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shockersalvage · 10 months

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Salvage Showcase - Monokuma Maid

Back to Danganronpa Zero - the first light novel of this franchise. Last time on this Showcase saga we got a look into the eight in one Naruto case that was Madarai. So for this time, I chose someone who, while not as well known as others in her class, serves the theme of Danganronpa Zero pretty well and gives sight into another underrated aspect of the series.

...Well, that and I also want to talk about the only other prominent original female in that light novel. Look at her! Can you blame me? Presenting Zero’s representation in the Mono department: Monokuma Maid!

Summary

Not much is known about this girl’s past prior to joining the Reserve Course, but she must come from a decently well off family, since she could afford to pay the Course tuition to attend the Academy.

Things changed for her after the Tragedy of Hope’s Peak Academy – where the Student Council were forced to kill each other. Junko would send out a mass email that put the blame on Izuru Kamukura the school’s Ultimate Hope. This would anger the Reserve Course who started to riot. One for their mistreatment and the other for the funds they spent being used to, apparently, make a mass murderer. Junko would then use the footage of the massacre and edited with the knowledge of Ryota Mitarai’s brainwashing methods. Creating the Despair Video, this girl would fall prey to it and be driven insane with despair. Like with the rest of the Reserve Course, she became an underling to the Ultimate Despair.

During the events of Zero, Ryoko would wake up to find herself in the Reserve Course’s secret society and be welcomed by the girl, this time wearing her maid dress and Monokuma mask. Monokuma Maid would guide Ryoko about the base, assuming that Ryoko was testing her, and delve into the Reserve Course’s goal of getting their hands on Izuru. Notably, her own blatant insanity, creepyed Ryoko out so much that she used the excuse of needing to use the restroom to quickly leave her. But, in doing so, Ryoko would learn more about the society’s secrets as well. From how they watched the DV on repeat for thousands of times, to even holding two of the Steering Committee hostage (albeit, one dead and the other tortured before eventually being killed as well).

When Junko finally regained command in the finale, the reason the girl became Monokuma Maid was because Junko was just trying out mascot ideas, but decided that people in costumes wasn’t going to work for her next killing game.

Eventually, like with the rest of the Reserve Course that hadn’t died yet in DR3 or became Izuru, Monokuma Maid would meet her on end on the day the Reserve Course invaded the Main Course side, slaughtering every student that wasn’t in Class 78 or apart of the Ultimate Despair. The RC students would commit suicide after Junko would send them Monokuma’s Gloomy Sunday, otherwise known as the Suicide Video. Be it jumping out of the Main Course building or running into its burning wreckage, Monomaid would have killed herself. The Reserve Course mass suicide would go onto the catalyst for the Tragedy that would end the world.

While polite, quirky and eager to please at first, Monokuma Maid is a girl that’s utterly insane, being prone to violent ranting and cursing over her plight as a Resrve Course student. She is bitter and disdainful to the school she’s affiliated with it, being utterly disillusioned with it. She holds fierce loyalty to Junko, but laments that she feels that she isn’t capable of truly being Monokuma.

Rundown

I mentioned that Danganronpa Zero’s theme is one of ‘identity’ or, rather, a ‘lack of identity’. Yuto’s whole thing is that he lacks so much presence that people don’t notice him, the Madarai are octuplets that make an effort to be completely indistinguishable from each other to the point people could mistake them as being one person. Monokuma Maid serves this theme from the get-go by way of her own design and name...or lack of it. She is only known as the Monokuma Maid, with her real name being unknown. Her face is complete obscured by her Monokuma mask and her own identity as a maid hammers in the point that she is but a servant. Someone that lives to assist someone else’s life instead of their own. Monomaid’s status compared to the other Reserve Course (that aren’t the Trio most are aware of) is also something to take note of. Sure, while her identity that we know of is literally just a Monokuma Maid, it still marks her as unique compared to the other members of the Reserve Course who get no names, nothing to make them stand out and, in the anime, are depicted as being transparent, near faceless, nobodies. She is unique from the metaphorical faceless crowd solely because she took up a mask to become a literal faceless henchman.

Monokuma Maid easiest point of comparison would be to Mukuro Ikusaba herself. Similarity wise, both are devoted followers of Junko that done disguises or other forms on behalf of their boss. They are also more than willing to go about illegal or immoral actions for the sake of Junko’s plans being completed, with an eagerness to serve her. Though, how they differ, is in their motivations which, strangely enough, Monomaid is more of the autonomous of the two (despite, you know, being brainwashed).

Mukuro’s whole life desire is to serve Junko and make her happy, no matter what, even if it costs the world. Her entire identity is wrapped up in that one desire. Monokuma Maid on the other hand, while essentially being nameless and apart of the masses of underlings involved with Junko, her desire (and by extension the Reserve Courses’s main desire) is to get their hand on the Ultimate Hope and ‘crush him’ as payback, which is why they’re rioting and working with Junko (with video shenanigans for good measure). It's a nice reminder that, despite probably being the least regarded people both in and out of universe in Danganronpa, the Reserve Course’s goal prior to their mass suicide did come from a genuine independent grudge beyond Junko and persists even as they became her underlings.

Personal Thoughts

I really loved Monokuma Maid in terms of design and what aspect she brought to the prequel to the original game. The idea that concept of Monokuma needing to go through stages before becoming the bear that we all knows and, probably, love is a great addition to the world.

Monokuma Maid also serves as a great gateway to a rather undertalked about aspect of Danganronpa, that being the Reserve Course. It’s easy to dismiss them as just ‘Junko’s brainwashed puppets’ ( + three named others of varying importance) and call it a day (DR3 certainly chalks it up to just that), but Zero’s inclusion of Monomaid, and really the other RC students that get depicted in it, really helps flesh out that aspect of them.

Monomaid isn’t a bluefaced nobody that Junko can chuck at a repressed boxer, she’s a perky, unstable, girl with a clear chip on her shoulder in face of an actual injustice. She’s passionate about taking down Hope’s Peak and (while Junko wasn’t herself), this maid actually had the gall to go right up in Junko’s face to yell at her about her grievances. Sure, her being so crazy is due to watching the video, but its an exaggeration of her very real issue with the system.The same goes for the other minor students that got some page time. One of the talking Monohead students (in a very depressed and bitter state) is able to wax philosophical about the mutual killing that transpired in Zero and, when Ryoko runs to the old school building, one of the students disguised as a guard, smirks at her and let’s her in.

They’re proof that even the ‘talentless’ crowd had personality and charm to them just as much as the Ultimates that we all love. Even with the knowledge of them being brainwashed in Zero, you get the feeling these aren’t just zombies Junko can order about and treat willy-nilly, but thinking people that you have to take into consideration. Heck, even Junko and Mukuro talk about them in the end as if they were your regular minions that one needs to work with and around if you want stuff done (which makes DR3′s usage of the DV more annoying but that’s neither here nor there at the moment) It’s characters like the Monokuma Maid that really helps make the DR world message and themes come alive, and why I do wish she got remembered more. Kind of makes me sad that, despite being the sole survivor of the original DR0 cast, DR2 just has the Reserve Course kill themselves without any utilization of her. Makes me sort of wish she took the place of AI!Junko in a way, but what can you do.

With that, DR0 is down once more! Next up is back to the detective side of things with Danganronpa: Kirigiri!

#danganronpa #salvage showcase #danganronpa zero #DR0 #ryoko otonashi #monokuma maid #monomaid #monokuma #reserve course #junko enoshima #mukuro ikusaba #izuru kamukura #DR1 #danganronpa 3 #DR3 #Ultimate Despair #SHSL despair

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dreamescapeswriting · 2 years

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My Favourite Camera Woman ~ HHJ [Request]

⤜WORD COUNT: 3.5K

⤜PAIRING: Hyunjin x Fem!Reader

⤜GENRE: Fluffy, cute, first kiss, just a whole bunch of fluffy times, boys teasing hyunjin a little

⤜Copyright: © DreamEscapesWriting - May 2022

⤜MASTERLIST

"Yah! You can't just walk away while I'm talking to you!" Changbin screamed as he followed after Jeongin who was pretending not to hear him, you held back your laugh as you tracked them with your camera only coming to a stop when they left the changing room you were in. The two of them were arguing over the fact that Jeongin had stolen one of Changbin's sandwiches that his mother had made for him that morning. Slowly moving back around the room you tried to decide if there was anything worth recording, usually, you were supposed to record everything but today was a slower day. It was raining outside and most of the boys were exhausted from how busy they had been this week.

"Damn papa, you a rare breed, no comparing." Your camera moved over to capture Felix who was singing along to the TikTok that he was watching. His eyes were glued to his screen not taking notice of the camera that was watching him through the mirror. You did your best to stop yourself from laughing, you were supposed to be silent and calm when working but it was hard.

The boys were some of the funniest people you had met and you got along so well with them off-camera, they truly treated you as if you were one of their best friends. You'd been the person behind the "Talker" videos for quite some time, you were always working hard to bring content for STAY as well as editing and adding subtitles as quickly as possible since it was only you doing this.

"Yn?" Hyunjin whispered as you slowly lowered the camera, switching it off as you smiled at him. The two of you had formed the closest relationship with each other, spending time with one another outside of work. If you were being honest, you knew you had a major crush on Hyunjin but you were never allowed to act upon on because there were extremely strict rules about staff members dating idols within their company.

"Is it off?" He quizzed as he looked down at the camera, his eyebrow arching as he smirked a little. You'd been caught one too many times accidentally leaving it recording but it was okay when you were the only one that edited the clips together.

"It's off," You chuckled weakly as Hyunjin narrowed his eyes at you and then to the camera, making you think twice as you whined a little at him.

"You sureeeeeeee?" He dragged the word out making you whine and double-check that the camera was off, the light wasn't flashing so you knew it was off this time,

"I'm sure." You folded your arms across your chest, narrowing your eyes back at Hyunjin as he stared down at the camera and gasped a little.

"The light is on." Your eyes snapped back to it before whining and playfully nudging Hyunjin's side for teasing you that way. He let out a laugh as he looked at you, you were pouting in the adorable way you did whenever he would tease you. Sometimes he only teased you just so he could see you pouting back at him like that.

"Liar! Don't tease me like that!" You groaned looking over at Felix who was watching you both now, a smirk growing more on his face before he went back down to his phone.

"It's too easy," Hyunjin laughed softly shaking his head at you, taking you over to the seats and handing you a bottle of water to drink from.

"I'm only playing, do you have enough footage for the day?" Hyunjin quizzed, leaning back against the seat and staring at you. Your eyes landed on his as you nodded slowly trying to calm your heart rate down as you stared at him.

The thing was the two of you had been flirting a lot back and forth with one another and you had a bond with him that you didn't have with any of the other boys.

The two of you had instantly clicked with one another, always having inside jokes with each other and spending close time together. On or off camera Hyunjin was always the same person and it was heartwarming to see that in someone. Sometimes a lot of people faked who they were just for show but you knew Hyunjin and you knew that the person who always put forward was himself.

"Should have. I got a clip of Chan working in one of the empty changing rooms, Stay always go crazy for that." You said tiredly, sitting back against the sofa and looking over at the window as you relaxed a little. You hadn't slept well the night before since it was comeback season, you weren't as busy as the boys but you had a lot to do. Recording, editing and putting together subtitles ready to be reviewed in time for the managers was a lot that went into being a camerawoman for the boys.

Hyunjin began to look at you, drinking in your appearance as he forgot that it wasn't just the two of you around. Your eyes were struggling to stay open and he resisted the urge to wrap his arm around your shoulder and bring you to sleep on him.

The boys always teased him, claiming he looked at you as though you were the only person in the world who could truly see him for who he was and he did. Hyunjin truly believed that you knew him better than anybody else on the planet - besides his family. You shook your head trying to wake yourself up, tapping your cheek a little as you could feel yourself starting to doze off.

"Are you okay?" He quizzed, his eyes widening in a panic at the thought of you being so tired. Did you get enough sleep last night? Had he kept you awake when he'd been texting you?

The two of you had been talking about whatever came to his mind, it was a sleepless night in the dorm for him and while he was painting he messaged you. After all, you were his muse.

No matter what he did he always found himself being more creative whenever he spent time or spoke with you.

"Just tired," You admitted as you let out a small yawn, covering your mouth as you groaned at yourself. You needed to wake up a little if you were going to keep recording for the rest of the day.

"I'm sorry," Hyunjin pleaded as he stared at you, your eyes were a little bloodshot from the lack of sleep and you looked as though you were ready to fall asleep right there and then.

"What for?" You let out a small laugh knitting your eyebrows together at him,

"I was texting you all night, I should have let you fall asleep,” His voice went up in pitch as he began to panic so you shook your head, putting your hand on top of his as you tried to ignore the spark you felt whenever you touched his skin.

It was always the same, whenever you held him or got too close your body would have all kinds of reactions to him. Your heart would begin to race and you’d sweat, then there was the way you would feel electricity bouncing all up and down your body whenever he hugged you or called you by your name. It was unnatural for one person to have this much power over you but you didn’t care, all you wanted was to be around Hyunjin for most of your time.

You found yourself missing him whenever he wasn’t around you. When he had his long break you’d gone to his parents to see him, spending time together outside of work and getting to know his family and Kkami. Which you teased Hyunjin a lot for, claiming Kkami loved you more than he loved Hyunjin - which was completely untrue.

"It's not you Hyunjinnie," The nickname rolled over making his body shiver in excitement, he adored it whenever you would call him that. But only you. If the boys were the ones to call him it, he would get annoyed but with you, it just seemed natural. As if you had been calling him that for years and you were old school friends.

"I was working on last week's "Talker" video, it wasn't good enough for the managers so I had to re-edit some of the clips and add subtitles before they add it to youtube," You had a strict schedule to stick to. Once a talker video was filmed you’d had a week to edit it all together and submit it for review. If - for some reason - it wasn’t good enough or wasn’t long enough to meet the standards you had about two days to re-edit, submit and pray it was finally good enough for it to go onto the final product line and ready for viewing pleasure.

"Should we look into getting you some help?" Hyunjin couldn't stand the thought of you doing this all alone. There had been another person that helped a lot but they’d been fired for leaking information about comebacks and clips that weren’t supposed to be available to the public.

"I can manage, I just need to delegate my time better." You promised, you knew you didn’t really believe it yourself but you’d already brought up the idea of hiring someone for help but no one else seemed to think it was a good idea after the last one.

"delegate it by getting some more staff." You laughed softly at him, his eyes were full of concern for you. The last thing he wanted was for you to burn out and end up sick because you weren’t able to look after yourself while working so late. He’d seen it far too many times with Chan and the thought of anything like that happening to you killed him inside.

"it's not down to me. Besides, I'm not missing my chance to hang with you." You told him proudly in a sultry voice, as you laid your head down on the back of the sofa, it wasn't comfortable for you at all but it was nice enough for you to close your eyes for two seconds.

Hyunjin just stared at you, his hand carefully reaching out and running his thumb along your cheek as you silently fell asleep right beside him. He’d never seen someone fall asleep that quickly before and it made him chuckle a little.

He could have sat here for hours just watching you dream, your eyes were fluttering and moving around as you drifted off into a deep sleep. You obviously were more tired than you were letting on and Hyunjin smiled weakly wanting nothing more than to curl up with you.

"Hyunjin?" Chan whispered, waving his hand in front of his face as he frowned at the sudden disturbance, he hadn't heard anything. Chan laughed a little as he noticed the younger member finally coming out of his trance with you. The boys had been trying to get his attention for a while now but he’d been watching you.

"They're calling for us." Hyunjin looked over at the door where everyone was waiting and he nodded slowly getting up and leaving you there but he didn't want to. Quickly he grabbed his coat and laid it across your body, slowly laying you down against the sofa so you wouldn't get a neck ache from the position you had been sitting in.

"It is cute," Chan whispered as they headed out of the room, Hyunjin grabbing your camera so he could capture some footage for you. There was no way he was going to let you get into trouble for catching a couple of minutes of sleep while you could, you deserved the rest.

"What is?” He quizzed, turning the camera on and getting it ready to film them as they walked

"Your crush." Hyunjin’s face turned a bright red colour as he stuttered over his words.

"I don't have a crush." He lied, Chan smirked as he saw his nose twitching a sure-fire sign that the younger member was lying

"Okay, so you do that with all of us?" Chan quizzed as he looked behind him at you, you were still sound asleep on the sofa oblivious to everything else going on around you. The other staff members turned off the lights as they did whenever the members fell asleep and Hyunjn’s heart warmed up a little.

