#I guess it makes a little sense?? In regards to the developers wanting to be hush hush about BotW spoilers for newcomers

[pixelsjoy]

Me playing Tears of the Kingdom: As much as I miss the champions, it makes sense they're not mentioned much. It's been a hundred years since they died. Even if they survived the Calamity, most of them would probably be dead at this point. The only exception being Mipha, who would have been the only one that would still be alive if she survived the calamity due to her age. The reason they're still remembered so much in Breath of the Wild is because the Divine Beasts, one of the last remaining connections to them, are still active and looming in Hyrule. Impa also said that their spirits feel uneasy knowing their task of defeating the Calamity wasn't done. They were at peace when the Calamity was defeated and passed on. They're not brought up from that point on because them and their era are over and can be laid to rest.

Also me playing Tears of the Kingdom: - holding back tears - Damn I miss the champions

#LIKE YEAH. I GET IT FROM A THEMATIC POINT. BUT FROM A 'SIR THOSE ARE MY FAVORITE CHARACTERS' POINT. I AM ACHING #I love the sages in TotK! Don't get me wrong! #I mean look at my icon tee hee #But I've grown so attached to the champions their absence feels so off. I'm fifty-fifty on it #I wanna be clear: Big agree with people who say the Sheikah Shrines and tech being suddenly gone feels off #It's unexplained and feels far too significant to easily write off #I feel similar about the champions and how little they're mentioned in game #I don't think Zelda even has a single line of dialogue that mentions them. #She and Link lived through the calamity and knew them as friends #At least a tiny mention would have made sense since she does briefly talk about the Calamity with Sonia and Rauru #I guess it makes a little sense?? In regards to the developers wanting to be hush hush about BotW spoilers for newcomers #But the way they went about it is like they tried to forget it happened. It doesn't feel right. #This might also be my biased speaking cause the original sages? Cool and all #But they feel so hollow compared to the characters that the champions had #Anyways I am still VERY in love with TotK. It's consumed way too much of my time #But I also wanted to talk about this gripe dhdjfjejfjd #Thank you for coming to my TED talk. I'm sorry this is a whole wall of spilling #Anyways will I cope by remembering Age of Calamity is a thing despite how much it obliterates the timeline? #Dang right #Tears of the Kingdom #Breath of the Wild #TotK Spoilers #LoZ TotK #Loz BotW #BotW Champions #Long Post

[sukifoof]

hii i was talking about this on twitter so i think i will just copy paste it here cuz i’ll probably delete it there at some point <3 twitter frightens me but i love my mutuals here we are all insane about flowey in the same way

 i think saying “you’re the type of friend i wish i always had” is a really important thing for asriel to admit... this whole time asriel has dealt with so much grief and guilt about chara that it separated the actual person chara from the idealized version of them in his head who he has never stopped grieving. its a huge part of his character that hes unable to view them as they were because that’s just how his ptsd and guilt affects him. as someone who went through a similar thing that kind of grief can mess with your head and how you view yourself and the person who’s gone really badly. the pacifist route, for flowey’s character specifically, is a really good example of how grief and ptsd can make you feel disconnected from yourself, everyone around you, and like if only the person you lost was back everything would be perfectly fine again. the fact that he can admit they weren’t perfect and that he made the right decision is a huge character development that we don’t get to see in the no mercy route because he’s still convinced that this idealized version of them birthed from bereavement will make everything okay. similarly to how he believed toriel might have been able to fix him, he wants to believe there’s someone out there that could somehow return him to who he was before being traumatized, but the reality of it is this is just who he is.

his grief and trauma is a huge part of who he is like it is with real people, but it doesn’t have to be all of him. i think the emphasis the fandom puts on whether chara was Good Or Bad completely misses the point that it doesn’t really. matter i guess?? they were a kid people loved and now they’re gone. we're seeing people deal with the grief this brought and we know so little of who they are because there’s also a degree of separation about who they are to the people they loved as well. idk i hope this makes sense i think a lot about how chara is a kid who hated humanity and calls themself a demon. to me that just shows an EXTREMELY traumatized child with self hatred. i don’t know why there was ever this huge moral argument about chara when they’re literally just a kid with issues. they weren’t taught how to deal with how they felt and likely held themself in lower regard compared to the dreemurrs. its the same thing with asriel, he feels responsible for them being gone and his own trauma. he just wants a friend who can teach him to understand his grief or someone who can at least let him view the situation for how it really is

i just think. flowey is so well written but not understood very well by the fandom because the type of thing he’s gone through is kind of hard to grasp. it’s a weird situation that doesn’t have a completely black or white Is He Or Chara At Fault kind of answer. they were children. people are complicated and want someone to blame when something goes wrong and flowey directed that at himself. hes such a fascinating and well written character i love him dearly i hope u guys understand how insane he makes me <3

#undertale #utdr #flowey #asriel #asriel dreemurr #chara dreemurr #chara #utdr analysis

[okay-babe]

Headcannons ~ Alastor with a reader who has a contract with Valentino...

tags: alastor x fem! reader, established relationship (in the final third of the post), cam star! reader, possessive! alastor, valentino sucks (as usual), mild angst, mild nsfw note: okay so I got an ask wanting to know my thoughts on Alastor with a reader who used to be in a contract with Valentino and has to interact with him, but I misread it as Alastor with a reader who is currently in a contract with Valentino and has to interact with him lol, so here's this! (The actual request should be fulfilled soon, my bad anon!).

♱. At first, Alastor definitely thought you were more than just a little foolish for having made a deal with an overlord like Valentino (bro does not understand the concept of victim blaming).

♱. In his mind, the moth is so blatantly rancid that it just doesn't make any sense for anyone to ever think otherwise, even for a moment.

♱. But then, as he gets to know you better, he starts to see things a little bit differently.

♱. "This is gonna sound stupid..."

♱. You told him one day while speaking on the topic of the overlord who owned your soul, a rare occurrence indeed due to the stigma your contract seemed to carry.

♱. "But honestly, Val was the first person down here to actually make me feel like I was... I dunno... attractive?"

♱. You groaned at the end of your sentence, burying your head in your hands,

♱. "I just... I didn't recognize myself anymore, the person in the mirror wasn't me, y'know? It's like one second I was a human, and the next I was, well, this!"

♱. You exclaimed, gesturing to yourself all the while.

♱. "In a way, his absolutely ridiculous insistence that he could make me into a star made me realize that just because I looked a little different didn't mean I looked bad..."

♱. You trailed off, hands stuffed into your pockets as you looked into the distance,

♱. "And then when I learned about everything he had to offer? I mean how could I have possibly said no? It felt like a win-win back then, or at least something close to it. He promised that no one would touch me, that all he needed was my pretty face and a camera."

♱. You looked toward your then friend with a sigh, a tired smile plastered upon your face,

♱. "I guess he kept that part of the bargain, huh? I just never really thought he would end up being so... awful."

♱. You cringed at the end of your statement, eyes going glassy for a few moments before you suddenly clapped your hands together, standing up abruptly immediately afterward.

♱. "Haha, anyways, you have to have like a thousand contracts right? There's gotta be some good stories there."

♱. As you urged him to speak further on his own experiences, Alastor couldn't help but reconsider his previous thoughts regarding your deal.

♱. Perhaps you weren't as foolish as he had initially thought.

♱. Honestly though, as time goes on and your friendship develops even further, Valentino's contract with you really doesn't end up being that pressing of a topic.

♱. Most of the time, any thoughts regarding the overlord go unsaid, and your business with him is considered yours and yours alone.

♱. That is, until you miss a photo shoot for Slayboy magazine (sorry) and the moth turns up at the hotel, clearly pissed off.

♱. So pissed off in fact, that he had neglected to consider the fact that it wouldn't necessarily be you who responded to his incessant banging...

♱. With a wide grin and an almost obnoxious flourish, the radio demon opened the door, leaning slightly on his staff as he regarded the moth with an amused hum.

♱. "Oh my, the vice demon himself here to visit our humble hotel? Why, to what do I owe the displeasure?!"

♱. He exclaimed, watching as the man's eye twitched slightly in response.

♱. "Where is she?!"

♱. He growled, moving to stalk past Alastor only to be stopped at the pressure of the overlord's microphone against his chest,

♱. "Ah ah ah,"

♱. He tutted,

♱. "You most certainly do not want to do that."

♱. His voice held a hint of warning to it, and a great deal of amusement, his eyes full of malice as he spoke.

♱. Valentino glared,

♱. "Fuck off you corny old bitch, this doesn't concern you."

♱. In response, Alastor simply chuckled, his bones popping and muscles splitting as he slowly began to grow in size, in no mood for the other demon's antics.

♱. "Oh but that's where you're wrong, you insufferable wretch."

♱. He said with an earsplitting grin,

♱. "Anything that involves my most esteemed employee very much does concern me."

♱. In reaction to the sight before him, Valentino snarled, but took a step backward nonetheless, not quite stupid enough to pick a fight with the radio demon on his own.

♱. "Ugh, fine!"

♱. He shouted,

♱. "But you tell that fucking whore to be on site in thirty or I'll find a way to kill her twice!"

♱. And with that, he was turning back toward his limo, ignoring the loud radio static that sounded from behind as he did so.

♱. Of course though, that was just about the only time that Valentino ever got away with ordering you around in front of Alastor, because soon enough, your friendship began to bloom into an extremely unexpected romance.

♱. And after that?

♱. Well, Alastor became a lot less tolerant of the idea that something like your soul belonged to someone else.

♱. He was constantly glaring daggers at the moth demon nearly every time he saw him, be it at an overlord meeting, or even the photo shoots you had in studios outside of the V's gaudy looking headquarters (he might love you, but starting a war with Vox by hanging around in that tower definitely wouldn't be a very smart move).

♱. Makes a show of helping you undress at each and every shoot that he does go to though, neatly folding your clothing for you before pressing a gentle kiss to your head.

♱. "Go on then, my dear."

♱. He would purr,

♱. "I'll just be here enjoying the view if you need me." (He's so corny).

♱. Absolutely despises the fact that your deal forces you to show your body the way that you do in front of a camera. Like not a fan at all.

♱. He doesn't really judge you for it knowing why you ended up making your deal in the first place, but he has absolutely killed an obscene number of sinners and hellborn fools that he witnessed viewing your content in public.

♱. "Al, they're not doing any harm!"

♱. You commented one day after the particularly gruesome murder of a random sinner, arms crossed.

♱. "Oh, on the contrary, darling,"

♱. He'd purred with a wide and unsettling grin,

♱. "I'm afraid they were looking a bit too intently at what's mine."

♱. Yeah you didn't argue too much after that.

♱. (Not like it would ever do you any good to anyway).

♱. Whether or not he actually tries to find you a way out of your contract though, is really entirely up to you in the grand scheme of things.

♱. He certainly isn't fond of it, the idea of another man owning you and all...

♱. But in the end he'll get over it if you really want him to... Just give him a few hundred years or so...

♱. (Yeah unless you can give him like a thousand spectacular reasons not to, he's going to try to find a way to get you out of that deal with Valentino).

♱. Still, in the meantime, he definitely makes your shoots feel a little bit less daunting (although if Val makes one more comment about how lucrative a photo set with you and the radio demon would be, you're worried Al might actually kill the guy).

#alastor x reader #alastor imagine #hazbin x reader #hazbin hotel x reader #hazbin hotel x you #alastor x you #hazbin x you #hazbin imagine #hazbin hotel imagine #hazbin hotel #hazbin hotel alastor x reader #alastor x reader headcannons #hazbin hotel headcannons #.writes

[simplyreveries]

hii!! i just found your blog and the writings are all so good?!! can i request lilia, riddle, and epel with a yuu/mc that’s shorter than them? if it’s not ok you can ignore this!! tysmm(≧∀≦) and have a nice day!!!

i sometimes forget im the same height as riddle fkljd

lilia vanrouge

lilia is always teasing you about it even if it's only like… you’re shorter by an inch or two. he’s playfully telling you how cute and small you are in comparison to him; he tells you he thinks you're such a fragile human. he loves to hug you and bury his face in your hair, he’ll coo to you as he playfully rocks you side to side, it’s sweet.

sometimes he does make jokes regarding it and trust me they're so bad that its almost funny. (keyword almost, you just give him a deadpan stare). one time when no one could hear you saying something during class, lilia mentions "ah well i guess it can't be helped. after all, you're easy to overlook fufu". once again lilia says all these things like he isn't 5'1.

he enjoys giving you kisses on the cheek- but he also loves grabbing your face with his hands and lifting it up a little so he can give you a kiss on the forehead. then that would only turn into him attacking your face with kisses all over.

riddle rosehearts

he doesn't necessarily say anything about it, but he is quite happy to know you're someone that's actually shorter than him. besides, his dorm leader uniform usually gives him some extra height with the boots/heels he wears and has on most of the time. if you ever were to point that out, he'd give an amused look and be like "hm, i guess i am, arent i?" he feels so confident askdhahdj

one time after you did enough pleading with him to let him try on his heels that are a part of his uniform to feel that extra sense of height. he wouldn't admit it, but he found the whole thing to be quite silly and bit back some laughs.

riddle is a little content too with the fact that he has someone he looks down at when talking to instead of up… it hurts your neck yk. he has also developed a habit of petting your hair, especially when he’s in a soft and relaxed mood with you. he has a gentle smile on his face as he pets your hair as you're talking or whenever you come over to hug him.

epel felmier

im not even going to lie to you he is incredibly happy that you're shorter than him, it makes him just feel so good about himself… he is also genuinely surprised because it's not often he meets someone his age that's shorter than him. epel finally gets to feel confident and smug even if it's being a single INCH taller than you. you've once caught him standing next to you and discreetly doing the hand thing to see how much shorter you are than him haha.

even though he doesn't like the shoes vil gives him or makes him wear for pomefiore’s dress codes and such, he does like how much more of a boost it gives him to his height so that he can feel even that much taller than you, he’ll laugh and if you ask him why he’ll get closer to you and point that out.

he doesn't really take it kindly when other tall guys at nrc seem to tease you about it, he gets pretty defensive over you… like it's it's mostly because he's used to hearing it himself and knows how harsh people can be. he doesn't want to ever see you upset like him because of it too. he can't help but feel a little more protective over you.

#i love my short kings #twst #disney twst #twst x reader #disney twisted wonderland #twisted wonderland x reader #twst headcanons #twst wonderland #twst imagines #twisted wonderland #epel x reader #riddle x reader #lilia x reader

[yumeka-sxf]

A chronological analysis on Twilight and Yor - Part 24

*This is part of an ongoing post series. If you missed the Introduction/Part 1, click here*

----------

When Twilight finds out that there's a bomb on the ship, he's at first torn about whether to intervene or not. This is an interesting situation for him because it's not a mission he was assigned to do, and intervening could run the risk of revealing himself to the SSS. But at the same time, not intervening and relying on the SSS being capable enough to take care of it, is risky, too.

If Twilight was the selfish, unfeeling spy he makes himself out to be, he would figure out a way to escape the ship with just himself, Yor, and Anya (of course he'd insist he's only taking them with him "for the mission"). He'd probably use one of the lifeboats like the eavesdropping assassin used, perhaps even contact WISE beforehand so they could pick him up. But we know that he's way too conscientious to let such a catastrophic event take place when he could have used his skills to prevent it. So, like his wife elsewhere on the ship, he makes the unselfish decision to help others even if it's a risk to himself. 

Later, Twilight has some final bouts of second-guessing regarding his decision when he picks up Anya at the daycare that night.

Rather than be proud of himself or even relieved that he was able to stop a potential crisis, he instead feels regret that he had to once again abandon his family…but his family is also part of his mission…so by averting the crisis, he saved them? But taking a vacation was also his mission, so does that mean his mission is to…not have a mission? Even I had trouble making sense of his thoughts here, but it's clear that the poor man still has a long way to go before he's not so unnaturally hung up about "missions." Rebecca Silverman on ANN neatly wraps up Twilight's cruise arc character development in an article here, to quote:

"…He wants to make sure the ship doesn't go down, but he also doesn't want to just abandon his child so he can go save it, and that's a distinction that hasn't been as clear in his mind before now. His little meltdown at the end is him fighting against the realization that this family isn't just a “mission” to him anymore; he's now a dad. This is beautifully shown when he catches Anya when she rolls off her bunk; not only is he attuned to her movements, but he cradles her for a moment instead of putting her down immediately. The smile on his face says that he cares, even if he's not comfortable with the idea."

Speaking of the aforementioned scene of Twilight catching Anya when she fell off the bunk bed, the anime adds this new footage of the early morning before the ship arrives at the resort island. Considering Twilight's doubts the night before, we see one of his rare, not-forced smiles, as he interacts with Anya.

Meanwhile, Yor is alone in her room treating her injuries. We know that she didn't sleep at all the night before since she was keeping watch over Olka's group the whole time. She then spent most of the following night in life or death struggles against various assassins, so she looks rightfully exhausted (and I'm sure the pain from her wounds disturbed what little time she was able to sleep).

While they wait for Yor at the island, Anya continues to show how much she has Twilight wrapped around her little finger – all she has to do is suggest that he's not acting like a "normal" dad would, and he immediately bursts into an awkward skip to try and prove to whoever's looking that, yes, he is just a dad having fun on vacation!

