❝ They were mirrors in a way. Both of them watching their loved ones suffer. Both unable to help in any meaningful way. Both coping--one with work and the other with a list. Both scared shitless of hurting the other one. ❞
❓ #QOTD What are you afraid of? ❓
⚠️ Content Warnings: Terminal illness, chronic illness, misogyny, toxic relationship, grief, traumatic brain injury
🦇 ER nurse Olive Murphy's fear of flying doesn't stop her from getting on a plane to honor her brother, but it seems her fear is misplaced. A medical emergency forces Olive to leap out of her seat and into action, only for the flight to get redirected. She would have missed the marathon she was meant to run at Disney if not for Allied Airlines pilot Stella Soriano; a gorgeous, type A woman who captivates Olive with a glance. They share a magical day at Disney together as the video of Olive saving a man's life goes viral (after all, she did TECHNICALLY save Mickey Mouse), prompting an uptick in positive press and sales for the airline. Stella sees it as an opportunity to earn her long-deserved promotion and asks Olive to play the role of her fake girlfriend as they generate more press. Can Olive stand playing a fake role when her heart is already on a one-way flight?
[ Instagram | Literal | Goodreads | StoryGraph ]
My Thoughts:
💜 Get ready for a sassy, steamy, sapphic love story bound to soar into your heart. Andie Burke's debut novel has a little of everything; an insta-crush, fake dating (complete with a binder full of rules and research!), sharp and witty banter, plus some real and raw mental health rep. Between their anxieties, family responsibilities, and messy emotions, both Olive and Stella are relatable main characters you can't help but fall in love with. Sparks fly from the moment Olive and Stella meet, and Olive's mega-crush is adorable without making her seem adolescent. We gain a lot of insight into both characters' lives despite the fact that the story sticks with Olive's POV, which isn't always an easy feat. The prose is descriptive but not overly flowery, but it's the character development that really flies off the page. I absolutely adored Olive's best friend, too (imagine Felix from Orphan Black and get ready for ALL the gay sass).
💜 Burke does a wonderful job of normalizing mental health conditions without banging mental health rep over our heads. Olive's symptoms are as much a part of her as the heart-eyes she wears when Stella is in the room. After her (toxic) ex broke up with Olive because her anxiety disorder and panic attacks were "too much," Olive is afraid her symptoms will eventually scare Stella away. Meanwhile, Stella's responsibilities as her father's caretaker (who has Parkinson's) create the cracks in her type-A facade and show us why she's so committed to earning her promotion. Both characters encounter misogyny as well. While some readers might feel that there's too much going on, Burke carefully stacks these issues atop of one another. That's life; we're all juggling multiple conflicts, both internal and external. Read the quote I selected again. These women are mirror images of one another. Their struggles, while different on the surface, make it all the easier for them to empathize with and support each other. There's also no perfect, easy solution to the problems these women are facing because, again: that's life.
🦇 A part of me does wish this story split the POV, allowing us to see Stella's perspective. Keeping the focus on Olive ensured Stella's feelings for her remained hidden, but...come on. We all know where a sapphic romance novel is bound to end: with a sapphic romance. The "fake dating girlfriends with benefits" situation is where the story really gets messy. It's difficult to believe that Stella doesn't have romantic feelings for Olive at that point. The miscommunication trope is still my least favorite, but it lingers much too long in this one, leading to a not-at-all surprising third-act breakup. Even so, this remains the best sapphic romance I've read so far this year.
🦇 Recommended to fans of the fake dating trope, serious character development, and a heart-eyed, healing MC.
✨ The Vibes ✨
✈️ Fake Dating
✈️ Bisexual MC
✈️ Sapphic Ship
✈️ Panic Attacks/Depression/Mental Health Rep
✈️ Debut Author
🦇 Major thanks to the author and publisher for providing an ARC of this book via Netgalley. 🥰 This does not affect my opinion regarding the book.
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So I’ve been working on this for a little while now after a comment @supershiny-raven left on one of my post. I present to you:
How the others find out you and the turtles are dating.
Raphael entered the Lair with you in his arms. His brothers stumbling by him, Leonardo actually tripping.
The gang had gone to drink at Vern’s fancy penthouse, a round of drinks had turned to four and before anybody had common sense he had broken out his fancy wine collection.
That had truly been everyone’s undoing.
Yours as well.
Raphael the tank had pretty much only gotten buzzed, even more so upon seeing your state he figured he needed to somehow get you and everyone else home safe and in one piece.
“Where do we dump Donnie?” April had one of his arms slung over her shoulder while Mikey had his other, they had quickly found out the purple banded terrapin was a fan of wine. “Whatever is flat and comfortable, you think you can manage him and Leo?” Raphael nudged his older brother who had dozed off while resting against the couch.
“Yeah yeah brah, we totally-“ He unceremoniously let his brother fall on the nearest cot, poor April taken along for the ride. “Shit, sorry girly”
Raph shook his head, you groaned stirring awake and tightening your hold on him. Raph was basically carrying you with one arm beneath your rear. Making his way towards his room he gently placed you on his bed and set about the task of removing your shoes. “Hey hey mister, I got a boyfriend” You squinted at the large terrapin at the end of the bed.
“Yeah I heard, lucky guy gets to put ya drunk ass to bed, where’s your makeup bag baby?” He got up when you half hazardously pointed at the dresser.
