#((I sorta got bored with it towards the end and didn't know what else to do))

[marswr1tes]

with love, y/n

requested? yes / no

request: n/a

pairing: poly!lercy(leo x percy) x reader

author's notes: poly!lercy lives in my head rent free, so i just had to write for them. i mention a gift box in this fic and this is sorta what i mean by that. also! for the art: i found it here and the original artist is here

warnings: mentions of gay showering

tags: @goldenhxzza

word count: 950

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an international quarantine had just been put in place, leaving you stuck in california and your boyfriends stuck in new york. not the ideal situation, but you were all safe and that’s what mattered. however, with you by yourself, there was nothing to do. and by nothing i mean you could either watch movies all day, scroll through social media, etc, but those things got boring really quickly. until one random tuesday, when you were scrolling on pinterest. there was a picture of a gift box made for someone’s s/o filling up your screen and suddenly there was nothing else on your mind. you just had to make one for your boys. so, you hopped up from your bed, found two random shoe boxes, and got to work. you started on leo’s first, adding a note, a hoodie of yours(oversized, of course), some candy you had, a container of your body wash(he was literally obsessed with the way you smelled and often stole yours when you were together, so why not give him some), and a bracelet. then you got to work on percy’s, throwing in another hoodie, some more candy, a note, a fake rose you had(he was a sucker for flowers, but you didn’t want to give him a dead one), and a small stuffed animal you had. you could’ve just put theirs together, because you knew they would just share everything, but the idea of two boxes was cuter, so you went with that.

as you were admiring your work, a couple polaroids of you caught your eye and you decided to put those in as well. when you finally finished, you sealed the gifts, wrote all yours and the boys information(and wrote their first initial on the box to avoid confusion) and the took them to the post office to be mailed.

about a week later, percy and leo were outside on a walk together, trying to prevent leo from setting the house on fire for the millionth time. they were almost home when they saw the mail truck drive towards their mailbox, set two packages down, and then drive away. usually they didn't get mail, so this was quite a (happy) surprise for the two. they took one look at each other and raced towards the mail box.

when they were back the house, percy raced towards the kitchen table, with leo following suit. reading the address, they quickly realized it was from you. and then taking a closer look, they realized they didn't have the correct one, so they switched, and then tore open the boxes. grins stayed plastered on their faces as they went through the items, sometimes geeking out on a specific item together.

"leo look! y/n gave me a rose!"

"dios mio, i am so in love with them."

"*screech* BABE LOOK!"

"*gasp*IS THAT THEIR BODY WASH??"

"YES"

*loud screams*

"SWEET MOTHER OF POSEIDON THEY GAVE US CANDY"

"aww percy, look how beautiful they look!"

then they got to the notes. leo tore his open and began reading aloud.

'dear leo,' leo looked up at percy and smiled before whispering excitedly"that's me!"

"read the note you idiot!"

"okay, okay!"

'first things first, please behave. and please, for the love of y/g/p do not set the house on fire. second, i miss you a lot. probably too much. but hey, you're a loveable person, you can't blame me.' they laughed at that.

'it's weird to not hug you or have you touching me at all throughout the day. it's significantly colder around here too. i've even had to break out the extra blankets. weird, i know. i miss my human furnace :(

“wow, we haven’t had to break out the extra blankets in a long time” percy gasped.

hey kept reading, and by the last few words, leo’s heart was fluttering, and both boys had fallen even more in love.

‘it's been really really hard to not wake up and see your pretty face. or just

see your pretty face at all, regardless if it’s when i wake up or not. seeing you through the screen is not good enough. i love you, leo. (have i told you i love you enough?) make sure you and percy are careful, okay? and have a good day, too. with love, y/n <3’

percy and leo sat there for a good 5 minutes, before percy scrambled to get his note and began reading his.

‘dear aquaman(i’m sorry, i couldn’t pass up the chance), i miss you and leo a lot. you mean so much to me, you have no idea. even if i don’t show it, i appreciate every single thing you do. even if it annoys me sometimes. also i really appreciate it when you save me from dying, so thank you so much for that.’

and as he got to the end, both boys were about to have an aneurysm.

‘please save me. i’m literally begging you. i miss you, i miss your cuddles, i miss your hugs, i miss your everything. i love you so much, bub. take care of yourself. (and leo, gods know he needs it) with love, y/n. p.s. i said this to leo too, but please behave. i’m literally begging you. okay, bye, love you x’

their grins stayed on, their hearts were screaming, and they could not believe they could call you their own. so they basked in your love for as long as they could manage.

and then y/n’s body wash came into percy’s view.