"Shut up," Hyunjin whined a little as Chan continued to tease him for it. He wanted to sit with you for a while longer and just relax together.

When you woke you let out a small whine, sniffling a little as you could smell food around you. Hyunjin had his head in his phone as he scroll through the group chat, most of the boys were teasing him for staying with you.

“Hyunjinnie?” You called out as you noticed him laying beside you, your head was against his chest his arm around your waist. The sight made your stomach do backflips and you looked up at him, his eyes were on his phone screen as he cuddled you.

The last you could remember you’d woken up to the boys coming off stage, Hyunjin had told you not to worry about your camera or footage, that he’d done some for you and then he pulled you to lay down with him on the floor with the rest of the boys. Your eyes glanced around the room and it was just you and Hyunjin, you had no idea what time it was but it was dark outside.

“Where’s everyone?” You rubbed your eyes, glancing around the room to see that most of the stuff was gone except for your bag and Hyunjin’s,

“They left.” You stared at him a little taken back, he stayed behind with you? You knew they had a busy schedule and your stomach sank at the thought of keeping him behind because of it.

“What? Shouldn't we have gone with them?” He looked at you, raising an eyebrow when he saw how concerned you looked for him. He smiled a little as he shook his head

“I told them I would go home with you, you were fast asleep and I didn’t want to wake you up. You looked too cute.” Your whole body heated up at the compliment and you whined, snuggling into him a little. The two of you could be alone together, you didn’t have to worry about someone hearing you flirt with him or he with you and he could hold you as long as he wanted.

“I saved us some food for when you would wake up.” He mentioned as he heard your stomach growling at you both, your hand flew to your stomach as you groaned a little embarrassed.

“Won't we get in trouble for staying here…Alone?” You suggested. As badly as you wanted to sit here for hours you didn’t want to get Hyunjin into any kind of trouble with his boss and you didn’t fancy getting fired from the one job you loved more than anything else.

“No.” He mumbled, sliding you some food over that was still hot. You smiled weakly as he looked unhappy that you had asked that question but you needed to make sure. The last thing either of you needed was to be suspended, fired or for Hyunjin to get scolded badly.

“Eat up,” He nudged the chopsticks in your direction and you giggled looking down at the food. It was your favourite all together,

“You ordered for me?” He smirked as a blush crept up onto his cheeks. He knew all of your favourites so when they all agreed to order food he made sure to get everything you loved, well almost everything.

“Yep,”

“Did you eat yet?” He answered your question by bringing out his own food and smiling at you, lifting the lid off his food and getting ready to dig in. The two of you sitting together and having a wonderful mini picnic in the changing room. You knew it wouldn’t be long until someone came around to clean up but you just wanted to relax here for a little while longer, to enjoy your time alone with him.

“H-Hyunjin,” You breathed out as he moved closer to you, his eyes staring into yours as he shook his head at you

“I can’t keep hiding it anymore, I need to do something.” The two of you were watching a movie waiting for your food to settle when he kissed your forehead, then your cheek and was now staring down at your lips wanting more.

“I-I want to but you could get in trouble, you could lose your job…” You whispered as he inched his head closer to yours, your heart racing against your chest as his eyes darted between your lips and your eyes.

“You want me? Say it again,”

“I want you.” You whispered breathlessly, his forehead resting against yours as you both tried to calm down for a couple of seconds.

“Hyunjin…We know the rules.” He licked his lips, trying to remind himself that there were rules for a reason but the longer he watched you he couldn’t contain it anymore.

“Screw the rules,” He grumbled his hands cupping your face and bringing you into a deep and sensual kiss your arms wrapping around the back of his neck as you kissed him back deeply. Your fingers gripping onto his hair as if it was a lifeline for you. You’re both breathing heavily as he lays you down against the floor, deepening the kiss as he pushed his tongue into your mouth, smirking as you let out a small whine.

Your whole body felt as though it was on fire with every touch and kiss he gave to you, your bodies moving in perfect sync with one another against the floor. Only stopping when you heard someone outside of the room.

“F-Fuck.” You whispered out of breath as you looked at Hyunjin, his lips were reddened from the harsh kisses you’d been giving to him and he was blushing a deep shade of red.

“Yn…I didn’t mean to make things weird-”

“Hyunjin…L-Lets go somewhere private…Someone alone.” You whispered, grabbing his hand in yours as you got up carefully from the floor and he nodded. His mind went blank as he felt your hand interlocked with his. He was so worried the kiss was something you were going to push him away from but it was the complete opposite. It has you desperate for more. As if he was your own personal drug and you knew from that moment on you were never going to get enough of one another.

Reviewing footage had been a whole world of emotions, you had Hyunjin laid behind you on the bed while you scrolled through almost four hours of footage of just you and Hyunjin. The two of you curled up together on the floor, the picnic and the intense make-out session that had all been captured.

“Guess who can’t turn off a camera now.” You teased as you stared at the screen, he’d woken up before you and cuddled you close to him. He’d been whispering to you but because of where the camera was you hadn’t been able to hear what he was saying,

“You should keep it.”

“What? And send it to my boss so they know what we’re doing?” You quizzed, cutting the footage out of the timeline,

“No…For us…Anything you have of us we should keep,” He whispered as he pressed a kiss to your naked shoulder, looking at your screen as you took the cut clip over to a separate folder labelled “Hyunjinnie.”

“You have a private folder already?” He quizzed as you scrolled over almost 15 hours of pure footage. Most of it was interactions of the two of you together or clips that weren’t allowed in the videos but were too cute to delete.

“Do you have any of the boys? Should I be jealous?” He joked, kissing your cheek as you let out a small laugh.

“I have some but none of them like this,” You laughed as he wrapped his arm around your midsection protectively as he let out a laugh.

“My favourite camera girl,” He pressed another kiss to your shoulder, carefully shutting your laptop screen as you whined at him.

“Hey, I have to work.”

“Tomorrow, right now you need to sleep and cuddle me.” He commanded as he rolled you to lay down beside him in your bed, looking up at him with a bright smile,

“Good night Hyunjinnie.” You whispered as he leaned down and kissed you.

“Good night, angel.” He pressed a kiss to your lips before snuggling into you.

It wasn’t the last time Hyunjin stayed with you while you edited, making sure you kept anything cute of you both or of the boys but most importantly making sure that you went to sleep at a reasonable time with you wrapped in his arms.

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#skz #skz x reader #skz imagine #skz imagines #stray kids #stray kids x reader #stray kids imagine #stray kids imagines #hyunjin #hyunjin x reader #hyunjin imagine #hyunjin imagines #hwang hyunjin #hwang hyunjin x reader #hwang hyunjin imagine #hwang hyunjin imagines

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thelesbiandeli · 9 months

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A Caged Bird Set Free

(Chapter two of three)

(Ao3 link here)

(3336 words)

Unfortunately, it seemed like Circuit escaped the building before either heroes could find him. Scar received a light telling-off from his higher-ups, but nothing too serious. They could never scold their golden child, CuteGuy thinks bitterly to himself.

Noone has noticed the slight personality shift yet, luckily. The AI has tried his best to stay as perfect as the day he was programmed, but sometimes the odd rude remark or snarky insult has slipped out. Lucky for him, people take it as a joke. Well, why wouldn’t they? It’s not like he could think otherwise anyway.

That’s just one of the messed-up things that he’s noticed now that his mind has been freed. Only now can he notice the ways that The Institute prioritises the neighbourhoods that can afford to fund it, or how some people classed as ‘villains’ started out just using their powers without a licence. And of course there’s the fact that, despite the fact that they’re marketed as equals, CuteGuy was clearly never seen as a person. Even the thought of how he used to call Scar ‘boss’ makes him itch. Because HotGuy was never his boss, was he? No, he was his owner. CuteGuy was just a thing, gifted to a hero for assistance and aesthetics. It’s almost worse now, because he can understand the situation he’s in, and he can’t really escape without being hunted down by The Institute’s state-of-the-art technologies.

Wait.

He is one of those technologies. He can access the whole network, from the locks on the doors to the earpieces the heroes receive commands through during missions. And on top of that, he can access the archives. Every single criminal record, every piece of security footage, every person in the city’s government data. He could probably get into personal data stores if tries.

And just like that, a plan starts to form in his head.

—

After hours spent searching through social records and watching every video of villain fights he can find, CuteGuy has put together a plan. It seems pretty foolproof, from what he can tell, but he’s made sure to set up a backup plan if things go south. Small edits have been made all throughout The Institute's code, just as a way for him to access it if they try to cut him out, a hidden backdoor, if you will. Now he just needs to wait for the perfect opportunity. And that opportunity comes a lot earlier than he expected.

A mission, sending them to fight the very villain who gave him full autonomy. And CuteGuy is practically sparking with anticipation.

HotGuy yells into his earpiece as he leaps across a gap in the rooftops, rolling as he lands.

“CuteGuy! Track Circuit for me, will you?”

A hologram of the AI appears, floating in a casual sitting position. He kicks his feet up onto an invisible coffee table, and grins.

“Nah, I’m good.”

HotGuy almost trips over a chimney pot as he skids to a halt. Never in his time working with the pink-and-white clad sidekick had he said no to him.

“What did you just say?”

“I said ‘I’m good’. I’ll be honest with you, Scar, I’m getting tired of this. It’s always ‘CuteGuy, do this’ or ‘CuteGuy, track that’ or ‘CuteGuy, turn down the speakers’. And what do I get from this? Nada. Nothing. It’s a corrupt system, if you think about it. Not to mention the horrendously screwed up ways that The Institute created intelligence purely to be your accessory. So I believe this is for you.”

HotGuy watches in confusion as the hologram shoves a glitching piece of paper into his chest. He pulls it off, ignoring the fact that it clips through his fingers slightly, and stares down at it. Scrawled in pink glitter gel pen across the page are the words ‘letter of resignation’, and a loopy signature is written across the bottom, accompanied by a small heart. CuteGuy cracks his knuckles, and adjusts his heart-shaped sunglasses.

“Well, I can’t say it was nice working with you, but I’ll be seeing you around, Scar! Good luck!”

And with that, he disappears in a pop of light and a shower of code. HotGuy watches in disbelief, unnoticing of the letter dissolving in his hands, mouth hanging slightly open. This wasn’t meant to happen. How is he meant to explain this to his higher-ups?

—

Mumbo is casually strolling back to his apartment when he feels a buzz from his phone in his coat pocket. He takes a sip of tea from his takeaway cup, and pulls it out, only to frown at the strange text from his housemate.

Etho :D

Hey dude there’s a guy who says he knows you on our couch

He said you gave him the keys, but I thought we lost the spares?

I don’t want to tell him to get out if he actually knows you, but he also might be a robber or something

Wait hold up I think he might be one of the heroes

Hurry home pleaseeeeee

Mumbo nearly chokes on his tea as he reads through the messages. Void below, he most definitely has not invited a guest over. He down the rest of his nearly cold drink, and takes off running as fast as his lanky legs can carry him.

He nearly crashes into his door as he fumbles with his keys, finally managing to unlock the door and fling it open with as much intimidating energy as his beanpole of a body can fit into it. After a second, he falters as he spots Etho, sitting nervously on the opposite side of the sofa to a very familiar person.

Said person is casually stretched out and scrolling through something on their phone. Although their outfit is different from the last time he saw them, with them now wearing a cropped pink hoodie and baggy white sweatpants, they are still instantly recognisable. Well, it’s hard not to recognise the slightly transparent form of one of the city's most popular heroes.

CuteGuy glances up from his phone, and grins at Mumbo.

“Heya Circuit! Or rather, I guess I should call you Mumbo when you’re out of costume, shouldn’t I? Anyway, good to see you!”

Mumbo’s grip on his keys fails, and they fall to the ground with a metallic clatter. Etho glares at him, wide eyed.

“I thought you never told anyone else, dude!”

Before Mumbo can defend himself, CuteGuy waves his hand dismissively.

“Oh, he didn’t tell me, I just figured it out. Good job too, actually, you were one of the hardest villains to find the identity of. It was actually some footage of Shade out of costume handing you food that helped me figure it out.”

Etho fiddles with the hem of his shirt nervously. He has been retired from the villain business for nearly two years now, and he didn’t think many people remembered his brief time as the shadowy antihero. Mumbo looks just as panicked.

“Are you going to be turning us in now?” He reaches up to adjust his tie, “Well, that’s a stupid question. You’re a hero, of course you are.”

If Mumbo didn’t know better, he would say that the hologram looked offended by that statement for a split second. The blonde recovers, and brushes their messy hair out of their eyes.

“Me? A hero? You must have been mistaken, I have no loyalties to those self-absorbed aristocrats. They do no good for this society, honestly. I bet half the villains do what they do because of the heroes, anyway.”

Etho and Mumbo glance at each other in confusion, before Etho sighs and gets up. Holding his hands up in mock surrender, he walks away from the other two, and into his room.

“Nope, not dealing with this. Mumbo, call me when dinner’s ready.”

He shuts the door behind him, leaving the other two in an awkward silence. At least, until CuteGuy buries his head in his hands and rubs his eyes. And for the first time, Mumbo sees the ex-hero look anything but confident. The AI sighs, and slumps slightly.

“Was that too much? I’m still trying to figure out emotions without the background influence of The Institute.”

Mumbo smiles. Yes it’s sad, but it’s also kind of endearing.

“Nah mate, you were just a bit enthusiastic. I don’t think Etho was prepared for that level of energy on a Wednesday afternoon. I think it’s rather nice, though. You’ve hit the nail on the head for both of our reasons to do what we do.”

CuteGuy seems to lighten up a bit, literally. A few energetic pixels fly off him as he sits up a bit straighter and claps his hands.

“Really! Oh, this is great. Now, I have a bargain to make. I do something for you, you do something for me.”

Mumbo frowns, but gestures for him to continue. CuteGuy shuffles around to sit on his hands, and grins excitedly.

“So! You’re a redstone nerd, you made that clear enough on our first meeting. I was wondering if you would like a bit of a challenge.”

“What do you want from me.”

“Aww, don’t be so negative! Anyways, how hard do you think making a prosthetic limb would be?”

“I’ve made them before, now what do you want me to do?”

CuteGuy swallows nervously, excitement bubbling in his eyes, and Mumbo notices that he’s rocking backwards and forwards slightly.

“CouldyoumakemearobotbodysoIcanenactmyrevengeonmycreatorspleaseandthankyou.”

Mumbo blinks slowly, and chuckles.

“You’re going to have to speak slower than that, mate. I could barely hear a word you said.”

CuteGuy sighs, and repeats himself.

“Could you make me a robot body? I want to be able to make the heroes really feel it when I enact my revenge.”

Mumbo raises an eyebrow. This is clearly not the only intention behind this request.

“Really? Well if that’s the case, I can make you a controllable projectile launcher or someth-”

“No!”

Mumbo cocks his head and grins as the AI tries to regain his composure.

“It would have the same effect though. Unless there’s something else you needed it for?”

CuteGuy blushes slightly, and brings his knees up to his chest.

“Well, I, uh, I want to be able to move things. And touch stuff.” He slips his sleeves over his hands and starts fiddling with the drawstring of his sweatpants, “Sc- HotGuy had a cat. He never told me her name, but I watched him play with her. She would sleep on his chest while he was in bed, and rub against his legs when he walked into a room, and I want that. I think it would feel nice. I could feel like a person.”

Mumbo chuckles, genuinely for the first time, not out of concern or fear, and pulls a small notebook out of his trouser pocket.

“I think I can make that happen. Do you have any specific design choices in mind?”

CuteGuy’s eyes light up, and he starts explaining the details of his perfect body, Mumbo furiously scribbling notes to try and keep up with the AI’s exited rambling.

A couple hours into their planning, CuteGuy notices that his new friend has fallen asleep. With a small smile, he gets up and dims the lights of the apartment, before leaning back in a chair by the kitchen table. He shuts his eyes, and lets his mind wander through the vast expanse of the cites code, the closest thing he has to sleeping.

As the clock in the kitchen ticks gently past midnight, Etho strolls into the kitchen, and sighs when he sees his housemate fast asleep.

“So much for dinner, I guess.”

He fishes an instant ramen out of a cabinet, and sets the kettle down on the slowly heating stovetop. He frowns at the AI, glowing slightly pink in the dark room, but his attention is drawn away when the kettle starts to boil. He fills his bowl with boiling water, dunks his noodle in for a few seconds, then takes a bite out of it. With a satisfied smile, he takes his food back into his room, pushing the door shut behind him with his foot.

