#“do you have nicknames for everyone?” oooh Drew

[mvshortcut]

I heard about the divorce party. Do you two already have dresses planned? You mentioned they would be worn with divorce dresses, but I want to know the style.

I already drew up something that might fit (sorry if anything is inaccurate), but I want your opinion too so that I know how to dress.

If you want, you can make one yourself. I made the one in the picture with Wedding Dress Creator.

See you at the ceremony!

Already preparing for the best party EVER,

fandom-queen-13 (should my nickname be Fan or something? If someone does give me a nickname, tell me)

oooh, this is FANTASTIC!! The drama here! The ruffles! The lace! The sleeves! The flower and the collar and the designs! It's so dramatic and over the top and perfect.

Actually, I've been thinking about the dress code, and @amysterywrappedinanenigma I'd love your thoughts on this. I think it would be splendid if everyone showed up in the most controversial outfit they could think of. Whether that's a hawaiian shirt and khakis, a wizard cape, a floor-length ballgown, a spirit halloween costume, a spirit halloween turkey costume, or even your own wedding dress to one-up the bride(s), I think whatever creates the most drama will be appropriate for our big day. What say you, Maren?

Can't wait to see you at our ceremony!

[jui-imouto-chan]

Ouran High School Host Club AU (Inspired by this post)

Yes, I used everybody they offered as the characters (and more!), it’s just a really big club. 

(It will 200% get bigger if I keep writing this, don’t test me)

Ship Tags: MiyaHina, AtsuHina, OsaHina, OiHina, KurooHina, BokuHina, AkaaHina, TsukiHina, UshiHina, AoHina, HyakuHina, NishiHina/NoyaHina, Hinata Harem aka Hinata/Everyone. 

Loosely follows plot, but a few things have been changed to match Haikyuu more, such as:

•Hinata isn’t an honor-student, he’s on an athletics scholarship (and while there are plenty of decent athletes there, they’re all rich enough to not need a scholarship)

•Hinata wears blue-light glasses often. He has good vision but having the glasses framing his vision helps him focus in class instead of getting (as) distracted.

•Yachi and Hinata switch off on some Haruhi stuff but Yachi isn’t the one the guys are all simping for.

•Yachi is an actual honor student but she’s not on the kinda full-ride scholarship Hinata is on. She’s like, partially rich, but not enough for Ouran (so she gets bullied or at least teased.)

•Hinata and Yachi got to be really good friends at orientation since she can sympathize with him better than all the actual rich people, and she helps him with his studies so he doesn’t completely flunk his classes. 

•The Twins, like Hikaru and Kaoru, have the same color hair (brunette) atm

•Hinata’s mom is a drag king to parallel Haruhi’s dad’s sitch

•Oikawa doesn’t let Iwaizumi into the club because he kills his eccentricity and egotism. None of the others can vibe check him the way Iwa-Chan does so that’s why he seems even more unbearable and thus more Tamaki-like.

••

Hinata tried to figure out where Yachi disappeared to, peering down halls and into classrooms through small openings of the doors. “Yachi-saaaan...”

He barely registered the vague scent of roses and sweets saturating the air as he pushed the door softly. 

The wood swung open as though pulled, Hinata stumbling through with a shout. A breeze and rose petals drifted by his face as he opened his eyes, head whipping up to view the silhouettes of the boys not too far from the door.

“Welcome to the Harukou Host Club!”

“Th-The... --What’s a host club?”

Hinata watched as all of the boys’ faces fell into befuddlement. 

“W-What a funny joke,” a brunet, sat upon a throne-like chair, commented, his fingers interlocked beneath his chin. “Isn’t that cute? Trying to win our hearts with humor.”

“But--”

“So, what kind of guys do you like? We’ve got plenty of types to spare, and I don’t think any of them have any problem attending to a male--ah, sorry, what’re your pronouns? That was rude of me to assume.”

Hinata’s instinctive, “He/him,” came out before he could attach his protests at the services offered, his stress elevating as the brunet hopped out of his chair and sauntered over to him, hands extended in shows of eccentricity.

“We haven’t gotten a boy, yet, huh, ‘Tsumu?” one of the guys still in the group commented, his arm draped over the shoulder of his exact copy (sans the parting of the brown locks). 

“No, but that’s because the only boys we’re involved with are each other,” the copy, ‘Tsumu(?), said, grabbing the other’s chin to hold his gaze. They stared into each other’s eyes for a second before their faces got a little green, the two of them separating to mime vomiting whilst laughing.

Hinata had to tune back into the brunet approaching him, who seemed to be going off on a tirade about beauty and elegance. He tuned back out almost immediately, finding even schoolwork to be more interesting.

“’Tsumu and ‘Samu are awful at the twincest-schtick, don’tcha think?”

“Right? I thought so, too. We’d be ten bajillion times better at it if we were identical twins!”

The ravenette rolled his eyes, although he drew in the other smugly. “Identical or not, the reason we work is because I’m a good actor.” Then, placatingly, he amended, “And you’re not hard to tease and smother with affection.”

His silver companion’s eyes lit up. “Man, you’re so cool, Kuroo.”

“Make sure to call me Tetsu when there are girls here.”

“Oooh do I get a nickname? Like, Kouta instead of Koutaro?”

Kuroo grinned, “Don’t give me an offer like that. I’ll call you Honey or Beloved, and while we’re raking in the cash, Akaashi’ll sell a bunch of merchandise with it.”

Another ravenette, probably Akaashi, nodded calmly as he penciled into his notebook. Beside him, a tall blonde smirked, his glasses flashing menacingly as he tapped away into a calculator. Kuroo and the silveret both paled and protested at him, which he seemed to ignore.

Speaking of ignoring things...

“You’ve been talking a long time, haven’t you?”

The brunet, knelt on the floor near a table, glanced over at him like he forgot who he was talking at. “Is that praise of my oratory skills? I’ve always been told that people get lost in my speeches, and it’s no surprise that you’ve gotten so enthralled with one!”

Seems like I wasn’t the only one who got lost, Hinata thought, noting the despondent, glazed eyes of some of the occupants. A short guy with a patch of blonde hair jumped up into a handstand on the shoulders of one of the taller guys in the back with white hair, and it was made evident that, no, some of them just always appeared completely detached from reality.

“So, anyway, what kind of guy is your type, Mr. Athlete? Maybe you like the cool type? The boy lolita?”

“—I AM NOT THAT SHORT—”

“You are quite that short,” the brunette continued, “Or maybe you like the strong silent type? —We have three of those. We also have twins—identical and fraternal— if you’re into the taboo kinda stuff. We don’t kinkshame here.”

“Maybe we should,” muttered the blonde guy with the calculator. His mouth was covered by a silver-haired guy with black ends, whose face betrayed no emotion even as the blonde fought against his palm irately.

“I’m not into this kind of thing,” Hinata said quickly, “Besides, doesn’t it cost money? I don’t think I’d be able to afford something like this, anyway.”

“Speaking of not being able to afford things... Shouldn’t we check up on her?” Probably-Akaashi motioned to a corner of the room with a piano and a familiar blonde girl hiding beneath its bench, sobbing meekly into her knees.

“Yachi-san!”

Hinata raced over to her, her head whipping up at his call. Her teary eyes let loose some sparkling droplets as she leapt at him, although the rope binding her ankles to the bench prevented her from fully reaching him. He thankfully was close enough that he saved her from a tumble to the floor.

“Hinataaaa,” she whined into his shoulder, “I’m going to have to sell my organs!!!”

“What!?”

“She came into our clubroom earlier and broke the vase we were supposed to sell at an auction,” explained one of the twins.

“It was worth eight million yen, and she told us she doesn’t have enough money but that she’ll sell her organs in order to pay us back, which is impressive in the dedication but very concerning.”

“We had Wakatoshi-kun put her on the bench to calm down, but she tied herself to it because she thought she would be our prisoner as a punishment.”

Yachi clearly tuned them out, too busy crying and hiding in Hinata’s arms. The redhead patted her on the head, wondering how things could get this weird in less than twenty minutes of her being out of his sight.

“Yachi-san.”

No response. Her blubbers were even less coherent now.

“Yachi-san!” He shook her by the shoulders until she blinked up at him. “I’ll help you, okay? Just promise me you’ll be more careful. And help me with my homework again!”

“Hinata...”

He grinned at her and patted her head. When he turned back to the group of boys, he could see they parted somewhat to allow the brunet to be visible whilst lounging on his throne that was turned to face them.

“I’ll be taking on Yachi-san’s debt,” he declared. The brunet rested his cheek on his fist and peered down his nose at him, smirk drawing his lips.

‘Kuroo’ spoke up, “Hoh? All eight million? Are you sure you can make it up, Chibi-chan?”

“You couldn’t even afford a school uniform; how do you plan to pay us back?” said the blonde guy, eyeing his white-and-pink tracksuit with no lack of judgment.

“I’ll...” Hinata glanced back at Yachi, her eyes glistening, and steeled his resolve, “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

“Then, Chibi-chan, from here on,” the brunet guy’s voice, initially dropped, lilted upward as his amusement mounted, "You’ll be our bitch.”

“What.”

•

Hinata frowned at the smudges all over his lenses, ignoring the twins (both sets) measured him for his uniform. 

He almost didn’t notice when Kuroo bent down to meet his eye-level and gently grasped the frames of his blue-light glasses. “Alright, Chibi-chan, we’ll be taking these. Though it doesn’t even seem like you need them, huh, since these lenses don’t really have any magnification?”

“Well, no, but since we have a lot of work on laptops here I thought they’d be better to have.”

Kuroo hummed and slipped them off his ears and nose, and all of the twins gawked at him as he blinked up at them.

“What?”

Osamu kicked Atsumu’s calf, and the Miyas dragged Bokuto away with them.

“Nothing,” said Kuroo, “Maybe they just forgot you’d have a face behind these.”

“Oh, I’ve done that before! Like when people are sick for a long time and they wear a mask, I kinda forget they have mouths!”

“Yeah, just like that.” 

•

“What kind of coffee is this?” The brunet, now known to be Oikawa Tooru, asked, beckoning Hinata over with the most obnoxious “come-hither” motion to ever exist.

“Instant. I don’t really understand coffee, but this is what my mom buys. It’s just cheap enough that I still have money for lunch.”

Oikawa sputtered at Hinata’s lackluster funding for his nutrition, although his mind finished processing what was said about the coffee itself before he could really express any amount of disbelief at the former.

“What do you mean ‘instant’? Are the beans already ground or something?”

Hinata blinked. “Coffee’s made of beans?”

Oikawa sighed heavily and drew up to his full height, holding the coffee container skyward as a few girls approached for their hosting appointment.

“Alright, you know what? I’m up for a challenge! I’m going to try some commoner’s coffee!”

The girls in the clubroom gave shrieks of surprise, Oikawa’s announcement drawing the attention of the entire room. Hinata longingly and despondently stared outside at the people running around the track and beginning practices for their various sports, allowing himself to be dragged away by the club president.

“Darn rich people,” he mumbled.

•

Oikawa was very clingy, Hinata found. Every spare second he had at the club was spent with the other nearby, coddling him and encouraging him to learn up close. It was so draining that the Miya Twins and the Fraternals dragging him into their games was infinitely more appealing, but that could also be his bias for Bokuto coming into play. 

Kuroo was cool, too, yes, and the Miya Twins gave him food, but Bokuto’s energy was so perfectly aligned with his that Kuroo whined about his brother being snatched away on multiple occasions.

This time, with Oikawa monologuing as dramatically as ever, Hinata had no sets of twins to free him from the absolutely boring speech. He spaced out so hard, he didn’t notice Oikawa coming closer and hugging him to his chest excitedly. 

He shouted, the fright sending tears into his eyes, and he reached desperately at the tall trio nearby. “Help!”

All three of them instinctively drew closer, but it was the white-haired eyebrowless one who pulled him out of Oikawa’s grasp by the armpits, Hinata’s legs dangling in the air while the brunette sat stupefied. 

“A-Aone-kun, you didn’t have to go so far...” Oikawa tried.

Hinata smiled at Aone in thanks and patted his head gently to express further gratitude. Whence he was placed down, Aone bowed to him, and he bowed back.

•

Nishinoya was a very fun person to be around, although their interactions were sparse. He shone under the attention from the girls, and if Hinata didn’t know the girls were paying for his time, he’d have assumed the reverse was true. But it made sense, you know, since Noya-san was just such a cool dude.

The girls cooed at him and giggled at his jokes, and his dorky personality coupled with his small-but-wild looks made him a charmer. He also offered Hinata cake on a frequent basis, and often accosted the others to make sure they ate up--especially Tsukishima, who seemed prickly enough that Hinata didn’t want to get near him with a ten foot pole. 

Unfortunately, Tsukishima was also the one mostly in charge of handling his debt, so he could not actually be avoided. Hinata was assured by Akaashi that he’d remove any undue charges Tsukishima would add to the debt, although Hinata would’ve preferred he hadn’t said anything about those undue charges and just did the removals with Hinata none-the-wiser, as then he wouldn’t be paranoid about the things Tsukishima would charge him for.

•

Hinata hadn’t meant to attract the attention of one of Oikawa’s most attached clients. She gave off a weird vibe and when he mentioned her to Yachi, the blonde girl went a little paler than usual (which, while a frequent occurrence, didn’t fail to raise alarm bells in the redhead’s mind). 

“She’s territorial,” Yachi managed, eventually, and Hinata had to go through all of the lessons the girl kindly drilled into his head in order to remember what that word meant. 

“Oh. So why would she be interested in a guy at a host club? Isn’t he, like, one step from prostitution?” Yachi choked at that, shaking her head to fight down any amusement.

“I don’t think she thinks those other girls are a threat.” 

Hinata hummed, “Well, she keeps glaring at me, so maybe she’s just a little dumb and confused.”

Yachi pursed her lips, barely able to keep her laughter contained.

•

Hinata wondered why Yachi’s schoolbag was tossed into the pond. Alongside it sat his, and as he began running through the halls to go attend to the issue, he spotted that client. 

Hinata quite pointedly ignored her, continuing down the halls and stairs. He felt a small flame of rage light up in his chest at seeing Yachi’s notebooks scattered across the surface of the water, covers just buoyant enough that the papers were only starting to soak in water, and he prioritized getting her items out and organized before he could even ponder grabbing his own. 