“wanna take a shower and use y/n’s body wash?”

“of course i do! vamonos, mi amor!”

[count-woe-laf]

You can’t spell stargaze without gays

I write? Since when? Yes I’m aware the title makes no sense, I’m uncreative. This was supposed to be a late birthday present for @me-a-mess-morelikelythanyouthink but it’s super late now, I still enjoyed writing it and planning it with her, I hope you’re having a great day, Silver. I’m sorry I got science facts wrong and I don’t know how to end things or how normal people talk

Logan and Virgil are hopeless pining gay idiots with horrible communication skills, but they’re working on it. (Romantic analogical, very background royality and platonic dukeceit.) 1850 words

"Bring me a diet coke!" Virgil called to Roman as he ran out of the truck, through the gravel parking lot, and towards the bright 7/11.

Logan let out a small laugh from next to him. "You know he's going to spend an hour flirting with the cashier and forget."

"Yeah I know, it's fine. Surprising that he's moved up from panicking around Patton to flirting with him, that's what I call character development."

"Character development that's gone on for ten too many seasons."

"True. But while he's in there I have more time to spend with you," Virgil replied with a smirk, Logan's cheeks reddening.

"You all are disgusting," called Remus from the backseat.

"I agree," Janus sighed. "Though I can do many things, understanding allos is not one of them."

"Then get out of my truck," Virgil jokingly glared into the rearview mirror.

"It's Roman's truck-" Logan started, Virgil shifted his glare towards him. "Ok yeah, get out."

"Think we can find bigfoot, Jan?"

"We're only half an hour away from the city, try again," but Janus let himself be dragged out into the nearby forest.

Logan and Virgil were left alone, thoughts of what had gone on the past week between them running through their heads. The hand brushes, the late night phone calls, the hoodies, the excessive amount of feelings that for once, neither of them minded. There was always more to say though.

"You can see lots of stars from out here," Virgil commented rather nervously. "You should come outside with me and look at them."

It was an offering just for Logan. He was the only one allowed to stargaze with Virgil while others were flirting in a 7/11 and being chaotic in a forest. Logan and Virgil in the bed of a truck staring at the night sky. ...Well, one of them was looking at the stars.

"You know to stargaze you actually have to look at them, right? You can just look at me, V."

"Who's saying you're not a star? 'Cause you definitely are, love."

"Love?" Logan tilted his head towards Virgil's red face.

"Uh-" Virgil looked away quickly. "What is that constellation? It looks like a spoon."

"Do you seriously not know? That's the big dipper, it's part of the constellation ursa major."

"You're the science-y one here, how would I know?" Logan just sighed. "You should keep talking though, I love your voice."

"Oh… Well that's the northern star…"

"Why is it called that?"

"Um, it's the most northern star, I believe astronomers base things off of it."

Virgil snoted, "wow. Star dudes sure are creative."

Logan looked over, an indescribable emotion on his face. "Pardon me, but did you just call astronomers, 'star dudes'?"

Virgil stared back, a teasing glint in his eyes. "Star. Dudes."

"...I will defenestrate you."

"Oh?"

"Do you even know what that means?"

"Yeah," Virgil said. "It means you pick me up and I get to simp over your muscles."

"It also means I throw you out of a window."

"I'll take what I can get." Logan let out a fond sigh. "Ok 'cause your constellations are boring and factual- don't worry I still love them- but I'm telling stories now."

"You're going to kill me."

"In your dreams, babe."

"What's that supposed to-"

"Over there is Elenor, it kinda looks like a bunny, I know. Their boyfriend is Jesse over there-"

"Virgil I swear, I'm leaving you in the forest." Logan's words gave a much different meaning when he was struggling to keep in his laugh.

Virgil chucked. "Oh Logan, so naive, there's so much more. Those three stars? Yeah they're Bo Peep's sheep."

Logan choked, the statement taking him by surprise. "Excuse me? You can't just…"

"Y'know, from Toy Story? Doesn't she have three sheep or something? I swear that was a plot point in one of the movies."

"The threat of being thrown out of a window still stands, Virge." 

"Good, now that star over there…"

"Her name is Jennifer, she got a constellation for making the best bean salad."

Virgil tried to hold in a laugh. "And what did you say that one was?"

