#definitely not a totally brainless read

[jadeslashes]

🕸 their kinks & sub / dom preferences.

includes: patrick bateman, charles lee ray, tiffany valentine, jason voorhees, michael myers, pinhead, jennifer check, freddy krueger, jackson rippner, stu macher, billy loomis.

warnings: includes nsfw obviously, if you dont like it, dont read it. minors dni.

tw: mentions of cnc, blade & other kinks.

🪓﹒PATRICK BATEMAN ꜜ﹒⟡﹒

100% dom, he doesn't want to be the one who isn't in control

dumbification & degradation, patrick loves nothing more than making you feel like a brainless slut for him

being in control, he loves to tell you what to do and how to do it to his liking, he finds complete submission so fucking hot

body & cock worship, he loves when you treat him like a complete god and he loves how eager to please him you become

and random but i feel like he'd have a thing for having you be completely naked while he's still dressed completely in one of his suits, it's a power thing yk

🛠﹒CHARLES LEE RAY ꜜ﹒⟡﹒

switch with a dom preference

he'd love his partner being rough, not just if he's subbing, though; he'd enjoy the two of you going at each other and doing whatever each of you can to feel good, lips and hands all over each other, he never wants to not be touching you

he'd call you every filthy name he could think of, degradation is something he never goes without

going along with his liking for rough sex, he enjoys hair pulling and slapping

and he likes to use a knife, too. he'd like to use it to intimidate you and i could see him carving his name or initials into your thigh <3

🖤﹒TIFFANY VALENTINE ꜜ﹒⟡﹒

she prefers to be the dom almost all of the time, but she could sub for the right person

bondage, loves to tie you up so she can do whatever she wants with you <3

both degradation and praise, she'll go from calling you her slut to telling you how pretty you are and how well you're doing for her

she loves using toys and whips and paddles on you, every flinch, yelp and moan she gets from you makes her want to keep going and hear more out of you

and she loves punishing you, if you don't listen you'll have to suffer through whatever she has in store for you, which could be a few hard smacks with a whip, edging you more times than you can count, or conversely, wearing you out with orgasm after orgasm

🕸﹒JASON VOORHEES ꜜ﹒⟡﹒

switch for sure with a bit of a sub preference

praise is huge for him, particularly when he's subbing for you, he loves to be told when he's doing good <3

and when you're subbing for him, he loves body worship, whether it be you worshipping him or him worshipping you

and orgasm denial is one of his favorite things, teasing you over and over and watching you get needier for him turns him on

and the mask, he loves keeping his mask on during sex

🔪﹒MICHAEL MYERS ꜜ﹒⟡﹒

definitely a switch too

blood, he loves the sight of blood on you, whether he drew it or not, he finds it so attractive

that being said, he also likes knife play and i could see him being dacryphilic too, he'd like seeing you cry after he cuts you <3

and he loves to watch you, he absolutely loves voyeurism, watching you getting dressed or getting yourself off is a total turn on

honestly i think he'd enjoy spanking you too, i have no idea why, i can just totally see it

⛓﹒PINHEAD ꜜ﹒⟡﹒

dom, there's not a single chance of them subbing imo

bdsm, obviously, they love to use their chains to restrain you when they play with you <3

they love to merge pain and pleasure, and you have to earn all of the pleasure you get by enduring all of the pain that they inflict on you

unintentional dumbification, they're so intelligent you're bound to feel brainless whenever they speak to you

and they like to use devices on you, i wouldn't call them toys for obvious reasons but they'll use blades, the chains and hooks and plenty of other things to torture you into oblivion

🩸﹒JENNIFER CHECK ꜜ﹒⟡﹒

dom, i really can't see her subbing

the predator / prey dynamic, she'd enjoy feeling like she's hunting you down

and the minute she gets her hands on you?? she's going to be all over you, she's very rough

i feel like she really enjoys biting and marking you, and on top of that loves to draw blood when she does it

loves body worship, both her worshipping you and you worshipping her, but more so the latter

💭﹒FREDDY KRUEGER ꜜ﹒⟡﹒

probably a switch ??

definitely somnophilia, he'd play with you in your sleep / in your dreams all the time so that you wake up wet / hard

knife play with his blades for sure, he'd drag them along your body, occasionally grazing along your skin with enough pressure to make tiny, thin cuts

predator / prey dynamic, he'd love to chase you down, and the minute he catches you he's not gonna leave you alone for a while <3

and he'd enjoy pinning you down and choking you after he catches you

🛩﹒JACKSON RIPPNER ꜜ﹒⟡﹒

dom, but there's a very slight chance you might be able to get him to sub sometimes

choking. definitely choking. and it's absolutely a control thing, he loves being in control

and he's so into the dom / sub dynamic, he'd love seeing you submit to him completely so he could tell you what to do and do whatever he pleases with you

teasing and orgasm denial are his shit, he loves to watch you unravel into a needy mess who's just begging be allowed to cum <3

dacryphilia, he'd love to see you cry

i could also see him having a bit of a corruption kink tbh

🥩﹒STU MACHER ꜜ﹒⟡﹒

switch, i think he'd love both being in control but also love seeing his partner take the lead

somnophilia, mostly in that he'd enjoy waking you up by giving you head, smirking up at you when you fully wake up and look down at him before continuing until you cum on his tongue

strikes me as an exhibitionist, he'd tease you and touch you in public knowing damn well how needy he's making you and then act like he wasn't doing anything

he would absolutely love to use toys on you, watching how you react to them and teasing and edging you with them would drive him crazy

and at the same time, he'd also love you edging him, he wouldn't be able to think about anything other than how you're making him feel and finally being able to cum

📞﹒BILLY LOOMIS ꜜ﹒⟡﹒

dom for the most part, but i could see him subbing occasionally

knife play, he'd love to use a blade to intimidate you, cut your clothing off of you, and to draw blood

degradation, he'd whisper filthy names into your ear while he fucks you and make you feel like nothing more than a stupid slut for him <3

choking for sure, he just loves having his hand wrapped around your neck

cnc, watching you fake struggle beneath him and pretend to take you by force would turn him on so much

#slasher fucker #patrick bateman x reader #chucky x reader #tiffany valentine x reader #jason voorhees x reader #michael myers x reader #pinhead x reader #jennifer check x reader #freddy krueger x reader #jackson rippner x reader #stu macher x reader #billy loomis x reader #slashers x reader #slasher smut #minors dni #patrick bateman #charles lee ray #tiffany valentine #jason voorhees #michael myers #pinhead #jennifer check #freddy krueger #jackson rippner #stu macher #billy loomis #slashers

[bookishdreamer28]

Tom Blyth is a total babe and has my heart and his character in Billy the kid has me weak on the knees

Btw I'll definitely write more Billy fics so I hope you'll enjoy reading this one ❣

▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃▃

You felt your body responding to his intense stare again. You found yourself burning with desire for the man with the beautiful ocean eyes across the room, for the 5th time this month. He was an occasional costumer but you never had the chance to have a proper conversation with him because of all these drunken people blocking your way or your boss making you taking orders from other tables. He never once threw a dirty look at you, neither he made you feel uneasy and uncomfortable in any way just like brainless rats did. And you liked that. You liked him.

When you served a costumer his bear, your eyes went immediately on him. He gave a small smile and waved at you. This small interaction increased your heart's rate and you returned the smile with one of your own. You tried to preoccupy yourself by cleaning the counter but all you could think about was him. The man who already had your heart in his hands.

After contemplating for about half an hour on what to do, you picked up the courage and made your way to his table. His eyes never left you. Seeing you approaching him made him nervous. Unable to make a single move.

"Would you like me to bring you something else?" You asked giving him a sweet smile.

"Uh n-no thank you" his hand traveled up to his hair, pushing a few locks out of the way. You suddenly felt your mouth dry. You licked your lips and you caught his eyes following the movement.

"I'm Y/N" you reached your hand out for a shake. He gently grabbed your hand and said

"I'm William but most people call me Billy. The choice is yours sweetheart" he lowered your hand to his mouth and placed a soft kiss there. Your cheeks were burning and you were sure that you looked like you had fever.

You were ready to say something but a drunk guy placed his arm around your shoulder. Your body tensed and Billy's eyes darkened.

"Why don't We get this kind of treatment huh?" His breath was stinking liquor and you wanted to punch the shit out of him which you were ready to do so, but Billy caught you. His punch surely broke thos guy's jaw and it sent him straight to the floor. He then picked him up by his colar and slammed him to the wall.

"If you even dare do as much as look in her direction, I will end you, get it? Don't you DARE put your filthy hands on her again" He growled and then threw him on the floor again. The guy didn't had the guts to say anything to Billy. And all the other men in the bar knew that it would be best if the mind their own business instead of get themselves involved in this.

Billy turned to you and gently touched your shoulders.

"Let's get out of here"

"But I can't just le-"

"As long as you're with me no one is going to hurt you. There's no way I'm leaving you here but if you want to stay, I'll stay too" his words warmed your heart.

"Lead the way cowboy" you smirked and grabbed his hand. He smiled widely and walked the to exit. Once you were outside you started laughing at how wonderful it all felt with him. He couldn't help but watch you closely. Your smile, your bright eyes, your hair flowing in the breeze. You were all he's thinking about and now he finally has the chance to be with you. Just the two of you.

You looked at your intertwined fingers and your stomach filled with butterflies again . But then your eyes widened when you realized that you were still holding hands.

Billy noticed your expression and was ready to pull his hand away but you held it tight.

"I'm ok with this...that is as long as you're ok with it too" and for once agaim you felt your face burning.

"I'm more than ok sweetheart" he smiled.

"Oh thank you souch for earlier I didn't expe-"

"I will never let anyone touch you again like this. I know you think that I didn't have to interfere but it made my blood boil seeing in distress" he stopped walking and turned his body to you.

His eyes were so beautiful under the moonlight. The soft touch of his fingertips on your cheek is what shook me out of my thoughts. Your breath quickened.

"I...where is your home exactly? I don't want you to walk on your all alone now" he cleared his throat, moving his hand from your face, looking anywhere else but you.

"Oh we're almost there-...Um actually, I don't want to go home right now" you stopped him from moving.

"Ok that's great then, cause I didn't want you to go either" he said and you stared at each other.

"Great" you whispered and moved closer to him.

"Great" he moved closer too.

His hands cupped your face slowly and his thumbs were caressing your skin softly.

"Can I please, please kiss you? Cause I've been dying to do this for whole month now and I can't wait longer" your legs felt like jelly and you had no idea how you managed to stand still.

You nodded eagerly and closed your eyes the moment he started leaning in. He kissed you tenderly and pulled back to see your reaction, only for you to crash your lips against his passionately. You felt Billy's hand slide into your hair and his other kept your body close to his. The kiss held such intensity and emotion, that made you both breathless once you pulled away.

"I'm at your mercy woman" he whispered against my lips and and I smiled, grabbing his collar to kiss him more

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Thank you for reading 😚 love you all

all rights reserved. please do not copy, modify, repost, translate, or claim my content as yours.

