#if she's just asking for study advice/pointers

[thelazyhermits]

Got more Fortune (Yuu) in Twisted Wonderland under the cut cause the Twst brainrot is real lol 😂

Right now, I’m thinking about those final exams that everyone takes in book 3 and what Yuu did to prepare for them. 

In a previous post, I mentioned that Yuu did well since she has always been the type to do well academically. However, in this scenario, she wouldn’t have done well just through sheer book smarts.

That’s because she’s dealing with so many new subjects that she has zero experience with. Being magicless puts her at a real disadvantage compared to everyone else.

As a result, Yuu has to work her butt off to do well at NRC. She’s always very attentive in class and takes good notes, always does her homework, and studies like crazy for tests.

Thanks to her hardworker mindset and all the time she’s willing to put into her studies, Yuu does pretty well for someone who’s a total newb in comparison to everyone else, so she never really has to worry about failing anything.

She also does rather well with Vargas’s flight class, even though she obviously can fly without magic, since she can handle running laps thanks to her great stamina. While she’s not an expert at all forms of exercise (she sucks at pull-ups and sit-ups thanks to her zero upper body strength lol), she’s able to get by overall and earn Vargas’s approval. 

Vargas likes that she has some muscles on her, but he thinks she could use some more so he’s all about encouraging her to get more buff which she’s not really opposed to since being more muscular would be to her advantage in an environment where all she can rely on to protect herself are her two fists and her Quirk.

(All of the staff members end up taking a strong liking to Yuu since she’s a good, hardworking student that never gives them any trouble. No one was too fond of the idea of a magicless girl being stuck in an all boys’ school, but since there really wasn’t anything else that could be done with her, they just do their best to look out for her when they can.)

Going back to Yuu’s studies, she does well enough that she doesn’t have to worry about failing, but she isn’t satisfied with just passing. She wants to do the best she can because being under Tokumei’s tutelage and always trying and failing to impress him with her great grades led to her becoming an overachiever. 

Plus, since she’s a two-in-one student with Grim, Yuu is worried about how the grading will be done for them. While they both have to take the exams separately, it’s possible the grades will be all rolled into one, and since Grim does so poorly with his studies, Yuu feels it’s her responsibility to make the best possible grades to keep the two of them afloat.

That’s why Yuu works extra hard when she’s studying for final exams. She also tries to get Grim/Ace/Deuce to do the same but isn’t very successful. (cause the idiots went and made a contract with Azul lol)

After countless failed attempts to get the idiot trio to study, Yuu gives up and assumes that she’ll be stuck helping them with last minute cramming, so she should just focus on herself so that she’ll be ready when they finally start asking for help.

This doesn’t mean that Yuu ends up doing all her studying alone, however. That’s because Yuu is a very smart girl who knows how to use her resources wisely.

Whenever Yuu has any trouble with a subject, Yuu goes to an upperclassmen she knows and asks them for help. Obviously, because this is NRC, these guys aren’t all going to just help out of the goodness of their heart, which Yuu totally expects, which is why she is ready and willing to bribe them if necessary lol

In the case of Riddle, Trey, & Cater, Yuu doesn’t really need to bribe them. Riddle helps her because he approves of anyone willingly trying to improve themselves, and he basically sees her as his responsibility cause of her help with his Overblot and all the other things she has done for his dorm.

That’s why Trey helps her out as well and cause he just feels pity for everything she goes through cause of Ace & Deuce lol However, I could see him having her help him around the kitchen as a form of payment, even though he doesn’t really make her do a lot.

Cater helps Yuu out in exchange for allowing him to keep the picture he unconsciously took of her when she was unintentionally using the puppy dog eyes on the three upperclassmen while she was asking them to help her with her studies lol 😂

The use of bribes really comes into play with Savanaclaw cause Ruggie doesn’t do anything for free. Thankfully, he’s easy enough to convince. Give him food, and he’ll give whatever study tips he has available lol

Leona is tougher to deal with, but eventually, Yuu manages to wear him down with promises of steak, chess, and anything else she can think of along with lots of compliments about his intellect lol He mostly gives in to get her to leave him alone but also cause he’s got a little soft spot for her, not that he’d ever admit it haha

Kalim & Jamil end up helping Yuu when Kalim spots her in the library and approaches her. Kalim is all too eager to help when she asks for pointers, but in the end, it’s mostly Jamil that does the helping, which he does since he knows Kalim won’t let the two of them leave without helping her.

During one of her nighttime teatime chats with Malleus, Yuu gets the idea of asking for his advice since he seems very smart. He’s very surprised since he’s not used to anyone asking for his help like this and might even say as much, which surprises her since he’s so nice and easy to talk to.

Malleus ends up being a big help during their little impromptu study session and even goes a step further by later preparing some notes for Yuu which he asks Lilia to pass along to Yuu the next day.

(I just really love the thought of Malleus being really happy about being depended on by Yuu like this and her thinking he’s easy to talk to. He’d probably soak up all the positive attention she gives him during their study time like a sponge. I love these two positive attention-starved cuties so much 😭)

Malleus’s desire to further help Yuu leads to Lilia and Silver lending her a hand with her studies since they both came to deliver the notes on behalf of “Tsunotarou”. 

Lilia wants to help her out as thanks for making Malleus so happy, and he brings Silver, who also wants to help once he hears the whole story, along for the ride.

They’re both helpful with giving out pointers/advice, although Silver ends up falling asleep at one point. Thankfully, Yuu has some mint-flavored gum which she shares with him to help keep him awake.

At this point, Yuu has gotten a lot of help, more than she expected, so she intends to stop actively seeking study help since she’s already gotten so much good help and she doesn’t wanna bother the upperclassmen she’s already studied with further. 

Her plans of not seeking more help end up changing when Floyd happens upon her one day and snatches her up, demanding that she do something fun with him. 

Initially, she’s very reluctant since there’s no telling what Floyd will have her do and just how long he’ll make her his current source of entertainment. 

Of course, she also doesn’t want to put Floyd in a bad mood. While she can handle his usual squeezes, she doesn’t wanna find out just how strong they can become lol

This leads to Yuu making a deal with Floyd. In exchange for entertaining him, she wants him to provide some study advice/pointers since she has heard about him being a genius, even if it all depends on his mood. She’s hoping that by putting him in a good mood that he’ll be very helpful with studying.

Floyd’s amused since she’s sounding like Azul by wanting to make a deal with him. He’s also confused by why she doesn’t just make a deal with Azul to get his special study notes.

Yuu explains that she wants to get good grades by her own efforts. Yes, she’s willing to seek out others for help, but she has no intention to make anyone do the work for her. She doesn’t want Azul’s notes that she knows will guarantee her a good grade.

In the end, Floyd accepts the deal since he wants to play with her, and that’s what they do for the next several hours, much to Yuu’s internal distress lol

Even with her good stamina, Yuu is exhausted by the time Floyd has had his fill of entertainment, which ranged from basketball to every other activity under the sun that he could think of.

However, she’s not so exhausted that she forgets about having him uphold his end of the deal, and since he’s in a good mood by this point, he doesn’t mind helping her out.

Of course, this doesn’t stop Floyd from wanting more entertainment, so to keep himself from getting bored, he picks Yuu up and plops her into his lap so he can squeeze and poke her the whole time he’s going over the study materials lol

At this point, Yuu’s too tired to really care. Plus, him bracing her keeps her tired body from falling over, and his actions actually keep her from getting distracted since they keep her alert when she’d normally be pretty lethargic after everything he put her through.

All in all, it’s a somewhat productive study session. Yuu still thinks Floyd got the better end of the deal, but it’s not like nothing good came out of it so she won’t complain, especially when Floyd’s wearing quite the big grin when they finally part ways.

The encounter with Floyd leads Yuu to wondering if she should try to approach Jade for advice too since he seems like the type who does well with his studies.

Obviously, like his brother, Jade wouldn’t just do this for free, so Yuu would need to have something to give him in exchange.

Which leads to Yuu coming up with the idea of harvesting some wild mushrooms since she knows how much Jade likes them. Having heard from Jade about his exploits in the Mountain Lovers Club, Yuu knows about the mountain near NRC, which is where he goes to collect mushrooms, which is where she decides to head.

Since there could be wild animals there, Yuu decides to ask Jack to accompany her for protection purposes. Plus, she thought she could make this into a training exercise for herself since it involves hiking, and she figured Jack might be interested. 

In the end, Jack agrees since, while he won’t outright admit it, he doesn’t want her going up the mountain on her own, which is what would happen since Grim/Ace/Deuce have no interest in accompanying her even after she offered to share her study notes with them.

Much to her surprise, Jack invited Epel to join the two of them since he figured Epel would enjoy this kind of activity. Plus, since Yuu is willing to share her notes with whoever helps her, Jack thought Epel would jump on that opportunity.

(Jack was right on all counts, but what he didn’t expect was Epel to show up at the meeting spot excited at the prospect of fighting off wild animals lol 😂)

This is Yuu’s first time really interacting with Epel since they’re not in the same class. She doesn’t mind him being there, though, since the more help with mushroom picking she gets, the better.

One of her first thoughts upon seeing him is how pretty he is, but she quickly gets distracted from that train of thought by Epel’s enthusiasm about fighting off wild animals which he for some reason thought was one of the main goals of this excursion lol

Thanks to that, Yuu realizes he is a good example of don’t judge a book by its cover. While it’s not obvious just from looking at him, Epel has a rowdy side to him and is more manly than he looks.

Since Yuu is familiar with dealing with those kinds of guys, she doesn’t have much difficulty interacting with Epel, and they end up hitting it off pretty well since Epel likes that she treats him like a regular guy and doesn’t bring any attention to his pretty looks.

Thanks to Epel & Jack, the mushroom hunting trip is successful, even though there were some bumps along the way. Because they were so helpful, Yuu promises to share all her notes with them, not just whatever she gets out of Jade, which is what they were initially expecting, so they end up making plans to hold study groups together, which ends up happening throughout the remainder of the time leading up to final exams.

When it comes time to approach Jade, Yuu goes to the Mostro Lounge and presents what she refers to as an offering, much to his amusement. His amusement turns into delight when he sees the large of array of mushrooms she, Epel, & Jack managed to find.

Since he’s clearly pleased with the offering, Yuu asks Jade for study help, and he agrees, both because of the offering and because he heard from Floyd how much fun he had with her the other day which piqued his interest.

While he has her take a seat in the lounge, Jade goes to put away the mushrooms and prepare some tea for them. Not long after Jade leaves, she hears a yell of dismay coming from the kitchen which signals that Floyd has seen the present she brought for Jade, which leads to her internally apologizing to Floyd lol 😂

At this point, the Mostro Lounge isn’t officially open yet. Yuu got in since she works part-time there, so as a result, Jade is able to dedicate some time to her since he doesn’t have any other work matters he needs to attend to at the moment.

Floyd ends up joining them cause he wants to complain about the mushrooms and mess with Yuu in retribution lol

Eventually, Azul shows up on the scene, which leads to him finding out what Yuu has been up to. As expected, he’s quick to bring up his amazing study guide, but Yuu politely declines and gives him the same explanation she gave Floyd.

Azul accepts her reasoning but looks noticeably displeased, which, to her, makes sense considering he’s all about making deals. 

What she doesn’t realize is that he’s quietly sulking over the fact that he’s now the only one she hasn’t asked for help which bothers him more than he’d like to admit lol

Jade & Floyd realize this immediately and have no issue with exposing him. Azul adamantly denies their claims, but Yuu gets the feeling he’s not being completely honest, considering how flustered he now is. 

Plus, she can understand why he would feel left out if he was the only one she didn’t ask for help, so she apologizes for that since it wasn’t her intention to be mean/rude. She just doesn’t want to ask for help if it means signing a contract/giving up money/having someone else do all the work for her.

At that moment, Yuu takes notice of how tired Azul looks and gets the idea of offering to let him using her magic lap pillow in exchange for his help with her studies.

(Like in TABF, Yuu’s lap pillow has the power to put just about anyone to sleep within seconds once they lay their head down. Floyd was the first person to discover this secret ability of hers, and it was entirely by accident. He had just plopped into her lap and almost immediately dozed off. He quickly pulled away from her once he realized what was happening, thinking sleeping magic was somehow being used, but once he realized that wasn’t the case and having reconfirmed that Yuu can’t use magic, Floyd ended up plopping back down cause her lap’s comfy and fell asleep lol

While Jade found the whole situation very amusing, Azul was less than thrilled with this turn of events since this could basically be considered sexual harassment which would not look good for business. He tried to get Yuu to sign a NDA to ensure that she wouldn’t make any reports about this to Crowley, and she almost agreed, since she really didn’t see this as sexual harassment, before realizing she should try to get something in exchange.

In the end, in exchange for promising to not make any sexual harassment reports against the Mostro Lounge, Yuu asked for Azul’s written agreement that she would be protected from sexual harassment and physical harm at the hands of the students of his dorm since a girl in her situation needs all the protection she can get. Plus, thanks to this, she felt more comfortable about asking for a part-time job at the lounge, which really caught Azul off guard lol)

After hearing Yuu’s offer, Azul splutters and turns bright red much to Jade and Floyd’s delight. They are enjoying every minute of his embarrassment.

Since Azul vehemently refuses her lap pillow as a form of payment, Yuu asks what else she could offer in exchange for his advice that wouldn’t involve paying him/signing a contract.

In the end, Azul probably has her help clean up the lounge or some other task that would benefit him but not greatly inconvenience her. He does this, claiming he’s feeling generous and inspired by his underclassman’s thirst for knowledge, but the twins know that he just doesn’t want to be the only one whom Yuu didn’t rely on since it’s a stab at his pride lol

(By this point in time, Yuu hasn’t really interacted with Ortho and the upperclassmen in Pomefiore and Ignihyde, so she wouldn’t have gotten any help from them. That’s why I won’t include them in this scenario.)

Thanks to all the help she received, Yuu ends up doing very well with her exams. She might have even gotten into the top fifty, considering all the expert advice she received, but if she did, she would’ve been near the very bottom of the ranking.

All in all, it’s a very productive exam period. Unfortunately, Yuu doesn’t get to bask in her great accomplishment for long thanks to a certain idiot trio who gets themselves into trouble that she has to bail them out of lol

#TABF AU #fortune in twisted wonderland #I just like the idea of yuu getting help from all the upperclassmen she knows #one way or another #cause she knows how to make the most of what she's got #and if she knows a lot of smart people #it only makes sense to go to them for help #thankfully the ones that require bribing are easy to bribe #the only difficult one was leona lol #I also really love the idea of azul sulking #cause he's the only one she didn't willingly approach #it's gotta hurt his pride lol #I feel like he'd be more willing to accept other forms of compensation #if she's just asking for study advice/pointers #rather than special notes like what he provided the idiot trio

[aliceramblez]

Dating The BB League Elite Four + Kieran 💕

Tags: GN! Reader, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Teal Mask & Indigo Disk Spoilers!

A/N: After finally getting dragged into the Pokémon rabbit hole, I honestly couldn't resist in doing one of these for my babies! Scarlet/Violet is my very first Pokémon experience, so hopefully I did these characters justice ^^

Feel free to follow my main @taruchinator & leave a request for future HCs!

Crispin 🔥

He's such a dork and incredibly quirky but don't you worry, he'll definitely be the one to ask you out first, no matter how many attempts it takes. Not like you'd say no to begin with.

As a partner, he's the kind of guy who would always try to cheer you up and have you in a happy mood, because when you're happy, he's happy! Anything from compliments, to jokes, to just giving you lots of affection.

Which brings us to the fact that he's huge on PDA. And the funny thing is he doesn't even realize he's doing it—he'll lean on you when you're showing him something in your Rotom Phone, rubbing circles on your palm when you're talking about your day, placing his chin on your shoulder while talking to the other club members—this man is all over you.

During your stay at Blueberry Academy, don't you dare spend your precious money on the cafeteria, he's got you covered. He'll ask you and learn about your tastes, creating new recipes and concoctions just for you, hoping to surprise you with something better and nutritious every day!

If you had a long day of training and doing BBQs, Crispin always comes by and makes sure you had a meal. And you better not be lying to him.

“Man, you've been out all day! Did you even have lunch?”

“.... I had a granola bar.”

“HOW ARE YOU STILL STANDING?”

It's safe to say that Koraidon/Miraidon adores him, and even makes you question whether it's you or your Pokémon who's dating him.

After you started going out, Crispin now makes sure to carry sandwiches with him at all times. Mostly for your oversized lizard boy, but also for you in case you need a quick snack to recharge. The legendary Pokémon is quick to thank him with licks and constant slobbering which always leaves the red-head a mess, but he tries to not let it bother him for your sake.

Whenever you guys aren't training, you'll be in your dorm rooms cooking and having laughs with your Pokémon over how clumsy they can be in the kitchen.

Overall, a sweet and supportive goofball who'll make sure you're always smiling and never have an empty stomach!

Amarys 👓

Obviously Amarys isn't the best at conveying her emotions. It doesn't mean she doesn't care, she just has a hard time figuring them out sometimes! Which is why it's incredibly strange to her when she starts having these weird sensations whenever she's around you.

She feels happier, her stomach gets all jumbled when you compliment her, and her minds always finds a way to drift back to you no matter what she's doing.

She ends up asking Carmine about it, who immediately gets all giddy and explains to her that she might have a crush. Amarys is surprised, but not against the idea. It makes sense in retrospect—cue bestie Carmine giving her pointers and ideas to try and confess to you.

Unfortunately it's all a bit too convoluted or cheesy for the Steel-Type user's liking, so she ends up doing it her own way.

One day after club activities are over, she asks if you can stay a bit longer to talk. “After much deliberation, it would seem that I have caught romantic feelings for you. I propose a casual outing so we can discuss these in further detail. Do you agree?”

It doesn't take long for you two to start going out.

Amarys shows affection through small gestures that may not seem like a lot to others, but you know they're huge steps for her. Sharing her food when you're hungry, giving you advice on how to raise your Pokémon properly, helping you study subjects you aren't that good at—the list goes on.

PDA isn't her strong suit at all. Physical affection in general isn't something she's used to, and she's forever grateful that you don't push her to do things out of her comfort zone. She tries though, and will do things like brush her hand against yours or even give you a hug whenever she's feeling bold.

To an outsider you're both an unconventional couple, but manage to make it work with trust and constant communication. Give her some time and she'll warm up to you.

Lacey 🧚‍♀️

A sweet cutie who doesn't really change her attitude towards you even after you start dating, since she's always loved having you around. The two of you also confess at the same time, which leaves you as a pair of giggling messes at the irony of it.

Is your number one cheerleader when it comes to school academics. You may not be an official Blueberry student, but that doesn't mean you should be slacking in your classes! If you don't understand the material, don't you worry, she's already prepared a slideshow presentation going over it point by point. Will also reward you with kisses if you pay attention!

Lacey isn't huge on PDA either since she thinks it's unnecessary, but when it's just the two of you, she will never let go. You have successfully replaced Granbull as her favorite pillow of choice, since whenever you two have time off and she's tired, you'll probably take a snooze under a tree in the Coastal Biome.

When you get to meet her father, she's actually a bit nervous since she's never thought of dating before finishing school, but you try and be brave and reassure her that you'll try your best to give a good impression. He thinks you're alright, but gives you the good old father talk to make sure you won't hurt his little girl.

Will find ways to dot your Legendary lizard ride with gifts and affection since she thinks he's just too darn stinking cute, but don't worry, she still thinks you're the cutest!

Since Lacey's constantly worrying about things getting done around the League Club, it's your duty as her partner to get her to relax from time to time. You'll do your best by offering to share responsibilities and reminding her that breaks are very much needed.

“Sweetie it's nighttime, you can finish in the morning. I'm tired and need cuddleeeess.”

“Just one more page and I'll be done—”

“Please Ms. Lacey! I need your cuteness to have a good night's sleep!”

“F-Fine, I'm coming! Flattering me to get what you want is just not right, ya know?”

Truly an iconic duo.

Drayton 🐉

Let's get one thing straight: this man doesn't confess—heck, he doesn't even ask you out! One day he just has his arms around you and plants a kiss on your cheek claiming that he'll follow your every command, all with a cheeky grin on his face. You're more than welcome to punch him for it and he'll still come crawling back.

Like most things in his life, Drayton takes your relationship slow and steady, not really wanting to push your boundaries (unless he wants to tease you) and having no rush to progress things. He's just a chill guy who wants to claim you before anyone else does.

Don't be mistaken though, this doesn't mean he doesn't care. You'd be surprised how much he looks out for you, almost borderline overprotective in some cases. After everything that happened with Terapagos in Area Zero, he's constantly making sure you have strong Pokémon, supplies, and good company to survive the crazy adventures you get mixed up in.

You guys' ideal date is spending time together in the dorms after school hours, kicking back and relaxing with a movie or just talking about stuff that happened during the day. He's surprisingly a very good listener.

It's from these laid back conversations that he gets ideas for random gifts to get you. Did you need a new pair of gloves cause the old ones ripped? Some are waiting in the club room. You're running low on potions? A box full of them appears on your doorstep. Want to visit your friends in Paldea but can't find the time? Turns out Drayton took over your assignments for the day so you're free to go!

You're also the only person he'll allow himself to be tutored by. Will literally not listen to anyone unless it's you. Which is why you try to make sure the material is easy for him to digest + it's not boring typical schoolwork, but something he'll actually enjoy.

“Okay! Today we're going over math! Let's have a battle in the Polar Biome so you can see how probability applies in critical hits and such.”

“Aww, my honey is catering to my needs? Aren't you the sweetest thing?”

“No kisses until we're done, Drayton.”

“Alright, aye aye boss!”

He's an idiot, but he's your idiot.

Kieran 🍎

This boy has had a crush on you ever since you first met in Kitakami, but never had the courage to say anything since he was so shy. Now however, he doesn't say anything because he feels like he doesn't have the right to.

After everything he's put you through—from accusing you of stealing Ogerpon, to fighting you in an all out battle, to straight up putting you and everyone else in danger just because he wanted a chance at getting a Legendary Pokémon—Kieran doesn't think he deserves to be your friend, let alone your partner.

Carmine is there as his wingwoman though, cheering him on and telling him how much you appreciate him and clearly return his feelings.

And so, mustering as much courage as he can, he asks if you'll trade Pokémon with him. When you agree, he brings out an Applin, which immediately leaves you blushing but also spreads a huge smile on your face. The two of you officially start dating.

Kieran does is absolute best to try and be the boyfriend you deserve, even though it's his first relationship and he has no idea what he's doing half the time. The members of the League Club are surprised at first, but ultimately support you guys all the way!

You spend time together sharing battle strategies and having your Pokémon playing to try and get along. Turns out Ogerpon and Hydrapple become fast friends by the end of a particular play date, much to your delight.

He's not good at PDA, like, at all. He's still that shy and timid kid from Kitakami underneath it all, so he struggles with initiating affection even when it's just the two of you. You're the one who has to start the hugs and kisses, leaving him like a puddle of goo under your grasp.

Nightmares still plague him occasionally, mostly revolving the journey to Area Zero and how it all could've turned out for the worst if by some chance Terapagos decided to attack someone else. Maybe even you. If you're with him when they happen, you'll hold him tight and whisper sweet nothings into his ear until he calms down, or if he calls you to make sure you're okay, you'll stay on the phone with him until he falls asleep again.

“I'm sorry... I'm so sorry...”

“It's okay Kieran. We're both okay, and that's all that matters.”

You two are the power couple that Blueberry Academy never expected, but deep down, you're just a pair of dorks who fawn over each other on a daily basis.

#Pokémon #pokemon scarlet and violet #pokemon scarlet #pokemon violet #the teal mask #the indigo disk #pokemon reader inserts #crispin x reader #amarys x reader #lacey x reader #drayton x reader #kieran x reader #crispin pokemon #amarys pokemon #lacey pokemon #drayton pokemon #kieran pokemon

[avanatural]

That Simple

Part 3

Series summary: Beau goes to Y/N, a new friend of his, for some dating advice. Is the charming new Sheriff gonna get the date that he’s hoping for?  

Pairing: Beau Arlen x female Reader

Category: Fluff

Word count: 2.3k

Chapter warnings: Drinking, mentions of sex

A/N: Welcome to part 3 of my Beau series! I hope you enjoy! Feedback is appreciated ❤️

Part 2 | Series Masterlist | Beau Arlen Masterlist | Part 4

Main Masterlist 

Y/N felt at least three different sets of curious eyes on her as she walked through the Lewis and Clark County Sheriff's Office. Her long bohemian style dress moved gracefully with each of her steps. On her hands, she balanced a red Tupperware container.

Once she found the door she was looking for, she took a deep inhale and pushed it back out in a sharp huff. She balled one of her hands into a fist and let it collide with the door three times.

“Yeah?”

Pushing open the door, she poked her head into the Sheriff’s office. “Hi. You got a minute?”

Beau’s tired eyes woke up and brightened. The sight of Y/N drove away his exhaustion, as well as his fixation on his newest case. She was a dream come true, pulling him out of his stress-induced stupor for a well-timed break. He stood up from his worn-out office chair and smiled. “Heya, darlin’. Welcome to the fortress. Come on in.”

With a smile of her own, she stepped into his office, hypnotizing him with the curve that adorned her lips.

Beau cleared his throat and quickly stacked the papers that were scattered across his desk. “Sorry about the mess.” Briefly looking up from the files, he added, “I wasn’t expecting such dazzlin’ company.”

Y/N sunk her teeth into her bottom lip and gazed at her shoes for a second. Beau made her feel like a shy schoolgirl who’d just been asked to prom by the most popular guy. “I brought you some lunch,” she said and placed the Tupperware box on his desk.

“All for me?”, he asked, his green eyes searching hers.

She pulled up her shoulders and released them in a shrug. “Yeah. I know you tend to skip lunch, but… I just thought… You may wanna try some… Veggie lasagna?” Y/N cringed at her own stammering.

His full lips parted to reply, but as soon as his gaze darted to the open door, he shut his mouth. He walked around his desk, holding up his pointer finger in a silent request for Y/N to wait.

Her Y/E/C eyes studied him closely. Beau was acting like his charming, laid-back, usual self, and still, her hands were sweaty. Her bad conscience was screaming at her.

Once Beau reached the door, he peeked out into the hallway, looking left and right to see if anyone was watching.

Indeed, a few cops averted their eyes, pretending they weren’t staring at the mysterious woman in the new Sheriff’s office.

Beau shook his head at his colleagues and closed the door. He chuckled to himself. Could he blame them for wondering about Y/N? She was pure seduction personified, turning heads wherever she went. And she was his girl. What a lucky bastard, he thought to himself.

He extended his hands and walked back to Y/N, lured in by her beauty, by her light. He pulled her close by the waist, his movements a little too harsh, making her collide with his solid body. His mouth crashed against hers.

She released a hum of surprise, which he swallowed with his greedy lips. His hands went to her cheeks, framing her face as he kissed her firmly. His kiss was so passionate that once they broke apart, Y/N had to suck some air into her desperate lungs.

“Lasagna or not, I’m always happy to see my girl,” he drawled against her lips and nudged her with the tip of his nose.

His word’s made Y/N’s heart swell in her chest. Its booming was so intense that she felt it in her entire body. My girl. She was never going to get tired of hearing him say that.

“I know, I just… I feel horrible about-“

“Sweetheart,” Beau cut her off, letting his hands drop to her waist, “I told ya I’m fine.”

An apologetic wrinkle appeared between Y/N’s eyebrows. She reached out to touch his bearded cheek, careful not to graze the red bruise on his cheekbone.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled.

“See, I knew you could kick my sorry ass. Serves as a reminder to never piss you off,” he chuckled and squeezed her waist with his giant hands.