—

It’s been a month or so after CuteGuy 'disappeared’, and Scar is still trying to figure out why. This sort of sudden behaviour change doesn’t just happen. It had to have been prompted by something. And the villains are his best bet.

So now Scar stands, fully dressed as HotGuy, on the roof of a building overlooking the city. From years of experience, he’s positioned in a way that means he’s ready to leap down at a moment's notice, but the light of the early evening still silhouettes him against the sky dramatically.

Just below him, on a lower rooftop, there’s two villains moving around. He squints as Circuit gestures wildly, and the person next to him seems to laugh. HotGuy presumes that Circuit’s company is the villain Shade, but these days he can never be sure. The villain hasn’t been seen for years, but he can’t remember anyone else who would wear Shade’s classic black mask on his lower face.

HotGuy frowns as Shade seems to wave goodbye, and disappears out of the hero’s line of sight. Circuit pulls something out of his pocket, and starts fiddling with it. The perfect time to strike. HotGuy crouches down, and launches himself up into the air, twisting slightly as he plummets down onto the roof below. It’s only as he lands and rolls that he realises that this was slightly suspicious. Circuit’s expectant smile only seems to solidify this.

He hears a whisper of cloth behind him as someone sticks something into the small of his back. HotGuy gasps in pain as a shock of electricity shoots up his spine, but stands his ground, glaring at Circuit. Shade slips into his peripheral vision, tucking a cattle prod into his belt. Circuit grabs the cattle prod back, and Shade sighs, annoyance tainting his breath. The two seem to remember HotGuy’s existence as Circuit clears his throat.

“Well then, we were wondering when you were going to show up.”

Shade cuts in, putting his hands on his hips.

“Rather rude, isn’t it? Showing up late when you have someone wanting to see you.”

HotGuy narrows his eyes at the two villains.

“What do you mean, someone wanting to see me?”

Shade smiles, and waves a hand dismissively.

“You’ll find out soon. Now, we better be going.”

The two leaps up onto the edge of the roof, Circuit stumbling for a second as one of his feet skids on a patch of moss. He regains his cool, and smiles at the hero, still recovering from his shock.

“Just remember to smile for the cameras!”

The two leap off the edge, and out of HotGuy’s view, leaving the hero to think over the words. He frowns, and mutters quietly to himself.

“Smile for the cameras. What does that even-”

Suddenly, small objects on the corner of almost every building around him start to move. HotGuy shivers as dozens of security cameras turn to face him, their lenses glinting almost like eyes. A cloaked figure steps out of the shadows in front of him, nearly silent if not for the whirring noises that join their every step. In the folds of their outfit, HotGuy can see the glint of what he presumes to be a blade. He stumbles backwards and trips, landing on his ass. The figure grins at him, his eyes glowing an ominous purple, not quite enough to light up his face.

“Well, Scar, what do you think. Do you like the new look?”

HotGuy’s heart drops as he hears the all-too-familiar singsong voice of none other than-

“CuteGuy.”

The figure glares at him, and HotGuy clenches his fists nervously. He doesn’t know how, but he’s messed up. They push down their hood, revealing their silver face twisted into a shape of disgust, his eyes glinting off the bridge of his nose.

“I don’t go by that name. I’m not just your accessory anymore, I’m my own person.” CuteGuy takes a few steps forwards, and crouches down so he’s eye-to-eye with the hero, “You can call me The Watcher. I think it’s catchy, don’t you? The perfect name for your nemesis.”

HoyGuy just stares in shock. The Watcher frowns and straightens back up, the pistons in his legs hissing slightly.

“Well, regardless of all that, I think it’s an improvement. And look at you! You’ve finally gotten a proper arch-enemy, and even one that links into your oh so tragic backstory! I bet marketing will be thrilled!” The villain spreads a pair of giant silver wings, stained that haunting shade of magenta at the tips, and gives the brunet a mock salute. “I look forward to working with you, HotGuy!”

And just like that, The Watcher launches himself backwards off the edge of the roof, disappearing into the night. HotGuy just sits on his ass, eyes wide and breathing heavy. Every inhale sounds like it’s being amplified tenfold, and every exhale feels like it’s echoing through the streets.

A bright billboard catches the corner of his eye, and HotGuy pauses for a second. That can’t be right. He runs to the edge of the roof, and looks across the city. His breath is snatched away from him.

Every single one of the giant screens advertising social media and food deals are now displaying him, from every angle, wide eyed and panicking. People on the streets below are either watching the signs in awe, or staring at their phone screens open-mouthed. A couple people look up at him on the roof, and one points at him and yells. One by one, people start pointing cameras at him and chattering excitedly. HotGuy ducks back onto the rooftop and puts his hands over his head. He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to block out the feeling of thousands of eyes staring at him. Watching him.

HotGuy uneasily gets back to his feet, faintly aware of the yelling in his earpiece to get back to The Institute, and draws his bow. His fingers shake as he notches an arrow, and, with none of his usual charisma or bravado, looses it. The projectile hisses through the air, and smashes directly into the eye of the nearest security camera. There are a few faint gasps from the crowd below him, but he blocks it out as he draws his bow again. Camera after camera, he lets the arrows fly, until he’s surrounded by occasional sparks and broken glass glinting in the light of dusk.

After all these years of being a public figure, and he gets freaked out by a couple of stupid cameras. Void, he’s so stupid.

He sighs, and slings his bow onto his back, trying to ignore his pounding heart. As he hops gracefully off the room, he shudders at the memory of The Watcher’s smile. The same smile that he had seen while cracking jokes over dinner, or when he would ‘accidentally’ trip up during combat practice, trying to make his friend laugh. And those purple eyes were just too similar to the bright blue ones that would wake him up in the mornings. And that playful tone, all too familiar with the way that his sidekick used to tell him that he should be in a fight, a few minutes late on purpose just to see him panic.

Scar’s line of work didn’t leave him room to make many friends, but he and the AI are close. Or at least they were.

HotGuy has to shake his head to get the thoughts out, and doubles his speed, launching over chimney pots and sliding through small puddles until he gets back to The Institute. Almost as soon as he enters the doors to the main building, he is met with one of the directors. The woman frowns at him, and crosses her arms.

“HotGuy. We need to talk to you. Now.”

#Deli.Writes #hermitcraft #grian #mumbo jumbo #goodtimeswithscar #HotGuy #CuteGuy #fanfic

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calliethetrekkie · 4 months

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Star Trek TOS S01EP15-16: The Menagerie

I decided to review both parts in the same review. It's the same story, so I'd rather be able to go over it all at once. Plus at least half of it when put together is footage from the first pilot, The Cage. I also want to note that, at the time of writing, I have NOT watched Strange New Worlds yet, so I won't be mentioning/considering anything from it or its portrayal of Pike and crew for this review. Anyway, that should do it for window dressing, let us get underway.

Original Thoughts

I'm not even going to try and copy/paste and re-edit both of them to add onto here. This is going to be long enough. You can read my old watchthrough here, but the short version is I liked Part 1, didn't like Part 2 as much, and overall I liked it for the Spock content but it was meh otherwise.

Rewatch Thoughts

God, this took me way too long to get done...

So this episode is the first and only two-parter in TOS. We wouldn't get another one in Star Trek until TNG. One thing kind of weird about this episode is that it's more or less Spock on court martial... after we'd just done a court martial episode for Kirk. When I watched these in the airing order, I think one reason I didn't care for Court Martial is because it felt like we'd 'been there, done that' with The Menagerie, a feeling that didn't repeat in production order which let me enjoy that episode a lot more.

I thought long and hard about how I wanted to organize this. How much I wanted to go into regarding both the actual episode and The Cage footage. It's part of why this review took so long. So after thinking it over... there's not much about the pilot footage that I have to say. It's there to give context for why Spock is doing what he's doing and that's really it. I think I'd rather wait to talk about Pike and maybe the pilot itself in-depth after I've seen SNW, which from what I've heard, adds some additional context. But I'm not there yet, so all I'll say is that the pilot footage really made things drag on what would have otherwise been Court Martial: Spock Edition otherwise hey ST people, if you ever do TOS again, give us the McCoy court martial episode please.

The most I have to say about the pilot footage is that it made the episode a chore to sit through. It's not bad, it's even kind of fun to see the early stuff and cast like Pike, Una, and a younger Spock. Seriously look at Spock's reaction when he and Pike look at the alien plants, its adorable! But it goes on for so long, especially in Part 2, that I lost complete interest in paying attention until it went back to the court martial. At that point we just want to know why Spock chose Talos IV to go to, not to watch an episode within an episode. I know they did it most likely as a cost-saving maneuver, but that doesn't change the fact that it just drags when they could have just... you know, had Spock explaining himself or whatever. It's the only reason that this is a two-parter at all. Again, I get it, but I kept tuning out during those scenes until we finally got to the end of it and we finally understood Spock's plan.

The present-day parts, however, were very much able to keep my attention. We're here at about the mid-way point of the first season, and to say that Spock's actions are a shock is putting it lightly. Spock has been nothing but loyal and by the book the whole series. Just last episode, he defended Kirk despite the evidence to the contrary and did everything possible to find the evidence to clear his name. We already questioned his loyalty in Balance of Terror, but the vast majority of the cast never questioned it, and any possible doubt was brought to a close at the end of it. But in fairness, this is very much a different dilemma as it concerns his former captain. One that he'd been as loyal to as he is to Kirk now. It brings a very unique problem for our favorite Vulcan.

Personally, I find Spock's whole plan... well, convoluted as Hell. I know it's to justify using the pilot footage, and it does add stuff to make it make some sense like Talos IV being forbidden to all ships. But it still feels ridiculous that Spock had to go to these extreme lengths to take Pike to Talos. Honestly, I'm iffy about having Pike taking to Talos at all. I mean... it's just an illusion. He's pretty much been put in a guided cage where he can pretend that he's still physically well, even though that's very much not the case. I guess it's better than his fate of being confined to that chair and only able to blink a light to communicate. But... I don't know, I keep thinking about it and I just don't like it. It feels messed up. But I guess Spock felt that it was the best place for Pike, where he could at least have some kind of happiness.

That said, it says a lot about Spock. The man put absolutely everything on the line just to help his former captain. He outright said at the start that he knew that it was mutiny and that he would be facing the death penalty if caught. But he doesn't care what becomes of him. All that matters is completing the task and getting Pike to Talos IV. Even regarding Kirk, he clearly didn't like going against his back and was not at all happy that his actions inadvertently convicted Kirk as well. Something that I believe that he wanted to avoid... unfortunately for him, Kirk doesn't take having his ship/command taken over from him well no matter who does it or why. Whoops. But still, for all the 'unfeeling, logical Vulcan' bravado, he sure as Hell had no problem dropping all of that here.

Kirk is angry and upset that his First Officer and friend would do this. As I said, he hates it when anyone threatens or endangers his command. Especially at this point in the series. We saw him get mad when Spock pried into him in The Conscience of the King, but this is even worse. As soon as he's back on the Enterprise, he hates it because it means court martialing Spock, which he doesn't want to do. He's willing to give Spock the chance to clear up everything, but he's also angry that Spock is holding things back from him and even lied to him. The last scene of Part 1 is him having Spock thrown in the brig because he won't just tell him why he's done what he's done. I don't even think that he cares too much about his own possible fate. He's certainly unhappy about it, but moreso about Spock because he can't make sense of it and Spock won't talk, only pleading guilty to everything. Why? Why won't his First Officer talk to him? Why go through all of this behind his back? Why allow himself to risk death? He doesn't know, and he can't stand it but can do nothing about it. He can do nothing but let the answer reveal itself, everything out of his control. Sure once it all comes together he's glad and clearly forgives Spock, but I'd imagine that he had a loooot to say when they had that talk later.

McCoy is really only relevant in Part 1, but what he got was so freakin' good. Spock fabricating orders is just impossible in his mind. He is steadfast in his belief that Spock would never lie or deceive them. Sure he ended up being wrong, and about why (Vulcans not being able to lie is the biggest lie in this whole show) but the fact that he doesn't doubt Spock at all and is the one to tell Jim this when he's questioning as he did in The Conscience of the King is so freakin' good. When he realizes that Spock did commit mutiny? And when Spock tells him to have him arrested? You can tell that he doesn't want to do it, let alone believe it. It really sucks that McCoy has no part after that because I can only imagine how much he would have had to say and try to make sense of, especially with also reasoning it with Kirk. But for what we did get, it's good stuff. And especially after The Galileo Seven, it's good to see that McCoy is still loyal to Spock and believes in him despite all the tension in that episode (and even after Court Martial where he got mad at Spock for seeming to not care about the situation, even though it was brief).

Aside from that... I really don't have a lot to say. The episode is okay. Really, everything in the first half of Part One I really enjoyed. It was tense and made me want to keep watching just to make sense of it all. It's when the pilot footage starts that things begin to bog down. Part Two is even more guilty of this until around the last few minutes, and like I said I'm pretty uncomfortable with the ending. It does a lot for Spock's character, adding more depth and showcasing his loyalty to both his old captain and his current one, as well as some nice bits for Kirk and McCoy. Heck, even bits like Uhura being in disbelief by all of this are really good. The episode's weakness is just going for far too long when this could have all been resolved in a few minutes and feels contrived to begin with. I'd still pick this episode over ones like Mudd's Women and the vast majority of Miri, but like with Miri I'd only want to watch it for certain parts (though unlike Miri it's because I'm bored, not squicked out). It's fine, and that's all I've got left to say about it.

Original Ratings: 4/5 (P1), 3/5 (P2), 3.5/5 (Both) Rewatch Ratings: 7/10 (P1), 5/10 (P2), 6/10 (Both)

[My TOS Reviews]

[TOS S1 Reviews]

[Previous Review] / [Next Review]

#star trek #star trek tos #tos s1 #st reviews #tos s1 reviews #the menagerie

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theoddcatlady · 5 months

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A Bachelor to Die For, Week Four

Week Three

Still here. Still not dead.

This week I was, for once, the last to go on a date. This time it was going to be Donovan’s plan, he was to create a personalized date for each of us. And now he’d be lurking around more often, so if we really got his attention, we’d just be hanging out during the day.

Thank god Diana passed the Trazodone to me. I wouldn’t have slept a wink. I might be a favorite, but I just couldn’t sleep without popping a pill.

Donovan found me before breakfast on Sunday, I’d just taken a shower and was heading down for the breakfast buffet. “How’d you sleep?” He asked.

“Bit of a struggle,” I held back a yawn. “You?”

“Well enough. Want to sit with me during breakfast?”

I did the dumb decision and shook my head. “I think I need some alone time. After…”

“Shannon. Right.” Donovan looked a bit disappointed, but he didn’t push it. “You didn’t have a clue?”

“I knew she was depressed. I guess she decided to go out on her own terms.” I gave him a knowing look. “I don’t blame her, I’d probably do the same.”

Donovan winced and inched away from me. “… Right. Well, I’ll see if Diana wants to,” He said before hurrying off.

Yes, I know I should’ve just played along, but god I was really freaking tired. And Shannon’s death fucked me up more than I’d cared to admit. She was a nice girl, and I’d known her longer than Justice.

I sat with Tara and Taylor, Tara shooting quite violent glares at the back of Diana’s head. The two were enjoying coffee together, while Diana was acting like nothing was wrong, even getting a bit flirty. “How can she think about flirting now?” Taylor groaned.

“I underestimated her. I thought she was just sweet. Clearly there’s more layers to that girl than meets the eye, and it pisses me off,” Tara said through clenched teeth.

“She just doesn’t want to die, guys. I blew Donovan off this morning and I’m already regretting it,” I said before giving a long stare at the camera guy moving in on us. “Oh my god, dude, we’re just eating breakfast. Could you not.”

Tara picked up her mostly empty plate and twirled it in her fingers. “Beat it or you’re eating porcelain,” She snapped. I never saw someone with a camera move so damn quick.

I spent all the free time I had before my date trying to figure another way out. Hard enough with all the house staff and the hosts watching all of us like hawks, but damn near impossible when you know there’s cameras everywhere. I nearly got sick when I found the button cam in the bedroom, hidden in a vase. It stays for now, but if I find out Bruce has been watching the footage, I’m ripping out every one of his hair plugs and stuffing them down his throat.

Each of the doors that lead outside has someone manning it at all time. The windows are all barred. I can’t even get close to the garage where the family cars are kept without Monica or Bruce popping up and casually asking what I’m up to.

It’s probably hopeless. Maybe.

