#“enough. i hate those jokes please take me seriously”

[midnight1nk]

So, this week's episode...

[spoilers below cut]

OH we technically guessed it right, we are getting an episode with 3 after all. Hell yeah! For that, friends, we each get an ice cream (gonna get myself some mint chocolate chip)

Now that we have our snack, let's enjoy the episode, shall we?

(the following is my live reaction:)

(god i love the intro so much, it makes my brain happy like :3 I'm telling you it's my Saturday morning cartoon)

YOOO are we getting more of 3 and Bob dynamic? oh HELL YEAH!

You gotta admit, we've been waiting for interesting character dynamics!! This was the ones I was on my list ever since the "No TV Make Mario No Okie Dokie" episode (but fr can they be money-loving besties? for me specifically?)

"sugar" right......

Well..... I mean, they are pretty valuable. Which ones were they? Someone pass me some thin mints

Bob: "And I took those cookies from you!" Why do I imagine 3 pulling the whole "taking candy from a baby" scenario and steal a wagon of those cookies from a Girl Scout? Either that or 3's scout leader for the SMG4 Kids, Girl Scout being gender neutral. Eh, probably the former, but could you imagine? *secretly writes this down*

Y'know it would be crazy if it was in the daycare and it was the kids

their lil brave march into the daycare, that really got a giggle out of me hehe

Bob: "These are dangerous guys." He's not wrong, they can be scary sometimes

the RETURN of Gooby4.... oh....

*WOTFI 2024 flashbacks* 😶 huh. (let's just move on, ok?)

(update: yeah don't think I didn't see 3 with the brainrot smh)

3: "I'M TOO YOUNG AND GORGEOUS TO DIE" PFFT HAHAHA that seriously got me, that's good ......wait. y'know how I said that 3 might be insecure about his self-image? huh. well, guess what's gonna be a new addition to the tier list :D

MEGGY?

ah, that makes sense 😊↕️ look at her, she looks so happy like :>

oh gurl, not that you would know but that's not what they meant /lh

YAY the M&M (sibling) duo is here! ofc he would be

"sugar rush" HAHAHA man they really do be saying some great lines this episode

oop that little bit of animation with 3, love that they sneak those lil bits in

welp, worst person you can have to teach about how "sharing is caring" haha (if anyone's going to bring up the endorsement usb, that didn't count, let's be clear on that)

wait, hang on, I got another bit of these:

writer Ink: "...And then the rat gang surround Bob and pull out their cheese swords." producer Ink: "Wow, I get it'll be tough for him to get out of that situation." writer Ink: "Actually, it's going to be easy, barely an inconvenience!" producer Ink: "Oh, really?" writer Ink: "Yeah, he's just going to show off how hot he is and then the rats would die from his attractiveness. Like they would say 'Oh no, he's hot!'" producer Ink: "Every one of them?" writer Ink: "Every one of them." producer Ink: "Wow, I'm glad he was able to defeat them with the power of gay awakenings... or something, I can't tell." writer Ink: "I mean, is anyone in the SMG4 universe really a 100% straight and/or cis?" producer Ink: "Fair enough! But what about Francis?" writer Ink: "Hey, shut up (he's dead)"

/silly

anyway, look how happy 3 is, enjoying that story :)

as someone who watched all of the final destination and saw movies, 3's not wrong

me likey :D

hold on, how come the kids get a free cappuccino? I want one! I wanna try 3's coffee >:( /silly

Bob: "Please go the fuck to sleep" OMG I haven't heard this audio for SO LONG, it was bc the I was rewatching a 64 Blooper "Shoot to the Observatory in the Sky". For what? uuuh it's confidential for the time being, folks. anyway this really hit me with nostalgia like you have no idea

PFFT HAHAHAHAHA I might pass out oh fuck

idc what anyone says, this is the joke of all time

oh i hate that png of Mario and his teeth /lh

NO MARIO THAT'S NOT IT

AY now Mario can match with Pirate 4 from the "Mario PC Virus" episode

btw he's so sweet with the kids like 4 does 😭 (just unfortunately putting them in dangerous situations unintentionally, whoops)

*head in hands* naurrrrr

*wheeze* the cutaway from that tho

yep, everything coming together, huh boys?

c'mon Bob, you got us in this mess, just give them the money!!

😦 and we're fuuuuuuuuuucked

OUGH I felt that to my core. stepping on legos are the worst smh

YES lesson here, folks: adapt on the battlefield

OUGH i felt that AGAIN

See? Bob was right, kids are dangerous (if you give them the right stuff) 😊↕️

goddammit we were so close

the boss? MARTY?! OH SHIT HE'S BACK, I TOLD YALL

ik 3, ik but that's GOOD, for me specifically

I gotta love this moment bc genuinely Marty is a menacing villain if you think about every crime he's ever done but because he's a cardboard cutout, most of us in the audience don't really take him seriously. For 3 and Mario tho, being in WOTFI 2023 and the poisonous pasta sauce fiasco, they know what he's capable of but they can always kick his ass again, just like last time

please puzzles, can you recruit marty? it would be cool i swear

oh, is Marty going to be mad about what 3 did?

*blink blink* wha?

Oh, I guess we're gonna have to go with that narrative. Like I said, we gotta adapt. it's time to improvise!!

Marty: "I'll let this sugar incident slide...this time." 👀 this time?

OOP and the cops got him. wait. WAITWAITWAIT HE'S GOING TO JAIL! maybe not in the same row but MAYBE he's with Puzzles rn in the same jail!!

sorry, this is just so adorable to see 💙

one day, we'll get "I need a hero" (shrek 2 cover) on an episode *cough cough* PV plus *cough*. Hey, if I was able to manifest the "Friends on the Other Side" into the show, we can do this

😨 OWWWW THIS IS WORSE THAN THE LEGO I FELT THAT SOMEHOW

sidenote: I do love 3's sunglasses here, slay honestly! It kinda reminds me a lot of Shadow's from the Sonic calendar art, strange for me to just say that but it's true (one day I'll have "Mario in Sonic 3". one day.......)

YUP this is a different jail from last time!! Not that this would stop him from escaping but wouldn't it be cool if we... gee idk... have him recruited for some revenge thing. perhaps 👀

(Team, if you pan to the right and we see puzzles, I would scream)

Oh, but trust. the cardboard kid is gonna come back somehow. Probably not alive bc the one who did it for Marty was Mario (y'know, aka the Avatar), but this cutout's going to be important somehow

Congrats to ElisCZ for your art being featured in the end credits! 🎉 And anniversary fanart for Puzzlevision no less, hell yea!!

(hey Team, why Puzzles? Not that I hate the choice but any particular reason why? hmmm *sits cutely* /silly)

.・-: ✧ :--: ✧ :-・.

Wow, this was such a silly and fun episode! Seriously Team, you've done a great job, yall got be CRACKLING throughout the whole thing which isn't an easy feat. AND a 3 + Bob dynamic? I LOVE IT!! This was so good and I really hope we get to have more episodes like this, either with team-up dynamics or character exploration (like 3 in particular).

Now, as for my tier list I mentioned earlier, here's the updated version from the first one:

yep, 3's self-image issues are definitely in the "it keeps me up at night" pile 😌↕️

Anyway MARTY IS BACK!! Oh man, I'm REALLY hoping Puzzles would also recruit him into the revenge plan. He would be, dare I say it, perfect for it. Ok ok, you guys gotta see my (creative) vision here:

we will need Marty to transfer to solitary confinement row with Puzzles, or just have them in the same building, either one works

Then, for the next arc around June, WPNZ breaks Puzzles out of jail (and Marty uses the opportunity to get out of there too with his "son"), and then our two antagonists get a chance to have a whole arc for themselves to bond. y'know the whole strangers to friends to breakup (read: divorce) to reconciling. Hell, the Crew doesn't even need to be part of it at all, and that way we raise the stakes higher for the future. Side note: they didn't know Marty was in jail.

WOTFI 2025 would have Marty as the main anatagonist but this time, the whole Crew (yes. even Karen) would be there and once he's defeated but not killed, Puzzles would come and recruit him. Idk, probably for Marty losing his son or something bc of them.

THEN we get Puzzlevision Plus/IGBP 2 (+ the ultimate test of 3's character development if he gets recruited right before it)

😎 eh eh? how's that? *crickets* .....yea, like that's ever gonna happen hehe. I'll just uh. leave this in my concept vault and hopefully I'll get the fic out before the next arc. I wouldn't even count that tho if I were you. I really don't have much to say for this review other than that this was such an enjoyable episode, so have these instead:

Look at the cuties ^^. That's all from me, folks! I'll see yall in the next one, and remember: numbers always go first!

[giddlygoat]

hate it when people’s idea of a harmless prank is genuinely trying everything in their power to make you believe something false just to make you feel gullible

hate it when i repeatedly tell somebody i’m not okay with a certain joke being made about me and they still do it often. even if they apologize immediately it still feels hollow and empty. respect my boundaries!

ok that is all have a nice day

[archiverstappen]

the cat sitter (part 15) ✧ max verstappen

max verstappen x fem! reader

previous part | masterlist

loosely inspired by the story on how max lost his cat

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[messages]

[twitter]

[max’s messages]

[messages]

[instagram]

maxverstappen1

liked by charles_leclerc and 2.827.515 others

maxverstappen1 🐈

view all 1.736 comments

landonorris Never beating the crazy cat lady allegations

danielricciardo 😍

yourusername i miss you ed, edd, and eddy. gone... but never forgotten 😿

↳ maxverstappen1 you named them?

↳ yourusername yes? 🤷‍♀️

username i dont care guys this is enough sign for me, it’s canon

username please tell me that she at least kept one of those cats

↳ yourusername maximus won’t let me keep them 💔

↳ maxverstappen1 Pretty sure that’s illegal 🤗

bffusername so is this the reason why you always take so long on your dates? because y/n can’t resist touching every single cat on the streets? [deleted]

bffusername cool pics! 😁👍

↳ yourusername ouH GIRL WHEN I CATCH YOU

↳ username PLEASE TELL ME THAT I WAS NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO SAW THE DELETED COMMENT 😭

username don’t know about you guys but the hand on her head awakened something feral in me

[twitter]

[interview]

[twitter]

[instagram]

yourusername

liked maxverstappen1 and 231 others

yourusername these are a few of my favorite things 🫧 🤍 🎶

view all 42 comments

landonorris He got game after all

↳ yourusername unlike you

↳ landonorris OUCH??

↳ maxverstappen1 😂

maxverstappen1 Lovely 🤍

bffusername this cake looks way better than maximus' birthday cake, progress!! 💪🏼

↳ yourusername 😎

bffusername now i'm curious, what did you say during mario kart? 🤔

↳ maxverstappen1 A lot of curse words

victoriaverstappen Enjoy your holiday guys, see you soon! 🧡

↳ yourusername MAX AND I WANT TO BABYSIT LUKA AND LIO AGAIN!!

↳ maxverstappen1 Y/N......

maxverstappen1

liked by yourusername and 2.103.273 others

maxverstappen1 More passion, more energy ❄️

view all 7.322 comments

yourusername i kinda hate you right now ngl

↳ maxverstappen1 She's so brave, she's well behaved, she's not afraid 💪🏼

↳ yourusername HUSH

yourusername delete??? or i'll post a video of you dancing to 'paint the town red'??

