迎えに来てくれたの？

ていうかオマエ。その格好はねぇよ！なんだよそのファンシーな格好？

Ah, I see. The five of us were gonna hang out today, huh? That’s why you came to pick me up?

Wait, what’s with you? What’s with the get up? Why are you wearing something that fancy?

AKKUN

それを言うならオマエもだけどな

You say that, but you’re all dressed up as well.

TAKEMICHI

え？なんだこりゃ！！！

Eh? What the hell is this?!!!

AKKUN

オマエん家でもないしな

This isn’t even your house either.

TAKEMICHI

ほんとだ！？どこココ！？森！？何これ！？花に顔があるんだけど！？

YOU’RE RIGHT! WHERE IS THIS!? A forest!? What the hell!? There’s faces on the flowers!?

AKKUN

パニックすぎだろ。ちょっと落ち着けって

You’re panicking way too much. Calm down a little.

TAKEMICHI

帰り道とか・・・

Where’s the way home?…

AKKUN

分かるわけねぇだろ

How the hell would I know that?

TAKEMICHI

だよなー

You’re right.

RAN

迷えるヒヨコちゃん発見～。いや、ウサギちゃんか？

Seems we’ve found some lost littel chicks. Or rather, some bunnies?

RINDO

帰り道を探してるなら。オレら灰谷兄弟にお任せあれ？

If you’re looking for the way home, why don’t you leave it to us Haitani brothers?

TAKEMICHI

六本木の灰谷兄弟！？

Roppongi’s Haitani brothers!?

RINDO

六本木？何言ってんだ？

Roppongi? What are you talking about?

RAN

どうでもいいけど、お二人さん、帰り道知りたいんじゃねぇの？

Never mind that. Anyways, the both of you really want to know the way home, don’t you?

TAKEMICHI

知りたい！！！

We do!!!

AKKUN

オマエら知ってるのか！？

You guys know how!?

RINDO

知っていると言えば知ってるし、知らないと言えば知らない

If we say we know, then we know. And if we say we don’t know, then we don’t know.

AKKUN

はぁ？

Huh?

RAN

オレに勝てたらお前らが欲しい答えを教えてやるよ

If you beat us, then we’ll tell you the answers you seek.

TAKEMICHI

なんかよく分からねぇけど、灰谷蘭に勝たなきゃならねぇってことか・・・！

I don’t know what’s up with this, but I guess we’re gonna have to beat Ran Haitani…!

AKKUN

他に手がかりはねぇしやるしかねぇな！

We don’t have any other leads, so we’ve just gotta do it!

TAKEMICHI

おう！

Yeah!

RINDO

はは！コイツら兄貴に勝つつもりだぜ

Haha! You guys are gonna try and beat my brother?

RAN

楽しませてもらおうじゃねぇーか

Let’s have some fun then!

_ _ _ _ _

POST BATTLE (BEGINNER)

TAKEMICHI

なんとか勝てたのか・・・！？

We beat him…!?

AKKUN

帰り道、教えてくれるんだよな

You’re gonna tell us the way home now then, aren’t ya?

RINDO

あぁ、もちろん

Yeah, of course we will.

RAN

この道をまーっすぐ進むと大きな木の下に穴がある

Straight down the path, there will be a hole right under a huge tree.

RINDO

そこに飛び込めばお目当ての場所にたどり着けるぜ

Just jump down the hole and you’ll be on your way.

TAKEMICHI

穴に飛び込む・・・？

Jump down a hole…?

RAN

ほら、早く帰りたいんならさっさと行けよ入口が塞がる前に

Come on now. If you want to leave that bad, get a move on before that entrance gets sealed up.

TAKEMICHI

なんか怪しけど、とりあえず、行ってみるか

Something’s pretty weird about this, but let’s just head off for now.

AKKUN

そうだな

Yeah.

・・・

TAKEMICHI

本当にあった！大きな木の下に大きな穴！

It’s really here! There’s a huge hole under this huge tree!

AKKUN

相当深そうな穴だけど、大丈夫かこれ・・・

This hole looks pretty deep. Is this really okay…?

TAKEMICHI

うっし！行くぞアっくん！

Right! Let’s go, Akkun!

AKKUN

はぁ！？マジで飛び込むのかよ！

WHAT!? You’re seriously just gonna jump in?

TAKEMICHI

��れしか手掛からないんだからさ!　ほら、行くぞ！

It’s all we can really do! Come on, let’s go!

AKKUN

うわっ！押すなよおおおおおお！！！

Uwa! DON’T PUSH MEEEEEE!!!

[ They tumble down the rabbit hole, AND THUD! They end up meeting… ]

RAN

よぉー　おかえり♡

Hiya, welcome back♡

AKKUN

はぁ！？

HUH!?

TAKEMICHI

え！？オレら戻ってきたの？

Eh!? We’re back here?

AKKUN

オマエらやっぱり適当なこと言ってたのか

I knew you guys were saying something weird!

RINDO

オレら噓は言ってねぇーぜ？

Well, we didn’t lie, did we?

RAN

とりあえず、再開を祝して茶会（パーティー）を始めようか

ちょっとだけ本気をだしてやるかさ

Let’s have a tea party to celebrate this occasion

Now then, time for me to get a little serious.

_ _ _ _ _

POST BATTLE (INTERMEDIATE)

RAN

ふーん。オマエらなかなかやるじゃん

Hmm. You guys are pretty good.

RINDO

帰り道はあっちかな？

Is the way home over that way?

RAN

いやいや、そっちかもよ？

No, no. Well, maybe it’s over that way?

AKKUN

もうオマエらの言葉は信じねぇよ

I can’t believe a word you’re saying anymore.

TAKEMICHI

自力で帰り道を見つけるしかねぇ！

We’re just gonna have to find a way home by ourselves!

AKKUN

まずはあっちな方探ってみようぜ

Let’s head over that way.

TAKEMICHI

あぁ、そうしよう

来た道は分かるようにこの辺に落ちてた卵を道しるべに置いていくか

Yeah, let’s do that.

I’ll leave some eggs along the way to signpost things so we can find our way back.

・・・

RINDO

よぉーまた来たのかよ

Yo. You’re back again.

・・・

RAN

またお茶か飲みたくなったのか？

You wanna join us for some tea?

・・・

RINDO

また会ったな。そんなに同じところを行き来して疲れないのか？

You’re back again. Aren’t you tired of going back and forth over and over again?

RAN

よっぽどオレらと戦いたいみたいだな。もう1戦やっておくか？

Looks like you really wanna fight us. Wanna have a go at us again?

TAKEMICHI

だぁー！！！！なんでここに戻ってきちまうんだ！！！オレらは早く帰りたいんだよ！

Gahaagh!!!! WHY DO WE KEEP COMING BACK HERE!!! I just wanna get back home already!

RAN

そんな怒んなよ。まだ「その時」じゃねぇんだよ

Chill out. It’s not time yet.

AKKUN

その時？

Time yet?

RAN

あぁ、その時になったら。自然と帰れるさ

だから今はオレらと楽しもうぜ・・・！

Yeah. Just wait for that time. You’ll be able to go home then.

So for now, why don’t you have some fun with us…!

_ _ _ _ _

POST BATTLE (ADVANCED)

TAKE

はぁはぁ

AKKUN

はぁはぁ

RAN

なんだよ。もう喧嘩はおしまいかぁ？

What’s this? You done fighting?

RINDOU

まだまだオレらと遊ぼうぜ

We're not done playing yet.

AKKUN

いや・・・もう・・・

Come on… no more…

TAKEMICHI

もうむりぃ～！！！家に帰らせてくれぇー！！！

I can’t take this anymore!!! Lemme go hooome!!!

[ SCENE: AKKUN dressed in normal clothes tries to wake TAKEMICHI ]

AKKUN

タケミチ！起きろ！！タケミチ！！！

Takemichi! Wake up!! Takemichi!!!

TAKEMICHI

うぉ！？アっくん！？

UOGH! AKKUN!?

AKKUN

やっと起きたか・・・何回呼んでも起きねーからよ

You’re finally awake… No matter how many times I tried, I couldn’t wake you up.

TAKEMICHI

オレ、寝てたの・・・？灰谷兄弟は？

I was sleeping…? What about the Haitani brothers?

AKKUN

灰谷兄弟？何言ってんだ？

The Haitani brothers? What are ya talkin’ about?

TAKEMICHI

あれ？ウチ？オレら帰ってこれらたのか！！！

Huh？I’m home? I’m back home!!!

AKKUN

はは。さっきから何寝てぼけてんだよ？早く顔で洗って来いよ

Haha. What exactly were you doing in your sleep? Why don’t you go wash your face.

TAKEMICHI

オレら変な森で、変な格好して、灰谷兄弟と戦ってなかった？

We’re we in that weird forest? Dressed in weird clothes? Fighting the Haitani brothers?

AKKUN

はぁ？なんつー夢見てんだよ？

Huh? The hell were you dreaming of?

TAKEMICHI

夢・・・そっか夢か！そうだよな。いやー。夢にしては疲れる夢だったな～

A dream… I see, it was a dream! That’s right. Man. That was pretty exhausting for just a dream.

AKKUN

そんなことより、マコトたち待ってんだから、さっさと準備しろよ

Just forget about it, Makoto and the others are waiting for us, so get your ass ready.

TAKEMICHI

おう！アっくん先に行っててよ、すぐに追いかけるからさ！

Okay！You go ahead, Akkun. I’ll catch up with you in a bit!

AKKUN

分かったー！二度寝すんなよー

Gotcha! Don’t go falling asleep again.

TAKEMICHI

しねぇよ！

・・・よし！準備完了。いってきまーす！

I won’t!

…All right! I’m good to go. I’m headin’ out!

[ TAKEMICHI leaves to join his friends, completely unaware of the Easter egg left on the floor]

[ STORY END ]

_ _ _ _ _

You can view all my translations for Tokyo Revengers: Puzzle Revengers & Hypnosis Mic: Alternative Rap Battle in my discord: HERE.

#tokyo revengers #ran haitani #takemichi hanagaki #rindou haitani #atsushi sendo #travoltacustom-translates #puzzle revengers

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chromatic-lamina · 2 months

Note

i’ve got some questions for fic writers if you’re up for answering any!

2. Go to your AO3 “Works” page, to the sidebar with all the filters, and click the drop-down arrow for “Additional Tags.” What are your top 3-5 most used tags? Do you think they accurately represent your writing habits?

9. How do you find new fic to read?

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you?

25. What other websites or resources do you use most often when you write?

36. Do you visualize what you read/write?

thanks!! ♥️ hope you have a lovely week :)

Hey Gen!

I gotta get to bed, but let's get down to business!

2. First question: 5 most popular additional tags: (it's not very exciting):

Complete (60)

One Shot (35)

Rare Pairings (24)

Character Study (23)

Canon Related (22)

I've got 75 stories, and more than 60 of them are complete. Some folks search by the actual tag 'complete', so I tag it. I also have more than 35 one shots, I think! Do they accurately reflect my writing habits?-- yeah, pretty much!

9. How do you find new fic to read? I don't read so much nowadays, but my AO3 is filtered by Law, so I trawl the Law tag looking for new stuff. I'm reading shorter fics/works for the most part at the moment, due to time. Sometimes I want to see what else is happening or there's nothing in the Law tag, so I'll look at the One Piece tag as a whole and see what's happening. Also, I'll sometimes follow fic postings on tumblr, and there are a few writers I really like, so I'll definitely check out their stuff (although not always right away). I've been reading in the fandom for a while, so , as said, just not dipping into it as much as I used to.

12. Are there any tropes you used to dislike but have grown on you? Sure. When I'm in the mood for whump, can't go wrong with some omegaverse stuff. To tell the truth, @hackdrawer got me to love male preg, omegaverse, and probably a lot of other tropes I didn't like much. It's all in the way its written. I've even really enjoyed soulmates stories from @chokefriends and @anarchycox (and am writing own of my own), so I've learnt to never say never.

25. What other websites or resources do you use most often when you write? I'll keep it restricted to One Piece fandom: The One Piece Wiki, the manga, the anime sometimes, whatever particular piece of information I need and whichever rabbit holes searching for it leads me down. So, basic google searches and launching off from there.

36. Do you visualize what you read/write? My work's pretty visual, so I guess I do. If it's got a particular theme, I will hunt down references/mood. For example, I'm writing a piece on the corpse flower, and I've got a ton of pics so that I can describe it well. I had a piece that featured all different kinds of pottery/crockery, and that pottery/crockery were allocated to a character each. I hunted the vibe I wanted. For Death Doula, I was working with the wonderful @alegnace and so went crazy with refs, but I would've hunted them down for myself as well.

Thanks for these questions! I definitely enjoyed answering them.

#fic writers meme #chromalami #gendervapor14

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likeadevils · 11 months

Note

I was trying to find out timelines for one of my favourite artist's songs(not taylor). So can you give some tips? What is the first things you do while trying to find a date? Anything I should remember?

oooh good question

so, first tip, there's various different ways to be useful--one of the reasons this project has kept my attention for so long is i can do it in so many different moods. some days i just want to organize everything, some days i want to compile a bunch of links, sometimes i want to read old interviews, and sometimes if i'm lucky i want to actually use my brain to connect all the clues. don't get in your own way, just follow your gut

step one: organization

i find my spreadsheet set up very useful and i wouldn't be able to keep track of everything without it-- i would say my must haves are track, title, written, recorded, writer(s), producer(s), misc credits, and location recorded (for example here's 1989).

you'll want to set up some sort of key for how certain you are of the date (i do white text if i only know the general timeframe, red highlight if i have no idea where the date comes from, yellow highlight if its a shaky source, and green highlight if it's certain). i also like to color code everything else so i can quickly see basic information but that's just me being extra

in my experience genius has a list of most credits, and if not this website is super thorough (kinda a beast to sort through tho)

i add also add comments to each song and copy paste any quotes from taylor or her collaborators that i think might be useful to figuring out when it was written

step two: interviews interviews interviews

youtube is a gift from god-- i have a folder for interviews from each year and it's so nice (a good place to start is literally typing like, taylor swift 2006 interview, and following that rabbit hole wherever it will lead you), and when i'm in the mood i'll watch them.

old print interviews are a bit easier to find in taylor's case-- taylorpictures.net has a whole section dedicated to it, and i've noticed a lot of other big pop girls have something similar. if not, i've literally google searched "taylor swift interview" gone over to tools, click "any time", change it to custom time frame, and just crawled month by month through target years.

i'd say start with articles around the release date of the album and then work backwards

if you get tired of crawling through a bunch of interviewers asking about literally anything other than the art at hand, search interviews with the producers about the artist, and they tend to be more on track

step three: social media

use twitter advanced search to search specifically your artist and words like "studio" "writing" "guitar" "piano" "song" "album"

i like to add relevant posts to my spreadsheet like this

but i also have a full sheet for just taylor's old posts

if your artist is also insane and deleted all of their old posts, then wayback machine is so helpful

step four: when and where

a fair amount of the work comes down to figuring out where the artist was and when they were there-- especially if your artist works out of multiple studios

location stuff can get a bit icky, so personally i don't track stuff until two years have gone by, and even if you want to steer clear of candids you can still gain a good amount of information from public events only-- most artists are constantly touring, doing interviews, maybe attending award shows, stuff like that, and its useful to keep track of all that

again, the wayback machine is super useful-- most artists have an events page on their website, and smaller artists especially will add almost every television show appearance they have to it

Misc tips

CITE AS YOU GO

get around paywalls by copy pasting the link into the wayback machine

in general, i've gotten so good at googling because of this project it's insane-- check out this article to get more specific search results

i've also gotten crazy good at creating and using spreadsheets-- check out conditional formatting if you don't want to manually color code stuff

go one album at a time, at least until you've gotten a feel for it

have one or more work sheet on your spreadsheet- you'll need to format/sort stuff without worrying about screwing up everything else

i do this all in one massive spreadsheet with little individual sheets inside of it for each thing i need to keep track of, but like. i've literally opened up the sheet and then used my computer as a heating pad for period cramps. so do what that what you will

A rough date is easier to organize than no date-- get something down, and then you can refine it

#asks*#sorry for taking so long to answer #timeline*

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inkweaver22-blr · 1 year

Text

This is Part 2 of this chapter as Tumblr doesn't allow more than 1,000 blocks of text on a single post. To read the first half of this chapter and see my opening notes, check out Part 1 Here or click on Previous below. Or just click the AO3 Link to read the whole chapter uninterrupted.

AO3 Link

Scattered Cicadas - Chapter Twenty One: Shining With Joy (Part 2)

The changes in Tang’s life never seem to stop. Luckily there are moments that shine bright enough to make them worth it.

----------

Tang was roused from a peaceful sleep by the sound of distant shouting. He tried to sit up but blinked in surprise when his head hit the ceiling. What in the world?

It was dark, and smelled of upturned soil. Was he underground? There was a faint light coming from one direction so he crawled towards it. He discovered a tunnel leading upwards and began making his way up. As he approached the entrance, he could start making out the voices a bit better. It sounded like they were calling his name.

Tang surfaced and looked around. The hole- burrow, he absently realized- had been dug right up against the airship. The shouting was coming from above, probably on deck.

He stepped out of the burrow and examined himself. He expected the dirt in his fur, but where had his clothes gone? With a grumble he plucked out a strand of fur, blowing on it to make a pair of shorts and pulling them on. He was not pleased with how his morning was going.

Sleepwalking was one thing. Sleepwalking while nude and digging a huge hole in the ground was another.

“I’m down here,” Tang called up to the deck once he was modest.

“Tang!” Pigsy, MK, and Sandy all leaned over the side of the railing to look down at Tang.

“Are you alright?” Pigsy called with concern. “I woke up and you were gone and none of us could find you on board!”

“I’m fine! I think I was sleepwalking. I, uh, might have been sleep-digging as well.”

“Sleep-digging?”

“I woke up in a burrow dug under the ship.”

There was a silence for a moment as the three just stared at him.

“Okay, that’s… Whatever.” Pigsy shook his head. “We’ll deal with that later. Just come around to the entrance while we go tell the others we found you.”

“Alright.”

Tang sighed as they disappeared back over the railing. He looked at the hole he had apparently dug. He and Wukong had guessed his rabbit instincts would kick in at some point, but he hadn’t expected just three days later.