Pushing yourself up a little on your elbows you watched him gather your face creams and a pack of makeup wipes. He sat back down but next to you and motioned towards his lap. “C’mere, let’s get your face off” You giggled when he manhandled you onto his thigh and took out the wipes. Slowly and in the most excruciatingly loving way Raphael set out to wipe off your makeup. Each stroke removing foundation and eyeshadow, you mumbled something he somehow understood in your inebriated state. “Yeah yeah I got ya kid” With all the careful dexterity he developed over time, he gently removed your eyelashes.
“Somebody has been paying attention” You giggled, feeling the buzz in your body shift into grogginess. Raphael looked inside the bag, adding some cream to your face to hydrate it. He examined his work, a lazy smile as he caressed your face. It felt bizarre he could actually do this, touch a beautiful girl and do something so silly as help them out with their face routine. The two of you had been rather quiet about your relationship, enjoying it all to yourselves.
“Ya were the cutest drunk at that party” He ran his knuckles across your chin, You smiled sleepily lifting up enough to catch his lips in a languid kiss.
The door creaked open and there stood April, her own slightly drunk face breaking out into a sweet smile. The two pairs of eyes that landed on her read ‘get out’ and ‘keep your mouth shut’ slowly April backed up nodding with a giggle.
Then there was a ruckus of what Raphael only assumed was April tripping and Leo drunkly laughing his ass off.
____________
Michelangelo
Oh he was screwed.
So insanely screwed.
How could he misplace something he kept on his person so diligently?
Mikey turned over everything he could in his room, currently he had done just that with the mattress but to no avail.
His phone was missing.
His phone with that very scandalous polaroid you’d taken for him.
Mikey had nearly passed out when you gifted him the picture and to his delight he had stuck the polaroid on the back of his phone in its clear phone case. He kept his phone on him all the time, sure he’d have to be a little sneaky about placing it down but he could manage.
Now though? He was about to have a coronary.
Okay, currently in this disaster there was no trace of it. This meant he’d have to scavenge the living room.
Where his family was.
Mikey swallowed and scurried out with a silent prayer that it would there.
Raphael and Leonardo were currently watching a basketball game. They seemed pretty engrossed and perhaps wouldn’t notice that he was scouring the ends of the earth for his actual girlfriend’s literal boobs. He peaked aglance at the couch, his large brothers had to take up so much space to make it worse.
“What are you looking for?” Came Donnie’s voice from the kitchen. The orange banded turtle froze, he tried giving him a nonchalant shrug. “Just checking how I can give Raph a wedgie ya know” Donnie raised a brow ridge, mug of coffee to his lips.
“I double dare ya numbnuts, the Knicks are down ten points and I’m pissed” Raph grunted as the opposing team landed another shot and Leo sighed exasperated with the outcome. His eldest brother got up thankfully which allowed him to take a look at the that side of the sofa. To his dread but relief there wasn’t anything.
Where the fuck was his phone?!
“Hey snot face, can ya order a pizza?” Raph grumbled as the game seem to worsen, a pizza could fix up his mood. Mikey frozen, mouthing a series of ‘shit shit shit’ as he frantically looked around.
“Oh man that would fix this terrible game, can you order it with extra bacon too?” Leo went straight to the fridge to grab something to drink. “Order some cheesy sticks too will you?” Donnie asked as he poured himself another mug of coffee.
Yes all of this sounded wonderful and his stomach did grumble but
HIS GIRLFRIENDS BOOBS.
Raph had scooted further to grab his own soda from the coffee table and just as he did he saw his phone. Relief washed over him but to his immense dismay and terror, the back of his phone was facing up. Which means the clear case he had was displaying the infamous polaroid he had been gifted.
You had simply asked him one thing.
‘Please don’t let your brothers see my tits’
It all felt slow motion, his eyes going wide, his hand diving to the couch and just as he did, Raph’s quick reflexes kicked in unfortunately and he turned to grab his youngest brothers wrist. “Ya ain’t giving me a wedgie man!!”
Raph’s eyes followed Mikey’s hand and then his eyes bugged out.
“Why are there titties on the sofa?!” Raph made for the phone but only got a face full of pillow cushion. He snatched the phone before it could be grabbed by anybody else. The red banded brute grinned as his brother hugged the phone to his chest. “Advert your gaze you perv!” Mikey all but shrieked.
“I’m not the one walking around with a titty pic as my phone cover” Raph grinned, just to make matters worse Leo and Donnie had gathered.
“Mikey why are you walking around with a random porn pic on your phone cover” Came Donnie’s disapproving tone.
“It’s a polaroid” Was all Raph needed to say.
The silence that fell was brief, then a series of ‘ooh’s’ sounded off and Mikey all but frowned and felt his cheeks heat up.
“No way! That can’t be...” Leo was incredulous. The relationship between Mike and you had remained rather on the down low. It was fun, a little secret away from the world that could stay between the two of you.
“Mikey, are you and y/n a thing?” Donnie asked exactly what the rest wanted to know but Mikey dreaded to answer. He sighed dramatically and tucked his phone into his pocket, shooting Raph a glare as his green eyes followed the motion.
“Listen dudes she made me promise that nobody would see that picture and I’ve already broken that cardinal rule thanks to this jerk face” He frowned at Raph, who in turn rolled his eyes.
“Well maybe keep the picture in your wallet or your room?” Leo sipped his soda with a matter of fact tone.
“Or as a background on your phone cause honestly man” Donnie smiled to himself when Mikey shot him an incredulous look. “Why’d she give you that?” Raph inquired sneakily with a smirk.