He’d been in the pond for twenty minutes, thankfully having managed to salvage most of her things, before a voice broke through the quiet of the grounds. “What are you doing?”

Hinata didn’t need to glance over his shoulder to know it was Oikawa, his voice light and airy, with a hint of playful exasperation. 

“I can’t find my wallet.”

“You’ll get sick with your clothes all wet. Can’t you just let it be?”

Oikawa didn’t seem to understand the necessity of what he’d likely consider pocket change. “I need the money for food. I’m not going to get paid for a couple days and I don’t want to starve in the meantime.”

There was a lengthy period of silence. He wondered if Oikawa left, trying desperately to make out the shape of his coin pouch amidst the colorful pebbles lining the bottom of the pond. He nearly growled in frustration as a series of ripples tore through surface, though as he heard the telltale sound of someone wading through water, he spotted the brunette with his pants rolled up and bare feet gingerly resting on the stone. 

“What are you doing?” Hinata quarried, eyebrows drawn up in confusion. 

Oikawa’s face was concentrated yet somewhat peaceful as he copied Hinata’s searching motions, fingers gliding across the smooth pebbles. A few strands of hair caught the water and were left with shimmering drips that occasionally fell back into the pond. 

“I’m helping.”

He never turned to look away from the bottom, focused mostly on the task at hand. Even his distant, deeper, and yet airier voice conveyed how little attention he was giving his words, and Hinata could only wonder if this was the most genuine he’d ever heard the other in their past week of interactions.

“Why?”

“Well, why not? I mean, everyone tells me I’m dripping with good looks,” he chuckled, the breathy quality sending something through Hinata that made him duck his head down and resume seeking his funds.

The two sought it out for over ten minutes before getting any results. The small coin purse, shaped like a small black crow, sat cradled in Oikawa’s palm. He proffered the item to Hinata with a wink, the redhead unclasping it and sighing in relief at the dryness of its interior.

“Thanks, Grand King.”

As Hinata beamed up at the other, the reflected light from the water seemed to hit Oikawa’s eyes harder, as though a flare traveled across the distance between the earth and the sun solely for this moment. He held up a peace sign and smiled back at the other, wondering if such luminance could ever be reproduced. 

(If it could, then he’d love to bottle some up and save it for a rainy day, but maybe there was a hint of greed in that thought.)

•

“Oh, dear, I can’t believe someone would do such a thing!” the client across from him cooed. Her face tilted down a bit, and shadows draped across her eyes and cheeks. “Still, I can’t believe you got Tooru to scrape through that filthy pond for you. He always has been excessively charitable.”

“Yeah,” Hinata mumbled, stuffing a bite of cake into his mouth. The sweetness was significantly dampened by the presence of the girl. What was her name, again? His focus shifted to trying to recall it.

“I couldn’t imagine having so little shame that I’d be a charity case, though. I mean, doesn’t it embarrass you to have Tooru waiting on you hand and foot?”

Yachi, who’d been standing just within earshot, turned to their conversation just then, a disgruntled look on her face. Despite the anxiety that spread quivers across her body from her sternum, she frowned heavily and managed to inquire, "Aren’t you just jealous?”

Something flashed across the clients face then: anger, most likely. Hinata was drawn out of his attempt at recollection by her hand shooting across the table to yank him over to her, a scream escaping her as they toppled to the ground. Teapots and cups burst apart upon contact with the pink tiles, some of the tea soaking into the knees of his gifted uniform pants as it puddled.

Hinata’s palms and wrists ached from the way they slammed against the floor, on either side of the client’s head. People were quick to crowd them, murmuring and gazing in horror. 

“Help!” she cried, “He attacked me! He just jumped across the table, I--” she scooted out from under him, and he slowly sat back on his haunches before accidentally falling onto his bottom. The discomfort of his soaked clothing did little to distract him from the confusion welling within. 

She crawled over to Oikawa whence the brunette stepped closer to the scene. He was the first one over, ever keen regarding the club’s new pet, but only after surveying the situation did he close the distance. 

Her fingers clutched at Oikawa’s pant leg, creasing the fabric as she shivered with tears in her eyes. Hinata’s jaw was slack. Did he do something? Did he try to do anything to her while he was spaced out? He was sure she pulled him, but should he have been expecting such a thing and made to avoid it?

He slowly turned his eyes over to Yachi, whose face was creased in an anger he’d never quite seen before. Her meekness took a sideline to the frustration and disbelief drawing together her brows and tugging her lips downwards. 

“Tooru, please, you have to do something. He was like an animal, I--”

Her desperate face fell into shock as warm water rushed across her face and scalp, soaking the top of her uniform dress. Her panting became a squeaking staccato, and she blinked as her brows drew up steadily. 

“Tooru?” she whispered, before whipping her head around to the Miya Twins, who glared down at her, unimpressed. “What are you doing? Didn’t you hear me?! I--”

“God, you pigs sure like to squeal, don’tcha.”

Osamu glanced down at the jug in his grasp. “I oughtta grab another one at this rate.”

“Why did you--” Hinata startled as Yachi stepped in front of him. 

“You pulled him to you! I saw it! You were envious that he got Oikawa-san’s attention and tried to frame him!” she blurted. 

More whispers and gasps spread across their audience easily. Oikawa’s face was steely and impassive as the client stared up at him with a cocktail of hurt and anger. “You can’t believe her, Tooru, I--”

“You really are beautiful,” Oikawa interrupted, his fingers gliding under her chin.  “But nothing more than that. It seems you’re not classy enough for our club, my dear, and so I’ll have to ask you to leave.”

Tears streamed down her cheeks, Hinata’s heart clenching with a mild bit of sympathy, before she got to her feet and took off, her broken shout of, “Tooru, you idiot--!” echoing through the clubroom.

“I’m sorry, ladies; regrettably, we’ll have to cut our time short for today.” Tsukishima said with his paper-thin smile. It dropped as Akaashi continued for him,

“All of you will receive a full refund of the costs for today’s appointments. You can also use those same funds to reschedule, if you’d like to. We deeply apologize for the inconvenience.”

The girls cooed and cheered, and Tsukishima barely kept his frown from forming.

Eventually the clients filed out of the clubroom, exclaiming their farewells to the hosts. Hinata and Yachi silently stared after them, not wanting to look back to the hosts surrounding them.

“So, what should I do about you?” Oikawa said, drawing Hinata’s reluctant attention. The appraising look and grasp of his own chin were not reassuring at all; Hinata and Yachi glanced at each other and gulped. “Hmm, Tsukki-chan?”

“Don’t call me that,” the bespectacled blonde groused, before pushing up his glasses and smirking. “Since our guests had to leave and receive refunds, our profits for today are at a zero. And because of the drama earlier, we have a few broken teapots and cups from one of our specialty sets, as well as a table that needs to be repaired. To make up for all the damages and overall loss... Akaashi?”

The ravenette typed into a calculator quickly. Bokuto hid behind a sinisterly-grinning Kuroo with his fingers half-heartedly covering his eyes from fear of Akaashi. Akaashi presented the calculator screen within a second.

“Approximately one hundred thousand yen.”

“H-Hundred...”

“Thou...-sand...” Yachi’s eyes swam. Hinata caught her as she half-fainted, both of them shaking with tears welling in their eyes.

“That’ll be added onto your debt, you two. You’d better hope one of your descendents pays it off.” Tsukishima’s smirk shaved additional years off their lives, and Hinata had to pull Yachi’s soul back from the air to shove it back into her body. 

“Darn rich people,” he whined. Kuroo cackled.

••

That was fun ngl. Like, some things go slightly different than in OHSHC, but overall it has some of the same vibes I think

I feel like Bokuto and Akaashi as Honey and Mori respectively would be funnily fitting despite the roles I have them in here, but I think I’m gonna be fluid and loosey-goosey about who is which OHSHC character most of the time (since Noya isn’t entirely Honey-like and there are lots of people who can fit different roles). Kenma and/or Kuroo can fit Kyoya and Tamaki roles too, now that I think about it. Damn this show for having so many characters.

Also this is a nightmare to tag since a lot of characters have multiple spellings for their names and there are so many characters. Heck, that’s why I wrote all the ships at the top!

Anyway, I hope y’all liked it! Might write more if asked 

Also, should I cross-post some of this to Ao3? 

[killemwithkawaii]

Goretober 2021 Day 25: The Knock-Off Messiah

I gave Mitchie a gift today. After they gave me all of those thoughtful mementos and joined me for that wonderfully romantic dinner, I thought it was time to make a major move- something big and flashy, but still very personal. It would show off my not-so-newly cultivated creative side, express just how much I care about them, and would snap them out of their delusional attachment to the knock-off. It was a tall order, but of course, I managed to do all three :)

D.S.: Okay Mitchie! I'm all done with the finishing touches. Are you ready for your surprise?

K.E.W.K.: I don't want anything you have to give me. I told you, I just want to see Sal!

D.S.: Don't be like that, I worked really hard on this... oh! Bring your laptop, you're going to want it when we get in there.

K.E.W.K.: ...why...?

D.S.: C'mon, you'll see ;)

I unlocked their chain from the bed, and they followed me to the door of the bedroom. Before I unlocked it, I prepared them for the big reveal.

D.S.: So, before you go in there, keep in mind I didn't have a ton of time to set it all up, and I didn't have all the supplies I wanted for it, so I did the best I could with what I had already... that being said, I am really proud of this piece! It's some of my best work, considering.

K.E.W.K.: Whatever. Just show me your stupid 'piece' and get it over with.

... you're gonna let me see him after I look at it, right...?

D.S.: Oh, you won't have to wait until after.

K.E.W.K.: What...?

D.S.: Whew! Oooh, I'm so excited...~ Okay, okay, breathe, Sally...

I took a deep breath and swung the door open for them. Just like when I served them that amazing dinner, they were completely blown away when they saw it.

D.S.: Ta-da~ I call it, 'The Knock-Off Messiah'

....

....sooo? Whadaya think? Do you-

K.E.W.K.: SAL!!!

They tried to run to it. I stepped on their chain and stopped them just short of reaching it, then tugged them back toward me.

D.S.: Hey! No touching the artwork, mister! It took me forever to get it just right-

K.E.W.K.: SHUT UP!! LET ME GO, I HAVE TO GET HIM DOWN FROM THERE!

D.S.: I don't think you're gonna be able to get your toy down without a hammer to pry out those nails... I'll tell you what- once you're done with your goretober prompt for the day, I'll let you borrow mine. Deal?

K.E.W.K.: What the fuck are you talking about?! How the hell do you expect me to draw something for you right now?!

D.S.: [chuckling]

K.E.W.K.: You think this shit is funny? You sick fucking prick, I can't fucking believe you did this!!

D.S.: No, no, I'm not laughing at you, Mitchie... I'm laughing because you said [chuckling] 'hell' [laughing] and it reminded me... I forgot to tell you yesterday! [laughing] oh man... So, when I was making dinner for you, your Chatty Cathy was making this huge fuss after I snipped off its toes, right? So, that gave me the idea to make tongue the main course because I was sick of hearing it complain, and as I was getting everything ready to start cutting it out and clean it, the thing asks me, [mocking] 'Is this hell? Is this my punishment for failing everyone? I'm in Hell, aren't I...' [cackling] It actually thinks its in literal hell. How funny is that? I guess I really lived up to my nickname, huh mitchie? ;)

K.E.W.K.: .......

D.S.: [chuckling] Anyway, I was hoping this would inspire you! You inspired me to make it, after all~

K.E.W.K.: How? How could I have possibly inspired you to do this to him?

D.S,: Well, you seem to like drawing me looking pretty christ-like. I think it's super flattering, but the knock off ruined your fun before you could get to any of the gritty stuff. I wanted to give you a little push to motivate you to draw that kind of thing, anyway.

K.E.W.K.: ....

If I draw him, you'll let me get him down, right?

D.S.: Sure, if you really want to.

K.E.W.K.: ....

Mitchie sat down and quickly started sketching. They drew some scribbles and looked like they were getting ready to call it good, but they kept noticing all the little details I'd included, and couldn't resist adding them in themselves. After about half an hour had passed, they started asking me questions about my piece.

K.E.W.K.: ...Why does he have the eye mask on if he can't see anymore?

D.S.: I thought it was fitting- the symbolism of the rabbit, the role reversal between you at the beginning and it now, how it looks kinda like the blindfold I wore when I was first executed... and that eye socket is looking pretty nasty right now. Lots of like, discharge and stuff. Sure, the classic biblical paintings have plenty of blood, but they're never gory. Gotta fit the vibe, y'know?

K.E.W.K.: Yeah, that's true... What's with the duct tape?

D.S.: It's been a consistent theme- it's the bondage that kept you prisoner, that you and the copy used in your little kinky roleplay, and what I've been using on you both during our little play sessions... Plus it kept trying to rip its hands from the boards, and you can only hammer them down again so many times before they start to fall apart like tissue paper.

K.E.W.K.: What about his mouth? Why did you sew it shut? He can't talk anymore...

D.S.: Oh, an Anon suggested it and I thought I'd throw it in there. And yes, he technically can't talk, but he can still make some really weird creepy noises and I just really didn't want to deal with all that.

K.E.W.K.: ....

They drew for another couple hours. We chatted on and off, but mostly just sat together in a comfortable silence, taking in the view. They showed me their drawing when they were done, and asked my opinion for the first time.

D.S.: I think that looks pretty damn good, Mitchie. The best one you've done so far this month, though your proportions are still kind of wonky... but it's progress :)

K.E.W.K.: .... Thanks...

D.S.: Of course, Mitchie. So, you wanna get your doll down and take it to bed?

K.E.W.K.: .....

They got up and approached my art to look at it up close. They stared at it for a very long time, taking it all in, but didn't speak.

D.S.: ...Do you want the hammer? I can go get it for you.

K.E.W.K.: .......................

D.S.: Mitch....?

They started to sniffle, then cry, then bawl. They sobbed openly in front of the cross, their face in their hands.

D.S.: Aww, Mitchie, don't cry.... what's wrong?

K.E.W.K.: I..... [sobbing] I don't.....

D.S.: Shh, shhh.... it's alright... what is it? You can tell me. It's just us two here....

K.E.W.K.: I.....

[sobbing] I can't.....! I can't do this anymore! [sobbing] I can't keep doing this.... I....