However, as soon as he realizes that Yor is there, his face reddens in embarrassment. He doesn't care if nearby strangers think he's acting like a silly, fun-loving dad, but it seems like he doesn't want Yor's view of him as a dignified, composed husband to be tarnished.

His look of concern when he notices that Yor's face is swollen is emphasized more in the anime…what could have been his first thought upon seeing that? However, when she tells him that despite City Hall's failed attempt to win over the couple, they were smiling in the end, he softens. Since the latter part of Yor's words here were not a lie, she was able to express them with genuine satisfaction, and Twilight picked up on her sincere feelings about the matter.

In fact, throughout their entire time on the island, Twilight gazes at Yor with more noticeable softness than he ever has before. From the aforementioned moment when she tells him that the couple were happy, to when she tells him how peaceful she feels watching Anya play with the sheep, and then at the very end of their excursion when he praises her for her hard work while carrying her and Anya back to the ship…Anya may have been right to call him out about missing Yor during the cruise. As I mentioned before, this is likely the longest time he's gone without seeing her since their "marriage," so this may be his subtle way of showing that he missed her.

At this point in the series, it's not hard to tell when Twilight's smile is his fake "Loid Forger" smile versus his real smile – Endo does a good job making the former look "forced," usually accompanied by his eyes being closed in a stiff squint to emphasize the phoniness, while in the latter case, his eyes are much more relaxed and his expression is more animated overall. Nightfall noticed this as well during her visit to the Forger house – how Twilight's real feelings seeped through the phony smile, particularly when his eyes relaxed.

Takuya Eguchi, Twilight's voice actor, also does a good job changing the pitch of his voice slightly when he's speaking as Loid Forger versus speaking his true feelings. If you compare how Twilight converses with Yor in this episode compared to, say, how he converses with Desmond during their encounter at Eden, the difference is very noticeable…even though, according to Twilight, both situations are "for the mission." In his mind, he shouldn't feel anything special for Yor compared to Desmond or anyone else he has to put on an act in front of. And yet, his voice and eyes convey otherwise.

It's been a while since the Forgers went on a family outing, so it was wonderful seeing them enjoy such a variety of activities together. What stood out to me the most as far as analyzing was Yor's difficulty riding the horse.

This may be more of a headcanon, but I feel like animals are uncomfortable around her because they can sense her insane physical strength even when she's not actively showing it. This could be why Kopi didn't put up any fight when she grabbed him, why all she had to do was glare at the German shepherd for him to run away, and why this horse doesn't want her riding him. It could also be why she's Bond's least favorite according to Endo in the fanbook. Also, Yor's fear of bugs makes sense since they're so tiny and quick, which makes them very difficult to take down from an assassinating perspective.

While Anya plays with the sheep at the petting zoo, Yor is finally able to fully relax for the first time in days, since she got the cruise assignment. She doesn't have to do anything in that moment besides watch Anya enjoying herself to the fullest in this lovely, peaceful little town. She tells Loid how peaceful she feels while also thinking to herself that she hopes this peace could last forever. Out of all the activities they did together, the reason this particular scene is so emphasized is because it perfectly portrays the reason Yor decided to keep being Thorn Princess back on the ship – so that children, whether her little brother Yuri, Anya, Gram, or whoever, can live freely and innocently in a peaceful world. And, when she expresses to Loid how peaceful she feels here, he says that he feels the same way.

As I just discussed, Twilight was not in "Loid Forger acting mode" here, so the reason he honestly agrees with her is because he's fighting for the same thing. Like I mentioned in Part 21, Twilight and Yor continue to do their ugly, thankless jobs in order to secure the peace of future generations.

When it's time for them to head back to the ship, Yor's exhaustion finally gets the best of her, forcing Twilight to carry both her and Anya in his arms on the way back. While he's a bit perturbed at first since some onlookers were snickering at him, it didn't take long for him to give into his feelings in that moment – namely, his genuine appreciation of Yor's sacrifice so that Anya could have a wonderful day with both parents. Though it's not a long scene, I think this is one of the most significant scenes for their relationship thus far (along with the post-Fiona date). Why is it so significant? Because there was no reason for Twilight to put on any Loid Forger acting in that moment, since he wasn't conversing with nor being scrutinized by anyone.

So why would he give that soft smile followed by such affectionate, comforting words as "お疲れ様/otsukaresama"? (this can be translated in many ways, but generally it's what you say to thank someone for their hard work). The answer is because it's something he truly felt...he knows all about being overworked and tired, yet Yor still made the effort to spend the day with them to make Anya happy. And, as her father (or "for the mission" in his language), he was grateful for that (now if only he knew the sacrifice she made on the larger scale!)

Many scenes in the cruise arc, as well as the resort island episode in particular, showcase that Twilight has a distinct relationship with both Yor and Anya, despite the fact that, in his mind, both relationships should be "fake." He's extremely casual with Anya, not just in his speech (more apparent in the Japanese version) and he doesn't feel any qualms about scolding her when necessary, being strict with her studies, or criticizing her weird little comments and actions that confuse him. The way he acts with Anya is more similar to how he acts with Franky than anyone else. But he's practically the opposite with Yor – despite her actions also confusing him at times, he never scolds, criticizes, or expresses disapproval of what she does. He also always speaks to her politely and, unlike most other people with whom he puts on his Loid Forger act, she's more often on the receiving end of his genuine smiles instead of his fake ones. It could be that because Anya is a child, he feels like he doesn't have to worry so much about acting in ways that would make her suspicious. Also because she's a child, she's less likely to take offense if he lets some of his negative emotions slip out. On the other hand, he knows from both the "post-Yuri's first visit" and "post-Fiona's first visit" instances that Yor has very sensitive self-esteem, so that could be why he's thoughtful about how he interacts with her, always speaking with courtesy and encouragement. He also knows the struggles she's had to go through in the past and how much she genuinely cares about Anya, which is another reason why she brings out his "softness" more often than anyone else.

In a way, Twilight's relationship with both Yor and Anya bring out a side of him that he may not realize he wants to strive for – with Anya, he can be relaxed and can drop the "nice guy" act in favor of being an exasperated but still caring father. And with Yor, he can become the polite, compassionate husband naturally, because he knows that many of her struggles and values are the same as his…he's realizing more and more about how much she sacrifices for others, and that can't help but resonate in him whenever he interacts with her. Perhaps one day he can become these personas and drop the "Loid Forger" and "Twilight" acts for good.

Continue to Part 25 ->

<- Return to Part 23

#sxf #spy family #spy x family #spyxfamily #loid forger #yor forger #twiyor #sxf meta #sxf analysis #loid x yor #loidyor

[funhouse-mirror-barbie]

Nuanced and Multifaceted Conflict vs. “Good v. Evil” in fiction

So. This is another thing I’ve wanted to talk about for a while. I promise I won’t always be focusing on Helluva Boss in my critiques, and I actually have quite a few other series I want to talk about.

There’s a big chance that I’ll be saying everything other people have already said, but I can’t help but WANT to talk about this specific character in regard to the story’s conflict. I think that it’s important to recognize when a character is written to be a complex person, and when a character is written to be an enemy to be defeated, and how not following through with your set-up can affect your story.

And HB does that A LOT in my opinion.

So. Let’s get into it. This time I’ll be talking about complex conflict between characters vs. black and white conflict, and I’ll also be touching on story set-ups and audience expectations.

I want to talk about a character who could have really made some of the internal character conflicts have so much more depth and intrigue. I want to talk about Stella Goetia

*as a side note this post is MUCH longer than I intended but I really wanted to get into a lot of the background and reasons for how Stella’s character development has actually completely changed what HB’d story conflict could have looked like. I’ll try and sum up everything in the end in a TLDR for y’all

So. Most of the reviews of her character I see talk about how she’s been “ruined” by the writing team revealing that she’s always been very abusive towards Stolas

I have to start off by saying I actually don’t think that Stella or her portrayal was “ruined” by the writing direction her character has been taken in.

In fact, this critique bothers me, because it doesn’t really get to what I think the actual root of why people are disappointed in Stella’s characterization, and the type of conflict that now exists between her and Stolas.

The main reason I believe people are unsatisfied with Stella is because they believed that her character was being set up for a complex and nuanced conflict between her and Stolas, and then that turned out not to be the case.

A quick disclaimer- I do think it’s possible to subvert audience expectations about story and characters in a satisfying way. But it has to be done in a way that respects the audiences intelligence and willingness to think about the story.

If your plot-twist, unreliable narrator, subversion, or what-have-you is done well, the audience should be able to either figure out what’s going based on the little information you’ve given them, and if they don’t, the change or subversion should still make sense and CLICK in hindsight.

Otherwise, your subversion will end up feeling cheap or confusing. Or worse, like a lie.

And this is one of the MAIN issues I think people have with Stella.

As the audience, we were NOT given enough information on her or her character before it’s revealed that she’s just “evil” and always has been, apparently since she was a literal child.

Again, I don’t think it’s an inherently bad decision to have a flat or pure evil villain. I’m fine with Stella being one, even if it’s less interesting to me personally.

But it’s definitely very different from what was initially implied and set-up, and the audience can pick up on that.

Before S2E1 “The Circus” we see Stella a total of 3 times in person, with one time being a flashback.

I’m going to go over those times to analyze if anything set-up in Stella’s appearances points towards her being. Well, totally and irredeemably awful and abusive I guess.

The very first time we see Stella is in the same bed with Stolas—Octavia calls for her parents, both Stolas AND Stella. Stella grumbles and refuses to get up and tells Stolas to go. This doesn’t immediately strike me as a sign of her being a terrible person. That exact scenario is present in a lot of family comedies, kids’ movies, and sitcoms.

Nothing about this screams that Stella is a terrible parent or an abusive partner to me. It just tells me she’s tired and doesn’t want to get up, which again, is not uncommon.

The next time we see her, she’s yelling at Stolas, and she throws a servant at him in anger.

Now, there’s no excuse for this, her behavior here is not okay, regardless of her feelings. But we understand why she’s acting the way she is--she’s furious with Stolas for cheating on her. At this point with the information we have, it’s also very reasonable to believe her feelings have been hurt.

Later Octavia talks about how her parents didn’t used to hate each other, and the way Stolas’ tries to explain their failing marriage to her comes across like his relationship with Stella is one that’s always had difficulties that they have tried and failed to overcome.

None of this information is enough to really convey or hint that Stella is and has always been abusive or evil. It shows that Stella and Stolas have a very rough relationship, and that Stella most likely has anger management difficulties, but you have to do lot of extra work to come to the conclusion that Stella is completely at fault here.

The next time we see her though, things have clearly escalated, because it’s revealed that she’s one that hired Striker to assassinate Stolas.

Now. Usually. Yeah. That would be a HUGE red flag. And I mean. It still obviously is.

But, and I never thought I’d use this uno reverse card, this is one of the few times where the explanation of “But it’s hell, what did you expect???” actually makes sense to me.

Because yeah, it is hell. It’s the end of episode 5 when we learn this, and our protagonists have killed and assassinated multiple people. Taking a hit out on people really doesn’t seem to be that uncommon of a thing in hell.

Even the next scene after the reveal that Stella is the one who hired Striker makes light of how serious this is, by showing that Stella was basically yelling her assassination plot right to Stolas’ face.

This is played for laughs! I genuinely am not sure if the writers intended for this to be foreshadowing of Stella’s abuse or not because if so, they turned her attempting to kill her husband into a joke!

If you cannot keep your themes or tone consistent, how is the audience supposed to follow your story?

There is subtle storytelling, and then there’s tacking information and character points later on in your writing. And this can have two causes.

Either your audience has to do the work of story-telling for you and make up their own reasons for what’s happening to make the story coherent OR they will be disappointed and dissatisfied by the final product.

I think that’s the main reason why S2E1 of Helluva Boss felt so jarring story-wise, and why Stella, to me at least, suddenly felt like a brand new character.

Like I haven’t been this confused by a character being suddenly evil since Hans from Frozen.

(like seriously why the hell did they put this scene in if not to just trick the audience. This isn’t giving us any plot info it’s only giving us contradictory info on his character. Like I talked about before, Hans’ heel-face-turn doesn’t feel like a twist. It feels like a lie.)

Okay so, how does any of this actually affect anything? Who cares if Stella is evil, that doesn’t automatically make the story bad!

Well. Yeah, of course not. Ironically, having the main conflict your story being a battle between “Good v. Bad” characters is neither good nor bad. It’s just a story decision. And ultimately at the end of the day, the writers of Helluva Boss can choose to tell their story however they’d like.

But, depending on how this is executed, good v evil stories can be a lot less interesting than morally grey or complicated conflicts and characters.

I am more interested in the version of the story where Stella and Stolas are imperfect and messy people. I am more interested in the story where Stolas has an affair to escape being in an arranged marriage, and Stella overreacts by arranging a hit on her husband (unless calling out a hit is normal in hell, but we can’t know b/c there is no baseline for what is considered normal in hell)

I am so much more interested in the story where Stolas and Stella are both depicted as being in the wrong, as being incredibly hurt by each other’s actions, and as not knowing how to repair their broken relationship for the sake of their daughter.

That story feels very real to me. It’s one I want to engage and invest in.

I want to see if these characters can grow to accept their mistakes and learn and change for the sake of Octavia and having to co-exist with each other, or if they’ll slip back into mutual destruction and toxicity.

But that’s not the story we’ll get to see, because it seems like the writers are more interested in keeping Stolas from having to grow as a character. And because of that, Stella has been turned into an evil obstacle that must be defeated, instead of a nuanced and real person.

I also feel like I have to say. I know I would be MUCH less frustrated by this if I hadn’t seen an HB crew member talking about how their show is similar to Bojack Horseman.

Because. It’s just not. I’m sorry, I’m not saying that to be mean, or condescending, or rude, but the way characters are written in Helluva Boss is almost completely black and white at this point.

Regardless of the writer’s intent, the vast majority of the choices they have made in Season 2 come off as explanations to excuse the protagonist’s mistakes, and give them a “get out of being potentially in the wrong” free card.

Compared to the writing decisions in Bojack, which almost always has characters confront their wrongdoings, for better or worse, HB honestly feels like it’s the Anti-Bojack.

It would take a TON of character development and time to make HB’s characters as interesting, fleshed-out, and as real as Bojack’s are, and at this point that’s I don’t think it will ever happen.

Again. Having black and white conflict is FINE. It is a choice in story telling that can be done very effectively. But if you are making a black and white story where one side is always terrible and evil, and one side can do no wrong, you can’t act like you’ve written something that is deeper and more emotionally complex and grey than that.

And the first time the writers gave Stella more than 3 sentences to string together, they made it very clear that any chance of her being a more complex and engaging character was being tossed out the window.

————

TLDR:

The main reason people are upset about Stella being shown as abusive in S2E1 of HB is probably because the initial depictions of her didn’t give us enough information on her character to tell that she was just evil/a terrible person.

The way the story was written in S1 to set up the possibility of a very interesting and complex conflict between Stella and Stolas, and when it was revealed that she’s just. The worst. There were people that were disappointed by this, because they expected more.

Audiences actually aren’t idiots, and when you subtly foreshadow something and then completely change things, that can be frustrating.

It’s MORE than okay to write a straightforward good v evil story, but it depending on the way it’s written and executed, it may not be as interesting to mature audiences as a more morally grey story would be.

If you can’t write characters confronting their flaws and being in the wrong, please don’t compare your writing to Bojack, I mean. C’mon.

#helluva boss critical #helluva boss critique #character critique #stella goetia #hb stella #helluva boss stella #media conversation #media critique #media criticism #writing female characters #writing critique #writing #funhouse convo

[alltheboysandgirlsiloved]

So I've been trying to get a gist of post-time skip Ben based on Chaos Theory trailer (obsessed again? wrong, I never stopped being obsessed), and I feel like I can optimistically assume that his personality will make sense for his character development that we've seen in Camp Cretaceous.

I made a post about it once but to sum it up shortly:

season 1 Ben is a boy who was clearly raised in some sort of bubble (a different bubble than Kenji) - he is scared and anxious (not just regarding dinosaurs); at the same time we get hints that he can be very passionate and has a sense of an adventure (he's just scared to cross the line). Season 2 Ben experienced a massive traumatic event, to put it nicely, his personality was put into a blender which was then turned on and left unsupervised for several days. His season 2 jungle boy persona, while still consistent with the traits showed prior (as mentioned - Ben was both passionate and adventurous before - he was just too shy to act on it), is mostly a result of a severe trauma; meaning his personality feels more extreme because he had to rely on extremes to survive. Season 3 Ben is one of the most interesting "forms of evolution". The trauma is still fresh but at the same time Ben tries to think beyond it – wants to make decisions based not on "fight or flight" response but on his own feelings on the matter, it's very interesting but in this season - though not visibly - he slightly reconnects with season 1 personality (slightly) for example by considering advantages and disadvantages of his actions (leaving Nublar or staying) (it doesn't apply to every situation which is actually quite perfect because at this point he is still pretty damn traumatized). Then we have season 4 which is actually very important for Ben's character arc because, for the second time, he loses his footing - Nublar was wild but familiar, Nublar was 'never without Bumpy'. Mantah Corp Island is completely new and Ben is forced to reestablish what actions and behaviors are going to pay off in this environment; ironically enough, I think that the distance from Nublar is good for him - Nublar was also the environment where he got traumatized, personally I think that the island could, to some extent, prevent him from healing. And ofc, season 5 - Ben shows clear signs that he is going to evolve as a person; he mellows down not because he gets soft in a bad way but because he recognizes that he doesn't always have to be a knife. At the same time, he is not hesitant to strike if the situation calls.

