#once again questioning what kind of quality control I should have for the dumb things I post

[miraculouscontent]

“Sentibubbler” summary? “Sentibubbler” salt?

Why not both at the same time?

Something a little experimental, though also somewhat reminiscent of some of my past videos. Calling it “summasalt” for now, based on the word “somersault” because this episode was an exercise of my patience.

It’s basically just me going through the episode with my usual episode summary, but salting along the way instead of making you guys read a wall of text without any images or clips or me making snarky comments.

(By the way, yes, I did in fact have caffeine before recording.)

script below for anyone who wants/needs it:

"Sentibubbler" begins with Marinette having food with the Cesaires and I already know this isn't real because Marinette is actually getting to interact with her best friend's family. That's only happened, like--when, two episodes of Season 2? [”Sapotis” and “Anansi”]

Marinette sees Trixx and points out how they're supposed to be a secret, and Alya asks why while calling Marinette "Ladybug." Marinette plays dumb but is told by Nino that everyone already knows her secret. Chloe is also there, chiding Marinette for her identity rule - it's not Marinette's rule but after "Reflekdoll" I've just gotten used to Marinette being blamed for things she didn't do - and Marinette goes to question Chloe's apperance when there's a knock on the balcony door. Alya invites Shadow Moth in and--[Shadow Moth has to duck to come inside]--huh, I thought Sole Crusher was seven episodes ago.

Anyway, now obviously, Marinette is just being ridiculous and overemotional as usual, because why would Marinette ever think that Alya would reveal any information to--["Feast"]--oh yeah, that's right.

Tikki doesn't transform Marinette and says that Marinette shouldn't have trusted Alya with her secret. Enter Chat Blanc, who says that they can be together now without any secrets. Not really sure what this episode is aiming for with the mixed message of "your identity rule sucks" but also "your fault for trusting someone instead of having a mental breakdown," but a’ight. Trixx also gets another dig in on Marinette for giving Alya the fox miraculous.

Marinette wakes up from her nightmare and panics, but Tikki reassures her that Alya is loyal. [”Chameleon”] Mm. Also, that kind of support might've been nice from Tikki literal seasons ago when Marinette could've used a confidant.

Wayzz - I swear, they've had eyelashes more often than not in this season - points out that Trixx is mischievous and Xuppu talks about Trixx being the cause of the Loch Ness monster rumors, which worries Marinette further. Marinette runs out in her pajamas and I can already predict that neither Tom nor Sabine are going to check on her later or care.

Marinette finds the Cesaires looking for something, their words vague enough for Marinette to think that they're talking about Trixx. Alya brushes Marinette off and tells her to help with looking instead of lecturing her.

Marlena makes a comment that reminds Marinette of her nightmare, only increasing Marinette's stress. A tarantula crawls up a ladle and Marinette freaks out when she sees it, which Marlena has a laugh at because Marinette's anxiety, fear, and panic is hilarious, guys!

This is my laughing face. [not a laughing face]

Nino exits, having been too afraid of the spider to leave the room, so Nora compares Marinette to him. Nino tries to play it cool, then changes the subject to point out Marinette's pajamas. Alya wonders aloud why Marinette showed up and Marinette tries to act casual, but Alya sees through it and states that she doesn't usually lose things when someone lends them to her.

I presume the exception is Marinette's trust. OH-HOOOOHHH, we'll get there.

Nora takes a jab at Alya for losing the spider and Marinette drags Alya away to talk. Nino tries to join but Alya states that it's between her and Marinette, which makes Nino sad.

Nino, does the phrase "guys' time" ring a bell by any chance?

Marinette is explaining her nightmare and is simply told to calm down by Alya, though Marinette is briefly startled by a phone ringing. Marinette puts together what she knows that Shadow Moth knows, including that Alya is Rena Rouge, adding on that Shadow Moth could steal the fox necklace if he figured out that Alya has it permanently. Alya reassures her that no one will ever know and Marinette states that this must include Chat Noir. Alya agrees and brings attention to the fanny pack around her waist, which Trixx has been hiding in, and Marinette has Trixx promise not to show up at the dining table like in her nightmare. Tikki tells Marinette that everything will be fine and Marinette admits that it was silly of her to worry, which it was! ...If you ignore all the anxiety, mental scarring, and constant pressure to be perfect or risk Paris lighting itself on fire, much like I presume they accidentally did with their original script for this episode.

Alya tells Marinette to trust her and also herself - I'll be sure to keep that in mind, Alya, thank you - then Alya loses her temper at the phone continuing to ring. She leaves to find an empty living room, then answers the phone only to hear Shadow Moth on the other line. Alya turns upon hearing Marinette scream to see that Marinette has been trapped in a bubble. Cue the reveal/return of the Bubbler, who is definitely Nino akumatized and not--like--a sentimonster, because the episode didn't spoil it at all with the title of Sentibub--

show, this is freaking embarrassing. Why even bother akumatizing someone when you can mold a sentimonster with the exact power you want?

At least they reveal it quickly, though that also means I have to live with the knowledge that Shadow Moth wINKED AT ALYA, NO.

Anyway, Shadow Moth tells Alya that he wants her to betray Ladybug. Marinette, meanwhile, is panicking over being unable to transform while in public, whereas Tikki remains calm and reassures her that Alya will figure something out and it's why Marinette gave Alya the fox miraculous in the first place.

Weird, I thought it was for the show to continuously validate Alya as a worthy choice for a confidant despite repeatedly covering up her sINS and so the show can push for more anxiety on Marinette's part while simultaneously not having to make a new hero model for Alya, which they would have to do if the realistic decision had been made to give Alya a different miraculous due to Shadow Moth knowing her identity as Rena Rouge.

Marinette texts Alya to inform her that the Bubbler is a sentimonster and so Rena can tell Chat not to use Cataclysm on him or the bubbles will burst due to the sentimonster's lack of control.

Hate to burst the show's bubble but Alya could literally see Nino up in the sky and they could see her; the bubbles are in viewing range. Did this even go through a quality check?

Alya goes to look at Marinette's text, but the phone is bubbled away by Sentibubbler. Marinette sees the phone floating by and panics, only to be reassured again to trust Alya and at this point I vaguely wondered if I was watching this episode on repeat. Tikki also adds that Alya has never let her down - [”Ladybug”] MMMM - and Marinette agrees, also certain that Chat Noir will show up soon.

Oh yeah, he exists. Oh no.

Cut to the Agreste mansion where Adrien is watching the news - dude, how is there never anything better on when you need to be told that there's an akuma? here, look, I'll show you [”Silencer” Lukabug clip] there, much better, see? - and it's pointed out that the bubbles are identical to the ones Bubbler had, yet Nino is in one of the bubbles. Adrien readies himself while Plagg is - for once - okay with leaving since his cheese isn't "edible" yet.

I feel like he should be a little more concerned about Marinette being in a bubble.

Meanwhile, Shadow Moth is explaining to Alya that Ladybug will come to give her the fox miraculous due to the bubbled people in the sky - plenty of other choices that aren't within breathing range of the obvious danger zone, but a'ight - and SentiBubbler will catch Ladybug. Alya brings up Chat Noir saving her but Shadow Moth states that she'll create an illusion of Ladybug and Rena to lure Chat Noir, who won't see Sentibubbler coming, at which point Rena will hand Shadow Moth her miraculous. He adds that her loved ones will only be returned once all three miraculouses are in his possession, though if she tries to warn the heroes then Sentibubbler will send the bubbles into space, too far for any hero to save them.

[clip of space power-ups] Hm.

Also, I would've just let her keep the miraculous as an extra bribe since he doesn't need the fox and she wouldn't have time to recharge anyway - at least to his knowledge - but that's just me.

Marinette is relieved that Alya still hasn't been captured--TIKKI, I KNOW, YOU'VE BEEN PARROTING THIS ALL EPISODE, I KNOW--but Marinette changes her tune when she sees Alya blindly calling out for Ladybug's help, unaware that Alya is buying time. Marinette laments the idea of transforming there and having using the rabbit to go back in time to reverse, as that's never a good thing (seconded), but gets the idea for Tikki to take her miraculous to someone else. Tikki rejects the idea, as the earrings won't go through the bubble, and Marinette realizes that Chat Noir is their only hope.

I mean, it was nice knowing them. Sure is interesting how Marinette has only been getting herself into these situations where she requires saving when the show needed to present Alya as a valid choice for a confidant.

Meanwhile, Chat Noir is leaving a message for Ladybug about the bubbles in the sky, saying that he'll wait for her; I already see where this is going and I don't like it.

Alya mutters to Trixx about how they need a plan to release Marinette. Through Alya Vision, we're shown Sentibubbler, a bowl of fruit, and the bathroom door. Alya tells Sentibubbler that she needs to go to the bathroom and - wow, we're really doing this, aren't we? - which Shadow Moth rejects. Shadow Moth is also on top of a building holding a coffee cup which honestly makes about as much sense as the rest of the episode, so whatever. Alya claims that she can't wait and that it'll be awkward for Ladybug to find her like that, which gets Shadow Moth to relent but also remind her of what's at stake if she tries anything. Alya states that she can't do anything without a miraculous anyway, then purposefully falls onto the table, concealing her long enough for her to transform and allowing an illusion of herself to go to the bathroom while she escapes. She detransforms in the twins' room and feeds Trixx with some grapes that she'd picked up.

Alya explains her plan to trick Shadow Moth and Sentibubbler since they don't know that she has a miraculous, though she also has to make sure that Chat won't ruin things. Rena then proceeds to call Chat Noir and claim that Ladybug wanted her to call him with her plan, but adds that it's a two-person plan and Chat himself isn't needed, so he needs to wait for further instructions. Chat demands that Ladybug call him to tell him herself, but Rena insists that she can't, as Ladybug is very busy. She warns him not to use Cataclysm if he sees the Bubbler, as he's a sentimonster, then promises to talk to him later before hanging up.

She uses Mirage again, making the Alya illusion reappear as well as creating a Ladybug. Chat Noir, infuriated at being left out, destroys part of a building with his baton. He then dismisses the action because Miraculous Ladybug will fix it.

Spoiler alert, it will, which is a very fascinating detail! I mean, I can't imagine another situation where a hero did something while there was an akuma going around and Miraculous Ladybug decided to help 'em out, but it just goes to show what happens when you're the writers' pet. Just look a little pitiful and they'll give you all the sympathy in the world.

By the way, didn't expect them to actually confirm my theory that Chat Noir does Chat Noir things because he knows that Miraculous Ladybug will fix it anyway, essentially allowing him to earn brownie points from Ladybug via sacrificing himself regardless of how it affects her mentally, yet here we are and I don't know whether to be sad, angry, disappointed, or a mixture of all three.

Chat Noir sees the Ladybug illusion jumping off and gives chase, refuses to stay where he is. Marinette, seeing that Rena Rouge's illusions are active, panics at the sight of Chat Noir, as the illusion will vanish if Chat touches it.

I like to imagine the immediate concern is the idea that Chat Noir will try to take Ladybug's hand while trying to flirt.

Anyway, Marinette flails inside the bubble in an attempt to reach Chat Noir, while illusion Alya and SentiBubbler get into position. Chat Noir watches what he perceives as Ladybug heading into the Cesaire house with Alya, but Marinette gets to him in order to tell him not to go anywhere. Chat complains about everyone telling him to stay put, but Marinette explains Rena's plan to him. Chat is skeptical of how she knows that, to which Marinette insists that she saw it from where she was. Chat Noir relents with a sigh and stays where he is.

SentiBubbler watches as the illusion of Alya and Ladybug talk to each other, Rena making it look like Ladybug is piecing together what happened and refusing to give Alya a miraculous ever again due to Shadow Moth knowing her identity. She claims that she'll find another holder and give them an even more powerful miraculous, which interests Shadow Moth and gets him to follow after the Ladybug illusion. Once Sentibubbler leaves as well, Chat sees this as his chance to stop the sentimonster, as the Ladybug illusion will vanish if it's touched. Marinette strokes his ego for the token love square moment of the episode, and Chat Noir fights SentiBubbler while Shadow Moth goes after the Ladybug illusion.

I'm noticing a real lack of tension in this episode. Once Alya has her plan, it's kind of a clean sweep from start to finish with no interference or unexpected roadblocks in the way. Even Shadow Moth following the Ladybug illusion goes fine, with Shadow Moth even punching a building thinking that Ladybug actually got away from him.

Dude, it's fine, Miraculous Ladybug will fix it, just put on your best sad face. Maybe Chat Noir gets it from you actually, is treatment from the writers a hereditary thing?

Sentibubbler and Chat Noir are still fighting. Shadow Moth shows up and Marinette tries to warn Chat, but Chat gets caught in a bubble and Marinette apologizes; she doesn't have anything to apologize for but after "Reflekdoll" I--wait I already did this.

Chat Noir uses Cataclysm to escape, only to get caught in another bubble. I'd just like to throw out there that this guy's a hero three seasons going and the love interest for the main character, yet his role in the episode has amounted to complaining about the authority of a hero Ladybug chose, throwing a property-destroying tantrum over being excluded, and wasting his power without a single thought which just got him captured again.

Chat, does the name "Syren" ring any bells by any chance? I'm just sayin', you could always quit. In fact, wasn't it you literally one episode ago saying that you understood if Ladybug couldn't always come get you? Then, after seeing the jump from "Glaciator" to "Frozer," I'm about as shocked as rubber.

Back with the competent one, Alya notes to Trixx that Rena Rouge can no longer be seen by Shadow Moth or else the jig is up. She transforms and texts Marinette to be ready, creating an illusion of Marinette that simultaneously hides the real version, allowing her to transform into Ladybug.

Chat Noir's bubble gets dragged down and Shadow Moth gets SentiBubbler to mute Chat Noir's bubble.

[clip from “Silencer” where Ladybug takes amusement in Chat being muted]

Ladybug uses Lucky Charm and receives a pot, her Lucky Vision spotting Shadow Moth's coffee cup, then SentiBubbler, then the tarantula trapped in a bubble. Ladybug deduces that the cup is the sentimonster's object, then pulls the horse miraculous out of her yoyo and unifies it with the ladybug--oh.

Oh my.

You know, it's times like this where I'm reminded that the show knows nothing about fashion... or girls... or good writing actually--there's just a lot of stuff they don't know.

Sentibubbler does a countdown, then starts sending the civilian bubbles up into the sky. Chat Noir is about to de-transform while PegaBug notices of Shadow Moth's two miraculous, up for grabbin'. She notes that she won't be able to catch everyone, so she forms a portal behind Shadow Moth and goes for the coffee cup first, thus putting her in control of SentiBubbler, who happily brings the bubbles back down at her command.

Shadow Moth erases SentiBubbler from existence though, causing everyone to fall, but Chat and PegaBug manage to catch them. PegaBug de-transforms and presents the Cesaires with the tarantula, which had been trapped inside the lucky charm. Ladybug and Chat Noir watch Shadow Moth escape and Ladybug laments that it could've been the end of Shadow Moth once and for all because it's not a Miraculous episode without Marinette being at fault or feeling guilty in some way! Chat Noir reassures her [*by “reassure,” I mean he might as well have said, “Well, you saved ME, so you did great!”] - wow, that's two token love square moments for the price of one episode, don't I feel spoiled - and Ladybug leaves to retrieve the tarantula's tank.

Rena Rouge is waiting for her and they hug, with Rena repeating that she doesn't lose something that someone gives her. Ladybug states that she never should've doubted the idea of giving Alya a miraculous and Imma just give you guys a counter real quick. [counter that shows that Tikki has complimented Alya four times, Alya has complimented herself/told Marinette to trust her thrice, and Marinette has said that she was wrong thrice]. Miraculous Ladybug is cast and everything returns to normal, with Alya explaining what she did and Marinette being relieved that Shadow Moth won't be going after her anymore. Alya confidently asks if she was smart and Marinette is happy to praise her, confirming it and stating that Alya is a real superhero and honestly? If the narrative wanted to marry Alya this badly, they should've just used some of the budget to buy a ring instead of projecting onto the other characters.

Then again, the apparent budget can't even afford a new hero model nor new akuma to a very noticeable degree, so I guess they're taking what they can get.

Alya praises Marinette as well for her work as PegaBug and they do a fistbump, thus ending the episode. There's also this ever-so-lovely post-episode scene with Gabriel and Nathalie where Gabriel laments the fact that Ladybug never makes mistakes which--I... has he even watched the series at all? Gabe, babe, Babriel Agreste, it's literally part of the show's formula that Marinette makes a mistake in every episode and she felt guilty like a minute ago over not yoinking your miraculouses when she had the chance, where have you been?

But, yeah, anyway, the episode.

Needless to say, not a fan. Like I said, the show seems so intent on immediately validating the choices they make with Alya in order to make her look like a better character. "Gang of Secrets" basically replaced her with someone different at the end of the episode, and the episode immediately afterwards in chronological order, "Mr. Pigeon 72," did everything it could to push Marinette out of her guardian position long enough for Alya to figure out the grimoire despite having zero onscreen experience with it, the episode even trapping Ladybug in a situation that forced Rena Rouge to come into play to validate that decision as well.

And now we have "SentiBubbler" here following immediately after "Optigami," desperate to reassure its audience that Alya is cool, smart, truthworthy, and that not needing to make a new model--sorry, I mean Alya continuing to have the fox--was a good decision. All the while, they continue pushing Alya's flaws under the rug [Note that it’s not even considered that Alya is even remotely at fault for Shadow Moth going after her specifically after her stunt in “Optigami” when no one else but Ladybug and Chat have ever given out a miraculous], hiding them instead of Alya actually acknowledging them, the only reason she did so in "Optigami" being the same as in "Gang of Secrets"; to make her look good while Marinette makes a big decision in their relationship.

The episode tries so hard to drill in this idea that Alya is a good friend who can be trusted, and I'm just not here for how much they try to hammer it in. Marinette's very real anxiety over Shadow Moth's power and ability to plan things is played off as her being silly instead of something to be concerned about, and instead of giving her a hug and trying to help her calm down - [clip from “Heart Hunter” of Luka hugging Marinette] I miss Luka - she's just told to trust and believe and hAVE fAiTh in Alya.

Shadow Moth is an adult; he has abilities that the teenage heroes don't. I'm not even saying that Marinette isn't overreacting [Basically, her concern about Shadow Moth is valid, especially after “Optigami” where her identity was almost found out], but she has anxiety and some obvious trauma over "Chat Blanc." I was already upset that Alya got a free pass to Marinette's identity, but the constant stressing over how much Marinette should trust her just doesn't affect me when I know Alya and I know the kind of stuff she's done that the show blatantly ignored in favor of pushing for her.

But okay, show, I'll give Alya the benefit of the doubt that she doesn't deserve. Let's say that she's turned a new leaf, and has become the reliable, trustworthy, and loyal partner that Marinette deserves. I'm sure that Alya has Marinette's back, and will never go behind said back in order to do something completely unsurprising and wholly indicative of the character I actually know her to be.

Especially not a mere three episodes later...

#MC's Videos #category: episode summaries #category: salt #video: critique #MC's Renders #render: persona #episode: Sentibubbler #((Definitely let me know what you guys think because I don't know if I should do this more or not.)) #((Judging from what the response is will help me make a decision on it.)) #((I know my editing could be a little better but my video editor has been physically fighting me lately.)) #((Is there such a thing as TOO sassy/sarcastic?)) #((idk if I'm actually funny or not so definitely lemme know if there was anything that particularly amused you guys)) #((so I know in the future where your guys' sense of humor lies.)) #((I don't really TRY to be funny I just do whatever comes to mind/is comfortable.))

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

What would happen if you were sent back and ended up in the orphanage with Tom Riddle—and say you also had magic?

Oh boy.

Well, there's a lot to question here. Judging by the... spirit of this ask, I presume I'm... pretty much reincarnated. I'm in the orphanage, I'm much younger than I am now and a child, I'm pre-Hogwarts age, and I retain my current knowledge.

For the purpose of this ask I suppose I also retain my current mental faculties. Despite being in the body of an eight-year-old, I'm not The Carnivorous Muffin at eight.

Welp, there's a lot to consider here.

First, I probably don't realize I'm in Harry Potter for quite some time and instead assume I've been reincarnated to some parallel universe. It's the 1930's, I'm in England in the depression, WWI has occurred and the vast majority of major historical events I know about seem to have happened in the right order, and this Earth is eerily similar to the Earth I left behind.

Strange that I appear to remember everything of my past life with my adult mental abilities, but alright universe, I guess that's how we're going to play this.

What I do know is that I'm dirt poor, presumably still a woman which does not bode well for my career prospects, and if I want any prospects in life period I'm going to have to fight tooth and nail for it. It'd be great if I got adopted to help with this, and might be nice to have people in my life who love me, but there's a lot of orphans in the world and a lot of orphans who are much less weird than I am.

The orphanage is the orphanage and not great, Mrs. Cole is overworked, the orphanage is chronically understaffed, and the kids are running wild beating the shit out of each other.

Being a girl, I probably don't have to worry about getting the shit kicked out of me quite as much, but I still probably try to keep my head down and don't aggravate the particularly beefy looking orphans.

Yes, there's some very angry gremlin named Tom Riddle around who will shove you down the stairs in retribution, but that's just a weird coincidence. And then supernatural shit starts happening. Billy's rabbit hangs itself, people get injuries when Tom is nowhere near them, and I start wondering if this is really the Tom Riddle.

I'm in Wool's Orphanage, my matron is Mrs. Cole, Tom Riddle is running around lighting things on fire. It's possible, though it could all be a strange coincidence.

Now, how things go from here depends on how controlled my own magic is. Since accidental magic typically does manifest at least once or twice, it probably does manifest for me for.. something. If Tom Riddle's there to witness it then...

Well, I imagine he's very offended. Here he was, special, different, better than everyone else, and then some girl in the orphanage (who dares to get very good grades on her assignments in school) has it too.

And I just stand there, smiling, going "Tee hee".

He probably confronts me to prove that he's better at it than I am, and he probably is unless the universe hates both him and me, but having someone else with the Shining around probably prompts him to take me as his protégé (in part so he can show off and in part because he's genuinely excited to be able to share this super cool talent).

I am now apprentice to eight-year-old Tom Riddle. Whoop de doo.

Well, I don't remember this part of Harry Potter, so now I'm probably confused as to where I am again. Regardless, I try to advise Tom on how to tone it down and not, say, traumatize Amy and Dennis for life and antagonize all the other orphans forever. He probably doesn't take me seriously. What do I know, I can't even light that patch of grass on fire?

Hanging around Tom Riddle gets me a reputation to, given the difference in genders, probably a fairly nasty one at that. When Dumbledore arrives he's undoubtedly told hot gossip about how eleven-year-old Tom and I have had sex in a ritual to summon Satan. Dumbledore takes this seriously.

Dumbledore probably meets us both at the same time and it's a disaster. I tried my best to prep Tom without revealing I'm a prophet, Tom first doesn't believe there might not be others, then doesn't believe they would be antagonist/anything but amazed by how awesome he is.

Well, Dumbledore lights his wardrobe on fire while I sit there. Dying inside. Dumbledore probably also does something to me too, to teach me some kind of lesson about something.

I imagine he temporarily disfigures me/makes me appear very ugly, then sticks a mirror to the wall, that way I realize that looks aren’t everything/being a whore is wrong. Tom, still traumatized over the wardrobe, is no help and my magic’s probably not controlled enough to do a thing about it.

I spend a day looking like a pig, Tom and I are given just enough money to buy new wands and second hand/barely functioning everything else and given the world’s worst directions to Diagon Alley. Thanks, Albus.

Well, months pass, we get our wands, Tom gets excited for Hogwarts and I... start seriously considering the future. WWII is coming, the Blitz is coming, Tom and I live in east London and must be able to evacuate during the bombing of London (which went on well past the Blitz to the end of the war). I also start considering my future in the wizarding world. Do I now actually have career prospects?

Probably not because I’m muggle born and a woman. My best bet is doing very well in useful subjects and finding employment with the goblins, I can’t imagine they have the same hang ups as the wizarding world.

Tom wants to go to Slytherin, of course, I tell him this is a bad idea. “Gee Tom,” I say, “Not sure how I know this but I have this feeling that Slytherin is filled with people who loathe our very existence and will shank us. Why don’t we pick Ravenclaw or Gryffindor instead?”

No one shanks Tom Riddle! Tom says. Tom is still eleven and while he admits that sometimes I may, in retrospect, have been right about certain things that doesn’t mean he wants to go to the house known for hard work. That’s code word for everyone there being a moron and having no other redeeming features than tenacity. As for the other two, Ravenclaws sound like smug, elitist, nerds and Gryffindors like dumb jocks.

Better to be known for ambition, cunning, and actually being competent.

Well, there’s no talking him out of this one, and goddamn it we’re all each other has.

I’m the closest thing Tom Riddle has ever had to a friend in all these years and in the orphanage the only one who could hold a decent conversation with him. And while it’s not my moral obligation to keep Tom from becoming a domestic terrorist, and there’s no guarantee I even can, dumping him for one of the other houses and drifting apart won’t help.