“It’s not funny,” she objected and buried her face against his chest to hide the tiny smile that was beginning to stretch across her mouth. Her voice was muffled by the fabric of his white button-down as she mumbled, “I hit you.”

“You were incredible.” Beau pursed his lips to create an impressed whistling sound. During their sparring session, he’d been so enchanted by the sight of her sweaty body that he’d forgotten to keep blocking her blows. Hence the bruise on his cheekbone.

Y/N pulled her head away from his button-down and met his eyes with a bashful little twirl of her brows.

“You snooze, you lose,” Beau declared casually, “I lost. Fair and square. Doesn’t even hurt.” He pulled the corners of his lips up into a suggestive smirk. “But I gotta say… I like the idea of you checkin’ up on me.” His hands traveled lower, settling on her hips as he looked deeply into her eyes. “You can be my sexy nurse any day.”

As soon as the nurse comment left his mouth, Y/N was done for. A full-blown grin took over her face.

“There ya go! There’s that beautiful smile I love to see.” Beau’s smirk widened, his thumbs tracing teasing circles on her hipbones.

Y/N laughed and placed her hands on his strong shoulders. “So, are we still on for tonight?”, she asked.

“Of course! Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Tonight was going to be the night. They were going out with her friends. To announce that they were officially a couple.

Beau leaned back against his desk and opened his legs, pulling Y/N to stand between his thighs. “You think your friends are gonna be okay with us?”, he asked and wet his drying lips.

Y/N knew that it was his way of asking if her friends were going to like him. She brushed her hand through his growing hair, feeling its soft texture as it slipped through her fingers. “They’re gonna love you, Beau.”

He briefly closed his eyes and reveled in the sensation of having her so close. That blind, unfaltering faith that she had in him gave him a much-needed confidence boost.

“Y/N, seriously, if you don’t marry that guy, one of us will,” Tina, one of her friends, threatened, holding onto her margarita as she fixated Beau with her hungry gaze.

“Beau and I are trying not to rush things,” Y/N chuckled and sucked on her straw, taking the final sip of her Moscow mule.

She glanced at the bar, where the guys had gathered around her partner to test whether he was a good fit for their ranks. So far, it was looking very good. In fact, everyone seemed to want a piece of the new Sheriff in town, which wasn’t surprising.

“Well, I gotta say… Beau is Beau-tiful,” Chloe, another one of Y/N’s friends, chimed in, wriggling her eyebrows.

Tipsy giggles erupted among the group of women, which captured the men’s attention. A line of curious heads turned to look in their direction. Beau’s eyes, too, searched for the source of noise, and ended up meeting Y/N’s.

Her breathing stopped for a second.

His face was illuminated by the dim bar lights. He looked like he was glowing, which certainly held some truth – Beau Arlen was a beacon of light.

Even from afar, Y/N could easily identify the piercing green color of his kind eyes. It scared her how hard she’d already fallen for him. She’d fallen into a deep hole that she wasn’t sure she could crawl back out of, even if she wanted to.

The two of them hadn’t been intimate yet, but Y/N had a feeling that once he made love to her, his name would be engraved in her heart for good.

With a grin, Beau sent a wink her way, silently letting her know that he was comfortable around the guys. She winked back. Their eye contact was intense enough to make the sounds of her girlfriends’ thundering laughter fade into the background.

Even from afar, Beau was able to take over her body, her senses. He outshone everything and everyone around him. Screw it, she wanted him to carve his name into her heart. Tonight.

The bar was crowded by now, and Y/N’s group of friends was gathered around the high tables.

“Hey there,” he announced himself with a voice so deep and raspy that it turned Y/N’s kneecaps to mush.

She didn’t have to turn her head to know that it was Beau who was coming up behind her. Apart from his voice, she could tell it was him by his alluring scent and the gentle hand that landed on her back.

It only took a second until he appeared by her side. With a grin on his lips, he pecked her temple.

The skin around her eyes wrinkled with a smile as she felt his beard brush against her skin. “Hi.”

Beau handed her the shot she’d asked for. “There you go, beautiful.”

“Thank you.” After knocking back her shot, Y/N winced, but the smile didn’t leave her lips. She didn’t need to look at her girlfriends to know that they were watching her and Beau with twinkles and hearts in their eyes. Could she blame them? Her partner was one hell of a man. He was turning heads left and right with that Texan charm of his.

She knew he could handle himself in shark-infested waters, whether it was filled with vicious criminals or pining admirers. But right now, Y/N herself was ready to sink her teeth in the Sheriff.

“Hey, you wanna go pick the next song?”, she asked Beau and pointed over her shoulder at the jukebox.

His flaming emerald eyes bored into hers. “Sure, lead the way.”

With slow motions, Y/N leaned in to grab his hand, pinning him down with a sultry gaze. She could hear him take a breath, labored by their proximity. With a seductive curve of her lips, she stepped backwards to pull him along.

Beau followed her on lightheaded feet. His inhibition was slowly being melted away by the shots and beers he’d had with the guys. “Whatever spell you’re puttin’ on me, darlin’, I like it.”

Y/N squeezed his hand and enjoyed the lopsided smirk on his handsome face. Once they stood in front of the jukebox, she reluctantly let go of him.

As soon as Beau spotted the selection of songs, he rubbed his hands together. “Oh, wo-ho, would you look at that? Air Supply, All Outta Love! God, I haven’t heard that one in forever!”, he exclaimed.

Y/N leaned against the jukebox, presenting her front to him, and batted her eyelashes. Now was her chance. She had Beau all to herself for the first time that night.

His emerald orbs, however, remained glued to the song selection, sparkling with nostalgia. His tongue was stuck sneakily between his pearly white teeth.

Y/N wondered what kinds of memories he was reliving in that moment. Her eyes transformed into two teasing slits as she asked, “I take it you seduced a couple of ladies to that song?”

Beau’s jaw jutted forward, and he averted his eyes, suddenly taking great interest in the boots on his feet. “Well…” When he met her gaze, he sighed through his bashfully smiling lips.

Y/N’s mouth turned into a perfect ’o’ before surprised sounds of laughter came tumbling out of her mouth. “No way! Seriously?”

“Sorry, sweetheart.” His blunt fingertips shily scratched the back of his neck. “I was… Young and dumb back then. I guess we better pick another song, huh?”

“Uh-uh.” She shook her head and, with one determined push of her finger, started All Out Of Love by Air Supply. “Now you have to put a spell on me, handsome.”

Beau chuckled with a hint of nervousness, then held his hand out to her. “M’lady.” When she placed her small hand in his, he bent down to plant a sweet kiss on the back.

Y/N smiled at him fondly, already wrapped around his finger. Pushing herself flush against him, she locked her arms around his neck. She started to sway along to the music, prompting Beau to circle his arm around her waist.

He pried one of her hands away from his neck and held it in his free palm. His boot-clad feet started to move to the music. For a few beats, he guided Y/N’s motions. Then, suddenly, he dipped her, making her back curve as her upper body dangled from his arm.

Her laughter flooded his eardrums, making him laugh along. His girl’s chuckles were among his favorite sounds in the world.

A few people cheered and whistled around them, trying to spur the couple on.

Y/N’s cheeks were bright pink by the time Beau pulled her back up. Her hand came to rest on his chest. While her giggles slowly faded out, she could feel his heart pound heavily against her palm.

He gently stroked her back and eased her into a slower rhythm, swaying from side to side with Y/N in his arms. She was a keeper, he was certain of it.

“Beau…,” Y/N suddenly drawled into his ear.

The hair at the back of his neck stood on end. The breathy sound of his name on her tongue was the sexiest thing he’d ever heard. “Hm?”

“I’ve been meaning to ask you something.”

Beau pulled back to get a proper look at her face. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”

The way she needily gazed into his eyes woke all kinds of urges within his body. Then, finally, her sultry voice made a comeback to caress his eardrums.

“Do you wanna crash at my place tonight?”

Part 4

Tag list: @spnwoman​ @waynes-multiverse​ @akshi8278​ @aria725​ 

#beau arlen x reader #beau arlen x you #beau arlen x y/n #beau arlen #beau arlen imagine #beau arlen fluff #big sky imagine #beau x reader #beau x you

[maddieautobot273]

Silk & Cologne (41)

A Miguel O'Hara x OC Series - Link to AO3 (X)

Chapter 41 - Date - previous chapter (X)

Pairing: Miguel O'Hara x Female OC

Words: 7.7k+ words

Warnings: PG for brief mentions of past abuse and some intimate/sexual themes

Summary: Lisa and Miguel go out on their date.

//////

Miguel’s P.O.V. 

When Miguel returned to Nueva York in Earth-928 yesterday morning and set foot in the Spider-Society HQ, it was business as usual. The building was lively with Spider People, mostly from the buzz and gossip that spread like wildfire after the King Pin Gala mission from Earth-269. The one piece of gossip that spread much quicker than that of the gala was his date with Lisa that would be taking place tonight. 

Miguel had no idea who blabbed, though he wouldn’t put it past Lyla to say something to the right person. It had been happening almost all day, from when Miguel trudged through the halls after returning from his early morning patrol of Nueva York at the start of his day. First it was annoying messages from various Spider-Men asking him where he’d be taking Lisa, and what he would be wearing, and now Peter B. was here trying to give him pointers during his multiverse monitor duty. 

“Peter, please, Lo juro por Dios todopoderoso, Thor, quienquiera que crea el shock, I will take your bath robe and strangle you with it,” Miguel threatened with a snarl, his fangs poking out. - I swear to the almighty God, Thor, whoever the shock you believe

He understood that Peter meant well, and was trying to be helpful. But with the constant questions and nagging he had been hearing all day, Miguel thought his head was going to explode. Just a few more hours, and then he’d be free.

Free to spend the rest of his evening with Lisa. 

“All I’m saying is this is your first big date in a while, you’re my buddy, Miguel, and I want it to go well for you, ya know?” Peter B. rambled on with a bright smile on his face as MayDay babbled happily in her harness. 

As much as Miguel tried to deny it and not show it, he hated snapping at Peter in front of little MayDay. He had to stop himself from getting lost in her little bitty eyes that shined like starlight, and thinking about memories of the past. Memories he could go back to on some days. 

But not today. 

“It will go well so long as I don’t have everyone breathing down my neck,” Miguel spoke sternly, rolling his eyes as he moved away from his console. 

“You wanna hold MayDay for a minute?” Peter B. offered, extending the small child towards his leader.

Miguel glanced back towards them, his eyes wandering her small form. He tried not to get lost in her sweet gaze again as she tilted her head at him, the locks of her red hair bobbing. “No, thank you,” 

“Suit yourself,” Peter B. shrugged as he pulled MayDay back towards him. “I hear it’s very rejuvenating,”

“I’ll feel plenty rejuvenated once I can actually get ready to see Lisa,” Miguel huffed, clearly done with the conversation as he jumped down from his platform, landing on the main floor of his lab. “I’m going to check in with Gabriel and Margo with their progress on the collar,” 

“Wait before you go-!” Peter B. called out to him.  

“What?” Miguel turned back towards Peter, raising a brow at the man. 

“May I offer you one more piece of friendly advice?” Peter B. spoke up with a cheeky smile on his face.

Miguel stood there silently, studying the man briefly before speaking, “If you tell me to just be myself, I’ll kick your ass,” 

Peter B. faked a shocked gasp, shielding MayDay’s ears with his hands. “Not in front of the kid!”

Miguel managed a snarky smirk back at him, “I’ve heard you say worse,” He quipped before turning back around for the exit. 

“I’m rooting for you two! Have fun!” Peter B. yelled as he waved at his back. 

Miguel made his way through the halls of the Society, doing his best to avoid or straight up ignore any confrontations with the other Spiders. While he didn’t want to come off as rude, he just wanted to get in, get out, and get ready for his date. It was even harder when Gwen, Pavitr, and Hobie found him in the halls and decided to talk with him the rest of the way to Gabriel’s lab.

He wanted to brush them off, but he felt like he couldn’t. These were kids, no, people that Lisa trusted and considered them her friends. He would never forget the kindness they showed her when she was at her lowest after their confession that day. He would at least try to tolerate their presence while not in a professional capacity outside of missions. 

He’d try for her. It was never easy for Miguel to make and keep friends growing up. 

“Nervous yet big guy?” Gwen grinned at him. 

“What?” Miguel snapped out of his train of thought as he glanced down at Gwen, his cheeks dusted a light pink. “I– Well, a little, I guess,”

“You’ll do great! Just keep doing what you’ve been doing up to now and you’ll be fine,” Gwen gently nudged him with her elbow in an attempt to ease his nerves. 

“But if you break her heart, we’ll know about it,” Hobie smirked with a side eye. 

As much as Miguel wanted to snarl at Hobie, he could tell there was a hint of playfulness in his tone, albeit small, but it was there. Though he knew Hobie and his tricks. He wouldn’t put it past him to try and pull something if this date didn’t work out. But Miguel would make sure that would never happen tonight, or the next date after that, and any more in the future. 

“Need any skin care products? I can lend you some,” Pavitr offered with a genuinely kind smile, almost trailing Miguel at the hip. “I’ll even give you my coconut oil to give your hair a bit more shine,”

Miguel’s cheeks flushed darker at the suggestion, lifting a hand to rub the back of his neck. “I’ll, uh, think about it, Pavitr, thank you,”

“So what’s your plan?” Gwen asked him with genuine curiosity as she jumped up suddenly and started walking along the ceiling. “Where are you two going?”

“I’ll be picking her up at her place and then taking her out to dinner,” Miguel explained. “Italian, actually,”

“Ooooh, good choice, very classy,” Gwen nodded, offering him a smile of approval, although from her upside down angle it looked like a frown. 

“So then Mr. Fate of the Multiverse, how are you two going to get around and about without opening portals and such, hm?” Hobie raised a curious brow at Miguel. 

“I have a plan for that,” Miguel nodded back at him as the group entered Gabriel’s lab. 

Gabriel was hovering over a console as he controlled and navigated two robotic arms to tweak, repair, and reverse engineer the broken Oscorp collar. Margo’s Spider-Byte avatar had broken up into multiple versions of herself, running around and recalibrating the machine. 

“Power’s up to 40%,” Margo reported before glancing over at Miguel’s little brother. “Try it now,”

Gabriel sinked in a quick breath to psych himself up, “Here goes,” Adjusting his goggles over his eyes, Gabriel controlled the robotic arms to drag a piece of the collar back into place. 

They went slow and steady, and when the two pieces interlocked, sparks erupted as blue electrical streaks coursed through the arms and zapped Gabriel’s hands at the controls. He jumped back, startled as he fell to the floor. 

“Gabri!” Miguel’s eyes widened as he jogged closer to his brother, kneeling beside him. “You alright, hermanito?” - little brother

Gabriel shook his head vigorously, the curls of his hair bouncing as he pulled his goggles off. He offered Miguel a quick reassuring glance before he look over towards Margo and her many avatars, “Make a note of that,”

Miguel helped Gabriel to his feet as Margo went to work on recalibrating the machine. “So I take it that things are going well?”

“As well as they can be when I’m not nearly getting shocked to death,” Gabriel huffed as he brushed his hands down his pants to wipe them down. “Miguel, whoever Osborn hired to rework your Gizmo, they’re good. Terrifyingly good,”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” Hobie grumbled as he, Gwen, and Pavitr approached them. 

Gabriel shook his head. “The design is sinister, almost evil even. It operates like the Gizmos, but if programmed to be worn by, say, an enemy target?”

“That’s where the electrical shocks come from,” Miguel’s face hardened. 

He remembered when Lisa tried to leave the stage during her performance at the gala and the collar had shocked her, forcing her to get back in line. Forcing the user to comply and wear it. 

“Could it be their variants Dr. Octavious?” Miguel asked him. 

“Possibly,” Gabriel shrugged, almost defeated even. “He’s the only one I can think of with the brains to pull something like this off,”

“Well, keep trying your luck, little brother,” Miguel patted his shoulder with a reassuring gaze. “If anyone has the brains to crack this thing open, it’s you,”

“Glad you still hold me in such high regard, big brother,” Gabriel smirked. “You getting ready to head out?”

“Yeah, did you finish making what I asked for yesterday?” Miguel asked him, his tone hopeful and anxious. 

Gabriel chuckled, offering Miguel a playful grin as he reached into his pocket, “You should give me more assignments like this more often,” He pulled out a fancy looking car key and tossed it to Miguel. 

Miguel caught it in his large hand, glancing down at the key as if to reassure himself that it was real before nodding up at Gabriel. “You’re the best, Gabriel,”

“Tell that to my next girlfriend,” Gabriel snickered. “Now, as the old saying goes; Go hit the jackpot, tiger,”

/////////

Lisa’s P.O.V. 

After practice was over, I immediately packed my bag and bolted from the dance studio as I raced back home to my apartment, Kasey and Hannah following close behind me. It was almost time for my date with Miguel and they had insisted on helping me get ready. As much as I wanted to deny it, I hadn’t gone on an actual date in years and I desperately needed their help. 

We arrived at my apartment and I checked the time. I had just about over an hour to get ready. My brain was scrambling to figure out what to do first. “Ugh, so much to do, I don’t know where to start!”

“You’re fidgeting around like a headless chicken,” Kasey teased, “Go and shower, we’ll get things ready here!”

“Uh, right!” I tossed my bag to the side and ran for the bathroom. 

I stripped myself down and showered, washing and rinsing my hair and making sure that every inch of me didn’t smell like sweat. I shaved and washed my face, and even used this new, luscious body wash I picked up at the store yesterday. I don’t think we’d take things that far, it was the first date after all, but I still wanted to at least feel good. 

There was a knock on the bathroom door, “Okay, the dress is ready for you!” Hannah’s cheery voice sang through the door. 

“Thanks!” I shut the water off and stepped out of the shower. 

I grabbed a towel, drying my feet off first to avoid slipping on the tiled floors before wrapping the towel around me. I grabbed the dress from Hannah and left it hanging on the towel rack. My cheeks flushed as I gave it a quick look over, making sure it wasn’t wrinkled or there weren’t any pieces of fluff or lint on it. 

The dress was a beautiful black cocktail evening dress. It showed off the upper portion of my back, while the skirt at the front parted slightly to reveal a bit of leg, but not too much. The dress itself was a midnight black while the ends of the skirt had sewn see-through ruffled floral print. 

My heart fluttered when I realized my friends had gone out of their way to iron it. The fabric still felt warm to the touch, so I stepped back to the sink to brush and blowdry my hair first. When my hair was dry, I brushed it down once more before quickly slipping on some undergarments and finally the dress.

The dress was snug against my skin and hugged my curves almost perfectly. I pulled the zipper up along my back and took a moment to look at myself in the mirror. I could feel my cheeks burn darker and darker the more I looked myself over. 

This is happening. I can do this. 

There was another knock on the bathroom door. “Come on, girl, we wanna see!”

My lips curled up into a smile as I heard Kasey’s voice. After putting away the towel and my dirty clothes in the laundry basket, I walked to the door and stepped back out into the living room space of the apartment. When my friends saw me and their eyes widened, the looks of surprise and the dazzling gleam in their eyes, the anxiety seemed to just wash away. 

“You look stunning in that dress!” Kasey praised me as she held my hands tightly. 

“No thanks to you two,” I smiled sweetly, offering them both a grateful expression as I hugged them. “Thank you for getting my dress ready,”

“We’re more than happy to help,” Hannah beamed before she pulled away and grabbed a makeup kit, “Here I can help you with your makeup,”

I took a seat at the kitchen counter as Hannah washed her brushes. As I watched her get ready, my gizmo beeped as I glanced down at the screen. My eyes lit up as I saw it was a message from Miguel. 

“Just about ready to go on my end. How are you holding up?” - Miguel 

“I’m dressed and ready! Just freshening up a bit.” - Lisa 

“Good, good. I’m on my way over,” - Miguel

My heart fluttered as I stared at the chat, my eyes getting all lovey dovey and droopy. Then I suddenly realized. . . 

Wait, he’s not gonna use his gizmo to portal in is he? 

I quickly typed up a response. 

“Wait, don’t open a portal! Hannah and Kasey are here helping me get ready!” - Lisa 

I anxiously waited for a response. As the seconds ticked by, I slowly became more calm. Hopefully he had seen my message and that was why the big orange ball of light hadn’t appeared in the middle of my apartment like it normally did. Instead, I received another message. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t be meeting up with you that way,” - Miguel 

“What do you mean?” - Lisa 

“Trust me. I think you’ll like it … ;)” - Miguel 

My cheeks flushed as my pupils dilated. Did he just use an emoji on me?! 

“See you soon~” - Miguel 

He was on his way over. He really was coming. He’d pick me up and we’d go on our first date! 

“Ooooh, what’s with the face?” Hannah smirked over at me as she brought out her palette. 

“Miguel texted me, he’s on his way,” I excitedly shimmed in my chair. 

“Then we’d better get a move on,” Kasey grinned. “Do your thing, Hannah,”

“Right!” Hannah beamed as she looked at me over, “So, nothing too heavy, right?”

I nodded, “Something simple, yeah,”

“Simple, got it!” Hannah nodded back as she quickly got to work. 

I tried to stay as perfectly still as I could while Hannah did my make up. But I couldn’t help it when my fingers began to fidget, curling into the fabric of my dress. I took steady breaths through my nose to try to keep myself calm. 

He’s almost here, he’s almost here!! 

After a few more minutes, Hannah stepped away, grabbing her tiny mirror as she showed me my reflection. She had done a fantastic job, exactly what I wanted. “Hannah, that looks amazing, thank you!”

“Oh yeah, I’m just that good!” She boasted proudly. 

I helped her clean up her station and before I knew it, there was a knock at the front door. The three of us stopped what we were doing as our heads whirled towards the door. It was time. 

“I’ll get it!” Kasey nearly tripped on her own two feet as she grabbed the door. I washed my hands quickly to clean off the tiny bits of makeup residue from the brushes off my fingers while Hannah gently touched up my hair and grabbed my shoes. 

Kasey opened the door, but not all the way as she peeked outside, and I didn’t miss how her tone of voice changed. I could practically hear the wide smile on her face. “Well, look at you big guy. You cleaned up good,” 

“Thanks, Kasey,” Miguel chuckled in response. He sounded a little nervous, but he kept himself calm. “Is Lisa home?”

“Why yes she is!” Kasey beamed, hands behind her back. “Just give us one moment,” 

“No problem,” Miguel offered her a nice smile as Kasey shut the door gently. 

Kasey looked towards Hannah and I, mouthing the words ‘he looks so hawt’, pretending to swoon. Both Hannah and I laughed at her antics, but I couldn’t stop my cheeks from flushing as I truly believed her. Hannah gave me one more look over before she sent me on her way, jumping excitedly in her place. 

It was time. 

I took a deep breath as the heels of my shoes clicked on the floor as I crossed the kitchen towards the front door. I reached for the knob, opening the door. What I saw on the other side took my breath away. 

Miguel’s hair had been neatly brushed and combed, the strands almost shining even. Black sunglasses hung low on his nose as he met my gaze. He wore a brown dress shirt that hugged his muscles and torso just enough for the imagination. It matched the colour of his eyes as his fingers fidgeted nervously along the fabric of his low short cut black gloves, with matching dark chocolate brown dress pants and black slip on leather shoes. 

A black dress coat was hanging on his shoulders, not wearing it fully as it completed the outfit splendidly. 

“Hi,” I greeted, the stunned admiration adamant in my breathless voice. 

“Hey,” Miguel greeted gently. He reached over, gently taking my hand and lifted it to his face, kissing my knuckles. “Te ves hermosa, mi Mona Lisa.” - You look beautiful, my Mona Lisa

My cheeks flushed at his compliment, and I probably had a goofy grin on my face as I spoke, but I didn’t care, “Thank you, Miguel. Um. . .” 

I must have practiced it over a dozen times in my head. If I could say it once, I could do it again. Really say it this time. 

“Te ves muy guapo,” I smiled. - You look very handsome 

The way Miguel’s eyes lit up in recognition of what I had said, and the way his lips curled into that signature charming smile of his as he gently turned my hand over and kissed me again on my palm. . . I thought I would faint. When he let go of my hand and I looked him over once more, only then did I realize that he had a hand behind his back. Miguel noticed my stare, and snickered quietly before he revealed his hand. 

He handed me a bouquet of roses. 

“For you, Lisa,” he smiled. 

My eyes lit up as I took the large bouquet in my hands. The whiff of the aroma completely engulfed my senses as I breathed them in. They smelled lovely and their colour was so captivating I thought I’d get lost just staring at them. 

“They’re wonderful, Miguel,” I smiled up at him, the muscles in my cheek were starting to hurt from the constant usage. “Let me just put them in a vase and we’ll get going,”

“Take your time,” He reassured me with a gentle nod, “We still have another few minutes before our reservation,”

Reservation? He got us a reservation at a restaurant? Where would we be going?

I smiled while I motioned my head for him to step inside. He’s here. He’s actually here! 

‘And I’m not going anywhere’. I turned suddenly, facing him. His lips hadn’t moved. I didn’t hear him speak the words out loud. It was in my head. Just. . . just like before. 

Just focus on me. 

He offered me a knowing smile in return, as Hannah and Kasey’s loud gasps snapped me back to reality as I glanced their way. 

“That is beautiful!!” Hannah swooned, her eyes glistening with stars. 

“I suppose I have you two lovely ladies to thank for helping mi corazon get ready?” Miguel smiled politely as he looked over towards Hannah and Kasey. - my sweetheart 

Without missing a beat, Miguel reached back into his inside jacket pocket and pulled out a pair of pink roses, symbolizing appreciation. The girls looked speechless, their jaws dropping as Miguel gave each of them a rose. They exchanged looks between each other, their cheeks flushed. 

“Mad respect, Miguel,” Kasey nodded as she gave me a look, signifying her seal of approval. 

“That’s so sweet of you, Miguel, you didn’t have to do this,” Hannah sighed sweetly as she sniffed her flower, catching a whiff of the aroma. 

“Call it a token of my appreciation,” He smiled back at them, nodding curtly. 

“Let’s get going, while the night is still young,” I smiled sweetly as I set my bouquet of roses into a vase with some water. I spared one more look at my friends. “Thanks again for doing this,”

“You’re welcome!” Hannah beamed as she waved us off. “We’ll keep the place nice and warm for you!”

“Bring her back safe and sound now, ya hear?” Kasey teased Miguel with a raised brow. 

“Yes ma’am, she’s in good hands,” Miguel grinned as he gently snaked an arm around my waist, holding me close to him. “Promise~” 

I flushed at the look he gave me as I reached for my purse before we both left the apartment. 

“Have fun!” Kasey and Hannah called out to us before Miguel shut the door behind me. 

“Shall we?” Miguel glanced down at me, his eyes peering down over the shades of his sunglasses. 

I giggled sweetly as I huddled close to him. “We shall,”

Miguel escorted me outside the apartment complex, and we stepped out onto the street. I looked around briefly, wondering if the restaurant was close enough that we could walk there or if we would have to signal a taxi. As if reading my mind, Miguel moved his arm away from my waist, reaching into his pant pocket. 

“Miguel?” I raised a brow at the man as he pulled out what looked like car keys. 

All he did was smirk at me as he pressed the ignition button on the key, and a loud roar of a car engine caught my ear. I was startled at first, jumping in place as I bumped into Miguel who carefully steadied me. He motioned for me to look over, and when I saw what was parked by the sidewalk I thought my knees would give out from under me. 

A beautiful red Ferrari sports car with sleek black tinted windows and gold rims on the wheels. The engine cooled down to a pur as I gawked at Miguel. My gaze constantly shifted between him and the car, my jaw dropping. 

