#<- i’ll fix the tag formatting later when i’m at my computer

[fabesy-arts]

chat is this real

[idrellegames]

So I had a coding question that I've been trying to find the answer for, for a while. I've tried searching up information online and such but haven't been able to find anything.

I was wondering though how exactly someone would go about creating a main menu screen with the whole being able to create a new game, load one or change the settings? Like I said I've tried searching it up but haven't been able to find anything except for information on creating a transition screen.

You’re going to need an understanding of CSS for this, but I’ll do my best to walk you through it, alongside some basic functions of the UIBar and UI APIs. Also, like pretty much anything to do with coding, there is more than one way to do something (and there may be a more efficient/effective way than mine).

Like all of my tutorials, this is written for SugarCube 2.34.1. Since this one mainly deals with CSS, I’m sure you could adapt it to another format, but I’m not familiar enough with Harlowe, Snowman and Chapbook to add specifics.

Additionally, I use the Twine 2 editor version 2.2.1. This tutorial can be used with later versions; some of my example images may look not look exactly like what you have because later versions of the editor launch test files in your default browser (the 2.2.1 version creates its own mini-browser).

Making a Main Menu Page

Step 1: Hiding the UI Bar

If you want a clear main menu page without the UI bar, you can hide it in several ways.

<<run UIBar.destroy();>>

This will remove the UI bar completely from your game. Not recommended unless you have an alternative way of adding access to the Save, Settings and Restart functions.

<<run UIBar.stow();>>

This stows the UI bar. It will still be partially visible on the side and the player can interact with it to open it. The UI bar can be unstowed manually (without needing the player to do it themselves) on the next passage with:

<<run UIBar.unstow();>>

If you don’t want the UI bar to show up on your main menu, but you want to have access to it later, you can use:

<<run UIBar.hide();>>

To bring it back, you will have to use the following on the passage where you want the player to have access to it.

<<UIBar.show();>>

You may want to use the stow/hide and unstow/show functions together. Hiding the UI bar only makes it invisible; it will still take up space on the left-hand side of your game. Stowing and hiding it makes it a little more even.

To use them together, you can do this:

On the passage you don’t want the UI bar:

<<run UIBar.stow();>><<run UIBar.hide();>>

On the passage you where you want to restore the UI bar:

<<run UIBar.unstow();>><<run UIBar.show();>>

TIP 1: Using <<run UIBar.stow (true)>> gets rid of the slide animation as the UI bar collapses/restores, so you may want to use this so you don’t have any weird animations when you menu passage loads.

TIP 2: If you main menu is the first passage of your game, you can run the scripts for storing and hiding the UI bar in your StoryInit passage and it will run it when your game loads.

TIP 3: You can also use the Config API to have the menu bar be stowed automatically when your game starts.

Pop this code into your Javascript:

Config.ui.stowBarInitially = true;

However, if you have any links that navigate back to the main menu without restarting the game, the UI bar will be in whatever state the player left it in last. If you can only access the main menu by launching the game or hitting restart, don't worry about this.

If you want to double-check the SugarCube documentation for these functions, see here.

Step 2: Tagged Stylesheets

If you want to create a menu page that has a different appearance to your game’s default look, you can do so by using a tagged stylesheets. When using a tagged stylesheet, every passage with the same tag will have its appearance overridden to match what you’ve adjusted in your Story Stylesheet.

Let’s make one called main-menu. You can tag passages like so:

You can also tag the passage a different colour to make it special passages like this one stand out.

Step 3: Adding CSS

Now that the passage is tagged, you need to add a new CSS class to your stylesheet to change its appearance.

To change the appearance, you need to decide which selectors to target and what about them you want to change. Every default SugarCube game has the same set of selectors (you can find them here in the documentation). The most important ones are:

body – the body of the page. You can use this to change the foreground and background colours.

.passages – the element that contains your game’s main text. This is where you can change things like the colour that displays behind your game’s text, the font family, line height, letter spacing, all that stuff.

For the sake of this example, I am going to use the default SugarCube stylesheet and edit it from the ground up. You can find the code for SugarCube’s built-in stylesheets here.

In your stylesheet, you will want to use the tag you created earlier as the new class name.

.main-menu

Put this with the selectors you are going to change.

Let’s start with the body.

body.main-menu { color: #fff; background-color: #000; overflow: auto; }

The color property controls the colour of the font. Here I’ve set it to the hex code #fff and the background-color #000.

So now I have a black page when I start the main menu passage, and thanks to the code for the UI bar I put in earlier, the UI bar is gone.

Adding a Background

Now, we might want to spice up the background with an image to make it more interesting.

To add an image to the background, you need to use the background-image property.

body.main-menu { color: #fff; background-color: #000; background-image: url("images/main-menu.jpg"); background-attachment: fixed; background-repeat: no-repeat; background-size: cover; -webkit-background-size: cover; -moz-background-size: cover; -o-background-size: cover; background-position: center center; overflow: auto; }

You can read more about the different background properties and what they do here on W3Schools, but the code above will center your background image in the middle of the page and also make sure that it covers the entire container.

IMPORTANT: If you intend to upload your game as a ZIP file containing a .index HTML file (this is recommended if you have a lot of image assets or don’t want to link to an outside host, like imgur), you will need to use relative paths with any image URLs in your game.

Relative paths mean that the file is relative to the directory it’s in. In the example above, you can see that the background URL is "images/main-menu.jpg". This means that when the file is uploaded to itch.io, it will find the file—main-menu.jpg—inside the images folder, regardless of where the images folder is located.

For reference, this is what my game assets folder looks like for Wayfarer:

Relative paths are different than an absolute path, which begins with the drive letter. For example, the main-menu.png may be stored on my personal computer in a path like this one: C:/game/images/main-menu.jpg.

If I use this absolute path in the game, the image asset will not show up for players once it’s uploaded to itch because the image is not hosted on the player’s device in C:/game/images/main-menu.jpg.

This can cause some finnicky issues with the Twine 2 editor because the editor cannot find and display images from relative paths (unless you’ve put the editor in the same directory as the one you’re storing your assets in; I haven’t bothered to try this, so I’m not sure).

While working on your game in the Twine editor, you may need to use an absolute path to see what your asset looks like while you're editing. When it comes time to publish, make sure you switch it back to a relative path, otherwise the image will not load for players.

Step 4: Adding & Styling Links

Now that we have a background, we’ll want to tackle the links themselves.

Adding Links

You can link to the starting passage of your game using your preferred method—the [[ ]] link markup, the <<link>> macro, etc.

But for Saves and Settings (and also a Resume Game link, if you’re using the autosave feature), you’ll need to manually call the functions for accessing those dialogs. You can do that with this code here:

This will add a Load Game link that opens the Saves dialog when clicked.

<<link 'LOAD GAME'>><<run UI.saves();>><</link>>

This will add a Settings link that opens the Settings dialog when clicked.

<<link 'SETTINGS'>><<run UI.settings();>><</link>>

This will add a Resume Game link that loads the player’s last autosave.

<<link 'RESUME GAME'>><<run Save.autosave.load()>><</link>>

TIP: To enable autosaves on your game, add this code to your Story Javascript:

Config.saves.autosave = true;

This will autosave on every passage.

Config.saves.autosave = ["bookmark", "autosave"];

This will autosave on passages tagged bookmark or autosave.

Styling Your Game Title & Links

So this is where you can get get fancy with your CSS. For now, we’re going to keep everything within the .passage element (which is where any text inputting into the editor goes), but I will show you how to move the links and title to wherever you want further down.

Importing Fonts

First, go font shopping.

Google fonts has a very large library of free-to-use fonts that you can import directly into your game via your Story Stylesheet. After you browser Google fonts for the fonts you want to use, scroll down to the Use on Web section and click @import. Google will automatically generate the code you need to import the fonts you want to use.

Ignore the <style> </style> and copy everything else inside it and paste it in the top of your Story Stylesheet.

For this example, mine looks like this:

@import url('https://fonts.googleapis.com/css2?family=Almendra+Display&family=Nova+Cut&display=swap');

TIP: If you are importing fonts that a bold weight and italics available and intend to use bold and italics, make sure you import the bold weight and the italic versions of the font as well as the regular one. This will stop your fonts from having weird printing issues when you use bold and italics (especially on non-Chromium browsers like Firefox).

Below the import button, Google will show you the CSS rules for each font family. Keep these in mind, you’ll need them later. Mine, for this example, are like this:

font-family: 'Almendra Display', cursive; font-family: 'Nova Cut', cursive;

Basic Styling

In your stylesheet, you’ll want to target the .passage element with the .main-menu class.

.passage.main-menu { background-color: transparent; font-family: 'Nova Cut', cursive; font-size: 3.5em; text-align: center; }

Make sure there isn’t a space between .passage and .main-menu, otherwise it won’t work!

Here, I’ve changed a few properties.

font-family – this changes the font to Nova Cut

font-size – this changes the font size. I’ve used the unit em, which is relative to the element size (you can read more about CSS Units here)

text-align – this centers the text to the middle of the .passage element

I have also added:

background-color: transparent;

This makes the passage background transparent so you can see the background image. This is only necessary if you’ve added a background-color to your default passages.

Now, for the links.

Links have their own separate selector.

a means is the link as it usually displays

a:hover is the link when the player hovers their cursor over it.

It's generally a good idea to use different colours on the links—one for the normal display, one for the hover—so the player can visually see that they are hovering over a clickable link. If you don't want to use different colours, you should consider using some other visual cue to make that differentiation.

.passage.main-menu a { font-family: 'Nova Cut', cursive; color: #C57C25; text-decoration: none; }

.passage.main-menu a:hover { font-family: 'Nova Cut', cursive; color: #dcb07c; text-decoration: none; }

I’ve added an additional property here:

text-decoration: none.

This gets rid of the underline that happens on all default links in the default SugarCube stylesheet. Currently, this only targets the links on passages tagged main-menu; if you want to get rid of the text-decoration on all links, you can change the styling of your links like so:

a:hover { text-decoration: none; }

Choosing Colours

If you’re not sure where to start when it comes to picking hex codes, color-hex.com is a really helpful site. It gives you related tints and shades of for every hex code, which makes it a lot easier to find colours that are slightly darker or slightly lighter than your base hex code.

For choosing colours initially, there are plenty of hex code colour palette generators available online. One of my favourites is the one on Canva, which lets you upload an image and then it creates a colour palette from there. You might not want to use the exact colours it pulls, but checking the colours on color-hex can help you narrow down something that works for your aesthetics.

This is what our template now looks like:

Giving the Title a Unique Style

Right now, the title is styled by the .passage.main-menu selector and it’s default font size and font type is the same as the links below it.

If you want to style it differently, you can make a new class for it. In this case, I’m going to drop the .passage.main-menu and make a class called .game-title.

.game-title { font-family: 'Almendra Display', cursive; color: #ca893a; line-height: 1.0; font-size: 1.8em; text-shadow: 1px 1px #dcb07c; }

Because the font I selected didn’t come with a bold version, I cheated a bit a used the text-shadow property to bulk it up. I also had to adjust the line height. SugarCube’s default .passage styling gives everything a line height of 1.75 and there was too much space once the new font family and font size were applied.

To add this styling to your title, go into your main menu passage and wrap your game’s title in a span, like so:

<span class="game-title">GENERIC FANTASY GAME</span>

It now appears like this:

TIP: If you want to play around with your appearance, you can use your browser’s Inspect tool to see the page’s CSS and play around/edit it. Either right click and hit Inspect or hit CTRL + SHIFT + I to open the Inspect tool. Once opened, you can go in and adjust things. If you make and a change and like it, remember to copy the code over to your stylesheet before you close the inspect tool.

Placing a Title & Links Outside the .passage element

If you want your game title and menu links to be elsewhere on the page, you’re going to need re-write some of your CSS and add some additional CSS.

The first thing is that you’ll want to remove the styling from .passage.main-menu. I’ve left background-color to transparent, but you’re not going to be using this to style your game title and menu links.

.passage.main-menu { background-color: transparent; }

For the title:

I’ve created two elements, one called .main-title and one called .main-title-item.

.main-title creates a container that will hold the title. This is what I use to tell it where on the page to appear.

.main-title { display: block; justify-content: space-evenly; position: absolute; top: 10%; left: 4%; }

.main-title-item styles the actual text.

.main-title-item { font-family: 'Almendra Display', cursive; text-transform: uppercase; font-weight: normal; font-size: 6.5em; line-height: 1.0; text-align: left; color: #cf944d; text-shadow: 1px 1px #cf944d; }

To apply this to the game title, go back to the main menu passage and apply your new elements to the game’s title:

<div class="main-title"><span class="main-title-item">GENERIC FANTASY GAME</span></div>

For the menu links:

Here, we’ll do something really similar—a container to hold the links and a separate element to style them.

.subtitle { display: block; flex-wrap: wrap; flex-direction: column; width: 60%; justify-content: space-evenly; position: absolute; top: 46%; left: 8%; }

.subtitle-item a { font-family: 'Nova Cut', cursive; font-weight: normal; font-size: 3.5em; text-align: left; color: #cf944d; line-height: 1.3em; }

.subtitle-item a:hover { font-family: 'Nova Cut', cursive; font-weight: normal; font-size: 3.5em; text-align: left; color: #dcb07c; text-decoration: none; }

Go back to your main menu passage and apply the elements. Because all of the menu links will be in the same box, you only need to open/close the .subtitle element once.

<div class="subtitle"><span class="subtitle-item">[[NEW GAME]]</span>

<span class="subtitle-item"><<link 'LOAD GAME'>><<run UI.saves();>><</link>></span>

<span class="subtitle-item"><<link 'RESUME GAME'>><<run Save.autosave.load()>><</link>></span>

<span class="subtitle-item"><<link 'SETTINGS'>><<run UI.settings();>><</link>></span></div>

If you want to change where the title and menu links appear, you can use the Inspect tool to figure out different percentages and spacing until you find something that works for you.

There are a lot more things you can add (like animations that appear when you hover your cursor on the link), but I’ll leave it there for now.

Additionally, if you intend to make your game mobile compatible, you’ll want to read up on media queries and learn how to adjust font sizes and any other units of measurement for different viewports. This is how you shrink things appropriate to fit on small screens.

I hope this helps! If you have any questions, please let me know. I’m still a newbie at CSS (so I’m sure there are ways of doing things more effectively), but these are some of the things that I have helped me along the way.

[pawsitivelymiraculous]

Meeting for the first time. (Day one)

A/N: Okay so I'm going to try to do this. I am going to make a tag list so if you want to be tagged please let me know. Btw most of them are going to be one shots but I may continue some of them like this one. Also, I'm sorry for the rushed ending and the formatting, my computer decided to hate me today so I'm doing this from my phone I'll fix it tomorrow.

@biodad-bruce-month

Masterlist

Meeting Part one

"Marinette, sweetheart, you are adopted."

Adopted

When her parents told her they had something important to talk to her she figured it was about school or worst-case scenario, they found out about her extracurricular activities as a super heroine.

No, instead they told Marinette that her whole life had been a lie. 

They sat her down and explained that she had been adopted when she was nine months old. They tripped over themselves trying to reassure her that they loved her as their own and tried to defend the reason why they never told her.

Marinette didn't know what to think. Things like this were only supposed to happen in movies. Not become her reality. 

Marinette felt so confused as she tried to process it all. None of it made sense. Tom and Sabine were her biological parents. They… they had to be.

But, the truth was slowly sinking in. 

Marinette had never truly understood the expression "ignorance is bliss" until that moment. Somehow not knowing the truth felt like a better option than the alternative.

"But, why now?" Marinette asked hesitantly. "If you weren't planning to ever tell me, then why do it now?" 

She really hoped she was wrong, but in movies that was when they tell her that one of her bio parents died. Usually, said parent was royalty meaning that she would be next in line for the throne. Oh gosh, would she have to move to a strange country and rule it? 

Oh wait, she was apparently born in America. And as far as Marinette knew, America didn't have a monarch.

She snapped out of her thoughts in time to see Tom and Sabine share a look. Finally, Sabine spoke up "Do you remember the scholarship honey?"

She did. 

Marinette had been given a one in a lifetime opportunity to study in a prestigious art school in the outskirts of Paris and was offered a scholarship that covered half of the tuition.

Unfortunately, the Dupain-cheng's didn't have enough money to cover the other half. While the bakery was fairly popular, all of their savings had dried up the month prior when the delivery truck broke down, and they were forced to buy a new one.

Because of this, Marinette had to turn down the scholarship. 

Marinette's stomach dropped as she realized that her parents... or well Tom and Sabine had been struggling financially, even without the scholarship, because of her, with the knowledge of being adopted she couldn't help but feel like an unnecessary burden to them.

Seeing her daughter's crestfallen expression, Sabine rushed to Marinette's side giving her a small hug before saying. "Sweetie, we love you okay? And it broke our hearts when you had to turn down that amazing opportunity, so we tried to contact your biological father hoping he would be able to help us." She explained. 

"We never heard back from him." Tom chimed in "but we thought it would be better to let you know in case we do later on." 

Marinette nodded. That… made sense, and it was far better than what Marinette had immediately assumed.

Still, all the information was too overwhelming. Marinette needed to talk to the kwamis, they would help her understand the situation better. 

"I- I need to go." Marinette stood up and sprinted up the stairs, towards her room. Ignoring her parents who called after her.

She ran up to her bed and landed face first in it. All the kwamis flew out from their hiding spots and gathered around her.

Tikki nuzzled her cheek. "Oh Marinette, I'm so sorry."

Marinette let out a small humorless chuckle. "So, you heard huh?"

"Sure did, bug." Plagg said, floating close to her face. "Personally, I think we should find that father of yours and… you know… bless him with a not so great day."

This time Marinette actually laughed. "I think you meant curse and no, we are not going to do that." Plagg rolled his eyes.

Suddenly, Marinette felt tired. She could continue talking with the kwamis later. She needed to sleep, yeah"I think I'm going to sleep for a bit," she informed them

Tikki nodded. "Sweet dreams Marinette." The rest of the kwamis echoed this as Marinette drifted off to sleep.

~♡~♡~♡~

Plagg grinned as he turned on the computer. 

Tikki flew up to him. "What are you doing?" She asked, scandalized.

"We are going to google Pigtails' biological father," he explained. 

Tikki groaned, "you don't even know how to use a computer! And there's no 'we' if you want to do something that's your problem!"

Plagg smirked devilishly "Sugar Cube, we are literal gods. We can do this! Don't you want to know who he is."

Tikki begrudgingly agreed, she even helped him open the browser. "Okay so type in 'Bruce Wayne'"she instructed. "And then press that weird looking key that says enter alright?"

Plagg complied. The two kwamis turned to look at the results. 

Both kwamis gaped at the screen. Plagg whispered."Well, if this is the same guy but if so-"

"Then Marinette is the daughter of a billionaire." Tikki cut in, examining the picture. "Plagg, I think this is him."

"It's the eyes isn't it?" Tikki nodded.  "Yeah, well that would mean that a freaking billionaire ignored the pleas of the adoptive parents of his biological daughter!" Plagg exclaimed, growing angry.

"Well maybe he didn't believe them?" Tikki tried to reason.

Plagg suddenly growled at the screen."Look! He has like as many kids as he has money!" 

Tikki frowned, "Then why would he abandon his daughter?"

"Because he's a jerk! And I thought my kid's dad was bad!" Plagg glared at the picture causing Tikki to giggle. "What?"

"I don't think I've ever seen you so worked up over something that isn't cheese." She teased.

Plagg huffed, "well, your Bug gives me cheese, but if she's sad then she forgets. So it's really in my best interest to make sure Pigtails isn't upset."

Tikki laughed. "Yeah, yeah I totally believe you." She said sarcastically. "Anyways, do you think Marinette realizes her father is famous? "

Plagg snorted. "Are you kidding? If she knew she would still be freaking out." Tikki hummed in agreement. "Well, I think that now that we know who he is it's time to do what Pigtails would not let me do." Plagg concluded.

"Wait, what? No!" Tikki exclaimed.

"Ooo can I help with that?" A new voice asked. The kwamis turned to see Kaalki looking at them with a mischievous grin.

"Sure thing!" Plagg said just as Tikki was saying "No!"

The two ignored the spotted kwamii and began plotting how they were going to make sure Bruce Wayne would have the most unfortunate luck for at least a couple of days.

~♡~♡~♡~

It had not been a very good day for Bruce.

The DNA test had finally arrived, and he found out that he did, in fact, have another biological child. Unfortunately, Tim found the test and his efforts of trying to keep it a secret had been in vain because then most of his children interrogated him about their newfound sibling. Even Jason was there which was surprising.

Thankfully, they were wise enough not to tell Damian, because otherwise Marinette Dupain-cheng would have been in grave danger.

Dick, along with the rest, insisted that they needed to meet Marinette. So with the help of Tim, they arranged a trip to Paris for the next day. Meaning that Bruce had less than 12 hours to find Marinette and talk to her before that happened.

So as soon as all of his kids left, he asked Alfred to arrange an early flight. 

Which is how he found himself in front of Collège Françoise Dupont, the high school his daughter attended. 

In the rush, he had forgotten to call beforehand, so he called Alfred and asked him to inform Marinette's parents of his arrival. 

Bruce still wanted to talk to Marinette before Dick or someone else inevitably found out that he had left. So he got out of the car and walked inside, only to be greeted by a very flustered looking principal.

It wasn't until she called him "Mister Wayne" that Marinette realized who he was. 

"Mister Wayne! It's uh, an honor to meet you!" The man exclaimed nervously while shakily  extending his hand. "I received your call and I informed Marinette's homeroom teacher of your arrival. They- they should be in my office right now."

Bruce thanked him. On the way to the office Mr. Damocles told him "What an excellent student" Marinette was. He insisted that Marinette was one of the best students in his school. It made Bruce suspicious of the way that principal treated the rest of his students.

Finally, they arrived at the office. Marinette sat in a chair looking rather confused as her teacher stood next to her wearing a tight smile.

Mrs. Bustier introduced herself in a similar manner as Mr. Damocles. 

It wasn't until she called him "Mister Wayne" that Marinette realized who he was. 

Her face paled as she let out a small gasp. "You- you are my father."

In retrospect, he probably should have introduced himself to her first.

[be-ready-when-i-say-go]

Here’s a half formed thought about Calum going back to school at the same time as you during the crazy ass pandemic. Enjoy. 

Reader insert. No race or gender. 

********************

You were always going back to school. When you ran into Calum last year--though it really wasn’t you running into Calum; he was doing his grocery shopping and you checked him out--you knew being a clerk at the grocery store wasn’t the end all be all for you. 

What you had noticed over the couple of months is that whenever Calum seemed to be doing his grocery shopping, he always came through your line. It didn’t matter if you were the only line opened or on the weekends one of the several lines open, Calum was there. He started with small talk, asking you how your day was going. And you asked about his. He shocked you the first time he used your name. But you forgot that it was on your name tag. “Well if you know my name it’s only fair I know yours,” you teased. 

“Calum,” he returned easily, taking the brown paper bags after you carefully packed them. 

Sometimes you noticed his dog in the cart and asked about them. You learned his name is Duke and that he’s been affectionately dubbed Baby Grandpa by Calum. And eventually, though you hadn’t really meant to, you noticed things he bought frequently and whenever you happened across his path while walking to or from back break, you’d let him know if there was a sale going on. 

And thought it was only just friendly chat while you were on the clock, you were out pumping gas on your way to lunch with your friends when you heard your name. As you turned, there was Calum, walking out of the gas station, waving as he pushed his sunglasses back to cover his eyes. 

“Fancy meeting you here,” you laughed, waving in return. What you hadn’t expected as Calum walked across the lot to the pumps is that he would chat until the question of a date fell off from his lips. And sure Calum was attractive, and sure the conversation over the weeks while you checked out his items had turned a little flirty but you hadn’t expected that Calum felt anything remotely serious about you to ask you on a date. 

But you accepted. And there you were able to talk over a nice picnic that excluded Duke, but at your explicit disappointment at not seeing the old dog, Calum promised that next time, he would make sure to include Duke. That picnic lead to a movie, which lead to dinner, which lead to a date shopping for Duke because of the upcoming holidays, which lead to dinner at his place, and then hanging out with his friends for a quick drink one night, which lead to movie nights at each others place. 

And somewhere in all of it, you were dating Calum. He called when you had the closing shift at work to make sure you got home safely. Or if you spent the night, he’d make you breakfast, and he soothed your back as you hunched in front of your laptop to paid for applications for grad school. And he listened to the way you talked about knowing you couldn’t stay in this spot forever and he encouraged you go back to school. You could feel out that school was something that Calum was considering but he hadn’t been too serious about it. Not the band, the tours, the in the studio’s late--just never felt like he had the time.

Occasionally, you talked about some of the online courses you saw the schools had. But Calum hadn’t fully budged. By the time you got news about you going back to school, with funding, and sorting that news out with your job, Calum asked you if you thought he should give a crack at school. You told him the truth, that if he wanted to go for it, he should. And soon, things crumbled globally with the pandemic. And locked in the house most of the time, you dropped subtle and not so subtle hints that making those online classes might be closer and closer to coming true. 

Now you’re here, sitting at the dining room table, your printed out readings and books scattered in front of you. Calum’s on the couch. His notes on the coffee table. You’re in class, listening to the lecture headphones in and you look over to Calum, his class ended just as yours started. His fingers are working over the keys. 

He’s only in a couple of classes. And though you’re in one more class than him, there’s the added struggle of the work you do too. It’s administrative, but there’s meetings once a week and you still find yourself being offloaded onto with lots of small annoying data tracking tasks. It’s paying for school, so you do it with minimal complaints, but a few nonetheless. 

You’re so lost watching Calum working that you don’t even realize that the class you’re in is preparing for small breakout rooms until someone calls your name. You blink and turn back to the screen. “Sorry, zoned out. We’re discussing the reading, yeah?”

Your group nods and you manage to get back on track until the end of your class. Just as you’re closing down the Zoom app, at least for the half hour before your meeting for work, Calum calls out. “Class done?”

You nod, popping out the earbuds. “Yeah. Got that meeting for work soon though.”

He hums, glancing up from the screen. He seems tired. Most of your nights both of you are up kinda late. Though, you make sure to turn it in early and practically drag Calum to bed a couple hours later. He’ll get caught up, work way too late into the night and then have to be up early for band meetings too. “Want me to fix dinner tonight then?”

“It’s my night. I can still do it.” 

“You sure. I know you’ve got to fix that spreadsheet too and do your readings for the week.”

You shake your head. “I can still cook. Might even start during our meeting.”

Calum laughs, remembering the other times you turned off your camera and shuffled around the kitchen to cook in meetings or in classes too. “Nonsense. Almost done with this paper, so I’ll cook. But as an exchange, if you don’t mind, could you read over this? It’s only a response to a reading and it’s not super long or anything. But this instructor’s a fucking hardass.”

You nod. You’ve read over his papers before. Most of the times it’s just making sure he has correct citations and you might make a note about needing a thesis statement or needing more of his analysis between his evidence. But it’s not much that you ever feel like you need to mention on his papers. You’ve found, most often, what Calum needs is just someone to listen to his ideas so he can sort them out loud and then all you do is take down the notes of what he said. Listening to him talk about this philosophy class and Literature class is awe inspiring. He always has more questions than answers, but it’s those questions that always lead him to some pretty amazing places in his writing. 

“Is this the professor that got on you about the spacing on that first paper?”