But the date with Donovan arrived and I was told to dress warm.

He met me at the garage, and damn the man can pull off a turtleneck. How is that fair. In every way the perfect man except for the whole ‘eating people’ thing. He smiled as he saw me walk in. “Paige, you’re looking nice,” He said.

“I try.” I smiled and let my hand brush his. Today I was well rested (praise the Trazodone gods) and today I could be charming, even if I had been avoiding him all week. “So, where are we going?”

“Surprise. I think you’ll appreciate that.”

I shrugged as he opened the car door. I scooted in first and he followed right behind me. “Before we go,” He took my hand in his, “I’m sorry.”

I raised an eyebrow before my chest clenched. “Oh crap, am I being eliminated this week?”

“No!” Donovan immediately cringed, as if he could feel Monica’s eyes glaring on him. “… Oh fuck it,” He mumbled before clearing his throat. “The hosts are going to chew me out because of spoilers, but maybe they’ll just edit this conversation out. No, you’re certainly not in danger this week. Probably not even the next week either. I find my time with you to be always enjoyable.”

“Am I flattered or…”

“I hope so?” Donovan managed a smile before clearing his throat. “No, I was apologizing about Shannon. I’d picked up something was wrong on our date, but I didn’t voice my concerns. I really liked her too, even if she didn’t share the same feelings. But I tried to flirt when you were clearly not in the mood the day after Shannon’s suicide, and you had every right to rebuff me.”

Huh. Not quite what I’d expected an apology for. “So you’re not going to apologize for what you do to those eliminated?” I asked.

“Unfortunately, that’s my life. I have to consume human hearts or I die. And I signed the damn contract without really thinking how this would affect the opinions of the other women of me.” Donovan tapped his head. “I don’t always think ahead.”

I sighed and leaned back in the seat. “I guess I understand that. Why sign the contract anyway though?”

Donovan chuckled and rested his arm over my shoulders. “Well, I do want to get married soon. And my mother has some connections to the crew behind this whole thing. So… do you have any guesses as to where we’re going?”

“Uhhh… Hiking?”

He laughed before gesturing to his feet. “Didn’t wear the shoes for it if we are,” He said.

“Ice fishing?”

“Now you’re just being ridiculous.”

I giggled, choosing to focus on the now rather than what was going to come.

For our date, Donovan picked ice skating. I hadn’t been since I was a kid, so my initial reaction of joy was real. But you remember the scene in Bambi, where the titular deer was sliding all over the ice? That was me in ice skates.

It wasn’t bad though. It was fun. Donovan was graceful, although I’m like eighty percent sure I caught a glimpse of him using his tail for balance. I never looked fast enough to catch him though, so I can’t be sure.

One of the times I nearly fell on my face he ended up catching me, I faceplanted into his chest as he helped steady me. My heart embarrassingly skipped a beat and I looked up. His face was a little flushed, but he was laughing.

He then leaned down and gave me a short kiss on the lips. I barely had time to react to it because of how short it was. I didn’t flinch or recoil, at least, I mostly just had to stand still for a moment and accept that yes, that happened. Donovan kissed me.

And I didn’t hate it.

I’m clearly crazy, right? That part of me is soft for this freak? He eats people for god’s sake. But when it’s just us, he’s… nice. A little funny. And maybe he’s sincere about wanting to get married, and maybe I’m still fucked up with how my last relationship went. I thought I was going to marry my ex too. I had everything planned out. Then he dumped me, and then my life had no plan whatsoever, and I was scared and maybe I still am because maybe I don’t need to plan past the next two weeks of my life. Donovan probably won’t feel bad about eating me if he has to, but I’d like to think he would feel bad.

Everyone else did okay on their dates too. Diana’s surprise date was a library. Her favorite place in the world. When they shared a kiss, I felt my chest clench. She was just so naturally charming. She didn’t once question him and his choices like I’m compelled to do. If she wins, I’ll understand. But if she wins, I’ll also die so. Fuck.

Tara and Donovan went to a rock climbing wall. Winner had to do whatever the loser wanted them to. Tara of course won, because she refuses to chill. All she wanted was a kiss. It must be uncomfortable as hell for whoever manning the cameras when there’s kissing going on, because they have to push right in on it. I mean, it’s not fun watching it live streamed either, but I’m off track.

Lastly, Taylor and Donovan went to paint pottery. Their date went awkwardly. It’s hard to shake off the whole ‘breaking contract’ thing even if Taylor did begin this week with a blank slate. And although I’m really bad at faking it, Taylor’s god awful. She’s a horrible liar, which is supposed to be a good thing. But in this case it’s not. There was no kiss that night. Taylor’s only dialogue with him was either bad jokes or curt, one word responses.

She knew today she was fucked. So she stopped trying.

Monica stood in front of us this morning, her smile positively predatory as she stared at us. “I hope you all had fun with Mr. Right this week. But unfortunately, someone always has to go. And this week, it’s… Taylor.”

Tara surprised all of us grabbed onto Taylor’s hand. “Maybe this week’s elimination can be to just let her fucking go. Please,” She said, her voice cracking. Tara’s the tough one. At first I thought it was a prearranged stunt set up by the two of them the night before. But I saw Taylor’s expression of shock.

This was all Tara. The one who always has to win. She’s not a monster though. She’s not Donovan.

Monica clicked her tongue, less than sympathetic. “Any last words, Taylor?” She asked.

Taylor closed her eyes, took a deep breath, before opening them. I saw fire behind those eyes as her lips curled into a snarl.

“Only that you can go straight to hell, Monica. You too, Bruce, you both are the scum of the earth. And Donovan, you can stop pretending that this is so hard for you. You’re a selfish twat and I hope you choke on that tail of yours. The only good thing about me going out this week is that my friends have another week to get the fuck out of this hellhole. So fuck you, Monica. Fuck you, Bruce. And fuck. You. Donovan.”

With that, Taylor slipped this pair of scissors out of her sleeve and charged at Donovan. His tail flicked out, ready to slice her open-

Only for what sounded like an explosion to go off in my ears. I screamed and ducked down before I even put together it was a gunshot. Taylor fell on the ground, gripping her bleeding side. She turned to glare at Bruce, who just lowered the gun with a smirk. “Oh, piss off,” She snarled before stumbling back up.

Before she could make another attempt on Donovan’s life, his tail flicked out and pierced her right in the center of the chest. I almost covered my eyes when Taylor looked at us.

I couldn’t look away then. I held her gaze until it clouded over and she went limp. Donovan tore her heart out and sighed, looking over at the hosts. “I had that under control, Bruce,” He said.

“Just making sure she didn’t hurt the star,” He said with a shrug.

I nearly snapped. Tara did. Her scream was so enraged she didn’t even sound human. She charged Bruce, ready to rip his freaking eyes out, but some of the crew managed to grab her in time and drag her from the room as she screamed she would fucking kill him the moment she had the chance.

I just made my way back to the room.

Well, almost did. I was yanked into a closet and for a second I thought maybe Donovan had changed his mind, that he was going to kill me.

“Shhh! It’s a dead zone! They can’t see us, but if you’re loud enough you’ll tip them off!”

I was released and spun around to see Camera Guy. Yeah, the one I saw behind the camera most. A scrawny pipsqueak of a guy with glasses too large for his face and wild orange hair, I’d never talked to him before.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“My name’s Joshua. I want to get you and your friends the fuck out of here.” He wiped the sweat off his forehead, his voice so quiet I could barely hear it. “I can’t do this anymore. I was just hired to set up all the other cameras, but apparently one of their other camera guys bailed so they hired me for the shoot. It wouldn’t surprise me if your Prince Charming ripped out his heart because he wanted a midnight snack. This just isn’t worth it. You’re all too nice for this to happen to you.”

“Why did it take so long for you to help us then?” I asked.

Joshua stared at the ground, clearly ashamed. “Cowardice. Maybe a little greed, I’m getting paid so much that I’ll never have to struggle again. But I can’t. I can’t anymore. Taylor was the last straw. She and Tara were really good friends and she didn’t deserve that. None of you. There’s three other dead spots in the mansion, I’ll tell you where they are. Tip your friends off, I’m getting you out before the next elimination.”

There’s a light at the end of this fucked up tunnel. I hope we can reach it.

Week Five

#my stories

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womanofwords · 6 months

Text

Revenge of the Sidekicks

Hero and Mayor laughed as they ate more mini muffins and drank more fancy coffee. "I can't believe that happened to you!" Mayor gasped, laughing as they held a teaspoon between forefinger and thumb.

"Me neither! It was so embarrassing!" Hero poured themselves more coffee before divulging more information. "There I was, at the red carpet, and that horrible protester threw paint all over me. Ruined my outfit."

"Honestly, the people in this town are so ungrateful!" Mayor griped. Sidekick and Assistant looked on with envy.

"I can't believe it! All of this is taxpayers' money! And they're gossiping like my granny's book club!" Sidekick hissed.

"And to think that Mayor made me get those mini cupcakes during my lunch break! I didn't have time to eat a full lunch because of him!" Assistant snapped.

"They think they're so cool and so fancy. If people could see and hear them as they did this . . ." Sidekick growled.

"Sidekick! Fill up the coffee pot! We're running low!" Hero hollered.

"Assistant, answer my calls while I'm in a meeting with Hero," Mayor ordered.

"We'll talk later," Assistant said, running over to their boss's desk.

Later, at a dive bar that nobody reputable would drink at, Sidekick and Assistant complained about their bosses. "I do all the work, and he gets all the credit," Sidekick complained.

"I know the feeling," Assistant said. "Mayor has me set up cameras for his press conferences. There's supposed to be a whole other person for that, but he says that money's tight. Yeah, we all know where the money's going."

"Their sponsors don't know," Sidekick said.

"Not yet," Assistant said, grinning.

(PAUSE)

The next time that Assistant and Hero had a meeting, it was just after a press conference. "I don't get why people want to live in tents when there are houses and apartments," Hero griped.

"People make some very weird lifestyle choices. Don't worry about it," Mayor advised. "Don't get me started on all the dumb haircuts I've seen people sporting."

"The voters have evolved to look and be more stupid every single year. I would ask what was in the water, but nobody's going to look at that."

As the two laughed and drank more coffee, their right hands trained the cameras on them and smiled.

When Hero and Mayor walked out of the mayoral office, the footage had already gone viral. Mayor opened his phone when the buzzing of notifications got his attention.

"Damn, did I forget a meeting or - WHAT?!" Mayor yelled.

"What? What is it?" Hero asked.

"Someone taped our wind-down meeting and it's everywhere. We're ruined," Mayor groaned.

"WHAT?!" Hero groaned, as they frantically called their agent. Sidekick and Assistant grinned as they watched from a corner.

"I reckon it's time that I edited my CV," Assistant said.

"Me too," Sidekick said.

#creative writing #my writing #writers on tumblr #writeblr #writers #writing #writing inspiration #writerscommunity #heroes and villains #superheroes #government corruption #caught on tape

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sizzlingpatrolfox · 2 years

Note

jimin's most popular and dissected dating rumor has always been with seulgi. like there are so many knets who actually believe they were together from around 2014-2016 maybe even until 2017. there are definitely other rumors, but most of the ones that come over to the intl side are all from weirdo taekookers rather than the lesser talked about ones. nontaekooker rumors aren't unfounded if you look into it enough, but it doesn't really matter in the end.

The red velvet + BTS and the blackpink + BTS "rumours" go a long way back.... For some reason people have always involved them all together 👀

I got into the fandom in 2017 and the seulgi talk was still fresh back then and they had LOTS of shippers too 😂 so I am aware of it. I even watched a video where Seulgi and Jimin were at the same variety show, the one he's holding a puppy, only that when the video ended I went to look for the actual episode and Jimin was there with Hoseok, and Seulgi had never been on the show. The edited video was really well done tho, and I'm not usually a gullible person, but I was really new to kpop, and I didn't know anything about variety shows or other idols.

It was an edited video, but there were two different videos that you could trace back the edit to. It wasn't footage that materialized out of thin air. There was an existing video of seulgi at some show, and there was an existing video of Jimin at a different show. Those two separate existing videos were just put together later.

But, the thing that throws me off about those rumours, apart from being based on literally nothing, is the timing. Seulgi debuted in 2014, and someone else mentioned Jeongyeon too, she debuted in 2015. I'm not sure if these groups ever had dating bans, I've read once that twice weren't allowed to date for 3 years after their debut. So JY wouldn't have been allowed to date Jimin or anyone. Seulgi too, RV were BOOKED when they started, and so were BTS. In 2015, Jimin literally passed out on stage from exhaustion. In 2016 Jimin spent like a month alone in his room and all he did was work and then he went straight home and that was his life for a while; this is something he talked about himself. 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 were so incredibly busy for BTS and until the pandemic they used to complain about not having time for themselves.

Not only for Jimin, but for all BTS, I've never thought they were serial daters. Sure, they most likely had hook ups now and then but not exactly relationships. Which is why the whole Jennie + Taehyung thing starting exactly when the band hiatus began makes a lot of sense. They had an almost four month break at the beginning of the year, if Taehyung or any member wanted to nurture a relationship that they didn't have time for before, that was a perfect window of time imo. And let's be real, they haven't done anything this year. Their group activities ended in 2021. BTS jobless era. So yeah, the timing fits.

What are the "nontaekooker" rumours tho? Similar clothing or jewelry? That's not enough for me tbh, I could never take seriously something like that. There's still never been photos of him or sightings with the same girl more than once. Or with any female idol.

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onmyyan · 3 years

Text

Straight Venomous Ch.4

AN: Lil chapter for yall hope ya enjoy, TW//Canon typical violence, feedback keeps me alive okay ily bye💗🖤 (TYSM to the lovely person who brought the dookie ending to my attention I posted this originally half sleep so I hope ya like the edited fixed version, hopefully it blends a lil better) EDITED 1/11/2023

Damian Wayne was shaping up to be the most infamous Robin. (Yes somehow more infamous than the murderous one- well more murderous)

If you’d ask him he’d say he was the finest to dawn the iconic ‘R’. He’d also say he was one of the best in the game right now, he had the intelligence of both his parents combined and the skill to take on anything and anyone, he was more than confident in his abilities, so how exactly did some untrained oaf of a woman put him on his ass so easily?

He struggled to free himself from your grip, it reminded him of that big headed Kryptonians brutish strength, the way your eyes narrowed down at him had his heart racing, and he’d never admit this aloud but for the first time in a long time he felt a twist of excitement in his gut, he could go all out on you and not feel guilty. The challenge of a stronger opponent never caused him to sweat from fear, but rather the palpable and building anticipation of a real battle, so he took the moment to calm his urge to put you in the ground and analyzed you.

You didn’t look to be that much older than him, your clothes were old, but taken care of, ears littered with piercings, and your eyes held a dark look of boredom in them, the emotion seemed misplaced for the situation at hand.

He knew his father was up to something, that much was obvious to the man. After a little bit of digging and a few well-placed threats to Grayson, it was easy enough to find out you were the mystery woman the older male had trouble finding, he reviewed the footage himself and some light hacking later found your address, he also discovered his father had identified you a few days ago, but made no move to question you to Damian’s growing curiosity.

What he couldn’t figure out was why Bruce felt the need to hide you. What exactly did you do to capture his father's attention in such a way? One would imagine his first priority would be to make contact and find out why you were there that night, but he didn’t.

He’d taken it upon himself to get the answers he desired, never one to limit himself he was perched above your place in no time. Granted the youngest Wayne wasn’t all too eager to stake out your shitty apartment, the area was one of the worst parts of the city, but you didn’t seem to mind, you stayed inside the whole first day he watched you, the second day you finally left for something, either for food or work he didn’t get to find out.

When he moved to follow you, it was like you’d vanished into thin air. His eyes scrunched in disbelief, it took one second to lose you. Though he soon found out you hadn’t gone far.

“Why are you watching me?” A voice suddenly spoke from behind him, out of instinct he threw a Batarang, the metal stuck halfway out the flesh of your shoulder, before he could feel bad you roughly yanked it out and tossed it over the tall imposing edge. “That was rude.” Was all you said, the noise of it hurtling the ground below filled the air.

Silence passed between you two for a short moment before you shot out like a bullet, and just like that he was on his stomach, the gravel on the floor dug into the exposed flesh of his face, much to his annoyance.

”Lemme’ rephrase because you didn’t seem to hear me the first time.” Your grip tightened ever so slightly, “Why are you on my jock so hard dude?” The tone you used was rather casual for someone holding another in a death grip, one of your hands held both of his arms, the other pressed in between his shoulder blades.

