#with this current arc you have to make your own humor

[greenerteacups]

Hello GT! I almost never comment on anything online, but (after binge-reading Lionheart in about three days) I'm overcome with a desperate need to confess that I've developed an enormous intellectual crush on you as an author. I've never been particularly drawn to Dramione as a pairing before now - or even the HP universe in general as more than a very casual fan - but after reading nearly 600 thousand of your words, I'd be craving more even if that number was 600 million. Thank you very much for sharing Lionheart with the world.

It's a rare pleasure to read something where an immense thoughtfulness shines through so brightly not simply in bits and pieces here and there, but consistently throughout every line and every subplot you stitch together. There are other works of fiction out there that I love, but very, very few of them have been carefully crafted enough to allow me as a reader to sit back and have unshakeable confidence in the depth of the author's vision. Everything you write, from the smallest descriptive details to the grander puzzle pieces tying together each book, is delivered with such intentionality. Sometimes when reading other fiction I'll find myself impatiently wondering "okay, fantastic build-up, but when are we getting to the *really good* part"; with you, every part is the good part. The oft-cited slow-burn mantra of "it's not the destination, it's the journey" doesn't even ring true for me with Lionheart - because in your capable hands, you hurl us straight at that destination with every chapter. All of this to say that my starstruck inner writer is currently pinning a hypothetical pin-up poster of you to my hypothetical writer-ly bedroom wall as someone to look up to.

One of my favourite aspects of your work is how utterly hilarious you are both in your character dialogue and your prose. You've made me laugh more than you've made me cry - and you're guilty of making me cry a lot, especially in Book Four. You balance us between hysterical (funny) and hysterical (dirty, raw feelings) without a trace of whiplash, quite often imparting both simultaneously. Is interweaving humour with Everything Else something that comes naturally to you while writing or is it a process you're consciously juggling?

I've brooded and preened over this message for entirely far too long, and it's not fair to you. Suffice it to say you're kinder than I deserve and this made me want to cry. Any and all pin-up posters of me should render me looking like a deer in headlights, as is the appropriate reaction to this kind of honor.

I'm especially delighted by the hysteria (plural)! In general, it's easier for me to write humor than it is for me to write drama. Not that either one is easy as such, but I think drama requires more architecture. You don't have to explain if a joke is funny; it just is funny, and the audience knows why the characters are laughing/amused/happy. In drama, you have to achieve a certain level of technical character work to set up the punch of a moment; there's stakes, plotting, resonance, etc., and then you have to actually deliver it in a way that isn't either flippant, ironic, or Narm. Basically, there are more axes of failure. And the stakes of a joke failing are pretty low, too: worst case, your audience is like "eh, not that funny" and they move on. If a dramatic moment fails, it can take the legs out from under a whole arc.

One of my tests for whether a moment is ripe for comedy is the question of what the comedy is doing. Is it a realistic reflection of the character's voice in that situation? And, perhaps more importantly: why am I feeling the need to put comedy in this scene? Do I want it because it's natural and tone-appropriate, or am I trying to disguise my own insecurity about the dramatic content of the scene? If the latter, I tend to cut. You can't write from fear, you know?

#greenteacup asks #'with you every part is the good part' this is so wildly moving and poetic. what the fuck. i'm stealing this for my wedding vows.

[bambiziip]

riize reaction — interrupting them with a kiss

pairing : established relationship with ot7 riize x gn! reader

genre : fluff & a bit of humor! (debatable if actually funny or not but)

warnings : just kissing and alluding to making out lol

a/n : hii this is my first time writing in like a couple years nowskffkf but i hope you like it. i kinda don’t love it but riize got me back into kpop so just wanted to write a little something for them all! i hope you enjoy, leave a trace if you did!! also my ask box is open if you have any requests for more reactions mwah

song i listened to on loop while writing this :

— SHOTARO

he’s stressing!! cb in the spring means he wants to work on choreo again for the grp

it’s technically a break day but you wanted to see taro in action today

what’s better than seeing him dance <33

he’s finally taken a break, sliding onto the couch next to you where you laid

you immediately sat up, criss-cross applesauce, and pulled on his sleeve just to hold

before you can get a word out to ask how he’s feeling, taro starts ranting about the feel of the cb song

how he doesn’t know if this cb his choreo will stick and all

he’s soo in his own head, he’s really just talking to the void trying to get his thoughts out

taro tends to get like this when he’s stressed, rambly but only with you he actually gets the words out

with you leaning forward, he turns just at the right moment as you give him a small peck on the lips

his mouth immediately quirks up at you and he says, “damn i was rambling again, huh?”

you giggle and push at his chest, “you can ramble all you want to!! it’s just… your lips get all pouty and i can’t help it.”

before he starts the song again, you make sure to poke his lips and give another kiss - for good measure of course

— EUNSEOK

you love eunseok so much, you really do

if you were to set the scene, it’s lovely

you’re cuddled up to your smokeshow boyfriend, under the covers after a long day and you can finally rest

scratch that - eunseok managed to binge watch the latest season of the anime he had been watching today

for the past 10 minutes eunseok’s been ranting about the ending - he wasn’t satisfied with it

“and then they just never made up! can you believe it? the two main characters, friends since birth and they just cut it off for no real reas-“

in less than 5 seconds, you had rested your thumb on eunseok’s chin slightly bringing his bottom lip down and you give him a long kiss

to essentially shut him up, yes! and did!

after breaking apart and mischievously smiling at his dumbfounded face, you just squeezed his arm and he snapped out of the daze

“y/n, you could have told me you wanted to kiss, i’ll just have to tell you about the other arcs later, huh?”

you laughed as you let him wrap your arms around you secure again, “kiss later, sleep now??”

— SUNGCHAN

sungchan really isn’t that dramatic, you swear

he’s currently curled up on the couch with you, laying on his back, with his head resting against your leg scrolling through his phone

you? you’ve been trying to finish this book for the past week and finally have the chance to just chill and do so with your boyfriend also assumingly chilling

except…. sungchan huffs for the 3rd time in the past 60 seconds

oh boy

you can’t help but chuckle and run a hand through his hair after putting your book down, “what’s up channie?”

sungchan tilts his heads to make eye contact as if he’s surprised you asked, not like he was looking for attention at all! (lol)

“nothing baby, i just,” he pauses to turn himself over to lay on his stomach and look at you, “not sure, pretty much your boyfriend took too many pictures and i’m only allocated one post thread today… how will i pick??”

you bite on your bottom lip trying not to laugh at him, the seriousness coming through in his tone as he continued to scroll through pics

you open your mouth to semi make fun of him but he continues on, even turning the phone for you to see just how many photos he took

“channie.”

he looks up abruptly, yup he was in his own world talking, but before he can do anything else you lean in and peck his lips

he smiles, sitting up slightly more and pecking you back

“alright, i’ll ask if i can have two posts today, now c’mere”

you dramatically gasp, “but my book!”

“give me 5 minutessss y/n,” he pouts and the book isn’t in your mind anymore tbh… what book?

— WONBIN

currently your view is of wonbin’s back, it’s nice, he has a cute shirt on

you’ll probably steal it later, shh don’t tell him

speaking of clothes, wonbin has his back turned to you as he pushes back loads of his tops on hangers huffing a bit

“bin, you know it’s just meeting my family and not milan fashion week?” you can’t help but chuckle by the end of your sentence

wonbin dramatically gapes at you as he spins around, cute denim jacket (if you do say so yourself) hanging over his forearm as he walks up to where you are sitting on the edge of his bed

“y/nnnn,” he elongates your name with a tinge of a whine to his voice, “this is serious i want to make a good impression, i can’t be looking stupid to people so close to you! it’d be… i’d never live it down!”

you shake your head, trying to hold a laugh in

honestly it’s really sweet wonbin cares so much you knowww it is, he’s so cute

he opens his mouth to go on another rant on how serious this before you prop yourself up and kiss him, placing your hand on his arm to hold yourself from where you’re sitting

wonbin even leans slightly down to accommodate you, yes he’ll take the kiss

once you break apart, you grin at him as it clicks you just wanted him to shut up and pick an outfit

“i’m going i’m going! i’m choosing…”

— SEUNGHAN

seunghan lovessss taking pictures of you after a date, he has a whole photo album just ask to see it and he’ll show

almost all of the pictures are you near the beach or near some bench as you always end up near a pier in the evenings that you can

“baby! and now you lean behind the bench !” seunghan says in delight like it’s his job to think of new poses

you try not to bust out in laughter at his enthusiasm looking around, “hani, there’s only so many poses i can do here.”

truthfully you love it and seunghan needs to never change, he’s your number one hype man for goodness sake

a few seconds go by and he pouts in thought, “okay we need a new angle, let me crouch down” and he takes a few shots of you giggling at him with a big smile on his own face

once seunghan stands back up, and he starts swiping through everything to add to his folder, you come around from the back of the bench and stand in front of him

loosely wrapping your arms around his neck, nonverbally demanding his attention, he looks up as you lean in to press a kiss to his lips

he kisses back, never the one to really shy away from pda, but he is the one to break the kiss

“well just tell me if you want to make out with the photographer!” he says sorta loudly, causing you to laugh once again rolling your eyes

— SOHEE

sohee loves debriefing his day with youuuu!

one would maybe not think it but as stories pile up from the day, he looks forward to telling you at the end of the day (so freaking cute)

currently you both are in the kitchen, you sitting on the edge of the counter

he’s in an animated reenactment of when sungchan hid shotaro’s phone for the bit in their variety show and sohee was dying to tell the eldest

you’re nodding along to everything with a small smile on your face

honestly you love how cute he is when he gets like this into retelling a story just for you

“i didn’t tell him though, told myself the fans would like the prank carried out and all,” he grinned at you as he walked to the counter you were sitting on leaning near you

“and then-“

you ruffle the top of his head through his soft hair, moving his head gently towards you lovingly pressing a kiss onto his lips cutting him right off

once you break apart, (sohee hardly breaks apart your kisses… the loverboyism) sohee’s looking at you kinda dazed

“alright that was better than my stories.. another?”

— ANTON

anton is sooo sweet

whenever he can, and he sees your coursework laid out on the table he tries to help even if he’s not too sure on the topic

he always compliments you too, calling you the smartest partner in the world

today though, he looked the cutest, he had pushed his glasses up against his hair somewhat holding it back

“jeez this is confusing, it’s telling you to do two things at once, babe.”

as he leaned over pointing to something on the paper in front of you, you couldn’t help but nudge his shoulder and kiss him out of nowhere, planting a sweet one right on his lips

he looked a bit dumbfounded when you broke apart from it, since he was clearly pretty into the coursework help

he smirked once he regained his composure sitting back in his seat, “what… you like the tutor vibe?”

you laughed and rolled your eyes, “you just looked cute, needed to remind you.”

“i’m glad im cute enough, ‘cause not sure if my smarts here are even going to save this class with you…. did you enroll in harvard level classes without me knowing?!”

#riize #riize reactions #riize reaction #riize imagines #riize scenarios #riize headcanons #riize fluff #riize x reader

[wheresmymilliondollarman]

aaron warner x ferrars! reader pt. 3

when omega point falls, you find yourself in need of the supreme commander's son, and discover unresolved feelings along the way.

(taken place during ignite me & hc continuation from part two)

that is literally me in this gif y'all🖤🖤

a/n: hello!! finally back with part 3. i'm sorry for the wait, i wanted to do other requests, but tbh i might focus on this little series so that way it's complete and everyone can read it all together. also idk why i even label it hcs anymore LMAOO like i feel it's progressed to a fic atp, but i'm too stubborn to change my format and titles, so humor me LOL. (maybe i'll turn this into a legit fic when i finish, who knows) pls do not kill me for not including every detail, i tried to highlight the best parts as much as i could. also might seem all sunshine rainbows rn with relationships, but just wait for the next book… 🤞 extra info: kinda change adam's character cus i feel like he was an extra ass at times for no reason in the book?? like trying to kill kenji for no reason?? small redemption arc. kinda slight change to juliette. also, i love making reader, juliette, and kenji a lil trio.

word count: 10.7k (im insane)

warnings: mentions of fights, blood, injuries, and death. use of military time (reader so me fr bc it took me so long to understand that shit), suggestive and matureish content.

the first thing on your mind, when you woke up, is that you had to be dead. if you opened your eyes, you would see the golden gates of heaven or the fiery pit of hell. based on how you lived your short life: you were thinking hell.

you realized you were alive and mostly well from the horrible aching from your body, the bandages wrapped around your chest, and the fact your current surrounding was a bedroom.

"hey, amor, take it easy." a voice said as you attempted to sit up.

by your side was aaron warner, sitting down on a stool next to the bed you laid on. he, uncharacteristically, looked disheveled, his clothes messy, and his eyes anxious.

your panic arose as you remembered events - fighting against the reestablishment, then getting caught, and then being shot in the chest by anderson. and then you recognized the room; it was aaron's bedroom - back at the base.

aaron notices your alarm and grabs your hands to calm you down. "it's alright you're safe here, i'm not gonna hurt you."

it may have been an idiotic move, but you believed his words.

"why are we here?"

"i had no choice. everyone believes your dead, and the base is the best place to keep you hidden."

"i don't understand...i'm not a medic by any means, but shouldn't i be dead?"

"you have sara and sonya to thank for that. they were able to save your heart from stopping before being dragged away by my father. then, i was able to take their energy as my own and heal the rest of you."

you were thankful for his aid in your life being saved, but you were too focused on many other worries to properly thank him. like the state of your friends.

you try your hand at getting up, trying to ignore the dizziness that comes with it. aaron holds you steady to stop you from falling.

aaron protests, "you need to res-" but you interrupt, "i need to go. i-i have to find everyone and help them."

"you can't."

you stop your movement and turn to aaron, "what do you mean? i know i'm in horrible shape, but i have to see juliette and everyone else could be in troubl-"

"it's over."

your face scrunches up in confusion, "what?"

aaron's silent for a few movements; you can't breathe. he looks down, his grip on you tightening, "they're dead. all of them."

you look at him in horror, your mouth open, but no words are released. your knees give out, and Aaron carries your full weight in his arms.

he slowly brings you both down to the ground next to the bed, still holding onto you. "i'm sorry, please believe me when i say that. if there was a way to spare you of this pain i would do it in a heartbeat."

you feel like a shell of yourself, you have no reaction, just an emotionless look on your face.

"what happened?" you say in a monotone voice.

"amor, i think you need to lay down or shower, then eat some-"

"what happened," you repeat with a harsher voice.

"they... overtook your friends, some were taken to be tortured, but most were.. shot dead."

"and omega point?"

"....destroyed. they got the coordinates and bombed the entire foundation."

you feel disconnected from reality; nothing feels real. everything is numb; you can't find it in yourself to let out any sort of emotion.

"so juliette, kenji, adam, james..."

aaron didn't need to answer for you to know. they're gone.

the first thing you did was laugh like a lunatic, aaron likely looked at you like you were mad. then finally, the tears came.

you yelled at aaron to get out, even though it was his room. in hysteria, you started levitating things and throwing them at him until he exited the room.

you don't know how long you spent sobbing on the floor next to the bed. you weren't even sure if you were going to stop.

your voice was sore from the number of times you wailed apologies to juliette for being a bad sister and for not being there to protect your friends.

when the tears finished, you reached denial. you knew your friends - there was no way they were dead. juliette was stronger than you, physically and sometimes mentally, so if you could survive a bullet to the chest, your sister could be alive.

when aaron comes back hours later to check on you, he didn't expect to see you walking around in new attire, packing clothes and items into a bag.

"what are you doing?"

"i have to go back."

aaron was taken aback by your statement, but you claimed there was a possibility there were people who survived. he countered saying he'd seen the damage and it wasn't likely. you didn't listen to him and continued preparing.

"this is unhealthy and possibly delusional thinking."

"well, then put me back in the asylum if i'm wrong. i'm going if you let me or not."

he sighs, and then gives in, not before insisting he comes along with you. now you were the one taken aback. was he actually offering to help you?

"why do you seem surprised? it's not as if i haven't made my care for you quite clear."

"no offense, but you're the most confusing man ever. i want to trust you, i've seen your good-natured side. you even claim to.. love me. but you work for the reestablishment, but then claim to be on my side. don't forget the fact you tried to turn juliette and i into weapons for the reestablishment, held us, hostage, at your base, and put us into a torture chamber. not exactly behavior that screams i want to help you."

at this he laughs then laughs harder and you get annoyed, not knowing what was funny. you were ready to kick him out again until he finally stooped.

"i suppose i owe you a long overdue explanation."

nothing prepared you for his next words. aaron began to retell the events from his perspective. starting with his true intentions of bringing you and juliette from the asylum - to study the both of you.

aaron explained his mother's condition, being unable to be touched - a reverse juliette basically. he sought out her at first, then discovered your existence and became intrigued more.

he invented the guise of using you both for weapons as a way for his father to agree to invest in you both.

as anderson mentioned before, juliette was of special interest because of her ability, and yours wasn't as impressive to him at the time. aaron had to convince the commander that your mind reading ability would be great for spy purposes.

once he brought the two of you to the base, he was ready to face 2 vicious and demented sisters, but it was literally the opposite of that. instead he got stuck with two stubborn and immature, you were offended at that, teenage girls.

"juliette was more of the hard-headed one, you mostly just followed along, i figured that out after the dinner and dress stunt. however, i can't say feeding you myself wasn't pleasurable for myself."

aaron saw your fear of your own ability and had intentions to help you and juliette, in his own way.

his tried various ways to unlock your potential - with juliette he tried anger and bullying and with you he knew you couldn't suppress hearing thoughts, so he figured spending time with you was the best option. but he came to understand how much he loved being around you.

"i was so addicted to being around you, i got sidetracked. but then my worry grew when you both showed no progress on enhancing your ability, so as a last resort, i arranged an experiment."

to your surprise, he revealed it was actually a simulation which was a major relief to you that no one was actually harmed by your powers, well, no one besides warner. but he partly deserved it for putting you through that.

although you were mad he implanted that fear into you, you had to admit. it did work.

"so, instead of finding some way to inform me earlier of all this, you make my sister and i think of you as some supervillain who wanted control of our autonomy." you grab the nearest pillow and launch it at him. "you're an idiot! we were scared out of our minds! juliette and i's last conversation was a fight over that! do you know much much time you could- are you seriously smiling?"

"god, i love it when you yell at me."

now that the ait was clear, you were able to put more of your faith into aaron and his intentions. and not feel bad about kissing him.

the two of you worked together on a plan to get you back to what was left of omega point.

you met an older gentleman by the name of delalieu. he was very sweet, but it got a little vexing every time he jumped to warner's defense whenever you made a remark; even ones said in levity. 

a few days later, when aaron deemed it safer, you both set off to leave. although you had the misfortune of having to be stuffed into a cart to avoid being spotted. at least it was better than the body bag you were transported in the first time.

the two of you transported to what was left of omega point in a tank. aaron notably was able to drive to the location with ease. you grew suspicious because one - he told his father he didn't know how to get there and two - he was unconscious the whole time you, juliette, kenji, and adam drove there. you decide to question him on the matter.

"i wasn't completely unconscious on the trip there. i was very conscious when you were touching my hair and tracing my features."

"i knew it! you little faker, you intentionally pushed yourself onto me didn't you!"

when you both arrived, the scene was as horrible as you imagined. - rubbles and dust everywhere and a huge gaping hole miles down. you felt sick thinking about everyone who stayed behind, including james. god, you hoped at least your friends were alright.

you were suddenly tackled to the ground by warner, and the sound of a gunshot followed after. a voice yelled out, and you immediately recognized it - kenji.

you got up instantly and ran to him, attacking him with a gigantic hug, tears brimming at your eyes.

"oh my god, i thought you were dead!"

"i thought you were dead!"

"you almost killed me right now when you shot at us like a lunatic!"