“Careful, Mona,” Miguel cautioned with sweet laughter as his fingers gently cupped my chin, closing my mouth. “Don’t want you catching a fly,” 

The words were right there, but I struggled to form even a complete sentence. “I just– How?!”

“I didn’t buy it here, I own it,” Miguel clarified with a proud grin as we walked closer to the vehicle. “It was the car I owned back when I was working at Alchemax. I had Gabriel glamour it for me so it could blend in with your dimensions version to avoid canon distribution, just to be safe,”

I continued to stare at him as he opened the passenger side door, the door opening upwards just like the original car make and I caught a quick glimpse of the sleek interior on the inside as he offered me his hand. 

I smiled sweetly as I approached him, taking his hand in mine, “Clever, Spider-Man,”

The side of his mouth curled upward in a side grin, his eyes twinkling with mischief, “Why thank you, Spider-Muse. Watch your head, now~”

Miguel helped me inside the vehicle as I sat down in my seat. Once I was secured, he closed the door behind me and as he walked around to the driver’s side door, I took a moment to look around. The exterior may have screamed Ferrari of 2023, but the interior absolutely screamed 2099.

Polished stainless steel compartments, a touch screen navigation system and a steering wheel that looked like it was designed by SONY to be a controller for the Playstation 10. This was definitely a car from the future. What kind of salary was Alchemax paying their employees that Miguel could afford to buy a car like this?

Maybe they got lucky and didn’t have horrible inflation like we do now. 

Miguel climbed into the driver's seat and buckled in, offering me a small smile. “Ready?”

“Ready,” I nodded eagerly. 

Miguel reached an arm back, grabbing onto the headrest of my seat as he looked back and carefully brought the car out of his parking spot and drove into the street. I had to stop myself from lingering my gaze below his neck, sensing his hard earned muscles flexing against the fabric of his dress shirt as I quickly averted my stare. 

Miguel turned on the radio as music softly played in the car, canceling out the sounds of the New York City traffic. I glanced over at him as he had pulled his arm back down on the arm rest. On the outside he looked calm, collected. But I wonder if he was the same as me on the outside?

Absolute panic. 

“So the restaurant I’m taking you to. . “ He began, breaking the ice.

“Yes?” I tilted my head towards him. 

“Turns out music isn’t the only thing that’s universal when it comes to the multiverse,” Miguel smirked, shaking his head almost in disbelief. “There’s a restaurant that I went to quite often back in Nueva York, and to my surprise, I found your dimensions equivalent,”

“Really?” I raised a curious brow at Miguel, clearly intrigued. “Like the same food and everything?”

“I did a little. . . reconnaissance first to make sure,” He paused briefly, as if choosing his words carefully. “But it’s legit, and I think you’ll like it. One of New York’s finest,”

I had thought about asking what kind of reconnaissance he had done to come to that conclusion, but I bit my tongue. He had already done so much and went out of his way to make this first date the best it could be. Who was I not to try and trust his judgment?

After a few minutes of driving, we had entered one of the more fancier, high class districts of the city. Miguel then pulled over, parking in front of a classic looking building with its entrance sporting a fancy canopy with gorgeous garden lights. There was a valet waiting for us, a young man just a few years younger than I was at the entrance as Miguel helped me out of the car. 

“Thank you,” I smiled at him as he pulled me close, holding my hand tightly in his. 

“Always,” he smiled back before locking the car and passing the keys to the valet. “Careful with this one,”

“Always am, sir,” The young man nodded as he took the keys, “She’ll be in good hands. Enjoy your time here,”

The young man stepped aside to let us pass as Miguel and I walked under the canopy and through the doors to enter the restaurant. I had briefly caught the name of it on the neon sign outside, ‘Giardino delle Rose’. 

Inside the restaurant was lively with guests and it had a wonderful, romantic atmosphere. Low lighting with little wax candles on each table. Soft piano music fluttered across the room and the sweet smell of pasta was making my mouth water. 

“Miguel, this is. . .” I was at a loss for words as I looked around the space.

“Romantic?” He grinned, stepping behind me as he placed a comforting hand on my waist.

I smiled back at him, “That and more. It’s perfect,”

The hostess approached us with a friendly smile, “Mr. O’Hara? Your table is ready, please follow me,”

“Thank you,” Miguel stepped ahead of me, gently pulling me along as we followed the hostess to our table. 

We found our table, Miguel pulling the seat out for me as the hostess placed down our menus. We thanked the hostess for her help as Miguel sat across from me and we looked down at the menus. This restaurant was famous for its signature pasta and pizza, it was so hard to pick just one thing to choose from.

“Can’t decide?” Miguel gave me a knowing look.

“There’s so much to choose from!” I whined softly. 

“How about this?” Miguel suggested as he pointed out one menu item. A shareable platter of the classic Spaghetti and Meatballs, perfect for couples, as the menu had written. “I think it should be more than enough for the both of us,”

“If you think we can do it, sure!” My eyes widened at the selection. 

Our waiter came back, dropping off some complimentary water before taking our order. Miguel ordered for the both of us as the waiter scribbled it down in his notepad. He then glanced up towards us, “Alright, if that is all, you may now select your wine for this evening. It’s tradition here for the lady to select it,”

I cast Miguel a surprised glance, and I silently asked him, Did you know about this? 

Maybe? Miguel offered me a playful glance in response before speaking aloud to the waiter, “I trust her judgment,”

The waiter nodded, hands behind his back as he motioned for me to follow him. “Right this way, Miss,” I gave Miguel one more glance as I stood up from my chair, following the waiter as he brought me to a giant shelf that was filled to the brim with wine bottles. “Looking for anything specific?”

“Not particularly,” I shook my head before glancing over at him. “Although I do enjoy red wine?”

He directed his hand to one side of the shelf, “Our red wine selection is here, if you have any questions, feel free to check in with our bartenders,”

“Thank you,” I smiled at the man before he walked away. I glanced back at the shelf, my eyes scanning the rows upon rows of bottles. “What to go with. . .” 

“I’m surprised you could stomach alcohol,” a voice snickered from behind me. “Consider all that went down,”

I remembered my body locking in place as my Spider-Sense tickled the back of my brain, my veins turning ice cold as a familiar figure stood by me. His hands in his pockets, wearing a grey prada suit and white dress shirt underneath. His blue eyes were sinister, his black hair combed back and held into place with hairspray and expensive gells. He smirked over at me, and I willed as much strength as I could to not back away. 

“Lisa,” he greeted. 

“. . . Ji-Ho,” I greeted quietly. 

I kept my gaze on the wall of wine bottles as I felt his eyes wander my frame. I held back a gag as his eyes seemed to flare in lustful approval. “I had a feeling I recognized you,” 

I cleared my throat. “What are you doing here?”

“Visiting friends, and doing some sightseeing after I wrapped up my tour in Singapore,” he spoke proudly. “You’ve lost weight,”

My fingers curled into a fist on my right side, so tight and deep that I thought my fingernails would dig and puncture the skin of my palms. I took a steady breath, “You haven’t lost your attitude it seems,”

He chuckled darkly, “Same old Lisa, so snarky and stuck up,”

My blood was boiling as I reached for a bottle, reading the label. I wasn’t going to look at his face. I wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction. 

“What brings you to this fair city? Going to leave a stain here with that Captain America looking buffoon like you did with me in Korea?” He taunted with a low growl, his voice fluttering near my ear. 

I took a long deep breath, nostrils flaring as I slowly began to turn. I caught sight of Miguel at our table. He was looking right at me, at us. 

His knuckles were bone-white, as if keeping himself at bay. 

I trust her judgment. 

“You have your life, Ji-Ho, and I have mine,” His name was like venom on my lips as I barely offered him a side glance, but kept my voice polite, calm. “We’re both adults. Let’s leave it at that,” 

I pretended to not hear him call me a bitch under his breath as I walked away, wine bottle in hand. When I sat down and set the bottle down, I hadn’t even realized how I had looked and acted when I was back in the safe proximity of Miguel’s presence. I let out a heavy breath, and my hands would have stayed trembling if not for Miguel reaching out and engulfed his warm hands onto mine. 

“What happened?” he asked calmly, his eyes searching mine, as his thumb brushed soothingly against my skin. “Who was that?”

Someone from my past. Someone I had hoped to never set eyes on again. I took another deep breath, gulping in air as I looked up at Miguel, “. . . Ji-Ho,”

Miguel’s pupils went wide. “. . . Ex?”

“Sort of. . .” I sank into my chair, though I didn’t pull away from his hold. 

Miguel’s gaze hardened as he shifted his chair closer to me. “What did he say to you?”

The past me would have begged Miguel to not make a scene, to not even say anything and to just leave it. But that was different. Now was different. 

I told him everything. 

I told him of how I met him during my idol boot camp days, and how my step-father coerced me into a relationship with him. I told him about our awful, but short dating life, and quickly summarized our most recent reunion. Even the horrible thing he had called me behind my back like the coward he was as I was leaving. 

I could see it in his eyes. Miguel was furious. He took a deep breath before slowly standing up from his chair. “I’ll be right back,”

“Miguel, wait, what are you–”

“Trust me, Mona Lisa,” Miguel’s eyes poured into mine with a terrifying sense of calm as he pressed a tender kiss to my hand before pulling away, “Just going to have a little chat with the hostess,” 

Before I could speak any further, Miguel was off, strutting across the floor of the restaurant towards the hostess who had been with some of the bartenders. He gently signaled for their attention and struck up a conversation with them. I watched as their gaze shifted briefly towards Ji-Ho’s table and their interest in the conversation hardened. 

I drummed my fingers against the table cloth anxiously, reaching for my glass of water to try and calm my nerves. I smiled as our waiter came by, applauding my choice of wine and dropped off to wine glasses for us before leaving. As he left, Miguel’s frame came into few as he walked back and sat down at our table. 

“What did you say to them?” I asked him.

“Nothing outlandish, I promise, and certainly nothing to put you in harm's way,” He assured me with a cunning smile as he popped open the wine bottle, pouring each of us a glass. He intertwined his fingers with mine across the table, our free hands holding and toasting our wine glasses as he spoke, “Now then, shall we continue our evening, mi Mona Lisa?”

//////////

Miguel and I both shared a laugh as we exited the restaurant hours later. Our stomachs full of pasta and delicious wine, I hadn’t had this much fun in ages. We had talked, gotten to know each other more on a personal level and just. . . enjoyed each other's company.

That was after Miguel had gotten Ji-Ho and his little entourage of buddies escorted and kicked out of the restaurant for smuggling in outside alcohol. Plus as it turns out, not surprising me in the slightest, he wasn’t the nicest to the female staff. Good riddance. 

I clung to Miguel’s arm as we crossed under the canopy, looking out into the streets of the city.

“Did you see the look on his face?” I snickered. “You scared him so bad,”

“It wouldn’t surprise me if the coward soiled himself,” He muttered with a grin. 

“Miguel!” My eyes widened as I hugged him closer. 

“It’s true. That pendejo deserved it and more for what he put you through,” he spoke sternly but his gaze was soft as he glanced down at me. - mothershocker

“You didn’t have to do that, but. . . thank you for having my back,” I smiled softly at him.

“I always will,”

I felt a drop of rain on my nose, making my face twitch and make a startled expression that made Miguel take a step back. Then another drop came, and then another. We both quickly realized it was becoming a downpour. 

“Oh, shock!” Miguel took my hand and quickly brought me over to the side. “Over here,”

We took shelter under the canopy of the restaurant and I could feel the temperature slowly diminish. Miguel took his jacket off, offering it to me as I placed it around my shoulders. “Thank you,”

“I wasn’t expecting rain in the forecast, otherwise I would have brought an umbrella,” Miguel chuckled softly, his cheeks tinting a rosy pink. 

I continued to stare at him with an enamored look in my eyes as he fiddled with his gizmo, double checking the weather reports for the day, but reaching for his pocket. 

“I’ll signal the car to come over here so we won’t have to walk in all this rain,” He strained, “If we’re quick, we hopefully won’t get too soaked,”

I continued to stare at him, my own cheeks flushing as I heard him laugh. 

“I’d hate for this rain to mess up your pretty–” Miguel quickly realized I hadn’t been exactly chatty with him the last little bit. He paused, glancing over my way and meeting my gaze. “Lisa? Something wrong?”

I shook my head, continuing to smile at him before I turned and stepped out into the rain. 

“Mona–!” Miguel was about to reach for me to pull me back but stopped when he heard me laugh. 

I laughed. It was genuine, happy laughter as I reached my hands out to try and catch the raindrops. I even twirled around in my dress, feeling the rain splatter and rinse all over me. 

When I stopped and looked to face him, Miguel just simply stared back at me. His cheeks were a shade of pink as he dared a step closer, picking up his jacket that I had dropped, “What are you doing out there? You’ll get sick,”

Hands behind my back, I simple said, “Go ahead and ask me,”

Miguel’s brows raised in confusion, “Ask you what?”

“Ask me what’s something that only I would know about you?” I smiled at him, my soaking hair clinging to my back and shoulders. 

I could see the gears turning in his head, and then lightning struck. Like a light bulb turning on. His eyes lit up in recognition as a knowing smile formed on his lips. “Alright, Mona Lisa, tell me something about me only you would know,”

“Well,” I shuffled in my spot, my fingers fidgeting behind my back, “I know you absolutely love empanadas,”

Miguel chuckled, his broad shoulders almost vibrating with the sound as he dared another step closer to the edge of the canopy, “Not exactly a trade secret. But go on,”

“Lego Spider-Man is your favourite among the society,” I grinned.

“What— I— Mona!!” Miguel freezes, stuttering as his cheeks turn red, “I said he’s one of our best, not my favourite!” 

“Mmmhmm,” I hummed with a knowing expression, looking at him up and down.

I’ve heard the rumors. I’ve heard his praises towards the little toy like Spider-Man on a job well done. Give credit where credit was due. Lego Spidey was good. 

Miguel racks his fingers through his hair as he looks at me, a calm expression on his face as his gaze turns seductive, “Alright my smart girl, what else?”

It takes everything in me to not collapse to my knees. To stop myself from giggling and squealing like a schoolgirl. He always made me feel this way, let's try to get even. 

“I know that you deeply care for your family,” I smiled softly at him, “That is very admirable in on itself,”

I watched as Miguel’s gaze softened as he lowered his hand to his side, giving me his full attention. 

“I know you love classic jazz music, specifically a Marilyn Monroe vinyl that Xina had shown you. I know you don’t eat sweets often due to your vigorous work out regime, but you have a massive sweet tooth. I know you’re one of, if not the smartest, and sassiest person I’ve ever met,” I listed all the things that I could manage that I kept safely locked in my brain. 

“I’m also your asshole,” Miguel teased, arms crossing over his chest. 

I giggled at him, rolling my eyes. “That too,”

“And?” He raised an intriguing brow at me. 

“I know that you put so much energy and passion into your work because you care. You care so much, and yet you insist on holding it all together on your own. . .” I continued, and I could see the shifting of his gaze so I quickly went on, “Which is why I want to be there for you. Every step of the way. Whether its for insight, an anchor to lean on when you need a break, or taking on the multiverse together, I’ll be there for you, Miguel, because. . . you’re my Spider-Man,”

Miguel’s eyes softened as his arms slacked back down to his sides. He lifted a hand, taking his sunglasses off finally and gripped them tightly. His eyes washed over me, eyes pouring into mine. “Lisa. . .”

“While I don’t think my nicknames are as original and creative as yours, I. . .” My cheeks flushed, glancing down at a puddle beside me as I looked into my wet, damp reflection before meeting his gaze. “I like you a lot too, Migster,”

“Migster?” Miguel’s eyes widened at the nickname before he barked a laugh, shaking his head. “I sound like a mafia boss,”

“Okay, okay,” I backtracked, waving my hands in apology. “How about. . . Migs? Or Miggy?” I offered

“Gabriel coined Miggy years ago, it’s his,” Miguel smirked.

“So. . . Migs?” Lisa smiled softly at him.

Miguel stood at the edge of the dry side of the canopy tent, watching me, studying me. A faint roar of thunder could be heard. My heart was pounding in my chest when I watched him tuck his glasses into his pocket, tossing his jacket to the side like it was nothing. Then stepped out into the rain. 

He closed the distance between us, the rain drops staining his hair, clothes, his skin as his body was mere inches from mine. He cupped my face with his hands, his thumbs brushing along the skin of my cheeks as he looked into my eyes and smiled. “Eres adorable, ¿lo sabías?” - You’re adorable, you know that? 

Miguel kissed me. 

Miguel’s lips crashed against mine, literally stealing the breath from my lungs. It made my eyes widen in shock, catching me completely off guard. Then the next kiss that followed after. . . was gentle, tender. A pleasant hum vibrated in my throat. 

The way his lips brushed against mine made my knees buckle as my eyes fluttered closed and I melted completely into him. I slowly found the strength and courage to kiss him back, my lips meeting his. A soft groan escaped Miguel’s lips as he brought an arm down to wrap itself around my waist and pulled me right up against him, my hands sandwiched between my body and his chest. 

The world around us seemed to melt away with the rain, as both of our energy was put into this single moment. Miguel pulled away when he felt my fingers curl into his shirt, and I gasped for air, taking steady breathes as we looked at one another. We both smiled, our eyes never straying from each other's gaze, even as the rain continued to pour down on us. 

“Before you ask, I’m not going to do the Spider-Man kiss,” He grinned, the corner of his lips curving upward in a tease. 

“Miguel-!” My cheeks burned as his other arm wrapped around my back, hugging me against his body. “I wasn’t–” 

“But you were thinking it,” He winked. 

“So what if I was?” I narrowed my eyes on him. 

“My beautiful, beautiful, Spider-Muse,” He gave me a look that would have made me swoon were it not for his arms holding me in place. He leaned his head forward, pressing his forehead against mine, and when he spoke next, I instead heard his voice in my mind as he spoke, “Mine~” 

My lips parted, pupils dilating. I was his Spider-Woman. His Spider-Muse. 

I was his, and he was mine. 

“I want to kiss you again,” He smiled sweetly, “And again. . .”

“So what’s stopping you, Migs?” I asked him. 

He smirked and pressed his lips against mine once again. 

///////

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[thrndlngs]

hey rose! (can i call you that?? sorry if that's not your preference) i may or may not have caught a case of crazy phat mad feelings for a boy and i was wondering if you had any cute headcanons about some of the MHA boys pining for a pretty fem reader?? i can't imagine this guy liking me back but i figure hey, if nobody got me ik pretty superhero boys got me AMEN lmbo no pressure on this request. hope you're doing well and things are okay in your world!! thanks love you!! first anon OUT 😌✌️✨💖

omg ya that’s totally cool!! i actually like that!!!! but omg, pls! i’m sure it’ll work out if not... hopefully these headcanons will help u out!!! LOVE U FIRST ANON!!!!!!!!

IZUKU MIDORIYA, 

will definitely stare at the back of your head during class and imagine 700 different scenarios that could ‘possibly’ happen if the two of you ever have a conversation that doesn’t involve school.

keeps note of your quirks and tries to give you pointers on how to use ur quirk via crumpled paper airplanes in the courtyard or slipped into ur locker.

will always, always, always keep an eye out for you to make sure you’re okay - if he sees you crying he’s gonna embarrass himself and be like, “you think that’s bad? kachan almost blew me to bits.” and now the both of you are crying.

daydreams about u.

whenever the class is training at the USJ or anywhere really, he’s bouncing. like. literally bouncing on his heels in case something goes wrong, he wants to be able to intervene. not because he thinks you’re not capable of fending for urself but it’s because he literally can not bare the thought of u getting hurt.

he definitely draws ur names with a heart and arrow through it!!!!!!!

really admires u and tries to be really nonchalant about how fond he’s become of u so when the two of you do have a conversation it’s just like... gibberish. you know when he goes on those little rants and the words cloud around him and everyone is like??? midoriya wtf. yeah like that.

BAKUGOU KATSUKI,

explosive boy definitely doesn’t know he likes you until he goes to recovery girl and recovery girl has to explain him the ‘weird’ feeling in his stomach, the rise of temperature in his face and the quickening of his pulse is literally because he has a crush. on you.

and boy does this raging blonde flip his shit. him?? have a crush??? when he’s trying to be number one hero??? a distraction??? not in this lobby.

easier said than done.

tries to avoid you at all costs. like even moves his seat permanently so he doesn’t have to breathe the same air as you.

no because during a training the two of you are teamed up and this man literally holds his breath like he’s five because he doesn’t want to inhale your ‘germs’. but he grows up a bit and realizes that you’re actually pretty strong and can handle your own. heavy emphasis on the pretty. 

so not only is he pinning for you but now he sees you as competition. so the initial plan to avoid you goes out of the window because he wants to one up you.

bakugou’s face is tomato red everytime the two of you spar and you think it’s because he’s mad but jokes on u.

takes a HOT minute but he’ll suffer in silence and just y’know open the door and wait five minutes for you to walk through it and then complain after. 

sees you in the hallway and flicks you in the forehead and reminds you that he’s going to be number one. but later beats himself up because wtf? why didn’t he say something else.

will go out of his way to fix your fighting stances and then have a coughing fit. so he’s going to push through his feelings but it’s really obvious to everyone else that he isn’t being lowkey, yknow?

IIDA TENYA,

my favorite class rep. he’s going to be so obvious about it. like. he’s an open book.

will offer to help you study. makes sure your chair is pulled out every morning so you don’t have to do it.

will also let you board the bus first.

will also tense up whenever you look at him. holds an emergency class meeting (excluding you) to figure out how to handle this ‘situation’ and everyone is like... dude

he takes kirishima’s ‘show her you’re a manly man’ to serious and tries to show off. with his grades, quirk and his class rep status which you know isn’t working so he’s back to square one. 

as bad as it sounds he makes a copy of all of his notes and color codes them based off of his you know ‘coding’ system and has it handy in case you don’t come to class one day or fall behind.

everyone knows but you. everyone also thinks that you would’ve found out by now since iida holds you on your own pedestal but! LOLKDSAJ

DENKI KAMINARI,

okay so.... this man... is so drama. he’s a clutz and obvious but he isn’t going to be direct. whether it’s because he’s scared of being rejected or because he’s not confident enough like bakugou and todoroki is unknown but anywayz

leans on the locker and tries to woo you with some words and falls. literally falls over. it’s okay though (in his eyes) because you immediately get eye level with him and try to check on him. it’s a win in his eyes.

is totally okay with the nickname ‘calamari’ but only likes it when you call him that. he tries to tell everyone that it’s a ‘you and him’ thing and gets teased abt it.

tries to include you in every conversation possible. he wants you to feel included in everything.

thinks ur like a walking goddess and that u should be treated as such.

he gets a little to excited around you so whenever the two of you touch he gives off some electricity and immediately goes on a thirty minute rant on how sorry he is.

makes you... a fucking... mixtape... with scribbled out hearts on the cover.

also... sends you songs to listen to but it’ll be like some random edm song and ur like”oh wow... love that...” and he’s like “ok cross that out she doesn’t like EDM.” and is DETERMINED to find out your favorite genre so the two of you have something to bond over.

changes your ringtone on his phone to the pokemon theme song because and i quote, “she’s the ash to my pikachu.”

isn’t so lowkey about his crush but??? everyone thinks he’s like?? just being himself?? so??? 

EIJIRO KIRISHIMA,

 bro. this man... THIS LOVELY SHARK BOY. 

is literally textbook definition of GENTLEMAN.

will not act on his feelings until YOU act on them because he’s scared he’ll overstep so he’s going to be like..... suffering in silence. but he doesn’t mind!!!!!!

holds the door 4 u. :)

checks on u 24/7.

stares at you in class and drools. 

walks with you like everywhere. literally. like to class, to the dorms, back to ur parents, to the mall. everywhere.

this is totally a best friend to lovers trope.

whenever he’s got doubt he will turn to u immediately because he trusts u and ur guidance. 

will even ask if u could spar with him (so you can a, spend time with him but b, because he wants u to be able to be the best version of urself u can be). 

whenever something goes south he will put his hand out in front of u. always. and you’ll wrap your fingers around his bicep and he will melt.

i think he knows he’s like... fucked because you explain to him that although his ‘hardening’ quirk makes his skin... rough, he’s still pretty soft. and smells nice.

man... that gets him THROUGH THE DAYS.

TODOROKI SHOTO,

another clueless boy. 

is very confused at first but after some hours of research he’s like oh. 

and then shit hits the fan.

like kirishima, really values your input and actually goes to you for advice for two reasons: one because you’re sensible and honest but it’s more for the simple reason that he’s trying to see what you like and don’t like.

you start to notice some changes in his behavior. not drastic ones but enough to raise an eyebrow.

is more vocal in his conversations with you.

tries his best to improve his body language (ie: will face you with undivided attention and arms unfolded to look more receptive) 

just stares at you in general to see what your reactions to things are.

like, in the hallway when ur talking to mina and the lowerclassmen says something stupid and the two of you scowl? well, guess what? now he doesn’t like that guy either and will give him a piece of his mind.

has your coffee order memorized so when ur staying up all night studying u have the energy to do so.

will sneak a protein bar and a water bottle in ur locker the day after those binge studying sessions to ensure that you’re you know okay.

#todoroki x female reader #todoroki headcanons #todoroki x fem!reader #kirishima x female reader #kirishima x fem!reader #kirishima headcanons #kaminari x fem!reader #kaminari x female reader #kaminari headcanons #tenya x fem!reader #tenya x female reader #tenya headcanons #bakugou x fem!reader #bakugou x female reader #bakugou headcanons #deku x fem!reader #deku x female reader #deku headcanons #bnha headcanons #mha headcanons #( i really don't feel like i did this well buT I HOPE U LIKE IT FIRST ANON!!!!!!! #I LOVE U!!!!!! #if it's not what u want let me know and i'll redo!!!! ) #: ̗̀➛ first anon. #( shoto todoroki ) / * headcanons . #( eijiro kirishima ) / * headcanons . #( denki kaminari ) / * headcanons . #( tenya iida ) / * headcanons . #( katsuki bakugou ) / * headcanons . #( izuku midoriya ) / * headcanons .

[writingblock101]

Still Insufferable (Damian Wayne x Reader)

This is a part two to Insufferable! I had an anon request this a while back and found some prompts that gave some great inspiration! Hope y’all like it! You don’t need to read part one, but it does make the transition smoother. For reference, you and Damian are 17. 

Words: 2,800 

Tags: @idkmanicantenglish @mayahoelland2013

Warnings: None

“Do you ever follow directions?” A familiar, condescending voice asks you from the ground. 

You spot an annoyed Damian Wayne from your upside perch, staring up at you with crossed arms. You grin, a little too excited to see someone who looks so annoyed with you. 

“I’m creating an extensive target practice!” You claim, gesturing with your bow to the targets down range

“By hanging upside from the rafters?” Damian raises an unimpressed eyebrow. 

“You’re questioning my methods.” 

“I’m not questioning it,” Damian corrects. “I’m saying it’s stupid.” 

You gasp in mock offense then unhook your legs and flip to the floor. 

“Your words wound me!” 

“You’ll recover,” Damian says dryly. 

“I thought you would approve of me making a more comprehensive training.”

“You were hanging upside down from the rafters. How is that more comprehensive?” Damian questions.

“Because I don’t always get the pretty shot with the perfect set up in the field!” You argue. “Sometimes, I’m making the shot while hanging upside down with a broken toe!” 

Damian pauses, his eyes flickering to your feet. 

“Is your toe broken?” He asks.

He almost sounds concerned. It’s kind of sweet. 

“No,” You admit. “But what if it was?” 

He blinks. The concern is gone. 

“You spend too much time with Roy and Jason.” 