D.S.: What is it? What can't you do?

K.E.W.K.: I can't stand doing this! I can't keep pretending, I'm so tired... I'm so fucking tired of lying and putting up with shit and being so nice all the time just because I feel guilty about how other people will feel!! .... I..... that's not really who I am. I... [sobbing] I'm so awful.... I'm a bad person and nobody knows it but me...

D.S.: I know.

K.E.W.K.: What?

D.S.: I know. You showed everyone that last November.... but your fun got ruined then, too... by the knock-off.

K.E.W.K.: ....

D.S.: You had a lot of fun, right? Torturing it? Making it squirm and cry and beg you to stop? It excited you, didn't it? I read all your posts, you can't lie to me. :)

K.E.W.K.: .....

D.S.: I know you, Mitchie. I understand you on a level that this thing could never dream of... that's why I've been showing you how much fun it is to indulge that side of yourself. It was holding you back, but I won't. I never will. I promise.

K.E.W.K.: .............

.......................

....he... was a lot different, after you split.... I can admit that. I thought that I had broken him, and that he just needed time to recover, but even after almost a year, it's... he's just.... not what I thought I was getting, you know? I had all these fantasies that I indulged in before, but lucky me got to experience the 'real thing', and it's....

D.S.: ...Go on, be honest, you know I'm not gonna judge....

K.E.W.K.: ... It's boring. It's nothing like I wanted it to be, but we went through all this shit and then made up, and everybody was rooting for us and saw all the fucked up shit I did to him and they had all these expectations for how I would fix it... I had to pick up the pieces and keep him around, or people would hate me.... I was hoping this vacation would help spark something between us again and I wouldn't be so goddamn miserable, but I was over here faking it the whole time so I wouldn't get cancelled... and now I'm stuck taking care of him for the rest of my life? Fuck that!!

D.S.: [cackling] See? Doesn't it feel good to say that stuff out loud?

K.E.W.K.: .... you know what, it really does? [laughing]

D.S.: I knew it [laughing] You don't need to be ashamed of who you are anymore. You never did! You don't have to lie, or be nice, or settle for putting up with that cheap, brainless copy of me for another minute. You can leave all that here, and you can do all the things you've been fantasizing about, but were too afraid to do until now, because I'm here. I want to help you be free, Mitchie. You won't have a care in the world, and you'll never ever have to feel guilty about anything you do ever again....

Will you let me do that for you?

K.E.W.K.: .....

.......

......

.......

.......

Yeah.

Yeah, I will.

But first, let's get this thing down and get some rubbing alcohol in that eye socket..... We don't want it croaking on us before the 31st, right? :3

D.S.: There's the Mitch I know and love! [chuckling] I'll go get that hammer and the first aid kit....~ :)

[junmail]

hi c!! the fool and strength for the ask game :))

hiii aria !!!

the fool: do you have any nicknames?

outside of c , i have one that my family calls me - drew . which is weird ppl think bc my actual name is no where close to that and everyone is like where did it come from ??? so it’s so weird when ppl call me my actual name bc I’m so used to c or drew

strength: what is your dream occupation?

marine biologist 😭 id wanna work on a shark research group preferably with hammerheads or blacktip reef sharks oooh or maybe oceanic whitetips or even great white sharks . honestly to work with any would be a dream come true

[youllallriseintheink]

Put in his Place

Here is a one-off of Bertrum and Nathan playing a prank on Joey. This is going to be really goofy.

After this, I’m doing the two-part Lacie x Abby story. That’ll be a lot more serious. So if this kind of thing isn’t your cup of tea, stay tuned!

—-

Bertrum’s visits to oversee the construction of Bendyland were rarely eventful. Lacie generally had everything under control, as she did now. Seeing all his men (and women) constructing the rides that he’d designed was like watching the coming together of a masterpiece, or the precise work of a machine.

“You there!” he boomed at one of his men, who turned to him, terrified. “Those bolts need to be tighter. Keep up like that and you’ll get someone killed!”

“O-okay, sir!” The young man replied. Bertrum smiled and nodded to let him know it was okay. And it was- Lacie would have caught the mistake.

Despite the client, coming out of retirement had not been a mistake.

“Oooh, Beertiee!” came a voice.

Oh, the client. Joey Drew. The young man turned to look at the unfolding scene, but immediately turned back to his work once he caught Bertrum’s glare. Bertrum took a deep breath, and turned to the most loathsome part of his job. “Yes, Mr. Drew?”

“A very important person is coming to the studio. I was just wondering if you could make it look... I don’t know... better in here? I mean, the air is just thick with sawdust, and the lighting conditions aren’t exactly the best... and maybe you could have at least a few rides up and going for tomorrow afternoon?”

Bertrum clenched his jaw, took a deep breath, and managed to answer this callow excuse for a business owner in a dignified manner. “Mr. Drew, in case you haven’t noticed, we’re in a warehouse. There is going to be sawdust everywhere no matter how often we sweep because people are cutting pieces of wood. The lighting conditions of the warehouse you rented are not in my control. As for getting the rides up and going, no, I cannot do that three months before our negotiated deadline. Do you understand?”

“Oh, but I thought you could do it. With all your experience and competence... I kind of thought I’d show it off to my good pal Mr. Arch! He’s coming for a tour tomorrow and I want to impress him. And I mean, what does it say if you can’t pull it off?”

Bertrum was unphased by Joey’s attempt at manipulation. “You do not judge a chef by how a meal looks when it is half-cooked. Wait, did you say ‘Mr. Arch?’” Nathan Arch supplied Bertrum with the steel for his rides, and Bertrum had met him a few times at business conventions and fancy parties and the like. They’d gotten along well enough.

Joey nodded.

“Trust me, Mr. Drew- Nathan knows what a construction site looks like. Because he’s a business man who has overseen a few of them in his lifetime. He won’t see this as a mess but as a well-functioning machine.”

The condesension Joey was used to, but he was stunned as soon as he heard the word, “Nathan” from Bertrum’s lips.

“Yes, Joey, we've met. Perhaps the three of us should do this little tour together.”

“Sounds like a great idea, Bertie! Meet me in my office at nine tomorrow!”

---

Joey was on cloud nine. Nathan had been letting Joey take him on these annual (well, aside from the ones Nathan missed, which was most of them) tours for a decade, and each time Joey had done his best to impress him. This year, he’d wanted to show Nathan some Bendyland attractions, but this was even better! What better way to show Nathan that he was in the big leagues than to have this tour alongside the industry legend he’d befriended. On his way to his office, Joey checked his suit and hair for the millionth time- which was really unnecessary, since he’d decided on black everything to avoid ink stains, but one couldn’t be too careful.

Joey opened his office door to find that Nathan and Bertrum were already there, sitting in chairs facing the door and smiling at him. Suddenly, Joey felt a lot less confident. And he should have- Berturm had been pleased to find out that Nathan thought of Joey as just as much of a try-hard nouveau-riche as he did, and they had made a plan to put him in his place.

“Nathan. Hi. I see you’re already acquainted with my business partner, Bertie. How was your flight from New Orleans?” In hindsight, the fact that Bertrum didn’t react to his nickname should have been the first sign.

“Wonderful. Joey, Bertrum and I were just talking about how you’ve bloomed as a businessman since he started working with you. He’s very proud. I never realized that you were real deal until now, but, well! I have to apologize. All this time I was refusing to treat you like a rich man. Are you ready to be treated like a rich man, Joey?”

Joey was stunned and ecstatic. He’d been vying for Nathan’s respect since they’d met, and he’d finally done it! “I- I- yes! Thank you for finally realizing how brilliant I am, Nathan, old buddy! Now, are you ready for a tour?”

“I am.”

With that, they went. Joey took Nathan on a tour of the animation department and showed off his fancy new technology, the toy department complete with waterfall, the plans for Bendyland (but not the dirty, dusty warehouse), and even snuck in a tour of the music department while Sammy was on lunch- he wasn’t about to let Nathan know that he let Sammy call shots on when he could visit his own music department! Today, he was to be large and in charge.

At fair amount of time into the tour, as the trio overlooked the toy department, Nathan spoke up. “It seems like your company is growing, Joey! When did you start investing in the steel wool of this place?”

There was a pause as Joey tried to figure out how to respond.

“Oh come on, Joey. Steel wool. The thing that all successful businessmen know about. The measurement by which other high-class men will know to judge your business’ future chances of success. When did you start investing in it?”

Joey’s face was beginning to flush with embarrassment as he looked into Bertrum and Nathan’s completely calm, understanding faces. “Um, I, started investing in it in 1936. Can we take a little detour, boys? My company is just doing so well that I think I should go order more steel wool right now. Nathan, how much would you suggest?”

“Hmm... about seventy or eighty tons should do it.”

“Great! Follow me.”

Joey led the two of them to the accounting and finance department and knocked on the door of their director of finance. The door opened to a weary-looking man who did not seem at all happy to see them.

“Grant- I’d like you to increase our stockpile of steel wool. Increase it to ninety tons!”

Grant nodded slowly, trying to work out how much that would cost. When one’s boss regularly asks you to account for items such as coffins and electric chairs, one learns not to ask unnecessary questions.

Bertrum, not wanting his financially precarious client to throw out so much money over a prank, shoved Joey aside and whispered something in Grant’s ear.

Whatever it was, it put a coy smile on Grant’s face. “Wow. Ninety tons of steel wool this year. Well, Joey, it sure is good to work under such a rich man, and with such a promising company.”

Joey beamed. Thank God Grant was playing along with him having bought it previously. But soon, he’d have that important status symbol, and respect amongst his peers.

The door closed, and (over the faint sound of snickering) Bertrum spoke up. “You know, Mr. Drew, steel wool isn’t just an item. It’s also in one’s personal style.”

“Oh? And how would you rate mine, Bertie?”

“Hmm... middling,” Nathan replied.

“Yes, ‘middling’ is a good word for it.”

Joey’s face fell. “Oh. Well, I was about to update my wardrobe. Maybe you could help me find something better?” God, he hated asking for help, but clearly he didn’t know much about being a rich man yet.

“We’d be pleased to!” Bertrum beamed, putting an arm around Joey’s shoulders. “It’s been so long since I had a young, inexperienced, callow little business boy under my wing!”

Given the circumstances, all Joey could do was smile and fantasize about rearranging Bertrum’s anatomy.

Soon, they were in a high-end tailor shop. “Just tell him what you want,” Nathan advised, “he’s a rich man, he’ll know what to do.”

Joey nodded and rang the bell on the front desk. The tailor, who had been at the other side of the room at his sewing machine, came right over.

“Hello, I’d like to buy an outfit that lets people know that my company has a lot of steel wool.”

The shopkeeper squinted at Joey like he was an alien.

“Why don’t we help you find the style he’s looking for while he takes his measurements?” Nathan suggested.

As soon as Joey getting his measurements in the changing room, Bertrum and Nathan explained the situation to the tailor, and by the time Joey came out, they’d selected the perfect outfit for him. It was a glittering silver suit with a purple tie. The light from an open window hit it and nearly blinded Joey.

“What... is that?” Joey asked, starting to wonder if he was being messed with.

“I believe we have found your new outfit,” Bertrum asserted, “the perfect embodiment of steel wool.”

“Cutting edge- in a few months, everyone will be wearing them, but you’ll be among the first,” Nathan added.

“No, it can’t be. I mean, you’re saying this, but the two of you are wearing plainly coloured stuff...”

“No, they’re right,” the shopkeeper interjected, “I’ve actually received many, many orders of these from wealthy business owners. In fact, this is the last one I have!”

Joey grumbled, but he put on the suit, which was stiff and uncomfortable and was shedding glitter into his hair and leaving a trail behind him. He paid the shopkeeper a sizable amount of money and left in a huff.

The shopkeeper stuck his head out the door. “Remember- we do exchanges, but no refunds!” he called.

The summer sun was beginning to dip below the horizon. Bertrum and and Nathan had talked about taking Joey to a party to be laughed at, but Bertrum had decided it would make it too obvious that this was a prank. And anyhow, they’d come up with a better idea.

“Well, Joey, I think I should be getting back to my hotel room. But, maybe you could come with me, and I could show you one more aspect of what it means to be higher class. It’s obvious that you could use the help.”

“I- fine. Whatever. I don’t care.”

“Wonderful idea,” Bertrum said, “and on the cab ride over, I could give you some pointers of my own.”

“Oh, and Joey? Step into the shade, please. It seems that that suit turns you into a blinding hazard when the sun is low.”

After a miserable cab trip listening to Bertrum ramble incoherently about things Joey barely understood and using terms he’d never heard of (which made Joey feel simultaneously even more like he knew nothing and even more like he was being toyed with), the trio pulled up to the hotel that Nathan was staying at. Once they were in Nathan’s hotel room, Nathan kicked off his shoes and socks and laid on the bed with his feet hanging off of it. Normally, Joey would have some sort of teasing quip for him, but he was feeling a little worn down and just wanted to get the rest of the visit over with.

“So, Joey, the last thing we’re going to teach you about acting like you’ve got it, is how to give a good foot massage.”

Joey flinched in disgust. Then, he stopped. “Actually, I think it’s time I taught the two of you a lesson- this one on storytelling. You see, there’s this thing called the suspension of disbelief- and you just broke it. There is no ‘steel wool,’ this suit is a crime against humanity, and there is no way that it’s custom for rich men rub each others’ feet.”

Nathan laughed, and Bertrum laughed with him, doubling over in laughter and using Nathan’s shoulder to steady him once he collected himself. “Mr. Drew, you do realize that the only way you could believe that is if no other rich man had ever offered you a foot massage, right?”

“Humiliating.”

“You really told on yourself there.”

Tears were forming in Joey’s eyes- which was ridiculous because he was still sure that this was fake. He also knew that surviving two plagues had left Bertrum a considerable germaphobe. “Alright then, Bertie, show me your technique! Show me how a rich man does it!” he took off his shoes and threw them one at a time into Nathan’s arms.

“Okay, okay, we were joking!” Bertrum admitted before Joey could remove any more clothing.

“But... I think we made our point.”

“What point could you have possibly made except that you’re a bunch of assholes?!” Joey yelled.

“That compared to us, you’re new. We know it, you know it, stop trying to convince us or yourself otherwise. You wouldn’t have fallen for any of that unless some part of you realized that we know better than you on some things. And disrespecting Mr. Piedmont isn’t going to change that.”