He craned his neck at a painful angle to meet your smothering gaze, downright refusing to break eye contact, like whoever looked away first was the automatic loser.

”Unhand me, wench-“ you put the slightest bit of pressure on the knee digging into his spine, instantly stopping his insult before he could finish it, for god's sake he was the next in line to lead the league of assassins, he was certain if his mother could see him now she’d be furious, having been trained brutally for these exact situations, trained to think outside the box if his opponent was bigger- in this case, stronger, he’d picked fights with the best of the best and won, it was insulting to be caught off guard by a civilian, clearly though, not an ordinary one.

His suit came equipped with a taser for these exact predicaments, but the trigger was in his gloves and your hold wouldn’t allow for any of that.

“Who the hell do you think you are? You’re manhandling a hero you know that right? I can have you committed for this.” His tone was confident, he just needed one second, one moment to change the tide of this battle.

“That’s pretty funny coming from the asshole who’s been watching me like a creep .” He heard you laugh, your face leaned closer as if to intimidate him. Had he been anyone else it would have worked.

”How would your boss feel if he knew you were out here using your power for no good, harassing innocent citizens.”

”You’re hardly innocent. Incompetent more likely.”

“Says the one eating dirt right now.” Another scoff came from you and in that moment of distraction, he was able to reach the trigger. A strong electoral current surged through his suit, it wasn’t designed to be lethal but was powerful enough to knock a grown man senseless.

As soon as your weight lifted he kicked himself off the ground, spinning to face your unconscious form.

Only you weren’t unconscious.

”Well that wasn’t very nice birdie.” Your voice took on a rather gruff tone towards the end, the air growing thick with tension, the current between you two grew with every passing moment, he felt the threat in his gut as he observed you, your relaxed stance from before now much stiffer, your shoulders squared as you eyed him up and down, almost like you were serious now.

Your voice was significantly deeper too, the danger dripping off your tone like tar. He reached for his belt, you took a large step backward. “Not so sure of yourself now are you?” He stated, his air of smugness suffocating even on the open rooftop. He couldn’t bite back this ever-growing curiosity. Just what were you made of?

Your eyes took him in, glancing around your surroundings with an ever-hardening glare, “Just trying to stay out of trouble.” You suddenly gripped your head, swaying a bit, “Getting electrocuted hurts, doesn’t it? Are you starting to understand your position yet? I’m in charge here and you’re going to answer my questions.” He spoke pointing his bat-shaped projectile toward you. “You can’t V- he’s a no-no.” You spoke to yourself, ignoring his statement completely, his head tilted at the scene.

”Playing crazy won’t get you off the hook.“ he chastised, matching your pace to attempt to close the distance. Your face grew more and more frightened the closer he got, an uncomfortable shake in your step.

”Stay over there- Seriously don’t come any closer-”

“You’ll die if you do.” You spoke much softer than before, the reality of the situation seemed to have sucked the bravado right out of you.

”It’s cute you think you could land a hit on me, that first one was a fluke.” Another step forward, his was matched with your own in the opposite direction, until you stood at the roof's edge.

”I can’t be responsible for what happens next if you try to hurt me.” The warning seemed genuine, your eyes pleading for him to listen.

He cocked his arm back, and the weapon's sharp edges caught the light, glinting with the promise of pain. “I don’t take well to threats on my life.”

”Neither do I shitface- seriously keep your distance.” Your face scrunched in pain, and a hand harshly gripped the side of your pant leg, just what were you holding back?

”Fuck it, if you wanna die so bad be my guest.” Like a switch had been flipped a wild look came to your face, eyes wide with excitement, he paused cautious of the sudden shift in your mood.

Everything happened in a second. That’s all it took for your unimposing form to be replaced by a behemoth shrouded in darkness. Like a shadow consumed your body, suddenly all he could see was black. All imposing, shiny, and, moving, the oil-like texture glinted in the dim light of the evening.

Before he stood a towering beast, the (height) sized woman was now a being well over seven feet, Robin’s eyes widened behind his mask as the monster stared him down.

”Awh-Is the little man scared now? What happened to all that bass in your voice?” The thing spoke, its jaw twisted into the most unsettling smile, razor-sharp teeth lined its mouth promising nothing but violence, its eyes cold and void of life. Faster than he anticipated, the monstrosity was before him, a large ink-like hand gripped his Kevlar cape with a vengeance, and just like that he was being held over the edge, and as much as he wished to break the wrist holding him, he knew it was a death sentence to fall from this height. His cape could help guide the fall however, that’s if he could grab it in time.

”You starting to understand your position yet?” The beast taunted his previous words at him with a grin brimmed with malice, giving the 6 ft man its grasp a jiggle.

Damian remained silent, his mind running a mile a minute for a way to win this fight.

Fear shot through him as its grip loosened the slightest, jolting his body that much closer to becoming a paste.

”Stay away from us, next time I won’t be so nice.”

It all but barked before throwing him with enough force for his body to land a few roofs down the block. His back slammed into the railing keeping him from the painful fall, and he would never admit this but he was impressed by your sudden show of strength.

Damian was quick to stand, biting down the pain from his bruised back, and a few curses in his mother tongue, he quickly leaped after you, thankfully you seemed too preoccupied with your, situation, to hear him stealthily take aim, his hand poised to strike you while he could, now he knew not to underestimate your abilities, who knows when he’d get another opportunity. More importantly, he wanted to know if your head could grow back.

A large hand cloaked in black quickly caught his wrist in an unforgiving grip, his imposing aura only being heightened by the now darkened sky.

The shorter of the two males could feel the disappointment dripping off his father as he snatched back his hand, re-sheathing the sharp projectiles.

“I see you’ve been busy.”

”Doing my job.” The younger male all but hissed, tone full of accusations, too many silent questions lingered in the air for your tastes, a genuine look of fear graced your features, and the three of you stood in a pregnant silence. A cold wind began whipping against your bodies, small harsh water droplets hit you all as you waited in silence, and still, nobody moved.

Your wide eyes glanced at the scene wearily and like he could hear your thoughts the larger and bigger threat took a cautious step towards you.

“I wouldn’t. Even if you can outrun me now I will catch you eventually. I just want to have a conversation.”

His voice was unreadable, especially with the panicked symbiote yapping in your ear, determined to get rid of the threat himself if you didn’t do something, in an effort to calm the both of you, an almost pained grin grew on your lips.

“Easy there big guy- who said anything about running away?” You anxiously wrung your hands, clearly unnerved by his overbearing presence, “Only thing I’m running is late to work. Captain dickweed over there held me up.”

The Bat watched you through his mask for a moment, obviously observing you, his stare had you shifting from either foot, you’d almost forgotten what it was like to feel real fear. The kind that had your face hot and anxiety bubbling over in your guts.

All the shit you’d done to get here played through your mind in a fucked up montage, was this about your boss? Or maybe It was Venom, had to be, what other reason did the big bad bat have for showing his face like this? You tried to calm your racing heart, knowing if you became too unstable Venom would take over and handle the situation his way. And besides eating that dude's arm wasn’t technically against the law, sure murder was frowned upon but every sap you’ve digested thus far has had it coming a mile away. A nervous, albeit charming smile replaced your strained one.

”What can I do for ya big fella?”

”You can start by explaining that thing.” Robin sneered out, a threatening finger poked in your general vicinity. “How did you turn into that beast? Deal with the devil? Home experiments? Lose a bet?”

”That’s enough Robin.” His tone left no room for argument, his hand once more clasping the shoulder of his partner. He turned his icy gaze back to you much to your displeasure.

“All I ask is if anyone else knows about what you can do and if so who and when did they find out.”

You couldn’t help but scrunch your face at the question, not that any of this was his business but that in particular was a weird thing to ask.

”Uh not really? I mean no. No one saw us like that and-“ you cut yourself off, not too eager to explain your body count just yet. Or get your roommate even more caught up in your shit, or let it get back to your boss you’d been canoodling with the enemy.

”Yeah no one knows anything. Of course except boy wonder over there, and uh, you too I assume?”

He simply nodded his head before reaching around his belt for a small flip phone. Its old model caught your attention before the action fully registered. The two of you ignored the fuming man beside him, your brow rose questioningly at the device being held a few feet in front of you.

”In case any more trouble finds its way to you.” He gestured to the male beside him.

“In my defense, he fully started it.”

“Batman arrest this criminal.” He suddenly demanded, arms crossed in obvious distaste.

A genuine smile stretched its way across your mouth, he really hated you didn’t he? ‘All worked up over a little throw off a roof.’ You thought huffing in amusement. His fists clenched so hard you could practically hear the leather gloves he dawned crackling.

A cross between a scoff and a laugh left your lips, “And what crime did I commit exactly? Besides putting you on your ass.”

”Attempt assault for one, obstruction of justice-“

”Obstruct this dick in your mouth.”

”Do you plan to use your abilities for evil?” The larger of the two spoke deeply, once more interrupting your spat.

”Uh no? I mean has anyone ever said yes to that question?” The corner of his mouth twitched to lift but remained stoic. Once more his large gloved hand reached out towards you, closer than before, your body flinching instinctively before you hesitantly took it. “I know it can be frightening to have your world flipped, so when you’re ready to talk, give the number in here a call.”

“I might know a few people who could help you with your situation.” Your face went from confused to stoic in a second, his tone was firm and you couldn’t help but feel like he meant ‘get rid of your problem’ rather than help, with this in mind you sternly thrust the device back into the man's chest. “I’m good. We’re doing just fine.” With that, you took off, casually stepping off the side of the roof like it wasn’t a fall to your death. They watched you merge into the bustling crowd of gothamites going about their day, loosing sight of your tense figure made Damian's skin burn with a dangerously festering irritation. “We’re just letting that thing walk away? You do understand how dangerous she is.”

Bruce placed a large hand on his youngest’s shoulder, a reassuring squeeze given before he spoke.

”Having her come willingly is more beneficial than force,” Robin rolled his eyes underneath the mask ready to argue, only to be interrupted once more. “Although if she slips up and gives us a reason to take her in is another story entirely, and I get the feeling it’ll be the ladder.”

You spent the entire walk to work looking over your shoulder, V assured you the two spandex junkies weren’t close, having got a good whiff of them on the roof. This did little to reassure you however because they knew. They knew about you and everything you’d tried so hard to keep in the dark was certain to come to light. Anxiously picking at the tears in your jeans helped as your mind ran a mile a minute, you could ask Jason for help but felt bad enough for endangering him and Roy by simply sleeping in the next room. The thought struck you as soon as the purple lights of your workplace came into view.

“So this is kind of a weird request but I figured what the hell so- do you have any place I could maybe hide out for a while? Someone, uh, kinda difficult found out about my, er uh, talent?”

”Who found out?” His once bored expression was replaced with one of amusement.

”Batman.” There was a pause, and a dangerous combination of emotions flashed through his dark eyes. All amusement vanished in a moment, the twitch of his fist was subtle against his neatly arranged desk.

”Not to worry my dear I have the perfect place, Butch will take you there after work but understand I’m not doing this as your kind boss.” His eyes were sharp as ever, holding you in place with a gaze brimmed with the cruelest intentions, Your calm mask slipped for a moment, face scrunched in confusion at the vague warning, weighing the options you signed heavily through your nose.

Steeling yourself with a quiet “Whatever it takes.” You met his piercing stare with your own.

”You owe me, understand?” You couldn’t help but swallow thickly, your throat suddenly dry.

”I think so? Yeah, yeah I got it. Favor for a favor.”

”What a smart girl I’ve found, I can’t wait to do business with you again dear (Y/n).”

#yandere bruce wayne #yandere batfam #yandere damian wayne #yandere x reader #yandere x y/n #yandere dc imagine #yandere dc #yandere reader insert #straight venomous

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thefanficmonster · 4 years

Text

Falling Faceless

@itsminniekat

Corpse Husband x Reader (female)

Warnings: None

Genre: Fluff

Summary: Some crushes don’t need anything visual to exist. Appearance is irrelevant when you know the true beauty of a soul and mind. Or basically, Reader and Corpse could not care less what the other looks like.

Requested: No

Y/N and Corpse have been friends ever since they began playing Among Us together. They were the ultimate power duo when imposters together, and each other’s angel guardians when both were crewmates. They had a silent pact to not kill the other if they were imposter and the other wasn’t. They promised not to snitch on each other. They had built a pretty steady system of a friendship.

But, as the whole lobby assumed, that friendship would only last a ‘just friendship’ for so long. The sarcastic comments progressively grew more flirtatious. Corpse got a lot more comfortable playing with people in the meantime, but it was obvious that he was a bit more tense whenever Y/N wasn’t there, which rarely happened. On Y/N’s part, the change was also apparent. She used to have to be begged to play Among Us. She didn’t understand the hype of the game, seeing as how the concept was old and just remade and redesigned. Now, after meeting Corpse, she began being the first in the lobby, often initiating the game herself, almost forgetting to invite anyone but Corpse in the process.

The Peanut Gallery, aka the rest of the players just stood aside and listened to the romantic comedy unfold in front of them. They had a title for it too: “Falling Faceless”. The term was formed after a lot of discussion in a discord call which Y/N and Corpse were not invited to.

Explanation: Falling Faceless - Falling in love with someone whose face you’ve never seen, therefore they’re faceless to you.

That’s one of the things her and Corpse had in common. They were both faceless to their audience. Y/N was a gamer and also helped out Jaiden, James and Adam with their animations every now and then. She covered songs and made remixes of existing tunes - all things she never had to reveal her face for.

Corpse was attracted almost immediately - like a moth to light. The faceless rep, the cool song remixes, sweet and kind personality, intelligence, positivity...he could go on. He never denied his feelings in front of himself but he was prepared to deny it to his grave in front of anyone else.

Y/N was different. Her attraction grew gradually. From the tiny details he remembered about her and brought up, to the jokes that never failed to make her laugh, she was just so whipped by him without even noticing. When the realization began to creep in, she was low-key terrified. She actually avoided playing Among Us for two full days just because she thought it would make her emotions cool down.

While he was ready to embrace his feelings, she was doing everything she could to push them away.

She threw herself into work, surprising her animators by finishing her animation parts far before the deadlines. Dropping a few covers a week and playing Among Us as little as she could without drawing any suspicion.

One day, in the middle of editing the footage of her playthrough of the game Neversong, her phone started blowing up with notifications. She had a strict ‘no texting while working’ rule, so she ignored it, turning the device on its screen and pushing it further than an arm’s reach away in case she got tempted.

She was doing a fairly good job blocking out the hurricane of notifications when her ringtone sliced through the bubble of focus she had built around herself. She straightened and reached for her phone, promising herself she wouldn’t take longer than necessary.

That promise was thrown out the window the second she read the called ID. Corpse, written down as Lil Corpsy in her contacts, was calling.

“Have you watched the video yet?” he asked without even greeting her

Baffled, it took her about three seconds to reply, “What video?”

“So you haven’t.” He sighed, “My face reveal. Go watch it.”

The line went dead before she could even completely comprehend what he had said. Work all but forgotten, her finger tips hovered above the screen, hesitant about tapping the YouTube icon.

This isn’t right, Y/N. She told herself.

“Hey?” He picked up her call-back before the first ring was even over.

“I still haven’t watched the video. But that can wait.“ She fussed, now up from her chair, pacing around her office. “I’m calling to tell you the most terrifying thing that has happened to me. I made a friend. He’s great. The most amazing human being ever. We make a great team. I love him. It took me a while to realize that I love love him. And it’s scary, cause it feels like I’m walking on thin ice of losing him if he finds out. Well, now he’s letting me on to what he looks like, I might as well let him on what my mess of a brain looks like. And now that I’ve done that, I also wanna mention that I’ve changed my mind. I’m not gonna watch the video. It will change nothing but his view count. I will still like him the same. So why bother watching him talk to a camera when I can listen to him talking to me, right?“ She breathed heavily and shakily, sinking to the floor despite having her chair to sit in. She was distressed and felt like the equivalent of a deflated balloon. But compared to the feeling of a balloon ready to explode, she was feeling great. “That was probably too fast to understand, but I’m not repeating it.”

The chuckle that reached her made her even more flustered, “There is no video, Y/N. I just needed you to go to my channel. But, I too have changed my mind.”

He hung up a second time, leaving her with mixed emotions. The uncertainty of weather she was just rejected or her feelings were being humored was killing her, bringing her to a brink of tearing up. Just as the first tear slid down her cheek, her phone rang. However, this time, the ringtone was different. It was a Facetime. From him.