“For our three month anniver- AH YOU DICK” Mikey huffed out as Raph began to laugh, it was so easy to trick Mikey when one played their cards right.
____________
Donatello
Investigating could take a toll on anybody, even if by all means you weren’t a detective it still didn’t mean you wouldn’t find yourself researching and investigating crime. It seems to be part of the job description when you befriend four giant crime fighting terrapins.
In away you could help, you did.
Everyone had huddled around the living room, the coffee table littered with pictures, clues and all sorts of pieces of evidence that could possibly lead to the culprit they were trying to catch. You had set down a stack of papers, eyes already screaming for a break. Leo and Casey were at the kitchen talking, Casey had just clocked out and was reporting back what the nights investigations had gathered. Raph and Mikey were checking out the pictures Casey had brought over and Donnie naturally was researching on a laptop he’d placed there.
You had nudged him to come over and join the huddle, and secretly you just wanted him close. The two of you were dating, quietly and unannounced, but in those first few stages of just wanting to be glued to one another it was a little difficult to do said glueing.
On a few occasions with prying eyes preoccupied with their investigating, you had reached over to rub his cheek, his sleepy eyes spoke greatly of how tired he felt. Donnie had been at this already for a while, you’d been there with him along the way.
With a stretch of his arms, Donnie yawned and rolled his neck. The clock on your phone read 3:45am, he was due for a nap at the very least. “Why don’t you lie down, I can keep helping out here” You reached over again and took off his glasses, he smiled tiredly but shook his head. “I’m fine, I can keep going” Despite his entire body language screaming otherwise, Donnie would always soldier on.
By the time another hour passed, people consumed enough Coffee to give themselves an additional pulse (and somebody committed the mistake of giving Mikey said coffee) the investigation had died down. A few walls were hit but a few leads had come from it as well. Everyone was ready to call it a night (or morning).
Casey yawned, twisting his neck to let out a few pops. “Okay who’s staying and who’s coming with me?” By the sounds of April softly snoring against an equally happily snoring Raph, it seemed she would stay. Casey had a few hours of sleep to catch on before heading for his next shift and you had to preoccupy yourself with the same before tackling a night shift at your job. Donnie’s tired eyes expressed how he wanted you to stay over but he knew work was closer to your place.
“I guess I’m carpooling with you” You told Casey, already grabbing your jacket and bag. A quick hug to Leo and Mikey, a bow to a recently awaken Splinter and you were next to Donnie.
He’d been sitting on the kitchen table, arms crossed and looking closer to being k.o’d.
It was the sleep deprivation honestly, on both your behalves.
Because you had spread your arms for a hug and so had he, but your face had met in the middle and before either of your foggy brains could comprehend what was happening you had smooched him.
On the lips.
For about a minute.
Minute and a half honestly.
You both froze, the awake members of the family staring with raised brows. Donnie furrowed his brows, lips pursed in a thin line, you still had your own in a kissing motion.
“Well at least we solved one mystery tonight” Spoke Mikey with a snicker, Leo nudged him.
Donnie sighed by shrugged. “Not exactly how I wanted to announce this so yup, I’m her boyfriend, she’s my girlfriend, please hold all inquires for a later time when I’m actually awake” He pulled you in again for a hug, and another kiss (greedy boy) and instructed Casey to deliver you home safely.
With a blush but albeit happy look on your face you waved everyone off.
___________
Leonardo
Keeping a relationship quiet had never proven to be so difficult. Truthfully it came easier when the circle of people surrounding you was bigger, but a close knit one? Everyone suddenly had the powers of observation up to God level.
But Leo’s ninja skills were God level too and you knew how to keep your trap shut and not sigh like a love struck teenager every second you saw him. So it had gone good, real good for a while. The thrill of maybe sharing an intimate kiss while others we’re around was a sensation you never expected to enjoy. When it was time to leave, Leo would ‘walk you’ home safely and by ‘miracle’ run into a few thugs on his way back.
Because there’s no reason a brisk ten minute walk to your apartment should turn into an hour and a half.
Raph wasn’t buying but cared little to stick his nose into it. Donnie was too busy to bother. Mikey had an idea but decided due to bro code not to voice it.
His father though?
Splinter knows what’s going on because well, he’s Splinter. You live long enough with four giant sons all with their unique personalities and traits, you pick up a thing or two about parenting pretty easily.
And Splinter is a phenomenal parent.
Both Father and Mother to his sons.
So naturally he’s irked that his eldest is sneaking out at odd hours and trying to conceal his return. Because Splinter feels that out of all four, Leo has always been the most open with him. Once Raph hit those pre-pubescent mood swings, Donnie began to teach himself all matter of subjects and Mikey was too busy trying to set a new record of heart attacks to give his father while skateboarding; Leo always remained the same.
Even with all the acolytes Leo has achieved in his ninjutsu training, he still had his hiccups and his father would never spare the opportunity to turn into a teaching moment.
So when Leo had kissed you passionately on his way out of your window, you still in nothing but the skin that he had dedicated a fair amount of time in kissing and bitting. He thought he was being slick, he thought he was going to ninja his way into the Lair, into the showers and straight to his bed.
What he didn’t account for was his father waiting up on him. A mug of hot tea on the kitchen table and hands clasps together in what Leo recognized all to well as ‘Dad Mode’.
He’d been caught with the proverbial hand in the cookie jar. His gear was half hazardously on, mask slipped down around his neck and for Christ sake he was holding a shoe. It was 6:30am and he smelled like a girl, a pretty girl no less. The jig was up, especially when his dad motioned for him to come forth and seat opposite him at the kitchen table.