Shaking his head he started making his way to the entrance. It was just something else he’d have to adjust to. It wasn’t too big of a problem if he was honest. He didn’t mind the dirt and that burrow had been kind of cozy. They’d probably have to do something about his bedroom so this wouldn’t happen while they were mid-flight though…

Tang shivered a bit and rubbed his arms. The chill in the air could be felt even through his fur. He looked up at the overcast sky and blinked. Those were certainly not rain clouds.

Sure enough, as he reached the ship’s main entrance and accepted a blanket and hug from Pigsy, snow began to softly fall. He shuddered again and turned to go inside. Tang liked snow, he just wished it wasn’t so white. It was also hard to appreciate when one was half naked. He really hoped sleepwalking in just his fur wouldn’t become a habit.

----------

“I know you said you’d be shedding, but this is ridiculous,” Pigsy grunted as brushed Tang’s back. “I didn’t think there’d be this much.” He pulled the brush away and let the clump it had collected drop to growing piles of chocolate and reddish brown fur on the floor.

“Rabbits normally have all Autumn to shed their Summer coats as their Winter ones grow in,” Tang explained as he brushed his arm. “However, since it’s near the end of Autumn and I woke up in the cold last week, my fur seems to have decided to do it all in one go.” He swapped the brush to his other paw and began working on his other arm.

“Well at least you shouldn’t be wandering outside to dig holes in the middle of the night again,” Pigsy said. “The kids did a great job on redecorating.”

Tang hummed in agreement as he looked around. MK, Mei, and Red Son had all worked together to transform his room to make it feel like an underground den. MK had masterfully painted the walls to give it the appearance of solid earth. Mei designed some light fixtures that looked like roots hanging from the ceiling. Red Son provided some incense that made the room smell like freshly turned soil.

Along with the blackout curtains over the window, the atmosphere soothed Tang’s rabbit instincts. He hadn’t had another sleepwalking incident since.

“Done with your back,” Pigsy reported. “Stand up so I can brush that cute butt of yours.”

“You sure you don’t want to do the front?” Tang teased as he stood and moved on to brushing his chest.

“Not with all this loose fur flying around,” Pigsy said seriously. He knelt and began to gently brush under Tang’s tail. “Don’t want to be spitting up hairballs.”

“Ah. Right.” He paused in his brushing. “Now why would the fur be getting in your mouth?”

“Shut it.”

Tang continued to shed for another few days. He was honestly surprised by the sheer volume of fur that had come off his body. Unsure on what to do with it, they had stuffed it all in a trash bag and stored it in his closet for now.

His new Winter coat was certainly much thicker. That meant it was fluffier, much to Pigsy’s delight. It also meant it was warmer, much to Tang’s dismay. With the heater running on board the ship at almost all times now, Tang was always a short burst of exertion away from overheating. He had to ditch his normal outfit of robes and pants for a t-shirt and shorts just to stay at a comfortable temperature.

He supposed it could be worse. At least Pigsy wanted to cuddle more often now. Tang chinned the top of his partner’s head and purred in satisfaction as they sat together under a blanket. The living room’s fireplace crackled merrily as the others all conversed and laughed together.

Yes, it certainly wasn’t all bad.

----------

The search for a way to defeat Lady Bone Demon hadn’t been put on hold just for Tang. Wukong’s map had four locations marked on it, corresponding with four artifacts relating to the seasons. Once brought together, they could be used to seal almost anything away for good.

Summer’s artifact, a sunstone encrusted ceremonial fan, had been obtained before Tang had even awoken this cycle. The artifact for Autumn, a decorative wheel with topazes set into the center and at each spot where the spokes connected with the rim, had apparently been picked up while he was relearning how to walk.

The Winter artifact, a scepter capped with a large moonstone, had been their next target.

‘Had’ being the operative word there. As of three days ago, it was resting safely inside the ship’s vault. Finding the shrine it had been kept at and proving themselves to its guardian hadn’t been the problem.

The problem was that it was apparently cursed, and it spread to everyone on board. They hadn’t known anything was wrong at first. But it became rather clear once instruments seemed to play from nowhere while Wukong and Macaque began performing a duet about their conflicting feelings for the other at dinner.

Tang had to admit to being impressed. Both by the singing skills of the mortally embarrassed monkeys and by the ingenuity of a musical curse. He had examined the scepter and determined that there was no way to break the spell without destroying the artifact as well. It would eventually wear out from what he could tell. As for how long they would have to wait…

He swore his ears were still ringing from their shouts when he had informed them it could potentially last for weeks.

Tang hadn’t thought it to be too bad at first. Some of the songs were pretty fun and were mostly nonsense things about what activities they were performing. His tune quickly changed after he and Pigsy had to retreat in mortification after singing a rather saucy and suggestive ditty to each other in front of an equally mortified MK.

Mei was having the most fun out of this if the amount of popcorn buckets she was going through was any indication.

Breakfast was currently a tense affair. No one spoke in fear of accidentally triggering a song. They all kept their heads down and avoided eye contact to prevent any thoughts from popping up that could lead to a performance that made them unwillingly bare their souls.

“Ugh!” MK groaned in frustration after nearly thirty minutes of uncomfortable silence. Tang was impressed with how long he had lasted.

“This is stupid!” He stood and began pacing. “Why are we all worked up over this? It’s just some singing, right?”

“I think it’s less the singing and more being forced to express your deepest darkest emotions,” Red Son drawled.

“But that’s the thing,” MK continued, waving his hands for emphasis. “We’ve all been stuck together for months now. We’ve gotten to know each other pretty well, no matter how some of you tried to stop it. We should know most of each other's hang ups by now.” He turned to face them all. “What are we afraid of?”

“It’s… embarrassing to bring some of those emotions out for everyone to see,” Tang coughed. “For example, mine and Pigsy’s little song…”

“But why?” MK began pacing again. “You are grown, married adults. It’s normal to have those kinds of thoughts about each other! And we’re all adults who understand what people in love get up to! Why are we embarrassed about that? About any of this?”

Tang had to admit those were some pretty good points and he wasn’t sure how to respond.

“It’s hard to be completely open like that,” Sandy explained after a few moments of silence. “It makes us feel exposed. Vulnerable. Free to be mocked and ridiculed.”

“That’s stupid!” MK scoffed. “It’s only us here! We’re so close, we’re practically family! Which of us would make fun of someone just for having emotions?”

“What would you have us do, bud?” Wukong asked. “I’m sure you have an idea if you're this upset about it.”

“Yeah! We stop caring!” He looked at all the blank stares he was getting and quickly started expanding on what he meant. “Not in general, I mean. We stop caring about what others think about how we feel! I’m sure none of us would actually judge each other about anything outside of poking a little fun. We’re all messy, kinda broken, mostly mortal beings who know a lot about each other already. We should stop being afraid to just… feel around each other.”

“So… We don’t kill the cringe, we kill the part of us that cringes?” Mei simplified.

“Exactly!”

“You talk as if it’s easy,” Macaque derided. “Why don’t you lead by example and maybe I’ll think about it.”

“Fine! I will!” MK marched over and pulled Red Son out of his chair.

“Wait! I didn’t agree to be a part of this!”

“Don’t worry, you’ll just have to stand there.”

“That doesn’t make me feel better!”

“Trust me,” MK said softly. “Please?”

“I…” Red Son swallowed. “Alright.”

“Thank you.”

MK took a breath and began to tap his hand against his leg. Predictably, music began to play. He smiled and looked up into Red Son’s eyes and started to sing.

“You're Better Than The Best

I'm Lucky Just To Linger In Your Light

Cooler Than The Flip-Side Of My Pillow, That's Right

“Completely Unaware

Nothing Can Compare To Where You Send Me

It Lets Me Know That It's Okay (Yeah, It's Okay)

And The Moments When My Good Times Start To Fade”

“Oh no,” Red Son groaned and buried his face in his hands. He couldn’t quite hide how bright his ears were turning or how his hair started to spark.

“You Make Me Smile Like The Sun

Fall Out Of Bed

Sing Like A Bird

Dizzy In My Head

Spin Like A Record

Crazy On A Sunday Night

You Make Me Dance Like A Fool

Forget How To Breathe

Shine Like Gold

Buzz Like A Bee

Just The Thought Of You Can Drive Me Wild

Oh, You Make Me Smile”

Red Son peeked out from behind his fingers. MK simply smiled at him and held out his hand in invitation.

“Even When You're Gone

Somehow You Come Along

Just Like A Flower Poking Through The Sidewalk Crack

And Just Like That

You Steal Away The Rain

And Just Like That”

Red Son gave in and took the offered hand. MK pulled him close and began to swing them around as he sang the second chorus.

“You Make Me Smile Like The Sun

Fall Out Of Bed

Sing Like A Bird

Dizzy In My Head

Spin Like A Record

Crazy On A Sunday Night

You Make Me Dance Like A Fool

Forget How To Breathe

Shine Like Gold

Buzz Like A Bee

Just The Thought Of You Can Drive Me Wild

Oh, You Make Me Smile”

Red Son joined in as they danced, seeming just as surprised as everyone else.

“Don't Know How I Live Without You

Cause Every Time That I Get Around You

I See The Best Of Me Inside Your Eyes

You Make Me Smile”

He pulled MK to a stop and rested his forehead against his while staring into his eyes. He sang directly to him this time.

“You Make Me Dance Like A Fool

Forget How To Breathe

Shine Like Gold

Buzz Like A Bee

Just The Thought Of You Can Drive Me Wild”

MK grinned widely as they both began to dance and sing the final chorus together.

“You Make Me Smile Like The Sun

Fall Out Of Bed

Sing Like A Bird

Dizzy In My Head

Spin Like A Record

Crazy On A Sunday Night

You Make Me Dance Like A Fool

Forget How To Breathe

Shine Like Gold

Buzz Like A Bee

Just The Thought Of You Can Drive Me Wild

Oh, You Make Me Smile

Oh, You Make Me Smile”

The two stood there embracing for a moment before returning to the table. MK grinned as he looked over everyone.

“So?”

“That was pretty impressive, kid,” Pigsy said. “But- and I’d hate to be agreeing with Macaque-”

“Oi!”

“-I think you don’t get how hard this is going to be.” He sighed at MK’s look of dejection. “We’ll still try and keep what you’ve said in mind, but… Just don’t expect us to be comfortable with this overnight is all I’m saying.”

“That’s fair I guess,” MK sighed. “Can we at least stop avoiding each other because we’re afraid a song might start?”

“That’s a reasonable request,” Sandy agreed. “We should probably all promise to not pester each other about things we might reveal about ourselves while singing as well.”

“Does that mean I can’t give Red Son a shovel talk?” Pigsy narrowed his eyes at the suddenly nervous young demon.

“Dadsy!”

“Pigsy!”

“Alright fine,” Pigsy relented to the reprimands from his son and partner. “Just consider yourself warned for now.”

“Understood,” Red Son nodded quickly.

The tension slowly faded away as short conversations began picking up. Tang wasn’t sure how many of them had taken MK’s words to heart. He himself understood where the young man was coming from. Had this happened before his imprisonment, he would have been completely on board.

As it was, he had quite a bit of trauma he was still dealing with and would probably continue dealing with far into future cycles. He wasn’t too thrilled with the idea of being forced to sing about some of things he had gone through. There were some experiences he wasn’t ready to confront yet, and he didn’t like that choice being taken from him.

He’d at least try, for MK if nothing else. But Tang couldn’t help but silently hope the spell wore off sooner rather than later.

----------

With the onset of Winter, it had been decided that they needed to settle down in one place for the season. The Spring artifact couldn’t be retrieved until its season so there was no point wasting energy flying around running from Lady Bone Demon’s forces. Half of their supplies had also been supplemented by foraging and that just wouldn’t be possible during the next few months. Camping out in a single spot, preferably someplace close to some sort of civilization, while they waited for the season to pass would allow them to get some rest and relaxation before the hunt began again in Spring.

Wukong’s song about this plan had been pretty catchy if Tang was to be honest.

It took them nearly a week to find a good spot. A forest clearing set right against a mountain that was partially hidden by some overhanging cliffs. It was also only a few dozen miles from a rather large city. A relatively short distance for Wukong to quickly fly over and get supplies for them all.

Tang was certain he had heard of Lantern City before in past cycles, but had never had the opportunity to visit. Hopefully Wukong would be willing to bring some of them along after scouting the place out.

Before they could properly settle in, they needed to prepare the clearing. That meant removing quite a bit of snow and ice that had already formed as well as carving some more permanent wards into the rock.

Tang was uniquely suited for the second task thanks to his earth shaping abilities. He had already carved runes all along the cliffs and was currently inscribing some stones that would be placed around the edges of the clearing amongst the trees. The others all worked away with shovels nearby to try and clear the snow from where they wanted to park the ship.

It was all rather monotonous work. Repetitive as well. Perhaps even rhythmic…

Tang sighed at that thought as music started to play, making the others all groan as well as they began to sing.

“Born Of Cold And Winter Air

And Mountain Rain Combining

This Icy Force Both Foul And Fair

Has A Frozen Heart Worth Mining”

It was a working song Tang realized as he began to carve in time with the beat. At least the lyrics seemed appropriate for their tasks.

“So Cut Through The Heart, Cold And Clear

Strike For Love And Strike For Fear

See The Beauty, Sharp And Sheer

Split The Ice Apart

And Break The Frozen Heart”

The others were all scooping up snow and ice in time as well. They began to synchronize their movements as they sang.

“Hyup! Ho! Watch Your Step! Let it go!

Hyup! Ho! Watch Your Step! Let it go!

“Beautiful!

Powerful!

Dangerous!

Cold!

Ice Has A Magic, Can't Be Controlled

Stronger Than One! Stronger Than Ten!

Stronger Than A Hundred Men!

“Hyup!”

They all picked up their pace as the song sped up.

“Born Of Cold And Winter Air

And Mountain Rain Combining

This Icy Force Both Foul And Fair

Has A Frozen Heart Worth Mining

“Cut Through The Heart, Cold And Clear

Strike For Love And Strike For Fear

There's Beauty And There's Danger Here

Split The Ice Apart

Beware The Frozen Heart”

Tang shuddered a bit at that last line as the song began to repeat itself. He already had a healthy dose of fear for someone who’s heart was cold and frozen. The reminder wasn’t necessary for him.

At least the song helped them finish their tasks faster than expected. They parked the ship and charged the wards with plenty of time before sunset. It seemed they were just in time as well. The clouds above that had been threatening to dump even more snow on them finally began to drop their icy loads barely an hour after they finished.

They celebrated the start of what Macaque jokingly called their Winter Vacation with hot chocolate and movies. Tang did his best to enjoy himself. But he couldn’t help but feel apprehensive as he watched the snow through the windows. He hoped it was just his discomfort from the song earlier and not a sign of things to come.

----------

The recovery process was not linear. It was slow, taking a few steps at a time. Even if you felt you were getting better it was possible something could happen to cause you to backslide. And no matter what, there would always be the occasional bad day.

Today was a bad day for Tang.

He hadn’t wanted to get out of bed. His responses to being addressed were short and clipped. He felt lethargic and didn’t have an appetite.

The constant snowfall wasn’t helping. Two weeks since they had settled into the clearing and it had not stopped since that first day. The endless white made Tang feel nauseous on a normal day. It was nearly unbearable today.

He had escaped to the therapy cat room, hoping that spending some time with cute animals would help. He stared off into space as he absently pet one of the cats.

Why? Why was he feeling this way? Weren’t things getting better? Hadn’t he been cared for and surrounded by love? He’d been so good so far.

Music began to play. Tang, not really caring, allowed it to take a hold of him and began to sing. The cats joined in as back up vocals, which thanks to the magic of the curse actually sounded good.

“I've Been So Good, I've Been Helpful And Friendly

I've Been So Good, Why Am I Feeling Empty?

I've Been So Good, I've Been So Good This Year

I've Been So Good, But It's Still Getting Harder

I've Been So Good, Where The Hell Is The Karma?

I've Been So Good, I've Been So Good This Year”

“Tang?” Sandy stepped into the room and frowned in concern. “Is everything fine?”

Tang looked up and shook his head as he continued.

“Why, Are You Asking Me Why?

My Days And Nights Are Filled With Disappointment

Fine, Oh No, Everything's Fine

I'm Not Sure Why I Booked Today's Appointment

“I've Been So Good, I've Been Helpful And Friendly

I've Been So Good, Why Am I Feeling Empty?

I've Been So Good, I've Been So Good This Year

I've Been So Good, But It's Still Getting Harder

I've Been So Good, Where The Hell Is The Karma?

I've Been So Good, I've Been So Good This Year”

Sandy locked the door behind him and moved to sit next to Tang. He placed his arm around the rabbit demon’s shoulder and pulled him into a side hug while he kept singing.

“What, Am I Normal Or Not?

Am I Crazier Than Other Patients?

Right, I've Done Everything Right

So Where's The Karma Doc, I've Lost My Patience

“'Cause I've Been So Good, I've Been Working My Ass Off

I've Been So Good, Still, I'm Lonely And Stressed Out

I've Been So Good, I've Been So Good This Year

And I've Been So Good, But It's Still Getting Harder

I've Been So Good, Where The Hell Is The Karma?

I've Been So Good, I've Been So Good This Year”

Tang’s blank expression began to fall during the bridge as the upbeat music contrasted with the lyrics sung so far.

“Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah

Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah

Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah

Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah

Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah-Ah

I've Been So Good This Year

I've Been So Good This Year”

The music grew quiet as Tang gripped at Sandy’s arm. Tears began to spill from his eyes as his tone changed from dejected to pleading as he sang the final few lines.

“Time, I Know We're Out Of Time

But What If Sad Thoughts Come And I Can't Stop It?

Bye, I Don't Wanna Say Bye

If Only I Could Keep You In My Pocket

To Give Me Some Diagnosis Of Why I'm So Hollow

Please Give Me Instructions, I Promise I'll Follow

I Tripped On My Ankle And Banged Up My Elbow

But Doesn't That Mean That Our Plan Will Go Well Though?

I Try To Explain The Good Faith That's Been Wasted

But After An Hour It Sounds Like Complaining

Wait, Don't Go Away, Can I Lie Here Forever?

You Say That I'm Better

Why Don't I Feel Better?

The Universe Works In Mysterious Ways

But I'm Starting To Think It Ain't Working For Me

Doctor, Should I Be Good?

Should I Be Good This Year?”

Tang sobbed as Sandy pulled him into a full hug.

“It’s not fair! It’s not fair! It’s not fair…”

“Shh. I know it’s not. I’m here.”