"sorry, i was aiming for warner- where'd he go?"

you change subject, "juliette? is she alright?"

kenji confirms she is alive, and you felt like you could breathe again. you needed to see her as soon as possible.

kenji started looking for warner like a madman, and you, too, were curious about his whereabouts - until he startled you by "showing" up behind you. he had turned himself invisible.

he was ready to take you both back before kenji shot him, but you declined to say you had to see juliette and anyone else that survived. aaron was reluctant but then handed you a pager, not that you knew what it was, and gave you a limit of four hours. you thought it to be ridiculous, but you compromised to ease his worries.

you and kenji ventured back to adam's house, your first time being there since you were unable to the first time around. he, heart-achingly, filled you in on the events, how they searched for you, how many were lost, and who remained. you told your side of the action, including everything with aaron.

kenji did have some judgemental comments, but you understood he was reeling from the shock of everything, especially from the details regarding aaron.

you bite your tongue when kenjii speaks ill of warner. defending him would only make you look naive, plus you couldn't deny the others had their reasoning for disliking the guy. you would end up sounding like delalieu.

"so what, you like the guy now? god, don't tell me your gullible enough to fall for it just because he's the first guy to show interest in you."

his words cut deep into you, but you don't respond and change the subject back to getting to the house. you didn't want to argue after being so happy kenji is alive. but damn did you want to give him a shove with your powers.

your spirits lifted as soon as you reached the destination. you pull kenji to the front door and urge him to open it. he knocks and confirms his identity before it's opened by winston, who was shocked to see you.

you greeted him quickly, feeling bad, but your main focus was your sister. next you see alia, castle, brendan, lily and alia. (all frozen to their spots as soon as they noticed you). when you see james you give him a tight hug, thankful for his well-being.

adam and juliette walked out of the kitchen engaged in conversation, not noticing you at first. then kenji drew their attention with a cough.

both of you were paralyzed at first; you were the first to break and jump at her with tears and an overbearing hug. she was quick to return it, then the both of you started crying in relief to see each other after thinking the other was dead.

"i'm so sorry for how we ended things, you had a right to be upset and i was a bad sister for not taking your feelings into account. "

"no, i'm the one who overreacted. i should've came with you the moment you told me you felt something was wrong."

"okay we get it elsa and anna; you're both very happy to see each other. please, no more tears."

you both pulled away, laughing softly at your dramatics. you turned and gave adam a much quicker hug, him happy to see you breathing.

with greeting out of the way, everyone's attention was turned back to you, particularly how you survived. you took a deep breath, and retold everything you told kenji, leaving out intimate details about aaron and you. everyone reacted similarly to the way kenji had.

the room then filled with different questions and thoughts, all voices one another, reminding you of listening to different people's thoughts at the same time. they all started assuming the worst in warner, and this time you did defend him - but it only made you look guilty.

the subject turned over to what was the next plan of action. castle was out of it, so he provided no help. adam was the first to protest any sort of fight, his concern for james overshadowing. juliette was on the fence about it for adam's sake, but you knew she wanted to fight against the reestablishment like everyone else, if not more. especially after all they had put the two of you through.

the conversation barely got past arguments before the front door was suddenly brought down. everyone, besides you, held up weapons to attack the intruder - you held up your hands, ready to use your power if necessary. but then you recognized the intruder quickly - aaron.

you ran over in front of him and advised everyone to stand down, but they didn't listen, they were too focused on the fact aaron had arrived.

you readied yourself to lower their weapons yourself, but then aaron made a move of his own and flung all the guns across the room with levitation.

"i was gonna do that.." you mumbled quietly to yourself.

"apologies, amor, i'll let you get them next time."

everyone else was stunned, you explained aaron's gift, but it was still a shock to see. a few banters are exchanged, but aaron, uncaring as ever, ignores them and proceeds to grab your arm so the two of you can leave. however, you stop him, not wanting to leave on bad terms.

you informed everyone that aaron was on your side, and they were understandably doubtful to believe it, but as they noticed how he acted with you, it became more believable.

you took the chance to try to persuade everyone to stand up again against the rebellion. juliette and kenji were the first to side with you, and slowly everyone followed along, adam and ian being the ones more reluctant. you could respect adam for thinking of james and juliette, and ian was just an asshole, but he was also mourning. in a turn of events, castle chimed in with his support.

aaron, not thrilled about the new members of your alliance, announced the two of you would be leaving. juliette protested, not wanting to be away from you after she just got you back.

part of you longed to lay on the comfortable bed back at the base, but you needed to stay with your team. so, you made an agreement aaron could return for you the next day.

"so i'll come back for you tomorrow? thirteen hundred hours."

"thirteen hundred hours? like from now?"

"it means one o'clock."

"... one o'clock is not thirteen hundred hours from now."

aaron was holding back a laugh, juliette was just as confused, and kenji physically facepalmed.

aaron eventually left after you reassured him you'd be fine. ian was of no help as he kept insulating it was better if you left. adam stormed off not long after, juliette following to calm him. she returned looking dejected and assumed she and adam fought. kenji suggested the three of you go out for a walk, although it was late.

during the night stroll, all three of you got emotions off your chest. kenji's feelings about the whole situation, juliette's issues with adam (they were still technically broken up) , and your turmoil with warner. kenji was somewhat holding back, but you knew he was just trying to hold up a strong facade.

as you disclosed your confusion and feelings, kenji had many questions, from disbelief, and juliette mainly just patiently listened and remained silent.

"so you like the guy, for what his personality? totally has nothing to do with his looks?

"hey, i'm not shallow! ...aaron just happens to be gifted with excellent looks."

"hearing you call him aaron is so weird. and i'm not judging you if you did. seeing adam shirtless is probably what drew juliette to him at the start."

"hey!"

the light banter made the solemn conversation easier to talk through. it was nice to be always from everything for a bit, and just act like friends.

you three returned back, kenji walked to the door first, and juliette grabbed your wrist to stop you from following him.

"i just want to talk to you alone real quick. about warner,.. or aaron, whatever you call him."

you held your breath, partly ready for her to possibly start another argument.

"i know you're confused about what you feel for him still, but i need you to know if you decide you love him - i'll support you. i don't want it to get in the way our bond. after everything that's happened... i realized there no time to waste on petty little things, especially about guys. all that should matter is we're always here for each other."

you give each other another heartfelt and tearful hug; glad kenji wasn't there to comment on how sappy and emotional it is.

"so, just between us sisters, do you think you love him?"

you laugh, and open the truth of your heart of her.

back inside, you all prepared for him or, as aaron called it a "slumber party." wasn't too far off since everyone besides james, adam, and castle slept on the ground.

your place was between kenji and juliette, each of you having your own pillow and blanket. winston and brendan bantered a bit about kicking faces before the turns finally went out.

"kenji, i know it will be incredibly hard, but keep your hands to yourself."

"you wish. you should be telling your sister that, she's basically all over me every night."

"shut up."

the next day brought a lot of drama. the day started off late, leaving little time to discuss before aaron arrived. another fight between adam and juliette set off. the issue being that aaron was coming back, which adam was completely against. he had been fine with your stay, but he wouldn't compromise for letting him return. adam gave an ultimatum, if you brought warner he would essentially kick you out.

juliette went to your defense and partly aaron's for your benefit. this only set off adam more. kenji tried his hand at intervening but only got backlash from adam, who stormed off outside after. everyone else stayed quiet, but you could tell one or two silently agreed with adam.

you didn't wanna stir any more trouble than needed, so you started preparing yourself to go, clicking the little mechanism aaron gave you a couple times to ensure it worked.

brendan, winston, castle, lily insisted you stay as well. james also gave a small plead for you to remain. juliette believed she could still talk some sense into adam.

it felt great to have their support, but at the same time, you felt bad for having to divide everyone into teams, yours or adam's. instead of building a team, you were tearing one apart.

before you knew it, the newly fixed door was again slammed open by the same intruder from the day before. aaron barged in, almost of breath and distressed. you thought something happened to him because of how disarranged he looked.

he locked his gaze on you and speedily grabbed you in his arms, cupping your face and scanning you up and down for any injuries. you were a bit embarrassed as everyone was a witness to aaron fussing over your well-being.

"did you run here?"

"of course, you beeped the pager."

you assured him you were alright and turned back to everyone with faces of incredulity.

"woah, this is... freaky." winston began.

"i worked for this guy for more than a year and never even saw him smile."

you explained to aaron that you couldn't stay at the house any longer but couldn't leave everyone else either. he offers to have them stay in the training area, but kenji declines, needing a better offer. juliette sides with kenji, the rest don't fully trust warner, so they need reassurance.

you couldn't bare the thought of leaving everyone again, so you pleaded to aaron to give in to their demands, willing to compromise whatever. you were happy and a little shocked, along with everyone else, when he accepted the terms.

"i'll return tomorrow at fourteen hundred ho-" he sees your confused face again, "2 o'clock. i really must educate you on military time, amor"

"or you could just say the time on a clock like the average person."

aaron takes your hand and guides you back to the tank to make your way back to the base before anyone notes his disappearance.

you express your gratitude for his help, and he responds by saying there's not need, he would do whatever to ease your pain. he also partly owed it to you for being so dismissive when you believed your friends were alive.

"i know they all judge you right now, and maybe they always will. but, i do believe you're a good person, and sure, you have flaws, but who doesn't - i am certainly no saint. i don't want to fix you...just want to make you see yourself in a better light like i do." your final words before falling into a slumber against the window.

you return back to the base the way you came in with delalieu's help. your both back in aaron's room, not having said a word to each other since the tank. aaron's started to ask questions about what had happened back at adam's house. you briefly told him about the drama about adam not wanting you there if you were with warner.

aaron became upset, not liking how adam treated you, and reassured you he would harm him if you wanted him to. you quickly assure him that you didn't care about it, you weren't going to beg to stay where you weren't wanted. you were mostly concerned about what it had done to whatever relationship was left between juliette and adam. she obviously loved him, but she couldn't hold herself back for him either.

you go silent at the mention of juliette, remembering your last private conversation. aaron, being able to easily feel your emotions, pick up and it and presses for information.

"it's just.. she asked me if i loved you."

aaron's breath hitches, "what was your response."

"i told her, 'love is a strong word. i'm not even sure i fully understand it. but i think...no i know. i'm falling for him.' "

aaron didn't respond, he got up and went to his office, shutting the door behind him. you weren't sure what it meant. and you didn't see him for the rest of the day.

you couldn't sleep that night; your mind was doing circles in anticipation of the group's arrival tomorrow.

you got up with the intention of solely getting a glass of water, but then heard a loud noise come from the direction aaron's office.

wanting to make sure he was okay, you walked in without notice. the door was already halfway open, so you figured it was alright.

the room was bigger than your childhood home's living room; it was filled with different seats of furniture, books, shelf, etc. aaron was at his large desk - his shirt discarded and only wearing slacks and socks.

aaron's brushes you off, telling you to go to bed, but your focus is on a small jar in his hands. you ask what it is, but he avoids answering, so you grab the object yourself. he attempts to get it from you, but you move away - deja vu to when aaron wouldn't return your journal to you. it felt nice to be on the flip side of it for once.

you read the label and understood it was a medicine. then it clicked; it was for his scars. and he was embarrassed about it. it was kind of cute.

he confirms it's for his back, so you nicely offer to do it for him since he seemed to have trouble reaching it. he was obviously self-conscious no matter how much he denied it, and you told him it didn't matter; you'd already seen them. but he kept turning his back away from you. you were getting suspicious that the scars were only part of the reason he was hiding.

you got annoyed and impulsively used your power to keep him sat and finally make his back face you. you could apologize later.

then you saw it. yes, his scars were still there, but on top of that were your wonky star doodles. the ones you drew in his cells two weeks ago in his cell at omega point.

you were confused about how they were still there, darker than you remember. the pen you used was lousy; you would know since you used it to write and the ink always smudged. the pen ink was also blue, and this was black. the skin around it was also freshly red.

"wait.. is this tattooed?"

his silence confirmed it. you were speechless. he tattooed your silly little doodles. he needed the medicine to numb the pain of the ink.

"why would you do this?"

"figured it your mark was better than the ones my dad left me."

"aaron."

"it was the first time i looked at my back and smiled."

you think your heart burst on the spot.

"god, i would've made them better if i knew you were gonna mark it."

"they're perfect." god, you were ready to melt.

you compose yourself and insist you put on the medicine since it was your tattoo design that's causing him slight pain. he didn't protest this time. you applied it in silence, then worked up the courage to ask about his scars.

aaron was very hesitant, you were ready to be shut down, but then he opened up to you. his scars being a 'birthday gift' from his father. it was heartbreaking to hear and almost brought tears to your eyes, but you knew pity was the last thing he wanted.

"when you saw them back in my cell, i waited to see that look of repulse on your face, but it never came. you observed them so carefully like they were the most interesting thing to you. then you had the gall to say it was similar to abstract art."

"well, it's true. they're not ugly, and you're certainly not repulsive. the scars are like a show of strength for everything you've been through. they're yours; only you decide what they represent. anyone who thinks differently is a total loser."

"please, stop."

"i'm sorry, did i say something wr-"

"i love you. so much that the first thing i did when returning here after escaping omega point was getting delalieu to tattoo my skin because your marks faded. i didn't even let myself wash off in fear they'd disappear before i got a chance to preserve them. i couldn't wipe the smile off my face whenever i looked at it through a mirror. it always reminded me of you. our moments. our last kiss. i burn for you greatly, and you don't even realize it."

"aaron..."

"don't."

"you know how i feel. but i'm still figuring it out, this is all new to me, and i want to get to know you better-"

"please. just go." and you did.

the following day, right on schedule, aaron goes to pick up the group while you stay behind waiting in the training facility that he briefly gave you a tour of.

the group arrived, and you happily greeted them as they looked around the place in awe. aaron began to go over rules and boundaries for the group. after the previous night, you were unsure about where you stood with warner, so you decided to give him some space and stand with the rest of the group. as he spoke, he threw not-so subtle glances your way, making you confused about whether he was upset with you or not.

aaron ventured off, everyone was setting up their items, and you separated with kenji and juliette. they book had look more distressed upon their arrival. apparently, juliette took one last chance to try and convince adam to come along, he didn't budge, saying he had to protect james and encouraged juliette to stay as well. it resulted in an argument; eventually, he respected her decision to fight - but it would mean the end for them. you comforted your sister through her heartbreak, adam had been a big part of her life, even a bit of yours. so to say goodbye must've been hard for her.

kenji also tried to persuade adam, but it escalated, and the two started throwing harsh words at each other. you knew adam was his friends, whether they both acknowledged it or not, and after omega point, you were sure kenji didn't want to lose anyone else. leaving james behind made it worse.

the direction of conversation then turned to you, and you were originally going to deny any conflict, but kenji and juliette picked up on the tension between you and aaron.

juliette starts, "so, what happened with warner?"

"don't know what you mean."

kenji and juliette give each other a mutual glance, " we aren't blind; the guy kept looking at you as if you'd killed his puppy. like seriously, there could've been a rain cloud over him with how much he was sulking."

you opened up to the happenings of last night, leaving out too personal information about warner, and how you weren't sure what to do now. kenji lost his mind at the bit about the tattoo, this new side of warner still weirding him out.

"i thought you were into him?"

"i mean, i am. it's just all so confusing. i'm not trying to string him along, i just want to truly know him before i could want more with him. it feels like he knows every single thing about me, while i'm barely starting to paint a picture. or maybe he only thinks he loves me or he's only interested in me because of my gift."

"dude, everything he has done for us so far is all because of you. what kind of guy tattoo's a stupid drawing someone drew on their back? and i swear he gets cartoon heart eyes when he looks at you too long. i know i called you naive for believing it, but that was before i saw first hand how intimate his feelings are for you."

"he's right, y/n. think about if he only cared about your gift, he would've been treating us the same, after all, he brought both of us in. sure, he acts decent towards me, but i'm pretty sure it has more to do with the fact we're sisters. you don't play nice with someone's family unless you really like them."

you were silent as you absorbed both their perspectives.

kenji sighs, "damn, i need a love life."

"interested in someone else."

"technically single, but i'd choose the asylum over you."

"i'm starting to miss when you both were meek and quiet."

after that friendly therapy session, you regained your focus on the important task, formulating a plan to overtake anderson. you had a few ideas, some you talked about with aaron, but a seventeen-year-old girl can only do so much on her own, so that's why you bring in your sister, who is also seventeen. as the two of you went through essentially the same trauma, she had as much right to be a big part of this as you.

aaron came back hours later, and everyone gathered around and took a seat somewhere. to your surprise, aaron sat down right the to you. the tension is so much worse side by side. knowing aaron could read what you felt didn't make it better.

you began to illustrate the details of the plan, juliette helping fill in and explain points. the goal is to get anderson to sector 45; to do that, you had to take over sector 45. getting people and soldiers to rebel was going to be the trickiest part, and much of the group wasn't on board that it could work.

"we're going to have to show them our strengths, i'll help them see our strength." you explain.

"and if they shoot us?" ian counters..

juliette shrugs, "then don't do it, i'm sure my sister and i are capable of being amazing by ourselves."

"real humble , j."

brendan speaks up, "so, we've got somewhat of a synopsis of juliette's gift, but, no offense y/n, what is it you can do besides read minds?"

it was true; almost everyone wasn't aware of other capabilities you possessed. you didn't like to divulge your gift much back at omega point, kenji, juliette, and castle knowing the most. unlike juliette, who had many different events where she showed her amazing strength, and you were sure they saw more when she practiced at adam's house while you were separated.

you briefly revealed more about your powers, mind-reading, telekinesis, and your ongoing training in telepathic defense. you admitted to losing control a few times as well. the group looked more amazed as you went on.

"prove it."

"yeah, c'mon dude, show us."

everyone else started egging you on to make a show of your powers; you even saw aaron look interested in wanting to see it. you gave in, and asked aaron for permission to throw some objects around, he nodded.

you started levitating different objects and throwing a few around. kenji started begging for you to lift him, so you did - then winston and brendan kept begging to go next. you showcased a small shield of energy you were able to produce. lastly, they wanted to see your telepathic projection, but you explained it would involve harming one of them, so you shut it down.

"so like, you can do all that too right? since you can steal powers?" winston questions warner.

"yes, if i wanted to i could take hers, or any of your powers and use it."

you cough into your hand, "no one's better than the original, though."

"so the two of you together can basically can..."

"take over the world?"

"...was going to say kick serious ass, but you're not wrong."

warner doesn't respond, but you can see him holding back a smile.

the thought of warner taking powers was eerie to the group, but you reassured them of your faith and trust in aaron. then the conversation redirects to the plan. castle questions of what is supposed to happen if you do win, such as who is going to lead.

"i will." juliette pulls you by the arm next to her, "and y/n will help me."

the room falls silent. even warner is still. your head snaps to your sister, that was not a topic the two of you discussed. nor did you know it was up for discussion. you, of course, didn't express your surprise, you couldn't show doubt when this whole meeting relied on trust. juliette's speech on the new world motivated everyone to follow through with the battle plan, you silently supported it, but in your mind, you didn't think it was the best idea for you both to lead a whole country. you think juliette forgets just how young and inexperienced you both are.

but you were sure this was a problem that could be mended later, right?

aaron and you were alone in his room again, the silence so deafening, you mentally cringed. you attempted to start the conversation on his thoughts about the plan, but he began to brush you off. frustrated, you call him out on his recent behavior.

"why is it all or nothing with you? i didn't reject you- all i said was i want to know you better, i saw you in a bad light for a good while. i want to see the positive just as much."

"or maybe you're just expecting too much from me."

"why are you being so stubborn!"