#billy the kid #billy the kid x reader #billy the kid x you #tom blyth x reader #tom blyth #tom blyth x you #tom x reader #billy the kid fanfiction #billy the kid fluff #billy the kid fic #tom blyth fanfiction #tom blyth fluff #tom blyth the man you are #fanfic #william bonney #william bonney x reader

[cartmankisser]

iJUST NOTICED YUO ALSO WROTE FOR SAIKI K UHHHHHHHHH IF YOU DONT DO MULTIPLE FANDOMS IN ONE REQ THATS FINE JSUT DO SAIKI BUT CAN I GET NARRATOR TSP AND SAIKI WITH AN S/O WHO INSTEAD OF ACTUAL THOUGHTS THERES CONSTANT MUSIC THAT CHANGES DEPENDING ON THEIR MOOD IVE HAD TGHIS IDEA FOR SO LOGN OMG UHHH DO WHATEVR U WANN A DO !!!!!! AAA

IM ONLY GONNA DO SAIKI FOR THIS ONE SORRY u can totally 100% request this exactly the same for the narrator because i'll probably forget about it unless it's in my inbox 😅

also i want sure if you meant like instrumental game/theme type of music or like actual songs so i tried to keep it kind of vague

at first, saiki just thought you were,,,, well,,,, dumb.. the only other person he knows that doesn't have thoughts for him to read is nendou, so you can't really blame him for assuming you were just as brainless as he is. because of that assumption he had though, he tended to avoid you as much as he could, simply out of fear and annoyance of your possible nonsense. you'd definitely have to make the first move.

it genuinely shocks him when you speak intelligible words. he was so prepared to listen to you spew out nonsense that he had to take a second to truly process what you were saying. at first, it was quite hard for him to focus on your words with the incessant bubbly music you seemed to keep on loop inside your head, but once you two got closer to eachother, even starting a relationship, he learned to just tune it out.

it wasn't until one day when you weren't quite acting like yourself that he noticed the absence of your usual happy tune and the low-spirited melody that replaced it. it really took him a moment to connect the dots.. i mean, he's so used to being able to look into peoples minds for answers!! but when he finally realized that you were upset omg??

it honestly blew his mind that the music actually had some sort of meaning and wasn't just a weird fault you had

#i forgot how much i loves saiki omg #tdlosk x reader #kusuo saiki x reader #saiki x reader #no clue how else to end up this

[ipegchangbin]

moving to your ask box bc the reblog chain is getting long but omfg SKJFKSGHDFG the way my first thought was like "what stuff on the dash" ☠☠☠ cause i got like 4 fics total and update like thrice a year pleeease ☠☠ ahhh youre reading wgoin thats so exciting that one's definitely my pride and joy ;A; also the fic of mine with the least traction for probably obvious reasons LOL but like this is your sign to stan ateez bc they were Meant to be side characters to the skz-centric story but uh... well.... i got carried away 😭😭 im so happy to hear you gave it a shot anyway though omfg thank YOU for reading and all the compliments wtf 😭💕 and yes all over stayblr bro ive recognised your url for a while now i think we have some moots in common?? i just hadnt had much time for reading lately so i havent got the chance to read your works yet but im p sure ive rbd some of your fanart before its stunning!! get you a mf who can do both?? its funny bc i rmb when i first saw ur url and went "pegging changbin, yeah ill follow that" without even like looking at the content bc i was just brainless dash scrollin yk but i guess i never did follow until whenever i did recently sDFKGSDFK cause that was like, a Whiiiile ago

OMG HEY btw do i call you mischief?? or do you have any preferred name?? im literally basing that off your bio OOPS but hi hello thanks for dropping by!!

okay funny story i dont recall who put your wgoin fic on the dash (either that or the tumblr “based on your likes” thing bumped it) but i was so intrigued because AYO TRANSMASC READER?? its rare to see specific identities like that and its always a joy to read stuff like that especially on days im feeling particularly masc ^^ im still not done with it (slow and illiterate reader moment) and i still need time to stan ateez (slow kpop stan moment) but thank you for writing and sharing your work!!!🥹 EVERYONE GO READ “WHAT GOES ON IN NEVERLAND” NOW

secondly. I CANNOT TAKE COMPLIMENTS WELL SO IM SHUTTING YOU UP WITH A HUG (consensual though bc i dont touch without consent) thank you for liking my art and writing :’)) no pressure at all to go through my stuff either!

+++ thats one more instance to add to the already broken “i like your username” counter but like?? this goes both ways because thunderous is a BANGER and your url is a banger too 🫡 anyways im just incredibly glad youre here HDJSJAJ thank you thank you thank you and hope youre having the best day!!

#your ask is adorable it made my day HAHAH #hope YOU are living your best life rn!!! #<3 sorikkung #💌 ipeginbox

[chrisdeanfuller]

Pellicidar Series Review

I read the series Pellicidar by Edgar Rice Burroughs, and it was entertaining. it’s seven books written in the early 1900′s.  The series includes At the Earth's Core,  Pellucidar, Tanar of Pellucidar, Tarzan at the Earth's Core, Back to the Stone Age, Land of Terror, and Savage Pellucidar.  These books are a Stone Age soap opera.

It all begins with two explorers who journey to a land 500 miles below the earth's surface by way of a mining machine, an "iron mole."  I wonder how influential Journey to the Center of the Earth was to this book as Verne's book was written about fifty years prior?  I understand that At the Mountains of Madness was inspired by At the Earth's Core.  Anyway, there are dinosaurs, various races of men, and the evil reptilian Mahar overlords and their servitors the Sagoths.

There are twists and turns in each book as the protagonists are captured and escapes or his girlfriend is captured and rescued. There's definitely a chivalrous attitude as the protagonist’s main squeeze is beautiful beyond compare, and he'd do anything for her.  It's totally unrealistic, but it's actually easy to just ride along as one character or another fights Jurassic dinosaurs, climbs steep cliffs, or escape from hideous lizard men or other monsters.

Part of the allure is that it's not hard to imagine yourself making the same choices as the protagonist and you find yourself cheering for him. There was one particularly interesting monster which caught my interest.  It was a large, flying marsupial which catches its prey live and injects a poison into the victim's neck, paralyzing it from the neck down.  The victim is then placed next to its egg so that when the egg hatches, the baby can eat the paralyzed victim.  It made me think of the movie Aliens.

Savage Pellucidar was probably the best book of the series.  There are lots of different characters dealing with different problems, so there is some jumping around, but it doesn't distract.   This is also one of the funniest books in the series with several running jokes.

While I enjoyed this series, I like his John Carter of Mars series better.  It's brainless entertainment. The author's imagination transports the reader to a wild and wooly mammoth world!

[vole-mon-amour]

IWTV, 1x05, part 1.

He-fucking-llo and ex-fucking-CUSE ME??? ARMAND?? The hell is going on here? What kind of toxic co-dependency is happening?

I wish Daniel could shield himself from Louis. This isn't a fair game.

How did they film a scene with pigeons with broken wings? I'm very concerned.

I... dislike how it's all about the cutting.

She's in there 'cause YOU wanted to 'save' here, asshole. Stfu.

I'm way too lazy to make a gifset of his hands, but manual screencaps I can do. Ahhh.

Everything about him. His anger when he read the diary. Lestat's fault? Lol. Never though I would be hating on Louis, but here I am. You're a fake bitch. <3 As if it wasn't enough that I wanted to slap you in the book, but here you are, pissing me off way before the show ends.

Surely someone giffed this??? KING!!

He's a walking, talking, breathing piece of art. Such a doll.

Holy fuck. Those hands. The combination of those nails and those hands. And if the nails were longer... Ahhh.

Meanwhile, I'm going to join the club of "Why the hell are they smoking?" Looks cool? Nah. They don't enjoy alcohol, as far as I see in this show, so why smoking? Only sex seems up their alley.

Lestat—you broke into my house when I wasn't there and now I'm going to fucking kill you—De Lioncourt :') I mean, not the cop, obviously, but it's that energy.

H-hands... All of him.

!!! For once, it is not Lestat's fault & I am LIVING. I'd gif this.

He said Family with no secrets, so he's truthful <3 I'm never going to have kids, thanks <3

Beautiful, just beautiful.

I see your reaction, Lestat. If they won't use this as foreshadowing, it's going to be a waste.

The idea of Claudia meeting a vampire of her own, out there, is nice, that I can adnit. Completely out of canon, but there's something to it. Still, I think I prefer the motivation of the book: Claudia is so tired of the abuse, of not knowing what's out there, of wanting Louis with her. "He's more like a dad"? Well, it ain't like that in the book. I like her being in love with him. I like them traveling together. I like her being eager for knowledge. This part of the story in the show? Totally not my thing. I still have some scenes in my imagination, the two riding a carriage, killing those brainless things/vampires, only meeting real ones in Paris. Claudia holding Louis' hand, trying to kiss him. Those two loving each other. Yeah, that would be a real jam.

Also, the fact that Bruce attacks her and tries to assault her. I keep thinking about what Armand said in the book, how he wouldn't turn that boy/slave of his even if he was in danger. Cause he's too young, wouldn't be able to protect himself. His body not fully grown. How he talked about "this child with you", and Claudia being stuck in a body of a freaking FIVE. YEAR. OLD.

I really like the idea of Claudia traveling with Louis better. But I'm afraid I have a very different picture in my mind than the show gives me. Something closer to the first movie. That'd be some picture. Need to rewatch the movie, definitely.

Baby, NO! I'm not ready for that. ;_;

Miserable mocking king. That chuckle is everything. I want gifs.

Leave him, Lestat, and all your problems are gone. Better be lonely than unhappy with someone. And for so many years, my goodness. What kind of shit your parents did to you so you hate yourself that much?

Also, the way his voice gets way deeper when he's angry, gloomy, screaming. Wow. Princess? Baby girl? You suuuure? He identifies like a male & he is definitely one.

Genuinely not sure what's Armand's purpose, but I'm glad he intervened. That was a very shitty thing to do of Louis. That slap to Louis from Daniel was very well deserved. Also, I'd watch Daniel and Armand being lovers. It's an intriguing idea.

Louis is obsessed with Claudia while Lestat is tired of his whining & would like to do something fun. Very much yeah.

Was about to crop to the hand, but the entire picture is a masterpiece.

Ah yes, Louis' sister arranging a gravestone for him, knowing he's supernatural. You don't care about canon, do you?

"To be Louis' sister." To be Louis' WHAT????????????? This show is a joke.

#natiswatching #tw smoking #iwtv 2022

[unsureofwhathappens]

Random Word Writing 08/06/2022

4 Random Words of the Day:

appearance

collar

wife

creation

"This... this sounds like literal fanfiction," you stated as you looked at the premise. "Usually here would be an appearance of like a super popular idol or something and just-"

Taehyung looked curiously as he took his notebook out of your hand, looking over it to try to see what you see. "What do you mean?"

"Look, okay? Like I totally see hybrid or Andriod or Stepford wives AU or something," you started, pointing out some of the key elements of suggestion. "Collars? Screams hybrid AU. Where the owner hates putting them on their Hybrid because they deem it inhumane and they treat their hybrid well and see the human side of them."

He looked at you, wordless, as he just... blinked. Taehyung did manage to open his mouth once but then closed it. It was to hear what more you had to say. Because it sounds like you read these A LOT.

"And look here," you continued. "This idea - it seriously almost sounds like an Andriod AU. Like, maybe someone made the android, and their creation came to life and though they were made to be someone's wife, the creator became attached and saw that they had so much more potential than the brainless actions they originally were designed for. Or SOMETHING. I just-"

"Glad you didn't jump to BDSM at least, I guess," Taehyung finally interjected, with his infamous grin. He had a look that made you hesitant and suspicious.

What is going on in your mind," you asked. You KNEW there was something else he was thinking about and you just... you had reasons to be suspicious.

"You read stuff like this a lot?"

THERE IT WAS. You blushed and closed the notebook, then went to rush away. "Whatever. You asked my opinion and I am going to go now."

He was outright laughing now. "No! Wait! I want to hear more! Because this is actually fascinating and I would definitely read these too - come baaaaaaack! Y/NNNNNN!"

#4 random words exercise #writing #bts fanfic #Taehyung #Discussing of different AUs #Writing #Yeah this was utterly lame but hey....

[caffeineandsociety]

Honestly though, if I were to be really inflammatory about it - I'd say that actually yeah the majority of men ARE oppressed for being men.

Now that I have your attention because you're pissed off, let me explain. No, I don't mean that in the dudebro meninist "men and women are on equal footing actually, if structural misogyny exists then clearly there is an equal and opposite structural misandry, checkmate liberals" way.

I mean that when it intersects with other axes of oppression, gendered power dynamics get a hell of a lot more complicated than "men big scary oppressors, women innocent victims!!" Like, despite how much the radfems and the terminally online people who treated them as the source of expertise try to redefine it to "the more axes you're marginalized on the more support you should win from progressive spaces, they're basically collectibles but otherwise totally separate", this is a major part of what intersectionality means.

Note how everyone becomes a "feminist" the moment a Black or brown man breathes in their general direction. He exists, suddenly EVERYONE knows toxic masculinity is toxic and violent, and aggressively police him in the name of Protecting Women(TM). Women of color face their own unique brands of oppression, yes! Including being ignored in a lot of these violence statistics or memed if they're actually noticed! But MANY cases of racist police brutality are because a MAN, OF COLOR - very specifically someone at the intersection of those two groups - was read as a threat for being A MAN, OF COLOR. MANY names and stories on any lynching memorial are Black MEN, who were lynched because a white WOMAN saw his very presence as a rape threat. The interplay of race and gender in these interactions is unique.

Or, queer men - when someone says "homophobia is the fear that gay men will treat you the same way you treat women," that's not just a snappy slogan, that's literally how a major facet of it works. The "gay panic defense", in 35 states, lets people reduce assault or murder charges to a lesser offense for "I found out they were queer and I was afraid they were going to hit on me". This is, overwhelmingly, invoked against gay men...

Or trans women - which, however much any radfem tries to tell you otherwise, are still people that mainstream cishet society sees as men, at least until it is convenient to gender her correctly to discount her opinion as the shallow mindless ramblings of an airheaded woman. Like, that's a major aspect of how transphobia intersects with gender in all directions - depending on what's most convenient for the accuser, you're just a silly brainless helpless pathetic woman...

Or a dangerous, predatory, burgeoning, toxic man.

Again, it's another form of "man (or 'man') sets one toe out of line and suddenly the whole world recognizes that toxic masculinity is bad."