Not to mention that, after all these years, I’m undoubtedly lonely, I’m in this foreign land, and he’s now the closest thing to a friend I have.

Looks like I’m going to Slytherin, YOOOOOLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOO! I shout as a battle cry as tears run down my face. I may have to convince the hat to put me in Slytherin, but like all human beings I am a mixture of many qualities. I’m not cunning in the least, mind games exhaust me unutterably, but I’m full of ambition. 

This confirms every bad opinion Dumbledore had regarding me and Tom.

For the next several months, Tom probably beats the shit out of dormmates who steal his things/harass him. He beats up mine too because feminism (TM) means that he should treat all people equally when guilty of the same crime. I... am not sure I can win that fight so I just resign myself to having to adopt some of Tom’s tactics to make sure I’m not shoved in lockers, have tampons thrown at me, or pig’s blood dumped on me at the prom.

Once again, everyone thinks Tom Riddle and I are dating. I don’t even know if they’re wrong at this point.

Well, being in class with eleven year olds who seem to have had little to no prior education, Tom and I are undoubtedly blazing through class. I imagine I’m bored out of my mind (the Hogwarts curriculum sounds unbelievably boring) and Tom is... well, probably devouring the library but probably also bored. I decide to try and see if I can find some real history texts on this world (there are probably none, the wizarding world seems to only have two historians and both... have a different approach to history than current modern thought as I know it) and discover what magic even is. That shit is fascinating: wingardium leviosa is not.

Dumbledore likely gives neither me nor Tom points in class, I think the house cup is stupid, so I really don’t care. I have no interest in playing quidditch, neither does Tom, so that doesn’t happen.

The second world war starts up, Tom, me, and the muggle borns are the only ones who give a flying fuck. I work harder on figuring out how to get lodging during the Blitz/the bombing of London. Unfortunately, Mrs. Cole hates me too for being the Bride of Satan, so that’s a no go. Third year, 1939, I probably write her in earnest anyway telling her to PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, send Tom and I instructions for the summer/where the orphans are staying/how they’ve been dispersed to the countryside. As a back up plan, I try desperately to shmooze shopkeepers in Hogsmeade during every Hogsmeade weekend to get myself and Tom part time jobs and lodging over the summer. As a back up back up plan, I spend my time badgering Tom to become very good at survivalist wandless magic and if the Lord has pity on me gain some ability in it myself.

Hopefully, either Mrs. Cole or one of the Hogsmeade shop owners take pity on us. If not, then Tom and I are going extreme camping. Given Mrs. Cole (and the brain damage brought on by Dumbledore erasing memories left and right) and the likelihood of Hogsmeade shop owners just not getting it, Tom and I probably go extreme camping.

(Tom, meanwhile, asks Dippet and Dumbledore if we can stay in Hogwarts over the summer. He’s told no exceptions. London’s being bombed, you say? No exceptions. Toodles. Tom is never the same.)

Me, Tom Riddle, a tent we made ourselves, several rabbits we had to catch and skin ourselves, and the pitiful fire that we can keep going through pure will alone because if we try to use real people spells then we’ll get arrested. It has the benefit of making Tom feel very manly and impressive, catching his own food, but both of us are well aware that this sucks.

But hey, we aren’t dead.

Well, I’m sure Tom doesn’t appreciate that and this is where I imagine he seriously starts talking about violent revolution. I imagine much of my time is spent discussing the merits of not violently overthrowing our ant overlords. I imagine a thirteen-year-old Tom isn’t impressed by my pacifism, but he’s not married to Voldemort yet (probably).

Then I imagine the horcrux thing comes up and... Well, I will argue hard against it. Humans die, it is a truth of the universe, and simply something we have to accept. Horcruxes are not a measure against that, they can be destroyed, given infinite time they will be, and the sacrifice they require is too high: human life as well as the very essence of who you are.

What is a soul? I’m not sure, we never really learn in HP canon, but whatever it is, it is in some way the essence of yourself. If you take half of it and throw it somewhere else, you will cease to be you, someone or something else is walking around in your body while the other half of you exists in endless agony.

If you must chase immortality, create a philosopher’s stone (as I darkly wonder why it was that couldn’t be replicated and what Flamel had to do to make it in the first place). On second thought, maybe we should search for the Holy Grail.

Whether I can talk Tom out of this or not is... unclear. I’m going to say that I can, in part because I imagine he’ll want to show the chamber off to me, tell me when he realizes he’s Heir of Slytherin, and in doing so I can prevent the basilisk incident from occurring. Without that, there’s no dead Myrtle, which means no first victim. That summer, when he goes to the Gaunts, I’ll go with him and convince him that it’s not worth it. He can just turn around and leave these people alone, I hopefully can talk him down. Which means no second victim.

I start writing Flamel to see if Tom or I can get an apprenticeship (Dumbledore probably beats us to the chase and poisons him against us, but it’s worth a shot).

Then, should all go well, I can convince Tom to find employment with the goblins rather than shady antique dealers on the bad side of town. Hopefully, I can convince him to never become Voldemort, and instead we travel the world together looking for the origins of magic or something.

Dumbledore goes around taking people’s memories of us in preparation for when Tom becomes a dark lord and I his lady of the night darkness.

TL;DR Apparently my life would become an SI/Tom Riddle fic. So, thanks anon.

#harry potter #harry potter meta #harry potter headcanon #tom riddle #albus dumbledore #anti albus dumbledore #meta #headcanon #opinion

[avissapiens]

Avis' Subject Symposium

A Crash Course in Trance Pt 1: Files.

(Art by Acro @sodalite96/https://twitter.com/sodalite96 Used with their permission. Go check them out!)

So often new subjects come to me and they don’t know the first thing about trance. None of its mechanics or methods, and so it can be very daunting for them; to step into such a wide abyss without knowing what to expect and what is expected of you. Many of them, even experienced subjects, expect that 100% of the work is and should be done by the Hypnotist. In truth both parties, the hypnotist and the subject, must be willing and able. But while it’s more readily apparent what must be done in order for a tist to be successful in their endeavors, many subjects/potential subjects can have a hard time understanding what it takes to get the most out of their trance, both from pre-recorded files, and from live sessions with a hypnotist. So, I’m here to give you what is in my opinion, the essential Crash Course to Trance, starting first with trancing to files.

Location

Find yourself somewhere nice, darkened and quiet, where you know you won’t be disturbed. This is already a hard task for a lot of subjects, living with other people always increases the chance that one might barge in on you, eyes glazed over, drooling all over yourself. Or that someone’s reckless pounding from above might shake the abyss so thoroughly that it takes you out of trance. But here is the thing I will stress. While physical quiet is a good idea as it allows you to focus on the words and suggestions streaming into your head. What matters so much more is internal peace and quiet. A location where you can feel at ease and safe and secure in yourself. A locked bedroom surrounded by mountains of pillows. Your favorite plush armchair that threatens to swallow you almost as well as the Abyss of Trance. The peaceful morning route on the train whose path you know so well that you can be lulled into trance just by the rumbling vibrations of the tracks beneath your seat. Wherever you can be comfortable.

The ideal location for trance I'm sure does exist in some government facility or therapists office somewhere, where you can be dropped into an isolation tank and be brainwashed clean. But most of us will never encounter that. So what matters then is the ideal mindset for trance, which is one of peace, safety, trust and assurance.

Equipment

This is one of the reasons so many love using files. Because its barrier to entry is so low. All you really need is something to play the file on and a place to listen. This is in contrast to working directly with a tist where you need, at the very least, A good internet connection, maybe a camera, Another person who you trust and who might be wildly inconsistent. Or working in person which probably will require a whole location and time-table to get set up. No, Files are relatively simple and they are no better or worse than live sessions for certain purposes. However, like all simple things, they can be elevated by improving its ingredients. A box cake from the store and a home-made chiffon are functionally the same, but their difference comes in the ingredients and technique.

So for trance I recommend spoiling yourself a little, at the very least buy yourself some decent quality over-ear headphones. Many file-makers (myself included) add frequencies and binaural beats underneath the main track. These serve the purpose of training your own brain’s waveforms to a certain frequency, thus more easily taking you into trance. But they can only be detected and properly registered with some good headphones. Additionally, The encapsulation of headphones provides a more immersive experience, isolating you and transporting you through the trance experience like you are in your own little world. Trust me. $600 studio headphones aren’t needed, But a good quality wired $40 headset goes a long way and is multi-purpose. A decent quality chair or mattress also will serve you well, not just in trance but in life.

Focus

Trance is a very tricky state that, like all things, requires practice and patience to master. Staying in trance is like a tightrope walk, teetering gently between the realm of consciousness and awareness, and the oblivion of total subconscious and sleep. It is the liminal space between the two, that subconscious space that makes trance and hypnosis possible. It is the state where your mind is most open to total suggestion and where magical things can happen. So how does one walk the line between these two modes of being? The answer is focus. Or rather Half-focus. Focusing without focusing. With descriptions like that it can sound like some kind of Zen riddle, but that is often what it feels like sometimes. Now this is not a laser focus like you would expect in a classroom setting, no one is being tested here. It's a more gentle and subtle focus. Like focusing on the world around you. Focusing on the wind on your face, the rise and fall of your lungs; On the way your body just goes loose and slumps over. The trick is to go in and to follow along, to listen and pay attention and try to comply with the suggestions given at first. Suspend your disbelief and engage with it unironically and without pretense. If you notice yourself drifting, don’t try to force it back to focus. Simply let it explore where it wants and to carry on organically. Nothing in trance needs to be forced. Simply focused on and allowed to happen.

Many subs oscillate in trance, their minds ebbing and flowing like a Sine wave; wavering in and out of trance, one minute aware, the next minute completely blank and asleep, and then for a brief moment in bliss. But it averages out to trance at the end of it. One must also not fear dropping out of trance. Focusing too much on that eventuality makes it a self fulfilling prophecy. Just Focus-not-focus-half-focus and enjoy yourself.

Apprehension

So many subjects look at files and their mind begins to spin with endless questions and anxieties. Worries about “losing themselves” or “changing too much” or “doing things they don’t want to do.” It’s a valid set of concerns for a new subject, uninitiated in the true mechanics of trance and only knowing of hypnosis what is shown in the media. Evil villains and monsters brainwashing our heroes to do horribly enticing and arousing things. So ingrained is this idea that it even crossed over into the allure of hypnosis files. And while I won’t say it's impossible for that to happen, I have 3 comments on it to ease your mind. First, with Files, one of the best things about it is that the subject gets to control practically every single aspect of the experience. When you do it, how many times you listen, and whether you listen at all to begin with. While all files should be clearly labelled with Content and trigger warnings and given an explicit summary of what they are and what they do, we know that is not the case. The amount of “Mystery files” I've seen on various forums irks me to no end. But it appeals to some people. However, for those who are not particularly fond of surprises you have the absolute power to review the file before you trance to it. You can give it a fully aware walk through, or just jump through segments to look for anything that doesn’t suit your taste.

Once you’ve done that however you might still be conflicted about some content. Not openly averse to it, but unsure. Dumbing down and IQ reduction are probably number one on this list. People are so terrified of somehow losing everything when they learn to stop overthinking things. For these concerns my second point suggests Introspection. Ask yourself “Why do I/Don’t I want this?” “Is it really as bad as my anxiety is making it out to be?” Because if you like something a lot, and really want it, then why should you deny yourself it out of fear? Even aside from dumbing, many desires are tinged with this air of guilt or fear. Terrified to acknowledge or grab hold of what we truly want and own up to it. In my estimation Hypnosis can be one of the best ways of dabbling with those desires because in trance there is no shame or judgement. Finally, my 3rd point says you don’t have to worry. If you really don’t like a suggestion you can always leave it behind. Your mind has built in fail-safes to reject suggestions you haven’t agreed to. A file cannot make you do something unless you want it, at least subconsciously. The old cliche goes “All Hypnosis is Self-Hypnosis” and what that fundamentally means is that as a subject you are the one who decides what happens. You consent and go along with things and allow them to happen to you. It is your desire, your focus, your arousal and your own subconscious that allows hypnosis to work. Subjects have more power than they know. I really hope it assists some people in vibing better with trance and files. I’ll be putting out another version for Live hypnotists later this month.

Thanks again to Acro for letting me use their Art, definitely go and support them on twitter. And If you want to support the creation of more hypnotic experiences that might help you practice that balance of focus then you can do so by subscribing to my Patreon, or to my Youtube channel. And if you want to interact more closely with me and my supportive community you can join my Discord server.

#Hypnosis #trance #gay hypnosis #brainwashing #caption #hypnotized #hypnokink

[favoniuscodex]

intergalactic au w/ zhongli, childe, and xiao

prompt: futuristic/intergalactic!au w/ zhongli, childe, and xiao for my 1.5k follower event pairings: zhongli x gn!reader, childe x gn!reader, xiao x gn!reader, word count: 2.8k words (i really like this au, ok?) a/n: haha oh jeez ok my knowledge of intergalactic stuff is an amalgamation of different stuff so this is gonna involve a few different types of space stuff! some of these are longer than others, apologies for the discrepancies in length! i had to stop some of these from becoming full fics hhhh

ZHONGLI

“so,” you state, unceremoniously slamming your hands down on the metal lunch table in front of you. “rex lapis. discuss.”

the two colleagues sitting in front of you differ in reactions to your noisy gesture. the shorter and angrier of the two, xiao, jumps slightly at the sudden intrusion, despite the bustling noise of the starship’s cafeteria surrounding the three of you. at his side, zhongli sits, regal as ever, sipping on a cup of tea that fails to shake within his grip. the brunette sets the drink down on the table before him and looks at you patiently.

“what do you wish for us to discuss?” zhongli asks while xiao scowls at you in annoyance.

“there’s nothing to discuss,” xiao grumbles, cutting up cubes of the low-grade tofu in front of him with the side of his fork absentmindedly. “he died. the end.”

“did he?” you challenge and xiao lets out a heavy sigh of a man worn out by your mere existence. “alright, zhongli, hear me out on this. what if it’s just a coverup by the liyuean fleet? none of us really even knew what he looked like, who he was, et cetera et cetera, y’know? so like... he could very well be alive.”

“indulging in conspiracy theories,” xiao mutters. “how mature of you.” he grouchily stabs some of the decimated remains of the tofu cubes in front of them and takes a bite, wincing slightly at the low quality texture. however, zhongli’s honey eyes shine with mirth at your proposition. 

“i believe that such notions are never beyond the realm of possibility,” zhongli confesses, causing xiao to sputter and choke on his cafeteria meal.

“you have to be kidding me. that’s the dumbest thing i’ve ever heard. they could’ve just said he retired or something. why would the fleet cover up his existence with a falsified death?” xiao challenges, his gaze flickering between your smug expression and zhongli’s entirely placated one.

“some people say rex lapis turned into a dragon and flew away. oooo~! watch out, xiao, he’s going to come for you, oooo~!” you mimic the sounds of a ghost as you flap your hands in a wing-like motion, leaning in closer to xiao, who leans away in repulsion and fear. xiao shrieks slightly as you breach his personal space and he hides behind zhongli’s figure, whose intense gaze causes you to stop your teasing and sit up straight, despite a soft smile gracing his elegant features.

“(y/n),” zhongli questions in a soft tone reserved only for you. “did you finish your review of the engine room’s oxygen and sediment filter?”

you look sheepishly down at the tray of food in front of you. “no, but... nobody’s allowed in the engine room right now. some dumb intern got his keycard stolen so the whole room is on lockdown while they reprogram everyone else’s.”

“well, if you have no other tasks to complete today, would you like to assist me with my research?” zhongli asks and, with no hesitation, you nod in response.

“of course! do you still need help with analyzing how to best redirect flow of air in the suits of the astronauts traveling to planet 48-ab-9?” you say, looking to make sure you and zhongli are on the same page. he smiles at you, which gives you the answer you need before the words even fall from his lips.

“yes, but there may also be possible diversions to other planets and air pressure within the spacesuits on one planet may cause ruptures in the other and-” zhongli begins, but is interrupted by xiao standing up abruptly, the tofu on his tray barely touched.

“i am full!” xiao declares, which causes you to narrow your eyes at him in disbelief. zhongli, however, buys xiao’s blatant lie. “which means, like every upstanding worker of the liyuean fleet, it’s time to return back to the contractual chains of coding hell!”

you can only watch as the green-haired man scurries off without waiting for your responses, far too eager to return to the cybersecurity job he always seems to complain about.

“so, where were we?” zhongli asks, capturing your undivided attention once more. you let out a soft huff of amusement at the situation and flash a smile in return.

---

zhongli is a consistently overlooked member of the liyuean fleet, residing as one of the few interplanetary geologists on board. to put it simply, zhongli works alongside you, an environmental engineer, to help ensure the safety of liyuean fleet explorers as they venture into unknown territory. you develop the products and do routine maintenance on various air quality-related machinery within the massive mothership of the liyuean fleet, while zhongli studies previously-recorded information about other planets in order to provide hypotheses about what potential new planets’ geological systems may be like and what needs to be done for astronauts to acclimate to them.

the talkative geologist is polite to all, but talkative to few, one of whom is you. while the two of you work side by side, the man has a tendency to ramble about the compositions of different planetary soils and what they means to human life should they encounter it. if you’re being honest with yourself, the topic nearly puts you to sleep, but you find it adorable that he can talk so passionately for so long on such a mundane topic.

you let zhongli ramble for three reasons. one: you don’t have the heart to tell him to stop. two: you have a massive crush on him that only seems to worsen the more you see his amber eyes nearly glow with passion whenever you ask questions about his work. finally, three: you’re waiting for zhongli to slip up and reveal why someone of his talent finally got assigned to the mothership immediately after the supposed death of rex lapis.

as he launches into another rambling session, you can’t help but zone zhongli out as a startling idea pops into your head about the calming man who loves three things in life (history, tea, and rocks, in that order).

could he be...? you push the thought out of your head and decide to accept the liyuean fleet command’s announcement at face value. commander rex lapis is dead and there’s absolutely, certainly, definitely no way that zhongli is the man who once brought the tsaritsa’s warships to a crumbling halt.

right?

CHILDE

the dashing rogue with a heart of gold is certainly one of the most respectable men in the galaxy. he saves damsels in distress and redistributes wealth to the poor. he’s perfect in every manner -- don’t you see his charming smile? how could you not trust him? he’ll lure you in with sweet words and false affections, brushing your hair behind your ear as he makes you giggle and flustered due to his flirtations. the illusion pops when he waltzes away from you with a wink and you realize you’re missing your wallet a few minutes later. 

childe, a man of many aliases ranging from the theatrical tartaglia to the mythological ajax, is one of the galaxy’s most wanted thieves. he’ll insist he’s not a kleptomaniac, but feeds off the golden veins of wealth he steals from others as if he is a vampire, a primal instinct he can’t seem to control. no target is too big or small for the man, especially if a rival is involved.

in this case, it’s you. he finds you at a bar, in which grating electronic music blasts overhead and rainbow lights paint his skin in different colors as they flash to the beat. childe is forced to yell over the music, yet none of his signature charm is lost as he does his best to cozy up to you, buying you a drink and warding off any unwanted suitors, especially the alien with eight hands who wont stop insisting that he just wants to hold one of yours. 

you almost let yourself get swept away in his radiant baby blues and his wispy, ruddy brown hair, but you’re smarter than that. you can see the intelligence in his eyes and you wonder if he can see it in yours. despite his kindness and his genuine enthusiasm to hear what you have to say, he holds an arrogance in his posture that shows that childe is underestimating you. you know what he’s after: the keycard to the liyuean fleet engine room, one you had swiped off some unsuspecting intern earlier in the day to deposit in your own safekeeping, in hopes to one day sell it to likely nefarious evildoers who would pay a pretty penny for an access key like that.

but buyers have never been one to keep secrets and you’re far too aware that loose lips sink ships -- or in this case, the main starship of the liyuean fleet -- and childe is far too aware of the card that lies within your possession. you smile as you feel his hand gently tug your wallet out of your coat pocket, an action that would have gone unnoticed if you weren’t a master thief as well. you let him walk away as he winks at you and promises to see you again, a blatant lie on his behalf.

you’re gone from your seat before he realizes the keycard isn’t in your wallet -- nothing is. it’s empty, aside from a faded business card offering the services of your thievery, with a smiley face drawn on the back and two words: duped ya! emblazoned next to the face that taunts childe. a rush of adrenaline ripples through him and he’s not sure whether it’s due to rage or excitement. as he reaches into his pocket, he decides it’s the former as childe realizes the keys to his ship are missing.

childe can’t help but smile when he sees his ship missing in the public dock nearby. after all, he had a new goal: tracking you, his treasured spaceship, and that damned keycard down, even if he would have to scour the entire galaxy just to see your eyes once more.

XIAO

“hey,” a familiar voice barks, which xiao ignores as he nuzzles his face further into his elbow, having fallen asleep at his desk. “hey!” the voice is more insistent and he feels fingers dig into his shoulder, shaking his slumped over form and moving xiao’s wheeled office chair slightly. “get up. you’re sleeping on the job and night shift is coming soon.”

as the voice continues to not leave him alone, xiao finally realizes who is speaking to him. its you. upon this realization, xiao concedes and sits up, wincing as he adjusts to the harsh fluorescent lights that illuminate the room.

“there is no night shift. we’re in space. that’s not a-” xiao complains, but upon seeing you and realizing what you’re holding up in a bag in your hand, ceases his whining and instead chooses to look up at you with wide eyes. “holy shit, is that surface almond tofu?! how did you get that?!”

“sheesh.” you begin, waving the bag slightly back and forth. “i didn’t think you would get this riled up over it.” 

“i would sell my soul for a bag of that after suffering through the eternal misery that is the food on this godforsaken ship.” xiao deadpans and you can’t help but think he’s almost serious. he extends his hands to you and you can’t help but note the way the sleeves of his uniform are pushed up to his elbows, especially since his forearms showcase a plethora of scars that you rarely get to see. they signal that the man is an outsider to your legion of computer nerds (and that his well-defined forearms are really hot, but that’s beside the point). 

you quickly snap out of your daze as his hands crinkle the bag you’re holding and you lightly swat his hands away from the bag, glaring at him. a scowl crosses his features at your actions and he slumps against the back of his chair, swiveling to fully face you.

“the tofu is yours, but i need something in exchange,” you bargain and you watch as xiao’s eyes narrow at the horrid implication held within your tone. “a lot of my cybersecurity guys are out trying to rework the engine room’s login mechanism... it’s a long story. anyways, i was wondering if you’d find it within the kindness of your heart to pick up one of their shifts.”

“you’re not paying me for this shift, are you?” xiao asks and you can feel your face scrunch up in irritation.

“listen, i went to hell and back to try to get you this tofu so you would say yes and you’re worried about payment? they cover lodging and food when you work he-” you begin to rant, but a rare smile from xiao makes the words die on your lips as you feel heat rise to your face.

“i never said i wouldn’t. you’re always so quick to judge.” his tone is condescending as he smirks smugly at you, reaching to take the bag of tofu from your now slackened grip as you stare at him, visibly flustered by his haughty tone in tandem with a grin you scarcely see.

“oh... uh, alright,” you try to recover, readjusting your posture to stand up straighter, willing yourself to stay composed. his golden eyes stare directly into yours as he plucks a cube of tofu out of the bag with his index finger and thumb. without breaking eye contact, he pops the tofu cube into his mouth and, after swallowing, licks his lips. “let’s um... let’s get started!”

---

xiao is a former yaksha, an elite fighter who served as part of commander rex lapis’s most trusted squadron of soldiers. after an injury rendered him unfit to return to battle, xiao decided to look for other ways to help defend the liyuean fleet, which resulted in him joining your group of cybersecurity experts, who protect the fleet by making sure all systems remain secure and that there are no electronic security breaches.

at the beginning of his job, xiao was fairly terrible with technology and would have been fired nearly immediately for his incompetence if not for his direct recommendation from rex lapis himself. unfortunately for you, you were assigned his superior and nearly lost your mind when the man had to stare at the keyboard in order to know where the keys were as he typed. xiao’s attitude was initially offputting, both sardonic and angry, but he eventually sheathed his bitter defensive weapon of haughtiness and condescension in order to ask you for help outside of work hours to help him learn how to be better at his job.

now, several years later, the two of you are fairly good friends (as good as one can be friends with xiao, you think) to the point where he whines about his dumb bumbling friends (zhongli and some other person you had yet to catch the name of) who run in circles around each other, despite the fact that they blatantly like each other. each time he complains, you scratch your head in confusion, because you and him do the exact same thing.

you’re not entirely oblivious. you’ve realized that xiao acts... different around you than he does around most people. he’s softer and more open, but you don’t want to get your hopes up, so you’ve made yourself more open in return, hoping that he’ll realize your interest. often times, your flirtations will leave him flustered and reeling, but on rare occasions, xiao will take the opportunity to fluster you instead, which is far more effective than any way you could try to charm him. you’re fairly sure he can read you like an open book, so you wait for him to confess his emotions to you.

little do you know, xiao feels the exact same way about you as he awaits your confession. no, he’s not scared of rejection. he’s a former yaksha, do you know how many people he’s taken down? why would he be scared of heartbreak and the utter agony that follows as he’s forced not only to deal with rejection but report to you at work every day? ... oh. maybe he is a little scared. just a teensy, tiny little bit scared.

but hey, if the two of you are lucky, maybe you’ll both confess at the same time after the tension between the two of you nearly suffocates you both.