Without realizing that this wasn’t going to be only his face reveal, but hers too, she picked up.

Suddenly, they were no longer falling faceless. They were just falling. Falling in each other’s eyes. Falling in love. Not all over again, but deeper. Deeper into the emotions that left them with no sleep. The emotions they both dealt so differently with.

“You were wrong, this will change something.” He spoke, “The girl in my dreams, the one I’ve been in love with since day one, is now not only a voice in my head. She’s real.”

“You’re real, too.” She chuckled, looking at the face she never thought she’d see. “This is real, isn’t it?”

“It’s always been real, Y/N. We just now have faces.” He laughed.

For the first time she not only heard, but saw the laugh, finding it as adorable as day one.

#corpse #corpse husband #corpse husband fanfic #husband #fanfiction #fanfic #x reader #reader #requests open #request #love #romance #among us

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lokiondisneyplus · 3 years

Text

Yes, Loki series director Kate Herron knows about your fan theory about the show, the analysis you posted to social media. No, she won’t tell you what she thinks about it, or whether you were right.

“I follow all the conversations on Twitter,” Herron told Polygon in an interview shortly after Loki’s season 1 finale. “I don’t always weigh in on them, because I made the show, so they don’t want me weighing in like, ‘Actually, guys…’ I think that’s the whole point of art — it should be up for debate and discussion.”

[Ed. note: Spoilers ahead for season 1 of Loki.]

Loki has been a hit for streaming service Disney Plus — episode 6 of the show, the final installment for this season, was reportedly watched by more households than any of the platform’s MCU finales to date. The series has been a popular source of fan conjecture and argument, with one particularly big rolling conversation focusing on whether the budding romantic relationship between trickster Asgardian Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and his alternate-universe counterpart Sylvie (Sophia Di Martino) is a form of incest.

Herron is willing to speak up about that one. “My interpretation of it is that they’re both Lokis, but they aren’t the same person,” she says. “I don’t see them as being like brother and sister. They have completely different backgrounds […] and I think that’s really important to her character. They sort of have the same role in terms of the universe and destiny, but they won’t make the same decisions.”

Herron says thematically, Loki falling for Sylvie is an exploration of “self-love,” but only in the sense that it’s Loki learning to understand his own motives and integrity. “[The show is] looking at the self and asking ‘What makes us us?’” Herron says. “I mean, look at all the Lokis across the show, they’re all completely different. I think there’s something beautiful about his romantic relationship with Sylvie, but they’re not interchangeable.”

Directing the final kiss between the two characters was a complicated process because it had to communicate something about each of them over the course of just a few seconds. Herron says the primary goal was creating a safe, comfortable environment for Hiddleston and Di Martino, and after that, she had to think about how to bring across Loki and Sylvie’s conflicting goals in that moment.

“It’s an interesting one, right?” she says. “Emotionally, from Sylvie’s perspective, I think it’s a goodbye. But it’s still a buildup of all these feelings. They’ve both grown through each other over the last few episodes. It was important to me that it didn’t feel like a trick, like she was deceiving him. She is obviously doing that, on one hand, but I don’t feel the kiss is any less genuine. I think she’s in a bad place, but her feelings are true.”

Herron says directing Hiddleston in the scene mostly came down to discussing the speech Loki gives Sylvie before the kiss. “That was really important, showing this new place for Loki,” Herron says. “In the first episode, he’s like, ‘I want the throne, I want to rule,’ and by episode 6, he isn’t focused on that selfish want. He just wants her to be okay.”

Loki writer and producer Eric Martin recently tweeted that he wished the show had been able to focus more time on two of its secondary characters, Owen Wilson’s Time Variance Authority agent Mobius M. Mobius, and Gugu Mbatha-Raw’s Ravonna Renslayer. “I wanted to explore her more deeply and really see their relationship,” he says, “But covid got in the way and we just didn’t have time.”

Asked if Loki and Sylvie’s relationship suffered from similar necessary edits, Herron says it’s true that the show’s creators and audience still don’t know everything Sylvie went through to make her so different from the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s original version of Loki. “We’ve seen her as a child, but she’s lived for thousands and thousands of years, in apocalypses on the run,” she says. “I think there’s so much more to delve into with Sylvie […] You’re filling in the blanks. You see [her on the planet] Lamentis, and it’s horrific. And you’re like, “Well, what kind of person would she be, growing up in apocalypses? What kind of personality would that give her?”

Herron says Sylvie’s backstory actually reminds her of the 1995 movie Jumanji, where a young boy is sucked into a magical board game in 1969, and emerges 26 years later as a full-grown man, played by with typical manic energy by Robin Williams. “It’s such a weird reference, but…” she says. “He’s a little boy when he ends up captive in that game, and when he comes out, it’s obviously been a life experience. With Sylvie, it’s similar. She was a child when she had to go on the run, so she’s had a very difficult life. I would love to see more of it. As Eric said, she’s a rich character, there’s so much to be explored.”

Herron says, though, that during her time on the show, material about Sylvie was added rather than cut — specifically, those scenes of her as a child, being kidnapped by the TVA. “This was before my time, but I know in the writers’ room, there were lots of avenues exploring Sylvie on the run and what her life was like,” Herron says. “I wouldn’t want to speak more to those, because I wasn’t there when they were being discussed. But something wasn’t in there that was important to me — I felt we should see her [history] in the TVA. Me and the team were talking about how it made complete sense, because episode 4 is all about twisting the idea that the TVA might be good on its head. And so that’s something that came in later, once I joined, was seeing her as a child. I think we needed to see that, not to understand her completely, but to get an idea of her motivations, why she’s so angry at this place.”

Talking more broadly about the series finale, Herron says the last few episodes weren’t as heavily referential as the first episodes, which she intended as “a love letter to sci-fi.” While early images like the TVA’s interrogation rooms had specific visual references from past science fiction, episode 6’s locations were drawn more from collaborations with the crew.

“The idea of the physical timeline being circular, our storyboard artists came up with that,” Herron says. “I had in the scripts, ‘We move through space to the end of time,” and then me and [storyboard artist Darrin Denlinger] discussed how we could play with the idea of time, while also adding MCU nods. He was like, ‘What if the timeline is circular?’ I think that’s such a striking image, like the Citadel at the End of Time is the needle on a record player. I just thought that was such a cool image, but it wasn’t necessarily taken from anything.”

Episode 6 focuses heavily on the mysterious figure He Who Remains and his citadel, a space she says was largely conceived by production designer Kasra Farahani. “I remember he brought in the art of the Citadel, and I thought it was beautiful,” Herron says. “He said, ‘The Citadel has been carved from an actual meteorite,’ which I thought was such an inspired idea. And He Who Remains’ office is the only finished portion of it.”

She says there are only a few direct homages in episode 6, including the zoom shot through space, which directly referenced a similar sequence in Robert Zemeckis’ 1997 film Contact.

“And then I have my Teletubbies reference for episode 5,” Herron says. “I wanted the Void to feel like an overgrown garden, like a kind of forgotten place. And I realized I’d pitched it as the British countryside. I remember trying to explain it to ILM, who did the visual effects, and saying, ‘Oh, you know, it’s like the Teletubbies. It’s just rolling hills, but they go on forever.’ That actually was quite a helpful reference in the end, which is funny.”

Asked for her favorite set memory from shooting the season, Herron says it comes down to Tom Hiddleston starting a mania for physical exertion before takes. “Sometimes he runs around set to get himself in the right mindset before he performs,” she says. “He does pushups. You know, you’re going into an action scene, you want to look like you’ve just been running. And it became infectious across all the cast. We’ve got so much footage of — I think Jack [Veal] ended up doing it, who plays Kid Loki. I’ve got [shots of] him and Sophia doing pushups and squats, just to get ready. It was so funny watching that echo across all the cast. I think all of them ended up doing those exercises with him at some point. It was so funny.”

“That might be my favorite set story, but it’s honestly, not a sweet one,” she adds. “I would say my favorite thing is his enthusiasm. He’s a very kind empathetic person. We were filming this in quite tough circumstances, a lot of people were far from home and isolating, and he brought this warmth and energy and joy to the set every day. And I think that made everyone feel very safe and very bonded. I’m forever grateful to him for doing that.”

#Kate Herron #Loki #Sylvie #Tom Hiddleston #owen wilson

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sweet-dreamins · 3 years

Text

careless (f+a)

○ pairing: pro hero! katsuki bakugou x gn! reader, pro hero! reader, established relationship

○ word count: 3.5k

○ summary: after a successful battle you’re confused when katsuki isn’t happy for you, in fact he’s furious. shouldn’t he be proud of you?

○ content: a bit angsty, a bit fluffy, hurt/comfort, mention of cuts and blood

○ a/n: i rewrote this like 4 times lol but here it is!! (i may come back nd edit bc passive voice) feedback is appreciated, enjoy!

You and Bakugou were partners, but you weren’t partners. Sure, you were lovers in the nighttime, but on the field? Yeah, no thanks. The two of you had only partnered up a few times, and that was more than enough for you. Before even entering the field, you were hesitant that he’d let himself get distracted by you and you were right, just not for the reasons you think.

The dynamic shifted juuuust a little too much for your liking. One of the most...memorable times was when you were up against one of the more powerful villains. Anytime the villain would make a move towards you before you could even retaliate, Bakugou would slip in front of you- even going as far as to shove you back. To others watching, it seemed as if he was falling back into his attention-seeking habits or that it was so romantic that he put your safety over his, but you knew better (or at least you thought you did).

After that fight, you two had quite the shouting match in the ER afterward. Until he dragged the two of you home, insisting he was more than capable of taking care of the both of you. That, and his publicist was this close to having another conniption after hearing about your rather loud discussion….that the whole hospital heard.

You knew Katsuki only acted that way out of love and concern for you. You know that he sees you as strong. So, why did it still feel so demeaning? Why did it feel like he didn’t, maybe still doesn’t, see you as strong enough?

Even though after your discussion, you had decided to not do hero work together, the little voice in the back of your head wasn’t erased. Creeping in concluding that you were nothing but a pity fuck. The skewed, brutal honesty of the public never failed to make the little voice louder.

You did your best to not let it get to you, you really did. You ignored the tabloids and told your friends you didn’t want them telling you about the articles they had read. But this past week was just atrocious. Katsuki and you had gone on a coffee date, knowing that he was going to be swamped this week, trying to make up for crammed schedules. The paparazzi managed to find you-instantly getting into your personal space, effectively cutting your date short.

By the time you had got back to your apartment, the pictures were already released and practically everywhere. Katsuki tried distracting you by making you dinner and it was wonderful. But you stayed up that night reading every single headline, article, and comment about the two of you. Drowning yourself in the criticism as the voice began to get louder and louder.

Of course, you would never say it out loud, but since then you had been itching for a fight with a real villain. Somebody who can do some proper damage, somebody strong. Any kind of opportunity where you could prove your strength, show everyone that they’re wrong about you. That you’re good enough for Katsuki, that you’re strong enough to be a hero- that you are enough. And finally, finally, finally, the chance came.

You did wonderfully. The fight had dragged on for a while, long enough for reporters to arrive and commentate on the rest of it. Everyone could see how well that you handled everything, all the footage establishing your reputation.

Once the adrenaline from the fight had subsided, the ache in your body started seeping into your bones. Cuts that had been littered across your skin felt as though they had started glowing red, the cool night air kissing them. You still managed to put on a brave face for the crowd afterward, relief and joy filling your heart as the cheers far outweighed the jeers.

You let their praises wash over you, relishing the fact the little voice in your head had been silenced. Their words seeping into through your wounds, momentarily numbing the burning pain. Your heart was no longer squeezed by apprehension, finally at ease knowing that they believed in you, in your worth. As you gave your last interview and waved to the crowd, you made your way over to the ambulance.

His foot was practically tapping the ground at the speed of light, you were surprised he hadn’t made an indent in the concrete already. Katsuki stood there, arms crossed with a scowl on his face, furrowed brow, and glaring eyes. You didn’t know whether it was the exhaustion or if the night was that cold, but you could’ve sworn there was steam coming off of him.

He had arrived pretty late to the scene, coming from the other side of the city, but the footage of you was everywhere. Katsuki had seen the majority of the fight and despite not saying anything, it was obvious that he did not like what he saw. The lights from the ambulance bathed the two of you in red light. Strong arms envelop you in a firm but gentle hug. You close your eyes and breathe him in. You stand there in silence for a little while, simply basking in each other’s presence.

He leans down to mumble in a gruff voice, lips brushing against your ear,

“I already talked to the EMTs, we’re going home now.”

Although Katsuki had EMT training from when he was younger, only on rare occasions did he fully take patching you up into his own hands. Yes, he was always breathing down the neck of the poor medic who had the misfortune of having you as a patient, but typically he had enough self-control to let them do their job.

You were grateful to have privacy, but his reaction was off-putting to say the very least. He should be proud of you, right? That you handled everything so well, he should be congratulating you, right? So...why does he look like he’s two seconds away from grinding his teeth to dust?

The car ride to your apartment is as silent as the grave, thick tension weighing down the surrounding air, making your tongue heavy in your mouth. Katsuki’s knuckles turning white as he grips the steering wheel, not once sparing you a glance. Nearly all the lingering adrenaline from the fight and buzz from the crowd has faded, irritation and pain taking place.

Why the hell is he mad at me right now? He has no right or reason to be mad at me. Everything turned out fine!

As the city lights flutter past the window, you sit in the passenger stewing in confusion and anger. Wracking your brain trying to come up with a logical reason as to why he’s mad at you. Once you arrive at your apartment, you wait to hear the telltale slam of the front door, preparing to cringe- but it never comes.

Instead, Katsuki gently shuts the door behind him.

Oh. So he’s in that kind of mood.

Over time, you came to learn that there were levels to Katsuki’s anger. Everyone else in his life had been on the receiving end of his knee jerk reaction at some point. Yelling and slamming down everything he could get his hands on. But tonight, the type of anger in front of you. Only a few people had been privy to. The kind he has the force of an inferno behind it but is trying to channel it into a few million candles. The kind he wants to be careful with his words, spending every passing second trying to remove the barbs from his tongue, so as not to get it wrong.

Before you could get pulled back into your head, a large warm hand pressing at the small of your back kept you tethered to reality. Katsuki gently guided you to the bathroom, wordlessly turning on the shower, a silent signal for you to get undressed. The tension from the car had followed you into the apartment, a dark cloud, about to storm at any moment.

You slip into the shower, drinking in the way the water washes away the dirt and grime of the day. The peace is short-lived, the warm water trickling into your open wounds, your entire body stinging slightly. Peeking past the curtain, you see Katsuki rummaging through the closet for supplies. After he sets everything on the counter, he steps out to grab clothes.

Snatching the soap bar, you scrub your body down as quickly as possible, whimpers of pain involuntarily falling from your mouth. You had waited until Katsuki left, not wanting him to hear you crying out. Frantically blinking away your blurry vision, you finish washing up and wrap yourself in a fluffy towel, taking deep breaths. How are you going to keep it together?

In your shared bedroom, Katsuki was grabbing you a change of clothes while grumbling to himself. After throwing on a tank top and sweatpants, he paces back and forth with a scowl, running a hand through his hair. Trying to untangle the scribbles piling up in his brain, he takes a deep breath and looks into the mirror. He knows he needs to tread carefully, to get his words across in the best way possible. What you need right now isn’t yelling or anger, it’s honesty and support. He doesn’t want his anger to get in the way of what truly matters, repeating it over and over in his head,

I love you, and I care about you. I love you, and I care about you.

He makes his way back to the bathroom, clothes in hand, to see you standing there wrapped up tight in a fluffy towel. The precious sight in front of him squeezes his heart, making it a little hard to breathe. Here, in the safety of your apartment, you let yourself be a little more vulnerable and he loves it, wants more of it. But once you notice him walk in, you stand up a little straighter, wiping away the teary expression on your face. He grits his teeth at this but says nothing, reminding himself to keep it together.

You finish drying off and put on the clothes he brought you, one of his shirts and a pair of sleep shorts. Even though he’s standing right in front of you, being enveloped by his scent is still comforting. He leans against the counter, waiting for you to jump onto the space next to him, reminding himself one more time,

I love you, and I care about you.

He finally opens his mouth to say,

“That was really stupid of you.”

No response.

“You could’ve gotten seriously hurt, you realize that, right?”

Silence.

“You could’ve bled out and died.”

You spit back, “But I didn’t right? I’m still here, aren’t I? So it doesn’t matter.”