And this is coming out in a fascinatingly disturbing way against trans men. There is a concept of "double discrimination" - a term with a frustrating dual meaning; it can refer to being marginalized on two axes and being, for instance, discriminated against for being queer even in spaces meant to support disabled people and vice-versa, or it can refer to being discriminated against by mainstream society, but also by marginalized communities for "not being marginalized enough" (in other words, a less maliciously "neutral" term for the effects of exclusionism). The latter definition has been heavily studied in bisexual communities and has been shown to have nasty adverse effects on both physical and mental health-

And that is also happening to trans men right before our very eyes. Mainstream society hates trans men because, again, depending on what's convenient to demonize us, we're either silly brainless shallow women just hopping on a trend to try and feel special because that's ALL women ever do don't'chaknow and anyone who helps us transition is a predatory drug-pusher, or we're horrible evil predatory dykes (because obviously all trans people are straight relative to our actual genders, which means gay relative to the ones cishet society reads us as) willingly morphing our bodies into a horrifying predatory form to hurt poor innocent cis women-

And among queer groups, we're ALSO treated largely as the latter, and then told "talking about your issues, and GOD forbid trying to come up with a NAME for them, is just Not All Men-ing, sit down and shut up like the good little girls you are, at least you're not being murdered in the streets (except when you are and get reported as women)". Even just sharing resources is treated as "stealing from" or "displacing" other "more deserving" queer groups.

Like, I don't know how to break it to you, but this whole idea of "men are bad, women are good, end of" isn't feminist at all. It's "oh, boys will be boys" in a pink-and-rainbow hat. It's the exact same tool wealthy, white, cishet men use to insist that their dominion over everyone else is just The Natural Order of Things(TM).

And yes, it oppresses most men. It is only the men who have all the other privilege qualifiers who escape it.

No, Men(TM) as a broad single-axis group are not an oppressed class, but there are unique, gendered ways that the hammer of oppression on other axes comes down on marginalized men, because the wealthy, white, cishet men at the top see men (or """"men"""") failing to live up to their platonic ideal of what wealthy, white, cishet manhood means as a threat to their rule - and they're laughably transparent about it; look at all their talk of how men failing to live up to it is "degeneracy" and "the downfall of society". Maleness as a real identity that actual people have, and manhood as a platonic ideal within the power structure of white cishet patriarchy, have a lot of overlap but they're pretty damned different things. The latter is fragile, and violent, and cruel, and hostile to everyone - yes, to women more than men, but very much so to men as well. The former is...literally just vibing.

And yes, women can be enforcers as well. Especially wealthy, cishet, white women. In fact, insisting that they can't be is often in and of itself a precursor to white supremacist patriarchal violence.

We have monuments to prove it.

(Inb4 "you forgot about disability" - no, I didn't; that one is WAY too complicated and deserves a whole breakdown of its own. I have some of the same disabilities that are, for That Most Privileged Class of Men, an excuse for basically anything up to and including murder, but for ME, not even an excuse to need a very minor accommodation or be a little too enthusiastic about something that's not mainstream enough; believe me, I cannot forget.)

#gender #rape mention #transphobia #racism

[crescentsteel]

Keeping a Secret - Part 4

pairing: Tsukishima x f!manager of Sendai Frogs genre: sexual tension/crack/fluff/slow burn wc: 7.6k

[a/n]

Let me know if you want to be part of the taglist uwu

AO3

Part 3 || Part 5 || masterlist

Tsukishima might not like you, but at least you unspokenly agreed on how to treat the strange tension from last time’s meeting: ignore it. 

No one dared mention it. Since he arrived a while ago, no one talked unless needed. It’s not like the air is awkward, it’s just silent, devoid of last time’s weird shenanigan as you continued on with the unfinished assignment from his previous visit.

“I assume you’re done from how you’re spacing out at nothing,” he reprimands.

You flinch and realize that you’ve been staring at the wall behind Tsukishima. 

“Oh, uhhh.” You check your laptop to see your progress and surprisingly, you really are done. Your brain must have shut down on it’s own when it registered that you’re finished with your work for the day.

“Yep!” You snicker proudly at him. “Are we going to watch crocodiles doing the nasty now?” you ask him with eager interest.

You really have a way with words that always throws him off-guard, yet instead of scowling at you, he just gives out a resigned sigh. He knows you aren’t trying to irk him. That’s just how you really are.

It’ll be better for his sanity to just tolerate your and leave you be than drive himself to the brink of madness.

“Yeah,” he responds thriftly.

You giddily scurry over at his side of the table and comfortably seat yourself beside him. You hug your knees as he prepares several videos from BBC Earth and Nat Geo Wild that shows and explains crocodile mating behavior. He turns up the volume of his laptop to its loudest so you can both hear the audio clearly.

In the second video, the voice-over explains the kinds of display reptiles make to attract their potential mate. His eyes glance at you briefly. Not that he’s complaining about it, but you’re acting unusually docile today . You’ve been mostly quiet ever since he arrived.

It’s all good until he hears a wheezing noise that sounds all too real and all too weird for it to come from the video.

He looks to you and immediately finds the culprit.

Your lips are parted with your neck extended forward and your chin tilted up a bit while you produce guttural sounds, making it seem like you’re choking.

“What are you doing?”

You face him, still looking like an idiot as you continue making a sound he’s never heard of with the same absurd upper body posture. He looks at you with abhorrence when he starts to realize what you’re doing. 

Are you actually trying to imitate a crocodile bellowing for a mate?

You sit up straight and beam at him with pride. “How’s that for a mating call?”

If he were a male crocodile, he’d find another estuary to escape away from that horrible sound you were producing. “You sound like you’re dying,” he says as he remembers how it seemed like you were hoarsely scratching your vocal cords together.

“Wait, wait. Lemme try again,” you announce with determination, which he finds pointless and  totally unnecessary. He doesn’t care if you successfully do it. He even prefers you stop trying at all.

Yet, you still pressed on. You resume your earlier actions, looking even more ridiculous as you start to sound and look like a seagull squawking repeatedly. 

He should be irritated since you’re wasting time. Instead, he puts a fist over his mouth, attempting to hold back a snort. You don’t seem to notice because your eyes are on the laptop as you keep trying to replicate what you’re seeing on screen. 

When you actually start choking, he lets out the laugh that he’s been holding in which makes you look at him. You try to speak but it comes out distorted as you’re still coughing from your mating call attempt.

“You look like an idiot.” He laughs harder when regret surfaces on your eyes while clearing your throat.

He recovers from his outburst of laughter at the same time you manage to soothe your voice back to normal. He’s expecting you to be embarrassed from the stunt you tried to pull, which you appear to be seeing as you’re  covering your face with your palms. You don’t seem to be upset though because he can hear your muffled giggles.

You quickly remove your hands and face him. “I was sure I could do it, okay? You didn’t have to laugh that hard!” Despite the pout you show him, your eyes twinkle with levity as you hold his stare.

How the fuck you can you be so weird but still so pretty at the same time? 

No wonder you have the rest of them wrapped around your pretty little finger. You just flash them that delightful smile of yours and you completely have them under your spell.

But not him, of course. Definitely not him.

Also, he tries to convince himself, he didn’t think you were pretty at all.

He’s just looking from the perspective of his teammates on why they adore you so much. Nothing more, nothing else. 

To him, you’re still the irksome manager he knows you are. This set-up is just temporary. He’ll never forget how you really are - overbearing, cunning, and infuriating. This strangely charming  attitude you’re showing him is just because of the temporary ceasefire between the both of you, and this easy, comfortable atmosphere is just born out of necessity. When this project is finished, you’ll be back to the real you. So he shouldn’t be wasting his time reading into whatever’s happening between you two.

“Should we continue watching?” you ask him lightheartedly as you hug your knees again, softly leaning your head against them.

The nerve of you to ask that. You’re the one who disrupted the videos, not him. He should be the one berating you to get back to the project instead of you pleasantly asking him to continue where you left off. 

“You’re the one who interrupted the whole thing in the first place,” he spats rather than answering your question, wishing you’d retort with something stupid so he can go back loathing you silently.

Instead, you simper apologetically and mutter a timid, “My bad.”

Then you extend your arm to his laptop and rewind to where the video was before you distracted him with your audacious growling.

During the remainder of the videos, he glances every once in a while to check if you’re going to do something distracting again. Fortunately, (or unfortunately, he can’t tell anymore which is worse) you stay well-behaved and entirely focused on the documentary with your arms wrapped around your tucked legs tucked and your chin resting to your knee.

When the documentaries end, he pulls up the video he took with your phone from your crocodile farm trip. Compared to the produced output you’d just gone through, the amateur video he captured at the farm is evidently not as exciting to watch. The quality is not that great because his hand had been shaky while filming it. He remembered not looking at the screen of your phone while filming it because he had been looking at you. 

Rather than noticing that aspect of the video, you comment about the audio.  “I can’t hear anything from the breeding pen. I only hear my voice and Sara’s.”

He’s about to reason out that you’re talking non-stop but he immediately realizes that it’s not necessarily a bad thing because you were asking Sara questions related to the project at that time.

“I want to hear them growling,” you declare. 

“I’m not sure they even were. This is an artificial environment for crocodiles. Also, we’re a bit far from them,” he explains. 

You face scrunches up with disapproval. “Why didn’t you just zoom the camera in?”

His jaw drops from how appallingly dim-witted your question is. He’d think you were kidding but you look genuinely upset because you can’t hear the sounds you heard from the videos earlier. 

First of all, just like he said, they might not even be making sounds at all. Secondly, your phone, despite being a good model, wouldn’t be able to miraculously capture sounds even if he zoomed it outrageously close to the reptiles. Lastly and most importantly, are you actually that dumb?

He doesn’t even know how to condense all his thoughts properly and convey how revolted he is from the amount of brainlessness you can put in one simple question that’s less than ten words. 

Your eyes go wide when it finally hits you too.

“Oh God,” you mutter weakly as you put two palms to cover the lower half of your face. 

You two share the same expression of disgust as you realize how stupid you sounded while you hold his gaze. 

You press your lips together in a thin line then bust your gut out with an uproar laugh that fills your room. You tug the sleeve of his shirt as you look at him with glossy eyes.

“I’m a dunce,” you admit with trails of laughter still seeping from your voice.

“Glad to know I’m not the only one who thinks so,” he says with half-hearted insult as he’s still figuring out if he did something or is it your own stupidity that’s causing your outburst.

You bite your trembling lips in an attempt to fend off another laugh, but fails to do so when you clutch his arm tighter and another round of jovial laugh escapes from your mouth.

You try to form a phrase but it’s drowned out by your own cackles. Still, he catches on with what words you manage to utter. 

You are laughing at yourself. 

He always thought you liked making fun of others because you’re always simpering every time someone’s at your mercy -- those boys who relentlessly try to hit on you; any member of the team who gets flustered when you praise them; and him, especially him, who seems to be your personal favorite person to pick on. 

Yet, he’s never seen you this elated before, with your face scrunched up as you go hysterical from your own silliness. 

He can’t help but think that maybe he misunderstood you a little bit. You’re not actually a pompous bitch. You’re just a crackhead who finds joy in the littlest, most foolish things.

“I swear to God, Tsukishima. Our university is in ruin for making me a goddamn scholar.” You let go of his arm and sniffle while wiping your tears of joy.

When you look up to him, your face is glowing. Your cheeks are flushed, your eyes are gleaming at him effervescently, and your smile is not as annoying as it used to be. 

Objectively speaking, it’s similar to your usual ones, except it’s also totally different. He can’t really fully grasp why but there’s something about it that distinguishes it from all the others he’s seen from you.

He must have been peering at you more than necessary because your smile dissolves gradually while your mirthful expression turns into a puzzled one. 

You’ve been trying to ignore the thought, but Tsukishima is definitely acting weird today; weird because he’s not as mean as he usually is. 

Well, duh. You do have some sort of agreement for him to tone it down. Still, you didn’t expect he’d do it this well. Even when he was laughing at you earlier, it wasn’t as demeaning as it should have been.

And to make you even more puzzled, right now, he’s just staring blankly at you. 

Generally, Tsukishima’s empty glares at you are not really empty. They contain inhibited disdain which he has not failed to show you over the years you’ve been their manager. Even when he’s actually trying not to let it show, you still easily see through him. 

But at this moment, you have no idea what’s going on in his head. His eyes are studying you quietly and you return his stare, trying to figure out what he could possibly be thinking. 

You’re about to ask him what’s wrong but as soon as you open your mouth, a familiar glint surfaces on his face as his gaze drops on your lips.

If the latter parts of the previous meeting were awkward, this one goes beyond awkward.

There is an abrupt drop of weight that looms across the whole room, a weight so heavy that you find it difficult to breathe. The room is spacious enough for two, but you feel like it’s too cramped up all of a sudden. 

It’s an all too familiar feeling that you did not anticipate would ever come back. In fact, it should not be back at all. 

It is as exciting as it is terrifying when you realize: you want to kiss him. 