Calum nods, pushing the laptop to the coffee table on top of his notes. “Yes! Even you couldn’t see what was wrong, so I still don’t understand what they got on me about. And I formatted the second outline in the exact same way and didn’t get any points taken off, so I really don’t understand.”

“Well, it could’ve been Google Docs. When you downloaded it into Pages, the formatting might’ve gotten wonky? But even the Pages document looked fine, so I really don’t know what happened there. But you’re doing it all in Pages now and then exporting to a PDF when you submit correct?”

“Yeah, I am. Thanks for that tip though. I didn’t realize Pages wouldn’t work in the submission center.” His shuffle into the kitchen is paired by the click of Duke’s paws on the floor. Calum presses a quick kiss to the top of your head. “Spaghetti?”

Holding onto his forearm draped around your chest, you nod. “Spaghetti sounds lovely.”

“I saw you staring at me while you were in class,” he whispers close to your ear. 

“What? You’re hot. Sue me.”

His chuckle is soft, a rumble in his chest that you feel through your back. “Most definitely can’t sue you over that. But don’t make me go in the office. I need you to pass these classes.”

“I appreciate the concern, dear. But I think I’m doing pretty good. Besides, I’m signed up for a random art history class. I can say you’re a piece of art I needed to analyze.”

The laughter’s not soft now, he full on giggles--a bit of it getting cut off as he inhales into the sound. “You’re ridiculous.” His lips are soft against your temple as he stands back up. “So spaghetti. Garlic bread is a must. Salad?”

“Ugh, I guess I do need veggies.”

“Yes, yes you do.” He continues into the kitchen, the clinking of pots hitting the isle’s of the stove and bowls, boxes, and jars setting onto the counter. 

“How’s the other class going? You guys starting your novels yet?”

“19th Century Lit is well, 19th Century Lit.” Calum seemed intrigued by the Evil Children’s class you told him you saw. But it had filled by the time Calum got his work schedule sorted out. He turned to 19th Century Lit as his backup, and so far, it appeared to be going well. “We’re spending the first part on poetry. And that’s the most interesting. The rest of the books sound a little boring.”

You hum, nodding even though he can’t see you. “Hopefully the class picks up. I took a look at the spring classes. If you want to focus more on poetry there’s a Modern Poetry post 1930′s class.”

The glance is quick, but his brows are pulled upwards, in a slight intrigue. “I’d consider it for sure.”

The alarm on your phone goes off, letting you know you have ten minutes until the meeting. You turn back to your computer and start logging into the meeting. “You haven’t had an assignment for that class yet have you?”

“No. The midterm’s coming up soon though and I don’t even know how to begin to study for it.”

You pop one earbud in making sure your mic is muted. “You know I got you, babe.”

“Yeah, but you’ve got your classes too. I-I might stop by the professors office hours and ask for help.”

“That’s always a good idea. Do you know when they are?”

“Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s.” You know he doubled checked them because he probably wouldn’t have that readily available from the first day of classes. “Gonna go tomorrow.”

Popping up from the chair, you press a kiss to his cheek, as the pan sizzles just a little and the pot of water not showing signs of bubbles just yet. “Love you.”

“Love you too,” Calum returns, pulling you fully into his chest for a swift kiss. “Now, go! You’ve got a meeting.”

“Meeting schmeeting. Would rather kiss you.” You kiss him one last time before ducking back into the chair and turning the camera on. You notice just faintly in the background Calum’s visible as he shuffles between pans and pots. Duke walks up to you, standing up to get attention. 

“Oh, you know I can’t say no,” you mutter, setting him in your lap.

“Is that Duke?” your supervisor asks. He’s crashed a couple meetings before. 

You unmute and hold him better for everyone to see. “Yeah. His pops is cooking us dinner and that lack of attention just won’t do.” 

“Hey, you say that like I don’t love him,” Calum retorts, threatening the back of your head with a spatula. You giggle before muting yourself and place Duke back into your lap, digging up the word document you’ve started for all the meeting notes. 

Your supervisor laughs. “Well I think he’s getting plenty of attention in the chat.” There are some more dings as people join the meeting. “Looks like we have everyone, so let’s begin.”

tagging @calumscalm because you might still be taking that exam, love. 

and @5-secondsofcolor bc sunday reads bubs. 

[inevitably-johnlocked]

hey steph! how long would you say you spent on sorting out fic recs and tagging them and all that stuff? just curious because i really wanna start a fic rec blog too

Hey Nonny!

UGGGHHHH Tumblr deleted my entire response, so I’m going to just jot out what I remember.

Depending upon how long you’re willing to spend, a LONG time. You guys have NO idea how much work it is, and how much off-tumblr time I spend doing it. When I keep saying “it’s a full time job” it really is. The blogging you guys actually see takes about 2 hours, from filing my blog to answering a few asks here and there, but the rest is ALL filing my fics and creating lists. 

Now, mine is “perfected to my liking” after two years of trial and error and headaches, but yeah, if you’re serious about becoming strictly a fic rec blog, prepare to put in a lot of time and effort. BUT to be fair, I’m ridiculous in my sorting and organizing... I have a weird OCD thing where I need stuff sorted in a certain way, and it takes longer than it probably should. But it works for me and it has become very streamlined now that almost all of my Ao3 bookmarks are finally sorted. In the beginning, when I decided I would start reccing fics, it was only meant to be a here and there thing, but then people kept coming to me more and more and that’s when I decided I needed to keep an offline list. So here’s some tips from me to you:

Keep offline lists. Tumblr fucks up enough that you WILL lose interest in redoing a big 50-fic list if tumblr decides that nope, today I don’t feel like posting your file because you didn’t refresh your page BEFORE typing it out.

Going along with the above, keep an offline masterlist of your read-and-tagged fics. All the recs I give you guys? They’re all on one of three list masterlists I have offline: GO Recs, FFNet Recs, and Ao3 Recs. This will be SO much easier for searching for topics when making new lists.

Do the lists WAY ahead of time. This has given me back many-a-Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights because I prep my lists ahead of time.

Develop the “public” system of filing for your things, and use that for your Masterlist, so you don’t have to redo it every time (so like don’t have just Ficname by author if that’s not what you want to do for your recs). For example, my system is this, emphasis included: Fic Name by Author (Rating, wordcount, Chapter count || WIP/AU if applicable || PODFIC LINK if applicable || list of personal and/or author tags here, even if they spoil the story; i’ve found some people with triggers appreciate that I tag EVERYTHING I find in the stories) – Author’s description or personal description if there isn’t one. Series link if it’s part of one. This way, all I have to do is copy-paste it into new documents for each list, and then copy-paste the whole list into the Tumblr doc. 

Also, re: the above, do the layout in Tumblr if you’re doing a Tumblr rec blog. It keeps the formatting consistent and I don’t have to fix it between Ao3 and FFnet if I just copy-paste everything into a blank Tumblr doc, and then copy paste THAT onto the masterlist. Trust me on this one. 

Draft everything. This goes along with all the above. I always “start” a list and put a big header so that I can find it in my drafts (that’s why they have the big bold H1 headers on them) and then hit “draft”. Then keep a list of your drafted fics in your preferred method of organization. I keep everything in Text Edit RTF files. I believe Alexx told me once she did spreadsheets. Either way, develop a system BEFORE jumping into this thing, because you will EASILY get overwhelmed if you aren’t used to high-stress levels.

Tag fics as you read them. Trust me on this one. Because it will save you MONTHS of re-reading every single bookmark so you can properly file fics. I do this on my Notes App with the story title, and then all the tags I know are popular requests or are for lists I know Nonnies have asked for.

Keep CONSISTENT in your tags. Don’t tag one thing O!verse but another Omegaverse. I had to redo a lot of my older tags because CMD+F was pointless on a document I purposely made to streamline the process.

USE Ao3′s TAGGING FEATURE for your bookmarks. Just make sure that if any of your tags are spoilerific, make sure you keep the rec private.

File EVERYTHING as soon as you bookmark it. It will save you a LOT of hours of going through all your recent bookmarks to file them. 

That said, HAVE A FILING SYSTEM if you’re keeping everything offline. Keep separate documents for each list... Trust me on this. I used to just have one document each for Fluff fics, for example, and put subheaders in them, and it just got messy and annoying as my fic reccing became more common and plentiful. Instead, have a nice list like this, for instance:

The grey dots next to some of them are old filing methods that I need to fix and pull out. Also, as you can see, every time I finish a list, I file it into Posted and start a new list appended with a Pt number. It just keeps the system moving smoothly. I also have a system for the coloured dots; Grey is Old and refile, Orange is drafted on Tumblr, and Orange and Green means it’s drafted and ready-to-post.

I also have an offline “drafted posts document”:

That also has a system as you can see, but it keeps me knowing what I’ve already got drafted on Tumblr if I forget to tag the files with the colour dots.

It looks tedious and complicated, but I promise you, it’s really simple once you’re familiar with my method. Which is why I’m saying, you need to develop this kind of system REALLY early rather than 2 years later like I did. This drafted posts list is only recent as of... February I believe is when I started it.

Hmmm. Ah, yeah, so you can see it’s a lot of work, and this is why I absolutely dislike HateAnons negatively criticizing my lists, because it IS a lot of MY free time, between 8 and 48 hours a week. But if you truly enjoy sorting and organizing like I do, it’s a bit easier to cope with. So, yeah, whenever I tell you guys “I need some time away” this is why, and usually I switch to playing video games or doing art, both of which I miss doing on the weekends. I’m trying to keep the Tumblr stuff to mostly Weeknights these days, so that it’s an extension of my day job. Funny how I have less free time working at home than I did when I wasn’t; because I feel obligated to always be on my computer now, and I hate that. Like right now, I just bought 2 new games to play and I haven’t tried them yet because I’m always working both day-job stuff AND Tumblr stuff on weekends. 

So yes, that’s another tip: Don’t let it consume you, and set a schedule. Don’t feel obligated to answer every request. When I am tired and I just genuinely don’t have the energy to dig through 1000+ fics to find 2 or three for an obscure ask, I usually make it an interactive ask – not only does it encourage community involvement and a sense of belonging for everyone, but I also discover new fics to read too! I am IMMENSELY proud and happy that my fic lists have essentially become “fic exchange” grounds. Before it was only on one or two lists, some timid new authors added their fics to my big lists, but now, since people SEE that I add their fics hidden in the notes to the main post, now everyone is happy to share their faves on the main lists AS WELL AS the smaller single asks. I like to think of myself of a “curator of happy things” so that’s what I like to do with these. 

That said, you have to also decide if you’re going to be this interactive as well. Because that adds an ADDITIONAL hour or so as you make a separate “MFL” document and file those too. It’s time consuming, but totally worth it because if I’ve read the fic, all I have to do to that post in my MFL list is add my tags and file that block of text :)

I hope I helped you out a bit, Nonny, and I hope you guys enjoyed seeing a bit of my process. If I can get OBS to work on my laptop, maybe I’ll do a short video so you guys can see me doing it live. 

Anyway, sorry this got long. :P

[tefanfics]

Anonymous said: how about “You have no idea how much I want you right now.” Love hope work 💖

Prompt #43 on the list!

<3 thanks, Anon!

--------------------

“Babe, I can’t meet you for lunch today. I’m sorry. I just have a lot to do at work and if I stay through lunch, I might still be home on time.”

Taron let out a small sigh through the phone. “I understand. Just was looking forward to a little lunch date, that’s all.”

“I know but there’s always later this week,” you tried. Your phone was situated between your ear and your shoulder as you walked through the office, trying to carry on with your job. “Listen, T, I gotta get off the phone. I need to keep going. I’ll call you when I’m off, alright?”

“Okay, Y/N. Love you.”

“Love you too.” You grabbed your phone and ended the call. With your phone back in your pocket, you grabbed for the file on your desk and walked out of your office. You handed off edited articles to a few people before heading to the photographers’ area. 

“We’re behind, people!” You called, raising your voice to a respectable level. “Deadline is 5 PM today. Let’s get going. Finish your touch ups and send them in STAT!” 

You returned to your office and logged onto your computer. You busied yourself with emails and doing your part as editor to make sure the magazine would be ready to publish on time.

You began to lose track of time, focusing on all the tasks at hand. As you finished sending an email, you heard a knock on the door.

“Yes?”

“Delivery for Mrs. Egerton.”

“I didn’t order anything,” you answered without looking up from your computer screen, kicking your heels off under the desk with a little sigh of relief..

“I love it when you ignore me,” Taron’s voice continued.

You furrowed your brow in confusion before finally tearing your attention away from the computer. “What are you doing here?” You asked with a little smile.

“You need something to eat, love. Gotta have fuel in your system if you’re going to be here past 5.” Taron came into the office, holding out a bag full of lunch.

You happily accepted and ate quickly, not realizing just how hungry you had been. “Thank you for this. I needed it.”

“Anything for my girl,” Taron said, flashing your favorite grin. “Things going according to plan?”

“We’re a little behind. We should be alright but I was getting ready to head down to formatting and see how that’s coming along. You want to tag along?”

Taron finished his lunch and grabbed your empty containers before throwing them in the trash. “Only if you’ll have me.”

“Always,” you answered as you slid your heels back on and stood up. You led the way out of your office and through the cubicles. You found yourself back in the photography area. “Any updates, folks?”

“Just sent our final edits off to formatting. Waiting to hear if they need more touch ups,” someone answered as they walked past, their interest buried in the iPad in their hands.

“Thanks, Tori.” You carried on and found yourself in formatting. People sat at long tables with their computers in front of them. Most computers had a second screen. You could see the employees working and dragging pictures and articles from one screen to another.

You walked down the aisle and stopped at someone’s computer. You asked a couple of questions to which they answered, pointing out certain things. “Blow that photo up please.” The employee did as they were asked. You frowned as you noted a couple of spots on the photo that weren’t quite up to par. “Send this back. It needs fixed.”

You moved on when someone called for you. “No, no. Sorry, not a fan of this. How about if you move this article to the next page and put this one as a double column. Move your photo to the cover position. Byline goes here.” You watched as they adjusted the article, giving a nod of approval. “Much better. Thanks, Tom.”

You bounced between the formatters, giving critiques and making adjustments as necessary. Finally you returned to Taron who had been lingered in the doorway with a smirk on his face.

As you walked past him, he gently grabbed your wrist and pulled you close. “You have no idea how much I want you right now,” he murmured in your ear. “Seeing you take charge just does something to.”

Your cheeks flushed as you checked the time on your watch. “There’s a storage room down the hall that no one uses,” you answered, your voice just as low. “I have a few minutes to spare.”

[leadingmehome-ships]

How to watch outside of Canada

If you want to watch week to week, here’s how you can do that. BUT there are notes you need to read for Primewire further down:

I am posting the couple best links each week at my page linked below. So for people who are blocking the tags but want to try to see if they can watch it without being spoiled, you can get to links without seeing spoilers. Please see notes (#1-3, and 6-10)

https://leadingmehome-ships.tumblr.com/annelinks

If you want to use the host sites for links instead of the links i’m shortcutting:

Primewire is very reliable for shows and movies, i’ve been using it for years. Here is the link to all of the Anne episodes:

https://www.primewire.li/tv/263484-watch-anne-with-an-e

Watchseries is formatted differently, has less hassle than primewire, and popups are not usually adult content but can still be viral. Links take longer to post here. I will include individual episodes from this site on my links page.

https://watchserieshd.cc/series/anne-season-3

Streaming Notes (Primewire)

These sites hosts LINKS, not the actual show. To use links is not illegal in the US. However, using the links to DOWNLOAD is very illegal.

Do not use a good PC to do this if you’re worried about viruses...i’ll come back to this later. 

Macs are better at avoiding the ad/virus popups, but some links may not work on Mac’s. Just use another that does.

You don’t need a log-in to access the primewire or watchseries links

From the primewire link above, select season 3, then select the episode. A new page opens. There are many links per episode, you click the blue “(direct)” to go to each link. Not all links work well. I recommend: openload, verystream, streamplayto.

Once you get to the link, there is usually a player. some are the actual show and some are an add. If it’s an ad, there will be a button somewhere on the page that counts down. you’ll click that button to get to the show. they do this to prevent robots from accessing. you’ll know you’ve got it right when images from the episode appear or when it starts playing.

click play. a pop up will likely open. close immediately. click play. popup. close immediately. repeat. some sites will give you 1 or 2...others will give you 15.....(that’s when you close and use another link).

Some popups may be in new windows or new tabs. just close them all. if it redirects the same page you’re on, the link is broken and use another.

Closing immediately helps your computer not get potential viruses. Some of these pop ups are simply ads, others may be malicious. i’ve never seen the popups happen on a mac, macs tend to block certain links on their own. i use windows, so make sure that you just hit the “x” on popups and don’t hit “ok” or anything like that. some ads claim you have a virus and they can fix it if you call or click them. DON’T DO IT. it’s not real. just X out.

WARNING. many times the popups are graphic and/or porn, so don’t do this if you’re under age and it would not be appropriate for you to see that content.

I know this looks daunting, but it’s not very difficult. This is an alternative to downloading VPNs or using proxies. I’ve done this for years and haven’t had an issue doing it. it’s literally my homepage instead of google.

you can message me if you have questions....  :)

[ilguna]

hi- I’m not sure if you’re the right person to ask, but I wanted to know how to start a fanfic writing tumblr- I mean, I’m just not sure how to start since I’ve never posted anything on my account- I’m sorry if this is an inconvenience-

Don’t worry about it. I’m a little offended that you would think you’re coming to the wrong place 😂.

Imma break it down for you.

BTW this post is long bc I wanted to cover all bases

—

First of all, if you’re on tumblr mobile, then that’s fantastic and we’ll start with that first. If you’re on desktop, I would like to suggest getting it on your phone because it’s more accessible and easier to manage than doing it on the computer. The only time I go to the computer is when I’m going to post fics, but we’ll get there.

I know you said you’re wondering how to start posting fics but I gotta give you some advice before that. Because there are just some things I cannot stand when it comes to some fanfic blogs, alright?

Be easy on your color scheme. I wouldn’t put any bright colors because it could hurt someone’s eyes, and sometimes it looks really bad. Going along with that, you should be careful what your second color is on your blog (let’s say that your base color was a maroon, and then you’d choose a color similar to that/darker than that. It’ll be hard to read the things in your bio, and it’s frustrating)

This is obvious, but make sure you have a profile and header picture, it’s more appealing rather than tumblrs default.

Turn ON asks and then proceed to do it for anonymous questions, because that’s the only way you get requests. Some people do it off anon but that’s not as common.

You can do this on desktop and a safari browser. It’s not possible to do on mobile just yet. Open up safari > log in > little person icon in the top right > edit appearance. Scroll until you see “let people as questions” turn that on. Turn on anon, and edit the box to whatever you want. Keep it short

Turn off “share posts you like” and the following one below it. It’s a risky game to play when it comes to what you’re looking at and liking.

No submission posts, normally people don’t submit things anyway. Turn OFF “on blog advertising” and then that’s it. It automatically saves so you can just leave to the next screen imma bout to tell you about

IF you go to my blog on desktop, you’ll see that there’s a theme. My font is different, I have a different set up than most blogs, etc.

If you wanna mess around with that, scroll to the top of page (you should still be on the same page from the anon instructions) and tap “edit theme”

It might take a second to load, but you’ll get there.

THIS SCREEN IS VERY IMPORTANT.

Besides the fact that it lets you edit your theme, this is how you put in a Masterlist, and all other links you might want in your bio.

You said you haven’t written anything yet, so there isn’t a need for a Masterlist just yet. But when you DO start posting, please come back to me and I’ll let you know how to put one in your bio, okay? Nice and shiny for your future followers.

If you wanna change your theme go to browse themes, change it from “all themes” to “free themes”. If you like mine, it’s called “Accesible”. If you just want the font, get out of the theme screen and scroll the screen on the left. Turn ON “open dyslexic

Remember, you can do all of this on desktop too, it doesn’t have to be on safari

—

Now onto posting, I have some opinions that might offend my mutuals (oopsie)

I can’t tell the difference, but PERSONALLY, I think posting fics on tumblr from my phone is gross. But that’s also because I’m writing 1000+ words normally and it gets difficult to post

If you want to post fics with more than 100 paragraphs, then you have to go to desktop or maybe safari tumblr (I don’t post from safari tumblr so idk if it works) because tumblr says NO paragraphs after 100 on mobile. There is no restriction on computer

I write in Google Docs, because it’s neater and I’ve discovered some hate for Word after deleting some of the shit I wrote over and over. Plus it’s an app, and you can open it up on computer. Easy to use.

If you use Notes on your phone, or type directly onto a tumblr post, then that’s fine but you don’t know your word count and it’s a little difficult to navigate.

When it comes to formatting, I used to have it be really long. But I’ve narrowed it down to 3, sometimes 4 things.

Summary: this is where I put the request so the anon/person knows that it’s their request. (I copy n paste the entire request in the summary part, I don’t answer asks (requests) anymore because it’s easier to answer them after I posted).

Warnings: my permanent is swearing, and then I add on (what type) violence, murder, suic*de, gore, etc DEPENDING ON THE REQUEST

Word count: and I do this because I write long imagines sometimes and some people don’t want to sit through 5k words of boring shit

And the optional—Note: I put this if I thank someone for their patience on the request, if I say happy holidays or some shit like that. I don’t have notes on every post anymore because they just turn out being the same every time

Apart from that, give it a title (make it unique but not too long!) who it’s for and then copy and paste the fic in

I’m using my own posts as an example right here, okay. But I have the summary and all of that bolder because it’s easier to see, and I want it to be different from the actual post. Most fanfic writers do this.

I also put 2 —‘s between the authors note at the top and the fic to also make a difference there

Don’t have the entire fic italicized, it takes away the special part of italicizing a word

Finally, it’s tagging.

I cannot stress this enough, DO NOT tag things that have nothing to do with the post. It’s my biggest pet peeve and it’s because I can’t comprehend why people tag (for example) Katrina Stuart when it’s a fic OR A RANDOM POST about someone else

Instead, let’s keep it simple.

🌸 STOP 🌸

I forgot to mention this. But choose your username wisely. You can change it later on, but it’s a goddamn pain in the ass when you have 50+ fanfics you wrote and your Masterlist is nice and clean only to realize that you have to RELINK every post individually

Listen, I changed my username on my old blog, and it took me 8 hours ROUGHLY to relink and fix every individual Masterlist. I had to create new masterlists, with so many tabs open to fix it

Instead, change it before you start fics

If you wanna be a colby brock blog, I have a canon url (which means that it’s so fucking GOOD and I’m angry that i realized it was open only a month ago rather than when I created this account) and it’s colbysbrocks (it’s a plural canon url). And I have colbysecrets too. If you don’t like either of those, I have a couple of other ideas that I wrote down if you want them

🌸 okay continue 🌸

This is how you should tag:

(I’ll give an example after this)

Your username first, the person it’s about, the fandom (if it’s not Colby brock, then something like marvel, etc). Then the persons name, imagine, fanfic, x reader, and oneshot. Then if it was requested

EXAMPLE ONE:

Azurebrock, Colby brock, Colby brock imagine, Colby brock fanfic, Colby brock x reader, Colby brock oneshot, requested

Simple, right? You can even use this method for Wattpad too.

EXAMPLE TWO:

(This is Star Wars, im using my own username again)

Kylorenlovesyou, Kylo ren, Ben solo, kylo ren imagine, kylo ren fanfic, kylo ren x reader, kylo ren oneshot, Ben solo imagine, Ben solo fanfic, Ben solo x reader, Ben solo oneshot, Star Wars

Notice that I tagged both of his names. I do this because it draws more people in, and more people will be attracted to it (however, in the Star Wars fandom there’s a difference between Ben Solo and Kylo-Ren, so you would have to specify in the title Ex. Resistance (Ben Solo) or Struggle (Kylo-Ren). It would depend on which persona you’re using

This works for a couple of fandoms, like twilight and shit like that

EXAMPLE THREE:

(Final one, I just wanted to cover this base just in case)

If it’s a request for more than one person. Let’s say Colby Brock and Sam Golbach (like a Polyamorous relationship, if it’s just about a bunch of people, tag the people in it and don’t put the imagine, fanfic, x reader, oneshot after any of them, it doesn’t apply)

If it’s a poly relationship (or maybe more) then do everything you normally do for one person, and then just add on the second;

Azurebrock, Colby brock, Sam Golbach, Colby brock imagine, Sam Golbach imagine, etc

If you’re on desktop, I would suggest putting in a Read More (this goes BEFORE your fic but after the authors note, below the 2 —‘s). The way you do that is press enter, and hover over the new break in the fic.

Off to the right you’ll see a . . . Click that and then you have the read more. I would only suggest using this if there’s more than 500 words, so that if the fic is super long, it doesn’t take up the entire dash for the follower (it takes forever to scroll and it’s annoying

If you’re on mobile, it isn’t possible. Just post and you can go back and edit later if you have a computer

[svtskneecaps]

Keep reading anon here, lol. I was going through the Minghao tags. I’m actually reading the story, it’s just loads of text/twitter screenshots make for large junks to scroll through in the mobile search. Not sure where to add the keep reading link might make the most sense, since your posts kind start with the screenshots... maybe after the first couple of screenshots? Thanks for considering it kindly! And I am looking forward to more of the story :)

oof so anon, i don't know if i could put it in the middle of the screenshots. photo posts just,,,,,,, don't really work like that, on desktop anyway. i post everything on desktop so adding links and fixing the text formatting is easier (and then, if i need to go through and fix something, like updating the summary or what have you, i don't have to bounce back and forth between my phone and my computer)

but on desktop, the only way to have the photos not be stacked one on top of the other (which is absurdly long lmao and then becomes a pain in the ass for me when trying to update formatting later) is to put them in the photo post section at the top of the post, and you can't put a keep reading in the middle of it

in theory i could put several screenshots into the same image (as in, photoshop them together like i do when i have more than ten images), but those are annoying to read and i'd like to avoid that as much as possible, just cause i think it's annoying for me (usually means at minimum an extra twenty minutes photoshopping) and the reader (zooming sucks and then moving to the next image is harder)

so i mean, i can put a keep reading after the links, for sure, or maybe the summary? finding an audience on tumblr is not my strong suit lmao i don't know what bits of it draw attention

but i don't think i'll be able to put a keep reading in the middle of the photos :( i'm sorry anon. i don't know what kind of phone you're rocking but they aren't too annoying for me (iphone 5s) to scroll over so maybe i can try to put as little writing as possible after the pictures and we can try to work around that? i don't think mine are much longer than anyone else's, and i don't think i post often enough for it to be a constant issue? i'll have to do a little looking around at how everyone else handles the structure of their posts and tagging to see what i should do (i know verngardens just puts the part number and part title)

if you can like think of some fancy tumblr trick i'm missing, let me know; the post that wouldn't allow me to edit on desktop was from back in like 2018 or 2019 so it's possible they've updated something

i'm gonna scroll through myself and see how it looks

[nottodaylogic]

like, reblog, follow

Summary: It’s the social media AU you never wanted but got anyway! Starring: Roman, a writer gay! Virgil, an artist gay! Logan, a aesthetic/edit/headcanon/not-really-sure gay! Patton, a crafts gay! Continuity? Who’s she? Never heard of her. All we have is fluffy gays and bad attempts at everything else.

Word count: 19784 (THE LONGEST THING IVE EVER WRITTEN WOW)

Warnings: Gratuitous musical references, especially Be More Chill and Falsettos because they're my favorites and I'm trash, basic knowledge of them might be required? Also spoilers for Parks and Rec if anyone’s watching that right now, that happened apparently. Unrealistic depictions of online interactions/dating, probably. Panicking. Disappearing from the Internet. And, of course, lots of gay.