#fun fact: the intern who lost the dumb keycard is xiangling #she saw some food and got distracted #zhongli x reader #xiao x reader #genshin impact x reader #childe x reader #zhongli #childe #genshin impact #//writing #//zhongli #//xiao #//childe #//1.5k event #xiao

[olivia-anderson-fanfic]

A Miraculous TikTok Account

Part 18

First

Previous

Next

The previous night, Chloe and Chat had been standing on the table, arms wrapped around each other as they screamed for the help of the other house members.

Rena, the only person home at the time, had run in. Her brown eyes were wide and frantic as she looked around for some kind of threat.

“What?! What is it?! Why’re you --?!”

“Roach!” Said Chat, his voice high. “Kill it!”

Instead of killing it like the two had hoped, she screeched and immediately jumped for the safety of the table.

Except… it was a table. And it definitely wasn’t made to hold the weight of three fully grown adults. It collapsed under their weight.

This wasn’t their main concern, though, because she sat up and looked around for the roach, only to find that it wasn’t where she’d last spotted it.

“Where did it go?! Who has eyes on it?!”

“Run!”

The three of them scrambled from the room as quickly as they possibly could, shoving each other around in attempts to be the first to the maybe-safety of the living room. They got up on the couch after brief scans to check for the roach and none of them relaxed until they were completely sure the roach hadn’t followed them into the room.

And then they all tensed up again because they realized what they’d done.

Ladybug and Carapace were going to kill them.

(Well, Ladybug was going to kill them, Carapace would just give them the Exasperated Dad Sigh and tell them how he wasn’t mad just disappointed which was WAY worse and --!)

“We’re screwed,” mumbled Chat, hugging his knees to his chest as tears threatened to spill from the corners of his eyes.

Chloe rested her head in her hands. “I just got back to normal after all the salsa, I can’t handle another one of their passive-aggressive punishments.”

There was a beat before the couch shifted. Chloe peeked through her fingers to see Rena was pacing around, trying to think.

“Listen, they can only get mad if they find out. Chat, you go out and see if you can find a new table. Chloe and I are going to try and see if we can fix it.”

They all looked at each other, considering their options. They figured it was better than nothing, might as well try.

He took a shaky breath to steel himself and then nodded. He got up and grabbed the envelope with their monthly allowance from Fu before beginning his mission.

The women were left to rebuild a table.

It… might have worked. They were using glue to try and make it harder to see and they managed to put all the pieces together in a way that made them look more or less like normal. Sure, there were a lot of cracks, but Ladybug and Carapace were sleep deprived pretty much at all times, they probably wouldn’t notice.

Rena set the centerpiece -- a vase of flowers -- in the center of the table and they held their breath as they waited for the table to break under the little weight.

It didn't!

They breathed a sigh of relief.

It collapsed.

Chloe stared at the pile that had once been their table. “Hopefully, Chat managed to find a table.”

“I’ll clean,” said Rena.

Chloe shook her head and waved her hands vaguely. This got a confused look from the other woman, but only for a few moments before a swarm of bees floated down the stairs and started working together to carry pieces out the open window and to the dumpster.

“... you’ve been able to help clean the house this whole time and you’ve never once offered.”

“Never bothered me before,” explained Chloe, grinning at the obviously annoyed miraculous holder.

Thankfully, Rena didn’t have enough time to strangle her properly before they heard Chat yelling for help getting the table inside.

They walked out and looked at the table and exchanged worried glances. It was obviously different, the quality of the wood was way better than the first table (who knows, this one might have actually been able to withstand all of their weights). The color was also slightly off, which wasn’t great.

“It was... the closest... I could find,” he said through pants.

Chloe wondered, vaguely, how far he had dragged it.

“They’re gonna know,” said Rena.

“They’re... not going to know,” argued Chat, though it seemed like he was only trying to reassure himself.

Rena pinched the bridge of her nose. “They’re going to know.”

“... how would they know?”

Chloe leveled him with a cold stare. “They have eyes.”

The three of them all looked at the table with dejected expressions before Rena snapped her fingers.

“I’ve got it: tablecloth. We need a tablecloth.”

Chloe took off in the direction of a store without another word.

~

They laid the tablecloth on top of the table and then set the vase down. This table didn’t break, it would have been weird if it had, but that didn’t stop the women from taking a step back before they sighed in relief.

They heard the doorknob jingle and Carapace curse outside as he fetched his keys and the three looked at each other with wide eyes.

Act natural.

They scrambled to the living room for the second time that night (or, rather, the second time in twenty four hours, since it was now daybreak). Chat booted up a game on the console. She grabbed the controllers. Rena took a seat on the arm of the couch and allowed a mischievous smile to grace her face (she’d been fighting it almost all day).

The impulse control stepped in and seemed to instantly figure out something was wrong…

But apparently patrols had tired them out, because they didn’t say anything as they went to join them.

~

Ladybug looked at the tablecloth for a few moments before she turned to give Chloe a questioning look.

Chloe sent her her brightest smile. “I thought it would look nice.”

The miraculous holder blinked.

“I… I suppose it doesn’t look bad…?”

“Of course not, I chose it.”

This pulled Ladybug’s attention away from the table, if only temporarily, and Chloe only smiled wider at the eyeroll she was sent.

~

Carapace raised his eyebrows as he picked up the envelope. He slowly pulled the money out and looked around at the unlucky pair who happened to be in the room.

She met Chat’s eyes. Had he really forgotten to put back the money for the table?

He gave her a sheepish smile.

She scoffed a little and then turned to look at Carapace, who had a shockingly calculated expression on his face as he looked at the money.

And then he sighed. “That was one expensive tablecloth.”

Chloe’s forehead beaded with sweat. Time to lean into her rich kid-ness and hope that was enough to convince him. “Is that so? I hadn’t thought it was that bad. Should I pay it back?”

He sighed again. “No. It’s fine, we have enough for the month, it’s just… talk to me before you buy anything? You, too, Chat. Both of you have no concept of money.”

They both nodded their understanding and Carapace left to go grocery shopping.

She relaxed, her head tipping back against the chair. They had gotten away with it.

~

Chloe hummed as she considered the two video ideas.

The first video was the edited down footage of when she’d gone shopping with Rena and Ladybug and all the dumb things people had said to them while they thought they were cosplayers. It was a fun video and she was actually kind of proud of it.

The other was a video of her calling people out for the dumb things they did. It was on brand and what she was going to devote her entire account to it, because Parisians had… let’s call them ‘interesting’ thought processes. (Also, she liked calling people stupid. Sue her.)

She drummed her fingers on the keyboard as if they would type out an answer for her, then reluctantly came to her conclusion: she should make her debut video representative of her account so people knew what they were signing up for when they followed her.

… but she would also upload the ‘cosplay’ video the next day. For fun.

~

Time to film.

Chloe rested her head on her hand, glaring at the camera.

“Hey, Paris. Queen Bee here to call you out because none of the people I live with have the balls to do it.”

Her lip barely twitched at the quiet whine of protest that Rena made, but apparently she didn’t care enough to look up from her cleaning.

“Listen, if you’re scared of walking home alone and you happen to see one of us on patrols, wave us down. I know you’re all worried and you think it isn’t our jobs to help you, and you’d be right… if our jobs didn’t hinge on everyone in Paris being mentally stable.”

“We’d rather take a few minutes out of our days to walk -- or even carry -- you home than spend half an hour or more fighting you off as an akuma.”

“And, hey, if an akuma does happen to crop up we’ll take you to the nearest akuma shelter. One less civilian to worry about, right?”

She smiled now. “Stop being stupid. Thanks!”

She turned off the video and looked up to see Rena giving her an odd look.

Chloe scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest. “What? Are you surprised I’m a nice person...?”

The word ‘too’ died on her tongue.

Rena slowly shook her head. “I don’t think you’re nice.”

Oh. Okay. Ow.

An angry buzz started under her skin, but Rena held up a hand to stop her before she could say anything.

“Let me explain. I think you’re kind, but you’re not nice.”

Now it was Chloe’s turn to give her a confused look, the buzz lowering to a dull thrum. What does that even mean?

Rena was off cleaning another room before Chloe even thought to ask her.

~

The next video started out shaky because the phone hadn’t had a stable place to rest.

The camera focused until people could make out Rena, in her costume, talking to a person who’d been carefully blurred. The both of them were clearly excited about something, waving their hands around wildly as they spoke, but the cameraperson had to get closer for anyone to understand what they were saying.

“-- always wondered whether or not Queen Bee and Ladybug actually need the wings or if they’re just for show,” the stranger was saying.

“Too coordinated for it to be fake wings,” said Rena with a shake of her head. “They’re real. I wonder if they have to watch their weight to make sure they can still fly.”

“But then wouldn’t they be easier for akumas to hit around --?”

The camera panned to Chloe’s deadpan expression. “You can believe that Ladybug can create anything she wants with her yoyo but the problem is her wings?”

The camera cut.

Now the viewers were looking at Ladybug, who was smiling at what was obviously a little kid due to all the pink in her outfit. She had lifted the polka dotted red part of her dress up manually to reveal the shimmering wings in question.

“They’re so shiny! What’re they made of?”

Ladybug smiled and knelt down so the kid could reach out and touch her wings. “I’m gonna let you in on a secret --” The audio was temporarily muted to hide the name. “I’m actually Ladybug.”

“No way!” She yelled in her excitement. (Rena stiffened in the background.) “Are you really --?”

Ladybug held a finger to her lips. “Shhhh! It’s a secret, remember?”

The kid lowered her voice to what basically amounted to a stage-whisper. “Are you really Ladybug?!”

Ladybug smiled and nodded her head. “Yeah, but don’t tell anyone, okay?”

The girl gave her a salute.

The next few cuts were just Chloe taking pictures with people. Why was she doing that when their faces were blurred for privacy? Because her hair and makeup had looked really good that day and she was proud, dang it!

The next cut was to Rena and a new guy, though the viewers wouldn’t be able to tell until they heard a distinctly different voice:

“Your outfit is really good, but you got the shading wrong. The orange is lighter than that.”

Rena stared at him for five seconds, jaw slack, eyes wide. The next five seconds were spent opening and closing her mouth without sound coming out. And then she finally got a hold of herself.

“Okay,” she said, apparently too stunned to even be sarcastic about it.

The last cut had all three miraculous holders in frame, they were talking to someone offscreen.

“Who do you guys ship?”

The three of them had looked at each other awkwardly and then Rena’s face split into a mischievous grin.

“If we’re going on who has the most chemistry, I’d have to say QueenBug.”

A blush spread across Ladybug’s cheeks and she made a move like she was going to bury her face in Chloe’s shoulder before she thought better of it and rested her face in her hands instead.

(If anyone had noticed the steady warming of Chloe’s face, no they didn’t.)

The woman they were talking to sounded confused: “QueenBug? I always heard people calling it ChloeBug.”

Chloe tried not to laugh at Ladybug’s clear distress, but she couldn’t help but tease her a little bit. “ChloeBug? QueenBug? I thought it was LadyBee.”

Rena had no such reservations against laughing. “Whatever the ship name, it’s pretty popular.”

“Of course it is, they team up the most. And did you see that thirst trap prank video? If they’re not dating, I’d eat my shoe,” said the woman who had a shoe in her future.

Ladybug, who was still bright red but had gained back some of her functionality now, whispered: “I thought we were called The Lovebugs.”