You previously justified your actions as something sort of a ‘one time madness’ and. until now, you were sure it was just that. It was a whim brought by his sudden closeness fueled by the atmosphere of the club at the time. 

You were wrong.

Even at this dull, academic setting with him barely even touching you, you itch to feel him close. You want to relive the feeling of his body pressed against yours and his lips latched fervidly onto yours. 

Damn it. He should stop staring at you like he wants the same thing. It’s tempting you even more to give in to the urge even though you know you’ll regret it later.

But no, you really can’t. Once was enough. Twice will be a different story. 

You had assured him and yourself that it wouldn’t happen again. If you cross that line now, you’re going to have to admit the irrevocable fact that you’re attracted to him. 

You let out a shaky breath as you avert your gaze from his. 

You’re about to replay the video when you hear a sudden thud on the floor. You look back at him with worry only to see his hand slammed against the floor as he swiftly lunges forward to close the gap between you and him. 

His free hand goes to your chin and tilts it up as he crashes his lips on yours.

It’s just as you remember - calm yet impassioned, successfully sweeping away any incertitude you had about kissing him. Your mind is only filled with how good he feels as he impatiently drags his hand to your waist and tugs you closer. 

You wrap an arm around his neck to completely eliminate whatever space is left between your bodies. You grasp the back of his head as you return his kiss with the same ardor, your mouths naturally cascading against one another with a rhythm you two can perfectly understand and follow without any words needed.

When he sneaks his tongue in, you begin to forget what he is to you outside the confines of this room as you helplessly moan into his mouth.

You can tell he’s not doing so well either with how tight he’s grasping the small of your back as the intensity of the kiss grows with each ticking second. 

“Tsukishima,” you puff heavily as you withdraw away from him with half-lidded eyes, the feel of his lips still lingering on yours. 

You hope that the soft call of his name will be the voice of reason for him to stop kissing you. He needs to stop for you’re totally powerless to do it yourself. He needs to stop before it escalates into something else, something more.

Thankfully, he does stop. 

He takes a deep breath as his eyes travel from your lips up to your eyes, meeting your gaze to study the entirety of your features. 

He thought you were going to ask him to stop, hence the conflicted tone of your voice when you said his name. But the look on your face tells him otherwise. 

You like this as much as he does. He didn’t want to admit it last time, but fucking hell. You really do make a complete mess of his rational thinking with how good you taste, how your determined eyes mellow down within his embrace, and how you yield right on the first touch of his lips. 

He knows he should stop. It’s the perfect chance to do so. It shouldn’t matter how soft and pliant you are when pressed against him. It shouldn’t matter that you look like you want him to continue wherever this leads to.

But it does. He doesn’t want to stop, and he knows neither do you.

He grits his teeth in annoyance as he hisses at you, “Shut up.” 

Just like he did a while ago, he easily covers the tiny distance between your lips. He gets a little more greedy this time and slides his hand underneath your shirt, experimenting with what he can do to earn him another whimper from you. He’d like to revel on the sound of your meekness once again. 

It didn’t really take much. At the first contact of his palm on the bare skin of your waist, you instantly give him what he wants. 

Your soft moan fills his ears that he doesn’t hear the sudden clack of the door. 

“Y/n, did you do our - oh!”

You violently tug his head past the curve of your shoulder, making him take out his hand from your shirt and ram it against the floor to support himself. 

“Couldn’t you knock?” you ask breathlessly to whoever’s on the door.

He tries to free himself from you but judging from  how firm your grip is on his head, it doesn’t look like you want him to move from his current position. It doesn’t help that you’re almost choking him from how hard you’re pressing his neck against your collar bone. 

“I can’t breathe!” he whispers infuriatingly, but you don’t answer. You only clutch on his hair tighter.

“My bad, dude. I didn’t know you got yourself a boyfriend,” your friend says defensively. 

Out of all the possible times she could choose to come over, it had to be when you and Tsukishima were making out. You’re a tiny bit grateful for being stopped when neither of you wanted to, but more embarrassed that it was because your friend walked in on the scene. 

“Can you come back later?” you ask almost nervously, concerned that she might recognize that it’s Tsukishima leaning against you. She knows him because they used to have classes together last semester.

Your friend just shrugs it off and is about to close the door when her eyes catch Tsukishima’s jacket. Her eyes widen in shock when she sees the logo of the Sendai Frogs. 

“Holy shit! Are you dating one of your players?” She looks back at you incredulously. 

“Get out!” you yell out from agitation. 

She flinches from the sudden raise of your voice but is quick to understand that you need the privacy right now. “Okay, okay. I got it,” she mutters apologetically and whispers, “Sorry,” before she finally shuts the door.

You let out a sigh of relief when she leaves without figuring out that it was Tsukishima. As for him, he tears your hand away and faces you with fury seeping from his orbs. 

“Were you trying to kill me?!”

You dismiss his anger and regard him impassively. “Then would you have preferred your face being seen?”

“So what? It’s not like she knows me,” he leans forward towards you a bit to emphasize his point with the same angry tone.

With his face too close for comfort, you suddenly become aware of the fact that you’re still trapped between the arms planted on both sides of you. 

“Um, can you back off for a bit?” You turn away tensely, worried that you might want an encore of what your friend interrupted if you continue staring at him from this distance.

“Huh?” He sounds like he has no idea what you’re talking about so you place both hands on his chest to softly push him away.

He must have realized it then because he lifts himself off of you and sits back to upright. 

You try to settle down but to no avail. Your heart is still beating abnormally, despite being now  rid of your nosy friend and his dangerous proximity. The deafening silence rings in your ears and the air feels heavy again, your mind drifting dangerously back to the earlier events.

“This is your fault,” Tsukishima mumbles with a frown. 

You gasp at his audacity. “Excuse me? You’re the one who kissed me!” 

“Because you ...” he trails off before he could say what was going on in his head: because you looked so damn fascinating that he caved to his want for a repeat of that night. So it really is your fault. If you hadn’t kissed him back then, he wouldn’t have found out how exquisite it feels to have you succumb to him. Then, he wouldn’t have been tempted to kiss you at all. 

Shit. He sounds stupid, justifying his own reckless behavior. 

He looks down at your waist which he was just touching. If your friend hadn’t barged in, how far will you two have gone? 

He shudders at the thought. No. There was absolutely no fucking way you two would’ve done that. He won’t be able to stomach it if that happens. You might have been tolerable today, but that doesn’t mean he can stand the idea of going beyond making out with you. 

Did he just admit to himself that he doesn’t mind kissing you? 

“Because I what?” you ask him with an addled look. 

“Nothing,” he answers as he starts fixing his stuff. 

“Hey, what’re you doing? We still need to do a comparison write-up for the videos,” you say,  watching him pack up. 

“Let’s just pick up where we left off when we meet again.” He can’t be around you any longer today. You’re causing too much havoc to his usually sensible mindspace. 

“Aren’t we going to talk about what just happened?”

Not bothering to heed your question, he continues what he’s doing. After he puts the only remaining binder he has out back in his bag, he faces you. 

“No,” is his answer before he slings his bag over his shoulder and leaves your room. 

--

Damn that Tsukishima. 

As if you don’t have enough on your plate already, he adds another massive one on the pile. You wish you can just disregard it, push it at the back of your head like you did the first time. But you can’t. 

You were supposed to study the Lion’s new line, but you just end up zoning out every five minutes as the scene replays in your head. You even transferred to the lobby even though you hated working there just for a change of pace.

It turned out useless as people you know kept on stopping by for small chats. You couldn’t focus on the game footages which needs your full concentration to analyze.

So there you are, restless and distraught,  as you enter the gym with no printed output because you hadn’t accomplished anything at all.

Not that they need it today but you just generally like to have them ready in advance. You know your team. Almost everyone has their day jobs or are students like you. You don’t want to spring a hell load of reading material on them days away from the game. 

On top of that, you’re lagging behind the schedule you set for your project with the Tsukishima. No thanks to him for walking out the past two meetings.

“Do you have the profile of the Lions ready?” Coach Mira asks first thing when you get to her side. 

Great. Just great. You were hoping no one brings it up, but of course Coach has to. You did tell her you’d have it prepared by today.

“Sorry, Coach. I’ll have them ready by next training,” you quickly compromise for your setback. 

She swiftly turns to you with concern. “Are you sick?”

“Oh, no. I’m totally fine, Coach. Just had something to do last night,” you lie despite the guilt in your gut. The last time you were late with the team reports was when you became extremely sick. This time it’s because of some blonde guy that’s somewhere across the gym.

She breathes a relieved sigh. “Thank God. I don’t really mind them being not as early as usual. I just don’t want our trusted manager getting sick.”

Her small compliment makes you feel a bit better. “Thanks, Coach.” You give her a faint smile.

“Alright, can you toss to the spikers?”

You nod and quickly turn around, only to see the cause of your delayed work blocking your path. Typically, you’d say something but you’re too bothered with what happened that you just move sideways to avoid him. However, he moves in the same direction you do. So you go the opposite way again, only for him to follow. 

At this point, you couldn’t suppress the dry laugh that comes from how spectacularly ironic the scene is. 

You look up to him. “Tsukishima,” you call out as you give him that too sweet of a grin he hates so much. “I’d appreciate it if you use those blocking skills on the court instead of me, hmm?”

This is the you Tsukishima is very much aware of - detestable to the core. Yet, on top of his annoyance is relief. It’s reassuring to see that you’re still very much the manager he knows you are, not the somehow tolerable person he made out with last time.

So instead of answering, he does the usual and turns deaf ears at you. While you’re sneering at him, he moves further to the side and successfully gets past you. 

He’d tell you about his fix for the current dilemma you two are having, but with Coach within earshot, he’d rather not. He doesn’t want anyone, especially the team, knowing that you’re spending some time alone with him, let alone getting physical with him. He’ll never hear the end of it from them, so he’ll just text you later. 

--

You can’t believe Tsukishima actually suggested doing the project at their home. You don’t think he’s the kind of person who invites classmates to their house just because of school work. It is hard to imagine him introducing people to whoever he’s living with, let alone you.

Maybe they’re gone for the day. That’s why he invited you over. 

You ring the doorbell of the address he gave you. Quite soon enough, another tall blonde person opens the door. He must be another Tsukishima - a nice Tsukishima with a pleasant face that looks nothing like the permanent nonchalance plastered on the face of your middle blocker. 

“Yes?” the pleasant Tsukishima asks. 

You greet him with a warm smile. When you ask for the other Tsukishima you’re going to work with, his face noticeably lights up. “You’re looking for Kei?” he asks softly but with audible excitement. 

“Um, yeah. He asked me to come.” You’re very curious as to why he looks so pleased, but it’d be rude to ask him upfront when you just met him.

Before the guy in front of you can even answer, you already hear the voice of the one you’re looking for. 

“Let her in, Nii-chan.”

Nii-chan? Oh my God. That’s the cutest thing ever! You didn’t think Tsukki’s the kind of guy to address his older sibling like that. 

“I’m Akiteru by the way,” the older Tsukishima introduces himself as he opens the door for you.

“Y/n. here,” you respond delightfully then give him a gracious bow before entering. 

As you remove your shoes upon stepping inside, you already see Tsukki seated in the living room with his stuff set up. You don’t know if he’s started working on the project but he’s already focused on his laptop.  

You would've made yourself feel at home, but this is not solely his place. You don’t want to be impolite. 

“You can go join him, Y/n. I’ll go to my room now,” Akiteru kindly tells you and turns around. 

“Wait,” you blurt out.

He faces your way again. “Yeah?”

“Can I call you Aki-san? I don’t want to confuse you when I say ‘Tsukishima.’” 

He gently holds both your hands and pulls them up as he clasps them together with his.

“You can call me Aki-nii-chan if you want,” he says with a hopeful look on his face. You can tell he’s got the completely wrong idea about you and Tsukishima, which confirms your earlier assumption.

Yet instead of being uncomfortable, you find yourself amused. Tsukishima must have never brought a girl home before, thus the excitement and false assumption from Akiteru. 

“I think I like Aki-san better,” you respond respectfully, hoping that you don’t have to spell it out for him.

“Stop it. She’s just a classmate,” you hear Tsukishima say.

Akiteru lets go of your hand and laughs apologetically. “Sorry about that. I’ll leave you two alone now.” He smiles briefly at you and heads upstairs.

You walk towards Tsukishima and sit beside him. “What were you thinking inviting me over?” you instantly ask. You know he must already be aware of the possibility that his relatives would very likely  assume things, which was just proven true by Akiteru.

“As much I despise the idea of having you here, this is better than being in your place,” he says with his attention still on his laptop.

“How so?” You glance at his laptop and see that he’s working on a different subject than the one you have together. When notices it, he closes the tabs and faces you.

“We’re not completely alone here. We won’t get unwelcome urges.”

Oh dear Lord. So that’s what this is about. He thinks that being alone with you is the cause of it.