Tang just continued to cry into Sandy’s shoulder. The song had dredged up emotions he hadn’t realized he had been feeling. He would probably feel better about getting them out in the open in a few days. But right now? He resented being forced to perform such hard emotional labor against his will.

Today was a bad day for Tang.

----------

The weather stayed relatively mild after the month-long storm finally broke. If it did snow it would usually only last for a day or two before returning to mostly sunny skies. The eight of them spent quite a bit of time outdoors, building snowmen or starting snowball fights. They even occasionally had late night campfires, drinking hot cocoa and looking up at the brilliantly shining stars.

Being able to leave the ship and stretch their leg was doing wonders on their mental health. Everyone was rather cheerful in spite of the cold. Of course, sometimes it was just better to huddle together indoors next to a cozy fire.

Tang sighed as he leaned against Pigsy. It was nice to just sit around in a comfortable silence every once and a while. This time he knew everyone was enjoying themselves if the gentle whispers he heard were any indication.

He blinked in surprise when he felt Pigsy begin to stroke the fur on his head. It was rather nice actually. He began to lean into his touch, trying to get him to apply more pressure. Pigsy chuckled and got the hint, beginning to lightly scratch Tang’s scalp.

“A little lower,” Tang muttered. “Oh! Oh yeah right there…”

Tang’s leg began to bounce. Then Pigsy shifted his fingers slightly to just behind his ear. Tang moaned as his foot began to thump rapidly against the floor. It was pure bliss.

Tang cracked an eye open when he heard someone giggle. Mei was holding her phone up, most likely recording the interaction. Not the minded really, but he couldn’t let her just get away with it.

“You better delete that before I take your phone,” he threatened playfully, still thumping his foot.

“Make me!”

“Alright.”

He leapt up without warning, causing Mei to squeal and dash out of the way. Tang chased her around the room, ‘missing’ her by just inches as he tried to grab her. He pretended to trip over things or overextend himself in his pursuit, earning giggles and laughter from his prey and their audience.

“It seems the dragon is too quick for the rabbit,” Tang gasped over-dramatically several minutes later. “I must admit defeat!”

“Hell yeah!” Mei did a victory lap around the room as the others all cheered along.

Tang felt a warmth growing in his chest as he watched the scene. His eyes grew heavy and a soft smile spread across his face. He sat down in front of the fireplace while facing everyone. Then he flopped over on his side and started purring.

“Tang?” Pigsy got up and knelt next to his partner. “Are you alright?”

“Happy,” Tang managed to say between his purrs. “Safe.”

“Isn’t this another one of those things that rabbits do?” MK asked.

“Yup,” Wukong confirmed. “They lay on their sides like that only when they feel completely at ease and unthreatened.”

“Aww, that’s sweet,” Mei cooed. “But the floor can’t be that comfortable.”

“Cuddle pile!” MK declared. He grabbed the blankets and pillows he’d been resting with and moved them over in front of the fireplace. The others all joined in and soon they were all snuggled comfortably together.

“Why don’t you tell us a story, Macaque,” MK suggested as he leaned against Red Son.

“Me?”

“Yeah.” MK gestured to where Tang was laying, completely blissed out as Mei began braiding his fur. “I don’t think our other storyteller is up to it right now.”

“Mmmm…” Tang agreed, only partially aware of what was going on through his haze of contentment.

“Well… alright.”

Tang closed his eyes as Macaque’s deep, soothing voice filled the room. He was happy. He was safe. Moments like this really made it worth it to keep going.

----------

Winter passed without any further problems. The days began to grow longer once again. The snow melted faster than it could fall. Before they knew it, Spring had arrived.

Tang dodged out of the way of Red Son’s grasp with a laugh. The early Spring air was still rather chilly, but it was certainly warm enough for the game of tag they were playing. They had made the decision to spend one last week in their clearing before returning to the artifact hunt. They all spent as much time outdoors as possible, as if to give one last goodbye to their temporary settlement.

It was somewhat bittersweet, if Tang was to be honest. On one hand, this location had become like a second home once they had pushed past their depression in the first month. He would miss the now familiar trees and rocks he had come to recognize from his leisurely walks. On the other hand, he was getting a bit sick of the airship and being on the move in general. He was looking forward to when the journey was finally over and he could return to his apartment in Megapolis with Pigsy.

He did his best to ignore the nagging worry that the cycle would end before that managed to happen.

Tang jumped back to avoid a swipe from MK and refocused on the game. He was the last one who hadn’t been tagged this round. It seemed he was being herded in a specific direction…

Tang’s ears swiveled as he heard someone come up behind him. At the same time Mei and Red Son approached from either side with MK from the front, cutting off his escape.

A jolt of adrenaline spiked through him as his rabbit instincts screamed at him that he was cornered. He needed to escape! Acting automatically, he let out a pulse of magic as he rapidly tapped his foot on the ground twice.

A hole opened up in the ground next to him and Tang quickly hopped in. He was in a tunnel. The hole above him closed. He ran forward a few feet and looked up. He pulsed his magic again and a new hole opened. He leapt out and looked around. He was now several meters away from everyone.

Tang blinked as his mind reset from autopilot.

What the hell had just happened?

“What the hell?!” Red Son exclaimed, mirroring Tang’s own feelings.

“Whoa, that was so cool!” MK said as everyone came rushing over. “How did you do that?”

“I- I don’t know,” Tang shrugged. “My instincts were telling me I was cornered and I needed to escape so I just-” Tang pulsed his magic and tapped his foot, opening another hole, “-did that. I only ran what felt like a couple feet down a tunnel before hopping back out, but now I’m all the way over here.”

“Holy shit,” Macaque breathed as he looked between the hole and Tang. “I’ve only heard rumors about this. No one I know has been able to confirm if it was real or not!”

“Care to share with the rest of the class whatever it is you’re talking about,” Wukong snarked.

“This… This is an extremely rare form of magic,” Macaque explained, completely absorbed in examining the hole and not seeming to hear the taunt in Wukong’s voice. “Rumored to exclusively be used by rabbit demons. There’s quite a bit of speculation, but if what you said is true…”

“What is it?” Tang’s curiosity was piqued. What could be so impressive to get Macaque this excited?

“Do it again,” Macaque requested. “Jump into the tunnel then walk exactly ten steps in that direction-” he pointed towards the far side of the clearing, “-and jump back out. If what I’ve heard is true, then… Well, you’ll see for yourself.”

“Alright.” Tang tapped his foot and closed the hole before tapping again and reopening it.

“Wait, why did you do that?” Macaque demanded.

“The tunnel wasn’t facing the right way,” Tang responded. He blinked. “I’m… not sure how I knew that.”

“That’s… You changed the direction of the tunnel just by closing it and reopening it?!” Macaque was grinning like he had just been promised all the riches in the world. “Okay, okay, this is huge. Do what I asked and if this works, it will change everything.”

“This won’t hurt Tang, will it?” Pigsy asked suspiciously.

“If what I’ve heard is right, he has literally nothing to be afraid of,” Macaque reassured. “I promise you all that this is a good thing.”

“I trust him,” Tang said as he prepared to jump into the tunnel. “See you in a minute.”

The hole closed up behind him again as he landed. Now that he wasn’t running on instinct, he could examine his surroundings. The tunnel was huge, nearly three meters across on all sides and seeming to stretch off into the distance with no end in sight. The walls were covered in glowing plants that gave off a surprising amount of light. There was a gentle breeze that smelled strongly of Earth, and Life, and Magic.

Tang was a bit unnerved as he seemed to feel a connection to this place. Almost as if it was a part of him in some way. Shaking off the strange thought he walked down the tunnel.

One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

Tang looked up and pulsed his magic. A hole opened up in the ceiling of the tunnel and Tang crouched before springing up and out. Thank goodness he could easily make such a jump as a rabbit, or else he’d have to find a way to climb out.

The hole closed as he stood and he looked around. His jaw dropped. He was on the other side of the clearing, nearly thirty meters away from where he had started!

“HOLY FUCKING SHIT IT’S TRUE!” Macaque shouted from where the others all were. He began laughing wildly, glowing a bright purple.

“You better get back over here Tang, before Macaque has an aneurysm,” Wukong called out.

Tang quickly jogged over. Macaque had stopped laughing and was now pacing back and forth, his tail lashing out in excitement.

“Will you please explain what’s going on,” Wukong said in annoyance.

“Alright, alright.” Macaque took a breath and smiled widely. “There were always rumors about how rabbit demons would be able to escape from anywhere so long as they had access to the Earth. Dirt, sand, rock, it didn’t matter what, they’d be able to use it to get away.

“A few centuries ago, new rumors about impossible tunnels began to circulate alongside the original ones. Tunnels that could take you miles away from where you were in just a few steps. These stories came from humans who claimed to have been rescued by rabbit demons in some way.

“Recently, a few decades ago, a notorious thief that was known to get into vaults that were warded to Heaven and back with the best protection spells available was caught. They were a rabbit demon. When they interrogated them on how he had managed to get into the vaults, all they had said was that they had access to some ‘big pockets’. They also pointed out each vault had some form of Earth within it.

“They escaped before they could get more information out of them, but that little bit sent the scholars and magicians of the demon world into a frenzy. Theory after theory was discussed. It was only about seven years ago that a single hypothesis was accepted by the community.

“Not that any rabbit demons that were asked would confirm or deny it.”

“Spit it out already!” Wukong growled in frustration.

“No taste for a dramatic reveal, I swear,” Macaque rolled his eyes. “Fine then.

“Based on the theory going around and what we just saw, Tang has unlocked a rabbit demon exclusive magic that allows him to summon tunnels that exist in a parallel pocket dimension to Earth. These tunnels warp space within them and allow Tang to travel across vast distances in an extremely short time. They can also bypass any wards or protective spells imaginable so long as there’s a patch of Earth within them. Going with the stories of the rescued humans, Tang should be able to bring anyone he wants along with him as well.”

There was a stunned silence for a moment as they all absorbed that.

“Fuck, that does change everything,” Wukong said in awe.

“Right?!” Macaque gushed. “Imagine the implications this has on modern magical theory! Or the fact that only rabbit demons seem to have access to this ability! What this could mean for travel and transportation if we get permission to study it properly! It’s no wonder the Rabbit Kingdom hasn’t been found in over a millennia! You probably can’t get to it without access to the tunnels! Hell, it might be in the center of the Earth for all we know!”

“Uh, I meant this changes everything in how we could deal with Lady Bone Demon,” Wukong admitted sheepishly.

“Oh,” Macaque deflated a bit. “Yeah. It’ll probably help a lot with that too.”

“Don’t worry Macaque,” Tang said as gave the dejected monkey a pat on the back. “I’m actually really interested in discussing the theory behind this.”

“As am I,” Red Son agreed.

“Great!” Macaque perked back up with that. “I am so glad I suggested you turn yourself into a rabbit. Otherwise we wouldn’t have this amazing opportunity to study such a unique form of magic.”

“If I recall, you were only half serious when you did so,” Sandy pointed out in amusement. “So at best you only get half credit for this happening.”

“I’ll take it!”

“Let’s talk about how this can help with taking down Lady Bone Demon first,” Wukong said with a fond chuckle. “Once she’s dealt with you can have as much time as you want researching this.”

“As… as long as I don’t have to actually face her,” Tang swallowed. “I don’t think I’d be able to do that.”

“If I’m right about the tunnels, then there’s a strong chance you won’t even have to go near her,” Macaque reassured. “You can just drop us off inside the city past the wards and retreat a few miles away.”

“That... yeah I’m good with that.”

“We still need to get the Spring artifact first,” MK reminded them all.

“If it’s like the others, that should be a piece of cake,” Mei boasted.

“We’re almost done,” Tang realized. “We’re… we’re actually really close to being able to go home.”

“We can do this,” Wukong encouraged. “One last push. Are we all up for it?”

Tang joined in with everyone else as they raised their fists and cheered.

It all felt a little surreal to him. Not even a year ago he had been struggling with his memories and trauma and Species Dysphoria.

Now he felt more comfortable being himself as a rabbit demon than he ever had as a human. That in turn had allowed him to discover an ability that could tip the scales heavily in their favor.

It seemed the gift from his timeline’s Sandy was indeed working as intended.

He just hoped there was enough time in the cycle left to enjoy himself once Lady Bone Demon was taken care of.

----------

The plan went off without a hitch.

Tang used his tunnels to bypass the wards around the city and dropped the others off within its limits. While he retreated back to where they parked the ship, they had wielded the four seasonal artifacts against Lady Bone Demon. They successfully managed to separate her from the poor girl she was possessing before sealing her and the Mayor away.

Peace was restored to Magapolis, and Tang was able to enjoy his life with the ones he loved.

He spent quality romantic time with Pigsy.

He supported MK through the more permanent transformation process as he attempted to become a monkey.

He went flying with Mei once she unlocked her dragon form.

He drank tea and went on boat rides with Sandy.

He meditated and discussed philosophy with Wukong.

He helped Red Son patch things up with his parents.

He swapped historical stories and magical theories with Macaque.

A year and a half passed, and Tang could not recall a time when he was filled with so much joy.

----------

Tang was in Safety.

Oh. That meant the cycle had ended.

Tang clasped a paw to his mouth and choked back a sob.

The cycle had ended.

He had known it was coming. Some sixth sense had tickled at the back of his mind. He had made sure to fill the last few weeks with wonderful experiences with his family from this timeline.

Experiences they would no longer remember.

They were gone.

Tears flowed down his face as he fell to his knees and let out a keening whine.

He would never see those versions of his family again. So similar to each and every version of themselves, but wholly unique as well. He loved each of them dearly, but would never get to speak to them again. It wouldn’t be long before his memories of them faded and blurred with time, lost forever.

Something thumped to the ground next to him. Wiping his eyes, Tang turned and found… A book?

Tang picked up the book and examined the cover. It was a beautiful illustration of a rabbit with chocolate and reddish brown fur surrounded by a pig, a shark, three monkeys, a dragon, and a bull. At the four corners of the cover were stylizations of the four seasonal artifacts.

Curious, Tang flipped open the book. He gasped as he was filled with vivid visions of his time in the cycle. His memories of the events played with perfect detail and clarity in his mind. The emotions and thoughts he had throughout could be felt with full force. It was a perfect recollection of everything that had happened.

Tang clutched the book to his chest and began sobbing once more. He didn’t know what he had done to deserve such a gift, but he would cherish it always. He would keep the memories of this cycle in a special place in his heart and vowed to never forget them.

The ground lifted up in front of him. It formed a tunnel large enough for a human to walk through leading slightly downwards. Tang walked down the tunnel and nearly started sobbing again as he discovered a perfect replica of his room on board the airship.

In the center of the room stood a gleaming lectern. Engraved on the sides were events and experiences from his time in the cycle. Tang placed the book on the empty surface, causing both it and the lectern to flash for a moment.

Smiling to himself, Tang left the burrow and exited back out into Safety. He looked around the area and paused as his eyes fell upon the library.

If that book held his memories of the cycle he just left, did that mean…?

Before he could think on it further, the brilliant ring above him flashed and he was bathed in golden-yellow light.

----------

Tang woke up. He was in his apartment.

Alone.

Human.

Shutting his eyes he quickly calmed his breathing and circulated his magic. He sighed in relief a few minutes later as he finished transforming into his preferred form.

Standing to stretch, Tang made his way to the restroom. He had fixed his second problem. Now to see what he was working with for the first.

He looked into his reflection, smiling at the rabbit that looked back.

“My name is Tang.”

It was a few days after the incident at the weather station. That was pretty early on. Nothing else was out of the ordinary from what he could tell.

Perfect.

He sent out a group text asking his family to join him at his apartment. He had something extremely important to tell them.

Tang waited in his bedroom as they gathered. Pigsy had tried to get him to come out before the rest arrived, but he said he wanted to wait for everyone so he wouldn’t have to repeat himself. Once he received the text that they had all arrived, Tang took a breath and joined them all in the living room.

“Hey, guys.”

The looks on their faces when they saw him were priceless.

He couldn’t help it. He started to laugh.

“Tang, what the hell?!” Pigsy pointed at him in shock. “You’re a rabbit! And you’re glowing!”

“Y-yes, I- hahaha- I know.”

“What the hell is going on?!”

“Sorry, sorry. I promise you it’s nothing bad.” Tang calmed his breathing and made his way to the front of the living room to face his four friends. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know, but the spell I’m under requires me to tell you a story first.”

“Spell?” Sandy said in concern.

“Story?” MK said with enthusiasm. “Is it as cool as all the others you tell?”

“It might be,” Tang smiled. “It’s not finished yet, but I’m hoping you’ll be able to help me add on to it.”

“That sounds interesting,” Mei said. “Well get on with it, bunny boy!”

Tang laughed, shining brightly, and did just that. “Once upon a time, there was a Storyteller.”

----------

Congrats on making it to the end! I hope you liked it!

I really love this chapter and am super pleased with how it came out. This is the first step in what I’m calling “The Healing Arc” where Tang recovers from the trauma induced by LBD. Hoping the rest of the story comes out as well as this chapter!

The Giggle Glow AU by @animemoonprincess is just super fun and super cozy and perfect for our first step back into real fluff. Also shout out to @ninja-knox-ur-sox-off for the chocolate wafers and orange juice!

I’m really bad at describing what Tang’s fur looks like. Here’s two references of the real rabbit breed I based it off: One & Two

The Seasonal Artifacts were something I made up last minute. I don't have any ideas for the one for Spring, so if you have some thoughts please share them!

I had to include the musical curse. I had to. The song choices were changed around right up to the point I wrote each scene (minus the last one which was locked in from the start) but here’s the credits in order:

Smile by Uncle Kracker - Listen, this is just a very feel good song that I think fits MK’s attitude. The scene was originally going to have MK try cheering them all up with Make Them Laugh from Singing In The Rain, but he kinda went on that rant and I needed something else. This was the first thing that popped into my head and it worked really well.

Frozen Heart by the Cast of Frozen - I was originally going to find a sea shanty for this part. But then I realized this had the same cadence as a work song which fit just as well. I was able to incorporate it into another scene later too which was nice.

Karma by AJR - This song is very important to me. I was in a deep depressive funk back in 2021 but didn’t really notice. Then I saw a Monkie Kid Animatic set to a part of this song. I searched out the whole thing and listening to it left a deep impact on me. I looked up and binged all of Monkie Kid after that and started writing Scattered Cicadas shortly after. This fic literally wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for this song. However, I try not to listen to it too often due to how sad it leaves me. But I still think this song is incredibly important for many people on the road to recovery, like Tang here, as it lets them know they aren’t alone in their experiences.