So, now let's take a quick look at Ben in the Chaos Theory trailer. I noticed four traits that we can spot in that short clip:

He has that sort of shy-silly boy charm to him. A subtle mixture of bashfulness ("hey Darius," his voice is amused but he also sounds a bit apologetic). That is something that especially shines through his character in season 1

When he needs to be serious - he is ("Someone is hunting us"). This is such Ben-thing to do, especially in season 4 and season 5 Ben – when he is learning how to distinguish between a real danger and something that doesn't require setting the world on fire.

He gets slightly panicky sometimes ("before it's too late!") which is a fantastic news because trauma really messed up Ben's sense of danger and it's just good to knows that he feels fear like a normal person (yes, when someone is hunting you for sport, I guess everyone would be a little bit panicky)

From what I can tell - when the situation calls he does display signs of recklessness - notice how he's driving the car. Notice how Darius is visibly not impressed with Ben behind the wheel. Now, sure we can't tell whether someone (something?) is chasing them at that exact moment but either way - it seems that Ben is in a hurry and, excuse me but, he does not give a flying fck about safety on the road (which is! funny considering how he was driving the gyrosphere in season 1)

So yeah, overall, I think that we are going to get a nice continuation of Ben's character arc in Chaos Theory. I certainly hope so because watching Ben grow as a person was one of my favorite aspects of Camp Cretaceous!

Ah, and also... I really hope that at some point in Chaos Theory Ben will do something unhinged out of nowhere and the rest of the campers (because we will see all of them - I don't doubt that) will look at each other, nod, and say "ah, yes, that's our Ben"

#jwcc #camp cretaceous #jurassic world camp cretaceous #ben pincus #jwcc ben #jurassic world #jurassic world chaos theory

[aliveinacoffin]

REQUESTTTT The reader is a new teacher at UA and tries getting on all the teachers good side but aizawa is so good at keeping his emotions hidden she doesn’t know if he likes her. After the training camp incident they move into dorms and she lives with aizawa but they have seperate rooms to sleep in but everything else is shared. And during this time Aizawa “hating” her more as he always lectures her and gets mad at her so she’s convinced he practically hates her. She ends up hating him too cause he starts making her do more work. He ends up training her and she hates him even more since he wasn’t going easy and just gave her bruises or something. Then one day she was in the lounge room for their shared dorm area and she was doing something and aizawa helps her do it and BAM. she develops a crush and…. (Add ur own ending and twists because I know I’ll love it 💕💗) (also sorry this is long)

omg this seems so cute in a like, angry old man way if that makes sense LMAO, I hope you don't mind that I gave reader a quirk,,,,I felt it wouldn't make sense if she didn't

Hating You As Well

PT1(right here ^*^), PT2, PT3

You were honestly just trying to make some friends at work, but this one guy is just soo RRRR, how are you supposed to deal with that?

(i didn't want to make him too mean, but I didn't want to make him nice, obviously, so instead he's socially awkward and stand-offish and dumb, I hope that's not too far off from what you wanted ^-^)

Fem!Reader, She/Her pronouns

TW: slight, very slight angst i guess, arguing, semi depictions of violence and gore, stupid aizawa

UA.

It was the top hero school in all of Japan, and thanks to people like All Might, known in high regard nationally.

So, when you got your call back that you got accepted as the history teacher, you actually screamed. Literally jumping up and down, screaming and crying in pure, unfiltered happiness that you got the job. Of course, you opened your phone to tell someone, anyone, that you got your literal dream job, but you stopped. It's not that you didn't have anyone to tell, it's just that you didn't have anyone who wasn't your family to tell. For a second, it saddened you, but you didn't wallow in your sadness, no! Right then and there, you promised yourself that you'd befriend everyone you could at UA, even the terrifying principle.

So that's how you got here, holding the biggest plate filled with snacks from peanuts to cake while nervously walking into the conference room.

Principal Nedzu had given you a personal tour of the school after he called you, but you had personally never met the other staff members. You can't help but think your principal did that on purpose. After wandering for a short moment, you were still new so you deserved some slack, you found your destination. But something held you back, standing awkwardly in front of the door. You could hear the muffled voices and music coming from the room, its friendly aura spilling out from the hallway.

You were only a little nervous, years of being a high-ranking pro instilled a natural confidence in you, but the small thought of not making any friends slightly unnerved you. Well, better get on with it. You took a deep breath and opened the door, and while the music didn't stop, you felt like it did.

All eyes were on you in an instant, the chatter ceased and everyone turned to look at you.

After a pregnant pause, you spoke up first. "This...is the staff party, right?" Your voice came out squeaker than you wanted to, and the answer to your question seemed rather obvious.

"Yeah it is! You must be the newbie, right?" Present Mic was the first to speak up, his smile wide and infectious. Others giggled around them, all the attention on you was less negative and more positive, a newfound excitement in the air.

"Yes, I'm unfortunately the newbie. Can I set this down anywhere?" You lifted up your large platter of food, and the loud blonde practically drooled.

"I'll take that from you." He swiftly took the food out of your hands and started digging in while trying to find a place to set it down.

Midnight strolled up to you, a small smile on her face. "I'm Nemuri Kayama. Don't worry, you're not the only new staff member this year. Not only do we have All Might, but we have Toshinori Yagi too. Yagis kinda shy, he's just been kinda hanging out in the back." Kayama nodded her head to the far right corner, where the aforementioned man was just...standing alone, almost literally in the corner.

"Oh, well, that makes me feel a little better." You hid your guilty smile with your hands, not only were you glad that you weren't the only new staff member, but that you weren't the most awkward one in the room.

"Plus, it's great to have another girl on the team, it's a real sausage fest in here." She groaned, dramatically holding her head in her hand. Looking around, you realized she was right. There was a 1:9 female-to-male ratio. The male staff members greatly outnumbered the female to an embarrassing degree, but it made sense. Males unfairly dominated the hero field, and even if there was a strong female pro hero, more often than not, she was either treated as a joke or made to be crazy masculine. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but more often than not, it's not by choice, since to be taken seriously, they have to act meaner and tougher than originally wanted.

"I see what you mean, Jesus." There was a playful tone in your voice, showing no real contempt or malice.

"I'm the modern art history teacher, by the way, in case you didn't know." Kayama fully introduced herself, holding out her hand for you to shake. You gratefully took it, marveling at just how soft her hand was.

"Oh! I'll be the new history teacher, guess we're kind of twins. And I'm sorry to fangirl, but I really appreciate all your work." You gushed unashamed.

"Oh I don't mind, I also really appreciate your work! Your quirk is rather interesting, and the way you handle yourself out there is nothing to scoff at." Kayama smiled, giving you the same energy as you put out.

You blushed, compliments like that were not unusual but from one of your idols, no less? It was like a dream come true.

"Thank you, it just comes naturally, you know?" You tried to wave her off, basically saying it's nothing compared to you.

Your quirk was rather unconventional in what it was. You could manipulate the light around you, bending and manipulating the light waves and atoms. You could literally touch rays of light and bend it like a straw, plus you could take it away and 'store it' in your body. It was funny when you took too much because you became a living nightlight. Though to do it, you needed to be physically touching the rays, so you wore a rather lightweight suit with no gloves and no shoes. Hey, who needs to walk on water when you could walk on light?

Your suit was rather skimpy, maybe a reason that both you and Kayama attracted each other. You basically wore a swimsuit, with a crop top shirt that stopped at your shoulders, and basically boy short underwear for a bottom. However, you could barely see your 'pants' because of the pockets that lined the entire thing. Another cool thing you could do with your quirk is you could store the light in physical pockets that you had.

"Well, I'd only assume. I'm glad that someone like you is on the team, and I'm sure I'm not the only one." Kayama looked over your shoulder, and just as you were about to turn to where she was looking, strong arms almost tipped you over.

"Heya newbie!" A light and bubbly voice yelled in your ear, you could only wonder who it was. Peeking over, Present Mic was smiling in your face, spikey hair and sunglasses almost directly in your face. "I'm Hizashi Yamada, and I don't really care for formalities, so you can just call me Hizashi!" He pushed himself off of you and was pumping up his arms in the air. Hizashi still had some crumbs on his face, and you couldn't help but laugh at his outlandish introduction.

Soon after him, one by one each staff member introduced themselves formally, telling you their real names and what they teach. In turn, you gushed and fawned over each one, calm but bright energy attracting everyone to you. Like moths to a light. Heh, get it?

Still, it was great. Even the shy Yagi comes up to you to politely introduce himself, an unspoken bond formed because it was both your first year teaching.

All but one.

A grumpy sleeping bag resting below an open window pointedly ignored all the noise and commotion going on. Determined, you walked over and leaned over the yellow lump to see if a person was even in there.

"Yes?" A dark voice drawled, and in an anti-climatic movement, the sleeping back slowly turned over. You were greeted with the image of a man in his late 20s or early 30s, with dark wild hair and a patchy 5 o'clock shadow. You nearly jumped back, but you kept your composure. You leaned over with your hands on your hips, your stomach pudging at the position.

"I was just checking if you were a person." A heavy cough behind you made you flinch, "If you were a living creature." You could hear a small 'better!' from somewhere in the background. You could swear there was a flash of a smirk on the mysterious man's face. But just as soon as it was there, it was gone in an instant.

"Well, I'm alive if that's what you're wondering." He quickly turned over, but you didn't move away. In fact, you stayed in the same exact position. "What?" His muffled voice made you giggle, and you stood up to stretch your back.

"I don't know your name. I can introduce myself first if you want?" You offered, trying not to seem as stand-offish as he was.

"I'm Ereaserhead. A homeroom teacher." That was all he offered of himself.

Hizashi popped up from behind you, pulling you away from the grump. "That's Shouta Aizawa, don't mind him, he's always this cranky."

You smiled and shook your head, "I don't mind, he seems interesting." Shrugging your shoulders as you walked away, you missed the rustling of his sleeping bag as he turned to watch you walk away.

___________________________________________

Turns out, Shouta Aizawa was interesting. Also, a major asshole, give or take.

All the teachers were stationed to watch different cameras for the entrance exam. Of course, there were hundreds of other workers with designated cameras and areas, the teachers were mostly there to get an overview and get a general of the upcoming class of students. You and Hizashi happily discussed what students you both wanted, Aizawa was muttering on how reckless and idiotic they all were.

"Hey c'mon dude, give them a break! Most of them don't even know what they're doing." You tried, leaning back in your rolly chair to take a peek at him. Aizawa barely spared you a glance, angrily sipping at his coffee.

"That's the problem, they're clueless and delusional. Especially that one, he's an idiot for going after the zero-point robot, and it's the only robot he's gone after." He pointed to a glowing student flying up in the air, the boy reeled his arm back to deliver a K.O punch to the thing.

"Hey, but he'll get points for saving a young girl." Hizashi butted in, normally spiked hair down and flowing all over the place.

"Really?" You turned back to the screen to watch a young girl get up to try and thank him, but he was out cold. "Well, even if he is a little clueless, he showed great effort and quick thinking to save a girl." You shrugged, looking back at Aizawa.

He scoffed and turned back to flickering through the cameras, taking notes along the way.

You made a face behind the underground heroes' back, before going back to take your own notes.

Later, Aizawa would review the footage of that mysterious green-haired boy to watch just how 'heroic' he was.

___________________________________________

Not soon enough, classes started. You met lots of odd and interesting students, their quirks just as amazing as the next. Each of them was either fascinated or bored with your existence, gushing about the former 30th hero. Teachers and underground heroes were placed on a different scale than billboard heroes since there wouldn't be a fair grading process. Not only did they gush about you, but they also talked about with great vigor their other classes and teachers.

This meant you quickly made aware of how Aizawa decided to conduct his first day as a teacher. Now, you knew Aizawa had been a teacher longer than you, and UA was very free with how a teacher conducted their class, but you were shocked he threatened to expel an entire class of students. His own for god sake!

(Un)Fortunately, both you and Aizawa had a free period at the same time, and you tried to take advantage of this fact.

"Sooo, some of our students talked about their first day." You started awkwardly, fiddling with your papers.

Aizawa looked over at you through a jelly packet and papers, nearly quirking an eyebrow in response.

"Did you really threaten to expel them?" You asked, a little taken aback at the mere mention of it.

"Yes, not only did I see how they performed under duress, but I saw what giving their all looks like." The whole time he spoke he was entirely focused on the papers in front of him, trying to grade the papers he already handed out the first week of school.

"Oh! That's smart, not only can you weed out all the lackluster students, you'll be able to tell when they're slacking." You snapped your fingers in recognition, proud of yourself for figuring out his odd teaching methods.

Aizawa merely grunted in response, ending the conversation with an odd air. You tapped your knees while trying to find another conversation opener.

"Hey, you know, Kayama invited us all for drinks on Friday. Celebrate the new school year, are you coming?" Truly, you did wonder if the mysterious man would go. The R-rated hero made a group chat and already asked everyone. Aizawa had just never responded, and you kinda had a feeling what his answer would be.

"I have better things to do." He grumbled, and he stood up, gathered all his papers, and just left.

"What the hell?"

___________________________________________

Turns out, no he didn't.

You had turned up fashionably late, and almost all of the staff were already there when you arrived. Shouta showed up disastrously late, stumbling in sometime after you. He slid into the booth across from you, flagging down a waiter for just a boring beer.

"I thought you had better things to do?" You questioned Aizawa, sipping at whatever fruity drink Hizashi made you try.

"I did, but those two wouldn't stop pestering me." Aizawa nodded to Kayama and Hizashi next to you, who were already buzzed and very happy.

Even at the mere mention of him, Hizashi perked up and grinned mischievously at Aizawa.

"That's not true! You just wanted to find an excuse to hang out with the new teacher!" Hizashi teased, eyebrows wiggling up and down.

Aizawa scoffed, "

"I don’t need to kiss ass with my coworkers. I’m only here to be kept in the loop of the going on here.” He muttered into his cup, face hidden by the large utensil.

Okay, wow, rude much? You rolled your eyes, “You don’t need to be an ass.” You muttered under your breath, more to yourself than anything. 

“No, but I do need to be professional.” Aizawa shot back, face now in full view. He had his hair up, fringe not held down by his messy bun. 

Your shoulders slouched while you gave him a ‘dude what?” look. “I've been nothing but cordial to you and others.” 

“Your carefree attitude is nothing other than annoying.” Aizawa had his arms crossed now, leaning back in the booth. Everyone else was either pointedly ignoring you or just too wrapped up in their conversations to notice or care about you two.

“I've been in the top fifty before I became a teacher, I’ve seen my fair share of blood and glory. I’m sorry I’m not a robot when it comes to my students.” Scoffing, you rolled your eyes and downed the rest of your drink, its sweet flavor dampening your bad mood.

“I’m a realist, bite me.”

“You’re a pessimist, there is a difference.” 

There was a heavy silence after that, Aizawa staring you down while you glared back. Neither of you broke eye contact, even when Hizashi made you get up to use the restroom, you still didn’t quit the staredown.

Fed up with the growing anger in your chest, and feeling the light around you start to bend around you, you slammed down what you owed and left.

You heard a drunk chasting voice as you left, but the steam pouring out of your ears prevented you from hearing it clearly.

___________________________________________

The last time you two talked was just as short and snappy as the last time, except now he was definitely on his high horse. He criticized your teaching methods, which pissed you off to no end because it was fucking Shouta Aizawa we were talking about, criticized how you acted, hell, he even criticized how you dressed.

You had been minding your business, making a new pot of coffee to keep you awake during the day. Footsteps behind you caught your attention, but you ignored them because you knew who it was and would rather die than deal with him right now.

“I still don’t understand how they let you walk around like that.”

Okay, ignoring over.

You turned to give him a nasty look. “Like what?”

“With barely any clothes on. What you’re wearing could be considered underwear, not a hero suit. There's no coverage.” Even though he was critiquing what you were wearing, he wasn’t looking at you. Instead, he was digging in the cabinets for a cup.

“And? This is what works best for my quirk, plus,” you laughed, but there was no real humor in it, “I’ve seen worse.”

“I have no idea how you’ve made it this far with such little clothing.” Aizawa shook his head like he was disappointed in you for your clothes. 

“Because clothes don’t matter, it’s who's wearing them that does.” You growled, angrily pouring your cup before stomping out of the room.

That was the last conversation you had before he went off to the USJ trip. Like always it was short and angry, a routine you’d unwillingly created. Truly, Aizawa was the only teacher you didn’t get along with, all the others from Hizashi to even Lunch Rush you had become friends with. Still, now you felt guilty about it. You had arrived late in regards to everyone else, blinding and emancipating a fair amount of stranglers but otherwise caught off guard by the situation. Thankfully, students were mostly unharmed, but the two teachers who had been there had been gravely injured. You only saw a glimpse of Aizawa's injuries, but your mind jumped to conclusions when you saw Kurose’s.