↳ maxverstappen1 YOU WOULDN'T DARE

↳ yourusername I SAID WHAT I SAID 👹

↳ username y/n i would give you my cat if i could see a video of max doing a tiktok trend 🧎‍♀️

↳ yourusername check your dm please xoxoxoxo

yourusername MORE FOOTWORK MORE FOOTWORK 🕺🏽

charles_leclerc 😂

alex_albon Fucking finally 😮‍💨

landonorris I called dibs on being captain of the ship

↳ bffusername hi there, sorry to bother you. y/n's bff here. that position is already taken 🙏

↳ username speak uP? danielricciardo

↳ danielricciardo I don't engage in useless banter, I already have the position of being the godfather of their future child 😁

↳ landonorris exPLAIN??? maxverstappen1 yourusername

username the fact that this post has better engagement than max's wdc post i-

username now we know how max knew all of the viral tiktok sounds 😭

↳ yourusername we're planning to make a tiktok couple account

↳ username ?!??!?!??!?!??! ARE YOU FOR REAL

↳ yourusername please don't take it seriously, I WAS JOKING 😁🙏

--

author's notes: eden the scammer is back after 2 months guys, so sorry for making you guys wait too long (and giving you guys false hope) 👹 really hope you guys liked this one hehe, i also take additional request for tcs!! (but as you probably know, it's gonna take me 8273 years to finally post it). there are some references from my lando series in this part, so if you're interested you can also check it out 😙 LOVE YOUUUWWW, now i will hibernate for another 5 months 🤸‍♀️

taglist: @flwr-stella @reidsworld @myloverjk-blog @debss-319 @hiraethrhapsody @electrobutterfly @love4lando @lunnnix @allenajade-ite @jjsprobablywrong @whoreks @soleilgrec @oscarwildingsworld @christianpulisic10 @thievin-stealing @glitterf1 @elliegrey2803 @trouble-sistar @escapism-writer @cornerofacry @hollie911 @weasleyswizarding-wheezes @ad-astra-again @canyon-lwt @thecubanator2 @lifesuckslife @leclercloml @sunny44 @nmw-am @sachaa-ff @multilovebot @glow-ish @moneygramhaas @whitefireproofs @icarus-nex @iloveyou3000morgan @ccallistata @copper-boom @fictionalcharacterslut @celesteblack08 @maxiel-jpg @slytherheign @lunyyx @series-books-food @coffeehurricanes @shrimpyshrimp @somanyfandomsbruh @justcallmeelli @laneyspaulding19 @ironmaiden1313

pictures (c) to pinterest

[heavywithourbabies]

First off, I'm a guy. So there's that.....

Ok, making one of those little intro pieces so you can get to know a little about me. This tumblr page is nothing more than the ravings of an obsessed lunatic hiding away from the world. My only real kinks are Breeding, Lactation, and the biggest pregnancy fetish you can imagine. (Please take note, I am not sexually into Birth. I am all for fucking so hard your water breaks, sucking on your nipples, rubbing the belly and giving gentle head during contractions, etc. As soon as the baby is in the birth canal, I'm going full on daddy mode. Horny time is over. Anyone else feel the same?)

I am a 40 year old man and I am very attracted to women. In particular, I am aroused by thick, extra curvy, big ass having women. I am feral for HEAVILY pregnant women. I have tons of reasons why but at it's core, I believe it is the ultimate form of femininity. There's nothing more womanly than having a gravid belly heavy with child. Even the phrase "heavy with child" weirdly turns me on.

I'm also very very much turned on by all the side effects of pregnancy including big dark engorged nipples, stretch marks everywhere, not just the belly, the little treasure trail some women get, the bigger hips, your face getting chubby, and a very swollen vagina. That all said, I'm not into Morning Sickness. wakka wakka.

I fully support the LGTBTQ community. I just can't keep track of all the new names and terms. I blame my shitty memoir on wasting my twenties drinking. But I totally support it. be who you want to be and love who you want to love. This life is rough enough without people being shitty to you for your basic human needs.

I am utter devotee to horror movies, and I live for the month of October. Halloween is the greatest day of the year. If you don't like Halloween...... honestly, who are you? Who the fuck hates Halloween? I love the art form of sequential art (comic books) and my favorite Character is Venom from Marvel Comics. I would literally kill to get a chance to write for Venom. Marvel will NOT return my phone calls.

I still write stuff (a lot of half started scripts and abandoned graphic novel ideas mostly) and I will and often shamelessly promote myself and the written erotic stuff I create on here. Enjoy my sexually frustrated ramblings and badly edited prose. Remember kids, it's free.

I am a lonely werewolf hopelessly howling at the moon.

I say love who you gotta love. Do what you need to do. Try to have fun and just don't hurt other people.

I was born in Canada and raised in the States. Toronto is the old country and Denver was home base. Currently in the windy city.

NO MINORS. Seriously, get the hell out of my joint! THIS BLOG IN NO WAY ENDORSES, PROMOTES, OR ENCOURAGES ANY HEINOUS USE OF MINORS. I honestly struggle talking to people under the age of twenty five. I hope I don't have to repeat any of that.

Any Trump supporters who follow my page, I would also ask you to leave. There's nothing here for you at this establishment.

Need to know anything else? Feel free to ask.

-The ghost host with the most, the ghoul that'll make your lady parts drool, and every other terrible joke I can think of.

[vandme12]

can you do a Ronin x reader where reader is doing Necrophilia with Ronin after he died? when the bad ending comes, bonus points if nsfw but your wish 🤞 🤞 🤞

For the past few days/weeks, I’ve been working off. I’m a minor, and I won’t write NSFW—no matter what others do—because it makes me uncomfortable. Despite this, I keep getting asks for it or complaints about unfinished requests. Newsflash: I have a life outside of this.

It’s frustrating to keep repeating myself, but let me make it clear—I’m a minor, and I won’t write NSFW. No exceptions. If you keep sending asks for it after I’ve already set that boundary, you’re crossing a line. It’s not funny, it’s not cute, and it’s not okay.

And while we’re at it—I’m not a machine. I’m one person with a life outside of writing. I’m not here to churn out content on demand, and I’m definitely not obligated to fulfill every single request the moment it’s sent. If you can’t be patient, that’s not my problem.

Hate comments because I’m not working fast enough? Seriously? If you’re so pressed about it, you can write it yourself. I create because I enjoy it, not because I owe anyone anything.

Respect my boundaries, respect my time, or don’t interact. Simple as that.

If you’re sending weird or inappropriate requests—stop. I’m not here to cater to anyone’s messed-up fantasies, and I’m definitely not tolerating that kind of behavior. If you think it’s okay to pressure someone—especially a minor—into writing things they’re uncomfortable with, you’re the problem.

And for those who make me feel insecure about my writing with rude comments—what’s your goal? If you don’t like what I create, don’t read it. It’s that simple. I’m here because I enjoy writing, and I’m proud of the work I put out. I’m constantly learning and improving, and no amount of negativity is going to take that from me.

If you can’t be kind, if you can’t respect my boundaries, leave. My space isn’t for you.

I'm closing asks after this, I'm tired of saying this thing again and again.

I’m closing asks because, honestly? I’m done. I’m tired of weird, gross requests like “Can Ronin corrupt the reader’s ass more?”—what the hell is wrong with you? Ronin isn’t some creepy joke character for your weird fantasies. He has depth, and I actually put effort into writing this complex, interesting character.

If you can’t send a normal coded request, don’t send one at all. I’m not here to write gross stuff

From now on, if you can’t respect my boundaries or my characters, don’t interact.

And while I’m at it—if you’re sending hate because I didn’t finish your request fast enough, get a grip. I’m doing this for free because I enjoy it, not because I owe anyone anything. Acting entitled won’t make me work faster—it’ll just make me ignore you.

Also, stop guilt-tripping me with stuff like “I guess my request wasn’t good enough” or “You forgot mine, I’ve been waiting forever.” I see the asks, and I’ll get to the ones I actually want to do when I’m ready. If I didn’t do yours? Either I missed it, or I didn’t vibe with it. Deal with it.

From now on, if your request is weird, uncomfortable, or straight-up rude, I’m deleting it without a second thought. If you can’t send something respectful, don’t send anything at all.

I’m writing because I want to, not because I’m your personal content factory. If you can’t respect that, you’re not welcome here.

Please understand my day was ruined with the ask. I feel so insecure.

[boosnotes]

Would you love me if I was a squid?

Shadow x reader

Genre: fluff/comfort Warnings: none A/n: doom morph shadow lives in my mind rent free, if the theory that the next arc of idw is about shadow and the black arm, I'm gonna shit myself so bad.

"would you love me if I was a squid?" Were the first words said after hours of silence, your eyes widened back open, the planned sleep long forgotten now that your mind was occupied processing that stupid question. You turned around to look at him, knowing there wouldn't be much of a difference; even so, the sincere look in his eyes made your bewilderment deeper; this was the last thing you thought coming out from his mouth, ever.

"Ummm... What?" You weren't able to soften up your answer;

it was too late to be in a socially acceptable mode, and the filter was not even in your head at the moment. It was strange of him to fuck up a saying or joke; he somehow always knew how it went when you messed one up, not wasting any time correcting you with a smirk. You felt his hands dig into your skin, quietly enough to not hurt, merely enough that make you notice his sharp claws on you; he told you silently he was nervous. Just as he was about to repeat the question, you interrupted him. "You do know that's not how it goes, right?"

Now he was the one confused, his eyebrows furrowed as he faintly spoke. "I don't know what you are talking about." You were waiting for the punchline, he was shit at making jokes, but despite that, you still loved him, a bit less, yet enough to be together. Hence, you stared at him blankly, nothing behind your eyes; you wanted to sleep, and you also felt bad for him; it was one of those times he didn't know how to express himself, probably.

Yet another silence sank, the relaxing mood was out of the window, replaced by the bamboozlement of you both. He let out an annoyed unsteady sigh, releasing some of the nerving feelings he had inside, not comfortable confronting you with something he hated the most about himself. He just whispered in an almost inaudible tone. "Just... Answer, please..."

"I would prefer it if you were an octopus." you wholeheartedly answered, squids kinds suck, though he'd find a way to make it cool. All this was out of the comfort zone of both of you, it made it all weird and uncomfortable; you didn't know what to make out of these questions that were so un-him; he, on the other hand, was still dealing with the recent acquirement of these new powers, the fact they depended on Black Doom scared him, especially for your well being, it meant that he was still inside of him and could come out and hurt you any moment.

"I'm being serious right now." he frowned, hurt from not being taken seriously; it took him a lot of time to open up, now are you going to let him down? After all this time? He was getting disappointed in you, he believed you'd flow with him as you always did, get him instantly. Was this the wrong time? They said at night is when people are most truthful from the tiredness.

"Are you..?" Your heart broke at his timid nod, his eyes softened as he look away; you had fucked up, you had to do better, you cannot be a bitch with him in this state. You gently placed your warm hand against his cold cheek and made him look back at you, your expression had completely changed towards a more affectionate one, encouraging him to talk more.

"What about a starfish?" He gingerly spoke, just like a turtle coming out of its shell after being scared into it. The questions were still in that weird line of thought, even though you didn't have the luxury to tease him anymore, you were too deep into his heart to punch it once more.

"Yeah, starfish are cooler... What's the point of this?" You were still confused by all this sea-life talk; you don't even think he's ever been to a beach, maybe you should take him one day. Your fingers formed circles against his cheek, making sure to go under the muzzle fur. The atmosphere changed from the uneasy one to a more caring one, still delicate despite the newfound openness from the two of you; it was tricky like walking on a glass floor, any wrong movement making it possible to break and fall into the void, but you choose to walk it nonetheless, with him.

"I recently learned that my... original form isn't this one..." he muttered, his body language telling you he was getting more relaxed, opening little by little like a flower blooming in spring. And so you took in every image he demonstrated, studying all his movements at the last moment for the most important test of your life.

"You choose to be a hedgehog?" Your curiosity had picked up with that comment; now everything was slowly connecting, and the pieces of the puzzle started to fall into the right places as important ones appeared. Shadow's demeanor had calmed down, seeing you weren't being judgemental yet, but there was always that possibility the more he told you. He tried to find the best words to not scare you away, settling with going little by little, and the things you didn't ask, were going to be for a future talk if there was one.

"Gerald chose for me." He never understood why a hedgehog, but compared to the prototype of a giant lizard, he was glad he could function independently. He knew that was an idea entirely from Gerald Robotnik, Black Doom never seemed to have connections with any hedgehog, or at least from what he knew. Some things were still out of his reach, another mission to get that information started bubbling in the back of his mind.

"What would you be if you could choose?" You wandered the conversation away a bit, leaving some space for mindless talking with an attempt of soothing, even if it's just for a little bit. He hummed in contemplation, never had he thought of being anything other than what had been chosen for him, his job was being the ultimate life form after all.

"A cat." He confessed shyly, it felt so foreign to think about what ifs, he was used to, but it didn't involve so meaningless. He had a strange fascination with them, and the ones he met brought him respect. He didn't interact with Blaze a lot, she was friends with Sonic and indulged him a little too often in his requests for his taste, despite fighting him in the past just like him; apart from that she was a respectable being; Big had this aura of tranquility around him, only caring about his closest friend, Froggy; he did everything to make him still be by his side and succeeded; Also, somehow he put one of his rare smiles on his face, something only you did.