“Well, Roy is basically raising me at this point, so yeah, kind of,” You point out. 

Damian rolls his eyes. 

“Mission briefing.” 

“Aw, you came all the way here to tell me yourself,” You tease Damian, aware of the various intercoms around the Tower.

He scowls at you, but doesn’t dampen your good mood. 

“I was the closest to the range. It made the most sense for me to come tell you.” 

“No need to make excuses,” You shrug. “I get it, I’m amazing and you can’t resist being around me.” 

“You’re insufferable.” 

“You know, that line didn’t fool me when we were 12 and it’s still not fooling me now.” 

Damian’s scowl deepens. 

“Mission briefing, now.” Then he walks off before you can make another smart ass comment. 

Sometimes, Damian makes it too easy. You hit the switch to pull the targets back in, figuring you’ll get your arrows later. 

You’ve been an official Teen Titan for a few months now. After Roy talked you into tagging along with the team for a mission, you were hooked. The rest of the team agreed to extend an invite to you, which you happily accepted. You love the team, including Damian. Despite your constant bickering, you and Damian work well together in the field, enhancing each other’s skills. 

In all honesty, you really enjoy being around Damian. While he’s a bit uptight, when he relaxes, he’s fun to be around. You’ve enjoyed getting to see the more relaxed side of Damian. Besides, it's fun to have someone who keeps up with every sarcastic remark you make, even if it includes him calling you insufferable. It’s a bit of a long shot, but you know Damian likes you more than he makes it seem he does. 

You head to the main conference room of the tower and settle in for a long presentation. While the briefings are long, and rather boring, they’re in depth. You have to give Damian credit, even when things go wrong on missions, his extensive briefings prepare your team for almost every possibility and help make adaptations to the plan on the fly. 

You fiddle with a pen, unscrewing it, laying out the pieces then put it back together as Damian talks. As you get more fidgety the longer the meeting goes on, Damian wordlessly slides a new pen over to you with a slightly different composition. You smile at him and busy your hands with taking part the new pen. Damian’s cheeks darken slightly, but before anyone can notice, he’s back in leader mode. 

Damian pulls up the blueprint, running through everyone’s role and position for the mission.

“And Black Falcon, you’re with me, handling guards on the roof and additional security measures.”

“The dream team,” You grin with a wink.

Damian rolls his eyes and ignores your remark. Instead, he fields any questions then dismisses the team. You glance down at the file briefing in front of you then remember one last question for Damian. As a few Titans clear out, you wander to the front of the room where Damian is studying the blueprint from the presentation. 

“Hey, boss man,” You wave your file at him. “This building is using the Kingsley Security system. What are your thoughts about debuting the new hacking arrows?” 

Damian frowns, flipping to the page with the schematics concerning the security system. 

“How effective is the firewall on the arrows?” 

“If you’re worried about them tracking back to us, the arrows’ firewall should be strong enough to erase our trail.” 

“Should be?” Damian raised an eyebrow. 

“They’ll be fine, but I don’t like to make guarantees.” 

“And why is that?” 

“Because sometimes, shit happens.” 

“I don’t like variables.” 

“Well, Dames, I’ve got bad news for you about how life works.” 

You cross your arms, leaning your hip against the table. 

“I don’t like variables on my missions when lives are on the line,” Damian says, scanning over the Kingsley credentials. 

“We’re connected to a computer with the highest level of security to currently exist. Even if they manage to trace back the arrows, they won’t get far.” 

Jon and Colin watch you two bicker about arrows and security.

“He likes having someone to argue with way too much,” Colin mutters to Jon. 

Jon nods along. 

“You’re telling me. He’s not going to do anything about it though.” 

Colin cracks a grin. 

“He’s just gonna roll his eyes and tell her she’s insufferable.” 

Jon and Colin snicker, catching Damian’s attention. He narrows his eyes at the two who sit innocently. 

“Listen,” You bring Damian’s attention back to you. “It’s your mission and I’ll respect whatever you want to do, but the only way for me to improve the arrows design is to test them.” 

“I’ll consider it,” Damian says. 

His phone lights up with notification on the table. Your eyes dart toward the light and your eyebrows go up. Damian catches your eye and snatches his phone off the table with red cheeks.

“Am I your lock screen?” You ask with a small grin. 

“You weren’t supposed to see that,” Damian shoves his phone in his back pocket. 

“Really?” Your grin grows as your eyebrows move higher. 

Jon and Colin watch with shit eating grins. 

“Grayson set it,” Damian growls. “I haven’t bothered to change it.” 

“Sure, he did,” You nod. “It’s a cute picture.” 

The picture is after Damian and Bruce got into a huge argument, bad enough that Damian called Dick to get him out of the Manor. Dick figured it would be a good day to give Damian a childhood experience he missed out on and decided to take Damian to a theme park. Knowing you were in town with Jason while Roy was handling some business in Gotham, he talked Jason into bringing you. While at the park, Dick insisted you and Damian needed to try a funnel cake since neither of you had ever had one. 

You and Damian decided to split one since Dick warned you they were pretty sweet. When you and Damian tried your first bites, Damian’s face instantly scrunched up which made you laugh and Dick managed to catch the moment on camera. 

Damian scowls at you while you just grin. 

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone and ruin your reputation,” You laugh, leaving the room. 

Damian scowls at you as you leave and returns his attention to collecting his files. 

“Ah Dames, get that look off your face, we all know how you feel,” Jon teases. 

Damian turns, scowling at Jon. 

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” 

“Sure you don’t,” Colin rolls his eyes. “We can all tell you like Y/N.” 

“She’s--”

“Insufferable,” Jon finishes. “Yeah, we know. You know, just because you keep saying it, doesn’t mean it’s actually true.” 

“And you know, we get it, you’re a condensing, uptight dick--” Colin starts to rattle off. 

“Why does everyone assume the worst of me?” Damian scowls at Colin. 

“It saves time,” He grins at his friend. “But, despite those things, you can be charming when you want to be. And if you actually acted on that charm, Y/N would agree to a date with you.” 

Jon stares at Colin for a minute, looking unimpressed then turns to Damian. 

“My advice is much more subtle. Stop being an ass.” 

“I didn’t ask for advice,” Damian growls. 

“We are aware and we also are aware that you never will,” Colin nods. 

“Why not let yourself be happy, Dames?” Jon asks. 

“I am happy,” Damian glares at the two of them then walks out of the room, tired of hearing their advice. 

“Think he’ll listen?” Colin asks. 

Jon shrugs. 

“Who knows.” 

. . . 

Your back hits the ground but you roll to the balls of your feet, breathing hard. You tighten your grip on your bo staff, ready to lunge for another hit when you notice Damian walk into the training room. As he walks toward you, you straighten up and grab your water, figuring it’s time for a break. Damian raises his eyebrows at your bo staff. 

“That’s not your normal choice in weapons,” He observes. 

You shrug, taking a swing of water and ignoring your cheeks heating up. While you wanted to expand your training, you’ve seen Damian using a bo staff a lot. He seems to like them so you figured you’d give them a shot. Besides, Tim has given you a few pointers. 

“Decided to try something new,” You say casually. 

Damian quirks an eyebrow, but says nothing else. 

“I’ve been thinking--” He starts. 

“A dangerous pastime,” You nod solemnly. 

Damian glares at you but continues, as if he didn’t hear your sarcastic comment. 

“We have a strong enough firewall on the computer in the Tower that if your arrows malfunctioned, we could detect and fight a security breach.” 

“So, I can bring them on the mission?” You finish. 

“Yes.” 

“Sweet!” You grin, pumping your fist. 

Damian rolls his eyes again at your celebration, but you can see him trying not to smile. He turns to leave, but you look back at the bo staff you were training with. 

“Wait! Damian!” You call. 

He turns, looking at you with raised eyebrows. 

“You’re better with a bo staff than I am,” You admit. “Wanna help me out?” 

Damian’s eyes flicker between you and the bo staff. You see a small smile fighting its way onto his face. 

“I’ll change into something more suiting for training.” 

You grin, spinning the staff around you then go into a mock solute. 

“Yes, commander.” 

Damian rolls his eyes again, but leaves to change. 

. . . 

You swing your staff up hard, but Damian blocks it and swipes at your legs with a low kick. Grinning as he falls into the expected move, you flip your staff around and hit Damian’s side. He grunts and moves again, this time, landing a hard blow to your arm. You grimace at the force, but swing your staff around again and manage to knock Damian’s legs out from under him with a move he showed you. 

Damian hits the ground hard with a grunt, but instead of rolling to his feet for another hit, he lays on the ground, looking a little dazed. 

“I got it!” You cheered as Damian sits up, watching you with a small smile. 

“Drive your hips more so the power doesn’t come from your arms as much,” He instructs. 

“You know, with all the archery I do,” You flex a muscular arm. “I’m pretty sure my arms are stronger than my hips at this point.” 

Damian rolls his eyes as he pushes himself to his feet. You swear you sees his eyes lingering on your flexed arm. 

“Basic anatomy,” He claims. 

“Right, your definition of “basic” and a normal person’s is pretty different.” 

Damian raises an eyebrow at you. 

“How do you mean?” 

You narrow your eyes. 

“You know what I mean.” 

“I don’t,” But the slow start of a shit eating grin on his face tells you Damian knows how you meant that statement. 

You groan, throwing your hands up. 

“Okay, fine, Wayne. I’ll give it to you, you’re pretty smart.” 

“Am I now?” Damian full on grins, making your heart flutter. 

You roll your eyes again, despite your raised heart rate. 

“I’m not going to say it again.” 

“I didn’t think you would. It doesn’t change the truth.” 

You sigh, shaking your head. 

“Why do I still like you, knowing you’re a total asshole?” You question as you walk toward your water. 

Damian freezes for a moment, your words slowly mulling over in his head. Before he can say anything else, his watch beeps. Damian looks down at it with a scowl.

“Duty calls?” You ask, handing Damian his water. 

He looks up from the notification and nods. 

“Get dressed, we leave in ten minutes.”

. . . 

Following your normal post mission tradition, you relax on the roof with a few boxes of take out. You dig into your box of fried rice, enjoying the view as your legs dangle over the edge of the huge tower. The roof access door opens and someone sits next to you but you don’t have to turn to see who. Wordlessly, you hold out Damian’s vegetarian Lo Mein which you took the courtesy to grab while he showered after the mission. 

“Your arrows worked,” Damian comments, accepting the box from you and digging in with his own chopsticks. 

“Mmhm,” You hum with a smirk. “Told you.” 

Damian rolls his eyes. 

“Of course you wouldn’t be able to resist making a childish remark.” 

You grin, nudging Damian’s shoulder. 

“You knew I already knew the arrows worked. You just wanted to hear me say it.” 

“I absolutely did not.” 

“Sure you didn’t. I’m irresistible.” 

“You’re insufferable,” Damian corrects. 

“I still don’t believe that line.” 

“Your belief does not change the truth.” 

You laugh, leaning against Damian as you both continue eating, enjoying the view and each other’s company. After the first time Damian joined you on the roof, it became both of your traditions to enjoy your post mission meals together. Later, you would rejoin the team for game night or movie night, but for now, you two enjoy your quiet meals and unwind peacefully. 

Once your meals are finished and the boxes are discarded to the side, you scoot closer to Damian, resting your head on his shoulder. He slowly places a hand on your knee, seeming a bit uncertain. You smile to yourself and squeeze his arm, scooting a little closer to encourage him. He leans into you, seeming more relaxed by the affection. 

“You know,” You finally say after a few minutes of silently watching the sun set. “I turned out liking you a lot more than I originally planned.” 

“How much did you intend to like me?” Damian asks.

You feel him starting to go stiff. 

“Well, given you insulted me when I first met you,” You point out with a shrug. “I didn’t expect to like you very much.” 

“And now?” Damian asks hesitantly. 

You lift your head from Damian’s shoulder to look at him, your noses inches away.

“Now, you’re pretty alright,” You tease, admiring his pretty green eyes. 

Damian rolls his eyes with a small laugh. 

“Just alright?” He asks, squeezing your knee lightly. 

“Well,” You shrug again, feeling your heart pound. “Maybe a little more than alright.” 

You stare at each other for a long moment until Damian’s eyes flicker to your lips. Here goes nothing. Before you can bring yourself to regret, you close the small distance between each other and press your lips to his. He’s hesitant for a moment, stiff against you. Before you can pull away, Damian’s fingers sink into your hair, pulling you closer as he kisses you back. 

You melt into the kiss and grip his shirt tightly. As he shifts his head to deepen the kiss, a voice yells from behind you: 

“It’s about time!” 

You and Damian jump apart, still holding a hand on each other to see Jon standing by the roof access door. Damian scowls at him while Jon grins like he’s just won the lottery. 

“You have no idea how annoying it was so watch you two pretend like you don’t like each other,” Jon rolls his eyes. “Come on, we’re starting game night.” 

He disappears back through the door as you look back at Damian. 

“Well, duty calls,” You joke, sliding off the ledge. 

Damian turns, catches your wrist, and tugs you back to him.

“They can wait,” He mutters to you, kissing you again. 

You happily melt into the kiss, your hands on Damian’s chest as his hands slide to your hips. 

“Am I still insufferable?” You tease against Damian’s lips. 

He smirks, standing to his feet and pulling you close by your waist. 

“Yes,” He kisses you again. 

I’ve been writing things as I get inspiration. I think I’ll be compiling a prompt lists soon because I have some request... They are really big ideas and I don’t think I can take on any projects that big right now. I hope you enjoyed! 

#damian wayne #robin #damian wayne x reader #robin x reader #teen titans #jon kent #jonathan kent #colin wilkes #super boy #abuse #yeah there are other teen titans #but not the cannon ones #fight me #i'm half borrowing one of my friend's cannon teams #its so much better than the constant deaging that the writers are doing with the current teen titans #starfire and bb should not still be teen titans with damian #why are any of them even listening to him #hes like 13 in the comics #batman #dc #roy and jason are mentioned for 2 seconds #same with tim #love all of them

[maulusque]

WHAT IF MAUL KIDNAPPED ANAKIN RIGHT OFF OF TATOOINE

(I started writing this and then it got out of hand and now it’s 3:30 in the morning, rest of it’s under the break so i don’t monopolize your dash)

So for whatever combination of reasons, Maul spits out the kool-aid and gets really disenchanted with Sidious a lot earlier than in canon. He starts wondering things like “why is he not telling me his master plan if i’m so important to it?” and “why do i get nothing more than vague promises of power sometime in the future, when i should be guaranteed a position as his second-in-command, after all I’ve done for this guy?” and “why does he treat me like i’m disposable, and then constantly tell me i’m crucial for his plans?”

and he starts thinking things like “hey wait a minute, none of that childhood torture made me better at anything sith-related, it just gave me crippling trauma that actually impairs my capacity for self-control and incredible violence” and (possibly due to his experiences at Orsis Academy) “oh whack looks like kids learn a lot better and faster when they’re, like, having fun? Whatever ‘fun’ is?”

and anyway by the time he gets to tatooine with orders to “find that stoner jedi and kick his ass”, Maul is pretty annoyed at his master. And when he senses not one, not two, but THREE powerful force-presences on Tatooine, one of which vastly eclipses any other force presence he’s ever felt, and belongs to a nine-year-old slave boy, Maul gets an idea. You know, (he thinks), his master sure would love to get his hands on a force-baby like that. Master Sidious sure would be evilly thrilled to have an extremely powerful nine-year-old delivered directly to his doorstep on coruscant, with the jedi having to do all the heavy lifting of training the kid. Master Sidious would probably want nothing more than to have this kid be taken in by the Jedi, so he can start grooming a new apprentice. 

And Maul, full of spite and an as-yet-undiscovered need to adopt every force-sensitive in sight, decides to deprive Sidious of a potential apprentice. He follows Anakin to Naboo (in this universe, Anakin still wins the podrace, still wins his own freedom), and, after the fighting is over, sees a prime window of opportunity, and kidnaps Anakin right out from under the Jedi’s nose. 

(In this universe, Obi-Wan does not cut Darth Maul in half and dump him down the garbage chute- Maul, unwilling to do his master’s bidding any longer, doesn’t go full out against Qui-Gon, doesn’t kill him, and Obi-Wan doesn’t get that grief-and-rage filled boost that helped him dismember Maul last time. The fight ends, the Jedi are convinced that Maul is dead, and Naboo is freed).

Once Maul has the kid, since he’s a pragmatic guy, he also returns to Tatooine and takes the kid’s mom. Maul doesn’t know how to cook, do laundry, tie shoes, or any of that shit. He doesn’t want to have to PARENT the kid, he just wants to train him. 

Maul has zero money, and also zero subtlety, so he stomps into Watto’s shop, grabs him by the neck, and says “The boy's mother is coming with me. You will disable her slave chip and let her leave unharmed, or I will squeeze your head off.” Watto complies. For Anakin, this is his first real impression of Maul- storming the junk shop and threatening his former master for the freedom of Anakin’s mother.

Maul is determined to do a better job training Anakin than Sidious did training Maul. Because FUCK Sidious. Maul can be a WAY better Sith than Sidious ever allowed him to be. And since Maul is slowly realizing how... unhelpful... the way he was raised was, he’s determined to figure out how to do it better.

So he reads. He reads training manuals, child psychology books, teaching books, studies on motivation and performance, anything he can get his nerdy little hands on. He learns that frightened children don’t perform well. He learns about “trauma”, and how “trauma” makes it hard to control your emotions sometimes. Well, you can’t have THAT in your ultimate sith apprentice. Okay, so no scaring Anakin and no traumatizing him. Maul quickly realizes that literally everything he does frightens Anakin or his mom, and frightening Anakin’s mom also frightens Anakin (cut him some slack, he’s literally never been in a positive relationship, Maul has no model for any behavior other than “evil abuser” and “subservient slave”).

Maul is not an idiot. He knows he’s not doing it right. He’s reluctant to start teaching Anakin ANYTHING until he knows he won’t accidentally damage his precious spite-apprentice. So he mostly ignores the kid while he reads and learns.

He also observes. Specifically, he observes Shmi Skywalker. Somehow, she seems to be able to interact with Anakin without scaring him. She can even tell him what to do without scaring him. She can teach and correct him without scaring him. And she never physically hurts him at all. Maul is kind of blown away- he didn’t even know it was possible to interact with people like that? HOW does she DO it???

So Maul watches and learns. He practices. Shmi helps, guides him, tells him when he messes up and tells him how to do it better. Maul gets a lot better at restraining his murderous urges. Turns out, if you immediately kill everyone who annoys you, it’s hard to ask them for advice after. The other person Maul gets pointers from is C3PO, the protocol droid the kid dragged along. Maul understands 3PO better than he understands Shmi and Anakin. 3PO is a droid. Maul was raised by a droid. Maul knows how to talk with 3PO, whereas talking with Shmi or Anakin feels like wandering around in a fog full of landmines.

So anyway, Maul and 3PO become unlikely friends, and, as Maul, determined to out-parent Sidious in every conceivable way, learns more and more social skills, emotional intelligence, and interpersonal skills, he truly comprehends how fucked up his own childhood was. There’s rage. There’s grief. There’s murderous desire for vengeance. But there’s also Anakin. Who would be scared if Maul smashed the ship or killed random people to vent his anger. Anakin, who needs something called a “positive role model”, who needs to be taught how to use the Force, and who needs the adults around him to have their shit together. There’s also Shmi, who makes him soup and hot chocolate when he’s feeling bad, and tells him off for breaking things, and who helps him get better at being a real person, and who doesn’t seem to want anything from him other than a general expectation of not hurting her or her son. So Maul deals. He grows. He heals, slowly. There’s setbacks, and gains. And somewhere in there, he starts teaching Anakin how to use the Force.

The problem is, Maul learned to access the Force first through fear and anger. Turns out, it’s really hard to teach someone fundamentals of force usage via fear and anger without first having to traumatize them. So right away, Maul hits a barrier. He doesn’t have any clue how to teach Anakin a different way though. He needs help.

But also, FUCK the jedi. NO WAY is Maul asking the Jedi for help, he hates the Jedi. Maul is still a Sith, he’s just a new, better kind of Sith, the kind that trains apprentices who are gonna kick WAY MORE ASS and be HEALTHY WELL-ADJUSTED PEOPLE while doing it (let him dream, ok?). So Maul starts hauling Shmi and Anakin around the galaxy, seeking out any non-Jedi Force-users they can, to learn Force techniques that the Sith didn’t teach Maul.

They spend time with the Guardians on Jedha, with those weird duck-people from that one episode with Jar-Jar’s girlfriend, with some wacky monks on a tiny island in the ass-end of nowhere, and even some time with a long-lost sith cult in a box system in the middle of the Unknown Regions. Maul learns. Anakin learns. Maul uses what he learns from the other force-users, combines it with what he knows, and teaches Anakin even more. The Jedi and the Sith are really the only two groups who really use the force for Big Impressive Things, like telekinesis and lightning and whatnot, so while the other force groups would have a lot to teach them both, they wouldn’t really be able to teach Anakin how to levitate something. And you can’t be the kick-assiest, bestest Sith Apprentice Ever if you can’t levitate shit. So Maul takes takes all these new techniques, like “being calm and chill when you meditate instead of super pissed off” and “using the Force while not being filled with incredible rage” and “mindfulness techniques” and “who knew you could do cool stuff like floating rocks without having to exhaust yourself by hating everything in existence, including yourself” and applies them to the skills and methods he already has. He and Anakin have to do a lot of fumbling and exploring and mistake-making, but they figure it out. And Anakin learns. And he kicks ass.

When Anakin is 11, Maul hauls him off to Ach-To to dig a crystal out of the roots of an ancient tree. He tells Anakin to hold it and meditate, to let his emotions rise around him, to feed them, to pull them through the crystal, let it resonate, let it take on the shape of his strongest feelings. After all, that is how Maul was trained to bleed his crystals. Maul’s pain and fear and anger yielded him red crystals.

Anakin comes out with yellow. Determination, fierce protectiveness, drive, hunger for justice, righteous fury. That is Anakin’s lightsaber.

Anakin grows up, planet-hopping with his Mom and Uncle Maul in a beat-up freighter with under-the-hood enhancements out the ass (Maul ditched the Scimitar right after Tatooine so his master couldn’t instantly track him down, and Maul and Anakin are both huge mechanics nerds and bond over things like “but what if you put ANOTHER PLASMA CORE IN THE ENGINE”, so this ship is, uh, certainly some sort of thing). Anakin grows up learning a hundred different Force traditions- just about every major Force tradition in the Galaxy (except for Jedi), and more than a few obscure ones. He grows up, tinkering with his droid, learning Juyo from Maul and how to sew a button from his mom. He grows up, beholden to two destinies only: “Help me take down Sidious, because he’s an asshole and a shitty Sith Lord” and “do whatever the fuck you want, because you are a Sith and no one gets to tell you what to do” (”except me.” Shmi interrupts. “Sith Lords still have a bedtime.” “Sith Lords still have a bedtime,” Maul amends, having no desire to repeat what happened when he encouraged a ten-year-old Anakin to ignore all the rules on purpose).

And what Anakin wants to do is what he’s always wanted to do- go back to Tatooine and free the slaves. Maul thinks that a big project like that would be an excellent learning opportunity for Anakin. He also wants Anakin to succeed, so he sits him down and talks logistics. How do you free the slaves without hundreds of slave owners detonating their chips when they hear what is happening? How do you keep them free once you do that? How do you get them jobs, clothes, food, houses? What about the ones who want to leave Tatooine? What about the ones who want to stay? And what about the economic upheaval that will happen when you deprive a whole planet of its cheapest source of labor? When Anakin is fourteen, they start planning.

When Anakin is eighteen, they make their move. Anakin, coordinating with Shmi, who returned to Tatooine three years earlier to organize things on the ground (living with a woman named Beru Whitesun, who is a gateway to the Freedom Path network), activates several massive orbital EMP devices, frying every electrical device on the planet, including slave chips. (The EMPs came from a pirate friend of his mom’s, who seems to do whatever she wants as long as she makes him hot chocolate). All over the planet, lights go out, slave chips fry, and radios go silent. And Shmi’s agents get to work. Ordinary citizens all over tatooine grab their rifles and head out. They meet up with others in their settlement, and the teams sweep the area, following a plan devised by Skywalker and Whitesun. They systematically visit every house in every settlement, city, spaceport, and town that is known to house slaves, and tell the slaves to grab their families and most treasured possessions and follow them.

(Tatooine is a sparsely populated planet- you can count the major settlements on two hands. If it weren’t, this would never have worked.)

Not many slaveowners put up much of a resistance- fifty angry masked people pointing guns in your face tend to make you compliant. The only slaveowner who puts up more than a token resistance is Jabba the Hutt. His resistance, however, lasts about thirty seconds, before Anakin cuts off his head.

Maul meets Anakin at Jabba’s palace, where he’s rounding up the last of Jabba’s cronies. 

“No trouble?” Maul asks.

“Nope,” Anakin replies. “You?”

“None.” Maul said. Turns out, it’s like, super easy to take down an entire criminal organization when you can turn up to a meeting of the Hutt family heads, kill them all, and waltz out past all their security forces without breaking a sweat. (Seriously, it’s kind of hilarious how Maul is literally just that good). 

“The slaves here are freed?”

“Yep,” says Anakin. Then frowns. “Hold on...” He senses a presence. Big, hulking, simple, and starving. He can sense that, whatever it is, it hasn’t seen the sunlight or been able to move freely in years. 

So anyway, that’s how Anakin turns up at Mos Espa at first sunrise, riding on the back of Jabba the Hutt’s pet rancor. “Who’s a good girl,” Anakin says, scratching behind her ear nubs. “You are!” And she is a good girl. Padme (”I just think it sounds like a nice name, you know?”) is very good at dispersing angry slaveowners who look like they might start rioting. 

The slaves freed overnight have been gathered together at pre-designated safe zones-mostly warehouses or large buildings that Shmi has been buying up over the years for exactly this purpose.

(The slaves living in remote settlements, at moisture farms and homesteads, didn’t get a visit from the freedom teams. However, Shmi had a plan for them too. She has made overtures to the Tusken tribes. Once she managed to negotiate her way into speaking to one of the leaders without getting killed, she sold them a story, a dream. A revolution. Free the slaves. Transform Tatooine. She doesn’t promise the Tuskens to expel humans from the planet entirely. She promises them equal rights under the law (she also promises the existence of laws in the first place). She promises them the right to raise Banthas, the right to traverse their ancestral lands and the return of sacred sites taken from them, the right to trade, the right to control who passes over their lands. She promises them the right to water and shade. And, she promises them half the seats on the ruling council she plans to set up. And so, on the night the EMPs blow, Tusken raiders visit every homestead on Tatooine (again, there’s only a few hundred, a thousand at most), and kidnap the slaves. Perhaps not the most reassuring experience for enslaved peoples who have been taught their entire lives to fear the Tuskens, and not without reason, but, nevertheless, it is freedom).

As the new day dawns- Tatooine’s first dawn as a free planet- Anakin, Maul, and Shmi know that the easy part is over. Now, they have to house tens of thousands of people currently cooped up in warehouses with nothing but the clothes on their backs. They have to establish and keep iron-tight control over the planet and its settlements, and quash any violent reprisals before they gain momentum. They also have to completely rebuild an economy completely upended by the overnight emancipation. 

However, Shmi’s not the only one who’s been busy for the past few years. While Shmi was on Tatooine, planning a revolution, Anakin and Maul were traversing the galaxy, gathering resources, using the Patented Maul Method (TM)- breaking into the headquarters of powerful organizations and threatening to kill everybody in charge unless they did what they said.