You had visited Kurose earlier, giving her flowers, candy, and books to read while she recovered. For Aizawa, you managed to find out he liked black licorice, so you brought a large bag along with yellow roses. Friendship.

You arrived at his room and stood there for a moment. There was silence on the other end, save for the small and quiet beep beep beep of his heart monitor. So he lives. 

You raised a hand and knocked.

“No more visitors.” He sighed from the other end, already annoyed.

You debated on just leaving, but for some reason, you opened the door and peeked in. 

“It’s just me.” Your voice was small, and your eyes quickly assessed the state your asshole coworker was in. 

“I said no visitors.” Aizawa's voice was just as deadpanned, and even though you couldn’t see his face, you knew he was scowling under all those bandages. His arms were cast, almost like prison cuffs rather than healing objects. Nearly his whole body was covered in white, almost blinding you.

“Well, I’m not a visitor, I’m a coworker.” You set down the flowers and candy at the table next to him and sat down in the chair across from him. Disgustingly, there was still warmth in it, and looking over to the second chair you could see the wrinkles in the seat.

“You’re an annoyance.” His bitterness came naturally, you realized now, that even when he was gravely hurt, he still managed to get under your skin.

"Is it so annoying that I wanted to see if my coworker was alive?" You asked, already pissed off.

"Well, I am, so you can leave." Aizawa tried to sit up fully, but he struggled to do so.

It was too awkward to just watch him struggle so pitifully, a man you've come to know with high pride and honor squirming around. So you got up and pressed a gentle hand on his back to guide him up, neither of you said anything while he adjusted. When Aizawa got comfortably situated, there was an awkward silence.

"How…how long are you gonna be bed-bound?" 

Aizawa didn't reply right away, leaving the question to awkwardly hang in the air.

"Doctor says it typically takes twelve weeks for an arm to heal, but they can cut that time in half." His gruff voice was soft, and it was the most open thing he's said about himself since you've known him.

"I hope it doesn't take that long! I have to give up my lunch to watch your class." You tried to jest, obviously attempting to lighten the mood.

"It won't, wouldn't want you to overload your work schedule." Aizawa's deep voice was back, just as guarded as usual.

That was the breaking point, and before you said something cruel to the injured man you simply got up and headed to the door. "Just get well man." And with that, you left.

"Damn it."

___________________________________________

He came back the next day.

"What the hell man?!" You barged into Aizawa's room angrily, greeted by the sight of Hizashi force-feeding him some sort of hearty meal.

Aizawa turned to look at you, eyes visible through the bandages.

"What?" 

"You're back? You said that the doctors said-"

"It would take him a minimum of six weeks to heal! We know!" Hizashi scolded, tense and angry.

"But no one can stop Aizawa, we just have to make him relax." Kayama scolded, going through his class papers. "I'll grade your quizzes, Hizashi can grade your tests and you can grade his assignments, can't you?" The dominatrix was looking at you now, holding stacks of papers that Aizawa had yet to catch up on, now made impossible with his injuries.

"How does a single man have so much work?" You set the tea you had been saving for the aforementioned man. You had barely made it this morning, something healthy to sip on while he healed. Quickly walking over you leafed through all the miscellaneous assignments both he and All Might had assigned. “I can do all of these no sweat.” You shrugged, taking them all under your arm.

“I’m fine. You’re all overreacting-”

“Don’t even say you’re fine! You just got out of the hospital!” All three of you yelled at him in disbelief. The sliding doors slid open once more, and Recoverys girl's small form waddled through, looking just angry and as disappointing as you all felt. 

Wanting to get a jumpstart on grading papers, since you already had your won to grade, you walked out of the room in silence, not wanting to intrude on this unfamiliar song and dance.

___________________________________________

The next two weeks the students were buzzing with excitement, and you saw even less of Aizawa. Always just holed up in his room. 

For some reason, you always left him a pot of coffee for him to drink on his desk. He never questioned it or brought it up. You never said anything either.

___________________________________________

When Aizawa fully recovered, he immediately took back all his work. He stopped by your classroom during both of your lunches. 

You hadn’t even noticed him walking in, too busy with eating and marking papers with a glitter purple pen, leaving critiques, praises, hearts, and X’s

“You can stop ruining my papers with that horrible pen.” You jumped, almost falling back in your seat at the unexpected sound of Aizawa’s voice.

“Ruining? I’m decorating. I’m sorry you take even grading so seriously.” You shrugged, putting the finishing touches on Shouto Todoroki’s paper. Ending it with a ‘Good job! :D’ 

“It’s a distraction, you could use the effort you put in desecrating these papers into your job.” He took the paper up from your desk, skimming it before he looked at you again and sighed. “Where are the leftovers.” 

“Leftovers?”

“The ones you didn’t finish, the leftovers.” He pressed like you were stupid.

You leaned back, a sense of pride and smugness filling you. “Check the date.” You smirked, eyes sharp and dangerous. 

Aizawa stared at you with an unreadable expression, but you saw his eyebrows furrow just a little. He took a glance down and his eyes widened in surprise.

2XXX/5/06

Today.

“Well, then you better catch up on your own work. It’s foolish that you-” 

You cut him off by showing your turn-in/graded basket, the graded side completely full.

“Try again.” Your smirk widened, hands raising in a flourish while you leaned back again.

He said nothing while his eyes flickered between all the papers in front of him, and he lifted his head again. “Then you’re probably behind on reports, those are important-”

You cut him off again, turning your computer towards him so he could see not only your completed progress reports but his as well. 

“Boom bitch.” For once, you had the upper hand, getting to gloat in his face while he had nothing to say back.

“You shouldn’t use such foul language in the workplace.” Was all he could say while he gathered his papers. On his way out you called out to no one in particular.

“You’re welcome! Ah, whatever.”

You stretched your aching hands, and drank your third energy drink for the day, stomach protesting from so much caffeine on an empty stomach. You dreaded your hero shift later.

___________________________________________

There was an impromptu meeting, and at first, you were confused about what it was about, but you knew whatever it was, it was serious.

Everyone's somber faces made you nervous, and you leaned over to Hizashi and whispered in his ear. “What happened?”

“Apparently, something happened during the students' work studies, but no one can figure out what happened.” He shrugged, just as lost and unnerved you.

Aizawa stood up from the U-shaped table, going to stand in the middle while he looked off angry at nothing. “There was an incident during our first-year students' work studies. Three studies were put in harms way, coming face to face with the hero killer: Stain.” 

People started to murmur, but Principal Nedzu popped up from the depths of the erasing hero's scarf. 

“Now we understand your concern, as you know the situation has been dealt with. We’ve been asked by the HPSC to keep quiet and have no comment. The affected students will remain anonymous, so even if you do figure out what happened, you are required to keep quiet. You are all dismissed.” The hyperintelligent mouse hopped down and sauntered out of the room. Many staff members followed, murmuring in small groups. You, Kayama, Kurose, Hizashi, and Snipe formed your own group, staying behind to talk within yourselves.

“I knew it was a bad idea for the students to be sent off, I argued with the idea before, and now I see I should’ve fought harder.” Snipe shook his head in both frustration and disappointment.

“Well, what happened was unfortunate, but it gave other students a light into real hero work. Hard times come with drastic measures.” Kayama rebutted, though one could tell to some degree she agreed with the gun hero.

“But they’re so young, such traumatizing events should be saved for their later years.” Yamda’s voice was laced with an old sadness, and Kayama’s face fell crestfallen.

“I agree, I hope those students are well now.” You began, but the conversation was cut short by the sound of everyone's next period beginning. You waved your little group goodbye, turning around to pick up your bag and papers.

“Gossiping is unbecoming.” 

You shook your head, annoyance once again festering at you. It seemed like even when you heard his voice at this point, anger consumed you. “So is lying.” 

“Who lied?” Aizawa’s voice was full of disbelief, taken aback.

“The HPSC. We’re supposed to be quiet that three of our students were put in danger.” You turned around once all your papers were gathered, and you stared the man down.

“That’s not lying, we are merely setting measures to make sure the situation doesn’t get out of hand.” He shook his head like the answer was simple.

“Omitting information is lying under the law, do their parents know?” 

“The affected students' parents were made aware, yes.” His monotone voice was really starting to piss you off.

“So none of the other parents know? And to what degree do they know?” For some reason you dragged out this conversation, it didn’t really matter how long this conversation went on anyway, thanks to the free period.

“That’s not your place to know.” He made no move to leave.

“It is, they’re my students too.” Taking a step forward, encroaching into his personal space, you puffed up your chest. Challenging him.

“You’re an elective teacher, they’re my students, under my care.” Aizawa didn’t back down.

“So then why did it even happen in the first place? Why send out fifteen-year-olds with a murderer on the loose?” You argued back.

“Because I didn’t know. I would’ve never let them out if I had known. Your foolishness will be the death of not only you but the students here as well.” He snapped back, violently grabbing his coffee cup, and stormed out.

His words rang over and over in your ears, and for some reason shame and anger mixed in your stomach, twisting at your insides. Stomping out of the room when you snapped out of your trance, you realized guilt also twisted up inside you.

___________________________________________

Last minute, you were invited to the training camp. At first, you were going to refuse, spend your summer break dealing with the chaotic kids that were class 1-A and 1-B? Yeah, hell no. But the promise of a pay raise eventually won you over, even if you deny this. Plus, recently you have been..lacking in your skills. So busy with being a teacher your fighting skills had diminished, and it wasn’t as if you were now suddenly helpless. You just weren’t at your peak anymore, and all you needed was that extra exercise to put that pep back in your step. So thats how you found yourself packing in the early hours of the morning to pack for the four-week-long trip. 

Later in the morning, you found out who you’d be busing with. Class 1-A, or, more specifically, Shouta Aizawa. You immediately turned around at the school gates, but the sounds of students jeering at you stopped you. 

“Where are you going teach?” Kaminari called after you, and Iida chastised him for the informal name. 

“It’s alright Iida, I don't mind.” You placated the blue-haired boy and turned your attention back to the electric student. “Nowhere, I got roped along to the trip.” You sighed bowing your head in defeat. 

“Don’t act that way, we were promised extra pay and you were the first to respond.” Aizawa chastised you, coming up from behind you all, carrying a heavy duffle bag. Even his choice of luggage was bare bones!

Kaminari gasped in hurt, holding a hand over his heart.

“No need to call me out in front of the students!” You growled, shooing him away.

___________________________________________

It took nearly an hour to corral all the students on the bus, and you and Aizawa settled at the front of the bus, both in opposite seats. You waited for the bus to get on the road, and for the students to be too distracted to notice the conversation between you and your unspoken hater to bring up a thought that started to nag you.

“Aizawa.” You were facing him, and the dark-haired man simply side-eyed you instead of acknowledging you. You ignored that. “Why am I the only elective teacher here, wouldn’t it make more sense to bring someone like Hizashi or Anan’s or even Ryo? They’re all much better equipped to be here than me.” Genuinely, this had confused you. No diss to Hound Dog, or Ryo as you’d grown to know him the past couple of months, the stress on his name was that he’d be the absolute best option here. Out in an open area where a multitude of students could get lost? Why not bring the literal hound dog? 

“You’ve gotten pretty friendly with the staff.” That was his response, a non-answer, and a deflection. 

“Dude, seriously? That’s what you’re hung up about? Yes, I see and communicate with them every day, and we all go out for drinks once every week. I’m pretty sure all the teachers are on a first-name basis personally except for you.” Shooting back, your hands now rested on your knees, hunched over in a defensive position.

“It’s unprofessional. Teachers shouldn’t know each other on such a personal basis.” Aizawa closed his eyes again, trying to nap his way out of the conversation.

You flung your hands up, “You’re right, god forbid I have friends.” Unwillingly, your voice got tight with emotion. 

Aizawa opened his eyes fully, and faced you fully, also registering the vulnerability that was presenting in your voice and demeanor. 

Even though it’s only been four months, you have grown close with your UA allies. Not only that, but they all welcomed you with open arms and held you in the same regard as you did them. You had especially grown close with Snipe, even if he didn’t tell you his name (or anyone for that matter, you tried looking it up and found articles of his secrecy, mans loves his privacy), along with Anan after USJ, and naturally gravitated towards Hizashi and other elective teachers. The reason you felt so offended by his words, why you got so close with your fellow staff was because you didn’t have other friends. You barely had a family, it was just your dad and estranged siblings, who either didn’t speak to you or didn’t really care for you.

“I just meant you shouldn’t rely so heavily on others, they won’t always be there to save you.” That was reaching, even for Aizawa. 

“I don’t, and I know they won’t. You’ve made that so clear.” You swallowed thickly, a burning feeling crawling up your throat signaled you needed to shut up now or else they would be waterworks. And that would be embarrassing for everyone. Sometimes it kept you up at night that Aizawa was the only teacher you didn’t get along with. The others reassured you that he was aloof with everyone, Hizashi and Kayama just saying he was a big hardass with a big heart. But you just didn’t see it, it seemed like he was just mean to you. With people like Ryo and Anan, he was just quiet and cutthroat, but you? Just straight-up mean, brushing you off, undermining you, constantly nagging and criticizing you for everything that you did. It was annoying and frustrating since you had been nothing but nice. You genuinely wanted to be his friend, his mysterious nature and gruff attitude was cool, badass even. Plus, you couldn’t deny he wasn’t unattractive, stubble and dark hair was just so handsome. But his behavior was not. Still, you couldn’t help but seek out ways to try and get on his good side, making coffee, leaving snacks you’d found out he liked out, and taking his side whenever you could in meetings.

You didn’t bring it up again, spending the rest of the ride blinking back angry tears, or maybe it was the disappointment that he didn’t reassure you. Either way, he didn’t say anything either.

___________________________________________

Well fuck. Now you were mad at the school for trying to make the students grow up so fast, figuring out the training camp was usually only for second years due to the rigorous nature, soured your mood further. Not only that, you worried about all the children alone in the woods.

“They’ll be fine.” Aizawa placed a strong hand on your shoulder, and while it made your heart jump, it also pissed you off more. 

“It’s a pretty big fuckin forest, what if they get lost or something not part of the exercise attacks them?” You stepped forward, trying to peek at the mess below you.

“They’ll be fine, they can handle themselves. I have no doubt.” You should trust him, Aizawa was their homeroom teacher and no doubt has seen what they can do, but it still unnerved you that these young kids were just out alone. 

“I’ll just watch over them then.” You crouched on top of the messed-up fence and jumped. 

You heard Mandaly shout in pure fear behind you, but her voice died as you seemingly climbed and crawled through thin air. 

High above you watched their movement, keeping track of every rustle and shout. Lazily swimming in the light, arms, and legs pumping while you focused on slipping through the waves of the light. Your skin softly glowing and your body becoming lighter than air.

Somewhere far away, a dark-haired man realized the reason for such a vulnerable suit was to give you full access to your quirk. Still, you had no protection against sharp talons and dangerous attacks. Maybe, there was a better way?

___________________________________________

You didn’t arrive until late, and you were exhausted and hungry. You had almost fallen out of the air multiple times, your body ached and burned, already feeling the sunburn growing on your fingers and knees, places you used your quirk the most.

You were in the private kitchen, searching for something to eat when Mandalay handed you a plate of food.

“You look beat!” 

“I feel like someone dragged me through the mud on a hot summer day.” You sighed, gratefully accepting her food, and flopped down on the plush couches.

“I can imagine. I didn’t know what your quirk was, so you scared me when you just jumped. Thankfully Eraserhead explained it to me.” She sighed, shaking her short brown hair.

That made you perk up, “He did?” 

“Yeah! He seemed to know a lot about it! You must be very close. Oh, the teacher's dorms are just down the hall, we have our own spring and private bathrooms.” She dug into her food and scrolled through her phone.

Weird.

___________________________________________

You were so glad you weren’t a student anymore. 

They were really putting students through the wringer, making them get up early and push themselves to their absolute limits. You and Aizawa stood side by side while you watched over the students, you took notes and he watched dutifully. Your fingers and knees were stinging like a bitch now, skin peeling off quickly, leaving your skin raw and sensitive.

“Looks like you could use endurance training as well.” Here we go.

“Ha ha.” You rolled your eyes. “They’re only like this because towards the end I had to really look for light, it got dark fast and I had been using my quirk nonstop for eight hours. Let me see you do that.” You didn’t see Aizawa's shocked face, and you had stunned him into silence.

“I couldn’t.” 

You looked up, and stared at him in confusion. “Couldn’t what?”

“Use my quirk for that long. I can only use it for thirty minutes to an hour now, even if I strain.” Aizawa shrugged as if that wasn’t absolutely horrifying news. 

“Since when?” You abandoned your notes now, giving Aizawa all of your attention.

“After USJ. Doctor said the more I strain, the worse it gets. Plus, my eyes are dryer than before, so it makes it harder to keep them open for so long.” Aizawa wasn’t looking at you, instead opting to stare ahead, facial expression carefully neutral.

“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Your voice was quiet, and his adams apple bobbed. 

“There was no reason to cause unnecessary worry.” 