The video zoomed in on the stunned faces of Rena and Chloe individually before cutting out.

~~~

Taglist

@nathleigh @sassakitty @th1s-1s-my-aesthet1c @blueslushgueen @woe-is-me0 @ladybug-182 @cas-and-their-refusal-to-write

#a miraculous tiktok account #chloe bourgeois #queen bee #adrien agreste #chat noir #alya cesaire #rena rouge #nino lahiffe #carapace #marinette dupain cheng #ladybug #miraculous team #miraculous fic #ml fic #chloenette #chlonette #adrino

[shotgun--rider]

Stay With Me

A @destielsecretsanta2020 gift for @princess-aleera

Summary: For the first time in his life, Dean has the opportunity for a real Christmas with his family. And it would be perfect, if Cas hadn’t decided to bail on him again. OR: Dean and Cas finally use their words. 

Warnings: Dean’s cripplingly low self-esteem, Cas undervaluing himself...you know, the usual.

A/N: Did I anxiously rewrite half of this on Christmas Eve? Yes. Do I have any confidence whatsoever left in the quality of this fic? No! Nevertheless, merry Christmas to my lovely giftee and I hope you enjoy this dumb fluffy little thing!

By now, Dean should have really known better than to have any kind of expectations for Christmas. He hasn’t had anything less than a shitty holiday since Mary was alive, and then he’d been too young to remember it. The weeks leading up to the 25th in his childhood were marked out by shoplifting cheap gifts for Sam (usually practical stuff, like flannels and socks) and trying to convince John that they didn’t need to work a job on Christmas day. He’d managed to walk out with a paper-wrapped ham once, but cooking it in a motel room didn’t exactly turn out and Sammy got mac and cheese for Christmas dinner. Again. 

Even when they got older, it still wasn’t much of a big deal. They’d toss badly-wrapped gifts at each other in the Impala, still the same kind of practical things as always. Once, Sam bought them dumb Santa hats from the Gas-n-Sip and they drove down the interstate wearing them for a couple dozen miles before Dean got fed up and chucked it into the backseat. 

So, yeah, Christmas sucked ass. And usually Dean didn’t give it much thought, because it wasn’t like he had a lot of fond memories to miss. But this year...sue him, this year he’d thought it might be different. Jack had cheerfully requested a Christmas tree with such enthusiasm that they had caved and set one up in the library, and after Sam had spearheaded the decorating with Eileen, Dean had to admit it looked surprisingly festive. And once there was a tree, it seemed only right to put some effort into the gifts, so he painstakingly picked something out for each member of his little family. (It was paid for with a fake credit card, but it was the thought that counted.) And with several more YouTube tutorials than he would ever admit to a living soul, they were neatly wrapped under the tree, too. 

It was shaping up to be something like a real Christmas, and he was starting to look forward to making new stupid traditions and watching the look on Sam’s face when he opened his gifts. 

But Dean Winchester doesn’t get nice things. So even though there’s an ache in his gut he’s trying to ignore as he bends to fish Cas’s gift back out from under the tree, he’s not really surprised. Hurt, maybe. Pissed, definitely. But surprised? No, it only makes sense that the angel bailed on them on Christmas Eve, popping off to who the hell knows where and ignoring his phone the way he too often does. 

This is what always happens, Dean reasons, shoulders a little hunched as he starts back toward his room. He’s an angel, of course he has better places to be than spending Christmas with a pair of boring human hunters. What does Dean have to offer him anyway? The gift in his hands is shitty, he’s demanded way more from the guy than he can ever repay, and he already knows he’s not good enough for Cas. So he’ll just quietly put the gift back and play the whole thing off if anybody asks. 

He’s almost made it to his bedroom when he passes Eileen, the woman giving him a friendly smile that fades into a curious look when her gaze falls on the slightly unevenly wrapped box in his hands. She signs something that he doesn’t quite get, and Dean kicks himself again for being such a fuckup that he can’t even learn ASL right. 

Eileen doesn’t seem to mind, asking her question again verbally and signing along to help him. “Does Cas get his present privately?” She punctuates with a little eyebrow wiggle, always trying to tease him about the angel. 

Dean huffs, shaking his head. He manages the sign for no before speaking the rest. “Nah, Cas, uh, Cas isn’t coming to Christmas.” He rubs the back of his neck awkwardly. 

Eileen’s face scrunches. “What do you mean, he’s not coming? He was so excited--what did you do?”

“Nothing!” Dean says defensively, a private panic starting in his head at the thought that maybe he did, maybe he hurt Cas and he didn’t realize it. Or maybe Cas knew and left to save him the embarrassment. “He just said he had somewhere to be,”

“Did you talk to him about it?”

“He won’t answer his phone,” Dean says a little petulantly. He’s tried calling him about a dozen times at this point, and Cas has to have turned the damn thing off, because he doesn’t even get to the stupid endearing voicemail recording. 

His brother’s girlfriend just gives him a look and folds her hands into a sign he knows immediately. Pray. “He’ll listen,”

Not for the first time, Dean wonders if Eileen is massively misinterpreting his relationship with Cas. Or at least, how much of a shit Cas gives about him. “Look, Eileen, I don’t think--” 

Dean. She makes his name sign sharp and gently scolding. “Just talk to him,”

“Yeah, maybe,” he mumbles. He doesn’t bother to voice the but what if he still doesn’t answer. 

He leaves Eileen with an attempt at looking nonchalant and makes it the rest of the way to his bedroom, flopping down on the memory foam mattress and staring at the ceiling. He’s positioned to one side as always, avoiding sprawling in the middle even though he would be well within his rights. Sam would probably spout some psychology bullshit about subconsciously saving the other half for someone. Yeah, right. 

So maybe he’s a little more bitter about this than he thought. Squeezing his eyes shut, he huffs out a breath, half prepared to just pray to Cas so he can shout at him childishly. “Hey, uh, Cas? Listen, buddy--”

There’s an almost immediate flutter of wings and by the time Dean’s scrambling to sit halfway up, Cas is standing by the foot of the bed uncertainly, more rumpled than usual and his expression pained. “Hello, Dean,”

“Cas, what the hell?” Dean bursts out before he’s even fully decided to say the words. 

“Dean,” Cas fixes his blue eyes on Dean’s face. “I think I may have made a mistake,”

“Really? What gave you that idea?” Dean shoots back sarcastically. “I mean, what the fuck, Cas? I get that you have obligations and better places to be, but goddammit, you have to stop leaving m--leaving without an explanation!” Vaguely, Dean realizes that he’s not totally in control of this conversation anymore, but he’s been sitting on this for a long time. “It’s Christmas, man,” he goes on weakly. “I know this is kinda your first one but you’re supposed to be with your family,”

“I know,” Cas rushes to agree, his face still flickering with distress. “But I could feel your longing after I left, and your prayer--” the angel slumps slightly in his too-big trench coat. “Dean, I don’t understand.”

“First of all, I was not longing. And b, what don’t you get? It’s not rocket science, Cas,” 

“I left so that you could be with your family,” Cas explains, as if he’s not uttering the most insane thing Dean’s ever heard in his life. “But now you’re upset--I’m sorry, Dean,”

“Cas, what the fuck?” Dean says again, momentarily lost for words as he blinks at his best friend. “How do you not---you are family,”

Cas’s blue eyes blink a few times hopefully, before he seems to resign himself. “I try to be of use to you and Sam--”

“That has nothing to do with--” Dean stops. Oh, Cas. “Do...do you think we keep you around because you’re an angel?”

Cas tilts his head. “Well...yes,”

“Cas,” Dean says weakly. God, he wants to punch himself in the face for letting him think this way. “Look, Sam’s plenty useful, doing the research by myself would seriously suck ass. But he’s my brother either way. Family’s not--it’s not about being fucking useful.” 

“Am I your brother, Dean?”

“Yes!” Dean bursts out, too loudly, kicking himself as his mouth continues without permission. “Yeah, I mean--yeah,” he trails off, not remotely willing to try explaining why that might not be the correct label after all. “You’re family, Cas.”

It’s probably just wishful thinking, but Cas looks almost disappointed. “Oh. I see. Thank you, Dean. I will--” a short pause, “I will stay for Christmas,”

“Great,” is all that comes out of Dean’s mouth in reply. “Yeah, that’s great.” 

He wants to tell him that wasn’t actually what I wanted to say and I kinda think I might be in love with you and I want you to stay with me but the shadow of John Winchester and the fear of rejection keeps the words tightly coiled inside. Besides, they don’t do this. They don’t say things out loud, they never have. And--most of the time--that works. 

So Dean swallows and smiles tightly and shoves away his newly-realized I love yous, turning around instead to find where he’d tossed Cas’s gift on the floor beside the bed. “You, uh, wanna put this back out--”

“Dean,” 

Something in Cas’s voice has him straightening up immediately, and when he turns around the angel is looking at him with an expression he’s never seen before and--are those tears? 

“Dean, I can hear you,”

Dean’s stomach sinks like a fear-filled lead balloon, but he asks anyway. “You can hear me what?”

“Sometimes,” Cas says quietly, “if you think something with enough intention, it can be heard like a prayer,”

Dean clears his throat roughly, bracing himself for Cas to explain gently how he has no interest in a man like Dean. “So, uh,” he trails off. Cas is still just looking at him with brimming eyes, which narrow suddenly. 

“You are a good and righteous and wonderful man, Dean Winchester,” he says firmly, standing there so close and yet just out of Dean’s reach. 

Dean gives a sheepish look. “Heard that bit too, huh?”

“Dean,” Cas says again, gently, waiting. Waiting so that Dean can go first. 

And suddenly, with the knowledge that Cas already knows what he’s been trying to say, it’s infinitely less terrifying. “I--I love you, Cas,” he says hoarsely, surprising himself with how, after all this time, the words aren’t really that hard. “And you’re my best friend, and you’re family, and I don’t give a shit if you’ve got angel powers or whatever, and--” I need you please stay with me still gets stuck in his throat, the most dangerous out of all of those words, but Cas must hear it anyway, or be able to tell what he’s getting at, because he’s suddenly wrapped up in the angel’s embrace, the slightly shorter man warm and solid and thoroughly clinging to him. 

He’d make a crack about chick flick moments, but he really doesn’t have a leg to stand on because he’s clinging to Cas just as tightly, gripping fistfuls of his trench coat and trying to reassure himself that this is real. This is real. 

“I rebelled for you,” Cas is saying quietly into his shoulder. “I loved you from the minute I saw your soul for the first time.” And then he moves to meet Dean’s eyes, his own still looking a little watery, and finishes, “And I need you too,” 

And Dean’s never kissed a man before, but after a confession like that is as good a time as any to bury the last of his father’s old words about fairies and manliness. 

It’s clumsy at first, and not really fireworks and magic like chick flick romances like to claim, but it sends warm relief through his entire body. Dean shivers just slightly, pulling Cas closer as their mouths slowly explore, cautiously at first and then bolder, heat lacing the kiss. But more than anything, it feels like something he has been missing for so long that he stopped noticing has finally fitted back into place, and it’s overwhelming. But, Dean thinks as he helps toss Cas’s coat on the floor, so, so worth it. 

***

The first real Winchester family Christmas is nothing short of chaotic, from the first moment that Dean and Cas finally emerge from their definitely-not-cuddling nest of blankets. Sam takes one look at them in the hallway and grins immediately, shaking his head with a loud “finally!” that has Dean scowling and demanding to know how long Sam has been paying attention to them. (The answer is far longer than Dean wants to think about)

They unwrap gifts on the floor of the library, indulging Jack’s inquisitive questions and periodically balling up wrapping to throw at each other. Sam’s hair is slowly collecting bows off the wrapping as Dean gets bored, though he eventually gives up when he has to choose between reaching Sam’s head and continuing to inch closer into Cas’s side. 

For a moment, he wonders about the last Christmas when Mary was alive, and what she would say if she could see her sons and their hodgepodge celebration now. He doesn’t really mind, though, that he can’t remember it. This is all the holiday family memories he didn’t know he needed.

#destiel secret santa #destiel #destiel fic #deancas #spn fic

[ao3komorii]

Return to You (Timeskip Ashe/Reader)

This one is another Byleth one, but again, I don’t use any names for Reader and it’s all 2nd POV. This one is set after the BL route end, but no S rank happened with Ashe. Also slight canon divergence in that Rhea retains control of the church after the game end because it worked better for plot purposes, but other than that, nothing big has changed. Again, there is smut at the end!

----

You had been feeling antsy for a while after you had gotten back to Garreg Mach after Edelgard was finally defeated. Lady Rhea had been rescued and once again stepped up as Archbishop of the Church of Seiros and arrangements had been made for more students to join the academy as soon as routes were cleared safe and treaties had been formed to unite the land under King Dimitri’s rule. Relative peace had settled on the land, but that didn’t mean that no dissenters were left who wished harm on Fódlan. Quite a few of your former students were happy to come back as teachers at the academy, but you were feeling more and more restless as the days went by and the beginning of the school year rapidly approached. You wanted to be out in the world again, helping the citizens of Fódlan yourself. Not sent out sparingly for missions with students, but making the world a better place with your own power. You could no longer be a teacher, your racing mind would not allow it.

You had arranged to see Lady Rhea early in the morning when not even Seteth had joined her in her chamber yet. She listened as you explained your request, her eyes as sad as the day she lost you to the cliff, but she took what you had to say seriously.

“You wish to travel as a mercenary again?” she clarified, and you nodded resolutely.

“Very well. You have been a great ally to the church, but I see so much of your father within you. I will not stop you from doing what you feel you need to do,” she told you.

You were about to leave when she raised a hand to stop you from turning away from her.

“Will you not tell the others before you leave?” she asked, eyes full of concern. “They all care for you and will be hurt if you do not tell them yourself.”

You knew that she was right. But you also knew what would happen. None of them wanted you to leave, especially since you did not yet know if you would ever return once you left. They would be upset at you for leaving without telling them, but there was no other option in your mind. It especially hurt at the moment to picture Ashe, who had been as excited to be a teacher alongside you, robbed of that chance. But you had to leave, and you knew that you would not have the strength to do so if any of them tried to convince you otherwise. So you shook your head, eyes breaking contact with Rhea, and she smiled sadly.

“I will tell them, then,” she volunteered. “Professor… please stay safe. There will always be a place for you if you ever want to return to us.”

You nodded and then turned your back to her and left the audience chamber. You had felt so strongly about this decision that you had already packed what few important things you wanted to take with you, and you briskly walked back to your dormitory to get your bag, slinging it over one shoulder. You looked at the rising dawn as you walked out and away from Garreg Mach, regretful that you were leaving, but knowing nothing else would ease your restless soul.

Ashe had been a broken man since the day you had left. Rhea had asked for him to come to her private study mid-morning that day, and he had presumed that it was related to his new teaching position at the academy. Never did he imagine that it would be to tell him that you had left, and were possibly never coming back. He should have known the moment he walked in and saw Rhea’s serious expression that something was wrong. Bandits, or maybe slightly larger than usual class sizes were things he would have easily believed were the problem. Not you. He put on a brave face for Lady Rhea, telling her that he hoped you found what you were looking for, and then Lady Rhea allowed him to leave, as she easily saw through his façade of courage. His heart was crumbling piece by piece as he walked to his room, feeling emotionless and barely able to move one foot ahead of the other. Arriving at his room, he realized that he couldn’t recall the walk over at all.

He made it only a few steps into his room before he collapsed upon himself, barely managing to close the door behind him. The tears came easily as he reached into one of his drawers to hold the simple silver banded ring with a green stone in the center to his chest. He felt like his entire future had been stolen from him. He knew he should be upset with you, hate you, blame you for what had happened, but he loved you so much that all he could do was weep with despair. He wished that you would have told him that you wanted to leave; he would go anywhere if it meant that he would be by your side. But he understood why you chose not to say goodbye. You didn’t want to interfere with his decision to stay here. Although you had not realized he was so excited to be a teacher in large part because he would be where you would be. He could only hope that someday you would come back to him. He would wait forever for you.

Ashe was one of the most popular teachers at the academy. He was knowledgeable and kind, and the students all loved him; the boys admired his skills and the girls were smitten by his handsome profile. They all adored the caring professor, but they didn’t have the background knowledge that some of the others at the monastery did.

Annette and Mercedes had both taken positions within the school as well, both happy to pass their skills on to the next generation and keep the world as peaceful as it had become after the war. The lively and kind Ashe the new students saw did not fool them for one second. They had been informed of your departure soon after Ashe had, and had both been devastated, not only within themselves but for their friend as well. Anyone could see how Ashe loved you, except you. Mercedes knew that if you had known about his feelings, you would not have left him like that. He put his all into his new job as a teacher, but they had both noticed that his smile dropped whenever he thought he was alone. He stopped reading for pleasure, and Annette assumed it was because it reminded him too much of the times Ashe had talked to you about the books he had read. They knew he thought about you a lot, even after many months of you being gone with no messages or signs of returning, and Mercedes and Annette both felt helpless to help their friend out of his unending sorrow.

Annette had baked Ashe some sweets that had always cheered her up when she was feeling down, and Mercedes had tried to talk to him, but neither tactic worked. Ashe put his all into his work and seemed hollow through it all, but never let his feelings affect the quality of his teaching. Annette had tried to get him excited about the upcoming ball that the church was putting on, and reminisced about the ball the year they were all students in this place. Ashe replied in kind, but Annette noticed he purposefully left out any mention of you. It was obvious that his mind was always on you, but he went out of his way not to mention any memories that concerned you. It was as if he would crumble on the spot if he even thought about you around others. Annette couldn’t even remember the last time Ashe had said your name out loud.

This ball would be a success, the women decided, even if they had to force Ashe to eat some food and do some dancing. He would enjoy the event, that they were determined to see through. Which would begin with them getting together the morning of the ball and making their special puffed pastries, the ones that their students couldn’t get enough of every time they made them. They giggled about their later plans as they purchased some ingredients at the marketplace, getting everything they needed rather easily. Annette looked up to Mercedes curiously when her friend did not respond to a question she had asked, but her eyes were elsewhere.

“Annie!” Mercedes gasped, hand grabbing her friend’s shoulder as she pointed over to the gate just as a small hooded figure entered, the hood doing nothing to dissuade the two women of their immediate surety at the identity of the figure.

You just felt numb after a while. You were a one-woman army, wiping out bandits and rescuing innocent people from dangerous situations. You were doing what you wanted… what you thought you wanted to do, so why was it that you saw Ashe’s face every time you closed your eyes? No matter what you did, you could not help but recall the look in Ashe’s eyes when you had to go after his adoptive father, when he learned of the death of someone he cared about, when he was forced to kill or be killed by his former classmates. You hadn’t died, but you had left Garreg Mach, left him, without planning to ever return. Your chest burned when you realized just how stupid you had been.

You knew that you were missing something, and you thought that you would find it out here, travelling around and helping people as you had once done with your father. But being alone just highlighted for you all that you had left behind when you made such a dumb, rash decision. Some villages would throw a celebration when you rid their travel routes of bandits, but you never went, instead forgoing sleep to travel onto the next place. You had just left another town at sundown when you realized that you had absentmindedly been obeying your own secret wants when the path you were on started to seem familiar. You realized immediately that you were only a few hours travel from Garreg Mach.

Immediately you felt the need to turn around and go back, find a route that would lead you elsewhere. You hurt everyone by leaving like that, and you knew it. If you went back now, you were not sure that you would never feel the desire to leave again. You couldn’t go back now and then hurt them all over again. You tried in vain to convince yourself that going back would be a bad choice, but you knew it was useless. You wanted to see everyone again, and you knew it. You wanted to see Ashe so badly that it hurt, and you would sprint all night to get there if it meant that you could see him sooner. But you had to admit that after fighting for hours, you would probably collapse before you could make it there. You begrudgingly set up to sleep in a grassy field, knowing you would be up as soon as you got enough sleep to be functional and back on the road to the monastery.

You had no idea what time it was when you woke up, but the sun had almost fully risen, and you brushed the grass off of your clothes and packed your few belongings and set off to continue onwards to the place you were aching to be. You walked for hours without stopping, but your feet did not feel sore at all. Eventually your feelings of guilt were overtaken almost entirely with excitement to be back, especially now that you were close enough to see the monastery in the distance. You had to resist the urge to run as you got closer and closer to the marketplace entrance. As you reached the gate, you adjusted the hood of your cloak; you thought it would be smarter to make a stealthy entrance and not attract too much attention and get swarmed. Looking around to see the merchants conducting business as usual made you feel like you hadn’t been away for months, and the familiarity relaxed you. You were so caught up, however, that you failed to notice two women sneaking up to you until they each linked an arm through one of yours and began to somewhat drag you towards the entrance of the monastery.

Panicked, you looked over to see Annette and Mercedes on either side of you. You must have looked as startled and confused as you felt, because Mercedes just giggled at you with a smile.

“We knew it was you right away, Professor,” she told you.

“Yeah!” Annette chimed in. “We’d know it was you even if you wore a full suit of armor made out of peacock feathers!”

You weren’t sure where Annette had acquired that metaphor, but you allowed them to take you around the corner and past the fishing pond and greenhouse, and straight into Mercedes’ room. Annette waved off the concerns of a professor you passed on your way, informing them that she and Mercedes were simply showing a new student around, and the professor let you on your way. Annette quickly closed the door behind her and they both let go of their hold on your arms.

“I felt bad lying to a professor, even though I know we’re professors now too!” Annette confessed with a guilty smile.

“I feel the same way, Annie!” Mercedes agreed, before their glances both settled on you.

“Professor!” Annette cried out as she hugged you with more force than you thought she possessed. “We thought you were never coming back!”

Mercedes smiled warmly at you before she joined the hug as well. “We all missed you dearly!”

You found their enthusiasm contagious and returned their smiles as your hood fell entirely off your head from the force of their hugs. They eventually pulled back and allowed you to breathe again. You knew you should say something, but nothing you could think of would undo the hurt you had caused by taking off without saying anything so many months ago.

“Please do not worry,” Mercedes said. “You do not have to explain things to us right this moment.”

“That’s right!” Annette added. “And besides, there’s the ball tonight to worry about!”

You blinked as you took in the information. It was around the right time of year for the ball, but there hadn’t been one in so long that it had slipped your mind. You remembered the one and only ball you had been present for as Annette suddenly squealed in joy.

“Mercie, do you still have that dress that you made for the fall festival?” Annette asked.

“Oh, yes!” Mercedes nodded, pulling a basket out from under her bed and retrieving a beautiful blue dress from inside while Annette looked at you sternly.

“I know I said we could talk about this later, but you can’t just leave us like that again!” she said, but she didn’t seem angry. Mercedes looked sad, but did not interrupt Annette. “Mercie and I have each other, but you’re everything to Ashe.”

“He’s been so sad since you left,” Mercedes added. “But you’re looking just as sad now, Professor.”

“I… want to see him,” you admitted, head hung low. You didn’t deserve to see Ashe after the pain you had caused him, but the women in front of you did not agree.

“Well, great!” Annette cheered. “Because we’re going to get you ready to surprise him at the ball!”

“I have the perfect shade of eyeshadow to compliment your hair,” Mercedes added.

You were surprised, but allowed Mercedes to seat you in her chair. In truth, you were grateful that you would have more time to work up the nerve to see him. You just hoped that he didn’t hate you. Annette told you that they had been in the process of making some pastries for the event, and so she decided to do it alone to not disappoint the students, leaving you in Mercedes’ care, but not before telling you both that she would be back immediately after she had finished baking. After Annette gave you one more hug and left, Mercedes spoke up.

“Professor… did you sleep in mud? You’re filthy.”

You hadn’t realized until now, but she was right. You were in no state to attend a ball with your current level of cleanliness. Mercedes simply laughed and then put the hood of your cloak back on and ushered both of you to the bath house. After checking that it was empty, Mercedes stood guard outside while you bathed quickly and then redressed. You felt cleaner than you had in a long time, as you largely bathed in bodies of water while you were gone, which could not compare to the bathhouse. Mercedes was chatting with a female student when you walked out, and you made sure to hang your head low so your face could not be seen. You didn’t mind whether you saw Ashe now or later in the day, but Mercedes and Annette were so excited about their plan that they didn’t want to ruin it, and you found that you didn’t want to ruin the surprise either.

Mercedes smoothly finished her conversation as if she hadn’t been waiting on you, and you passed by the student, walking side by side with Mercedes back to her room, going undetected. You removed your ratty cloak entirely after the door was closed, sitting down on the chair again.

“You haven’t eaten yet, have you?” she asked you, and you shook your head. You hadn’t eaten since the afternoon the day before if you recalled correctly.

“I bought some cookies at the market while Annie and I were out shopping today; they should tide you over until dinner,” she said, grabbing a wrapped package from her desk and handing it over to you. You unwrapped it as Mercedes started to assemble her makeup supplies.

“They’re made with chopped up noa fruit,” she explained. “I didn’t think that noa fruit would taste good in cookies, but they’ve become a favorite of mine as of late.”

“Thank you, Mercedes,” you said, for more than just the cookies, and she giggled knowingly.

Your conversation dissolved into silence, but it was a comfortable silence. Mercedes organized her makeup in front of her as she began to apply different things to your face. She insisted that you could not look in a mirror until she was done, and so you trusted her and relaxed while she did who knows what to you, having you tilt your head in all directions as she worked.

“You’re all done!” she announced at last, finally grabbing the mirror and holding it out in front of you.

You almost didn’t believe it was you. Mercedes had really worked her magic, and it showed. Every touch of makeup flattered your face, and you were starting to think that you had been staring at your own reflection for too long when the door to Mercedes’ room burst open. You turned to look at Annette, who was now wearing a nice dress, and she gaped at you.

“You look so pretty!” she exclaimed loudly.

“Annie, close the door!” Mercedes scolded her, and she quickly shut it behind her with an apology.

“You did a really good job!” Annette complimented her friend.

“Do you need help with yours too?” Mercedes asked, and Annette excitedly agreed.

“I can never get my blush as nice as you can do it,” Annette admitted shyly as you stood up and Annette took your place in the improvised makeup chair.

“I should have just enough time to do our makeup and then get over to the ball,” Mercedes replied, starting to smooth a little blush across Annette’s cheeks, leaving pale pink in its wake.

“I can’t wait to see Ashe’s face when he sees you, Professor!” Annette squealed. “I do feel bad hiding you from him though…”

“It’ll all be worth it when they reunite again,” Mercedes said happily.

They were being so nice to you, even though you didn’t deserve it. All you had gotten was one light scolding from Annette, but you knew that you deserved much more. They were acting like you hadn’t run off like a spoiled kid, and they had every right to hate you and send you back where you came from. You didn’t deserve any of them, that was crystal clear to you. You would repay their kindness by never leaving them again, you decided. Your place was here by their side… by Ashe’s side. If he would even have you. If he felt the same way that you had realized that you did. You wanted to see him so badly, but now that it was getting closer to the start of the ball, you felt nerves creeping up.

You watched as Mercedes put the finishing touches on Annette’s makeup before they switched places and Mercedes sat down in her chair to do her own makeup while Annette excitedly bounded over to you.

“You should put on the dress!” she said, holding up the dress from its position on the bed next to you.

“It will look wonderful on you,” Mercedes chimed in as she began applying her own makeup.

“It’ll be okay,” Annette said quietly, when you had yet to take the dress from her grasp. “I do have experience with this sort of thing, Professor.”

Mercedes simply glanced back at you and Annette with a smile before she picked up a container and a brush and turned back to what she was doing, and Annette continued.

“I know it wasn’t for the same reason, but my father felt the same as you do now after abandoning my mother and I,” she told you, and noted the slight change in your facial expression at her words. “I don’t mean to make you feel bad. You came back to us a lot sooner than he did.”

“I’m sorry…” It was all you could think to say. You felt like such an idiot for causing pain to everyone.

“You don’t have to apologize,” she said sincerely. “Just promise us that you’ll talk to Ashe tonight.”