"because you being disgusted with what you learn, would end me."

he walked out after, a common occurrence, it seemed, these past days.

you vented all your frustrations into training the next day. you told yourself you wouldn't focus on warner, no matter how good he looked in sweatpants, and instead use your pent-up energy to master your powers.

it paid off well; you got closer to creating a shield. but maybe a little too well, since you accidentally launched kenji across the room with your energy force. he got you back off, turning invisible and tripping you. juliette concentrated on moving her dumbbell with the force of will, but she struggled. reminded you a lot of your training at omega point. you offered her tips on what worked for you, and kenji coached.

at some point, you went to the back to drink from your water bottle, unintentionally near where warner was bench pressing. then suddenly you heard someone yell 'get down'. it all happened in a flash, you turned around a bit late, and the rock wall behind you came crumbling down at you. you quickly attempted to lift your hands, levitate most of the impact and braced yourself. suddenly, instead of your body colliding with dozen of sharp rocks, you were surrounded in bubbles. you turned the rumble into fucking bubbles.

you stood mouth wide open in shock for a minute, the people around you just as amazed. aaron was the first to run to you, asking if you were alright, and you nodded, still a bit shocked. he expressed his astoundment at your newfound skill.

juliette then came up to you and profusely apologized, and you assured her you were okay and accidents happen.

"i can't count how many times i almost knocked out castle with things during my training. you'll get the hang of it. plus, i'm sure aaron had trouble learning to control power too."

"oh, no. though i've always been very good at everything i do."

you smack his chest, "you are seriously no help."

you continue to train very hard for the rest of the week, your muscle will likely permanently ache in pain.

you and aaron hadn't gotten much better, you really did try to reach out so many times, but if he wasn't going to cooperate, why waste energy.

he made a habit of intentionally putting his focus on things around the base and working late, so he wouldn't see you until you were already asleep.

if things ended badly between you two, i'd be because of his own stupidity, not for your lack of trying nor the judgment of his character.

other than that, all was well. until kenjii decided to casually drop a bomb that adam and james were coming to the base. juliette started freaking out, and you weren't sure where you and adam stood, but you were excited to see james again.

adam arrived, and tensions between the ex-couple were high. they both were cordial but weren't sure how to act around one another. adam went up and apologized to you for his treatment, and you accepted it because he was once your friend, and you hated grudges. james excitedly greeted you, and you gave him a small tour.

then aaron showed up, ignoring adam, but he and james went back in forth in exchanges. it was very entertaining to watch, and aaron pointed out your enjoyment.

"why do you call her amor?"

"it means love in spanish."

"so, do you love her?"

"why, do you?"

"n-no! she's really pretty- i mean, i like her...no, ugh, she's like a million years older than me!"

"hey! i'm not prehistoric!"

you cut the exchange short, grabbing james on the shoulders and dragging him away, "how about we go back t kenji while i explain to you age numbers..."

you and juliette got upgrades in suits. yours similar to your former, but with minor changes. your color was now a darker red with accents of black, your coat was now high to low with slides for the sides of your legs to show, new knee-high combat coots, and new long fingerless gloves. yours and juliette's new material was made to accommodate your powers.

for training, you watched juliette and kenji go back in forth in combat - kenji mostly won due to technique, but juliette overpowered him a few times.

aaron came up to you, and insisted the two of you train in combat together. you rejected his offer; combat was not your forte, you were repeatedly told by kenji many times. so you just stuck to using your powers. but aaron wouldn't back off.

"it's important to learn combat, amor."

"if i run into a bad guy i'll just fling him away."

"and when you can't use your powers, what happens?"

you were going to argue that wouldn't happen, but knew it wouldn't suffice for him, so you just gave in, so he would shut up.

it was no shocker that he easily blocked your punches and stopped any attack. he even had the audacity to be amused at how badly you were doing.

"wow, you are quite terrible."

"okay, i get it i suck. can i go back to my training?"

"c'mon, amor, don't give up so easily. punch me."

as much as you were annoyed, you didn't want to physically hurt him. aaron laughed when you told him that. that itself, ticked you off. and it did not help that now you had an audience invested in the interaction.

you still didn't relent, aaron was a bit disappointed, but he focused on fixing your form.

you don't know if it was the fact aaron laughed, his constant comments, or all your pent-up frustration, but something came over you. while aaron was distracted with giving walking you through hitting an opponent, you hit him - hard. you might've used some of your powers to make the hit stronger, but he didn't need to know that.

aaron staggered back, shockingly caught off guard. you honestly expected him to block it like your other ones; but no you managed to land a hit on his cheekbone area, hitting some of the side of his nose. your poor form made for your knuckles to hurt badly.

everyone stopped what they were doing; even you froze. kenji in the back, trying not to laugh. aaron then recovered, his land touching the side of his face. his face didn't show anger, pain, nor surprise - he was smiling in admiration.

"oh my god, i'm so sorry!"

"no, don't apologize, amor. i'm very content being the first to experience your strength firsthand."

you and aaron ended up cutting practice short and went to the infirmary. you helped treat the large bruise on his face you'd given him as a small apology, and he wrapped your sprained knuckles and partly chasted you for incorrect hand form. was he looking to get punched again?

the following day, aaron woke you up earlier than your normal routine. he mentioned an opportunity for you and juliette to finally get practice outside of the base, and you quickly agreed. you asked why so suddenly, and then he disclosed he was going to visit his mother. it was her birthday, he explained. he didn't say much after that and went over that kenji will keep you and juliette invisible after he leaves.

but you couldn't help your curiosity and asked a little about his mother. hearing the story of his ring broke your heart. the only gifts you got were when you and juliette exchanged homemade gifts for your shared birthday, but the story made you appreciate that tradition much more.

"i think it's good you still visit her."

"is it?"

"it is. knowing you have someone there is sometimes enough. whenever i remembered i had my sister with me, it made the asylum not completely terrible. and around you, i feel like i achieve anything."

juliette, kenji, and you, invisible, met with warner at his tank. you didn't even need to tell him of your presence before he helped you into the tank and got on the driver side to start it.

"how'd you..." you ask, confused.

"i can sense your presences. especially yours."

"woah, freaky. what's mine feel like? peanut better?" he got ignored.

you settled on the opposite window side, juliette next to you, and kenji next to aaron. kenji started shuffling around, uncomfortable.

"dude, y/n, switch seats with me."

"what why?"

"your boyfriend is touching my leg."

"you flatter yourself." aaron interjects.

"c'mon hurry up! i think he's about to knife me..."

"just switch with juliette. it's easier."

"no way, if i'm gonna move, i might as well get the window seat."

you roll your eyes (not that he can see), and the two of you begin a messy movement of bodies to switch seats. poor juliette, stuck in the middle, getting hit by an occasional limb.

"ow, you just hit me in the face-" juliette complains.

"sorry, i'm trying my best-"

"now you just hit me!" you exclaim.

"oh my god, let me just-"

"kenji!"

kenji was the first to get to his new seat, you were situated over both him and juliette. kenji, tired of your leg in his face, shoved you with brief warning. and in an attempt to stable yourself you put your hands out on aaron's lap, but one hand missed. and landed on his groin. aaron visibly flinched and put his lips together in a straight line to contain his painful expression.

you gasped and hastily moved your hands in a panic, then to make matters worse - you fell face first in his lap. you were so happy to be invisible at the moment.

aaron takes a sharp intake of air, and his knuckles turn white from how tight he grips the wheel. you scramble you sit correctly, accidentally putting a hand on his groin again before finally in the seat. the silence was deafening.

aaron promptly dropped you both off at an empty site and bid you goodbye. you gave him some last words for comfort that you noticed he appreciated. then he went off.

sometime later, it was time for the four of you to meet up again. the practice had been somewhat successful. there were many miscalculations with practicing and being invisible. the three of you kept stumbling into each other, having the wrong place meant, and arguing over who was right. but ignoring that, you did get some practice in there.

aaron, however, was unusually late. it worried you. kenji and juliette didn't think much of it. but since you knew his location, you sensed there was something wrong. you asked both of them to check on him to ensure he was already, and you three walked to the house. you avoided mentioning aaron's mother.

you asked juliette and kenji to wait outside as you went inside.knji begrudgingly agreed, ensuring he could keep the invisibility up inside, too. juliette bid you to be careful and return as soon as possible.

you saw a few different pictures of aaron with his mother as a child. you looked through different rooms until you found him. he was sitting on the floor with his knees to his chest, his frame trembling. his mother died; you put together. you quickly knelt down and gave him a hug that he accepted. you let him hold you tightly as he sobs sorrowfully. it was painful to witness, so you let him cry onto your shoulder for however long he needed.

an hour later you returned, kenji and juliette already in the tank, no invisibility. you didn't need for them to say anything to know they had questions, so you avoided their gaze. next to you, aaron held your hand the whole way back

his mother's death reminded you of his family, the unknown fact to him that he shares blood with adam and james. you wanted him to know, but truly, you didn't want any part of that mess. knowing was already knawing at you as it was. juliette disagreed; she thought adam needed to tell aaron.

you thought leaving aaron alone was the best decision. you even planned to spend the night where everyone else was. but as you were packing a bag, he stopped you. aaron grabs your arm and turns you to look at him.

"you're right. i am holding back. i was telling you how much you were in denial, but it was me who was holding back. you've always seen me in a light like no one has. i've never thought of myself as even a decent man until you came around. and it scares me. so much. i'm afraid of disappointing you, and you'll be disgusted with me, see the monster i see every day in the mirror. but if giving more of myself is all it takes to be yours, then it's done. you can learn every crevice of my soul if it means you'll stay with me."

you knew it then, "i love you." you are in love.

he grabs your face and kisses you in less than a second. the kiss being so loving and careful, he takes his time memorizing your lips. he lifts you in the air prompting you to wrap your legs around his waist. from there, the kiss molds into passion and need. before you know it, you're both lying on the bed with him hovering over you.

aaron groans into your mouth, "say it again."

you softly giggle, "i love you."

"god, you have no idea what you just unleashed, amor."

your stomach is doing a million glips. your entire body is in frenzy. you're ready to have a heart attack there and then. it was only just the beginning as well.

"lift your hips for me, amor."

"c'mon, angel, don't get shy on me now."

"i'm afraid you're never getting rid of me now mi amor."

very long night.

you slept through most of the morning, only woken up by aaron laying kissing down your neck. then he started going lower down your body. any sleep you had was now gone.

"aaron.. what are you doing."

"nothing."

"liar."

"shhh.. you just lay there, i'm just going to enjoy my breakfast."

the man was insaitable; you were sure you weren't ever gonna get out of bed that day. but eventually, you did. had to dedicate half an hour to walking properly again.

you went to you rfinal fitting for suits, and the new look was incredible. juliette traded the purple for a new black suit - kenji not liking his color stolen.

"why am i the only one in color now?"

"so, you can get spotted and shot at first while the rest of us get away." kenji answers.

"you're the worst."

aaron walked up behind you and whispered in your ear, "how quickly can you take this off?"

you smack his chest and give a playful disapproving look.

"i mean, it definitely can stay on, too."

"aaron!"

the bliss of everything helped ease your nerves for the following day. you were sat in aaron's room going over the plan for the millionth time. aaron kept reassuring you you'd be perfect and worrying will do nothing but install fear.

"it's just... what if it backfires. what if no one listens or surrenders?"

"it wont and they will."

"you're right. i'll just tell them my scary boyfriend will come after them."

"for you? always." he kisses your cheek, "i like the sound of you saying boyfriend, but scary?"

"well, everyone besides me is pretty scared of you."

"and what about you, what do you think of me?"

"i think you're cute."

"cute? yeah, let me show you just how cute, i can be."

aaron can never take his off of you for too long.

the next day, you, juliette, and the others stood in front of sector 45. both the people and the soldiers gathered there, all of their eyes fixed on your group. it was like the world's largest show and tell.

aaron started it off with a speech, informing everyone of the truth and the fact you and juliette were alive and well. then your sister took over, and directly told the crowd the plan to destroy the reestablishment, you gave a few words of your own, but juliette did most of the talking much to your relief.

then the questions from the crowd starting, so it was time for the group to showcase their powers. finally it was down to juliette and you.

juliette climbed to a building s good hundred feet from the ground, then jumped off and landed - making the ground tremble and shatter beneath her.

"how the hell do i top that?" you whisper to yourself.

with a comforting look from aaron, and a deep breath, you stepped into the front. you looked for a fairly easy but impressive thing to lift and spotted a very tall tower. bingo.

using your ability, you began carefully levitating it above the ground. you closed your hand into a fist, and the tower began breaking into bits. people began to panic as the rubble started coming toward them, but suddenly, you transformed the pieces into butterflies flying around the people. everyone looking around in amazement.

you took the biggest deep breath once you were done. very happy your practice paid off, and you didn't accidentally end up killing a crowd.

the crowd cheered and roared. the presentation proved to be successful because they got on board with destroying the reestablishment. the soldiers surrendered and joined the rebellion.

back in the training room, everyone was overjoyed with the success of overtaking sector 45, but now came the hardest part. winning a war.

juliette ran straight to you, attacking you in a very strong hug. so strong you had to tell her to chill on the power a bit. she apologized and released you. the recent events were still reeling in your mind, not fully comprehended.

"oh my god, juliette what did we just do?"

"we just started a war my dearest sister."

and now you had to wait to face anderson in likely a day or two. he almost killed you last time. but you wouldn't let him get lucky again.

the group, minus aaron, sat in the training room discussing what was next. one talk to another led to the topic of anderson.

"i've never even met the guy. wonder what he's like?"

"he's handsome. it's actually insane how evil, but striking he is." you blurt out.

juliette agrees, but the group looks at you weirdly.

"dude, you just called your boyfriend's dad attractive."

"what? i don't mean it in a weird way."

"hey, at least you've got a backup option if the first anderson doesn't work out. "

you throw a pillow at kenji's head.

then the topic of anderson's name came about, and that's when the trouble began. adam answered his name was paris; but suddenly, aaron arrived in the room, overhearing the conversation.

aaron put him against the wall, interrogated him on how he knew, and adam not saying anything. you couldn't take it anymore, so you yelled out the truth.

"he's your bother!"

aaron didn't believe it. juliette kept pressuring adam until he finally confessed. everyone gave the two of them space to work things out as everyone else busied themselves. when all was on steady terms, aaron sat with you.

"you should've told me."

"i know, i'm sorry. but it really wasn't my secret to tell."

"i had a right to know."

"c'mon, if you had some sort of family secret of mine, would you tell me right away?"

he hesitates, "you're right. you didn't want to get involved, i understand that."

you tell yourself it didn't matter, but you couldn't help but ask, did he deliberately avoid answering. you brush it off, probably nothing.

you returned to aaron's room, you both talked about the brother situation more, and aaron mentioned spending more time with both kent's. you were happy to see he was content to learn about his new family and want to see them more.

"this is great. i'm happy when you're happy. it's deserve more close people in your life."

"but i have you, and that's enough."

"very sweet, but family relationships are different. i was fortunate to have a sister in my life. what if my mother hadn't had the both of us, juliette not being my sister? seems unimaginable.."

aaron goes rigid, being in his lap, you notice immediately, "you alright?"

he relaxes and nods, "this whole situation has me a bit disorientated. enough brother talk. let me remind you why our relationship has much better advantages than other ones.."

a full night of sleep was just a foreign concept at this point.

it took one day for anderson to come to the sector. you all had luckily kind of prepared for it, so there was a plan set that you all were to follow. kenji, juliette, and you were responsible for going to the ship to deal with anderson while the rest took care of the matter on land.

before separating, you said your farewell and good luck to aaron. you tried to cry when saying goodbye to james and promising all would be fine. lastly, you gave aaron a kiss, and you promised each other to be safe.

"i have no doubts that you will succeed. my father can't even fathom the power you possess."

as you three board the port, you notice the massive groups of soldiers. juliette has the idea of you pushing them into the water with your powers, which you do.

you each take turns getting onto the ship, 5-second gap each. however, once you get inside, you can't find neither juliette or kenji. still invisible, you take your chances going through different doors, trying not alert soldiers.

but it fails because bullets began shooting in your direction. you run as fast as you can; unlike juliette, you are not invincible neither was your suit, at least not entirely.

with your invisibility gone, you get cornered with at least 7 soldiers, armed. your instincts kick in, and you start throwing men and attacking them with your energy. one soldier begins shooting at you when you're caught off guard. you hold your hand out as a protection and close your eyes, but you see the bullet is stopped - by your shield. you hadn't even made an effort to create it yet, and it presented itself like it was an automatic presence.

after witnessing that, the guard abandoned the ship and ran off. you couldn't blame him; you doubt he got paid enough to deal with all this.

you attention is shifted when you heard loud crashes and screams. you recognize them as your friend and your sister. you rush toward the room where the sound was originating.

you see kenji on the ground in pain and juliette not too far off; she's crouched down, clutching her head, and struggling to stand. you spot anderson, with another man, who you recognize is causing juliette's pain with his sonic wave gift.

you focus your energy on the boy, focusing on hurting him. then he stops his pressure waves and starts howling in pain, crouching down like juliette had. you were in a trance, channeling all your energy into hurting the guy, then - you snapped his neck.

you ran to juliette first, helping her get up, then you checked on kenji who was in worse shape.

anderson drew his gun, and started shooting bullets at you both, but it simply just bounced off. you and juliette drew your own weapons; you looked at each other and knew what had to happen next.

you focus your energy on anderson, his legs then collapse under him. he starts scrambling on the ground. juliette steps on his hands - shattering his borns with her power.

"remember that lesson on justice getting served?"

you shoot him in the chest, and juliette aims for his head.

4 shots - one for adam, one for aaron, one for juliette, and one for you.

it was a blur after that. sara and sonya were found and attended to kenji who was luckily not in any fatal condition, he would be okay.

it felt like you were experiencing someone out-of-body, unreal. juliette went up to the speaker system, capable of speaking to the entirety of the sector. she announced the end of the reestablishment and its new leader.

he was dead. it was over.

still bloodied and bruised, you stood on the tallest tower of the compound. you hadn't talked to anyone; everyone too busy rejoicing. but you were still digesting everything that had just happened.

you look over the new land and wonder what could be in store next.

you're not surprised when juliette and aaron find you, they know you too well at this point. they don't say anything and each take a side next to you. aaron puts a hand around your waist and tugs you toward him.

"the entire rest of the world is coming after us now, you know."

"i'd love to see them try." juliette says confidently.

"i believe as long as our bonds remain strong, we can overcome anything." though. that wasn't how you really felt.

you didn't want to damper a glorious day. but you couldn't help the pit forming inside of your stomach, telling you this was only the beginning of a treacherous path.

but nothing come could destroy the bonds you forged, right?

@whatsupb18 @letspretendimnottrash @heart-an0n @mrsspector-grant @kikilarast10 @nina357 @lupinswolfsbanes (tysm for the support)

#aaron warner x reader #aaron warner imagine #aaron warner #aaron warner anderson #aaron warner fanfic #shatter me #shatter me fanfic #shatter me series #juliette ferrars #kenji kishimoto #adam kent #x female reader #x y/n #x reader #reader insert #reader imagine #headcannons

[tojisangrylittlething]

Can you do Gojo Satoru x reader (also his age like idk they went to schopl together) and they r dating but the reader almost dies and then treats their death mockingly as if as a joke? How would Gojo react?