“Dad I can ex-“ Splinter held up a finger and pushed the mug of tea towards his disheveled eldest son.
“My son, I am not angry” Which was truthful, he wasn’t, in fact he was ecstatic that Leo had found somebody, somebody good and somebody that loved him for he has. Long ago he had accepted the pain that his sons would not find suitable partners and the ache it would come with for them. But here was Leo, nervous and trying to adjust his clothing because he’d been with a woman, a woman he clearly loved.
“I like y/n, she is kind, thoughtful and caring to us” Splinter emphasized each trait with a tap of a long nail on the table. “She should be treated with respect, I hope I have instilled that teaching unto you, a lady is to be respected Leonardo” Leo nodded at his fathers words, he nodded and prayed that the underwear he had stuffed into his pockets wouldn’t magically transport on the table to further humiliate him.
“So please my son, do not lie to me, do not come home late in this state and not expect me to know what has transpired” Dad voice was on, coupled with the sympathetic eyes though, man Splinter was good at this shit.
Leo hung his head, clearly ashamed of his dishonorable doings. “Hai, sensei” Even as an adult being scolded by his father never stopped hurting.
“And please do tell her that there isn’t anything hide, she is welcomed in our home, I would not mind getting to know my future daughter in law a little bit more” Splinter enjoyed the way his son nearly choked on his tea.
“Perhaps I can tell her a few anecdotes of your growing up” He smiled when Leo looked at him with pleading eyes. “I believe I have a few embarrassing ones she will find most delightful” He stood up and placed a hand on his sons broad shoulder. “I’m sorry dad, sorry for sneaking around and not telling you” He was earnest in his words and Splinter bowed his head.
“I know, thank you Leonardo” He walked away, hands behind his back.
Leo sighed and pulled out his phone, shooting you a quick text.
-so my dad wants to formally meet you... as in introduce you as my girlfriend.
+ summary: Yuuji takes notice that you slept in his sweatshirt. In which leads into a conversation about your future, and talking about your past as well.
Word count: 1.7k
Genre: fluff
Warning: hornee Yuuji
“___, you won’t believe what this cursed- Shit you are sleep,” Yuuji said putting up his hands feeling guilty. He switched to whispering. “Sorry, Babe.” He placed his hand on your head gracefully stroking your hair.
“She looks delicious to eat,” Sukuna said mouth appear on Yuuji’s palm licking the hair under his hand.
Yuuji slaps his hand to his face. “I thought I told you to never do that to her.” He growled.
“Too bad though she smells like you.”
“Just ignoring me fine. What do you mean she smells like me? She always smells fresh like a clean spring day, refreshing.” Yuuji smiled.
“Maybe because she is wearing that gross yellow sweatshirt of yours and smells like your old spice. I have to live with it every day for the rest of my life.”
Yuuji stopped listening to the demon living inside of him and looked at his beloved girlfriend wearing his yellow sweatshirt, that desperately needed to be washed.
He smirked. He got up from crouching and took off his uniform. Slipping into bed behind you wrapping his arms lightly.
You wiggled up against him. He groaned when you did that but he suppressed that thought letting his chin rest on your head.
“No talking for the rest of the night you. She needs her beauty rest.”
“You can say that again.”
As much as Yuuji wanted to fight Sukuna for even muttering another word, he didn’t want to go wake his sleeping angel.
There were only four things that woke up Yuuji. 1) the bright sunlight pouring into his room when he forgot to roll his shades down. 2) Nobara when they need to go on a mission. 3) a wet dream. 4) the smell of food being prepared.
This morning it was the smell of breakfast. He could smell the eggs and sausage being cooked on the small hot plate. He sat upon his bed, fixing his pillows. He found himself staring at you in all your glory still wearing his sweatshirt. He let his eyes stop at your ass and his head fall to the side as he leered your round cheeks peeking out of the grey sweat-shorts.
“Morning Yuuji.” You said without turning around.
“Morn’ baby.” He said in a gravelly morning voice.
You turned your head slightly to say, “breakfast will be ready in minutes.”
“Thank you, baby.” He chuckled as he putting arms behind his head. “Do we have any syrup?”
“Yuuji you think I don’t already have it out for you?” You said to point your spatula towards his bed tray with a bottle of syrup already on it and a small glass of apple juice.
Now you were putting the food on his plate. Turning around with the tray in hand which was set up beautifully, his silverware wrapped in a napkin, his apple juice had a straw in it, a bottle of maple syrup to drown his eggs and sausages in, and a small vase with some wildflowers that grew on the jujutsu tech property.
You did this every time he came back from a long mission.
It was your way of telling him you love him, happy that he was safe and thankful for him.
“Thank you, angel.” He said picking up your hand and kissing it.
“How was the mission?” You asked.
“It was fine. The cursed spirit was weird looking. It was yellow, this was the first yellow cursed spirit I have seen. It looked like a Picasso painting."
You nodded understanding his description. You have only seen them briefly in high intense situations but you don't see them as frequently as your friends.
"It is not like I look forward to them. We are just doing a job and trying to find the fingers as well.”
He started to shove more food into his mouth syrup dripped down onto his chest. “You want to clean this up?” He asked in a flirty tone.
You only rolled your eyes picking up the napkin wiping his chest.
“Worth a shot right?”
“You know I love when you are overly flirty.”
He laughed. “I love it when you wear my clothes.”
“Oh, you noticed?”