"I'd adore you as a cat." You smile with warmth, finding the idea of Shadow as a cat adorable. You never thought about it, but he did act like one, hissing at everyone who tried getting near him without wanting to and never letting go of the ones he liked while also not showing them directly. "So... you are a fish?"

"Black Arms' original form is Starfish-like creatures, but my powers inherited from him gave me other options..." His tone was shameful, he talked about it like it wasn't part of him, as an objective fact of another race, yet the doubt that lingered at the end of every sentence betrayed that. It truly wasn't part of him; on his own, he didn't have the power to use those abilities, whereas the now confirmed fact that Black Doom still lingered somewhere deep hidden made it possible. He heard you hum, pondering while not really, not staring at anything in particular, just lost in thought while concentrating on stroking his cheek.

"Then... I'd still love you if you were a squid." Shadows' concerns eased, a big weight lifted from his shoulder, even if it wasn't completely true, he could hold onto this moment. His body slumped down, settling in your chest, simply wanting to feel your heartbeat and nothing else. He murmured a little "thank you" that you were barely able to hear; you patted his head with such compassion, shushing him softly a lovely lullaby to forget all his anxiety, helping him fall into the sweet nothingness of dreams. After some time, you felt him unconsciously making cushions against your chest; you let a soft smile as your eyes shined in admiration. You really loved him if he was a squid or a cat.

[kakarotcake]

Had a giant early morning realization on why I enjoy Gochi as much as I do. (I wrote a lot in this; there's a TLDR at the end but please read through my hopefully-coherent rambling to get full context.)

It's specifically because of how non-conventional they are. They didn't date / go through a courting phase before they got married. They barely knew each other at all in fact. Yet, Goku felt unbothered enough to honor a promise he made as a child, and agreed to go forward with the marriage anyway. Chi Chi stayed committed to Goku's promise, despite how she didn't know him, and literally got his consent as an adult first before they went on.

And they made it work.

I so wish we got to see the 5 years of Goku and Chi Chi living together + the early years of Gohan's youth, but specifically because I would like to see just how they each adapted to their new living situation. But regardless, the fact remains that they STAYED together. Chi Chi for sure would've left Goku if she was that unhappy with how Goku just isn't a conventional guy when it comes to relationships. Going home to her dad and resuming being Fire / Frypan Mountain's Princess was always right there as an option. Hell Chi Chi's been identified as an attractive lady in-universe, so she could probably meet someone new before long! But she didn't take it. IIRC, she never has.

I also feel like Goku would also get up and leave if he was unhappy. He's never had to force himself to sacrifice his own happiness for someone else as he lived on Paozu by himself for years, then spent the rest of his teenhood traveling around & training, so if presented with that kind of scenario he wouldn't think twice before being like "ok whatever, see ya" and just peacing out. He wouldn't see the point in staying, since why would he make himself stay somewhere he isn't welcomed or doesn't feel welcome? Grandpa Gohan's old home was always there for him.

My personal biggest gripes with their relationship have honestly never been because of how they had little chemistry before they got together. For me it's always been about how Chi Chi is just treated like a joke by the writer(s); she follows an angry housewife stereotype. Sure, it's supposed to be a joke and she's supposed to come off as comedic, but it only ends up doing damage because it encourages you as a viewer to not take Chi Chi or her relationship with Goku seriously. (I'm ignoring Goku here, but his writing in DBS *anime wise at least* is atrocious and further fed into this btw.)

Yet, from what I've seen over the years in the western fanbase, people's biggest issues with Gochi (aside from general Chi Chi hatred) is because it isn't a conventional relationship. It had hardly any chemistry going into it. I understand that logic, don't get me wrong, but I only understand it when I factor in society's amatonormative & allonormative lens. And I hate both of those things. Gochi not complying with them is what I find charming about the ship.

They didn't date or establish a super deep bond or whatever, yet they lived together in peace for 5 years. They continued to bounce off of one another throughout Z. Chi Chi NEVER remarried or even dated someone while Goku was dead for 7 years. She was crying happy tears when he finally returned at the end of the Buu saga. Goku was more than happy to go home with her and their kids (and tbh I'm 99.99% sure he wouldn't have minded if Chi Chi chose to get with someone else - he chose to stay dead after all). OBVIOUSLY they care for one another a lot, despite how they married each other as strangers. They themselves are narrative (if that's the right word) proof that conventional love & romance & whatever don't guarantee successful marriages. I adore that.

And it's funny because Vegebul is a pairing that also had little to no chemistry going into it, but unlike with Gochi, the no chemistry actually does hurt it for a couple of reasons (all of them revolving around how Vegeta was/is a terrible person) that I won't get into here because it'll derail this post and it's long enough already. I just wanted to point that out in text myself first, before other people came at me trying to argue it.

Anyway. TLDR Gochi as a ship defies amatonormative & allonormative concepts regarding intimate relationships. "You have to date / court someone first, fall in love with them, then marry them because marriage will make sense & be healthy then." They didn't do the first two parts, but after getting married, they're happy together. They spat in the face of societal norms & expectations.

[mintmint2]

Idk what to put here

Apologies in advance—I like vomiting out rants of every single thought I’ve ever had for the past 19 years so if you don’t wanna mentally narrate out this giant wall of text or if you’re just here for the small doodles of your characters, feel free to just skip down to the small tiny insignificant sketches I made! This is really just a giant newsletter of what I’ve been doing these past 3 months.

(Something I would like to add is pretty please don’t reblog this, I want this to be like only a small circle of people to see, if you have something to say you can leave a comment!!!)

((Edit: nvm yall it seems everybody reblogged it😭😭))

My project. I’ve been working on my project for 3 months. 400 hours.🙂

Okay, so, for these past 3 months I’ve been aggressively relearning how to animate using the most basic animation app to exist. And what I mean by “relearning”, I mean diving headfirst into the animation studio with little to no prior knowledge of animation other than animation memes and some.. other.. stuff. And with that limited information, I managed to crank out a low-quality, crappy, mediocre 10+ minute prologue that I hate and it sucks and I hate I ha. I honestly had no idea what I was doing—I walked into animating with a giant lollipop and a propeller hat, and I came out as a 40 year old man with depression, but now armed with stacks of newfound knowledge about animating, so it wasn’t for nothing!! Seriously, drawing every day for 5+ hours is no joke; I genuinely thought this project would take like 1.5 or 2 months max with how simple I made it… but turns out drawing thousands of rendered individual frames with a bunch of other tiny prickly problems tripping you over is actually pretty time consuming even if it sucks😔.

But at least now that I’ve experienced the gruelling process of animating a several minute video first-hand, I was able to figure out my strengths/weaknesses in art and how I could exploit them, things that take a long time, things to avoid, and things to look out for. Even though I think my added skills in this department can be helpful in the future, it’s still super time consuming, which I think kinda ties nicely in my more major topic!???

I’m doing a MEGA art style change, I’ve rubbernecked at a lot of olden cartoons and decided I wanted to shift towards those art styles with no rendering and the characters are like kinda chibi in a way—you know, that kind of style. But this isn’t just me wanting to copy my favourite cartoon shows though; I looked into the pros and cons of a simpler art style and the pros outweigh the cons by a landslide

I obviously am not a good artist and I’ve struggled with things like consistency, pacing and proportions, if I can just break down all my characters into shapes and add rules to how to draw them + stylized anatomy, I think It’ll help with making characters NOT look like a grown 40 year old women in one scene, a child in the other, and a teenage drunken boy in the next.

I literally can’t imagine drawing fight scenes either with full body anatomy that isn’t simple shapes, drawing a running cycle or a character doing parkour that lasts literally only 2 seconds is hard enough for my skill set. Don’t make me have to draw them engaging in a full-blown battle with each other, it’ll be even worse if the characters start shrinking every frame but I don’t notice till it’s too late.

Plus, I pretty much grew up with cartoons too, so I also just feel more connected and motivated when it comes to characters that look like Steven Universe or chibi-styled in general, it makes me wanna draw them more and reduces burnout a lot. (Seriously though, I hate shading SO MUCH. I wanna draw the next frame already stop making me go back and fix this pixel of value that wasn’t added and somehow you can still see it a mile away💔 and wouldn’t you know it I’ve lost my sanity and begun racing through / deleting scenes to make it go by faster, which ruins the pacing and everything alongside it)

Do you want some concepts? No clothing folds and allat. Sorry I was too exhausted to make full drawings… actually a lot of my actual sketches for these people are all in my sketchbook, got like 19 pages worth of all y’all’s oc’s but it’s too awkward positioning my camera to snap a pic of it

I’m learning how to do fast paced figure drawing. (Trying), and the crew isn’t here because everybody in that crew is getting a redesign and sans is having a identity crisis too

Another thing is; I’m going to be taking a break after this 400 hour grind session, no I’m not being lazy and I really DO wanna go back to dragging my finger across the screen till it bleeds (because it’s an unhealthy addiction at this point) but I NEED planning and practice.

A lot of stuff has changed since I’ve started—plot, character designs, story… I also finally started tackling architecture, designing rooms and the houses based on both the characters logic and practical functionality, cause making a background with just one giant blob of equal paint is a bit… boring. And I’m practicing art too, my art has changed quite a lot ever since I started paying less attention to small details and instead on form and movement within the lines.

I’ve got so many ideas swimming in my head I need to test out and more. I don’t have a teacher and I’m too lazy to find tutorials so I’m doing this the trial and error way. Test literally everything, cancel out the ineffective and keep the best. I need time to figure out stuff and I think it’s working because not only has my entire art kinda improved in a way, I have been able to get a truck ton of plot down and how I want everything to end and everything.

The last thing I wanna add because it’s a problem I also need to fix… holy guacamole, I NEED to improve on my story boarding and pacing—I kinda blame that on myself for cutting out/rushing scenes to get it done but goodness does the plot fly by. Like how the chocolate did the lab/true-lab scene and waterfall scene all fit in 2 minutes?? I chose the opportunity to animate less over the writing and characters itself, literally feel so ashamed after that💔 insanity and mind rot of drawing for hours really does catch up to you eventually though. The results were cringy anyways so

Yeah okay I have like a TON more of stuff to write down here as problems I need to fix, but I’ve been writing for too long and this post is getting stuffed with too much words it’s gonna overflow and shatter. Basically I’ve learned a lot of stuff from this, I’m aiming to improve in every category, even if I don’t, I gotta make some sort of progress.

So uh… that’s it, I guess? I’ll update every once in a while… nah, watch me vanish for another twenty years. That doesn’t mean I’m not still here though, I’m watching every post you guys are making and documenting every fact and detail about your characters. 👀

Sorry for the length and weirdness of this rant

I forgot to mention—I made my very own/first persona. I call them MintMail cause they’re a mailman…I don’t… really know what to do with them.. uh, I’ll probably feed them sometime tomorrow

Ohhhh boy, time to tag the people I sketched. (Guys I promise I’m not tagging you just so you can read this)

Trickster belongs to @yourloveaton !

Nems belongs to @bloobluee !

Virux belongs to @bunrux !

Sanu is mine.

Magi is also mine.

Trans belongs to @ken-tfc / @fivebecomesnone and @youregonnahavetime !

Dionysus belongs to @javaxzun !

[depressinglyhauwt]

trapped

i began to sob in my hands as the light plastic stick falls to the ground. my hands shake, my whole body does. how can this happen to me? actually, i know how. matter of fact, the how was standing right in front of me holding the test, with a gleeful beam on his face. i want to believe that this is just some sort of sick joke. that there's a couple of cheap cameras and some of his gang tucked away out of sight. no, this is all real. this is my life, my downfall.

my chest begins to burn and my head spins. all i hear is him, his voice. those god awful hyena-like chuckles. i lift my head up and he immediately catches my glare. he throws me the most worrisome and sincere face he can manage.

“baby,” he says, laced in poisonous honey, “baby what's wrong?”

i want to scream as he crouches down to me. as his big, warm embrace takes me and guides me to the very bed that i made the worst mistake of my life on. he knows what's wrong.

he pulls me into his arms, rests my head against his chest, and starts to attempt and lull me to peace. and, he succeeds. i didn't exactly find tranquility, but i cried until my eyes ran dry, body went numb, and mind went blank. what was i supposed to do? fight him? demand he fixes it? that won't do anything, so i bawled my heart out. for a long, long time. there would be pauses when i'd get bursts of anger and scream and cuss him out.

goddammit! or u fucking asshole!!

