Pots N Picks Week: Day 6 (drinks)

i headcanon that gabe and emilie would want to create a sentibaby that's a mix of their own DNA--which, why can't they do that? Dusuu's got to use some sort of genetic material

but what if they wanted to test the possible combinations of their DNA before deciding on their perfect designer baby? what if you're adrien agreste model 1.0? it's a little weird when you come into the world, fully grown, and the first thing you're asked to do is turn around slowly on the spot. there's some lady in a mask and a peacock dress, smiling as you stand there, awaiting judgement. her counterpart, standing behind her, seems uncertain. but you don't think much of that. there's no time to think much of that--not when all of a sudden you're sitting at a desk, with pages of equations written on them. problems you're meant to solve.

somehow, you know you've learned this math somewhere--even if you don't remember when or how. but they keep watching you--scrutinizing every line of your pencil. you finally dare to ask them about it--because it's weird, right? and god, if they could just leave you alone for ten minutes, you could probably finish this easily. but your examiners' lips turn down at your outburst. and you're snapped away before you even manage to look back down at the page

what if you're adrien agreste model 13.6, and everything you do elicits little whoops of joy from the peacock lady? in your several hours of existence, you've spoken five different languages and carried out a slew of endurance, agility, and cognitive tests. and most importantly--although you don't know why your examiners seem to praise you for this--you never talked back once

the peacock lady claps her hands together, and even the man behind her--who you've come to realize isn't nearly as easy to crack--can't seem to stop smiling. and you don't understand why something about that fills you with dread, but it does. it's a sort of all-consuming, impossible to shake dread. but you smile through it anyways

you don't know that once you disappear, a smaller version of you will come forth into the world. or that, years later, you'll feel that same sort of sick feeling in your gut

you're adrien agreste model 13.7, and you don't know there's anything weird about the way you came into this world. you don't realize your mother sometimes misses 6.8's dimples, or that your father often wishes they'd gone with 11.2--who would have had a real head for business

and you never do figure out why something always feels just a little bit wrong

the most underrated dungeon meshi panel imo. he wants to beat his ass so bad

cats will be like oh you're walking somewhere? no WE'RE walking somewhere. and i will get there first. where is 'there' btw

in the palm of your hand

[i was re-reading @habken's incredible scammers to lovers au and wrote this short fic. I really love their work and couldn't help myself lmaoo. anyways i hope you all enjoy!!!]

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“Hi! Can I help you with- oh,” says the angel from the IT department, spinny chair swiveling to a stop. “It’s you again.”

The first week Katsuki had come in, Deku had been relatively understanding and chipper- bright and sunny and shit. More personal than the strained smile and forced cheer that most customer service workers spoke with- of course I’ll fix your laptop, no problem, just leave it to me. 

Now, about three weeks later he looks at Katsuki like he’s just bitten into a lemon. As in, like Katsuki had come into the IT department, looked Deku in the eye, bit into a lemon, and then made a puckered up face and writhed in discomfort and then showed up with another lemon the next day, rinse and repeat for nearly a month. A complicated mix of intrigue and confusion and mild horror at this endless display of masochism.

Which is fair; there really is no other way to look at a top ten Pro Hero who repeatedly comes in to have his laptop fixed and won’t admit under penalty of death that it was because he clicked a pop-up in hopes of having a proper conversation with a dreamy IT guy. Not that Dreamy IT guy in question knows about all of that, but whatever. If Katsuki was in Deku’s position, he would also be worried about the fact that the safety and integrity of the public was left in the hands of guys who can’t stop getting scammed by obvious pop-up ads. 

“Your laptop’s broken again?” Deku says incredulously, as if reading Katsuki’s mind. His voice is really nice, even when he sounds confused as shit. Smooth and soft like- like a satin pillowcase. Or something. Whatever. It’s not like they pay him to be good with words. 

Then again, it’s not like they pay him to (unsuccessfully) flirt with the guy he’s normally supposed to see once a month max, but here he was. 

“Yeah,” says Katsuki, like he said two days ago, and then three days before that, and for the past month. It’s easier to say than I got a pop-up ad for a BL manga and I am ninety percent sure the twink on the cover was just a recolor of Sasuke Uchiha and I clicked it because I’m a fucking dumbass and I needed an excuse to keep coming in here and gazing into your dreamy-ass eyes. If you even care. 