"Of course I noticed, I notice everything about you." He said playing with your fingers resting on his leg.
“You even smell like the rat. That god awful old spice body wash and body deodorant.” Sukuna chided into the conversation.
“Stay out of this Sukuna.” You said picking up a sausage sticking it in the demon’s mouth. The demon willing took the sausage and chewed on it.
“You looked so cute last night,” Yuuji said. “I wanted to wake you up and tell you how pretty you look.”
He put his hand on your cheek as you rested against it. “I just can’t see myself ever living without you.” You said.
“Hey don’t think that way. I’m always going to be here. I need you to know that.”
“Yuuji…”
“___ baby, if I weren’t a jujutsu student we would’ve never met.”
That was true. You were Mei Mei’s niece. No clue how it was possible but your parents were both sorcerers and passed away at young age doing their job. Mei Mei became your parent. She never stayed in one place because of her job. You never developed curse energy. Mei Mei was thankful for that. Jujutsu Tech offered you, board. In return, you helped around the grounds.
You remembered the day you met Yuuji.
He and Fushiguro were hanging out by the open concrete archways. He had been sipping an apple juice pouch overly petting Fushiguro’s demon dog. You had been tending to the garden when the carton of apple juice had landed into the bush. You picked up the pouch and stomped over into their direction.
“New blood?” You asked Fushiguro.
“____ this is Yuuji Itadori. Sukuna’s vessel.”
“Yeah, idiot Satoru mentioned it in passing. He never gives the full explanation.” You said grunting.
Itadori was sitting there starring at you during a brief conversation with Fushiguro, finally speaking up when there was a small silence. “That is the most I have ever heard him talk.”
You laughed a little bit. You smiled turning towards him, “Itadori is it?” He nodded. “Keep your trash in the trash bin or live to regret it.” You walked away.
“Who is she?” He asked Fushiguro.
“Thats ____, ___. She is a sorcerer's niece. Her parents were sorcerers. She was raised here for the most part. I’ve known her for a long time. She doesn’t have cursed energy she is normal. But Gojo did teach her how to fight. Be afraid.”
It wasn’t long after that he “passed away” but you were cleaning some of the rooms and you heard a movie playing and walked in and saw Itadori sitting there sipping on his 4 can of soda holding a stuffed bear by its head.
“Itadori? How? I thought—you should be dead.”
“Trust me I don’t understand it either. But no one can know. A small number of people know.”
“So I can’t tell anyone?”
“Exactly.” He said with a thumbs up. And then the stuffed bear knocked him in the face.
You laughed so hard that your insides started to hurt.
Itadori pulled the stuffed bear off of him and got it to calm it down to sleep. He started staring at you again. He started laughing too.
“You want to watch movies with me?” He asked.
“Sure.” You said sitting down and eating some of the chips and drink what was left of Itadori’s soda. “Sorry about that. I haven’t really eaten anything today.”
‘Inadvertent kiss.’ He thought for a minute looking at you in the eyes making an awkward silence in the air. “Uh..yeah it’s fine. What do you want to watch?” He gestured to a stack of DVDs.
You scanned the titles. “Let’s watch Scream.” You said holding up the case.
“Really a horror movie?”
“You fight curse spirits every other day. This is nothing.”
“I just don’t want you getting scared.”
“Pfft.” You said.
You hated to admit it but Itadori was right you did get scared. Only when it was gross. You shoved your face into a pillow.
“You can come over here if you want.” He said looking away from the tv and your direction in general. You moved over closer to him. Over time while watching the movie he put his arm across the back of the couch slightly touching your shoulders.
When the credits started rolling you said. “Itadori if you wanted to ask me out or kiss me you could have.”
“What?”
“Never mind then.” You sighed.
“No no no…I do want to ask you out just didn’t think you would say yes.”
“You don’t think highly of yourself?”
“…I don’t usually have any luck with the ladies.” He said rubbing his head.
“Consider this lady impressed by you.” You giggled.
Itadori leaned down and kissed your cheek.
“You missed.”
“What do you mean I missed?”
You turned your head to him and straddled his lap. “I mean you missed.” You kissed him on the lips.
He was a little stunned by your boldness. He wasn’t sure what to do at first. But soon he melted into the kiss soon putting his hands on your waist.
You pulled away.
“So are you my girlfriend?”
You rolled your eyes. “Of course dumbo.”
Now you were here laying in his bed holding onto him to dear life. Tears were rolling down your cheeks and you were sniffling.
“Angel it will be ok. I can handle myself. You have seen me fight.”
“Yuuji I know that. It’s just the ending…”
“That’s a long time away.”
“Yuuji it’s going to happen. I don’t know what I will do if it happens. Yuuji if you fully turn into Sukuna I might try and save you from our friends.”
“___…”
“Yuuji it’s you. If there was a chance I could save you….” You couldn’t even finish the thought your face started to crumble.
He picked up your face. “___ I understand if it were you I would fight off everyone any way I can.” He pressed a kiss to your forehead. “I promise everything will be ok. We will be ok.”
You nodded your head in his hands.
“Come on little lady let’s watch a movie together.” He pulled you closer to him.
“Scream?” You asked.
“Oh yeah definitely Scream.” He chuckled. Putting the movie on. “I love you ___.”
“I love you Yuuji.” You pecked his lips. He squeezed you in returned.
Description: Spencer and the girl he met at the library go out for coffee.
Rating: Teen
Warnings: None for this one.
Spencer didn't want to seem too enthusiastic, so he actually waited until Saturday to call her to ask her out for coffee the next day.