Have a lovely day! 🪷

summary: death has always been a joke to you, but your boyfriend isn't very pleased with your sick sense of humor.

tw: canon typical violence, near-death experience, cussing, pre-hidden inventory arc, hurt to comfort

wc: 3.4k

a/n: your wish is my command lovely anon! sorry it took me a bit to complete! you're my first ever ask, so i hope this is what you wanted <3

satoru is currently walking through the courtyard of jujutsu tech. it's his second year as a student and his reputation as the strongest grows by the day. he feels incredibly lucky to have met his friends, such as suguru and ieiri.

but then there's you.

the bright-eyed first year who caught his attention the minute you walked through the doors of the school. shyly introducing yourself, holding out your hand shakily with a timid smile adorning your breathtaking features.

satoru was starstruck, his brain short-circuited and he forgot how to fucking breathe. it took him at least 2 whole minutes to shake your hand and give you an adequate greeting.

as you walked away with nanami and haibara, satoru couldn't help but watch as you did. your hips swaying and hands swinging freely at your sides, laughing at something haibara said. god, satoru will never forget your smile for as long as he lives.

suguru about had to unleash a curse on his best friend to get him to come back to planet earth.

from that day forward, satoru knew that he had to have you. whatever satoru gojo wants, satoru gojo gets.

after a few months of pining and romantic gestures, satoru finally convinced you to go on a date. as the date was coming to a close, he kissed you under the vibrant lights on the city streets of tokyo. the only time that he ever hesitated was when he asked you to be his partner, to be the one who loved and cared for him despite his flaws.

satoru couldn't help but kiss you again the second you said yes, completely overwhelmed with the feeling of joy.

now, six months later, your relationship has bloomed into something exquisite. you've shared many laughs, cries, and tender moments that satoru cherishes deeply in his soul.

he currently walks to see yaga, something about having a new mission for him. you're supposed to be back from your own respective mission today and satoru hopes he'll get to see you before he leaves.

satoru hears his phone ringing from his pocket, he reaches down and grabs it, eyes scanning over the caller ID.

shoko is calling...

he furrows his brows, a bit confused as to why she would be calling. shrugging it off, he presses the green answer button and holds it up to his ear.

"shoko! to what do i owe the-"

the sound of her sniffling immediately stops satoru in his tracks.

"shoko? what's going on?"

he hears her clear her throat and she sighs. gojo chews the dead skin off his bottom lip anxiously, speculating what she could say next.

"something happened to y/n. we're in the medical wing."

satoru feels his heart drop straight to his stomach, eyes growing wide at her words. he thinks he mumbles something along the lines of i'm on my way, but he's not entirely sure. the blood rushing through his ears makes his hearing sound muffled.

he half-hazzardly shoves his phone back into his pocket, taking off toward the medical wing of the school. his thoughts consumed with nothing but you.

---

when satoru arrives, he's shocked by what he sees.

there you are, lying in the white cot with your eyes closed. your skin is abnormally pale, the vibrant glow you always held has now turned dull. you're wrapped in bandages and an IV drip is connected to the top of your hand.

satoru keeps his face blank, afraid that if he shows any emotion he will break down. internally, his brain is screaming for you, what could have possibly happened to you that you're in this condition?

he always swore to you that he'd protect you, not only was that his job as one of the strongest sorcerers of the age, but also as your devoted boyfriend.

"you know i will always protect you, right my love?"

you smiled sweetly at him, eyes crinkling at the corners and nose scrunching up adorably, "of course i know that toru."

that interaction plays in his head like a broken record. he wasn't there for you.

shoko approaches him cautiously, unsure of what her friend is thinking. satoru's face is void of emotions, but she can see the turmoil swimming in his eyes, even from behind his sunglasses. his usually radiant blue eyes are now dark and frigid.

shoko reaches her hand out to touch him, but pulls it back deciding against it. she knows satoru has to be on high alert right now, so surely his infinity is on.

satoru finally looks at shoko, remorse is written all over her face. her eyes are slightly downcast and there's a frown on her lips. she looks him up and down, trying to assess what he's feeling.

he looks back to you, "what happened?" satoru mumbles out, his voice is eerily calm, but there's a waver behind it.

shoko turns her gaze to where gojo's is, the events of the mission playing over in her head. she shakes her head, willing those images to go away.

"the intel was wrong. it was supposed to be a grade 3, but it was a grade 1."

satoru stays quiet as he takes in the information. he clenches his fists in anger, how could they possibly mistake something like that? their one miscalculation leads to the light of his life on their deathbed.

shoko takes his silence as her cue to continue, "the curse threw an attack aimed at me, but y/n threw themselves in front of me. they took the blow head on."

shoko hears the shake in her own voice and feels the tears begin to gather in her waterline. she always viewed you as a younger sibling, looking out for you and having your back whenever you would need her.

"i used my technique and healed them the best i could, but now we have to play the waiting game."

shoko turns to gojo after finishing her sentence and she becomes even more worried for him.

gojo's fists shake from how tightly he clutches down on them, his knuckles are extruding due to the force he is using. shoko can hear the grinding of his teeth with how brutally he is clenching them, any harder he might break a tooth.

before shoko can stop herself, she puts a comforting hand on his arm. she's shocked to find that his infinity is off.

shoko composes herself then, hand squeezing his arm comfortingly, "i'm so sorry gojo, i'm so so sorry."

satoru turns his eyes to her and sees the apologetic look she wears on her face. he sighs and lets go of his fists, shooting her a small smile, "it's not your fault shoko, don't blame yourself."

silence falls across the room then, the only sound being heard is the steady beeping of the heart monitor you're attached to. satoru and shoko are unable to stop staring at you, each of their hearts breaking in different ways for the state that you're in.

"i'm going to wait with them until they wake up."

gojo says nothing else as he plops himself in the uncomfortable chair next to your bedside. he grasps your hand in his, your hand is cold and it makes his insides twist.

shoko watches gojo for a moment, noting how gentle he is with you and the soft look in his eyes. she can physically see all of the love that walking behemoth holds for you.

she bows slightly and makes her way out of the room, running off to tell yaga what has happened and that gojo will not leave your side. she knows him well enough to know that he would cause an absolute shitstorm before anyone takes him away from you.

as soon as shoko leaves, satoru can't help the anxiety that eats away at him. all of the worst possible scenarios being the only thing he can think of.

he frowns deeply and uses his free hand to rub at his eyes, not wanting to shed any tears over something that may not happen.

satoru glides his thumb softly over your wrist, he's able to feel your pulse and it's weak. this causes him to sigh, taking in your figure and the injuries all over your skin.

"wake up soon my love, i'll be waiting."

---

you have no idea what time it must be when you wake up, the lighting in the room blinding you from how bright it is.

this causes you to squint your eyes, trying to get your eyes to adjust to the sudden intrusion to your vision.

when you look around you, you see that your in a room in the medical wing of the school. since becoming a sorcerer, you've grown familiar with the disgusting hospital white that paints the walls. the smell alone making you scrunch up your face with how putrid it is.

after a few minutes of observation, you feel something in your left hand.

you look in that direction and see your beautiful boyfriend satoru. he is bent forward, laying his head on the bed you also lay in with his head resting on his forearms. his eyes are closed and he's snoring softly, a stark contrast to how tightly he is gripping your hand.

you can't help the small smile that finds its way to your lips, your free hand reaching for him. you run your fingers lightly through his snow-white hair, scratching lightly at his scalp.

your movements cause him to stir, he faintly and his eyes blink open slowly.

he glances around the room briefly when his eyes finally find yours, the smile you wear is so tender that satoru believes it to be an illusion.

you try to speak to him but you start coughing violently, your throat dry from being asleep for so long.

satoru scrambles to your bedside table, grabbing the water cup and holding it to your lips.

you grasp at it and drink it quickly, your body feels as if it hasn't drank in days.

when you've finished the water, satoru plucks it from you and sets it back on the table. he faces you again and squeezes your hand, smiling at you affectionately, "welcome back, baby."

you return the loving smile and squeeze his hand back, a rasp to your voice, "hi."

satoru cradles your head, his eyes taking in every single feature on your face. his smile falters almost imperceptibly, his eyes looking directly into yours, "almost lost you there."

you wave him off, chuckling extraneously, "it's fine satoru, could've been worse."

his frown seems to deepen even more, "you almost died, baby. i don't understand how it could be worse."

you look around nonchalantly with a light expression on your face, "oh, i don't know, i could actually be dead."

satoru furrows his brows at you, pulling away from you slightly, "baby, i'm serious. you could have died."

you grin at him, honestly finding his serious behavior amusing, "it's no big deal toru."

satoru completely pulls away from you then, shocked by how your treating the situation, "no big deal? this is a big deal y/n."

you roll your eyes and snicker at him, hilarity dancing in your eyes, "no it's not satoru, it's just part of the job. although, that would not have been a cool way to go. only a grade one? come on." you groan out by the end, embarrassed that it wasn't a special grade that landed you here.

satoru is frozen in his spot, completely appalled at the way you're handling this. he thought of all the ways you would wake up, but he didn't account for this one.

sure, satoru has done incredibly reckless things, come on he's satoru gojo. he only commits those acts because he knows he has an insurance policy in place, his infinity. he's convinced the only thing that can kill him is himself.

you, however, do not have his technique.

yes, you're an incredibly powerful sorcerer, working your way up the ranks quickly. gojo believes that one day you'll sit beside him and suguru as the strongest.

but today is not that day.

you threw yourself at a walking hand grenade for fucks sake, the fact that you even survived is shocking. he's grateful to the gods that you did, but he only wishes you would take this a bit more earnestly.

satoru takes both of your hands in his, rubbing his thumbs back and forth absentmindedly.

"baby, i need you to listen to me carefully."

when he looks up at you, you're looking straight at him. you have a passive look on your face, a small smirk fixed on your lips, "satoru, i told you it's-"

satoru grip on your hands grows tighter, his eyebrows scrunching up in frustration and his eyes are full of anguish. he can't help the volume that his voice rises to, unable to hold back any longer, "no, no it's not fine! i almost fucking lost you today, and for what, because you decided to dive in front of something equivalent to a fucking missile?"

you roll your eyes at your boyfriend and yank your hands out of his grasp, your arms cross over your chest and you huff out in annoyance, the glare you send satoru cutting through your once light-hearted facade, "and what was i supposed to do? let shoko take the hit?"

satoru scoffs at that, the words spilling out of his mouth like an uncontrollable fire, "this isn't about shoko, this is about you. do you have no regard for your own life that you'd just throw it all away?"

you fire right back at him, annoyance beginning to boil in your gut and popping right out of the top, "i'm not throwing my fucking life away! shoko was about to be blown to smithereens! i accepted death when i became a sorcerer, have you?"

satoru cannot believe what he's hearing and it clearly shows on his face, his mouth morphs into a scowl and his eyes are so dark you can't even see his pupils anymore, "at least i wouldn't have wound up here, clinging to a life i obviously don't give a shit about."

the look on your face could kill anyone in a 5 mile radius, your eyes throwing daggers and your mouth shooting bullets, "maybe i should have died on that field, at least then i wouldn't have the honored one trying to dictate my life."

you're panting heavily, you can feel your body shaking with rage and you can hear the heart monitor beeping rapidly.

satoru is a different story.

his breathing is opposite of yours, it seems to have come to a halt. his pupils are blown wide and his mouth is open slightly, trying to see if he heard you correctly.

he sighs dejectedly and pinches the bridge of his nose. he's attempting to think of something to say, but he's coming up empty handed.

you hear him rustling about and turn your gaze back to him. you see him stand with his hands in his pockets, his shoulders hunched and looking completely deflated.

he looks through you with an empty stare trying to mask the pain he's feeling, mouth pulled into a thin line, "you know what? fine. if you want to go on a suicide run, fine, do what you wish. i will have no part in it."

what he says next is like a harpoon being shot through your heart.

"if you are that willing to leave everything behind, i want no part of you either."

you feel as if the world has stopped spinning on its axis. the gravity of his words crushing you, turning you into mere atoms of a human being.

regret begins to wash over you, an apology sitting on the tip of your tongue but you can't form the words. your breaths are now coming out in short pants, your heart and lungs feel like they're being shattered from the inside.

"i love you more than my dreams would ever allow, but i still want to be able to love you and not your corpse."

you put your head in your hands, wishing that the ground would open up and swallow you whole. you dig your nails into your cranium with so much strength you think you broke skin.

you don't even know if satoru is still here, too engrossed in the thought of him leaving you.

to others, your relationship may seem like a juvenile affair, but that's not the case.

in the world of jujutsu, you see and experience a multitude of things that a teenager should never have to go through. you're sent off like soldiers to war, fighting against something that is greater than yourselves. death is simply inevitable, it's in the job description. some sorcerers thrive, while others wither away.

joking about your impending demise has been your way of coping with it. an unhealthy coping mechanism, but what else are you supposed to do? live your life too tentatively and miss out on the beauty it has to offer?

that's why you loved satoru.

he was always a ray of sunshine in your life. a shining star in your dark universe, providing light and warmth in his wake. the day he asked you to be his significant other, you were beyond happy. the delicate glances he gives you, the soft kisses he greets and leaves you with, the love that he reserves only for you.

all of these things make it easier to face the horrors every time you leave the school because you know when you come home, satoru will be waiting for you with open arms.

without him? you don't know what you would do.

realizing that not having him in your life might soon be a reality, you break down into a sob. the faucet behind your eyes turned on and not stopping anytime soon. you're wailing so loud, it's a surprise no one has come in to investigate.

you grip the ends of the gown on your body, trying to ground yourself. you finally find the ability to speak, shouting i'm sorry over and over.

you're now convinced that satoru has left, leaving you to your own devices.

you're proven wrong when a familiar pair of warm arms wrap themselves around you.

satoru pulls you into his chest and you clutch the fabric of his uniform tightly in your hands. you're sobbing so hard that you think you might be sick.

"i'm sorry satoru, i'm sorry. please don't leave, don't leave me alone."

he doesn't say anything, just continues to hold you and cradle your head, rubbing his hand up and down the expanse of your back.

"i don't want to leave everything. i love my life, especially with you in it."

your sobs have calmed down into hiccups and sniffles, the tears now trickling down your cheeks.

"i-i want to live a long life with you, where we grow old and wrinkly and hobble around with a cane."

that gets a small chuckle out of satoru, "i have to admit baby, you'd look good in a moomoo."

you hit him on the shoulder with a small laugh, but quickly revert back to your serious manner, "i'm not kidding satoru, i love you and i want to be with you on this day, until our last day."

he grabs your face in his hands and angles you so you're looking right at him, "i love you, more than anything, but baby i need you to hear me."

he presses your forehead against his, staring directly into your eyes you can feel it in your soul, "i can't love you the way i want to if you're dead. i need you to promise me that you will look after yourself, i won't always be there to keep you in check. i need you to come back to me in one piece."

you think over it for a moment, satoru wants what's best for you, and you should want that too.

you whisper softly, afraid of ruining the moment, "i promise."

you seal the promise with a kiss, running your hands through satoru's hair while he grabs you by your waist to pull you closer.

you kiss each other with a newfound passion, the love you share untethered.

"jesus christ, really?"

"it's a miracle they didn't do anything else on this bed."

you try to pull away, flustered at being caught, but gojo keeps on kissing you with fervor. of course, not without throwing his middle finger up at his friends who chuckle behind him.

#satoru gojo x reader #jjk x reader #gojo satoru x reader #squid writes

[bamsara]

Oo oo oooh number 7?

Drunk! Reader x DCA (Moon Centric) Set Post-Fire / DCA is living with Reader. May contain slight spoilers for Solar Lunacy ARC 3.

AO3 Link (preferred if you want to comment!)

NOTE: This one was HIGHLY requested by several people omg. This one-shot is leaning more romantic, contains drinking and suggestive humor. Moon is caring for a drunken reader. Wordcount: 3,700+

It started out as a friendly invite from a couple of classmates, a few who's names you remember and some others that you'd hardly recall their faces, but you all faced the same hellish finals together, neck deep in studying and deadlines that the lack of aqqauintance with them didn't so much as matter as the mutual understanding that college was hell, and final exams were the metaphorical boss battle you all had to face against.

You pass by the skin of your teeth. Between what was happening outside of classes and your own habit of procastinating, you were close to calling it quits for the semester. But Sun was helpful going over the material for you, and Moon kept you from being distracted, so you pass. Barely, and you're already stressed to the nines, but it's enough.

So when your classmate messages the class's group chat (much to the proffessor's charigin) about a group outing at a local bar to celebrate, you agree. You haven't been able to be social lately, and some reprieve was needed. You didn't really drink, and the bar wasn't really your style, but a change of pace was in order. Gramps promises to answer the door for the Attendants if something came up, but they liked to bother him reguardless when you weren't home, so you leave with a quick goodbye to do a little celebratory socializing.

And that's how you're....here. Drunk and alone.

Turns out after the first hour, everyone scampered off to go get hitched or call it for the night. It was nice, but a majority of them are dispersed by now or in pockets, save for one classmate (Brittney? Becky? You don't remember) who's actaully chatting it up with the robot bartender.

She's twirling her hair around her finger and blantently flirting with the robot in plain view, probably as tipsy as you are. It's a scene you glance over at occasioanlly in amusement while you nurse your own drink. The robot doesn't seem bothered, but then again, you can't tell if it's able to even display emotion like that.

Though, you did notice it never shooed her away, never charged for her second drink and was currently pouring flavored water into her shot glass while she laughs at some sort of joke it makes that you don't hear.

Kinda funny how far along human and robot relations have come, hasn't it?

You sip at your own drink again, finishing it off, and stand up from your chair-

-and that's a bad idea. The world spins, tilts far left to the side until you grip the side of the counter to pull yourself back down to the chair and wait for the disortion to subside.

Out of the corner of your eye, the bartender's mechanical eyes flit to you for a split second, then return back to Brenda. (Or Bethany. Who knows.)

How embarressing.

Pulling out your phone, you check the time. It's late at night, almost the early hours of the morning. The bar is open for now, but will close soon enough by the time you wait for the tipsy to pass and sobering to start, and to be fair, it just doesn't dawn on you to ask for water when you're a bit too preoccupied trying to not be dizzy.

Walking home alone like this is...probably not a good idea.

Gramps is in your speedial, along with another number you've put in here fairly recently.

(You did teach them how to use the phone properly, right? Oh, you'll feel so terrible if you have to wake Gramps up at this hour, the poor old guy.)

(You can probably make it home by yourself. It's just a ten minute walk.)

(Maybe you can ask someone here for a ride home. Nevermind. The last remaining of your known classmates are either arguing in the corner, leaving as you watch and Brooklyn's flirts with the robot bartender is becoming more and more riskay by the minute.)

"It's late."

You blink. In your hand, your phone screen says you're in a call. You're finger is still pressing over the spot where you selected the contact. Oops. Did you mean to do that? "Uh.-"

A sound from the speaker thats soft spoken and slow. You press it up against your ear to hear it better amongst the bar's chatter, and a low voice repeats itself. "You should be sleeping."

You can't pick up the meaning in his tone. You're too muffled in your own brain to make out the ends of his sentences that you just rock back in your chair and hum in your throat. "Heya...Hi." You start, voice slurring. "Hi Moon."

There's a pause on the other end of the call. "Where are you?"

"Uh, same place. You know." You wave your hand off and don't feel stupid that he couldn't see your gesture. "The uh, bar down the road. The one with the big neon sign in the front. Looks like kinda like ah, a...banana. The thing, curved thing on the front."

"Okay." Moon sounds tired, except robots don't get tired, and that's just what he usually sounds like whenever he's dealing with your shenanigans, or something particularly difficult. Sometimes he says you're difficult, but not in the way that feels mean. "Stay there."

"Well, I can't, dumbass I gotta get home at some point. Bar closes soon." You huff into the phone. "Was gonna leave here in a bit, anyways. Just need to sit for a minute."

"A minute." Moon repeats. His voice echoes like he's talking to you from a stairwell.

"Yeah-huh. Like, a minute." You lean back in your chair confidently, then immediatly lean back towards the counter as the legs started to tip the other direction and forgoe any movement to just lean against the bartop. "Didn't mean to call you. My finger slipped."

He hums, and it sounds less than convinced. "Hmm. How much?"

"How much...what?" The end of your question is drawled out with your lack of sobriety.

"Nevermind." Footsteps, air against the phone speaker. Moon speaks plainly. "Did you have fun?"

"Man, whats with you and the questions?" You blow air out of your nose, your free hand thumbing minelessly for your shot glass and looking up from the wooden counterop when you feel something different.

A glass of ice water was set next to you, replacing what little alcohol you had left in your cup. The bartender is on the other side of the room, still talking to your classmate, but you've already seen how it's been replacing her drink with water, and frown at your own. "Aw, damn."

"Language."

"Shut uuuup." You groan into the mic, and your head plops down onto the counter, resting. "I had fun. It was...alright."