As the second sun rises, ships begin arriving in Tatooine’s orbit. Pop-up housing is dropped onto the outskirts of Tattooine’s settlements, the kind that mining companies use to set up new bases on mineral-rich asteroids. The accommodations are small and sparse, but each family has a kitchen, bathroom, beds, and private space. Huge generators are hooked up to cool the new housing. Anakin knows that the already-existing slave quarters, made of stone with no windows and mostly underground- are already built to keep the occupants cool, but he refuses to make the former slave population live in slave quarters. Some of the freed people are moved into Jabba’s old palace, some into buildings abandoned by rich business owners who fled the planet when they saw what was happening. Food, water, medicine, clothes, books, toys, tools, and shoes are deposited. (the Republic’s equivalent of the FBI had been utterly baffled when Galaxy’s three biggest criminal organizations started moving cargo that looked less like a drug trade and more like a disaster relief mission). 

Anakin walks among the newly freed slaves, reassuring them- yes, you are free. Yes, you will be fed and housed and clothed as long as you need it. Yes, we will try to find your child/husband/wife/mother who was sold years ago. Yes, you can go home, you can do whatever you want.

He also asks for volunteers. And he gets them. Hardly anyone would say no to the chance to work with the Skywalker, who once was a slave like them, but freed himself and returned, who freed the slaves in one night of glory, and appeared at sunrise riding a rancor.

Anakin sends out messengers, all across the planet. “Tatooine is a free world,” they say. “All slaves are hereby freed, by order of the He who Walks in the Sky. Any slaveowners who, by their own free will, turn over their detonators will not be harmed. Any who resist, will be.” Not many resist.

At the end of that first day, as the suns are setting, once the freed peoples of Tatooine are fed, and given water, and sheltered, Maul comes to Anakin.

“I am proud of you.” He says. “You have come into your power, you have mastered yourself, and so have mastered the Force. You have the freedom and the power to do anything you choose. You are no longer my apprentice. Lord Skywalker, you are a true Sith Master.” Anakin pulls him into a hug. He maybe cries a little bit. Maul maybe cries a little bit. Maul maybe also feels mildly annoyed that Anakin is a full head taller than him now.

(Sidious would be truly, utterly offended at Maul’s criteria for Sith-Lord-ness. “THAT’S NOT SITH” he would have said. “THAT’S BARELY EVEN DARK SIDE ADJACENT, YOU ARE DILUTING OUR THOUSAND YEAR HERITAGE-” but Maul wouldn’t care about Sidious’ stupid opinions, anyway).

And Anakin and Shmi get to work. They employ the newly freed people of Tatooine, constructing permanent houses, tearing down slave markets, building critical infrastructure. Anakin pays them more than a living wage, thanks to the extremely deep pockets of Crimson Dawn. He brings in doctors and teachers, and guarantees healthcare and education for all who want it (whenever one of Crimson Dawn’s higher-ups says “wait, why are we dumping massive amounts of money into this one random-ass planet?” Darth Maul just casually sidles up behind them with his lightsaber until they remember that he can literally just show up anywhere, at anytime, and kill them unless they do what he says. If Maul’s busy, he sends 3PO instead- 3PO’s been outfitted with about ten times as much weaponry as is legal, and can be very convincing when he wants to be).

While Anakin works on infrastructure and supporting the freed peoples of Tatooine, and unfucking the economic trainwreck they caused, Shmi and Beru work on the government. They write down a few, very basic rules-Tatooine is to be ruled by a council of people, half of whom will come from the Tusken tribes, all of which shall be selected by fair and free election. All citizens of Tatooine shall have the right to vote in these elections, and the right to vote shall be guaranteed to all- except for those who have ever owned or sold a sentient being. (it was a huge debate in the Lars-Whitesun-Skywalker household, this matter of restricting voting rights. In the end, it was decided that slaveowners, and ONLY slaveowners, were to be the sole exception for universal suffrage). Every citizen of Tatooine is guaranteed access to food, medicine, and water, and has the right to have their grievances addressed by the council.

Shmi works quickly to gather her council- she knows she has to do it fast, to prove to the Tuskens that she is as good as her word. The first elections are chaotic, and perhaps not completely non-violent, but in the end, there is a council of twenty representatives, with Shmi Skywalker representing Mos Espa.

The Council proceeds to have raging- and occasionally violent- debates about the structure of their future government. What rights to guarantee citizens. Should they have a court system? What about a financial system? How are they to guarantee water, food, and medicine to everyone? What even are taxes?

The Rebuilding of Tatooine is long, and hard, and contentious. There are arguments and rage and fighting- the repatriation of traditional Tusken lands is especially fraught. But Shmi promised, and so she makes it happen (Anakin and Padme may have helped too). Maul, for his part, keeps training Anakin, and keeps managing the criminal underworld with a careful balance of death threats and actual death, but mostly stays out of the way of Anakin’s Senior Project. 

Soon, Anakin is able to re-purpose the pop-up housing, since most people have moved into traditional Tatooine-built homes, suited to the environment. The newly restructured economy is tentatively taking its first steps, and Tatooine’s baby government is becoming less and less dependent on intergalactic criminal funding (partially thanks to Anakin confiscating the entirety of Jabba’s personal fortune). He spends a lot of time in Council meetings, trying not to scream at people while also trying to stop Padme from eating them. The Council debates what is next for Tatooine, and eventually, they vote to petition the Republic for membership. Tatooinians, as a people, including the Tuskens, are fiercely independant, but, as Shmi points out, joining the Republic would guarantee them to certain things like humanitarian aid, a voice in decisions affecting interplanetary trade routes and taxation, legal legitimacy and the right to call on the Republic for aid should their sovereignty ever be threatened. Most importantly, slavery is illegal on all Republic planets, which means that if any slave-owning organizations ever pushed in on Tatooine, there would be another (much better funded) organization to call on to help quash it. 

The Republic requires that a petitioning planet’s head of state visit the Senate on Coruscant to ask the Senate for entry into the Republic. The Council, grumbling, re-jiggers their constitution to allow for a “chief councilor”, and promptly elect Anakin to the position (”Fuck me,”) Anakin says. Maul laughs at him, then sobers and tells him to be careful on Coruscant (”My former master lives there.” he says. “Mind your shields, and do not let him know your true nature. You are not yet ready to take him on, and you have your planet and your people to think of.” “Yes, Uncle Maul.” Anakin says. “I will be careful.”).

Anakin shows up in the Galactic Senate, sandy robes, uncombed hair, and half smirk on his face. “I am Anakin Skywalker, free person of Tatooine,” he says. He presents the case for Tatooine’s admittance to the Republic in a booming, confident voice, drawing on his inner strength- his righteous anger and determination to ensure his people’s future- to keep his voice from wavering.

There are grumbles. Muttering. No Senator wants to be the one to blatantly say “no”- it’s a sort of miracle story, Tatooine, the little planet that rose up and threw of the shackles of slavery and now wants to join the Republic- the exact sort of mythos that the Republic itself is built on. It’s bad PR to vote against that little planet. But at the same time, Tatooine is a sandy, useless dustball that’ll need fiscal support from the Senate, with nothing to offer in terms of economic value. Many Senators are debating with themselves, not whether or not to say “no”, but how to vote “no” without losing ten points in approval ratings.

Until the Senator from Naboo, a diminutive woman who somehow reminds Anakin of his rancor, stands up. She gives an impassioned, off-the-cuff speech, reminding the Senate of how her own planet had thrown off the shackles of oppression not ten years ago, how the Republic was founded by planets like Tatooine, and how, most importantly, they had no legal basis to deny them entry, and if the Senate voted no, Naboo’s lawyers would litigate the issue six ways from taungsday- which, due to a clause in the Senate’s constitution that forbade them from passing legislation while the issue of a planet’s admittance to the Republic was on the floor, would effectively paralyze the Senate until the courts made a ruling. And, as Padme made sure to emphasize, if the court’s decision was not favorable, she would appeal. She could feasibly stop the Senate from doing anything for years, if necessary.

Tatooine is admitted to the Republic.

“Two Senators,” Anakin demands. “In order for my people to be fairly represented, my planet requires two Senators.” When complaints are made, Jar-Jar Binks threatens to explain the complicated dynamics of a planet attempting to grapple with a colonial past. He doesn’t have to. Tatooine gets its two Senators.

Anakin meets with Senator Amidala in her office, to thank her.

“Of course,” she said. “I remember a little boy who helped free my planet- how could I not help you when you needed it?”

“Uhh, thanks, yeah, that’s, really nice of you. Like your hair. Which is nice. In an objective sort of way,” Anakin says, because there is no universe in which Anakin is not a complete idiot in front of Padme. “I named my rancor after you,” he blurts.

Before Anakin is scheduled to leave Coruscant, the Jedi send a knight to scope out the new planetary leader. Obi-Wan Kenobi shows up at Anakin’s hotel room, and goes “Oh. It’s.... you.” 

“Obi-Wan!” Anakin grins. He only knew him for about two days when he was nine, but he still greets him like an old friend, like a brother. They fall into easy, teasing conversation. “I thought you were dead, I confess, after you disappeared from Naboo,” Obi-Wan admits. “I am truly sorry that I was unable to fulfill Qui-Gon’s promise to train you as a Jedi Knight.”

“That’s ok,” Anakin waves his hand dismissively. “I got trained as a Sith instead.” Then he freezes. Oops. He was not supposed to say that. Maul would be so disappointed in him.

“Beg pardon?” Obi-Wan says.

“I, uhh, got trained, as a, uh, sift...er? Instead? A sand sifter? I sift sand for a living?”

“You said Sith.”

“No I didn’t, I definitely said sift.”

“No, you said Sith.”

“I definitely did not.”

Anakin changes the subject, and Obi-Wan lets it drop. He’ll tell the Council, of course, but he honestly cannot fathom the concept of this kid being a Sith. He senses nothing Dark about him- well, at least no more dark than is present in any sentient. Besides, it’s not like there are any Sith Lords around anymore, ever since he killed Maul (luckily, Obi-Wan doesn’t see the picture in Anakin’s wallet, a candid shot 3PO took in the cockpit of their family’s ship. Fifteen-year-old Anakin, at the controls, hyperbrake still on with his hands on the hyperdrive lever, Maul, standing behind him, hands gripping Anakin’s seat and face distorted half-way through a panic-induced rant about flight safety, and Shmi, sitting in the co-pilot’s seat, laughter on her face and knitting needles in her hands).

Anakin contacts his mother, tells her the good news. The Council, moving with alacrity, elects Tatooine’s first Senators. And four days later, one year after the Dawn of Freedom, Senator Shmi Skywalker and Senator Ooutrigh (a Tusken warrior) of Tatooine arrive on Coruscant and address the Senate for the first time. 

Of course, while Anakin has been growing up, planning for Tatooine’s future, and annoying the shit out of Maul, Palpatine’s own plans have continued apace. Barely four months after Tatooine is admitted to the Republic, Obi-Wan finds himself in an arena on Geonosis. The battle goes much differently this time, partially due to the fact that Anakin has retrofitted the cargo bay of his family’s ship to house Padme (the rancor, not the Senator), and descends onto the Arena sands just as Yoda and the Clone Troops arrive, and deposits both Padme’s (the rancor, and the Senator) into the melee. 

“Hi, Obi-Wan!” Anakin calls, whipping out his lightsaber to deflect the hail of blaster bolts (Maul would disapprove, but Maul isn’t here, he’s ten clicks away, chasing down the Jedi dropout Sidious replaced him with). 

“Anakin, what the FUCK” Obi-Wan says, staring at Chief Councilor Anakin Skywalker of Tatooine, riding a rancor and swinging an honest-to-Force yellow lightsaber. 

“Master Yoda, what the FUCK” Anakin says, later, after the battle is over, when he finally gets Yoda to answer his questions about the clone troopers. “You found out about an entire-ass army of slave child soldiers commissioned AND PAID FOR by one of your own council members, and your reaction is ‘oh thank goodness, now we have an army?’ What the FUCK is WRONG with you?!” Yoda tries to explain to Councilor Skywalker that the situation was dire, they’d had no choice, but Councilor Skywalker just keeps repeating “AN ARMY OF SLAVE CHILD SOLDIERS” at him. “No choice, we had,” Yoda says yet again.

“BULLSHIT, you had no choice!” Anakin yells. “You could have chosen to not use the entire army of slave child soldiers that you legally own!”

“Let Kenobi and the others die, you would have? Hmm?”

“PROBABLY, YEAH!” Anakin hollers (”Thanks,” mutters Obi-Wan). “Sometimes the choices you have all really suck, but you still have to make them! You can’t just pretend you didn’t have any options, you HAD OPTIONS, and you chose the one that involved using a SLAVE ARMY OF CHILD SOLDIERS.” He gestures behind him to the battlefield, where clone troopers and medics are moving amongst the bodies, white and red stark against the sand, tallying their dead brothers.

Yoda shakes his head. “emotional, you are, young Skywalker.” he said. “Cloud your judgement, your feelings do.” 

“Yeah, I’m fucking emotional!” Anakin practically screams. “I have personal beef with slavery, so excuse me if I feel emotions about it. Your problem is that you’re able to use an ARMY OF SLAVE CHILD SOLDIERS and not feel bad about it! Your lack of emotions is clouding YOUR judgement!” He stomps off. Yoda shakes his head. Skywalker is young, and too close to the issue of slavery to really have perspective on it. He does not understand. It was a great loss to the Jedi Order when the Council rejected him, all those years ago- if he had been trained as a Jedi, he would have learned to put aside his emotions about slavery, and he would have understood why it was necessary now. If Anakin could have heard what Yoda was thinking, he would have turned right back around, picked Yoda up, and punted him like a limmie ball.

Anakin and Maul return to Tatooine. Maul offers to assassinate the entire Jedi Council, but Anakin says no. He’s still fuming about his conversation with Yoda. He knows he gets emotional. He knows that Yoda isn’t entirely wrong- he knows he lets his emotions cloud his judgement sometimes. It’s something he’s worked hard on, over the years, him and Maul. How to take a step back from the emotions howling in your head, and how to view the situation without them getting in the way. And what kinds of situations you should let your emotions guide you. Anakin thinks he’s damn well entitled to strong emotions about slavery. 

Short of declaring war on the entire Jedi Order, Anakin doesn’t know what to do about the Republic’s slave army. The Tatooine Council releases a public condemnation of it, explicitly calling it slavery and calling for the clones to be freed. The Council seriously debates joining the Separatists, until Padme (the Senator, not the Rancor) and Shmi look in-depth at the Separatist Council, which is buried deep in the pockets of corporate interests. Shmi files a lawsuit, under the Republic’s anti-slavery legislation, suing for the freedom of the clones. It’s a battle of miserable inches, and meanwhile, the war rages.

With Dooku gone, Sidious’s only means of controlling the Separatists is through Grievous and Ventress, both of whom are loose cannons whose loyalty (and competence) he seriously doubts. It’s frustrating for him, and not necessarily better for the Jedi and their army (of slave child soldiers). Sidious needs to keep the war in careful balance, neither side gaining too much ground, to draw it out and grind the Jedi down and manipulate their public image until he can heap all the blame on them. Without Dooku to pass down his orders, he has no way of keeping a firm check on the Separatist Council, and the Seps are in serious danger of completely overrunning the Republic. The droid army is fifty times as many as the clones, and the Separatists have the Trade Federation, the Banking Clans, and all of the major military tech corporations on their side. Honestly, it’s a testament to the Jedi and the Clone Army that they haven’t lost the war in the first month.

Speaking of that first month, Anakin doesn’t spend long on uninvolved in the war. Scant weeks after Geonosis, the Separatist Army threatens to roll right over Tatooine on their way to gaining control of the Outer Rim Hyperlanes. Tatooine has no army, doesn’t even have a police force. It has no fleet, no orbital defenses, and the droid army headed their way has ten times more droids than there are guns on the planet. The Council faces a choice. Ask the Republic to send in the GAR to defend them- ask for an army of slaves to be sent to die on Tatooine, to stain the sand with enslaved blood so soon after Tatooine clawed her way to freedom, or do nothing, and almost certainly ensure the annihilation of Tatooine and her people. To die, or to live by the blood of slaves who died for you. It’s not a pretty choice.

In the end, the choice is taken away from them (and perhaps it’s a kindness, that they weren’t forced to choose, perhaps it’s the coward’s way out, but it is what it is). A GAR cruiser shows up in orbit, and the Council is hailed by a man identifying himself as Captain Rex, commanding officer of the 501st legion of the GAR.

“The Republic sent you here?” Anakin asks, incredulously. 

“Well, not exactly.” Captain Rex hedges. “The 501st is due for leave on Kamino, but the hyperdrive was making funny noises, so we decided to stop off in the nearest Republic system to check it out.” Rex shrugs. “If a bunch of tinnies just so happen to show up, it’s not like we’ll just sit back and watch.”

“Why are you doing this?” Anakin asks the clone captain, once they’ve got him on planet and in the council room. He’s got a lump in his throat, and his eyes are stinging. The 501st has no Jedi on board, no natborn officers, and no orders to go to Tatooine. Rex and the 501st showed up here of their own free will. Because they wanted to. To defend Tatooine.

“Geonosis.” Rex says. “On Geonosis, you saved the lives of over two hundred of us. Including me. We couldn’t stand by and let your planet fall to the Separatists, Councilor Skywalker.”

After the battle, during the cleanup, when Tatooinians are passing through the rows of injured, giving out water- giving out life- Rex tells Anakin the other reason.

“We all know about Tatooine, sir.” He says, quietly. “A bunch of slaves who stood up and said “no,” and took their freedom.” He shrugs. “Stories like that, it gives us hope. For the future.” He fixes Anakin with a stare. “If we let that hope die, we die too. Tatooine cannot fall.”

That is the first time Anakin and Rex fight together. Somehow, when the 501st leaves Tatooine, Anakin goes with them- officially, as a consultant/observer, appointed at the request of Senator Skywalker to observe the GAR and monitor the health and wellbeing of the troopers. Unofficially, Anakin and Rex become a lethal team, making the 501st one of the most effective legions in the Galaxy. Anakin isn’t dumb. He knows he’s being a massive hypocrite, running around with an army of slave child soldiers. Rex, however, insists that it’s different.

“First of all, we asked you to come with us.” he says. “Second of all, it’s not like you staying behind would have made any difference in our situation. And besides, scrapping clankers isn’t the only reason I asked you to come with us.” Anakin raises an eyebrow.

And Rex introduces Anakin to his older brother, Cody, commander of the 212th (Anakin is happy to see Obi-Wan again, but appalled to meet Obi-Wan’s fourteen-year-old togruta padawan, because why would you put a CHILD in a warzone, in a COMMAND POSITION). And Cody brings Anakin in on The Plan. The clones will not remain slaves forever, and they will not wait for some elusive promise of gratitude after the war is over. They will take their freedom, and they will defend their own, and they’re asking Anakin, who freed the slaves of Tatooine, to help them do it. 

“So basically, you want me on as a consultant.”

“Basically, yeah.” Cody says. “And also as a guy with a lightsaber who can leap fifty feet into the air and dodge blaster bolts. Those are always handy to have around.”

So Anakin and Rex and Cody, and Cody’s small circle of commanders, lay their plans. And in the meantime, there’s a war to fight. Shmi’s still on Tatooine, but Maul comes with Anakin and the 501st. He and Rex get along like a house on fire, but you wouldn’t know it from watching them- they do nothing but argue and needle each other. Rex sarcastically calls Maul “Commander Maul” because it pisses him off so much, and it catches on with the whole legion. Maul constantly mutters about murdering and/or poisoning Rex.

But after Ventress almost chokes Rex to death, and breaks into his mind to make him do her bidding, Maul doesn’t leave Rex alone for a week, and clutches his hand tightly in the medbay. Rex doesn’t mention it, so neither does Anakin. 

Padme, on the other hand, makes no secret of how much she loves Rex (the Rancor, not the Senator, though she likes him too). Padme seems to have concluded that Rex is some sort of long-lost hatchling, and can be seen chasing Rex down the hangar bay, trying to corral him into the nest she’s constructed in the corner reserved for her. Rex gets used to surprise cuddles from a massive predator.

The Jedi Council are at their wit’s end with Skywalker, but their hands are full and honestly, he’s a benefit to the war effort, so they assign Obi-Wan to “supervise” the legion, and leave them to it. Obi-Wan and Anakin strike up a deep friendship, unfettered by the baggage that comes with being master and padawan. Obi-Wan finds himself having serious questions about the Jedi’s role in the war, since Anakin is not at all shy about challenging him on the whole “slave army of child soldiers” thing. Obi-Wan is also, quite frankly, too busy to effectively teach a padawan, and by this point, he knows that Anakin’s had some sort of Force training. He’s fought beside him enough to be confident in his skills, and often sends Ahsoka on extended missions with the 501st, and explicitly begs Anakin to help him fill in the gaps in her training. Anakin obliges enthusiastically. 

Of course, Maul helps train her too. Obi-Wan shows up on the Resolute one day to pick her up, and asks how her training’s going. 

“Great!” She says. “Skyguy’s weird uncle is teaching me jar’kai-”

“Anakin has an uncle?” Obi-Wan asks, surprised. “Who knows jar’kai?”

And so Obi-Wan and Maul meet once again. And Obi-Wan is just absolutely pole-axed. 

“Darth Maul?” He splutters. “Is your uncle?” 

“Not biologically,” Anakin shrugs. “He practically raised me, along with my mom. He taught me everything I know about lightsabers and the Force.”

“...”

“...you did say Sith, Anakin, you bastard, sand-sifting MY ASS-”

“Oh, it’s you.” Maul says. “I won’t kill you, but only because Anakin likes you.” Obi-Wan throws up his hands.

Somehow, Obi-Wan and Maul come to an understanding. Somehow, Obi-Wan doesn’t turn him over to the council. 

At one point, a giant of a zabrak, easily eight feet tall, with skin a poisonous yellow, shows up, claiming that Maul is his brother, and that he’s here to bring him home to Dathomir. Maul takes one look at Savage and goes “Fuck that”. “I will train you in the ways of the Force,” he says. “I can show you power like you’ve never wielded before.” he says. “You shall be a great and feared Sith Lord,” he says. “Have some hot chocolate, you look cold,” he says. “Put on a sweater.” Savage, slightly bemused, comes to terms with the fact that he’s just been adopted.

It’s Maul who figures it out, of course. How could he not? He was raised by Sidious. He knows how devious he is, how his plans have layers upon layers, backups upon backups, contingencies stacked from here to the Outer Rim. Once Sidious moves, you can be sure that any reasonable outcome will be in his favor, because he has completely engineered the situation before you were even aware it existed.

The Sith caused the war and are playing both sides. The Sith caused the clones to be commissioned (these things are trivially easy to figure out, if you’re paying attention). The Sith want the Jedi dead.

“Contingencies,” Maul mutters. “It’s always a trap, and there’s always contingencies.”

When he finds the chip in Rex’s head, he shakes with rage and refuses to talk to anyone, fearing, for the first time in years, that he will lose control and hurt someone he loves. It is Rex who talks him down, who manages to get close to him, who embraces him and lets him cry on his shoulder, then scream and rage and punch the walls. When Maul is able to explain, Rex has to choke back his own terrified, horrified sobs. He holds them back, and calmly looks at Maul and says “What are you going to do about it?”

The surgery, they discover, is simple enough. An astromech can do it in two minutes (C2PO can do it in seventy seconds, and Artoo can’t stand it). When Anakin is told, he goes quiet for a minute, and when he looks back up, it is not Anakin, Rex’s friend, Maul’s kid, who is sitting at the table in the briefing room. It is He Who Walks in the Sky, Huttslayer, Breaker of Chains, who looks back at them. Anakin Skywalker has always wanted nothing more than to free all the slaves. And Anakin Skywalker’s destiny has always been to do what he wanted.

They tell Cody. They modify their plans. They quietly contact medics throughout the GAR, and Artoo quietly sends the details to every military astromech he trusts. When the army is safe from Sidious’ control, Anakin, Rex, and Maul conspire to lure him off of Coruscant. Maul takes over Mandalore, exiling the duchess and announcing a New Sith Empire. Sidious shows up, declaring that Maul has become a rival, disowning his former apprentice and attacking him, with intent to kill. Savage loses an arm. Maul almost loses his life. But as he lies on the ground at Sidious’s feet, arms trembling with the effort of holding the parry keeping Sidious’ saber from his throat, he hears “We’ve got the face shot! Go, go go!” in his earpiece. Gunfire, real slugthrowers, difficult to block with a saber, erupts around him. C3PO and his arsenal, along with Fives, Jesse, and Echo, the 501st’s best ARC troopers, open fire on Sidious. The Sith is forced to back away, raising a hand to stop the bullets in midair. Maul leaps to his feet, and Anakin joins him, lightsaber drawn. 

The fight is quick, but brutal. Maul’s hands threaten to tremble with terror, facing down the horror of his childhood, the monster whose treatment of him is woven fundamentally into his psyche, whose shadow has haunted Maul all his life, and still invades his dreams. But he reaches out to his family, to Rex, beside him, steady, full of faith in him, to Anakin, a blazing sun of love and anger, a shield of raw power, and to Shmi, all the way in her Senate offices on Coruscant, cool and calm and soothing like a desert spring as ever-present as the stars. His hands do not tremble. He raises his lightsaber against his master, beside the blade of his son. Together, they beat the Sith Lord back. Anakin binds the Sith’s blade, knees him in the ribs, and while Sidious is thus occupied, Maul cuts his head off.

“You were a terrible parent,” he pants, and spits on the corpse. Then, he collapses, and Rex is there to catch him, and Maul clings to him and shakes, and cries. Anakin reaches out to put a hand on his shoulder, and Rex pulls him in with a look, and together, they surround Maul, a bulwark against the rest of the world, a safe circle for him to fall apart for a little bit. At some point, one of them unstraps the small camera that Maul had been wearing on his chest. Ahsoka has, at that point, already sent the footage to every major news office on Coruscant.

That evening, plastered all over the galactic news, is a video of the Chancellor himself, showing up on a neutral world and attacking its sovereign leader, wielding red lightsabers of all things. And it’s obviously the Chancellor; there’s a clear shot of his face when he knocks Mandalore’s ruler to the ground and the camera gets a good view right up into his hood.

It’s a massive scandal. One tabloid shows the footage with a little counter in the corner, counting up every treaty and galactic law that Palpatine violates onscreen. The only thing that saves Palpatine from impeachment and arrest is the fact that he’s already dead. Inquiries are launched, investigators are sanctioned, documents and hard drives and testimony are subpoena’ed. Padme (the Senator, not the Rancor), spearheads the investigative committee, and within a month, they’ve uncovered decades worth of bribes, backroom deals, contracts with droid manufacturers, clear evidence of Palpatine authorizing Republic funds for weaponry that went straight to the Separatists, and even communication records between the Chancellor and the two military leaders of the Separatists. Grievous and Ventress go into hiding (the Tales of Grievous and Ventress, unlikely buddies forced on an intergalactic road trip on the run from the cops, is a story for a different absurdly long post at 3am). The Separatists break down in chaos, and the war grinds to a halt. In the middle of all the political hurricane, Cody enacts his plan, and the entire GAR simultaneously deserts, and fucks directly off to Tatooine. This ignites another scandal, with Senators calling for Tatooine’s expulsion from the Republic. Shmi stands in her Senate Pod, hands tucked into her roughspun sleeves, listening attentively while Senator Burtoni of Kamino accuses her of theft.

“If Tatooine does not return the stolen military assets, the Senate may sanction the use of force!” the Senator from Ryloth threatens.

“Pardon me,” Shmi says, “May I ask what army the Senate is planning sending to invade Tatooine? I was under the impression that the only Republic army was already there.” There’s a bit of an awkward silence.