You nodded, and Annette smiled happily. You really weren’t sure what you did to deserve her and Mercedes’ kindness, but you were grateful. There wasn’t much time left before the ball, so you reluctantly began to take your current clothes off and put the dress on. You were somewhat uncomfortable, as you just wore your normal attire to the last ball, and you had never gotten this dressed up before. You looked down at the dress; it was very beautiful, the front of the dress coming down to your knees while the back extended to your ankles to allow mobility. You were so fixated on the dress that you were surprised when you looked up to see that Mercedes had changed into her own dress already. How much time had passed while you were gawking?

“Ready to go?” Annette asked, and you and Mercedes nodded.

Annette squealed happily, hopping up off the bed and rushing over to open the door ever so slightly and peeking out.

“…Annie?” Mercedes probed.

“I have to make sure the coast is clear!” Annette replied with a giggle. “I feel like we’re all spies!”

“I certainly am excited to see how Ashe reacts!” Mercedes said happily.

Their excitement was catching, and you found yourself drawn in as well as you all made your way to the ball, as stealthily as possible at Annette’s insistence. She had joked that you all should’ve become assassins instead, and Mercedes had suggested that her new sneaking prowess would be useful if she wanted seconds of dessert. By the time you had all gotten just outside of the ball, you had all been smiling and laughing too much to convincingly assassinate anyone.

Annette stopped your conversation right outside the hall with a finger to her lips. “I’ll go in and find Ashe and tell him he has a surprise!”

“Oh, I can’t wait to see you two dance together!” Mercedes gushed.

You shook your head. They were perfect conspirators. You knew that you would never have the courage to face him without their help. But you really, really wanted to see him, to talk to him again, so you let those feelings drive you.

“I’m gonna ask him to dance! He’s just been standing there looking bored!”

Ashe was surprised to hear the female student’s comment. He hadn’t meant to look bored, but he had looked over to see the student and her friend looking over at him, so their comment had to be directed his way. He tried to remain cheerful, but more and more lately he had been told that he seemed distracted. He wasn’t quite sure why, but your absence had been wearing on him more than usual as of late, and he assumed that it was because the ball was coming up, which reminded him of your meeting at the goddess tower. The first and only ball he had experienced had largely been a disaster, and he cringed at the memory of all of the times that he had stepped on girls’ feet. He had thought that he was unsuited for balls since he was a commoner, and the ball had solidified that thought for him.

But you had turned his night around for the better. You had danced with him after you talked at the goddess tower, and he had not stepped on your toes even once. That may have been the night that he realized that he felt something for you, he mused. He knew that all he was doing was making the hole in his heart bigger, but thinking of you was all he could do ever since you left. He had zoned out again without realizing it, and came back to reality to see Annette waving a hand in front of his face, looking concerned.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“I…” Ashe knew better than to lie to his friend, but he didn’t know what else to say that she hadn’t already heard.

To his surprise, Annette didn’t seem put off at all, her lips forming a bright smile as she grabbed him by his arm and began to drag him towards the entrance of the hall, leaving Ashe to sputter her name and put effort into retaining his balance.

“Where are we going?” he asked, completely unsure of Annette’s intentions.

“It’s a surprise!” she replied cryptically, and Ashe continued to walk with her until they were just in front of the archway that led outside. Annette spun on him so fast he wasn’t sure how she didn’t get whiplash.

“Annette, what-”

“Close your eyes!” she interrupted him, repeating her demand again when he only stared at her incredulously. He reluctantly slid his eyes closed, but could feel Annette’s gaze scrutinizing him, trying to figure out whether his eyes were fully closed or not. Finally, she let out a satisfied hum. “Okay… just please don’t be mad at me!”

He didn’t have the chance to ask her why he would be mad, because he heard her footsteps scampering off a moment later. He decided to put his faith in her and kept his eyes closed, wondering what this surprise could be. With his eyes closed, he focused on the noise around him, students and staff alike wondering what the two professors were doing. He sighed; Annette really had a knack for getting him in strange situations. He recalled the time that they had been assigned to clean the tower that they had both assumed was haunted; he never felt he would feel more relieved than when they had put that experience behind them.

“Okay, he’s got his eyes closed! Let’s go in!” Annette said as soon as she spotted you and Mercedes hiding behind a pillar outside.

“We won’t get in your way,” Mercedes said as you all entered the hall. “You two really need some alone time, after all.”

You blushed at Mercedes’ implication, but she just giggled at you as her and Annette separated themselves from you. You did not have a chance to protest because any words died on your tongue the moment you saw Ashe. His hair was a little longer than it had last been, but his handsome face was just as you had dreamt about for months. His eyes were closed, just as Annette had said, and you immediately made your way over, stopping right in front of him.

“Annette…?” he questioned, and you smiled at the sound of his voice, softly speaking his name in return.

His reaction was so quick that it might have been comical had you not been so desperate to see him. His green eyes flew open and he stared at you in shock for all of three seconds before he closed the gap between you, wrapping his arms around you so tightly that you could tell that he was afraid that you were not really here. You wrapped your arms around him as well, and he whispered your name in a voice that sounded like he was about to cry. He eventually pulled away, but his hands moved to your upper arms, afraid to break physical contact with you.

“Ashe!” Annette hissed as she approached you. “Dance with her!”

Ashe looked from her to you as if he had just remembered where he was and he blinked, shaking his head slightly. “Would you…?” he trailed off awkwardly, and you eagerly nodded your head, which sent a bright smile to his face as he took your head and led you onto the dance floor.

Your connected hands stayed together as his other hand came to your waist and yours to rest on his shoulder. You both began to sway to the music, unwilling to break eye contact with each other as all other sounds in the room drifted away.

“I’m so happy you’re back,” Ashe said at last.

You were relieved that he didn’t seem angry at all, and the two of you smiled at each other until the music ended, not parting from each other at all.

“Can we… take a walk outside?” he asked, and you nodded. He kept your hand in his as your other hands dropped from each other and the two of you walked past other dancing pairs of students and staff alike.

“Who is she?”

“I’ve never seen Professor Ashe like that before…”

Even through his excitement, Ashe’s cheeks felt hot as he heard the voices of his students as you passed by them. But your smiling face distracted him again as the chilly outside air hit him. You were here… really here. He felt dizzy with happiness, so consumed that the cold outside did not bother him at all. He almost couldn’t look at you, you looked so beautiful. Your hair had been done up especially for the ball, and you were wearing makeup, likely Mercedes’ work. He couldn’t look at you without his cheeks feeling hot and he desperately hoped that you didn’t think he was avoiding looking at you.

You thought that you had been wandering aimlessly, but you looked ahead to see that you had wandered towards the Goddess Tower. The ball had just began in the past hour, so the tower was empty of any people at the moment. You stared up at the tower, nostalgia flaring from within you as you looked from the tower’s outer walls to the man beside you.

“I didn’t realize we were walking here,” Ashe said fondly. “That night, so long ago… you took the time to comfort me, even though I have no status or crest.”

You gave him a hard look as you shook your head. All of that had never mattered to you; Ashe was a good person and that was all that counted in your books.

“I know now that all of those things don’t matter to you,” he said, smiling gently. “But what you said mattered so much to me. That night meant everything to me.”

Ashe stopped just before you both entered the tower, causing you to bump into him. You looked up at him in surprise and his stare back was unwavering.

“I was so lonely without you,” he admitted with a sad smile. “You were always on my mind. I wondered where you went, if you were doing alright… if you would ever come back to us.”

Your guilt returned full force as you felt ready to cry, but Ashe would have none of it. “I’m happy you’re back, and I won’t let you go again.”

He was fast, but not fast enough for your battle instincts. Ashe’s eyes closed and he leaned down towards you and you knew what was coming. And you allowed your own eyes to close as you leaned up slightly to meet him halfway. The kiss felt like it had been a long time coming, and as soon as he knew that you wanted this as much as he did, you could feel happiness radiating off of him as he pulled away.

“I love you so much,” he said, and you pulled him down into another kiss.

He let out a surprised groan but happily returned your kiss, one hand threading through your hair as he got as close to you as he possibly could. You placed your hands on his chest as the sweet kiss continued until you both had to pause to breathe.

You were both immediately on guard when you heard excited voices heading your way. You both quickly rushed to hide against a wall outside of the tower, hoping the dark would conceal you both. You both held your breath as a young couple strolled by, heading towards the tower. As soon as they had both walked in, you and Ashe rushed away from the tower. You giggled; you were doing so much sneaking around today. But this time your stomach was on fire with butterflies since you and Ashe had kissed. You found yourself hoping that you could find somewhere more private. You could not get enough of his presence, and you truly knew in this moment that having him by your side was all that you had wanted.

You found yourselves right at the edge of the dorms, where your room is... was. You weren’t sure if they had cleaned it out for a student to use instead. For the first time, you hesitated as you stared at the door, not able to tell if there was a new occupant or not. Ashe saw through your silence and followed the direction of your gaze instantly.

“It’s still yours,” he said, and you looked over to him. “None of us could bring ourselves to give it away. It felt like… we would be giving up hope.”

You marched up to the door, unable to control your desire to confirm that what he was saying was true. You had spent so much time in that room and knew that you would only relax when you opened the door and saw that everything was as you had left it. You only stopped when you realized that Ashe had not come with you. You looked back to see him staring longingly at you, but he bit his lip and looked away from you. You continued to stare at him as you walked back over, but he still wouldn’t look at you.

“I’ll leave you to rest, then…” he trailed off as he made to turn away from you.

Why was he acting like this? You grabbed his hand before he could leave you, and he looked surprised but didn’t resist as you frowned at him before dragging him with you into your room. You stood in front of the door, facing Ashe, who now stood in the middle of your room. You weren’t sure why he was so eager to run away from you, but he wasn’t going to leave here until he talked to you. He looked reluctant to speak up until he saw just how worried you were as you looked at him imploringly.

“I’m sorry… I haven’t been in here since you left and it just reminds me of all that went through my head when you left,” he admitted sadly. “All I could think about is if it was my fault… if I wasn’t a commoner, if I came from more decent roots. If I could have made you not want to leave.”

Your heart dropped. You thought that he would be angry with you, sad and disappointed in you. But you hadn’t taken Ashe’s past into account, and his overly kind and sensitive nature. You had never thought that he would blame himself for your disappearance, and you were mentally kicking yourself now for overlooking just how badly you would hurt him by leaving. You felt like you could cry as you shook your head back and forth to deny his thought process. His upbringing and lack of aristocratic title and parentage had never mattered to you, not as much as his kind and gentle personality did. But you had left him without telling him why, of course he would turn to his own insecurities to cope with the loss.

You couldn’t think of the words to say to convey to him that it was absolutely not his fault that you had left. That you wouldn’t leave him again. That you wanted to be with him. You slowly removed yourself from blocking the door to approach him, reaching up to brush your fingers against the tears collecting in his eyes and wiping them away. He stared at you, confused, sad, but staring at you with such expectation in his expression. It was as if he could read your mind, and he leaned down slightly just as you leaned your face towards his and you found yourself tasting the salt of his tears on his lips.

He pressed back only slightly; it was the only difference you noticed in his posture at all. You pulled back and opened your eyes just as Ashe did. He looked to be struggling for words just as much as you were, but he closed his eyes again as you leaned in and kissed him again. He relaxed much more this time, but you found yourself wanting to push him further and you opened your eyes just slightly in order to grab one of his hands that was just dangling at his side. You were faster than he could properly react to, and you lifted his hand and pressed his hand to your chest, quickly removing your hold and pressing down on his fingers, causing his fingers to squeeze your breast. The effect was quite immediate as his eyes opened and he completely disengaged himself from you, face redder than you had ever seen it.

“It wasn’t your fault,” you said simply, moving closer to him again. “…I love you.”

“You… you do?” Ashe gaped at you, surprise slowly melting into a beautiful smile.

You nodded, a smile coming to your face as you locked eyes with the flustered boy. He broke eye contact, his eyes darting around the room briefly as he fiddled with his clothing, somehow even more red in the face that he had been only moments ago. You weren’t sure what had happened until he spoke up again as he held his hand out to you.

“Before you left, I bought this,” he said, and your focus tunneled onto the small silver ring in his hand. “I wanted to… I mean, I still want to marry you.”

You knew what rings meant, but were still shocked into silence at his words. He looked like he was pushing himself to continue talking as you stared him down.

“I thought that if I didn’t always keep it with me, I was giving up hope of you ever returning… you don’t have to accept if you don’t want to, I will respect whatever decision-”

You realized immediately that you had something in one of your drawers that you had forgotten to pack when you left. You rushed past Ashe without taking the ring he held out and opened one of your drawers, retrieving the ring your father had given you. You excitedly picked it up before you realized that you had left Ashe standing there, ring outstretched in his hand, staring at you with unsurety. You offered a bashful smile his way as you held up the ring out to him and his eyes went wide.

“I never would have thought you would have a ring for me too,” Ashe admitted happily, a pink flush setting in his cheeks as he smiled sweetly at you.

You watched all the doubt drain from his face as you finally took the ring from his hand, replacing it with the one you had for him. He stared at your ring in the palm of his hand like it was a treasure or a relic from a lost time, instead of the simple band it was. He picked it up with the utmost care, placing it on his ring finger and staring at it in awe as you as you giggled and placed your new band on your own finger. Ashe had been so out of it since you first entered the ball, but now he finally seemed to be coming back to himself. You both smiled at each other, but it didn’t seem to be good enough for either of you as you closed the gap between the two of you again, and his eyes drifted to the side before looking desperately into yours. You weren’t sure how he hadn’t passed out with how flushed he had been for the past few minutes.

“Can I-” He was struggling to speak up. “…can I touch you?”

You nodded, already deciding to push him a little further as you reached to the top of your strapless dress and pulled it down and off of you faster than you thought possible. The dress had built-in support, so with it off, you were now completely unclothed aside from your underwear and boots. Ashe’s gaze only momentarily drifted to your body before he looked back at your eyes with a blissful smile.

“You’re so beautiful,” he said, reaching out to brush some stray hair from your face as you leaned into each other for a short kiss, your hands gripping the front of his shirt. As you slowly parted, he took in the sight of your hands on his clothing. “I suppose I should also…”

He looked a little overwhelmed, but was unable to keep a grin off of his face as he reached down to fumble with the buttons on his shirt. A few seconds and only one clasp undone, you reached up to help him out, quickly getting both layers of shirts undone and exposing his chest and stomach. You placed a hand on his chest, right over his heart, and were surprised at how warm he was. You also immediately noticed just how fast his heart was beating under your palm. He shrugged his layers off, and you stepped back from him as he gathered his shirts and bent over to place them gently beside your dress on the floor. You looked from the clothing pile to Ashe as he cleared his throat nervously, his hands awkwardly fiddling with the clasp on his pants.

“Are you okay?” you asked him. He had been a blushing, nervous mess, and you were worried that this was all too much too fast for him. You had a lifetime’s worth of happiness from the ring you now wore, and you would happily wait until he was ready. You had so much more time with him now that you were intent on not leaving him ever again.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” he admitted hesitantly. “The last thing I want to do is disappoint you.”

Disappoint you? It was as if he didn’t know himself at all. He was a great man, and you knew that he could never disappoint you, at least nowhere as bad as you had done to him. You would have to get that thought out of his head immediately. Concerned for his ability to remain standing if you went a bit further, you guided him back to sit on your bed, which he obeyed, somewhat stunned.

You eagerly climbed onto his lap, and he rushed to place his hands on your waist to steady you. He accepted your kiss readily, but seemed somewhat squirmy, and as you figured out why as your bodies were pressed into each other. You felt exactly how hard he was as you unintentionally ground your hips into his as you adjusted yourself in his lap, and he moaned into the kiss. You felt as one of his hands remove its grip on your waist to move to the front of his pants, and you realized that he may be in some pain, so you moved away from him, feet back on the floor as you stood before him. Before you had fully disengaged yourself from him physically, touch still lingering on his shoulders, he caught your hand with his hand that had moved from your waist and you stared down at him, confused.

He gazed up at you so adoringly that it would have made you feel shy if you weren’t consumed with the same feeling that he was. You were both happy to be in the presence of each other that even the incredibly new experience of being unclothed around each other felt perfectly natural and comfortable.

“I should…” he trailed off, letting go of your hand to unclasp his pants with one fast movement.

Ashe let out a sigh of relief as he pushed both his pants and underwear down and off his hips, adjusting himself so he could let them fall to the floor. Despite exposing himself fully to you, he was transfixed on your movements as you reached down to let your underwear drop to the floor as well. As you smiled at each other, you mused that you would never have thought even a few days prior that you would ever be here with him like this. You could not have been happier that you had decided to abandon your plans and come back to be here with Ashe.

You placed a hand on his shoulder, and he allowed you control, moving himself so he was laying back on the bed. You ran one hand down his cheek as you slowly straddled him, holding yourself just below his pelvis on his upper thighs. You were so close to a point that you didn’t think there was any coming back from. But you found you didn’t care. You wanted this so badly, and Ashe had been more than obvious in his desire as well.

“You’re so pretty,” he whispered, panting lightly, his cheeks pink, but you didn’t think you were any better in that regard.

You wanted to smile back at him, but you shifted in his lap and brushed against his cock and he closed his eyes with a moan. You realized that you could no longer wait, and you lifted yourself up, looking away from his face to line yourself up with his cock, taking it in one hand as you prepared to sink down onto him. You intended to take it slow, adjust to the likely intrusive feeling, but you found that you took him in with very little resistance from your own body, and then decided to take him in all at once, failing to consider Ashe’s own adjustment process, which you quickly realized as he groaned loudly as he bottomed out within you. You let out a ragged gasp as you were hit with the feeling of being so full in a way that you had never been before.

You realized that you had clearly moved too fast for him, and you were determined not to move until he was ready. This would not only be on your terms; you would never make an important decision without him again, and while this one was not as important in the long run, you wanted this to be a mutually enjoyable experience.

“It’s… okay,” Ashe groaned. “Please…”

That was all you needed, and you slowly lifted yourself back slightly and then forward back onto him, and his gasp and a pleasant feeling tingling in your lower body were your rewards. As you went to repeat the motion, Ashe’s hands went to your hips and he moved his hips up to meet yours as you came down again. You couldn’t help a stuttered breath or an occasional moan at the spikes in the new feelings you were experiencing, but Ashe was an entirely different story, his cries and groans piercing the air. You finally felt like you were getting close to whatever this feeling that was building was as Ashe’s gentle hands on your hips held you down to halt your movement. Ashe’s bangs were matted to his forehead with sweat, and his face was flushed and looked somewhat distracted by the feeling he was being hit with by your joined movements.

“Do you mind if we… switch?” he asked shyly.

You knew immediately that he meant switching places, which you had no issue with. Just as he trusted you to take control, you had immeasurable trust for the silver-haired boy that had captured your heart. You got off of him, smoothly moving to lay down just as got up to allow you space.

“I never imagined it could feel this good to be like this with someone I truly love,” Ashe admitted as you both positioned yourselves to continue, your legs spread wide in front of him as you nodded your agreement.

“You’re so beautiful, so kind… I almost can’t believe I’m going to be your husband,” he said, in the sincere tone he’s always used; he could never tell a lie and both of you knew it. You wanted to say those words back to him, tell him how precious he was to you, but then he was pushing back inside you and you lost confidence in your ability to form a coherent sentence.

He started his pace out slow, leaning down with his palms placed on either side of your head so he could lean down and kiss you. You didn’t want him to bear all of the burden, so you wrapped one leg around his waist, and the minute change in angle it allowed had you rushing your other leg around him as well. You tried to press light kisses to his neck when he pulled back from you slightly, but were overcome when Ashe began to go faster, the unhurried pace no longer good enough for either of you.

You could immediately tell what a difference it made as you felt like you were much closer already, and you could do little more than grasp the bedsheets with both hands as you moaned lightly. Ashe’s groans were so loud that if this was a normal night and everyone was not gathered at the ball, you would likely have to answer many uncomfortable questions in the morning. But in this moment, his clear enjoyment and all the noises he was making, getting more desperate-sounding by the moment just made you feel impossibly warm as you both came undone.

As you were feeling like you were almost there, Ashe began to moan your name with a frequency that increased as he leaned down to bury his face in your neck as his cries lowered to a whisper and he focused on pounding into you as fast and hard as he could. It was getting to be too much for you, and your hands moved to his back, clawing desperately for purchase as your pleasure felt like it had reached its uppermost limit and you cried out his name, breaking through his whispers and the muted squeaks of the bedframe. Ashe continued his movement for what you estimated to be maybe a minute more, his thrusts sending smaller sparks of duller pleasure through you, until he finally stilled, kissing you desperately as you felt a pulsing from within you.

A few seconds later, he finally pulled back from you, moving to lay on his side next to you as you turned yourself to face him. He wrapped an arm around you, unwilling to disengage himself physically from you, and you wondered if this was because he was still afraid that you would leave him again, even after you had agreed to marry him, and had just consummated your relationship physically. But you had hurt him so deeply, and his wounds would require more time to fully heal, and you intended to make it up to him by staying together for the rest of the time you both had together in this world.

“I won’t leave you ever again,” you said suddenly, surprising yourself too as the words practically burst from your mouth.

Ashe smiled happily, a smile that you knew you had taken away from him for so long, and you almost felt stung by the genuine faith he had in you.

“I know you won’t,” Ashe replied. “I won’t worry about that anymore.”

You smiled at each other and he blushed slightly. “It’s just very new to me that now I can kiss you whenever I want. This almost feels like a dream.”

You realized immediately that you had heard something similar before. You recalled a day when you had been walking by the greenhouse and overheard a certain red-haired former student talking to a female student by the dorms, and had quickly decided to get to your destination another way.

“Sylvain…” you muttered lowly with a frown, and now the pink on his face spread all the way to the tips of his ears.

“I’m sorry!” Ashe sputtered. “I… he told me that I should say that to a woman I truly love. I did mean every word of it, but I didn’t know that he had said it around you. I knew I shouldn’t have-”

His flustered words just made you giggle; coming from Sylvain himself you would be unhappy, but those words coming from Ashe warmed your heart, and you figured he wouldn’t stop babbling unless you stopped him yourself, so you kissed him until he relaxed and gave in. You knew that Annette and Mercedes would notice the rings on your fingers tomorrow, but for now you were happy to hide away from prying eyes with the boy you had every intention of keeping with you forever.

#readerinsert #xreader #fire emblem #fire emblem 3h #fire emblem three houses #asheleth #ashe x reader #fe3h x reader #fire emblem three houses x reader #smut

[binniedeactivated]

saint. || soobin (2.10)🌪*finale*

a/n: congratulations for making it to part 2 finale! I appreciate anyone who has made it this far in reading this series! ily<3333 enjoy!

🖤┊𝔰𝔞𝔦𝔫𝔱 . ೄྀ࿐ 𝖕𝖆𝖎𝖗𝖎𝖓𝖌: 𝖘𝖔𝖔𝖇𝖎𝖓 𝖝 𝖗𝖊𝖆𝖉𝖊𝖗 𝖌𝖊𝖓𝖗𝖊: 𝖘𝖒𝖚𝖙/𝖆𝖚 𝖜𝖔𝖗𝖉 𝖈𝖔𝖚𝖓𝖙; 2k

parked outside your house in the car was yeonjun, and you were more than glad he was on his phone and barely paying attention to you. you sighed, thinking about soobin’s words when he told you to be good for him. you made a promise to yourself that you’d be better until he comes back.

you entered the car and sat silently until yeonjun was done scrolling through his feed. you figured maybe you could use this time to mentally prepare yourself for school today. trying not to become too stressed, soon exams will be over and you could go back to having a regular mental capacity again. 

“i don’t know. if i entered someone else’s car I’d at least greet them”. yeonjun mutters with his eyes still pasted to his phone. you slowly narrowed your eyes at him. “since when do you care if I greet you?”. you ask. he shrugs his shoulders. “common courtesy. manners too”. he replies. you huff your breath ignoring him.

“are we going anywhere?”. you ask. 

“yes”. 

“so can we go? we’re just sitting here”. 

“why are you in a rush? you have nowhere to be at 6 o’clock in the morning”. 

you cross your arms. you know what soobin said. but yeonjun wasn’t making things any easier too. 

“you’re annoying”. you retort. 

“and you’re some angel?”.

“I never said that”.

“sure as hell was acting like it when you told soobin yesterday”.

“are you not disrespectful? you don’t how to speak to people. that’s your problem”.

“surely we aren’t talking about problems when you’re 18 years old and need someone to teach you how to have sex”.

you glare at him, completely oblivious to soobin even mentioning such things to an asshole like him. 

“that’s your problem”. yeonjun twisted, using your words against you.

“I don’t know why soobin is even friends with you. I hate you”. you grumble. yeonjun nods before starting up the car. 

“good”. 

you kept your mouth shut until you both were at the diner again. you really wanted to hit him for what he said. but you ought to be good for soobin. yeonjun gets out and slams the door behind himself like the rude person he was. you entered and sat across from him. he was reading the menu and asking the same waitress questions he already knew the answer to, he just wanted to flirt. you roll your eyes and pluck up your own menu preparing to order. 

after she finished taking your orders she gave you this snarky ass look almost as if to say, “how does it feel to have your man taken?” . you wanted to assure her that you didn’t know and that yeonjun is completely on the market but you didn’t care enough. you felt yeonjun chuckling to himself at the entire situation.

trying to air out the drama you try to ask questions instead. you place your elbows on the table, 

“how do you think today is going to go for soobin?”.

“he’ll be fine. he should get out within two days if those dumb ass officers reach a verdict already”.

“why two days? it takes that long? the boys don’t have a story”.

“for some odd reason they want this to be soobin fault so the officers been desperate to frame him. it going to take them longer than usual because the want to connect invisible dots”. 

you sigh, 

“this is ridiculous”. 

“as fuck. he’ll be alright though”. 

you sit back and think further until your food was sitting in front of you. you dragged your utensils out of the napkin preparing to eat with soobin weighing heavily on your mind.

“here you go with that shit again”. yeonjun insults taking a grossed out glare at your food. 

“yes I can eat what I want. worry about your food and I’ll worry about mine”.

“I’ll worry about whatever the fuck i want to worry about”. 

“worrying about me will get you nowhere”. 

“yep, because you’re nothing”. yeonjun stated before forking a piece of fried egg into his mouth. you wanted to hit him so bad but you held back for soobin and soobin only. you ate your food quickly so you both can hurry out of there before yeonjun got hurt from going to far with his insults. 

sooner or later you were at school attending a mass. it kind of bummed you out because it would be dull without soobin whispering and talking to you as if he weren’t supposed to be praying. one of the sister’s used their fingers to beckon you to the confessional. you had to admit you were kind of scared, it’s been a long time since you confessed to some things. maybe this was the life of a normal catholic teenager. 

“good afternoon father benjamin”. you say kind of anxiously. 

“good afternoon. is there anything you want to confess?”.

you took a deep breath. “i don’t even know where to start”.

“take your time”. 

“this is kind of embarrassing but... i’ve been feeling more sexual than usual lately and i’ve been worried about exams and--someone trying to be framed for a crime they didn’t commit. i guess i’ve been too focused on my own life rather than praying that things get better for me”.