Pass It On by Kurt Hugo Schneider - Another original by Kurt Hugo Schneider just like the one in the previous chapter. This song. This song. It’s honestly the ultimate pick-me-up. The simple yet heartfelt lyrics combined with genius percussion provided by the coke bottles? Brilliant. One of my absolute favorite songs that will never fail to fill me up with joy.

Honorable Mention: Do You Want To Build A Snowman, also from Frozen. Cut down in its prime before it had the chance to flourish.

Absolute huge, enormous, gigantic shout out to the absolutely wonderful @skellebonez! They’ve been a constant source of support as I worked hard on this chapter and I honestly couldn’t have done it without them! Their Bunny Tang fic, Cotton Tails and Borrowed Time, was also a huge inspiration for quite a bit of this chapter. Go check it out as well as the follow up that explores alternate endings and scenes!

What else? Oh yes, the tunnels. AKA, Bunnymund’s tunnels from Rise of the Guardians. Look, they were just too awesome to pass up. When you have a cool magical rabbit character, you have to give them cool magical rabbit holes that warp space time and bypass all magics. That’s just the rules!

Also Macaque being a magical theory and history nerd is just really, really good.

The ending was pretty bittersweet for what was supposed to be a fluff chapter, but I think I stuck the landing with a hopeful feeling in the last bit.

My life is about to get hectic here in the New Year with a potential job that would require me to move states. I’m not sure when I’ll get the time to sit down and start the next chapter, but it unfortunately won’t be any time soon.

I do know the next chapter absolutely will not be as long as these last two novella length monsters. I don’t think I could physically handle that.

Thank you again so much for reading! Let me know what parts you liked! Merry Christmas, and have a Happy New Year!

#Monkie Kid #LEGO Monkie Kid #Scattered Cicadas #Giggle Glow AU #animemoonprincess #Tang #Bunny Tang #Smile Uncle Kracker #Frozen Heart #Karma AJR #Pass It On Kurt Hugo Schneider #ninja-knox-ur-sox-off #skellebonez #Cotton Tails and Borrowed Time

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katwriteswitcherthings · 1 year

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for the fic writer questions... 4, 5, 27... and 10 !!

=^.^= <3 I'm just gonna pic a few of my fics at random!

4. What detail in grasp the nettle are you really proud of?

How Keldar is able to knock out a mage with a sign in one hit. This is part of a bigger story where it would get elaborated on more, but Griffins are known as the more magical of the Witcher schools, right?

So, they're probably all really strong at signs. Especially an elder Griffin.

I head-cannon that when mages go wrong (whether that be genuine or politically motivated), they contract Griffins as bounty hunters to track down and bring them in for sentencing/ jail. Keldar has had centuries of experience tracking and capturing mages.

5. What do you wish someone would ask you about nothing more to say? Answer it now!

Why/how were they looping?

A long time ago, I read a fic called Turtle Loops that was pure crack in the best ways. Apparently there is a whole universe of fics built on this premise? IDK but I thought it would be neat if there was something like this but for Witcher. I chose my favorite version of each character (Book!Geralt, Netflix!Jaskier, and Game!Yennefer) and ran with it.

I originally wanted this to run a little longer and actually have all three jumping into Book!Geralt's timeline at the proper time, but I ran out of time. Flash fic can be very unforgiving like that! :D I might come back to it someday if the bunny bites again.

27. How long did it take to write Vi Moxt Miirik? Describe the process.

I got the idea for this story sometime late October/Early November of last year. I started the document on Nov. 9th, 2021. I was searching through the Witcher wiki for some other story and fell down a rabbit hole, leading to some interesting articles on other wikis about the origins of specific monsters on the Continent.

I love non-human!Jaskier so much and thought, wow, Jaskier would make an excellent [redacted]. I also had just finished both The Last Wish and Sword of Destiny, and really wanted to incorporate a few of the other short stories into the Netflix!Canon.

I started the story, but I kept skipping around terribly. I wrote a lot for it, though, and I even had a general outline of when I wanted the stories to take place; but the connective tissue just never felt right to me. So I tossed it to the back burner for a while, adding a little bit here and there, but mostly left it alone. It's sitting at 28,224 words right now, and still nowhere near done.

Then, I see this year's What About The Bard?'s prompt list and... it clicked. It was originally in Geralt POV, so I switched it to Jaskier's and the ideas just worked so much better like that. Fun fact, the italic parts of the story are bits and pieces from the original Geralt POV version cut down or finished up. Most of the dialogue is the same across the different fics.

Who knows? I might get the inspiration to finally finish up the original version one day and post it up along side the WATB Jaskier version.

10. How do you decide what to write?

I get ideas from the most random of places. Flash fic has been great for letting loose random plots; the time limit means you have no time to dawdle. You just write and hope it makes sense when you're done.

I have a couple of documents I keep running lists on of ideas / pairings / concepts that I want to write. I have a fic in the works that's Young Vesemir/Guxart/Keldar OT3 set in the same universe as grasp the nettle.

Discord shenanigans are also very inspiring. I wrote a Sentinel/Guide AU because someone in a server was talking about how much they loved them and how much of a staple trope it was 'back in the day'. I have several rare-pairs that I want to write for, just so a friend isn't the only one making content for it.

#answered ask #ask meme #writing meme #@kuwdora

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kelprot-old · 2 years

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in regards to ur post bout music taste n such, do ya got any recommendations for someone who wants to branch out but doesnt rlly know where to start?

AWESOME ASK!!! and yea i got some stuff ^_^ it'll differ depending on the person but I'll do my best 2 give some general (albeit messy) advice.

i sorta just seek out anything i spot that looks interesting to me; on youtube I'll click any albums that pop up in my recommended, and on spotify I regularly look at my discover weekly playlist + I'll just check out what tracks spotify wants to feed me when I'm trying to make a playlist. its all about just listening to stuff that u don't recognise, even if you're not sure you'll like it. (songs tend to hit harder on the second listen, if that helps.)

ALSO!!! i'll throw gnoosic out there. its a site made to help you find new music; you give it 3 artists you like, and it'll respond in kind with a multiple that you can say if u liked or not, and so on and so forth. as long as you're not feeding it Super Popular Artists No 1, 2 and 3, you might find some pretty obscure (but good) stuff.

honestly, it all really just comes down to what you're trying to Get out of music as a whole. if you're only listening for lyrics or poetry-like stuff, you're gonna have a completely different experience to someone who listens moreso for the music theory side of things. it's taken me a few years to get...into music (?) as much as I have, so it takes time and a good bit of examination about what you're looking for when it comes to music. or maybe I'm being pretentious but who cares. music's fun. do what u want i guess when it comes to specific genre recommendations....it really does depend on the person, so I'll just throw out some stuff I like that tend to lead you down rabbit holes of more obscure tracks. ^_^

big bold text that says that the music recs are below if u want to skip the above stuff POSTROCK. postrock is one of my favourite genres, it's slow and thematic and focuses on tone rather than any kind of memorability or pattern-recognition stuff. it tends to consist of long drawn-out instrumentals with occasional spoken-word parts; rarely do you find postrock tracks with a heavy emphasis on lead vocals. i'd recommend starting with Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and checking out Dead Flag Blues. i also have an old playlist with a few other postrock artists here, if you want to find other stuff.

another favourite genre of mine is just any kind of bossa nova/folk (?) stuff. while I cant give any artist recommendations since I tend to just listen to anything, I can link an old megaplaylist of songs in that kind of genre that I like, as well as this specific track that I really enjoy. chiptune!!!! chiptune rocks. it's basically just removing all the instruments and creating music from super flat computer-generated noise. if you look in the right places, you'll find some artists with a LOAD of skill that manage to get past that barrier of the instrumentation and make some genuinely incredible shit. there's a playlist here if you wanna hit shuffle, and I'll throw Final Blast and also just. most of Anamanaguchi and Fearofdark's discography up as well.

#THIS POST IS A MESS BTW. SORRY ABOUT THAT.#i guess my biggest advice is. ignore lyrics. or treat them like another instrument in the song #i tend to find people enjoy music more when they stop to appreciate each little part of a track and examine how they work #WITHOUT putting a massive emphasis on the lyrics or treating them like something that Makes or breaks a track #because in the end they're just. sounds. like at their core they're a bunch of syllables that sound good or bad #it all just comes down to. listen to new stuff. focus more on How the song was made (?) and what makes it work #i found that over time i enjoyed music more when I could appreciate what made certain tracks more. better. or something. LOL #not that im saying you gotta learn music theory. but being able to stop and go ''oh hey that buildup was good Because:'' can help #OR DONT DO THAT AT ALL. and just enjoy the sounds. seriously it depends entirely on the person so just have fun

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elysianslove · 3 years

Text

secrets that you keep; iwaizumi hajime

synopsis; in which his best friend is secretly a camgirl. part 1, part 2

pairings; iwaizumi hajime x fem!reader

genre; smut

trigger warnings; i highly recommend reading the first two parts before this. they’re only drabbles that introduce everything! anyways, this is absolute filth. don’t read this if any of the stuff mentioned could trigger you, please! masturbation, camgirl stuff, one mention of the word ‘daddy,’ self choking, degradation, humiliation, dacryphilia, unprotected sex, creampie, a lot of choking, accidental breathplay, not proofread unfortunately

she knows.

does she?

it’s an ongoing inner battle he’s been having for weeks now, ever since he’d been directed to that trending video of yours. he sees you in his dreams, hears you loud and clear, moaning and crying for him, and worst of all, he feels you, so perfectly, against his, around him, and it’s overwhelming in the worst way possible. even maintaining eye contact is tiresome at this point.

but he does wonder whether you know or not, more often than he should— were you deliberately calling out for him, in hopes that he’d find this video somehow? or had you said it because you’d assumed this is your safe place, that there’s no way he’d be able to find these videos? had it been a slip up? or, more accurately, multiple slip ups? what were the chances anyways, that it had been an accident, or unintentional, or intentional and he had been losing sleep over it, or that he wasn’t the hajime you were crying out for?

his heard hurt. awfully. there’s already the constant worry of regulating his breathing around you and cleansing his thoughts of anything he’d seen of you the moment you meet, but this added dilemma is in no way helping. every day that you text him for a coffee date, or a night out after a rather stressful week, or a night in at your apartment, and he agrees, his mind diverts immediately to where it shouldn’t as soon as he lays eyes on you. and the worst part of it all is how aware he is of how wrong this is. he knows it’s wrong to choose the revealing shirt over the other when you ask him for his opinion, just because he wants that effortless glance at your cleavage. it’s also so wrong of him to give a higher rating to that obscenely short dress than that other, knee length one because of the way your thighs squeeze when you sit. it’s definitely wrong of him to offer clasping your anklet, the one he’d gotten for you, the one that had been the dead giveaway to your secret online persona, just because your legs feel so soft against the rough pads of his fingers, when he resists the urge to trail upwards, upwards, upwards—

it’s fucking ridiculous.

he can’t believe just how deep of a rabbit hole finding one of your videos is, how it’s impossible to climb out and away, and even worse, how he keeps falling deeper. the one time he decides to jerk off to porn. it’s really ridiculous.

about a week ago, three weeks after finding that video of yours someone had uploaded— which had been taken down because of copyright, and hajime personally thinks that’s fair, considering there’s a reason you pay people to watch your videos and look through your photos, otherwise you would’ve taken the liberty to post everything for free yourself— hajime gives in, and subscribes to you. it’s with a randomized account name, something he tried his very best to make as anonymous as possible, so that it would in no way lead back to him. he doesn’t check in on your account as often, also having taken the time to turn off notifications and not have anything sent to his email, and it’s mostly out of shame. he already feels dirty enough having seen this much of you, even more that he’s fantasized about you. he’s not about to make it worse for himself.

every once in a while, though, especially days where he’s sure he’s completely free of responsibilities, he logs on, and finds your page. it just so happens that tonight, you’re hosting a live stream. swallowing his pride and shame, literally so, he shifts on his bed, sitting up straighter, and clicks to join.

he’d been a little late apparently, because you’re already bare, sitting on a chair. your legs are lifted up, knees bent and hooked over the chair’s arms, the camera angled to show everything, from your cute eyes to the flesh of your ass. there’s a vibrator in your hand, buzzing lightly as it hovers by your clit, dipping between your folds, sliding back up again to rub lazily at your clit. beneath you, on the chair, is a small damp spot, leaking from your cunt. hajime stops himself before his jaw falls slack at the sight of you, and instead, he clears his throat, gritting his teeth and watching carefully.

you’re not so talkative during your videos, just exclamations of pleasure and (the most beautiful of) noises, so he hadn’t expected you to be during your lives. to his surprise, you are, and it’s filthy.

whimpering lightly, you press the vibrator harsher on your clit, your other hand traveling up to squeeze at your breast. “m’so needy,” you admit with a soft pout, adding, “want you to tell me what to do, mmh.”

he’s assuming the ‘you’ is the audience, whoever’s willing to speak up, and it’s then that he notices the chat option. his eyes flicker curiously to it, hands twitching where they sit fisted at his lap as he sees the chat explode with orders and commands and suggestions for you.

one writes, stuff urself full, and hajime gapes.

another commands, wanna see u cry tn, and hajime privately agrees.

someone else writes, gonna squirt princess?

hajime’s hands twitch again, and he frowns, digging his nails into his palms. you’re ignoring all the suggestions, and it’s obvious because you’re reading through them, mouthing some of them, giggling at some, curiously gasping, ‘oh,’ at others, eyebrow quirking. the vibrator trails down to your hole again, and you experimentally dip it inside slightly, shivering visibly as the vibrations rush through you, and the moment he hears you moan so loud, he thinks, fuck it, and his hands reach for his keyboard.

choke yourself.

fuck, fuck, fuck, he did not just do that.

his heart is racing embarrassingly fast beneath his ribcage, loud and pathetically deafening in his ears as he watches your eyes read through the rest of the messages, and you’ve stopped mouthing them, your eyes are widening— which one are you at now? are you just going to ignore him? why wouldn’t you? of course you—

“you’d like that, huh?” you teasingly slur, a lazy, cheeky grin painting your lips, your teeth biting down on your lower lip and your hand— your hand—

it’s trailing upwards, upwards, upwards, until it finds its way around your throat, resting lightly, and just as he sees your fingers squeeze at the sides of your neck slightly, carefully, you pout at the camera, looking straight at him, and asking, “like this, daddy?”

a low fuck wheezes past his lungs, and his hand quickly presses down at the bulge in his sweatpants, squeezing and rubbing at his clothed dick as he watches you, entranced. people watching you with him have taken to thanking him for the idea, and to praising you, calling you a good girl, cursing, rapidly typing out something along the lines of you’re so hot i wanna fuck you so bad, and god, hajime hates that he relates to something as stupid as that.

your hips roll and your head falls back, hand not once leaving your throat. if anything, your grip tightens. you click on the vibrator, and the buzzing becomes louder, your moans with it, as if you were competing. you cry and gasp and sob, writhing in your own hold, your thighs tensing and your hole clenching around nothing as you harshly rub the vibrator against your clit. your cunt gushes and drips as you bring yourself closer to your orgasm, as you cry out a string of, “m’gonna cum, so close, so close!” and a mixture of lewd curses, until finally, you cum. you’re sent over the edge, legs swinging on the chair, high pitched squeals falling from your lips— which hajime can’t decide are real or not, or whether he wants them to be or not. you thrash and cry, tears, as promised to some other watcher, dripping down your cheeks.

the last straw however, is your comedown from your high, sobs hiccuping and muscles twitching, eyes half closed and body limp as you mewl out, “hajime, hajime, hajime,” like you’re not even aware you’re doing it. like it’s subconscious.

hajime swears again, a deep, low, “fuck,” and looks down to find a damp spot on his lap. he really came from barely any friction, all because of you. this really is as ridiculous as it gets.

the next time he sees you, there are the faintest of bruises on your neck. it’s not so obvious that just anyone would notice, but ever since becoming hyperaware of everything that is you and everything that you do, it’s hard not to have them be the first thing he sees. to ensure that the atmosphere between the two of you remains easy, he flicks at your neck and tuts with a smirk, asking you jokingly if you were in your hoe phase.

“so vulgar, hajime,” you sarcastically retort, teasing him. “you like calling me mean things?” and he has to avert eye contact because all his walls crumble so quick.

it’s just the two of you tonight, in his apartment, all your other mutual friends having cancelled at one point or another. it’s not an unusual occurrence; more often than not, the two of you are alone. however, it’s been a while since you’d been alone, privately. a while meaning ever since hajime had discovered your side hustle of a sort. he hadn’t been purposely avoiding this— no, maybe he has, but to be fair, he’s still yet to recover from the initial shock.

it also doesn’t help that since today had meant to be a relaxing night in, you’re dressed casual, but in the hottest fucking way possible. he hopes he hadn’t been blushing as hard as he thinks, and feels, he was, when you’d first stepped into his home. on your hips is a short, black skirt, flowing out to your upper thighs, where just above your knees start a pair of dark thigh highs, squeezing at your thighs and accentuating your legs as you strut around his apartment, feet bare of any shoes or slippers. he can’t decide whether it’s cute or just plain hot. somehow, with you, it’s both. your shirt is off the shoulder, a dark, navy blue bardot, and beneath it, peeking out to rest at your collarbones, is a black bralette. he can barely just see the intricate lace designs, but it disappears and dips beneath your shirt before he can see more of it.

you’re spread out on the couch, laying along it on your stomach, a pillow tucked in your arms and beneath your head, your clothed legs bent and swinging up in the air. he sits right by you, thigh right by your head, his body as tense as ever. it’s impossible not to be you, not with you in such close proximity to him when only a few days ago he’d watched you make yourself cum, and had heard you whimper out his name after. who can blame him, really?

with your eyes trained on the screen, he hadn’t been expecting you to speak up.

“iwa, what type of porn do you watch?”

he nearly chokes, eyes widening as he spares you a glance. your legs continue to swing innocently, your eyes unmoving, your voice unwavering. the suddenness of the question certainly threw him off, but it’s your nonchalance that really shocks him. but, considering everything, it really shouldn’t have.