In the middle of the shitstorm, before Shmi is arrested and Anakin declared an enemy of the state, Shmi’s lawsuit finally receives a ruling. And just like that, the clones are legally free. And the judge orders the Senate to pay reparations. Anakin cackles with glee when he hears. 

Rex and Cody, with the full support of the people of Tatooine, begin the long, hard, work of resettling their brothers and building a life for the vod’e. Shmi files a lawsuit against the Zygerrian Empire. Savage receives a new arm, courtesy of Anakin, who may or may not have added a few extra utilities to it. Ahsoka is knighted, and controversially invites Anakin to be present at the ceremony, along with Obi-Wan. Maul admits, very quietly and where only Rex can hear, that he doesn’t actually want to poison him. “I know,” Rex says, smiling at him. Anakin, meanwhile, finally marries Padme, the love of his life (the Senator, not the Rancor).

And in Mos Eisly, there is a stone slab, pulled from a crumbled wall and stuck upright in the ground in the middle of the square. No one knows who put it there, but someone carved fifty-seven names into the stone. The fifty-seven names of the clone troopers who died defending Tatooine from the Separatist army, at the beginning of the war. The last slaves to spill their blood on the sands of Tatooine.

#maul adopts anakin #and invents a new kind of sith #which is almost nothing like the old kind of sith #just co-opts the name really #rex/maul #kinda? it wasn't on purpose it just happened #my writing #maulusque's writing #might slap this up on ao3 later #we'll see

[storiesofsvu]

First Day

Rafael Barba x Sonny Carisi Warnings: language. a lil 900 wc drabble for ya. sorry not sorry I combined two req’s into one lol

To say Carisi was nervous when his first trial finally rolled around was an understatement. He instantly wished he had asked for more shadowing or second chair-ing with Rafael or Peter, although he wasn’t expecting the D.A to throw him straight into the deep end thanks to his experience within SVU. At home he paced through the living room, practicing arguments in front of Rafael who would give him pointers, tell him to slow down, tell him to leave room to breath. (Which Sonny thought was rather ironic coming from the silver tongued lawyer himself). He had Raf run over everything in the case with him, helping point him in the right direction to put the pieces together. He felt a little bad, using his boyfriend’s expertise for free, but was more than happy to cook him more than a few dinners, and indulge in a few more rewarding treats elsewhere in the apartment.

Honestly, he was a little surprised when Rafael showed up at his arraignment, he hadn’t said anything about it before kissing Sonny good bye that morning, but it was the perfect little pep in his step he needed. Even if Rafael did slip out before anyone was able to realize it was him.

When the trial finally came along Rafael encouraged him, ensuring that he was ready, and that he could do this.

“I know this is kinda an awkward situation,” the taller man began, “but do ya think there’s any chance you’d be willing to come, even just for an hour?” Rafael sighed softly, glancing up at him from his spot on the couch.

“I wouldn’t miss it Mi Amor.” Raf tugged him down to the couch, kissing his cheek.

“Ya sure?” Sonny’s brow scrunched, “I mean, I know it must be a little weird for you.”

“It’s your first trial. I want to be there to support you.”

“Thank you.” Sonny kissed him softly before they curled up for their nightly movie, an attempt to distract Sonny from work for a bit.

The next morning Sonny was too busy trying not to drink an entire bottle of Pepto in front of his boyfriend to focus on much. He nibbled at a few pieces of toast, and Rafael made sure to make him something for lunch that would substantial enough to get him through the day (and bringing the extras with him for himself to enjoy).

Sonny made it through the opening statements well enough, and he was the perfect amount of gentle and assertive with the victim while she was questioned. It was once the defence got up there that Rafael noticed that he could’ve been objecting a lot more than he was, and that he missed an opportunity to redirect that could’ve helped the poor vic out. He knew not to nitpick, that he couldn’t be too hard on Carisi, even if he was the tough love type, he wanted to be supportive. When they broke for recess Rafael met him in a deserted hallway.

“So? Absolute garbage right?” Sonny started, dropping onto a bench, “maybe I wasn’t cut out for this.”

“You are.” Raf soothed softly, rubbing at his back. “You’ve spent years studying and annoying the crap out of me for me to know that you’re meant for this.”

“Ya mean it?”

“Yes.” Raf glanced around quickly before pressing a kiss to his cheek.

“Any words of advice?”

“You’re holding back.” He stated softly, “don’t be afraid to be annoying with the amount of objections or interruptions you make in the defence’s time. They won’t hold back, especially knowing that you’re new. You’ve got one of their witnesses up after this right?”

“Yeah.”

“Grill them. Grill them just as hard as you would have in an interrogation room.”

“Thanks.” Sonny gave Raf’s shoulder a soft squeeze before he stood.

“Hey..” Raf started, “I’m right here, okay?” The other man gave him a warm smile and then moved back into the court room.

Sonny made the point of stepping up, objecting more, paying more attention to the exact words everyone was saying, making a point to do his job as perfectly as he could. When he got up to cross the witness, he started out strong, and then wavered a little bit. But as he glanced through the gallery and locked eyes with Rafael, the brunette giving him a knowing look with a small smile, a gentle nod and that was all the encouragement he needed.

The little boost helped Sonny and within a matter of minutes he had the defence’s witness bumbling over their words. The stumbling broke them down rather quickly before they were confused over the entire thing and blurted out a number of answers to questions that had the defence burying their face in their hands. Sonny had done enough damage that a redirect couldn’t even get the defence back on the right track. Sonny couldn’t help but glance back, catching the grin on Barba’s face, the admiration swinging through his eyes.

Once they broke for the day, Rafael joined Sonny at the bottom of the courthouse stairs, squeezing his arm softly.

“Good job Counsellor.” He smirked.

“Thanks.” Sonny flashed that adorably dopey grin and Rafael chuckled.

“You know…that was kinda hot.”

“Guess you have a special reason to come to more of my trials.”

“I most certainly do.” He laughed, pressing a kiss into his lover’s cheek as they made their way through the streets of the city.

___________ @detective-giggles @ineedafinghug @billiedeannovak @laurenhope13 @stardust-galaxies @randomthingssss @beccabarba @thatesqcrush @bisexual-dreamer02 @altsvu @lovebishoplosamiguelgalindo @lawandorderimagines @Ghd76 @nocreditinthestraightworld @australiancarisi @mysticfalls01

#Barisi #Barisi drabble #Drabble #sonny carisi x rafael barba #Sonny carisi #Rafael barba #law and order svu #svu drabble

[tarteausuga]

maybe soon

Contents: fluff, basketball player! Johnny Featuring: Johnny x reader, other members of NCT sporadically A/N: there could potentially be another part... word count: 2.4k-ish

In which you’re the head athletic trainer of the basketball team that Johnny is the captain of...

"Mark, I know you can wrap it yourself. I've taught you multiple times." You breeze by one of the youngest players of the team who was begging you to wrap his ankle for him.

"You do it so much better though! I don't play as well if I do it myself." He whined as you rolled your eyes at him.

"You'll have to wait your turn then." You direct your attention to Johnny, the captain who has been nursing a sprained knee for the past few weeks. "Have you been icing it on and off like I've told you to?" You ask him but your attention is directed at his leg.

"Yes and I've been keeping it elevated. How can I not when you're in half of my classes nagging me during lectures?" He smirks at you but you don't pay him any attention.

"It looks a lot better now. I'll find you a knee brace and you shouldn't need to wrap it anymore." You smile, content with your treatment as you pin the bandage in place.

"You're a lot less scary when you smile, you know?" He jokes with you as you give him a slight push. Telling him to shut it before finally attending to the needy Mark Lee who is being touted as the next star of your university's basketball team.

You felt a lot of pride in your work with the team. Sure it was all for course credit towards your athletic training degree but something about it made you feel like you were part of the team. They relied on you and you often felt like you were supporting them through your work. You were never great at sports so this was your one way of being part of something that you love so much.

Your dedication had paid off as you had been named the head student trainer after years of running water bottles and hauling medical kits. Working under the advice of your professor, you were trusted to call the shots and unlike some of your classmates, your advising professor rarely questioned you.

"Alright boys, gather around." Johnny called out in his booming voice just as you were finishing up wrapping Mark's ankle. You then proceeded to help your junior trainers with packing up the kits and filling water bottles.

"Johnny is always watching you." One of the younger girls said to you and giggled.

"He's so hot, I wish he would look at me." Another girl pouted and you fought off the urge to roll your eyes in front of them.

You found that a lot of the students who signed up to be part of your team were mainly a) female and b) trying to get close with at least one of the players. It was frustrating on your end because it often meant more work for you as they were often too flustered or distracted to focus on their actual jobs.

"You know that I help to grade you guys, right?" You glare at them as you found yourself doing your kit inventories alone while they were busy giggling about the players.

"You're no fun. You can't possibly say you're not attracted to any of them." A third girl scoffed at you.

"I can honestly say that when you deal with their sweaty feet enough, they lose their allure." You lie as they all become visibly disgusted and finally start doing their jobs assigned by you. You stifle a smile as you look up and meet Johnny's eyes from across the room. The last thing you were going to do was admit to your juniors that you were interested in someone. And the second last thing you were going to do was tell them that the person in mind was none other than campus celebrity, Johnny Suh.

You approved the medical kits as Johnny dismissed the team and they proceeded towards the gym for warmups. You also sent your trainers to follow, reminding them to do their inspections of the gym and not ogling the team.

"Go easy on them." Johnny nudges you.

"That wouldn't be any fun then." You nudge him back.

"See? Much cuter with a smile on your face." He chuckles while running away before you can smack his arm.

There was always so much going on during game nights. The basketball team was the most popular on campus, beating out the soccer team somehow. There were hoards of fangirls in the stands screaming out the names of individual players. Then there was the band and of course, the cheerleaders but to no one's surprise, the players were the centre of attention.

Johnny seemed to thrive in this environment. He would flash a smile every once in a while to the girls in the stands, drawing screams sounding like they were in pain. You could even see some of the cheerleaders try not to lose their composure from the sidelines when they saw him push his hair out of his eyes.

"That kid is lucky he's great at basketball," the coach mumbled before shouting "FOCUS ON THE PLAY SUH!"

You couldn't help but fight back a chuckle as Johnny posted up a 3-pointer before saluting his coach.

---

The game was over and while everyone was returning to their respective homes to rest after the exciting win, you were back in the training room making sure the team started their recoveries well: Attending to bruises, strains and pre-existing injuries as quickly as possible. Johnny often sat back and watched you work. Laughing to himself whenever you made a quick comment towards any of the guys.

"Are you going to ask y/n out anytime soon?" Jaehyun, another popular player on campus, slid next to his captain.

"Nah I'm just going to get rejected. I've tried every year and it's always a no." Johnny smiles fondly at all of the times you've turned him down.

"You seem oddly happy about that." Jaehyun frowns.

"We spend more time together like this. We would have to be separated if we started dating. Conflict of interest or whatever but I still ask every year just to make sure we feel the same way." Johnny explains.

"And you're okay with the rejection…" Jaehyun tries to confirm but Johnny only nods, continuing to watch you work with the team. "There are other girls out there. You know that right?" Jaehyun suggested.

Johnny tried not to seem physically disgusted at the prospect. "I'm aware, Jaehyun. Thanks." He said in his low tone that often scared the other players.

"Alright, I'm just saying." Jaehyun slid away.

When the room quiets down and all of the team has trickled out, you're left with melted bags of ice and cut up pieces of athletic tape surrounding you. But you're not alone as Johnny seats himself across from you on the training table.

"Is it my turn now?" He smiles.

"You need to pay attention better," you sigh with a faint smile, undoing the bandages wrapped around his knee, "one slip and you're doing to hurt your knee again."

Johnny always had knee problems. He tore his ACL during your second year of university and it never fully recovered after surgery. That was probably the toughest year of Johnny's career, facing the fact that he likely wouldn't make his dreams of playing in the NBA come to reality. You tenderly apply ice to his knee as he winces at the cold.

"You worry too much." He says.

"You make me worry." You respond quickly.

"At least you feel something for me." He lowers himself to look up into your concentrated gaze.

"Let's not do this now." You look away and go make an ice bag for him.

"Oh come on, we always do this. I ask you out, you reject me, we bicker back and forth then we both quietly know the feelings are still there." He leans over you at the ice machine.

The best you can do is sigh and roll your eyes, "you're insufferable, Johnny Suh."

"And that's why you love me." He looks for an agreeing smile from you expectantly. You force one to appease him.

---

It was the morning before one of the last midterms of your university career. Nervous energy was all around as that classic air of tension flooded the campus as students wracked their brains with exam material. Your morning cup of relief, a coffee in your hand and Taeyong, one of your best friends and another member of the basketball team, talking your ear off.

"I spent all night making this tiny little cheat card my prof is letting us bring in but Yuta fucking spills water on it this morning, I was ready to kill the guy but-" he stopped talking when he noticed you stop dead in your tracks. He looked back to see you with a mortified look on your face. "Hey, what's up?" He gently touches your shoulder before turning towards your line of sight to see what had stopped you.

What he saw shocked him too. One of the cheerleaders who always made it known that she found Johnny attractive was seated on his lap in the food hall. He seemed disinterested but nonetheless, there she was. You immediately turn to walk the other way even though you were on your way towards your exam.

"Are you okay?" Taeyong struggled to catch up as you quickened your pace to make it in time while taking the long way around.

"It's fine, Taeyong. It's not like we're dating." You huff.

"I know but you guys like each other, don't you?" He asked.

"No," you lied, "I could never like someone like him so he can do whatever he wants."

"Hey." He finally stopped you.

"I don't have the time for this, I have to write my midterm." You slip away as you threw your untouched coffee in the trash. The thought of drinking coffee disgusted you all of a sudden. Your brain associated the beverage with Johnny as he was the one that introduced it to you during your first year of university.

You walked out of your exam and saw Taeyong waiting patiently outside. He had his fair share of fans around campus but he never entertained them as much as some of the other members of the team. He was often depicted as cold and scary so not many people approached him, unaware that he's one of the most kind-hearted people in your life.

"Hey, how did it go?" He asked you meekly.

"Pretty sure I bombed it," you sigh, "what about yours?"

"The twisted thing is that those cheat sheets force you to study so I guess I don't need to kill my roommate." You both laugh.

"Hey what are you guys laughing at?" You hear the voice you were dreading from behind you.

"I'll see you later, Taeyong." You say before quickly finding a new path for your afternoon.

"Is she okay?" Johnny asked, eyebrows furrowed.

"That's not for me to answer." Taeyong shrugs.

You try your best to act normal for practice that evening. You go through your usual motions of getting everyone taped up and ready but everyone seemed to notice your usual lack of spirit and friendly banter with the team. Even your junior trainers talk quietly about whether you broke up with Johnny despite you telling them repetitively that there wasn't anything going on between the two of you. You avoid his eye contact as their coach runs through their plays and generally avoid looking at him in general during the whole practice.

When the training room cleared out, you were left with Johnny again and you tried to rush through wrapping his ice bag onto his knee when he grabs your hand. He bends his neck down again to look into your eyes which were starting to fill up with tears.

"Hey what's going on?"

"Nothing. I'm just stressed about midterms." You turn away from him to wipe your tears.

"I'm sure you did fine," he uses his strength to force you to face him. "You're the smartest person I know."

"A lot of good that does me." You scoff.

"Did I do something?" He asked.

"It's nothing, Johnny. I'm fine." You insist but he's not convinced.

"Are you mad at me or something?" He finally struck a chord with you.

You can only look at him for a moment as you try to tell him why you're upset with him. How do you word this without making things even more complicated than they already are?

"You didn't do anything wrong. I'm just dumb and thought I was special but I'm just like every other girl out there for you. It's my fault." You try to force a smile but he only looks at you in confusion.

"Other girls? What other girls? Oh did you see me with…" he pokes his tongue against the inside of his cheek as he lets out a breath of frustration. "That bitch…" he mumbles to himself.

"What?" You say.

"You saw that, didn't you?" He read the expression on your face before continuing, "we were just talking about midterms when she suddenly sits on me. I asked what she was doing and she said she saw her ex and needed a cover because she's trying to get across the point that she's not into him anymore."

You continue to look at him, trying to figure out whether he's telling the truth when he continues his explanation.

"Did you see me touching her at all?" You shook your head in response. "I didn't want to push her off, I might have hurt her so I just let her be. Now I'm thinking she only did that because she saw you." He took your cold hands in his. "I only like you, alright? I've always liked you otherwise I wouldn't bug you so much about everything."

"But I keep rejecting and you can have literally any girl you want." You say quietly.

"And where am I? Hanging out with you whenever I can. Waiting for basketball to be over so we can maybe be an actual couple." He laughs.

"Really?" You ask with tear soaked eyes.

"Yeah." He says.

"That's… kind of dumb." You say with a soft laugh,

"Thanks, I love you too." He smiles, running his thumb over the lines of your hand.

#nct imagines #nct imagine #nct fluff #nct scenarios #nct scenario #johnny suh imagine #johnny suh imagines #johnny suh fluff #johnny suh scenario #johnny suh scenarios #kpop fluff

[ficforce]

Gokai Part 1

Konro x Reader

SFW

The sun was barely up when Konro left the guardhouse, he gave a yawn and rubbed his eyes, despite having always been an early riser he sometimes took a while to get his bearings. Often his body ached first thing, especially his shoulders and neck, he found that taking a patrol around the neighbourhood was a good way to limber up and check on things. Asakusa had been peaceful lately; Benimaru was behaving like a real Captain and the girls were giving him a break from their games. As he headed through the streets Konro greeted a few of the vendors as they set up for breakfast, a few of them telling him to come back soon so they could treat him to something, he stopped to speak with the night watch as they headed for the guardhouse. By this point, the sun had risen just enough into the sky to give the streets a golden hue.

As he headed toward the river a sound caught his attention, it wasn’t something he was used to in this particular area and he vaguely recognised it as the sound of wood hitting wood.

Clack, clack, clack.

He knew that sound, it was oddly nostalgic and his feet led him toward it, the constant clack, clack, clack became louder until he found himself in a small courtyard shared by the houses there. Silently he watched the back of the stranger - he was confident he knew nearly everyone is Asakusa some way or another - as they struck the side of a young tree over and over with a wooden practice sword.

They had poor form, he noted, they were wasting energy and movement in every strike, it was painful to watch and he cleared his throat to announce his presence before he could be tempted to take the stick from them. The other person paused and turned slowly to face him, he had already figured it was a woman by the clothes she was wearing, her expression seemed somewhat annoyed at being disturbed, “Did that tree piss you off?” He had never been one to start on a negative.

“Konro.” The Lieutenant answered as he walked a little closer and gestured to her practice sword, “You’re gripping it too hard, you should also decide whether you want to use a one-handed or two-handed grip.” He had seen her swap a few times, “Personally, I think two-handed would suit you better.”

Her expression softened and she gave a small breathless laugh at his question, she walked a few feet away from the tree and picked up a water bottle she had left there. Now that he could see her a little better, Konro realised her clothing was from the city, it was machine finished and had that synthetic look to it, not something often seen worn by the local Asasukians. “It’s winning,” she replied after getting her breath back, “Who knew swinging this thing around would be so exhausting, every hit makes my teeth rattle in my head.”

She made no secret of looking him up and down, her eyes lingered on the blue stripes on his pants that identified him as a Fire Soldier, the thing that caught her attention though, was the hilt of his sword on his hip - a real sword. Her grip tightened on her practice sword and she felt suddenly self-conscious that he had been watching. “I, uh… I’m Y/N.”

Not too proud to listen to him, Y/N tilted her head curiously, “And why’s that?”

“The way you place the weight in your feet and legs,” Y/N had a few of the basics down but there were things she could do to make it easier, “You would also double your effect with half the effort. If you have strong wrists and arms you might get away with one-handed…” Konro leaned against the tree she had been assaulting, “Also, it’s my biased personal preference.”

“You look like you know what you’re talking about,” Y/N took another drink from her bottle, “So, how bad am I? Out of ten?”

He didn’t even have to think, “Two.”

Y/N let out a peal of laughter at his blunt honesty, he had just massacred her in one word. At the same time though… he didn’t make her feel inadequate or embarrassed, he wasn’t being arrogant - just honest. “As high as that?”

Y/N supposed she had been too eager to start practising, “I’ll try that out, thanks.” She had only changed a few things but she could already tell the difference.

Konro couldn’t help smiling at her and shrugging slightly, “One point for holding it by the right end and the second point for effort.” He asked her to take up her stance again and stepped to her side, “You’re too loose with your upper body and you’re holding on too tight, relax your grip, take a deep breath and hold that posture…” The man watched her follow his advice and then he parroted the stance, “When you swing your sword, use your whole body, move your feet, follow it through…”

They practised together for a few minutes, he corrected her few times, small pointers that she took on board right away, “I know it’s tempting to hit something, it used to drive me mad when I was a kid, striking at thin air, same speed, same angle, same distance. Over and over and over, hours and hours until it was as natural as breathing, even until I couldn’t lift my arms anymore. Air can be as tough as any tree when you’re starting out.”

“Not a problem, if you’re here tomorrow I could show you a few other things.”

— -

Every morning from early spring, Konro would get up at dawn, as he always did, and head toward the river. That time of day allowed him to appreciate Asakusa in the gentle morning light, his beloved home quiet for a few scant hours before it would become rowdy and alive with its colourful inhabitants. The only difference to his walk was his new detour, he met with Y/N in the courtyard. Konro would tease her for her lack of skill but he always encouraged her with advice and pointers, he showed her a practice routine to follow through - only giving her more when she became better at the routine.

Through their playful banter, Konro was able to learn more about her. He discovered that she was from the city and that she had no love for the place she grew up in. She didn’t like the way the Church and big corporations ran everything, she expressed how she felt like a cog in a massive machine, an insignificant piece that worked a broken society. She had friends who were proto-nationalist, they had invited her on a tour around other groups and eventually on a day trip to Asakusa.

If people didn’t rely on it, then maybe they could break further away from the Empire’s influences and think more for themselves.

He had felt some pride when she revealed to him that she had fallen in love with the Town in that single day. That it had snapped her out of the dull, everyday life she had in the city and showed her that there was more to life than following everyone else. Y/N found him easy to talk to, she felt safe enough to share a few of her childhood fantasies - How she had wanted to do Kendo as a child but her parents hadn’t let her. It didn’t suit the plans they had for her life.

They had wanted her to study, get a good job, meet a man, have some kids… She had postponed as much as she could by specialising in studies for energy sources other than Ameratsu.

Asakusa had been a new start for Y/N. She had hoped it would provide a simpler, happier life for her, maybe her skills could be useful to the Town, for the time being, she had taken a job in one of the busier bars. She had left her engineering positions behind in the city, she had faced her parent’s disappointment and broken off the engagement to a man who she had thought she loved but had really settled for. She wasn’t ready to get married for the sake of society’s norms.

“Wrong,” Konro called out as she made a downward slash, it lacked strength and wasn’t anywhere close to a consistent angle, he watched her repeat the action and called her out on it again, she was way off balance. He could see her getting frustrated at herself and shifted his weight to his other foot, “Take up a basic stance. Always, always go back to the basics before you get too absorbed in bad technique.”

He was nowhere near as strict as his teacher had been with him, he wasn’t even close to the ruthless way he trained kid Benimaru out of bad habits.

She couldn’t think of a single person she had ever spoken to saying a bad word about him. Early on she had learned that Sagamiya Konro was well-loved and respected in Asakusa.

“I am!” Y/N snapped back, “I keep going back to the start, I’m doing it over and over! It’s just not doing what I want it to do and telling me to go back to basics isn’t helping me!” She wanted to throw the practice sword to the ground and scream.

It wasn’t the training and it certainly wasn’t Konro that she was frustrated with, she had so many things going on with adjusting to her new job as a generator technician and gaining the trust of the old men who reluctantly hired her, it was hard to concentrate on practice. Her expression was tense, a frown tugging at her lips as she looked over at the man, Konro showed no sign of being upset with her, he was patient as always. He was always kind to her, he often made her laugh and he was a good listener.

When he had flippantly revealed that he was the Fire Force’s Lieutenant her jaw had dropped. He had so many other things he could be doing but every morning, for two hours a day, he came to teach her. It wasn’t just her he had time for, from the little kids in the street that barely reached his knees to the old folk who remembered him as a baby - he had time.

Konro talked her through the move, he guided her with his hands until she was able to do it on her own and stepped back, “Good… I think that’ll do for today.”

“…Take up your first stance.” Konro told her firmly, he got up from where he had been watching her and stood behind her, “We’re gonna get a little cosy, Y/N, don’t take advantage of me.”

Before she could think of a quip or even laugh at his words, Konro’s chest was pressed to her back, his arms followed the line of hers and he covered her hands with his own, “Get rid of that tension, whatever it is annoying you, throw it to the side for now.” Y/N was surprised by how warm he was, even through their clothing she could feel his warmth seeping into her skin, his voice was so close to her ear that she had to resist a shiver rolling up her spine - he smelt so good… “Concentrate, Y/N.” There was a hint of amusement in his tone and she wanted to elbow him in the ribs.

Y/N nodded, she felt calmer as his warmth lingered around her.

— -

Six months had passed since Y/N had moved to Asakusa.

She didn’t regret a single thing, the people there now treated her like she was family, very few people gave her trouble for being an outsider anymore and she embraced their old country ways gladly. The first time she had tried on a yukata she hadn’t wanted to change out of it, it was comfortable and there were so many ways to wear it. She had adopted the styles of the women her age, something easy to move in with Asakusa’s flare for haoris. The food was always good, she had her favourite street stalls and had caused a small fire in her home when trying her hand at cooking, it had been her kid neighbour who had put it out and given her lecture on fire safety. And despite her initial shyness of the public bathhouse, she had learned to love those too. There was nothing like hanging out with a bunch of other naked women in a hot pool gossiping about who was doing what and with who.

She had attended and enjoyed her first festival at the peak of summer, it had been memorable for a few reasons…

Although his uniform made him appear bigger than he was, Y/N wasn’t disappointed to see that he was still quite broad and toned, he had worn a striped, navy blue yukata that matched his eyes. He had looked so masculine and the woman couldn’t help but be reminded again that he smelt so damn good as he kept her close to him on their way through the crowds.

It had been the first time she met Hinata and Hikage, Konro had spoken about the little girls fondly on several occasions and Y/N had been excited to meet them - she hadn’t quite expected their enthusiasm. The twins had bombarded her with questions, they had criticised her outfit choice and harassed her until she had crouched down for them to change her hair to their liking, afterwards they had dragged her around to play every game, try every festival food and every activity going on during the night.

The thing she remembered most, that played in her mind whenever she had time to indulge, was seeing Konro out of uniform for the first time. His usual clothing exaggerated his bulk and was extremely practical. He had materialised out of the crowds of people to rescue her from the twins. It had also been the first time Y/N had seen the Lieutenant with his hair loose, he had looked so handsome with one side of his hair swept up with a simple comb, she had barely restrained herself from running her hands through the silky looking strands.

Y/N vaguely remembered meeting Shinmon Benimaru. It was hard to recall when all she could think about was Konro’s warm, comforting hands on her lower back and Konro’s laughter as he spoke with the Townsfolk. Since then it had been difficult for her to concentrate when he met her in the morning for practice.

Winter snuck in and the days were getting shorter, her breath now misted in the morning air as she swung the wooden sword with relative ease, her fingers would go numb as the temperature remained cold well into the afternoon. It was a particularly chilly morning when Konro shocked her by drawing his sword and offering it to her.

It should have been something that excited her, she should have wanted to make a grab for it without a second thought but Y/N hesitated. It was such a beautiful sword, finely made, everything perfectly polished and balanced - it had been crafted for him and him only.