“first and foremost you must understand that sexual feelings are normal at your age. but it’s best to learn how to control them early on so they don’t spiral out of control”. you nodded, knowing you were in way too deep at this point. 

“I understand”. 

“your lack of prayer is your reason for your lack of peace. you are trying to handle all of your emotions on your own when our heavenly father doesn’t want that”. you nod once more feeling kind of guilty. 

“and your job is to never stress over things such as friends with crimes. I understand it can be difficult to deal with but sometimes people are only who we think they are”. 

“what do you mean?”.

“do not become too invested into someone you don’t entirely know about”.

you bit the inside of your cheeks thinking and nodding. “thank you father benjamin”. “you are forgiven, my saint”. 

you thought about the priests words until mass was over, trying to figure out what he was getting at. you did completely know about soobin, right? he’s changing for the better? 

all of the kids from mass were spilling back into the school building and attending their classes regularly. but it was hard to not lock eyes with yeonjun who was being guided into the principal’s office with two officers at his side. just the thought that the situation had to do with soobin made your heart race expeditiously. 

the officers closed the door behind them and yeonjun was sat down in a wooden chair, completely confused with whatever was going on.

“good afternoon choi yeonjun. you’re not in trouble at all but these gentlemen are looking for some of the people  you may have connections to”. the principal spoke while still maintaining his serious demeanor. yeonjun looks back at the officers, “what happened?”. one of them stepped forward.

“there was an incident at the Premiere hotel just weeks ago. we looked at the security footage countless times. we would like to show you so you can identify these people if that’s okay? everything you do here--even your name is extremely confidential”. 

yeonjun hid his nerves well. he shrugged. “yeah I guess that’s cool”. the officer nodded and pulled out a camcorder and turned it on, flipping it so that yeonjun could see. for starters it would be hard to figure out who anyone was, yeonjun thought. the camera quality was bad and it didn’t get the best angles. but it was easy for yeonjun’s brain of course. he spotted 5 males walk into a hotel room together. shortly after there was another male who appeared to be bringing a girl in the hotel room before leaving just minutes after. 

yeonjun wasn’t stupid. he knew the 5 males were michael, minho, seongjun, kevin and beomgyu. he knew that soobin was the male bringing mia into the room. so he spoke accordingly. 

“those 5 males, from what I can make out looks like--minho, michael, seongjun, kevin and beomgyu. I believe that female could be mia”. 

“and the male to her left?”.

yeonjun shakes his head. “I’m not quite sure”.

“this seems fairly easy for you. are you sure you can’t identify him?”. 

“the name on the credit card used that night says it belongs to someone by the name of choi soobin. do you think he has anything to do with this?”. 

“could this be him in the tape?”. they back and forthed. yeonjun shakes his head again.

“I don’t think soobin had anything to do with it i mean, those guys are also thieves. and I can’t identify the male in that tape”. 

“are you being honest?”.

yeonjun gives him a dumbfounded expression. “why would i lie to a cop?”. 

“people do it all the time buddy. especially with footage like this”. 

“welp, sorry to break it to you but your trash ass security footage has nothing to do with my integrity”.

with folded hands the principal gives him a look, 

“choi yeonjun I think you need to be a bit more respectful”.

“pfft. that isn’t the first time I’ve heard that line”. 

“we’re not here to frame you,  or anyone just yet. we just want information”. the other officer informs. 

“thank you--as if I didn’t know that already I already gave you the information that I think to be true. if you want me to list random names of people in this building so you can have a solved crime then we can just say the principal did it and this can be over with”. yeonjun quips calmly. 

“we understand that and we thank you for giving us the information we needed. Principal West I think we’re done here”. 

“try not being hostile next time bud?”.

the officer closes the camcorder and the principal stands to shake both of their hands before helping them to the exit. 

yeonjun not rolls his eyes in that moment but he also was rolling his eyes to you for the whole day, each time you asked him about what happened. you didn’t understand why he couldn’t just tell you. he was calling you difficult but at this time he was being the difficult one. after school you slid into the passenger seat of his car yet again. you took a deep breath before you spoke.

“yeonjun I’m only going to ask you just one more time and it’s only for the sake of me making sure soobin is okay. what happened with the police?”.

yeonjun starts up the car and switch gears. 

“I thought I told you to mind your fucking business already?”. 

“It’s just a question I don’t understand why you have to act rude and belligerent”. 

“stop making me repeat myself and maybe I won’t act belligerent next time. stay in your place”. 

“what are you talking about? If it has anything to do with soobin then it is my place to know”.

“if you do know what the hell are you going to do about it? you have no power or authority”.

“you’re annoying I swear to god”.

“and I apologize that god has to hear your dumb ass voice swearing to him once again”.

it took everything in you to keep still. the only thing that was keeping you calm was the fact that you both were on your way to see soobin. your heart danced until you were finally able to meet his gaze and he kisses you like he always did. yeonjun rolls his eyes, “any updates for today?”. 

“they took the last of them in for questioning. they’re discussing the verdict today and I should know tomorrow”. yeonjun nodded before smirking. 

“soobin is going to be a free man?”. soobin laughs, 

“stop acting like i’ve been locked away for years”. 

“I have to talk to you about something though”.

“what is it?”, 

yeonjun hinted that you were still in the room. 

“can you give us a second princess?”. soobin requests, and you did so politely. you thought you felt his eyes on your ass while you were walking out, either that or you were going crazy. 

“you guys are fucking revolting”. yeonjun comments, watching soobin’s eyes indeed-- on your ass. 

“she’s so sexy I want to eat her pussy again”. 

“hold on, again?”.

yeonjun pretends to make gagging noises, “you can’t be serious”. soobin laughs at how dramatic he was. 

“what do you need to talk to me about?”.

“the police came to the school today and asked me to identify the people in the security footage of the hotel that night”. 

soobin’s eyes expanded and his heart nearly stopped. 

“what?”. 

“don’t worry, the camera shoots at like 20 pixels. it would be hard for anyone to identify, but i told them that I didn’t recognize you. I only identified the boys and mia. the only thing they do have on you is the fact that your credit card was swiped to pay for the hotel room”.

soobin throws his hands on top of his head, 

“fuck”. he breathes. 

“don’t even worry about this one. we’re going to get you a good lawyer and we’re going to fix this shit and make those motherfuckers go to jail for the rest of their lives alright?”. 

soobin gradually nods, “fucking bad timing though”. 

“don’t worry I think they are asking other people. it’s going to take them a while to collect data with the footage they have”.

“good. that’s good”.

“yeah it is actually”.

“how was my baby today?”. soobin asks on another note. 

“you’re asking me that as if she isn’t annoying on a daily basis”.

“you two just can’t fucking get along for shit huh?”. 

“hell no. and i don’t want to get along with her that’s your job”. 

“it’s also your job to take care of her until i come back”. 

“don’t remind me. it’s already a drag that I have to take her home”.

“you’ll be fine dipshit. make sure she’s in the house safely”. 

“yeah whatever”. yeonjun says on his way out. 

“tell her to kiss me goodbye before you guys leave”. soobin calls out shortly after. yeonjun glares at you in the waiting room. 

“yo dumbass, go say goodbye to Al Capone”. 

you scoff and do as you were told. you didn’t want to waste your energy on yeonjun especially if you were here for soobin right now. soobin kisses you again, adding a bit more tongue this time sinking your heart like so. when he pulled away you secretly wanted more. 

“be good for me okay?”. 

“hm. what do I get if I’m good?”. you reply, feeling kind of risky. soobin smirks, 

“we can see how long you last on my face”.

at this point you were beyond flustered and soobin knew it. he chuckles softly, 

“get home safely and make sure you study. yeonjun has my credit card if you need anything”. 

you thank him and give him an okay before you left. you thought you could’ve been exaggerating things but what soobin said made you kind of wet. him eating you out was amazing but you could only imagine sitting on his face. 

“a kiss shouldn’t take that long”. yeonjun complains as soon as you enter the car. you roll your eyes yet again. he starts driving.

“I didn’t know I was on a schedule”. 

“you’re not. you’re on my time”. 

“why do you always feel the need to speak? like seriously”. 

“because I can and I will. whose going to stop me?”. 

“I hope someone does soon because you’re really out of hand”.

“am I?”. 

“yes”. 

“I don’t give a fuck”. 

“you should”. 

“you should give a fuck about a lot of things”.

“I didn’t ask so mind your business”. 

“I don’t have to”.

“you’re so self centered and low it isn’t even funny”. 

“you’re so pathetic and inexperienced it actually is funny”. 

you glare at him once again, god-you hated him. 

“you’re annoying and I hate you, I hope you know that”. you say with a little more projection and attitude. 

“you’re annoying and you’re also a bitch I hope you know that too”. 

that was it, you had enough. you used all the strength you could muster to slap yeonjun across his face. with a clenched jaw he narrowed his eyes at the road ahead. 

“don’t call me that”. you uttered and anger. the car jerked to the side of the road so hard you didn’t even feel it come to a stop. you didn’t have time to blink before yeonjun was grabbing you by the collar of your shirt. he was breathing heavy and his face looked more serious than you’d ever seen it.

“don’t fucking hit me”. he growled. 

“stop being so disrespectful then”. 

he pushes his face closer to yours. 

“I can do what I want. what are you going to do about it?”. 

the both of you found yourself breathing heavy and more than angry with the other. you hated yeonjun for all he was and he hated you with the same token. but it only took one swift glance at his lips for you to give in. he presses his lips on yours and you give in, kissing back like you had no care in the world. the two of you fought for breath before going back for more. his lips were kind of forceful yet soft. and he thought yours were too innocent to get enough of. he pulls you onto his lap while you were kissing him. his hands wandered your thighs and you let them in the heat of the moment. you didn’t know what you were doing but you couldn’t stop. 

his hands grope your ass and you grinded down on his lap, resulting in your breathing becoming shaky. you were already wet from soobin’s words so it didn’t take long for you to start throbbing in your panties. you quivered when you felt yeonjun’s hand sweep past your clothed clit. 

and that’s when it hit you--what were you doing? 

you let the kissing come to a halt, “yeonjun we can’t do this”. he stares into your eyes also snapping back into reality. “you’re right, what the fuck are we doing?”. 

you felt your heart still beating at a fast pace while you crawled back to the passenger’s seat of the car. hoping and praying that this all was just a dream. you didn’t mean for it to happen. maybe you were just desperate. you bit your lips. 

“we can’t tell soobin about this”.

#choi soobin #choi yeonjun #choi soobin au #choi beomgyu #choi soobin smut #txt #choi soobin au txt au

[electronicdelusionstarlight]

wait a minute. So I've read your bits on civil war 2008, and I have a question for you: all the characters in the civil war event, at least the major players(like stark, Cap, Spidey, FF), do you believe that they are acting OOC, or that the writers chose to bring out the character's worse qualities to create drama?

And do you think that if the writers had written them In Character, or at least written them to be more balanced, would it have improved the story? Actually, do you think that Civil War could have been... at least A not Bad Story under an intense rewrite? or that the whole concept should have been thrown away?

The OOC talk is tempting and also partially justified. There is a batch of previous stories scattered through the years with the Fantastic Four dealing with similar scenarios where Reed is pretty much anti-government.

1) In one Social Services sue the FF4 for endangering Reed and Sue Kids by keeping them in the Baxter Building despite it being blown up once every 2 weeks. They ask them to "register" them and put them in a safe government facility, so to spearhead a new law where they can get pre-teen superhumans "out of harm way" or some shit.

Keep in mind Franklin is still a Mutant in this story (And still is right now because FUCK YOU SLOTT). Anyway, Reed seemingly agrees,only to set up a dummy facility and "register" his kids there. He doesn't even announce it he literally only writes it in the Government's documentation and shit.

The facility is razed to the ground a couple hours later. Because yes the Baxter Building can explode at any time but AT LEAST they are there to protect the kids from the countless people.

2) In another story, Reed is asked by Congress to create a device that outs mutants and "abnormal" humans, so the government can better individuate them for "reasons." Reed agrees, and makes a device SO POWERFUL it detects every deviations from the supposed norm, so when he gives a demonstration in Congress, he reveals half of its members would qualify as "Mutants" if they kept that line of inquiry, which makes them hastily drop the whole thing. This was intentional, because who the fuck are they to decide who is or isn't not normal?

3) Compare and Contrast with Civil Ear Reed Richards, who is a McCarthy apologist who goes "Logically speaking, we need to listen to the government on this one otherwise we might get burned just like my (gay coded) artist uncle was by the McCarthy Trials in the 50s when he told the court to shove it and his life was ruined as a result. It's the rational way to do it."

4) (The three main proponents of the Registration Side being Rich, White, Heterosexual Men in positions of powers, with jobs in the science field that justify their decision with "Facts and Logic" was PROBABLY unintentional, but is also a great unintended allegory for this kind of shit. The ones who are hurt the most but these kind of laws are the ones who can't afford it after all, and who is ever going to go after the rich and powerful first? Especially if they come with little repercussions on their lives (Tony, Reed and Hank where all already outed as Superheroes after all))

5) Peter is OOC in OMD mind you, Civil War goes pretty much how you'd expect him to go (gets manipulated by authority figure into it, MJ and May are supportive of him because they see only half the facts, the SECOND Peter realizes that those people are monsters he drops them and gets the shit beaten out of him for it, unlike Reed or Tony who can AFFORD having their identities public Peter barely has the money to survive which ends with May getting shot for it). It's an incredibly poignant scenario that I wish was used to TELL A MESSAGE rather than just a backdrop to shoehorn OMD in.

6) Which is to say Civil War could indeed be written better under the same premise. If they want to keep the Patriot Act Allegory, they should be aware of what that would entail for the characters that support it.

We are currently seeing a similar scenario going on in Marvel in the Champions comics where the registration side is pretty much spearheaded by an unambiguous evil corporation and shit. In light of Civil War I existing the whole thing kinda loses its impact (Like that one joke scene where Tony goes "Maybe we should register them" with a smug look on his face as if he isn't responsible for so many deaths), but at least they are trying to shift the conversation? The villain is not the Government of course it's Evil Apple, but at least it's not a "Both Sides are equally ok" centrist bullshit take like they did in Civil War or in Skyrim.

Like, fuck, it's literally called CIVIL WAR to invoke the American Civil War in the context of the "brother kills brother" interpretation some bastards are so fond off, I wouldn't call THAT a "Both Sides are valid" scenario by a long fucking mile, yet here we are.

7) I think the best way to put it would be to set up the same scenario but make it realistic to the setting and shit.

Hank and Tony still support the Government because one is a Skrull Chaos Agent the other is misguided, Carol takes Reed's place in the Triad because Women can be War Criminals too (She was leading the equivalent of a child soldier program during Civil War so she is one already at least). Steve is also anti government because this is happening during the fucking BUSH ADMINISTRATION and he goes "When will Washington decide who the villains are?" Like he did in canon but in, like, a poignant moment.

Speaking of Reed he will keep his family neutral and go "I admit superheroing does need failsafes and some kind of oversight mind you, I just don't this this country's government has demonstrated their right to be that."

Let's not put the "Cap you are out of touch because you don't know what MySpace is" or "Luke every time I see a Sentinel that's like seeing a Burning Cross" rants in the story too because those were some raw shit.

Tony, again, lives in privilege, so it wouldn't exactly affect him, and is genuinely trying to do good, so we need to put him as the "Patsy" who gets duped by Skrull Hank Pym for it, the government is the one with the secret prison for Superheroes, Hank is the one recruiting Nazi Scientists and starting child soldier programs, clones Thor, sets up with the Government a Super Prison in the Ocean (can't use the negative zone without Reed), outside of US Jurisdiction so the government can ship then there with no trial and torture them. When Skrull Hank Pym is confronted for it, and the blame is attempted to be pinned on him and him alone, he goes "Are you earthlings daft or something? I did almost nothing, it was your government who did most of the work in their desire for security and safety, I just sped up the process for them, they would have done all of this with or without me."

Around the ending Tony finds out and is devastated and drops the whole thing."

When someone tries to comfort Tony over it because he didn't know any of this he goes "Oh, that's were you're wrong Peter. I knew. Deep down, I knew things weren't right, unjust, but I did nothing, because I could make things better from the inside, because it didn't affect me, because It would have been inconvenient to me to stop this. This is on me for passively accepting it as it is on the ones who enforced it." Which leads him to make amends, that way he is not as much of a awful character here.

The scene where The US kidnaps Ororo so they can strong arm Tchalla into getting registered happens but is treated as a international crisis as it deserves.

The Prison Break finale happens because Namor discovers the prison in HIS FUCKING DOMAIN and just goes ham on it with the help of the Anti Registration side, he drops a line like "I've seen shit like this before, I've seen what happens when man declares another man a criminal for things out of their control, for what they've been from birth, and I say NOT IN MY KINGDOM!" or some shit (He is a WWII veteran after all).

Since Steve isn't pummeling to the ground Tony in this scenario there isn't the dumb as fuck Everyday Heroes scene and he doesn't get shot by Sharon later on..

We have instead the scene from Secret Invasion where Skrull Hank Pym kills Steve (In SI it was Skrull Queen killing Janet Van Dyne) on national television, which leads to the anger of everyone involved who rush him, only for Tony to be the one who pull the trigger.

Tony is put in charge of SHIELD, which leads to Iron Reign (Dark Reign equivalent), and the story ends with him going "Let's see if things can reach change from the inside this time" as he actually reforms Shield from his position of power. The Registration Act becomes unpopular due to Steve's death and Alien Interferences, so that helps, and leads to actual protests in the streets after Namor reveals to the UN the war crimes the US is committing. It's a slow process, but is something.

OMD doesn't happen, The Peter storyline remains pretty much the same, but instead of Tony bragging about his private prisons for Superheroes in hell, it's the Punisher who shows up to him and reveals some troubling shit he discovered, Peter Confront Tony for it who dismisses it as fake news because he doesn't want to believe, Peter drops the registration side out of disgust, which then leads to the government sending villains after him rather than Tony. Tony is then seen strongly arguing with Maria Hill for this since Peter almost died from what he got from his suit readings (which he never hijacked or deactivated), but the Skrull Hank Pym shows up and supports Maria Hill for it, and Carol is busy with her child soldier program to comment.

May still gets shot and dies right as Peter and MJ discover MJ is pregnant with their second Daughter, which is ripe for lots of good stuff.

Maria Hill will therefore have to take even more of a role as a Government Plant and shit, but what's new.

Johnny Storm still gets hate crimed on but not by black people. Maybe confirm him as Bi while we're at it? You know, to get topical and all.

Ideally No More Mutants never happened so mutants are still a thing and most of them are vehemently anti registration. Emma Frost appears neutral at first glance, but ultimately she is playing the long game, secretly helping militant mutant groups and shielding the school from unwanted attention. She still has a restraining order filled for Tony Stark, she still points out to Carol how fucking dangerous a mutant life can be if outed via mind powers.

Can't think of much else for now, maybe Felicia helping MJ and May while they are in hiding? MJ is nauseous and all and she goes "must be the nerves" and Felicia agrees but May knows. This could lead to the polycule post May death since Felicia blames herself for it for not being fast enough, and MJ now is pregnant and scared and the Registration Act is getting repealed by the future is still glum and Peter is depressed so they all comfort each other and then 69 issues later we have a two parter maxi event where they face their fears and BANG we get the polycule.

Aunt May still poisons the Chameleon while he was posing as Peter. She actually actually poisons him rather then just drug him this time, because she knows of that one time he tried to force himself on MJ while posing as Peter which lead to MJ beating the shit out of him with a baseball bat, and May is a nice old lady but there are things she really can't stand you know?

Felicia and MJ help her hide the body. Peter never finds out.

And that's it?

#anti civil war #marvel

[chocolate-parfait]

Oooh i love the halloween prompts! May i request 43 and 48 for Dazai? Thank you so much :)

The Devil's temptation - Ikemen Vampire (Dazai)

Pureblood!Dazai AU :)

I didn't exactly insist on it as it's not what I wanted to focus on, it's pretty subtle actually, but if we want to make more sense of his request then we'd have to consider him as a being able to turn his love interest into a vampire

43. “Do you know what I am?”

48. “Would you like to join me?”

How scandalous for a lady to wander the streets at such a late hour. It certainly wasn't the most recommended pastime, and definitely not one suitable for one of the worst neighborhoods in the city, where neither the electrical halo from the richer districts nor the sun rays could reach past the dark, thick clouds of pollution. Not that it was her personal choice to do such a thing, the fast paced rhythm of her heels against the cold and wet stone pavement spoke loud enough for anyone to hear.

Her labored, loud breaths were muffled by the sound of the heavy rain, and despite the fact that running in such conditions was a ridiculously risky thing to do, she was grateful for the thick curtain the sky had sent down on her as she hoped it served as some kind of protection from her pursuers. She felt eyes on her with each step she took, and she was pretty sure she saw a pair of glowing eyes blinking at her from the end of the road. Despite the fear she couldn't turn back on her steps now, they were following her. They were stronger and faster, and they fed on terror and human lives, sometimes even turning you in one of their own kind, at least that's what she had heard from the gossips in the city market. She had dismissed those ridiculous voices as fruits of the irrational human mind, a childish trick by the horror-loving subconcious of humans.

But oh, did she take it all back now. Now that her heart was so close to popping out of her heaving chest, she didn't have the arrogance to refuse the reality behind what the newspapers and rumors had tried to warn her about.

She realized that tears were freely flowing down her rain-stained face the moment something tepid caressed her cheek following repetitive, vertical paths, but there was no use in trying to dry them, she was already drenched to her very core anyways.

In spite of the fatigue creeping up her numb limbs, she shivered in her damp, frigid clothes. She was definitely going to catch one of the worst colds ever, if she made it out alive, that is, but the thought, for some unkown reason to her, brought her back to the warm memories of her days at her father's shop. The remembrance of the addicting smell of books, the refreshing one of newly imported exotic teas, her father's deep voice coming from behind the counter and the chime of clients happily chatting about the newest entries in the catalogue. These were all faimiliar images she was extremely fond of, but the dissonance between the past and the present plunged her mind into an seemingly endless maze of chaos and near delirium.

As her lucidity slipped away further away from her grasp, a face came to her mind, casting light on her heart like a beacon and chasing the darkness away, slowly melting the paralysis that had freezed her brain in a state of utter fright. It was the visage of a man that had recently become part of her everyday life, a necessary ingredient for the formula of her happiness. With his amber orbs and calm smile, he had charmed his way deep into her heart in a matter of just a couple days and regular visits. He'd come to the shop almost every day, leisurely walk between the shelves in search of a new book and then take a look at the imported goods. It was a pretty small business but they had signed deals that let them have first quality products from the far oriental continent. That's probably the reason why he became one of their best buyers. He came from a land far, far away, and his facial features made that much clear to anyone who looked at him, but what she cared about the most wasn't his face nor the thickness of his wallet, she cherished his voice, his laugh, the way he moved and the way he looked at her; deep in her heart she hoped to be able to voice her feelings sooner or later, yet she feared the traces of affections in his golden orbs would transform into disgust and hatred.

Oh, the way the poor thing's core fluttered with anticipation whenever she thought of him! So immersed in her own fantasies that she didn't realize the grave mistake she had made... To fall in love with a monster, that was a sin the Heavens weren't too keen on forgiving.

A loud thud coming from the end of the path teared her from the rose gardens of her mind. She had been running for who knows how long, but now her escape had brought her to a dead-end. She felt a piercing shiver run down her spine, making her hair stand up like a scared animal's, and then again, once again she felt that pair of eyes on her back. She turned on her heels but was met with the dark void of an empty, unfamiliar street. She had thrown herself into an even bigger mess, for thus she knew that no scream, no matter how loud or pleading, would get someone to bother coming to rescue her, not in that part of the city. An imposing sense of dread filled her whole being to the brim, preceding that fake ray of salvation that was coming her way.

A hand suddenly grasped her wrist, pulling her back against something akin to a wall, yet warm and breathing, even in that glacial rain. Something soft tickled her neck from behind, and a voice spoke into her ear.

"What are you doing here, Kazuko-san?" It was his voice, she would recognize it everywhere. That subtle accent, the smooth and pleasant tone, it was the voice she had so longed to hear in those moments of deep despair that chased her the whole escape. She turned her body to face him, and threw her arms around the man's neck.

"I'm so glad you're here! I-...I was so scared-" she whined, feeling her voice finally crack, letting the adrenaline dissipate through her strangled sobs. In the midst of her delight she didn't even question where he came from nor what he was doing there, and he knew that.

Dazai smiled a wicked grin, one too twisted to be recognized as his. His pupils flew to her trembling form and narrowed like that of a cat's, though almost glowing with a supernatural light. "My dear, don't you know that all men are wolves?" He chuckled and pulled slightly away. By closing once more the gap between their faces, he could now get an even better view of the confusion and fear forming in the clear jewels that were her eyes.

"Do you know what I am?" At the sound of those words he felt her shiver against him. How addicting of a feeling that was, he could never seem to get enough of her. Those pearly eyes full of innocence that gleamed with joy and delight whenever they met his, that warm voice that shyly singed his name at the sight of him, those small, delicate hands that fidgeted with a rebel strand of hair when he knew all they wanted was lose themselves in his violet locks. She smelled amazingly appetizing, and her pure, chaste feelings only made him want to gobble her up right then and there, but something was telling him that just once wouldn't have been enough. Whether that something was his own vampiric instincts or his inner demons, he didn't know, nor did he have the time to care.

"Don't tell me you still haven't realized?" He teased her, grazing her smooth skin with his fangs. She wasn't dumb, and he was sure the answer to that question was already swirling around her pretty little head.

Another shiver. Was it from the insistent rain or the influence those canines had on their victim? She was scared, throughoutly frightened, and the way her insides twisted with pleasure at the closure between their bodies made her want to beat herself up. A monster was about to turn her into its next meal, and even if it was the man she loved she should have been running away, she should have been kicking and screaming her lungs out, but precisely because it was Dazai she couldn't bring herself to move. A small moan left her lips, a product of the interior conflict that was taking place in her core, and when she felt him tighten his hold because of it, she felt the Devil tempt her harder and harder, until she couldn't stand it no more.

"Oh, I have an idea!"

"Would you like to join me? ” he whispered loud enough for her to hear despite the rain and, perhaps, joking. If she refused he would've gladly let her go with no problem, playing off the whole incident as a mere joke, but the sarcasm flew right over her head, and appealing to her determination, she made a decision.

If making this sacrifice meant becoming his for eternity, if it meant having her feelings corresponded, if it meant feeling those lips touch her body and sweet words grace her ears, then she was ready to sign the contract to reserve her own personal seat in Hell, right next to his'.

"P-please-" she breathed in his ear. "Please, make me yours..."

All his life, he couldn't be satisfied unless he tainted whatever he touched with his own dirty colors, and although he was aware of how much he tried to resist his overwhelming thirst - a clear sign of his attraction and true feelings - for her these past few weeks, his patience had run thin. If before he was on the verge of snapping, after hearing that desperate plea he felt all his self control suddenly slip away from his grasp.

He bit down on her neck, teeth piercing its soft flesh, and a wave of euphoric pleasure came crashing down on both of them. The more he feasted on her red essence, the more she tightened her frantic hands around the drenched fabric of his clothes in search of support as her knees grew weaker by the second.

There was no going back now, and in the last moments of conciousness, the warmth of a soft kiss and words of appreciation made their way through her hazy mind. This was something she wasn't going to regret, and no angel nor devil could change her mind.

#my writing #halloween prompts #osamu dazai #ikemen vampire #ikevamp dazai #ikevamp scenarios #ikevamp imagines #ikevamp headcanons #answered

[fatesdeepdive]

Entry 12: All Hail Takumi