“uh, what?” he offers weakly, wincing slightly at the barely there crack in his voice.

you sigh, shifting to sit up. you plant yourself on your knees, spreading them apart slightly to get comfortable, and shrugging at him. “i’m just curious,” you say. “or,” your eyes squint cautiously, your head cocking to the side slightly, “do you not watch porn?”

challengingly, his arms lift up to cross at his chest, and he doesn’t miss the way your eyes momentarily glance at the way his biceps bulge. it makes his confidence spike slightly, nervousness ebbing away. “what type of porn do you watch?”

you gasp dramatically, joking, “take a girl out to dinner first, my god.” he laughs, relaxing lightly at the banter, before his eyes fall back to you. you inch forward curiously, cautiously, still on your knees. now closer to him, you ask again, “seriously, i’m really curious! confirm my suspicions for me.”

“oh?” he quirks an eyebrow. “so you think you know?”

at this, you offer him a knowing smile, eyes slightly half lidded. you’re somehow even closer now, leaning towards him with your hands resting on the small space between you and him in the couch, helping you in lifting yourself up slightly on your knees as you say in a low voice, “baby, i think everyone knows.”

at the sight of you by his side, he feels himself shiver, and an idea invades his mind before he can even process it. “oh, do you now?” he’s not sure where this boldness is emerging from, especially with how cautious and shameful he’d been and felt for weeks now, but he accepts it either way, because the way you’re staring at him like that, he never wants to let it go. and although he wants to drag out this intense eye contact even longer, in order to do what he wants to do, he has to break it, reaching for his phone instead. unable to contain your curiosity, you peak over, watching with confusion as he types out a link.

the blood drains from your face when you recognize your page on his browser, and he’s logged on— he’s subscribed.

“what type of porn do i like to watch?” he wonders rhetorically. the phone is pushed aside, and he sits up straighter so that even on your knees, he looms over you. his eyes are skimming over you, along your body, up to your neck, to your lips, to your shocked, wide eyes. and just as his hand trails up to your throat, his palm resting at the base and one finger tapping lightly, he says, “the type where my favorite girl cries out my name when she cums for the world to see.”

the hand around your throat—

“you,” you breathe out, and finally, finally, when your brain makes sense of everything, your body relaxes, sags against him, leaning more into him until his hand’s properly wrapped around your throat.

with your mind hazing over, you reach over, and kiss him.

he meets you halfway, as if having expected it, lips pressing harshly against his. his hand tightens as he pulls you closer, lifting you up slightly and bringing you closer to him as his mouth parts, breathing you in, and kissing you deeper, lewder. you shiver and gasp, hands grasping at his wrist and forearm, not to push him away but rather to urge him closer, as you kiss him back just as eagerly. it seems like hours, with his hand around your neck, tight and a daunting reassurance, and your lips wet and hot against his, but eventually, his hand slides down, the other mirroring it, finding their way to your waist, squeezing and bunching at the skirt as he, with complete and utter and shocking ease, lifts you up off the couch.

you gasp as he stands up with you, your legs quickly wrapping around his waist as he pulls you to him. as he blindly walks the two of you to his bedroom, he breathlessly asks in between your kisses, “is this— you sure this is okay?”

with a sharp tug at his hair, you jokingly spit out, “iwa shut up.”

he tosses you onto the bed, allowing you a minute to strip yourself of your shirt while he slips out of his own, before quickly falling above you, caging you in with his arms as he kisses you again. “not iwa,” he quietly asks of you.

for a moment you’re confused, before everything clicks again— your slip ups— and your legs lift up, wrapping around his waist and pulling his hips closer to yours just as you mewl out, “hajime, please.”

god, he is way easier than he thought he was.

his entire body shudders above you, one hand lowering to push at your skirt to grind his hips down against yours until his clothed crotch meets your bare cunt and— holy fuck, holy fuck.

“fuck, you slut.”

you gasp at both his words and the feel of his bulge pressing down against your clit, his lips meeting your neck instead. “you do like calling me mean things,” you say, and he scoffs, his hand traveling upwards to squeeze at your breasts instead.

“you like me calling you mean things,” he notes, and you let out a muffled moan as he pinches at your nipples through the bralette, lips biting and sucking at your neck.

“i do,” you pant, arching up into him. “i do, i do.” his hands are fumbling at your chest, and god, they’re so large, so big and warm and harsh, it’s fogging up your brain.

“yeah, yeah, fucking whore,” he growls, pushing himself slightly on his knees, hands tugging at the bralette. his fingers dip past, gripping the fabric tightly, and as he says, “can’t fucking— take this shit— off,” he tears through it, knuckles whitening as he pulls it away from your body, or what’s left of it. the frills of the ruined bra fall off the edge of his bed, and he watches your wide eyes and gaping mouth follow it, so he grabs at your jaw, twisting your gaze away from it and grunting a low, “shut up.”

you pull away from the kiss, breathing heavily as you say, “that was so fucking hot, hajime,” before kissing him again. he parts his mouth as you lead him to you again, tongue easily meeting yours.

it’s a messy kiss as he slips himself out of his sweatpants, taking his boxers with it and discarding them somewhere in his room. his cock slaps against his stomach, a single string of precum messily staining his tan abs. your eyes are quick to gaze down, lips painted a dazzling grin as his hand finds his cock, squeezing at the head and smearing his precum along.

“knew you were fucking big,” you gasp, eyes trained on him as he strokes himself above you, and he is. he’s so big, thick and heavy, and veiny and your mouth waters at how that’s going to feel when inside of you, stretching you out so good, so much better than any of the toys you had at home. “i thought,” a squeal hiccups out of you as both of his hands grab at your hips from beneath your skirt, one sticky and warmer than the other, “about you all the time.”

your confession draws his attention, and when he’s pulled you close enough, two of his fingers trail to your cunt, quirking an, “oh?” just as he dips his fingers inside. the lack of resistance he’s met with is surprising, and he chokes out, “did you stretch yourself out before coming here? fuck yourself on some fake cock?”

tightlipped, you moan, brows furrowed and back arched into him. god, his fingers were not enough. “yes, yes,” you gasp, head falling back. despite not needing to, he still fingers you, his thick digits fucking into you slowly, driving you insane by the second. “yes, i— pretended t’was you,” you whine loudly. at your words, he curls his fingers inside of you, twisting his wrist and pressing his palm directly on your clit.

“do you always?” he lowly asks, dipping closer to you as he fucks his fingers deeper. his fingers were inside of you, the cunt he’d spent over a month marveling at through a screen, the pretty pussy his dick had drooled over for hours. you’re real, as real as ever beneath him falling apart, making a mess of your black skirt, drenching it with your arousal.

you moan out a hum, nodding dumbly as his fingers vibrate with the intensity of speed inside of you, your toes curling in your thigh highs and face twisting to press into his mattress. “always,” you cry out, like a promise. “always think of you— hajime!”

it’s an unexpected orgasm, hitting you so fast and quick that it’s outright dizzying. it has you lifting your hips up into his fingers and palm, grinding and trembling, your legs falling and spreading open, shaking wildly by your side and above you as he fucks you through the orgasm.

“hajime, hajime, hajime,” you chant, words trailing off into tiny sobs and shuddering breaths as your hips slowly fall back onto the bed, body still trembling with aftershocks.

you’re fucked out beyond words already that you genuinely don’t feel a thing until he’s pressing inside of you, the fat head of his cock stretching you out. he’s really no match for your toys, and if seeing him hadn’t been enough confirmation, the feel of him pressing inside of you definitely is. he doesn’t ease himself in slowly, urgently grabbing the back of your thighs with either hand, keeping your legs spread for him as he bottoms out.

“fuck, fuck, knew you’d feel so good,” he grunts, brows furrowed harshly as he digs his fingers deeper against the flesh of your thighs, forcing your legs closer to your chest, and somehow pushing himself even deeper within you. you whine and mewl, toes curling and uncurling and legs trembling. “knew it the moment i saw your pretty pussy creamin’ around that thick cock.”

at the reminder that he’s watched and witnessed you, multiple times, that he’s subscribed to you willingly and curiously, you clench down around him. you feel him twitch inside of you, groaning loudly as he falls closer to you, your legs falling to his waist.

“you like knowing i was watching you?” he sneers, his hand reaching up and gripping at your face, squishing your cheeks and forcing a pout on your lips. your eyes nearly fucking cross as he rams into you, his fingers digging into your jaw. “you like that i fucked my fist every night to you? to your pretty cunt and your pretty noises and your pretty face— yes, good girl, that one.”

your eyes do cross this time, spurred on by his words, your tongue peaking out through the small gap he allows with how harsh he’s gripping your face. he’s pushing out little mewls and cries from you, but otherwise, you quite honestly feel braindead.

“fuck, you’re a gorgeous little slut,” he gasps. “all mine to fuck and use.”

you’re quick to nod rapidly, whining and moaning for him as you grip at his biceps. you’re choking on your breath as you struggle to keep up with him while he fucks you into the mattress, so fucking hard and rough that you’re sure there’ll be an indentation of you once you leave. you can feel your cunt gushing, and you can hear it too, squelching loudly with every thrust of his hips, every time his cock fucks into you. your skirt feels sticky and gross, and so does the rest of you, but you’ve never, never, felt this euphoric, this blissed out.

your stomach tightens impossibly, the tension gradually increasing as your walls tightly squeeze and clench at his cock. slowly and surely, the pressure within you increases, your hands flying to hajime’s arm, the arm whose hand grips your face, which quickly moves to your throat at your simple gasping warning that you were close.

“gonna cum, gonna cum, hajime, fuck!”

he tightens his grip, pressing harsher on the sides of your neck as your eyes shut tightly, your head falling back once more.

“yeah, come on, show me how pretty you look cumming on a real cock,” he whispers by your ear, using the hand that’s around your throat to lift up your head, before roughly pushing it back down, squeezing tighter. “you like it this rough?— shit, shit, you’re tightening.”

you scream, voice cracking and broken as he slams into you again, his hips grinding against yours momentarily, pelvis hitting your clit— and you’re gone, thrashing in his hold, fat tears streaming down your cheeks as you sob and heave, your body shaking uncontrollably beneath him, hips shaking as your orgasm rocks through you. it’s not a few seconds later that he’s spilling inside of you, accidentally pressing his palm down against your throat as he cums, blocking your airway momentarily.

“hngh,” he gasps deeply, cock twitching inside of you as he cums, hips barely grinding. you’re gasping, a little painfully, struggling to take in any air as he blinks dazedly, before he finally takes notice. “shit, shit, i’m sorry.”

his hand flies away from your throat, and you inhale sharply, coughing lightly as air fills your lungs all too suddenly. the strength of this man, holy fuck.

“i’m so sorry; are you okay?”

chest still heaving, you fall onto the bed, body relaxing as you try and regulate your breathing. “s’okay, i’m okay,” you reassure him, hands reaching up to pat at his cheeks and comb through his messy, sweaty hair.

he leans forward, pressing a kiss to your forehead, and it’s so endearing that you nearly forget he’s still inside of you. but you feel the shift of his cock, feel his cum slowly start to ooze out of your cunt, and he winces from the oversensitivity, shifting away to instead pull out of you. his soft cock falls from your cunt, a steady flow of his cum following. hajime has to physically resist from reaching out to fuck it back into you.

“i’m sorry i wasn’t careful ‘nough with the—“ he makes a gesture with his hands around his neck, “—the choking.”

you laugh lightly, tiredly, hands slowly caressing at his sweaty biceps. “stop apologizing,” you reassure him again, shrugging with a small smile as you add, “just be more careful next time.”

his breath gets caught in his chest, and he only softly exhales when he falls on the bed, to your side, carefully repeating, “next time.”

from beside him, you lift yourself up on your side on your elbow, palm cradling your head, trying your best not to wince in pain. “hajime?”

he spares you a glance as he mumbles, “hm?” opting to stare at the ceiling and contemplate whether what had just happened was real life or not.

“do you wanna do a video with me?”

he all but chokes.

end note; please this took me like 4+ hours. please please please don’t flop, and more importantly, i really hope i don’t disappoint. i know this has been a long awaited piece, so i’m praying and hoping you guys love it.

love you all, mwah <3

#haikyuu smut #iwaizumi smut #iwaizumi x reader #haikyuu x reader #iwaizumi hajime x reader #iwaizumi hajime smut

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harmony88 · 2 years

Photo

My little love, my Forever With You series, is officially 1 YEAR OLD today! I am blown away entirely by the response, and I just posted a chapter to the 80th (!!!!!) story in the ‘verse earlier today, so I wanted to take a moment to say THANK YOU!

When I started, it was just one little adventure called ‘Undercover’ that was designed to be a standalone story. But then I kept writing because I was interested in the dynamic that was being developed, and before I knew it I was writing an entire series of episodic adventures that all connected together. And it’s blown up completely and become a second and third series with over 1 million words. So many people have had so many lovely things to say, I feel like I’ve made a lot of friends and built a little community through these stories, and I just can’t begin to thank you all enough for every click and read through, every comment, subscription, bookmark, kudos, re-share, and general sense of encouragement. More adventures are to come; the story is far from over!

(see summaries of each series below)

Forever With You

In a post Doomsday AU, Rose and the Doctor are still together, but still dealing with the trauma of almost losing each other. Then comes a night in 2056, where they have to go undercover to investigate a mysterious reading at a gala in London. That leads them down a rabbit hole of other adventures, and they find themselves giving into desires more and more, and ultimately work to figure out how to spend their forever together.

Forever With You Part 2

In a post-Doomsday AU, the Doctor and Rose finally have forever together, but they quickly learn that just means the universe has bigger problems to throw at them than before. And when forever gets an entirely new meaning, and a prophecy tells them something about their children, they must fight and solve a mystery to hold onto this life they've worked so hard to get.

The main plot is a timeline inspired by and often referencing "Tooth & Claw", and is all about the Doctor and Rose. They are impossibly in love and are fighting to keep their forever, protect their baby, and they will have lots of adventures along the way. Some will be fluffy, others more serious, but all about the love.

Forever With You Part 3

In a post-Doomsday universe, the Doctor and Rose have found forever together. After a long battle with the Master, and years of worrying they might lose each other, they are now finally able to explore the universe as a family with their very curious daughter, and discover just how unstoppable they are with three.

But when they meet a man with a blueprint to the TARDIS and then stumble across technology designed to interrupt sonic frequencies, things start to change. And when they meet a man in a bowtie who shouldn't exist in their universe, their happy bubble is tested in ways they never imagined. Someone is after the TARDIS, someone is after them, and someone just wants to the universe to bend to their will.

Will the Doctor and Rose be able to prove once and for all that love is the strongest power in the galaxies? Or will he lose everything he's gained?

#thank you!!!!!!!!#fanfiction #1 year anniversary #forever with you #tenrose #doctor and rose #doctor who

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creativeashproductions · 3 years

Text

Welcome to Our Hell // Charlie Gillespie

IN WHICH: Charlie asks the reader a simple question that leads the man to fall down a rabbit hole of reading. Despite the panic you felt along with your fellow writers you still introduced and helped him navigate the pool of fanfiction.

Warnings: None (it’s actually possible with me??)

Words: 1k

A/N: I couldn’t resist making a tiny blurb about the revelation that Charlie has read fanfiction, that he enjoyed reading it. I actually talked about how Owen and Charlie would react to jatp fanfiction so sorry for manifesting 😬

ALL FICS MENTIONED ARE TAGGED.

TO BE TAGGED SEND AN INBOX/ASK PLEASE!

Masterlist

Your eyes slightly glanced up from your computer to where a certain someone was humming along to an Eagles song. His hips swayed as he slipped the egg in the pan, unaware of your eyes following him. He was entirely in his own world while he left you to finish up what he was led to believe was just school work.

The innate cheerful aura the male gave off regardless of the landscape had always been one of your favourite things about him. He saw the joy and good in things most people tended to overlook. It didn’t matter if he had his guitar in his hands or a cooking tool; he’d shoot that smile that melted your heart.

“Whatcha doin’?” Charlie questioned, peering over the island in the apartment you had rented in the city.

“Just doing some work.” You replied, beginning to type once more with a sudden burst of inspiration. You barely noticed he had slid the egg onto the plate before he was at your side.

“Are you writing for Tumblr?”

That one sentence froze you. Fingers stiffened above the well-loved keyboard of your computer you’d invested a fair amount of money on. Goosebumps swarmed every inch of your skin that suddenly lost a few shades.

Your skittish gaze found purchase in the warm ocean of hazel that bore no judgment, “Did you just say Tumblr? H-how do you know Tumblr Charlie?”

The Canadian hummed in response with a thoughtful expression, “I saw this really cool artwork, and it had a link. I followed it to Tumblr. It’s such a cool site.”

“It’s a hell site.” You deadpanned at the young actor who held no contempt for the different creativity methods unleashed in the fandom. Your e/c irises stayed stuck in a battle of colour with his own eyes.

“If it’s a hell site, why do you go on it?”

“It’s like a car crash or a burning building. It’s horrifying, but you stay to see which outcome ends up winning.” You had to carefully find the words to eloquently describe why you kept returning to a site that was frustrating at times.

“There’s so much diversity from songs, traditional art, poems, dances, covers and now writing. It’s insane.” Charlie chucked as he nudged the plate of breakfast he’d cooked for you, “I’m really digging the ‘90s Lalex books-”

“Fanfics. Fics for short.” You offered the man who held a slight expression of confusion that quickly cleared up, “And the writing has been going on since the series dropped. I’d be rich for every fic that referenced Luke’s aversion to sleeves.”

The boisterous laugh filled the room as Charlie hunched over. His arms wrapped around his midsection.

“Don’t you find it weird that there are fics about you?”

“Weird?” Charlie spoke, scrunching up his nose adorably. His hazel eyes lightened further, “Y/N, I’m not weirded out. I’m honoured that I made enough impact to have people writing about me.”

A small smile broke across your face, “You totally have a secret account, don’t you?”

“No. NO.” The whisper come in the dark of the bedroom where both sides of the couple should be sleeping. You had been before Charlie whined with his phone attached to his hand.

“Baby?” You groaned, turning to find him still invested in the world of fanfiction. His hazel eyes, tear-filled, raised to meet yours, “What are you doing up at-3am?”

“I just finished reading this adorable fic about Willex. The euphoria had me reading the next fic without reading the summary.” Charlie cried to the bedside light you’d turned when his sniffles woke you up. The near distraught man didn’t fight as you gently took his face out of his hand.

“Oh, Char.” You hummed, bringing the brunette into your arms as he mourned whatever was in the fic.

“Luke died with his girlfriend waiting in the Orpheum. She lived and began a life with Bobby..er Trevor.” Charlie whispered against the soft comforter you’d only recently bought, “They never got to say goodbye. As Luke’s portrayer, I just know the double betrayal took him to his knees.”