He’s surprised Deku’s even asking. He’s been consistently coming in here for exactly the same reason: his laptop ‘mysteriously’ got a virus and now he needs it fixed. He’ll be back to pick it up soon, no, he’s not getting a new laptop, no, he’s not sure what happened, no, he’s not going to install some fancy-ass ad-blocker because he doesn’t want to (and it would get rid of his excuse), and Deku’s never asked this but yes, he would love to go get dinner sometime, he’s free today and tomorrow and the day after that and the rest of his life, forever, actually- 

“...Did you,” Deku begins, like he’s searching for the right words. “Uh. Do you have any idea what could have happened? Any idea at all?” 

I gazed into the dead-eyed stare of poorly-recolored Sasuke’s green eyes and thought of you because your eyes are also green, and less unnerving to look at, and the more I thought about that the more my mouse moved away from the ‘x’ button and the next thing I know, I have a virus and my desire to carnally hold your hand has overpowered any other logical thought. That’s what happened. 

“No,” Katsuki says belatedly. “Fuck. Look, can you fix it or not?” 

“Of course,” says Deku. He’s still got that little furrow in his brow. Katsuki wants to bite at it like taffy- which, is a weird fucking thing to think, scratch that- “Just- give it over, and I’ll be sure to have it ready for you in a little while.”

“Cool.” He holds out his laptop. It’s reminiscent of when he was four and showing off the cool rhinoceros beetle he caught to his mom. He’s internally beaming with pride at his success so far, and Deku’s got that same baffled, borderline horrified expression that his mom did. 

Although, that particular interaction ended with the thing flying out of his hands and into his mom’s cardigan and with him getting yelled at, so, maybe it’s not the ideal scenario to compare this to.

 But this encounter will end differently. He’s got a grip on the rhinoceros beetle, now. He just has to play his cards right. 

“So,” he says, shoving his hands into the pockets of his slacks so Deku won’t see how fucking sweaty they are. “You’ll have it ready by lunch tomorrow?” 

Deku takes the laptop and tilts his head. “Uh. Yeah, I will. In fact, I can get it to you earlier than that-”

“I’ll be busy for the rest of the day,” Katsuki lies. All his incident reports are done, and he’s got the night shift on patrol tomorrow. “You’re done by 2 tomorrow, right?”

“...Yes?”

“Great. Look, I have to stop at that fucking- crepe place, down the street, right,” he says, praying to every God there is that he looks cool and casual and not like a ‘Deranged Goblin Man’, as the Hero Times described him a few months ago. “So. When you get off work you should meet me there. At the crepe place. Tomorrow. At two pm.”

He doesn’t know what’s worse- the fact that he’s really doing this, being reduced to the same sort of emotional sap he would have made fun of only five years ago; or the fact that Present Mic’s lessons on subtlety and hidden meanings in text were actually good for something. 

Look at him, effortlessly weaving together words to create sentences with underlying motives. He’s like a modern-day Shakespeare. He’s golden. He’s killing it. Bakugou Katsuki, master of words. He’s on cloud-fucking-nine. He’s-

…aaaaand Deku isn’t responding. 

Deku blinks. He opens his mouth. Closes it. He sets the laptop down, staring up at Katsuki intently, and Katsuki starts to sweat. 

You are Bakugou Katsuki, he reminds himself. You might be down bad, but you’re not weak. It will not kill you if he rejects you. Well, it’ll kill you a little. But not that much. 

“At the crepe pla- to give you the laptop, right?” says Deku slowly. His face is turning bright red. Katsuki goes a little weak in the knees. 

“Sure, yeah,” Katsuki says half-heartedly. “Look, if you want, I could. I dunno. Fucking- buy you a crepe or something. As payment.” 

He’s so smooth. Eat your fucking heart out, Dunce Face. ‘Zero game’, his ass. 

“Sure,” Deku says, scratching the back of his neck, smile just a tad bit shy. His face is still mildly flushed. Katsuki swoons (and does his best to not let it show on his face). “I- uh. I’d like that. I guess.” 

“Cool,” says Katsuki. “Cool. Great. Okay, bye. Be there or else. Bye. See you.”