"I hope I didn't interrupt anything," he said.
"Nope. Just a little take home work."
"Ah. So you're off this weekend but not really off this weekend."
"That's me pretty much every weekend. I, uh, I direct a local youth center and I pretty much have paperwork I have to complete even when I'm off.
"Oh, you like working with kids?"
"Yeah, it's great. It's important for kids to have adult role models, so I tried to create a safe but fun environment for kids to come to if they want to hang out."
"That sounds great."
He gave her his address so she could drive to his apartment building the next day and when she did he asked if it was okay if they walked to the place since it wasn't that far.
She seemed taken aback but she also didn't seem to mind it, which was good. He kept about a foot apart from her as they were walking and she didn't seem to mind that either. It wasn't awkward or anything and they kept up a steady flow of conversation. Mostly he just asked about her.
He started out with "So, when did you decide you wanted to manage a youth center?"
"Well, I originally went to school to study English Literature and get a degree in education. Then I studied the education field and realized I didn't really like the politics behind the public-school system and decided against becoming a teacher. I then changed my focus to child development and psychology and . . . well, I work full-time as a guidance counselor, but I also work at the youth center. It's my baby. I handle all the decision-making, but I have friends that help out with the kids, so I know I can trust the people working with them. My work schedule is great because most of the kids don't show up until after school anyway."
"Wow. You must stay busy."
"It's a little less hectic in the summer," she said. "But I like it."
"What made you decide to want to work with kids?"
"Honestly? Mostly because I wish I'd had a place to go when I was a kid. I was so lost during my teenage years, I wish I'd had someone to help guide me along, help me figure myself out. I waited so long to go to college because I didn't know what I wanted to do, and then wasted my time with the education degree. I wish I'd had someone to help me find my focus. You know?"
When they made it to the coffee shop, they paused their conversation so they could order. It wasn't a date, so they paid separately. Spencer noticed she ordered a medium French Vanilla cappuccino with extra creamer. She noticed he used a lot of sugar in his coffee, but she didn't say anything about it. She just widened her eyes and let out a huff of laughter.
"I love the boost from the caffeine, but I don't like the bitterness of straight black coffee."
"Oh." She nodded and then allowed him to lead her to a small round table near the window of the shop.
"So, uh, what do you do?" she asked as they found a table and sat down. "You already know what I do, so it's only fair."
"I work with the BAU, a division of the FBI that helps profile criminals."
He kept it vague on purpose. He didn't want to risk freaking her out when she was just getting to know him.
"Do you like it?"
"My job is important to me," he admitted. "While I'm not particularly glad that people have to be hurt for me to have a job, it is an interesting one. I can't really see myself doing anything else."
"Hm. Are you – are you profiling me right now?"
"Oh, yeah. You're definitely a weirdo."
"Hey!" She smiled brightly, so he knew she knew he had been joking. "I mean, you're not wrong, but I'm weird in a good way."
Spencer bit his cheek to keep from grinning. "Weird is okay. But, for future reference, I try not to profile random people I meet or my friends. It can end badly."
"Oh, well, that's good to know." She took a sip of her drink, closed her eyes, and sighed with content.
"Good?"
"Great," she corrected. She settled more comfortably into the seat and said, "So . . . what made you want to work with the FBI?"
"Well, that wasn't actually my original profession of choice. I, uh . . . I have in engineering, mathematics, and chemistry."
She stared at him for a minute, just blinking, before shaking her head to snap herself out of it.
"Are you – are you in any way joking?"
"Nope."
"Wow. Uh . . . You . . . you look so young to have that many."
"I graduated high school when I was twelve."
Surprisingly she just went along with it. "That'll do it. At least you're not like a fifty-year old who looks thirty. That would've made this coffee date thing really awkward for me."
Spencer felt his shoulders relax and he let himself smile just a bit.
"You . . . you didn't answer my question, though."
"Right. It was mostly by accident. I went to a lecture and heard someone speak about the BAU and I found it interesting. After that I focused on getting degrees in psychology and sociology. I want one in philosophy just because it sounds fun."
"I like studying different philosophies and religions," she said. "It, uh . . . it helps me keep an open mind about a lot of different things. I work with a group of very diverse kids, ethnically, spiritually. It helps me relate to them when I know where they're coming from."
"I think that's great . . . that you would take the time to learn where they're coming from and not just assuming you know just because you're an adult."
"Yeah, that always got on my nerves when I was a kid. I don't wanna be like that."
She took another sip of her drink before grinning. "You wanna play a game?"
"Games can be fun."
"Okay, so . . . how about twenty questions, just so we can get to know each other better. Considering we've only known each other since yesterday, we should keep them light and not too personal, yeah?"
"Okay. How about we each only do ten, though. We could be here all day. I, uh, tend to talk a lot. And to make it so we don't ask anything too personal, we both have to answer each question. It'll keep us from asking anything we don't want to answer ourselves."
"That works."
"Well, ladies first," he said.
He noticed as her cheeks turned pink, but she still went first anyway.
"Okay, starting out simple. Favorite color?"
"Purple. If we see more of each other, you'll learn I wear it a lot."
"Mine is blue, in general, but I tend to wear darker colors."
"Favorite book?" Spencer took his turn.
"Oh, gosh, that should be off limits. I read too much to have a favorite. I can tell you growing up it was probably Harry Potter, but that's probably true for most people who like fantasy."