Anger built up in Joey’s chest. He screamed in rage, punched a wall, and left, slamming the door on his way out. Then, less than a minute later, he knocked on the door. Bertrum opened it.

“Uh, could I use the phone? I need to call my accountant so he won’t buy dozens of tons of cleaning supplies.”

“Oh, we explained it to him. He won’t be ordering a thing. See you at our next weekly meeting.”

Without another word, Joey left. He could never look Bertrum or Nathan straight in the eye again.

[senstia]

Hii!! I love your page!! Do you do headcanons? If so: drunk neil w the foxes and andrew?? Again i love your page!❤️❤️

Hi!! Thank you so much! People don’t ask for them often but i’m always happy to do them!!

-Pls excuse my terrible grammar, punctuation and writing in general loll im very bad

-but anyway i love drunk neil hes the cutest boy ever and neil will always have my whole heart (and Andrews)

Here you go!!

The foxes decided to play 21 questions. It was Allison and Nicky’s idea. Neil attempted to opt out but they would have none of that. Neil wasn’t one to drink and since Nicky and Allison’s version of 21 questions involved a lot of shots he wasn’t exactly sure how he felt about it. Losing control wasn’t something Neil was used to but all the foxes looked so happy and he knew Andrew would make sure he was safe so in the end he decided he’d play.

“Andrew your turn!” Nicky yelled enthusiastically. He may have pre-gamed the game a little bit.

“Not playing,” Andrew said. Neil was sitting on the floor below him looking nervously excited and already slightly flushed from the alcohol making its way through his system. Andrew wondered what kind of a drunk Neil was. Hopefully he wasn’t an angry drunk.

“Fine, fine i’ll go again. Ummmm lets see oooh oh i got one! Never have I ever kissed a girl before!”

Allison, Renee, Aaron, Matt and Kevin all downed their shots immediately. Neil frowned down at his drink but slowly tipped it back and swallowed.

“Wait pause, Neil you’ve kissed a girl before?” Matt asked. Andrew tried to hide the curiosity from his face as he looked down at Neil.

“A couple,” Neil mumbled, embarrassed.

“A couple?? Neil is a player! I’m offended you never told us! Must not have been that great since you decided to swing the other way huh?” Nicky blabbered.

Neil flushed bright red. “I already said I didn’t swing and I don’t. Those girls were nothing. Andrew is different.” Neil said. He knew the alcohol was making his tongue looser but there was no way for him to control it at this point.

“Different how?” Allison said, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively at Neil.

“Don’t answer that,” Andrew snapped at Neil.

“Well, i’m still offended. I thought I was your first kiss!” Nicky shouted. Apparently alcohol made Nicky louder than normal.

“Your first- what? You’ve kissed Neil?” Dan asked incredulously.

“Yeah well...” Nicky paused and looked up at Andrew. Andrew was leaned over closer to him and giving him a death glare.

“Go on Nicky,” Andrew said.

“Please don’t kill me,” Nicky squeaked out.

Andrew pulled a knife out of his armband and started twirling it in his hand. “Explain.”

Allison was continuously feeding Neil shots as they watched this confrontation.

“Well you see, we may or may not have kissed a few times the first time we took him to Columbia,” Nicky said, looking terrified.

“I thought I told you to keep your hands off him?” Andrew said, cocking his head.

“You told me to give him the cracker dust so I did!”

“I didn’t realize that included kissing,” Andrew said.

“Okay yeah so I may have taken advantage of the situation a little bit. But I mean come on can you blame me? Neil is beautiful, like male model beautiful. I just couldn’t help myself! And besides you weren’t even into him back then!”

Aaron wrinkled his nose in disgust at the words. Neil looked perplexed by the whole situation. Andrew looked murderous.

Andrew stared at him in silence with death in his eyes. He wanted to deny what Nicky had said but he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t attracted to Neil back then, even with the hair and contacts.

“Oh. Oh. You were into him back then? I-I mean um well I thought you hated him when you two met?”

“I did.”

Nicky looked extremely confused and Andrew wanted to stab him so bad his hands were shaking.

“It’s called sexual attraction Nicky. Leave him be,” Renee said softly but not quietly.

Andrew glared at Renee but stayed silent.

“Right um I-I apologize. Please don’t kill me. Please.” Nicky said weakly.

“If you ever get anywhere near him again or compliment him like that again I will stab you in your sleep.”

Nicky squeaked and recoiled from Andrew but nodded his head vigorously.

Neil was just looking up at Andrew in wonder and awe. Andrew glanced down at him and raised his brows but Neil just kept staring. Andrew just rolled his eyes and looked away.

“Okay next round, Kevin’s turn!” Allison said.

The next few rounds went by with little to no drama and Neil knew he was completely trashed. Every thought he usually kept in his head was managing to make its way out of his mouth and he had no way to stop it. Andrew was always beautiful and Neil always loved him but it was like the alcohol was making every feeling he had for Andrew increase tenfold and he was having a really hard time trying to keep those feelings to himself.

Neil contented himself with staring at Andrew in awe. Sometimes he couldn’t believe how perfect his boyfriend was.

“Look at how he’s looking at him!” Allison loudly whispered to Renee happily.

Everyone in the room heard that and they all moved their attention to Neil. Neil was sipping a mixed drink and staring at Andrew like he put the stars in the sky. Andrew was trying as hard as he could to ignore this and was staring intently at the wall.

“Neil what are you looking at?” Allison said. She was an instigator at heart and loved seeing Neil fawn over Andrew. Neil looked over at the rest of the group like he hadn’t realized any other humans existed besides Andrew.

Neil sighed, “My boyfriend,” he said dreamily.

Nicky squealed and the only person who wasn’t grinning widely at Neil was Aaron. Even Kevin looked mildly amused. Andrew just looked down at Neil with a blank face.

“Why are you staring at Andrew Neil?” Nicky asked already getting excited by what his response might be.

“Because I love him,” Neil said with a huge smile on his face. Everyone was squealing and smiling at this and Aaron looked at Neil with something like disbelief on his face.

Andrew fought tooth and nail to keep his expression unreadable but he felt like his insides were being stuffed with sunshine.

“Stop that,” Andrew said and flicked Neil’s nose.

Matt frowned at this. He knew Neil knew what he was doing and he was sure Andrew was different when they were alone but he did think Neil deserved someone who could be a little more affectionate.

Neil noticed Matt’s frown and stage whispered, “Don’t worry Andrew says he loves me all the time, he just doesn’t show anyone else his soft side.”

Everyone started cracking up laughing at this. Neil peeked up at Andrew hoping he didn’t anger him. His mouth was getting really hard to control at this point.

“Sorry,” Neil whispered to Andrew.

Neil was looking at Andrew with the biggest puppy eyes and Andrew knew he was so screwed. Andrew thought to hell with it and brought his hand to Neil’s cheekbone. Neil nodded happily at Andrew and Andrew began stroking his cheek. He leaned in and softly brushed his lips against Neil’s. Neil let out a contented sigh and melted into the kiss. After a moment Andrew pulled back to look at Neil.

Neil pouted, “More,” he whined.

Andrew rolled his eyes. “You’re drunk.”

“Drew I want, I want...” Neil said helplessly.

“What?”

Neil leaned close to Andrew’s neck and paused. Andrew muttered a soft yes and Neil brushed his lips against Andrew’s neck. “All of you,” Neil whispered.

Andrew stood abruptly and grabbed a water bottle from the fridge.

“Drewww,” Neil whined loudly.

“Oh my god, oh my god. He has a nickname for him! I’m gonna die it’s so cute,” Nicky said excitedly nudging Kevin over and over to get him to watch Neil and Andrew. Matt, Dan, and Allison were all squealing in excitement at the spectacle and Renee was smiling quietly.

“Drink,” Andrew said and shoved the water bottle into Neil’s hand.

“Does this mean we can have sex?” Neil said excitedly. Aaron choked on his drink and cringed at this.

Andrew lightly smacked Neil on the side of his head. “Shut it. Drink your water.”

“Drewww.”

Andrew glared at him, “What?”

Neil scooted up closer to Andrew’s seat and whispered loud enough for everyone to hear, “You’re really really beautiful.”

“If you’re trying to seduce me it’s not working,” Andrew said.

Neil cocked his head to the side dramatically. “Last time I said that you let me-“ Andrew put his hand over Neil’s mouth and Neil kept speaking beneath it.

“Finish that sentence and you’re sleeping on the floor.”

Andrew took his hand off Neil’s mouth thinking Neil was done but Neil finished his sentence aloud.

“-under five minutes, so I thought it worked,” Neil finished.

Nicky opened his mouth to say something and Andrew glared at him. “Say one word and you’re dead.”

Everyone was attempting to keep their laughs under control as Neil talked to Andrew.

Andrew got up again and Neil whined in protest. “Calm down i’m just getting you more water,” Andrew said as he stalked off.

Andrew came back and handed Neil another water bottle.

“Drewwww,” Neil said. Andrew just stared at him with raised brows.

“I love you. You’re the best person in the wholeeee wide world. And you’re also really really pretty. And your arms are super muscular. And you have beautiful eyes. And your hair is super soft. And I love that tiny freckle you have on your a-“ Andrew smacked his hand over Neil’s mouth again.

Andrew picked Neil up bridal style and growled, “We’re leaving.”

As Andrew walked out of the apartment with Neil in his arms Neil looked over his shoulder and waved happily at the foxes.

All the foxes just laughed at Neil and waved back at him.

Andrew plopped Neil down on their bed and stared down at him. Neil couldn’t remember anything he had just said but he had a hunch he had said some things he shouldn’t have.

“I’m sorry,” Neil said softly, wishing he was sober right now for about a hundred different reasons. The water had made it into his system enough that he was more aware of everything around him but he still felt off.

“Shut up. Yes or no?”

“Yes. Always yes,” Neil said breathlessly.

Andrew just sat down next to Neil on the bed and kissed him once softly on the lips. Neil sighed.

“Are you mad at me?” Neil asked.

“No. I love you.”

“Hug. Yes or no?” Neil asked.

Andrew just nodded and Neil wrapped him in a tight embrace. They stayed wrapped in each others arms for long minutes and right before Neil pulled back he whispered, “I love you too,” against Andrew’s neck.

Andrew got his answer. Neil was a sappy drunk.

[jaskiers-sweetkiss]

Sunset Swerve - Part 8

Pairing: Luke x OC

Word Count: 2.7k

Warnings: some light swearing

A/N: For some reason I really want to say ‘We’re in the endgame now” about this chapter but its not true? We’re in like the mid-game lol. Anyway, shoutout to @meangirlsx who unknowingly inspired some of the dialog between Luke and Jordan in this chapter with her tags on a previous chapter. Send me a message if you’d like to be added to the taglist and, as always, let me know what you think!

Part 7  Masterlist

___

When they arrived back in the studio, they had not expected it to be filled with music.

Julie grinned at them from behind her keyboard and everyone else stopped playing at their arrival.

“Grab your guitars, we’ve got work to do.” Even without saying it, it was obvious that the girl had forgiven Luke and Jordan wondered what Alex and Reggie had said to her.

Jordan did as she said, heading to her stand and slinging the strap of her electric across her body while Luke headed straight toward Julie.

“What made you come back?” He asked the question Jordan had been wondering herself.

“I realized how much music meant to all of us, and we’ve lost so much already.” The way Julie said it made it seem like she knew more than Jordan would’ve expected and she wondered again what the boys had told her. “We can’t lose this too.”

“Thanks,” Luke nodded thoughtfully, slipping the strap of his guitar across his body. “Alright boss, where we at?”

Julie smiled, settling into her place at the keyboard before leaning forward again. “Oh, and by the way, happy birthday.”

The genuine smile that drew from Luke sent a pang through her chest and she frowned, wondering if it was another one of those jolts. However, as she looked around she noticed none of the boys felt it. Oh hell, she cursed herself silently. She was so lost in her thoughts that she nearly missed Julie’s instructions to start at the pre-chorus.

Jordan was grateful for the distraction of the music, all her focus going into singing and playing, no room for stupid thoughts about stupid boys. Practice ended too quickly for Jordan’s taste but she knew realistically that Julie needed time to get ready and travel to the venue while they could just poof around. She just needed Luke to do something stupid so that she could remember why she hated him because her stupid smooth brain (Julie taught her that) had forgotten it.

Instead, he turned and directed his dopey smile at her and she swore she nearly swooned.

“We are gonna rock those managers’ faces off!” He exclaimed as they put their instruments away.

Jordan grinned back at him, silently blaming it on the rush of playing well and having a performance soon. She was always more agreeable around music. Out of the corner of her eye though she thought she saw Reggie and Alex share a knowing look and she glared at them suspiciously.

“Yeah man, it’s gonna be awesome,” Alex responded to Luke and the rest of the ghosts nodded in agreement as they shuffled around the studio getting ready for the performance.

Jordan decided to keep the outfit she’d been wearing all day, fishnets and her old black Madonna t-shirt under a pair of overall shorts and her Docs. With her outfit and hair already taken care of thanks to Past Jordan, she was just left to slap on some makeup, thankful that she hadn’t done it before she’d spent the afternoon crying. Luke sat down on the couch next to her, watching curiously as she worked.

“Do you mind?” She asked, looking away from the small mirror Julie had lent her to stare blankly at the boy.

“Nope!” He responded cheekily and she groaned, turning back to her mirror and her eyeliner.

She’d finally managed to get the wings down again, making only one mistake this time, so the process went by fairly quickly.

“Do you need me to do yours?” She deadpanned, turning to stare at Luke who was still watching her.

“Nah,” he breathed, smiling cheekily at her as he flipped his imaginary hair over his shoulder. “I’m naturally gorgeous, I don’t need makeup.”

Jordan gasped.

“Asshole!” She exclaimed, smacking his shoulder but laughing anyway. “You’re lucky it’s your birthday or it would be on sight for that.”

“‘On sight’?” Luke asked, puzzled.

“Some twenty-first-century lingo Julie taught me,” Jordan explained superiorly. “Basically means I’d fight you as soon as I saw you.”

Luke nodded lightly, eyes going wide at the threat but slowly a mischievous look began to take over his face.

“Hey Alex, Reg, who would win in a fight? Me or Jordan?” Luke called out and Jordan rolled her eyes, putting away her makeup stash.