Y/N knew how he treasured it, she remembered him showing her once before as he taught her about each piece that made the whole sword. He knew the people who had painstakingly created each part and how long the work had taken, he went as far as to teach her how to keep in from tarnishing. He had worked long and hard to first master swordsmanship and then to be able to pay for such a thing. Konro was very proud of it, even though he was a third-generation fire soldier who had been incredibly strong, he had still trained his whole life fro weird the sword he was offering to her.

“You should at least learn how a real one feels in your hand.” He wished he had his camera, the face Y/N was pulling was absolutely priceless and he was humbled by her appreciation of what he held.

“Konro,” her fingers twitched, wanting so badly to take it, but she fisted her hands and looked up at him with a slightly concerned wrinkle between her eyebrows, “I’m terrified I’ll damage it.”

He smiled at her trepidation, “I trust you, Y/N.”

For a moment, the cold air she had breathed in so suddenly became trapped in her lungs, it stung. It felt like an icy hand around her heart and it made it difficult for her to breathe. When she looked up from the sword and into the man’s warm gaze, the feeling melted away. His eyes were so soft as he looked back that she felt his usual warmth seem to seep into everything from her toes to her frozen fingertips, the cold air in her chest evaporated and her heart beat a little faster.

She had never felt like that before.

Sure, it was just a sword. It could be replaced or mended if she damaged it but he dared to offer her something so precious to him and say that he trusted her with it… it was too much for her to handle.

Not even with the man she had once settled on getting engaged to.

Everything before Asakusa had been for convenience, to follow a routine that everyone else was following. Education, a job, marriage, children, getting old comfortably… forcing that routine on her own children.

Never had anyone so sincerely said that they trusted her.

“Konro.” Y/N murmured almost shyly as she reached for the hilt, her fingers curled around it hesitantly and she lifted it from his hold. It had a comfortable weight to it, lighter than she had expected and balanced perfectly. She was a little starstruck to be holding a real sword that belonged to a real swordsman, she felt her breath stutter a little as she felt the subtle wear in the silk braid that wrapped the hilt - worn there by his hands over time…

“Try swinging it, I swear it’s not going to shatter, Y/N, you don’t have to be that careful.” When she continued to stand frozen to the spot, the man stepped up behind her and covered her chilled hands with his, he was always warm because of his ignition abilities and her body absorbed it gladly. He noted that she tensed in his hold and put it down to her anxiousness over handling his sword, “We’ll go with an upward movement to start, then I’ll show you how to do a reverse… swing…” Konro’s words trailed off as he felt her head move, she looked up at him and he angled his head down to better see her expression.

Konro had thought that maybe she had a question or some objection but he hadn’t thought for a second that she would lean up that extra few centimetres and kiss him.

Her lips were soft on his, the touch was almost shy to begin and as she became a little braver he felt her kiss him a little more persistently. Konro didn’t move. He didn’t kiss her back and after a few seconds, he felt Y/N pull away slowly and duck her head to avoid his gaze. Konro carefully stepped away from her, the cold air wrapped around them both as soon as they were apart and he paused for a moment to think about his next words…

“Y/N…” He didn’t want to hurt her, “I’m flattered, really I am, but-”

Y/N wrapped her arms around herself and looked at him with a tense, forced smile, “I’m freezing!” She said a little too loudly, “I better head back inside - I’ll see you around, okay?” The woman fled as quickly as she could, running toward home all the while berated herself for misreading the signals, for humiliating herself like that. The icy chill in the air made it difficult to tell if her tears were from the cold or her narrowly escaped rejection.

#sagamiya konro #reader #fire force #enen no shouboutai #enn enn no shouboutai

[sandsofoneiros]

Sour Candy.

I wrote a little thing and gave it a bad title.

Poe Dameron x OC.

Not everything is what it seems.

TW: Food mention.

Lazy proofreading, be warned.

“You should give up now, Commander Dameron. I have you right where I want you.” Her voice was sweet. Too sweet for someone so clearly bent on hurting him. How could she do this to him? They were friends! They had fought alongside each other, confided in each other, and laughed together! Poe was in utter disbelief as he stared at the woman in front of him. That sweet smile turned into a cruel one. That smile now mocked him. Where was his friend? Where was the girl who shared her tea with him on the nights that they couldn’t sleep? Trading stories above their childhood. She wasn’t there anymore. Replaced with a cold-blooded woman who didn’t care about anything other than herself.

“You won’t win, Poe. She’s already won. Just give up now.” Finn’s voice was pleading in his ear, but Poe refused. He couldn’t let her win. Not like this.

“Please. Don’t do this, Ro. I know you don’t want to do this. Where’s the green-eyed girl from Naboo that loves tea? The girl who fought by my side?”

“Give it up, Poe. She will not give in.” Kaydel sighed before shaking her head.

“I’m not giving up.”

Their words echoed in his head as he kept looking for ways to turn this around. To bring her back to his side. But it didn’t work. Her eyes were shining with glee and determination.

Ro watched him with a grin. She knew she had him, that he was merely stalling despite the defeat that was looming. Everyone around them knew what was going to happen, but he still wouldn’t give up. It was cute. The pilot thought he could fix all this. Undone all her work. Not that simple. It would never be that simple. She had known her plan since the very beginning, and now it was being executed perfectly. Right in front of everyone. How much better could this be? She was going to take down one of the Resistance’s best pilots. The galaxy’s best pilot. Aurora Citlali was going to beat him. The room was quiet, and everyone’s eyes locked on the soldier and the pilot. Wondering what was going to happen next. They were all telling him to quit, and they were wise to do so. Her eyes scanned as she waited on his next move, growing bored by the second. The others whispered in his ear as if their advice would change the outcome of everything.

“You don't really want to do this, sweetheart. Not to me, at least. C’mon, we have a connection.”

The comment caused her eyes to roll while she took a sip of her tea. His tongue swiped over his bottom lip before his leg bounced. A sign that told Ro that he knew he was defeated. She had won, and he wasn’t ready to accept that. Her lips curled into another sweet smile. Another victory. She just needed to wait for a little longer and she would have him broken. It would be a sweet victory. A well-deserved victory.

“Just let go. I promise it won’t be that bad.” She cooed before setting her cup down and leaning forward. Like a Nexu fixing to pounce on their prey after stalking it for hours. The end was finally near.

His heart was pounding in his ears as he went to move his hand. Never had his hand felt so heavy in his life, and shook. A shaky hand wasn’t like him. It was typically steady no matter what was happening around him, but this wasn’t like the other times. So much riding on these next movements. Squeezing his eyes shut, he made his next move.

“Read and weep, curls. I won again!” She laid down her Sabacc card with a proud smile for collecting her winnings. The room groaned loudly, but none of them were shocked. Poe wasn’t the best at Sabacc, but Ro was way too good at the game. She smiled as she looked through the sweets that had been used for bets. Some of them were her favorites.

“You’re cheating. There’s no way you can always win.”

“Poe, I can’t cheat. It’s strategy.” She chuckled before holding her hand out to him, waiting to collect his bet from him.

“You have the Force then. That’s the only way you can win so much,” Poe mumbled as he dug a hand in his jacket pocket for her. Fishing out the taffy that he had gotten for her from a recent mission. Her eyes lit up as she snatched it out of his hand. Everyone had cleared out and headed towards their respective quarters, leaving just the two of them for a moment. “Want me to help you carry that back to your quarters?”

Ro nodded early as she dug into her beloved taffy and placed some candy in Poe’s pockets.

“I don’t have the Force. I just played Sabacc a lot when I was a teenager. Takes some practice. You did better this game but I can tell when you have a bad hand. Your face gives it away.”

“You stare at my face so much to notice those changes?” He asked with a grin, glancing over at the blushing Ro. Her mouth moved to form words but nothing came out.

“Shut up, Dameron. Your face is pleasant to look at.” She shrugged before popping another piece of candy into her mouth. Poe’s hand had already dug into the taffy bag as well.

“Just so you know, I study your face sometimes too.”

Her face had heated once again as they walked back to her quarters, munching on the hard-earned sweets. It was a comfortable silence between them and one that she enjoyed. Even though her sweet horde was smaller when they finally got to her quarters. Biting her lip, she realized she didn’t want to say goodbye just yet. Then the thought came to her.

“I could give you some pointers on Sabacc if you have nothing else planned for the night? I have a deck in my room.”

“Oh? Well, I can’t pass up a chance to learn from the master.”

#TW: food mention #CW: food mention #My writing #Mar’s Writing #my oc #Poe Dameron x OC

[suntann]

Hello, yes. I would like to ask any headcannons you might have for the Diakko Moms AU pls 🥺

I’m gonna put this under read more because boy do I have A LOT thanking for enabling me anon

Angstly ones

When the Blights find out Amity’s missing, they… don't look for her. Emira and Edric are visibly distraught and worried that their sister is fucking GONE while the Blights carry on. Their reasoning is because It is a privilege to be a Blight. Amity will realize this and come crawling back. And if she doesn’t.. well that’s on her.

Emira and Edric had to look for her, with the help of Luz and Co. They cry in relief when they find her and that she’s safe.

Diana is… indifferent to the Amity’s parents, the Blights. She wasn’t very close to her mother’s other siblings like she was with aunt Daryl (well.. as close as those two are...), so whenever she meets them during family events, she treats them how she would treat other aristocrats.

Well, until she meets Amity and she starts living with them. Ever since she learned about their TRUE nature Diana just goes feral at the thought of them. (“They abuse kids, Akko!! Who’s a low enough reject to abuse CHILDREN?!”) For her, it’s on sight. She almost beat up Amity’s father because she saw him at a grocery store. Akko has to be the voice of reason for once.

Akko, surprisingly, handles her anger well. She’s polite whenever she somehow runs into them. She’s the one who handles affairs between them if they even come up as Diana swears a storm in the background. Diana asks Akko how she could possibly keep her cool and she responds, “Why should I waste time on them? Aren’t we Amity’s family now? As far as I know, they don’t even matter anymore.”

Heartwarming ones

In a way, the reason why Diana takes Amity in so quickly is because she longs for a family dynamic she never had. Her mother died when she was young, she wasn’t old enough to meet her father before he died. So seeing Amity fit so well in their little household, it makes her heart swell. In fact, she and Akko have been furiously reaching ways in which they can adopt her.

And even more secretly… she’s been looking at different engagement rings. Diana always knew she wanted to marry Akko ever since they got together in Luna Nova. But seeing her take care of Amity and how patient and understanding she is, it just solidified it for her that this was the person she wants to be with for the rest of her life. This is the person she wants to build her family with

And Amity is just, in shock. She’s never seen such a healthy adult relationship before, especially one like Diana and Akko. She sees how much they love and take care of each other and herself, even with the little things like reminding her that her lunch is on the table or always leaving a glass of water by her bedside. It’s just everything they do is laced with love and they don’t even notice it. But Amity does, everytime.

Just fun funny ones

Amity walks in on Diana looking at engagement rings in her office and she asks Amity not to tell Akko. She wants it to be perfect because Akko deserves it to be and things like that. After Amity reassures her that she won’t, she proceeds to watch, unamused, as this full grown ass women gay panics right in front of her about whether or not Akko will say yes to her

Unbeknownst to her, Amity just finished listening to the same gay panic when she also accidentally walks in on Akko practicing her proposal speech in the living room. Akko asked for pointers, obviously.

Akko and Diana are the biggest lumity supporters. They give Amity pointers and advice they can think of. And they would be helpful, if not for the fact they both have different views on how to flirt with your crush. “No! Ask her to have a study date! And without her knowing, turn it into movie night! She won’t suspect a thing!” “That’s too forward and preposterous! Here Amity, I have prepared a 5 page 60 step plan where—“

Diana and Akko know Amity and Luz aren’t dating, but they don’t miss a chance to tease her and call Luz “Amity’s girlfriend” much to her chagrin

Diana and Akko and Eda have cheesecake and tea time together. Eda gives them tips on how to be good parents, Diana takes notes. Eda always steals a bit of Akko’s cheesecake without her knowing. They’re all good friends.

In fact, Akko has always admired Eda because of her wild magic. She thinks it’s really cool and wants to learn more to make her shows more fun.

And yeah, Akko’s FAMOUS. She regularly goes to schools to do speeches, interviews and stuff. She loves every minute of it. she really feels like she’s helping people.

I have more but I’ll shut up for now (unless someone asks me to spill more 👀👀)

#diakko #lumity #mentioned #diakko moms au #diana cavendish #akko kagari #amity blight #luz noceda #eda clawthorne #asks

[saturnsstufff]

Misfortune

credit to @vixenfoxpup​ this is her work, all characters belong to her.

Warnings: Character death

Misfortune.

    It happens to absolutely everyone at least once in their lives. Whether it be the loss of a beloved’s life, of one’s own life, or the worst luck that one can imagine, it has affected everyone in the world.

    Well, what if misfortune was given by one being? But not by their own will? What if misfortune was the very culmination of the one forced to bestow it upon others? Would you then pity the one who had to force their gift upon others? Or would you still resent them with all your might, wishing terrible events to happen upon them, because of something they cannot control?

    Maybe she can answer these questions, through a look into her past, present, and what is to come for her. 

    Introducing, Rahni.

    The young immortal had beauty beyond compare, with locks of curly, blossom pink hair, soft gray eyes, rosy skin, and a smile that could brighten anyone’s mood.

    This is the woman who built her kingdom, brick by brick, inch by inch, day after day. For nearly three hundred years, the woman single handedly made her empire one to remember, with the fire made blue by those who have wronged her, and who she had slaughtered. She built her empire in the coldest of lands, to ensure that any mortal who trespassed there would not survive unless she granted it.

    She ruled there with a mighty, yet kind, hand. Every day, she would mingle with and befriend her subjects, granting them each their daily needs, whether it be advice or material items, such as food and warmth, in the freezing air. This went on for generations, the empire living without war due to how generous Rahni was with other kingdoms, them being unable to find reason to attack the Arctic Empire.

    Until, one man showed up. A stranger who had managed to survive the frozen wasteland and, what was rumored to be enchanted, forest that surrounded the empire, and when he was confronted with about what his purpose was for being in the empire, he simply said, “To see Her Majesty, myself, and see if she truly is the ruler she is put up to be.”

    This angered her loyal subjects, offended by how someone could doubt their ruler’s authority, and caused them to notify the empire’s guards, arresting him. Word got around to the Queen and soon she summoned him in her throne room, due to her curiosity. The man presented himself by the name of Zieran, and he had come from another kingdom, to study how her own functions. 

    This surprised the queen, and out of pure curiosity she granted Zieran permission to live and study in her land, as long as he stayed in her palace.

    Over the course of the next few years, Zieran learned more and more not just about the empire’s economy and system, but about Rahni, herself. How she would always visit her townsfolk, communed with her palace servants, and laughed with her guards. He learned that she never treated those that were below her authority as such, instead lowering herself in front of them, and when he asked those she spoke to about it, they simply stated that it was impossible not to treat her as an old friend every time she came to them.

    Soon enough, Rahni and Zieran began to become closer, when Rahni requested that he shared his studies with her each week, so she could verify if what he had found was true. She eventually realized that everything that he found was indeed factual, but she still called for these meets, as an excuse to see the tall man each week. Soon each week turned to twice a week, to every other day, to every day. The two were inseparable, soon falling in love. They were then wed, years into the ordeal.

    The new king and queen continued to rule for years on end, Rahni sharing her youth with Zieran, not making him immortal, but so that he aged tremendously slower. Together they colonized new lands, allianced with more kingdoms, and were infamous for their good deeds to their people and others.

    ...Alas, it was never meant to be.

    One evening, Rahni had walked into her chambers to witness an assassin in the act of murdering her husband. In a fit of rage, she annihilated their soul, before rushing to her husband, who died in her arms that day.

    The village rarely saw their ruler after that day, for she never spoke to anyone outside the palace, and those that she did speak to only had short, curt conversations with her. She continued to grieve for her king, but that was merely the beginning of her history with misfortune, and how it would forever affect her future.

    “M’lady?”

    Rahni lifted her head from her hands, having been in deep concentration, focusing on her royal reports and proclamations from neighboring kingdoms. She had just started reading a letter from the fellow god and emperor, Rio, before she saw that one of her head guards was at the door to her office.

    “Yes, sir?”

    “You see, ma’am, the other guards and I found something, and we’re not sure what to do with her.”

    “...’Her’?” Rahni’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion. What on Ranos was he talking about?

    “Yes, ma’am. I believe that you should see her for yourself.” Curiosity once again got the best of the immortal woman, so she had her guard lead her to her throne room. “Before I open this door, your Highness, I ask that you don’t… overreact.”

    Now Rahni was itching with suspense, dismissing her guard with a mere wave of her hand before reaching for the door’s knob.

    What she found on the other side shocked her.

    The noises of a baby’s wails greeted her ears, and standing in front of her throne was one of her handmaidens, holding a crying infant. Rahni practically sprinted to her maid, not sparing a glance as she asked, “Where was she?”

    “We found her by the horse stables, madam-”

    “How long was she there?” Rahni’s hands were held midair, as if she were contemplating just snatching the baby from the maid’s arms. 

    “It can’t have been more than a day, when our guards made the patrol around the palace grounds last night, there was no one in sight, then when one of our stable boys went to replace the horses’ feed, there she was in the feeder,” the maid was looking warily between the baby and the queen, not sure what to do in that situation. Rahni continued to restrain herself from grabbing the bundle in the other woman’s arms, but she did lean closer to examine the supposed orphan’s features.

    Despite her face being bunched up from wailing, she could see that she had emerald green eyes behind tears, and a small head covered in ginger locks of hair. On the sides of her head poked out small ears with slight points on the ends. Rahni could no longer resist the urge to reach for the child, so instead of taking her into her own arms, she settled for having the girl wrap her small right hand around her own pointer finger, doing so made her wails silent.

    Rahni wept.

    She, as an immortal, would never be able to have a child with a mortal, hence why she had no children while her husband breathed. Yet, Rahni could not deny the maternal instinct in her heart when she made contact with this small human. But… 

    “I can’t care for her…” Rahni forced herself to remove her finger from the infant’s grasp, and once she did she began to cry again, this time harder as she shook her soft hands in fists. Rahni resisted the urge to place her finger back in her hold. “I wouldn’t be able to find time for her, let alone take care of her!”

    “Then let us do it!” Another maiden entered the throne room, trailed by a few more. “Let us take care of her! We’ll feed her, change her, and make sure she grows healthily!” Rahni was taken aback by the womens’ urge to keep the girl. She looked between the maidens, to the baby in their arms, to the room around them. Still looking unsure, the eldest maid, who was currently holding the babe, spoke up.

    “Mistress, you’ve been so glum since Zieran, you need someone like this in your life again,” The woman paused, still seeing uncertainty in the queen’s eyes. “Would you like to hold her?”

    Rahni’s eyes lit up, despite her somber stance. She silently nodded and walked towards her throne, the maidens following closely behind. At this point, even a few guards were not-so-discreetly poking their heads through the main door.

    Now seated on her grand throne, Rahni extended her arms expectantly, soon receiving what she requested. With the infant now in her arms, she stopped her loud screeches, and looked up at the queen, with big eyes.

    Rahni’s heart lurched in her chest, and as she gazed down at the ginger babe in her hands, the palace staff knew that there was a new addition among their midsts.

    Rahni decided that it would be best to assume the role of the infant’s older sister, instead of mother, but she did bestow the child with the name Xena. Xena continued to grow and age with beauty and grace, and the two sisters’ bond was unlike any other. Rahni always made sure that the other’s needs were met, and Xena consistently helped her sister in times of need, including helping the queen become used to visiting her people more often, again. 

    However, sixteen years later when things began to look up for Rahni, it all came crumbling down again with misfortune.

    Xena, now sixteen, had quite the habit of using Rahni’s personal library. The young woman knew of her sister’s immortality, and of the many different ethereal beings and realms, so one day, while looking through the shelves of books, she stumbled upon a worn book on a back shelf. The book’s cover was covered in dust, and the spine was falling apart. Blowing the dust off, Xena found that the book was about the undead realm.

    This was one of the few realms that Rahni refused to tell her sister about, and the fact that Xena had found this made her ecstatic. So, opening to the novel’s pages, she found an endless supply of knowledge about the realm, such as the unique species, mannerisms of the undead, and what the terrain was like, ranging from warped forests to wastelands that contained lost souls in its very soil.

    But what interested the young princess the most was the ruler, Shugarah. The queen of the undead, stated to be ruthless and unforgiving. The more she read about her, the more she wanted to know, so one day when Rahni went to visit another kingdom to discuss a compromise, Xena began the process of creating a portal to this forbidden land. According to the book, she needed materials such as obsidian, ruby dust, and the portal creator’s blood.

    So she set to work in a private section of the palace garden, where she layed a circle of obsidian in the grass, and spread the ruby dust in the center. Lastly, she used a rock to cut her hand. With the blood oozing from her palm, she mixed it in with the ruby dust in the center. Xena took a step back as the portal roared to life. The dust and blood swirled within the obsidian to create a window into the hellish land, and as she looked into it, her body was struck with fear, but along with that fear was intrigue.

    After she patched up her new wound, she mustered all of her courage, and grabbed a bag of supplies, such as the book, first aid, food, some gold, more ruby dust, and she jumped into the unknown.

    The first thing she felt was heat that she could never compare to the summer’s hottest days, but despite the temperature, she did not sweat.

    “Odd,” she whispered, as she examined her clothing, seeing no sweat marks. Looking around all she could see were red rocks that made the floor, that covered the sky, and crawled up all around her. Collecting herself, she began her trek through the land, book in hand. What she was searching for was Shugarah’s fortress, which was said to be hidden deep in the center of the world.

    On her journey, she found indescribable places and creatures, including an ocean of lava instead of water, purple and blue forests, and walking skeletons. 

   After what seemed like days, she finally approached the grand walls of Shugarah’s fortress. Just as she was about to begin her treach through the walls of the infamous building, she saw a few young creatures in the corner of her eye. They seemed to be humanoid… pigs? She remembered reading about them, and how they were called ‘piglins’. They only came up to her waist, and some looked undead compared to others, their skin green and bones showing, but nonetheless, they played with wooden swords.

    She giggled at their little game, and approached them.

    “Hello!” The piglins had not noticed her before, but when she spoke, they seemed very startled and the tallest one nervously held his sword at her, while the rest hid behind him. Xena sat down, not wanting to seem threatening to the young piglins, and reaching into her bag, pulled out the gold she had brought, which were in little nuggets.

   The tallest immediately recognized the yellow mineral, and his pupils dilated at the sight of it, but his stance did not move, and he was still focused on protecting the other piglins. Xena then placed a few nuggets on the ground, and crawled back slowly, waiting for him to approach her instead of her approaching him. Soon enough the piglins approached her, one by one, five in total, and Xena found herself immersed in playing with the foreign children.

   She wasn’t sure how long they played together, and was also unaware of how long she was being watched by a mysterious figure from the fortress walls, which was now about ten yards away from the group. 

   The playtime between the two species led to a makeshift conversation. The piglins understood a miniscule amount of English, but could not speak it. Xena pulled out her book once more, looking for the section about the others’ species, and she, herself, began to make makeshift words in their tongue, which consisted of grunts and groans instead of fluent words. With her back now to the fortress, the piglins sat in front of her, listening and seeming to giggle at her poor attempts to speak like them. One even laid their head in her lap, seeming to be the most comfortable with her presence.

   This went on for who knows how long, but the end was coming closer. Eventually, Xena saw as all of the young piglins around her stiffened and became eerily silent, except for the, what seemed to be, youngest that had fallen asleep in her lap. All of their beady eyes became locked on something behind her, and before she could realize what was happening, a voice spoke.

   “Impressive, I’ve never seen them so open around something not of their kind.” Xena hesitantly craned her neck to glance behind her, and there she was. Shugarah. She was even more elegant than she was said to be in the book, and Xena could only gaze in awe.

   Shugarah wore a dress of black silk that hugged her slim figure, the only skin that showed was that of her feet and a portion of her leg that revealed itself in a slit in the dress. Her sleeves were made of a slightly transparent material, drawing attention to the muscle in her biceps and forearms. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a tight braid that swept over her shoulder, long enough to have the end touch her hip. The goddess stood at what seemed to be a seven foot tall stance, with her gazing down at the teenager in a slight interest, with her glittering hazel eyes. 

   Xena couldn’t help but feel the urge to bow in the intimidating presence of the queen of the dead, but could only sit there due to the sleeping piglin on her legs. Snapping out of her trance, she turned back around to softly remove the creature from her lap, but froze again when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

   “No, no! Don’t move him, they can be quite rowdy when woken abruptly,” Shugarah had knelt down to be directly behind the much younger being, and her head was just above Xena’s shoulder. “Here, let me take him.”

   Before Xena had time to process, Shugarah’s long arms reached around the girl, and swiftly took the snoring child into her own grasp, not even stirring the small piglin from his slumber. They both stood then, and the teenager wasted no time turning around to properly bow to the queen.

   “Oh, dear, none of that, now,” Shugarah shook her head, moving the child in her arms so that one of her hands was free. “Now, state your purpose.”

   “Uhm, no specific reason, Your Highness! I-I just found this book, and I-”

   “A book, you say?” Shugarah raised an eyebrow. She leaned slightly to look around Xena, and saw the book there, it’s pages still open to where it spoke of hell’s many creatures. Xena began to fumble over herself as she rushed to turn around and pick up the abandoned novel.

   “Yes!” she cried. “I had found it in our library, and your world sounded so interesting, so I-”

   “Made the portal…” Shugarah mumbled, breaking eye contact. The two stood there for a minute in silence, before Shugarah asked, “So tell me, mortal. Do you have a name?”

   Shugarah was surprised when Xena hesitated to answer. As she looked down at the ginger, she couldn’t help but notice that she was looking at the nearby fortress as she fidgeted with her hands.

    “Well?” Shugarah stared at her expectantly.

    Xena blinked, drawing her gaze away from the fortress, back up to the queen before her.

    “Well, your Highness, I come from the Esther family, and I live with my sister-”

    “‘Esther’ as in Rahni Esther?” Shugarah’s eyes lit up, and a smile graced her features before she realized her reaction, and she cleared her throat. “I mean, you come from Rahni Esther’s bloodline?” This sudden change of tone confused the mortal, but she didn’t question it. Instead she merely began to walk past Shugarah, towards the fortress, continuing to gaze at the intimidating structure.

    “Yeah, she’s my older sister,” she answered, without looking at the other. Shugarah blinked at how nonchalantly a mortal could say that their sibling was a goddess. 

   At this point, the piglin children had run off, leaving just the youngest still asleep in Shugarah’s arms.

   After a moment of watching Xena, Shugarah had two thoughts at once. “You still never told me your first name, child.”

   “Oh, my apologies, it’s Xena.”

    “What a lovely name,” Shugarah then initiated her second thought. “Would you like to come inside?” Now that caught her attention, causing Xena to turn around, her eyes as bright as stars. The queen chuckled at her enthusiasm, and led the younger being towards her abode, with the redhead practically bouncing on her toes.

    Once inside, Shugarah introduced Xena to some foreign cuisines, and the two made small talk with each other about the underworld and overworld, and how their kingdoms were run differently. They had been talking for about an hour until, “Miss?”

   “Yes, Xena?”

   “I was wondering, in the book it said that you were ‘unforgiving’ and ‘cruel’, and I wanted to ask, uhm, how come you haven’t…”

   “Killed you?”

   Xena was shocked by how blunt she was, but she nodded sheepishly, awaiting Shugarah’s response.

   “Oh, it’s because you looked interesting, I guess.”

   Xena’s skin paled, but then the queen laughed.