Castle building time! I built a giant dragon statue that heals units during invasions, which is nice I guess, and also an arena so I can make my soldiers fight to the death and bet on whether they perish! Unfortunately, when I went to use the arena, the dumb clerk said I couldn’t use it yet. Meanie.

Support: Hinata/Oboro

C: Hinata’s hair is too long, so Oboro cuts it for him. He requests she make him look like Takumi, because apparently one dude with a pineapple haircut is too few. The duo reflect on their mutual admiration of Takumi, their desire for his coolness to rub off on them, and their rivalry over who is more loyal.

B: Hinata offers to cut Oboro’s hair and she rejects him, saying that he will mess it up because he’s Hinata. The two of them continue talking about how cool Takumi is and how much they want to be like him.

A: Hinata and Oboro discuss the fact that they only bicker because they respect each other. Also, Takumi is cool. All hail Takumi.

S: The two of them get engaged, talking about Takumi throughout their proposals.

Review: Holy crap you two, shut up about Takumi. He isn’t even cool. They have good chemistry, but all they talk about is how much they love Takumi.

Support: Azama/Hinoka

C: Azama makes fun of Hinoka’s hair, clothes, and clumsiness, despite the fact that she’s a goddamn member of the royal family and probably could have him executed on the spot. She threatens to stab him and he brings up the fact that he’s only her retainer because he saved her life once.

B: Hinoka is sad over the deaths of innocent soldiers and Azama gives no sympathy because people die every day. She questions why he saved her when she was a child and he says he did it because she looked furious and he thought saving her would be interesting. She points out that he’s a horrible person, but says she respects his confidence.

A: Hinoka begs Azama to save a dying man and Azama says it isn’t worth the effort. When pressed, he says the man will die anyway. Hinoka orders him to do his damn job and he begrudgingly tries to save the dying man. He dies anyway, and Azama tells Hinoka that she should have just let him die peacefully, telling her that her kindness will be her downfall.

S: Azama goes up to Hinoka and tells her that they’re engaged. Hinoka kinda just goes along with it after Azama lists his good qualities.

Review: I actually kinda liked this one, oddly enough. Azama’s dickishness went so far that it looped around and made him likeable. This conversation touches on the horrors of war in a way that most conversations don’t and I do enjoy Azama teaching Hinoka that there are limits to her kindness. I just wish that Azama’s lackadaisy attitude was a facade, a la Hawkeye Pierce. The two of them, like most couples in this game, have little chemistry. Still, Azama going up to a member of the royal family and declaring the two of them engaged is so audacious I respect it.

Support: Corrin/Mozu

C: Mozu is lugging around some heavy boxes full of vegetables, because she is a strong little girl. This leads to a conversation about Mozu’s village; Corrin asks if Mozu misses her old life, Mozu says not to worry, Corrin says she’ll probably never stop worrying about Mozu.

B: Mozu talks about hunting as a child. Apparently she fought bears, because Mozu is a god of death.

A: Corrin decides to give Mozu a basic education, which Corrin is in no way qualified to do, considering that she has consistently shown herself to be the dumbest person in our army. Corrin says some stuff about the army being Mozu’s new family and Mozu cries. It’s sweet.

S: Corrin says he used to pity Mozu, but now has nothing but respect for her for her courage. The two of them get married.

Review: Corrin’s interactions with Mozu are very sweet. The S-Rank, again, doesn’t really work, but then again few S-Rank’s do. Overall, a very charming support line, if a bit bland. Also Mozu killed a bear with her bare hands because she is a terrifying death god disguised as a little girl.

Support: Hinoka/Setsuna

C: Setsuna makes Setsuna a cup of tea so bad it’s almost poisonous. The two of them discuss the fact that they both suck at cooking and decide to team up to become better chefs.

B: Hinoka and Setsuna try to make eggs. It does not go well.

A: The girls finally make a good meal by working together and decide they can do anything if they put their minds to it. Setsuna gets stuck in the pantry.

Review: This was a fluff support line, which is okay, I guess. I would have liked it to have a bit more meat, perhaps an explanation of why she made the walking disaster that is Setsuna her retainer, but I will admit that it was a fun read.

Birthright Chapter 10: Ninja Village

The party travels through Mokushu, the ninja country from Kaze and Saizo’s support conversation. Kaze says that he isn’t worried about the people of Mokushu being conquered by Nohr because of their sick martial arts prowess. Zola sneaks up on the party because...wait, hold on, they didn’t tie him up? We weren’t shown him escaping, so I guess that means they just let him go after he tried to kill him. My god, Corrin gets dumber with each passing moment.

Zola surrenders and begs for amnesty. Corrin asks why they should trust him and he says that they really shouldn’t, cause of the whole attempted murder thing. But, he doesn’t have an army anymore, which means he isn’t a threat. He says that he can be of assistance and Corrin decides to bring him along, ignoring objections from the smart people in the party. To be fair, she does say Hinoka will kill him if he acts suspicious, but seriously just leave him in Mokushu he’s obviously going to betray you. Want to know how I know? Because he didn’t join our army.

Suddenly, someone throws a shuriken at Sakura. Kaze identifies it as belonging to a Mokushu ninja. Zola speculates that Mokushu might have an alliance with Nohr. The daimyo of Mokushu, Kotaro, shows up and says that Mokushu has an alliance with Nohr. Then the battle starts.

The map is filled with spike traps that activate as we step on them. We can use the Dragon Veins to spring them on the enemies instead. At the start of turn two, Takumi just kinda wanders into the battle and starts shooting Hinoka, which is weird because she isn’t one of the sisters he hates. Also he keeps muttering kill and is labeled an enemy, which is probably bad. He also whines about his inferiority complex, which is why he’s way lamer than Ryoma.

Azura sings to him and breaks his mind control. What can’t singing do?

During this map, I was reminded that Takumi is an unstoppable death god who can kill everything with ease. I paired him up with Corrin and waltzed through the woods, one-shotting ninjas left and right. I did hold them back and let Saizo kill the boss, though. Because, you know, he killed Saizo’s dad, something only told in an optional support conversation. Saizo actually has unique dialogue with him where he does the whole Inigo Montoya thing. Although, it was technically Hinoka who did the finishing blow, because Saizo doesn’t hit hard enough to kill.

Overall, this map was fine, I guess. The spikes were more a nuisance than a serious game changer. I did get good healer HP, though. Speaking of healers, there’s one stationed in the top right of the map who watched as I killed every other member of the army and slowly approached her before putting an arrow between her eyes. We’re the good guys!

After the battle, Hinoka and Sakura cry over how happy they are that Takumi isn’t evil anymore. He explains that he and Ryoma were separated after being attacked and that he ended up falling into the bottomless canyon. Then he woke up mind controlled and attacking us. I’m sure that’s not something we need to worry about.

At the end of the chapter, Takumi is finally nice to Azura because she saved him. Also Azura starts coughing, which means she is definitely going to die at the end of the game.

Kaze returns with Kagero, Ryoma’s ninja retainer who was imprisoned in Kotaro’s cellar. She tells us that Ryoma went to Cheve to fight Nohr. And didn’t look for his brother ever, I guess.

Overall, this chapter was okay. The stuff with Zola was dumb and could have been handled last chapter, and the fact that is completely sidelines Saizo is kinda frustrating, but Takumi got some cool character development and there was some foreshadowing about the bottomless canyon.

#fates #fire emblem fates #takumi fe #corrin fe #mozu fe #corrin x mozu #hinata x oboro #hinata fe #oboro fe #saizo fe #mokushu #hoshido #nohr #azura fe #fire emblem 14 #fe 14 #fire emblem birthright

[timextoxhajima]

Playlist Feels

*SHORT SERIES

Member: ʲᵘʸᵉᵒⁿ

Genre: romantic fluff cause im fucking feeling it leave me alone + drama with chaebol/lawyer juyeon

Links to other parts:

I Never Wanna See You Again

Frustrated (light smut)

Love Somebody (light smut)

Play With Fire (smut)

Stigma

Bourbon

Highway To Heaven (smut)

~

“my love.”

A/N: there is a small time jump between the last chapter and this one so just keep that in mind :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“today, we are all gathered here in the name of the world’s craziest rookie lawyer, for winning a case that had she had nearly no chance of winning--”

“oh, for gods’ sake--” you tug on sunwoo’s sleeve, trying to get him to sit down. “can you sit your ass down--”

“no, let me speak! you’ve done enough speaking in court today--” sunwoo snatches his arm back, the soju in his other hand nearly spilling. eric and chanhee watch on with bright faces, their proud smiles gleaming. 

the private room in the barbecue eatery was filled with the entire office. the business case that you’ve been working on for the last two months had concluded this evening with you winning the case, and you couldn’t be happier.

you wish could tell colleagues that most of the quality work was done by the ceo, but he’s just told everybody that the both of you have invested equal amounts of effort into finding every loophole in the case that you could build on. 

you were in tables of four in the private room, and the smell of barbecued meat has probably become one with your clothes. you were seated at the same table as chanhee, sunwoo and eric and behind you sat your manager, lee jaehyun, the ceo and kim younghoon, another colleague whom you didn’t know was close to them. 

in fact, most of the office was close to everybody. there were only fifteen lawyers in your section, so it wasn’t difficult to form a bond with everybody. 

you haven’t seen your mother or his since the dinner about the law firm. the swavroski deal was still sitting in juyeon’s office collecting dust, and juyeon has been going over to your cozy, little apartment outside of the city on fridays and saturdays. 

to get away from city life and his responsibilities that he’s still been trying to run from. 

you weren’t sure when your parents were going to hunt you down and attempt to shove your responsibilities down your throat as well, but that was a problem to worry about when it comes. 

you could still remember the day juyeon announced to his house staff that they could take saturday off with no change in income. the looks on their faces were priceless, and when they found out where he was leaving his extravagant penthouse to, they literally got on their knees to thank you.

not for giving them a day off, but for finally getting juyeon out of the city that’s been wearing thin at his sanity. 

it only confirmed how close his house staff was to him, even if he was their boss and they could’ve been treated less than they were. no words could’ve described how proud you were when his kindness was reflected in their gratitude for taking care of him. 

“as i was fuckin’ saying...” sunwoo’s last word was garbled and his eyelids began drooping. eric and chanhee began lowering their heads in slight embarrassment, knowing that he was already part drunk. “you!” sunwoo nearly throws his soju glass at you.

“are the craziest rookie ever. three cases plus one impossible case in eight months?! sick.”

“i agree!” your manager calls out from the other table. your eyes catch a glimpse of juyeon giving you the smallest smile. “you’ve exceeded our expectations as a newbie, and i hope you’ve exceeded your own.”

lee sangyeon lifts his glass, and everybody else follows. they cheer in unison, and the attention causes you to turn red in embarrassment. the satisfaction gained from being the person you wanted to be without any repercussions from being a chaebol was sweet on your tongue, and you bask in the overwhelming feeling of pride.

“but wait!” sunwoo shouts again, taking the soju bottle and refilling his own glass. everybody turns their attention back at him after downing the shot that was for you, some of them following suit and refilling their glass as well. you shake your head at chanhee, who was sitting opposite you, casually picking up some meat to munch on. “there’s one more thing i’d like to toast you for!”

“we’ve heard you enough about that stupid bowling match, sunwoo!” one of your colleagues yell out from another table. “we know y/n trashed you!”

you give him a smirk and loudly hurl a “ha!” in his face as he looks down at you from your side. chanhee and eric burst out in laughter, as so does everybody else in the restaurant. 

“no! no,” sunwoo’s voice booms through the private room, his hands outstretched now as if asking someone to wait. you sigh, a smile refusing to leave your lips as you soak up the lively atmosphere. you fill up your own glass, ready to down the shot regardless of what he was about to say.

“i want to congratulate you on winning the biggest prize in the office--”

wait what--

“sunwoo--”

“lee. ju. yeon.”

your eyes widen and you choke on your soju, your vision barely catching chanhee and eric aggressively reaching over the table and looking like they were about to beat the fuck out of him. 

there was an expectation to be crushed by an awkward atmosphere with gasps and whispers, but there was none of it.

instead, lee jaehyun stands up with his glass and throws a fist into the air.

“I WIN!”

your heart stops.

you look across your table and over to the other, eyes scanning juyeon as he quickly yanks on jaehyun’s blazer and tries to shut him up.

“God damn it!” another colleague from another table exclaims. suddenly, the whole room start to cheer and whistle, and your table looks on with complete confusion. 

“it wasn’t me who started the bet this time! he was the only person in the office who was dumb enough to think you two weren’t already together!” lee jaehyun waves juyeon off, relaxed.

what?

“juyeon! did you really think none of us picked up on it? like yeah, sure, you’ve never hooked up with her in the office like, ever, but it was so obvious that you got happier after you worked with her on the case!” someone else calls out to the ceo. 

your brain was busy glitching, not catching the proud smiles on your colleagues’ faces. 

“why did you people let me bet with lee jaehyun?!” the colleague, who you assumed lost the bet to lee jaehyun, whines out loud. 

“nobody fucking told you to!!!!!” everybody else yells at him. 

“are you serious?” juyeon finally releases lee jaehyun and looks around his employees, who you know look at him more as their friend than their boss.

“do you treat us as a bunch of idiots?” another colleague calls out. “do you have any idea how gloomy you were every time you came around office with your father?”

“i remember he was so happy the first two years he was working here and then nearing his six months hiatus, he came in everyday with a cloud over his face!”

you watch, entertained, but also a little worried. juyeon had a shy smile pressed on his lips and you could see his ears reddening while his colleagues decoded and exposed the hell out of him. 

“ah... i thought you guys never really bothered with me because of my father...” he rubs the back of his neck, eyes now looking down at his feet. lee jaehyun has the audacity to walk over to the colleague who lost the bet, his palm reached out and his fingers asking for his prize. 

“just because your father was a shit-show, it doesn’t make you any less of a capable lawyer of your own.”

“and you!” someone yells in your direction. you were scared to listen to what she had to say, but she does it anyway. 

“when are we getting our first lee-baby?” 

everybody in the room erupts into cheers of encouragement. 

you feel the blood rush into your face and ears and your eyes nearly blacked the fuck out at the question. you were so relieved that none of your colleagues were trashing you for being in a relationship with their ceo, and you should probably thank juyeon for being such a kind and reasonable boss.

in reality, everybody didn’t have a problem with you either. 

you always tried your best to be nice to everybody in the office, so it must’ve paid off in some sense.

“ah-- ah!” juyeon waves his hands in the air, getting everybody to calm down like he was doing damage control. your table starts teasing you mercilessly, and you couldn’t decide if you were more relieved that nobody hated you, or on edge that the whole office wants a fucking baby when you’ve only been with juyeon a little more than a month. “nobody is getting a baby anytime soon!”

“but can we at least know if the two of you have gotten it on?”

oh, my god.

where is a hole when you need one?

your manager visibly has difficulty keeping his emotions and thoughts off his face, and lee jaehyun just raises a cocky brow at juyeon, a smirk threatening to show up on his lips. 

and this was the first time juyeon has frozen completely like a statue.

oh, no. 

why didn’t he just deny it--

“i fucking told you so!” a female colleague stands up and her chair slides backwards at the impact. 

so many things were happening at once, and you couldn’t believe just how close everybody was with one another for them to be making these bets about their boss behind his back.

“pay up!” she walks to other tables, hands opened up and they slam ten dollar bills into her palm. 

“this is so unfair, you obviously got the tip-off from jaehyun!” someone groans while handing her the bill.

“you were involved in the bet?!” you finally yell across the room at your desk neighbour. juyeon takes a step toward jaehyun, and the movement scares him.

“no!” he instinctively takes a step back. “that’s why i didn’t bet! because i already knew!”

you sigh loudly and slam your forehead against the table, not caring about the little specks of oil on the surface. 

your colleagues spend the next thirty minutes trying to get you to kiss for show, and so when the ceo did just that, you swore you could’ve gone deaf in that very moment.

though it wasn’t difficult to keep your relationship with the ceo under wraps when you were in the office, it sure as hell felt satisfying when he could drape his arm over your shoulders without worrying about anybody else. 

juyeon settles the bill for everybody and he sends them on their way home, thanking them for their hard work for the week and to enjoy their weekend. 

your colleagues congratulate the both of you formally, some even telling you the same things his house staff said to you when juyeon first announced his saturday getaways to your place. the both of you wait for everybody to disperse before you hook your arm on his, and you walk to the nearby carpark where his Porsche was sitting in. 

“do you need anything from home?” you wait for juyeon to sit himself in the driver’s, watching him check the gears as per routine.

“uh... i still have clothes at your place, right?” he wraps his hands around the steering wheel, and it never fails to amaze you how small his hands make it look. 

“pretty sure you have at least three sets sitting in my wardrobe,” you lean back and rest your head against the headrest, looking at him in the corner of your eye. “even if you aren’t satisfied with the amount of clothes you have at my place, we could always go to the nearest shopping mall to get more.”

juyeon thinks it over, hand reaching for the drivers’ stick after turning on the engine. “but the nearest shopping mall from your place is like a fifteen-minute drive away.”

you turn to face him and shoot him a look of disapproval. “you realise that’s literally the whole point of me living there, right? so it’s secluded and quiet and peaceful. and besides, i like going to the mall by public transport. i get to see all the views of the lake every time i’m on a bus,” you turn to look out the window as he drives off. “unlike your stinky-ass penthouse... five-minute drive from office and all you see on the way are buildings, buildings and more buildings.”

“hey--”

“tell me i’m wrong,” you snap your head to look at him, squinting your eyes at him playfully. juyeon sighs in defeat, his lips curled up in a smile. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

the board quietly creaks under the weight of the both of you, the scent of the lake was the only thing in the air and the breeze does you the honour of brushing juyeon’s soft, undone hair out of his eyes and face. it gave you the perfect view of his side profile, and the stars in the sky just make it all the more worthwhile.

your favourite part about his weekend getaways to your place was watching him forget that he was a chaebol and had responsibilities back in the city. the first time he walked this boardwalk, you could’ve sworn he had tears in his eyes. 

but your ceo being a chaebol and a slightly egoistic man, you know he wouldn’t have admitted it even if you asked. 

your interlocked hands were swinging gently between the both of you, and your oversized cardigan makes you look extra tiny right next to him. no heels, no formal wear.

these walks were usually done in silence. you were already used to the tranquility of living by the lake and alone, so while it took you some time to get used to having somebody else stay in your small apartment, it took juyeon some time to fully immerse himself in a life he never knew was possible. 

you rest your head on his shoulder and let nature’s music surround you. the water gently lapping against the posts that hold up the boardwalk and the rocks near the shore behind you. the chirps of distant crickets. the rhythmic breathing you could feel with every shallow rise of his torso under your head. 

“did you ever regret running away from your family?”

you blink to yourself, allowing his question to sink in. your fingers were mindlessly drawing circles on the back of his hand.

“i worried about being self-sustainable when i first ran, but after a year of being a lawyer’s assistant in a small company and watching my bank account increase...” you smile at your own effort. “i’m not gonna lie, it felt really good.”

“i can only imagine.”

“my father was never around because his life was in another country and he only shows up like once in a few years and i was left alone with my mom. i was constantly upset with her because i never felt like she treated me like her child. she was always making me feel like i was just... a talented child. she’d never come to any of my events or whatever i had because she was always so busy... and when i was old enough to start speaking for myself at those lame-ass rich people gatherings, she started using me as a selling point. it was always ‘smart, capable daughter with a bright future’, never ‘beautiful, make-me-proud daughter’. so... running away felt like i was running away from her.”

silence. 

“even after i left, she’d find some way to try to get in touch with me and i had no choice but to make a deal with her. i’d still meet her for meals when she was in the country, but i didn’t want her meddling with my life or my finances. the swavroski ownership was supposed to be a gift for my birthday last year, and it felt more like a bribery to get me to go home and be her chaebol princess.”

“you know, if you had signed the deal and became the owner of swavroski, you wouldn’t need to work at the firm. if you signed the deal, you might’ve even met me,” he lets out a small chuckle. “my father is the bureau’s business manager, so it’s highly likely that wherever your mother goes, my father goes too, and if my memory doesn’t fail me, i first met your mother at a swavroski release event two years ago. which tells me that she’s a fan, and she’d probably throw one hell of a party and invite my family if her daughter were to become the owner of swavroski.”

a pathetic smile appears on your lips and you sit up straight, eyes looking up at the sky and you notice juyeon turning to look at you in your peripheral vision. 

“then i guess we were meant to cross paths. i was meant to go in a whole circle and end up with you.”

“well,” his voice breaks the peaceful atmosphere between you. you side-eye him, already knowing from his tone that he was going to say something that warrants a punch. “had i met you at the swavroski event, i probably wouldn’t have bothered to talk to you.”

you send a punch into his right arm. he winces with exaggeration, pouting at you and closing his eyes like he was going to cry. 

“but then again, had that case not come our way, we wouldn’t have had the chance to work together. had i not snooped around in your house and tried to kill my eyes by staring at the portraits in that dark hallway... none of this would’ve happened.”

you fix your eyes back on the sky, and you look at the faint, but visible white dots in the dark canvas. you were so used to coming here alone, never did you expect yourself to be here with another person so soon after running away, much less a chaebol from a family in the same working circle as yours. 

“life has a way of putting you in places you were meant to be... and i guess, in my case, it’s with y--”

your heart stops. 

you blink at him, who was on one knee, with a ring in a box in his hands, and his eyes shining under his hair. 

“uh--” you stammer like you always do when you’ve got no vocabulary in your head. 

“i would’ve called whatever you just said ‘bullshit’ if the last two months didn’t happen, but it did. and i meant every single thing i’ve said to you since i met you. since the first night we slept together.”

“that’s not a great thing to say in a proposal--”

“let me have my moment--” juyeon snorts in embarrassment. you suck your lips between your teeth, watching him gather his nerves. it was so strange seeing him flustered or nervous because that image of him was so far away from the man you first saw in his office. 

you remember he deprived you of your right to even ask questions. 

“i meant it when i asked you to stay with me. your mother knows me, so since i have her approval and she hasn’t hired a sniper to shoot me in the head...”

oh...

“will you marry me?”

Part 9: All Time Low

#timetohajima #juyeon #i DIED #my HEARTEU #lee juyeon #juyeon imagines #juyeon imagine #juyeon fanfic #the boyz imagine #the boyz fanfic #drama #chaebol #chaebol juyeon #the boyz

[kinetic-elaboration]

October 25: 1x20 Court Martial

Now that Chopped is done I am free to watch TOS again. Today’s ep: Court Martial, a wonderful combination of two of my favorite things: Captain Kirk and Legal Stuff.

Look at that backdrop. I forgot how many Very 50′s backgrounds they had in this show.

The Intrepid is here for repairs! Such a lost opportunity to show more Vulcans in Starfleet.

I don’t entirely get why the Commodore has his own special transport pad. I guess it must allow him to beam himself places without the use of a ship but like... to where is he beaming?

Lol that absolutely terrible sailor suit outfit on the little girl. I can only assume it’s a school uniform as it’s the only thing she ever wears.

Can you believe how this whole episode is based, essentially, around allegedly broken regulations? I mean I know it’s more than that and they do a good job explaining why it’s bad to eject the pod early (”when there is no emergency”) but like, essentially, the underlying conditions of emergency are not in Kirk’s control. It’s possible to just skip officially calling the emergency while nevertheless acting in a way that is appropriate for an emergency, and so it comes down to “did he first declare the emergency officially and then act in accordance with the declared emergency or did he just skip the first step?” rather than “did he act too quickly?” since HE was the one who determined if the conditions warranted an emergency.

Having said all that I still don’t get what an ion pod is or where it was or why it had to be ejected at all. Or how Finney got out of the pod if it was ejected.

Vulcanian expedition?!?

Kirk’s default voice is just flirty; I’m sorry but it is. Even talking to his old school classmates, who are VERY quick to judge him harshly and hate on him, implying they were probably never friends, he’s All Charm by default. And he doesn’t drop the charm even when he starts politely fighting with them.

Bones using Jim to flirt--with Jim’s ex-girlfriend! “Did you see that guy over there, he’s pretty famous, and we’re friends!”

I love Areel Shaw and I’m just gonna say I think she’s my favorite Kirk girlfriend.

Charged with culpable negligence. As opposed to...not culpable negligence?

When he was a midshipman...

What’s with all these professor & student friendships??

I cannot believe part of the Finney & Kirk backstory is that he literally named his daughter after Kirk. Like that’s so intense! I feel like it kind of changes everything but I can’t entirely untangle how.

This “I can’t believe you filed a report about my error” backstory is literally the beginning of STID except Kirk is the Spock of this scenario.

Star Trek: Law and Order. Bum bum.

This whole idea of pitting Kirk against a computer is clever in that people to this day are like “but computers are infallible?” but also dumb because Kirk >>> Computer obviously.

Having drinks with the ex and he turns the charm up to 11.

All of this is wildly unethical, from her telling him about the prosecution’s case, to her BEING the prosecution.

I actually read an article recently about this isn’t, or shouldn’t be, her job as prosecutor, to drum him out of the service in disgrace. Her job should be to find the truth in a more neutral way.

Wtf are all these totally useless federal reporters doing here?

I’m a pro-book person but this is a HILARIOUS anti-computer speech. Like--the law is in the computer dude! It is! It’s the same law as in the books. Intergalactic Westlaw is available to you. And then he goes off on this weird rant about Moses, like--dude, Moses isn’t in the reporters OR Westlaw OR whatever Starfleet code is actually at issue here.

Kirk likes him though.

Shaw in the dress uniform with the long skirt hot damn.

Not even the computer can pronounce Spock’s full name. And he’s been demoted again.

Vulcanian Scientific Legion of Honor.

Spock isn’t having any of this. “I don’t dispute it. I just... actually I do dispute it because it’s nonsense.”

His entire testimony is the equivalent of “You don’t have all the facts.” / “Which are?” / “I love him.”

The defense doesn’t need to question him because he’s already testified for the defense.

This is such a hilarious use of McCoy. For the first time ever we’re told he’s actually a psychologist on top of being a surgeon and GP and then his whole testimony isn’t even really medical? It’s just like wild speculation, which being a doctor and an “expert in psychology” somehow qualifies him to provide?

I love how Kirk’s service record just goes on and on and on. Areel doesn’t do herself any favors objecting to it; that just draws attention to it. As the defense lawyer knows by insisting it continuing and then cutting it off for being comically long.

Kirk: “I can be level-headed in an emergency. This wasn’t my first rodeo.”

This chair design is SO BAD. I know it needs to be like this for the plot but omg putting the pod release button on the chair at all (like does the captain have to jettison pods a lot?) and then especially directly under the red alert button, and then putting both of them just out there without any kind of cover or anything--that’s just waiting for someone to lean on his chair arm and make a deadly mistake.

Also nothing else is even labeled lmao.

This is a very impressive deep fake.

This whole ion storm does not really seem like a scary emergency situation lol. It seems like Kirk and everyone else are basically keeping their heads.

“You may be able to beat your next Captain at chess” Kirk as chess master confirmed.

“I didn’t realize how close you and my father were even though I was literally named after you.”

Obligatory Bones accuses Spock of not caring about Jim scene.

“Why thank you, Doctor, my blood is very cold.”

I can’t believe Spock programmed the computer to play chess with him. Probably so he could practice for Jim.

The lawyer’s outfit is hilarious: little pocket for a pen in front. Is he... a civilian lawyer? Is that even allowed?

Here is talking about the Bible again. And the Magna Carta. First, it’s always funny when a bunch of real things are followed by some fake science fiction things. And second, he’s pretty obviously just talking about the Constitution, and like maybe a very tiny bit about the Magna Carta. There’s no right to counsel in the Bible.

Really glad to know the Martians care about the right to an attorney though. And that the Alpha 3 Colonies protect the right of confrontation.

I bet Spock is unimpressed with this Drama.

Why did they change out of their dress uniforms?

How convenient that Finney was one of only three people who could change the computer. I mean I guess this is a permissions thing--but why would the records officer have that? Not that I know what a records officer is.

“White noise device” you can’t fool me, that’s a microphone.

Also another hilarious use of McCoy. Do they really NEED the ship’s surgeon to put a microphone against people’s chests? “Don’t mind me, just stealing your heartbeats.”

Like the general concept of this is nifty story telling but some of the details are....uh.... funny.