Moon makes a noise of aknowledgment, a quiet sound to continue.

"I got the lowest score in the class." You confess, almost mummbling. There's no one paying attention to you, and the bar was sparspy populated so it's not like you had anything to be embarressed over. Still, your breath comes back up to your face as you rest your head and it smells like vodka. "I mean, nothing's wrong with that. Still passed though."

He hmms through the phone. "We know. You told us."

"Got ditched." A slurred sentence, quickly continued after a moment. "Not like, ditched ditched. Like....everyone's gettin' ready to leave soon. They've got their own bubbles, m'not in them." You slow to a stop, looking around the room. There's even less people now, and with the slow music playing on the speakers, it's a nice vibe. Smelled like cigaratte smoke and alchol though.

It's relaxing. You're relaxed. That drink is really settling in, and your legs are feeling like heavy weights and your tongue easy to move when you talk. In fact, you could sit here for a few more hours under the low-lights, listening to soft music, rambling about how college is stupid and how you regret being such a lightweight. Maybe skip out on the drinks, next time. You were starting to feel tired.

"Don't tell me that yet."

You blink, blearily, head shifting to look back down at your phone. "Hmm?"

There's a small pause on the other end, a silence punctuated only by soft background noises that you can't make out through the call. "...You've been talking outloud for the past few minutes."

Minutes? It's been seconds, no way. You squint at the phone screen, ignoring the numbers in the corner for the numbers that state how long you've been on call. It's too bright for you, so you put the phone back to your ear. "S'fine. I mean't to do that."

"Sure." Moon says. "Anything else?"

"...It's uh, dark enough in here for you."

"That's nice."

"Kinda stinks, though."

"We wouldn't be able to tell."

"I think my classmate likes robots." You speak quieter, which only makes half of your sentence coherent but you continue off the drunken assumption that your rambles were making sense anyway, free hand cupped around your mouth and facing away from the flirting scene like a kindergardener giggling at juicy gossip. Luckly, your classmate is too far to hear you, and if the robot did, then it doesn't show it. "Like, likes-likes robots. She totally wants to bang it. Her. I think. I think the robots a girl."

"Uh-huh." Moon speaks dully, but you can hear faint amusement. "Good for her."

"Can robots do that? Wait, don't answer that." You bring down your phone away from your ear to glance back up towards said classmate like you were scared of getting caught gossipping. You were, in a sense, not the best at being subtle, but both the bartender robot and your classmate are now seated at a booth away from the counter, holding their own conversation.

You stiffle a small gasp. "Holy shit, I think they're hitting it off."

Moon does the robot equivlanet of a sigh. "Don't stare."

"Right. Rightrightrightright-" You turn away quickly, curling back into yourself like some child caught in the act. "I'm not-I'm not staring-Wait, how didja even know I was looking?"

The sound of a car driving past, a door softly opening. "We know you. You're nosy."

"You're mean." You huff, phone pushed into the space between your ear and neck, using the countertop to rest your head. "I want to go home."

"Mmhm."

"Can robots make out?" The question is so out-of-the-blue you can almost feel the whiplash you send through the phone. "Because I think they're about to. Becky, uh. Brianna. I don't know her name. They're like, really getting along. M'not staring by the way. I'm glancing."

"Okay."

"Is it like, all robots can do it or just some of them? I don't know if, it's like-uh, like..is that insensitive? Am I offensive?"

"No."

"If I google it do I get weird pictures or do I get an answer?"

"Both."

"Can I ask you a question?" You continue. "A totally...not weird question. Maybe kinda weird. Not the weirdest thing I've asked you. Anyway, can you-?"

Click.

You raise your head, looking down at the phone as it flashes the 'call ended' words before going back to your home screen. In a tipsy gasp, your mouth drops open. He hung up on you! Why that little-

"Ask again when you're sober."

A low voice startles you, and you spin around and almost falll off your chair in the motion.

Moon stands behind you, phone still in hand but lowering to pocket it in his hoodie. (Plain, simple, the biggest one you could find to fit them. He still wears his star pants and ribbons but at least he took the bells off his slippers.) and glowers down at you with a quiet look. He has the hood pulled up, even with the hat on, and it just makes his eyes glow a little more in the low-lights.

His hand raises to the glass of water, now with most of it's ice melted, and slides it across the counter towards you. "Drink."

You blink blearily at him, and it's out of synch. "When did you get here-"

"Drink." He repeats, hoisting the glass up to your face until you grumble something innapropriate and snag it from him. You chug it down rather quickly while he waits, and the room never quietens in the few seconds that it takes, but you listen to the conversations out of habit.

Bailey and the bartender robot were definatley gonna start dating or something, and your classmate didn't even look drunk anymore, just a bad flirter. Most of the people in the bar were humans (why would robots come here? They can't drink, and they'd be outnumbered 10 to 1 anyways) save for the other two automations you think are quietly hanging out outside, but it's mostly flesh and blood.

A quiet 'where did that one come from? the circus?' reaches your ears as soon as you finish the water, dropping the glass down on the table and turning your head to whatever human spoke but Moon inturrupts you. A sleeved arm holds out in front of you. "Stand up. Here."

"Don't tell me what to do." Comes out slurred and stuffed up, but the world tilts when you lift yourself off the chair, so your hands find his arm and your balance steadies. "I want to go home."

"Mmm." Moon turns, slowly so you don't get stick, and leads you to the door. "It's past your bedtime."

"Dun't have a bedtime."

"You will tonight." You are lead past the remaining patrons, who don't really care about your departure save for the one or two off-hand glances. Moon opens the door with one hand, holding it open, and guides you through. "Come on."

Your classmate turns your way, and you register her throwing up two thumbs up in your direction with a wide, encouraging smile just as the door shuts behind you. Whoops.

The bar's neon light is bannaa shaped because of some island-theme they had back before redesign that never got taken down, but in your shifting vision and the night's dim lights, it kinda looks like a cresent moon. This is something you voice outloud without meaning to, and Moon spares your thoughts with a glance to the sign, and a chuckle before he leads you down the sidewalk.

Walking is...well, it's taking some bit of effort. Everything felt kinda heavy, your stomach was starting to churn and you needed to use the restroom soon. Maybe you could get home faster if you speed-walked or something, or took a shortcut. You pull away from the guiding arm out for you. "I can walk."

"Okay." And so Moon lets you pull away, standing straight and watching as you take a few tentive steps. You fumble on your fifth step, but the ground never has a chace to rush towards you. A hand around your shoulders, tight but never lower, presses you back towards the Attendant until your own grip finds his upper arm and dig your fingernails into the sleeve.

He's walking before he even asks again. "Want to try again."

Your nose wrinkles up, and whatever word you had formlated in your mind comes out garbled and incoherent. "Heuh."

"....Guess not."

It's peaceful walking at night. Sometimes cars would pass by on this road, and the bright headlights would make your eyes sting but you never ran into anything. Fireflies start to appear in scarcity as you approuch your apartment, rambling about your classmates and the exam and how the vodka didn't taste at all how the bar marketed to be while your animatronic guide is quiet with the occasional noise of aknowledgement, and very focused on making sure you don't trip on every pebble you see.

"This is kinda like...when you escorted me to the doors, back at the pizzaplex." You talk outloud again, and there's no sting in your voice when you're drunk. "You know, ya escorting me."

Moon doesn't look up from the keypad to your apartments, jotting in the number (because just hacking it served you a few complaints from maintenence) and hums. "It is."

You are lead through the opened door, and into the stairwell. "But like, this time you get to come home with me."

"Every night." Moon adds, and finds the door to your apartment without so much as turning on the light in the hallway. It's nearly pitchblack, but you're not scared or bothered by the lack of sight in the slightest. The perks of having a robot friend with night vision means free avoidance of bumping into walls. You hear the clacking of keys, and the door opens. "Inside-"

You go in before he can finish, using the wall and the kitchen counter to steady you until you make it to the living room and the adjacent hallway. The lights are off for obvious reasons, but the living room lamp is on, so it's just enough light for you to make out your path. The world still tilts, although it's weakening, you barely manage to make it to the bathroom door, yelling out some incoherent 'illbeouutinasecond' before you swing the door shut.

When you come back out, Moon is in the kitchen, and he turns to see you almost plank on the sofa cushions for a rest. You miss, bounce off the edge of the seats and faceplant on the floor instead. "...oww."

Soft padded footsteps approuch you, and you are unceramounsly yanked up by the back of your shirt until you're placed on the cushions (he lifted you effortlessly and carefully, but you still groan like an elephant at the movement) and turned over until you're facing upwards, sitting back against the cushion on the back arm rest.

Something wrapped in a napkin is shoved in front of your face. "Eat."

You smell it before you can process seeing it. A plain, peanut butter and jelly sandwich, which you take into your hands, pull away the napkin and take a huge bite before you can say your appreciation properly without a mouthful "Thhansk."

There's no response, but a hand comes up to your forehead, brushing back against your scalp and gentle running through your hair. His hand lingers there as Moon crouches besides the couch. The hoodie is gone now, so it's just his hat and t-shirt. You can see his soft smile more clearly. "You need to go to bed when you're done."

You talk inbetween bites. "M'not moving."

"Then stay here." He rises, knuckles brushing across your ear as his hand moves and disappears down the hallway. You're on the last bites of your sandwhich when he reappears with a blanket and pillow in hand, along with a folder you recognize with stars and moons in it's printed pattern.

The blanket is tossed over your legs and feet, and the folder is set to the coffee table besides you along with a pen. In your approuching bare-sobreity, you recognize the papers peeking out from the edge. Moon sits down besides the couch, back facing you, and opens up to where he left off presummably before he came and retrieved you.

He grades papers while you finish your sandwich and peek nosely over his shoulder. "You never answered my question."

Moon does not look up from grading his student's papers. "I haven't."

"Gimmie answer."

"Silly." He starts, marking an answer wrong and setting that finished paper to the side. His voice never breaks from the calm tone. "Asking personal questions, gossiping in public like that. Intoxicated."

"I wasn't the only one." You defend, and realize that's not exactly a factor that can play in your favor, so you search your clouded tipsy brain for another answer. "Look, listen. I was dared to do shots. I don't..., uh, drink. Like ever. M'lightweight. But I'm not a coward."

The animatronic's head turns towards you on his swivel. "Bad decision. Probably already tipsy."

"Hey-" You warn, pointing a finger in his face. "The amuont of drunk I was has no corrolations-" That last word comes out fumbled. You ignore how Moon's smile twitches upwards. "-no corrolations to the bad decisions I've made."

"Sure." Moon chuckles, onto the next batch of ungraded papers in his folder. "You make plenty of those."

You make a notable effort to brush off any of the crumbs on your shirt in his direction. "You weren't a bad decision."

The monotonous sound of pen scratching pauses for a moment. Then continues. "Debatable."

"Booo." You groan, your disagreement echoing in the living room and silence settling between you two only broken by pages turning and pen scratching.

Sinking into the sofa and watching him work becomes a lullaby, and you feel sleep teter at the edge of your mind as the animatronic finishes up the current page, closing the folder and setting it to the side. Moon pushes the folder to the center of the coffee table, left out to finish the rest later, and you puff up your cheeks to blow air at his face when he turns back to you.

He doesn't even squint, just stares dully at you until you've finish. "Thanks for getting me."

His head tilts. "Mhmm."

Your cheek presses further into the pillow. Nausea is there, something in the pit of your stomach, but it is long buried by the promise of sleep. "But for the record, I didn't ask for you to take care of me."

A blurred movement in the corner of your eye. His hand has returned, settled against your head with his thumb gently running over your skin. "We didn't ask for your permission."

"....M'gonna be hungover in the morning."

"Yes." Moon grin in a way that's both soft and amused. You wonder if his sunny counterpart would be this teasing too, considering that's who's most likely going to be rubbing your back when you're kneeled over the toilet in the morning. "You will be very hungover. Go to sleep."

You mummble something in protest, but your eyes close nonetheless. "M'sleeping already. Geeze."

Your response is a quiet hum, and the hand brushing against your forehead in slow motions until you start to drift away. That hand lingers, softley, and doesn't return to the pen until the world fades and you are well into slumber.

#fnaf sb #fnaf #fnaf moon #fnaf sun #fnaf the daycare attendant #writings #moon x reader #sun x reader #Solar Lunacy #Solar Lunacy Arc 3 #drabbles #x reader #cw alcohol #cw drunk

[bellaxgiornata]

Falling For the Devil [Part forty-two: "The Argument in the Hotel Room"]

Pairing: Matt Murdock x Fem!Reader

Summary: Matt and you make it back to your hotel room after dinner, both of you angry from the conversation you'd had.

Or

You find it very hard to control your body and not become aroused by Matt's anger.

[Series of one-shots about Reader meeting, falling for, and dating Matt Murdock.]

Warnings: 18+ for this series; contains humor, fluff, romance, angst, smut (like...a lot of it later in the series), language, some violence

Word Count: 3.9k

a/n: This is a smupdate where y'all begin to see a bit of what I call Feral Matt (you see him fully in part 52 but Feral Matt comes hand in hand with consequences in our Big Angst arc). Hopefully you enjoy a little angry Matt smut in this one! You can find the entire list of installments for this series on tumblr here. And if you're enjoying the series, please let me know!

With a huff you swiped the keycard through the reader on the door, gritting your teeth when you’d realized you’d swiped too fast and it beeped back at you. Your grip tightened around the handle of your luggage as you tried again, very aware of Matt behind you. You could practically feel the frustration radiating off of him. 

This was certainly not how you’d pictured your evening with Matt going after the over six hour first half of your trip you’d just completed. And as you pushed the now unlocked door handle down harder than necessary, you’d regretted indulging Matt’s line of questioning about your ongoing investigation into Wayland Corporation and Heinrich Backman over dinner. You’d finally told him that one of your co-worker’s sources had a lead on a particularly interesting and powerful investor in Wayland and that you, during work hours two days before you and Matt left the city for your trip, had gone off to meet with a representative of said powerful investor for an interview under the guise of a false article you weren’t really working on. And Matt, ever the stubborn and overprotective superhero vigilante boyfriend that he was, had gotten absolutely pissed at you for not only not telling him about the meeting, but also the fact that you’d gone without Daredevil nearby to protect you.

You were still gritting your teeth together as you tugged your luggage in, holding the door for Matt to follow in behind you with his own suitcase. The muscles in his cheeks were jumping as he ground his own teeth. 

“You need me to help lay out the room for you?” you asked him, trying hard to push the edge out of your voice.

Matt effortlessly made his way further into the room, setting his luggage to the side of a nightstand beside the bed. For a moment he didn’t respond, just continued to run a hand repeatedly through his hair which was quickly becoming a mess with his irritated actions.

Fighting the urge to roll your eyes, you shook your head and made your way past the bed to the other side. You deposited your own suitcase next to the nightstand and out of the way. Even if you were currently angry with Matt, it’s not like you wanted him to trip over your luggage. 

“What I need,” Matt snapped, breaking the tense silence, “is for you to be honest with me.”

Squaring your shoulders, you spun on your heel to face him. Both of you were standing on opposite sides of the bed, the queen-sized mattress acting as a buffer.

“Honest?” you shot back. “Matt, I wasn’t lying about anything to you! I’ve been keeping you updated about the entire investigation except for that one little detail because I’d been busy getting everything ready for our trip! And you were busy at the office with Foggy that day! How is it being dishonest when I told you everything at dinner when you asked about it?"

“It shouldn’t have taken you so long to tell me at all!” he growled back, his voice rising. “We just spent hours in a car together doing nothing but talk and you never said a word until I asked you about it!”

“Well excuse me for not wanting to bring up a topic that I know causes tension when we have an almost thirteen hour road trip for Christmas together!” you snapped.

The corner of his left eye was twitching, his nostrils flaring as he glared back at you in frustration. He’d shrugged out of his coat, leaving him in those form fitting gray tee-shirts he always wore. You couldn’t help but notice the way the fabric hugged his muscles as his chest and shoulders heaved. It wasn’t fair that he was so distractingly sexy–even when he was pissed at you.

“You shouldn’t have gone when you did,” he continued, voice lowered to something oddly dangerous. “You should have called me first, at the very least.”

“And what?” you asked bitterly, taking a few irritated steps around the bed towards him. “Told their assistant that I had to reschedule our appointment to a time that was convenient for Daredevil to chaperone me?”

Matt’s eyes narrowed, his intimidating form stalking around the bed towards you, stopping just feet away. He towered above you, nostrils still flaring sharply as he gazed back down at you. The hair on the back of your neck rose, but oddly not from fear.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” he ground out. “Obviously you wouldn’t tell them that and I’d be nearby, not out in the open. You know I don’t want anyone finding out your connection to me,” he replied.

“Won’t be hard to recognize,” you said sharply, “if Daredevil is always hanging around my interviews.”

His lips twitched downwards, head canting to the side as his hands flew to his hips. He was shifting back and forth on his feet before you, tongue frustratedly swiping over his lips a few times. Your eyes were drawn to the movement, your breath briefly catching in your throat. Matt froze almost instantly, all of his frustrated movements coming to a stop. You watched as his eyes narrowed towards the bed, his head tilting further to the side. 

Soon, his attention was shifting swiftly back towards you with furrowed brows. “Are you actually getting turned on right now?” he asked, his tone a mix of irritation and confusion.

“No," you quickly denied.

His face scrunched up for a moment as he studied you. As if it would help, you crossed your arms over your chest. But you couldn’t stop your gaze from raking over the way his shirt clung to his tensed muscles.

“Yes you are,” he countered. “I can practically taste your arousal in the air, sweetheart.” He shook his head, laughing humorlessly. “Here we are discussing something important–me worrying about you making some poor decisions that could end up getting you hurt–and you’re just thinking about sex?”

Face turning red, you threw your hands in the air. “I can’t fucking help how my body reacts to you, Matt!”

Spinning on your heel in a huff, you took a step away from Matt and wished this hotel room had an adjoining room for you to go and cry in privately. Except it wouldn’t be private because Matt would hear you–and probably taste the salt of your tears in the air. Unfortunately you didn’t get far before Matt’s hand roughly caught your wrist, drawing you to an abrupt stop.

“Let me go,” you shot over your shoulder.

He took a step closer to you, only inches away from the back of you. His hand was still holding your wrist in a grip that was just shy of being hard enough to actually hurt. With the way he was looking at you, you couldn’t control the goosebumps that rose along your skin.

“Is that what you want me to do?” he asked, his tone low. “Or do you want me to yell at you some more? Tell me sweetheart,” he said, almost spitting out the pet name in his anger, “do you enjoy watching how worked up I get over your safety?”

Your breath was quickly coming in short. “What?” you asked in a small voice.

Before you had time to register what was going on, Matt had you pinned to the wall. He was holding both of your wrists above your head, the front of him so close to yours that you could feel the heat radiating off of his body. Your cunt ached noticeably at the sight of Matt’s angered and hungry face before you.

“You should have told me about that interview,” he snapped. “Should have given me a chance to be there if something went wrong.”

Your eyes narrowed at him in curiosity and confusion. He was sending you mixed signals, continuing to argue with you while you thought he’d been switching gears and trying to fuck you. What the hell was this?

“I was fine,” you reiterated. “Nothing happened to me.”

“You don’t think they’re not going to look into that article and find out it's not real?” Matt shot back. “Don’t think they won’t then begin looking into you? Find out who you are? Realize you were the journalist who outed Figureoa?” 

“Alright, I get it,” you ground out, tugging against his hold on you. “Now knock it off, Matt.”

His hands immediately released yours, but he continued to block your path. There was a coy smirk sliding onto his lips as he gazed down at you, one that was doing things to your body that you weren’t currently thrilled about. Of course he’d be able to turn you the fuck on during an argument–was there anything this beautiful man couldn’t do?

“Move,” you ordered him.

He shifted sideways, allowing you to storm past him. You were rubbing at your wrists as you headed to the opposite side of the room towards the empty desk and the window. This was definitely not how you foresaw your trip going.