Logan was so enamoured with Virgil's laugh that he almost didn't notice him intertwining their fingers. Almost. He still had to take a breath to regain his nearly non-existent composure. Although fifteen minutes couldn't have passed, Logan could tell that it was a good decision to accept Roman's offer for a fake road trip.

"That guy with the belt?" Logan continued. "He was the first person to invent clothes. Quite the fashion icon for his time."

"Oh yeah?" Virgil giggled and Logan's heart stuttered in his chest.

"Yeah, he was also the only straight man in his village. It was very controversial." Virgil hummed in response, trying to calm his laughter.

"We're pretty controversial."

"What do you mean by that?"

"We're lying in the bed of Roman's truck, well past midnight and the city limits, looking at stars. Janus and Remus are probably lost in the forest and Roman and Patton have probably gotten over their gay panic and are planning their wedding together."

"I'm not sure how that's controversial, but it is interesting that we've achieved nothing compared to them." Logan's eyes drifted back to the stars.

"I think not getting lost is a plus." He made a noise of agreement. "And uh… I know we're not as vocal about stuff like the others but… Dating you wouldn't be bad." It came out more like a question, causing Logan to look back at him.

"Fuck- I mean-" Virgil ran a hand down his face. "It would actually be really really nice if I could be your boyfriend because- ugh stop staring at me like that! It's just that you're really great and nice to be around and to talk to and I can't imagine you not being in my life. A-and I know we've been kinda sorta dating but you know how dumb we both are about romance and all that stuff- oh god this is romance, I can't believe that…

"I just really like you, Logan and I need to make sure you know that."

Virgil's words swirled into the air, into the sky, into that great expanse of stars and light.

They laid there and stared at the stars, thinking, considering, and a fair amount of staring on Logan's side.

He couldn't help it, really. He couldn't stop his eyes tracing the curve of his jaw, his bitten lips, the words that previously escaped them were still spinning through Logan's head. And Virgil's hair, his adorably messy hair that was usually hanging in front of his eyes, was pushed to the side, Logan could see a galaxy reflected in his beautiful eyes.

Virgil was his galaxy, his sun, his stars. He had kept him sane through years of school. He constantly went out of his way just to brighten Logan's day a little bit more, and brighten he did.

Virgil meant everything to him and he'd be damned if he went home tonight without showing him that.

"Didn't… Didn't you say you always wanted to go stargazing with your partner?"

"Uhh, yeah." Virgil replied hoarsely.

"I suppose you get to cross that off your list, then." Logan wondered how he suddenly had some semblance of smoothness to his words.

"Oh."

The stars seemed awfully bright that night, especially in the way they reflected off Virgil's freckles.

"Is… Is that a shooting star?" Virgil lifted his free hand, tracing the bright line across the map of stars.

"There's no such thing as shooting stars." Virgil rolled his eyes. "But, I… do believe that's a satellite."

"Then make a wish."

"That's stupid and makes no sense, wishing on a satellite has no affect on my life."

"Just do it, my northern star."

Logan's red face was a reflection off the far away street lights, nothing else. "Am I supposed to tell you what I wished for?"

"Not really, but you can. I'd love to know what goes on in that brilliant head of yours."

"My head is empty, unfortunately." Virgil laughed, he did that quite a bit around him. "I wished that we'd have a good relationship. Apologizes, is that weird, or too soon? I… just mean that we're both terrible at communicating, I hope that we can improve together as a couple."

“Oh."

Although Virgil may not have realized it, Logan noticed as he lightly brushed his thumb over his hand. It was stupidly endearing and soft, just as Virgil was.

"That's probably the cutest thing anyone's ever said that slightly regards me."

"Glad I can be of service, darling."

"So darling is what you go with?"

"Would you prefer something else?"

"...No. If I can call you my boyfriend you can call me whatever you want." Virgil smiled. "…You're my boyfriend. That's nice to say."

"It is. I wonder how I stumbled upon a boyfriend as good as you."

"You- you need to stop doing that," Virgil blushed.

"I'm not doing anything!" Logan shifted closer to him, for heating purposes of course, it was a little chilly. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know full well."

"Do I really, Virgil?"

"Shut up and look at the stars."

"Make me."

"Logan I swear-"

"Fine, fine, I will." Virgil mumbled thanks under his breath. "But they aren't as pretty as you."

Virgil let out a noise, a mix between a screech and a cough. There was no way he was showing Logan how fluttery his words made his heart feel. (Although he felt it was common knowledge among them.)