"That's fair. I have an affinity for old English literature, but that's because my mom would read it to me when I was growing up. She taught English at a university. My personal favorite is science fiction, though. Your turn."
"Where did you grow up?"
"Las Vegas."
"Okay, I wasn't expecting that." She shrugged. "I've lived in Virginia all my life. I'm originally from a town about an hour and a half from here."
"Favorite TV show?"
"Supernatural, probably, but The Flash comes in close second."
"Mine is probably Doctor Who, but Star Trek is great too."
She made a weird face at him. "I have to confess I've never really seen either of those."
"What?" He acted scandalized. "That's – that's – you've been deprived of great TV."
"Well, okay, I've seen bits and pieces and I was kind of lost in Star Trek, and I've only seen a few of the Doctor Who episodes where David Tennant was in it. I mean, I wouldn't mind watching either of them, just nobody else that I know is into it and I don't like binge watching a show by myself."
"Oh. Understandable." He took a deep breath and bit his lip before continuing. "Well . . . not to be too forward, but you know someone who's into those things now."
She gave him a look that asked if he was saying what she thought he was saying and he grinned.
"My work schedule can be crazy, but I would love to introduce you to the greatness of Star Trek and Doctor Who when I have time off. Uh, with the work I do I have to travel a lot, so . . ."
"Oh. Right. Well, ya know, maybe like a couple episodes every time you're home. You might have to explain some of the science stuff from Star Trek."
His bright grin softened and he said, "I think I'd really like that."
By the time they were done with their coffee, they both knew more about the other and they were already planning on seeing each other again some time in the future. Spencer found out that her library days were usually reserved for Fridays after five. She liked having time to scan the stacks and if she did it on other days, she usually felt rushed. He figured she'd given him that information simply to let him know that she was open to him meeting her there on any given Friday without even letting her know beforehand.
They walked back to his apartment building. He didn't invite her inside, but she didn't seem to expect him to. She didn't seem offended at all. In fact she just smiled at him and asked if she was allowed to call him as well. She didn't want to risk interrupting him in the middle of a case.
"If I don't answer, that'll be why. But if you leave a message, I'll call you back as soon as I can."
Nuka-World trailer featuring DLC cover art by John Gravato.
It has been a while since I have had the time to post and I wanted to get something up about Nuka-World. Rather than hit all of the details in a bunch of smaller Nuka-World posts I decided I would cover as much as I could in one overview post. While re-watching the trailer recently, I was reminded of just how many different aspects of that DLC I got to work on as the art lead. Highlighting my work from the trailer felt like a good way to run through my efforts, so take a look at the trailer linked above and then read on below.
Nuka-World screenshot I created for marketing.
My general responsibilities began with creating the pitch for the DLC. The two design leads, Justin Schram and Alan Nanes, and I started developing a series of ideas for the DLC. After one false start, we came in with a stack of new ideas as one-sheets and started the pitch meeting with what was then called “Raiders and Rides” as a working title. Todd accepted it before even hearing the other ones. I was very happy about this as it was my favorite pitch of the group.
Nuka-World screenshot I created for marketing.
As the art lead for the project I was responsible for overseeing all things art-related; art direction, pipeline, etc. Since this was a DLC for Fallout 4, much of the core art direction was established by Istvan Pele, the art director on the base game. My job for the DLC was to create a reason for players to want to come back to the game for more. I also wanted to test some of my ideas for improvements to the pipelines and the smaller scale of a DLC was a great place for that. More than anything I wanted to use my additional influence on the DLC to give the players loads of memorable fun and value for their money.
My Nuka-World key art based on the original Fallout 4 key art.
One of the first things I did once the plan was greenlit was to create the key art. I used it in all of my slides for internal and external presentations and to set the initial tone and pillars of the DLC for the team. More detailed post on the key art here.
My original Bottle & Cappy slide art turned into Nuka-World coffee mug art.
A key contrast built into the DLC from the start was the mix of horrible, violent, raider gangs with the fun, lighthearted, theme park. To add that contrast into my slides I created a closing slide featuring who I imagined the park mascots to be. Bottle & Cappy were born as a way to incorporate a fun note as my closing slide. As the DLC progressed it became clear we needed to use them in the park and then in the marketing. Post DLC they have joined the permanent Fallout lore in other titles and in merchandising.
Nuka-World screenshot I created for marketing.
As the first artist on the project, I started by sketching key broad strokes of the DLC into the engine to guide the art team toward my vision. I added in the first-pass landscape and weather to get the environment feeling like I wanted. Then I started blocking in key landmarks of the park in grey boxed art to get the layout started. I added sub leads for the park environment art (Jason Muck) and the landscape (Andrew Barron). To help build enough new geometry to fill the park, I prototyped some park assets using the color remapping I developed for the base game. This workflow would allow faster park asset creation allowing us to build a larger environment with a smaller team.
Nuka-World screenshot I created for marketing.
Once the environment team was going I shifted focus to characters, creatures, and weapons. I knew they going to take much more hands-on work from me duse to the small team size. We had one character artist (Charles Kim) and one weapon artist (Dane Olds) in house. Concept art and the bulk of the non-environment art was planned to be outsourced. Raiders were the main focus for the DLC and I knew they would take up the majority of the resources. Inspite of that limitation I also wanted to get the players as many new creatures as I could. I came up with a list of easy but dramatic creature ideas to test to maximize reuse but feel new to the player. I did fast "proof of concept" tests for each idea to determine which ideas would work in-game. I repeated this same pattern to fill out the weapon list with cheap and fun additions at a minimal cost.