“Ah, you found @losttinwritings ‘See you Again’. That one is a doozy.” You winced, remembering the heartbreaker, “You, however, need sleep.”

Charlie’s eyes quickly met the phone sitting in between you two, “But-”

“Here.” You handed over your own phone after clicking your secondary account, “It’s one of my all-time comfort fics when I’m feeling sad. @dream-a-little-bigger-x always nails it out of the park but ‘Love Shack’? Immaculate.”

Charlie’s eyes flickered between the phone in his hand to your eyes twinkling in the albeit shitty lighting the cheap lamp offered. The vulnerability in your eyes at offering your blog took his breath away. This was a place where you were safe in your thoughts with no judgment.

“Oh! And @cherrymaybank created ‘A Romantic’. A beautiful story in the eyes of a hopeless romantic Luke and the stoic, independent reader.” You offered with a grin and sigh of happiness, “I’ll have to start tagging you in the ones I adore. Definitely gonna introduce you to @merceret’s work; it’s always amazing regardless of how long the fic is or the distance between work. I’d wait a thousand years for her.”

Charlie’s lips spread to reveal that smile that always had you falling back in love over and over again. It even eased the panic you felt viewing Charlie’s rather honest confession he put on his Insta story. He’d caused panic within the writing community as he boldly announced his pride, awe, joy and love for all the fandom provided creatively.

Next thing you knew, you’d started sending each other fics you’d think the other would enjoy; it often ended up with the same fic being sent. Charlie didn’t address the topic publicly to allow the buzz of panic to die down. He also never discovered your personal writing blog either, well, that you knew about.

Sometimes you’d find him sniffling over a story where Luke discovers his girlfriend was unknowingly pregnant and never got to see him child grow up. That one also tore your heart apart and you’d been the one to write it. Just a secret you’d be taking to your grave.

Tag List (PLEASE SEND AN INBOX TO BE ADDED! I CANNOT GUARANTEE YOU WILL BE ON THE LIST VIA POST COMMENTS!)

@safehavenmuse @siennanoelle01 @whiterose291 @mell-bell @blackhood5sos @ficrecsideblog @ifilwtmfc @deadpoolgirl23 @crappy-unicorn @sunsetcurve-h @elioelioeli0 @lovesanimals @popcrone818 @lolychu @deepsleepnat @tenaciousperfectionunknown @aunicornmademedoit @just-a-writer-here @simp4reggie @faithiebrock01 @overlyhypedup @differentsoulrascalsalad @aesthetic-lyss @versaceapa @carleywhittaker @lostgirl219 @itsalexx21 @elllaoo4 @merxxleighann @mediocremunge @fantomlovesjuke4ever @dpaccione @oswin05 @kaylinfayezink @aberette13 @faithie-brock-gillespie01 @eharvey0218 @overlyhypedup @benstormy @auriandthepussicats @sarcasticsagittarius1998 @whothefuckstolemykeds @siriuswvrld @princessvader15 @xoxbloodreinaxox @heimdoodle @joshy-obx @lovesanimals @oopsiedoopsie23 @am3l1a-24 @flying-solo-without-you @jaskiers-sweetkiss @lostrandomfangirln @must-be-a-weasley-92 @jatp-holland @ilikealotofpeople-younotsomuch @dxlanhxlland @dasexydevitt13 @ifilwtmfc @arianagrandes-things @kinda-really-lost @marinettepotterandplagg @ssprayberrythings @morgandamrose @thedarkqueenofavalon @zukoshonourr @crybabyddl @spooky-season-bitch @kcd15 @morganayennefertyrell @magnet-girl @all-in-fangirl @kinda-really-lost @tenaciousperfectionunknown @badwolf00593 @blowakissbabe @talksoprettyjjx @thesweetestsinner @kaitieskidmore1 @writerinlearning @aiofheavenandhell @sageellsworth05 @link-102 @thesweetestsinner @merceret @imsydneywalker @sunsetcurvej @nicoledawson5604 @merceret @kexrtiz @biqherosix @lukewearingbeanies @dangersolns @soverignparker

#charlie gillespie imagines #charlie gillespie fanfiction #charlie gillespie x reader #jatp fanfic #jatp luke #luke patterson imagines #charlie gillespie #luke patterson #charlie gillespie imagine #caitsy and ash productions

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todoscript · 4 years

Text

Love Capsule

anonymous requested: Can I request a Bakugou scenario where the reader and the Bakusquad drag him out on a shopping trip and they see a whole section of vending machines and decide to check them out to see what cute, tasty or weird things they can find and the reader and Bakugou either get lost/ditched or squeezed together in a tight row but they have a good time and maybe the reader got a rare all might mysery figure and Bakugou wants it, so they they he can have it in exchange for a date?

genre: fluff pairing: bakugou katsuki x fem!reader word count: 4.8k+ warnings: bakusquad shenanigans. bakugou cursing. pining.

author’s note: My Bakugou angst fic isn’t done yet but I wrote this request on the side. I wanted to have something to publish after not posting any written work for awhile so I did my best to get this out asap. sorry if it seems rushed! (also reposting this because the post stopped showing up in the tags).

There are only a fair bit of things Bakugou loathes more than wasting his valuable time. And that includes wasting that time by getting dragged into public places he has no desire to be, alongside the four most senseless nitwits the boy has ever had the displeasure of befriending.

It feels less like a friend group to him and more of a gathering of idiots as he watches four out of the six huddle around the aisle of vending machines across the mall. Where’s the other one, you might ask? You’re standing right next to him, sipping a bottle of sweet lemon tea dispensed to you from those vending machines.

“Ooh, look at this one!” The other girl in his squad, styling unruly pink hair, pokes a finger toward a blue machine in particular. What she finds interesting about it is that it’s absent of all buttons except a single one above the coin slot.

“Says here that you only have to pay a hundred yen for a mystery item,” Sero reads the instructions printed boldly across the surface, his grin showing his pearly whites. “Can range from food to even toys and cheap plastic jewelry.”

Popping up behind his taller friend, Kaminari squints incredulously at the sign before his eyes brighten like he’s concocted a conspiracy. “No, dude, I’ve heard of these kinds of vending machines before! They want you to think it’s some ordinary convenience vending machine, but these things actually have some super-secret big prize hidden inside!”

“Uh, no, that’s how you get your money robbed from you, Kaminari,” Kirishima tells the blonde, and yet his warnings end up floating from one ear and flying out the other. Kaminari fishes out a small stash of coins taut in between the lint balls of his pockets.

“Yeah yeah, just wait until you eat those words when I come home with a Playstation 5!”

“Why would there be a Playstation 5 of all things in there?” Ashido asks skeptically. She notes the small slot near the bottom, appearing sizable to dispense a large water bottle at most.

“Okay, maybe not an actual PS5, but probably the voucher you take to the game store to retrieve one, of course!” He waves the doubt away as he kneels and begins his succession of slotting coins in the machine until agitation eventually ebbs his features. About five hundred yen down the drain and all he’s amounted with in exchange are two Gudetama keychains, two packets of off-brand oreo cookies, and one can of that cheap instant black coffee he dislikes. Though if it’s one thing, he and the drink have in common it’s that they’re both positively bitter.

Kirishima, Sero, and Ashido all snicker wryly behind him while he deadpans at the snotty series of prizes with the skin between his eyebrows crinkled in defeat. Ashido takes this as the time to move along the row, dragging her sullen blond friend by the elbow. “Moving on! I want to get to the one with the Yakult drinks already!” She points onward and leads her compadres down the treasure trove of intriguing automated food vendors. Two of the boys press forward enthusiastically. Kaminari has to be lugged out of his brooding in order to play along.

“God, please just take me out already,” Bakugou mutters while leering his signature miffed face behind them. According to the giggle he registers chiming to his left, it seems you heard his complaints.

“Hm, not having a good time, I’m guessing?” you ask. The metallic edge of your lemon tea creases into the cushion that is your plush bottom lip. Bakugou finds himself staring there longer than he should and immediately tears his eyes away before he’s caught.

Your playful tone throws him off a beat later than he should’ve taken to reply. “Of course. I didn’t even want to be here to begin with,” he sneers with a brisk click of his tongue, crossing his arms. In a sense, he’s only telling half of the truth.

It’s true Bakugou did not desire to be here on his own accord. The squad dared to call him at the dead of midnight, when he was already tucked into bed by nine o’clock sharp and indulging in a needed rest, only to be ruefully awoken by his phone blaring across the expanse of his dorm room. The four should’ve suffered an earful from him as they tried to arrange a shopping trip of all things at that hour. However, his disinterest in the subject withered at the bait of your name casted into the conversation. Which to them was hook, line, and sinker. The cunning group of friends reeled him in at the idea that his crush would tag along. So, in the end, they got the rowdy blond to yield to the stupid shopping trip.

Though could it count as a shopping trip when four out of the six in their group were so transfixed by the weird vending machines in the place? The same four that organized said gathering to begin with? They’ve yet to cross into a single store here for crying out loud.

“If all you morons are gonna do is waste your damn money on these things, then this is a complete waste of time.” Bakugou doesn’t sugarcoat his irritation in the slightest. You still try to quell the bitterness in his tone with the saccharine that saturates your own.

“Aw c’mon, Bakugou, lighten up,” you tease playfully, pinching a small bit of the fabric on his arm to lightly urge him forward.

“You should at least try and join in on the fun with everyone—” At the turn of your head, your sentence cuts off, astonished to come across an empty space where your quartet of friends should be.

“And they’re already gone…” you say in disbelief. Your finger initially pointed in that direction falls limp. With their speedy curiosity plowing down the line of machines, the four have effectively ditched you two, leaving no trace of where they could’ve taken off for next.

The sigh from your lips lingers in amusement. “Well, guess it’s just you and me, Bakugou.”

When your eyes meet him again, you witness the scowl he glares at the abandoned space in front of the vending machine. The leer is menacing enough that if the contraption were an actual person, they might have rattled in fear, dropping down the snacks and drinks contained inside to sate his anger.

“Um, Bakugou?” you attempt to call out to him, but he’s too fixated by the peeved thoughts strewn in his head to hear you properly.

What the fuck are those dunces thinking? They planned this, didn’t they? God, I’m going to fucking kill them all! He babbles a seething torrent in his mind. Each one is more unrelenting and harsher than the last while a vein blisters prominently on his forehead.

What were the odds that going on a little shopping trip would end up with him left behind with his crush? Well, Bakugou thinks it’s absolutely none, and that this shit had to be preordained. If not, then it was just his bad fucking luck he supposes.

“—llo, earth to Bakugou Katsuki? Please send back a reply when you receive this message.”

At last, your voice surfaces, no longer drowned in Bakugou’s turbulent sea of thoughts as the hand you wave in front of him swims its way to his attention. “Huh?” He shakes his head twice to grip himself back to the matter at hand, observing in time the playful smile that curls mischievously on your lips.

“All back together I see. Good.” You start pulling on his arm and lead him in tandem with your steps. “Now let’s get going!”

Though he quirks up an eyebrow, Bakugou, weirdly enough, does not reject the way you drag him along without waiting for his response. In fact, with the other four gone, he finds it compelling that you’re taking the reins and asks mildly, “What? Are we gonna be doing some actual shopping now?”

His joke earns him your laughter resonating in melodic lilts to his ears before you leave his side to toss your empty bottle into the recycling bin. “Nope, we’re gonna be doing something even more fun, of course!” Then you resume dragging Bakugou down the walkways of the mall.

It’s not long until he questions the consecutive twists and turns he’s forced to take, having only been answered by your pursed grin multiple times.

“Hey, no more questions! Just trust me!” you quip at his refusal to be quiet and just obediently follow. The blonde can’t help it, of course, given the circumstances he’s wound himself in. Not many boys his age can control themselves if the person they like is pulling them along with as much enthusiasm as you are right now. But Bakugou is different from those other simpletons, crafting a mask to cover the elation hidden beneath with usual displeasure. Nothing but his uncharacteristic lack of annoyance and the ample glances in your direction could truly give himself away to his affections for you.

So with that, he places a generous amount of hope that you guide him somewhere more entertaining than that borefest he witnessed from the squad earlier.

But the moment you two reach your destination, he wonders if he may have accidentally misplaced that same hope down a rabbit hole instead.

“What the…” Bakugou’s words drift in the air at the quizzical sight before him. Mouth hanging open, he’s unable to conjure any sensible thoughts in time before you step in front of him.

“Tada! The Capsule Toy Gacha Room!” You spread your hands outward to present him an unhindered view of the room. It’s teeming with small capsule toy machines that line the walls, stacked on top of each other not to waste a single space inside. His red eyes squint at the assortment of bright colors painted on each machine that assaults his vision.

“Why the hell are there so many of these things?” Bakugou asks, jabbing a finger at the machines. You reply as you walk inside, “It’s the Gacha Room, Bakugou. Of course this place is gonna be filled with them.” You impart him an answer he is not at all satisfied with.

“I used to come here all the time when I was a kid! Glad it hasn’t really changed,” you say, noting the only real difference between then and now were the new toys and characters updated with the current trends. He begrudgingly trails behind you into the narrow corridors sandwiched with the machines on each side. The modest little tune you hum between your lips is a stark contrast to his disgruntled huffs accompanying his dragging feet.

Bakugou thinks being here is not any different from what the other four are frolicking about outside. This might be the worse alternative, considering you give money to a machine that grants you an item at complete random. You have no way of knowing what or who you’re going to get until the colorful sphere pops out at the bottom. And then, in an instance, your anticipation fades away when you open it and receive the character no one particularly cares about—the little charm inevitably gathering dust, forgotten in the drawers of your desk. Overall, these toy capsule machines were just gluttons devouring the money of parents whose kids always whine about never getting what they wanted.

Still, because it’s you, he stays and watches you indulge in your little nostalgia trip.

As your eyes glide down the row of toy dispensers, trying your best to decipher the items contained behind the blurry glass, you chime in, “Say, Bakugou, don’t you have any memories of gacha machines?”

Bakugou’s brows furrow in contemplation. He racks through the nooks and crannies between the crevices of his mind and recalls some standout memories. “I guess. Few of ’em were stuck in front of the arcade place near my neighborhood,” he answers, but those memories immediately begin to sour the more he looks into the details.

You don’t see how his face slowly contorts with annoyance while he plays back a scene in his head.

At the time, Bakugou had only sprouted to the young age of five years old. He’s huddled around his posse in front of the arcade he mentioned, slotting a coin inside the capsule machine that was stocked full of charms of Pro Heroes, which housed a very special limited edition prize of All Might to honor their collaboration with the famous Number One of Japan.

The boy was positively giddy at what was to come out, remaining hopeful thanks to the giant poster of All Might gazing down upon him with his triumphant grin. Yet even when his squeaky little voice hollered out a “Plus Ultra!” to reinforce his luck, he was given dirt in response.

But you know who did get that mystery All Might prize?

Deku. Fucking Deku.

Right after he had his spin of the machine, the green-haired boy stepped up, gave it a go, and got All Might on his first fucking try. To say five-year-old Bakugou was bitter would only be putting it mildly. The unbridled emotions bundled in his tiny body were just waiting to burst in an explosion.

But in the end, did he fight Midoriya for it? No, he did not. For if he did, his mother would have scolded the hell out of him, and his young self reflected in the moment that avoiding parental wrath outweighed the limited edition Mystery All Might figure charm, as sad as that sounded. So since then, he’s tried to repress that memory in the far corners of his mind.

But it seems God just desires to spite him.

“Hey, look!” You pull lightly on his shirt to capture his attention, eyes trained forward at whatever piqued your interest. Bakugou peeks over your head, and what he’s met with does not please him.

“They have a gacha machine featuring Pro Heroes here!” you shout cheerfully, walking toward it with the hem of Bakugou’s shirt in hand, who begrudgingly follows along despite a groan nearly leaving his mouth.

“Isn’t this cool?” you ask. You squat down to peer into the peculiar machine located at the very bottom of the stack. Bakugou clicks his tongue as part of his reply, hands buried in the pockets of his trousers.

“No.”

“Hey, one day they’ll be making toys and charms of you as well, Mister ‘I’m Gonna Be The Number One Hero,’” you say with a giggle, and your comment sparks a bit of pink to dust his cheeks while he looks down at you from his standing position.

He attempts to join you and your fixation on the Pro Hero capsule machine. However, when he starts bending his knees, he finds this to be a bit difficult. The more he squats down, the more Bakugou realizes they truly made this place for children and not bulky teenagers like him training in hero school. His knees and bottoms almost brush up against the plastic sheen of the machines on each opposing side.

Though he has to fidget into a particular position to get somewhat comfortable, he eventually gets there and kneels next to you.

“Why don’t we give a go at this thing?” you suggest, and he tilts his head, eyes narrowed.

“No way, these are a fucking waste of money,” he rejects.

“Hey it only costs two hundred yen!” you counter, “And plus, you might get a certain hero you want, like say... All Might?” You attempt to lure him in using his idol’s very name, but Bakugou doesn’t take the bait so easily and remains rigid in his stance.

Even if he did want to try for All Might, he’s sure his capsule is long gone by now anyway.

“Aw c’mon, Bakugou, pleaseee?” you draw out your pleas in a cute little tone that takes the blond by complete surprise. Unaware of how much power you have over him, the doe eyes and pout that paint your features make it difficult for him to maintain his hardened facade. Feeling his walls begin to melt away at the endearing sight, he ultimately grits his teeth, eyes shut as his hands rummage down into his pockets.

“Fine,” he mutters in defeat, and that smile appears on your lips once again as you lift your arms in triumph.

Pulling out two separate hundred yen coins, he promptly slides them both into the coin silt. When he hears them clank against the other change inside, he goes for the handle and gives it a quick turn. One of the capsule balls begins its journey down the machine and quickly arrives at the hatch that Bakugou lifts to retrieve his prize.

Snapping the capsule open, he’s met with Endeavor’s ugly mug, seeming even more unsightly from the low-quality production of the charm. The paint job is beyond sloppy, with the colors on the costume not depicted accurately and the figure’s pupils drawn to make him appear cross-eyed.

“Hm, you got the number one hero,” you tease, lightheartedly nudging your elbow at his sides because you know full well it isn’t the number one hero he wanted. Bakugou ignores your taunts and shoves the flame hero’s plastic face down the depths of his pockets, making sure to give it to Todoroki later just to annoy him.

“Yeah yeah, your turn, princess.” He scooches a bit to his right to let you have your go. You gladly follow, taking out the two hundred yen from your money pouch.