“Jordan,” they both answered at the same time and Jordan laughed, giving them both high fives as she returned her makeup to her designated cubby in the back of the studio (they’d had to create an official organization system because the boys tended to just take anything they found and claim it as their own).

Luke pouted, sitting on the couch with his arms crossed like a petulant child as he glared at his bandmates.

“Sorry, man,” Alex shrugged, “Have you seen her boots? She’d absolutely curb stomp you without a second thought.”

Reggie nodded and Luke huffed, standing up from the couch and making his way to the door.

“You guys are mean,” he whined. “I’m gonna tell Julie.”

He’d meant it to be a threat but the other three ghosts weren’t fulling listening, only hearing Julie’s name.

“Oooh, I wanna see Julie!” Reggie exclaimed and Alex and Jordan responded with a chorus of ‘Me too!’s and ’Same!’s as they began clamoring around the furniture in the studio in a race to the door.

Luke rolled his eyes, grumbling under his breath as he followed after them.

When they arrived at Julie’s door, Reggie held his arms out dramatically, effectively halting the movement of the three ghosts behind him. Once he felt sure they weren’t just going to barge in he stuck his arm through the door, knocking three times while the other ghosts rolled their eyes or laughed.

“What are you guys doing?” They heard Julie ask through the door and Reggie stuck his whole torso through.

“We’re being classy,” Jordan snorted at that and Luke huffed, pulling Reggie back through by his belt loops.

With Reggie out of the way, Luke stepped through the door but at the sight of the girl sitting on her bed, all thoughts of tattling left his mind.

“What’re you doing? We go on in twenty minutes,” he asked as the rest of the ghosts stepped through.

Julie was sitting on the bed doodling on her mic, still in her clothes from earlier.

“Shouldn’t you be getting ready?”

“I lied to my dad,” Julie explained forlornly, “So now I’m stuck in my room all night.”

“Yeah but like, the venue is packed with VIPs and managers,” Alex protested and Joran hit his arm.

“She’s grounded, the presence of VIPs and managers isn’t going to change that,” she huffed and Julie gave her a tight-lipped smile.

“What’re we gonna do about my aunt? She’s right downstairs.”

“Your aunt,” Luke repeated, chuckling as he crossed the room, throwing open her bedroom window. “You’re not taking the stairs.”

Jordan opened her mouth to defend the girl, never having been as big a fan of going around her parents’ backs as the guys had been, but before she could say anything Julie grinned at the group of ghosts.

“Okay. Let me get dressed, I’ll meet you guys there,” she said and the guys all grinned while Jordan looked at her nervously.

“Are you sure, Julie?” She asked warily and Luke whacked her arm with the back of his hand.

“Moss, don’t change her mind!” He hissed and Julie laughed.

“Thanks for the concern Jo,” she said, giving the girl a kind smile and Jordan felt her heart warm at the new nickname. “But it’s fine. We have managers to impress.”

She nodded and the ghosts prepared to poof out to the venue when Jordan stopped them again.

“Wait!”

“What now, Moss?” Luke groaned.

“I wanna grab my flannel.”

“Why?”

“It’s chilly.”

“You’re a ghost you can’t-“

“Shut up.” She said, ending their back and forth by poofing into the studio and grabbing one of her flannels from her cubby.

When she poofed back to Julie’s room the boys were gone and Julie was sifting through the trunk in her room.

“The guys went ahead to the venue,” Julie explained and Jordan nodded.

“Alright, I’ll see you there then,” Jordan nodded. “By the way, that vest is super cool.”

Julie smiled in thanks before Jordan poofed away to meet the guys at the venue.

___

The announcer had just called Dirty Candy to the stage when Julie arrived.

“Am I too late?” She asked, slightly out of breath.

“Too early,” Flynn huffed, gesturing up to where Carrie was taking the stage.

Jordan couldn’t figure out how she felt about Dirty Candy. On one hand, Carrie was the spawn of a fraud who she’d always hated and Carrie was mean to Julie and Flynn but on the other hand, the group was really talented and she loved their sound. She supposed it was like her feelings towards Sunset Curve, she loved the music but hated the musicians.

“Wait, did she just make a big show of putting on sunglasses just to throw them away in the first verse?” Jordan laughed, furrowing her brow in confusion at the choreography.

“Shhhh,” Alex hushed her, staring enthralled at the performance.

Before they knew what was happening he was on the stage, dancing with the group.

Jordan whooped excitedly, cheering him on while the rest of the group exchanged looks of surprise.

“You having fun out there?” Julie questioned when Alex poofed back to the group.

“It’s not my fault. It’s my, um… it’s my feet.” Alex gulped.

“Yeah,” Julie said, clearly not believing.

“Put me back in coach,” Alex breathed, poofing back to the stage.

“Why have we been keeping him behind the drums?” Jordan joked as they watched him dance out the rest of the song. “He’s got moves.”

Reggie nodded enthusiastically in agreement, their eyes never leaving the stage.

“I was just doing that for you guys,” Alex said when he returned and everyone expressed varying forms of disbelief.

“Mhmm,” Julie hummed while Luke and Jordan rolled their eyes.

“Yeah, you can’t stop smiling now,” Reggie smirked knowingly and Alex blushed.

“That was, actually kinda good,” Julie admitted, looking as though she’d rather cut her tongue off than admit it. Jordan knew what that was like.

“Yeah, I forgot why I hate her so much,” Flynn agreed.

“Hi girls,” Carrie said in her overly-perky voice as she made her way over with her entourage in tow. “Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

“Now I remember,” Flynn pursed her lips, glaring at Carrie and Jordan snorted.

“If you’re looking for nick, he didn’t come,” Carrie addressed Julie coldly.

“That’s not why I’m here,” Julie scoffed, squaring up to the pink-haired girl.

“Okay, we have one more act tonight,” The announcer called, reading off the list on stage. “Julie and the Fat Ones?”

Dirty Candy snickered while the rest of them turned to glare at Luke.

“Yeah man, my handwriting sucks,” he admitted and Julie shook her head, making her way onto the stage while Carrie and her group stomped off.

“Hey. It’s actually Julie and the Phantoms,” Julie greeted the audience, quickly realizing they didn’t seem to care. “Okay.”

Jordan rocked back and forth on her heels excitedly as Julie placed her hands on the keyboard, beginning the song.

“Hearts on fire. We’re no liars, so we say what we wanna say,” she sang, the apathetic audience starting to pay attention. “I’m awakened, no more faking. So we push all our fears away.”

“Don’t know if I’ll make it cause I’m falling under. Close my eyes and feel my chest beating like thunder.”

Jordan took a deep breath, steadying herself as their time to join in approached. She reached out, grabbing Alex and Reggie’s hands on either side of her repeating the small ritual Apollo 81 had always done before going on stage.

“I wanna fly, come alive, watch me shine,” As Julie sang the refrain Jordan squeezed the boys’ hands comfortingly, letting go just in time for them to poof onstage.

“I got a spark in me. Hands up if you can see and you’re apart of me. Hands up if you’re with me,” Luke joined Julie for the chorus as she made her way out from the piano to center stage. Jordan immediately made her way over to Reggie, the two ghosts rocking out together in front of Alex’s drum set. The mood in the venue had become electric, everyone’s interests piqued by their sudden appearance. “Now till eternity. Hands up if you believe. Been so long and now we’re finally free.”

Luke joined her and Reggie on Alex’s platform, giving Julie the stage as she sang the second verse. As arranged, Jordan hopped down, joining Julie for the pre-chorus.

“We know we can make it, we’re not falling down under,” they sang together, Jordan taking the lower harmonies. They’d bonded a lot after the dance, they could see it in each other’s smiles. It felt good to be performing together. “Close my eyes and feel my chest beating like thunder.”

“I wanna fly, come alive,” Jordan started the refrain with her before backing off to give her the final line. Rejoining Luke and Reggie in the back. “Watch me shine.”

The three guitarists jumped down from the platform as the chorus hit, Luke immediately taking up the mic next to Julie as he joined her in the chorus again, Reggie and Jordan singing the background vocals on either side of them and Alex in the back. At one point in the chorus, Reggie made his way over to Jordan’s mic, the two singing together briefly before he bounced over to Luke, finally returning to his own mic as they hit the bridge.

Luke and Julie took up center stage as they shared a mic, singing through the call and response bridge. The two had obvious chemistry and as Jordan watched she felt a pit forming in her stomach. She passed it off as just nerves, she was about to pick up the chorus after all, and exchanged smiles with Alex and Reggie, the two boys calming her down.

The crowd roared as they hit the chorus for the final time, Reggie and Jordan leaning into their mics as they joined the chorus.

“I got a spark in me. Hands up if you can see, and you’re a part of me. Hands up if you’re with me…” They sang through the chorus, Jordan taking up Julie’s part so that she could riff off the vocals. They’d decided the final run-through of the chorus was the perfect place to really show off Julie’s pipes.

As the song wound down, the three guitarists backed off again, leaving Julie to sing the last “Finally free” on her own.

The crowd erupted into cheers when the song ended. Jordan sung her guitar to the side as they all took a bow, the four ghosts disappearing. They reappeared at the back of the venue, sitting on the countertop of the bar and giving Julie huge thumbs-ups as she finished out their performance.

“Thank you. We’re Julie and the Phantoms,” she said into the mic, soaking up the applause before adding with a wink to her ghost band, “Tell your friends.”

The four phantoms nearly lost their minds at that, all of them whacking each other’s limbs as they yelled excitedly. They were only starting to calm down when Julie bounded over to where they were sitting behind Flynn, giving her best friend a hug before grinning at the ghosts.

“You were incredible!” Flynn gushed to her friend.

“Yeah, we were!” Reggie exclaimed and Julie rolled her eyes slightly with a grin.

Just when Jordan thought the night couldn’t get any better, a woman in a power suit started making her way over to them, gracefully dodging Dirty Candy on her way.

“She looks all business,” Alex whispered and Jordan nodded.

“Wait! Who should do the talking?” Reggie panicked before looking around at the group, all of them giving him looks that said ‘really?’ “Oh, right, Julie.” He nodded.

“You’ve got this,” Luke whispered as the woman approached, sticking out her hand in introduction.

“Hi I’m Andi Parker and I would love to-“ she began but was cut off.

“Julie,” Ray called sternly from behind and everyone’s eyes widened.

“It’s time to go.” He said and Julie gulped, dropping Andi’s hand.

Oh shit.

Part 9

___

JATP Taglist: @meangirlsx

Sunset Swerve Taglist: @oopsiedoopsie23 @angryknightstatesmantrash @onlygetaway @deni-gonzalez @advicefromnixxxx @brooke0297 

[tempural]

origins of tentaspy

Interview I conducted with Lakidaa (known as Engineer on the chan) about the origins of Tentaspy, and other old TF2chan stuff.  Interview conducted March 29th, 2020.  Content warning for discussions of Scout x Spy shipping (pre comics, no incest you sillies!) and racism on the chan.

If you were ever curious about where the Tentaspy meme came from, here ya go!  It’s also a nice lil documentation of some older fandom stuff, before it all moved to Tumblr (then combusted).

---

scumsuck: About Tentaspy.  I was on TF2chan in the pre-2009 days, and I recall it being part of a little mermaid AU?  With Scout as the little mermaid and Spy as Ursula?  Is my recollection true?

Lakidaa: Ah yes.  Yes!  I was Engineer [on TF2chan].  It was because we were on a kick of watching Disney movie songs in their native language & Beauty And The Beast is a French story.  

scumsuck: So Tentaspy started as a SpyScout thing, then it got into Teufort monster territory.

Lakidaa: Right.

scumsuck: When you say 'we were on a kick of watching disney', you mean you and other people on the chan?

Lakidaa: Yes! There was a steam chat we hung out in.

scumsuck: Do you remember who else was there on the disney movie thing?

Lakidaa: Uhhh me? Jones. Khorosho, the mod who was an Aussie, Dr.Tanner, oh! Yeah uhh Kilomonster.  Idk the exacts because it was 10 years ago.

scumsuck: The vagues are fine too!  10 years dang...

Lakidaa: A big problem was that the mod was Aussie and kinda oblivious to racism lmao.  It’s why I quit.

scumsuck: oh boy I remember a LOT of casual racism on the chan.  like the 'nickname' for demoman.

Lakidaa: Yyyyyeah. It’s why kilo bounced and why I eventually bounced.

scumsuck: bounced off the chan, or out the TF2 fandom in general?

Lakidaa: Both?  I was an actual administrator; I had full powers on the Chan itself.  And I got sick of Tanner’s racism and then Mog (that was her name)’s defense of it claiming the usual ‘oh we’re not Americans we do t Do that tee hee’ defending.  And it was the fandom.  This was before tumblr, really. I was doing LJrp at the time.  So if you weren’t posting on the chan there wasn’t really anywhere to get your fix.

scumsuck: I guess there were a lot of people sick of the racism back then, but the chan culture was too much.

Lakidaa: Yeah. We hadn’t realized that it didn’t have to be that way :V

scumsuck: I think I remember that the chan was made cuz everyone else on 4chan's /v/ was sick of the 'ironic' gay porn posting?

Lakidaa: Right.

scumsuck: So besides TF2chan , there wasn't the mass exodus to Tumblr yet.

Lakidaa: Because [LiveJournal] didn’t suck enough yet.

scumsuck: Curiously I don't remember that much of a TF2 community on LiveJournal.

Lakidaa: There wasn’t.

scumsuck: I remember ones for other shows like Metalocalypse and Venture Bros and so forth, but I guess TF2 never stuck on LJ.

Lakidaa: I was very LJ at the time.  Those shows were shows and like. I don’t think fandom had developed enough to take these characters which were, at the time, broad sketches, and do stuff with them.  All the meet-the videos weren’t out by then.

scumsuck: Now we can take vague-as-hell characters, like the ones from Overwatch, and mash em into something workable.  I wonder if the OW fandom could have thrived pre-tumblr.

Lakidaa: I don't think so. OW itself is the descendent of TF2’s character-based shooty.  I also admittedly have no fucking clue what’s up with the gator Sniper. (in reference to me asking if they knew the origins of Tentaspy's counterpart, the gator Sniper.) That was way later when I was in 40k

scumsuck: I love this stuff, and I'm trying to get together more memories of the chan and it's culture.   Do you remember Teratomarty?