“I hate to remind you this, Tsukishima, but the first time we kissed was in the middle of a club packed with people. It’s not the place that’s the issue,” you emphasize the last sentence.

Before you went there, you decided to just accept the fact that you and Tsukishima have this uncanny attraction towards each other. The last meeting’s events were proof of that. Instead of getting all worked up trying to deny it or disregard it as something else, you just acknowledge it for what it really is. 

“Then what is?” Unlike you, he seems to entirely shut out the disturbing conclusion you came up with. That’s why he decided to meet here instead of your place despite whatever his family might think.

Too bad for him though, you’re about to break the news to him.

“We’re attracted to each other,” you declare without any reluctance.

“No,” he quickly rejects the notion. “I don’t care what you feel about me, but I am not in any way attracted to you,” he says every word with solid conviction that you’re not sure if it’s meant to convince you or himself.

“Right. Why did you kiss me last time then?” you counter.

“Whatever the reason is, that doesn’t mean I’m attracted to you. I tolerate you when we’re not in the gym. That’s the extent of what I feel for you.”

You sigh as you rub your face with your palms. “Why do you have to be such a fucking tsundere, Tsukki? I’m doing this for the both of us.”

His face contorts to one that’s filled with utter displeasure. “How the hell is this beneficial for us?”

“Hear me out and think about it before you say ‘no’ again,” you begin. “I think we should just give in to this weird thing going on between us.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

You’re starting to get annoyed at this point. His denial of the situation is making him stupid. Does he think this is easy for you? You don’t want this either. But what can you do? The thick, unmistakable attraction is there.

For fuck’s sake, do you really have to spoonfeed it to him?

“Tsukishima Kei,” you let out one heavy puff before you say it. “You’re allowed to kiss me when it’s just the two of us,” you announce.

You’ve never felt more offended than when he looks utterly disgusted at your proposal. 

“Your head’s way too big from all the moronic ideas you're stuffing in it. Just because I initiated it last time doesn’t mean I want to do it again,” he utters each word with unrepressed contempt that makes you feel humiliated for suggesting such a thing.

You’re not a sensitive person. You can easily laugh off whatever anyone throws your way. Especially with Tsukishima since you know much he dislikes you. But that one - that one hurt. 

You shake your head and start taking out your stuff. “You’re right. It was a moronic idea. So forget I even suggested it,” you say while setting up your laptop on the table. 

You can’t stand the repugnant look on his face so you keep your eyes in front of you even if your laptop is still booting up.

“Let’s just do what we should be doing. Sorry, I wasted our time with my stupidity.” You don’t want to, but now you’re starting to really feel sorry for yourself. 

It shouldn’t be new or surprising to you. This is Tsukishima. His personality is terrible as hell. Yet, you wouldn’t mind a few kisses from him every now and then. You bared yourself just now by admitting that. 

Tsukishima must be so pleased you finally shut up because you don’t hear anything from him. You’re thankful for it because you don’t want to talk either.

Instead of dwelling on self-loathing, you distract yourself by giving your all to the project at hand. You’re already behind schedule so all the more reason to be efficient. 

No one speaks while you completely lose yourself on your tasks for the day. You don't know how long you’ve been going at it but before you even know it, you’re almost done with your share of work for the day. 

You just need Tsukishima’s output to finish yours.

With your head occupied with the amount of work you need to get done, you easily got over the tiny pang you felt earlier. You turn to Tsukishima and ask him for his write up. 

He frowns at your request. “You’re done already?”

You nod. “Just need your thingy then I can go home.”

He checks your laptop to see for himself and scowls when he confirms that you really are almost done.

“Give me 30 minutes,” he says as he begins rushing his own work.

“Don’t rush it, Tsukishima. I can do other stuff while I wait for you. Also, if you don’t mind. Do you have coffee?” You can feel the exhaustion begin to set in your body. For the past four nights, you’ve been getting three to fours of sleep only. 

As the only manager of the Frogs, you constantly have to move around the gym to help them out. But unlike the players, your real work is outside the gym - sorting paperwork, gathering information about other teams, coordinating practice matches, and so on. On top of that, you have your academic subjects to deal with.

You’re honestly used to it. But being a graduating student this semester, things are tougher for you. Not to mention the shit with Tsukishima, which has been bothering you for the past few nights. 

Well, at least that one’s been dealt with already.

You must have spaced out because you did not notice Tsukishima leave, and are surprised when he’s suddenly beside you with a cup of coffee already at hand. 

“Did you put sugar?” You might have sounded a bit demanding, but you’re too tired to be polite.

“No. Did you want some?” he asks back.

You get the mug and take that first sip of coffee that wakes up your almost dead body. “No, this is perfect,” you comment with a weary smile as you replace the current doc file open with the draft of the Lions’ profile you’ve been working on. 

Tsukishima can’t help but look at you once in a while even though he needs to finish already so you can finalize yours as well.

You’re completely immersed in what you’re doing, taking the cup of coffee to your mouth every now and then without even taking your eyes off your screen. 

He thought you’re getting restless but the quickening clack of your keyboard is proving otherwise. In fact, it’s becoming distracting. He’s about to put his headphones on so he can concentrate on his own task when he hears the abrupt slowing down of your typing. What’s alarming is he starts hearing you take excruciatingly deep breaths that wavers when you let them out. 

One look at you and he knows that you’re not okay. You’re blinking way too fast and the corners of your mouth are almost drooping. Those and your uneven breathing is enough to cause him to worry. 

He grabs your shoulder and forces you to look at him. “Oy, what’s wrong with you?”

You look at him with no clue as to what he’s talking about. “Hmm?”

The lack of life in your orbs is very concerning. It’s nothing compared to how you looked like when you were dead beat on the way home from the crocodile farm. 

“Are you having hard time breathing?” 

“Oh, that,” you let out a laugh that seems to contain the last strand of energy you have. “I’m just palpitating. Sorry if it’s distracting. You should go put your headphones on,” you say with a dead tone as you start picking up the pace again on what you’re doing. 

Just palpitating? Jesus Christ. 

He quickly takes away your coffee and slides it to his side of the table. It immediately catches your attention, your eyes absent-mindedly following the cup. “Hey, that’s my coffee. I need that,” you weakly complain.

“You need to rest,” he contradicts you. 

“I don’t need rest. I need to finish this and for me to finish this, I need,” you involuntarily inhale sharply and release it heavily before you complete your sentence, “that coffee.”

He checks your laptop and finds a comprehensive report on the updated line up of the Hiashi Automotive Lions. For someone who looks like she’s about to faint, it’s consistent with the other reports you’ve given the team previously - organized and well done. 

“You’re almost done here. Go take a nap.”

“Why would I take a nap if I’m almost done?” Despite the exhaustion evident in your whole being, you’re still determined to continue working. 

“You look like you’re about to pass out and I don’t want to take care of you when you do. So take a fucking nap on the couch,” he snaps. He didn’t mean to sound that harsh but it’s really getting on his nerves how you’re almost killing yourself with overworking.

You stare at him vacantly for a short while but do what he said. You drag yourself towards the couch and lazily lie yourself on it.

You cross your arms and rest them on the cushioned surface. Then, you snuggle your head on top of your arms as you wiggle your legs to a comfortable position. 

“You can use the pillows” he informs you.

“I’m fine,” you mutter with your eyes already shut. 

As much as he wants to get things done as fast as he can, your uneven heaving is a cause of concern. He keeps glancing behind him to check if you’re okay.

If he knew you’d be like this, he wouldn’t have given you the damn coffee.

He’s only able to start focusing on the project when your breathing becomes steady. Still, it took him more than 30 minutes to finish. He looks over to where you are again and calls out your name. However, you don’t even move an inch.

He walks towards the couch and sits at the unoccupied space by your waist. From this distance, he can see that your features are a bit more relaxed now even with just less than an hour of sleep.

He’s certain that you’ve been overworking yourself. It’s only because of your stubbornness that you were able to pull off the things you accomplished tonight. 

He’d let you rest a bit more longer but it’s going to get too late for you to go home on your own if he does. So he places a hand on your arms and gently shakes it.

“Mmmmm,” you hum on the arm you’re leaning at before slowly opening your eyes. With heavy lids, you plant your hand on the cushion and forcefully prop yourself up. Yet when you manage to sit up, you rest your head on your shoulder and close your eyes again.

“2 minutes,” you mumble sleepily.

He watches you fight the drowsiness that’s completely settled in. Instead of complaining when you still haven’t snapped out of it, he moves to sit beside you. He puts a gentle hand on the side of your head and softly tugs you to lean on his shoulder.

The moment your temple touches his shoulder, you bolt right up. His unexpected action has sucked the sleepiness out of you for a moment as you begin to put your guard up.

“I’m up. I’m up,” you announce in an alert manner as you scoot away from him. You frantically rub your eyes to get them to open.

So he isn’t imagining it: what he said a while ago got to you. Else, you wouldn’t have moved away like you’re allergic to his touch. You had been unusually quiet after he lashed out at you, but can you blame him for doing so? You’re basically saying that it’s okay to make out when it’s just you two. It’s fucking ridiculous. You should be thinking about how to avoid the situation from happening again, not succumb to it.

So why does he feel like a dick for calling you a moron? And why is he upset now that you’re actually doing what he wants you to do? Also, how the fuck are you so charming even when you’re half asleep before him?

“Are you done with yer stuff?” you slur as you crack your neck side to side.

“Yeah. But you should go home already.”

You blink several times as you check the wall clock across the room for the time. “Okay. Just e-mail it to me so I can do it before our next meeting.”

“No. Focus on your other shit then continue it when we meet next time,” he sternly says.

“We’re already behind schedule, Tsukishima. Just send it to me,” you insist despite how faint your voice is.

“I said no.” He doesn’t dislike you enough to make you overwork yourself to death. 

You close your eyes again and shake your head in surrender. “Fine. I’m too tired to argue further.”

Just when you’re about to stand up, he grabs your arm to stop you. Your eyes open up as you peer at him with confusion.

“I didn’t mean what I said earlier,” he utters with his best attempt to sound unbothered. 

Your brows crumple up from his statement that came out of nowhere. He just hopes that your fatigued self figures out what he’s referring to because he doesn’t want to elaborate on it. 

Sure enough, a palpable glint of understanding shows in your face when your mouth opens to form a silent “ah.”

“That, huh?” You respond just as vaguely as he had been. “Don’t worry about it,” you come up with a thrifty smile as you return your gaze to him.

“You were right anyways. It is a moronic idea. I just thought that maybe if we just let it ride out, it’ll pass. But meh. I just misread it and thought you enjoyed it as much as I do,” you explain in a nonchalant manner despite the confession that came along with it in the end.

Then, you giggle disorientedly. “You can rest easy now, Tsukishima. These disgusting lips of mine won’t come anywhere near you again, mkay?” 

He should be relieved, rejoicing even, that he’s pushed you away enough to keep your distance from him.

Yet what you said is gnawing at him for he didn’t say that. He never said your lips are disgusting.

Admittedly, he regrets kissing you on both occasions that it happened, but he’s never thought of it as disgusting.

Infuriating, yes, but not disgusting. 

“I’ll go fix my stuff now,” you say.

“They’re not disgusting,” he utters before you get off the couch. 

You look at him with vacant eyes that have begun to droop heavily again as a yawn comes out of you. You cover your mouth with your hands then lazily drop them to your lap afterwards.

You open your eyes and try to focus your sight again.

“Sorry, I conked out for like three seconds. Did you say something?” 

On a regular day, he’d think that you’re messing with him so he’ll repeat what he said. But the exhaustion still evident on your face convinces him that you really didn’t hear what he said. 

“Yeah,” he responds flatly before he leans closer to your face. He tilts his head a bit to the side and gently captures the warm softness of your lips.

The kiss lacks the heated intensity the previous two had. It is just one tender nip where he lingers just a tad bit longer to savor the taste of coffee mixed with your own.

He slowly withdraws from you but remains only an inch away that he still feels your breath mingling with his. 

“Your lips aren’t disgusting,” he repeats for you to hear this time.

Part 3 || Part 5 || masterlist

taglist (those crossed out can’t be tagged)

@ameliaxo @suikrem @akaashisslave @tsumurai  @loving-unicorns106 @flairlust @geektastic84 @anaiss97 @berna-dette @just4readingfics @suteorra @xxekitten69xx @simp4tsukkii @music-is-all-i-need @keshinslittlegirl @raspberrysunshinebby @iminlovewhaikyuu @pdiddy11 @lightyagamami @sailorscout1902 @lovershaikyuu  @expectonothinfromme @finnydraws @namelessidentity @hqbeesun @yatoatyourservice @mrkozume @suzuyamitsuki @celestialarchiveshq​

#tsukishima fluff #tsukishima angst #tsukishima smut #tsukishima x reader #haikyuu fluff #i hate tags

[dilly-oh]

Trashy Romance Novel

    “Naruto, you frigging idiot,” Iruka began hotly, barging into the hospital room, “of all the stupid, brainless things you could have done, this is by far the-”

    He stopped. 