Bakugou remains disinterested throughout the entire process but is still attentive enough to observe how you hum those casual tunes of yours despite doing something so mundane. He also starts absorbing the cute shape of your nose and the outline of your lips from this angle. It isn’t long until he realizes how close you are in this position, to the point where he could practically smell your fragrant scent, and soon that pink hue diffuses on his face again.

Fuck, I need to stop that, he urges.

By the time he turns away, the capsule machine has begun its machinations once again.

The sizable sphere descending the hatch this time has striped patterns of red, yellow, and blue, colors that remind him all too much of a certain Pro Hero— Wait. What the fuck—

“This one looks a bit bigger than the others, don’t you think? Wonder what... Oh, hey, it’s All Might!” You go through the emotions—curiosity, anticipation, and then finally, glee.

Bakugou feels like he’s reliving those horrible memories once again as he beholds the shiny, miniature figure nestling in your palms before you lift it to grant a better view of its glory. It twists around from how you pinch it by the attached string while it’s hovering in the air. When the Pro Hero’s face turns in the blond’s direction, it’s like the inanimate object is somehow taunting him.

Compared to Endeavor’s shitty charm, All Might’s is a proper representation of who he is. The better quality plastic molded accurately into the man’s figure, the crevices between his muscles delved into displaying his well-defined physique. The colors on his costume are all correctly painted in his signature red, white, yellow, and blue. They even got the broad grin and shadowy features on his face to the tee.

Whichever company created this toy indeed did All Might justice because it looks exactly like the one Midoriya unsealed right in front of his envious five-year-old eyes.

Bakugou’s body shakes with suppressed anger. His hands clench and then unclench themselves while in conflict with his thoughts. Then, he suddenly moves toward you, darting for the charm that you narrowly pull out from his grapples in time.

“L-Lemme see!” he demands, shifting his hand around to grab hold of it for some reason. The act has you befuddled while you continue to move the toy away to evade capture.

“Huh? Why?”

“I need... to fucking make sure— OOF—”

His sputters are the last things that escape his lips before he staggers off balance due to all those hasty movements. It sends his body toppling over yours onto the floor, where your head would’ve thumped against the hard ground had the boy’s well-trained instincts not maneuvered a hand beneath it in time to cushion your fall.

Your descent to the floor is not at all graceful, wincing slightly at the impact. It’s when the pain ebbs away that you and Bakugou finally realize the very awkward position you’re suddenly both in.

Bakugou is hovering over you, body between your legs as one of his hands is cradling your head. The other is situated next to your face against the ground to keep himself upright, letting his eyes stare down at your stricken expression.

Unknowingly, you had settled your hand on Bakugou’s shoulder out of impulse during fall. The other one is still grasping the All Might figure, which is unharmed despite the abrupt movements.

Bakugou can feel your even breaths caress his lips from how close in proximity both of your faces are in this position. If any of you so much as move the wrong way, your lips would undoubtedly collide into each other. Though Bakugou doesn’t mind the notion, he isn’t going to instigate it if you aren’t willing. But the way your eyes line toward his lips, giving him a similar enamored look to the one he has right now, it seems both of you are on the same page.

Taking your mutual fixations as the sign to continue, Bakugou draws himself forward to close the distance while you rise to meet him in the middle.

And finally, he gets to kiss those lips of yours. The lips that adorn your cute face he always snuck glances at. The lips so unhinged in their playful teasing toward him. The lips he’s been so mesmerized and bewitched by throughout this chaotic excuse of a shopping trip.

And when they meet, they’re as full and soft as he imagined them to be, melding perfectly against his.

The hand he’s nestled under your head allows him to press you further into the liplock. You’re nearly enveloped in his wistful machinations, wanting to drown in the sea of his affections as your arms find their way around him.

You would’ve allowed yourself to do so, if not for the unfortunate security camera you catch in the corner of your eye from where you laid.

Your eyes widen, staggering out of their half-liddedness. You pat your hand in rapid succession against his shoulder, getting the blond to stir and separate from the kiss—an act he detests as he doesn’t want the embrace to end.

“What?” he gruffs. You point up at the ceiling, and he turns in that direction. When he detects the security camera about to automatically shift toward this particular side of the Capsule Toy Gacha Room, his face grows full of panic. He lifts himself off your body immediately.

With the two of you remembering where you are, you rose from the ground and cleaned yourselves up. You try to appear pristine as possible, without letting any suspicion about what has happened get tossed in your direction. Still, the red faces plastering both of your features are already a dead giveaway.

“I… Uh…” Bakugou’s still lost in the haze of the heated moment, unsure of what words he should utter. Much to his relief, his burden lifts when two notifications from your phones ring in sync together, diverting your attention.

When you open your phone and slide across the notice, a text message from the Bakusquad ascends onto the screen.

Mina: heyyyy just finished going through all these vending machines! you wont believe how much money we spent!!

The message follows a selfie of the four holding a myriad of drinks and snacks together in the picture. You can’t suppress your giggle at the endearing sight. Another chime sounds when a new text pops up at the bottom.

Eijirou: let’s all meet up again at that blue mystery vending machine!

“Well, you heard them,” you say while clicking off your phone, “we better get a move on.”

Bakugou relays your words back in a slow nod, following through with a rough “yeah” that cleaves his throat. The two of you walk alongside each other once again while you leave the Capsule Toy Gacha Room. Only your steps padding against the mall’s confounds accompany the quiet atmosphere established between you two—awkward and a bit unnerving.

It’s when you’ve both made it to the meet-up spot in front of the blue vending machine that you alleviate yourselves of the strained tension.

“Soooo… was there any reason you wanted to get your hand on this thing so badly?” you question, drawing out the All Might charm that led those heated events to transpire. It dangles between your fingertips and glances at Bakugou along every rotation. The blonde bounces his eyes between you, All Might, and the ground, unsure if he should admit that he was acting out of childish jealousy and bitterness.

“I… Urgh… Fuck…”

You raise an eyebrow when he fumbles with his words. He mutters blatant obscenities between every possible resolve that crosses his mind.

“Look, forget it. It’s not important,” Bakugou concludes, but you think differently, not satisfied with his answer.

“No. Tell me.”

With that weight in your tone, Bakugou realizes he can’t avoid the subject any longer. He releases a long sigh as he leads you through the infamous tale, observing how your expression grows from concerned to downright amused.

“Really? You’ve held a grudge for that long?” The laughter you initially attempt to suppress ends up bubbling from your throat. Hearing it spurs Bakugou to clutch his hands together into shaky fists.

“Look. If you know me, then you should remember I never want to lose to fucking Deku. The fact he got the All Might charm right after I got garbage fucking pissed me off!” he exclaims loud enough for his harsh words to reach a couple walking by. They spare worried glances at the blonde when they stroll past him.

“Hmm…” you muse in thought. Bakugou can tell by the glint rising in your eyes and your tone that you’re up to something again. “I can give you mine if you want. But only for a very small price.”

He quirks an eyebrow, crossing his arms over his chest. “And what would that fucking price be?”

The smirk prominent on your pretty lips widens while you teeter your weight to your tippy-toes in front of him.

“A date. Just a single date will suffice,” you tell him, and Bakugou’s caught off guard by how simple the offer is. His delayed response has you leaning forward, appraising him for an answer.

“Well..?” You wave the charm before his eyes by the thin string as if to hypnotize him. But in all honesty, Bakugou knows that sweet smile of yours and luster in your eyes is all you need to have him wrapped around your finger.

His playful smirk surfaces his lips. He provides his answer by snatching the figure right from your dainty fingertips.

“You got yourself a deal, princess.”

You happily clap your hands together. “It’s settled then! We’ll have a date here at the mall next week!”

“Hah?! Why the fucking mall again?!”

“Because we didn’t do much here anyway, so I say we should give it another shot together next week!”

“What? And go shopping? I don’t wanna be your bellboy the entire time—”

“Mom! Mom! Look at that boy’s All Might toy!”

You and Bakugou are both surprised by the new, high-pitched voice that enters in the middle of your riffraff. Your eyes trail along to sound and come face-to-face with a young boy staring at the toy in Bakugou’s hand.

“I want one too!”

Unable to control his gloating, Bakugou dangles the charm next to his face.

“Yeah well, too bad, kid. It’s mine so f—”

“Bakugou,” you warn. You halt the obscene words from entering the boy’s ears and avoid giving his mom a hard time.

“Argh… I mean... scram!”

You almost smack yourself. You can’t believe Bakugou has the guile to argue with a child at this age.

Though he forgoes the curses, that doesn’t make Bakugou’s words sound any less harsh. As a result, the kid pouts. He pouts hard. His eyes start to become glassy, lining the edge of his lashes with droplets. Recognizing her child on the verge of breaking out into tears, the mom acts quickly. She’s by his side, patting his back.

“Sweetie, why don’t you go to that blue vending machine over there and see if you can get a toy too,” she cheers him up instantly, dropping a hundred yen coin down her son’s small palm.

“Okay, mom!” he responds, gleeful again.

He dawdles over to the machine with purpose in his steps, inserting the coin, and pressing the lone button on the mystery vending machine.

You and Bakugou don’t perceive any noise emitting from the machine, and yet the little boy is putting his hands into the slot to pull something out.

“Mom, why did the machine give me a paper that says PS5?”

Both of you go rigid. Kaminari is not going to be happy hearing about this.

#bnha #bnha x reader #bakugou x reader #bakugou katsuki x reader #bakugou #bnha imagines #bnha scenarios #bakugou katsuki #katsuki x reader #bakugou scenarios

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jitterbugjive · 3 years

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Something I wish more people would understand is how unhealthy and misguided I was in my early 20s. I came out of a life of mental and sexual abuse, for a bit I had a much older boyfriend than me that I didn’t realize until fairly recently was grooming me since I was 14. I was a hyper sexual teenager due to the exposure I had in childhood and I sought people out constantly to ERP with, even adults, without really thinking anything was wrong with that. I had an old friend who started running away from home to look for random adult men to sleep with so my understanding and feelings towards that kind of situation got all twisted and confused and I didn’t know how to help my friend. I had another friend who was pulled in to a 3 way by another minor and an adult, and the other minor was also the sort who actively looked for adult men who would be sick enough to sleep with her. And my best friend had a sister who was also exhibiting this behavior despite my friends’ many protests, because their mom didn’t give a single fuck about anything. I had an older babysitter, by older I mean in his 60s, who would bring up conversations about sex with me and show me porn on TV from when I was 10-13. I was dealing with unchecked PTSD which made me overly reactive, prone to fits of anger and anxiety.

My point is, back then I didn’t have any kind of professional help or anywhere I could go for answers on things I didn’t understand or had a limited understanding of. When I ask the question ‘what do you do if a kid is seeking out adult sexual attention’ it’s not because I’m trying to blame kids for this, it’s because it scares me when kids are unknowingly, maybe even knowingly, exposing themselves to danger for whatever screwed up reason they may have. And no one wants to talk about that kind of situation, so I couldn’t find any answers. I couldn’t find an appropriate way to process my feelings on the matter, my understanding of it, the way I viewed it, I couldn’t find what the correct way to feel or deal with it was. Again, because no one wants to talk about it. With my naivety and personal experience, I at first held resentment towards kids like that, because I remember being put in danger because of them or they put my friends in danger, and those kids seemed very sure of their choices even when they were perfectly aware it was wrong. One of them I knew, even as an adult, didn’t ever think anything was wrong with what they did, they didn’t come with that regret you hear most people talking about. I regret the way I’ve reacted to these situations and I regret the way I phrased things when I was trying to come to terms with this issue that I’d been honestly traumatized by.

Another thing I didn’t understand in my early 20s was appropriate boundaries, because I wasn’t given appropriate boundaries as a kid I only knew one big basic thing: Don’t do anything sexually explicit with minors.

And when it came to RP, I thought that meant PG13 content was okay. I thought if there was a fade to black, or a time skip, or an implication, it wouldn’t be a bad thing. Now, there are literally only 2 instances I can think of where there was any sort of implication of sexual acts between characters with a minor, I still made sure nothing explicit was shown or explored and I was of the impression that I was just letting the other person have fun because that’s what they were in to. And that was a mistake. Not as big of a mistake as it could have been, mind you, but I’d never cross that line. I thought I had a good line drawn in the sand but I didn’t really understand where it was supposed to be. Because if we’re gonna be honest here, looking back I know now even romantic fluff RP between an adult and a minor isn’t okay, even if it’s through characters and not as ourselves.

I know now how much of an emotional impact RP can have on a person, considering most of my romantic relationships started with RP. When you have a character you deeply connect to interacting with someone else’s character, it’s really easy to start mistaking your character’s feelings for your own. You could believe because your characters get along so well that maybe the two of you can get along romantically too. I’m not saying that RP shouldn’t lead to romance, but that it can easily blind a person from how their RP partner really is. So it’s dangerous to RP with kids like this. I should know, my abusive ex that groomed me until I turned 18 in order to date me certainly had me convinced we were meant for each other just because our characters clicked and my character happened to be a representation of myself.

Something I’m really ashamed to admit as well is a serious misjudgement on my part, where for some reason I assumed bodily fluids weren’t NSFW. Probably because I’ve seen people get away with censoring out naughty bits but leaving the spunk in an image, or just drawing the character with spunk on them or something. Point is, people were getting away with it not being flagged as porn, and my dumb brain was like ‘okay so it’s not that bad’. I need to make something clear here, I don’t entirely remember what happened or why it happened, but it’s true that Bedeviled Derpy had a post that showed spunk in 2 of the images and it was drawn from some sketches of mine by a teenager. I don’t believe I would have requested such a thing, I certainly didn’t script it to say ‘draw spunk here’, in fact the sketches don’t show any indication of a mess anywhere. I just remember being given the finished images with the spunk being added, and I was dumb enough to think “oh yeah this is totally okay for a SFW blog” and my brain didn’t even register like ‘hello yes a child drew this maybe ask them to remove the spunk also spunk isn’t sfw or child friendly in any way shape or form’

Some people, maybe only a handful, or more, I don’t know, but some people have this assumption that my mindset in all of this was like “Hahaha I’m taking advantage of a minor” and that’s just... not it?

I’m a colossal dumbass, I admit that, and I was really irresponsible, but it was NOT because I had any intentions on preying on a child. I just don’t do that.

The things I said and did, I did out of ignorance, and most of the bad stuff people talk about me saying was from 5+ years ago, before I got any help, before I had anyone to walk me through these incredibly complex emotions and opinions that were ingrained in my head since childhood.

I just wish that people could see I had no malice or ill intent, I wish people could realize they’re way overthinking my actions and taking things a lot more personally than they were ever meant to be. Maybe if they could see this for what it is rather than assuming I’m a villain who purposefully did everything wrong, they could learn to move on in a healthy way.

I understand I did a lot of harm and there’s no undoing that.

But I do NOT deserve to be accused of pedophilia. Pedophilia has literally ruined my life and my perception of the world. I’m a victim too, and just because I became an adult doesn’t mean I suddenly know right from wrong. That’s not how becoming an adult works. You’re allowed to make mistakes as an adult, being an adult doesn’t mean you won’t make mistakes any more. Yes it’s easier to say to someone ‘you were just a kid, it was a mistake, you didn’t know any better’, but adults have a hard time knowing ‘any better’ too. We’re always growing and learning and I’d like to think people are smart enough to see that I have grown in to a better person.

I hope people can find it in their hearts to forgive me, but I fear some people are too far gone down the rabbit hole of being convinced that everything was on purpose and from malice, that I’m some evil mastermind who thrives on manipulation and taking advantage of kids. I’ve only ever associated with 2 minors since becoming an adult and I have no intention of associating with any more that aren’t directly connected to my family or my friends.

Anyone who actually knows me would know I have a 0 tolerance for IRL pedophilia, when I found out a member of one of my groups was showing nudes to minors he was immediately kicked out and I kept tabs on the situation to make sure he’d be caught by police. When a member in my server was exposed for ERP and orbiting with a minor, I kicked him out too.

I worry about kids to a point that it’s part of my PTSD, I have anxiety attacks just worrying about how a kid might be getting harmed, the last thing I want to do is bring harm to them.

And I did cause harm, I didn’t know that was what I was doing, but I did, because I wasn’t mature enough to understand how to interact with kids as an adult. And again, I’m just incredibly sorry things had to even come to this. I’m not lying when I say I think about this every single day, and sometimes spiral in to really bad anxiety because of it. It affects me heavily.

I want to move on.

And I want the people affected to move on too.

Because dwelling on this isn’t going to do anyone any good.

#apology #important

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thatgamefromthatad · 3 years

Text

Tumblr Ads Decoded

I had a good Christmas but now that the festivities have died down I felt like effing around and going down some more ad-related rabbit holes. I usually focus on mobile game ads but while I’m working on my mobile game review backlog I have some explanations of other bizarre Tumblr ads I’ve come across in my travels. Enjoy:

Note: These are all ads I saw in screenshots from other users so I haven’t clicked on any of these ads myself and can only go from what’s included in the screenshots. I can’t guarantee where these ads actually lead if you click on them.

*******

This ad apparently comes from SoGoodly, a website that compiles various viral stories, clickbait and listicles including “life hacks.” There doesn’t actually seem to be any tips specifically about putting vinegar-soaked bread in the garbage on their website.

However, the image from the ad comes from a video by Household Hacker on YouTube called “10 Awesome Vinegar Life Hacks you should know,” which explains that leaving vinegar-soaked bread in your garbage can overnight can eliminate lingering odors (don’t know if that’s true or not but that’s what Household Hacker said in their video, which was posted in 2013, and has nearly 24 million views).

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Apparently another site called Gloriousa, similar to SoGoodly in its clickbaity-ness, has also been promoting a similar ad that advises leaving a vinegar-soaked piece of bread in the garage, which links to a 92-page list of “life hacks” that doesn’t even include this particular tip, according to Snopes.

Conclusion: This is clickbait, likely with the goal of generating ad revenue.

What does it mean?: Leaving vinegar-soaked bread in your garbage can overnight can allegedly eliminate lingering odors.

Another one from SoGoodly. Photo comes from a Good Housekeeping article from 2014 titled “16 Smart Ways to Use Rubber Bands” and says putting a rubber band around the doorknob makes it easier to open doors in specific situations such as when unloading groceries or trying to open doors at night without waking up anyone in your household. Not sure if this tip actually appears on SoGoodly’s website because it doesn’t feel worth it to click through several ad-filled pages just to find out, but a few long listicles came up when I searched “rubber band.”