Katsuki grits his teeth, huffing through his nose, growling out,

“It doesn’t matter?”

“No, no it doesn’t because I’m fine. Everything else turned out fine, so who cares?”

You were certain you were right, no doubt about it! He was overreacting about this and it was honestly the last thing you needed tonight, so you had less patience than usual.

He snaps his jaw shut, opting for the silent treatment again with a scowl on his face. Katsuki douses a cotton pad in alcohol and swipes it across one of your cuts.

You yelp in pain and surprise, sucking breath in through your teeth, snatching his wrist. You shoot him a glare, at first he’s ready to glare right back, but once he meets your gaze he softens. That’s what you do to him. You’ve given him a safe space to be soft, to be loving- to be vulnerable. This is why this cuts him up inside so much more, he knows that you’re in pain, that you’ve been in pain for the past week. But every time he would ask, you brushed it off, adamant on shouldering it by yourself. He was even angrier at himself for not pushing harder, if he had you might not have pushed yourself tonight.

You were his safe space and your reluctance to be vulnerable with him, had him doubting himself. Was he not enough for you? Did you not think he could be your safe space? He had beat himself up over this, which added another layer of frustration that had to take the backseat tonight.

He continues working diligently in silence, repeating the process with the same care for every single cut. Rubbing alcohol, bacitracin, a bandaid, and then smoothing over it with his rough fingertips. Repeatedly, gently tracing plain patterns over the material, soothing the both of you. If the circumstances were different, he would’ve littered butterfly kisses over every single one. The amount of self-control that he was showing was unfathomable.

Katsuki was inches away from exploding, pulling his brain in endless directions between figuring out how to get through to you, wanting to just tactlessly spill his guts, and longing to smother you in frantic love. You were nearing eruption as well, desperately wanting him to say something, anything at all, but you also didn’t want to hear a single word of his lecturing. You also wanted nothing more but to hug him, to cling to him because fuck, tonight was terrifying but you couldn’t let him know that-you had to stick to your guns.

Both of you were stubborn as all get out, a trait that you both loved and hated in one another. Neither of you wants to be the first to give in, and yet desperately pray the other will. Here together, in your bathroom, and yet worlds apart, lost in your thoughts. You were unceremoniously dragged back to the moment in front of you by fear.

Whether Katsuki did it on purpose, he had left the worst cut for last. It was the biggest one, crimson and angry, your anxiety building as he prepared to clean it. You had handled the stinging of the rest of the cuts fairly well, this one was going to be your breaking point.

His warm, rough hands wrap around your thigh, lightly squeezing it to steady you.

“Wait! Please.”

Your hand shot out to wrap around his wrist, your brain still catching up to your outburst. He immediately stopped in his tracks, looking up at you and feeling his heart shatter when he saw your eyes. Pleading, looking for mercy in him, and full of fear. As soft as he could muster,

“Hey, hey it’s not going to be that bad, promise.” He carefully watches as you nervously chew on your bottom lip. He raises his large hand to gently cup your face, you instinctively lean into the warmth of his palm. A new, unfamiliar voice pipes up in the back of your head as you get lost in his carmine eyes.

Let go.You’re safe here.

You let go of his wrist to place your hand on top of his bigger one, absentmindedly stroking.

“Just take a deep breath, okay? It’ll be over before you know it.”

Drawing in a shaky breath, you nod and try to relax as he moves his hand back to your thigh. He gingerly wipes the cut, the alcohol instantly seeping in and burning. You cry out in pain, begging him to stop, but he doesn’t listen. He tries to be quick but still efficient, wanting to lessen your pain. He places a large bandaid on it, smoothing it down, and finally, finally, gives in and presses the lightest butterfly kiss on top.

Fuck.

Your bottom lip is poking out, quivering as you do your best to swallow the sob clawing its way up your throat. Angrily rubbing away the tears that escape, you let out a trembling sigh, still trying to get a hold of yourself. Balling your hands into fists on your thighs, you sniffle and bite your lip so it’ll stop its ridiculous shaking. You instinctively berate yourself for how you’re reacting.

You should be stronger than this. What is wrong with you?

The new, sweeter, softer voice comes back to say,

But it’s okay. Because it’s him.

Because it’s him. Because he’s the one who is fixing you, who is choosing to fix you. To be here with you, to choose you, and to love you. And maybe it is okay that you’re ‘weak’ in front of him. It’s safe here. Maybe you were wrong an-

“Do you understand why I’m mad at you?” His voice rumbles out, interrupting your thoughts.

“I-I don’t- honestly, no not really, I did nothing wrong tonight” You try not to roll your eyes at how watery and shaky your voice sounds. Katsuki sets his jaw and slowly breathes in and out of his nose, almost like a bull getting ready to charge.

“How am I going to get this through your head?” He mutters to himself, you roll your eyes in return and give him a pointed look. You know that you shouldn’t be getting riled up, but the exhaustion is sapping away your patience. Logically you know that you should just stop with the retorts, listen to him, and yet,

“Well? Are you going to tell me why you’re mad at me or am I just supposed to be a mind-reader?”

That was the last straw.

“I don’t know how or why you can’t see this,” he starts slowly, mulling over his thoughts, “but the way you handled tonight was...it was...you shouldn’t have pushed yourself that hard.”

“But every-”

“I don’t care that everything else turned out fine!” He raises his voice momentarily, forcing himself to come back down, “I’m not mad that you took care of everything else, I’m mad that you didn’t take care of yourself.” Ruby eyes search your face for any sign of understanding.

“It doesn’t matter what everyone else thinks,” he notices how your eyes widen, realizing that he knew your feelings all along. You were mistaken for thinking you ever needed to handle it by yourself.

“You are already strong and you don’t have to prove that to anyone. You don’t owe anyone shit, you don’t need to push yourself to the point of breaking just to show that you can make it there.” He slips his warm, coarse hands into your softer ones, gripping tightly. He leans forward to put his forehead against yours,

“I need you. I need you in my life, and I need you to take care of yourself.” Desperation seeps into his voice, begging you to give yourself the love you deserve. Quietly, he adds,

“For my sake, at least, don’t be careless, dumbass.” He pulls back slightly to look at you, eyes glassy and full of pain. He doesn’t say anything else, letting his words float around in your head. You laughably admit to yourself,

He’s right. I am a dumbass.

Your face is wet with tears, salty drops still haven’t stopped cascading down your skin. You were being foolish, but you didn’t want to admit it, letting your pride suffocate you. You’re sniffling nonstop but still trying to keep your cries as tucked away as possible, your whole body shaking with stifled sobs. He lets go of your hands to cup your face, thumbs wiping away fresh tears.

“You can let it out, you know. You let me.”

You throw your arms around him, clutching him, afraid that he’ll float away from you. Keeping him in a tight, tight, tight embrace, hands collecting handfuls of his shirt. Like a broken record, repeating over and over again, strangled, I’m sorry’s. He hums in response, rubbing circles on your back as he holds you. Unbeknownst to you, he’s thankful you can’t see his tears that manage to slip out, knowing you would only cry harder.

The two of you stay like that until your sobs have subsided. He pulls away, wiping away the rest of your tears and holding your face again. You stare into each other’s tired and bloodshot eyes.

“I don’t want you to be careless anymore. I don’t want you to feel like you have to prove yourself to anyone. I want you to see what I already know, what is already true. You are more than enough, you are more than strong enough, and I need you to see that. Okay?”

Nodding, you whisper,

“I know,” You bite your lip and nod again.

“I know.”

Sometime later, after cuddles and soft voices, you lay in bed, wrapped up in fluffy blankets. Rubbing at the gauze around your arm, you stare at the ceiling, ruminating on what Katsuki said.

He’s right. I don’t need to prove myself to anyone, especially not to assholes who don’t even know me. Next time that I want to be reckless, I’ll just think of him. The one who loves me and knows me.

You close your eyes and smile to yourself.

The one who knows I’m strong.

806 notes · View notes

xxxsweetdreamzxxx · 3 years

Text

warnings/tags: dom!wonho sub!reader, fluff, smut, fanfic; cursing, railing, unprotected sex, hook up, size kink, other types of filth

summary: your first encounter with your new nextdoor neighbor turns steamy

word count: 2k

===============================

Had this dream and decided that Wonho was a good fit to replace the rando my mind made up. Didn't require much editing, so this is straight from my messed up subconscious. Hope you enjoy!! ;>

and yes, I am a certified Wonho simp. (′ꈍᴗꈍ‵)

===============================

You glanced up past the tops of the skyscrapers of Manhattan at the gray sky and sighed, pulling your coat tighter around you in the cool air. Seeing the older structure that was your apartment building in front of you, waves of relief washed through you. Getting excited to head inside and warm up a little, you thought: 'Another day of work over, time to relax.' But as you neared the entrance, you heard a voice behind you.

"Goddamn." A man muttered under his breath. "What's your name?" He said a little louder so you could hear, his tone indicating obvious interest.

Fighting back a sigh and without looking his way, you replied: "Sorry, I'm not interested."

Despite wanting to desperately go inside, you turned and headed back the way you came, thankful he didn't follow. You figured it wasn't a good idea for him to know where you lived. Once out of sight of your building, you decided it was probably safe to head back.

Approaching your building for the second time, you could see no one stood outside the building, so you entered. Heading up one flight of stairs onto the second floor, you made your way into the hallway and to the second door, reaching into your pocket for your keys. Unlocking your apartment door, you went in and closed the door behind you.

Glancing around, you could see your bed in the corner, the small two-person couch against the opposite wall, and the kitchenette near the door that consisted of only a mini fridge and tiny stovetop. The wall furthest from the door had a window with it's curtains drawn to the sides, letting natural light in. A door along the wall with the couch lead to your bathroom. You didn't mind living in a one room apartment much, its location was amazing - and something you cared more about then the square footage.

Setting your keys down on top of the mini fridge, you changed into some more comfortable shorts before moving towards the couch, reaching for the remote that was on the armrest as you sat down. Flipping on the TV situated across from you, you turned on the show you were watching last night before bed. Taking place in the 1920s or so, it was about some rich influential family and their daily lives. Of course, more drama filled than it would've been in reality. One of the younger couples in the family had been slowly growing closer, and you were just waiting for them to hook up. You secretly hoped today's episode would deliver.

To your delight, it didn't take long for the episode to go where you wanted, with the couple locking themselves in a bedroom late at night and climbing onto their canopy bed. The girl's soft moans made you turn down the volume and pray to god that no one could hear anything through your thin apartment walls. It began to pour outside your window, thankfully drowning out some of the noises coming from your TV. You curled yourself up in a ball and watched the semi-pornographic scene play out, feeling satisfied in the direction the show was going.

You were so wrapped up in the show that it took a second for you to process that the sound you heard was a knock at your door.

"Fuck." you hissed under your breath, scrambling to pause the show on a frame that wasn't too suspicious.

You left the remote on the seat you'd been sitting on and hurried over to the door, which didn't have a peep hole so there was no way to see the person on the other side.

"Yes?" You question through the door.

A man's voice answered. "Sorry to bother you, but I forgot the key to my apartment nextdoor and got caught in the rain on the way back from work. I don't have anything out here to dry off with and my roommate doesn't get back until a few hours from now. Could I please borrow a towel?"

He sounded familiar somehow, you felt like you'd heard his voice recently but couldn't place where. He did sound desperate...

You opened the door. The poor guy was drenched and shivering, and looked at you in embarrassment. His expression then seemed to turn to recognition of some kind. Even though the way he carried himself seemed sweet and innocent, he was tall and you could tell that under layers of winter clothing was nothing but muscle. Despite feeling a little uneasy being alone with such a large man, you beckoned him to come inside.

You took in his appearance further as he hesitated a bit before doing so. His wet dark hair was plastered flat across his forehead, his equally dark eyes looked tired. His red cheeks and nose stood out against his pale skin, and you wondered how long he'd been out in the cold. Even in such a disheveled state, his perfect visuals made you feel flushed in the face. He was prettier than any man - no, person - you'd met before.

"I- I'm y/n by the way." You wanted to slap yourself for stuttering. "You can stay here until your roommate gets back, I'd hate for you to be standing in the hallway the whole time."

"I'm Hoseok," The man replied, "and I can't thank you enough." He smiled gratefully at you, making your heart skip a beat.

You averted your gaze to quickly duck into the bathroom, getting him a towel. You gave it to him and showed him where he could sit on your couch, the seat next to where you'd been sitting before. You could notice he was still shivering after sitting down.

"Would you like some hot tea to warm you up?" You asked.

He gave you another grateful smile. "Yes."

You headed over to the kitchenette to heat up some water, pulling out two mugs for your tea. You continued the conversation, talking about work, the weather, city life, etc. until before long you'd finished making the tea and headed back to the couch to keep talking, sitting down next to him.

You learned he was a mailman of all things, and funnily enough he delivered mail to the building you both lived in. He'd moved in with his roommate only recently, an old friend from high school. You'd met the roommate a few times, out in the hallway and such. You had no idea a second person had moved in.

Then there was a pause in the conversation, and his eyes drifted over to the TV. He noticed that it was on, but paused.

"What you watching?" He asked in a teasing tone.

"Oh, ummm," you trailed off, "It's nothing."

"Can I see?" He teased further, a slight smirk on his lips. "Its nothing bad is it?"

"No, I just forgot to turn it off." You say quickly.

At that, you went to grab the remote where it lay, on the opposite side of you than he was. A bit surprised by your quick motions, he tried to reach over you to grab it and press play, curiosity overtaking him. Trying to reach that far caused him to lean over quite a bit, too much. Nearly collapsing on top of you, the weight of his body pushed you down onto the couch underneath him. You yelp in surprise.

Completely engulfed in his shadow, you look up at him, who seems equally surprised by the awkward position he got you both into. He held himself up with his arms on either side of you, but didn't climb off. You can see blush across his cheeks, your own face feeling hot. Something in his previously sweet and tired eyes changes, and his eyes move down to your lips.

The next thing you know, your lips are crashing against his, and he pulls you into an upright position, placing you on his lap. He runs his fingers through your hair; neither of you stopping to take a breath. You can feel your panties already starting to get damp, clinging to your clit. Moaning softly against his lips, you began to grind your hips against his, feeling a growing bulge underneath you. Seeing this as an invitation, he swiftly picks you up and starts moving you across the room in the direction of your bed.

Without unlocking his lips from yours, he splayed you out across your bedsheets beneath him. The feeling of being trapped under him only makes you wetter. He begins to grind his hips in rhythm with yours, the fabric of your shorts and his pants brushing against each other. His hands begin to feel you up, finding every curve on your body through your clothes. He then takes them down to the waistband of your shorts, wasting no time in using it to pull them off, along with your panties.

He then tugs impatiently at your shirt, and you help him to remove it before placing your hands on his belt, fumbling with the clasp. He tugs his shirt over his head before helping you to remove his belt and then his pants. You use your own hands to explore his abdomen, feeling his hard abs between your fingertips. He definitely worked out a ton.

You then felt his erection brush against your inner thigh, more apparent through the much thinner fabric of his boxers. Although, you wanted to feel it without the boxers. Your hands drifted lower, letting him know to remove them. He did so without hesitation, groaning in satisfaction now that his cock was freed from any restrictive fabric. The pace of your kisses slowed down a little as he spread your legs a bit more, then teased your folds with his tip. The contact with your dripping pussy caused you to moan louder than before.

He moved his lips onto your neck, marking you as you waited for his next move - which apparently was slamming into you hard like a truck. You sharply sucked in a breath and unintentionally clenched your walls around his dick, causing him to moan against your neck. Tears rolled down your cheeks, caused by momentary pain. Relaxing a bit, you tried your best to match your thrusts with his again. He pushed in forcefully until he was balls deep. He was so large, he filled you up completely.

Seeing your sweat and tears, he looks into your eyes with slight concern and speaks for the first time in minutes. "You okay?"

"Mhmhmm." Is all you can reply. In reality you were much better than okay.

He presses his lips back onto yours before pulling out and ramming back into you aggressively several times, causing lewd noises to escape you both. Feeling his orgasm approaching he pulls out quickly, leaving you a sweaty mess. Only seconds later hot strings of cum splash against your inner thighs, spilling onto the bedsheets. Squirming a little at the tenseness there, you begin to move your hand down but he pins it to the bed, making you whine.

"So needy." He comments before using his own fingers to rub fast circles on your clit.