Ao3 link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15745062 (Ao3 deleted my formatting, words can’t do describe my annoyance, I’ll fix it later)

Ships: Prinxiety, Logicality, platonic lamp (every form, not gonna even try)

A/N: Well, we made it. I am happy (and relieved) to finally post this. This is my Big Bang ( @ts-storytime ) fic! It’s a weird format because my dream of making a Social Media AU has finally been realized. This is rEALLY LONG because I am a dumb child and thought, “it won’t be that bad!” It is. It is that bad.

My artist is @hghrules , they are fantastic, I’ll post a link to their part later! 

...later has become now, I’m screaming, https://hghrules.tumblr.com/post/177446248126/what-up-heres-my-ts-storytime-art-for check it outttt!

Virgil’s photos were taken by my amazing friend, she has an Instagram at @tofushoes_photography, if you like the photos please consider following her! 

And without further ado, let’s start this thing!

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces.tumblr.com

Princey!

Greetings, fair citizens! Thou mayest address me as Princey! I draw occasionally, as well as writing quite often. I am the gayest of the gay, forget this not!

———————

Logicallylo.tumblr.com

Logic.

Salutations. I am Logic, Lo if we are friends. He/him pronouns please, asexual homoromantic.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart.tumblr.com

99% anxiety, 1% mess

call me anxiety, or anx if you want. i draw. i’m a socially awkward mess. that’s all.

———————

Pattonhead.tumblr.com

Your happy pappy Pat!

Hiya, kiddos! I’m Pat, and I love puns, cute animals, and crafts! He/him, feeling ace pantastic as pawssible!!  Feel free to chat! :D

———————

Starbound-big-bang posted: After months of writers writing, artists preparing, and general anticipating, the writer/artist matchups have been made! Writers, show the artists everything you have so they can start. Artists, you can make as much or as little art as you like, but make sure it’s something you’d appreciate for 6 months of work.

Have fun!

1. @Veerleft — @perisureimace 2. @boundinboundinnrollin — @vectnxaer 3. @awkwardkitty — @veertrash 4. @disneynbroadwaynprinces — @anxiousanxietyart 5. @veertrash71 — @ilovegayrehearsal 6. @pastapastadad — @booksnstuff 7. @mewmewmew — @read-write-water 8. @mostlyhamilton — @drawing-n-art 9. @owlsareawesome — @becky-becca 10. @thefandomlife — @casey

Read more

———————

Anonymous asked: Hey, Princey! Oh my gosh I love your art??? And your fics are fantastic aahh???? Especially your collabs with LogicallyLo? How did you two meet?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces answered: Thank you most kindly, Anon! Thou hast earned shiny Internet Golden Points! ‘Tis a long, thrilling tale, full of magic and danger! @logicallylo and I met when I rescued him from a vicious—

L: We’re brothers. That is the extent of the tale. Princey is exaggerating. As always. He is quite incorrigible.

P: You take the drama out of everything, dear Lo.

L: As the elder brother, it is my job.

P:  ANYWAYS, I introduced him to Starbound after listening to the musical soundtrack, and we read the books together. We became quite obsessed.

L: I also beta his fics. That is what brothers are for: so that they don’t make foolish spelling mistakes.

P: I do not?? Rude????

L: Sure. Lie to the Internet.

P: Everyone makes mistakes with these things!

L: I don’t.

P: October 24th, 20XX?

L: We agreed to never speak of this again. Thank you for asking, Anon.

��——————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted: Greetings, Bounders! I humbly beg forgiveness for lack of content lately. I can, however, promise that that will change, very soon. No exact date yet, but keep your eyes peeled!

Veerleft replied: Dark Princey show us the Veer angst

Perisureimace replied: Ooh, can’t wait!

Veertrash71 replied: You literally posted a doodle yesterday. It hasn’t been that long…

———————

Anonymous asked: Hey there Princey! I really love your art, but I was wondering: what the heckety heck is Starbound? Thanks!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces answered: Greetings, Nonny! Welcome to the Starbound fandom! We have red space gelatin and canon gays. Allow me to explain:

Starbound is a book-series-turned-musical-turned-almost-TV-show about space exploration and aliens with no concept of the gender binary. The cast of characters includes the protagonist, Peri, a part-human ace child who can kick some serious butt. There is also Vect, the bi/pan/is it bi if it’s in space/who even knows anymore disaster mechanic with some blaster talent. He used to date Peri, but now they’re the best platonic buds around. There’s also Xaer (Xay-eer), a pan cinnamon roll genderqueer fashion extraordinaire who has never even heard of the gender binary, zey are amazing and I love zem.

Veer is the ship Vect/Xaer. Need I say more? They are heavily coded gay and canonically queer, so it’s only a matter of time, I say.

To say any more would spoil stuff, so go read the books and listen to the musical and avoid the movie like the Black Plague and wait for Starbound: Awaken and the TV show while writing 50 tons of Veer fanfic like the rest of us!

———————

Pattonhead: Heya, Logic! I saw your concept art for a Murder Mystery Detectives Veer AU, and I was intrigued! I’m not that good at drawin’, but maybe I could make something? Or maybe just talk about it?

Logicallylo: Salutations, Pat. Please, call me Lo. Feel free to do whatever you like with my AUs, so long as you tag me in the finished product.

Pattonhead: Aw, thanks, Lo!

Logicallylo: You are very welcome. It is my pleasure.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Stop pondering the meaning of life and come eat dinner, nerd!

Logicallylo: On my way, prep.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You know, you could have just typed omw?

Logicallylo: MYOB.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: No one says that anymore

Logicallylo: MYOB.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Greetings, Anxiety! It has come to my attention that we have been paired up for the Starbound Big Bang!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I am Princey, it is a pleasure to meet you.

Anxiousanxietyart: umm… hi, Princey?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Hello! Do you happen to have a Google Docs? I can share what I have with you so you can begin to do your drawing thing!

Anxiousanxietyart: um, yeah.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Splendid! Here’s the link: XXXXXXXXX

Anxiousanxietyart: thanks.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Here’s to working with you, Anxiety!

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: patton why did i let you convince me to do this big bang thing, i had to meet a new person, why

Pattonhead: Now, kiddo, it’s just one new person. That’s progress! I’m really proud of you!

Anxiousanxietyart: thanks, i guess?

Pattonhead: You have a lot of love to give, my child.

Anxiousanxietyart: ...okaaay then?

Pattonhead: You know I love you, you majestic and amazing sea otter giraffe, you.

Anxiousanxietyart: sea otter giraffe? that’s a new one

Pattonhead: ssh child sleep now

Anxiousanxietyart: ...it’s 2 pm

Pattonhead: s s h c h i l d s l e e p n o w :)

Anxiousanxietyart: ...okay then

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted: P: So, recently, my good ol’ bro @logicallylo was an idiot, and he might have thrown his computer at a wall. It’s broken now. So he’ll be using mine for now. Because of this inconvenience, I have decided to take this opportunity to make it into a bonding excercise!

L: Bonding excercise?

P: Yes, just go with it Supernerd!

L: Essentially, you may now ask me and Princey questions, and we will answer them to the best of our ability.

P: So let’s do this thing!

———————

Anonymous asked: Are you two twins! Who’s older?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces answered: L: I am the elder, and yes, we are twins.

P: But I’m taller!

L: Tallness has nothing to do with it. I’m older, I have always been older, I will always be older.

P: Sure, shortie.

———————

Veerleft asked: What’s your favorite Starbound book?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces answered: P: TAKE OFF! It’s really fantastic, and very gay.

L: For once, I must agree with my brother. Yes, Take Off is the best, objectively.

———————

Perisureimace asked: Any pets?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces answered: P: Verily!

L: ...verily?

P: Just roll with it. I have plans to procure a hamster, and will post a poll for names soon!

L: No pets here.

———————

Anonymous asked: Lo, what’s your favorite book? Princey, what’s your favorite musical?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces answered: P: AAAAAAAAAAAAAA HOW CAN I CHOOSE?! uMMMMMMMMM I’M REALLY INTO BE MORE CHILL RIGHT NOW, AND SINCE I’M IN A PRODUCTION OF FALSETTOS, THAT TOO?? YOU ARE TRULY EVIL ANON

L: I could not possibly pick one favorite book. There are simply too many to pick. That being said, I would be morally obligated to say that I am quite fond of detective novels, such as Sherlock Holmes and The Murder of Roger Ackwood.

P: ...that all could have been said in about 6 times less words…

L: Perhaps. However, unlike you, I prefer to use a great many words, as it shows my infinitesimal knowledge.

P: mhmm. Sure.

L: What does that mean?

P: oh, nothing! Nothing at all!

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted: L: I have now procured a computer. You need not send any more questions, but thank you for the previous ones.

P: This was very fun! I thank you all most kindly, young Padawans!

———————

Anxiousanxietyart posted a photo: this is just a sketch i made. i was listening to silhouette by owl city and angst happened. i’m sorry in advance.

Veertrash71 replied: Wow I didn’t need my heart???

Veerleft replied: Why would you do this Anxietyyyyyyyy

———————

Pattonhead: Virge? You doin’ ok, kiddo?

Anxiousanxietyart: yeah, i’m fine, why?

Pattonhead: Just checkin’ in. Love you <3

Anxiousanxietyart: love you too <3

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Yo, Anx!

Anxiousanxietyart: um, what’s happening?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: So, my dude, if we are to work together for the Big Bang, we should know some more things about each other.

Anxiousanxietyart: ...okaaayyy?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Soooooooooo:

Anxiousanxietyart: sooooooooo?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Twentyyyy questionsssss!

Anxiousanxietyart: what.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You know, twenty questions!

Anxiousanxietyart: how does guessing objects help to get to know a person?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: What?

Anxiousanxietyart: what?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: No, I ask you a question about yourself, you answer, you ask me a question, and so on!

Anxiousanxietyart: ...i think we’re thinking of two different games here.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: No kidding, Sir Glooms-a-lot

Anxiousanxietyart: what?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: It seemed to fit.

Anxiousanxietyart: well, you know me well enough if it seemed to fit. guess we don’t need to do the question thing.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: No, we’re doing this!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I’ll start us off:

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: What’s your favorite color?

Anxiousanxietyart: …

Anxiousanxietyart: really?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Yes really!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Mine is red, specifically stage curtain red, although gold is suitably regal as well. What is your answer?

Anxiousanxietyart: um

Anxiousanxietyart: i like purple.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Ah, purple! The color of kings!

Anxiousanxietyart: also black.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Let me guess, like your soul?

Anxiousanxietyart: no

Anxiousanxietyart: like the void where my soul would reside, if i were to still have one.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: …

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Ooookaayyy. I asked for it.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Now you ask!

Anxiousanxietyart: are you bored or something?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: MASSIVELY.

Anxiousanxietyart: sorry, gotta go help out pat with something.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oh, okay. See you later

Anxiousanxietyart: bye

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Can we do something? I’m really bored aahhh

Logicallylo: Could you bother someone else?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Anxiety left, and everyone else is offline, and my theatre friends are sick or busy

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Help me Logi-Wan Kenobi

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You’re my only hope

Logicallylo: Very well. Would you like to meet me in the kitchen?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: YES! 

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: [image]

Anxiousanxietyart: did i mess it all up?

Pattonhead: Oh, kiddo.

Pattonhead: You didn’t mess anything up! You’re a sweet summer child and you could never mess anything up!

Anxiousanxietyart: i feel like i made him hate me. how could he not hate me after that?

Anxiousanxietyart:

why am i such a mess, patton?

Pattonhead: You just need to talk to him! Explain yourself! 

Pattonhead: And you’re not a mess! You’re Virgil Brava. You are an amazing, kind, loving person, and if you say one more self-deprecating thing I will physically fight you <3

Anxiousanxietyart: thanks, pat. love you.

Pattonhead: Love you too <33

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: hey

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Greetings!

Anxiousanxietyart: sorry

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: What for?

Anxiousanxietyart: it’s just

Anxiousanxietyart: i feel like we got off on the wrong foot, and i definitely should have phrased needing to go help feed the pets better, and i’ve been thinking about this slightly obsessively all day, and i

Anxiousanxietyart: i just felt like i owed you an apology or something.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Hey, no biggie! Lo and I figured out how NOT to make cookies and instead make a huge mess of flour fight residue, so no harm done!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: (except to the kitchen. rip kitchen.)

Anxiousanxietyart: haha, thanks.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: No problem.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I have to go now, but maybe we can finish 20 questions later?

Anxiousanxietyart: i’d love to.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted: @logicallylo Trade-off poetry, go!

Logicallylo replied: I

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Saw

Logicallylo replied: It

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: In

Logicallylo replied: The

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Window

Logicallylo replied: And

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: I

Logicallylo replied: Couldn’t

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Dismiss

Anxiousanxietyart replied: ...you guys are literally quoting bmc.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: ;)

Logicallylo replied: Wow.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: princey. you are the biggest nerd I’ve ever known, and i know lo.

Logicallylo replied: …he has a point.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Betrayal!! How could you do this?! I trusted you!!!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: do you know me.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces:   You know BMC?!

Anxiousanxietyart: duh.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces:   I can’t get any of my friends into it for some reason!

Anxiousanxietyart: maybe because “listen to this musical! it’s about a guy who takes a computer pill to boost his self-esteem but it takes over the school” is hard to promote?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: …a fair point to you.

Anxiousanxietyart: also, you have friends?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces:   RUDE. Who else would put on Falsettos with me in a few weeks?

Anxiousanxietyart: who are you? jason?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Ha ha, no. Too tall to be 13.

Anxiousanxietyart: maybe marvin, then. you’re self-obsessed enough, if nothing else.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Marvin is a wonderfully well-developed character, shush.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: And I’m Whizzer!

Anxiousanxietyart: the one with the worst name.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Mendel. Weisenbachfeld.

Anxiousanxietyart: true.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Who would you play?

Anxiousanxietyart: trina. i’m always breaking down, it’d be easy.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I knew you were a (Michael) Well Of Despair, but no need for theatrics! Don’t say such things!

Anxiousanxietyart: we’re discussing musicals. with you, most dramatic of dramatic. theatrics are a given.

Anxiousanxietyart: also, too late :)))

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Nooooo! I’m forbidding you from saying bad things about yourself!

Anxiousanxietyart: you sound like pat.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Darn right I do! From now on, every time you say something bad about yourself, you have to come up with at least 3 good things.

Anxiousanxietyart: and if i don’t…?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I’ll tell Pat and he’ll fight you. Heck, I’ll fight you!

Anxiousanxietyart: you couldn’t beat me in a fistfight. you’re too small.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces! Square up cutie, I have a black belt in karate and I’m not afraid to use it!

Anxiousanxietyart: hmm. really.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: does princey have a black belt in karate?

Logicallylo: Well, brown belt black stripe, so technically no. Why do you ask?

Anxiousanxietyart: thanks, specs

Logicallylo: You are welcome, Eyeshadow^3

Anxiousanxietyart: …umm you should… probably work on your nicknames

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: you liar.

Anxiousanxietyart: [image]

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: BETRAYAL! The karate studio closed the week before I was to get my black belt!

Anxiousanxietyart: details, details…

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: After I go fight Lo, wHO WAS LUCKY ENOUGH TO GET HIS BELT BEFORE IT CLOSED, you’re next.

Anxiousanxietyart: i’m terrified. you’re so fierce.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Heck yeah I am!

Anxiousanxietyart: i was being sarcastic.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: rude.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted a photo: [photo] BEHOLD THE AS-OF-YET-UNNAMED HEIR TO THE KINGDOM, PRINCE HAMSTER! Help vote on his name! Here are the top cantidades as of right now: - Evan Hamsen - Alexander Hamsterton - Jeremy Heerester - Mendel Weisenbachham - Why do so many musical characters have last names with the first letter H? Opinions?

Veertrash71 replied: ALEXANDER HAMSTERTON

Logicallylo replied: You are not naming your hamster any of those.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Watch me.

Pattonhead replied: All these names are really ham-tastic!

Logicallylo replied: ...stop.

Pattonhead replied: :) no

Anxiousanxietyart replied: these are all simultaneously terrible and amazing. how.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: You all still have to VOTE…

Logicallylo replied: All of them are terrible.

Pattonhead replied: All of them are wonderful!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: nah.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: You are all the worst. I guess Alexander Hamsterton it is.

Veertrash71 replied: :D

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Thank you, Pat, for your help with finding hamster puns!

Pattonhead: My purr-leasure! :3

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Do you happen to have any more?

Pattonhead: Fur sure! Coming right ruff! :D

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I’m sure Lo would love for you to send him puns… :)

Pattonhead: Ooh that’s a pawsitively wonderful idea!

———————

Pattonhead: Fur reals, we need to talk more!

Logicallylo: …did you mean to send this to me?

Pattonhead: Yep, purr-etty sure you are the one :)

Logicallylo: I don’t like puns… why?

Pattonhead: Are you suuuure? That seems like a ruff decision to make.

Logicallylo: …

Logicallylo: Very sure.

Pattonhead: I coulda sworn you liked them… guess I was wrong…

Logicallylo: I am the wrong target for this. You are barking up the wrong tree.

Pattonhead: …

Logicallylo: Oh no.

Pattonhead: you mADE A PUN!!!!!!!!!!

Logicallylo: Unintentionally! This means nothing!

Pattonhead: I will get you to make more puns if it’s the last thing I do!

Logicallylo: We shall see.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: patton.

Pattonhead: Yes?

Anxiousanxietyart: you’re flirting.

Pattonhead: No?? I’m not???

Anxiousanxietyart: yes you were.

Pattonhead: What?

Anxiousanxietyart: never did I ever think I would see the day

Anxiousanxietyart: that Patton Spider

Anxiousanxietyart: my best friend and roommate

Anxiousanxietyart: flirts with someone

Anxiousanxietyart: i’m shocked.

Pattonhead: Who would I have possibly flirted with?

Anxiousanxietyart: with lo, of course.

Pattonhead: ...oh.

Pattonhead: Well, I wasn’t flirting with him!

Anxiousanxietyart: i saw your messages. that was flirting.

Pattonhead: ...you can’t prove anything!

Anxiousanxietyart: mm hmm. anyways, come over here. i have cookie dough. wanna make chocolate chip?

Pattonhead: Virgil. I love you so much. You know me so well!

Anxiousanxietyart: love you too pat.

———————

Pattonhead posted an image: Chocolate chip cookies with the best best friend in the world! <3 @anxiousanxietyart deserves the world and I’d give it to him if I could and he helped me make these so at least I can give him half of these cookies!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: no, you’re the best best friend in the galaxy, pat.

Pattonhead replied: I love you more than the stars and moons and universes.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: ...you win this time

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Those look really good??? I want one????

Anxiousanxietyart replied: too bad, princey :)

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: whyyyyy

Anxiousanxietyart replied: :)

Pattonhead replied: Now, now, kiddos, be nice.

Logicallylo replied: Those do indeed look quite delicious, Pat.

Pattonhead replied: Aww, thanks Lo! :3

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Is that what you call flirting Logan?

Logicallylo: Shut up.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Wrote a bit on the fic, check it out!

Anxiousanxietyart: um, okay.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: hey, so one question.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Bring it!

Anxiousanxietyart: did. you. make. a. little. mermaid. au???

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Yes, duh!

Anxiousanxietyart: ...well, if nothing else, it will be fun to draw.

Anxiousanxietyart: that being said, why.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: It was fun! Also it fit really well! Thou mayest judge me, but that will be your loss!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Also, since I find the most plot holes (read: any) of any Disney movie in it, it is my sacred duty to fix them in this fic.

Anxiousanxietyart: i mean, it’s a good idea?????? it’s just not what i was expecting is all

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: But of course, doing what others expect is not the Roman way!

Anxiousanxietyart: roman?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ...Logan’ll kill me

Anxiousanxietyart: logan???

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Curse my loose lips! Ah look at that, tis time to leave! Places to be...

Anxiousanxietyart: your name... is roman?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ...yes...

Anxiousanxietyart: that's a pretty name

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You think so?

Anxiousanxietyart: yeah

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: well, thanks, Anx.

Anxiousanxietyart: ...do i need to say my name? is that how it works?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: No! You don’t have to!

Anxiousanxietyart: okay.

Anxiousanxietyart: ...maybe later, who knows.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: !!!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Of course, it’s only if you want to! It’s your decision!

Anxiousanxietyart: gtg, bye

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Goodbye, Anx.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Uhh, Logan? I think I did a mistake.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: [image]

Logicallylo: Roman. You are an idiot.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I knoooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: What do I do now?

Logicallylo: Do I need to give you the Stranger Danger talk?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Please don’t.

Logicallylo: I won’t, but only because it would be more effective to tell you in person.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Ughhhhhhhhh fiiiineeeeeeee. I know I deserve it. Kinda.

Logicallylo: ‘Kinda’?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Absolutely deserve it.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: But he’s not a creepy stalker! He’s Anx!

Logicallylo: “Anx” could be a front in order to lure disaster gays to meeting with him in order to murder you or eat you or something.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: EAT me? Now, I know I seem delicious, but that seems just bizarre. I thought I was the creative one here!

Logicallylo: Oy vey.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: And fear not, I will not be meeting with him anytime soon, if ever. Besides, there are possibly many Romans in this world, much less the US!

Logicallylo: That does seem reasonably logical… However, be careful. You never know what people’s motives are on the Internet.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Yeah, alright.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: And now…

Logicallylo: Roman. What are you doing.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ;)

Logicallylo: You are going to die.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Live a little, Logan!

Logicallylo: You can’t do if you’re dead.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces:

Why.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: PAT! COME HITHER AT ONCE!

Pattonhead: Yes Princey?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Thou mayest call me Roman now.

Pattonhead: Oh okay!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: And do you perchance like hamsters?

Pattonhead: All pets are valid!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: [image]

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: [image]

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: [image]

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Boom.

Pattonhead: AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! HE’S SO ADORABLKESJVABFHRSIHVIUHSDFIGJIRSTJHBG

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I know :)

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Your crush knows my name now.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: [image]

Logicallylo: First of all, he is not my crush. I have no crush. I am unfeeling.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Nice try to the person who’s known you since you were sobbing because you lost your stuffed bee.

Logicallylo: I’m going to ignore that.

Logicallylo: Second of all, I hope I don’t have to explain to you why that was a terrible idea and if you get murdered in your bed, I won’t mourn you.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Pat won’t murder me in my bed. He’s too soft.

Logicallylo: Oh I meant by me. Out of anger at your stupidity.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: …

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Point taken.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: But don’t my brave actions inspire you to do something about your situation?

Logicallylo: No. Not really.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Talk. To. Him.

Logicallylo: Why would I do that?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Because he’s a soft puffball and he likes you.

Logicallylo: No he doesn’t. He doesn’t even know me. And I don’t know him. He could very well be 80 years old and wishing to murder me.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Not romantically! Not yet, at least.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: He likes you as a person! That means the spark for romance is there!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Besides, this is Pat you’re talking about. Biggest-puffball-in-the-universe Pat. Are you aware of the words exiting your fingertips?

Logicallylo: Oy vey.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: tALK TO HIM! IT IS YOUR DESTINY!

Logicallylo: ...fine.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: HUZZAH!

Logicallylo: Only because I know you will pester me until I do.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You know me too well.

Logicallylo: I. Am. Your. Brother.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces:

Okay, Darth.

———————

Logicallylo: So.

Logicallylo: Hello, Pat.

Pattonhead: Hiya Lo! :D

Logicallylo: How has your day been going?

Pattonhead: It’s been pretty good so far! Yours?

Logicallylo: It has been satisfactory.

Pattonhead: That’s… good?

Logicallylo: It is.

Pattonhead: Yay!

Logicallylo: ...so, how’s the weather where you are?

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: The weather? Really?

Logicallylo: Why are you still here? Why are you looking over my shoulder? ...why are you messaging me instead of talking?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Because I can.

Logicallylo: But why?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Because I can.

Logicallylo: Ugh.

———————

Pattonhead: It’s raining a little, but I don’t mind! Virgil and I are havin’ a lil movie night!

Logicallylo: That sounds nice. What movie(s) are you watching?

Pattonhead: Well, I say movie night. I really mean we’re rerererewatching Parks and Rec for the 45th Time.

Logicallylo: I see.

Pattonhead: It’s a good show!

Logicallylo: It is indeed. Where are you at?

Pattonhead: Season 3 :)

Logicallylo: What’s your favorite character?

Pattonhead: WHY DO YOU MAKE ME MAKE THESE IMPOSSIBLE DECISIONS LO?!?!

Logicallylo: Because I wish to know more about you.

Pattonhead: Oh.

Logicallylo: Yeah.

Pattonhead: Uhh, I would honestly die for Ann she is my child I love her

Pattonhead: Also Leslie in general? She’s just great?? AND tHE TRIPLETS!!!! I cried aah

Logicallylo: Ann is indeed a good character.

Pattonhead: :D

Logicallylo: Objectively, everything about Tom’s business strategies is terrible and ineffective and illogical. However, Roman appears to enjoy him to some extent, for what reasons I cannot fathom.

Logicallylo: Ron has earned my admiration, although the probability knowing how that happened is as unlikely as Mark Brendanawicz (how is his last name spelled again?) returning.

Pattonhead: Oh yeah I forgot about him! Aww I’m sorry now

Logicallylo: There is need to be. He was likely removed for a reason.

Pattonhead: Who’s your favorite character?

Logicallylo: …

Pattonhead: Hey, there’s no bad characters!

Logicallylo: ...while I do enjoy Ben (despite his infuriating refusals of perfectly logical job offers for Leslie, of all things), he is not my favorite character.

Pattonhead: Who is it? You can tell me!

Logicallylo: …

Logicallylo: Objectively, I respect the heck out of Jerry.

Pattonhead: That… is not what I was expecting.

Pattonhead: But Jerry is good too! He deserves love <3

Logicallylo: I agree, and when he got to be mayor it was quite satisfying.

Pattonhead: Virgil likes April, of course. He seems to find her relatable :)

Logicallylo: That makes sense.

Pattonhead: What about Roman?

Logicallylo: He is quite fond of “Treat yo self”, obviously.

Pattonhead: Ooh that’s good too!

Pattonhead: Oh! I gotta go now, Virgil’s looking at me weird.

Pattonhead: Talk to you later?

Logicallylo: Of course.

Pattonhead: YAY! See ya, Lo!

Logicallylo: ...Logan.

Pattonhead: ?

Logicallylo: You can call me Logan. That is my given name.

Pattonhead: Oh. I’m Patton!

Logicallylo: So your username is not a typo?

Pattonhead: Haha, nope! XD Night, Logan! <3

Logicallylo: Goodnight, Patton. I hope you sleep well.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: That went well ;)

Logicallylo: His name is Patton.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ...you got his NAME?!

Logicallylo: His URL is a pun.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: It wasn’t a typo?

Logicallylo: A self-referential pun.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Exactly your type, isn’t he?

Logicallylo: ...I am going away from you. I have no destination in mind. I simply need to exit your presence.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Rude.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Wait, who the heckity heck five abs and a peck is Virgil?!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Logan?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Didn't get that answer, huh?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Ugh, nvm.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: patton, you’re not even paying attention.

Pattonhead: Sorry kiddo! I guess I’m a little distracted.

Anxiousanxietyart: there was a puppy onscreen. you didn't even look up, much less start screaming and crying as usual.

Pattonhead: ...a little distracted, that’s all.