“Still that’s…really fucking shitty. I’m sorry dude.” 

Aizawa regretted telling you, not being able to stand that sad, kicked puppy look. Hated the reason being him.

“There’s no reason to cause a fuss, such things happen all the time. You should get used to it.” 

“Never mind.” You rolled your eyes, but there was no real bite in your tone. He finally looked at you when you said that, your empathy replaced with slight annoyance. 

___________________________________________

The next day was much of the same, with both homeroom teachers pushing and critiquing their classes to do and be better. Aizawa’s speech about being better had warmed your heart, and for the first time since you’d known the closed-off man you saw just how much he cared for his students. All he wanted from them was to grow and be better, he was strict out of love and care. It was beautiful in a weird way, but your moment was broken when Midoriya questioned why they were the only teachers there. When he walked away from the inspired green-haired boy, you stopped him in his tracks.

“Hold on.” You skipped in front of the dark teacher, standing your ground. “If All Might isn’t here to not draw attention, and other staff weren’t invited so as to not leak the location of the new grounds, why am I here?” You questioned, encroaching on his personal space to get him to finally answer you.

“It was thought you’d be a good choice to watch over the students.” Again, deflective and a not good answer. He started to walk away, but you followed closely by his side.

“Okay sure, we’ll go with that. But why me? Again, what about Ryo? Or Ectoplasm? They’re much better for wide search and rescue than I am.” You argued.

“You are also independently efficient, not needing the incentive to work hard. Plus, your relationship with the students is..friendly. You work well with the Pussy Cats with your open nature.” Again, he was pointedly not looking at you.

“It sounds like you asked me to be here.” You started to tease, a sense of pride at the indirect/direct praise.

“You were paid to be here, now are you going to waste my time with pointless questions or are you going to do your job.” Aizawa snapped, and that quickly dampened your mood. Note to self, don't tease Aizawa.

Pixie Bob announced that there would be a test of courage later. You were so-so to the idea, knowing you were probably just going to be hanging out in the hot springs anyway, the dark not really being your strong suit.

___________________________________________

It smelt like shit. 

That was the first thought in your head when you stepped outside, seeking fresh air. How weird, 1-B must really be going all out to scare 1-A. You were unfortunately still in your hero suit, only barely getting back to your room. Somewhere in the building, you knew Sekijiro and Aizawa was teaching their remedial class, and outside the Pussy Cats were watching over the courage course. So, lazily you walked to the kitchen, planning on getting a light snack before you took a dip in the hot spring, not being able to yesterday. Suddenly you jumped, a feeling of ice dumping all over you. Everyone! Mandalay’s shrill voice suddenly yelled in your head, you stopped immediately to look up. It’s possible there are more. Everyone who can move, get back to camp immediately! Even if you come across the enemy, retreat and do not engage! You felt the telepath end immediately, and your feet moved faster than your mind. You could hear the echoes of your feet slapping across the tile. Legs pumping and knees screaming in protest as you raced to the entrance. 

You had no idea what was happening, but you knew the students were in danger.

The front door came into your sight, and you burst through the doors and were greeted by a horrifying sight. A half-burnt and rotten man blasted Aizawa in a white-hot flame, and on instinct, you tackled him to the ground. 

He seemed unbothered by all of this and even chuckled. “You guys really are pros.”

You looked up to where he was looking and saw Aizawa crouching in the doorway above the entrance. Momentarily distracted, you missed the villain's hands coming up. He roughly grabbed the side of your face, digging his hot staples into your hair.

“Nothing's coming out.” He pouted, like a child. Knowing you wouldn't have your quirk either, you flipped him over and grabbed the back of his head. You dug your nails as hard as you could, and reeled back. With all your might, you slammed his face into the ground, shoving it down like a dog who pissed on the carpet.

The man dug his dirty fingernails into the innermost sensitive part of your thigh and dug, his staples ripping into you while you squirmed. 

You yelled out, and he used that to his advantage to flip you over. Aizawa quickly came up behind him, swiftly kicking the back of his head to straddle the back of him. Aizawa clutched his head and arm, still using his quirk.

“Tell me your name, purpose, number, and positions.” He growled out.

“Why.” The villain deadpanned.

“Because this-” Aizawa broke his arm in one quick movement, “will happen, your rights next. Let’s do this logically.” He lifted his head up, but his grip and gaze never faltered. “If I get your legs, it’ll be a pain to transport you.”

“Are we in a rush, Eraser,” The man made eye contact when he called out your hero name, and it sent a chill down your spine. The end of his spikey hair caught alight. Aizawa pounded his head in the ground a couple of times to stop him. 

Rustling caught both yours and Aizawa's attention, and an out-of-breath Iida, Mineta, Koda, and Ojiro made you panic.

In a moment of weakness, the man lunged forward, but Aizawa quickly caught him. He strained for a moment before he whipped around to stare you both down. 

“Hey heroes,” His gaze was manic and crazed. “Are your students important?” Then he started to melt. “I hope you can protect them all till the end.” He disappeared through the ground, his body left a mush. 

The group rushed towards you, calling out for both of you.

“Get inside! I’ll be back!” Aizawa took off without you, so you quickly took the porch and hallway light and followed him.

“Wait!” You called out after him, knees still screaming in protest, your fingers now burning with the aftermath of stealing the light.

“What are you doing? You’re better off in the building!” He yelled at you.

“I was a billboard pro before this, I can handle myself!”

“Oh yeah, you really proved that back there. Truly pathetic.” He snarled back, and you ran faster.

“Fuck you! Nothing I do makes you happy!” Your fighting was cut short by Midoriya suddenly appearing, a scared Kota on his back. “Midoriya-”

The boy called out to the both of you, “It’s horrible! There’s so much I need to tell you.” He was out of breath, his arm mangled and red.

“Hey-” Aizawa started, slightly out of breath as well.

“First we need to make Mandalay make an announcement- He has a water quirk, you have to protect him!” Midoriya cut him off, words rushed and slightly panicked.

He’s pumped full of adrenaline. Midoriya needed to calm down.

He tried to run off, but Aizawa stopped him. “Stop! Your arm…you did it again, didn’t you? Did you forget what happened in Hosu?” 

Midorya was lost in thought for a moment, and you and Kota stood confused. Your thigh was starting to have its own heartbeat, and you could feel the heat of the injury. You’ve gotten hurt worse, scars on your back a testament to that, but he had gotten a sweet spot in your leg. It was shaky and losing blood at a moderate pace, still, Midoriya, a student, was in a worse state and still pressing on. You’d live through worse and been fine, this would be no different.

“No, but…” The green-haired boy trailed off.

“So tell Mandalay this, everyone in classes A and B, you are granted permission to engage in combat.” With that, all parties took off, Aizawa turning to the woods and Midoryia back to camp. You followed Aizawa dutifully, pockets full of light providing some light in the darkness.

You could tell thoughts were racing in his mind, but the older man kept his thoughts to himself.

Kota's weak voice broke the tense silence. “Mister, will he be okay? I hurt him, and he still got up hurt to rescue me...I haven't even told him sorry or thank you yet.” Tears were now spilling from his wide eyes, and his grip on Aizawa's scarf tightened as big emotions consumed his small body. Before Aizawa could respond, you replied for him, not trusting him to say something to soothe his emotions.

“Of course, Kota, Midoryia is a strong hero, after all of this is done, you can properly apologize. I’m sure he’s forgiven you already.” You gave him your big winning smile, face lighting up in reassurance.

“Still, after this, we’ll have to scold him for acting without permission, so make sure you put emphasis on your thank you.” Aizawa said, running to find a place to keep the young child safe. 

___________________________________________ 

“Where are we going?” You called out to Aizawa, the chaos around you making you nervous.

“To the camp, I need to get Kota to safety.” While he was talking, you all broke out of the woods and rushed into the building. Aizawa gently set the boy down, and you both took a breather. The sounds of yelling caught both of your attention, and you groaned. “We just can’t catch a break, can we?” 

Aizawa shot you a glare and ran ahead, you still chasing after him. Rushing into the remedial class you saw that burnt man again, Aizawa jumped ahead to try and calm Sekijiro down and disarm the villain. You rushed ahead while his class cheered for him, and started to do horrid damage on the burnt man, smashing his head so hard into the ground it cracked the tile. Students yelled out horrified, but Aizawa cut them off.

“It won’t matter, it’s a fake.” They all watched in horror as the man melted beneath your fingers, but you didn’t stop punching into the ground, taking all your anger out on the slush.

“Is it a villains quirk.” Iida still hadn’t looked away, curious and slightly disgusted by the mess.

“What are you two doing here?” Sekijiro called out to both you and Aizawa, getting both of your guys attention.

“I rushed out to aid in the fight, but I ended up escorting Kota back to base. Please watch over him.” He was pointedly looking at you now, and it pissed you off. “I’m going to help on the front lines.” He tried to rush out, but Sekijiro stopped him.

“Ereaser, we don't know how many there are or how powerful they’re coming at us.” Aizawa turned around.

“You’ll be fine by yourselves, plus look, the fake was merely a diversion. They’re trying to distract us pros to make up for their meager number.” Aizawa shook his head.

“If there isn't that many of them, that’s even more of a reason for me-” Kirishma butted in, voice full of emotion.

“Yes! Nothing beats strength in numbers!” Iida interrupted, filled with the same determination. 

“No.” Aizawa's voice was firm, almost scary at how strong he spoke. “If they’re trying to keep us back, then they’re going after you.” The students deflated at his words. “Bakugo’s just one of them, but there might be others as well. We are still losing by a lot with our lack of information. For now, we’ll win by everyone being safe and sound.” He rushed back out to join the fray, with you not too far behind.

“Why are you still following me? You’re better back there.” Aizawa growled out to you, running through the dark.

“Because I’m a pro. I was accepted to teach at UA for a reason.” You were now frustrated, but now it was hard to tell whether it was because of Aizawa, or because of your fuck up at the beginning. You had been caught off guard by a simple attack, and if it weren’t for Aizawa's erasing quirk, you would have been caught on fire because you got distracted.

“Yeah, I can see that.” 

You said nothing in response, any response died on your lips when you saw the leftover disaster that was left. 

We lost.

___________________________________________

The damage that was left behind was both humiliating and haunting. Both a student and a pro went missing, one who had left with a considerable amount of injuries. Fifteen students had poison running through their veins, or were injured and had to be taken to immediate care. You were questioned by the police for hours while they desperately tried to figure out any information they could. You were of no help, and you knew that the only information you could give was of that patchwork-face guy with a weird melting/fire quirk.

You, Sekijiro, and Aizawa sat in silence while the police officer made a phone call to god knows who. Your thigh was really starting to hurt now, but you made no move to complain knowing the students had it worse than you. 

Sekijiro called out to you, and you snapped out of your thoughts to look at him. “Your thigh, are you alright? You look like you’ve lost a lot of blood.” He pointed to your injury, and you didn’t even look down to check.

“It’s fine, just a scratch.” You shook your head, mind filling with self-deprecating thoughts. Even if you had gotten 30th on the billboards, did you deserve it? Popularity had a lot to do with the point system, and your outwardly friendly attitude along with your flashy quirk made good product revenue. Plus, even if you weren’t weak, you realized that now was the first time you faced a real threat. The symbol of peace always being there to pick up the real messes and leave heroes like you to pick up the crumbs.

“It looks infected already.” He wouldn’t drop it, and you finally gave it to look down.

“I’m fine-” You stopped, your innermost thigh caked in dried blood and dirt, and it looked like the villain really got in there.

Later in the hospital, a nurse who was stitching you up pulled out a staple that was lodged deep in your leg.

___________________________________________

“Stop fussing, you look a mess.”

“Oh I’m sorry that I’m nervous.” 

For the past few days, all anyone could talk about was the incident at the camp. It wasn’t as if you could blame them, the most prestigious hero school in the country had landed twenty-seven students in the hospital. In response, all teachers involved along with the principal were asked to make an apology, broadcasted all across Japan. The suit you wore was lightly uncomfortable, a little too tight for your liking. Plus, you were constantly pulling down the skirt, someone had gotten you a size too small. Or maybe you were searching for an excuse to fuss and squirm. 

You and Aizawa hadn’t talked about the incident. Not that you needed to, you weren’t a couple, let alone friends, but there was an unknown tension in the air. Sekijiro had checked up on you, and had asked how your leg was.

“It’s fine, just needed stitches and a kiss from Recovery Girl, and now I’m good to go.”

Some part of you was angry that the dark-haired man didn’t reach out to you, but it was fine. It wasn’t but it was.

Aizawa shot you a look, and you quickly shut up. Sekijiro next to you just bumped your knee in reassurance. 

“We’re live.” The man in the middle of the room called out, signaling for you all to stand up and speak. 

“We deeply apologize for our shortcomings during the incident that allowed harm to twenty-seven first years in the hero course because of our shortcomings. We apologize for creating unease in our society because of our negligence in proper defense in our place of learning.” You all bent over in an apology, and you bowed the deepest. “We are truly sorry for the damage we’ve done.” You all stood back up straight, waiting for questions.

A man spoke out from within the crowd. “Since the beginning of the year, the UA students have had four encounters with villains. What specific countermeasures are you taking to ensure the safety of our students?” His voice was growing in volume the more he spoke, getting more and more passionate as he went on. 

“Our students are of top-most importance, we will work even harder as a team to make sure they are strong enough to become great heroes.” A  non-answer, Aizawa really was good at deflecting.

Another man stood up, holding a mic and paper. “During the incident, it appears you encouraged the students to fight. What was your intention behind this?”

Aizawa leaned forward to speak into the mic. 

“I concluded that because we were unable to fully grasp the situation, it had to be done to avoid the worst possible outcome.” 

“What do you mean, ‘worst possible outcome?’” Damn it, now they were gonna dig and pry and use any answer to get under your guys’ skin to try and get the upper hand. “You don’t call twenty-six victims and one abducted the worst possible outcome?” 

“My assumption was that the villains would drive out students to their absolute limit and be killed.” Aizawa replied cooly, but you saw his own hands clench tighter and tighter with every word.

Principle Nedzu spoke up, though he was sitting in his chair with his arms crossed. “The gas attack accounts for most of the injuries. We concluded it was merely a sleeping gas from one of the enemies' quirks’. Thankfully, the quick response of Ms. Kendo and Mr. Tetsutetsue led to no grave injuries in the attack. In addition, mental support is being given to all the students, but at the moment, we see no signs of serious psychological damage done.” His voice was light, and while it wasn’t its usual cheery tone, it was calm and soothing.

“Are you saying this was a bright spot in this tragedy?” The reporter shot back, trying to twist the words of the principal.

“We believed the worst outcome is one that would’ve infringed on the future.” 

“Can you say the same for the kidnapped Bakugo? He enrolled in UA High with excellent marks and won first place at the sports festival. In addition, during the incident with the sludge villain in middle school, he resisted the powerful villain alone. He has a history of showing how tough and heroic he is. On the other hand, the violence he showed in the finals and his attitude during the award ceremony shows that he is not always mentally stable. What if the villains kidnapped him because they had an eye on him? Kidnapping him with deceitful words and dying him with the path of evil?” The reporter's long rant was not only pissing you off but your allies as well. The more and more the reporter went on, the more serious he got like he was uncovering some big truth about a fifteen-year-old. “What evidence do you have for saying he has a future?”

Oh hell no. How dare a stranger assume the life of some kid with anger issues? You’ve spent nearly every day with the kid, even if you don’t have him all day you’ve seen a glimpse into Kastuki Bakugo's life. He was emotionally unstable, but he really did have a hero's heart, even if his asshole-ish nature offset that. Aizawa stood up, and you prayed he wouldn’t pop off and snap at the reporter.

Instead, he bowed down and apologized. “As an educator, I take full responsibility for Kastuki Bakugo's violent behavior. However, his actions at the sports festival originate in what he considers ‘ideal strength’. He is trying harder than anyone in his pursuit of becoming the ‘top hero.’” Aizawa peeked up from his bowed form, eyes hard and sharp. “If the villains thought they had an opening, then I believe they are being short-sighted.”

There was a tense silence, everyone swallowing the weight of Aizawa's words. Even you were amazed at such a declaration of truth and care.

The reporter meekly lifted up his mic once more. “That is not evidence, though. It isn't a question of how you feel-”

You wanted to throw yourself across the table and throttle him. Thankfully your principal spoke up once more before you could ruin your career. “We are not standing around idly by. We will definitely get our student back.” The interview/apology was ended after that, you and Sekijiro mostly there just because you were there. 

“Aizawa wait.” You sighed, heels quickly clicking after him. All you trying to avoid the rush of questions that flew out in response to the abrupt end. “Your speech was inspiring. I have no idea how you kept your cool while that asshole dissed your student.” 

“I had no choice, flying off the handle or having a weak moment would do no good." You couldn’t help but feel like that was a dig to you. “They were only trying to get under our skin.”

You immediately became guarded once more, and you stopped back to leave the other way. “Well, I just came by to praise you, have a good day.” You felt disappointed that all he said to you was something negative, hoping for once to have a decent conversation.