    The person lying in the small bed was definitely not Naruto. It was a grown-ass man with messy gray hair and a faded scar over one eye, the sterile white sheets pulled up over his nose, apparently sound asleep. Iruka stared at him for a long moment, dumbfounded, before it clicked. 

    Oh shit, he thought. This is the wrong room. I'm in the wrong room. I need to hurry up and leave before- 

    The stranger's eyes cracked open and he squinted up at Iruka in confusion.

    “...Who're you?” he croaked out. Iruka managed a rather articulate gurgle of dismay, frozen in sheer mortification. He considered the distance between him and the IV drip, wondering if he could dose the man back to unconsciousness before he could scream or buzz for a nurse. “Are those for me?” the man asked, sitting up in bed to regard the bouquet of flowers in Iruka's arms. He opened his mouth to disagree, but then the sheet slipped off the man's face, and Iruka suddenly thought giving him the flowers might not be such a bad idea. He definitely deserved a thank you after gifting him with...that. He didn't even protest as the alarmingly handsome stranger reached out and took the bundle of flowers, opening the card on top. 

    “You're a dumbass. Love, Iruka.” he read aloud, then looked up at Iruka, batting his eyes. “Aww, babe, you shouldn't have.”

    “Whoa whoa WHOA!” Iruka finally blurted out, his face burning half from embarrassment at the situation, half from the thinly-veiled flirting. “I'm sorry, sir, there's been a mistake. I'm in the wrong room and-”

    “You mean you aren't my doting husband I tragically forgot about due to amnesia and now you have to win back my love by passionately recreating the story of our romantic union?”

    “Excuse me, WHAT-”

    “Sorry, I've been reading trashy romance novels. They're the only books this hospital has. Can't blame me for trying.” The man shrugged, then reluctantly handed back the bouquet. “Who's the lucky person they're actually for? Must be someone real special if you're calling them a dumbass to their face.”

    “My kid brother,” Iruka explained with a sigh. “He's here with a head injury.”

    “Ouch.” The man winced in sympathy. “Poor kid.”

    “Not really. He head-butted a brick wall.” 

    “...May I ask why?”

    “Because his stupid boyfriend walked into it and he had to, and I quote, 'defend his honor'.” Iruka paused, looking the man up and down. Despite being a bit on the pale side, he looked perfectly fine, pun very much intended. It was almost unfair how well he pulled off the hospital gown (although Iruka would much rather be the one pulling it off, wink wink, nudge nudge). “So...what're you in for?” His voice dropped to a whisper. “Was...was it the crappy romance novels? Did they rot your brain?”

    “I have an extremely rare, aggressive form of cancer with only two weeks left to live and the only cure is a kiss from my one true love...” The man swooned back onto the pillow and looked expectantly up at Iruka, who rolled his eyes. 

    “Yeah they definitely did-”

    “Alright you got me. Broke my leg.” He pulled the sheet off his lower half, revealing his legs, one of which was wrapped in a cast, propped up on some pillows. Several encouraging words from friends were scrawled on the white surface in marker, one of them a jarring green highlighter. It almost hurt Iruka's eyes to look at it. 

    “...How did you break it?” he asked, unable to contain his curiosity. 

    “I heroically threw myself in front of a speeding car in order to save the life of my beloved-” 

    “Okay how did you really break it?”

    “Tripped chasing after my pug at the park,” the man admitted with a weary sigh, his shoulders slumping in defeat. 

    “...Is the dog okay?” Iruka asked after a long pause.

    The stranger burst out laughing. It was a nice laugh, warm and contagious enough to elicit a chuckle out of Iruka, who was growing more and more intrigued. He couldn't deny the spark of attraction he felt for the other man, spontaneous as it was, and it seemed to be reciprocated. He didn't even know his name, but something about the man made Iruka want to know more about him. Maybe this was like some trashy romance novel, where the two would-be lovers met under unusual circumstances and fell instantly in-

    “Hey, Kakashi,” a man with short brown hair said, suddenly walking into the room, “I brought the next three volumes of your shitty porn series from the hospital library and a couple pairs of clean underwear, so you can stop fucking texting me the specific style and brand you want from home, you're so damn picky-” He stopped dead as he caught sight of Iruka, pausing for a beat, then glanced at the man in the bed, his eyes darting nervously between the two. “Umm...am I...interrupting something?”

    A cold pit of ice yawned open in Iruka's stomach. 

    Oh my GOD. Here he was, borderline flirting with some stranger in a random hospital room, when obviously the man already had a boyfriend and Iruka was just making a complete ass of himself. The flirting had probably been misinterpretation on his part anyway, and if not, the guy was a total dick. Either way, enough was enough. His face aflame with rage and shame, Iruka spun towards the door. 

    “I need to go.”

    “Hey, wait!” Kakashi or whatever his name was called after him. 

    Iruka was already out the door, ignoring the man's cries. Screw him, and screw Naruto, too. He was the cause of this whole mess. Iruka would just text him later. He was probably making out with Sasuke anyway and wouldn't even notice his brother hadn't popped in to visit. Iruka needed out of this hospital NOW. He turned towards the stairs, immediately got lost, and spent the next five minutes growing increasingly flustered as he stormed through the winding hallways, desperately searching for the exit. Why the fuck was the hospital so damn BIG-

    “Hey! Iruka! Hold up!”

    Iruka spun around to see Kakashi speeding towards him in a wheelchair, his boyfriend dutifully pushing him down the hallway at a dead run, IV dangling after him on its cord like a faithful dog. The wheelchair stopped with an audible squeal in front of him.

    “What- where did- did you steal that?!” Iruka hissed in outrage. 

    “Of course not, don't be silly,” Kakashi protested, sounding offended. “The guy it belongs to was asleep in his bed. I'm just borrowing it. I'll return it later. Anyway, Iruka-”

    “Were you flirting with me in there?” Iruka demanded, cutting him off. “Be honest.”

    “Abso-fucking-lutely,” Kakashi said without an ounce of remorse. “So can I have your number or what?” Iruka bristled. 

    “You're a piece of shit! I can't believe you, hitting on me like this right in front of your boyfriend! You have some nerve-”

    “Wait...boyfriend?” Kakashi cocked his head in confusion. “You mean Yams?”

    “The fuck do YAMS have to do with anything-”

    “Hi, that's me,” the short-haired man said, raising a hand. “Yamato, actually. 'Yams' to my friends. Which is what we are. Just...friends.” Iruka scowled at him suspiciously. 

    “Friends? Don't fuck with me. You brought him underwear-”

    “Really close friends,” Yamato reiterated. “Also, roommates. It's awful. I can't get away from him.” Iruka studied him for a moment, but couldn't spot any hint of deception. The man's almond-shaped eyes were surprisingly honest.

    “So you two...aren't dating?” he asked hesitantly. Yamato gave him a horrified look.

    “Dear God, NO. Kakashi is the WORST. He's lazy as hell, procrastinates til the last minute, is perpetually late to everything-”

    “You are a shit wingman-” Kakashi began. 

    “He needs to know what he's getting into,” Yamato snapped at him, then turned back to Iruka. “Seriously, though. You should run while you still can. There's hope for you.”

    “Don't listen to him,” Kakashi cut in. “I'm a fucking catch. Which is exactly why you should let your flaxen hair down, rip your shirt open to reveal your heaving bosom, and throw yourself into my arms-”

    “Will you cut that out?!” Iruka burst out impatiently. “Life is not a trashy romance novel.”

    “You sure about that?” Kakashi said, quirking an eyebrow. “Because I met you in a hospital through total coincidence. After really hitting it off, we had a misunderstanding brought on by miscommunication. Then I chased after you in a fucking wheelchair to declare my undying attraction to you. If that isn't a plot to a trashy romance novel, I don't know what the fuck is. At least it's not raining right now.”

    “I dunno, it might be drizzling,” Yamato said, glancing at a window.

    Iruka paused, considering.

    “I guess it...would make a pretty good book,” he admitted quietly. “The only thing is...I'm not sure what happens next.”

    “That part's for us to write,” Kakashi said, his tone eager. “Only we can complete the story.”

    “Aaaaand I'm going to puke,” Yamato stated. 

    “Sorry, we crossed the line from 'trashy' into 'sappy'.” Kakashi shook his head. “Anyway. Iruka. Please, I'm begging you. Let me sweep you off your feet. Just...give me a chance.”

    “I'll do you one better,” Iruka said after a pause. “I'll give you my number.” Stealing a marker from the nearby nurse's station, he bent and wrote his cell number on Kakashi's cast, then straightened and held out the bouquet. “Here, you can have these. The message works for you too, I guess.”

    Kakashi accepted the flowers with a laugh, taking an appreciative sniff. 

    “And now, I shall ride dramatically off into the sunset,” he said with complete seriousness. “Come, my valiant steed. Awaaaay!”

    “I will push you down the stairs,” Yamato grumbled as he spun the wheelchair around and started back down the hallway. Iruka watched them go with a fond smile on his face, giddy with anticipation. 

    He was eager to read the next few chapters in his life.

    Including the steamy bits. 

(Written for @kakairu-fest KakaIru Month 2021, Day Twelve Prompt: Hospitals)

#kakairu #KakaIru Month 2021 #hatake kakashi #umino iruka #naruto #hospital au #crappy romance novels #all the cliches

[softlikethesunset12]

The Most Amazing Coffee

A/N: Hi everyone, here is chapter 3! Thank you guys so, so much for all the response this story is getting. It means a lot :) 🥰🥰

Mistakes are mine. Enjoy! 

Ps. Here is Chapter 1 if you haven’t read it yet. And Chapter 2 too

Chapter 3

The rest of my shift I can only think about how it was to see Peeta again. I don’t really know how it made me feel, I only know that I got a weird warm feeling in my chest every time he smiled at me. And those blue eyes. I just can’t get them out of my head.

I promised Annie (my other best friend) that we would go to a bar tonight. I don’t really feel like it, but I promised her, so I’ll just have to suck it up. And what’s wrong with letting loose a little bit?

My shift ends and I’m walking back to my apartment thinking about how easily Peeta made me ‘confess’ that not everything was and is going good in my life. I never really talk about what happened in high school and at the beginning of college. But maybe I do want to talk about it…with him.

I walk through the door of my apartment to see Johanna. But she’s not alone…she’s with Thom. Her boyfriend. Yes, you heard that right, Johanna Mason has a boyfriend. They are currently in a make out session, so I loudly drop my bag on the floor and hang my jacket on the coat rack. I walk into the kitchen to grab something to drink when I hear Jo say something while wiping her bob haircut out of her face, “Hi Brainless, how was your day?”

“Pretty good actually.” I blush slightly, I curse under my breath and will my blush away but of course Jo already saw it.

“Where are you blushing for?” she says, a slight suspicious tone in her voice.

I walk towards the couch, sit down next to her -she sits on Thom’s lap- and say, “Nothing…” Not making eye contact instead looking at Thom, “Hi Thom.” I add.

She snorts, “You really are brainless if you think I believe that.”

“Fine…” I sigh. “Peeta Mellark came in today.”

Jo looks at me and says, “Peeta Mellark? As in the guy from that amazing bakery?”

“That’s the one. We went to high school together.” I say trying to play it cool.

“You went to high school together?!” Jo asks disbelieving. I can only nod, “You actually went to high school with an amazing baker ánd he’s hot. Win – win situation if you ask me.” She winks at me.

Thom looks at her with an amusing smile, she adds to him, “Not as hot as you of course.”

“Yeah I know he is hot. But it’s…it’s complicated…” I trail off not knowing what to say.

“Seems simple to me. He’s hot, a baker and single. Wait…he is single right?” She asks.

“I don’t know, didn’t ask. He came in with his friend. And we…we kinda talked about going out together.” I say shyly.

“WHAT?! And you are only telling me this now?!!” Jo practically shouts at me. “How did the conversation go? Spill the tea Brainless.” She orders me.

“Well, he came in and I didn’t recognize him at first. When he came to order, I didn’t look at his face so when I asked his name for on the cup he said “Peeta, Peeta Mellark”. Then I definitely recognized him.” I say this in one breath and look at her. She nods at me to move on and then I tell the rest of the story.

When I’m finished, she looks at me and says, “Yeah he totally likes you. But he didn’t ask your number, right?”

“You think so?” I say blushing and looking at the ground. I add, “And no, he didn’t, and I didn’t think of it to ask his number until now. I totally forgot.”

“I am 99% sure that he likes you. And he must’ve forgotten it himself too. Maybe he comes to your work again this week.” Jo says casually but I hear a little hope in her voice.

I nod and say, “Yeah maybe.” And then I think about my evening plans and add, “Are you going to the bar with me and Annie tonight?”