Anxiousanxietyart: this isn’t distraction, this is straight up black magic.

Pattonhead: Kiddo, it’s you and me here. It cannot be straight up.

Anxiousanxietyart: true, but not the point.

Anxiousanxietyart: ...wait.

Pattonhead: What is it?

Anxiousanxietyart: you’ve been staring at your phone all night, smiling like

Anxiousanxietyart: ...oh.

Pattonhead: ??

Anxiousanxietyart: you’ve been talking to lo, haven’t you?

Pattonhead: ...yes, what about it?

Anxiousanxietyart: oh my gosh Patton, you are not subtle at all.

Pattonhead: He messaged me, and we’ve been talking a lot, and he’s just really nice, that’s all!

Anxiousanxietyart: mm hmm…

Anxiousanxietyart: don’t lie. lying is wrong.

Pattonhead: I'm not lying!

Anxiousanxietyart: if you say so…

Pattonhead: I do say so!

Anxiousanxietyart: then come watch april be socially awkward and relateable in the corner

Pattonhead: Okay! :D

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Wait, who the heckity heck five abs and a peck is Virgil?!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Logan?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Didn't get that answer, huh?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Ugh, nvm.

Anxiousanxietyart: ?!?!?!?!?!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oh, sorry Anx! I meant to send that to Logan.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ...or logicallylo, since he seems to be telling everyone his name tonight.

Anxiousanxietyart: where the hell did you hear that name?!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Uhh, while spying on my brother messaging with his crush, why?

Anxiousanxietyart: …

Anxiousanxietyart: no reason. i just know someone named virgil. that's all.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Ah, okay.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: So not because your name is Virgil?

Anxiousanxietyart: no

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I’m not a murderer, don’t worry. I will not use this information to find you and kill you.

Anxiousanxietyart: um.

Anxiousanxietyart: not reassuring.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: What can I do to prove my identity?

Anxiousanxietyart: give me your full name? sell me your soul? sign an oath in blood that you are prince roman of singalongland?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: YOU might murder ME if I give you my full name, I already sold my soul, and how would you know it was my blood?

Anxiousanxietyart: you could take a video of you signing it?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: OF COURSE! A SELFIE!

Anxiousanxietyart: eww no.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: eWW YES!

Anxiousanxietyart: why.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You cannot dissuade me now! It is too late!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: But you must take one too, so as to prove I’m not sending my beautiful visage to a random 80 year old man named Chuck.

Anxiousanxietyart: i… haven’t ever taken a selfie before… and i'm not a random 80 year old man named chuck...

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Well, I am a champ in the Great Selfie Game, so you may learn from a mASTER!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: And I'll believe it when I see it, CHUCK.

Anxiousanxietyart: Okay, but until I see you, you can't prove you’re not an 80 year old woman named gertrude, so you have to go first.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I’m not an 80 year old woman named GERTRUDE!

Anxiousanxietyart: Whatever you say, gertrude.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Logan help me

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oh wait you’re asleep

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: So if I get murdered because of this, it’s your fault okay

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: For not stopping me I mean.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: patton help i don’t know how to selfie

Pattonhead: Kiddo, it’s late? I thought you were going to sleep now?

Anxiousanxietyart: sleep is for the weak.

Anxiousanxietyart: also, i might have promised roman a selfie…

Anxiousanxietyart: help.

Pattonhead: Why would you do that?

Anxiousanxietyart: i have a death wish

Pattonhead: KIDDO NO

Anxiousanxietyart: also because i'm weak and gay

Pattonhead: Don't talk bad about yourself!

Anxiousanxietyart: that’s not talking bad about myself…

Pattonhead: Anyways, I will help you with taking a selfie!

Anxiousanxietyart: Thanks, pat.

Pattonhead: Np! :D

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I HAVE RETURNED FROM TAKING THE SELFIE OF YOUR DREAMS AND AM READY TO RECEIVE THE SELFIE OF MINE!

Anxiousanxietyart: um. it’s hardly that.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Nonsense! I’m sure you look as fantastic as you are inside!

Anxiousanxietyart: uhh.

Anxiousanxietyart: can you go first?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Absolutely!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: [image]

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Ta-da!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Feast upon my glorious visage!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ...Virgil?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You there?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Wow I can’t believe my stunning good looks actually killed a man

———————

Pattonhead: Kiddo, what was that thunk?

Anxiousanxietyart: i'm gay.

Pattonhead: Hi gay, I'm Patton!

Anxiousanxietyart: can you come here?

Pattonhead: We’re in the same room, Virge.

———————

"Patton please burn my phone I can't stand to see such magnificence."

"...I'm sorry, what?"

Virgil held up his phone, blushing furiously. There was the picture that had murdered him. The brown and green eyes that had captured him. The reddish brown hair that he wanted to run his hands through. The smirk on his face that he wanted to ki...

"If you ever cared about me, you will get rid of this picture of Roman so I can stop looking at it." His face was as red as Roman’s magnificent locks.

Patton looked smug. Too smug. "Sorry, kiddo, but nope."

"Dangit!"

Virgil fell over sideways on the bed, groaning, face flushing. Patton patted his head comfortingly.

Suddenly, Virgil shot up. “OH MY GOSH I NEVER RESPONDED!”

He lunged for his phone.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: you are really wow.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: It took you 25 minutes to say that? My self esteem is pretty high already but wow, you could have warned me.

Anxiousanxietyart: no, like good wow.

Anxiousanxietyart: like stunning wow.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oh.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Thanks.

Anxiousanxietyart: i only speak the truth.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I’d hope so!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Okay, Chuck, your turn?

Anxiousanxietyart: okay um so i’m not as pretty as you or anything or at all but um here you asked for it

Anxiousanxietyart: [image]

Anxiousanxietyart: i know i took like half an hour to respond but honestly please don’t.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Um

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Wow

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You’re kind of really stellar, you know that?

Anxiousanxietyart: i most certainly am not!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You most certainly are! Beauty calls to beauty!

Anxiousanxietyart: wow.

———————

Roman gasped openly at the sight of such beauty, and didn't care if Logan heard him or not.

The purple and black hoodie covered part of the boy's face, but even in the dark room, Roman could still make out his utter splendor. His dark brown-black hair was dyed a brilliant purple, and it partially covered his eyes, which were a stunning indigo color. Black eyeshadow was smeared beneath them too carelessly to be truly careless. He had a small, almost shy smile on his face, and beneath the white foundation, were those...

"FRECKLES?!" He yelled in surprise and delight.

"ROMAN WHAT THE ACTUAL CROFTERS."

Oops.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: So my brother is awake now.

Anxiousanxietyart: ???

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I screamed upon seeing you and woke him up.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oops.

Anxiousanxietyart: well there goes the last of my self esteem

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: No, good scream! Very good scream!

Anxiousanxietyart: oh

Anxiousanxietyart: um

Anxiousanxietyart: okay

Anxiousanxietyart: wait what time is it for you?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Like 1 am-ish?

Anxiousanxietyart: same here, but go to hecking sleep!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Says you!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Fiiiiiiiine. But only to appease the angry monster of a brother woken from his (much-needed, if I may say so) beauty sleep.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Goodnight, Virgil. Sleep well.

Anxiousanxietyart: night, ro.

———————

Logicallylo: Why was I the only one to get any sleep last night?!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhh let me sleep

Logicallylo: You woke me up, I wake you up.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Why.

Logicallylo: Because I can. I believe the correct emoticon to use here would be “:)”

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You make me so proud, and yet so furious.

Logicallylo: :)

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: And now, LET ME SLEEP FOR GOODNESS SAKE!

Logicallylo: Sure. If you can.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: oh good lord.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: wHY ARE YOU PRACTICING THE CELLO AT 6 AM

Logicallylo: I shall not respond, for I am too busy playing the cello.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Uuuuughhhhhhhhh you’re evil. Evil.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: oh gosh what have i done

Anxiousanxietyart: [image]

Logicallylo: Why are you messaging me specifically with this? I play no part in this. I was asleep.

Anxiousanxietyart: because you have more common sense than anyone else i know.

Anxiousanxietyart: also, patton is asleep, and i’d rather die than wake him up.

Logicallylo: True.

Logicallylo: You were tired, I believe, and not thinking straight. Is that correct?

Anxiousanxietyart: i never think straight, lo.

Logicallylo: True. However, I did some research, and there are 81,875 people in the U.S. with the first name Virgil.

Anxiousanxietyart: how did you—you know what? never mind.

Logicallylo: I used logic. It was quite simple, but the fact that Roman has used the same password for his phone for 10 years helps.

Anxiousanxietyart: oh my gosh.

Logicallylo: There are 6 time zones in the US, so 81,875 divided by 6 is approximately 13645.833 Virgils in this time zone, so the odds of a potential stalker finding you is very unlikely.

Logicallylo: Plus, I can vouch for Roman.

Logicallylo: [image]

Logicallylo: He’s sleeping on the couch right now. It is almost noon. He should not be sleeping. This is not promoting a healthy sleep schedule.

Anxiousanxietyart: thanks, lo.

Logicallylo: Call me Logan.

Logicallylo: And you’re welcome.

Anxiousanxietyart: ...but warn me before you send me these images? i need time to prepare before another pic of roman?

Logicallylo: You mean this guy?

Logicallylo: [image]

Logicallylo: This boy right here?

Anxiousanxietyart: stooooooppppppppp

Anxiousanxietyart: i’d take a photo of patton in retaliation, but he’s asleep in the other room and i would rather be tortured in tartarus for all eternity than betray him.

Logicallylo: I see what’s happening here, Virgil.

Anxiousanxietyart: ???

Logicallylo: You cannot hide from logic and reason.

Anxiousanxietyart: yes i can.

Anxiousanxietyart: freakin watch me.

Logicallylo: Virgil. Why.

Anxiousanxietyart: because i’m in denial and i will run from my feelings forever

Logicallylo: That is not healthy, Virgil.

Anxiousanxietyart: well well well, look who’s a hypocrite.

Logicallylo: I do not run from my feelings! I simply do not have them.

Anxiousanxietyart: mm hmm. go message patton, then.

Logicallylo: That I will.

———————

Logicallylo: Salutations.

———————

Logicallylo: ...I have realized that he is asleep.

Anxiousanxietyart: yes.

Logicallylo: You knew this.

Anxiousanxietyart: yes.

Logicallylo: You said this multiple times.

Anxiousanxietyart: yes.

Logicallylo: Virgil Lastname.

Anxiousanxietyart: brava for you on your attempt at guessing.

Logicallylo: Honestly. Why.

Anxiousanxietyart: because it’s fun.

Logicallylo: You are evil.

Anxiousanxietyart: i know :)

———————

Logicallylo posted: I will now list all the reasons why a regular sleep schedule is necessary, and what not keeping one does to your body. @anxiousanxietyart and @disneynbroadwaynprinces will listen to every single reason, as payment for their crimes.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: you called me evil.

Logicallylo replied: Reason number one: sleep helps you think. Without sleep, you cannot think straight.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: i have a few choice words to say about that reason, lo

Logicallylo replied: Hush, I am chiding you for your behavior.

———————

Pattonhead: Sorry Logan! I was asleep. How’s it goin?

Logicallylo: No need to apologize, Patton. It is going well here, how about you?

Pattonhead: I’m good! A wee bit tired, but that’s ok!

Pattonhead: Lolo look Khoshekh is on my legs aaaahhhhh???

Pattonhead: [image]

Logicallylo: I

Logicallylo: Um

Logicallylo: Who is Khoshekh, why did you take a picture of your whole body, how did you take a picture of your whole body when you’re not even holding the device?

Pattonhead: My cat! :3 Virge named him, of course!

Pattonhead: Virgil also offered to take the pic so he wouldn’t leave, haha!

Logicallylo: Ah, of course. I see.

———————

Logicallylo: Virgil, you evil, evil man.

Anxiousanxietyart: chaotic neutral baby :)

———————

Logan was in awe. The boy on the other end of the screen had light brown curly hair and glasses that made him look, somehow, even more adorable than he already was. He was blushing, and had freckles spanning across his entire face and neck. His eyes were the color of clear, clean, blue-green pool water. His grin radiated joy. Everything about him seemed alive alive alive.

Somehow, he was even more cute than the fluffy orange kitten on his lap.

Patton was absolutely stunning, and Logan could do nothing but sit there and attempt to control his heartbeat.

If he had had feelings before, this was nothing compared to now.

He was, objectively, done.

———————

Logicallylo: [image]

Logicallylo: I suppose that it is only logical that if you send me a picture of yourself, one of me is in order.

Logicallylo: And I thought Roman was the overtired one…

Pattonhead: Kcoadkdksskmasajxkff

———————

Patton stared at the picture of the most handsome man he'd ever seen (and he'd gazed upon Virgil's glory). He had black hair with fading blue tips, an angular face (were those freckles on the cheeks? Adorable!), and glasses with the same frames as Patton's own (who'da thunk?). The glasses framed beautiful navy eyes, the precise color of sapphires. He had the small smile of someone who didn’t smile quite as much has he deserved, but when it did, it counted.

Logan was beautiful.

Patton was in love.

He threw his iPad across the room.

A surprised yell came from Virgil in the other room.

Oops.

———————

Logicallylo: What happened?

Pattonhead: I’m sorry, Khoshekh got on the keyboard!

Logicallylo: Ah, I see.

Pattonhead: You look really nice!

Pattonhead: I mean good!

Pattonhead: I mean pretty!

Pattonhead: I mean—

Logicallylo: Thank you, Patton.

Pattonhead: ^-^

———————

Pattonhead: Soooooo, Virgil!

Anxiousanxietyart: yeah?

Pattonhead: So as it turns out, i miiiiiight have been flirting a liiiiittle with Lo

Pattonhead: Because I might have a teensy weensy itsy bitsy tiny little bitty crush…

Anxiousanxietyart: i heckin knew it!

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I have awaken from my beauty sleep!

Anxiousanxietyart: didn’t know you needed it.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Did you just

Anxiousanxietyart: i meant—i—oy vey

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You did! YOU DID! Oh happy day!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Great Zeus almighty, I thought this day would never come!

Anxiousanxietyart: we’ve known each other for only a few weeks, ro.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Forever.

Anxiousanxietyart: mm hmm totally.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I can taste your sarcasm, Virgil.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: But no matter!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I only have to scroll up to remind myself what you REALLY think about me.

Anxiousanxietyart: that you’re annoying?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: [image]

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: That I’m hot.

Anxiousanxietyart: was that selfie really necessary?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Yes. Yes it was.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: And you didn’t denyyyyyy iiiitttttt

Anxiousanxietyart: you’re not hot, roman.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: He said, like a liar.

Anxiousanxietyart: he said, like a man in denial.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: He said, like a man in a river in Egypt

Anxiousanxietyart: ??

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: De Nile

Anxiousanxietyart: oy vey why

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted:

I was too lazy to think of a title but it involves Hamilton so

Summary: It’s Vect and Xaer and Peri being the friendos they are, but they’re Hamilton buds and that makes it all better.

Word count: who knows? not I, not I

Warnings: a lot of Hamilton

A/N: Writer’s block sucks. It most verily does. That is why this exists. (In other words, I miiiiiiight have hit a wee bit of a snag with my Big Bang fic…) It is an attempt to salvage my writing skills.

Read more

Veertrash71 replied: I loooooveeeeee it! Aaaaaahhhhh it’s so fluffyyyyyy

Perisureimace replied: I’m pretty sure I’m gonna explode from all the Hamilton haha

Veerleft replied: This is canon now I decided

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Lo and I are having a mooooovie night!

Anxiousanxietyart: weren’t you up super late last night? why is he endorsing this behavior

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Because we’re watching Rogue One and he’s gay for Cassian Andor (who isn’t tbh)

Anxiousanxietyart: i… haven’t seen it…

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: G A S P ! ! ! HOW D A R E

Anxiousanxietyart: umm i just? never did? it can’t ever be as good as the original trilogy so

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Umm, it’s pretty far up there! Worth watching at the very L E A S T

Anxiousanxietyart: you’ll have to tell me about it

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You. Me. FaceTime. Now.

Anxiousanxietyart: um??? what is happening

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You are Going to Watch this Movie with me, and you Will Like It!

Anxiousanxietyart: is there a choice?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Do you have a pressing appointment?

Anxiousanxietyart: nope, free all day

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Than nope!

Anxiousanxietyart: oh my gosh roman

Anxiousanxietyart: i didn’t peg you for a diehard star wars fan?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: …how??? I’m like the biggest freaking Star Wars nerd since Logan (well, he likes Star Trek better, honestly how are we even related)

Anxiousanxietyart: i have realized my mistake

Anxiousanxietyart: (and star trek is totally better?)

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: nO NOT YOU TOO!?!?!

Anxiousanxietyart: there are a lot of reasons, which i can and would list, but i only need one:

Anxiousanxietyart: which was first to have canon gays, hmm?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Finn and Poe came before Culber and Stamets??

Anxiousanxietyart: but stormpilot isn’t canon 

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Not with that attitude it isn’t!

Anxiousanxietyart: oy vey.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Also, Baze and Chirrut are totally married wHICH REMINDS ME, ROGUE ONE. NOW.

Anxiousanxietyart: …

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: please?

Anxiousanxietyart: alright fine.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: YAY! ONWARDS, MY NOBLE KNIGHT, AND LET US B E G I N!

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Sooooooooo?

Anxiousanxietyart: so what?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Whaddya think?

Anxiousanxietyart: it was alright, i guess

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ALRIGHT YOU G U E S S?!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Falsehood! You cried so hard you turned off the camera!

Anxiousanxietyart: who’s falsehooding now?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Still you! You loved it and you know it!

Anxiousanxietyart: you can prove nothing

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You may try, but you cannot deny the truth that is your tears

Anxiousanxietyart: try harder, lor san tekka

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Dangnabbit!

Anxiousanxietyart: i know my star wars lor

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Did you just

Anxiousanxietyart! patton is right over my shoulder i couldn’t just not

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: well, LOGAN is over MY shoulder, and he’s absolutely done

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Well done young Padawan

———————

Logicallylo: Why, Patton. Why would you do this.

Pattonhead: Oh hello Logan! How’s it goin’ in Logantown?

Logicallylo: Alright, I suppose. I was just consoling a sobbing Roman because of Rogue One, and now he has been sent off to bed because he was up late last night, and he has rehearsal tomorrow.

Pattonhead: Ooh, rehearsal?

Logicallylo: He is in a production of Falsettos with some friends of his (yes, he has friends).

Logicallylo: How about you?

Pattonhead: I’m not in any plays, if that’s what you’re askin’, Lo.

Logicallylo: No, I meant how was your day?

Pattonhead: Ooohhh! It was good!

Logicallylo: That is good.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: i’m a badawan, thanks very much?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Yoda Chronicles, and I'm a Jedi Knight

Anxiousanxietyart: i am ready to fight

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: foR THE SITH!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ZOOM POW ZAP ELECTRICITY

Anxiousanxietyart: why haven’t more people watched that thing

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Who knows?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Honestly I was super freaking gay for Jek-14 when I was younger

Anxiousanxietyart: who wasn’t?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Truth hath most verily been spoken here

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Look look look look look

Anxiousanxietyart: it’s a lesbian from next door!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Followed by her lover who’s a lesbian from next door too!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: But seriously look here

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: [image]

Anxiousanxietyart: is that

Anxiousanxietyart: a freaking

Anxiousanxietyart: jek-14 lego set???

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: YES IT IS INDEED

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: LOOK AND WEEP

Anxiousanxietyart: oh my gosh

Anxiousanxietyart: you freaking nerd

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Nerd?! I thought I was more of a geek!

Anxiousanxietyart: okay jeremy

Anxiousanxietyart: (nerd)

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: r u d e

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Virgil

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Virgil

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: VIRGIL

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: V I R G I L

Anxiousanxietyart: three m o o n s what the heckity heck do you want?!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Wings of Fire, and are you awake?

Anxiousanxietyart: no, definitely not

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oh okay then

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ...wait

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You little

Anxiousanxietyart: you’re welcome

Anxiousanxietyart: now why did you message me at three in the morning?!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I can’t sleeeeppppppp

Anxiousanxietyart: not with that attitude you can’t

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: And I have a Very Urgent Question for you

Anxiousanxietyart: shoot.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Do dryads have skin? Or is it just bark?

Anxiousanxietyart: i

Anxiousanxietyart: um

Anxiousanxietyart: what?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Because like if they have bark, how do they move? And like they’re tree ladies? So like how

Anxiousanxietyart: can you facetime me? i need to see your face while you say that.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Mm ok

———————

When Roman accepted the FaceTime request and was greeted with five solid minutes of Virgil laughing. Which was a nice greeting, yes, but a wee bit annoying, it being at him rather than with him.

“Rude,” he said when Virgil finally calmed down. This, of course, made him start laughing again.

“I’m sorry, haha!” He wiped away a tear. “It’s just—such a random—haha—question!”

“Doesn’t mean you had to FaceTime me JUST to rub it in.”

“Umm, yes I did. Obviously.”

Roman rolled his eyes. “But do dryads have bark?”

“I’m gonna say no.”

“But they’re trees, Virgil!”

“Tree people!”

“Trees! Have! Bark!”

“But they have to move???”

“Yeah, but if they have tree spirits, then can’t they have flexible bark?” Roman asked, trying to convince Virgil.

“No? That’s not how it works?”

“How would you know?!”

“Because I have basic sense?” Virgil sighed, laughing. “How did you even come up with this?”

“I was rererereading Percy Jackson, and I just thought of it,” Roman said.

Virgil shook his head, smiling. “Only you, Roman.”

Roman looked like he didn’t know whether to be pleased or offended. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“That you’re unique and hilarious and creative and dramatic.”

“Heck yeah I am!” Roman flipped his hair, and Virgil covered his mouth to keep from laughing too hard. Roman finally lost all control of his traitorous gigglebox, and let out a snort that turned into a giggle that turned into a laugh that he muffled with his pillow in order to keep from waking up Logan.

Virgil stared, his cheeks growing red in the darkness.

“I gotta gay—I—um—go.”

He hung up quickly, leaving Roman to wonder what the heck had just happened.

“Wait, but do they have skin?”

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: Patton holy crap

Pattonhead: Language, kiddo. Yes?

Anxiousanxietyart: i think i have a crush on roman

Anxiousanxietyart: i have feelings for him and i don’t even know him and it’s terrifying and i don’t know what to do

Pattonhead: Aww, kiddo, come over here.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart posted: i’m sorry guys, there’s not going to be anything for a while, maybe ever. sorry im such a failure.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Virgil!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I have many ideas to tell you of!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Thou must come here so I can tell you them!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oh Virgil?

Anxiousanxietyart: im sorry.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: What for?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Virgil?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You on?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Hello?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: …

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Fine, I’ll give you some space

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Virge you okay?

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Virgil stop ignoring me

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Answer me! I command you!

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Virge?

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Fine. You don’t want to talk to me, I don’t want to talk to you. I’m done.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I’m sorry Virgil I didn’t mean it just talk to meeeeee

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Is it something I did? I’m sorry for whatever it is, just tell me what to do to make it right. Please.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Virgil, I really miss you. Please come back. I’m begging you.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted: I’m sorry, all, for the lack of content. I’ve just been really sad lately. I’ll be back soon, hopefully, maybe, sometime.

———————

Logicallylo: Virgil? Are you on?

Logicallylo: Virgil, normally I would respect your privacy, but this is not a normal occurrence.

Anxiousanxietyart: what?

Logicallylo: Did something happen with Roman?

Anxiousanxietyart: ...sort of?

Anxiousanxietyart: how did you guess?

Logicallylo: It’d be impossible not to know, seeing how much he’s moping around lately. Living with him is… well, like living with him how he is usually only with more sad songs played around the house and more moping, as well as less general cheerfulness. It’s concerning.

Anxiousanxietyart: …

Anxiousanxietyart: oh crap what have i done

Logicallylo: Virgil. Breathe. In through your nose, out through your mouth.

Anxiousanxietyart: what do i do???

Logicallylo: You need to talk to him. Now. Before it’s too late.

Anxiousanxietyart: do i have to? can’t i keep repressing my feelings longer?

Logicallylo: No.

Anxiousanxietyart: fine, but you need to talk to patton then.

Logicallylo: What about?

Anxiousanxietyart: don’t play dumb.

Logicallylo: …fine. But if he doesn’t respond well, I’m blaming you.

Anxiousanxietyart: he won’t, but ditto.

Logicallylo: Very well. I will leave you to contact my brother. I wish you luck.

Anxiousanxietyart: thanks, lo. you’re a good friend.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: ro? you there?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: SWEET MOUNTAIN DEW RED YOU’RE ON!

Anxiousanxietyart: sorry for disappearing like that. i just had to think through some stuff.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Well, warn a prince next time!

Anxiousanxietyart: um, ro?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Yes?

Anxiousanxietyart: i need to tell you something, and it wouldn’t really… work… over messaging. could i call you?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Of course, Virgil. Anytime.

———————

Virgil stared at the number on the screen in front of him. It seemed to dare him to do what he did best: panic enough to avoid doing this, Tell Roman to forget about it, it was nothing, go back to how it was before. Don’t risk this friendship, the possibility of the other man not being who he said he was, and just let things stay the same.

It was a tempting thought.

He looked to his left to see Patton sitting next to him, giving him a supportive thumbs-up and mouthing, ‘you can do this!’

What would he do without Patton, honestly?

He took a deep, grounding breath. I can do this. I can do this.

Virgil dialed the number, and he heard Roman pick up.

“Hello? Virgil?”

Virgil threw his phone across the room.

It hit the other wall with a thunk and hit the floor.

Problem solved.

Patton looked at him. “Uhh, kiddo, what was that?”

Virgil huddled into himself. “I can’t do this!” He hugged his knees to his chest, shaking his head.

Patton took hold of his shoulders. “Hey. Virgil. Look at me.” He did. Patton’s sea-colored eyes were wide and comforting. “I believe in you. I know Roman feels the same way. You can tell him. It’s all right. Okay?” When Virgil hesitated, the other boy continued: “You don’t have to do this today. It will be perfectly fine if you don’t. However, you will have to do it sometime. Better sooner rather than later. One step in front of the other. You have got this.”

Virgil nodded. He let go of his knees, and stood up. He crossed the room slowly, his heart in his throat. He slowly picked up the phone.

“DUDE WHAT THE CROFTERS WAS THAT?!?!?!”

...the phone had not hung up.

“Sorry Roman!” Virgil stared at Patton in panic. “I—uh—I don’t know what happened!’

“Uh huh.”

There was a silence. It was tense, awkward, expectant. Virgil knew he had to be the one to break it. He took a deep breath—

“So what was it you wanted to tell me?”

Dangnabbit!

“Uhh—I—um—” Virgil lost all control of his filter. “Ithinkimightkindareallylikeyouandthatterrifiesmeandpleasedontbemad”

There it was. His soul laid bare. Virgil had done it. Patton was grinning and giving him the thumbs up. He felt a weight lifted off his chest.

What the freaking heck had he done.

A bigger weight fell on top of him. Roman hadn’t spoken yet. He didn’t like him back. It was official. He hated him. He—

“Oh. Wow. Cool. Um. Ditto?”

What.

"What?"

Roman laughed awkwardly. "Um. Oh wow this is not how I wanted this to happen. I had a whole thing planned and it was spectacular but. The feeling is mutual. I quite like you too. Romantically."

“Wait, really?!”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.” A pause. “Well what do we do about that?”

“Um. Wanna date?”

“Cool.” There was silence. Neither of them knew what to say.