“You want me,” he called after you. “Can’t deny it sweetheart. I can taste how wet you’re getting.”

“You know, that’s not helping,” you snapped back.

“Clearly it is,” Matt mused, his voice getting closer, “because you’re getting wetter the angrier you get.”

You spun back around, mouth open as you were about to deny his claim, but he was suddenly right there. He was still smirking down at you, too. 

“You’re being very–”

His mouth slammed hard into yours so forcefully you stumbled back a step, your ass bumping into the desk behind you as he cut your sentence clean off. There was absolutely nothing sweet and loving about how he was kissing you either–he was biting and growling and lapping mercilessly into your mouth. You could barely catch your breath, your own hands frantically tugging at his hair, yanking him closer to you in a wave of frustrated desire that you’d never experienced before. 

He roughly picked you up and dropped you onto the desk behind you, forcing your legs apart as he slotted himself between them. Breaking away briefly from your mouth, he grinned down at you.

“I’m being very what, sweetheart?” he goaded, breath coming in hard.

Breathing hard yourself, desire and irritation still both coursing through you, you shook your head. “Stop arguing,” you ground out. 

Without hesitation, your hand that was still fisting his hair roughly tugged his mouth back down to yours. You could feel the brief smile on his lips before he kissed you back with that same raging intensity he had only moments ago. His hands were focused on undoing your pants, moving swift and clumsily as he focused on kissing you. A moment later he broke away from your mouth, panting hard as he sharply yanked your jeans and underwear down your legs simultaneously. Your own hands reached down, gripping the hem of his shirt and ripping it up and over his head. Brain too focused solely on your need for Matt, your mouth dove forward, biting at his abominable muscles as your hands landed back on his hips, nails digging in. Matt hissed out a sound of pleasure above you, the sound encouraging your tongue to slip out and slide along his muscled, bare skin. Both of his hands were in your hair, gripping the strands tight as he let out a low moan when your tongue swiped just above the waistline of his pants. You could feel the twitch of his muscles beneath your tongue, the feeling drawing more wet heat between your thighs.

As you began frantically unbuttoning his jeans, his hands slid down to grip the hem of your own shirt. He tugged it over your head just after you’d gotten his pants unzipped. After he tossed your shirt aside, you were unclasping your bra while he was peeling his pants and boxers off of himself. As usual, your eyes were instantly drawn to his hard cock, every intention of taking him into your mouth and watching him fall apart, but the moment your hands were on him, his own hands halted yours.

“No,” he said, shaking his head and placing your hands on his hips. “That's not how this is going to go, sweetheart.”

He nudged your legs open wider and slipped between them. His left hand snaked its way up your thigh, one of his thick fingers lightly dipping inside of you. Your body shuddered on the desk, knees shaking against Matt’s body.

“Mmm,” he hummed, satisfied. “You definitely enjoyed that argument more than you should have.” His finger slipped back out, hand grabbing his cock and rubbing it along the slick of your entrance while you fought the tremble of your lips. “You like seeing me that protective over you? Is that it?” He slid just the tip of himself inside of you and you gasped out, hips begging for more. "Is that why you were getting so worked up?"

“Maybe,” you whispered.

His eyes narrowed, the very tip of him still just sitting inside of you. You shifted your hips again, bucking them towards him. You needed more of him. Instead, his hands came down hard and held your thighs firmly to the desk, keeping you still.

“I meant what I said,” he told you sternly. “You’re going to tell me when you’re involved with that organization, sweetheart. Whenever you're interviewing someone. Chasing down a lead. You're going to tell me so I can make sure you stay safe.”

“Matt, I don’t– fuck ,” you cried out, eyelids sharply closing as he entered into you fully in one swift thrust.

“You will or I won’t fuck you,” he shot back. “You want me, sweetie?”

“Yes,” you answered instantly.

“Then promise me,” he almost growled, face lowering towards yours. “Promise me you’ll tell me everything about your investigation into Wayland whenever something comes up. Promise me that you will let me help you, that you’ll let me keep you safe."

You were squirming against him, desperate for him to do more than just fill you. Your nails were clawing at his skin as you tried to buck into him yet again, but Matt remained still and immobile as he stared down at you expectantly. 

“Yes, Matt, yes, I promise,” you ground out in a frustrated whine. Your hands tugged impatiently at his hips. “Fuck, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. I didn’t think you’d be this upset.”

One of his hands released your thigh, fingers gently grabbing your chin and tilting your face up further towards his. “I take every threat to you seriously, sweetheart," he told you, tone dark and dangerous. "Of course I was going to be upset."

“Alright, I’ll–I’ll tell you first thing when I get another lead,” you replied quickly. "Any-any time I get something new to check out," you promised.

"Good," he growled.

His mouth was back on yours, kissing you fiercely before either of you could say more. When his hands landed on your waist, his fingers dug deep into your bare skin before his hips finally began to move. Without preamble or any build up, he frantically pumped into you. Your hands helplessly tried to find purchase along the muscles of his naked back as you moaned out, eyes closing at the feel of him finally moving inside of you. 

You'd been next to him all day in the car, unable to really touch each other for hours, and even you could tell Matt was just as riled up over that as he had been over your arousal. With the way he was grunting and thrusting into you so resolutely, you could tell he'd been desperate to touch you, too. That he had needed this just as much as you did right now.

Matt's head shifted, coming to bite your shoulder, pulling your skin between his teeth. You moaned out, turning your head to give him room as his lips began kissing the skin afterwards. He was still rapidly pumping into you, the desk repeatedly slamming into the wall loudly behind you with each thrust. You were too far gone to even think if there were people in a nearby room listening to the way Matt was roughly fucking you. You didn’t even care.

“I made you a promise,” Matt said firmly, his pace unwavering. “I told you I’d always do whatever I had to–” he broke off on a moan, head falling back over his shoulders for a few seconds as your nails raked down his bare back. “I–I promised,” he continued, his head rolling back forward, teeth gritted, “that I’d do whatever I needed to to keep you safe.”

“I know, baby,” you whispered, eyes closed.

With a grunt, he picked you up from off the desk, eliciting a surprised yelp from you as you clung to him. His cock remained inside of you, your cunt continually squeezing him in a desperate plea for him to continue fucking you. Matt was muttering curses at the feel of it as he walked you to the bed, eventually coming to rest your back along the edge of it. He repositioned your legs along his shoulders as he stood at the edge of the bed, one hand holding each of your ankles as he gazed down at you. You bit your lip at that hungry look on his face.

“I don’t care how pissed at me you get,” he ground out, “I’m keeping that promise. No matter what .”

Immediately he began thrusting into you again with a fierce pace, your hands roughly fisting the hotel sheets beside you as your head flew back along the mattress. With this new angle, his cock was striking that spot deep inside that was causing flashes of white to dance across your closed lids. A series of breathy, needy whines fell out of you as you held tight to the sheets.

“Fuck, Matt,” you whimpered.

“Not so fucking angry now, are you?” he countered roughly, though his own voice sounded strained.

Forcing your eyes open, you gazed up at him from the bed. He was gritting his teeth, hands clamped tight around your ankles as he slammed his hips into your body over and over. His dark brows were furrowed together like they often were when he was focused on fucking you.

“You’re one to talk,” you shot back.

Instantly you saw his eyes narrow before he sharply buried his cock so deep inside of you that you screamed out, eyes momentarily closing in shock. When they reopened, he was grinning down at you, but you were too stunned to speak.

“That’s what I thought, sweetheart,” he replied cockily.

You didn’t really even care to argue back with him right now. Not really sure what it was about Matt’s cocky, overprotective attitude tonight, you found yourself quickly about to fall over the edge of your climax. Hips rising from off the bed, your head flew back along the mattress again as your eyes snapped shut.

“You fucking like this, don’t you?” he asked.

“I thought I said,” you began, voice light and breathy as you almost hit that peak, “to stop arguing.”

One of his hands released your ankles only to moments later land on your clit. Touching you just right, you entirely lost it on the bed below him. Your hips quaked against Matt as he moaned out in response, your cunt clenching his cock. Eyes rolling back behind your closed lids, you cried out a curse into the hotel room. His hand left your clit a few moments later, instead landing hard on your ass with a sharp smack that sounded throughout the room. His fingers dug into the flesh there as his hips began clumsily ramming into you, his cock twitching inside of you. As a lightheadedness began to wash over you, you felt Matt’s warm release fill you, his pleased rumbling groan filling the air around you. 

He proceeded to slowly thrust into you a few more times before his hips finally came to a stop. Your eyes opened slowly, trying to come back down from your climax. You could see the light glisten of sweat along his skin as he slowly slipped out of you, releasing your legs carefully to the floor. Running a hand over your forehead, you tried to recover from whatever had just happened. A minute ago you’d been yelling at each other, and now your body was feeling pleasantly light post-orgasm.

“What was that?” you asked him curiously, slowly sitting up on the bed.

Matt was running his own hands through his hair, his shoulders heaving. “You tell me,” he panted out, shooting you a little smile. “You’re the one who got aroused from an argument.”

You felt heat rise to your cheeks, your gaze dropping to the floor. “I told you I can’t help my reaction to you,” you mumbled, embarrassed. “Even when you’re apparently pissed at me.”

Matt walked over, coming to sit on the bed beside you. “Hey,” he whispered, wrapping an arm around your waist and pulling you into him, “I’m not–not pissed at you,” he began, still trying to catch his breath. “I just…I don’t want to see you get hurt. Okay? I love you and I can’t even imagine if something were to ever happen to you. I wouldn’t–” 

You saw his eyes snap shut, brows pinching together. His lips twitched and you saw his throat bob as he swallowed roughly. Pulling him into yourself, you held him as he burrowed into your neck. 

“I can’t let anything happen to you,” he whispered into your skin. “Not you.”

“I’m sorry,” you apologized. “I’ll tell you next time.”

For a moment you just sat there together, holding each other naked and silent. Your head eventually lowered onto the top of his, eyes closing.

“So that was our first argument,” you muttered.

“Yeah, it was,” Matt murmured. “I’m sorry I yelled, sweetheart. Even if you did seem to enjoy it.”

You laughed lightly above him, eyes still closed. “I have to admit, that was the most satisfying argument I’ve ever had,” you told him.

“I won’t argue with that,” Matt agreed.

“You sure?” you countered cheekily. “Because if you did, maybe that could be the most satisfying argument you’ve ever had.”

The pair of you burst into a fit of hysterics on the bed together, Matt laughing loudly beside you. The sound eased any worry you might’ve had after that argument. 

When the laughter subsided, your gaze dropped to the carpeted hotel floor. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," you whispered. "I didn't think you'd be this upset. I was planning to tell you after the entire Christmas trip because I didn't want to potentially cause problems. I'm not trying to hide things from you, Matt."

"Sweetheart," he began slowly, "when it comes to dangerous people like Backman, you need to be careful. Everyone you talk to about them, or anyone involved in the company you speak with, it's all being kept track of. I'm honestly a bit worried about the fake article. They're not stupid, sweetheart."

"No, but articles fall through all the time," you countered. "Ellison already corroborated a story with me about how a different piece took precedence and we're tabling the other article for now. After Christmas I'll be emailing them with a sort of consolatory message about it. They won't even think twice."

Matt sighed heavily, shifting so his head was resting along your shoulder. You leaned your head back atop his, your gaze once again on the hotel floor. 

"I hope you're right," Matt whispered.

#matt murdock x reader #matt murdock x you #matt murdock x fem reader #matt murdock smut #matt murdock series #matt murdock fic #matt murdock fanfic #daredevil x reader #daredevil x female reader #matt murdock #fftd

[pain-in-the-butler]

you said you've been a kuro fan since 2009, I have to know what got you into the series and what has made you stay with it for so long?

what about the fandom did you enjoy back in the old days?

Ahahaha, oh wow, these questions feel loaded. Thank you for asking them, though, I haven't fully considered them before...

I'll start with the second question, because it's easier to answer. What did I enjoy about the fandom in the old days? I didn't enjoy the fandom in the old days! Not on the whole, at least. I was just on the outskirts of it, more observer than participant. I wrote fanfiction, but most people didn't read it because it wasn't romantic. The memes weren't funny, the shipping wars were insane, and SebaCiel was completely unavoidable. The current fandom is way better than the old one! (I'm sure there were cool people around back then too, but I didn't go looking for them because I didn't think they existed.)

I kind of started dipping my toes in the fandom water in 2012 in the midst of the Campania arc. But even then, by 2014 I felt a little meh from all the cricket and I varied in my interest during Green Witch, so I really didn't participate much until around 2017. The Blue Cult stuff had me bored, but then when things started ramping up towards the twin reveal, I was back in the game. Or rather, in the game for the first time. The explosion of actual good memes had me hook, line, and sinker.

Now for your first question. My initial exposure to Kuroshitsuji was season 1 of the anime. It had wrapped in Japan less than a year ago, and my sister told me that she sort of liked it after seeing the first few episodes at our high school's anime club. She gave me a brief rundown of the premise and I guess the seventeen-year-old me was interested because I went to anime club for the first and last time next week. It was the episode with the corset scene and I was appalled. I was also appalled by my peers, because the teacher hadn't shown up that day to moderate, so a lot of kids were making out and drawing on each others' bodies with sharpies, and the few people watching the episode were wolf-whistling and clapping. It was a lot for a dweeby little goodie-two-shoes to take in.

But for some reason I persevered and watched the rest of the series on my own time. The first episode also appalled me. I think the whole show did. I don't really know why I watched it, other than perhaps a fascination with historical anime, but I definitely found Sebastian and Ciel worthy of parody, because a few months later, I was writing fanfiction about them. In high school, I wrote solely humor fanfics, and they were always about Sebastian and Ciel trying to make each other's lives worse through japes and antics.

Then in early college, I started reading the manga when I caught wind of Sebastian being "dead" and thought that sounded like an interesting development. I gave the earlier chapters a try and shocker, it was so much better than the anime (though I skipped the curry arc for some reason, only read it for the first time like a year ago). Then I got to the Circus arc scene where Sebastian has to help Ciel with his eyepatch strings and I felt the epiphany grow. Dadbastian is love, Dadbastian is life, etc. It was hard not to feel like a one-man army at the time, but a handful of others enjoyed the concept too.

And then the Campania arc happened and I was absolutely gobsmacked by how good it was. I will never forget what it was like to be there for the badass Lizzie reveal. That day, anime and manga fansites and subgroups across the net were all united in Lizzie love. It was so real 🥹😭

Moments like that kept me going, as well as a hope for small Dadbastian-esque moments and the promise of more Victorian flair. Over time, I've only gained more appreciation for the side characters and the themes, and I love the current fandom to pieces, so even though the story is slow, I'm more invested than ever.

I'm sorry that was such a damn essay, thank you for your interest in my little Kuro journey! 😊 I hope you are enjoying fandom life too!

#ask

[farcille]

9 people you'd like to get to know better

tagged by @healen -- omg i am SO sorry i did not see this; I just found your tag from going through my email notifs haha. thank you though this was super fun!!

Three ships:

farcille: like ok iconic as fuck and my username so obviously i have to talk about this one first. dungeon meshi is my favorite manga ever and marcille is my favorite character and i love her relationship with falin so much ;-; i think the plot point of marcille being afraid of losing people she loves due to the difference in how she ages compared to other people is super interesting and adds a really thought-provoking and tragic aspect to their relationship. i also love the difference in their personalities that shapes their dynamic; marcille is extremely neurotic and inside of her own head and "by-the-book" and falin is very in touch with her surroundings and intuitive and accepting of disorder but they're close anyway because the things that make them different are things that they admire about each other. i looove that marcille gets jealous of other people showing falin attention and that shes insane about saving her and that she would do anything to get her back. they get married in my head after the end of the manga

jaime/brienne: i've been so into rereading asoiaf lately and this has been on my mind nonstop. the dynamic of like this super big/strong very gender nonconforming ugly woman whos internally very kind and empathetic and has one of the strongest moral compasses of anyone in the series but struggles internally with her self image and her perceived inability to "fit in" anywhere due to misogyny and general cruelty and societal prejudice over her looks and like the antihero privileged evil prettyboy who seems to have everything granted by society that brienne doesn't at the beginning of the series but goes through a dramatic character shift after losing his ability to physically fight and is not actually quite as evil as you're initially led to believe but has become disillusioned and morally dark due to contempt and judgement and expectations from people in his life is kinda unmatched like no one was doing narratives about social expectations like them. the way that both of their character arcs rely on what they learn from each other about honor and judgement and what it means to be a "true knight" is also my fave. in my head where theres a universe where asoiaf is finished they finally confess their feelings 4 each other

doctor/master: haha ok time to be cringe and post doctor who on main again. but like hear me out this ship was so iconic LIKE they are the last 2 living members of their species they're childhood friends they know each other better than anyone in the universe they've known each other for 900 years but they are doomed to be mortal enemies forever because of a fundamental difference in their respective ideologies and who they are as people. like they love each other they hate each other they have to kill each other they have to save each other its so . mwah (im doing the cheff kiss gesture rn) my only criticism of it is that there's never been a f/f iteration of it that could definitely exist it's just that the dw writers hate women so it hasn't happened in the like 60 years of this show running but it exists in my mind

First ever ship: rosemary from homestuck 😭 i think they were the first pairing that i ever looked up fanfiction for when i was but a child. i still love them btw and they're still my favorite homestuck characters their dry humor and the way they bounce off of each other in their pesterlogs is still something i adore

Last song: ignorance by paramore!!!

Currently reading: ........................asoiaf...

Currently watching: game of thrones with my buddy april. we are suffering together

Currently consuming: a latte from the nearby coffee shop i like to go to on the weekends!!

Currently craving: hmm maybe sushi, I haven't had it in a long while

not tagging anyone but thanks for reading if u got this far <3333

#yeah i took this as an excuse to write paragraphs about ships i like what about it #something something text post tag

[addictedtostorytelling]

Hi aj! I’m rewatching season 3 of csi (so good btw) and I was on 03.09 and Grissom says in the beginning of the episode that he was on a date. Then he proceeded to flirt with Sara the entire episode. At this point he knows she’s got a thing going with Hank and there’s the fact he’s losing his hearing so I was wondering what your thoughts are on this date of his all of a sudden, I didn’t remember that and it surprised me 🥲

hi, anon!

so i have a few older posts that touch on the subject of grissom's mystery date, if you care to give them a look:

this one provides a broad overview of grissom and sara's s2/s3 arc and how grissom and sara maneuver around each other while she is dating hank.

this one speculates on the potential identity of grissom's mystery date. (tl;dr: i think his date is probably just some rando, rather than any character we already know on the show.)

this one gives a somewhat more humorous take on what is and isn't going through grissom's mind when he first makes the date and then later skips out on it in order to spend time with sara.

and this one focuses on why grissom feels compelled to "date other people" during the course of s3 (and what he realizes when these attempts so badly fail).

more discussion after the "keep reading," if you're interested.