"There's around twenty minutes until the others get back, that's twenty minutes to mess with you."

"I'm already regretting this, Lo."

"As you should, my love."

Yes, their friends may have interrupted their stargazing a few minutes later. Yes, Roman may have forced Patton to leave his shift early resulting in one too little seats and an angry boss. Yes, they may have almost ran out of gas on the way home. Yes, they may have bought fries as Janus looked for a gas station. Yes, they may have fallen onto the floor seconds later. Yes, Remus may have jumped out of the car afterwards because he said it looked fun and almost sprained his ankle. And yes, Roman did have to explain the situation five times to his parents because they couldn't stop laughing about all the shenanigans they got into that night.

Still, Virgil's arm stayed around Logan's waist like it was the most casual thing in the world. Still, they shared a milkshake once everyone had given up on the fallen fries. Still, they were both filled with such a bright happiness that it was impossible to drag them down. And maybe they fell asleep on a video call that night. Or maybe Logan stayed over and they woke up with their limbs tangled in each other's, feeling content and appreciative of the other as they slowly woke up. Honestly, who's to say? It was just a good night.

[smilingperformer]

Discussing the good and bad of Pokémon Journeys: Part “Chloe”

Time to discuss about the character that is still keeping me on board with watching Pokémon (2019)/Journeys despite having, cough, some issues with it. Let's talk about Chloe, also known as Koharu.

TLDR; I like how Koharu is handled so far, even if I somewhat wish there was more of her, and I believe I know what the intention with her is, and that is to show that the journey to finding your dream goal can be an exciting one and with possible obstacles on the way towards it. More under the cut, Journeys abverted as JN.

So. Let's start with how I became to like her character the moment JN002 aired, but also how her debut in JN001 has become interesting part of how Koharu used to love Pokémon, but then grew out of it. Which to me, reminds of people who grew with playing Pokémon games, cards, etc, but then as they got older, they grew out of it.

Anyway, as we all probably remember, both Gou and Koharu attended the Okido Camp as kids, where BOTH of the eventually meet Mew. From the very beginning, we're let known that Koharu is a daughter of a promising Professor Sakuragi, who's acquainted with Okido.

And we're also let known that the two are friends from before the camp, and I assume their games at Sakuragi's Lab involved playing as Pokémon or other stuff. She most definitely loved Pokémon and her dad's work back then.

But then when we fastforward to the present day as Satoshi, Gou and Koharu are all 10 years old, we see that this attitude has changed in Koharu. She's no longer interested in Pokémon that much, and the only Pokémon she accepts near her is their family 'mon Wanpachi. For me, this was very interesting approach, even if the "not interested in Pokémon" was done before with May/Haruka back in Advanced Generation series.

Even with this interesting approach, she was a side/supporting cast instead of main cast, which honestly felt weird to me as she definitely had a story to tell. But as I've been watching other shows lately, I kinda came to realise her approach reminds me of mid-season additions to cast, even thou her appearances nowdays are just a BIT more frequent, when before her joining the Research Fellows, she appear very seldomly.

Anyway. In JN011 we finally learn that, she pretty much has issues with people's expectations and how everyone assumes her to be very much involved with Pokémon just because of her dad's work. Truly, this would end up affecting her affection towards Pokémon, thou it's possibly not the whole reason for losing interest. She even admits here she's not sure of what she truly wants to do yet.

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of goal finding journeys, as they are very relatable to me as someone who took 20+ years to find out what I truly want to do for living, so Koharu wanting to find something instead of other people deciding it for her is very good lesson.

So what exactly is the approach with Koharu from this ep forward? Showing her see Pokémon in different, totally new lights, figuratively speaking. She's shown to take care of a Pidove who broke its wing in a runaway flight, helped her lil brother Sota's friend, Nami, attend to a small children's Contest, and went to a Fossil Exhibition with Satoshi and Gou to learn about fossils. And I feel like that, this fossil exhibition event is what truly rekindled Koharu's interest in Pokémon again. As we all remember, she truly enjoyed that trip, and she, for the first time, got to see Gou bond with a Pokémon, that was rampaging just moments ago. And this episode, accompanied with JN050, are why I am currently thinking Koharu's end goal will end up being related to fossils. It certainy would be an interesting approach for a female cast character, and I wouldn't mind her having a chat with some other character who's also involved in researching fossils... (cough Gary/Shigeru cough)