Suddenly, Virgil began laughing. He tipped over, giggling uncontrollably into the phone. He snorted and rolled around, laughing and laughing and laughing.

“Virgil? You alive?”

“I—I just can’t believe,” he began between laughs, “that I avoided you for all that time, and all I needed to do was just call you? It’s just—it’s really ironic, isn’t it?”

Roman caught on, snorting into the phone. “Yeah, it is.”

They finally stopped laughing minutes later, drifting into comfortable silence. No one said anything. They didn’t need to. Everything that had been needed to say had been said, and all the tension was gone.

“So what happens now?” Roman asked.

“I guess we just try and see how things work out,” Virgil answered.

“You really have no clue, don’t you?”

“I really don’t.”

Roman snorted. “Neither do I, so it’s fine.”

Virgil let out a soft laugh. It felt good to be talking to him, really talking, nothing left as a secret.

They really should do this more.

And that’s when Roman broke the spell.

“NOW, LOGAN JOAN BERRY, GET YOUR TUCHUS OVER HERE AND TALK TO PATTON!” He yelled, his mouth still next to the gather-sound-thing on his phone. How could Virgil tell? Because it was right in his ear.

“Um, ow?”

“Oh, sorry Virge!”

“No worries. My bleeding ear will recover. However, my traumatized eardrum will not.”

“My voice is lovely, your eardrum should be thanking me for allowing it to hear my magnificent voice!”

“If you say so.”

Roman made a wounded and offended noise on the other end of the phone. Virgil snorted.

“If you want Logan and Patton to talk to each other, can they have their own call? I don’t want them to be flirting over my phone.”

“...oh yeah, that’s a good idea.” Roman paused a moment. “Uhh, maybe hold the phone away from your ear.”

“What—”

There was a thunk and a faint yell. A different voice shouted, “WHAT THE CRAP ROMAN?!”

“TAKE YOUR PHONE AND GO FLIRT IN THE OTHER ROOM!”

“WHY DID YOU THROW MY PHONE AT ME?!”

“Whaaaaaat is happening?” Virgil was very confused. Patton, still sitting next to him, had even less idea of what was going on.

“Umm, kiddo, is everything alright?”

“Who knows?” He shrugged. Patton did not seem to calm down or seem less confused.

And that’s when his phone rang.

Virgil and Patton both stared at the phone vibrating and playing “Baby Bumblebee” on the table. It kept ringing, undisturbed by the stares. Phones don’t care about you or what you do. They just ring.

Roman cleared his throat, yanking Virgil’s attention back to him. “Virge, tell Patton to pick up his phone before Logan spontaneously combusts, taking me with him and rendering the world devoid of this magnificent face.”

Virgil repeated this sentence word for word, dumbfounded.

“I, um, okay?” Patton walked over to the phone and picked it up. “Hello? Hi, Logan. Umm, what did you want to talk to me about?”

Patton walked out of the room, still talking.

———————

“Lo? What’s going on?”

Logan cleared his throat, preparing himself. Now was the time. He’d say ‘it’s now or never’, but after The Last Jedi, he swore off the phrase forever. Besides, it was inaccurate. He could always procrastinate.

No. He would confess now.

It was time.

He opened his mouth.

“How was your day?”

Nailed it.

Patton sounded a bit confused. “Umm, it was okay. Steve Carlsberg died today. It was sad. We had a funeral for him.”

“...what?”

“Oh, one of our fish.”

“Ah.”

Silence on both ends.

Logan opened his mouth to ask about the other fish names.

“I kind of really like you!”

Wait what.

What in the holy name of the pythagorean theorem did he just do.

Patton was silent for a long, nerve-tearing-into-pieces minute. When he finally spoke, it was to say that, “I like you too, Logan! That’s why we’re friends.”

“I—no.” Logan took a deep breath. If he didn’t say it now, he never would. Also, he would have to live with this miscommunication on his conscience for all of eternity. “Romantic like. As Roman would say, ‘I’m gay for you’ like.”

“Oh! I like you romantically too.”

‘Wait what’ was what he would have thought if he had had the ability to form coherent thoughts.

“I. Um. What?”

“Yeah.” Patton sounded like he was probably blushing. No, definitely. He was definitely blushing. “You’re really nice and kind and smart and beautiful and amazing and yeah I like you romantically back!”

“I—that was. Um.” Logan, you’re speaking nonsense. Collect yourself. I swear, sometimes you’re just too gay to live. “That’s good.”

“I’d hope so.” Patton’s voice was filled with a feeling Logan couldn’t place, but it was good. Definitely good.

“So,” he said, “what will happen now?”

“I don’t know!” Patton giggled. “I’m honestly just happy to be here, talking to you.”

“You are simply too sweet.”

Patton made a slightly flustered noise.

Logan cleared his throat. “Shall we just continue how we’ve been continuing and just see what happens?”

“Whatever we do I know will be just fine.” Patton spoke with an air of wiseness that said he knew what he was talking about. He was more people-smart than Logan, and that was one of the many reasons they complimented each other.

“Why is that, Pat?” Logan asked.

“Because dogs exist, and nothing bad can happen in a world with dogs,” he said very seriously.

Logan snorted. While that may have not been strictly logical, Patton was correct. They would be just fine.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted: Guess who’s not a single bean anymooooreeee??? This guy!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: oh my gosh

Veertrash71 replied: wait WHAT

Pattonhead replied: I was confused for a sec there, kiddo, but then I remembered.

Veertrash71 replied: UM

Logicallylo replied: Congratulations. You have found someone to deal with your nonsense. Lucky for all of us.

Veertrash71 replied: Is no one else going to freak out??

Perisureimace replied: Oh congrats!

Veertrash71 replied: WHY IS NO ONE ELSE CONFUSED THAT PRINCEY WAS EVER SINGLE?!

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: hi

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Greetings and salutations!

Anxiousanxietyart: um

Anxiousanxietyart: is there, like, protocol for talking now that

Anxiousanxietyart: um

Anxiousanxietyart: you know

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Your guess is as good as mine.

Anxiousanxietyart: oh okay

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: So

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Uhh

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Any pets?

Anxiousanxietyart: ...what?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I had to think of SOME conversation topic.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Your answer?

Anxiousanxietyart: a cat and fifty billion fish.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: What are their names?

Anxiousanxietyart: the cat is khoshekh, the fish are all named after wtnv characters but i can never remember who’s alive anymore. i think janice ate carlos last week, but i’m not sure.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: How dare you Janice?!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Do you perchance happen to have any pictures? If a pic of you came into the mix, I wouldn’t complain, just sayin’

Anxiousanxietyart: oh my gosh ro

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Love you too <3

Anxiousanxietyart: ajckskskkckdkfes

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Did I break you?

Anxiousanxietyart: ...maybe

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Honey

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Sweetie

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Apple of my eye

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: My one and only

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Knight in dark and angsty armor

Anxiousanxietyart: [image]

Anxiousanxietyart: [image]

Anxiousanxietyart: [image]

Anxiousanxietyart: [image]

Anxiousanxietyart: take my pet photos and freaking leave

Anxiousanxietyart: babe

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Amckskjdhdjsjsjakkadf

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oh my gosh is that you with your cat???

Anxiousanxietyart: yes

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: No mere mortal eyes should gaze upon such cuteness!

Anxiousanxietyart: good thing you’re not a mere mortal

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Aww!

Anxiousanxietyart: your ego alone is godly enough for ten zeuses

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ...I retract all my praise.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: [image]

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Alexander Hamsterton and I go on all sorts of adventures.

Anxiousanxietyart: ajdkdkskfjkssa

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Fair play is turnabout, Virge >:)

Anxiousanxietyart: why would you do this terrible thing

Anxiousanxietyart: my mind is dead now

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I tease because I love <3

Anxiousanxietyart: i

Anxiousanxietyart: uhh

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oh gosh I didn’t mean like that it’s too soon aah ignore me oy vey

Anxiousanxietyart: um okay

Anxiousanxietyart: so

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Hey so I’m wondering

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Why do you always text with no caps???

Anxiousanxietyart: it's for the a e s t h e t i c

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oh my gods you utter and complete e m o

Anxiousanxietyart: thank you for the compliment

Anxiousanxietyart: much appreciated

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: It… I… I give up.

Anxiousanxietyart: :)

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oh you NERD

Anxiousanxietyart: said the theatre geek to the emo.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ...what is that supposed to mean??

Anxiousanxietyart: no hecking clue.

———————

Logicallylo: Greetings and salutations, Patton.

Pattonhead: Oh hello! How are you?

Logicallylo: I am doing well. And you?

Pattonhead: Same here! A wee bit tired, but good all the same!

Logicallylo: I feel an urgent desire to sleep as well.

Pattonhead: Well, that’s one way to put it!

Pattonhead: HELP

Logicallylo: What’s going on?

Pattonhead: [image]

Pattonhead: SPIDER!!!!!!

Logicallylo: It appears to be a Pholcus phalangioides, or daddy long legs. It has venom, but is so small that it cannot bite or transfer venom. It is harmless.

Pattonhead: STILL! SPIDER!

Logicallylo: Do you have arachnophobia?

Pattonhead: No, but I’m terribly afraid of spiders!

Logicallylo: That’s what I said. Arachnophobia.

Pattonhead: WHERE IS VIRGIL I NEED VIRGIL TO TAKE IT OUTSIDE

Logicallylo: I have no idea of Virgil’s whereabouts.

Logicallylo: Perhaps you can message him?

Pattonhead: I’D SAY OOH THAT’S A GOOD IDEA IF I WEREN'T TERRIFIED

———————

Pattonhead: SPIDER!

Anxiousanxietyart: i’ll be there asap

———————

Pattonhead: Virgil has taken the spider outside! It cannot return any more.

Logicallylo: That is good. I am glad that it is gone.

Pattonhead: Just had a scare there!

Logicallylo: Is your emotional state better now?

Pattonhead: Much, thanks, Lo.

Logicallylo: No problem. Would you like me to call you now?

Pattonhead: Ooh yes please!

———————

Patton was now sitting on top of his bed, idly petting Khoshekh and staring at his phone intensely. Maybe if he stared hard enough, Logan would call sooner!

As if on cue, the phone started ringing. Patton picked it up without even looking at the screen.

“Hiya Lo!” He chirped, bouncing up and down.

“Salutations and further greetings,” replied the voice of Logan. Patton’s heart melted upon hearing him. “Is Virgil in the room?”

“Nope, just me! He’s trying to make brownies in the kitchen, apparently ‘to sacrifice to the great and almighty deity of removing all feelings’, so the normal reason, pretty much!”

“Ah. Usual Virgil?”

“There’s nothing usual about Virgil.” Patton’s tone was very serious. He loved his kiddo a lot. He was a small angsty baby koala kangaroo child who needed love.

“I am aware of this.” Despite the words, which would have sounded annoyed, Logan’s tone was fond, and Patton could picture him smiling as he said so.

“You may want to hold the phone away from your ear,” Logan said.

“Why is that?”

“ROMAN, WHERE IS ALEXANDER HAMSTERTON?” Logan’s voice was muffled, but he was obviously yelling.

A quiet reply that might have been “I was playing with him”, but sounded like “I mass gaying with him” was shouted from somewhere else. Patton was slightly confused about what was going on.

“Uhh, Logan? What’s happening?”

“Roman’s hamster wasn’t in his cage, but he’s back now,” explained Logan reassuringly.

“Oh okay! Thank goodness he’s back!”

And that’s when Virgil spoke.

“PATTON SPIDER, THE BROWNIES ARE BURNING AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT TO DO HELP ME!”

“Spider?”

Patton shuddered, whispering. “It’s ironic because I have a very large fear of spiders.”

Logan laughed over the phone, and Patton’s heart did some cartwheels. “Ironic indeed.”

They shared a blissful few seconds of silence, nothing to say.

“I should probably go,” said Logan. “You may want to assist Virgil with the brownies.”

“But I don’t wanna hang up! I wanna talk with you!” Patton protested.

“We can talk later, if you wish.”

“Ooh yay okay!” Patton bounced up and down. “Bye, Logan!”

“Goodbye, Patton.”

Logan hung up, and Patton ran to save some brownies from certain doom, still thinking of Logan.

———————

Logicallylo posted a photo: My boyfriend @pattonhead sent me these brownies today. They taste absolutely delicious! Love you Pat.

Pattonhead replied: Aww, so glad you like them honeybee! <3

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: THIS is a Marvelous Cookie! (or brownie, whatever)

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: SWEET! With an excellent CRUNCH!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: perfect to follow a dinner

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Or just after breakfast

Anxiousanxietyart replied: and prior to lunch! (really though pat, they're probably really good)

Pattonhead replied: Aww thanks kiddo! <3

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You know all my obscure references! A man after my own heart <3

Anxiousanxietyart: you cannot hide from my musical knowledge with frog and toad.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Shall we make a competition out of it?

Anxiousanxietyart: i'm listening.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: We each shall make as many references as possible without telling the other.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: If the other doesn't catch it, the referencer gets a point. If the other does get it, they get a point.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: The one with the most by the time our Big Bang project is posted wins!

Anxiousanxietyart: ro, you got yourself a challenge. let's do this thing.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Can I FaceTime you so we can shake on it?

Anxiousanxietyart: yes

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: can i call you?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Of course, Virgil! Might I ask why?

Anxiousanxietyart: i just need to talk to you rn.

———————

Roman picked up immediately. “Virgil? You okay?”

“No.” Virgil sounded out of breath and terrified to his own ears. “Patton isn’t home and he left his phone and I’m alone and there’s noises and I’m fREAKING OUT and—”

“Hey. Virge. Breathe.” Roman’s voice was calming, cool, soothing. “In. Out. In. Out. Breathe with me, okay?”

Virgil took a deep, shuddering breath. He heard Roman do the same, in sync with him. In. Out. In. Out. They continued, for how long was unknown.

After several minutes of silence, accompanied by the noise of their breathing, Roman spoke. “You feeling better?”

The hesitation of a few moments that seemed to take an eternity followed his words before Virgil replied.

“I—yeah. I’m better now, I mean.” And he was. Who knew that for once the most-recommended, least-remembered tip would actually work?

“Why were you panicking, if I may ask?”

“I kept hearing noises? Not sure how exactly.” A pause. “Thanks, Roman.”

“Anytime.” And he meant it. He would do anything to help Virgil.

He didn’t exactly know what to say after all that. “Do you want me to leave?”

“NO!” Virgil blurted out before realizing what he just said. “I mean, umm, if it’s okay, could you please stay? I don’t really want to be alone right now.”

“Of course,” Roman said softly. “Anything.”

“Is exactly what Han Solo said before getting stabbed by his son.”

“Why are you like this?”

Virgil snorted, and Roman felt a sudden urge to hug him.

“I kinda really love you, you know that?” Roman blurted out. He then slapped his hand in front of his mouth.

Virgil was silent. Utterly, completely silent.

You utter and complete dunce! You’ve driven him away!

“I—ditto.” Virgil let out a small, slightly awkward laugh. “This is not what I expected this day to be like.”

“What did you expect?”

“You can’t see because this is a call but I’m shrugging.”

Roman laughed. “That sounds about right.”

Virgil cleared his throat. “Patton just sent me a text, you don’t have to stay. He’s coming back in a few.”

“I can stay if you like,” Roman said. “I won’t leave you if you don’t want me to.”

“No, it’s fine. You can go.”

Roman shrugged. “If you’re sure. Love you.”

“Love you too. Bye, Ro.” Virgil hung up, and Roman sat there, shocked and blushing.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You feeling better?

Anxiousanxietyart: yes. patton’s home now, we’re watching the princess bride.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Glad you’re ok.

Anxiousanxietyart: thanks again, ro.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: All you need to do is ask. I’m here for you, love.

Anxiousanxietyart: anfkdmfjsjfk

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Did I mess up? Oh gosh I’m sorry

Anxiousanxietyart: no

Anxiousanxietyart: i

Anxiousanxietyart: kind of like it???

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Okay love

Anxiousanxietyart: gonna pay attention now, gnight, love

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ajkfmsjdhjfjd

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: sleep well, mi amor

Anxiousanxietyart: how the heckety heck do you know spanish

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ;)

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: HAVE I GOT THE STORY FOR YOU!

Anxiousanxietyart: good morning to you too.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: It’s 1 in the afternoon.

Anxiousanxietyart: ...

Anxiousanxietyart:

g o o d m o r n i n g

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ANYWAYS

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: SO

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I just saw a woman.

Anxiousanxietyart: whoa. never knew women existed.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Hush, I may be gay, but I know women exist and are amazing

Anxiousanxietyart: never knew that you were gay???

Anxiousanxietyart: truly shocked

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ANYWAYS, BACK TO MY STORY!

Anxiousanxietyart: oy vey.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: At the salad restaurant.

Anxiousanxietyart: …salad… restaurant?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Yes it exists

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Ordering a salad.

Anxiousanxietyart: wow. never would have guessed.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ...wHILE EATING A FREAKING DONUT.

Anxiousanxietyart: i… what?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You heard me!

Anxiousanxietyart: no, i didn’t. we’re texting.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You know what I mean!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: A chocolate covered donut. In line. Ordering a salad. To-go.

Anxiousanxietyart: why were you at a salad place?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Because they have the best gosh dang Mac n Cheese in the galaxy and I was in Urgent Need for it

Anxiousanxietyart: huh

Anxiousanxietyart: so, not because you suddenly decided to take care of yourself?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Despite Logan and Patton’s best efforts, no. Never.

Anxiousanxietyart: good, i was starting to worry you weren’t you.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Fear not, I am still my magnificently fantastic self!

Anxiousanxietyart: and that’s a reason not to worry? counterproductive.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: RUDE.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Someday, I will take you to Crunchy & Emerald, and you will see just how fantastic their Mac n Cheese is.

Anxiousanxietyart: really?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Couldn’t stop me if you tried. And don’t try.

Anxiousanxietyart: i guess it’s a date, then.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ahfkdmfjdkf

Anxiousanxietyart: :)

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Evil. Truly evil.

Anxiousanxietyart: said it before, i’ll say it again:

Anxiousanxietyart: chaotic

Anxiousanxietyart: neutral

Anxiousanxietyart: :)

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Chaotic good, myself

Anxiousanxietyart: i can see that. class?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Paladin, Fighter, sometimes Bard

Anxiousanxietyart: huh

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You?

Anxiousanxietyart: rogue

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You dark, angsty soul.

Anxiousanxietyart: got that right.

Anxiousanxietyart: you ever actually played d&d?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Aye, verily! Logan and I once arranged a campaign with friends (he was a sorcerer). It was quite fun!

Anxiousanxietyart: sounds like it.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Yep! What about you? Have you ever embarked on the nerd adventure of a lifetime that you can take more than once?

Anxiousanxietyart: i have one (1) friend who’d consider it, and he’s clueless about these things (patton)

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Well, now you have 3! We shall organize a campaign at once!

Anxiousanxietyart: three?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Me, Patton, and Logan!

Anxiousanxietyart: he’d like that?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Are you kidding? He LOVES nerd stuff like that!

Anxiousanxietyart: ...somehow, i am not surprised.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: wait.

Anxiousanxietyart: aren’t you lactose intolerant?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: :)

Anxiousanxietyart: i forbid you from eating that mac n cheese ever again

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Try and make me. I dare you. You will never separate me from my one true love! NEVER!

Anxiousanxietyart: what about me?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Babe.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I love you.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: But if you try and keep me away from Crunchy & Emerald’s sweet sweet cheesy macaroni, you will be unboyfriended.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces:

:)

Anxiousanxietyart: oh my dog.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You have a cat.

Anxiousanxietyart: umm, my point still stands

———————

Pattonhead: Lololololololololo!!!!

Logicallylo: I am here, Patton. What’s the matter?

Pattonhead: I’m at Target with Virge, and on the way we had the most magical encounter!!

Logicallylo: Would you like to tell me about it?

Pattonhead: That’s why I’m here! :3

Logicallylo: I am listening.

Logicallylo:

Or rather, watching. This isn’t a call.

Pattonhead: SO me and Virge were walkin’ to Target, and I heard? this? “meow meow” noise?

Pattonhead: I looked back aND THIS ADORABLE GRAY CAT WAS RUNNING ON ALL FOUR TINY LEGS TO MEET US, MEOWING???

Logicallylo: That does indeed sound adorable.

Pattonhead: The kitty ran up to us and went between Virgil’s legs and around my legs and I petted him and then he walked away it was amazing and pure and magical and I feel blessed

Logicallylo: Wow.

Logicallylo: That seems like a pleasant experience.

Pattonhead: It was the BEST DAY of my LIFE!

Logicallylo: I can believe that.

Pattonhead: Aaa gotta go, the friend is on the Virge of leaving me behind to shop alone :)

Logicallylo: I shall see you later, Pat.

Pattonhead: Byeeeee Lo!

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: pat and i went out shopping today for some sweet sweet starbound preparation materials, and look what i got

Anxiousanxietyart: [image]

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Is that

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: A freaking

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: XAER PIN?!

Anxiousanxietyart: :)

Anxiousanxietyart: they had them at the store, and even though they were out of vect pins, pat got a peri one and i got this

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: That

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Is

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: So

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: COOL?!?!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I am so jealous you have no idea

Anxiousanxietyart: i know

Anxiousanxietyart: whiiiich is why i lied

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ???

Anxiousanxietyart: they did have vect pins

Anxiousanxietyart: [image]

Anxiousanxietyart: and it’s for you

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ?!?!?!?!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: OH MY GOSH YOURET HE BEST BOYFRIEND EVERTFHRUSNJSJZSNAKSJSDKSKHDF

Anxiousanxietyart: i wonder if he’s excited at all

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: THE M O S T!!!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: THANK YOU SO MUCH VIRGE <3

Anxiousanxietyart: you’re welcome :)

———————

Pattonhead: Lololololololo!!! :D

Logicallylo: Yes?

Pattonhead: Look look look look look I got a new beanie!!

Pattonhead: [image]

Pattonhead: I’m a cat!!!! :3

Logicallylo: I

Logicallylo: I need a moment.

Pattonhead: You like it?

Logicallylo: Patton, you are adorable. You know that?

Pattonhead: Aww, that’s so sweet! ^u^

Logicallylo: You are so cute that I fell on the floor.

Logicallylo: [image]

Logicallylo: You have slain me.

Pattonhead: Aaaaaaaaawwwwwwwww! Nooooooooo don’t dieeeeeeee!

Logicallylo: Roman has taken this opportunity to “conquer the foul beast of Calculatortown”.

Logicallylo: [image]

Logicallylo: Why will he not stop stepping on me.

Pattonhead: Whyyyyyyyy Roooomannn?!

Pattonhead: Step off of my boyfriend!

Logicallylo: He is gone now.

Logicallylo: [image]

Logicallylo: With your encouragement, I have slayed the brother.

Logicallylo: Or rather, made him leave my room.

Pattonhead: YAAAAYYYYYYYYY! :DDD

Logicallylo: And now, I can get back to my book.

Pattonhead: Nooooooo keep talking to meeee!

Logicallylo: As you wish.

Pattonhead: YAYY! :D

Pattonhead: What’re you reading?

Logicallylo: Rebel Rising, by Beth Revis. I had a desire to learn more about Jyn Erso, and this is about her backstory.

Pattonhead: Ooh, sounds fun!

Logicallylo: It is, although I find it interesting how Jyn had a boyfriend before Rogue One, and the reason why she is captured by the Empire is somewhat unexpected.

Pattonhead: Huh!

Logicallylo: But enough about me, or about Jyn. What about you? How is Khoshekh?

Pattonhead: Adorable as ever!

Pattonhead: [image]

Logicallylo: You speak no falsehoods about that. Khoshekh is, indeed, adorable.

Logicallylo: However, you are even more so.

Pattonhead: Awwwwww, Lo, you’re makin’ me blush!

Pattonhead: [image]

Logicallylo: The evidence you have just sent has only strengthened my case. You are incredible, Patton. You make people feel, despite their original hesitance. You love so much, and are so many wonderful things.

Logicallylo: I haven’t the words to describe how I’m feeling. Emotions were never my forte.

Logicallylo: However, you… you are incredibly good at forcing me to feel things, and at making me like it.

Pattonhead: I

Pattonhead: I just don’t know what to say?

Pattonhead: I love you too, Logan. Always.

Logicallylo: I

Logicallylo: That

Logicallylo: You said you didn’t know what to say. But that was perfect. It was absolutely, positively perfect.

Logicallylo: I have no words.

Pattonhead: I can give you some of mine?

Logicallylo: I’m not entirely sure that’s how it works.

Pattonhead: I’m not entirely sure that I care.

Logicallylo: I feel as though you should probably care about that.

Pattonhead: I do, I just care about you more <3

Logicallylo: ajdkskndjdjs

Pattonhead: Did you just

Pattonhead: Did you just keysmash???

Logicallylo: Umm.

Logicallylo: If I said no would you believe me?

Pattonhead: YOU DID!

Logicallylo: Oy vey.

Pattonhead: Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me <3

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: help me roman i’ve been laughing at this for like 5 hours

Anxiousanxietyart: https://youtu.be/JMV3lRrduf0

Anxiousanxietyart: i’m just watching it on repeat and dying

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: AND THAT WAS THE FRIEND

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: NOW TELL ME

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: E N D

Anxiousanxietyart: this is true art right here

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Yes indeed.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart posted 6 photos:

i’ve been attempting some photography, and here’s some of my and pat’s favorites. he’s the one who talked me into posting these. if you hate them, blame him.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: HATE them? H A T E them? H A T E T H E M ? !

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: I L O V E T H E M ! ! !

Anxiousanxietyart replied: oh.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: thank… you?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: I do not say these things lightly, Virgil. You have real talent, my love!

Pattonhead replied: I told you, kiddo! Your photos are amazing!

Logicallylo replied: They are indeed absolutely fantastic, Virgil. Well done. You have a true eye for photography.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: i

Anxiousanxietyart replied: i don’t know what to say?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: No words needed.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Only more pictures, if you please! I haven’t seen true beauty since I saw your selfie (or maybe my mirror image), and your photography is truly stunning! Almost as stunning as you!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: ajkfmfjfhgnzkdjfm

Anxiousanxietyart replied:

Anxiousanxietyart replied: take my photos and g o

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Amazing!

Pattonhead replied: What’d I tell you, kiddo? You’re great at this!

Logicallylo replied: Spectacular. Simply spectacular.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: here’s some more, i guess

Anxiousanxietyart replied:

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: I haven’t the words to describe just how talented you are, love.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: wow. i never would have thought anyone would like these? thanks, guys

Pattonhead replied: No need to thank us! You’re the one who took the photos, Virge.

Veertrash71 replied: wHOA ANX HAS TALENT???

———————

Pattonhead: Hey kiddo!

Pattonhead: I’m proud of you.

Anxiousanxietyart: why?

Pattonhead: For opening up, and showing your pictures even though you didn’t know how they would be received. I knew you were nervous, but you handled it like a champ.

Anxiousanxietyart: i

Anxiousanxietyart: thanks, pat. love you.

Pattonhead: Love you too, kiddo. Wanna draw and listen to music?

Anxiousanxietyart: gosh yes.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart posted a photo: a bunch of sketches and an actual decent fanart i made. i just really wanted to draw xaer more. zey are really fun to draw.

Pattonhead replied: Nice job!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: You have quite a lot of talent!

Logicallylo replied: Well done, Virgil.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Loooogannnnn helpppp

Logicallylo: What is it?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: It’s just

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Virgil’s so good at so many things

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: And he’s really nice and sweet and amazing

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: And I love him so much

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: But he doesn’t realize how talented he is?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: And I wanna tell him and help him but I don’t know hoooowwww

Logicallylo: Roman.