“i hate you!”, i shout, hitting him on the chest.

no matter how much i yelled or cussed at him, no matter how many times i beat on his chest or how many things i threw at him, he would always end up pulling me back into his gentle hold, kiss my head and all. i don't understand. i lean up from him a bit and stare him in his eyes. my gaze is no longer filled with animosity and rage but curiosity, and tad bit of agony. the tiny smirk and what appeared to be genuine care would have earned a spark, or maybe even a few tears, if i wasn’t so emotionally drained. i took a deep, trembling breath while i assay his face.

“why?”, i ask so lightly it almost sounded like a shudder.

his eyebrows furrow together. it's almost as if he's actually confused.

“baby, what do you mean ‘why’?” he chuckles softly, readjusting his arm around me.

i'd scoff if i could. he can't seriously be trying to bullshit with me, not right now.

“why me?” i lean into him a bit more.

he exhales quickly through his nose, almost as if he's trying to stifle a laugh.

“i love you so much,” he threw his head back, “and you don't even realize it.”

there it was.

enough to make me feel something again.

i scoff, “if you loved me, you wouldn't of done this to me.”

he raises his head as i scowl at him over my shoulder. he scoots back a bit, putting space in between us.

“done what?” he asks a pinch too playfully.

he's slowly losing his facade. soon enough he'll retreat back to his old controlling bastard self, and i'll actually have to argue. i’ll break, i always do with him. he likes it when i lose. it's his favorite game.

i shake my head, ”for fucks sake…”

he gently holds my jaw, ”darling, baby,” he pulls me closer to his face, “what did i do?”

i feel my stomach knot and throat clump from all the words i try to swallow. dear God, we haven't even started yelling at each other and i'm already breaking, no! i take a deep breath and close my eyes. in and out. i open my eyes to see his stupid, stupid, stupid face.

i open my mouth to speak but no sound follows. shit, shit, shit, shit. and then, he laughs. the fucker laughs like it's the funniest damn thing he's ever seen. something about this feels off, he wasn't this patient before. isn't he gonna snap and try and guilt trip me? what's going on?

i ponder for what feels like hours but it's only seconds until it finally hits me.

my lip quivers and tears begin to fall, “baby, please tell me this is a joke.” the distress from my eyes flows heavier as more and more panic sinks in. “y-you’re just kidding right?”

my breath hitches as he scoots back, closing in on me.

i laugh desperately in denial.

“haha, you got me. now where's the hidden camera??” i attempt to joke as my voice breaks and is ready to give out.

he dips his head at me a bit, looking at me as if i am the one doing something wrong. my mind races. what do i do? why now?

“baby,” he says sweetly caressing my right cheek, “breath”

my breaths were erratic and short, much like my thoughts. i want out. i want to leave. i want this to stop.

he pulls me closer and gives me a soft kiss on the forehead. a long kiss. long enough for me to start having another crying fit.

i wail and sniffle as he would hold me close, rocking me in his arms and listening. it got to the point that he just placed me in his lap and let me cry against his chest as he scrolled on his phone.

i lift my head from his chest and lay the side of my face against him. i cried all i could. eyes empty. the noise from his phone cut off as he turned it off and placed it to the side.

he sighs, “do you feel better?”

i don't want to answer that question. i don't want to speak, but i do.

“i-i can’t be a mother..”

[donetbhlmao]

okay potentially unpopular opinions on the most recent severance ep (seriously dont read if you dont want to engage with criticism of the show)

i'll be honest, the most recent episode was beautifully shot. but i think it was among the weakest of the series (TO ME!) because:

i genuinely dont feel like i learned more about gemma as a character. while dichen lachman had to carry this episode on her shoulders, i found her performance to be a little wooden? and that made it difficult for me to feel for/resonate with gemma because i just couldn't understand what she was about. does she have family? does she have friends? what life did she leave behind? was she funny (she makes like two half-jokes i guess)? witty? rebellious? who IS she outside of mark and her desire for a child? it's really been bugging me that i dont really understand what she was about, other than the fact that she and mark had a happy marriage (for the most part) and she wanted a kid. i now feel like innie mark in that i obviously want her to be relieved from all that suffering, but from a human level, not because this episode made me feel specifically affected by her character and story. if the show wanted me to care about gemma the person outside of mark-and-gemma the couple, then this was the opportunity to evoke those feelings, and i just think it fell flat.

i thought the severed rooms (allentown, tumwater, etc) were cartoonish and i didn't find what was happening behind those doors compelling. obviously the idea that you can sever someone multiple times so that you effectively never have to experience negative experiences horrific but i hated the dress-up and the sets they concocted for gemma's various innies to exist in. it actually took me out of it and (TO ME!!!) downplayed the horrors her innies are being subjected to.

the pain of dealing with fertility issues is real. it is SO real. and please do not take this as me denying the mental and physical toll it can take on people. but. a lot of the beats of how that story was told were cliche (gemma sitting in the shower fully clothed for one). in a show that routinely avoids cliches, i found this to really stand out in a bad way. i also think that, since it's since been implied that mark maybe didn't want a kid that badly, it should have been demonstrated more clearly, but i will concede that since he loved gemma so much he would have gone along with whatever she wanted.

the happy couple montage, while beautifully shot, just didn't work for me. i'll be the first to admit that im markhelly-pilled to the MAX, but this goes beyond that. but it just seemed like another cliche. beautiful people being in beautiful love in their beautiful house. it just didnt give me a REAL dynamic to sink my teeth into. what really draws mark and gemma together? one of the things i loved before this episode was that severance's allusions to gemma were always barely there, just enough to get the audience thirsty for more. well, with this episode, we were drinking out of the firehose and idk if i find it as charming as a lot of viewers did. maybe im just an asshole. the biggest thing i took away was that mark scout used to be a very different man, and with everything that's happened since then, that guy will never come back.

i miss helly dylan and burt. i literally need mdr back and the idea that i likely wont get them for at least one more episode pisses me off.

[justshepardthings]

eager to hear ur just rook thots, im considering a ME replay through just because i rediscovered u

I'm sorry to report that I did not have fun with Veilguard! I was holding off giving thoughts because I wanted people to have a chance to play the game and form their own opinions. I also knew the chuds would crawl out from their cockroach-infested nests to complain about WOKE and I didn't want to be lumped in with that. You hate the game because it's gay. I hate the game because it's not gay enough. We are not the same.

It's been out for a while now though so I will share.

Also regardless of how I felt about this game, the way EA and Bioware are treating their now-former employees is so shitty.

Alright enough disclaimers now I yap.

This game reminded me of Andromeda, but somehow worse. I could just end this here but I'll elaborate. I could group my main complaints into a list, which I will do so.

1. The tone

Yeah, I know. Everyone's complained about this. But so will I! Both the character dialogue and the overall story writing felt very unserious and lighthearted YA fantasy novel. Yes this is in contrast with the previous games which I bring up because while this game SHOULD stand on its own merits, it's also part of a franchise and with that players bring certain expectations. I think it's fair to go into Veilguard expecting it to at minimum take itself seriously if not fully be at the same level of dark as Origins got to. Veilguard is definitely not, and while I do enjoy more lighthearted games there's a time and place.

I'm also not going to harp on this too much but I would lump the constant need to sanitize DA's lore into this category as well. We know from previous games that this world isn't perfect, but there's definitely an effort in here to make Tevinter into just a backdrop and not, you know, a civilization built on slavery and oppression. And then the casual references in the game to like "oh yeah by the way, all of those places in the previous games have been desecrated and millions of lives lost" but with no emotional weight behind it.

I remember when Inquisition came out even though I enjoyed it a lot I thought Corypheous was an uninteresting villain. Now he feels so incredibly defined compared to the villains in this game. Corypheous had a very real threat behind him. The attack on Haven is just one quick example of how weighty he feels. It feels like there IS an actual threat in that game that you are fighting against. In this game despite the unprecedented destruction and death we never really SEE it firsthand, and the characters run around joking and laughing so much it feels even less real.

Also I will say it: I'm a pervert. I'm an adult. These games are for adults. Allegedly. Can I please get a romance scene that is not fade to black. I beg.

I can't touch on the Varrick plot twist. It actually makes me start snarling involuntarily. I can feel my face doing it right now.

2. The gameplay is fun but the world design is weird

I did enjoy the more fluid gameplay style and being able to flip around. However, it also took me out of the game constantly because the world design doesn't make sense in several places. I can tell they reused assets from the Jedi Survivor games and when you do that for a setting where it's basically just a wild forest or a big series of ruins - works great! When it's a city though, I start thinking about how annoying it would be to live here. I'm just trying to get to town to buy some eggs and I have to do parkour. This just goes back to the silly tone thing.

3. Idk if I'm supposed to treat this as a sequel or not

To be fair, I don't think the game knows either. Going into this game, I knew that Bioware had said they were giving everyone the same world state and that choices wouldn't really be carrying over. I won't say how I felt about that, but with that context I really did try and go into this game like I hadn't played the other games. But it's also undermined constantly (especially in the beginning, the inciting action of the game) because it's soooo tied into Solas and the Inquisitor. I have to imagine if you took Bioware at their word and jumped into this one without playing the other ones you would be so confused. And before someone comes at me that Inquisition and DA2 were like this as well - YES BUT. Both of those games did a better job IMO of getting players up to speed on the lore. I know a lot of people that started either with DA2 or Inquisition and then later played the earlier games. I'm really having a hard time imagining starting with Veilguard and not just being completely confused about wtf is happening.

4. It reminds me of other, better games

As I said, I tried to go into this pretending it was its own thing and not a sequel to previous games. Yet I kept constantly being reminded of other, better games while playing. I already mentioned the Jedi Survivor comparisons, but I also kept thinking about Inquisition (NOT in a lore sense, I'm not going back on what I said about pretending this was its own thing. I mean in a gameplay and character interaction sense). And yes, BG3. It probably doesn't help that right before playing Veilguard I had replayed BG3 and then replayed Inquisition. The true game there I may have played was myself. But doing those back to back and then going into Veilguard just highlighted how less interesting it was by comparison.

So those are my thots. I'm curious to hear what other people say. Pls be respectful.

[ponke]

Creeps guys if they were in highschool

Laughing Jack

It'd be a crime to describe LJ as anything other than the class clown

Always at the back of the class cracking jokes or making little paper airplanes

Bro is NOT taking school seriously

His grades? Who gives a shit, he's a clown, he knows he'll be alright without a job

Even though there's people who want him to sit with them at lunch, he always goes to Will's table.

Weirdo #1

When eating he WILL play with his food, no other way to eat it

0,1 GPA

"Ah, my adoring public!" Every time he goes to detention

Will Grossman

Very average guy with artistic ability

Sits at the front row as seen in the comic

He's the quiet kid in class, when he knows the answer he'll raise his hand and get it right, but that's as far as participation goes.

If participation is graded, he'll be fighting for his life

He's SCARED of group projects, especially if it's just pairs.

Pretty average grades, he's not a genius but unlike Jack he IS paying attention to class

Near perfect assistance.

At lunch he'll be sitting alone for most of the time, before Jack and Frankie join in.

3,5 GPA

"M-Mr. Flatwoods, can I just do the project alone? Please?"

Weirdo #2

Sleeps in class, sometimes, when it's boring enough

Frankie (The Undead)

He's also reserved but definitely not quiet

Do not try to joke with him or play a prank on him, that's how you end up with a black eye

Sits by the window at the middle row, he doesn't wanna be a bother and doesn't want people to bother him.

His grades are nothing to write home about, but he is described as smart and mature.

He HATES group projects or anything that has to do with teamwork, he'll be grumpy the entire time.

Weirdo #3

At lunch he's the first one to sit by Will, he's not a bully nor has the reputation of one but if someone comes to pick a fight with them, violence will always be an option to Frankie.

The teachers gave up on trying to make Frankie drop the curses, he'll graduate having a sailor mouth.

"Shut the **** up, PE is boring so don't try to make me team up with those ****heads!"

"Frankie, language"

"Suck my ****"

4,0 GPA

[yuhzz]

hey bestie~ - h.yj x fem!reader

summary: surely it's no longer considered a "bestie type of thing" if her face is near yours and you're inside her bedroom with the lights off, right?

warning: fluff. just pure fluff. (no angst this time promise) and swearing.

word count: 2.2k words

==============

yunjin sure is acting weird today. i mean- she usually is weird most of the time, most especially around you, but today she's too weird-er? is that even possible?