__

obviously, the show gives us next to nothing to go on when it comes to grissom's episode 03x09 "blood lust" mystery date.

brass meets grissom at the initial crime scene, asks him where the rest of the team is, grissom volunteers the information that he had been on a date prior to getting called in to work, and that's about the long and short of what we're told.

never does grissom reveal the identity of his date, if the date were a first one or he had been out with this person previously, if the date were one he had set up for himself or if someone else had set him up on it, whether he were the asker or the askee, etc.

the line is treated mostly as a throwaway.

its only true significance going forward is that we as the audience are meant to contrast grissom's lack of real care at being called away from his date with the mystery person with his enthusiasm for going on a three-day "crime scene date" with sara afterward.

so.

given what little information the show provides regarding the date, honestly, there's not much we can say about it for certain.

is it a situation where grissom meets someone he finds intriguing and asks them out of his own volition? or maybe someone asks him out, and he decides to take them up on the offer? alternatively, does he maybe get fixed up on a blind date by someone else, like perhaps his mother or even catherine?

all possibilities are open—and so the situation is mostly a matter of headcanon.

however.

though we lack the necessary context to determine the identity of grissom's date or say for certain how he ends up even going out with this mystery person in the first place, i think we do have enough information to answer at least one question, namely:

why does grissom decide to go out on the date in the first place?

after all, whether he is asker or askee or is even set up, there has to be a reason why he ultimately chooses to go.

and it is a bit odd for him to choose to go, isn't it?

i mean, outside of his s1 ooc characterization, grissom has never been shown to be a "dater" in the past and hasn't pursued any romantic relationships except with sara prior to this point. so why does he opt to "put himself on the market" now—particularly given that he is, as you mention, losing his hearing? and is there any connection between his decision to date and the fact that sara is currently in a committed relationship with one hank peddigrew?

if we look at the timeline of late s2 and early s3, we find that grissom may know sara is going on dates with hank as early as the events of episode 02x14 "the finger." however, he doesn't seem to realize that sara is actually in a long-term relationship with the guy until the events of episode 03x02 "the accused is entitled," when phillip gerard alerts him to the fact.

there is no way to overstate the significance of grissom learning about sara's romance with hank coinciding with him beginning to lose his hearing, as the two situations exacerbate each other, in terms of his personal distress.

knowing sara is dating some meathead paramedic at the same time that he is himself already feeling incredibly vulnerable due to his otosclerosis, grissom panics.

fearing he will lose sara to a rival who is younger, fitter, more experienced in love/romance/sex, more socially acceptable for her to date, more able-bodied, etc. than he is himself, he lashes out, punishing sara in his jealousy.

thankfully, sara eventually calls grissom out on this passive-aggressive behavior on his part, citing his hypocrisy for first encouraging her to "get a life" outside of the lab (see episode 01x16 "too tough to die") and then resenting her as soon as she does so (see episode 03x03 "let the seller beware").

to his credit, from this point on, grissom ceases to antagonize her anymore regarding her and hank's relationship.

however, despite trying his best to keep his distance, grissom is still (privately) suffering.

as some of the posts linked above discuss, baby boy would be upset about the love of his life going out with another man no matter what the circumstances, but he is especially so in this case a) because in many ways, hank is his exact opposite, and, b) because he is, simultaneous to sara dating hank, losing his hearing. the sting of helplessly watching the girl he loves romance an "alpha male" he feels he cannot compete with is made even keener because he also fears that once he becomes entirely deaf, he will be left with nothing, having lost both the girl and the job he once chose over her.

at this point, he isn't sure what sara's motivation is for seeking companionship in someone else. does she actually like or even love hank? or is she just trying to move on from him (grissom) because he's kept her at arm's length for so long?

in his uncertainty and despair, grissom becomes incredibly lonely, particularly as he loses the ability to hear more and more of the voices around him.

miserable as he is, he wishes very much to reach out to sara and especially to get a read on her regarding how she currently feels about him. however, he is afraid to do so, supposing she will—in his mind, perhaps rightly—reject him. he also knows: for as much as he longs for her, he is still unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices he would have to make in order to truly be with her.

—which brings us to the issue of his date.

again, we don't know what the exact circumstances surrounding said date are, in terms of who his date is, who asks whom out or sets whom up, how many dates there are (if any) prior to the events of episode 03x09 "blood lust," etc., etc.

what we do know is that following s1 and his brief flings with charlotte meridian and teri miller (when grissom is written in a way that in retrospect seems somewhat ooc, as a kind of more traditional "cad about town" type), we are never told of any other grissom dates until this one.

of course, csi is a show that chooses not to focus much on its characters' home and love lives—which means that in theory, even though we're never shown grissom dating anyone post-teri miller, he could possibly be doing so, though we as the audience aren't being shown as much.

however, my sense is that if grissom were dating during s2 and early s3 prior to this point, the fact that he were would at least get mentioned, if not depicted on screen, as it would be such a departure for his character so as to be noteworthy.

i mean, we can assume that the likes of catherine, warrick, and nick are out there meeting people, going on dates, having casual sex, getting into and out of relationships, etc. even at times when we are not actively being shown that such is the case because the fact that they all possess that kind of social drive is well-established with their characters; we know they're interested in dating and having sex and even have our attentions drawn to times when they are notably "striking out" (like when catherine confides to grissom in episode 04x15 "early rollout" that she hasn't had sex in seven months).

with them, it's such a given that they're "in the dating pool" that it's more useful to mention times when they're not than times when they are, you know?

for them, dating is the rule and not the exception.

at least until warrick gets married.

but then there's sara, right?

for her first one and a half years on the show, sara is shown to only have romantic interest in grissom, and because she only has interest in grissom, she isn't "out on the market."

she doesn't go out on dates with anyone else and in fact occasionally turns down offers from other potential suitors (like super dave and greg).

for her, the rule is singledom, and dating would be an exception.

and that's why it's a big, fucking deal when in s2 she actually deviates from her pattern and finally goes on a date with a guy who isn't grissom—enough so that the deviation receives focus in several episodes (e.g., episodes 02x04 "bully for you," 02x12 "you've got male," and 02x14 "the finger"), becoming both a major point of discussion among her teammates within the universe of the show and a major plot point in terms of the narrative without it, serving as the backbone for her main character arc over the remainder of s2 and into s3.

my sense is that grissom, who, like sara, is not otherwise a regular dater, probably receives a similar treatment concerning the depiction of his love life—i.e., we're not shown him dating between late s1 and mid-s3 not because it's so regular as to not be worth mentioning but rather because it's not happening.

he's just as hung up on sara as she is on him, and so he's not "putting himself out there" during this time.

that mo only changes for him come s3—and the fact that it only changes then means that the reason his date in episode 03x09 "blood lust" gets mentioned is specifically because it represents a departure from his norms, either because it is actually his first date in about a year OR because it is one of multiple dates he goes on at this time in order to "dip his toes back in the water" after a long while spent on dry land.

in either case, the fact that he chooses to go on this date and/or to start dating in general only after sara has already done the same thing on her side is undoubtedly significant.

to my mind, not only is there correlation there, but in this case there is causation.

here is a man who is desperately in love with a woman he fears he can never have, not only due to his own cowardice but also because (at the moment) he is losing his hearing, and he supposes that once he's lost it, he will no longer be at all attractive to her. he sees her on the arm of another man—a man he believes he could never truly compete with for her affections—and can hardly stand the sight.

he wants and needs a distraction.

so contrary to what is usual with him, he goes on a date or multiple dates—not with the expectation that he'll fall in love with someone else and live happily ever after but with the hope that maybe if he just gets out of his house for an hour or two he'll be able to (momentarily) forget that his heart is breaking.

and, again, we don't know how many of these dates he goes on—whether the one in the episode is a first attempt or one of many.

but in any case, what we do know is that grissom's tactic doesn't work.

he goes out with this mystery person, but obviously whatever distraction the date provides is only minimal at best, not only because he doesn't seem very upset to be torn away but also because, at his first opportunity, who does he call to join him but sara?

we know everyone else on the team is busy, but then again, so is she.

she was at a forensic anthropology seminar—required departmental training, in fact.

maybe she is just the next person up on the "call list."

but it kind of seems like grissom picks her specifically—like he wants to see if when he really needs her, she'll still show up for him; that she will, as she always has, put him the job first.

and the thing is, she does.

she shows up, and despite the fact that she is dating hank, she is as present and invested in the work and in grissom as she has always been.

as i talk about here,

note that when sara first walks up to grissom and starts "complaining" about how he called her away from a mandatory continuing education seminar, she is 100% putting on a show, trying to flirt with him. she's not really upset about the call-in—and is in fact excited that he chose her to spend the day with—she's just being sassy to tease him. you can tell by how she makes sure to mention that the seminar was on forensic anthropology (i.e., the same topic as grissom's 1998 forensic academy seminar, where she and grissom first met and fell in love) and also because she has that kind of cocky affect going on. unfortunately for her, grissom is in no mood to flirt, atm. he's stressed, so he ends up being curt with her ("well, i'm sorry, but everyone seems to have something to do today"), responding to her playfulness with a dour rundown of a long list of things going wrong with his case so far. watch sara's face as he does so: you can see her do a sort of "oh shit. i totally played that wrong. oh shit. yeah, no, he's not interested in joking around today. okay. yikes" reaction in real time, her brow furrowing and mouth falling open as she realizes he's not sharing her same wavelength. of course, we can't see either grissom or sara's eyes in this scene, as they're both wearing shades, so i can't say so with 100% certainty, but i'm pretty sure grissom clocks sara's little recoil as soon as it happens and recognizes that he misread her "grousing" from earlier as more serious than she meant it to be. she's not actually arguing with him; she's there to help. that's why he adds a coda to soften the blow of his diatribe at the end: "i need you." as stated above, one reading of the statement is professional—he needs her to help him work the case—but the other one is personal. over the years, grissom has always used the lab/the work to represent himself when he expresses his attraction to and yearning for sara—such as, for instance, in episode 02x15 "burden of proof" when he tells her "the lab needs [her]" or even later on in episode 05x13 "nesting dolls" when he tells ecklie "she's a great criminalist, conrad. and i need her." he always makes it about the job, because that's what safe to him; that's justifiable. however, in reality, he’s using the job as a stand-in for his own self and his feelings. so he does the same thing here. outwardly, he's telling her "i need your help on this case" but on a more personal note, he's expressing that he didn't mean to be harsh to her and that he does want her around—not just in a professional capacity—because, of course, he always does. it's a sincere expression of genuine feeling, a little bit of vulnerability from him to make up for his prickliness earlier. and that's why sara smiles—because that man is so damn charming. she knows the professional meaning behind the words, but she also hears the personal one. yeah, it was probably largely luck of the draw that she ended up being the only team member who was even potentially available to come help him today, but that doesn't mean he wasn't secretly happy it was her. she knows he was. he's basically telling her as much. in this context, "i need you" is tantamount to "i want you." and she'll be damned if she doesn't love hearing him so say. cue a three-day long gsr super date, replete with all kinds of romantic overtures, sweet gestures, and eye sex galore.

for as forlorn as grissom feels to start out the case—and even in the wake of his failed date, which did nothing to help him forget his misery—once sara arrives, he can't help but start to feel better in her presence.

she's all over the case. she's pulling in leads left and right. and she's making him feel great about himself as she does so, paying him just as much attention as she always has.

now that he knows she's receptive, he can't help but do what comes naturally to him, starting to flirt—even going as far as to throw out some statements which subtly imply how connected to and even possessive of her he still feels.

i've always thought it's significant that the episode ends with the song "everything in its right place" by radiohead playing over the image of grissom smirking and stroking his chin, seemingly considering his place in the world.

"yesterday, i woke up sucking a lemon," the lyrics say. but then, to contrast with the current status quo, today, "everything in its right place."

for as off-centered and frightened as grissom has felt up to this point, in this episode, he gains a kind of reassurance that though sara may be hank's girlfriend, she's still his girl, and it makes him feel, for the moment, right, providing more of a distraction than any date with some random person ever could.

spending three days trekking all over the valley with sara at his side, solving multiple homicides, flirting with and showing expressions of trust to each other, is just what grissom needs to help him catch his breath.

and is he thrilled about sara's relationship with hank going forward? no.

and does he still have his hearing loss to worry about? certainly.

but does he have some sense that he hasn't fully lost sara yet? absolutely.

and the fact that he does makes all the difference in the world to him (which is why we see that his dynamic with her for the rest of the season going forward is very different than it had been to this point).

thanks for the question! please feel welcome to send another any time.

#answered #anon #asks: csi #** #my meta #meta: csi #meta: gsr #meta: grissom #03x09 #csiverse #let's talk shop

[cuppajj]

Hello, Cuppajj!! I just found your Sentient Lost Light AU stuff, and I have some curiosity to certain things about them, since Lost Light holds most the crew dear, it seems.

1.) Does Lost Light hold any negative feeling for anyone besides Getaway? (Like the from the mutiny, or just in general.)

2.) How would LL feel about being graffitied by the crew? And especially if was less than flattering. (Like a really big bright colorful dick-)

3.) Does LL ever become possessive or a little overprotective of any of the crew in particular? (One of them ends up feeling hurt or distressed, and they start shutting the source off, away from them. Trying to play ‘shield’, and protect them.)

4.) If any of the crew were to end up with a little one, how would LL feel? Curious and excited? Or a bit replaced, and suddenly ignored, by him?

Sorry if this was odd, annoying or uncomfortable- I just am so curious how LL would interact/react to such with his beloved crew and captain, especially with sentient LL brainrot now. Hope you have a good day/night, Cup! ^w^

Heyooo heoooo thanks for the questions! I'd be happy to answer all of them for you ^v^

So first things first, the LL is neutral good, so they try to have minimal bias. They look out for their crew, but because they primarily see themself as a vessel for them and little more, they leave all the decision making (even the steering) to them. They also know every one of them has flaws, but cares about them despite it. With that in mind:

1.) LL doesn’t dislike anyone in general; they’re still fond of the rowdier and meaner, though as Lightlost they might not spend time with them. If anything, the only crew member LL grows to dislike is Getaway himself; though it’s not until after he starts committing his atrocities during the mutineers arc, such as letting Sunder cannibalize their own crew and keeping a select few in memory loops. In this case they would’ve subtly attempted to help First Aid and the protectobots escape, but Getaway, aware of the LL’s sentience since the initial mutiny, would’ve forced them into hibernation so they could no longer interfere. They wouldn’t wake up until after Rodimus and the rest of the crew are back on board, and they’re brought back online.

2.) Humored, honestly! Even if the image isn’t savory for most, they know someone will be amused by it, or be appalled (*cough* Magnus *cough*) in a way LL gets a kick out of. They know the graffiti can be washed off or painted over, and it’s not like the current crew are the first to do it to them.

3.) Technically no; they’re certainly not as possessive and overprotective (and involved) as their shattered glass counterpart. They’re healthily protective of everyone on board, though I guess you could say they watch over Rodimus more than most. For example, they may convince him to go rest, only for him to wake up to a glass of warm energon on his nightstand in the morning hours. LL is aware of his struggles long before most of the others, and as the captain, they want him to be as confident and healthy as he can be while in charge! Their same concern extends to Megatron when he becomes co-captain, but they know that he’s more, well, mature. However, as time goes on, they may start playing shield for a few small things, though I don't know what specifically they'd be, but it would be subtlle enough for the crew (or at least all but the ones who know LL is alive) to not notice.

4.) LL would be elated! They've rarely if not ever seen a sparkling before. They wouldn't feel ignored at all, and they'd actually hope that all the attention could be on the little one like they deserve! Oh they'd be so curious and excited, knowing that the little one will grow up, learn lessons, mature... and LL would be sure to help, through Lightlost, in any way they can while the new spark is aboard.

The Lost Light is very selfless, putting others before themself, and nothing makes them happier than serving as a home for hundreds of lives. Even though they believe in being unbiased and neutral toward everyone, they can't help but value their closeness with the little cybertronians that inhabit them.

#sentient lost light au #lost light #cjj arts #cjj askbox #maccadam #transformers #mtmte

[comradesbooks]

CRASH COURSE IN WRITING MAGIC SYSTEMS THAT NOBODY ASKED FOR

Disclaimer: I reference some popular media in this post to use as examples of what and what not to do when writing magic systems in fiction. In spite of my horrible sense of humor, understand that I’m not berating any series, I’m just making a point. Like what you like.

AHEM.

In a medieval or ancient fantasy world, magic is a staple, and while it can be a challenge at times to work with a magic system, I’ve found that effective magic systems have three clearly established factors playing into them. These factors are as follows:

1. Rules and Limits

2. Plausible Purpose and Canonical Background

3. CONSISTENCY

1. Rules and Limits. When it comes to writing a magic system, I feel that the most daunting part of it is the sheer amount of freedom you have with it. It’s to your custom. There are no rules until you set them, and if you don’t set firm rules in your magic system, you end up with a weird free for all that makes your story fall flat. The hero needs to reach the peak of some secluded mountain to battle an ancient wizard threatening to destroy the world? Let’s just teleport to the guy and hit him a few times with lightning until he dies! That’ll do it! With logic like that, you have a story that lasts less than 10,000 words. And no lonely soul in the wee hours of a Sunday morning is going to want to read that to pass the time. 

This is why rules and limitations are vital to any magic system. Say your aforementioned hero (who is currently trying to reach that wizard but has no clue where he is) works with magic or has a sidekick who works with magic. Now say that this world does have teleportation magic, which is pretty OP. How do we limit it? Well, maybe teleportation, although possible, is dangerous because it makes the user tired, which is pretty impractical when you’re getting ready to have a final showdown with an all-powerful wizard. This could lead to a side arc that the hero must go through in order to reach the pesky wizard, therefore adding conflict to the story and opportunities to meet new characters, develop your world, and lengthen your adventure.

Earlier seasons of The Fairly Odd Parents come to mind. For those who grew up watching Butch Hartman’s brainchild, you might remember Da Rules, a huge book full of all the rules a godchild and his fairies must follow during their partnership. While rules are made up on the spot in some episodes, there are quite a few that stick around throughout the series and act as a hindrance in Timmy’s hare-brained schemes. In one early episode, Timmy wishes that he was the best skate-boarder in the world. This is fun, until he is challenged by his evil babysitter to a skating contest. Because of the stated rule that he can’t make wishes to win contests, Timmy is stripped of his magical skills, and is forced to git gud on his own in order to beat Vicky. If it weren’t for this simple rule being established early on in the series, the episode would have never happened at all. It’s a simple and childish example, but it gets the point across well enough. 

Put bluntly, limitation and necessity are the parents of invention. If you don’t have rules, you don’t have conflict, and if your story doesn’t have conflict, then you don’t have a story.

2. Plausible Purpose and Canonical Background. Why does your world even have magic in the first place? Why does it exist? How does it exist? How does it affect your story and the characters in it? If it’s just a background element or plot device, either edit it out of your story, or rework your story to make it important, if you want magic so badly. If characters rely on magic for their way of life, make it clear how magic affects people and how they use it in their day to day lives. If magic isn’t a common occurrence, do people fear and shun it? This could be a driving force in your story. 

To add to this, magic systems are about as interesting as their origins are. Magic doesn’t just exist. That’s not unique. It should have some kind of explanation to it. Even if it’s vague, it’s fine, if there’s a good enough reason. Maybe no one knows its true origins and so it’s only crazy theories that exist, which could be up to the reader to determine magic’s origins in that world. Open-ended world-building and characterization can be interesting, if done well.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is a good example. Skyrim introduces a new magic system to the Elder Scrolls series; the Thu’um. To put it bluntly, the Thu’um is an ancient school of magic that was used only by Dragons. Humans couldn’t use it until a goddess allowed them to use it to fight the Dragons in ancient times, because without it, humans had no chance of overthrowing their cruel masters. Canonically, the Thu’um is a very powerful kind of magic, which at one point was used to break a piece of Skyrim off during a battle between two Dragon Priests, Miraak and Vahlok. The story behind the human use of the Thu’um is pretty metal, and therefore, interesting! While it doesn’t have to be quite that brutal, there should be an interesting story to the magic, which could also play into the rules limiting the use of that magic. Using Skyrim as an example again, while humans can use the Thu’um, it requires decades of training to actually do anything with it because the practice is not natural to humans like it is to Dragons. While a handful of mortals have been born with the ability to use the Thu’um without much training at all, only very few have existed in history, and even fewer actually used their gift. The magic is insanely powerful, but has strict limits and rules, depending on who is using, limiting the amount of people who can use it.