Logicallylo: You are helping him already. By being there and letting him know you’re there for him, you have already done more than you know.

Logicallylo: As for letting him realize his worth, just keep doing what you’re already doing. The two of you have a great support system, and you both know how good at so many things the other is.

Logicallylo: But both of you are oblivious to how amazing both of you are, and neither of you see how the other isn’t superior to you. You both are equally talented in different areas.

Logicallylo: That is how the world works, Roman. You need to let him realize how talented he is on his own, but help him in any way you can. Don’t rush it. One thing at a time.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: ...wow. Thanks, Lo.

Logicallylo: You’re welcome, Ro. Now go get that boy. Again.

———————

Logicallylo:

I should get paid for my matchmaking skills.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Hey Virge?

Anxiousanxietyart: what is it ro?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I just

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You’re really amazing, you know that?

Anxiousanxietyart: no, i’m really not, but thanks.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: No, seriously. You’re super talented and great at so many things and I feel like you don’t know that enough.

Anxiousanxietyart: i

Anxiousanxietyart: i don’t know what to say. thanks, roman.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You’re welcome.

Anxiousanxietyart: why are you saying these things, if i may ask?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I just

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Just felt like you needed to know this.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Love you, Virgil.

Anxiousanxietyart: love you too.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted: @logicallylo and I will not be here for about a week? There’s a family gathering for a cousin’s bat mitzvah in another state, and we won’t be able to be on for a while. There shall be a surprise when I return, however! ;) See you soon!

Pattonhead replied: Awwww, we’ll miss you!!!!!!! Have fun!!!!!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: goodbye, ro. stay safe, and tell me when you get back.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: I shall miss you very much, my love.

Pattonhead replied: You can’t really see him because we’re texting, but Virge is blushing like a tomato and I felt it important that you know :)

Pattonhead replied: [image]

Pattonhead replied: See?

Logicallylo replied: Oh my gosh I love you.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: this is complete and utter betrayal?!?!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: aaaAAAAWWWWW! Baabeeeeee, you have a crush on me?!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: we’re dating, andy

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: that was an easy one, it doesn’t count!

Pattonhead replied: Oh my gosh you totally have a crush on him!!!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: if i’m being made fun of, it totally counts.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: We’re not making fun of you! It’s just adorable, that’s all!

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: [image]

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: This face can make many a man swoon ;)

Logicallylo replied: If it helps, his cheeks are a bit flushed as well. You can see in the image.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Wow thanks Lo?? Honestly why would you point that out???

Anxiousanxietyart replied: that doesn’t help??????? it’s only worse now?????? you are e v i l

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Chaotic good, love. We’ve discussed this?

Logicallylo replied: Lawful neutral myself.

Pattonhead replied: Neutral good! :D

Anxiousanxietyart replied: chaotic neutral.

Logicallylo replied: Somehow, the fact that I am the only lawful one makes sense…

———————

Pattonhead: Viiiiiiiiirgiiilllllll

Anxiousanxietyart: yes?

Pattonhead: I miss Logannnnn

Anxiousanxietyart: i know. i miss roman too.

Pattonhead: I just wish they were here, y’kno?

Anxiousanxietyart: yeah. i know.

Anxiousanxietyart: wanna have a game night?

Pattonhead: Anytime, kiddo :)

———————

Pattonhead: I’m going to the store, want anything?

Anxiousanxietyart: a soul

Pattonhead: ...kiddo, I have 5 dollars

Anxiousanxietyart: what were you gonna buy with 5 dollars?

Pattonhead: Chips.

Anxiousanxietyart: chips… don’t cost 5 dollars…

Pattonhead: ...chips.

Anxiousanxietyart: i’ll be there in a sec

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted: I AM HERE, I AM QUEER, AND I HAVE RETURNED FROM MY QUEST! Did you miss me? (oh, and @logicallylo ‘s here too)

Pattonhead replied: LOGAN!!!!!!!!!!! I MISSED YOU SO MUUUCHHHHHH

Logicallylo replied: I missed you too, Patton. A lot.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: hey, ro.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: VIIIIIIIRGILLLLLL!!! Did you miss me?

Anxiousanxietyart replied: no.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: ?!?!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: i’m kidding! yeah, missed you.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Missed you too, my cruel and heartless love.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: i’m not cruel and heartless.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: I know that you are anything but.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: facetime me?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Of course, my dear Virgil.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted a video: In celebration of returning from a week-long hiatus, here’s a video of me singing! I chose A Whole New World because it’s Disney and it won the wheel spin of fun songs to sing haha! Enjoy!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: i

Anxiousanxietyart replied: i’m dead. you’ve killed me.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Haha thanks babe

Anxiousanxietyart replied: you? just? keep murdering me? in cold blood? honestly

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: It’s what I do best ;)

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Ughhhhhhhh help meeeeeee

Anxiousanxietyart: what’s happening? You ok?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Just having a bad day…

Anxiousanxietyart: wanna talk about it?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Just have writers block and no play rehearsal because I got the most HORRENDOUS cold and Logan is out doing things and I’m alone and in pain and bored and these few days before the new Starbound are always the most terrible and I’m just uuuughhhhhh

Anxiousanxietyart: i’m sorry, ro. anything i can do to help?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Just being here is amazing, thanks <3

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Also wanna have a Harry Potter marathon with me?

Anxiousanxietyart: how could i refuse?

Anxiousanxietyart: facetime?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I don’t really feel like my normal magnificent Princey self…

Anxiousanxietyart: i’m pretty sure that you could never be anything near less than godly in looks.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: aww, thanks

Anxiousanxietyart: besides, i see worse every time i look in a mirror.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: nO BABE

Anxiousanxietyart: kidding, i had to say that, i’ll call you

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Thanks for binge watching Harry Potter with me, Virge. I owe you one.

Anxiousanxietyart: no problem, love.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oh my gooooshhhhh

Anxiousanxietyart: did i do something wrong?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: NO

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: HEAVENS NO

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I’m just

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Aaaaaaaaahhhhh

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: you killed me

Anxiousanxietyart: oh my gosh

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: I’m deaded

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Slain

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: By my own boyfriend

Anxiousanxietyart: you’re so lucky i love you

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Aodkdjdakkdkslskdjdk

Anxiousanxietyart: :)

———————

Pattonhead posted: TODAYTODAYTODAAAYYYY!!! :D

Anxiousanxietyart replied: wow, I wonder if he’s excited

Logicallylo replied: Of course he is, Virgil. It is rather obvious. I’d have thought you’d have noticed. No need to wonder.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: sarcastic.

Logicallylo replied: Ah. Very well.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: Thou art a bunch of liars! All of you are most excited as well, I know this with absolute certanity!

Logicallylo replied: Certainty, and falsehood. I am not excited. I have no emotions.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: I saw you dance in your room earlier. Don’t lie.

Logicallylo replied: Falsehood. That was you. I saw you.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: i never said i wasn’t excited. only a fool wouldn’t be.

Logicallylo replied: ...I suppose I shall concede a point to you. I do feel an adequate amount of excitement to read the newest book of Starbound.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: yeeEEEESSSSSS!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: woo.

Logicallylo replied: Are you satisfied?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces replied: I WILL NEVER BE SATISFIED

Anxiousanxietyart replied: god i hope you’re satisfieeeddd

Pattonhead replied: AAAAAAAAAA VIRGE TIME TO GO GET IT NOW!!!!!!!!

Anxiousanxietyart replied: coming.

———————

Logan walked into the crowded bookstore with low expectations, if any.

Roman had, of course, come down with a cold, but nothing was going to stop him from running down to the bookstore himself if Logan didn't go and get them both copies of Starbound: Awaken, so here he was. Alone. In a social setting.

Why was he here again?

Ugh, there was a line. He walked over to stand in it. While waiting, he pulled out his phone to check Tumblr. Roman was complaining on the dash about being sick, Virgil was retaliating with sass, and Patton was being cute with puppy and kitten photos and energy in the corner. Logan held back a laugh. He really loved his friends.

He turned off his phone and surveyed the people around him. There were kids with parents dressed up as Peri and Xaer and Vect and all the other characters, making Logan smile a little. One confused adult was dressed as Luke Skywalker, which made him sigh a little. Honestly.

He made his way to the front of the line, purchased two copies of the book, and began making his way towards the exit. The smell of new books was particularly strong in this bookstore, and Logan stopped to stand and enjoy it a while. He was about to continue walking when he could have sworn he heard the most familiar voice.

"C'mon, kiddo! Let’s get in line! Aaaa I'm so excited!"

"I can't tell at all..."

Logan's head swiveled around 180 degrees like R2-D2's. Standing there was a pair that looked too good to be true. There was no way Patton and Virgil could possibly be here. It just wasn't logical. And yet, a purple-hoodie-clad back and another with a blue shirt and gray cat hoodie tied around his shoulders were standing there, chatting animatedly.

"No way in Crofters," he muttered to himself, staring at the two. And yet, there must have been a way in Crofters, as they were there, weren't they?

He was debating the pros and cons of approaching them (Venn diagram and all) when Roman called. He took that as a sign to leave, but made a mental note of this day.

Logan had a lot to think about.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: How about them Starbound?

Anxiousanxietyart: it was very good.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: GOOD?! It was INFURIATINGLY AMAZING! SPECTACULAR!

Anxiousanxietyart: good.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Oy vey. You’re lucky I love you.

Anxiousanxietyart: ahsidjsndhshhsidiska

Anxiousanxietyart: why.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: You know you love iiiittttt :)

Anxiousanxietyart: i know nothing except hatred.

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: As Logan would say,

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: FALSEHOOD!

Anxiousanxietyart: how often does he say that?

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: More than you could possibly know.

———————

Starbound-Big-Bang posted: Friendly reminder that you have one more week before posting time! Authors: You must have your fanfics done and above the word limit. Artists: You must have your drawings/projects done and ready for posting.

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: gUESS WHO TOTALLY FINISHED HIS FINAL DRAFT?!

Anxiousanxietyart: oh congrats! i’ll read it in a sec

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: AAAAAAAAAAA!!!

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: it’s very good, congrats

Disneynbroadwaynprinces: Aww thanks! Call me?

Anxiousanxietyart: of course

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted: Only 3 days ‘til Showtime!

Pattonhead replied: Break a leg, kiddo! :D

Anxiousanxietyart replied: what pat said. you got this, ro.

Logicallylo replied: Fracture a femur.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: ????

Logicallylo replied: It WAS break a leg, but I improved it.

Anxiousanxietyart replied: ...never say that again.

———————

Logicallylo: Virgil, may I have a word?

Anxiousanxietyart: what is it?

Logicallylo: You are aware that Roman is to do the thing where he makes a fool of himself in front of others while pretending to not be himself?

Anxiousanxietyart: ...you mean acting?

Logicallylo: Yes, that is what I said.

Anxiousanxietyart: how could I not know?

Logicallylo: And are you aware that I believe that we do not live too far away from each other?

Anxiousanxietyart: ...how would you know that?

Logicallylo: I… may have seen you and Patton at the bookstore…

Anxiousanxietyart: WHAT

Logicallylo: On the day Starbound: Awaken released.

Anxiousanxietyart: which bookstore?!

Logicallylo: Formerly a Bruegger's Bagels

Anxiousanxietyart: and you were going to tell me WHEN?!

Logicallylo: It slipped my mind.

Anxiousanxietyart: it. slipped. your. mind.

Logicallylo: I wasn’t positive it was you.

Anxiousanxietyart: why didn’t you SAY anything?!

Logicallylo: You left before I could approach you.

Anxiousanxietyart: and how did you conclude that we don’t live too far away from each other?

Logicallylo: Roman and I live only a block away from the bookstore, and you and Patton appear to have walked. You are too lazy to have walked more than a mile, even with Patton’s puppy eyes as a factor, as well as the fact that it’s the newest Starbound. Hence, not too far.

Anxiousanxietyart: ...i could have been visiting from australia. i could have wanted some exercise for once. heck, i could be a serial killer. i know where you live now!

Logicallylo: You didn’t have an Australian accent, we are in the same time zone anyway, I don’t think that’s likely, and I highly doubt you’re a serial killer, as we’ve known each other for too long and too well. Also, you don’t know exactly where I live, as I didn’t give you the address.

Anxiousanxietyart: ...logical, as always.

Logicallylo: Of course. Necktie.

Anxiousanxietyart: what were you going to ask me?

Logicallylo: Virgil, Roman has his play in a week. It is at the school auditorium.

Anxiousanxietyart: …no.

Logicallylo: Whyever not?

Anxiousanxietyart: …

Anxiousanxietyart: i’m just anxious

Logicallylo: This is not news to me. You are always anxious.

Anxiousanxietyart: ...yes, but

Logicallylo: Your name is AnxiousAnxiety.

Logicallylo: There is an “art” in there as well, but it is not beneficial or necessary to the point I am attempting to make.

Anxiousanxietyart: yes, but

Logicallylo: So why won’t you come to see Roman preform?

Anxiousanxietyart: it’s just…

Logicallylo: You can tell me.

Anxiousanxietyart: i’ve known him for 5 months, and we’ve only ever talked here or on the phone. the thought of meeting him in person, it just…

Logicallylo: It seems daunting. Final. Real. I know.

Anxiousanxietyart: yeah, exactly.

Logicallylo: You don’t have to come. It would be fine if you didn’t. However, for Roman’s sake and yours, please consider it.

Anxiousanxietyart: …

Logicallylo: Just consider. That’s all I ask.

Anxiousanxietyart: alright. but if i die, i’m blaming you.

Logicallylo: I wouldn’t expect you not to.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart: Hey, ro.

Anxiousanxietyart: so, today's the day. showtime.

Anxiousanxietyart: i know you won't be able to read this until later, because you're backstage preparing and all, but i wanted to tell you

Anxiousanxietyart: break a leg, ro.

Anxiousanxietyart: i know as well as you that you'll do amazing, and you will rock this show, you hear? you'll blow us all away with your splendor.

Anxiousanxietyart: you always were too much for anyone, and you're so energetic and alive, and i

Anxiousanxietyart: i just really love you.

Anxiousanxietyart: i had to tell you that before the show started.

Anxiousanxietyart: break a leg. you'll be amazing.

Anxiousanxietyart: you truly are a star.

———————

The theater was dim, as one would expect.

It was packed, as one would not.

At least not from a 7-person show in the auditorium of a school that was only available for this one night. There were plenty of seats, and there was an actual stage with actual curtains obscuring it, which was honestly all it really needed to set the theatre mood, at least in Virgil's opinion.

He and Patton were roaming the isles, looking for a person they'd never actually spoken to in real life, in the same place, not on the phone. The murmur of hundreds of whispers at once was somehow almost deafening. It was certainly overwhelming, whatever else it was, and if was all Virgil could do to keep calm.

‘it's okay, you've got this, you're only going to go see your boyfriend for the first time in the same room as him, no biggie,’ he thought. This did not calm him.

"C'mon, kiddo! You excited?" Patton was bouncing up and down on his toes, clutching his gift bag (containing two homemade plushies) with all his strength. No points for guessing if he was excited at all.

"Yeah..." Virgil brushed some stray violet strands of hair out of his eyes and sank further into his hoodie. Patton looked at him, concerned.

"You alright there, Virge?"

"Just anxious… More than usual, I mean."

Before Patton could respond, his phone rang. When he answered it (the ringtone was the Baby Bumblebee song; Pat had great ringtones for all his friends. Virgil's was the Little Einsteins theme song (why? no one knows.), and Roman's was I’ll Make a Man Out of You), his face lit up.

"Heya Lolo!" Patton listened intently for a few moments, during which Virgil could barely make out Logan's voice on the other end of the call.

"Mhmm... Uh huh... Okay... Alrightie!... Love you!... See ya in a sec!" Patton hung up and turned to Virgil.

"He's in Row G, Seats 7-9. C'mon!"

If Virgil wanted to turn and run out the door screaming, he couldn't have. Patton had him by the arm in an iron grip. There was no escape.

Patton tugged him at a run to the seats, which were full of people. However, Patton had eyes for only one person.

"Logan?"

A man turned, his glasses glinting in the light. His hair was blue in the dim light despite being black, the ends lighter and in need of a re-dyeing, and his expression, which had been neutral yet nervous, now sported a fond smile.

"Patton?"

Said boy ran and tackled Logan in a flying hug. Virgil was content to watch.

"LOGAN!!!!!!!!" Logan was unable to reply, his face being smushed into the shoulder of Patton.

"Mmph," he managed to get out.

Virgil felt like he was massively intruding on a private moment.

“Um, I’m just gonna go over there, away from here.”

Logan said something that might’ve been “You do that,” but also may have been “I like hat” or “potato fat”.

Virgil edged past them, giving Logan a sympathetic pat on the shoulder as he did so. He headed to his seat, and read over the program (it was a folded piece of paper with the show on the front and the cast list and people-who-helped list inside) in boredom. At one point he opened his phone and scrolled through Tumblr a bit, but he couldn’t concentrate. His nerves were up so high they’d breached the atmosphere and now couldn’t breathe because they didn’t have spacesuits.

He turned off his phone, sighing. There was nothing for him to do now but sit, wait, and check and double check and triple check that his bag was still there.

Minutes passed, and the lights did not dim, the chatter did not stop, and Logan and Patton had not returned. They were probably still catching up.

‘Or they’ve been kidnapped. Or they’re dead. Or they’re lost. Or they’ve abandoned you. Or they’re—’

“VIRGIL!”

Patton, hand in hand with Logan, was heading towards him. His freckled face was very flushed, his curly hair mussed up a little. He was waving, and almost pulling Logan behind him as he walked. Logan also appeared to be holding the gift bag Patton had given him.

“I’m baaaack!”

“I noticed.”

Logan looked a little sheepish. “Salutations, Virgil. Apologies for not greeting you earlier. I was, er, occupied.”

“No biggie,” replied Virgil, grinning. He then hugged Logan, who seemed to be a little more unaware of how these things went than he was.

They headed to their seats, chatting about life, the universe, and pie. Lots of pie.

“Pumpkin!”

“Chocolate is obviously the best!”

“No, pecan pie!”

“You’ve never even had pecan pie.”

“I know it’s good!”

“You’re allergic to nuts.”

“...it’s good!”

“Pumpkin is still the best.”

“Objectively, chocolate has the best taste.”

This discussion had been carrying on for a while when the lights finally dimmed. Virgil elbowed Logan (he wasn’t sitting next to him, but he would have rather been sucked into the dark, cold, unforgiving void than accidentally hurt Patton) to get him to stop ranting about chocolate pie and shut up.

“Shh! It’s starting!” He hissed. Patton and Logan instantly shut up, and soon, so did the rest of the theater.

There was a pause.

Then, the curtains opened.

The play began.

Virgil sat up anything-but-straight in his seat.

There, onstage, in real life for the first time, was Roman, as animated and alive as possible up in front of hundreds of people.

It was impossible to see the details of his face (beyond "beautiful") through the makeup and lighting, but it was unmistakably him. The energy was too alive and purely Roman to be anything but him. The hair was the precise shade of Roman's, the infectious grin was the same, the singing voice was obviously his. It was a judgement no one needed talent to make.

Also, Virgil knew this play. He knew who Roman was in this play. He couldn't NOT figure it out.

Whichever friend was playing Marvin started singing about being an idiot, but he wasn’t paying attention. He just kept staring at Roman, on the side, watching Marvin, still in character. Obviously. This was Roman. He had enough acting focus for all the people in this room, and then some.

When Roman actually stood up and started having an actual singing part in “Thrill of First Love,” Virgil nearly died.

"Shall we head out for chocolate?" Logan suggested.

Neither Patton nor Virgil was one to turn down chocolate.

They exited the theater, and were overwhelmed instantly by the crowds you only seem to find during intermission: every single one desiring candy, not enough time for everyone to be fortunate enough to get some.

It was quite overwhelming, and Virgil decided that Logan and Patton could be left alone for the sake of him getting a moment of relief.

"I'm going to hide over there, can you get me some MNMs?" He asked. “I’m just gonna get away from people for a little bit.”

Patton nodded, and Virgil took that as his cue to leave.

He walked away, dodging crowds and clumps of clustered humans, huddled together so as not to lose each other. He did his best to avoid contact with them; fleeting touches were hard to deal with emotionally. He managed to make it to the bathroom, where he figured he could be alone for a few moments.

Virgil stepped into the bathroom, and collided with a blur of a person.

“Oh, pardon me!”

“It was my fault.”

Virgil separated himself from the stranger, and made it a full 5 seconds before halting.

“...wait...”

He spun around at the same time as the “stranger”. His green-brown eyes were wide with surprise and recognition.

“Roman?”

“Virgil?”

“Oh my gosh it’s you!” Virgil exclaimed, eyes widening even more than he’d thought possible. Roman ran at him and wrapped him in a huge hug. Virgil hugged back, burying his head in Roman’s shoulder as he did his very best to hold back tears.

He was not prepared for this.

When they finally separated, they each kept their hands on the other’s shoulders, not ever wanting to let go of each other, even for a moment. They just looked at each other for a full one minute, not sure what to say.

“You’re still in costume,” Virgil said.

“You’re still wearing that same hoodie you always are,” said Roman, and hearing his voice and touching him and seeing him talk and him being right there, right now was just too much.

“Please tell me I’m not the only one on the verge of tears here, because if I’m the only one crying, it will be really bad.”

“Are you kidding?” Roman laughed. “If I smudge my stage makeup, I’m gonna be really upset, and so will everyone else in this gosh darn ding dang show, but they’ll just have to deal with it because I just saw my gosh darn ding dang boyfriend for the first time, in real life, so heck yeah I’m gonna cry!”

“Oh thank goodness you’re gonna cry too, I’m gonna return to Logan and Patton with smudged eyeliner and they’re gonna be so confused.”

They both laughed, wiping at their eyes. When they finally calmed down, they just kind of stared at each other some more, drinking each other in.

Roman was the one to break the silence. “Oh, here!” He fished around in his pocket. “I accidentally put the eyeliner in my pocket instead of back in the makeup bag,” he explained. “Can’t do anything about the eyeshadow, but from your selfies, I’m pretty sure at least some havoc there is normal.”

Virgil snorted. “Alright. Eyeliner me up.”

Eyeliner him up Roman did. A few moments later and Virgil had wings so sharp they could cut a man.

“There!” Roman exclaimed when done. “Your makeup-strewn beautiful mess of a face is no longer makeup-strewn!”

“Wow, thanks.”

He suddenly realized that Roman had not pulled back, and was still very much in Virgil’s space bubble. Normally the space bubble was a holy, sacred space. This was not one of those times.

They were staring at each other. Virgil could see the flecks of gold in the depths of Roman’s eyes.

He was truly extraordinary.

Finally, Virgil had had enough, and pulled Roman in by the face. Their lips met with all the pent-up passion of many months of desire. He was filled with a kind of happiness and love he'd never even thought possible.

Inevitably, regretfully, they parted. Both faces were flushed. Cheeks were very red beneath white foundation (Virgil) and loads of stage makeup (Roman).

"Ah, shoot!" Roman cursed. "I must take my leave—I must be behind the stage by the time intermission is almost over. They only let us out for bathroom breaks, and even then time is tight. My apologies, Virgil."

"I get it, Ro. The show needs you." Part of Virgil wanted to scream 'but I want you to stay here with me!', but he couldn't make himself do it. Also, his brain was short-circuiting a little. He had kissed Roman. Roman had kissed him. His brain would never work right again.

"I shall see you in a bit, then!" Roman kissed his cheek quickly, and the space where his lips touched was suddenly the place where his blood wanted to be at this moment. "Or rather," continued Roman, "you'll see me." He winked.

"Uhh," Virgil said, very intelligently.

"See you later, alligator." Roman swished out of the room with a flourish he was certainly quite proud of.

"Uhh, crocodile."

He was ruined. Ruined.

When he got back to his friends (whose hair was not as neat as it once was, but if you thought Virgil was going to point that out, you also probably thought the Percy Jackson movies were good), any hope of them not noticing his slightly messed-up makeup was shattered.

"What happened to your face?" Patton asked.

"Um, so I think I just saw Roman."

Logan tilted his head. "How do you know?"

"I made out with him in the doorway to the bathroom."

Patton squealed. "Wait, really?!"

"Why and how would I make this up?!"

Patton made some more incoherent excited noises. Logan cleared his throat.

"You were sure it was him, correct?"

"Don't worry, I didn't kiss some random stranger. He was in costume too. And he looked exactly like Roman. And sounded like him. And talked like him."

"If it looks like a tomato, smells like a tomato, sounds like a tomato, it's an orange!" Patton said.

"That's... not how it goes..." Logan sighed. "You're lucky I love you."

Patton smiled and leaned his head on Logan's shoulder. "Love you too, honeybee."

"I feel like I'm intruding," said Virgil. "Should I maybe leave?"

That's when the lights dimmed again. Apparently not.

The curtains parted, and there stood Mendel, waiting to begin the second act.

“Homosexuals!”

Mendel was pointing at them. He was freaking pointing his little airplane guide things at them.

Did he know anything?

Mendel winked at them before continuing.

Curse you, Roman.

The rest of the show went quite smoothly (and bonus, Virgil learned just how attractive Roman was with sunglasses: very attractive indeed). By the end, Patton, the only one who didn't know what was coming (Virgil was a theatre nerd and Logan was the brother of another), was sobbing openly. Virgil was, for the first time, grateful for his earlier cry. It helped to hide the tears streaking down his face at the moment. Even Logan was trying to hide that he, too, had shed more than a single tear. Lo, you good ol' liar.

Roman’s voice was beautiful, as usual.

Even when what he was singing was heartbreaking.

Many tears were shed that night.

By the time the show was done, and the cast ran out for bows, there wasn’t a dry eye in sight. A roar of applause sounded around the theatre, and Virgil could feel his hands hurting from clapping so hard. One person stood up. Then another. A tidal wave of people rose to their feet, and Virgil was among them. He couldn’t have resisted if he wanted to.

In the spotlight, Roman seemed to thrive on the cheers and applause of the audience. He had never looked better, more comfortable in his own skin (which was ironic, because he was just acting).

He was, simply, stunning.

The journey from the theatre to the overcrowded hallway was a blur of wow. Logan and Patton were chatting (read: consoling Patton as he sobbed into Logan’s shoulder), but Virgil was in a daze and didn’t pay attention.

He certainly rectified that when he saw a specific, familiar grin and eyes like the prized jewels of power in some fantasy novel.

“ROMANNNNNN!!!!!” Patton ran and hugged Roman, then was confused when no one else joined him.

“Am I the only one?”

Logan cleared his throat. “I’ve known him long than any other combination of two people here have known each other.”

“And I just met him for the first time. Sorta kinda.” Virgil thought for a moment. “Is it the first time? Or not? How does this work?”

“You cannot fool me with the play I just starred in!” Roman smirked. “Oh, also, who knows? I certainly do not.”

“You know nothing.”

Roman let out an offended noise. “Rude!”

Virgil snorted. “What else is new?”

Roman looked him up and down slowly. “For once, the fact that you are actually here, in person.”

“What are you going to do with me now that I’m here?” Virgil asked.

He was answered with a smirk. “Well, first—”

“You’re going to accompany us to the nearest restaurant,” Logan interrupted, “where we will have a nice dinner, free of any icky romantic-type shenanigans. After that, you are free to do as you wish, without informing me about it, and certainly without me right here. Witnessing it. With my eyes. Which need bleach now.”