Nuka-World screenshot I created for marketing.
The raider gangs were the main feature of the DLC but due to the volume of work they required, and our lack of staff in those departments, the decision was made to outsource all of the raider concepts and the models. I knew outsourcing the concepts was going to be tricky since the outsourcing group was in China but I had no other option. I supplied lots of ref and photo bashed some quick collages to get something for them to start with besides a written description. This method yielded a few good designs but nothing good enough to move forward with alone. Luckily for me, John Gravato (concept artist) stepped up and took on wrangling some of the design revisions and additions in his spare time. Ray Leder (concept artist) also knocked out a few additional helmet designs. Leveraging their stellar support and iterating with the team in China I was able to arrive at the armor sets that defined the three raider gangs and could combine for massive variety for the player.
My trailer directorial debut: the Nuka-World E3 teaser.
For this DLC, in particular, Todd's plan for us was to market it like a full game. This meant we would work with marketing on screens, a teaser, a trailer, a theme song, a Bottle & Cappy trailer (similar to the SPECIAL videos for the base game), and a physical park map. The Bottle & Cappy trailer was handled by an outside vendor which took most of the load off of us except for lite direction and feedback. The rest was up to myself and a handful of people on the team. Animator Neal Thibodeaux did a lot of the heavy lifting on both the teaser and the trailer which were both made in the engine. Artist Natalia Smirnova created the logos and artwork for the map and we worked very hard to make it accurate to the park and have that authentic theme park map feel. Not only were we going to use it to guide people around the park in-game, we were also putting a physical version in Game Stop as a preorder bonus.
Bottle & Cappy trailer.
Nuka-World park map pre-order bonus.
One of the things that got me the leadership role on the DLC was my history of adding all kinds of content to the game in addition to my role as a VFX artist. I don't like it when a good idea dies from a lack of resource time. Over the years I have learned all of the workflows in our engine to find clever ways to make my ideas come to life without additional help. This often includes sourcing existing art for kitbashing new work from in order to save time. Unfortunately, this is the kind of work that has often proven hard to teach and or delegate. Having the lead role allowed me to incorporate it more than ever before into our pipelines, but throughout the DLC I still had to do a lot of the work myself.
Below is a breakdown of all of my work in the trailer which turns out to be a good cross-section of all of the additional things I did on the DLC.
00:02 Direction and feedback for outsourced Bottle & Cappy video.
00:15 Unique models and editor setup for Nukatron.
Flipbook port of B&C video for in-game Nukatron and Nuka-Cola machines.
00:20 Water VFX for the landscape.
Art direction for the five themed areas of the park.
00:23 Ported mannequin models to animatronics and animated them. Created all Nuka-World mannequin outfits as texture swaps or new meshes.
00:24 Set dressed and captured trailer footage in-game.
00:26 Developed efficient color remapping pipeline (CRP) for the fast creation of park assets.
I built fake western mountain rocks for themed park area.
00:28 Created a quantum variant for all 6 Mirelurk creature types.
Created the water and VFX for the Quantum river.
00:30 Concepted and built the armor for Porter Gage the main companion for the DLC.
Modeled and posed Bottle& Cappy park sculptures (using CRP).
Built the Fizztop Mountain asset for the main landmark for the park (using CRP).
00:40 Technical assistance on execution of the intro train ride.
00:42 Created park color guide and prototype weathers for DLC color direction.
00:43 Concepted and built Nuka bottle Protectron (using CRP).
00:45 Art direction for park map and then execution of in-game navigation via map kiosks.
00:48 Created all of the painted feral ghoul DLC variants.
00:51 Created the Gatorclaw death claw variant model.
Created a Nuka-World specific lunch box player prize system from my lunch box system in the base game.
00:52 Created the Brhamaliff models.
Planned a high-level melee tree with art assets to supplement a limitation of the base game.
00:56 Created the unique robot meshes for Nuka Spray Mr. Handy
00:57 Designed the damage structure for weaponized Nuka-Cola flavors.
00:58 Created all of the western clothing meshes.
01:00 Prototyped the original sandworm concept in-game to test viability.
Created the Sandworm VFX.
Trained the character artist in kitbash modeling to add Acid Soaker.
Created all of the VFX for the acid soaker.
01:03 Art directed the raider factions.
Designed all clothing as armor/under armor for maximum mix and match.
Cleaned up all outsourced outfit meshes for maximum compatibility within the armor system.
01:04 Created all texture variants for raider underclothes.
Brought the slave collar from Fallout 3 and rebuilt for Nuka-World with power on/off functionality.
01:07 Added motion to some Bottle & Cappy statues.
01:09 Designed trash pile loot system to add the feel of overflowing trash at a theme park and add a new loot system to the park.
01:13 Concept and design for paddleball weapons and mods. (see other post)
01:18 Art direction for raider gangs.
01:19 Ported alien mesh to animatronic enemy for the park.
Revised the Fallout 3 alien blaster as playable weapon (not shipped).
01:20 Built the Overboss bumper car power armor.
Worked with design to create the plan for the opening boss fight with squirt gun mechanic (see other post).
Built all of the electric VFX for the boss fight.
01:21 Original concept for spider cricket hopper enemy.
01:17 Tuxedo mesh for Kiddie Kingdom boss ghoul.
01:23 Flying swarm as a single enemy proof of concept.
All ant variant meshes.
01:28 Shot this shot setup and set dressing for the teaser.
01:33 Original Bottle & Cappy idea and concept painting.
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