Captain’s log: “We brought a young girl onto the ship even when it’s in a dangerous position so we could use her against her father.”

Finney really was playing the looooooong game of revenge lol. And yet it still doesn’t seem well thought out. What was the next part of his plan? Somehow get back OFF the ship once Kirk’s career is ruined, and then live the rest of his life under an assumed name? Never seeing his daughter again? No Starfleet career even though it’s allegedly so important to him? Seems a little bit like everyone loses.

Lol not letting Spock leave the bridge because the court martial’s not ever. “Sorry, we all might die, but court IS still in session.” Even though they ALREADY KNOW the alleged victim is still alive!

I love that Uhura is essential personnel. They didn’t keep the navigator on board, even though they apparently need one, but they did keep Uhura.

Oh no, Kirk’s flimsy shirt, falling apart again!

“Beaten and sobbing, Finney told me how to fix the ship.” Bitter much?

Kirk, being a badass, fixing the ship all by himself.

Honestly I just really love a narrative in which an upright man plays by the rules, does the right thing, and behaves in good faith and is ultimately vindicated and rewarded.

Now everyone agrees there’s no crime and thus no point to continuing the court-martial.

He’s defending Ben Finney! Good luck with that.

I love how Kirk’s face goes from full-on-romance to slightly-embarrassed-serious-Captain as soon as he remembers, hey, I really AM on the bridge!

“She’s a very good lawyer.” / “Obviously.”

This was such a good Kirk episode, both for showing off all his good qualities, and for getting some interesting insight into his character. He strikes me as the kind of person who, because he’s so by-the-book, and because he’s smart and successful, inspires jealousy in other people, and thus has a lot of strained acquaintanceships--like with the other men at the bar. But he also has these really, really strong friendships and relationships: Areel Shaw, Spock and McCoy, and even Finney. I feel like he’s probably rather awkward with most people, but then when the relationship is established, he’s ride or die. And, he doesn’t hold grudges. I don’t think he really knew how upset Finney was about what happened literally 10+ years ago--especially if he had any say at all about Finney serving on his ship, and I suspect he could have at least vetoed him. And even after Finney tried to disgrace him and then actually kill him, he still didn’t seem to upset about it, or about his lawyer turning around and defending Finney.

I think Kirk likes the military in part because it gives him this very strict set of rules about interacting with other people, so he doesn’t have to make up his own. I bet the intensity of the service also allows him to form these stronger relationships, which do seem to suit him better. And when he doesn’t have anything else to fall back on, he INVARIABLY pulls out the charm: he does it with old classmates, random 21st century pilots, immortal teenage girls, and actual love interests. It’s his default mode. I think that makes sense for someone who’s very ambitious, very precise, very nerdy, very rules-oriented, and whose default mode as a young man, by his own admission, was “grim.”

Wow it is so much later than anticipated... I need to get to sleep!

Next ep is Return of the Archons, which I’ve only seen once and don’t remember super well. I think it’s a ‘society ruled by computers’ thing, which is fine. Maybe not as much of a classic as some other S1 eps, but it should be fun anyway.

#the year 2020 #2020: star trek #2020: fandom thoughts #star trek tos

[teenyfish]

Marine Biology Story of the Day #14

So…it’s been a while.  

I don’t know if anyone else is dealing with crippling anxiety, but I sure am right now.  It’s just one of the joys of being a liberal scientist living deep in a rural red state. You literally can’t escape the Trump Fuckers down here, it’s everywhere you look. Hell, I can’t even sit in my living room without seeing our neighbors dumb flag flying on their flag pole or be forced to watch one of these weird boat parades that have been popping up everywhere lately.

I’m tired.  I’m scared. But I’m also 100% over this shit.

So, instead, I’m trying to pour myself into my work.  And I want to put quality content on this blog, and I’ve just been procrastinating on it for weeks because I want whatever I write, whatever I tell you about to be good enough for the reblogs, but tbh, that’s not the point of this.  The point of this is teach people about the scientific process and how REAL research is done.  It’s a ton of work, it’s usually monotonous, and there’s a lot of writing and editing involved.

That being said, I officially, after 3+ years of work, have my first manuscript accepted into a peer reviewed journal.

If you had asked me 4 years ago if I had thought I would ever be published. I would have said no.  And that is because the place I was working for chipped away at my confidence so completely that I thought I wasn’t worthy of working in this field.  Academia be like that sometimes.

But now I’ve started working for Texas Parks and Wildlife, which in most ways has been a dream (minus living in small town nowhere America, see complaints above).  The organization is actually really awesome to work for and I have so much more leeway when it comes to designing my own projects and working on things that I actually WANT to work on.  Not to mention, my boss is awesome and is super supportive.  

So today, I think I’ll talk about a study that I just wrapped up lab and field work for in September.  I’m currently working on the data analysis at the moment.

SOOOO TPWD developed a huge stock enhancement program back in the 1980’s when they noticed that the population of a popular game fish, red drum, was on the decline.  Stock enhancement basically means they breed adult wild red drum, they allow the eggs to hatch and rear the larval fish to a size deemed big enough that they can release them into Texas estuaries to help bolster the population.  Red drum stocks have actually improved since this this hatchery program was implemented.

Red drum are gorgeous charismatic predators, and they get the drum name from the sound they use to communicate. Check out the sound here. 

Part of my job is to figure out how to make the hatchery program better through wet lab experimentation.  Basically, the questions I try to answer are: How do we grow these fish faster, with least amount of mortality, and with the best, robust fish?

So, when I first got here, I found two issues with our red drum hatchery program.  1) Fingerlings (very young juvenile fish) are released at a very small size of 35 mm. INTO THE WILD. Now, the size of a fish is very directly tied to their mortality…larger fish experience less predation and have better metabolisms to deal with temperature and salinity changes, which leads us to the second problem 2) The hatchery program releases red drum at times opposite of when these juvenile fish would actually be present in the wild. Red drum spawn offshore in early winter, and the baby fish move into bays Dec-Mar…but we release OUR hatchery fingerlings Mar-Nov.  The reason for this is because we don’t want the hatchery fish to compete with wild red drum, which makes sense, but we are introducing these fish to a wide range of temperatures and salinities.  As you know, Texas is hot as fuck in the summer and salinity in some bay systems is classified as hypersaline lagoons, which is almost like pure brine (this is due to hot temps evaporating water from the bays and leaving salt behind).

Now fish, as “cold blooded” animals, don’t make their own heat, so their metabolism is controlled by environmental temperatures.  All fish have an optimal temperature for growth, in which their growth rate is the highest, and then their growth and metabolism starts to decline toward their critical thermal maximum (CTM) in which their metabolism just starts shutting down and they die.  This is why temperature is so important in fish biology, and larger fish typically have higher CTMs an therefore better survival.

(an example of how metabolism is impacted by temp.  In this case, optimal temp is around 20 degrees Celsius, and CTM is around 23-25 degrees Celsius)

So how did I test this?  Well, I chose body size and “Season” as my two variables—I chose Spring (May), Summer (August), and Autumn (November) to see how the temperature and salinity of our local bay system would impact fish growth.  And, within each season, I tested both a small size class (35 mm and under) and a large size class (36 mm and over) to see how initial body size upon release would impact the fishes’ growth.  

(diff b/w two size classes)

I ran these trials in my wet lab with sea water pumped in from our coastal bay system and I would adjust temperature daily to reflect the water temperatures recorded from the bay.  I would receive hatchery fish that were ready for “release”, tag them, measure and weigh them, and then release them into their experimental tanks (if you want to learn more about how I tagged them, check out this post).  I had one tank with small fish, and one tank with larger fish, because if they were mixed it’s likely that the big fish would cannibalize the smaller fish. The fish lived in these faux habitats for 21 days, and I would remove mortalities (dead fish) daily.  They were fed 10% of their body weight to keep up with the estimated 0.1 g/day growth rate described in the literature.  

At the end of each study, I removed all fish, measured and weighed them again, and read their tags.  Once I knew what fish they were, I could match them up with their start weights and get an idea of their growth rate over the 21 days.  

So, the data analysis is still a work in progress, and I’m going to run some more complex models, but here are some of my preliminary results.

First, here is our survival of fish for each trial.  Like I said, fish did die before the end of the trial (young fish tend to do that), and this graph basically shows that overall, the larger size class had much better survival than small, especially during warmer months.  

This figure basically shows the CHANGE in length (x axis) vs the CHANGE in weight (y axis) of the smaller size class (above) and the larger size class (below).  I’ve scaled the figures so the axis have the exact same scale.  The colors/shapes of the dots represent the “Season” of the trial (Autumn, Spring, or Summer).  You can see that the large size classes had a much greater change in growth across all trials, and had the greatest growth during summer. 

So this is just the beginning of data analysis, I want to do a more in depth look at temperature, size, and salinity in statistical modeling, but this is kind of the preliminary lay out of the data.  Basically what I think this data is telling me is that we need to release fish at larger initial release sizes, because they have much better survival and growth compared to fish with smaller initial release sizes.

And the whole goal of the hatchery program is to make sure our fish survive in the wild.

If you want to take a peep at my accepted journal article, I’ll make sure to post a link when the article actually comes out online. The journal I submitted to (Marine and Coastal Fisheries) is an open access journal so everybody should be able to read it FO FREE.  Next post I will be outlining another hatchery program study that I am excited to be working on in the near future (hint, it’s gonna involve flounder metamorphosis, which is a real bizarre process).

As always, if you have any questions, feel free to comment or contact me!

#marine biology #marine biologist story of the day #marine biologist #fisheries biologist #marine biology story of the day #ocean stories #red drum #stock enhancement #research #fish bioenergetics #fish growth

[comradekatara]

sexism in the fire nation?? I want more examples!!

Okay, I’m not sure exactly to which post you’re referring, but you should know I have made a post expounding on this topic in the past. I do wish to speak on it further, though, because there seems to be this widespread belief among the fandom that the Fire Nation is the least sexist of all four nations during Aang’s time—and this bothers me for a number of reasons…

7 more paragraphs under the cut because it seems I have no self control???

The Fire Nation is an imperialist state that profits off of its colonialism, to the detriments of the territories it colonizes (obviously). Therefore, it makes sense that the FN seems more modernized than the rest of the world. But do not mistake their technological advancement for social progress. It is common propaganda that social progress moves with technological progress, in the same direction, and at the same pace. (For one thing, define “social progress.”) Colonialist states such as Israel will try to justify their occupation of Palestinian territory and oppression of Palestinians with, “Okay, yeah, maybe we’re doing those things, but we’re also the only country in the Middle East with LGBT rights!” And um, sure, Tel Aviv has a pride parade, but the Israeli gov’t also directly oppresses LGBT Palestinians. Or how when India decriminalized homosexuality and a lot of dumb liberals were like, “Good for India for finally catching up to the West!” when it was Western (British) influence that fucked India up in the first place. 

And even so, these are not the best examples I could give, because the FN can’t even boast gay rights. Now, you all know I tend to see the comics as a buffet of canon; I pick and choose what feels right, and if I doubt its plausibility, I have no problem ignoring it. At first, I was dubious to the claim that Firelord Sozin criminalized homosexuality. Apparently, being gay was all fine and dandy in the Fire Nation before Sozin (which I highly doubt, but still) and then all of a sudden he’s rounding up his subjects and sending them off to… well, it never exactly specifies, but you can guess. Again, not many specifics are given. But, it would make sense for an autocrat boasting the glory of his nation to need a scapegoat, and “the homosexuals” seem a pretty decent target. I mean, it’s not like this doesn’t have historical precedent. So while I initially marked it as kind of immature writing, just the idea that Bad Man is Homophobe because Bad, the more I examined the Fire Nation royal family of ATLA, the more it made sense that the Fire Nation has a history of egregious homophobia. 

Instead of looking to Sozin, who we truly know nothing about other than the fact that he liked to throw grass in people’s faces as a kid (which, uh, same—okay tangent, but why is ripping grass out of the ground and then throwing it like confetti so satisfying? Anyway), we need to look at the interplay among Ozai, Zuko, Iroh, Azula, and Ursa. Now, it’s really not hard to apply a queer reading to Zuko’s arc. I mean, the fact that it plays out like a 1:1 of a coming-out narrative wasn’t intentional on the part of the head writers is, frankly, staggering. And saying this isn’t to diminish the importance of his moral growth—one of understanding his own complicity in the war, and taking on the responsibility to mitigate his family’s legacy of violence and terror—but it is actually impossible to ignore the role Gender plays in all of this. If the Fire Nation was truly free of sexism, which, by the way, is impossible because its culture is too steeped in real-world influences to be able to separate imperialist values from upholding patriarchy, Zuko’s story would have played out much differently. For the record, you could switch out the word “Honor” for masculinity in not just ATLA, but a lot of other texts as well (especially those involving duels) and I bet we’d all come to understand just how silly and deluded the entire concept is. Of course, honor does not necessarily equate to masculinity. Acting honorably is whatever the culture defines it to be. For the Fire Nation, their culturally is militaristically-inclined, and so Zuko tries desperately to be a good soldier. Of course, Zuko is terrible at War, and thus is considered a failure. Being nurturing, compassionate, sensitive, or gentle is seen as weakness, and thus Zuko is forced to suppress these inherent traits if he does not want to be deemed weak. To be clear, Zuko does not learn how to be good; he learns that he is good. That he’s okay as he is, and that he should trust to act on his instincts, because they were right all along. 

Concurrently, while Azula’s arc is certainly less Gender than Zuko’s is (Toph proves the closest parallel to Zuko in that regard), misogyny is a pervasive element in understanding why she is the way she is. Unlike Zuko, who is, frankly, encouraged to yell (as it is pretty much the only form of emotional expression men are permitted to display) Azula must remain poised at all times if she wants to stay in her parents’ good graces. She clearly had better discipline than Zuko did as a child—and that is partially due to raw talent, but talent can only get you so far. Her flames weren’t always blue. While, yes, Azula is valued for typically masculine traits, such as her physical prowess, cunning, and “stoicism,” she is the Crown Princess. It is expected of her to follow in her father’s footsteps and promote military dominance during her inevitable reign. And surely you must be saying, “Well, if there are female Firelords, case closed, right? If a woman can be supreme ruler, then clearly the country cannot be sexist.” Riiiiiiight. Because Ancient Egypt wasn’t sexist. Because Britain. Etc.

I also see people saying that there were female guards at the Boiling Rock. Other than the fact that the Boiling Rock seems like it’s a bit short on guards and will take what they can get at the moment (Sokka and Zuko are both children who do not fit into those uniforms and no one questions it. No one even says, “Hey, aren’t you a little too young to work here?” …which is a shame, because the response, “I’m an intern..?” would’ve floored me) working-class women have always participated in labor. The Boiling Rock is not a gender-segregated prison. The only thing they care about is whether or not you’re a threat to the Fire Nation. They don’t even care if you’re an actual child (see: Suki). Seeing as the Fire Nation is deeply concerned with the containment of rebel forces, and the prison is fucking huge, it makes sense that they would hire a handful of women along with the male guards. It doesn’t seem like a job many would want (although with the Fire Nation’s brainwashing it’s hard to say), and they could use all hands on deck. But do we see any female high-ranking military officials? Any female soldiers in their military at all? The worst jobs cannot afford not to hire women. The Firelord cannot afford not to turn his daughter into a weapon simply because she is female. (His dumb gay son is clearly inept and a lost cause.) Azula’s greatest advantage is that people underestimate her. She enlists the help of Mai and Ty Lee, two teenage girl non-benders, because she knows that agility is key. She would rather blend in, be able to move through crowds unnoticed, than to show off (not to say she doesn’t like showing off, but she is distinctly subtler than Zuko, not to mention Ozai). In this way, her cunning and prowess are feminine qualities. Her swallowing of her emotional outbursts is a distinctly female trait. Under patriarchy, men are, in fact, encouraged to display their emotions more than women are, because at least men get to be angry. Azula is hyperaware of how misogyny operates in society, and she uses that as yet another tool in her arsenal. 

Now, I cannot go without mentioning Iroh’s treatment of Azula. We’re clearly all thinking it. Pre-Lu Ten’s-Death-Inspired-Epiphany-Iroh sends his niece and nephew some gifts from the Earth Kingdom: a doll and a knife, respectively. He sends the wrong toy to the wrong kid. First of all, he sends a ten-year-old Zuko a knife, which is decidedly not a toy (though he still manages to use it like one), and he sends a doll to Azula, which she immediately burns out of spite. Azula rejects gender roles in the same way Zuko does, but there is another layer to it, because femininity and women are so devalued; masculinity and association to it is a way of gaining power. Thus, Azula must perform femininity (physical perfection, “One hair out of place”) to gain approval and can never be caught slipping if she wants to be taken seriously. Unlike Zuko, who never once acts dignified, and is never taken seriously, Azula has learned to utilize these roles to her advantage in every possible way. And yet, Iroh does not care about how well she presents herself. She is a woman, and she wields too much power. Of course, the latter part is true. She is far too powerful considering her agenda, and she does need to be stopped (and helped). But when Iroh says, “No, she is crazy and needs to go down,” there are some heavily gendered implications at play here. To put it outright: Iroh is a sexist. He may have critically reexamined his views on war and peace after the death of his son, but that clearly did not extend to gender. Even a subtle thing, like constantly trying to set Zuko up with random girls in Ba Sing Se (it’s implied it’s not a one-off occurrence) (also, why would he be so rude to those poor girls as to force them to go on a date with Zuko, the actual worst person you could ever go on a date with except for perhaps a serial killer) seems a bit…. presumptuous. Not that I’m necessarily faulting him for his heteronormativity. Suki never had the chance to introduce him to Judith Butler after all, seeing as they had a war to win under intense time pressure and all that when they met. Maybe afterward, though. It’s the least he could do to better connect with his #Wells4Boys nephew (and #MyLittleStepchildren niece—though they truly have their work cut out for them). 

So yeah, assuming that sexism does not exist in the Fire Nation ignores the real-world implication of those claims. The Fire Nation is largely modeled after imperialist Japan, among other cultural influences. To then claim that an imperialist, militaristic society can exist without patriarchy in a cultural landscape so similar to our own is heavily reductive and downright ignorant. Not to mention, there’s pretty clear evidence throughout the entire show that the Fire Nation is sexist, among every class, and on a systemic, structural level.

So when people say, “Sexism is bad for men, as they are taught to repress their emotions, and they hurt themselves and others in the process,” they are, in fact, talking about Zuko. QED.

#analysis #zuko #azula #iroh #yeah this is two thousand words... #hope its adequate!!! lol #anon #asks

[k-pop-imagines]

Protector | Chapter 9

Protector Masterlist

Summary: No summary for this chapter because I can’t figure out how to write one without spoiling too much.

Word Count: 1925 A/N: I can’t believe I finally did it! I’ve been desperately trying to figure out how to write this chapter for months but I actually figured something out this time and my motivation didn’t leave me halfway through. I really enjoyed writing this and I hope you enjoy reading this chapter just as much!  - Admin Soomi Warning: Nothing serious, I just think this is a real rollercoaster of emotions so be prepared.

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The footsteps came to a halt right in front of the door to the supply closet. You held your breath as well as you could with your heart still beating as if you’d just run a marathon. One sound and you could be dead. What a mess you had gotten into.  What Donghae had done was incredibly stupid. If you were found, it would be almost impossible for him to fight back, considering you were stuffed into a small room filled to the brim with cleaning supplies, leaving barely any space to counter an attack or protect you. Nevertheless, you also understood that there had simply been no other way out. There was nowhere else to go. Now all you could do was pray that the people looking for you were dumb enough not to piece two and two together. And it seemed like, for once, luck would be on your side. You could hear your pursuers talking very faintly. “Where did they go? I swear I just saw them, it’s like they vanished into thin air.” “There’s no way...did you check that closet there?” A gasped in fear but Donghae put his hand over your mouth to muffle the sound. “That bodyguard guy is a pro, do you really think he would be stupid enough to hide in a place like that?” “Yeah, you’re right. Maybe there’s another exit or a secret passage we missed.” Their voices and footsteps become gradually quieter until they completely disappeared. As Donghae took his hand away from your mouth and released his tight grip around you, a breath of relief left your throat. The two of you shared a look, then laughed in disbelief. “How on earth did this work?”, you asked. He gave a cocky smile. “Didn’t you hear them? I’m a pro, that’s why.” You rolled your eyes in annoyance. What an arrogant ass. He may have saved your life once more but that attitude of his was driving you crazy.  “Anyway, let’s get out of here...”, you mumbled. The smell of chemicals was starting to make you dizzy. Or maybe it was from being way too close to your bodyguard for so long. “Oh, already? We can stay here a little if you want, spend some more quality time.” You were glad you had already turned your back to him, ready to exit this tiny space. He couldn’t see the dark shade of red your face must have turned at his words. God, why couldn’t he shut up about it? Taking a deep breath, you decided to ignore his words, not give him any reaction. You wanted to step outside but Donghae stopped you, now serious again. “Let me go first, maybe this was a trick.” But it wasn’t. These guys had been genuinely stupid enough to not find you in this obvious hiding spot.  -----

Back to business. Donghae led you back to the room where you had been interviewed. How long had you even been gone? Would Isabella still be there, wanting to continue her interview? You sincerely hoped she wouldn’t.  As you returned, Isabella was indeed still waiting, greeting you with that perfect smile.  “Oh my, did you get lost on your way to the bathroom?”, she joked earning a fake laugh from you in return. Your patience was starting to run thing but maybe Isabella had gotten the hint that she should change the topic. You sat down opposite from her again, while Donghae his previous spot in the corner of the room.  “Let’s get on with this. Back to your engagement-”  Okay, she hadn’t gotten the hint.  “To get one thing straight, I didn’t get engaged. My father got me engaged,” you interrupted her. Originally, you were planning to continue this interview as politely as possible but as she still wouldn’t let go of this obviously inappropriate topic, you had enough.  Isabella seemed flustered for a second. “Well, surely your father must have your best interest at heart and chosen a lovely partner for you.” “No, he does what’s best for his business, regardless of the consequences and sacrifices. I will not be marrying the man my father chose for me. I am not a puppet.” With those words and without any regrets, you swiftly stood up, leaving a very confused woman behind.

Donghae quickly followed suit. He didn’t say a word until you were in the car, on the way back to the mansion. “Your father won’t be happy about this.” You snorted. “So? What is he going to do? He needs me. I’m an important asset to his plans. The worst he will do is take away some of the money he’s using to buy my love, thinking that it matters to me.”  He nodded. The ride was quiet after that. 

-----

As you arrived back at the mansion, your father was already awaiting you at the heavy front door.  Someone must have immediately called and informed him about the situation, about what you said about him.  “Do you know what you have done?”, he asked sternly. “Yes.” Your reply was short and cold. “I had to pay Modern Housing a considerable amount of money to stop them from publishing the interview as it is. Your words will be heavily edited. You’re incredibly lucky they called to check in with me instead of ruining my reputation. Your allowance will be heavily decreased and you will be banned from leaving the estate for the next month.” You shrugged. “When did you become so unprofessional?” “As soon as you decided that your business was more important than your own child.” You simply walked past him, heading straight to your room. Tears began prickling at the corners of your eyes but you quickly wiped them away.  How could one person be so cruel, so heartless? Without giving any thought about the people around you, you started running through the halls, desperate to be alone. You reached your bedroom, threw open the door and locked it behind you. For a second you just stood there, trying to steady your breathing. Your thoughts were running wild, your heart filled with a whirlwind of emotions. Anger. You were angry at how your father treated you like a child. No, not a child. More like an object. Sadness. He didn’t care about your feelings in any way. Helplessness. You felt lost. There was no way for you to get out of this. You couldn’t escape, you couldn’t change his mind. You were stuck and would be, forever. Now there was fear too, knowing that you’d be under your father’s control for the rest of your life. Well, for the rest of his life. But then your future husband would be the one pulling the strings. You could rebel but where would it get you. Someone else always had the upper hand. You didn’t want to be a puppet but that’s exactly what you were doomed to be. What kind of hell would the puppeteers turn your life into?  As you stared out of the window, into the blue sky, you didn’t hear the door open behind you. You didn’t hear the footsteps of the person approaching you. Only when you suddenly sensed that someone standing next to you did you get startled. Donghae. How did he even get in here? “You know, people usually lock the door for a reason that you should respect. Like, when they want to be alone”, you whispered, voice shaking slightly.  “Do you, though?” Your eyes widened. That was a fair question. You wanted to be alone at first, obviously but now that he was here...his presence felt strangely comforting. You didn’t want to be around anyone right now but maybe he was an exception. He seemed like the only person you could trust at this moment.  When you looked at him, you were met with a peculiar sight. He had his arms stretched out, offering a hug. His eyes were soothing but not pitiful. Instinctively, you reached out to him and as soon as your head landed on his chest, the tears began falling. He let his hands run across your back comfortingly. You took a few minutes to let out all of your pain, not caring that you were making his shirt wet. As you calmed down and inhaled his scent while taking deep breaths to steady your heartbeat, you involuntarily thought back to the time you spent in the supply closet. How nice it felt to be close to him. It felt like he cared. Like you meant something.  Before you could get too lost in these thoughts, you pulled away from him.  “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten so emotional.” “Don’t apologize. You must have been taught to act strong and confident from a young age, right? But keeping everything bottled up and hiding behind a mask isn’t healthy, it’s important to let it out sometimes. It’s human. No one can be strong all the time. Except for me, of course.” To your surprise, you let out a genuine laugh at his comment. “You’re an ass.” “But I’m a lovable ass, aren’t I?” “Not really.” “Oh? Your reaction to being close to me suggests otherwise. Especially in very small spaces.” God, this again? Would he ever stop teasing you about this? “I don’t know what you mean.” Maybe acting innocent would do the trick. “Just admit that you like me.” Or maybe not. “I don’t like you. I was probably delusional from the fumes of all the cleaning agents.”  “Keep telling yourself that.” He was now looking at you with the smuggest grin you had ever seen. This mad was slowly but steadily driving you insane. But at least he made you forget about the argument with your father.  “I really want to wipe that grin off your face,” you muttered. “I’d like to see you try.” So you did. You went up to him, pulled him towards you by the collar of his shirt so his face was only inches away from yours. His grin was surprised by a look of sheer surprise and you could see something like indecisiveness in his eyes you moved your lips closer to his. But he never pulled away.  Yet, before your lips could touch, as much as you wanted it, you stopped. A smile spread across your face. “Things were hectic today, you should take the rest of the day off, let the night guards take over a little earlier than usual.” You let go of his collar and gently pushed him towards the door. Donghae smirked, then obediently left. Two could play this game.

-----

Donghae slowly walked through the halls, heading towards his won quarters after letting the night guards know about this change of plans.  His phone’s ringtone made him snap out of his thoughts. He was still trying to process what had just happened. There was no way to deny the mutual tension between you and him, but the caller ID made him realize that he had more important things to worry about. “How are things going?” a deep voice sounded from the other end as soon as he picked up the call. “Everything is going according to plan.” “How far are you?” He thought back to how close you two had been only seconds ago. How close you had come to sharing a kiss.  “I’ve completely gained their trust, we can start planning our next steps.” “Fantastic. You will get new orders in one week from now. It’s time to bring this family down.”

#donghae x reader #donghae imagine #super junior imagine #super junior x reader #fanfiction #bodyguard!au #protector #kpop #kpop imagine #kpop x reader