“Any romantic shenanigans?” Patton and Roman asked, for completely different reasons.

“Any. At all.”

“Pretty sure you don’t really think you can stop them…” Virgil pointed out.

Logan sighed. “I am aware. However, that will not prevent me from trying.”

“Fair enough.”

Roman raised his hand. “I vote Crunchy & Emerald!” He fingergunned at Virgil. “I hear the mac n cheese is excellent there.”

“Oy vey.” Despite his words, Virgil was smiling, and his tone was fond.

“Sounds good to me!” Patton nodded.

Logan shrugged. “Why not?”

Roman extended his arm to Virgil. It was a very olden-timey gesture. It was also adorable. “We never did finish that game of 20 questions, did we?”

Virgil grinned, taking his boyfriend’s arm. “That is indeed not something that we did.”

“I believe it’s your turn to ask a question.”

“Nah. Can you start?”

“I will gladly do that, love.”

“Shall we?”

“We shall.”

———————

Disneynbroadwaynprinces posted:

OF SEA AND SHORE

Summary: Xaer, heir to the mer kingdom, wished for more than a life of sitting (or hovering above) a throne. Vect, prince of the mainland, wanted adventure and exploration. Peri just wanted a nap in the seaweed.

Word count: 34716

Warnings: Drowning (or rather, almost-drowning), water, sharks, blood in said water, a gigantic octopus lady

A/N: At Last, posting time has arrived! I have waited anxiously for the time to come to share this with you, and now you can see for yourself! Art by my lovely boyfriend and partner for the Bang, @AnxiousAnxietyArt , is here! Enjoy!

It was all quiet under the cover of night and dark waters.

———————

Anxiousanxietyart posted a photo/photos:

here’s the art for the starbound big bang. My partner was @disneynbroadwaynprinces , and his fic can be found here.

———————

EPILOGUE

When Virgil went to ring the doorbell, he almost hesitated. For the first time since Roman and Logan had taken a trip 3 months ago to go see about 10 million musicals in New York and summer break ended, Virgil was going to see his boyfriend again. What if Roman didn't still love him? What if he was possessed? What if he got SQUIPped over the summer? What if—

Patton pushed the doorbell with enough enthusiasm and energy to power China for three years.

Okay then.

Virgil had just enough time to wonder why the doorbell was apparently the "Ma-na-ma-na" song from The Muppets (possibly from Patton messing with it) when the door opened and a very familiar voice yelled his name.

"VIRGIL!"

He was pulled into a tight embrace by his boyfriend. Virgil hugged Roman tight, ignoring the tears leaking past his eyelids. He was barely aware of Patton edging past him to greet Logan. You do that, Patton. I'll just stay right here.

"I missed you," Virgil whispered.

"I missed you too," replied Roman, dipping Virgil and kissing him passionately (like everything else he did). Any stray ends of thought that may have been there instantly vanished, gone into the void. There was only Roman, the reality of him, he who lives in fantasy. His chest filled with a jumble of emotions, and for once he didn't try to repress them.

When they finally broke apart, both were content to stand there, basking in the presence of each other. Neither wanted to break the silence.

"So, we watching this thing or not?" Virgil said finally. There would be plenty of time for saying all that needed to be said, doing all that needed to be done, all of that later.

"Not so fast, mister." Roman looked stern, but also like he wanted to laugh. "Where's that art you promised me?"

"Aren't I art enough?" Virgil joked.

"Well, yes, but a promise is a promise! Fulfill your oath, or you shall feel my wrath!"

"Spicy."

"What??"

"Nothing." Virgil reached into his bag and brought out a piece of paper that had been looked at many times over the course of the last month.

Roman stared at it. It was an image of the day the two had met the first time, Roman onstage, in his costume, radiant. He was utterly spectacular. In the spotlight, he seemed to glow.

“I—Virgil, this is…”

“Full of mistakes and terrible line art, yes, I know.”

“Shut up!” Roman’s face was very, very red. Normally, Virgil would have teased him, but something stopped him. Maybe it was the expression on Roman’s face, maybe it was how he turned to look at Virgil, maybe it was the star struck look in his eyes, maybe it was—

Maybe it was the fact that Logan chose to speak up just then.

"Come over here, you horrifyingly sappy gays! It’s starting!" Logan was standing on the doorway, arms crossed as he looked at the pair. They jumped apart, surprised, the drawing fluttering to the floor. It landed face-up.

"Rude!" Roman yelled back.

Virgil placed his arm on Roman’s shoulder. “Come on. Let’s go join the others.”

Roman nodded. “Alright. Let’s go.”

They walked over to join a frantically-bouncing-up-and-down Patton on a couch with Logan, who looked extremely calm for the situation.

Roman settled himself on a comfortable armchair. Virgil perched on the armrest of said armchair.

"Why are you on the armrest?" Roman asked. “You're not an arm. You would be the blue lion, if anything. You’d be a leg. The leg of Voltron, but still a leg.”

Virgil rolled his eyes. "Because places that aren't meant to be sat on are always more comfortable than regular chairs. Duh."

“Oh, of course.”

Patton bounced even higher and faster, if that was possible. “Come on come on come ooooonnnnnn! Starbound is here!!!”

Logan stared at his boyfriend, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Did you happen to have any sugar within the last 24 hours?”

“...maybe…”

Virgil sighed. “I told you not to, Pat!”

“But there were MnMs! I had to have the MnMs!” Patton protested, not slowing down in his frantic movements.

Logan kissed his cheek. “Patton, I love you, but that was a very illogical decision.”

“I knoooowwwww, but MnMs!”

“There is only one way to resolve this conflict!” Roman declared. He ran into the other room, returning a minute later with a bag full of marshmallows.

“Ro, what the heckety heck are you doing?” Virgil asked.

“We must ALL eat excessive amounts of sugar in order to have Patton be less hyper by comparison!” He ripped open the bag and tossed a marshmallow into his mouth with ease.

Logan raised his hand. “That would be not only quite damaging to your health, but also illogical.” Logan walked over to Roman and stuck his hand into the marshmallow bag, grabbing a large handful.

“I cannot allow you and Virgil to consume this entire bag. It would be bad. Also, the fact that the amount of sugar in a few MnMs is quite different to the amount of sugar in marshmallows is quite different. To even it up more, we must all eat marshmallows.”

He stuffed the entire handful of gooey marshmallows into his face.

Well.

Virgil burst out laughing as Roman stood there, looking scandalized at the actions of Logan. “How dare?”

Patton made grabby hands. “Can I have some marshmallows?”

Logan grabbed one (prompting more protests from Roman) and gave it to his boyfriend. They all settled back down in their seats, prepared for what was coming.

Khoshekh ran into the room, meowing. He made a flying cat leap onto Virgil’s lap, purring contentedly. How he perched there when Virgil was sitting on the edge of a chair, no one knew. He was a cat. Cats make their own rules.

Logan, who was (after a unanimous decision) in control of the remote, set up the TV. A few minutes later, everything was up and running and ready.

Virgil put his arm around his boyfriend and cuddled him close. “Ironic, isn’t it?” He laughed softly. “This is what brought us all together.”

Roman leaned into Virgil’s touch. “Yeah. To think that we’re here now, it feels… right.” He kissed his boyfriend’s cheek.

Patton paused his bouncing long enough to nod excitedly in agreement  and give Logan a long hug. Logan closed his eyes and attempted to kiss Patton, but by then he’d resumed his bouncing.

“I can’t believe Logan is dead,” Roman whispered in his ear.

Virgil shook his head. “Rip Logan. He will be missed.”

Logan the corpse leaned over to punch Roman’s shoulder. “Shut up.”

“Shutting up now, sir.” Roman smirked and pantomimed zipping his lips.

“Let’s watch this thing!” Patton exclaimed, making grabby hands for the remote. If Logan didn’t start it soon, he would do it himself.

Lo finally managed to kiss Patton’s cheek. “Alright, let us begin.”

He pressed play.

[sceptilemasterr]

Endless Summer: The (un)Official Screenplay - “End Credits”

Yes, you read that right: this movie script does include an “End Credits” of sorts! Though since there are very few people who actually worked on this script (aka: just me), I’m also going to be including my final thoughts on how the script turned out, where the story’s going from here, what the hell is up with that “CIU Project” tag I keep adding to these, and... in true MCU-style fashion, even an end-credits scene! Or two?

Masterlist: Link

CREDITS:

Written by: SceptileMasterr (obviously)

Based On: Endless Summer, Book 1 by Pixelberry Studios (with some additional elements taken from Hero, Vol 1)

Copyright Info: All names, places, and concepts from Endless Summer and Hero are copyright Pixelberry Studios. The only things I own here are Ian and Alyssa, my various Vaanti OCs, as well as the majority of the Vaanti language except the words taken from canon (conlangs are hard!)

Inspirations:

The MC Twins: @blightarts (go read his Pokemon Summer Version crossover fic where I got that idea from, btw, it’s awesome)

Movie Concept in General: @mysteli and her amazing ES Fan Trailers (both of them!)

Estela and Ian’s First Kiss: Borrowed from another one of my fics, “Sunset”

Screenwriting Software: Final Draft 11

Special Thanks:

@brightpinkpeppercorn: My fandom twin and “beta reader” of sorts; thanks for all the great and fun discussions we had about the twins, their loves, the story, and concepts and future plans; they’ve been great! I love and appreciate your feedback!

@mysteli: You’re the entire reason I started this project! Ever since your first ES trailer I have envisioned what an ES movie would be like. And then my imagination spiraled out of control from there... Appreciate your feedback as well!

@edgydepressedchoicesthot: A fellow Estela stan! I met you even before I had a Tumblr, back on AO3. I read and fell in love with your ES rewrite series there... then school blocked AO3 (grr) but I eventually caught up! I hope you enjoyed this rewrite as much as I liked yours!

@bbaba-yagaa: A more recent fandom friend, but I’m so glad I met you and your blog! I adore your Estela fics so much!

@endlesshero1122: I’m still amazed at how we had such similar ideas with our respective ES and Hero rewrites. Dual MCs and everything, with one of them even being named Alyssa, what are the odds?! Glad you’ve enjoyed this script!

...And of course, everyone not on the tag list who’ve liked, read, and/or commented on this script! Every time I get a new like or comment, it makes me so happy to know that I made someone’s day a little better with this screenplay-rewrite of a visual novel we all know and love. I love writing; I really have a passion for it, and I hope I can continue entertaining people with my future stories to come!

And SPEAKING of future stories...

FADE IN:

INT. THE CELESTIAL LOBBY - DAY

Estela is standing at the concierge desk, gazing at several sheets of paper stacked atop it. The elevator doors open, and Ian emerges, the folders he’d found previously now clutched in his hands. She turns at his approach.

ESTELA: Ian! There you are! Listen, you should see this-

IAN: Look, I... I’ve got something I need to show you. To show everyone, really. Where are they?

ESTELA: I think most of them are still sleeping. Can’t say I blame them, after last... night? Morning? Day? Anyway, look.

Ian crosses over to the desk and looks at the papers. On them, in a messy scrawl, are written several seemingly non-sequitur messages. Ian picks one up and reads it, confused.

IAN: “The Hostiles know.” “McKenzie equals Lupus.” “The STARS are key!!” “He’s here he’s here he’s here he’s here...”

He looks up at Estela.

IAN: What is this? Looks like nonsense.

ESTELA: I’m not sure. But more to the point, this wasn’t here before we “time traveled.” Someone was here during the 204 days we skipped. Is this Diego’s handwriting?

IAN: Nah. I’d know his scribbles anywhere. Doubt it’s the Hostiles, either, since they don’t speak English.

ESTELA: So that means... what?

Before Ian can respond, the elevators open again, and Alyssa and Jake emerge. They stop short when they see the folders in Ian’s hand.

ALYSSA: Wait, are those-?

JAKE (simultaneously): You found some too?!

Estela and Ian turn to face them. Ian shrugs and holds up the folders.

IAN: I... I didn’t mean to keep these from you guys, I just didn’t really get the chance-

He stops when he realizes what Alyssa and Jake had said.

IAN: Wait... “found some too?” You both-

Alyssa shrugs sheepishly.

ALYSSA: At that emergency shelter. One of ‘em was about you, Estela.

ESTELA: Me?

IAN: You should’ve shown her!

ESTELA: To be fair, we all had our reasons for not trusting one another, especially at first.

She pulls out her own set of folders. The top one is Jake’s, and she hands it to him.

ESTELA: This is yours, I believe.

JAKE: Goddamn...

He flips through it, saying nothing, but his eyes go wide in surprise.

JAKE: Hang on. Be right back.

He sprints out of the lobby, toward the entrance to the basement. Alyssa hangs her head and sighs.

ALYSSA: Sorry, Estela. Really. We’re long past the point where we should’ve stopped keeping secrets from each other-

ESTELA: It’s fine. Apparently we all did the same thing.

IAN: I was hoping to find everyone so I could show them all at once. I’ve got Craig’s, Zahra’s, and Quinn’s.

ALYSSA: But how do they know this much stuff about us? Birthdates, locations, history... except yours, Estela; a lot of it’s blacked out for some reason.

She hands the folder to Estela, who reads through it.

ESTELA: What is here is worryingly accurate. How could Rourke possibly know all of this? Down to the last detail?!

Alyssa shivers involuntarily.

ALYSSA: I dunno, but it’s freaking me out-

Jake bounds back up the stairs, a pair of folders clutched in his hands.

JAKE: Found these right before all that Aleister business started, and then I forgot all about it, given... uh, what happened that night.

He looks awkwardly at Ian. Alyssa coughs and glares at Jake.

IAN: What happened that night?

ALYSSA: None of your business! Actually, hang on: what were you two doing that night? I seem to remember you rushing in together-

IAN: “None of your business!”

ALYSSA: I really should’ve seen that coming.

JAKE: None of that matters right now. You two are gonna wanna see these.

He passes the twins’ folders to each of them. They stand side by side as they open the folders, staring openmouthed at the “Birth” sections.

IAN: “December 31, 1995 - 11:59 PM” ... “Location... La Huerta?!”

ALYSSA: Mine says “January 1, 1996 - 12:00 AM.” Also La Huerta.

JAKE: There’s no way in hell you two were born here. You’d have known that, right?

Alyssa and Ian shake their heads.

ALYSSA: Jake... we were adopted together when we were babies. We never knew our birth parents or anything.

IAN: Our birth certificates said “January 1st, ‘96,” so that’s just when we celebrated, but... Alyssa...

ALYSSA: If Jake and Estela’s birthday info is all true, and if the others’ are true as well, then...

IAN: ...We were born here. On La Huerta.

ALYSSA: Ian... who are we?!

FADE TO BLACK.

TO BE CONTINUED IN... ENDLESS WINTER

FINAL THOUGHTS AND FUTURE PLANS:

How do you actually write one of these things? Well, I start out by playing through the canon chapter(s) that a given scene is based on and transcribing the script into Word for reference. The canon ES chapters are L-O-N-G, by the way. Then, I decide what to keep, what to alter, what to get rid of, and which lines to include unchanged, and then I write the actual script! After that, I run through it once to edit, then I’ll read the lines aloud and make more changes to make them sound natural. Post it to Tumblr, fix the formatting (and edit once again), then voila! A scene is born!

What was up with the changes? You skipped a ton of scenes! I thought the script turned out well, and (based on people’s reactions and comments) reasonably easy to follow even with all the changes. Most of the changes were made with the aim of streamlining and shortening the story; even with all the scenes cut from canon, the script still ended up being an estimated 3 hours long! Yikes! The other major changes were mostly made with the aim of setting up threads for weaving a greater story, which leads us to...

What the hell is “CIU Project?” Okay, okay, if anyone’s looked in the tags, you’ve probably noticed the recurring tag “ciu project” as well as tagging my Vaanti OC names with (CIU) at the end of it. CIU stands for “Choices Interconnected Universe” and is what I’m calling any- and everything that takes place in the same universe as this ES rewrite. There will be a more detailed post about the CIU and a general idea of my plans for it later on, but I wanted to wait to announce it until this first script was finished!

Have you written anything else in your CIU universe? “Choices Interconnected Universe Universe?” Okay, but seriously, this is the first official, “canon” work set in the CIU. I have written my Vaanu “Post-Credits Scene” during ESAPW, but consider that more of a loose “teaser” for the project than anything. Once I get to the script that scene’s meant to appear in, I will rewrite it and it may have a few tiny details different. Anything else I write in the CIU will be tagged with “ciu project” (no quotes) so you can find it easily there!

What other Choices books besides Endless Summer are going to be involved? I’ll be explaining that in the separate CIU post I plan to make soon, but in the meantime... 

FADE IN:

INT. L.A.P.D. STATION - OFFICE - NIGHT (FIVE MONTHS AGO)

A man in a crisp suit, his back to the camera, scrolls through data about Rourke International on his computer screen; images of Jake, Lila, and Aleister appear beside a satellite view of the Caribbean Sea. Scattered on his desk are copies of the various dossier pages that Ian, Alyssa, Jake, and Estela had all found across La Huerta. The man sighs and rubs his forehead in frustration.

The door swings open, and a young auburn-haired policewoman rushes into the office, slightly out of breath. This is Jake’s sister, REBECCA MCKENZIE. The man looks up as she enters.

MAN: ...Officer McKenzie? I told you I’d let you know when I found something-

REBECCA: They’re pulling you off the case. You’re getting reassigned. I asked her not to, but-

MAN: Listen, Officer, I told you before: technically this case is well outside my jurisdiction. It’s not even in this country, let alone the city. I figured it was only a matter of time ‘til they wanted me working on something a bit closer to home.

REBECCA: But... what the hell am I supposed to...

MAN: Whatever I’m being reassigned to, I promise I’ll keep digging up leads on my own time. An entire island can’t just go missing with no one noticing; there’s definitely something fishy going on.

REBECCA: Yeah, and my brother was on that island. You’re a detective! Solving mysteries is your job!

MAN: Well, this mystery is tougher than most. But I promise we’ll figure it out eventually. He’s not the only person who’s gone missing in that area last month, besides.

He indicates the scattered pages on his desk.

MAN: Fifteen missing, including your brother. Don’t worry. You know I’ve got plenty of friends in high places.

Rebecca smiles, reassured by his words.

MAN: So what’s this new case I’m being reassigned to? I swear, if it’s another celebrity feud over nothing-

REBECCA: Nothing like that. You heard about the Tower Murders the other night?

MAN: Yeah, I thought Barton and Sanchez were handling that one-

Rebecca shakes her head.

REBECCA: Nobody can figure it out. Captain wants you. Specifically. There’s even rumors that... y’know... Li might be behind it.

MAN: Heh. Of course they think she’s behind it. If Li was behind everything everyone claimed she was, there’d have to be at least a dozen of her running around. 'Sides, murder isn’t her style.

He stands up from his desk, adjusting his suit and tie.

MAN: Tell the Captain I’ll do it.

REBECCA: You will? Just like that? But what about my brother?

MAN: I’m at a dead end for now anyway. I’ll find this murderer, get ‘em locked up, and be back on the La Huerta disappearances faster than you can say “Case closed.”

Rebecca laughs in spite of herself, then recovers and nods professionally.

REBECCA: Thank you, Detective. I’ll let the Captain know, and she’ll fill you in on the details. And... I appreciate what you’re doing for me. For my brother.

MAN: Of course. After all, there’s never been a case I couldn’t crack, and I’m not about to let that change!

Rebecca leaves the office. The man turns and faces the camera, adjusting his badge, which reveals his name: DETECTIVE DAVE REYES. He shakes his head, glancing back at the images on his computer once more.

DAVE: What the hell are you up to, Rourke?

FADE TO BLACK.

TO BE CONTINUED IN... MOST WANTED: THE HOLLYWOOD KILLER

It’s all connected...

[fishandchipsandvinegar]

So You Want To Record a Podfic?

So Les Mis Podfic Week ( @lesmispodficweek ) is coming up in June and in order for us to maximize the amount of amazing podfic for this fandom, I thought I’d make a tutorial for anyone out there who thought about making podfic, but then looked and said “well this is rather terrifying” and ran in the other direction.

I’m here to make recording podfic easy peasy lemon squeezy. Mostly so you can make the amazing authors you’re reading for squee with delight.

This post is going to just be about setting up to record podfic, we’ll handle the mess of actually recording and editing later. (and if you’ve been around the block before, I’ve hidden some trade secrets in here for all interested parties)

So to start out you’re going to need 4 things:

A microphone

A free piece of software called Audacity

A super awesome amazing fanfiction to record

A bunch of big blankets and chairs.

Let’s tackle these one by one below the cut. (and we’ll do a summary at the end)

MICROPHONE

Please, for the love of all that is holy, get a microphone.

If you do one thing for me, it will be going outside (scary, I know) and retrieving a microphone. It can be a:

Beautiful, expensive Blue Snowball or Blue Yeti

A cheap, less than $25CAN microphone from Walmart

That USB Microphone that came with your Xbox or Playstation so you could play Rock Band when you were 9

Hell, at worst, use the microphone on your smartphone.

But please, PLEASE do not use your laptop microphone. It sucks. No matter what computer you have, IT IS THE WORST.

“But Amanda, I sound okay on Skype and Discord, do I really need…”

YES. YES YOU DO.

When you record sound using your laptop microphone… it also picks up all those lovely little sounds happening inside your computer that you can’t hear. And it’s nigh impossible to edit them out. I want to hear you reading, not your computer. So PLEASE get some kind of microphone.

Ideally, you want a microphone that has a USB on one end. That’s going to be the easiest way to do this.

“But Amanda! My microphone has a 3.5mm Headphone jack on the end!”

That’s alright. There should be a microphone port on your laptop next to where you plug in your headphones. If there isn’t, record into an app on your smartphone/tablet and then download it to your computer.

“But Amanda! There’s some port on the end that’s not a USB and it’s not a headphone jack…”

Props to you for finding a fancy professional microphone! But, you’re going to need an adapter. Most music stores sell them.

“But Amanda! Can’t I just use the microphone on my headphones?”

You know, I’ve never actually tried this. If anyone can get it to work, please let me know and I'll link how to do it here. (You might be able to record this way using an app on a smartphone/tablet.)

AUDACITY

So now that I made you go spend money on a microphone, I’m damn well NOT going to make you spend money on software. Enter a free, open-source, lovely program called Audacity. Think of Audacity like the cheap grocery stores of the world. Everything is the same (mostly) as the big, fancy, grocery stores, but you get everything for cheaper because the store doesn’t look pretty.

Audacity looks intimidating and terrifying, but we’re here to help. You can make Audacity your bitch.

But first you need to install it. Or… you need to install two parts of it.

The actual program

A piece of extra software that will let you import and export MP3s (called Lame)

There are a dozen tutorials on how to install this software so I’m just going to link them here:

DOWNLOAD AUDACITY HERE: https://www.audacityteam.org/ DOWNLOAD LAME (the software that lets you use MP3s) HERE: https://lame.buanzo.org/#lamewindl

INSTRUCTIONS TO INSTALL BOTH (for WINDOWS): https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/installing_and_updating_audacity_on_windows.html

INSTRUCTIONS TO INSTALL BOTH (for MAC): https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/installing_and_updating_audacity_on_mac_os_x.html

Note: If you also want to work with WMAs, then you may also need to download another piece of software called FFmpeg. The installation instructions above cover that as well.

Okay, now that you installed those, did you restart your computer? Audacity won’t link up the two pieces of software if you don’t. Go do that and come back.

PICKING A FIC

Look, I know that 60k slow burn, fake dating AU owns a small part of your soul. I get it. I’ve been there.

This is not the fic you want to pick for your first podfic. Trust me when I say pick something short.

One-shots in the 3k-5k range are a good first project. It’ll give you more than enough audio to practice your editing skills, and shouldn’t take you much longer than a couple hours to record.

More importantly, it should edit down to something about 30 min. long, which is an easily listenable length for most people.

“But Amanda! I reaaaaaaalllly like this one fic and…”

Live your dreams, kid. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Another thing you have to do is ask the author if you have permission to make a podfic of their work. Some authors don’t like it, and others will be absolutely thrilled. In the case of Les Mis Podfic Week, everyone on the list has granted permission, so you’re good on that front.

BLANKETS AND CHAIRS

Time to get comfy, yo. Put on some PJs. Drag out some pillows. And then box the whole thing in with the best damn blanket barricade fort you’ve ever built.

(has anyone else noticed that Courf just hands Gavroche a gun in this scene? OMG)

And then christen the barricade fort by reciting the recording cardinal rule:

THOU SHALT RECORD GOOD AUDIO.

No amount of editing or fancy software can fix audio that was bad in the first place, so nest yourself into an environment that’s as close to perfect as you can get.

Building a blanket fort is a cheap way to build a (mostly) soundproof space. The blankets are soft and will absorb harsh sounds, but also insulate the space from outside.

You could create a blanket fort one of two ways:

The classic tables, chairs and blankets method

Throwing a comforter over your head while you record

One of these ways looks more like a barricade. Just saying.

If you’re blankets don’t quite reach the ground it’s okay. Just make the side you’re speaking towards longer than the side towards your back (this will also help to ventilate the fort, which will probably get hella warm).

Then climb in your fort, set up your computer and plug in your microphone.

Now sit for a full minute in quiet meditation and just listen.

You’re listening for anything that would interrupt your revolution you would consider loud and annoying while you were making a very important phone call.

Are there windows open? Can you hear the outside world? Close them. We are going to a world of pure imagination, we don’t want the real world.

Is the fan on your computer being unbelievably loud at this, the one time you need it to be quiet? Close some of the things you have open and see if it calms down. If not, move the microphone to the opposite side of your computer from the fan, and pull it as far away from your computer as you can. I like to stick my computer outside the blanket fort and the microphone inside on one of the chairs.

Can you hear other people in the house? Ask them to be quiet while you record, or move to a part of the house where you can’t hear them.

Is the air/heart in your house very loud? Mine is SO LOUD. It’s like a vacuum cleaner, I swear. Turn it off.

Basically, you’re looking to eliminate any sound you have control over.

Now you’re ready to record. We’ll deal with how to do this in another how-to, but some things to consider:

Be very still. Your microphone will pick up you shuffling. Get comfy or pause to shift and then continue reading. You can always cut out the shuffling parts in editing.

Take breaks. Stretch. I like to do this every time there’s a page break.

Bring a drink. Your voice is gonna go wonky with all that chatter. Enjolras is gonna be a word that gets harder and harder to say. Feuilly’s just gonna be hard right from the start.

Watch your microphone cord. If your microphone is handheld, the shifting of the cord as you speak will also be picked up by the microphone.

Consider duct taping handheld microphones to lamps. No, I’m not kidding. Duct tape your microphone to a lamp. Got one of those articulated lamps like in the Pixar logo? Look at that, you’ve basically got a professional microphone stand. AND IT’S ALSO A LAMP.

Don’t read straight into your microphone. Hold it/set it up a couple of inches to the left or right of where you’re speaking towards. This will stop you from popping your P-s and spitting your S-es

NOW LOOK AT YOU!

You’re practically a professional already.

So let’s say the recording cardinal rule together.

Thou shalt record good audio by:

Using a real microphone. NOT YOUR LAPTOP MICROPHONE.

Downloading and installing Audacity. And the extra bit that lets you use MP3s.

Picking a fic to read that’s around 3k.

Building a badass blanket fort and eliminating ambient noise.

If you have any questions or are really stuck on something, you can reach out and message me. Also, if this tutorial was helpful to you, tag me in whatever you make! I want to hear how awesome you sound.