"yah! kim y/n! jebal! just help me!" yunjin clung to your arms.

"no! i already told you no, huh yunjin!" you exclaimed and removed her arms from yours. "come on! i need to pass grade 10! will you really let me fail?" she pouted.

"it's your research, yunjin-ah so it's your fault"

"seriously? you gotta help me on this one! you know i've been too busy this week that's why i wasn't able to do that goddamn research!" yunjin complained.

"again, ain't my problem" you shrugged.

she sighed. "you won't really help me?"

"nope"

she grumbled, her shoulders slouching when she realized that there was no other choice but to take out the big guns. "if you don't help me...i will tell auntie about you snatching away 10 dollars inside her wallet" what fell out of her mouth was enough to make you whip your head toward her.

she smirked.

"don't you dare," you warned.

"oh, i certainly would dare" she cackled. "i wonder what her reaction will be? hm, let's see. you can get grounded, no allowance for a month, and- oh no! you will have to say goodbye to your phone for how long?" she walked toward you with a mischievous glint in her eye.

you gritted your teeth and sighed.

"i hate you"

she cheered when you said those words.

looks like yunjin won once again against you.

"good thing you agreed 'cause i really planned on telling your mom about it"

"stop putting salt in wounds yunjin. let's just get your research over with" you shook your head.

"alrighty! let's meet later, after school. we'll finish it in my house" she beamed.

"gotcha" you nodded.

after that, you both attended your respectful classes.

==============

“y/n!” yunjin shouted from across the hallway when she saw you step out of your classroom.

hearing her voice, your head turned towards her direction - a subtle smile creeping up your face. she waved her hands at you. you waved back at her. 

seeing how she hopped to you, a mischievous plan crossed your head. you started walking away in haste.

“oh! yah! where are you going?!” she shouted, now running after you. you laughed when you noticed her desperation to catch you and ran faster.

“catch me first before I help you!” you giggled.

“just get your ass back here kim y/n!”

“no!”

eventually, both of you reached the school’s huge field - where you continued to run after each other.

“wait! i’m tired!” she exclaimed and fell on the grassy floor - her whole body aching in exhaustion.

“pfft. weak!” you laughed.

“oh, stop that! you know I ain't good with this shit” she sighed.

“I know, I know. I was just messing with ya” You sat down beside her. she smiled. yunjin sat up and leaned against you. “you’re lucky you’re my best friend and I like you”

you frowned.

and yunjin noticed.

“yuck, like someone else, please. you bring bad luck to me” you joked and looked away. she subtly smiled and looked the other way.

“let’s go?” she asked you. “sure” 

both of you stood up and before walking away to her house, she held your hands and put it inside her coat’s pocket. you raised your eyebrows and looked at her confused.

she noticed your eyes and looked at you. “i’m cold, okay?” she defended. you giggled. “then wear this” you offered her the pair of your winter glove.

“what? no, i’m good with just holding your hands” she refused. “just take it, will you?” but you still insisted. yunjin sighed and took it. “thanks” she murmured.

“good, now we’re both wearing a glove.” you shrugged and looked forward. a light tint of blush dyed yunjin’s face.

and she didn't know if it was because of the cold, or because of you.

just 2 minutes of walking later, you’ve finally arrived at her house. thankfully, her place was just nearby.

“nice to see you again, mrs. huh!” you greeted as soon as you saw her in the living room. “Oh! y/n! you’re back here!” she exclaimed and ran towards you. “were you cold? are you hungry? you must be. it’s too cold outside” she asked you, worried.

“no, she isn’t, eomma! besides she’s here to help me with a project so you can’t take her away until we’re done” 

mrs. huh sighed sadly. “alright then. looks like our knitting lessons will have to wait.”

i matched her mood and said, "see you later, mrs. huh".

yunjin took you upstairs to her room. "let's get started so that we can finish early and that i won't have to sleep next to you again" she said and gathered the things you needed for her research.

"ouch?" you mumbled.

you roamed the room first - letting yunjin finish what she was doing.

"by the way, yunjin, how many chapters have you finished with the research?" you asked her.

"why?"

"just to determine how much and how ragged our time will be while working on this. you know? for a heads up." you shrugged and looked at her before sitting down on her bed.

"oh. well, i've finished chap 1 and chap 2 and i'm clueless as to what i should do in chap 3" she sighed.

"welp, you're screwed"

"don't you think i know that already? that's the sole reason why i literally begged for your help"

you chuckled. "you should be thankful that i pity you"

she scoffed "excuse me?"

"i'm just kidding, sorry" you raised your hands. yunjin shook her head. "alright, i'm done. get your ass here right now 'cause i want to finish fast"

"aye aye captain" you joked and walked towards her. "sit down" she patted the empty space beside her. you sat down.

"let me check your first two chapters before we do anything else"

"what? why?" she furrowed her eyebrows. "i want to check just in case you did something incorrect" you mumbled.

"are you telling me i'm wrong???"

"far from that, huh yunjin"

"hell no. you don't get to tell me i'm wrong because i'm always right!"

"you were the one who said you needed my help! just show me those two chapters and I'll check them. if nothing's wrong, we'll move on to chap 3 immediately"

"tsk" she irked.

"yah, don't you 'tsk' me! i'm only doing my best to help you!"

"here" she grumbled and showed you the document where her chapter 1: introduction, and chapter 2: review of related literature, were located.

"okay, chap 1's good but we'll add more and revise it later if we finish early." you murmured while scrolling down the docs.

however, when you reached chap 2, you bursted laughing.

"pfft- this is your chapter 2???" you asked and held your stomach from laughing too hard. "eh? what's wrong with it?" she blinked.

you continued laughing "i- i- holy crap!". "oh, just get on with it bish!" she slapped your arms.

"okay! okay! look, what you did was wrong. the rrl's not supposed to be written this way. you're gonna have to remove this and make each paragraph longer, and then you need to insert the links in between but the font, and font size must be neutral-" realizing how there's so much that needed to be fixed and done, you've decided to just start over again.

"ok you know what? we're going to start over. we're going back to stage 1. back to 0" you sighed and removed all text in the docs except for the links.

"what? wh- why?! why~?!" she cried out.

"because everything you did was wrong"

"b-but i'm never wrong!"

"and yet you made a lot of mistakes with your paper."

"curse you, y/n"

"love you too now let's begin correcting your mistakes because i bet we're not going to sleep a wink tonight"

yunjin sighed. "fine"

==============

"damn. how are you finishing these chapters with so much ease?" yunjin asked you and placed her chin on her hands - observing you do your work.

"well, a ton of other students have already asked me for help with their research which certainly not makes you the first one." you shrugged. "so i know several ways to make my life easier when making these"

"wow...just...wow" she uttered.

you chuckled. "now, if will you, stop straying off topic and continue with what i assigned you to do"

"yes ma'am"

yunjin focused on her task again.

"can we take a short break though?" she looked back at you.

"no"

"noted" she frowned and looked down.

she was sapped, and you knew it - heck, you even feel the same. but knowing that you have to finish this tonight, since tomorrow's the deadline, both of you should refrain from taking breaks.

it was the only way to save yunjin from failing grade 10.

"gosh, my head won't cooperate with me right now" yunjin grumbled.

but seeing how your best friend's struggling right now - ok maybe a small break wouldn't hurt.

"let's rest for a bit," you said, closed the laptop, and patted her hands.

yunjin's eyes shone in excitement, "wah, really?". you nodded and stood up. "just 10 minutes," you said and lay on her bed.

you spread your arms out and sighed comfortably.

yunjin giggled at you. standing up, she made her way to you and lay down beside you.

she placed her head on top of your arms and hugged you tight. "y/n-ah" she started.

"hm?" you hummed with your eyes closed.

"thank you," she said. you smiled. "anything for you, yunjin-ah" you mumbled.

feeling how comfy you two are right now, laying down on her bed, made it hard to stand up again and continue her research 10 minutes later.

so yunjin took the liberty to get up and close the lights. she walked back to you and got a pillow and a blanket before laying down in your arms again.

you felt her hands go below your head and raise it and then slipped a pillow under. after letting go of your head, she made herself cozy in your arms and began hugging you again.

noticing that she didn't have a pillow for her, you asked "where's your pillow?"

"right beside me"

you chuckled and turned your body to her. you hugged her back.

"didn't know our friendship reached the point where cuddles don't seem so hard to do now" she mumbled.

you laughed melodiously. "didn't know you didn't stink up close".

"yah, why can't we just have a single normal conversation? every single time i throw in a compliment, you do the complete opposite" she complained.

"sometimes it's vice versa" you beckoned.

"see? you're doing it again"

"no, i am not"

"yes, you were"

"i don't want to argue so let's just say i did"

"good"

you shared a few minutes of silence. "shouldn't we continue your paper?" you asked.

"that can wait. i'm supposed to submit it online anyway and the deadline's 11:59 pm tomorrow so it can delay. i wanna sleep" yunjin groggily spoke.

"okay" you muttered.

yunjin started snuggling closer to you and burying her head deep in your neck.

your breath hitched.

"your body's too tense. soften up, i can't hug you properly" she whined.

you gulped and obliged.

"yunjin-ah" you trembled.

"what?"

"are we...are we really just friends?" you questioned and she remained silent for a little bit - probably thinking if your question was another joke of yours or not.

"what's with the sudden question?"

"oh, just answer it yunjin"

"well, we're not just friends, aren't we? we're best friends" so answering it safely would save her from assuming and having her heart broken.

you scoffed. "you know what i'm talking about, jin"

she frowned. "then i need you to look at me before answering your question" you did as you were told.

"now, look me in the eye and tell me honestly if you see me as more than just a best friend"

"but what if you are more than just a friend to me" you sat up, making her do so too.

"would you feel the same way i do?" you asked. "it's only a what-if question though" you added.

"would you like to find out my answer then?" she murmured in an alluring way - slowly leaning in, making your heart race at an uncontrollable pace.

you could feel her hot breath against your face, her body slowly leaning towards yours - the dark room surely is getting hotter.

or is it just you?

"y-yunjin" you stuttered.

"do you want to find out, y/n?" she asked you, her lips gently grazing against yours.

"i..." you gulped.

but of course, yunjin's mother had to interrupt.

"girls! dinner is ready!"

"looks like we're gonna have to continue this another time" yunjin joked and got off you.

dumbfounded, you stood up after her and followed her downstairs. at the end of the stairs, she held your hands and took you toward the kitchen.

she gave you one last cheeky smile before she started eating.

huh.

looks like you are going to continue this next time.

meaning by next time...maybe later?

for sure the research can wait.

yeah.

the research will definitely have to wait.

[meraki-yao]

I also have something to add to this anon's ask https://www.tumblr.com/meraki-yao/743384157947920384/i-want-to-hear-your-opinion-on-this-please-if?source=share (your answer is perfect as always, so if I overstep, I'm sorry if I'm not organising my thoughts clearly here)

While I'm not in the fandom, I'm still a fan, which means I follow some people to keep up, and I'm interested in what Nick and Taylor will do next.

The thing here is that there's a group within Twitter fandom that's demanding more from Nicholas. And while they're aware of his need to promote two more projects, him signing books in LA and Milan when possible, leaving Taylor on his TikTok following list*, it's not enough.

Personally, most of these stans are being dramatic because they're not getting more. So, instead of being rational, they start to “joke around” (I'll come back to this later)** by saying Nick doesn't care, he moved on, he doesn't want to be part of a sequel, Taylor and him are not friends, and they bring up his personal life and socmed activity.

A part of me wants to think these people are very young and incredibly online, so they base everything around it, ignoring real-life interactions during their outbursts. Another part of me thinks they're shippers, which eventually ends up being problematic because they see their interactions through that lens. If they don't interact, they hate each other, they are just co-workers, or something happened between them. If they interact, they're besties, they love each other, or they are something else. Like, on socmed, there's no winning for them. It's intense. You cannot see all of that, read some nasty comments, and then say, “I miss when Nick was more active here.” Like, it's obvious why he doesn't want to be active.