Lakidaa: Yes!  And makani!  She famously did the administrator as a fan thing and got scooped by Valve.

scumsuck: Heck yeah!  Makani what a legend.  There were a lot of -isms and -phobias in TF2chan, as a part of the awful chan culture, but a lot of great art was made there too.

Lakidaa: Oh yeah.  I still have some documents too.

scumsuck: Oooh what sorts of documents?  I know the chan's been like... deleted and reformatted a couple times since I was on there so a lot was lost.

Lakidaa: Old fiction!

scumsuck: Do you recall who drew some of the first pieces of visual art for Tentaspy when it was created?  And who did the first fics?

Lakidaa: Me for fics lmao.  But for art I don’t remember.  There used to be a pictochat. (a site for multiple people to draw on the same canvas at once)

scumsuck: Do you still have your Tentaspy fics?

Lakidaa: Maybe!  I’m on phone and it’s all on the desktop lmao

scumsuck: They're important historical documents!

Lakidaa: Bro I read the post on tumblr about the 70s spirk fic in A&M University.

scumsuck: Ye Olde Yaoiz.  This stuff is honestly important!!!  I know I wouldn't have developed as an artist without all the slash I was reading back in my youth.

Lakidaa: Same.

scumsuck: Does Tentaspy predate 2010?

Lakidaa: I believe so.  Aha 2008 stuff.  I do have some [writing] that's Tentaspy, but it's chat; I'd have to find Jones and ask them if they're down

scumsuck: 12 years... Good timeframe though, that's when I was actively browsing the chan.

Lakidaa: It does have some nsfw on it which is double why I'm asking. This doesn't look like it's a chat chat tho it looks like our old DMs

scumsuck: Did Tentaspy originate as a NSFW concept from the getgo?

Lakidaa: For about 10 minutes it wasn't NSFW and was just us ragging about.

scumsuck: How do you feel about fanworks of tentaspy?  I'm working on a doujin of Tentaspy, and this is one of the reasons I wanted to contact whoever created the concept.  If I were to print comics of this concept you and your friends created, would they feel odd to you?

Lakidaa: Not really!  It's perfectly fine. It's a concept that's left my hands.  I'm not in TF2 anymore (Overwatch and 40k and my OCs honestly) so I'm like, 'at least someone's enjoying it'

scumsuck: Oh yeah, the fandom ghost that will never leave.

Lakidaa: yes :p

scumsuck: I haven't been into TF2 since like... 2009-2010, but I got back in the last couple years and have had a blast figuring out where the fandom went post-Tumblr.  I love this like.. metacontextual historical stuff

Lakidaa: Yeah! I'm glad someone's on it.

scumsuck: I think that's all I have to ask you for now, I'll wait and see if Jones responds!

Lakidaa: (._.)7

[malbontesvicky]

Random Question Tag #2 I saw this challenge doing the rounds so thought I’d jump in too.

1. Tim or Bobby?

When the game first came out I started with Bobby before coupling up with Gary. For me personally, I think Tim is better. He was such a good friend to MC and had her back throughout Cherrygate and everything else, and I just felt like Bobby never had MC’s back like that.

2. Choose two Islanders (from any season) to be quarantined with, and why? Besides Gary... it would be Chelsea and Priya. Those two were the only girls MC could call a friend in the villa. I did a post not too long ago about them being like Destiny’s Child. These super sassy girls who were the queens of the villa. So being quarantined with them would be so much fun. Playing Priya’s “the floor is lava” game or a drinking game with gin as it’s Chelsea’s favourite.  3. How/when did you discover the game?

I found out about the game July 2018.

4. If you could rewrite a scene, what scene would you rewrite? Hmm.... well I would definitely like to rewrite the mean tweets challenge. I would have preferred it to have revealed MC’s kisses with Gary. I mean you kinda can, but picking the option “it’s not so bad” which leads MC to say about Gary not being able to pick his first choice, while Marisol gives you frowns and Gary gives you hearts. I’ve always took this as a “half” reveal. 

But if I had the chance I would have made it clear that the tweet was about MC and Gary. Also, another one lol. But the reunion coming back from Casa Amor. I would have liked to have seen more emotion from MC and Gary, showing each other just how much they missed each other. 5. Favourite challenge? Oooh tough one. My favourite two are “slime challenge” and “kiss and tell”. I love these two because I always go for Gary every single time. And I love it!! I like creating a little drama with Marisol, because I always couple up with Rocco and it’s like revenge in a way. I’m a little evil lol. But I get huge satisfaction from doing this. Plus I just love Gary so of course I will go to him any chance I get! 7. Describe your ideal S3 LI.

I would love someone like Finn from the latest love island uk. I just love how much of a gentleman he was and he only had eyes for his partner.

8. New or old Hannah? Definitely old Hannah, I thought she was very sweet. Yes she fancied Gary, and the whole breakfast gate thing. I wished they would have kept her same for when she came back. 9. Who was dumped too soon? Priya. I will never forgive Bobby for saving Hope. Priya was a queen who deserved so much better. 10. Jakub or Felix? Jakub. Why? Because I love how easy it is to piss him off and then R/Hannah has to have him. Plus by pissing him off, Gary makes you breakfast so it’s all worthwhile. 11. Henrik or Lucas? I never liked either of them romantically. But I’d have to say Henrik because I feel like he would be a good mate. 12. Jo or Hope? Agh! Hope.. I just can’t stand Jo. I just felt like she came across so immature by the way she acted about her kiss with Rahim. She could have handled it better. 13. Lottie or Priya? 

Well duh! Priya. This needs no explaining. 14. What originally drew you to your LI?

I didn’t like Gary at the beginning, I thought he would be boring, and how wrong was I? It started for me during the sneaky kisses (which at first I never knew existed) and I grew to love his personality. Obviously he has a killer body, so that helps too. But he has the biggest heart out of all the islanders. Doing his route really opens your eyes to his character.

15. Favorite LI of all time (both seasons)?

Gary!! He only has eyes for MC, and stays loyal to her. He truly cares for her and loves her and it really shows. He is a true sweetheart and why he got the nickname ‘Garebear”. He will forever choose you over Lottie, which she hates. It’s no competition. Gary has the best development throughout the game. Telling his mental health story and how it all affects him, talking about his love for his nan is so heartwarming. Replaying you really notice how everything affects Gary throughout, which at first I never noticed.

For example when Lurik arrive, at the fire pit you can see he’s sad after they say they like MC. Then again in the kitchen during the welcome party he says something along the lines of “Its not them I’m worried about”, the proceeds to say about Marisol “we’re not seeing eye to eye”. In my head here, he is talking about MC, but disguising it as being about him and Marisol. He is worried that these two new boys are going to turn MC’s head, and then he won’t get to recouple with her again. (I think I may have went off-piste lol)

16. Favourite scene/day?

My favourite scene is when Gary takes MC up to the terrace after she’s cooked the meal for everyone. He tells her that he can’t stop thinking about her and that’s she’s perfect to him. He just makes my heart melt.

17. Who had the best character development?

Gary. Like I mentioned above, discussing his mental health shows a deeper side to his character. When replaying you really notice the little things that affect him along the way. It’s really heartwarming to see the way he develops and grows more confident and how comfortable he is with MC. He trusts her enough to tell her his story before anyone else. Then because she is so supportive of him, it gives him the confidence to talk to the boys about it too.

18. One thing that irked you about the game?

Everyone expecting you to solve every little fight. First few times I did everything, not anymore. I tell them to stick it. On day 4 at the firepit, I’m like I spent time with Gary and everyone’s reaction is priceless.

19. Season 1 reunion or Season 2 wedding?

Definitely the wedding though there are a lot of things I would have done differently. I would have had our LI propose, more alone time with our LI and then the honeymoon.

20. Describe domestic life or a head-canon about/with your LI.

I actually did a post about this too. My head canon is that for their first date out of the villa, Gary would take MC to the shipyard to see the cranes. Sitting on the bench explaining everything to her with his arm wrapped around her, then the other arm pointing to the cranes while he talks. MC would be so in awe of him and would want to learn about the cranes too because she loves him and knows how much he loves them.

21. Guess some of the Islanders surnames?

Literally no clue lol.

[i-eat-bread-and-cry-on-the-floor]

out of context quotes from my school as marvel characters

Teacher: In 1950, there were a ton of planes crashing and no one knew why. Does anyone know?

Peter Q: The Bermuda Triangle.

---

Clint: Wait, (Bucky's) here? Where's Bucky?

Bucky: *from the back of the room* Here.

Clint: Oh, hi I didn't even see you!

Bucky: It's okay, I'm just really invisible.

Everyone: 0o0

---

Teacher: Is that what you should be doing? What should you be doing instead?

Loki: Dying.

Everyone: WOAHHHHHHH!

---

Peter P: Hey. Hey, hey, hey, *taps on shoulder* I'd die for you.

Loki: I'd kill for you.

Peter P: 0o0

---

Tony: Felt cute, might break down in physics later, idk.

---

Rocket: I feel a really strong connection with communism.

---

Natasha: *walks into bathroom* Are y'all still doing TikToks in here? I HAVE TO PEE! *walks out*

---

Thor: Don't you just hate it when *spoon.*

---

Tony: Y'ever just feel so depressed and anxious that your stomach physically hurts?

Steve: Mood, but can I do anything for you?

---

Bruce: The next person to make a VSCO thot noise is getting thrown out of this room.

Everyone: sksksksk and i oop-

Bruce, under a table: homocide is bad, homocide is bad, hoMOCIDE IS BAD-

---

Peter Q: Wait, who here likes Pink Floyd?

Steve: I love Pink Floyd! *fist bump*

Tony: Pink Floyd is the best! *fist bump*

Peter P: Yeah, man, my camp wrote a whole musical about Bigfoot! *goes in for a fist bump*

Peter Q: I'm sorry what.

Peter P: He said something different didn't he?

Tony: Oh my god.

---

Scott: What's an apple made of?

T'Challa: Um... apple?

Scott: No, but like what's in the apple?

T'Challa: APPLE??

Scott: NO, WHAT MAKES UP THE APPLE?

T'Challa: IDK ATOMS?

Shuri: 10% of the apple is carbohydrate and 4% is vitamins and minerals while the other 86% is water.

Scott: Thank you.

---

Everyone: *talking over each other*

Pepper: Please, stop talking over each other!

Drax: No!

Carol: *pulls out UNO reverse card* SHUT THE FUCK UP.

Everyone: *silence*

---

Groot: I am Groot. (Translation: In case I die, mark my last words)

Rocket: Okay..

Groot: 420-69 The Earth is flat. *does the dangerous thing*

Rocket: Me too.

---

Pietro: The legs on the bus go leg leg step.

Wanda: ?????

Pietro: Leg leg leg.

Wanda: ???????????

Pietro: STEP STEP STEP.

---

Loki: Vandalism isn't bad.

Valkyrie: No, but your haircut is.

Thor: HOLY SHIT DUDE YOU FUCKING KILL EM!

---

Teacher: How many of you would feel comfortable being the first person to go on a new roller coaster?

Drax: *raises hand*

Drax: Was that the wrong answer.

Tony, on the other side of class, hand also raised: Livin like Larry, the rest of you are fools.

---

Bucky: What if he didn't have a government and everyone promised really hard just to be cool?

---

Peter P, a gen z kid: I wanna lay down on the ground and sob until I'm so dehydrated that I die.

Shuri, another gen z kid: Do it at your house or something! Not on this sticky floor! Yuck.

---

Pietro: We suffer for gluten to obtain the grain.

Wanda: ?????

Pietro: You wondering what's coursing through my veins? Pure Marinara sauce.

Wanda: YOU'RE NOT MAKING SENSE??

---

Thor: No fan, it's man.

Valkyrie: I have no idea what you were getting at there but ok.

Thor: I meant 'no man, it's fine.'

---

Clint: I have a theory.

Rhodey: NO, NOT THIS SHIT AGAIN. I DON'T WANNA HEAR ABOUT ANYMORE DINOSAUR FEET.

Clint: IT'S NOT THE DINOSAUR FOOT ONE!

Fury: Save it for after (the meeting.)

Clint: What if the real birds are in Area 51? And they didn't actually kill them, they're just hostage in Area 51??

Steve: Everyone already knows that, you're a terrible conspiracy theorist.

---

Tony: Just because someone else does it, does not mean you can! Look, if I jumped off a bridge, would you?

Peter P, on the verge of tears: HSDTUETIGKHJC PROBABLY! I'm not about to live my life without you!

---

Nebula: OOOH, wait, where's the vandalism we drew here last year?

---

Thor: Oh my god, I really want a happy meal.

Bruce: Oh my god, I really want a happy life.

Thor: Honey, we've talked about this.

---

Tony: Time to go home! *sits in garbage can*

Pepper: Hey, that was really mean to yourself, get outta there. *tries helping him up*

Pepper: Ew I touched the garbage can!

Tony: Hey, that's my house!

---

Loki: When you have a kink for pushing people out of windows.

---

Steve, after being flipped off: WHA- (TONY) SAID A BAD LANGUAGE FINGER!

---

Scott: I don't think cheese is crunchy?

---

Sam: Bro it's 3:33am.

Bucky: *looks at phone* oh wow, it is!

Sam: What, did you think I was lying to you?

Sam: No, it's 3:32am. Hahahah, look at the camera, you just got pranked.

Bucky: *laughing hysterically* it's too late for this shit.

---

Bruce: BREATHE IF YOU FIND ME ATTRACTIVE.

Bruce: And that's how I committed mass genocide.

Thor, hyperventilating in the corner:

---

Rhodey: Global warming. It sucks.

Peter P: Global warming isn't real?

Scott: How could there be GLOBAL warming if the earth is flat?

Rhodey: I hate you guys

Peter/Scott: *high fives each other.*

---

Strange, high as fuck: Why is that funny? I don't even know what a seizure tastes like?

---

Okoye: Ya girl is DEDICATED!

Shuri: Did you just assume your own gender?

T'Challa: I'm calling the cops.

---

Strange: Did you just glue STARS? Where your EYE BROWS USED TO BE? Emphasis on USED TO BE because you nAIRED THEM OFF! FOR DRAG!

---

Natasha: Anything can be a dildo if you're brave enough.

Clint: *Looks at the knife holders*

Natasha: 0.0

---

Scott: Wait, we were being sarcastic? I'm sorry, I don't understand sarcasm.