He turns on his heel and power walks out of the room, not once looking back, even when Pigtails nearly crashes into him or when Deku makes a noise suspiciously like he’s slamming his head against the desk. He walks out of the room, into the hallway, back to his own office.

The door slams shut behind him. He takes a deep breath. Squeezes his eyes shut. A breathlessly excited grin forces his way onto his face, and he pumps his fists, victorious. 

He's got a date.

All of my capyberries in one place <3

Post-canon Labru where they actually get together pretty quickly except they don't

Laios and Kabru have been working together so closely for months in the castle and become best friends. About 6 months post-canon, they wind up going on a month-long survey expedition with Marcille, Falin, and some scientists. (The survey team is evaluating soil quality and attempting to identify the best sites for settlements.)

The group winds up sitting around the campfire most nights, drinking and singing and telling stories. One night, Laios and Kabru are the last ones out there and they get solidly drunk. Kabru kisses Laios. Laios kisses him back. Nothing else happens that night. But the next? They talk about it in Laios' tent and decide to give it a try. We're already best friends, right? Might as well give it a shot! So the rest of the trip, they spend the whole time flirting and giggling and making out at the fire and fucking in their tents. It's not a secret at all. Marcille is deeply annoyed. Falin is happy for Laios. The scientists are like, "wow, this gossip is gonna make me so popular at home." It's literally so great.

Except when they get back to Melini, it's harder than they expected. The survey was kind of a vacation for them. At home, there's paperwork and appearances and forming alliances and making sure their people are eating and security and it's just so much. The time they had to become best friends was not time that could really be filled with romance. If anything, romance adds to their pile of things they have to deal with: planning time together that isn't filled with work, managing the expectations of their citizens, heirs and weddings and what if some entity offers Laios a marriage that will benefit the kingdom, will he say no, how will this work how will it work how will it work

So they break it off. They love like each other so much and this could be something great, but they just can't do it right now. It's too much. They both put on brave faces but are obviously devastated. It hurts their friendship for months and months, but eventually they get close again.

For years, they stay friends. They both remember how awful that first break up was. Even when things slow down, they're both so cautious because who knows if this time things will break horribly and they won't be able to stay friends.

Kabru dates around a little. Laios seriously considers a few marriage alliances. It all falls through, but they do try to give other people a shot. They're in love with each other but they're still practical.

That's not to say they don't hook up occasionally. Maybe once a year they both get so overwhelmed with work that they have a little decompression fuck. Or they both get drunk at a ball and make out in a closet. It doesn't mean anything, so no big deal.

Then, twelve or so years down the line, they're both working in Laios' study. The kingdom is in such a good place. They've figured out succession, the economy is stable, their relationships with foreign powers are good, citizens are being taken care of. They're in the maintenance phase of everything and planning for a bright future. Maybe it's Laios, who has come into his own and feels a confidence that he never had at 26, who sits back and looks at Kabru and just says, "Kabru."

Kabru responds with a casual, "Your Highness?"

And Laios just throws it out there: "I love you. And I want to be with you, whatever that means for us."

Kabru is taken aback because to be fair to him it is quite random. He can't help but respond honestly, though. He loves Laios, too.

They'd probably spend a moment reveling in it. They've spent years in one state of being, thinking "maybe later, maybe soon" but never really believing the time would come.

Once they sit with it, the workday is over. They're giggling and making out and flirting in the study. It's just like that survey trip all those years ago, except this time they're used to the weight of the kingdom.

They probably move pretty fast. They've been enmeshed in each other's lives for more than a decade, so very little is actually changing on their end. They try to give it a few months before they lock in and get married/legally committed/whatever, if just for the sake of propriety and making sure the country is confident in their relationship. But it's obvious from that first day that this is it for both of them. Of course it is.

the thought i had inspired by this post

hastily grabbed screenshot but do you see. i <3 meaningful framing

actually never gonna stop thinking abt the botl hug scene. what’s the last line. annabeth what’s the last line. and she just opens her arms!! percy walks right in and hugs her and she’s standing there with tears in her eyes and won’t tell him the last line. and he trusts her so much that he doesn’t ask again. imagine that. imagine being fourteen and knowing that you are doomed to a terrible fate and your best friend in the entire world just received a prophecy and won’t tell you the last line of it. and you just trust her. bc what else do you do. you love her. what else do you do.

He loved her immediately I'm gonna cry