___________________________________________

You had to move into dorms for the rest of the school year, possibly longer if Nedzu saw fit. The meeting was awfully boring, Nedzu was currently going over how the dorms will be set up and students expectations as well as teachers. “Blah blah blah dont fuck up the dorms blah blah blah set up good examples for the students blah blah blah don’t bring over random people and please don’t have loud relations with your coworkers-” Wait what-

The meeting ended, and everyone packed up their bags while having light conversations with the others. You walked over to Yamda snickering, face in disbelief.

“Hey Hizashi, what was that last part?” You asked breathlessly, a laugh on your lips.

Hizashi snickered beside you, and Nemuri smiled and shook her head. “Principal Nedzu basically asked us not to not have one-night stands and to not have loud sex with each other.”

“Oh my god.” You covered your mouth with your hand, doubling over in an effort to hide your laughter. Hizashi had no shame was laughing manically, Nemuri was just smiling and shaking her head disappointingly beside you. 

___________________________________________

‘Roommates’ were hand-picked by the principal, based on the quiz he had created and forwarded to all the staff members. You had honestly answered all the questions, and were now riding the elevator up into your new home. Someone told you (Hizashi) that the apartments were apparently floor-through plan, a luxury floor plan really. The whole floor was dedicated to the rooming, and it was awesome. You didn’t know who your roomie was, the principal keeping that secret as a ‘Fun surprise!’ The elevator dinged, and you hurriedly pushed all your boxes out in the small hallway, pressing the ‘keep doors open’ button over and over. Luckily it was the last of the boxes, all your clothes, decorations, and miscellaneous cooking wear. Being promised that things like couches, beds/bed frames, and microwaves would be provided. You still brought over things like spoons/forks/butter knives and real knives, plus plates and cups. 

You went to open the door, panting from all the exertion but realized it was already locked. So your roomie was already here..? You fished out the key from the bags you brought and unlocked the door. Opening the door you expected your roomie to have already decorated (you kinda expected it to be Hizashi, both of you bounced off each other pretty well) but the kitchen looked untouched.

Opening the door more, you saw the dining room and living room bare, as well as the hallway. 

Maybe they hadn’t had time to decorate? 

You shrugged and started to push the boxes in, too tired to lift them up and move them again.

“You’ll scratch the floor like that.” Your whole body froze, a dark gloom falling over you. That familiar irritating voice.

You looked up slowly, face contorted in a forced smile. 

Aizawa Shouta.

“What are you doing here?” There was no way, in all of Nedzu's wisdom and knowledge that you and Aizawa were roommates. For the rest of the year. Or maybe, the rest of your career.

“Isn’t it obvious? We’re roommates.” He shrugged like an open admission wasn’t a death sentence. 

“But, how is that allowed, we’re different genders?” You literally wouldn’t have minded if your roomie was the same gender or not, but it was the fact that it was him.

“Gender doesn’t equate to things like sexuality or self-restraint. Are you saying we shouldn’t be roommates because you cannot-” How he said this with a blank face bewildered you.

“No! I’m just saying we don’t work well together, we can’t go a single conversation without going for each other's necks.” You cut him off, now becoming bewildered. 

“Well then, I guess you’ll have to show some self-restraint in other ways.” He shrugged and turned to go back into the room he already chose, which was annoying because why did he get first pick?

“Okay woah wait,” You followed him, the floor changing from kitchen tile to the carpet in the hallway. “I’m the one starting fights? Says the man who always has something negative to say, or who always just cuts me off and criticizes me.” He opened the door, and you saw a glimpse of his bare bedroom. 

“I don’t always have something negative to say, you always have something to improve.” With that, Aizawa closed the door in your face. You growled out and angrily continued unpacking. This will be fun.

___________________________________________

Even if you were being sarcastic, living with the man was absolutely not fun. Aizawa's criticism and nagging got worse, and now he's deluded to actually fucking lecturing you like you were a kid.

You were hanging up old pictures of family members, along with scening paintings and newspapers with you in them.  Aizawa came out of his room, baggy clothes as usual and stopped you.

“Are you serious? Not only are you being extremely loud for eleven p.m., but you’re already putting holes in the new walls. You’re not even using the right nails, they’re going to snap after a few months of use.” He grabbed the hammer out of your hands, along with the nails you had in your other hand.

“I’m not even being that loud, plus who cares, I’m going to hang stuff up eventually why does it matter?” You tried to grab your supplies back, but Aizawa leaned away from you so it was out of your grasp.

“Because this is a shared living space, it’s rude to just hang stuff up without permission.” He set the tools on the ground, accidentally kicking over your pictures.

“Oh I’m sorry, do I need to ask you when to take a shit too?” You slightly lunged at him, puffing your chest out.

“Stop acting like a child, is it so hard to respect basic formalities?” Aizawa asked you, staring you down.

“Stop acting like a dick, is it so hard to be nice?” You threw his words back in his face, already pissed off.

“Enough, I’m tired already and you’re only putting a damper on my mood.” He pinched the bridge of his nose, turning back to his room. You found out he stole the larger room, with the walk-in closet and bathroom, leaving you with a tiny closet and no personal bathroom.

That was kinda how you two had been living for the past week, constant bickering over every single thing. Maybe he left stains on the tupperware and cups because of his horrid coffee addiction, or maybe you left your mess in the way of the living space, or maybe one of you just breathed too hard. Whatever it was, it started angry arguing with one or both of you storming out. 

Whatever, recently you started to train in one of the personal gyms at the school, taking out your anger on the environment around you instead of murdering your roommate. That was our only place of solace, being able to jump and crawl around and hone in on your close combat. To be honest, it had been lacking, and the event at the camp left you self-conscious and hesitant. Noting the lights were already on, you walked in and dropped your bag at the door, gathering some light to use as stepping stools later. Quickly swapping your sweatpants and sweater for your hero suit, you walked out of the changing room and froze when you saw a figure right beside you. 

Stepping out of the male changing room.

“Are you stalking me?” You turned to him, already angry.

“I could ask you the same thing, you seem to follow me wherever I go.” He snapped back, adjusting his capturing scarf. 

“Because you’re always there. Like, I can’t even take a piss without you popping out of the corner to tell me the amount of toilet paper I’m using is wrong.”

“That’s an inappropriate example.” He watched you storm off, going to your corner of the gym to start your practice. You quickly climbed in the air, running across the left side of the gym while doing flips and jumps. 

You could feel his cold gaze on you, analyzing your every move and jump. Self-conscious, you tripped mid-jump and panicked, years of hero instincts out the window. Your quirk deactivated, and you could feel yourself free falling through the air. You are fully prepared to hit the hard ground, tensing up your body to prepare for impact. 

Instead of hitting the hard cement, large hands wrapped around you, holding your back and stomach protectively.

“Are you not a hero? What was that?” Aizawa growled, quickly standing you up and holding your shoulders while he looked you over.

“I got nervous! I panicked!” You shocked him away, holding yourself.

“Nervous about what? You were doing fine.” 

“You! I could feel you judging me, so I just tripped and I freaked out!” Yelling at him, you missed his hand clutching over his heart.

“Freaked out? What if there was a student in danger, what if you were in danger?” His voice was getting as loud as yours was.

You clenched your fists, nails digging painfully in your palm. “Why do you care so much?”

Aizawa went silent after that, his face angry but he himself was quiet.

There was a heavy pause, he seemed to mull something over and you just sat angry at him.

“Because I will not let my staff be weak.” You looked away, already done with the conversation, done with him.

“I’m leaving, I’m done.” You tried to stroll past him, but he stuck out a hand.

“Wait.” You glared at him, and the bottom half of his face was engulfed with his scarf. “Train with me, let’s spar together.”

“Why would I ever-”

“Let me finish. It’ll allow me to train you to be better, and would let you get your frustrations out on me.”

That was..odd for Aizawa. You couldn’t deny the idea of beating Aizawa into the ground didn’t seem fun, but the idea of him being a teacher to you made you feel a type of way. You thought about it for a moment, but eventually, your anger won you over.

“Fine, but don’t blame me if you walk into your classroom limpiING-” Your sentence was cut off when Aizawa swept his feet under you, knocking you into the ground. You lay on the ground, arms flexing with the burning desire to knock his teeth out. 

“You’re on asshole.”

___________________________________________

His strong hands clutching you, only there for seconds while he threw you to the ground, his dark eyes following your every movement, fast and calculating, the way he was so sure of his movements, fast and strong.

Those were images and thoughts that ran in your head when you stepped into the shower, hands delicate over blooming bruises and scratches. You managed to get a couple of good hits on him, your knuckles still raw when you clocked him right in the jaw and your legs slightly shaking when you pushed him off of you. Aizawa never fully gave you the chance to use your quirk, allowing you to fully focus on hand-to-hand combat, his specialty. 

“You need to work more on your confidence and ability in close combat. Tomorrow we’ll do the same thing.” His monotone voice was a little more tired than usual, and he held an ice pack to the same spot where you punched him. 

“Same time?” Your voice was just as tired, and you barely kept in a yawn. He simply nodded in response, turning in for the night.

Those interactions, those thoughts kept you up all night, wondering why thoughts of him infected your mind.

You turned over, needing sleep to make lesson plans and help with schedule planning.

___________________________________________

At first, training with Aizawa was fine, not great, but not exactly bad. But over the recent few weeks, he seemed to get even meaner than before, if that was even possible. You learned quickly he was holding back on you, and it made your class time very awkward.

"Hey, Ms. where'd you get those bruises from?"

"Rough night?"

It was embarrassing, especially the rougher he got.

"Fuck." You coughed, a swift kick in the chest downed you, and now you leaned over on your knees panting for breath. "Jesus dude, this is just training not the real fucking thing." You looked up at him, hand cupping your injury.

"You could have easily avoided that. I overestimated your skills. Get up." He didn't even sound sorry.

"Let me catch my breath first damn." 

"No, get up. Do you think a villain will give you the same opportunity?" He taunted, hands on his hips while he looked down at you. 

"I would've blinded the villain by now, give me a break." You waved him off, and he took the opportunity to grab your hand and haul you up.

"Or they could've killed you by now. You need to be stronger. Get ready." Aizawa quickly got into stance, fists ready to punch you again.

"Aizawa. Give me five fucking minutes, that hurt like a bitch." You backed up, creating a wide berth between the two of you. 

He stood up, and because of his baggy hero suit, you couldn't see he was still flexing his muscles. 

"See, was that so hard?" You sighed, rubbing at your chest. Taking a deep breath in, you looked up and closed your eyes. You yelled out when suddenly he tackled you to the ground, flipping you over to twist your arm.

You scratched at your bandages, fucker gave you a goddamn professional indian burn. A while back some of your advanced kids took their finals, each had to write three different essays about three different historical moments in their lives, in hero history, and Japanese history. You had put off grading them until the summer break since that was what you were originally planning to do at the start of the break. It was hard to grade so many papers when your arms and hands hurt like a bitch, and it was hard to focus with an achy body that hurt all over. 

Groaning, you threw your head back and sighed, feeling a major headache growing on your head.

"What's your problem?" Aizawa's voice came from behind you, opening your eyes you saw his upside-down form sipping from a kitty cat coffee mug.

"Other than you, these goddamn papers. I put them off and now I have too much work to do." You sat back up, picking up your red glitter pen. You heard him sit beside you, the couch dipping under his weight. Aizawa picked up a random paper, skimming over it while he placed down his coffee cup.

"If you can't do it by yourself-"

"I can, thank you very much."

"-then I suppose I could help you. It doesn't seem that complicated." He shrugged, quickly putting his thick hair up in a bun. You watched his hands, and heat pooled in your cheeks at the sight. Even after all this time, you still couldn't deny the aggravating man wasn't attractive. His strong and long neck which was usually hidden was just so…hot. For lack of a better word, it made you feel like a medieval man seeing a woman's ankles for the first time.

"That's because that's one-third of the students' final, and that's the personal essay. If you want, you can do the personal ones while I do the hero and Japanese ones." You pushed the large stack of papers towards him, handing him a black glitter pen. His thick fingers slightly curled around your hand at the contact, making you swallow. 

"Seriously? Do you not have any normal pens?" He asked, deadpanned.

"Nope." You turned away quickly, drinking some water to cool your body. What was wrong with you? 

You scratched at your bandages again, wishing you could just rip them off. Suddenly, hands engulfed your forearm. 

You turned over to your injury, seeing pale olive hands adjusting your bandages. You looked up with wide eyes and watched him fix them for you. 

"Stop messing with them. You're going to agitate it more, and it will be more painful tomorrow." Aizawa's voice was firm, but his hands were so soft. So caring and gentle, fingers kindly moving them so they covered up everything. He looked up at you, awaiting whatever snappy response you had.

"You're agitating." 

And for a moment no one did anything. The only sound was the whirring of the AC and the tick tick ticking of the analog clock above the kitchen doorway.

"You're infuriating." Aizawa responded, but there was no bite in his voice. Subtlety, every so subtlety, you two inched forward. His strong hand left your forearm to your shoulder, and you dropped your pen to inch your hand to his thigh. 

You could feel your heart pounding in your chest, eyes solely focused on him.

You didn't know when, or where, or even why but sometime from when you met Aizawa to now, you sought for him everywhere. Even when he pissed you off more than anyone, you still wanted him to look at you, talk to you. You were the one always inviting him for drinks and hangouts with the staff, always tagging him along when you stayed at Hizashi's house. Even if he hated it, you always sent him cat memes and tiktoks, or sent him videos about coffee or teacher hacks. And every time he would grumble or complain something about professionalism or how it was stupid of you to do so. But every time, he'd respond, every time he tagged along, and he would even send you tiktoks back, things he thought you'd like.

It had always been him. And it was always you.

You were so close, your hand on his chest, his heart was hammering, almost as fast as yours, and his hand was splayed on your back, holding you. So close.

"OH FUCK! GET IT!"

That broke you both out of your trance, both of you pulled your hands back like they burned.

You quickly looked at the coffee table in front of you, staring down while your white knuckles your knees.

Aizawa cleared his throat but said nothing.

"EEEEE!"

Hizashi's loud squealing reverberated around the home, and you laughed. Mostly out of nerves, but still laughed.

Aizawa sighed, cursing under his breath. "Fucking Hizashi and his fear of bugs." 

Wiping a tear from your eye, (from embarrassment maybe?) you turned to look at him. Aizawa was also pointedly avoiding eye contact and had already snatched up the pen and paper again.

"I remember watching the footage from your guys' finals, that shit was hilarious." You giggled, face still red. 

"Not so much when he ran to the emergency showers screaming his goddamn head off. I had to follow him to make sure he didn't blow the damn building away." With quick hands he put down his hair again, but not before you saw how red his ears had become. Not only that, but you saw him trying to hide his shaky hands.

Leaning over you also continued your work, like you were supposed to, ignoring the butterflies in your stomach and the raging blush you were sure you had. 

Later that night, laying alone in your bed you screamed into your pillow. A horrifying realization that was going to make your life so much harder.

You hated Shouta Aizawa as much as you loved him. And you were almost sure he felt the same.

___________________________________________

HOT DAMN, OVER 11K WORDSSSSS. literally crying /j this is now my magnum opus. i hope this gets at least one like because FUCK lmao

anyways, was planning on writing an alt ending but idk, eat up bitches. reqs are still open lmao. also if yall want specific emojis for anon that's okay

edit; literally pissed, i used the wrong name for present mic, I used his last name instead of his first km, dw I fixed it so his dialogue makes more sense now

#my hero academia #x reader #aizawa shouta #shouta aizawa x reader #aizawa shouta x reader #aizawa x reader #bnha shouta aizawa #bnha aizawa #shota aizawa #shota x reader #present mic #kayama nemuri #all might #bnha #bnha shouta #fanfiction #mha #mha aizawa #aizawa shota #long fic #fluff #agnst #mha angst #yeag

[cult-of-the-eye]

Mag 81 A Guest for Mr Spider

FUCK FORMER HEAD ARCHIVIST

Wait I need to check the timelines - this was 2 days after leitner's death

New spooky music???

My man is so fucking dramatic I love him so much "grand of sand behind my eye" love the way he speaks

Yeah FUCK JURGEN LEITNER

Omg the greying hair is canon??

Child in the 90s makes him at most 27 GOD DAMN. I was imagining like mid 30s...can you imagine a fucking 27 yr old using words like "ilk" when talking to you

Oh shit he's an orphan poor guy

Yeah ok a lot of his personality seems to make sense if you realise he was raised by his grandma

You know those memes that are like people raised by their grandparents are exceptionally polite but in a brisk way, talk fancy and are super posh? Yeah that's him.