You got this, kid. Now go out there and tell the world’s stories.

(also <3 to @mysunfreckle for helping me format this in a way that was actually readable)

[misspattylowell]

Updated: 31st March 2020

General Rules:

This blog is R18+ because of NSFW & TWs.

I am mid 20s. My Mun hub-blog, is Rave-RPs and I tend to follow from there first to check out RP blogs so I can keep my specific blog dashes curated to where I think interactions will happen.

This blog is selective, and low-moderate activity I will prioritize mains purely because in my work I have super busy seasons of October to May. In order to maintain activity  I limit the number of threads I take on.

Thread limit doesn’t equal interaction limit! If I’m at my thread limit, I don’t mind having small interactions like asks or quickfire short-replies etc!

Para-style (1-2ish) is my tendency for general interactions. Multi-Para (3+) I save for threads. One-liners to single-Para replies will happen in spontaneous quickfire-interactions, dash commentary or shitpost threads.

Angst / Dark themes / Violence / Death will appear on this blog. If these bother you, Please do not follow me.  Anything verging drastic will be hidden under cuts.

All my tags including trigger warnings appear on my links page. Mutuals may request tags. If I’ve missed tagging something or you want a tag added, message me and I’ll fix it. I do not have any particular triggers myself.

No god-modding. Don’t control my muse. Minor implied things can be okay within reason, like opening doors, or if in a character moves some part of another character. But please be reasonable and fair. Injuries: check with me.

I use RP Thread Tracker to keep track of all my threads. Please let me know if you change your username so I can update my settings on it or I may not notice your reply.

When my threads start crowding I’ll schedule thread releases to help stagger replies. My reply-times can range from same-day up to around two-weeks. (Depending on my backlog) But I tend to aim for a week-average on threads.

If after I’ve replied to a thread I haven’t heard back on it for a month (four weeks) and there hasn’t really been any discussion of the thread OOC between muns in that time, I consider the thread dead. This is so I can open up to other interactions rather than wait for something that may never come. If a thread is dead please don’t just revive it without checking with me first.

If you wish to drop a thread for any reason (lack of muse, stuck or disinterest) you’re welcome to ask me to drop it too. That way we’re open for other interactions without stress! But please let me know, I need closure.

I will try to respond to memes / asks / tags / mentions, however, this usually takes some time to get around to due to my activity levels. I can’t promise replying to random thread starters due to thread limits, so please message me if you want to start something. :3

Canonical characters preferred. May consider OCs but typically only if I know the mun.

For my own dash curation purposes I don’t tend to follow multi-muses unless I’m familiar with all fandoms on it. (May still follow from Rave-RPs instead.) but you are welcome to interact from a multi-muse!

Discord is available for mutuals. Please, I prefer it over Tumblr IMs!

Spectators & Non-RP blogs:

Please do not reblog my threads (Unless you are the specific RP partner that thread is with.)

Please do not reblog any headcanon-posts or ooc posts I make. These are specific to my portrayal of my muse, or to myself specifically.

I do not mind if you comment on my dash commentary posts. (Please note this allowance is specific to me, other RPers may not like comments on their dash commentary. But on mine: you have permission.)

I’d love to hear from you if you’re enjoying things in IM!

Ships & Smut:

I’m a multi-shipper, so free free to ask me about ships. I don’t have particularly set ships, though there are some muses Patty would be more inclined towards. They key is chemistry, really. Gender fairly irrelevant.

UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE: ALL SHIPS, EVEN WITHIN A VERSE, EXIST IN SEPARATE MINI ALTERNATE VERSES.

Please do not pre-establish a relationship with my muse without discussing it with me. Talk to me first if you are interested in that.

Smut will appear on this blog, but if you want to write it, let’s discuss it first privately. Once any flirting progresses to smut it will be tagged accordingly and hidden under a cut.

Reguarding grey-zone ‘Problematic’ topics: Please be aware that any threads containing as such serve a plotted narrative purpose and are not fetishization of the said matters. I’m not changing my content. If you have a problem with grasping this concept, please leave my blog. Relevant tags will be in my tags list on my links page in case you wish to block them.

Patty will not be involved in smut in her kid verses. In specific verses themes of grooming may be present, but will not contain smut. Do bear in mind the same plot-thread may span time and thus later end up with smut, but in an older verse. Threads with these themes will will be tagged for those that wish to avoid them.

Formatting:

I will semi-format my replies by bolding dialogue, and italicizing character thoughts or emphasis, and the occasional strike through, but that’s it.

I am both dyslexic and my sight isn’t amazing. Special formatting using multiple indents and multiple special text-icons confuse me easily. If we are threading I will ask please don't use doubly-small-text for the body of replies. I don't mind specific occasional uses to emphasize things, but if I have to squint to read a whole reply: I won’t. If it’s only a smaller interaction of a few short replies and not an ongoing thread, I don’t mind the use of special formatting small-text, it’s just my eyes and brain don’t cooperate and I can’t endure large amounts of it. It’s nothing against muns or their chosen aesthetic.

Please cut posts in replies. Or if you’re continuing an ask, either make a new post, tag me and link back to the ask, or reply-comment on the original ask. If you’re mobile-based and can’t, just let me know and I’ll be fine cutting things since I only RP on my computer.

I use icons by default, however if my RP partner doesn’t, I will match iconless.

___

If you interact with me, I will assume you have read these rules in full. While I tend to check most blogs rules on following, if I send anything or reply to anything then I have definitely read your rules. (I don’t do passwords.)

If you do anything in breach of my rules, I’ll bring it up with you privately. If a reasonable solution cannot be reached, I have no qualms un-following or blocking people.

Also if at any point for any reason you wish to un-follow me, that’s totally fine: You curate your experience and make that choice, its totally okay! I totally get dash cleaning. You’re not obligated to follow my blog, I don’t do this for a following. And as a friend of mine says: un-following doesn’t have to mean unfriending.

If you don’t wish for me to follow you then you are welcome to simply block me to avoid accidental re-following. No questions asked.

[rafi1228]

Master WordPress with this Complete WordPress Course, without learning how to code and without any programming!

What you’ll learn

Create all kinds of commercial websites, using WordPress, to sell to clients

Master the inner workings of WordPress, for fixing, troubleshooting, and building websites

Set up server and hosting environments in the most economical and secure way

Build and edit websites within staging and development environments

Migrate and transfer WordPress websites from staging to live and vice-versa

Sell Website Care and Maintenance plans to happy clients for recurring revenue

Requirements

A working computer, either Windows or Mac.

A modern browser like Chrome, or Firefox.

Internet access for many of the lessons.

You don’t need any experience with programming languages like HTML or CSS.

Description

“This is one of the best Word Press courses you will find. Gregg is a phenomenal instructor and his lesson plans are well designed. The lessons are very easy to comprehend and engaging. I started this course with no knowledge nor understanding of Word Press and now I’m super confident in my ability to produce quality websites!” –William Hopkins

“So far this course has been the best I have experienced on Udemy! Gregg’s videos are clear and concise without any fluff. I have messaged him in the Q&A section and received a response within 12 hours! Can’t wait to get to the end!” –Walter King

No better time than now, and only increasing

With WordPress powering more than 25% of all websites in the world, there’s never been a better time to build an income and a business around it.

You’re here because you want to master WordPress, right? Good idea. You’re in the right place. And, you can do it without learning any programming or coding.

While WordPress is open source, and because of that has thousands of developers building resources for it, it still takes quite a bit of learning to become a master at building and managing websites with it. It’s not just learning the WordPress software, there’s a small amount of graphic design knowledge needed, hosting and server management, troubleshooting broken sites or problems by hacking into the back end and server setup, and properly staging development environments around new sites or when performing updates and changes on existing sites.

“What a great course! Good explanation and a lot to learn, friendly and very quick support. I’m only at the beginning and I’ll leave another review later after I finished this course. I’m sure there is much more to learn!” –Adriene

Why am I qualified to teach you?

Through this course, I’ll teach you everything I’ve learned and mastered through 10 years of building, managing, migrating, and hosting WordPress websites.

“He is concise and well spoken, without dumbing it down at all. As a total newbie to WordPress, I’m thankful he’s offering this! 3 lessons in and it’s great so far.” –Jamie Rasmussen

My business lets me work on my own schedule, manage my home workspace without a boss or a manager, and gives me an unlimited ceiling for profit and income and time freedom.

Without learning to code or programming anything, I’m able to leverage what’s already been done with WordPress to create modern, robust and functional websites for clients of all types.

I’m hoping you’ll get to the same awesome place in your work life. Let this course give you the head start you need to increase your income fast.

“[Gregg] has covered more areas than what an average course would deliver, this is clear reflection of Greggs’ experience in the subject. He has gone above and beyond to cover every aspect of WordPress for a clear and concise understanding for a beginner.

Gregg is probably one of the best instructors I have come across on Udemy and expert in the subject. Well done and Thank you for an amazing course.”

–Mohamed Fawmey Mohamed Vinodh

Many of my best and biggest clients have come from “abandoned” WordPress websites, where the client’s website designer or developer has left the scene. My ability to get in and restore, fix, redesign, and continue to manage WordPress websites brings me lots of instant and recurring income.

You’ll learn how to do all this in 20 hours of easy-to-follow video content, fun lessons and challenges.

During this course, you’ll learn everything you need to know to start or improve your own WordPress website business.

The WordPress Ecosystem

“Straight forward and neat! Just what I need to step up the freelancing ladder. Highly recommended.” –Mr. Graciano Jose Reyes

It’s probably no surprise to you that the WordPress community has thousands of really talented and creative developers, designers and technologists working within it. And you may know that much of their work is available as open-source resources that will enable you to build your own business.

The open-source philosophy doesn’t mean that no one makes any money. On the contrary, by sharing much of what we, as a community, create, we all prosper much, much more, because we all share in expanding what’s possible with WordPress.

By spending zero-to-little money, you can stand on the shoulders of those who came before you, to create your own business niche, by learning the skills and secrets presented in this course.

“Instructor explains everything very clearly, and in detail. So simple to learn and understand in this course. Looking forward to finishing all of the lessons with much excitement. An A+++ instructor and course.” –Mekus

Summary of what you’ll get

Over 20 hours of video teaching and training.

Learn to set up local development environments to play with WordPress websites in private, on your own computer.

Evaluate and choose hosting for your own websites and client sites, with insights from 15 years of hosting client websites.

Free extended hosting trials at SiteGround and Flywheel for performing coursework and hosting your website experiments.

Premium Products WordPress Sandbox, where you can play with many premium WordPress resources, like Genesis Framework and Themes, WPMUDev Plugins, and other premium tools.

Your Website Sandbox lets you create an unlimited number of experimental learning environments.

Build more than 10 modern mobile-responsive websites, each with a different focus and learning purpose – each one could be re-purposed for a client website.

Active and helpful community and forum.

Direct access to your instructors for questions and help through the Udemy communications channels.

Lifetime access to the course, including all future updates.

What will I learn that I can apply to creating a profitable business right away?

Download and configure free open-source software tools and use online services to build the resources you need to create and manage WordPress websites.

Master the ins-and-outs of hosting and development environments, including servers, files, and databases that WordPress uses.

Learn how to get into the WordPress files and database to manually manage installation and troubleshooting for WordPress websites.

Build a simple brochure website after installing and configuring WordPress manually.

Add contact forms, Google Maps embedded in the site, and Google Analytics integrations for tracking visitors and traffic.

Create a blog-style website, including category and tag navigation systems, and post formats for organizing content.

How about more advanced topics I’ll need?

WordPress website migration and moving sites to different hosts and servers.

Hosting differences and migration services.

Using staging areas for website development and updating.

Working with Theme Frameworks and Child Themes.

Creating a Child Theme manually and using a plugin.

Customizing the WordPress Dashboard for clients.

Working with plugins, and vetting them for usability, reputation and longevity.

Website Speed and Performance testing.

Custom Post Types for customizing a website’s functionality to match the needs of a client.

Working with and extending Genesis Child Themes.

Setting up email systems: transactional email sent by WordPress, marketing email sent to email lists in bulk, and specific email addresses at website domains.

ECommerce and WordPress: using WooCommerce to build a webstore, and using Custom Post Types within WooCommerce.

Customizing Account, Cart, and Checkout pages.

Shipping and Digital Delivery.

Updating WordPress, Themes and Plugins.

Managing multiple websites for recurring income.

Creating multiple backup and restore systems.

Using website security through https:// and SSL Certificates.

Landing, managing, and keeping great clients

Finding clients and building client proposals

Website care and management services for recurring income.

Client billing for flat-rate projects and recurring charges.

Who this course is for:

Those interested in learning to build websites using open-source and free tools should take this course.

Those familiar with WordPress, who need a deeper understanding of how all the parts fit together, should take this course.

Those new to WordPress, but looking for a complete system for creating and managing professional websites for clients or themselves, should take this course.

Created by Rob Percival, Gregg Davis, Codestars by Rob Percival Last updated 12/2018 English English [Auto-generated]

Size: 5.98 GB

   Download Now

https://ift.tt/2lp6MBs.

The post The Complete WordPress Website Business Course appeared first on Free Course Lab.

[udemytutorialfreedownload]

The Complete WordPress Website Business Course

The Complete WordPress Website Business Course

Master WordPress with this Complete WordPress Course, without learning how to code and without any programming!

What you'll learn

The Complete WordPress Website Business Course

Create all kinds of commercial websites, using WordPress, to sell to clients

Master the inner workings of WordPress, for fixing, troubleshooting, and building websites

Set up server and hosting environments in the most economical and secure way

Build and edit websites within staging and development environments

Migrate and transfer WordPress websites from staging to live and vice-versa

Sell Website Care and Maintenance plans to happy clients for recurring revenue

Requirements

A working computer, either Windows, Mac or Linux.

A modern browser like Chrome, or Firefox.

Internet access for some of the lessons.

You don't need any experience with programming languages like HTML or CSS.

CHECK THESE COURSES:

Python for Financial Analysis and Algorithmic Trading

Learn C++ Programming -Beginner to Advance- Deep Dive in C++

Build a Backend REST API with Python & Django – Advanced

Complete C# Unity Developer 2D: Learn to Code Making Games

Description

"This is one of the best Word Press courses you will find. Gregg is a phenomenal instructor and his lesson plans are well designed. The lessons are very easy to comprehend and engaging. I started this course with no knowledge nor understanding of Word Press and now I'm super confident in my ability to produce quality websites!" --William Hopkins

"So far this course has been the best I have experienced on Udemy! Gregg's videos are clear and concise without any fluff. I have messaged him in the Q&A section and received a response within 12 hours! Can't wait to get to the end!" --Walter King

No better time than now, and only increasing

With WordPress powering more than 25% of all websites in the world, there's never been a better time to build an income and a business around it.

You're here because you want to master WordPress, right? Good idea. You're in the right place. And, you can do it without learning any programming or coding.

While WordPress is open source, and because of that has thousands of developers building resources for it, it still takes quite a bit of learning to become a master at building and managing websites with it. It's not just learning the WordPress software, there's a small amount of graphic design knowledge needed, hosting and server management, troubleshooting broken sites or problems by hacking into the back end and server setup, and properly staging development environments around new sites or when performing updates and changes on existing sites.

"What a great course! Good explanation and a lot to learn, friendly and very quick support. I'm only at the beginning and I'll leave another review later after I finished this course. I'm sure there is much more to learn!" --Adriene

Why am I qualified to teach you?

Through this course, I'll teach you everything I've learned and mastered

through 10 years of building, managing, migrating and hosting WordPress websites.

"He is concise and well-spoken, without dumbing it down at all. As a total newbie to Wordpress, I'm thankful he's offering this! 3 lessons in and it's great so far." --Jamie Rasmussen

My business lets me work on my own schedule, manage my home workspace

without a boss or a manager, and gives me an unlimited ceiling for profit and income and time freedom.

Without learning to code or programming anything, I'm able to leverage what's already been done with WordPress to create modern, robust and functional websites for clients of all types.

I'm hoping you'll get to the same awesome place in your work life. Let this course give you the head start you need to increase your income fast.

"[Gregg] has covered more areas than what an average course would deliver, this is a clear reflection of Greggs' experience in the subject. He has gone above and beyond to cover every aspect of WordPress for a clear and concise understanding of a beginner.

Gregg is probably one of the best instructors I have come across on Udemy and an expert in the subject. Well done and Thank you for an amazing course."

--Mohamed Fawmey Mohamed Vinodh

Many of my best and biggest clients have come from "abandoned" WordPress websites, where the client's website designer or developer has left the scene. My ability to get in and restore, fix, redesign, and continue to manage WordPress websites brings me lots of instants and recurring income.

You'll learn how to do all this in 20 hours of easy-to-follow video content, fun lessons, and challenges.

During this course, you'll learn everything you need to know to start or improve your own WordPress website business.

The WordPress Ecosystem

"Straight forward and neat! Just what I need to step up the freelancing ladder. Highly recommended." --Mr. Graciano Jose Reyes

It's probably no surprise to you that the WordPress community has thousands of really talented and creative developers, designers and technologists working within it. And you may know that much of their work is available as open-source resources that will enable you to build your own business.

The open-source philosophy doesn't mean that no one makes any money. On the contrary, by sharing much of what we, as a community, create, we all prosper much, much more, because we all share in expanding what's possible with WordPress.

By spending zero-to-little money, you can stand on the shoulders of those who came before you, to create your own business niche, by learning the skills and secrets presented in this course.

"Instructor explains everything very clearly, and in detail. So simple to learn and understand in this course. Looking forward to finishing all of the lessons with much excitement. An A+++ instructor and course." --Mekus

Summary of what you'll get

Over 20 hours of video teaching and training.

Learn to set up local development environments to play with Wordpress websites in private, on your own computer.

Evaluate and choose to host for your own websites and client sites, with insights from 15 years of hosting client websites.

Free extended hosting trials at SiteGround and Flywheel for performing coursework and hosting your website experiments.

Premium Products WordPress Sandbox, where you can play with many premium WordPress resources, like Genesis Framework and Themes, WPMUDev Plugins, and other premium tools.

Your Website Sandbox lets you create an unlimited number of experimental learning environments.

Build more than 10 modern mobile-responsive websites, each with a different focus and learning purpose - each one could be re-purposed for a client website.

Active and helpful community and forum.

Direct access to your instructors for questions and help through the Udemy communications channels.

Lifetime access to the course, including all future updates.

What will I learn that I can apply to create a profitable business right away?

Download and configure free open-source software tools and use online services to build the resources you need to create and manage WordPress websites.

Master the ins-and-outs of hosting and development environments, including servers, files, and databases that WordPress uses.

Learn how to get into the WordPress files and database to manually manage installation and troubleshooting for WordPress websites.

Build a simple brochure website after installing and configuring WordPress manually.

Add contact forms, Google Maps embedded in the site, and Google Analytics integrations for tracking visitors and traffic.

Create a blog-style website, including category and tag navigation systems, and post formats for organizing content.

How about more advanced topics I'll need?

WordPress website migration and moving sites to different hosts and servers.

Hosting differences and migration services.

Using staging areas for website development and updating.

Working with Theme Frameworks and Child Themes.

Creating a Child Theme manually and using a plugin.

Customizing the WordPress Dashboard for clients.

Working with plugins, and vetting them for usability, reputation, and longevity.

Website Speed and Performance testing.

Custom Post Types for customizing a website's functionality to match the needs of a client.

Working with and extending Genesis Child Themes.

Setting up email systems: transactional email sent by WordPress, marketing email sent to email lists in bulk, and specific email addresses at website domains.

ECommerce and WordPress: using WooCommerce to build a website, and using Custom Post Types within WooCommerce.

Customizing Account, Cart, and Checkout pages.

Shipping and Digital Delivery.

Updating WordPress, Themes, and Plugins.

Managing multiple websites for recurring income.

Creating multiple back-ups and restore systems.

Using website security through https:// and SSL Certificates.

Landing, managing and keeping great clients

Finding clients and building client proposals

Website care and management services for recurring income.

Client billing for flat-rate projects and recurring charges.

Who this course is for:

Those interested in learning to build websites using open-source and free tools should take this course.

Those familiar with WordPress, who need a deeper understanding of how all the parts fit together, should take this course.

Those new to Wordpress, but looking for a complete system for creating and managing professional websites for clients or themselves, should take this course.

The Complete WordPress Website Business Course

Created by Rob Percival, Gregg Davis, Codestars by Rob Percival

Last updated 3/2020

English

English [Auto-generated]

Size: 5.26 GB

DOWNLOAD COURSE

Content From: https://ift.tt/2wontoW

[ianasennus]

[Udemy] The Complete WordPress Website Business Course

Master WordPress with this Complete WordPress Course, without learning how to code and without any programming! What Will I Learn?   Create all kinds of commercial websites, using WordPress, to sell to clients Master the inner workings of WordPress, for fixing, troubleshooting, and building websites Sell Website Care and Maintenance Plans to happy clients for recurring revenue Set up server and hosting environments in the most economical and secure way Build and edit websites within staging and development environments Migrate and transfer WordPress websites from staging to live and vice-versa Requirements A working computer, either Windows or Mac. A modern browser like Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. Internet access for many of the lessons. You don’t need any experience with programming languages like HTML or CSS. Description       “This is one of the best Word Press courses you will find. Gregg is a phenomenal instructor and his lesson plans are well designed. The lessons are very easy to comprehend and engaging. I started this course with no knowledge nor understanding of Word Press and now I’m super confident in my ability to produce quality websites!” –William Hopkins “So far this course has been the best I have experienced on Udemy! Gregg’s videos are clear and concise without any fluff. I have messaged him in the Q&A section and received a response within 12 hours! Can’t wait to get to the end!” –Walter King   No better time than now, and only increasing With WordPress powering more than 25% of all websites in the world, there’s never been a better time to build an income and a business around it. You’re here because you want to master WordPress, right? Good idea. You’re in the right place. And, you can do it without learning any programming or coding. While WordPress is open source, and because of that has thousands of developers building resources for it, it still takes quite a bit of learning to become a master at building and managing websites with it. It’s not just learning the WordPress software, there’s a small amount of graphic design knowledge needed, hosting and server management, troubleshooting broken sites or problems by hacking into the back end and server setup, and properly staging development environments around new sites or when performing updates and changes on existing sites. “What a great course! Good explanation and a lot to learn, friendly and very quick support. I’m only at the beginning and I’ll leave another review later after I finished this course. I’m sure there is much more to learn!” –Adriene Why am I qualified to teach you? Through this course, I’ll teach you everything I’ve learned and mastered through 10 years of building, managing, migrating, and hosting WordPress websites. “He is concise and well spoken, without dumbing it down at all. As a total newbie to Wordpress, I’m thankful he’s offering this! 3 lessons in and it’s great so far.” –Jamie Rasmussen My business lets me work on my own schedule, manage my home workspace without a boss or a manager, and gives me an unlimited ceiling for profit and income and time freedom. Without learning to code or programming anything, I’m able to leverage what’s already been done with WordPress to create modern, robust and functional websites for clients of all types. I’m hoping you’ll get to the same awesome place in your work life. Let this course give you the head start you need to increase your income fast. “[Gregg] has covered more areas than what an average course would deliver, this is clear reflection of Greggs’ experience in the subject. He has gone above and beyond to cover every aspect of WordPress for a clear and concise understanding for a beginner. Gregg is probably one of the best instructors I have come across on Udemy and expert in the subject. Well done and Thank you for an amazing course.” –Mohamed Fawmey Mohamed Vinodh Many of my best and biggest clients have come from “abandoned” WordPress websites, where the client’s website designer or developer has left the scene. My ability to get in and restore, fix, redesign, and continue to manage WordPress websites brings me lots of instant and recurring income. You’ll learn how to do all this in 20 hours of easy-to-follow video content, fun lessons and challenges. During this course, you’ll learn everything you need to know to start or improve your own WordPress website business. The WordPress Ecosystem “Straight forward and neat! Just what I need to step up the freelancing ladder. Highly recommended.” –Mr. Graciano Jose Reyes It’s probably no surprise to you that the WordPress community has thousands of really talented and creative developers, designers and technologists working within it. And you may know that much of their work is available as open-source resources that will enable you to build your own business. The open-source philosophy doesn’t mean that no one makes any money. On the contrary, by sharing much of what we, as a community, create, we all prosper much, much more, because we all share in expanding what’s possible with WordPress. By spending zero-to-little money, you can stand on the shoulders of those who came before you, to create your own business niche, by learning the skills and secrets presented in this course. “Instructor explains everything very clearly, and in detail. So simple to learn and understand in this course. Looking forward to finishing all of the lessons with much excitement. An A+++ instructor and course.” –Mekus Summary of what you’ll get Over 20 hours of video teaching and training. Learn to set up local development environments to play with Wordpress websites in private, on your own computer. Evaluate and choose hosting for your own websites and client sites, with insights from 15 years of hosting client websites. Free extended hosting trials at SiteGround and Flywheel for performing coursework and hosting your website experiments. Premium Products WordPress Sandbox, where you can play with many premium WordPress resources, like Genesis Framework and Themes, WPMUDev Plugins, and other premium tools. Your Website Sandbox lets you create an unlimited number of experimental learning environments. Build more than 10 modern mobile-responsive websites, each with a different focus and learning purpose - each one could be re-purposed for a client website. Active and helpful community and forum. Direct access to your instructors for questions and help through the Udemy communications channels. Lifetime access to the course, including all future updates. What will I learn that I can apply to creating a profitable business right away? Download and configure free open-source software tools and use online services to build the resources you need to create and manage WordPress websites. Master the ins-and-outs of hosting and development environments, including servers, files, and databases that WordPress uses. Learn how to get into the WordPress files and database to manually manage installation and troubleshooting for WordPress websites. Build a simple brochure website after installing and configuring WordPress manually. Add contact forms, Google Maps embedded in the site, and Google Analytics integrations for tracking visitors and traffic. Create a blog-style website, including category and tag navigation systems, and post formats for organizing content. How about more advanced topics I’ll need? WordPress website migration and moving sites to different hosts and servers. Hosting differences and migration services. Using staging areas for website development and updating. Working with Theme Frameworks and Child Themes. Creating a Child Theme manually and using a plugin. Customizing the WordPress Dashboard for clients. Working with plugins, and vetting them for usability, reputation and longevity. Website Speed and Performance testing. Custom Post Types for customizing a website’s functionality to match the needs of a client. Working with and extending Genesis Child Themes. Setting up email systems: transactional email sent by WordPress, marketing email sent to email lists in bulk, and specific email addresses at website domains. ECommerce and WordPress: using WooCommerce to build a webstore, and using Custom Post Types within WooCommerce. Customizing Account, Cart, and Checkout pages. Shipping and Digital Delivery. Updating WordPress, Themes and Plugins. Managing multiple websites for recurring income. Creating multiple backup and restore systems. Using website security through https:// and SSL Certificates. Landing, managing, and keeping great clients Finding clients and building client proposals Website care and management services for recurring income. Client billing for flat-rate projects and recurring charges. Who is the target audience? Those interested in learning to build websites using open-source and freely available tools should take this course. Those familiar with WordPress, who need a deeper understanding of how all the parts fit together, should take this course. Those new to Wordpress, but looking for a complete system for creating and managing professional websites for clients or themselves, should take this course. If you are already a WordPress developer, who knows the inner-workings of WordPress core files, server environments, MySQL databases and WordPress themes and plugins, you may not need this course. source https://ttorial.com/complete-wordpress-website-business-course

source https://ttorialcom.tumblr.com/post/178732150848