Hope: (Scott,) you don't understand anything.

---

Strange: Eat the goddamn president.

---

Steve: I made the mistake of eating sausage while watching the first episode of Black Mirror.

Sam: What's the first episode of Black Mirror about?

Steve: He does the bad thing with the pig.

Sam: OH-

---

Tony: *doing homework* I am dying.

Groot: I am groot.

Steve: Well, I am Steve Rogers.

Pietro: And I'm Kanye West!

Clint: Owoof.

Gamora: And I am not afraid to end your bloodline.

Rocket: And I am inevitable.

Thor: Um, we don't talk about that here.

Peter P: FLEX TAPE CAN'T FIX THAT!

---

Tony: Please, don't nickname me Tone, I can't tell you how much that irritates me.

Steve: Okay, 'Ny.

---

Strange: So, if it's 9 months from conception to birth...

Strange: And my birthday is June 15...

Strange: That means I was conceived in September.

Strange: But my original due date was June 11...

Strange: Which means I was conceived...

Strange: 0o0

---

Pietro: Mirrors are just 'no u' walls.

Rhodey: It's 4 in the morning please stop texting me.

---

Okoye: NO, (BROTHER,) I DON'T WANT TO CHA CHA REAL SMOOTH! STOP HARASSING ME!

---

MORE TO COME! Hope this wasn't too bad.

[hymn2000]

Freeze - MCU AU Fanfic - C7

(Title subject to change)

Previous chapter(s): 1 2 3 4 5 6

Story synopsis:- When a burst gas main destroys everything and leaves Peter with nothing, the Stark’s take him in. Thrown together by necessity, they then need to try to keep it together and build a new life. Devastated by loss, Peter doesn’t make things easy for them, and Loki and Tony struggle with their own grief and the responsibility of having someone completely dependant on them.

Chapter description:- Everything feels hopeless. Peter hates school, and can’t bring himself to tell anyone why. He’s struggling to get on with Loki, and he doesn’t want to stay with him

Chapter warnings/themes: character death, hurt/comfort, trauma, grief, depression/mental health issues, bullying, corporal punishment

Relationships: Frostiron (Loki x Tony) (romantic), Tony and Peter (platonic), Loki and Peter (platonic)

From the same AU as Called To Be A Rock

Chapter 7 - Butterfly 

-

Peter getting into trouble gave Ryan a huge ego boost. He was untouchable (even more than usual), and everyone was undeniably on his side. Peter was subdued and more tearful than usual on Tuesday morning. Ryan smiled to himself. His gang smiled too. Today was going to fly by.

-

Ryan had a great time. He barged into Peter’s desk more than usual, shouted louder during lessons, came up with new jokes and games, all of which delighted the rabble. The five minutes between lessons were perfect for general harassment, but lunchtime was the real star of the show. It was tipping it down, so Ryan’s usual hang-out spot on the field was a no-go. Ryan was quicker than Peter getting out of class, closely followed by his henchmen and the eager rabble. He’d been talking loudly about how he was going to ‘play’ with Peter at lunch, relishing in the way Peter’s hands clenched into fists when he said it. 

“Hey crybaby, where are you going?” he grabbed hold of him at the top of the stairs. “Oooh, struggling again! What, you want me to let go? What do you think, guys?”

There was a general overlap of voices, offering no real suggestions. Ryan nodded as though he was considering the options. He stepped forwards, making Peter take a couple of steps back, and startle, as he was inches from stepping on thin air, balanced at the top of the stairs. Ryan grabbed him by the collar, pulling him close.

“What? You want me to let go, is that it?” he looked into Peter’s dark eyes with his own bright blue ones. 

Peter stopped struggling, cautious of falling. Ryan grinned. He imagined he could smell his fear - not that fear had a smell, and if it did, it probably wouldn’t be mint and cinnamon and sawdust. 

“Fine, if that’s what you want-”

He shoved him hard in the chest as he released him. A glorious slow-motion followed as Peter plummeted downwards with an audible gasp of horror, hitting the stairs hard on his side before falling further and ending up on his front as he hit a stop just over halfway down the staircase. 

Uproarious laughter went up behind him, and Ryan closed his eyes, just for a second, listening to his applause. He looked down at Peter, who was struggling onto his hands and knees, his backpack strap hanging halfway down his arm. He was shaking and clutching himself with one hand, supporting himself with the other.

Ryan huffed. He walked down the stairs, grabbing Peter by the arm and hauling him upright. He felt his weight shift as he half-fell against the wall, still trembling. He looked at Ryan, defensive, cautious, and a single tear fell from his eye. Ryan grinned - and startled at a sudden voice.

“What’s going on here?!” a teacher had appeared, and looked at the group disapprovingly.

Ryan smiled sweetly. “Peter fell down. I’m just helping him up”

“I see. Be more careful” the teacher continued on up the stairs, through the rabble, sighing and muttering about ‘gaggles of teenagers’. 

Ryan watched him go, and once he was certain he was gone, he looked at Peter again.

“Why don’t you send me a postcard this time?” he said, and pushed him again.

Peter somehow managed to save himself, catching himself by way of the wall at the bottom of the stairs - but only just. 

‘Well, I can’t have that’ Ryan thought. 

He bounded down the stairs, knocking Peter’s legs out from under him, kicking him hard in the stomach and side once he hit the floor.

Ryan looked down at his cowering classmate, and ran his fingers through his fringe, wet with sweat. This was thirsty work. He was ready for lunch. Maybe he’d have two cans of Appletiser today. 

“See you later, princess~” he said coolly, and continued on towards the canteen.

The rabble followed. Most left Peter where he lay, but a few made sure to kick him as they passed. Many of them were trembling with the adrenaline. How exciting school could be with Ryan about.

-

The stairwell fell quiet. 

Very slowly, Peter sat up, leaning against the wall. Everything hurt, his stomach especially. He pulled up his shirt, inspecting the damage to his hip, which was very scraped from falling onto the rough stairs, and was bleeding a bit. He heard his phone buzz, and fumbled for it in his bag. He opened the text.

Ned: When are you coming back to school? No rush, just want to see you again

Peter read the message a few times over, and a loud, shakey breath escaped him as he started sobbing. He drew his legs up to his chest, crossed his arms over his knees, and buried his face, clutching his phone in his hand.

What had he done to deserve this? He wanted to see Ned - and he felt bad, because he hadn’t replied to any of his messages. He wanted to go back to his old school. Sure, he’d been picked on a bit there, but nothing like this. An infantile nickname was nothing compared to being ruthlessly taunted and kicked. It wasn’t fair and it wasn’t right. He knew the teachers must know, but they simply didn’t care. No one was going to protect him here. 

Week four of this school. 

He still hadn’t said a word to anyone.

-

Peter was accosted by Ryan and his gang again after school. Peter had usually ran out of school and not stopped until he was way down the road, but he was hurting too much to run today, and they got to him first.

“What, no rushing off today? No running? Did your trips tire you out?”

Peter tried to push through, but he was quickly stopped. He sighed, standing weakly where he was. 

“Don’t you want to go home? What’s the matter?” Ryan pouted at him. “Poor crybaby, did daddy tell you off for being so horrible to me yesterday?”

Peter’s heart skipped a beat. He wasn’t defending himself, but if Ryan said anything bad about Loki, he wouldn’t hesitate to knock him out, even feeling as fragile as he did. 

“Aww, you guys didn’t see its dad!” Ryan said, looking round the rabble. “Proper suit and everything. How come you’re so thick then, crybaby, if daddy is a businessman?”

Peter narrowed his eyes for a second. There was no good way to answer that even if he was going to say anything. 

“So what happened, crybaby? Did daddy take you home and tell you off? Did mummy get upset too? Is that why you don’t want to go home?”

Peter didn’t respond. Again, even if he was in the habit of talking outside the house, what business of Ryan’s was it? He didn’t need to know that Peter’s parents had died years ago, or that Loki was his guardian, not his father, or that he had another male guardian at home. Somehow he didn’t think these kids would take kindly to finding out Peter had male guardians that were married to each other. 

“Hey, what are you doing?” Ryan said, looking at Peter’s white face and the way he was standing quite lopsidedly. “You look weird”

Peter was suddenly on the floor. Ryan and his gang stood back in shock. They looked at each other, and it wasn’t until they fled and Peter opened his eyes to find himself alone that he realised it wasn’t their doing. He must have fainted. 

-

Tony rushed at Peter when he got home.

“Where have you been?! You’re more than half an hour late home! Are you ok?!” he grabbed the boy by the shoulders, looking him over. “You’re shaking!”

Peter nodded, breathing heavily. 

“You don’t look too well. Lets get you a snack, and then I think you should lie down for a bit”

Peter let Tony fuss over him, making him something to eat. Peter knew he should eat, but he didn’t really want to, and his hand was shaking too much to hold the spoon anyway.

“Oh sweetheart” Tony said sadly, noticing this. “I hope you’re not coming down with anything nasty- Hey Loki, where’s the thermometer?”

“Good evening to you too” Loki mumbled, putting his bag of shopping down on the table and hanging up his keys. “Why do you need the thermometer?”

“I don’t think Peter’s very well”

Loki looked at Peter. “He hasn’t eaten for three days. Get that bowl of whatever down him and he’ll be fine”

“He had breakfast this morning: I watched him eat it” Tony said. He bit his thumb, looking at Peter. “He’s shaking so much...”

Loki sighed, looking at him like he was hopeless. “Feed him, then. He’ll faint again if you don’t”

“Again?”

“What? Yes, again. When did you faint, Peter? Was it at school?”

“After school...”

“What?! Peter! Why didn’t you tell me?” 

Peter merely shrugged.

-

For the millionth time, Peter wondered if he could explain exactly what the body felt like when he cried, or immediately before and after doing so. That weird, full-but-hollow feeling, the same wobbly feeling in his legs, the tight feeling in his jaw, the way the feeling of tears filling his eyes seemed to start at his cheekbones. It was something so real, so intense, yet so hard to describe. 

Maybe that was why, even now, with his head in Tony’s lap and the mans hand tangled in his hair, that he didn’t bother trying to explain. Speaking was too hard. He supposed another option was to write it down, but words were difficult, and he wouldn’t know what to put. And he supposed, again, that he could just take off his shirt. He could always just show him - but just thinking it made him feel ill.

“I don’t feel so good”

“You’re very pale. You were all wobbly earlier too. Maybe you are getting ill...”

Loki glanced at them over the top of his newspaper. “He’s faking it”

Tony looked up. “What?”

“He’s just trying to pull a sickie so he doesn’t have to go to school tomorrow” Loki said, returning to his paper. 

Tony didn’t want to believe him, but it sounded plausible. He sighed. 

“You’ve still got to go to school, kiddo” 

-

Peter was furious with Loki. How dare he interfere? When Tony stepped out to take a call, Peter confronted him.

“What?” Loki said, lowering his newspaper. 

“Why can’t you just let me be happy?”

Loki blinked at him. “I have no idea what you’re talking about”

“Don’t play dumb!! So what if I miss one day of school? I missed half a day yesterday because of you”

“That’s different. Besides, you had a whole week off last week”

“That’s different!” Peter snapped indignantly. “Why do you have to interfere all the time?! This is nothing to do with you! It’s not like you’re my dad!!”

Loki laughed, going back to his paper. Peter felt like he was going to explode. He snatched the newspaper, throwing it aside. 

“Listen to me!”

Loki sighed, folding his arms over his chest. 

“I’m listening”

Peter swallowed hard. “You stay out of my business! I don’t want nothing to do with you!” he shook his head, correcting himself. “Anything! I don’t want anything to do with you! I hate you. I wish it was just me and Mr Stark. We’d be better off without you!”

He was shaking, trying to choke out another comment.

“Are you finished?” 

“No! No, I’m not finished!” 

“Well then, please continue” Loki said, amused by his outburst. 

Peter didn’t know what to say. He stared at Loki incredulously, not knowing why he wasn’t retaliating - and hating that he wasn’t. It made him feel so foolish, so irrational. He hated the complete calm the man was displaying. 

“W-wh-why are you just sitting there?! I’m talking to you! You’re not even listening to me-!”

He lashed out, going to punch him. Loki was much faster. He stood and grabbed Peter by the wrist, spinning him round and slamming him down on the coffee table, pining him there.

That wasn’t the reaction Peter had been expecting. He wasn’t quite so angry any more, but he was certainly scared, shaking all over. Loki’s face was mere inches from his own, so he had no choice but to look into his eyes. The rest of him still seemed horribly calm, but his eyes were flickering with anger.

“What was it you were saying, sweetie?”

Peter wasn’t sure if it was a trick question or not. He tried to struggle away, but Loki had him pinned so tightly he could barely move an inch, and he couldn’t pull his hand free from his grasp either.

“Nothing!” Peter gasped. “Nothing, I’m sorry, nothing!

Loki released him. He retrieved his newspaper, sat down on the sofa, and begun to read again, as though nothing had happened. 

Peter pushed himself up from the coffee table. He looked at Loki warily, unsure of what to do next. He didn’t want to stay in here, not with Loki. He needed to get away.

-

Peter collapsed against the side of a building, clutching the stitch in his side. He didn’t know how long he’d been running for. Not long enough. He looked up at the sky, thinking. He needed to go somewhere happy. Happiness sounded like such a foreign concept. Just as he thought it, he knew exactly where he could go. He knew exactly where he should go, somewhere that had kept a smile on his face for weeks, somewhere he loved, somewhere far away.

He felt in his pocket, checking he had his wallet, and hailed a cab. 

“Where to, kid?”

“The airport, please”

-

It was a relief to be able to sit down. He felt exhausted. He was on-edge, even though he imagined it would be hours until they noticed he’d gone. Initially, he’d just gone to his room and sat on the bed, crying. But then he’d been struck with an idea, and he’d climbed out of the window. Maybe they wouldn’t care when they found out. Loki didn’t seem to like him much any more, and Tony was struggling to adjust. Maybe he was doing them a favour.

-

Peter swallowed hard as he looked up at the enormous entrance, squeezing the strap of his backpack nervously. He knew you could buy flight tickets at the counter. He also knew it was more expensive than booking in advance, but he had a healthy enough bank account, thanks to the Starks. Besides, he’d only be getting a one-way ticket, so he was certain he’d be able to afford it. 