Getting such neurodivergent vibes

Yeah he sounds like a main character from the start Jesus Christ he's such a kid who got traumatised and then grows up to be a horror protagonist vibes

My First Leitner lol like kids had to be introduced to them at a young age like those my first toys

He's so funny I can just imagine him as an 8 yr old getting super like affronted at this like how dare my grandma think I am of subpar intelligence he's such a little bitch from the start

"The eponymous Mr spider" even talking about his childhood trauma he's busting out the vocabulary

Fuck that story actually kinda rattled me I had my hand over my mouth in shock for most of it

I think it was the bit where the horsefly brought his son and they were both crying that got me, I could definitely imagine it scaring an 8 yr old

The way it drags out as well, with the pages of the same scene it really heightens the suspense

Is his childhood bully someone we should keep track of?? Love how he says Michael probably cause he sees him as a bully lol

It's interesting how despite him bullying him (quite badly seeing as though he beat him up) he's still like yeah but he saved my life and that means he deserves to be remembered

My bro didn't save your life on purpose, he was just trying to make it worse and happened to come to a terrible fate cause of that

I guess underneath it all he was still a kid who watched someone die, knowing they'd get eaten by a fucking spider, he still held him in some regard

The way he specified the guy was his bully even after he was being eaten though lol

He was desperate to get the book back? That's a leitner thing I guess, the book makes you want to keep it so it can finish whatever it wanted to do to you

On my relisten (which I will do once I've finished the series I'm sure of it), I'll have to look out for any reaction of leitners name

I wonder why Jon didn't react more to Carlos vittery's statement, like it must've terrified him? I saw a post a while back explaining Jon's thoughts and IT WAS GENIUS it was like of course he doesn't react, he must be terrified that someone knew about his experience and somehow did this to mess with him or it was a joke and he can't let anyone know that the Head Archivist is not Good at This ugh it's so good I'll tag it if I can find it

AHHHHH HE REGRETS DISMISSING THE OTHER STATEMENTS AHHHHHH

HE FINALLY ADMITS THAT HE NEEDS HELP WE LOVE THIS CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT YES YOU FUCKING DO BITCH.

yeah at least he's right about Elias killing leitner

GEORGIE THE EX GIRLFIEND

ITS SO WEIRD TO SEE HIM ACTUALLY NICE TO SOMEONE WOW HIS VOICE CHANGES SLIGHTLY AS WELL HES LESS ACADEMIC

THE ADMIRAL

Awwww he's so cute with georgie

GHOST PODCAST GHOST PODCAST

THE WHAT THE GHOST T SHIRT IS CANON???? AHH THATS SO CUTE

Can he not go back to his own flat?? Did he bring all his clothes to the archive and then subsequently leave them there? Does he even have a flat??

God Georgie is so nice I would kill for her

It's so funny that an apparent supernatural cynic dated a ghost podcaster

WOW SEASON 3 OFF TO AN AMAZING START I CANT WAIT TO KEEP LISTENING IM GONNA TELL MY THERAPIST ABOUT THIS TOMORROW!!!

#tma #the magnus archives #jonathan sims #jarchivist #a guest for mr spider #the web #tma season 3 #georgie barker #tma georgie #jurgen leitner #what the ghost #the admiral

[nightgoodomens]

do you really believe that they are poly? what I see looks more like david and Michael are the couple. d&gt look staged, calculated. like there's effort to include her as something other than his ex. sorry Anna, but you look like the 'date' the studio set up.

I don’t think it’s like that tbf. It’s very difficult to tell what the exact arrangement is and we will never know, let’s be honest. Below I’m going a little bit into my thoughts regarding GT/DT based on the stuff I’ve learned recently here so please don’t read if it makes you uncomfortable. I know it’s a sensitive subject and frankly I’m unsure of a lot myself when it comes to them so it’s mostly wondering really and trying to look at a few facts.

I can’t make my mind up regarding GT. I will always acknowledge the nice stuff she does but I can’t ignore the questionable things either. Ironically this should technically make me fairly objective I guess...

GT and DT are a weird mix. GT put a lot of work into creating a brand out of their marriage over the years and when you read about how it all began it makes sense why because there was a lot of dirt to cover. There is also the issue of her whole thing being DT because she didn’t accomplish anything on her own no matter how much money DT has put into everything she has ever tried over the years and it’s still going on (I just wish I didn’t need to suffer from that - sorry but she really can’t act). But creating a brand out of their marriage, a whole perfect image, is her biggest accomplishment. Girl should have went into PR.

Do I feel pure love out of their relationship? Not exactly. He often appears irritated. Her posts are usually focused on showing that she scored him and eg when she had him take a pic of them with her lying behind him with her holding his award and writing “mine”… really? That’s how you celebrate your man’s accomplishment? Especially compared to how much he was beaming with his boyfriend that night and how MS celebrated him… It was a harsh difference. More recently DT did BAFTAs and it’s her looking at camera with him on the side “Look the cool guy is into me! This is about me!”. I just… eh not my style. Gives me the cringe. Gives me an attitude of a woman who’s jealous of her man’s accomplishments when her only one is scoring him and she wants to show off to young fans and make it about her every time. Why it’s never purely about him? Im not even going into the PR kiss and articles.

It’s sad really.

I don’t know how much *real* love there is between them and how much an arrangement that worked out for them for many years. So I guess fondness has grown too? Acceptance? Maybe actual love developed? Everyone screams “kids” but it’s really not that difficult to make them, just in case anyone wonders. Especially when alcohol is involved which she let everyone know herself.

Maybe it did develop into true love. I don’t see it but that doesn’t mean I’m right. Maybe it’s a mix of PR and love.

Her job did change recently with DT changing the arrangement though because MS is now involved. The rumour is that their marriage has always been open which doesn’t surprise me, especially since she wasn’t seemingly against MS/DT since the beginning but I do wonder how it feels when it’s not just fucking around and actual genuine love that develops between the man you perhaps never had the real deal with and now he found it with someone else.

I don’t think she’s going anywhere. She’d never support MS/DT if that was the case. So that’s where the poly idea is coming from - it’s DT and GT and separately DT and MS. Nothing else. I think it was once more of a marriage plus a romance on the side but now it’s two “marriages” hence the change in narrative since December.

Those are my thoughts and guesses. Maybe I’m completely wrong. I really don’t know. The one thing I know though is that things are never as pure as a celebrity is trying to force you to believe and a lot of work has been put into creating a brand out of GT/DT.

And that’s always for a reason.

#NightGoodOmens talks PR

[symbioticsimplicity]

I’m gonna have to name this little AU if I keep going, but I have no idea what I’d call it. Suggestions? Part three of these posts. AO3 link!

Part 4

                                                                 *

“Okayokayokayokay,” Steve said, half way through their second shared bottle of vodka, “I gotta know, if this’d happened, like, two years ago, would this have happened?”

Billy squinted at him, the cogs in his head almost visible as he tried to make Steve’s question make sense. Eddie and Tommy however seemed to latch right onto the meaning behind his slightly slurred words. 

“Noooooo.” Eddie declared with a shake of his head and a wave of his hands, “Nope. Woulda ended bloody ten minutes in. Tops.”

“The hell are we talking about?” Billy asked, rather than continuing to try to puzzle it out.

“This,” Tommy gestured to the group at large, “Us. Could we have all hung out in the same space like this.”

“That is not what he asked.” Billy muttered.

“It’s what he meant.” Tommy shrugged, laying back against the floor.

“Yeah!” Steve agreed, “What’dya think Bills?”

“First, don’t call me that.” Billy’s glare wasn’t half as intimidating with his cheeks all rosy like that, “Second, no way. I couldn’t stand any of you back then. Munson gets a pass, cause he had the hook up.”

Eddie pumped his fist in the air and Tommy made a wounded little noise of derision. 

“What? Why didn’t you like us!” He rolled so he was facing the group again, though still laying as comfortably as he could.

“Is that a real question?” Billy cocked a brow.

“Yes!”

“Because you were assholes.” Billy said as if it were obvious.

Tommy threw his hands into the air in exasperation and turned to Steve, gesturing emphatically, the pinching of his eyebrows saying everything his mouth wasn’t. 

“Uh, Billy, you were also kind of an asshole.” Steve replied for Tommy since he was too worked up to get the words out without his voice cracking like a middle schooler’s. 

“I had a reason to be.” Billy shot back, his expression crumbling into irritated resignation almost the moment the words left his lips. 

Tommy scoffed, and Steve knew the next words out of his mouth would be the kind that started fights and that was the last thing they needed at the moment. He moved without thinking, slapping a hand over Tommy’s mouth to both their surprise. 

But in for a penny, in for a pound.

“You haven’t gotten the time to develop a ‘don’t be a bitch’ filter yet, so I’m going to do it for you, just this once.” Steve said, leaning in so he didn’t have to speak at full volume, “Before you say anything I want you to think about if it’s going to get you punched in the nose or not. If the answer is ‘yes’ pick something else.”

Tommy glared at him, and licked the inside of his palm. The sensation had Steve pulling his hand back only to wipe it off on Tommy’s already ruined polo. 

“You’re so gross! Have you seen the shit I’ve killed today? You’re gonna catch turbo-AIDS.”

Eddie snorted, earning himself a shove from Steve. 

“Thanks, Steve.” Tommy pointedly flicked his attention back to Billy who was watching the whole thing while sipping a can of coke he’d pulled from the six pack nearby, “What makes you think we didn’t also have reasons to be assholes?”

Billy scoffed, glancing at Steve for a moment before he seemed to reconsider whatever he was thinking.

“Guess I don’t know, Tommy. What was your reasoning?” He pulled his legs up so he was hugging his arms around his shins, still holding the coke by his fingertips, “Can’t think of much a rich kid with two functional parents and plenty of friends could really be that upset about.”

Eddie made a noise somewhere between agreement and comradery, but otherwise kept surprisingly quiet.

Steve squeezed Tommy’s arm from where he’d left it after wiping his hand on him. Tommy’s self control was usually dubious at best, but his self control in regards to saying some genuinely hurtful shit was virtually non-existent. Or at least it had been the last time Steve had spent any meaningful time with him.

So he was surprised when Tommy took a breath and seemed to follow Steve’s advice about thinking before he spoke.

“Probably isn’t as good as your’s, whatever the fuck that is.” Tommy shrugged, “But that’s why. Growing up that way, that’s what people think you’re supposed to be like. You’ve got everything, you’re supposed to flaunt it. Everyone likes you, you’re supposed to act like it. You’ve got people who care, then you’re supposed to be happy.”

Tommy’s face was carefully blank, the same that he used when he was being more of an asshole than he had to be and didn’t want to feel it. The one that Steve had seen every time someone told him how much of a dick he was somewhere someone else might overhear it if he ever said ‘I’m sorry.’ 

“Just how it is. Fighting it gets you thrown out with the losers, and the losers hate you because you were an asshole. Steve here knows all about that. Sucked, didn’t it?”

Steve met Tommy’s stare, pursing his lips as he nodded.

“Yeah. Got better eventually. But yeah.”

“See, I’m not like Steve. I’m not a good person deep down, and I’d much rather be comfortable than do the right thing or whatever. Especially if doing the right thing still lands you here.”

He gestured to the room at large, illustrating how they were all more or less trapped together.

For a moment they were all quiet, Tommy’s words seeming heavier and heavier with each passing moment. Steve was about to change the subject, just to dispel some of the awkwardness that had coagulated around them but Billy beat him to it.

“I’m not either.” His voice was hushed, which was just as weird as hearing Tommy being quiet, “A good person. I’m not. Could have done a million other things, didn’t. It’s easier to just….let it all happen.”

Steve was sure he’d never heard Billy volunteer information like that. Despite having fallen into frequent proximity months ago, he still felt like he barely knew the guy. He knew more about Eddie who he’d known for far less time. 

“Well if anyone’s asking me, I think you’re all assholes.” Eddie’s easy quip slid in, easing some of the tension almost effortlessly, “But the thing about assholes? If you stretch ‘em, they can grow.”

“Munson, what the fuck?” Billy leaned away from him.

“It’s true!”

“It’s fucking gross!” Tommy threw the end of a Vienna sausage at him, “Do you just say shit like that on purpose or are you actually queer?”

“If I were, you, Tommy Hagan, would be the very last person I would tell.” Eddie lobbed the corner of a poptart back at him. ��Last thing this minefield of a quartet needs is homophobia.”

Tommy squinted at Eddie, “Okay now, that one pisses me off. People just assume I hate the gays just because I’m an asshole about everything else.”

“Tommy, think about what you just said for a second.”

“It’s different! Being a dick to, like, regular people is one thing. The gays have enough shit going on, with the bible thumpers. And the whole bible thing is stupid anyway! I’ve read that thing front to back like three times and the whole Sodom and Gamorah thing was about child abuse so that’s a whole lot of people admitting they can’t fucking read. Which just makes Christians look stupid so it makes me even more pissed off cause if I’m gonna look stupid I want it to at least be for a problem I do have. I can’t do trig but I can at least fucking read--”

“Tommy,” Steve pushed him gently to jar him out of the rabbit hole he’d just gone down.

Eddie was staring at him like he was the single most baffling puzzle he’d ever seen, a growing sense of amazement lighting up a smile like the sun cresting the horizon. If there was anything Eddie Munson was, it was uncomfortably perceptive. Steve knew that well enough by now, but Tommy was just about to find out.

“Well, then, in that case, yeah, I’m kinda queer.” Eddie said, casual as anything, despite Billy choking on his soda beside him.

His shrewd eyes locked onto Tommy, and Steve knew he’d be picking apart each little individual bit of his reaction and running it through whatever process in his head equated to judgement. Tommy, to his credit, while looking absolutely floored Eddie had just dropped that like it was nothing, didn’t react much more.

“Okay.” He said once he’d gotten his voice back.

“Okay?” Eddie raised both eyebrows.

“Well what do you want me to do, a backflip?” He wiggled his injured leg, “Not really on the menu right now.”

Eddie grinned and shook his head, looking absolutely delighted, “Man, meeting you two is starting to fuck with me. Cool jocks. Who would have thought?”

“Crazy what can happen when you get to actually know someone.” Steve let out the breath he’d been holding that entire conversation through. 

“Yeah, crazy.” Eddie agreed.

                                                            *

By the time they finished the second bottle of vodka it was just after nine. Reasonably they should turn in for the night but Steve was still wired from the day’s action and he was pretty sure he wasn’t the only one. 

Eddie couldn’t settle at the best of times, while Billy and Tommy were tossing an orange back and forth. If Steve ignored the bloodstained rag wrapped around Tommy’s leg, and the distant sound of demobats, he could almost pretend they were having a sleep over. 

A sleepover with his ex-best friend, his rival-turned-ally, and his other rival-turned-friend.

Sure, totally normal.

“We should go to bed.” Steve suggested, mostly just so he could say he’d tried to be responsible.

“Unless you mean that in a sexy way, no. There’s no way I’m sleeping tonight.” Eddie replied without looking away from the window.

If Steve could hear the demobats, he was sure Eddie could too. His leg was bouncing and every line of his body screamed ‘tension’. Normally, Steve would have sat him down beside him, pet through his hair and got him talking about something until he chilled out a bit. But given present company…

Given present company? Would they really mind? Yeah, of course they would, they’d both give Steve a metric ton of shit. But would that be it? It wasn’t like they’d beat his ass over it, Eddie had just come out like three hours ago. Maybe Steve was just too far in his own head.

“Eddie?” He called, getting the other’s attention, although not in full, “C’mere for a sec.”

Eddie turned all the way back to him, biting his bottom lip like he was trying to tear the skin off it with just his incisors. So, even more freaked out than Steve had thought. There was no way he was going to prioritize being a coward over Eddie who clearly needed his help.

He sat down beside him, just a little too close as always. Steve scooted even closer, sliding his hand into Eddie’s hair and scratching just the way he knew he liked. Almost immediately his shoulders lost some of their tension.

“So, if you’re not going to sleep, and I’m not fucking you, what should we do instead?” Steve asked, earning himself a laugh.

“How about we play something.” Tommy suggested, despite the question not being addressed to him in the least.

“Like a sleepover?” Billy huffed what almost could have been called a laugh, “What’re we, sixteen year old girls?”

“I could braid your hair too, Sunshine~” Eddie winked at him.

“Stop calling me that.”

“Like you don’t love it.” Eddie grinned right back.

Steve was surprised to see a blush rise on Billy’s cheeks, though he didn’t get to see it long before he was turning his head away.

“If you two wanna stop flirting, I was gonna say two truths and a lie. That one’s always fun.”

“Sounds great, Billy you should go first.” Eddie couldn’t help but tease.

Steve pulled on the baby hairs at the base of his neck a little, getting a hiss out of him and a poke to the side for his trouble.

“Fine.” Billy turned back to the group and held up three fingers, “I have killed a man, I will kill again, and it burns when I pee.”

Tommy looked stricken and Steve could relate. He knew at least one of those was true, although he felt obligated to argue that while Billy’s body had certainly killed someone, he himself hadn’t. Though, he supposed from Billy’s perspective that line probably didn’t feel as clear. 

“Second one’s a lie.” Eddie answered, his voice deceptively calm.

“Munson wins.” Billy laid back down and tossed the orange to himself.

“Wait, no, hold on, back it up.” Tommy mimed pumping the breaks, looking just as goofy as his dad did when he did that, “Can we talk about that first one?”

“The game was two truths and a lie, not two truths a lie and an investigation. Mind your own business Hagan.”

“Nah, man you made that my business.” 

“He didn’t kill anyone.” Steve said firmly, staring Billy down even though he wasn’t looking in his direction as though daring him to argue, “He was possessed.”

“Possessed? Like Linda Blair possessed?”

“Worse.” Billy answered shortly. 

“First monsters, now demons? How in the hell has all this shit been happening without anyone knowing until the town literally split in half?” Tommy blinked, his head reeling back as he tried to make that make sense, “You’re good now though, right? Not possessed anymore?”