I sent you an ask weeks ago about parasocial relationships, and I think these things go along those lines: Most of these people think they know them, they understand their reasoning, and while we do have snippets of their personalities, we don't know them. We're not their friends, and we cannot justify bullying and nasty comments as “it's just a joke, people take things too seriously” because you think it's nice to destroy someone else's work just because you don't get your Instagram likes.

I even read “Nicholas owes us more pictures and content. It's the least he can do.” And he did, for a few days. But he's an actor — he'll have more gigs and eventually RWRB will be another project dear to him. And so for Taylor. And Taylor is signing all these books and going to these events because can go, and most importantly, it was his first leading role. He's extremely proud of the project and of him as an actor. And he'll also move on eventually.

What's more annoying is that we're all aware of a sequel project, and just because Nick is not talking about it any more, they go, “He won't do it because he hates it/now he's too big,” not noticing that they're also implying that Taylor is “less important,” which he isn't. Matthew already said that if Taylor and/or Nick aren't on board, there won't be a sequel, but hardcore fans decide to ignore that part. Nick has never been part of a project this big that actually can have a decent sequel, so there's a big chance of him being part of it. He does care.

I think some people are just very dramatic, and they're not responsible about what they write. So, based on that, it's best to curate your experience as much as possible and recognize problematic accounts/takes on people immediately. Otherwise, it won't be enjoyable.

*I think Nick has been doing some cleaning (I think it's common for him, said by people who have followed him for a while) and he's working on more projects with awarded actors. I think that Taylor has become a good friend of his within the industry, which is good. They've also said Nick's socmed activity is very random and to not be taken seriously because he does a lot of random stuff, but then again, people ignore that.

**Usually these replies come when people start to point out that their comments are wrong, cross boundaries, etc. It's like a way to deflect. But you can tell that it's not really a joke if it's repetitive, which is what's happening right now.

I truthfully don't have much to add. Your points are absolutely spot on, and you organized it very clearly. Thank you for this.

I think I'll just one thing, I was talking to @pippin-katz about this whole rivalry issue, and they said the problem is these people want certain things from the boys, and when they don't get it, they become these violent, malicious comments.

We as fans are not in a position to dictate how they should live their lives. Frankly we're not in any position to dictate people how to live their lives, no one but our own. People need to realize this.

Again, thank you so much for your addition.

[caelusproject]

"Talk to me" (Chapter 1?)

Pairing: Royalkay

Rating: SFW (minor sexual talk/thoughts, death and injury mentioned, cursing)

Wordcount: 6385

This is a fanfiction based on another fanfiction! This story takes place mostly during chapter 4 of the Jalim fanfiction "Say Nothing" by @katzenprinz and @thunderwhenhepurrs ! It's the same story but from a different point of view with a different relationship focus! Please read Gabe and Holden's Jalim fanfiction, it's seriously so good and still being written!! Go show them some love!!

(Sorry for any inconsistencies or errors I made, I tried my hardest to do my research but I'm an overworked human so mistakes are a given oof)

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

Nick patrolled through the camp, letting the slowly fading rays of sunlight elucidate his path across the sand in a deep orange. Although he kept his mind sharp enough to immediately recognize any strange sounds and movements, so much so that he pointed his gun at an innocent little shrew hiding in a bush earlier, ready to pull the trigger and feeling bad about it right away again, he noticed his mind running wild in his skull. He felt his jaw muscles tighten as he looked towards the earth underneath his boots. Those fucking monsters were probably waiting for them. Sure, this time they came in prepared and with a purpose, as much as said purpose made him want to scream into the sky in a blind rage until his vocal chords snapped. Of course they would send them back in. Of course these idiots would want to know more about these creatures out of greed and blind thirst for knowledge. Of course Eric would run his mouth during the interrogations and mention how intellectually advanced they were.

But no matter how much Nick wanted to find a scapegoat to unleash his frustration and anger upon, Eric wasn't the one. Even if he hadn't talked about the vampires the way he did, those hazmat-freaks would have still gotten curious about them. The colonel didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of Nicks rage. Or at least not to a certain degree, after all it was Caelus that led them all down there in the first place.

“Wasn't his intention, though,” Nick reminded himself quietly as he circled around the tend where the newbies bunked, checking for anything noticeably concerning but ultimately finding nothing unusual. So he decided to keep on walking around the campsite until his short lived patrol was over.

Nick had quite some time to reminiscent about his treatment of the colonel. Sure, he had plenty a reason to hate that mans guts. Eric led them into this wasteland. His program mistook an ancient underground temple for an enemy storage facility. Nick was dating Eric's wife.

And yet there was a spark of admiration for the colonel blooming inside Nicks chest. One he tried to ignore as best as he can. Eric had saved him multiple times down there, putting his own life at risk to protect Nick of all people, which took a lot of strength of character and courage to do. Of course Nick, who was aware of his own gentle and sensitive nature, would be unable to shrug those acts off like it was nothing. He was merely grateful, Nick reassured himself.

The marine kicked a pebble across the field and sighed. Just as he was about to turn on his heels, he had wandered a tiny bit too far from site and would most likely get an earful from either Jason or Eric for it later, he heard his name being called from somewhere behind him. Elliott was jogging up to him and waving.

“Sargent Kay, thank you for taking over my patrol for a minute. I'm back now so you can return to your tent.” the young man nodded at Nick with a friendly smile. Nick mirrored the gesture.

“Sure. I've got nothing to report, if you don't count the poor traumatized shrew I almost shot.”

Elliott pulled his brows together in a sympathetic way.

“Poor thing,” he commented and then joked, “I'll make sure to apologize to it on your behalf.”

Nick didn't bother holding back a chuckle, “I would be most grateful.”

On his was back into the middle of their campsite Nick followed the tracks that their truck had left in the sand earlier with his eyes. Jason had been sent off with a few of the new guys to fetch Zain and bring him here. A sigh escaped Nicks lips when he was walking past the tent where Jason, Salim and himself were supposed to be bunking. Salim had decided to retreat to their tent after Nick was asked to jump in for Elliott's patrol for a minute, files of the inventory in hand so he could read through them to get his mind off of things. Nick couldn't blame him. He had seen the face Salim made whenever he talked about his son down in the tunnels, their first encounter ended in a conversation about how Salim wasn't supposed to be on his mission to fight some marines and instead spend Zain's birthday in the comfort of their home. A strong feeling of empathy flooded through Nick and he found himself going back and forth on whether he should enter and at least ask Salim if he needed anything. Against his better judgment he turned away and decided that some quiet might help him a lot more.

“Sargent Kay!”

Rachel's voice pulled Nick out of his train of thought. He looked up to see the CIA agent wave at him from the colonels tend, motioning for him to come in. The corner of Nick's lips curled up slightly as he looked at the woman, pure affection racing through his veins at the sheer sight of her, and he jogged up to her, entering through the opening.

“How's he holding up?” Rachel asked as Nick walked past her. The marine shrug with his shoulders.

“Mmh, as well as one can expect from him.” Nick replied and took a look around the tent. Eric was sitting at the fold-up desk with his back turned to his wife and her lover, typing away at a laptop. A few feet next to the desk was a cot, certainly bigger than the ones in the marine's tents, even garnished with two pillows and a blanket. Quite the luxury in the field.

“I figured he would be nervous,” Rachel sighed and sat down on the cot, her gaze trailing off into the distance, “I hope Jason can get the boy here without trouble. If all goes to plan then they should arrive here soon.”

Eric nodded, but didn't verbally participate in the conversation, eyes still glued to the screen in front of him. Nick shifted his weight, unsure on what to do with his body.

“He'll manage. As much as he is a jarhead, Jason is also capable and understanding of Salim's situation. Although I wouldn't be surprised if he returned with a few bruises here and there.” he joked. To Nicks surprise it was Eric who huffed a laugh.

“I hope not. We need our Lieutenant in good condition,” the colonel shifted in his chair to look at Nick and nodded towards the cot, “you don't have to stand there all awkwardly. Sit down.”

Nicks eyebrows twitched upwards. It shouldn't feel so strange to him to be offered a seat on Rachel and Eric's bed, considering they spent a few days together stuck in a tiny room with Jason and Salim, sleeping on thin mattresses with barely any space between their bodies.

Still, having Eric of all people tell him to take a seat on their bed caused the spark inside Nicks chest to glimmer a little more. Nick glanced over at Rachel, who scooted over for him, and sat down. The blanket covering the cot was surprisingly comfortable considering the circumstances.

“It's gonna feel weird.”

Rachel and Eric both looked at Nick, eyebrows pulled together in confusion. The marine waved his hand towards the cot.

“Sleeping in a different tent, I mean. Guess the last few nights have left an impression on me. I'm already used to cuddling until I fall asleep.” he snickered and shrug his shoulders, a slight pain shooting through his upper body from where his wound on his shoulder was still in the process of healing. Neither of his superiors replied right away, instead Rachel tilted her head until it was leaning against Nicks arm. They spend a few heartbeats like this and Nick noticed Eric watching them with an unreadable, but not at all hostile, expression.

“I have to admit, it was nice sleeping between you two,” Rachel muttered, her lips a thin line, “it certainly helped keeping the nightmares at bay.”

Nick nodded in agreement with Rachel and breathed softly, grabbing Rachel's hand in a tight but loving grip and kissed the top of her head. Eric tilted his head like he always did when he was deep in thought about something, his gaze growing distant, and Nick found himself wondering what might possibly go through the colonels mind. A long moment of silence filled the tent, broken by the keys of the laptop ticking away again after Eric flinched slightly, something Nick would have easily overlooked had he not been staring at the man for a few heartbeats (something Nick tried not to think about too much). Although it wasn't just Nick who noticed.

“What's wrong?” Rachel asked Eric in a tone of voice Nick barely ever heard out of her mouth, a kind of concern that she always tries to control, but said control always broke when it came to Eric for reasons Nick could only imagine having to do with the bond of love they shared. Even though it was unlike Rachel to be so openly overprotective of someone. The colonel frowned in response.

“Don't worry. It's just,” he sighed, “the usual.”

“'The usual'?” Nick repeated, raising an eyebrow. Rachel closed her eyes as she exhaled loudly.

“Does it hurt?”

It felt like lightning struck Nick right then and there as realization hit him like a truck.

Eric's leg.

The colonel ran a hand through his blonde locks, a small sigh escaping his lips and he nodded slightly. Like she was waiting for this moment all this time, Rachel jumped up and approached Eric, reaching out with a hand to delicately caress his arm. Her brown eyes were filled with worry and a hint of guilt that left Eric clearly feeling uneasy.

“Maybe you need a break. Do you need to take it off?” she asked gently but Eric violently shook his head in response.

“I'm okay, really. I promise.” his voice was a lot harsher than he probably intended for it to sound. Rachel took a step back, her expression still full of worry and guilt and even Nick felt forced to sit up straight when he heard the colonel's tone of voice. Eric's pair of amber eyes wandered back and forth between Nick and Rachel and he blinked a few times, a hint of regret burrowed in them. He flinched again as he got up from his chair and took a few steps through the tent with no real destination.

“Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you.” Eric apologized and closed his eyes. He looked exhausted all of a sudden, tired of the pressure of the mission ahead and the posture he had to uphold in front of the higher ups. If Nick didn't know better, he'd say that Eric was tired of fighting. There was a painful tenseness in Eric's shoulders that filled Nick with the same, or at least similar concern as Rachel.

The marine chewed on the inside of his cheek for a second, unsure with himself about what he could do to lighten up the situation and make the colonel feel better. Then he got up and put a hand on Eric's shoulder, who immediately relaxed a little bit under the touch.

“Want me to take a look?” he asked quietly and tapped the shoulder straps of his backpack with a faint smile, remembering the role he had adopted despite his inexperience in the role of field medic. But if it meant helping out the people around him, then he would do his absolute best to make them feel better. Especially the ones he considered closest. “It's my duty as nurse Nick after all.”

Before Eric could react however they heard the engine of a truck getting closer. All three of them bolted towards the tent flap, looking out to see the dark campsite illuminated by the trucks headlights approaching quickly, zooming across the sand until it came to a screeching halt in the center of camp. Although it was quite dark, despite the few UV lamps they had set up as best as they could to keep potential stray vampires at bay, Nick could still make out Jason's face in the back of the truck, sitting next to a young man whose resemblance to Salim was undoubtedly. Zain looked terrified but also strangely curious. As soon as the truck came to a full halt, Mosson and Palmer jumped out and Nick fully expected them to guide Zain out of the truck or at least walk away for some rest after a successful mission. The fact that they immediately raised their guns and pointed them at the boy, causing Jason to react with his own gun pointed back at them, sent an ice cold shiver down Nicks spine.