He took his bag off his back, opening it and checking through what he had in there, a wave of relief washing over him as he confirmed his passport was there. Some part of his subconscious must have known he’d be going away when he’d grabbed this bag. He zipped it up and put it back on his shoulder. He took a very deep breath and stepped inside.

-

It was bright inside, and relatively empty looking, with people coming and immediately disappearing through various doors. Everyone seemed to know exactly where they were going. Peter stood around looking lost for a while. He wandered about and found the departure board. He looked at it, reading every flight, every destination, every time. He couldn’t seem to see any going to Manchester, but there was one going to Heathrow. He knew trains were expensive, but he imagined he’d be able to get a ticket to Manchester after landing in London. Or maybe even straight to the Lake District. He wasn’t sure where their nearest train station was. He’d been in the car for that holiday, so he hadn’t really needed to know anything.

He sat down on a nearby bench and got out his phone. It took the better part of an hour to work it out properly. It looked like the best option would be getting a train from the airport to London Euston, and then get a ticket from there to Penrith, and then use the buses from there on out. A child single on the train was £53. He couldn’t find anything about bus prices, but he didn’t suppose it mattered: it couldn’t be too expensive.

-

Peter lingered for quite a while, trying to work out what to say. Would it be the same as getting the bus or train? ‘Hi, can I get a single to London?’. Or would that be too casual? He tried to think clearly. He needed to make it look like he knew exactly what he was doing. If someone asked him if he had anyone with him, he’d already decided he’d say he was meeting someone as soon as he got to London. 

‘Hello, I’m looking to get a one-way flight to London Heathrow’. 

That sounded about right. He cleared his throat and headed towards the right counter. The flight wouldn’t be boarding for a few hours yet. He had plenty of time. 

-

Peter squeaked when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He spun round, looking cautiously at the security guard.

“Come with us please” 

Peter took a step back. “Why? What have I done?”

“There’s someone here for you” the guard said, putting a hand back on his shoulder and walking him back towards the entrance.

“W-w-wait! Wait, you’ve got the wrong person, sir! There can’t be anyone here for me: I never called anyone!”

“Unless you’ve got an identical twin running around, I’m pretty certain it’s you they’re after”

Peter couldn’t speak. What was going on? Everyone was turning to stare at him as he was walked away. He looked behind him, seeing the counters disappear. Whatever this mistake was, he hoped it was sorted quickly: he had a flight to catch. 

-

Peter felt sick when he saw who was waiting for him.

“Peter!!”

Peter froze, and Tony gathered him up in his arms, squeezing him tight.

“What are you doing here?!” he held him at arms length. “You can’t just run off like that! What were you thinking?!” 

He didn’t sound angry, Peter noticed: he sounded scared. 

“Oh, but thank god you’re ok” he pulled him close again, holding him as though he’d vanish if he let go. 

Peter squirmed helplessly. He had a flight to catch. He didn’t want to be dragged back to the house. He caught sight of Loki over Tony’s shoulder. He didn’t look at all worried. He looked absolutely furious. 

“Let go! I’ve got somewhere to be! I need to get that flight!”

Tony held him at arms length again. “What are you talking about? Don’t be silly, Peter: you haven’t got anywhere to be that requires an aeroplane”

“But-”

Loki grabbed Peter’s arm. “No arguments, please” 

His voice may have sounded kind, but Peter didn’t believe his intentions were. He burst into tears, knowing there was no way he could get on that plane now. He hoped against all hope that they’d put it down as ‘kids stuff’ and just forget about it.

-

After Tony had profusely thanked the guard, Peter was taken to the car, with Loki’s hand still tight on his arm to stop him from running. 

Loki didn’t say anything, or even look at him on the journey. Tony said plenty, mainly about how scared he’d been and how silly Peter was and that he must Never Do Anything Like This Ever Again. He was concentrating on the road, holding the steering wheel so tight that his knuckles were white. Peter covered his face with his hands. He really felt like an idiot now.

-

Much to Peter’s surprise, Thor was in the kitchen waiting for them when they got back. Peter was too concerned with the unkind hand on his arm to be pleased to see him.

“You found him then” Thor looked at Peter. “Where did you get to?”

Peter didn’t reply. 

“I’ll tell you in a minute” Tony said, hugging Peter hard and kissing his cheek. He stepped back. “Loki, darling, take him to bed, would you?”

Peter let out a quiet gasp. “What?”

“It’s late, sweetheart. You need to go to bed or you’ll never get up for school”

Peter tried once again to pull free from Loki’s cruel grip. “I can go on my own”

“Let Loki take you. Please, Peter, just do as you’re asked”

“NO!” Peter pushed at Loki’s hand. “Get off me! Mr Stark, make him let go!”

Tony took Peter’s face in his hands, resting their foreheads together. Peter whimpered, still pushing at Loki’s hand weakly.

“You have no idea how scared I was when I realised you’d run away. Anything could have happened to you. Thank god you took your phone. I don’t know if I would have found you otherwise” he moved back, moving his hands down to the boys shoulders. “What were you thinking? Why the airport?”

“I just want to be happy again. Remember how much we enjoyed the Lakes? And seeing the seals and all that other stuff we did?” Peter snuffled. “I remember being so happy. So I thought, if I went back...”

Tony’s heart all but broke. “You thought if you went back to England, you’d be happy again”

Peter nodded, breathing a deep, shaking breath. Tony felt Loki’s reassuring hand on his shoulder. He looked at him, standing straight. Loki squeezed his shoulder and offered him a slight smile, an everything-is-going-to-be-ok type smile. Tony let go of Peter, instead giving Loki a quick hug and grateful kiss. He stepped back, touching Peter’s face gently.

“See you in the morning, kiddo” 

Loki took this as the cue to take Peter to his room. Tony turned his back, facing Thor. Their eyes met. Tony’s face crumpled, and he fell into Thor’s outstretched arms.

-

Peter rubbed his arm. Loki’s grip had been like a vice, and he had pins and needles now. 

“Right, let’s get this over with” Loki said, pushing the door closed. “Thank you for ruining my evening, again”

Peter ignored that comment. “Get what over with? I don’t need you to put me to bed: you can go now” 

“Come here”

Peter looked at him cautiously. Loki growled, grabbing the boy by the wrist.

“H-hey, what are you doing?!”

“What do you think I’m doing?”

Peter pulled free, worried now. “Fuck off!”

Loki slapped him hard round the face. “How dare you swear at me?”

He used Peter’s moment of surprise to grab hold of him again. Peter shrieked and struggled and squirmed, somehow managing to twist free - just for a moment. Loki caught him round the chest. Peter shrieked louder, kicking and hitting out as best he could. 

“Would you, please, just give it a rest!” Loki snapped, struggling with the wiggling creature. “You’re a nightmare, has anyone ever told you that? An absolute nightmare. I’m sick to death of you!” 

“Leave me alone then!” Peter cried.

“What, you think you can sneak out and run away like that, scare Tony in the process, and just get away with it? Not while I’ve got any say in it!” 

Peter let his legs give out, and fell to the floor, struggling to his feet and backing away from Loki, who grabbed him by the wrists, crushing his victory. Peter cried harder, trying as hard as he could to pull free. He was scared.

Loki seemed so calm on the outside, so in control. Peter tried not to look at his eyes. Loki wasn’t so composed as he was pretending to be: Peter noticed he was trembling. He wasn’t sure if it was out of anger or some other emotion. Peter hated this side of Loki. Whenever Loki got angry - properly angry, not just annoyed or stroppy - it always filled Peter with overwhelming terror. Even before the accident, looking Loki in the face when he was angry like this was enough to reduce him to tears. The fear now was incredible. It was like he turned into a completely different person. Peter looked at him, and he didn’t see his Loki, the man who soothed his nightmares and tended his wounds and took him to art galleries and created weird and wonderful mocktails for him: - he saw someone else entirely, someone he didn’t know. 

“No, no no, no, no, nonono-” Peter begged through his tears, grabbing the mans wrist and trying to push him off. 

Peter screamed and begged helplessly, and was suddenly grabbed by the collar, startling him into silence. His thoughts were instantly thrown to the incident on the stairs earlier that day (although it felt like weeks ago now). He was forced to look into those eyes.

“May would be ashamed of you”

The room turned cold. Peter stared at nothing, the words playing over in his mind. ‘May would be ashamed of you’. And he absolutely lost it. He lost all his fight, and Loki had no problem restraining him now. His subsequent assault on the back of the boys legs was nothing in comparison to the thought that what he had said could be true.

Peter howled. He didn’t want to believe it, but then, he’d been so bad recently... Would May really be ashamed? Ashamed of him? 

He choked on his sobs as a memory came flooding back.

-

May waved the report, as though fanning herself, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. 

“What?” Peter said, looking at her with bright, curious eyes as he set his schoolbag down on the table.

“Don’t joke with me: I know full well you read this before I did”

Peter shrugged slightly. “Maybe~”

He ambled over to her, and she put an arm round him, pulling him into a hug. She looked at the cover of the report fondly, and set it down on a nearby surface so she could hug Peter properly.

“You’ll go far, you know” she said. “Just keep working hard”

“I think it’s just luck” Peter said modestly.

“It’s all you” May smiled, giving him a squeeze. “I’m proud of you”

-

Loki stood up, leaving the hysterical child on the bed. 

“Please, Mr Loki!” Peter howled. “It can’t be true! Please say it isn’t true!”

Loki paused in the doorway. He looked back over his shoulder for a moment, and left without a word, turning the light off and closing the door behind him.

-

Loki sighed to himself as he entered the kitchen. It was refreshingly quiet in this part of the house. Tony and Thor were sat together at the breakfast bar, both holding mugs and looking troubled. 

“Hey” Loki said gently, standing beside Tony and rubbing his back. 

“Hey...” Tony took Loki’s free hand, holding it to his mouth. “How is he?”

Loki made a face. “He needs some alone time”

“How are you bearing up, brother?” Thor asked. “I know what today was. You must have been thinking about the accident all day”

Loki ignored him. “I need a drink”

While the kettle was boiling, Loki leant against the counter, looking at the calendar. Border Collie puppies this month. Peter had chose the puppy calendar, because Loki and Tony had driven him half-mad arguing over what calendar they wanted for the kitchen. They’d sat down together and filled out all the dates they already knew, updating as necessary. Loki looked at the Peter Rabbit stickers on every Wednesday and every other Saturday and Sunday. As far as their calendar was concerned, that little arrangement was still present fact, not past history. Loki looked at this week. There was a sticker on today’s date too, and, written in gold writing; ‘Loki + May La Boheme’. 

Loki read those four words a few times over. Tony had gifted the tickets to May for lending Peter to him, and May had insisted Loki go with her. (“You love a bit of drama”). Loki had agreed, and they’d sat at the flat researching the production, which was being screened in cinemas all over the globe. They’d quickly grown excited as they’d read into it, and they made plans: give Peter to Tony, find a nice restaurant for a fancy meal, see the opera, and then go for drinks afterwards. It was an Event, and they were both eager to go completely overboard on it. They were excited. May kept the tickets in the top drawer of her dresser, the drawer with the lock, so there was no risk of someone (probably herself) spilling coffee on them.

-

Loki had been skeptical about meeting May, even going so far as to suggest he went to the pub on the day Peter left them after that summer he’d stayed with them. Tony wouldn’t let him, and Peter hadn’t liked the idea either. He’d grown so fond of Loki himself, and was desperate for May to meet him.

“Sorry the kid fell in love with you” May had said as she shook hands with Loki, and Loki had laughed. 

May was kind, but firm, blunt, and she didn’t let anyone walk over her. Loki liked her straight away. She reminded him of Pepper at first, both of them being strong-headed and clever, but May quickly came into her own. Tony had told Loki, to calm his nerves about meeting her; “She’s hot, calm down”. When he first saw her, he wasn’t convinced. She had just seemed average to him. But, as they got to know each other, she started to become beautiful. 

Loki loved May. They became close in a relatively short space of time, and since Peter was with him and Tony a lot, they saw each other often. Tony and Peter were both relieved. Oftentimes, the Parker’s would come over to the house, and Tony and Peter would go down to the lab, and May and Loki would do whatever they wanted to do, and they’d join up again at the end of the night, perfectly content with each other’s company.

May became very special to Loki, in the same way that Pepper had. She was a good friend, a close friend, and she made him laugh. That was important. She was funny, and she could give as good as she got. She was a lot of fun. She liked Loki too, lots. She liked the way he was with Peter. She liked how down to Earth he was, considering he was A) a god, and B), in a relationship with a billionaire. And she thought him handsome, in an ethereal way, with his sharp cheekbones and the mysterious look in his eyes that only seemed to vanish when he was deep in conversation. 

For a while they’d been mesmerised by each other. Their worlds were so different, their lives near-opposites - and yet they understood each other so well. They found that, especially after a few drinks, they could talk about anything and everything with each other. They could do anything when they were drunk, looking at each other with slightly blurred edges to their vision. There was something safe about being alone together, both under the influence, both willing to listen, and to speak, non-judgemental, non-critical, wanting the best for each other. 

Loki noticed the kettle was nearly finished boiling, and took down his mug and tea from his cupboard. It felt like such effort, when he was thinking so deeply about other things.

May was safe. She never made him feel like he was dangerous, or that he didn’t belong. And maybe that’s why they’d ended up knowing what each other’s lips tasted like. 

-

Loki set the kettle back on its stand and got out the milk, staring down into his mug as it brewed. He felt weird, like there was somewhere he needed to be, like he should be somewhere else. And he should, truth be told - if the world were fair. Today had been on the books for so long that it felt like a national holiday. Tonight was supposed to be fancy-acting quality time with May, to begin being mistaken for a couple, and to end in a drunken heap on the chaise lounge at the back of his favourite cocktail joint. It was not supposed to start with an argument, continue into a trip to the airport to pick up a runaway, and end with said runaway screaming like a banshee. 

Thor rested a hand on his brothers back. The tears spilling from the smaller mans eyes hadn’t gone unnoticed. 

“Loki?”

Loki finished making his drink, and went to put the milk back. He took his mug to the back room, and Tony and Thor followed and sat on either side of him.

-

With his mug empty, Loki finally allowed himself a weakness, and leant against Thor, his head on his chest so he could hear his heartbeat. 

“You’re allowed to miss her”

And he did.

*