Conclusion: This is clickbait, likely with the goal of generating ad revenue.

What does it mean?: Putting a rubber band around a doorknob like this apparently makes it easier to open the door hands-free and quietly.

SoGoodly strikes again. The source of this photograph is the July 2012 issue of the TOILETPAPER art photography magazine - you can actually buy a reproduction of this bitten soap from them too (WARNING: bright colors and flashing/moving images on their website) link to magazine issue/link to soap merch

Again, not going to struggle through thousands of pages of ads to find this so-called “life hack” on SoGoodly but according to another health-themed listicle/”life hack” website called The Healthy, sleeping with soap can provide magnesium which relieves leg cramping/restless legs at night. Apparently Dr. Oz also said sleeping with lavender soap can help you relax at night, according to The Healthy. Don’t know if any of that is true but that’s what the “life hack” claim is.

Conclusion: This is clickbait, likely with the goal of generating ad revenue.

What does it mean?: Sleeping with a bar of soap in bed can allegedly relieve nocturnal leg cramps and help you feel more relaxed, presumably through some sort of aromatherapy effect.

This ad apparently comes from Game of Glam, another very clickbaity website mostly focused on celebrity news, which hasn’t been updated since September. Couldn’t find this article on their site but there’s an article called “Celebrities Who Died and You Didn’t Even Notice” on a website called BeliefNet, which appears to have religious themes and mostly posts listicles. However, there aren’t 22 celebrities on that list and the man in the photo is not one of the celebrities mentioned. Also, the man in the photo isn’t dead.

The man shown here is actor Shemar Moore (left), best known for playing Derek Morgan on “Criminal Minds” and Malcolm Winters on “The Young and the Restless” from 1994 to 2005 (before Darius McCrary took over the role). He is still alive.

I had never seen either show so I did a reverse image search and initially thought the man was Kristoff St. John, who played Moore’s on-screen brother Neil Winters, due to the fact that this photo was on a Pinterest board titled “Young & Restless - Winters Family” and St. John did in fact die in 2019. However, I later realized that it is actually the woman in the photo, actress Michelle Thomas, who sadly died from a rare form of cancer in 1998 at age 30. Michelle Thomas played Callie Rogers, Malcolm Winters’ ex-fiancée, until her death, when the role was recast with Siena Goines. Thomas is better known for her roles as Justine Phillips on “The Cosby Show” and Myra Monkhouse on “Family Matters.”

Conclusion: This is clickbait, likely with the goal of generating ad revenue.

What does it mean?: The man in the photo is actor Shemar Moore, who is still alive, but the woman in the photo, actress Michelle Thomas, died in 1998. The use of he/him pronouns in the ad is deceptive.

I’m sorry but I searched and searched and searched for meaning in this one and came up with nothing, absolutely zilch, no clues, no leads except one person who said the link led to the Chinese search engine Baidu. I was able to find the source of the image - it’s a Backyard Discovery Timber Cove Swing Set, which you can buy for $1,798 at Sam’s Club. I also found an uncropped version of the photo, but that’s all. This one is truly a mystery.

Conclusion: Some mysteries are better left unsolved.

What does it mean?: Only God Himself will ever know.

Please let me know if you read and enjoyed this and if there are any other Tumblr ads or general internet mysteries I should look into. :) Thank you!

#tumblr ads #weird #Wtf #Tumblr memes #Tumblr #Pour vinegar on bread #Wrap a rubber band around your door lock #Sleep with soap in your bed tonight #Remember him? well he died #Fjkyud #tumblradsdecoded

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andromedasstarship · 3 years

Text

in the stars - chapter 2

photo credits - @ssahotchnerr

pairing - aaron hotchner x reader

warnings - canon-typical criminal minds violence, show rating 16+ for reference. depictions of violence, stalking, murder, angst, age gap couple, language

summary - You and Aaron reunite, but it’s not exactly anything to celebrate over. The case moves forward, but you really wish it hadn’t like this.

a/n - no one is allowed to call me out on my lack of LA/california geographical knowledge. ive also started including readers mental thought train which is italicized (flashbacks will also be in italics, but ill always properly mark a flashback). if you arent tagged but asked, just send another ask/reply! i mustve missed it on accident.

blog rules

masterlist // read it on ao3 here

chapter 1 // chapter 3

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Chapter 2

Aaron Hotchner was standing in front of you. Impeccable, not even a slight crease in his shoes and suit pressed to perfection. He still smelled faintly like cedar, a thought you quickly tried to send away; it was too late though, already remembering how pitiful it was post breakup, when you would smell the shirts he left at your house, a desperate attempt to remember that he existed in your life. You’d spent hours, days even, thinking about how you’d react if you were ever to see Aaron in person again. At the top of the list was screaming at him, really giving him a piece of your mind for leaving the way he did. Or, maybe you’d be cool and composed, the epitome of maturity and ‘I’m Totally Over You’. You’d even considered completely ignoring him, not even giving him a second glance. Instead you were frozen to the spot, staring up at the man who broke your heart.

Pulling your eyes away from him, they darted towards the gap between his body and outside, internally debating if you’d be able to somehow sneak around him. As if he could read your mind, not like you had been particularly subtle, he moved to close the gap before you had the chance to fully formulate an escape.

“Y/N,” he tried again, voice a bit firmer this time around. It’d be better if he couldn’t speak. But then again he had such a beautiful voice-. No, you mentally clamped down on that thought before it could lead you down another rabbit hole. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you, uh, what?” You asked, hyper aware of how mousy you must’ve sounded.

“That someone was murdering women that looked like you. You should’ve called my team sooner, it was irresponsible to put yourself at further risk of-”

“Are you trying to imply that this is somehow my fault, Agent Hotchner?” The words felt bitter on your tongue. It wasn’t like you, to suddenly be so quick to anger. Years in the spotlight had taught you to hold your tongue, but Aaron’s words managed to cut right through.

“That’s not what I’m saying, you know that-,” he tried to interject, but you weren’t going to back down so easy.

“I know what Agent? Please, tell me the acceptable response to this situation,” you spat out at him, finding a brief enjoyment in the way his face scrunched up ever so slightly. “The police were working on the case, I’ve dealt with weirdos before.” Aaron opened his mouth again as if to speak, but you weren’t finished, “You really think I believed you’d answer if I called?”

His face fell at that and you felt some form of internal victory swell in your chest. Y/N 1 point, Aaron Hotchner 0. The victory was short lived though, as you came to the realization that the two of you were still in a very public setting.

“I’m not going to fight with you Agent, I suggest you get back to your team.” With that you shoved your way past him, stomping the entire way to your car. It was a shame, the way the anger and sadness was consuming you, maybe if it hadn’t, this time you would’ve noticed the clicking coming from the tree line.

----

Hotch wished you had been angry; it would’ve been easier to handle you if you had been screaming in his face or throwing low-blow comments his way. He could deal with anger. It’d be easier if he could pretend that you were being completely out of line and could warrant being ignored for the rest of the case.

That wasn’t you though, and he knew this. He didn’t have to be a profiler to see and hear the way you struggled to hold yourself together. He didn’t need to be a profiler to feel how disappointed you were with him. Hotch didn’t know how to deal with this or you. Even though it had been months, had he truly fallen so far from your graces; was your opinion so lowly of him now?

Hotch wasn’t sure which was worse to stomach, the fact that you had such little faith in him or the deep rooted feeling in his gut that told him you were right- had you called him unannounced two months ago, he wouldn’t have picked up the phone.

----

You sat in your car for twenty minutes, at least. It was pitiful, the way you were crying in your car, to a sad playlist, over a guy who hurt your feelings; it felt like high school all over again. In the moment, you had felt good, the way you watched Aaron’s face twist and fall at your words giving you some sick form of satisfaction.

It’s not like you had lied to him or anything. You hadn’t even stretched the truth for ultimate impact. The whole overly formal ‘Agent’ thing was definitely on purpose though. No, you had meant every word you said to Aaron, especially about not believing he’d answer if you called. What would you have even said if you called and he did pick up? Hi Aaron, remember me? Good, anyway hope you’re doing well but I think I have a murderous stalker, can you help? Actually, that’s probably exactly how the conversation would’ve gone, but that’s beside the point.

The point was that even if you could trust the Unit Chief of the BAU to do his job, you weren’t sure you could trust Aaron Hotchner anymore.

----

When you finally did muster up the courage to return to the conference room, you really wished you hadn’t. You should’ve just turned your car on and left. Was it possible to ghost the FBI? You’d heard enough stories from Aaron about how their tech wizard had found people with just a single loose thread, there was definitely no way you were going to make some spy like disappearance.

Aaron wasn’t in the room, something you were grateful for in the moment. But what you weren’t grateful for was how the team had managed to set up multiple bulletin boards in your absence; filled with your photo, crime scene photos, the dead women and your personal least favorite, the dead women’s bodies.

Of course, you knew what was going on, you were a big girl, well old enough to understand and process the gravity of the situation. But you’d only seen photos of the women alive, with personality and humanity; something about that made them look less like you and more like them. Looking at them now- dead, eyes closed, faces tilted away from the camera- these women didn’t just look like you, they were you.

You hadn’t even realized you were drifting closer to one of the boards until you felt a hand pull at the crook of your elbow. Turning your head ever so slightly you saw JJ, giving you one of her nice looks again.

“Y/N, you don’t need to see these,” JJ started, already pulling you in the opposite direction. You were about to agree, head already halfway to a full nod when you noticed something from the corner of your eye.

“Wait!” You exclaimed, pulling your arm back and getting right in front of a photo of victim #2. You very gently pulled the photo of the wall and held it closely in front of your face. Were you allowed to move it? Oh well. You felt the rest of the team’s eyes burning holes through your back so you turned to face them. “I, um, I’m pretty sure the sweater she’s wearing is mine.” You said, voice coming out as a whisper.

The team certainly seemed to liven up at that statement. Even though they hadn’t even been in LA for a full 24 hours yet, it was obvious from the start that LAPD hadn’t been lacking on the case, rather the unsub was just that good. They reported no evidence from any dump sites,- and now those sites had been contaminated far too much to double check- there had been no witnesses for any of the abductions, and the unsub hadn’t attempted any contact with Y/N; all in all, they had nothing.

“Y/N, are you sure?” Emily asked, she was quickly pulling photos of the other three women down, bringing them over to the roundtable. “Are the women in these photos wearing anything else you recognize?”

“Yeah, yeah I’m sure. There’s a little hole right there, on the side, the threads were pretty loose and I got stuck on a doorknob once, ripped it right open. I couldn’t find it when I went to fix it, just assumed I threw it away and forgot.” You said quietly, moving your way to the table. Your brain wasn’t working properly, hadn’t quite yet come to the conclusion that the rest of the agents already reached. He had gotten into your house. “Oh my god.” You whispered, voice shaking. “He was in my house, wasn’t he?”

The agents all looked down at you with sympathetic gazes before Emily finally spoke up again. “We can’t be sure just yet, but I need you to look at these photos and tell me if you recognize anything else okay? Can you do that for me?”

You nodded, making your way over to the table and taking a seat. You were well aware one of the agents just called for Hotch, but you couldn’t be bothered with that right now.

----

“Hotch,” Derek said, his voice urgent as he rounded the corner, interrupting whatever conversation Hotch was having with a random officer, “Y/N recognized the sweater victim #2 was wearing at the dumpsite as hers. Emily’s showing her the rest of the photos and it’s looking like the unsub left something of hers on each one.”

That certainly got Hotch’s attention. He didn’t need Derek to fill in the blank, the unsub had been in your house. His fists tightened at his side and he couldn’t help the way his face twisted in anger. In this state, Derek knew better than to question this unusually personal reaction, instead just angling his body back towards the conference room. He didn’t even have a chance to open his mouth before Hotch brushed past him, making his way back to you.

----

Starting with a photo of victim #1, you very slowly pulled it closer in front of you. Oh my god, her neck. Obviously, you’ve seen bruises before, been on a whole bunch of film sets that used makeup to create some pretty gory pieces, but nothing like this. The unsub didn’t just stangle these women, it was like he wanted to completely crush their throats.

One of the agents behind you was questioning your ability to stomach this, so you quickly forced yourself to focus. It was the least you could do for these poor women, just give them your undivided attention for ten minutes, and then you could deal with everything else later.

Your finger traced over the bracelet victim #1 was wearing. “This is mine. There’s a singular heart engraved on the back of the third diamond’s plating. I bought it for myself after I got cast in my first big role, cried for weeks when I ‘lost’ it.”

“And what about this one?” Emily asked, gently pulling victim #1’s photo away from you and replacing it with #4. You didn’t miss the way she turned the photos you’d already looked at upside down, as if to further shield you from them. Nor did you miss that she was technically skipping victim #3.

It didn’t take you long to notice what was yours on victim #4. “It’s the dress, it’s really comfy, I used to wear it a lot, like a lot a lot. I brought it with me so often on trips I just assumed it got left in a hotel room somewhere.”

Emily nodded, taking back that photo and turning it over as well. You could see her hesitation in showing you victim #3, but she slid it across the table to you as well. Her fingertips ghosting on the edge of the photo, ready to pull it back as soon as you gave an answer.

Victim #3 was tough. She looked the most like you, both when she was alive and certainly the way she looked now.

You took a sharp intake of breath as you looked down at her the first thing that caught your eye was the necklace. Most certainly yours and most certainly the one that Aaron had given you for your three year anniversary. You realized it was lost a few months after the breakup and nearly tore your house apart looking for it; you didn’t have many things from your relationship with Aaron to prove he was once part of your life, making the few things you did have all the more important. “The necklace, there’s an A engraved on the back and I’m pretty sure those shoes are mine too.” Emily swept the photo back and out of view as soon as the last words left your lips.

“JJ, get those items out of evidence immediately so we can be absolutely sure,” Hotch ordered. Aaron. You hadn’t even realized he had walked into the room, you turned to look at him, eyes wide with sadness and fear. The tears that were beginning to form tugged viciously on his heart. “Miss L/N, my team and I are going to escort you back to your home and we’re going to need to canvas it for signs of entry and identify if anything else is missing. Is that okay?” He asked, his voice soft with something most of the members couldn’t place.

You simply nodded at that, glad that you wouldn’t have to be alone, “Do you need my address, or will you just follow my car?” There was definitely humor in that, Aaron already knew exactly where you lived and the code to get through the gates.

“Your address is already in our files, but for your safety we’ll be following close behind.” He assured you. The rest of the team was jumping into action, grabbing their personal belongings along with copious amounts of gloves and bags you assumed would be for potential evidence.

As you all exited the building and entered your respective vehicles, it was Reid who realized where he’d heard that softness in Hotch’s voice before. It was the same tone he used to use with Hayley, back when things were good.

----

Your house wasn’t far and it was a drive you knew well; grateful for the ability to somewhat distract yourself on the road. The gatesman to your development gave you a real odd look when you told him the two black SUV’s filled with FBI agents were with you, but you couldn’t care less about which neighbor he might spread that info too. Did you see? L/N brought in the FBI, wonder what she’s caught up in. At least all the neighbors and workers had signed airtight NDAs, no one was allowed to talk to any outsiders about the personal happenings of their fellow residents.

Your house was towards the top of the hill, with a great overlook to the ocean. You had only been 20 when you bought the house and you viewed it as the ultimate achievement of all your hard work and determination. You couldn't shake the bad taste in your mouth as you pulled up the driveway. The house felt tainted now, something you were never sure you’d be able to shake.

----

Once again, not exactly how you imagined the entire team entering your house for the first time. Your house was extensive, as were the grounds; the team quickly realized they would probably be here for the rest of the day and well into the night.

You were standing awkwardly in the middle of your foyer, unsure of how to exactly approach this situation. “So, there’s about 10 rooms in the house, not including the kitchen and general living spaces, as well with the basement which is technically one big room. I made maps once as a joke, I think I have some in the office, if you wanted those? Or we could do one big house tour and you can break off that way,” you were so rambling, but them being in your house and why they were in your house was setting in, “or you can just go off however you want-”

“Miss L/N,” JJ said, there was that nice look again, “why don’t you show me around the house so I can get a base level understanding of everything there is. The rest of my team will go start a basic canvas of the inside and the grounds as well.” Thank you JJ.

You nodded at this, glad that someone else was taking control of the situation. Before you could lead JJ towards the kitchen, your phone started to ring, startling you. When did you get this skittish?

“My friend is calling,” you said, holding up your phone, “I gotta take this, I was supposed to meet him for coffee a few minutes ago.” You excused yourself, quickly making your way to an empty room away from the rest of the team. Your friend was annoyed at your more than last minute cancellation, but luckily he didn’t pry too hard and accepted your flimsy “I’m not feeling too well’ excuse on the first go.

“I know, I’m sorry, but I promise I’ll make it up to you as soon as I feel better. Yeah, I love you too. I gotta go, bye.” As you hung up, you could feel a gaze burning into the back of your head. Turning around, you found Aaron staring down at you from the doorway. How long had he been there?

“You should have told us about your boyfriend sooner. Trying to protect him from questioning will only-”

“I don’t have a boyfriend,” you exclaimed, a bit too hurriedly, “I, uh, I’m not seeing anyone at all actually, haven’t in a while.” Smooth.

Aaron was smart enough to read through the lines and understand what you had left unsaid. His gaze didn’t give up, but you could’ve swore you saw relief somewhere in his eyes. You weren’t sure if you were supposed to say something, or if he was supposed to say something, or should you walk out, or-

“Neither have I.” Hotch’s voice broke through your thoughts, but just as quickly as he said it, he turned on his heel and left you alone in the room.

----

a/n - if anyone is wondering ive 100% cried multiple times at how kind and supportive everyone has been with me about this story. we’re only 2 chapters in but im already sad for it to end. yes i 100% have a bunch of other wip ideas for hotch. anywaaaaaaay, replies/asks/comments/reblogs/likes always appreciated! thank you so much for reading

Taglist: @mac99martin @iwaizumiee @kylorendrip @hqtchner @lieswithoutfairytales @ssahoodrathotchner @midsummernightdream @weasleylovers @evans-dejong @itsmytimetoodream @yoshigguk @28cnn @cuddlyklaus @hotch-meeeeeuppppp

no permission is given to republish or upload my fics anywhere else. if you see this story not on my tumblr or ao3 it is stolen work. i do not own criminal minds or any of the characters involved

#aaron hotchner x reader #hotchner x reader #hotch #aaron hotchner #criminal minds fanfiction #criminal minds #'stori writes #in the stars

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