“What the fuck-” Rachel exclaimed but Eric was quick to react. He went into a hasty jog, most likely held back from full-on sprinting by the phantom pain he tried (and mostly succeeded) to fight back, and shouted at the marines.

Luckily, his authority seemed to knock some sense into the newbies as they got a verbal beat down by both Jason and Eric before turning on their heels and retreating towards their tent. Nick and Rachel breathed a sigh of relief in unison and the marine thanked Eric in his mind for being so quick to react.

He watched Zain jump off the back of the truck and then he noticed the flap to one of the tents open. Salim stuck his head out and immediately froze in disbelief and amazement when his eyes fixated on his son. The heartfelt scene unfolding in front of everyone almost brought a tear to Nicks eye. The way Zain and Salim clung to each other. Now Nick definitely felt the connection between father and son and cursed under his breath when remembering what Salim had to go through to get to this point. It was unfair and cruel.

Rachel bumped her elbow against Nicks side, smiling up at him. Nick blinked the tear away and shrug his shoulders with a grin. Meanwhile, Salim pulled Zain into their tent, hopefully able to talk in private.

Then they noticed Jason and Eric talking while they unloaded the truck and as they both brought the bags towards the colonel's tent, Eric yelled an order through the dark of the campsite.

“Everyone off to your tents! Radios stay on in case of emergencies!”

The pair arrived at the tent and Jason dropped three heavy bags in one corner, nodding towards Rachel and Nick.

“Should've guessed.” he smirked as he locked eyes with Nick, who immediately noticed the new bruise blooming on Jason's face.

“Could say the same about you,” Nick joked, pointing at the damage, “too bad I didn't take a bet. I could've made bank.”

Jason play-kicked at Nick's foot but missed the other marine by an inch or so. Rachel and Eric looked at the bags, sharing a confused expression.

“Well, too bad we don't have any money, babe,” Rachel absentmindedly commentated on Nick's joke but then turned her attention towards Jason, face as serious as usual, “the contract said two bags total.”

“Don't worry about it. One's for Salim. But I got something else that the boy needs help with.” Jason approached Rachel, a tense expression adorning his facial features like something was truly at stake here. Rachel pulled her eyebrows together but showed willingness to listen. She nodded slightly and grabbed Jason's arm to lead him into a corner of the tent so they could talk quietly.

Nick and Eric watched them whisper for a few seconds until Eric shifted his weight and winced like he did before. He sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth and leaned against the desk to get the pressure off of his leg. In a panic, Nick reached out to catch Eric, afraid he might fall over, but he held back from touching him once Eric was securely leaned against the desk. Nicks instantaneous willingness to support him clearly took Eric by surprise.

“You don't look good, colonel,” Nick whispered with a warm but worried voice, “please, let me check you out.”

Eric started to shake his head and opened his mouth but Nick wouldn't let him protest this time.

“Eric. You're in pain. Rachel can see it, I can see it. Let us help you, please!”

There was that spark again. It glimmered like a warm fireplace in Nicks chest, it felt comforting and familiar, and it only increased in it's intensity when the blonde man locked eyes with Nick. There was a hint of admiration in Eric's amber eyes.

Thankfulness.

Tenderness.

Eric was a few inches taller than Nick, Nick's eyes were almost at the same level as Eric's nose and the marine blinked hard when he realized that his gaze wandered down towards Eric's lips for a fraction of a second. Luckily, the colonel didn't seem to notice.

Nick didn't want Eric to think that his intentions were not about medical care, but more about coming on to him. Even if the hint of a desire to run his fingers through Eric's soft hair popped up in his head for a split second.

“... alright.”

Nick immediately pushed his backpack off his shoulders but Eric held up a hand.

“Later,” Eric whispered, glancing over at Jason and Rachel who were clearly about to end their quiet discussion, “and take a look at her too, please. She wouldn't dare show it, but her arm worries me just as much.”

“Mh, will do.” Nick agreed. Rachel truly never showed any pain. She was stoic, strong. But Nick always thought it was a mask she put on to protect herself from others, but perhaps mostly from herself. He wondered if she built that hard shell around herself because of her and Eric's accident. No matter how much she tried not to show it, she still felt guilty and hurt and was trying everything she could to stay in control over her emotions. She was running away from something just like Nick was.

Nick felt the urge to hold Rachel close and not let go.

To protect her from any kind of cruelty the world might try and fling at her.

Kiss her until her soul was healed.

Let the world know what he felt for her.

Hold their hands through hell and back.

'Their hands' Nick repeated in his head, freezing up inside like he was a kid getting caught stealing cookies from the cookie jar. Instead of an annoyed parent, though, he was the one who caught himself.

“Earth to Nick,” Jason snapped his fingers in front of Nick's face, pulling him out of his train of thought. Nick blinked so his eyes could focus on the Lieutenant in front of him.

“Yeah?”

“Salim and Zain might take a while to catch up,” Jason said, “with our Colonel's permission I will do one last patrol through camp. Give 'em time to talk. Wanna come with?”

“Go ahead,” Eric answered Jason's indirect question, but gave him an apologetic smile, “but I need Sargent Kay here a little longer. Think you can handle this patrol by yourself?”

Jason chuckled as he turned on his heel to walk out the tent.

“Yessir!”

None of them said a word until Jason's footsteps were certainly out of earshot. It was Rachel who broke the silence first.

“Well. That's something.” she mumbled, her expression still as stern as when she was still talking to Jason. Eric leaned forward as much as his body would let him.

“He sounded serious. What is this 'special request' all about?”

“He didn't give me the details. Emphasized I need to make sure Zain will actually get through to London and that Zain was carrying something important.” she muttered and crossed her arms in front of her chest. Nick made a confused sound.

“The hell does that mean? Did Zain kill somebody or some shit?”

Rachel shrug her shoulders and then turned to her husband, a different kind of sternness in her eyes.

“No idea. Whatever, you are more important right now.”

Eric swallowed and raised his hands defensively.

“I know, Rach, I know. I promised Nick that he can take a look at it already. You can calm down now.” he explained frantically, to which his wife stuck out her jaw.

“You better.” she replied, grabbed Eric by the hand and pushed him onto the cot. Like making sure he wouldn't change his mind midway through, she sat down half beside him, half behind him and put her hands on both of his shoulders, squeezing lightly.

Eric sighed.

“Okay, okay. I promise, I'll stay right here.”

Nick didn't bother hiding the chuckle that escaped his throat. His Colonel looked like a boy being put into his place at the doctors office by his mother. Still grinning he opened his backpack, making sure whatever tools and medication he might need was close enough to grab.

“Permission to run my hand up your leg, Sir?”

Eric made an unimpressed face and gently kicked Nick in the shin, making Rachel snort.

“Just making sure.” Nick grinned back and pulled up the leg of Eric's pants until it was shoved up above the knee. The prosthesis had a few scratches here and there and was a bit dirty from their previous adventure with the vampires, but otherwise looked perfectly intact. The skin of Eric's knee however was already starting to turn red with irritation. Nick frowned at the sight.

“Shit looks painful.” he thought out loud.

“Shit feels painful.” Eric retorted and leaned forward to unclip the fake leg. Nick helped him pull it and the bit of fabric protecting his skin off so he could take a better look. Eric's right leg was cut off a few inches below the knee and his skin was red with irritation. A sigh of relief escaped Eric's lips as the pressure was finally released.

Nick noticed Rachel wince in the corner of his eye.

“Fuck, Eric. You should've said something.”

Eric didn't respond as he looked down sheepishly.

Nick tried to be as gentle as possible as he checked Eric's leg for injuries or chafing that broke the skin. Luckily it seemed that it was just the pressure that hurt the most.

“Well, good thing is you're not bleeding. All that chafing merely irritated the skin,” he explained, hand still resting on Eric's knee, “do you want some ice? Or painkillers?”

The Colonel bit his lower lip in thought.

“You got any ointment? It's a tad itchy.” he ultimately requested. Nick burrowed his hand in his backpack, fumbling around until he found a bottle of ointment. Without thinking he opened it and was already holding his other hand under it to catch the liquid when he stopped dead in his tracks. His mouth went dry at the thought of rubbing the ointment over Eric's leg, massaging it into his naked skin.

Even worse, what if Eric insisted on taking off his pants so that they wouldn't get drenched in ointment?

Feeling his brain short-circuiting for a second he awkwardly held out the opened bottle for Eric to grab, praying that the heat in his cheeks wasn't visible in the dim light.

“... thanks.” Eric mumbled and took the bottle with a raised eyebrow. Rachel mirrored her husbands confusion but said nothing. Nick swallowed, trying to moisturize his throat and then turned to his lover.

“Your arm. How's it holding up?” he asked gently. Despite what Nick had expected, Rachel didn't wave him off, instead she pulled her shirt up and above her head, even though Nick merely needed her to pull up a sleeve, revealing her upper body wrapped in only a bra with one upper arm bandaged.

And if his throat wasn't dry before it now turned into sandpaper.

There was no way Rachel didn't know what her half-naked body would do to the two men in the tent with her. She must have done it on purpose, Nick thought, there was no other way to explain this.

Rachel rolled her injured arm a little, testing out how far she can push her pain limits and then smiled at Nick.

“I can work with it. Probably just needs some cleaning.”

Nick nodded, trying not to stare at Rachel's skin, just like Eric desperately attempted to put his entire focus on massaging the ointment into his irritated skin. They both had mediocre success, casting Rachel a few shy glances here and there. The woman let Nick unwrap her upper arm, noticing (or anticipating) his shaking fingers. Nick cursed at himself in his mind. He must really be down bad if Rachel's not even naked upper body and Eric's exposed leg of all things made his skin tingle like he was a horny teenager.

The marine cleared his throat as he cleaned the wound, checking for any signs that it wasn't healing correctly. He was pleasantly surprised to see that it was doing well.

“Looks good,” he croaked, “should be gone in a few days.”

Rachel giggled at Nicks reaction, grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled him closer until their lips touched. Nicks heart did a flip in his chest and he leaned in to deepen the kiss as much as he could, careful not to touch Rachel's still exposed wound.

Rachel gently pushed him away again after a few heartbeats, breaking the kiss, making Nick's heart yearn for more. For a second Rachel stared at him, counting the freckles on Nick's cheeks.

Their eye contact broke when Eric leaned in from the side, one hand slowly brushing through Rachel's hair until he held the back of her head in his hand. Nick leaned back to give the married couple some space and something started to build up in his guts as he watched their eyes connect. Nick already had this feeling when they were down in the temple, a heat that made his skin prickle. Down there he called it jealousy. He called it frustration and anger.

And maybe it was jealousy.

But not the kind he initially thought it was.

His eyes were glued to them, he couldn't dare look away, and as soon as Eric's lips brushed Rachel's Nick felt a breath stuck in his throat.

And then the buzzing sound of a radio made all three of them jump. Nick, who was closest to their equipment, leaned over, fumbling with his hands as he tried to grab the radio when Salim's voice came through, speaking Arabic. Nick tilted his head when he heard his last name in between the foreign words but Rachel crawled off the cot and snatched the radio from his hands.

“That's for me.” she explained but before she could push the button to reply a different voice cut through.

“Keep that shit off the radio. You know English, speak it. Made us think there was an enemy nearby.”

“Sounds like Jones,” Nick grumbled and scrunched up his nose in anger, “fucking asshole.”

Another voice joined the conversation, if you could call it that, a groggy sounding Jason telling Salim to disregard what Jones hat barked at him and giving said marine a verbal beat-down to shut him up.

Eric raised his eyebrows in respect for his Lieutenant.

“Heard my name, though, and sure didn’t understand the message, so say again, Othman?” Jason asked through the radio and now Rachel decided would be a good time to step in.

“It was for me, Kolchek.” she explained, not trying to hide the smirk that shone through her words. She talked in Arabic without waiting for a reply, dropped the radio in Nick's hands and grabbed her shirt.

“Salim wants to talk to me. It shouldn't take long.”

“I haven't finished wrapping up your wound, though.” Nick complained but Rachel held up a hand to make him stop.