“No, I’m going to stay in with Thom tonight.” She winks to Thom at this. “Thanks for the offer though. Is Madge going?” She asks.

“No, she is spending the night at Gale’s. So, it’s just me and Annie then.” I say shrugging.

XXXXXXXXX

After dinner there is a knock on the door. And a few seconds later Annie walks through it. I’ve met Annie in the park one day when I was running. We were following the same route and then we just started talking and just clicked.

“Are you ready for tonight Katniss?” She asks with a grin on her face. Her beautiful green eyes sparkling, her auburn hair in a high ponytail, and a little make-up on her face. She is wearing a mid-short sea green dress which hug her curves in all the right places. She looks and is really gorgeous, I’ve always thought so.

“Kind of.” I say giving her a half smile.

“Oh, come on Katniss. It’s gonna be fun!” She says enthusiastic.

“You are very excited.” I laugh at her.

“Yeah. Well maybe we come across someone tonight. You never know.” She says jokingly but I hear a little hope in her voice too.

I don’t want to come across someone except if it’s Peeta. But I don’t tell her that, I’m going to keep it to myself for a while so I can figure out what I’m feeling. So instead I say, “I don’t know what to wear. Can you pick an outfit for me?”

“Of course, I can! Does it matter if it’s a dress? I know you prefer jeans.” She says happily.

“A dress is fine. Just not too short please.” I give her a genuine smile.

“She smiles back at me and says, “That’s alright. Now let’s go.”

Forty minutes later I’m in a dark green long sleeve dress that ends just above my knees. It hugs the little curves I have in all the right places. My hair is in loose waves and hanging over my shoulders. I’m wearing for my feeling way to high black heels, but Annie said that they were fashionable. And Annie put on some mascara and clear lip gloss on my lips. I look beautiful, Annie did a really good job. I tell her so.

“You’ve made me look beautiful Annie. Thank you.”

“Oh, stop it Katniss. You are beautiful. I didn’t make you beautiful.” She says looking at me with a stern look.

I feel my cheeks warm up at her compliment. Can you call it that? I don’t know.

I smile shyly at her, “I love you Annie.”

She gives me a wide smile back, “Love you too. Now let’s go drink!”

XXXXXXXXX

We arrive at a nice bar, it’s busy but not too packed. We walk up to the bar to our order drinks. Annie orders two mojitos for us. Normally I don’t really go for cocktails but why the hell not? Annie leads me to a booth at the side of the bar and we sit down.

I am telling Annie everything about today and Peeta, when I suddenly feel eyes on us. I look up to see some guy staring at us, well staring at Annie. He stares at her like she is the only one in the bar. Hell, he stares at her likes she is the only one on the planet. I can’t really see how he looks but he doesn’t look like a creep even though he is staring intensely at her.

I nudge her and nod my head in his direction, “Someone looks interested.”

“What? No, he’s not.” She says waving it off.

“What makes you think he’s not? He is staring at you for 5 minutes straight. Maybe even longer.” I say to her suggestively. “Go talk to him. maybe you find it out.”

“I’m not going to talk to him. I can’t leave you sitting here all alone. This is a girls night out.”

“But you were the one that said that we could come across someone tonight.” I say suspiciously.

“I know but I’m coming back on that now.”

I look at her with confusion, but I don’t push further and say, “Alright then.”

However not even two minutes later, the guy decides to go for it himself. He is walking towards us. But he isn’t alone. A shock goes through me as I recognize the man behind him. It’s Peeta. And it is only now that I recognize the man, he’s with, it is Finnick, Peeta’s best friend. No wonder they’re together on a Friday night in a bar.

In no time they’re standing before us.

“Looks like we’re meeting again Katniss.” Peeta says looking at me like I’m the sunrise. “You look really beautiful.” He adds.

I blush and look at my drink. I have to practice on how I’m supposed to react to compliments because I suck. I look up though and look at him. Really look at him. He looks very handsome in a turtleneck, which compliment his broad, muscled shoulders, it’s a shade darker than his eyes. The color makes his eyes stand out. He is grinning, dimple in his cheek. It’s adorable. Annie snaps me out of my staring by nudging me.

“What? Oh yeah, right. Annie this is Peeta Mellark, we went to high school together. Peeta this is Annie Cresta, my best friend.” I say quickly. Annie gives me a knowing look and I try to keep my blush contained.

“Hi Annie. Nice to meet you.” He says warmly. I look past him to Finnick. He looks at a loss for words, still staring at Annie. I have a feeling that Finnick isn’t often tongue-tied. Peeta nudges his friend slightly. “H-hey I’m Finnick, Finnick Odair. But you can call me Finn.” He says smiling at Annie. Do I hear shyness in his voice? “Oh, hi Katniss.” He says absently as if he just now realized I was there too.

I look back at Peeta who is laughing silently about his tongue-tied friend. He catches my eye and motions his head towards the bar. I look at Annie, who is talking with Finn now, then back at Peeta and nod my head. I stand up and follow him.

“Finn was staring at her from the moment we came in...” Peeta says laughing out loud now. “I’ve never seen him tongue-tied like this. Normally he doesn’t even have to say a whole sentence and the girls are already sold.”

He must see my concerned face because he adds, “He is a good guy though, he’s not going to hurt her.”

“He better doesn’t. Because he’s not gonna survive that.” I say looking at him and Annie talking.

Peeta cocks an eyebrow, “Do I need to watch out?” He says a crooked grin on his face.

My head snaps back and we lock eyes, “Nah, he is the only one who has to watch out. But if he is a good guy like you said than he has nothing to worry about.” I say trying to sound intimidating but failing because I can’t contain my smile. He grins back at me and we’re just standing like this for a few minutes. But then Peeta breaks our staring competition by asking if I want another drink.

“Yes, another mojito please.” I answer. He orders for me and for himself. “I was thinking about how we came across each other today and I realized I didn’t ask your number. So hereby; can I have your number?” He asks a tone of shyness in his voice.

I smile at him, man I have smiled more today than I smiled in couple of months, and say “Of course.” He grabs his phone and hands it to me. I type my number in it and give it back to him. A few seconds later I feel my phone vibrate in my purse, I grab it and see a message from Peeta. I look up at him, he smiles and says, “Now you have my number too.”

XXXXXXX

I wake up the next day by the sound of Johanna in the kitchen. I grab my phone and look at the time -11 a.m.- I’m glad it’s Saturday and that I start at 6 p.m. because I would be so late if it was a weekday. I lay back against my pillows and my mind wanders to last night. It was in one word, amazing. Peeta was really amazing company. I liked talking to him. After I gave him my number, we ordered more drinks and talked for another hour or so about life. He told me how he met Finnick and how they became best friends, I told him about Annie, Johanna and Madge. He knows Madge of course; we all went to the same high school.

At some point Annie and Finnick came to us to say that they were calling it a night. They didn’t go home together but I did see that Annie likes him. And I have to admit that Finn is a nice guy and that I like them together. I know that they just met but I can already see it happen. After that Peeta asked me if he could walk me back to my apartment. I said yes because I wasn’t ready to say goodbye to him yet. We walked slowly back to my apartment, holding hands and I couldn’t help imagining how his warm and solid hands would feel like on me or how’d they feel tangled in my hair. When we arrived at my door, he kissed my cheek and wished me a good night.

A warm feeling spreads through my chest at the memory. He can go from adorable to hot in just a few seconds. I think I’m falling for him. I don’t know for sure because I haven’t really felt something like this before. That’s a good thing, right? I’m snapped out of my thoughts by the sound of my phone. I look at the screen and I smile like an idiot when I see from who it is.

Peeta (11:30 a.m.)

Good morning Katniss :) How’d you sleep?

Katniss (11:30 a.m.)

Hi Peeta, I slept pretty well :) You?

Peeta (11:31 a.m.)

Me too, very well. I had fun last night. It was really nice talking to you.

Katniss (11:31 a.m.)

Me too, very much. I can get used to talking to you ;)

Where is this flirting girl coming from? I barely recognize myself, but I can’t find it in me too care. Peeta is making me a giddy teenager. And I actually like it. 

Peeta (11:32 a.m.)

Good to know. Because it’s the other way around too.

Yes, definitely falling for him. The warm feeling in my chest is only getting bigger and there are butterflies in my stomach.

Peeta (11:33 a.m.)

I have to get to the bakery. Talk to you later?

Katniss (11:33 a.m.)

Definitely! Have a good day at work Peeta :)

Peeta (11:34 a.m.)

Thank you. Can’t wait to talk to you later!

I really feel like a giddy teenager, grinning like an idiot at my phone. I don’t think I’m making lunch myself today.

#everlark #everlark fanfiction #fic update #modern au #TMAC #peeta mellark #katniss everdeen #finnick odair #johanna mason #softlikethesunset12 writes

[orchidbreezefc]

oh damn i never knew wood turning was even a thing? i just looked it up and it's really cool, i've definitely seen stuff made by doing it before but i didn't know that's how it was made! about jared, i definitely interpreted him as an artist, especially from the part in mag 49 where he twists the femur into a spiral and keeps it for himself instead of throwing it in the hole, but it'd be cool to know more about how you viewed him through your lens 👀

wood turning is SUPER COOL. there are everyday examples of it everywhere in like, furniture legs or staircase banisters, but professionals do some absolutely batshit stuff with pieces that have textures and multiple different central axes and shit

actually, i think a spiral is a shape you can create on a lathe, though i couldn't tell you how. that was beyond me, i mostly just made like 10 million pens lmao. no idea where most of them went

i definitely read jared as a more nuanced guy than you'd assume from a giant flesh monster who grafts extra arms onto himself for kicks. he did get the eldritch powers from reading a book, and he goes on to make the flesh garden, which is absolutely an artistic endeavor. the sadism is secondary, if he cares about that at all.

like, i don't think jared's an academic scholar or anything. from a podcast made in london it's not a huge leap to think his speech pattern and accent deliberately indicate being lower class/not terribly well educated (not unsympathetically! just, yknow, some people do have less access to education based on where they live). but i always keenly felt the aspect of him that is sensitive to the esoteric beauty in things.

so yeah, jared has sort of a contemplative vibe to me. he's the guy who maybe struggles to articulate what he finds interesting or beautiful in something that isnt conventionally pretty, but is more likely to stop and notice that quality in an unexpected place than someone more classically 'intelligent'.

i think it adds an interesting dimension to how dismissively jonah speaks of him in 160, like jared's just some idiot who read the letter wrong and fucked everything up. i wish we got more unbiased info about how that went down, because jonah is extremely the guy who'd hear jared's accent and see his physical size and write him off as totally brainless. he was willing enough to do that with martin.

(also, re: the letter--it's possible jared did misinterpret it, either because jonah's wording was obtuse--probably, knowing him--or because reading comprehension may be difficult for jared. so while we're here i'll plug [link: this] fantastic video about the phenomenon of adult illiteracy (albeit with an american/canadian lens) and how a person can know the letters of the alphabet and be able to physically read and still lack the skills necessary to engage with language in everyday life.

no, the irony of me linking this in a long post because i can't be brief to save my life is not lost on me.)

#jared hopworth #tma #the magnus archives #jonah magnus #sage speaks #sage original post #sage replies #sage's ask #long post

[beneaththetangles]

Light Novel Club Chapter 32: The Faraway Paladin, Vol. 1

Welcome to our Light Novel Club discussion of The Faraway Paladin, Vol. 1! We’ve got a fairly unique light novel to discuss this time around, and this is a great time to discuss it, with an anime adaptation coming up soon and also the recent announcement of hardcover print editions for the series. So let’s jump into the discussion!

Joining Jeskai Angel and I is marthaurion, one of the members of the Beneath the Tangles Discord! This is a reminder that all Light Novel Club discussions are held on the public Beneath the Tangles Discord and anyone can join these discussions, so if you want to join future discussions, check us out over there.

-----

1. What are your overall thoughts on the novel?

Jeskai Angel: The pacing was a little slow at times, but overall I enjoyed this light novel. Also, it bugs me that I can’t narrow down a specific reason, but this story felt strangely old, like I might have picked it up at the public library back in 1998. I’ve written before about how I think Unnamed Memory doesn’t “feel” like a typical light novel, and I experienced a similar sensation with Faraway Paladin, though I don’t think it was for the same reasons (e.g., how magic works is actually explained quite a bit in Faraway Paladin).

stardf29: Maybe it’s because the author took inspiration from traditional tabletop RPGs like Dungeons and Dragons, as opposed to video game RPGs like “typical” fantasy light novels?

Jeskai Angel: Ooh, that’s possible! It’s not exactly “You all meet in a tavern,” levels of DnD tropey-ness, but I can definitely see the DnD resemblance now that you point it out.

stardf29: This was definitely an interesting read that is quite different from the usual isekai light novel. It does feel a bit slow-paced because a lot of the beginning is so focused on Will simply growing up with his “parents” and learning about the world. That said, that kind of start is nice every once in a while; it is kind of like Mushoku Tensei in that regard. The worldbuilding is great because of it, and the conflict against the god of undeath is nice, too.