“Mostly.” Billy answered cryptically.

“I’m trying really hard not to flip a shit here, and you’re really not fucking helping Hargrove.”

“I don’t know how else to put it. It’s not in me anymore, but I can still feel where it was. I can still hear it, if it’s close. I can still do some of the things it could. Still don’t feel hum--” Billy cut himself off abruptly.

Eddie and Steve locked eyes across the circle. Later, they’d deal with that later.

“How about we play something else?” Steve suggested.

                                                          *

“This one is easy.” Steve explained, “We go in a circle, we say things we haven’t done and if you’ve done the thing someone is saying, you put a finger down. Last one to put all their fingers down, wins.”

“This is stupid.” Billy grumbled for the third time.

“But you’re still playing~” Eddie leaned over to bump his shoulder to Billy’s. 

The blonde didn’t reply.

“I’ll go first this time.” Tommy all but decided, “Hmmm, never have I ever gone skydiving.”

None of them put a finger down, if anything Billy just stared at Tommy as though he could make him pick up his disapproval like radio waves.

“Right,” Steve thought for a moment, “Never have I ever dyed my hair.”

Eddie and Billy both put a finger down while he and Tommy kept their ten.

“Oooh what color?” Eddie eagerly asked.

Billy hesitated a long moment before answering, “Pink.”

Eddie’s head tilted as his smile stretched wider, “You’d look good in pink, sunshine.” 

Billy rolled his eyes, “Never have I ever voluntarily worn a polo shirt.”

“Targeted!” Tommy whined, putting a finger down as Steve shook his head and did the same.

“I’m trying to win, Hangman. Skydiving? Seriously?”

Tommy paused at the use of his old nickname. Steve hadn’t thought Billy knew that one, given that Tommy had gotten it years before he’d come to town. Hangman Hagan, they’d called him for years, because fucking with him was tantamount to a social death sentence. Tommy had never been one to simply get even, no, when he set about to ruin someone, he ruined them. As inescapable as the hangman.

It seemed to have flipped a switch in him, Steve could see the moment his competitive nature lit up in his eyes.

“Alright, Sunshine, let’s go then.”

“It’s Munson’s turn.” Billy smirked back, nodding his head over at him.

God help them, Eddie was wearing the same damn smile. As much as Steve cared about them each individually (and wasn’t that a thought), he hoped they never hung out like this again. It was too much chaos per square inch, if this kept up something would end up on fire, he just knew it. 

“Okay, never have I ever played basketball.”

Steve, Tommy, and Billy all put a finger down. 

“Low blow Munson.”

“Really, not even once?”

“No wonder you can’t run for more than three minutes!”

“Your turn, Van Hagan.” Eddie said around his shit eating grin.

“Fine, you wanna throw cheap shots? Never have I ever kissed a guy.”

Eddie made a face and put down a finger. But so did Steve, and so too did Billy.

“All of--”

“Put a finger down, Tommy.” And God help him now Steve was smiling too, couldn’t help it.

Now it was Eddie’s turn to toss his hands in the air and shout a the top of his lungs.

“I knew it!” He barked as Tommy put a finger down, “Birds of a feather, every fuckin’ time!”

“I’ve got to admit I’m surprised that all of us have.” Steve said, much more calmly than he felt, because all of them had kissed a guy before. If he thought about that for more than a few seconds at a time, he might actually implode.

Eddie’s head whipped over to Billy who was looking anywhere other than the group. He hadn’t tried to take back his answer, however, so that was encouraging.

“I’ve gotta know, who?” Eddie asked the room at large.

“Tommy, duh.” Steve replied as though it were obvious, “How else would I have caught that?”

Eddie nodded, still smiling like an idiot, “Right, yeah, good point.”

“Steve.” Tommy answered, “And, uh,” His eyes flicked over to Billy and Steve almost choked on his tongue.

“Seriously?! When?!” He managed to get out, though his voice sounded like he was being strangled.

Eddie laughed so hard he ended up wiggling around on the floor, pure joy erupting from him. 

“Like, right after he got here? We met at a party before we met at school.”

“Crystal’s party? The one I was sick for? The one with that hot blonde that you wouldn’t stop talking about for a week? The hot blonde you met was Billy?”

“Uh huh.” 

“You talked about me?” Billy’s smile rode the line between the genuine one Steve had seen glimpses of recently and the trashy smirk he’d worn all through high school.

Tommy’s face was beet red, “Might’ve.” He muttered.

“Sounds like you had a torch burning. What changed?”

“You talked.”

Eddie had been half way to sitting up but immediately lost the battle.

#stranger things #tommy hagan #billy hargrove #steve harrington #eddie munson #steddie #mungrove #harringrove #harringroveson #stommy #the four idiots of the apocalypse #billy being that friend that casually drops really horrible facts about their life #eddie and impulse control have never met each other and they live in separate countries #steve is just here for the ride mostly but he's also trying to make sure nothing catches on fire #tommy is a bastard yes but he's OUR bastard now #ha³son

[shychick-52]

Hi :3

I saw your post about the finale of the 4 season of STF, in particular the phrase about Disney's interference, and wanted to comment on it.

There's an interview from 2019 in which Graig talks a little about the production of season four. To put it briefly, Graig's ideas were only implemented for half of the season, since the other half was written by Michael G. Stern, who was promoted to story editor (I think it’s easy to guess that we are talking about mystical islands).

This was a necessary decision, because Graig was working on Elena at the time and couldn't follow Sofia’s writing as before. So this explains not only Cedric's absence for half the season, but also the lack of development of many ideas (I'm sure there should have been an episode about Amber and James' mother).

https://sofiathefirst.fandom.com/wiki/User_blog:TheAtomicLight/The_Craig_Gerber_Interview

YES, THAT MAKES SENSE. Because Craig loves Cedric (he's his favorite character, with Amber being his second). It's possible he would have tried to have more episodes featuring Cedric in the 4th season.

And regarding this...

...It's possible there were more ideas for episodes involving Cedric (or even scenes featuring him) after his redemption, and that Disney Television Animation decided against them because they felt they took away focus from Sofia (when it comes to most animated series, the network prefers them to mainly focus on the kids as much as possible- who are usually the main character(s), given their core target audience).

Because I refuse to believe the production team just shrugged and went "Oh shit, we made Cedric good, now what? Meh, nothing ig. To heck with him." Because after he became good, there were so many things they could have done with him!

@bettathanyou @moonypears-blog @fantadym @captain-amadeus It's such an interesting interview, totally read it!

#cedric the sorcerer #cedric the great #sofia the first #craig gerber

[esther-dot]

Brave black crow," she mocked. "Well, long before he was king over the free folk, Bael was a great raider."

Stonesnake gave a snort. "A murderer, robber, and raper, is what you mean."- Jon(ACOK VI).

Replace Bael with Rhaegar. It's basically Lyanna and Rhaegar story. Like Bael, some considered Rhaegar loved Lyanna while others claim him rapist. Ygritte also told Jon that every lady fall in love with Bael in his songs and his truth is different from theirs

Most interestingly Jon considered Bael a liar and he was surprised that the Stark girl loved him. Personally I hate both Bael and Rhaegar.

(about this ask)

Oh, I hate Rhaegar too 😂 However, I think how we feel about characters/plot developments is a distinct category from speculation/what we think Martin is saying. The best part of his series is that he wants each character's POV to feel true to who they are, for each to shade our understanding. So, I agree with you that Rhaegar could be substituted for Bael here, but I think it makes sense that Ygritte would have one view, a Northman another, to clearly illustrate and maintain the conflict of the cultures (that is elaborated on via Jon and Ygritte's relationship), and from that I conclude that we, the readers, are expected to develop a more nuanced understanding as a result of the conflicting views, not conclude that one of the other is entirely correct.

And, if the goal is to understand where Martin is going, we should take the new revelations regarding Rhaegar seriously. Robert’s version is evil rapist, Ned’s thoughts make that difficult to believe, Dany’s vision makes us realize, oh, not lust driven, prophecy driven, and then we have Bran’s and Meera’s convo which starts to (maybe) contradict the Lyanna as an abductee narrative and suggest, maybe she was enamored with Rhaegar’s singing as Martin starts to indicate, all women were? I guess I think it’s worth the effort to pay attention to the wrinkles Martin is introducing into the story.

Also, I can’t remember if I’ve seen a meta on this, but Rhaegar is a little Biblical David-y, what with the harp playing, the paranoid king, going after someone else’s wife (betrothed), and of course, everyone recognizes Jon as a take on a Christ figure, which fits with that reading too, so I kinda…feel like Martin is likely wanting to say more, not less, with his version. That doesn’t mean justifying his actions ofc. I would think Jon will be appalled when he learns the truth.

#anti rhaegar #dot chat #< for filtering

[the-owl-tree]

Ivypool having children and a mate grinds my gears because there is literally no reason, it doesn’t really add anything to her character besides making sequel babies. And the fact that her becoming mates with Fernsong happened after her main conflict wrapped up, he has no relevance to her struggle with jealously and the Dark Forest. I’m not the biggest fan of TigerDove (mainly in OOTS) but at least Dovewing’s relationship with Tigerheart tied into her feelings of wanting to connect with cats outside her Clan due to her powers. Ivypool’s relationship with Fernsong is meaningless.

Yeah, I've never really followed any of the logic as to why it "makes sense" and is "good character development". It feels rushed and it kind of sucks that even a fan favorite character by Ivypool is regarded so little by the writing team that they didn't bother to pair her up with someone we know and could actually invest in the relationship :/ I mean, I guess people really liked the "I'll take care of the kittens :D" line but that really did feel like a hurried cover up of how little the two know each other and how much the writing team seemed to understand that the two's relationship was not what they wanted and then proceeded to have fernsong uh not do that

idk I did not expect wlw kitties from warriors, i think the series is so aggressively cishet and so aggressively hostile to its she-cats that it won't happen but man how about a background character to pair her up with that she doesn't have a whole prophecy stating how they're related

#deer rambles #WHY LIONBLAZE'S CHILD

[kittyball23]

Okay guys, listen up!

Got some insight to the Annecy Film Festival and some of the news it revealed! The info I found was from a posting on the YouTube channel "jstar" (if you're on Tumblr, I'd love to know 😀) from a screenshot presumably found from somewhere on social media ( A friend I speak to on Wattpad brought this channel and its postings to my attention). Here's what exactly was said:

"To be factual: after the furious madness of the second Trolls, whose psychedelic energy had something orgasmic about it, exit hard rock and welcome to the glorious era of boy bands. A retrospective choice (still) logical given the astounding popularity of Kpop today. He's Justin Timberlake's character, Branche, who was actually in a boy band with his brothers when he was little (watch out for the puns in the movie on Nsync, One Direction and the like) before being cowardly abandoned, becoming th grumpy, melancholy troll he is today. The goal of the film will be to reassemble the band to save one of them, captured by idols without talents who sniff him to become good singers. By breaking a crystal that imprisons him with the power of perfect harmony."

So I guess the brothers have to sing the 'Family Harmony' (which sounds like a special song of some sort) to save Floyd who is trapped in a crystal that Velvet and Veneer placed him in after they smell him to obtain his talent?

Um... what? XD

So I guess it kinda makes sense in a way - Bergens ate Trolls to obtain their happiness, so perhaps sniffling them means that they can get their singing abilities?? Perhaps that's why they have to keep him - maybe inhaling his talent is only temporary? Maybe each time they do it continues to turn his hair the white that we saw in the first poster? And what's the deal with the Family Harmony? How will that play out? Are their voices going to combine like a magical force and break the crystal Floyd’s trapped in? If this is all true, I've certainly got a lot of questions lol

Other postings that were made on social media stated that the first 20 MINUTES of the movie were shown.

Here is a posting regarding Broppy:

"Branch definitely has a bigger emotional hurdle to jump through in this movie and Poppy really helps him with that, kind of like in the first movie, but it's a much different issue, even though Poppy feels like it's the same kind of situation to solve."

I had a feeling that this movie would remind me of the first :) This next one is about my boyz:

"We explore the world of boy bands in the world of 90s music! We celebrate them, but with a certain irony, having a little fun with them. They are more expressive and maybe they also have problems on their side. It was fun exploring these different personalities, feeling a likeness and family connection to them. But also for each of the four brothers to find their own personality, their own voice and their own part of the family."

This last quoting is about the music:

"The composer remains Ted Shapiro and we are working with a great musical team at the moment. Justin is still the executive producer of the original music and was involved in its development early on. There are five original songs that he spearheads, as well as more jukebox songs, classic and familiar happy tunes and he calls on other producers he wants to work with to create the best song for this moment in the film."

Still don't have word on the original songs, but we do know from previous info that some of the involved songs are We Are Family, Staying Alive, Everybody (Backstreet's Back), The Hustle, You Got the Right Stuff, Sailing, Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This, and I Want You Back. I also have my own ideas for what songs I think could work for the movie, but I'll save it for another post :)

#trolls #trolls 3 #trolls band together #brozone #velvet and veneer #branch trolls #poppy trolls #dreamworks

[theromanticrationalist]

Young Sheldon Season 7 Thoughts. . .

"I've got a hot wife and a Nobel Prize, I turned out fine."

I LIVE. <insert Mushu gif raising from the afterlife> It has been awhile since I have been able to update on here! There are many reasons for this, one of them being my other fandom obsession (Dune, you know the other neurodivergent, genius, socially awkward white boy who thinks he is a god...), but also I've reached the level of obsession with Sheldon Cooper that it is nearly physically impossible for me to watch the new episodes! I hope others understand that feeling. I LOVE THIS BOY SO MUCH. 😭 I am just SO NERVOUS about this season! I don't want Sheldon to experience tragedy. Yet - I have chosen to persevere, and I have now caught up!

And the story has certainly unfolded in interesting directions! 😮 Okay, okay - so the BIG thing - Sheldon witnessing his Father sleeping with "another woman"! I am feeling conflicting emotions - impressed, relieved, and a little upset. I am impressed and relieved because they were able to adhere to the integrity of this show while still allowing established canon to be technically true. However, I am also a little upset because it makes Sheldon's experience less serious and lessens the trauma of it that clearly was established in TBBT. In the episode when Sheldon confesses to Penny about what he saw with his father and how it effected him, that was deeply personal and profoundly impacting. It is what scared him in regards to his relationship with Amy, and kept up his walls against intimacy and vulnerability because he was terrified of hurting her. And it is what made him develop the three knocks coping mechanism. To me the fact that it was actually just a silly misunderstanding (his mother roleplaying) is just another aspect of the writers once again invalidating Sheldon as a character. It is THE main mistake of TBBT, playing Sheldon's personality quirks as primarily foolish and "Hah hah hah! Isn't he a weirdo who doesn't understand social conventions and established normal human behavior?! Har har har!"

"Penny, I'm going to tell you a story that I've never told anyone..." Sheldon and Penny at the ice cream parlor in Season 10 Episode 5 The Hot Tub Contamination of The Big Bang Theory. This was one of the rare moments this show treated Sheldon's character with gravitas. That's kind of ruined now. . . This is a sin that Young Sheldon has not committed until now, and so that really steams my clams! One of the main reasons I love this show so much is because of how it has always treated Sheldon's character with nuance and dignity, showing his complex layers in a deeply human and beautiful way - even while, yes, maintaining the comedic, quixotic charm of the character as well. So, the fact that they've flattened this significant event in Sheldon's life into a ba dum tss moment thrown at the end of the episode last minute is pretty shitty of them. And yet, Mary and George Cooper rekindled their marriage! I thought it was SO SO adorable how they wrote letters to one another while she and Sheldon were in Germany. That warmed my heart. Young Sheldon's thematic structure works and is reliant upon Mary and George Cooper's marriage (something I will go into more in-depth later) so George cheating on his wife just didn't make sense for this story they were telling, or even the characters they had established. So, it's fifty-fifty. I guess it was the best possible outcome given the givens, and certainly makes me happy because I prefer a reality where Sheldon grows up in a stable - albeit dysfunctional - household rather than the heavily implied even more dysfunctional, traumatic one from the TBBT canon. In most of TBBT, Sheldon certainly painted a deadbeat, failure of a father. Such as his mentioning how his father lost a job due to his stealing from the cash register, which Sheldon had been responsible for telling on his father (The Big Bang Theory 9x12 The Sales Call Sublimation) rather than in Young Sheldon, his father losing a coaching job because of his reporting rule breaking at work (Young Sheldon 1x01 Pilot). There has been some significant retconning going on here in this show, but the retconned reality is the one I prefer - so . . . what are ya gonna do? 🤷‍♀️

#sheldon cooper #my sheldon cooper thoughts #I certainly have A LOT MORE THOUGHTS #but it is getting late so I will write more tomorrow #this boy means the world to me #I JUST WANT WHAT IS BEST FOR HIM #I AM STILL NOT READY FOR WHAT IS TO COME #also I definitely wanted more Sheldon in Germany #uuuuuuuugh American shows SUCK #actually I want more Sheldon in this final season just in general #WE NEEDED MORE SEASONS OF THIS SHOW #young sheldon #the big bang theory #iain armitage #7x04 #ants on a log and a cheating winker #jim parsons