“We can do that afterwards. Like you said, it's looking good already. It can manage a few minutes of air.”

Flashing the two men a soft smile she disappeared into the dark of the night, leaving Eric and Nick alone in the tent. There was a hint of awkwardness in the air and neither of them spoke a word for what felt like ages. Nick's mind was starting to come up with all sorts of fantasies about what Eric could be thinking right now. Was he upset, sad, frustrated, jealous?

Nick didn't dare look at the Colonel, instead sucking on his teeth as nervousness filled his body. This was the first time Rachel had kissed both of them back to back while the other man watched. And without the threat of death looming over them.

“I, uh,” Eric finally spoke, clearing his throat, “... we good?”

Nick couldn't help but notice the irony in those words. He turned to Eric, who had a slight rosy tint in his cheeks, and allowed for his lips to curl upwards.

“Yeah, we good.”

Eric smiled back, seemingly relieved.

“Thank you, by the way. For your help.”

Nick accepted the bottle of ointment offered back to him and put it in his backpack.

“'s what I'm here for, Sir,” Nick saluted, but in a less formal way. Eric shook his head.

“Maybe, but still. Considering our backstory, I guess it would be understandable if you didn't feel like helping me out. Even though you are certainly a very loyal and dedicated soldier.”

Nick decided to take the compliment with grace. He walked over and dared to sit next to Eric on the cot, still ready to get up as soon as he notices any uncomfortableness in Eric's aura. Which he didn't.

“I suppose getting my ass saved more than once by you helped change my opinion,” he admitted shyly, “you're not as stuck-up as I thought you were.”

The corners of Eric's lips curled up, enjoying their conversation.

“You're welcome. I'm also very grateful that you didn't let me fall into those ditches. I definitely owe you, Nick.”

Once again, the spark in Nick's chest glimmered like embers. His fists tensed up on his lap, trying desperately to suppress this feeling. It's just gratefulness, he reminded himself, Nick was grateful and nothing else.

“You made up for it the moment you gave me your UV lamp when I went into the nest. Took me by surprise, though, but I'm thankful.”

“Speaking of which, I don't know if it was bravely stupid or stupidly brave of you to do that. I mean, it did an impressive amount of damage and you made it out fine, so I guess it was a success. But I wonder what went through your mind.”

Eric leaned slightly forward, trying to catch Nicks eyes. Nick knew the ball was in his court now and he had the choice to either play it cool or open up to Eric of all people and show his true colors.

The latter was probably the healthier option, he decided.

“I guess I wanted to protect. I was terrified the entire way down there, good thing you guys couldn't see the face I made when one of those things was looking for me. Thought I was having a heart attack,” he joked but Eric didn't laugh so Nick continued. “As soon as I placed the last round of explosives though, and saw those things around me, the fear was gone in an instant. Instead I was thinking of the people I hold dear. My family, my fellow marines, Jason, Rachel...”

Nick huffed a tiny laugh.

“Even Salim and you were on my mind. Dunno if it was some sort of twisted heroism complex, but as soon as I popped the flare I prayed that you guys would make it out alive.”

Nick paused and finally dared to properly look at Eric. The Colonel was sitting straight, taking in Nick's face like he desperately wanted to hear more. The spark turned into embers once again and Nick drowned in Eric's amber eyes for a second before continuing.

“I thought I was about to die for real. But you heard me. You guys came back for me.”

A sympathetic expression adorned Eric's face and he nodded ever so slightly.

“... I couldn't leave one of my best men behind.”

Nick heard what Eric said and it resulted in a war of conflicting emotions. On one hand he was happy to get yet another compliment, to proudly wear this verbal medal that Eric just awarded him with.

On the other hand he felt incredibly humbled. Was he truly just another soldier in Eric's eyes?

Both sides tucked at him, swaying him back and forth between pride and disappointment. He tried his hardest not to show his insecurity on the outside.

“Thank you,” he said instead, his voice a little sharper than before, “I appreciate that, Colonel.”

Maybe it was wishful thinking, but Nick could have sworn he saw a hint of regret in Eric's gaze, like he wanted to take back what he said or reword it so his feelings came across better. Nick ultimately wrote it off as nothing, so he dropped it, even if part of him wanted Eric to explain further.

“Ow, what the fuck Rach?!”

Jason's offended sounding voice echoed through to their tent and Nick and Eric immediately burst out laughing.

“Sounds like she's done talking.” Eric commented through his laugh. Nick nodded.

“No idea what he did, but Jason probably deserved it.”

The entrance of the tent was pushed open and Rachel stepped through, a hint of relief and pride on her face. She flopped down between Nick and Eric, grinning to herself.

“He's such an idiot.” she exclaimed, obviously talking about Jason and Nick couldn't agree more.

“Do we even dare to ask?” Eric smirked in Rachel's direction but his wife waved him off.

“He was just worried about nothing. Felt the urge to kick him in the shin for it, so I did.”

Nick expressed his admiration for his lover by whistling.

“Kicking a sleeping Kolchek, you're truly brave, Ma'am.”

“Speaking of sleeping,” Rachel turned her attention towards Nick, “where will you sleep? Zain will be with Salim until 0400 when I pick him up, so that's occupied until then.”

Nick pulled together his eyebrows as he thought through all the options he had. Maybe he could find a spare cot in the equipment tent, or curl up in the back of the truck. None of those options sounded appealing, though.

“Do you have a pillow?” he asked, ultimately settling on the back of the truck.

Eric nodded and turned towards a bag hidden under the cot, opening it and pulling out a pillow like the two already on the bed. Nick raised is arm to grab it but Eric threw it onto the cot instead like it was the most obvious thing in the world to do. He showed genuine confusion when Nick widened his eyes.

“Oh. I thought you-” Eric stuttered, “... I thought you meant that you want to sleep here with us. Was I wrong?”

His heart skipped a beat as Nick glanced back and forth between the pillow and Eric. Although this wasn't what he intended, he felt a kind of happiness rise up in his stomach.

“Uhm, I mean, I'd rather do that than what I had in mind.”

“What did you have in mind?” Rachel chimed in, squinting at her lover in suspicion. Nick raised his hands.

“I mean, the truck's pretty safe? I could've made that work.” he explained himself, faltering more and more with each word he spoke under Rachel's gaze. The woman shook her head.

“Nonsense. You're sleeping here with us. Colonel's orders.”

Eric looked shyly between the two people in front of him.

“I thought that was obvious.”

Nick couldn't help but smile softly. The fact that Rachel and Eric thought letting Nick sleep with them was self-evident made his appreciation for them increase tenfold. Well, he might have expected something like that from Rachel, but Eric?

All it did was set the spark in his chest aflame once more.

Rachel kicked off her boots and took a quick look at her watch.

“Still got a few hours until I have to pick up Zain. Enough time for a power nap.” she decided and turned to Nick. “Can you wrap me up so I can sleep a bit?”

Nick gratefully returned to his nurse duties, finished cleaning up Rachel's wound and put a fresh bandage around it. He then followed suit and unlaced his boots, put them neatly under the cot and crawled across the blanket until he was at the far side of the cot, next to the tent wall. It felt good, really good, to lay down next to Rachel again, like they did back at the base but this time without the constant gas masks watching their every move. On the other end of the cot Eric ran a hand through his hair, rubbed over his sore leg once or twice and then stretched out next to Rachel on the cot. They had to snuggle up a little, the cot was bigger than the standard sizes but still only supposed to support two people maximum. Nick didn't care. He enjoyed being able to wrap his arms around Rachel and pull her closer. Rachel cuddled up to both men, her forehead resting against Nicks chest and the back of her legs pressed against Eric's.

“I'll try not to wake you up.” she mumbled.

“The way you're clinging onto us might make that pretty hard.” Nick giggled, already feeling his limbs getting heavier. Eric chuckled behind Rachel.

“You can wake me up. For my goodbye kiss.”

“Stop acting like I won't return. You're so needy.” Rachel retorted harshly but the smile in her voice was too obvious not to notice.

“I want my goodbye kiss too.” Nick added, voice getting groggy.

“So needy.” Rachel repeated.

Nick managed to exhale a barely audible giggle.

And the last thing he remembered before drifting off to sleep were the rustling sound of fabric and the fingertips of a third hand resting on his waist.

[ceilingfan5]

15 "Denim jacket with bleach-painted bone motif" & 11 "If they don’t smile at me today I’m going to eat an entire drum set" and taakitz 👀

“If he doesn’t smile at me today, I’m going to eat an entire drum set,” Taako rants, throwing his apron on the counter. He didn’t intend to get on this topic, and now the words won’t stop coming out of his mouth like a busted gumball machine shooting gumballs and quarters all over the floor. Watch out for some Looney Toons ass shenanigans, word listeners, because here comes a mess. “Like what the fuck? He’s too pretty to be allowed to live. He makes me want to hop in a peanut grinder and become Taako butter and live a better life between two slices of discount sliced bread, you know?”

“With jelly, or like-?” Ren grins at him, wiping down the counters, far too thorough. Taako’s got places to be. 

“Obviously with jelly, Ren, what the fuck do you take me for?” Taako grumps.

“Could be honey,” she shrugs pointedly, still looking very pleased with herself. “Maybe you two can become a sandwich together and ride off into a toaster sunset. Maybe you just need to say, hey, honey-”

“And just declare my intentions so boldly?” Taako puts a dramatic hand to his chest, scandalized as loudly as possible. “You can’t do this to me in the workplace, I’m calling HR.”

“Noooo, not again!” she giggles. “Seriously, though, Taako. If he’s cool enough to play in your band, and wear that sick jacket-”

“It’s got bleach-painted bones,” Taako moans, sliding down the counter and onto the floor. She daintly steps over him, and he briefly considers tugging on her apron strings. “And he plays the drums. And the bass guitar. And I think the cello?” Taako mimes playing a flute. “You know the one.”

“Yup,” Ren says, looking down at him as seriously as she can manage. “That one.” 

“And the guys–I can’t tell them. I shouldn’t even be telling you. No offense. I’m mysterious and private and I’m, I’m going to die alone, and,” he tips his head back, misjudges the distance, and hits the cabinet doors with a too-solid thunk that makes him yearn for the good old days, before stupid fucking phylum Chordata got any wise bone ideas. 

Now, wise bone ideas, he possesses a few. He snickers at his own head joke, and Ren gives him a generous half-smile. He sighs. 

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” he slides further onto the floor. She keeps cleaning, bless her. “I worry I’m not- I mean, obviously I am cool enough, natch,”

“Natch,” she repeats, not looking at him. He wipes an imaginary tear from his cheek while she can’t see. He’s trained her so well. 

“But what if we’re different flavors of cool and he isn’t into Taako butter? What if he’s, I dunno, fuckin- sriracha, or, or, or,” Taako gestures emptily. “Cubed cheese you have to get at an art exhibition.”

“You’re as cool as cubed cheese, Taako.” Ren sighs, giving up and half-laying on the counter. 

“I know that,” Taako snaps, warmed in the soul or something stupid like that. 

“And he’s a nerd who plays in a band and wants you to like his sick jacket. Just go, hey, sick jacket, and he’ll be like oh my god thank you for noticing, everybody thought I was too cool to come say hey sick jacket and I’ve been vibrating myself to pieces wanting to tell everybody the fine details of the bleach painting process, did you know that human bones are whack-ass shapes? Ulnas don’t look right. Ever.”

“Yeah, what is up with those guys, anyway?” Taako has to rotate his arm this way and that a couple of times, chewing her advice in his head. “I’m gonna fuck my drummer,” he decides, in perhaps not the same breath but certainly a consecutive one.

“Good, I’m glad. Can we close already? I hate to tell you this, but I do have a life outside my hero worship of you. I’m like, my own whole interesting guy.” Ren smiles, straightens up, and offers him a hand. 

“That can’t be right,” Taako muses, and he lets her pull him up. “You don’t even have a last name.”

“Do you?” She cocks an eyebrow, trying not to laugh.

“That’s debatable,” Taako says airily, and blows her a kiss. “You’re driving dessert tomorrow, bring your A-game. Your A+ game! No, your- uh-”

“I’ll bring my super diamond special reserve game!” she shouts, bouncing excitedly. “Thanks Taako! I hope your drummer wants you!” And before he can even counter that one, she’s off to lock the doors and flip the sign.

Taako’s going home and changing before band practice. Yep.