Beyond that, I do like how this story delves into various themes that are worth thinking about. It’s a nice, thoughtful light novel, and as much as I like my brainless fun light novels, having something like this is good for a balanced light novel diet.

2. What are your thoughts on the characters?

Jeskai Angel: By far, my favorite aspect of this story was the active role the gods played. It actually sort of resembles my favorite aspect of Spice and Wolf in that regard. In most light novels, either there’s no evidence gods are real, or they are deistic watchmakers who jump-start the story by isekai-ing the MC but thereafter take a hands-off approach to the setting, or they are benign comic relief. The biggest exceptions I can think of are Invaders of the Rokujouma!? and Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?, plus Tearmoon Empire (which, thus far, has strongly-implied-but-not-explicitly-confirmed divine intervention).

I think one way to summarize this volume is that it’s the story of someone (Will) coming to know and put his faith in a loving deity (Gracefeel). Since learning about the Lord and then choosing to devote oneself to him is fundamental to being a Christian, it’s actually kind of a relatable process. Gracefeel, as a character, walks a fine line, managing to be knowable while remaining mysterious. She’s not just a human with superpowers, but neither is she a total enigma. She’s also a rare truly benevolent god; her power is finite, but she consistently seeks to use it for good.

Stagnate was…peculiar. Like, if the author had added a line about Stagnate twirling his mustache while cackling evilly, it would have fit right in; he acts almost ostentatiously villainous. At the same time he, doesn’t feel quite as “evil” as he acts. He DID help with sealing away the demon king, and even if he had an ulterior motive, that doesn’t entirely invalidate the goodness of aiding the struggle against the demon king. Then there’s issue of death. Stagnate isn’t wrong to see death a Bad Thing (TM). I got the the sense that he really had at least somewhat good intentions behind his flawed approach to the problem of death. Even his nefarious scheme to ensnare Blood and Mary consisted of…arranging for them to raise the child they’d always longed for. Like, as far as villainous plans go, “Give a childless couple a baby so they can shower him with love” isn’t actually all that fiendish. I can’t be too hard on Stagnate if that’s the best he can do for an “evil” plan.

marthaurion: For what it’s worth, I don’t really think I got the same impression of stagnate as being overtly evil, but maybe I wasn’t focusing on that at the time. From what I read, it seemed like his motivations were rooted in a concept that made sense, but his implementation ultimately brings him at odds with others.

stardf29: I have to agree that Stagnate is not so much “intentionally evil” as much as a sort of “well-intentioned extremist”. I think it’s interesting that Stagnate was originally a “good” god, but would later “stray from that path”; it shows that, putting the initially “evil” gods aside, the gods are not actual moral paragons and are indeed falliable. I’ll have more to say on this in a later question.

Jeskai Angel: Will was surprisingly relatable. The way he described himself, I got the impression that he suffered some real trauma which caused depression or anxiety or some other form of mental ill health, and as one commonly sees in anime / light novels, he never got adequate psychological / psychiatric treatment for it. I also appreciate that his past-life memories were important yet not intrusive. By that, I mean that the story spend a bunch time dwelling on Will’s efforts to replicate modern technology, business practices, or Japanese food culture the way so many isekai protagonists do. That sort of thing is sometimes done well, but other times just feels like a cookie cutter isekai trope. Memories from his past are both inspiring and useful for Will, but they can only carry him so far, something he explicitly notes when talking about how Gus’s lessons eventually surpassed his past-life education level.

Will eventually does end up as an OP Isekai Protagonist (TM), but it feels “earned” in a narrative sense. He puts forth a ton of effort to reach the point of being OP, and even then, it’s not just efforts that make it possible. He never could have reached the point he did without all the care and teaching Blood, Mary, and Gus give him. Mater and Gracefeel also contribute to what he becomes. He isn’t just handed phenomenal cosmic power from the start.

marthaurion: For my impression of will, it was hard for me not to draw parallels to Mushoku Tensei, since both protagonists come from that similar thought of feeling like they want to make something more of themselves in their new lives. It’s hard not to feel like Will’s reincarnation is more of an afterthought whenever it comes up, whereas Rudy’s reincarnation seems to more actively inform many of his decisions. Ultimately, it seems like Will’s reincarnation is mostly meant to tie him to Gracefeel. To be fair, i think this is fine, but the other attempts to tie back to his old life don’t really hit home for me.

Also, I would agree that will’s abilities definitely feel earned, in spite of what I said earlier about how I compare him to Rudy.

It’s more of a commentary on how the reincarnation aspect ties into things.

Jeskai Angel: I haven’t read the Jobless Reincarnation light novels, and only watched the first few episodes before dropping the recent anime adaptation. That said…the big contrast I saw between Will and Rudy is that the former is a relatively good person and the latter is a relatively awful one. I got the distinct sense that Rudy, was a Jabba-the-Hutt-like sleazeball in his previous life, AND that he carried over his perverted habits into his reincarnated life. In that regard, at least, Rudy didn’t even seem to be trying to do better than in his previous life. Perhaps I’m off base in this, and Rudy wasn’t as bad as in his first life as the anime made him seem, or perhaps he eventually turns better in his second life. I just know that in terms of comparisons, I found Will vastly more sympathetic and likeable.

marthaurion: Is that so wrong? Even if I don’t have the same traits, I can respect that Rudy carries over parts of his identity while working past some of the traumas that held him back.

stardf29: Regarding Will, honestly, I don’t really have anything to add here that Jeskai hasn’t already said. I like how his past life memories have enough of an effect on his current self that you’re curious what his past life was life, but not so much that I want the story to actually explain it, leaving that in the realm of fascinating mystery.

Jeskai Angel: I appreciated how each of Blood, Mary, and Gus contributed something irreplaceable to Will’s upbringing. They were well balanced, and had a fun rapport with each other. I also thought it was a fun touch how the story emphasized that some of their knowledge was dated and they don’t really know anything about the current state of the world. I can’t help but suspect all three are some kind of allusion to Christianity, due to in their names. First, having a woman named Mary who ends up with a baby through unnatural means is…not remotely subtle. And once you’ve introduced that, the names of the other two start to seem suspiciously coincidental. “Blood” is in fact a very important thing in Christianity (e.g., the Lord’s Supper / Eucharist). And Gus isn’t in the Bible by his nickname, but “Augustus” (of the Caesar variety) does get a shout-out in Luke 2:1.

stardf29: Man, Blood, Mary, and Gus are great. They are such a great parental trio, with each of them having aspects that are different from each other that allow them to balance each other out, which overall makes them quite good at raising Will. It definitely made me sad that their time with Will ultimately had to come to an end. And I definitely found the use of “Mary” for the mother’s name strangely familiar…

Someone took some creative liberties with their nativity display.

3. What do you think about the setting/worldbuilding in this volume?

Jeskai Angel: Now that you’ve said it, the worldbuilding and setting seem clearly inspired by tabletop RPGs (or video games closely based on tabletop RPGs, like Baldur’s Gate or something), which in turn drew from older western fantasy works (from Greek mythology to Tolkien). It contains a lot of traditional elements, and the end result is something that in one sense feels creative and unusual compared to typical fantasy light novels, but in another sense more derivative than many other fantasy light novels. That is, light novels that don’t draw so heavily on traditional fantasy have room to sometimes do some really interesting things, whereas Faraway Paladin never completely loses that familiar “I think I might have read this in the ’90s” vibe I mentioned before.

marthaurion: I really liked how magic was presented in this world. It feels more grounded to think of it as something that isn’t guaranteed to succeed in a general sense. With that presentation, Gus’s philosophy of choosing words that have the safest failures rather than the most effective successes makes a lot of sense. It truly makes magic feel like a feat of intelligence, rather than just a question of how well you can time or aim the spell, as is the general impression in other fantasy settings.

As for the pantheon, I’m less familiar with kind of the “official” pantheons for D&D, so I didn’t immediately draw that parallel. I felt the similarities to Greek/Roman mythology a lot more strongly when I was reading, where the gods are just presented as very powerful beings that preside over processes.

stardf29: As mentioned before, the current highlight of the worldbuilding is in the gods and how they relate to the people of the world. I do like how the worldbuilding is presented over time, as if we are learning about it alongside Will. This is especially notable since this first volume only takes place in a small area geographically, so there’s still a lot of world for us to learn as Will explores outside the city of the dead.

Also, I like how magic in this world works. It’s not just “oh yeah people can use magic,” nor is it too videogame-like or overly “scientific”. There’s a greater sense of mystique thanks to the connection to the “Words of Creation”, and even Will himself mentions it’s more like classic fantasy novels in this way.

Now, about those gods. As I mentioned before, the “good” and “evil” designation of gods is not static, and that does make me wonder a few things. For one, what exactly defines what makes a god “good” or “evil”? Gus does say at one point that he considers those designations something that their followers, i.e. the people, decided, and that makes me curious as to the greater religious sociology of this world. It also makes me wonder if there are any cases where an “evil” god ends up being more “good”…

4. What connections does this volume’s story have with our Christian faith?

Jeskai Angel: The conflicting divine approaches to death provide fascinating contrasts with the third possibility Christianity teaches. Gracefeel represents reincarnation with no memories. Life ends in death, but then restarts from scratch. In this system, a soul is basically an Etch A Sketch, getting erased & reused over & over. I find this a deeply unsatisfying concept because it makes one’s life meaningless. It doesn’t matter what you do, eventually you’ll die & get erased & nothing about you will carry over. This approach leaves no room for reward or judgment. It actually reminds me a bit of some of my issues the versions of predestination/election found in some circles of Christianity, in that by say God absolutely predetermines the outcome, they risk making this life meaningless.

Stagnate has beef with this, & thus offers undeath as an alternative to reincarnation. Your identity won’t get erased, but you’ll be stuck as some damaged or half-destroyed version of yourself (e.g., a skeleton, zombie, or ghost) that isn’t truly alive. By offering some degree of continuity, Stagnate’s undeath does have an advantage over Gracefeel’s soul recycling bin. Unfortunately, it’s rightly called ‘undeath,” not “life.” The solution to death needs to be life, so in that respect Gracefeel’s approach has an edge over Stagnate’s.

Finally, there’s Christianity, promising a transformative bodily resurrection. Gracefeel & Stagnate only have workarounds to the problem of death; they can’t do anything about death itself. On the other hand, in the person of Jesus, Life directly challenges & overcomes death. In the resurrection, we will still be ourselves in some meaningful sense, unlike Gracefeel’s reincarnation. But unlike with Stagnate’s static, flawed imitation of life, we will be truly alive as transformed, perfected versions of ourselves. In short, the contrast between Gracefeel’s reincarnation & Stagnate’s undeath really drives home how awesome our Lord’s promise of resurrection is.

stardf29: So one of my favorite moments in the novel is when Mater protects Mary, and shows that Mary’s “punishment” was entirely self-inflicted, and that Mater had long forgiven her. It’s a good picture of grace, and how we can sometimes believe we are being “punished” by God, and perhaps even try to punish ourselves, even though God has already satisfied all need for “punishment” through Christ’s death. Sure, we have to deal with consequences of our actions, but that is not some kind of divine judgment.

Now, this story’s theological worldbuilding is based on the idea that “if good is created, then evil must be created to balance it”. There’s also how Will feels like he needs to fear death in order to feel like he truly is living, in opposition to Stagnate who wants to remove death entirely. It’s this idea of “balance” that I think comes from one of the major Eastern religions (will have to do some more research on this) and is fairly popular in fantasy works. It’s certainly a nice-sounding idea, but I think Christianity shows how we can look forward to a future without death, and not feel like we’re “missing” something because of that.

The contrast with Stagnate, as Jeskai pointed out, is particularly helpful because it shows that eternal life, separated from God and His perfect design for life, is pretty crappy. (And I have to agree that Gracefeel’s reincarnation of souls feels rather empty.)

=====

Thank you for checking out our discussion on The Faraway Paladin, Vol. 1! The series is available digitally from J-Novel Club if you want to buy this volume or any later volumes for yourself, with a hardcover print edition planned for release in March 2022.

Discussion on our next Light Novel Club title, Tearmoon Empire Vol. 4, has started on the Beneath the Tangles Discord! The discussion will be open throughout the month of August, so there’s still time to read the series and join our discussion.

If you want to prepare for the novels we are discussing later in the year: In September 2021, we will be discussing Sword Art Online: Progressive, Vol. 1! And if you want to know what we are discussing in October 2021… we will be discussing the next novel in the “Rascal Does Not Dream…” series, Rascal Does Not Dream of Petite Devil Kohai!

#Light Novels #Christianity #The Faraway Paladin #Saihate no Paladin #BtT Light Novel Club #Articles #Author: Jeskai Angel #Author: stardf29 #Author: marthaurion