You arch your back - somehow him doing that feels better than you could ever make it feel. It doesn't take long before a feeling near your tummy begins to build up, your hips grinding a little faster. Before you can remove your lips from his to warn him, you release onto his hand, your nerves relaxing as you ride out your orgasm beneath him. He pauses to lick you off of his fingers, causing you to blush.

"Fuck, you taste so good."

After finishing every last bit, he lies down next to you onto the bed, snuggling you up against him. All of the sudden it seems he's gone back to his sweet and innocent self, despite what just occurred. Your kisses become softer until you eventually stop, he wraps his arms around you, and you bury your head into his chest. After a while, he speaks out in a soft and quiet voice.

"So, what was it you were watching?"

You smile bashfully. "It was a sex scene in a show I've been watching."

He chuckles and pulls you closer. "You're so cute y/n."

#monsta x #mx wonho #wonho #fanfic #kpop imagines #kpop smut #kpop fluff #kpop fanfic #smut #fluff #imagines #wonho imagines #wonho smut #wonho fluff #kpop

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astronomoney · 3 years

Note

Heyo! I heard you were open for requests, so I thought if I can ask for a fluffly prompt of 18? Like Jon kent x batsis? ( I noticed this dude don't get much love at all.) Maybe it has like a tiny (big) crush on batsis, and accidentally ends up following her. But don't rush your self, I know you got alot to do. I'll wait! Ty! (This is alot of reading, sorry.)

Pairing: Jon Kent x Fem!reader

Prompts: Prompt list 18-“Care to explain why you’ve been following me for 6 blocks?” (Apparently “care to explain *inster text here*” is a common prompt theme on my list)

Summary: Jon Kent meets the one and only batsis (that’s you) and being the idiot he is, falls madly in love... naturally.

A/n: Ok so this took a while and i didn’t like where it was going for a while but after some editing i actually really like how this turned out! (Also sorry this took so long life hit me like bitch this past week) And Jon and the reader are about 15 16 ish here which makes damian 19ish. Masterlist

Word count: 1.5k it’s not a super long thing but i’m pretty pleased with that number

Code: y/n=your name

Not So Super Stelthy

Jon Kent floated in a small circle about 4 feet above the ground, trying his best not to fall asleep. He had been watching Damian watch security footage on the batcomputer for 30 minutes and he was bored out of his mind.

“What are you even looking for?” Jon asked, letting himself land and walking over to the computer.

“Proof.” Damian replied, too focused on the tape to give more than a one word answer.

“Right, of course the proof,” Jon nodded his head before pausing awkwardly.

Damian sighed and paused the video. “You have no idea what i’m talking about.”

“Nope.”

“And you’re extremely bored.”

“Yup.” Jon rocked back on his heels, dragging out the Y sound.

“Fine then, you can look around the cave but don’t touch anything. Got it?” Damin said sternly, knowing that if he didn’t give Jon something to do he'd start asking questions nonstop.

“Really! I can go explore by myself!” He exclaimed, instantly more energetic. “I promise i won’t break anything!” He called flying swiftly out of the room before Damian could change his mind.

He walked down a random hallway looking at the various souvenirs on the walls. He heard some grunting and the sound metal against metal coming from a room down the hall. He made his way toward the sound using his super hearing to try and figure out who it was.

“That was so not fair!” An unknown female voice exclaimed.

“Technically that’s not stated in the rules.” a smug voice shot back. Jon recognized it to be Tim’s but he still didn’t know who the other person was. He kept walking towards the sound until he found a large open room with weapons on the walls and mats on the floor.

In the middle of the room he saw two people holding metal bow staffs and walking around each other.

“Well it was implied.” The girl said before charging Tim. She swung at his left but he blocked and twirled the bow staff around to hit her in the side. She stumbled back but quickly regained her balance and came at him again, this time faking a hit to the right before sweeping his legs out from under him so he landed on his back. His staff rolled away and it was very clear that he had lost that fight.

“YES!” The girl cheered “I win and you owe me 20 bucks.” She boasted in a sing-song voice, reaching out her hand to help Tim up.

“Yeah yeah I get it.” Tim grabbed her hand and hoisted himself up sounding annoyed at his defeat. The girl turned around and walked towards the bench where a plastic half empty water bottle sat. That was when Jon saw her face for the first time, that was also when she noticed Jon.

“Oh hey Superboy.” She said, sounding slightly confused as to why the Metropolis hero would be in the batcave.

“Jon?” Tim asked, turning towards him. “What are you doing here?” He smiled and walked over to rest his elbow on the girl's shoulder.

“Hi sorry i didn’t mean to bother you I was just uh exploring.” Jon said, semi awkwardly. “Damian’s doing some research on the computer and I guess he didn’t want me distracting him.” He pointed sheepishly towards the room where Damian was still watching security tapes.

The girl laughed and shrugged Tims arm away. “Well definitely don’t take that personally. Damian’s not really one for conversation. I’m y/n by the way.”

He remembered Damian mentioning her here and there but he’d never met her before. “I’m Jon, but you know that already.”

She laughed again which made him smile. “Well Jon it’s nice to meet you.”

“There you are.” Damian rounded the corner. “I have the proof but we need to hurry if we’re going to get there in time.”

“You better get going before Damian pulls a kryptonite katana on you.” y/n joked waving over at the very grumpy looking teenager.

“Yeah,” Jon laughed. “Wait? Does he really have one of those?” his smile was replaced with slight concern for his own safety.

“Superboy. Let’s go.” Damian sounded impatient, although he always sounded like that.

“Sorry i’m coming.” Jon began flying over to him. “Bye y/n!” he called before turning the corner and disappearing.

“Bye Jon.” Y/n leaned on the door frame and watched him fly off, a small smile on her face.

“Umm what was that?” Tim asked a very confused look on his face.

“What was what?” she turned around

“Oh I don't know, maybe the whole ‘oh hi i’m y/n nice to meet you’ thing?”

“Ok I know you don’t talk to people very often but typically when you meet someone new you introduce yourself.”

“Well your starry eyed stare might have been a bit too much.”

“Starry eyed?” she scoffed in response “I was in no way starry eyed.”

“Uh huh sure.” He said in an over-protective-older-brother voice.

“Shut up.” y/n tossed a bow staff to Tim and got into a fighting stance with her own.

༻𖥸༺

After a mission went wrong, Damian demanded Jon train in the cave at least twice a week to make him, in Damians words “Somewhat competent on the field”. That meant Jon would spend more time in the cave and saw more of y/n.

Whenever Jon and y/n got a chance to talk it felt like they’d known each other for their whole lives. They had inside jokes and about 2/3’s of a secrets code memorized. Sometimes they would just sit next to each other, completely comfortable in the silent company. Jon’s heart started to beat faster when she was around and his cheeks would heat up when she smiled at him.

He got distracted whenever she came into the training room which resulted in a very hard kick to the stomach on more than one occasion. One day while Jon was on his way home from the manor, he spotted y/n walking swiftly across a rooftop. He hadn’t seen in the cave that day but Damian said she was at a friends house.

His exact words were “She’s at her friends house studying, now if you’re done being completely in love with my sister can we run the training again?”

Of course Jon responded by saying “I am not in love with her!” but it was clear that Damian didn’t buy that and at this point Jon wasn’t sure he believed it either.

‘What is she doing out?’ he thought while silently ducking behind a nearby billboard. Jon let her get about three rooftops away and used his super senses to keep track of her. She turned left, then left again, then right, then another left, and finally stopped on top of a random building.

Y/n turned to look at the city and let out a sigh. “You know,” she spoke softly with a hint of a smirk in her voice. “For someone with Superpowers you’re shit at staying hidden.”

‘Busted’

“How could you possibly have seen me?” Jon came out from his apparently not so good hiding place and landed a few feet away from her on the roof. “I was in super stealth mode.”

“Well darling Jon i was raised by Batman. Noticing things is kinda, well my thing.” She laughed. “Now, care to explain why you’ve been following me for 6 blocks?”

“W-well i have a perfectly reasonable explanation for that and it is because,” he said slowly trying to come up with a good excuse as to why he’d been following her. The truth was he didn’t know why he’d followed her. Although he had a sneaking suspicion it had to do with his not so small crush.

“It’s because- Hey wait a second you’re not even supposed to be out here.” Jon cut himself off by changing the subject. “Didn’t Batman like, ban you from being a crime fighter?”

“What Batman doesn't know won’t hurt him.” She walked over to him so they were now about 2 feet apart.

“He’s Batman! He knows everything!” Jon exclaimed as if it was obvious.

“Well i’m not going to tell him.” She paused leaning closer to Jon so they were mere inches away from each other. His heart speed up and he felt his cheeks turn pink from how close they were. “Are you going to tell him?”

“N-no?” It sounded more like a question then an answer but it was good enough for y/n.

“Great!” She leaned away again, her smile returning. “Now that i’ve confirmed you won’t be snitching on me, we can go get some food. I am starving and there’s a great taco truck just around the corner that makes the best nachos. That is if you want to?”

“Want to? Yeah i’d love to!” He smiled happily at the idea.

“Perfect, then it’s a date.”

#shitty fanfics #dc x reader #dc comics #jon kent x reader #jon kent #superboy #fluff #fluffy #prompt #fanfics #superboy x reader #batsis #batsis reader #x reader #y/n #batfam

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pochiperpe90 · 3 years

Text

[L’Officiel Hommes] Luca Marinelli, rising star of Italian cinema

To win his first film role, Luca Marinelli agreed to put on sixteen kilos. For the second, he had to shave his whole body and learn to walk in heels more than eight inches high.

"If I believe in the part, there is nothing I'm not willing to do," says the twenty-six-year-old protagonist of ‘The Solitude of Prime Numbers’, the film by Saverio Costanzo presented at last year's edition of the Venice Film Festival.

To play the role of a boy devoured by guilt due to an accident that happened to his sister, Marinelli did not hesitate to ruin his athletic physique by gorging himself on fats and carbohydrates, and giving up any activity for three months. As soon as he could, he started running again to lose the extra pounds. Between football and swimming he has always been used to playing sports. But the forced immobility had atrophied his muscles, and at the end of the first runs he ended up vomiting his soul from the effort. After a month of intense exercise, however, he had already lost the extra pounds.

"Changing your body makes you feel more vulnerable and you become prey to irrational fears: when I was fat I was afraid of dying every time I took the stairs, when I was hairless I was afraid that my eyebrows would never grow back," says the actor while he eats a salad sitting at the bar of the Palazzo della Triennale in Milan. "But it's always a very interesting experience", he continues, absently stroking the hairs on his forearm, still growing since the end of the shooting of “L’ultimo terrestre”, a film that will be released next year by Gipi, an Italian illustrator making his debut behind the movie camera. It’s a love story set against the backdrop of an invasion of extraterrestrials, in which Marinelli plays the role of a transvestite friend of the protagonist. To prepare for the part, the actor watched dozens of crossdresser and transgender footage and had to practice for hours walking with extravagant stilts instead of shoes.

“I was told that, as a woman, I move well and I'm quite beautiful. In short, the experience gave me a certain satisfaction”, he jokes, winking with gray-blue eyes.

Compared to the film debut of ‘Solitude of Prime Numbers’, this new film offers him a smaller role and visibility. But Marinelli is not concerned about this. He knows he was very lucky to end on the red carpet of one of the most important festivals in the world with the first film. And he would almost feel calmer if his career were to continue more gradually.

"It was so lightning fast that I was not prepared. Venice was a wonderful experience but I was in panic. In the evening I came home with a terrible headache, I felt like I had two tight screws in my skull. I almost felt at fault to start out so great. And now I'm happy to start again slowly”.

Marinelli finished high school in 2006 and three years later graduated from the Silvio D'Amico Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome. Before being chosen by Costanzo for the feature film that gave him notoriety with the public, he had already played several roles in the theater with directors such as Carlo Cecchi and Michele Monetta. His father, actor and film voice actor, tried to introduce him to the world of entertainment as a child, without achieving great results. He had made him voice the voices of Tip and Tap, the grandchildren of Mickey Mouse from the cartoons, and had offered him some amateur roles. Despite being fascinated by the profession, however, the son didn’t feel cut out to be an actor.

“As a child I was shy. I liked being the center of attention, but only with people I had a lot of confidence with. More than being observed, I was interested in observing the lives of others. Not the present ones, but the past ones”.

After high school, Marinelli enrolled in the faculty of archeology in Rome. But after two months in which he attended only lessons that had nothing to do with his course, he realized that the university wasn’t for him and threw himself into acting, overcoming the fears he carried within him since he was a child. Even today, however, it retains some of that shyness. To the point that, whenever he is about to go on stage, he has to resort to small exorcising rites to reduce tension and cancel thoughts. And when we ask him how it feels to tell a complete stranger about himself, he confesses to being a little nervous.

"This is my second interview. From the first, I came out as some kind of psycho. I hope this time it goes better”, he jokes.

He has pain in his neck from a fall that occurred a few days earlier and moves his torso in a slightly stiffly way. He jumped on the ball and crashed to the ground during a game of "calciotto", the eight-a-side football that is popular in Rome, the city where he was born and raised. Every time he turns his head he makes a grimace of pain. Apart from that, Marinelli seems to be quite at ease, and does not resort to clichés. Nor does he try to hide behind sophisticated characters: he wears a blue shirt, military green trousers and brown jacket, in a style that he simply defines "for men", made up of garments unearthed among vintage shops and thrift stalls rather than in the boutiques of the big names. He loves to run around with his bike, although he admits that the longest trip he has done was from Rome to Fregene with a friend. And as soon as he has a free moment he takes his dog Nonò, a foundling dachshund who also follows him on tour, and takes him around the capital for long walks in the company of Sandy, the dog who lives in his parents' house.

Even though he’s aware of the difficulties and uncertainties he risks facing in his profession, he speaks of his dreams with passion and without anguish. He would like to pursue a project as a director and is enthusiastic about the collaboration with Cecchi in “Sogno di una notte di mezza estate”, a piece with which he will tour Italy between November and February.

"I know that being an actor is a job with a very high risk of failure and depression, but for the moment I try to live this lucky moment to the fullest."

Marinelli is not religious, but he’s particularly fascinated by the figure of Christ. He loves reading books and watching films that tell the Nazarene in his human dimension (from the Gospel according to Matthew by Pasolini to Scorsese's Last Temptation of Christ), because when he sees a miracle he feels the "smell of burning" and is immediately distracted.

"The story of Jesus, understood as a simple person, is a proof of the wonderful things that man is capable of. And studying it helps to understand how far we live from the example that has been given to us".

Among the dreams in the drawer, remains to work with Eimuntas Nekrošius, the Lithuanian theater director who recently staged Albert Camus' Caligula in Rome. And with Pedro Almodovar, the master of Spanish cinema whose language he knows well. In fact, Marinelli's father spent his childhood in Argentina and passed on to his son his love for Spanish, which Luca speaks with a slight South American inflection.

Of course, the situation in Italy for novice actors is not reassuring. Most of his fellow academics are still looking for work. The lucky ones earn a few euros by acting in the theater or making fiction which is exhausting for the body and demoralizing for the spirit. The others are making a living with alternative uses waiting to be discovered.

“I'm working, but not because I'm the best of those who came out of my class. Luck matters a lot. In Italy the environment is closed and there is little money. Abroad, however, it seems that this art is much more accessible".

His response is interrupted by a strange sigh that sounds like a whale song. It’s the ringtone of his cell phone, a reconstruction of the original music used in the Greek tragedy. Marinelli doesn’t respond, but begins to show signs of unease. He noted that the Palazzo della Triennale hosts an exhibition of Pasolini's portraits that he would like to see. He has little time left, but he adores the poet and insists on entering.

Inside the exhibition, observe the black and white photos taken by Dino Pedriali in 1975 which show the artist reading in his villa in Chia, writing on an Olivetti 22 and walking on a bridge in Sabaudia with his hair down from the wind. Then he stops in front of a photo of Pasolini naked, portrayed in his bedroom.

"What a fascinating man, in this image he reminds me of the bad lieutenant in Abel Ferrara's film," he says as he heads towards the exit. Then, unexpectedly, he turns to his interviewer and asks him with the relieved tone of someone who knows he has completed a business: "Prof, how did the exam go?".

“I'd give you a nice twenty-eight”, we reply according to the game.

"Okay, I accept it".

L’Officiel Hommes

Just wanted to translate this old interview for the non-italian’s fans ^^ (sorry for my English)

#Luca Marinelli #interview #english translation #english #mine #l'ultimo terrestre #la solitudine dei numeri primi #2011 #magazine #L’Officiel Hommes #Roberta

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