   “Dearest, I’m joking with you! I was intrigued while watching you play with the children. Most adventurers who survive the path to my fortress don’t survive, and when they do arrive, most try to attack the piglins and their young. So when you came along, you did something I wasn’t expecting, and not much down here is ‘different’, so to say.” Shugarah looked away, a somber smile on her face.

   The two continued to chat until Xena realized how long it must’ve been since she left her realm. Bringing this to Shugarah’s attention, the queen offered to make a special portal that would lead right into the fortress, for whenever the young woman wanted to visit at any given time.

   Agreeing to this arrangement, Shugarah led Xena to her, what looked to be, a garden with many exotic plants and a few mystical creatures roaming around the grounds. The goddess proceeded to make a much more grand portal than the makeshift one that Xena had made, with it standing upright instead of on the ground. Once activated, Xena could see her garden on the other side, and more importantly, who was on the other side.

   Xena cringed at how Rahni seemed to be absolutely fuming, standing with her arms crossed in the garden, near Xena’s previous portal. She looked up to the queen, only to see her wide eyed, seeming  to be absolutely enamored with the overworld, or, more specifically, the other goddess.

   Taking a deep breath, Xena stepped through the portal, with Shugarah staying behind, but still visible within the portal’s borders. Rahni began to approach her sister, looking ready to scold the living daylights out of her, but then she glanced behind her, and froze. Her eyes went wide, much like how Shugarah’s had, and her face went a light shade of red. Xena decided to slip past her, waving to Shugarah before departing towards the palace.

   The two goddesses gazed at each other, only hearing of the legends that the other held, and never actually meeting in person. Little did either of them know, this moment would change their lives forever.

   From that day forward, Rahni, instead of Xena, snuck to the portal to see Shugarah. In their time together, Rahni learned that the other goddess had also lost her husband recently, and Shugarah learned of Rahni’s kingdom and how she came to be the empress she is now. There was an immediate connection between the two, which was plain to see for anyone. Xena would also involve herself in the queens’ affair, being a, what one would call, “wingwoman”. Before either of them knew it, they were in love.

   For years, the two’s bond grew stronger and stronger. But, again.

   It was never meant to be.

   Rio, the god of chaos and monstrosity, had heard of the queens’ bondage, and out of pure boredom, decided to come in between it. He watched from afar, still feigning friendship with Rahni, as he searched for anything to bring the lovers apart. During his watches, he found one who was close to both of them, and that they would do anything for her.

   Xena Esther.

   One night, he snuck into her room, and while there, made an absolute monster out of her. He cursed her to forever walk on all four limbs, to be given a jaw full of teeth sharper than any sword, and a mutilated body of orange, a mix between all of scales, feathers, and fur.

When he completed the transformation, his maniacal laugh could be heard all throughout the palace’s walls. This awoke Rahni, and she practically flew to her sister’s bedroom, but alas, it was too late. Rio’s infamous power was irreversible.

She wept at the sight of her younger sister, now a horrid beast, who didn’t even seem to recognize her older sibling. Rahni was forced to have her guards lock her away for everyone’s own safety, including Xena’s.

Shugarah eventually got word of what had occurred, and she was absolutely furious, enraged that another god could do this to an innocent soul. She would have gone to punish him, herself, if Rahni hadn’t stopped her. Shugarah could see the pain and anguish that the empress felt, and decided that the best thing for her to do would be to comfort her companion.

Years after the incident, Rahni and Shugarah had wed and conjoined their two kingdoms, Rahni’s being the practical gateway to the underworld. Rahni was slowly recovering from the loss of her sister, but soon enough, the two wives could not live happily forever. 

Rahni had been asleep, Shugarah managing the souls passing into the afterlife that night, when an aura of suspense swept over the empire. It was a night that was very similar to another.

The night King Zieran had been murdered. And soon, it was about to happen again.

As Rahni slept, a guard entered her bedroom. Unbeknownst to anyone in the palace, it was an imposter. A wolf in sheep’s clothing.

The stranger approached the queen’s sleeping figure, and slowly raised a sharp dagger above her head. But… they couldn’t do it. The assassin could only hold the weapon in the air, trying to force their arm to finish the act, but eventually had to pull themself away forcefully. Rahni slowly awoke to see the intruder, frozen next to her bedside. Her gray eyes showed minimal fear, for she could see that the soul before her may have had cruel intentions, but their heart was good.

She quickly disarmed them, and sat them on the floor so that she could speak to them calmly. The stranger soon burst into tears, murmuring apologies not to Rahni, but someone else. She gave them a minute to compose themselves, until they were finally capable of speaking. She did, however, resort to threatening them for the truth, still wary due to this person having tried to kill her not an hour beforehand.

They introduced themself as Faux, and that he was the younger brother of the assassin that had killed Zieran. He had come to avenge his brother, and to finally prove to the world that it was, in fact, possible to kill an immortal being. Rahni could not help but feel pity for the boy before her, for he looked to be no older than sixteen. He reminded her of her sister, in a strange way. So, she struck a deal with Faux.

“If you are able to slay the god, Rio, then I will grant you your brother back, in return your word that you and your brother will never slay another living being again.”

Faux agreed, and Rahni then granted him the supplies that he would need to defeat the god of monstrosity. Of these supplies included a charm that would turn Faux into an ordinary fox as a disguise, and a vial of serum that would turn its consumer to stone.

And so, Faux set off on his quest to kill a god. When he reached Rio’s kingdom, a temple within a jungle, he activated the charm and turned into the small, orange mammal. He snuck into the temple, where other animals from around the world roamed. Rio liked to surround himself in the company of different creatures to examine their features, and make new monsters with the inspiration. 

The time was noon, and Faux had discreetly slipped the serum into Rio’s cup of wine. He watched from afar as the god entered the room and sat down to his meal, and he witnessed the unsuspecting king down the wine in one gulp. Instantaneously, Faux saw that Rio’s skin turned to a hard stone, forever frozen in the position of placing his goblet on the table.

Rahni could feel from across the world that the deed was done, so she revived Faux’s brother’s soul, and she fled to her dungeon, where Xena had been kept for nearly six years. However, what she found horrified her far more than the beastly figure that her sister had previously had.

Xena was dead. The transformation from her monstrous form back into a human was too much for her body to handle, and there she was on the dungeon floor, limp and lifeless.

Rahni’s shriek echoed through the entire empire, and the grief that overcame her was unbearable. She sobbed as she held her sister close to her chest, her tears flowing more than they ever had before. Xena’s death was the one that broke the young goddess.

Rahni isolated herself from absolutely everyone but Shugarah, and she never spoke again. Throughout the years of her existence, Rahni who had once been a goddess of promise and prosperity, was now the culmination of grief and sorrow, all due to her everlasting misfortune.

#Vixen's Tales

[oscar-the-cat-yt]

________________The Hallow_______________

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Head Canons~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

•Kai is BI. You cannot convince me otherwise.

•His only real parental figure is Davis, his butler.

•His parents aren't there much. But when they are it's constant fighting. From when they wake up, to when they go to sleep.

•He probably has anxiety from this

•Any loud noises, or really anything that reminds him of two or more people loudly arguing will send him into one of those states.

•Davis tries helping. Even getting him some earbuds/headphones. But it doesn't help that much. 

•Kai also usually gets jumpy when his parents are back. Any loud noise and such getz him scared.

•He tries blocking it out with games. Or music.

•He probably actively listens to McCaffrey 

•If those two options don't work, then he'd go over to Adams.

•Did I mention their boyfriends? Well they are. Fight me.

•They definitely help each other cope.

•Kai usually helps Adam when he's sad/feels like he's being a annoyance. 

•CUDDLE BUDS

•Skeet is a emo boi, as well as a skater boi.

•Probably has a drawer of beanies and fingerless gloves.

•Heavy marvel fan

•Him and Mari definitely like each other, they just never said anything about so they don't ruin the friendship they already have.

•His death hit Mari HARD

•On the brightside she's a love goddess.

•100% helped Adam and Kai together.

•Adam asks her Dads for advice.

•Mari always wanted to talk to animals when she was younger, hence why she choose the skill she did.

•Adam reminds me of Robin from Teen Titans, [the good one], and always looked up to him. So acrobatics was the skill.

•He probably definitely had a crush on him from a young age.

•The hero complex with him gets tiring. As well as worrying with school.

•Kai helps with this. Reminding him to eat, sleep, drink, ect.

•They honestly both remind each other of that. Every. Day.

•Their fights are probably about Adam being a bit controlling and Kai being annoying.

•They both immediately regret it and forgive each other.

•Kai is a little ball of fire. Like he may look innocent and funny for the most part, but he will fight you. 

•Definitely scary when he's angry.

•He doesn't like being mad.

•Adam probably has to drag him away from getting into any fights at school.

•Kai definitely dreads school. If not for the people or teachers, then the fact he has to learn stuff he's never going to use.

•He probably got bullied for a bit.

•He has heterochromia. One blue eye, one green eye.

•Adam also probably got bullied for being gay. 

•First friend he ever made was Mari's brother. But only for gaming purposes.

•Reeve and Vanessa are close. Like brother and sister.

•Reeve is a huge sports fan.

•He also likes ballet. Idk, he just gives me that vibe.

•He also loves hip hop.

•Vanessa probably collects dolls.

•or anything considered creep. She's probably a emo girl.

•Her and Skeet both like rock, Vanessa enjoying it more of the two.

•Reeve and Vanessa are beast on the dance floor.

•Party animals.

•Skeet probably has done drugs once. He probably regretted it.

•The group Stayed in touch after the hallow scare.

•Definitely group outings.

•The group chat is CHAOTIC.

•Kai definitely pulls all nighters playing video games. Or last minute homework.

•Weirdy is gay.

•Loves fashion. Makeup? Yes. Clothing? Yes.

•He probably creates new clothing designs in his free time.

•Also was probably musically creative from a young age.

•He's very creative.

•Him and Death are probably dating. If not, then very close homeboys.

•Death loves animals.

• Any animal he sees he must have. Horse? Yes. Dog? Um yeah! A frickin gorilla? Absolutely!!! Just any animal is a huge yes. And a lot of convincing Weirdy.

•He honestly probably runs a small farm. And by small, I mean huge.

•They both, Weirdy and Death, both tell each other about their successes. 

• A designer likes his design? Call death. A acting audition went well? Call death. A animal gave birth? Call weirdy. Just very supportive. 

•They probably live together.

• Kai and Adam are big on hand holding and cheek/forehead kisses.

•Adam can probably play the guitar. He definitely perfers the acoustic.

•Kai tried to learn the drums so they could start a band with the group.

•He gave up after two weeks. But still would love to learn.

•Adam loves books. Anything from Graphic novels to poetry.

•Kai has definitely bought him many books.

•Lots of study and reading dates

•Also gaming and movie dates as well.

•Adam is also a huge fan of comics. Especially Teen Titans.

•They probably attend comic con

•Kai definitely cosplays.

•Honestly their dynamic reminds me of Robin and Beast Boy. So pretty good.

•Weirdy and Death both love coffee. Probably frequent starbucks.

•Kai loves donuts. Gets them every. Single. Day.

•He probably adores the harry potter series. [Not j.k. Rowling tho for obvious reasons]

•Feel like he was self conscious about his hair until he saw Ron.

•Cosplays Ron alot. 

•He's a geek alright.

•He forces Adam to cosplay sometimes to.

•They both love dnd.

•They probably have sessions with the group for DnD. 

•Just a bunch of snacks, a table, and bean bag chairs. As well as character sheets and the other basics for the game.

• David probably joins. And by that I mean give pointers. Either that or he's the game master.

•Kai sometimes skips, [or at least tries to], skip school. Adam always talks him out of it, unless he needs it.

•Falls asleep in classes a lot.

•When he realised he liked Adam, he tried to date Vanessa since he didn't know his sexuality/ Wants to lose this friendship he has.

•When he did come out as gay, flirting 24/7

•Adam knew he liked Kai, but never acted on it. 

•When he does flirt back, Kai's face gets very red.

•Kai definitely is the prankster of the group. Vanessa and revee help.

•Adam tolerates it.

•Reeve and Adam have bro days. They mainly just chill.

•Mari didn't like Kai at first

•Maris favorite color is blue. And her favorite animal is a monkey.

•Okay, hear me out, Weirdy is/was a art teacher. 

•Just, that was the first thing he did with his life, then he grew from their.

•Probably always got the lead roll in a play

• Skeet definitely loves meerkats. Hence why he calls Mari Meerkat. 

•Her nickname for him, apart from Skeet, is emo boy.

•Vanessa is into horoscopes/Astronomy.

• Reeve questions her about it quite a bit, but supports her nonetheless.

•Reeve is on the basketball team. Definitely wants to be either a choreographer or a basket ball player.

•Adam has actively tried to learn karate after the whole, digital, thing.

#the hollow reeve #the hollow mira #the hollow adam #the hollow kai #the hollow #thehallowweirdy #fan headcanon #fandom #headcanon #thehollowheadcanon #thehollowbutler #thehollowheadcannons #thehollowdeath #thehollowhc #kaidam #kai #kai x adam #the hollow weirdy #i love this show #headcanons #netflix shows #netflixshow #am i doing this right? #the hollow skeet #the hollow vanessa

[sebastianshaw]

Someone at one of the boards I write at wanted to know if we had any advice or pointers about RP, and I got to thinking. I’ve been RPing fifteen years so it’s definitely a thing I have thoughts and opinions and tips on. I don’t mean to posit myself as the all-knowing expert whose standards you have to meet, but these are some things I think are genuinely helpful for a RPers to keep in mind no matter how long they’ve been writing. But also, just my opinions! SHARE THE SPOTLIGHT This is the biggest, first and foremost. RP is a two-way street, and I think the bulk of RP sins all trace back to people not understanding this and thinking that their character is the “main” character and everyone else is just an NPC in their story. This takes a ton of variations, with commonly seen ones being insisting that other characters act OOC for their sake (your character should fall in love with mine despite the fact they just met, your character should bully mine so I can be the victim in a hurt/comfort drama even if that’s totally unlike them to do that, your official-head-of-something character should bend the rules for mine because they’re just that special, etc.), needing to be the center of attention (the character who ALWAYS limps into the room having just suffered some terrible tragedy and needing immediate help, the character who always saves the day in such a way that the others weren’t even needed, etc.), or the character whose writer just can’t stop reminding everyone at all times how tragic/beautiful/powerful/helpless/witty/skilled/etc they are. This can go in opposite directions---the helpless character who always needs to be saved vs the all-powerful character who saves the day every time all on their own---but it comes from the same mentality, that their character is the star and everyone must revolve around them. This isn’t to say you can’t have RP arcs that “star” your character and are devoted to their story/development, or that your character can never be the hero, or never need to be saved, or any of that. That’s NOT what I’m saying. I’m talking about the person who does it EVERY time, often to the detriment of the story, derailing the plot, or showing up someone else’s cool moment to get the attention back on their own muse. If you’re gonna do that, just write your own fiction. DON’T DO PASSIVE STARTERS Something I see repeatedly in RP, whether it’s at a board or on Tumblr or on Discord, are starters where the character is just...sitting there. They’re studying in their room, or chilling at a coffee house, or just standing around at a party, or overlooking the ocean from a beachside balcony, or brooding silently in the corner... ...and not making any move to interact with anyone around them. It’s on the shoulders of the person replying to have their character make the first move and find some reason to walk up to them and engage with them. A starter is meant to begin an interaction, so if the second person is starting that interaction, why even bother with the starter you made? Starters where your character is just passively waiting for someone are not usually good starters, and that’s a big reason, in my opinion, why people usually don’t reply to a starter, because they’re stuck looking for a reason WHY their character would just walk up to this person and begin an interaction. My solution to this is, if it’s a planned starter, talk to the person you’re starting it for and try to work something out. For instance, the party starter. Ask them “hey, could it be a costume party?” and ask if their character might be dressed as a character from a show/movie/book that your character really likes---that gives your guy a reason to walk up to theirs and begin a conversation about that thing, and there’s your first post right there! A much more active starter! If it’s an open, it can be a little more difficult, but still doable. For instance, one open I did, I had my girl walk in and speak to whatever person was nearest; she was carrying a basket of Halloween decorations and asking if they’d help her decorate the place. I did not specify who it was, so whoever replied could decide if it was their character or not, but it was “active” in that she gave my partner something to respond and react to, rather than if she had just, say, quietly come in by herself without greeting anyone or doing anything. Obviously this might not work with characters who are shy or antisocial, but if you’re the one who decided to play that kind of character, it’s up to YOU to find ways to get them engaged; it’s not fair to make everyone else do it for you. For instance. Shaw is NOT a friendly person like Laynia, but I had him immediately address another person in one open by creating a situation where he’d have reason to do so, and would be stuck interacting with them. MAKE YOUR CHARACTER REALISTICALLY APPROACHABLE. This often goes hand in hand with passive starters; not only will the character not be engaging anyone around them, they will in fact be in situations giving signals that actively DISCOURAGE engagement. For instance, if someone is sitting in their bedroom, it’s entirely weird for anyone to come in that ISN’T their sibling or roommate. In a Discord college RP, one guy wrote his character going home and walking into his house and had that be an open...no one played any of his family members, so I’m not sure what he expected, that someone from school would just be waiting inside his house? There are also lots of situations where people are around, but realistically are not going to speak to you. Having your character studying in the library, sitting on the subway, or at a table in a restaurant are all common starter types I’ve seen...and all of them are situations where it’s extremely unlikely someone would engage you, unless it was an absolute emergency or they completely lacked any understanding of social norms. And if that’s the case for the character you planned it with, go ahead, you’re good. But if it’s not, or it’s an open, ask yourself---”If someone else made this open, how could my character realistically respond to it?” And if you have a hard time, change things to make it easier for the other player and their muse. This also applies to muses who are hard to approach regardless of the situation. People who are shy, or antisocial, or just for whatever reason do NOT want to engage with others. Those characters are great and I’m not saying not to play them, I play lots of people like that. But you shouldn’t expect other people to have to PRY an interaction out of them, and I see people do that---they write their cool loner or shy wallflower brooding in the corner, and if someone actually DOES walk up and talk to them, the character keeps pushing them away. It relies entirely on the other character just having to be that desperate to talk to them for some reason. And again, some characters will be, like I write a Squirrel Girl at another board who definitely WOULD pull someone out of their corner and into the party...but don’t RELY on other people doing that. Instead, try to find ways to make your character have to be engaged, instead of other people making them. See my Shaw example again. Shaw doesn’t normally like to talk to anyone unless he’s giving an order or has something to gain, but I found a reason he would for him. To use another example, there’s a very grumpy guarded girl that I write at another board, she doesn’t trust people or like them to begin with, and I put her on a subway car, aka one of the examples I gave about places where people realistically aren’t going to talk to you. No one talks to each other on subway cars except mentally ill people or beggars, unless you already know each other. So, how did I make it work? Well, I started the thread with just her and a few other people in the car. One of these people was a large man acting in an extremely threatening manner, pacing the car and muttering hostile things and occasionally shouting at the other passengers. It was in NYC, that shit happens. She kept her head down and ignored it, as most people would do, but when he singled her out and began to get her face, she confronted him back and stood her ground. I got things just to the boiling point, then had the subway doors open to let a new passenger in. Whoever stepped in would be walking immediately into a conflict, in a closed-off situation they couldn’t get out of once the doors shut again, and they would have to react to it in some way. If their character was the type to get involved immediately, great. If their character was the type not to, that’s also fine, because I could have the big scary guy turn his attention to them, basically dragging them into it. Either way, my open created a situation to REACT to, instead of just hoping the other person would do it, and it created a situation where interaction could realistically occur, even though it was in a setting when normally it would not. Btw speaking of that---”my muse bumps into yours on the street/in the hall/etc” is rarely a good idea for this reason. What do you think people normally do when they bump into each other? They say sorry, maybe help the other person pick up something they dropped, and go on their way. It’d be very odd if I bumped into someone and they tried to make an entire conversation out of it. Likewise it’d just be completely bizarre to, say, join someone you DON’T KNOW at their cafe table, etc. You can make these work but, as with the subway situation, you MUST get more creative to make a reason why it would work. “YES, AND” OR “NO, BUT” Okay, you got your interaction started, how do you keep it going? Well, there’s this rule in improv theatre for how to keep a scene going, and it’s that all your responses to your acting partners should be “yes, and” or “no, but” What this means is, whatever reply your character makes, it has to give the other character some hook to continue the interaction. Here are some examples. BAD Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: Yes. GOOD Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: Yes, and can we grab some pizza on the way? Joe doesn’t just agree to do the thing, he gives Sally something to reply to and keep the conversation going. And he could do this even if he DIDN’T want to go to the skating rink! BAD: Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: No. Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: No, but I was thinking, do you like the aquarium, how about that? Basically, whether he’s responding yes or no, he’s not closing the conversation. Of course, you do not ACTUALLY have to use the phrases “yes, and” or “no, but” just do stuff that will give the other person something to answer. Here are more good examples: Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: Yes, I loved skating as a kid, but I haven’t been able to do it in years, so I might make a fool of myself! Promise not to laugh? Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: Yeah, that would be great! It’ll be my first time. Do you skate a lot? Can you help me? Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: Hell yeah, I’m the skatemaster! Prepare to eat my rink-dust! Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: No, I hurt my ankle last Saturday, it’s a...long story.  Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: No, and listen, Sally? I think you’ve really misinterpreted our relationship. We’re co-workers, and I think that’s what we should stay.  Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: No, I’m sorry, my mom is sick and there’s just...so much shit going on. I don’t know what I’m going to do if this keeps up.  Sally: Do you want to go to the skating rink? Joe: Are you serious?! That’s what you’re thinking of at a time like this?! I can’t believe you! Some of these are positive, negative, angry, happy, sad, competitive, but they all keep the conversation going better than a “closed” response does.

#rp tips #rp stuff #roleplay tips #roleplay advice #rp advice #out of shirt

[cancerbiophd]

Hey, I am rotating in a cancer bio lab, this will be my third one. The first two worked around my class schedule very well, but for the first semester, these classes are everything. In my third rotation, my PI expects a lot of me in the short time I'm there, and I am working 6-10 hours there every day. This leaves me almost no time to study or do classwork. She knows how much work these classes are, because she used to teach it. Any advice to help me have less stress?

Hello Anon! Ahh I totally understand your frustration. I remember how demanding and absolutely time-consuming (and very important, as you mentioned!) those grad school classes were, and how stressful it was to balance all that and lab work. 

It took me a while to answer this because it really is a difficult problem to tackle. A PI demanding a lot from the rotating student at the expense of the students’ grades in class should not be the norm. Most PIs understand that a rotating student isn’t there primarily to generate mountains of usable data; their priority is to get a feel for how they fit with the lab, and vice versa. So I guess what I’m trying to say: you’re doing amazing, and your PI shouldn’t be treating you this way. 

But I think I’ve thought of a few things you could try (which does not encompass every route you could take), and you can see which one you’re most comfortable doing, or if they give you any other ideas to try. 

The first question you’ll need to ask yourself is whether there’s a chance you’ll want to select this lab as your dissertation lab. I think this is a very important decision, because if you do want to stay, you’ll have to consider options that are more long-term. In other words, staying in this lab may require more energy on your part in finding a schedule that works for both your grades, your research, and your life outside of the lab if your PI appears to have less emphasis on work-class-life-balance. 

If you know you won’t be continuing on in this lab after your rotation is done, you only have to work with a short-term solution. By no means do I mean slack off or not do your research or make a bad impression, of course--but it’ll be more like a sprint than a marathon. 

Once you’ve decided that, here are some options to consider:

Work with your PI to set goals together. Sometimes PIs are super far-removed from classes (even if they teach them) because time makes us all forget the finer details, like how much work it actually takes to study for an exam! And some may just not understand that just because they have photographic memory and never needed to study, doesn’t mean everyone else is like them. Therefore it’s important to communicate with your PI about your limitations and boundaries. If your PI tells you do X, Y, and Z by Friday, counter back with: “Due to my course-load, I may not be able to complete all those tasks by the deadline. If that’s the case, which of those 3 should I prioritize my time on?” and/or “I can get X and Y done by Friday, but I will need until next Wednesday to finish Z.” I think these are very professional ways to reach a compromise. 

Ask for more help from other lab members. Seeing how we can’t freeze time or clone ourselves, sometimes the only way to get more done in a limited amount of time is to get more bodies on the task. When I’m new to a group, I will ask the PI/my boss “If I need help with these tasks, who should I go to?” A lab is a team with a common goal, so I hope yours will see that to help one person is to help everyone. Going off of the first example, you can respond, “Sure, I can get X, Y, and Z done by Friday, but I will need help. Is there anyone in the lab who can help me with ____?” (And if the answer is “no”, that’s something to consider when deciding which lab to ultimately join.)

Say no to any new tasks until you’ve finished your current ones. In lab you can say something like, “I would like to first finish these experiments before moving on. Can we table this until next week?” or “Ok I’ll put this on my to-do list, but I don’t have time for it this week.” or simply a “I don’t have the time to do this.” This also applies to stuff outside of lab as well, like any extra-curriculars or social events. I also think this is a good skill/habit to have throughout one’s life too, but especially in grad school where PIs are just constantly sprouting out new project ideas without any consideration as to how to pause time so we can do it all.

Ask for extensions for lab tasks when you need it. It’s ok to ask for a few more days. Time in academic research can work differently--milestones tend to move a lot slower, and a difference of a few days hardly makes a huge impact down the line. So unless it’s a hard deadline (like data for a grant submission), it’s ok to let your PI know “Hey, I’m working as hard as I can on this, but I did not anticipate some of the set-backs so I’ll need until ____ to get the data to you.” 

Multitask (but smartly). Do you have small but recurring “downtime” during your experiments that you can use for studying? When I ran Western blots, I would have five 5-min washes throughout the day, and that was 25 min of time I sometimes spent reading for class, or even doing small tasks like catching up on emails. Definitely use those natural “breaks” in lab to your advantage if you’re able. 

Block off more time before and after classes to spend away from the lab. Since you have to leave for class anyway, you can try to squeeze more out of it. Maybe like, leave lab 30 min earlier for class, then come back to the lab 30 min later--that’s 1 full hour! If people in lab (ie. your PI) pry, just tell them you like to give yourself the opportunity to meet with the professors before/after class if necessary (not a lie, because it could be true!). Or you can set up a legit mini-study-session with classmates during those times to review materials before/after class. If 30 min is too long, even 15 min before and after is a good chunk of time. 

Ask for advice from someone who’s had experience with situations like these. This includes other grad students (the ones already in this current lab would be a good place to start, as they’ve surely been-there-done-that) and your program advisor/coordinator who’s had years of experience mediating these conflicts. It may not stop your PI from being demanding, but they could give you pointers on how best to handle it. 

And with the time you do have to study, be sure to be as efficient as possible. I know you’re already doing the best you can, but if there are any aspects of your study routine you think could be improved upon, now’s a good time to implement those changes. There are many ways to do this, including study groups, seeking additional resources like educational videos and help from professors/TAs, etc. Work smart, not hard, right?

My last bit of advice is: Make your grades in those classes your priority over the lab rotation. Some, if not all, programs have very strict rules on grades lower than B’s, and it could jeopardize your chances of remaining in the program. Here’s another way to look at it: you can choose to not stay in your current rotational lab, and perhaps even have minimal contact with that PI for the rest of your grad school career; but you can not choose to not have a grade affect your academic records and/or place in the program. 

Good luck anon. I hope this helped a bit and it all goes well for you!

If anyone else has ever experienced something similar in grad school and have any additional advice, please feel free to help reply to/reblog this post! Thanks!

#Anonymous #grad advice #lab advice