Use of the magic system shouldn’t be all the same either. There are different people who are going to practice it, and those different people are going to have different perspectives on the craft. A great example to look at is bending in Avatar: The Last Airbender. While the bending of elements in the show is technically a martial art, it’s treated like a magic system. Each nation has its own style when dealing with their respective element. Waterbenders are more fluid in their motions when waterbending, while earthbenders are very rigid and forceful when they’re chucking rocks at your face. Firebenders are offensive and aggressive, while airbenders are defensive and agile, preferring avoidant tactics in combat. Variations exist, such as the three main Waterbending styles, according to Wan Shi Tong; Northern Style, Southern Style, and Foggy Swamp Style. Some intellectualoids like Toph are knowledgeable enough to make brand new techniques completely unheard of in their craft in the form of metalbending, lavabending, bloodbending, and lightningbending. Others, like Iroh, are even able to borrow from other elements to come up with completely new techniques, like lightning redirection and using different parts of the body to firebend when the limbs are bound. Having multiple ideals in a world not only creates organic diversity, but also opens the doors to conflict. What if two kinds of magic users with differing ideologies clash? What kind of chaos could ensue?

3. CONSISTENCY. It’s pretty simple on paper, but writers seem to struggle with keeping their magic systems consistent. A small example in High Guardian Spice would is the portal magic introduced in the first episode by Aloe. If you have a portal that can take you from Point A to Point B with no established limits, why didn’t Sage and Rosemary just teleport from their hometown to the Academy? When the girls get trapped in a cave, why didn’t they just magic their way out using portals? Avoiding plot holes is easy if you stay consistent. If you write yourself into a corner, consider reworking the previous two factors in your story. To prevent writing yourself into a corner, plan your novel out before you write it, and don’t be afraid to rework some things if you get stuck. They’re called drafts for a reason!

This little brainbarf boils down to:

You make the rules in magic systems. Those rules can be whatever the heck you want, but to make a good product, you need to stick to the rules you set, and still find a way to make it interesting.

Take everything I say here with a grain of salt, as I’m mainly a fanfiction writer, however I have worked with fantasy games, and have rewritten some magic systems to make them more “novel-friendly”. (*cough cough* Skyrim, I’m lookin at you *cough cough*) 

Just understand that everything I said is entirely correct and valid and if you think otherwise, you are automatically wrong in every way.

I can provide examples of my own work with magic systems, if anyone is curious. I can also write up a part two, if anyone is open to discussion! 

#writeblr #writing tips #combat systems #magic systems #fantasy #fiction #novel writing #author

[joonary]

🌧️

hi mj @yoongiphoria thanks for the tag :] sorry for rambling in like half of these LMAO

1. Are you named after anyone?

yea :)

2. When was the last time you cried?

last saturday was my monthly scheduled cry session 🫡

3. Do you have kids?

look me in the eyes and ask that again

4. Do you use sarcasm?

not as often as i used to but it pops out from time to time (my sense of humor is more post ironic now ig)

5. What’s the first thing you notice about people?

like physically? moles just because i think they’re really pretty haha. or eyelashes for the same reason (and totally not because im jealous of mfs who have naturally long eyelashes)

6. What’s your eye color?

brown

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

scary movies WITH happy endings bro. but also i don’t mind horror with sad or bittersweet endings because they can be really cathartic (this is hill house/bly manor propaganda btw)

8. Any special talents?

does having 89 safari tabs open and not being bothered by it count as a talent 💀 jk i can take pretty notes when i actually put in effort LOL im also double jointed at the elbows so take that as you will

9. What are your hobbies?

i wish i could say reading but to be real the only thing ive sat and read for my own enjoyment in the past year was anatomica and an ungodly amount of fics. uhhhh i like going on walks and im also in the middle of watching better call saul and rewatching gilmore girls. i also like to make shitty text posts and leave them to rot in my drafts

10. Where were you born?

in the us

12. What sports do you play/have played?

played volleyball as a kid and golf in high school (kinda wanna get back into golf cus i need to smack balls around for stress relief)

13. Dream job?

a neurosurgeon :) slowly but surely working my way there

14. Favourite subject in school?

it was always biology unsurprisingly 🥴 although i am currently having an e2l arc with my upper divs rn so im gonna throw in that im also pretty fond of physics (hindsight bias because i know damn well that i was miserable the entire time i was taking it 💀)

15. How tall are you?

5’1 (yeah yeah)

tagging: @cinnaminsvga @kithtaehyung @sketchguk @s169r66a @orchidyoonkook @kinktae @milkcutea @pantoneyoongi @yoon-kooks + anyone else who wants to do this just say i tagged you LOL

#id be cool with being any kind of surgeon tbh . just pay me to rearrange your guts #← for legal reasons that is a joke. please dont sue me for medical malpractice #tagged

[sticks-and-souls]

8, 22? :)

Thank you so much for sending this ask, I've always wanted to do one of these!!

8. What projects are you currently working on?

Long fics! (mostly) Which ultimately means I’m doing a lot of writing and not a lot of posting. I’ve never posted long fics before and I’m discovering that—because I’m trying to aim for certain places in a story—I need to have a strong foundation in my opening chapters. So I’m reworking them and revising them (hopefully not to death) every time I build another chapter. My two main long fics are:

a) Foxiyo political intrigue! I fell into Foxiyo on tumblr by accident (the way most of us have) and was so in love with them and came up with all these fluffy scenes between them that made me want to try my hand at a multi-chapter fic. Except I had no plot.

e.g.  Me: They’re hiding in a supply closet and overhear critical info! The ambiance! Such atmosphere! 

        Also me: What info, Souls??? How did they get there? How can you describe people plotting against them if you don’t have any plot???

…And in the process of finding any plot, I ended up coming up with a LOT of plot. But I really really like it so far and I’m really proud of the world building that I’ve done on the Coruscant political scene and imagining how Riyo and Fox each exist in that world and how they need support (and find it in each other). I’m hoping to start posting this fall/winter.

b) Maul redemption arc via Force Quest(TM) with Ahsoka. I have no chapters written but an entire outline composed of many staple fleshed out scenes, overall plot/character arcs, and main themes. This started as a casual musing of “what would cause Maul to turn to the Light?” that has ended up tackling the big questions about what makes people do evil acts--and when does that cross the line into them becoming evil people, whether people deserve forgiveness, is the world inherently uncaring, covered with loads of my own interpretations of the Light and Dark sides of the Force. 

In the meantime, I miss actually posting, so I have a thranto short-fic of loosely related one-shots tied together (the thranto brain rot is so real) that I’m trying to fit in to my writing time, and also the vibes for Battle Scars just refuse to let up and I have a 3rd chapter idea that’s starting to take shape. 

I have two other WIP ideas with enough of the plot/narrative sketched out that I haven’t let them go yet, but based on how long it takes for me to write content for the projects above that I really care about, I’m not sure I’ll ever get to them. (but if anybody goes rabid over them posted here I’ll consider them more closely). They are:

a) Codywan Pride and Prejudice AU. It would be a parody vibe and I would be trying to practice writing humor but I watched P&P this summer and I think my idea of execution is solid. 

b) Rexsoka Modern-day Road Trip AU. I actually really love this one and if I come back to Rexsoka, I would love to do this. Anakin wants to do the Great American Road Trip for his bachelor party; themes include coming of age, you can never go home but maybe that’s not as bad as it sounds, and found family. 

22. Do you know how your fic will end before you start writing?

If you define writing as “opening a file and starting to create a chapter that will eventually make it to AO3”, then, for the most part, yes (Battle Scars being the glaring exception). The details of that ending are vague, but if I were to give a summary of the entire work, I can tell you the sentence that describes the ending before I decide to start writing. In fact, it’s usually the realization that I have enough plot/character points for a full story that incentivizes me to finally start writing “Chapter One”. 

That said, at least 75% of my “writing time” is a Notes file with my story ideas and completely informal scene sketches. Even for my two “probably never write this” ideas above, I have Notes files several pages long outlining the plot points, random scene details, story ambiance, and even some dialogue for key scenes that I didn’t want to forget. And I seriously will probably never find time to write them. 

Thanks again for asking and I would honestly love to ask these same questions back to you!

#foxiyo #sw the clone wars #my writing #ask meme

[terriblymundane]

Guidelines For My Free Readings

I. Ask your question via dm/message (no inbox!) II. Pick a deck for your reading (Left: Terror Tarot | Right: Firefly Tarot) III. Any likes/follow/reblogs/feedback in return is more than welcome and makes my day!

Since requests tend to flood in like that elevator scene in The Shining (but hey, thankful for it), please allow me some time to get back to you ;)

I also kindly ask that you read what's below.

My Approach To Tarot

Grab yourself a warm tea, coffee, hot chocolate... Whatever your addiction may be. I enjoy making my readings as interactive as can be. They are for entertainment purpose and I have fun doing them. It's quite casual, so allow yourself the humor. Be prepared for some questions, elaborations... Coming up with your own interpretation. You are the protagonist, pal. You will also get a picture of your reading.

My personal practice and what I offer currently are major arcana two cards or Tarot de Marseille spreads. Therefore, the question you ask has to be about... Well, you. For example, don't ask when Chad's going to knock at your door. We all love a good romcom or drama. But you know what makes a good story. What makes us tag along for the rollercoaster of emotions or trainwreck. So ask what are the next steps in your character arc to further that romantic subplot. Take the bad pun as it is, but it's all about showing you the cards in your hands-

If you pulled through (please someone stop me) and that floats your boat, then I hope the cards will leave you a little less confused than you may be at this hour 🖤

#free reading #free tarot reading #free readings #tarot #cartomancy #free cartomancy #free cartomancy reading #free cartomancy readings #free tarot readings #card reading #tarot reading #tarot readings #tarot card #tarot cards #witchblr

[mavis-merry-magnolia]

next question

i think you will like this one...

what parts of hanekawa makes her your favorite? give me the full blorbo thoughtdump 😈

OH so you want it to be go time? It's go time? I suppose it's go time.

Note I am NOT a writer or well articulated so this is going to be ALL over the place fdjkhds.

So just to begin, Hanekawa is such a fun and mysterious character for a lot of Bakemonogatari. She's literally the first character we're introduced to properly other than Koyomi. And their very first scene already establishes that they have some history together, what with her seemingly being Koyomi's only friend. And shows us a couple flashes of Black Hanekawa but refusing to elaborate. And the season just continues to drip feed us that there is just something UP with the sweet little glasses wearing student council president. Allusions to spring break, and Something happening during Golden Week that Koyomi and Meme don't really elaborate on much. Her genuinely offputting comments about the way Koyomi hitting Mayoi and how he's "supposed" to do it, combined with the fact she could see Mayoi at ALL once it's revealed what exactly Mayoi is and how her mechanics work. The fact that whenever she's on the phone she's NEVER at home, always wandering the streets. It builds up so much subtle intrigue in what the hell is going on with her behind the scenes, given that Koyomi basically outright idolizes her and talks up how amazing and perfect she is in most cases.

I'm a very big fan of these kinds of setups for characters and their arcs. It's why i'm currently so fascinated with how information and scenes regarding Ougi are being dripped out and revealed across Second Season. But I digress.

And then Tsubasa Cat rolls around and begins to shed some light on just exactly how NOT okay she is by revealing information on her home life, as well as the beginnings of exactly what the hell went down during golden week. It's at this point that the narrative starts to pick at the part of her that it's kept hidden so far. How much of her Good Girl act is a raw self defense mechanism for her. She's never had anyone she could actually open up to like Koyomi before. She just so...casually talks about the abuse she's suffered to him.

To go on a small tangent, a character trait about Koyomi that I like is that he's really willing to throw himself under the bus for the sake of cheering others up if need be. During the talk where Hanekawa talks about her father hitting her, he realizes that he can't really...do anything about it, and can see that she's getting really upset and desperate when she asks him not to tell anyone. So he starts going on a goofy little pervy bit to cheer her up, since she likes his weird sense of humor. It's a really sweet moment for them.

Anyway, back on topic. Not to detail my own life all too much but, the way Hanekawa defends herself from her environment and the world around her hits VERY close to home with my own experiences. As someone who's had to constantly mask and people please her whole life, it hits so close to home seeing how she handles all of that and...the consequences it has, in the form of Black Hanekawa.

This is just me speaking entirely from my own experiences but, learning from the Nekomono Duology that ultimately even with the influence of the Sawari Neko, Black Hanekawa is STILL Hanekawa, hit really close to home, in the way that when stresses in my life build up like this, due to my own masking and outright rejection or ignoring of them, it manifests in....destructive episodes. I start thinking, talking, and acting erratically in a way that doesn't feel like Me at all. I've ended up nearly permanently damaging very close and important relationships to myself several times because of this. I don't feel like myself at all, like I become a totally different person. And, I dunno, I just...I really felt something seeing Tsubasa be pushed to her breaking point and lashing out at everything around her in a similar way. It made me really...invested. In seeing where her character would go after that.

Augh and speaking of where her character goes like...I've mentioned it in past posts but I love how absolutely dynamic of a character she is too. Like, we've gotten to see her ENTIRE journey through this story. From her mysterious introduction in Bake, seeing her chronological introduction in Kizumonogatari and just...seeing how MUCH her and Koyomi went through together. With Kizu you can just...it's SO easy to see how Tsubasa fell in love with him. Their budding friendship and complicated feelings for one another through the story arc are SO sweet and precious to me. Like. For every part of her that's a front, she really is just a sweetheart underneath it all. She just isn't able to express it all healthily. I mean, her persistence and care managed to break through Koyomi's shell at his MOST soggiest and cringiest. And then Nise...while she doesn't appear much, I REALLY like how she's shown here, taking the aftermath of Tsubasa Cat where everyone just kinda...puts a bandaid on the situation.

Okay doubling back to talk about that, something that I think makes Tsubasa Cat stand out compared to the other 4 Bake arcs is that each of the other arcs resolve themselves pretty soundly? Like yeah we know that down the road more complications arise but, looking at the story in the order it's written, pretty much all of the arcs have a solid and happy end. But that doesn't really happen with Tsubasa Cat, because the issue of Hanekawa being unable to express her feelings just isn't addressed at all. We just go back to ignoring it and hoping for the best. And I love how Tsubasa tries to give off the air that something has changed. Wearing contacts and cutting her hair. Hair cutting being a pretty common symbolism of change and all. But...it's both superficial. It's another act, and I love it. I've been there myself so many times. Acting like i've made a big change to fix something going wrong when really...it's a lie i'm telling myself and to others.

And then there's the Nekomono Duology just, making EVERYTHING come full circle. The full explanation of just What Black Hanekawa is and how she relates to how Tsubasa is. Tsubasa spending time with Hitagi, who helps her start to break down some of the barriers she's put up, with their discussion of cooking among other things. Kako manifesting at a time that Koyomi is NOT there anymore for her to fall back on and depend on, forcing her to take what she learned from spending time with Hitagi, Karen and Tsukihi to heart and just...coming to terms with herself. ALL parts of herself. Tsubasa, Black Hanekawa, and Kako all together. Finally coming to change herself for REAL and make REAL steps towards healing and growth, symbolized far more proper by Black Hanekawa and Kako's white hair mixing with her natural black....it all comes together so wonderfully. And it's really helped me start to figure myself out in a similar way and make real, ACTUAL changes for the better for myself.

It's the narrative in Monogatari that has hit me the absolute hardest to date and I love every second devoted to it.

...and on a much less personal level, I just think she's really funny and cute in how she bounces off of all the other FREAKS in this cast. It's hard to call anyone in Monogatari "Normal" but I think she plays a hilarious straightman in most situations she's thrust into.

Gods and I've barely even talked about Black Hanekawa or Kako have I? Silly cat and Angy cat. The fact that Yui Horie can have such a distinct range for Tsubasa and Black Hanekawa is amazing, on top of the fact she has to pepper all those nyas into her speech too. I just love that the manifestation of Tsubasa's repressed stress and feelings is just acting like a silly catgirl who fucking GETS you. I wish that's how my stress manifestations were.

I've been typing this for like, an hour and I still feel like there's more I can say jdkhdf.

Basically. I love her so much. All of her. And she's been helping me understand and come to love all of me too.

#merry mumbles #monogatari #tsubasa hanekawa #hanekawa tsubasa #this is soooo long and so unorganized and not even half of what I could say i'm just too sleepy to keep going fdskjhfd

[un-pearable]

Hi! Uh, I want to get into Sonic. Any shows/games you would reccomend starting with? An order? Also!! What's your favorite iteration of sonic (if you have one)

i think this might be THE question every sonic fan is dying to be asked. that is to say, hell yeah it would be my pleasure to make some recommendations >:] 

best things to try as a very first introduction to the hedgehog and friends (that are still relatively bitesized or accessible): 

the official animations for sonic mania, team sonic racing, chao in space, sonic colors, and most recently sonic frontiers. personal favorites are chao in space bc its adorable and frontiers for… obvious (knuckles) reasons (it’s about knuckles). these are short and sweet and absolutely adorable so they’re always some of the first things i recommend :] check ‘em out if you can - you won’t regret it. 

on that topic, Sonic Frontiers is a solid place to start with the games! it’s the most recent release so there’s currently a demo available on switch and it’s also on sale on steam right now (until Feb 13th!). few of the games directly lead into each other so picking specific games to start with is more down to personal taste, i’ll go into more detail if you’d like but for an introduction to the series? frontiers has been very well received and many consider it a return to form after the last few games, so it’s a good place to pick up the series! EDIT: I FORGOT ABOUT GENERATIONS. sonic generations is basically a Best-Of compilation of sonic’s most well known stages and it’s also perfect for a first time player. it was MY first game. how on earth did i forget about it. anyway it’s also on steam and it kicks ass!!!

alternately, much of the franchise was codified in the adventure games, so if you prefer starting at the beginning, they’re big recommendations as well! both Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2 are on steam and MANY playthroughs are online. SA2 was also the first of the sonic fandubs, so if you’ve seen any of those memes that’s where they’re from. 

also, if you’re into zelda games you’ll probably love frontiers. but if you prefer 2D/pixel art games, Sonic Origins just came out last summer and contains rereleases of the first four sonic games and Mania is always a fun option! alternately, try here for a taste of sonic 2 :] 

comics!! comics!!!!! the IDW Sonic The Hedgehog comics are killing it lately and double as canon and ridiculously fun. the first arc is issues 1-12 and if that won’t sell you on this funky little guy, well, there’s a lot more options too! you can find the IDW run here - but support your local comic shop if you can! 

for a little more bite-sized try the recent miniseries scrapnik island! it’s standalone from the main storyline and considering you’re a ninjago fan i think you’ll enjoy a fun story about morally complex robots :D 

the Archie series is amazing at times and so bad it’s funny at others - but what isn’t? while i am a HUGE fan it does require quite a bit of time and investment. other recommendations from the 300 issue+ legacy of sonic comics are available on request (i do not know how to shut up <3) 

tv shows!! Sonic Prime just released on Netflix and it slaps. not the most traditional sonic but it’s fun as hell and ongoing - we’re only ⅓ into the first season and there’s at least two guaranteed. the animation is astounding and it’s coincidentally produced by wildbrain just like current ninjago. i edited one of it’s kickass fight scenes here 

this is almost certainly far more than you need but i love talking about this series so thanks for humoring me :] i hope you enjoy them!! hmmm… they’ve all got their own appeal to me but lately i’ve been watching a lot of playthroughs while drawing (and i eagerly await the frontiers dlc so i have an excuse to replay it) and i think atm game sonic’s my favorite! the comics are delightful and the shows always have their own twists but i love good ‘ol game sonic… the others are more than just facets of his character and have their own great stories, but there’s something special about the original. this message brought to you by how absolutely astounding his characterization is in Sonic Unleashed. we missed you big guy. hope you have fun!! 

#this is like the best time EVER to be getting into sonic so youre in for a treat. so much awesome stuff has released just the last year #i hope this helps!!! sorry its so long i love this series too much <3 #text✨ #sonic #sonic the hedgehog #tried to include as broad a range as possible bc this series is SPRAWLING and includes every possible media format under the sun #I DIDNT EVEN MENTION THE MOVIES SFDKJDS #anyway. keep me posted i love helping new people get into it :] #tried to include as many..... helpful.... links as possible but if you need anything else im your guy <3 have fun!!!!