Anyway. All of this seemingly lead up to Koharu finally meeting her very apparent soul mate: Eevee. I know, that most people were somewhat (or even totally) annoyed by the fact that yet another pokegirl receives Eevee as their Pokémon, and that this is just boring. While I understand the sentiment, considering Koharu's character: Eevee is the only Pokémon that actually fits her. Koharu is out there still figuring out what she wants to be. What she wants to do. And Eevee is the most relatable Pokémon for that kind of character: Eevee can become eight, and I repeat, eight, different evolutions. That's pretty much the same as having different paths to choose from when deciding your goal. And this specific Eevee has also not yet decided what it wants to do. It refuses to evolve. While in-game one could say this is because of the g-max factor, I highly believe this is purely done for the purpose of making Koharu and Eevee relate on a very, very personal level. So instead of Eevee having the g-max factor disabling the evolution (because let's face it, it's only done so people won't accidentally evolve their Gigantamax Eevee), Eevee is kind of, constantly pressing the B button to prevent it.

Now: what has Eevee exactly given to Koharu's character? A lot actually. When before Koharu would try to deny interest in something or try to say she has something else to do instead of a trip, Eevee is there to push her forward to try things out.

Like in JN050, Koharu is trying to priotize her School instead of a Fossil trip to Galar, but thanks to Eevee, who wants to go, Koharu gets the needed push to go and try out new stuff. I very much adored this scene in this episode, due to encouraging the "try out new things" approach in life. From this point forward, we then see Koharu join in on other trips like the Diglett Farm (where she definitely shined in team leading and got to experience the farming and team leader approach) and the Glimwood Tangle trip, that Koharu herself prompted to her dad and the boys, instead of being asked to join. Which reminds me of something else btw.

While Gou is shown to be very knowledged with Pokémon, Koharu is shown to know more about other fields like how plants grows, and what kind of soil is good. This is from either school lessons or from her experience with taking care of the school flowers. She could possibly be considered a good student, and btw, I very much like the approach of not making her a school dropout once she started joining in on research trips, and instead takes homework to accomodate the fact that she's missing out on lessons. This isn't unusual in real life, so I'm glad JN is actually showcasing this approach with both Koharu and Gou. Thou with Gou, he's pretty much always absent, haha.

Now, her latest episode with Kikuna was an interesting one. While Koharu's main point in the episode was kind of to be the angel of love for Kikuna (which failed horribly, love you Kikuna <333 ), I'd say there was another reason for her being in that episode with Kikuna: it was to let her learn of the possibility of meeting possible pitfalls in one's dream goals. That lesson was in Kikuna's story about how she almost gave up in becoming a researcher due to a mess up with an important presentation for a conference, but found the strenght to try again. It's part of reaching your dream goal a lot of the time. Even Koharu's mom, Yoshino/Talia, gave her the story of how she originally wanted to be a mangaka, but gave up on the dream and instead approached something similar. These are all very important life lessons in how working toward one's goal can either fail, or come accoss obstacles. It depends on the person whether they'll end up switching the goal to something else, or strive to go forward to get past the obstacle. As someone who had exactly Koharu's mom's experience longside having to take a long while to find one, I appreciate that Koharu's journey has been about learning the good and bad experiences of working towards a dream goal.

Now: has this storyline been executed well? Imo, it has, but it ain't perfect, as there are some parts where I'd like to see some improvement on.

One of them is with how it's sometimes unclear as what kind of character she is counted as. Is the a main character alongside Gou and Satoshi now? Is the still supporting cast? Is she a lower tier main character that won't appear every episode still? The latest option would appear to be the case, but it's not often that simple to see.

There's also the case of Wanpachi seeming like it was teased to be eventually becoming Koharu's first partner, but instead it ended up being Eevee. I think for most, before JN049 aired, people assumed Wanpachi didn't belong to anyone exactly and thus was free reign. But, as JN049 confirmed, Wanpachi belonged to Sakuragi himself. Which is sorta funny, as Wanpachi clearly loves him the least, haha. So, what exactly do they intend with Wanpachi? I think, that in time it'll eventually switch owners to Koharu, as it clearly loves her the most, but the journey there is still on-going.

Now, here's something interest to think about: I think Koharu not being in every episode has actually been benefitial for her, as she never gives me the feeling that she's taking anyone's time for herself, and her involvements in stories fit quite well. My current favourites for her are definitely her team leading in Diglett episode, which is JN052, and the Galarian Ponyta episode (JN055) where she clearly showcased that she's able to handle herself in sticky situations. Which is quite a beautiful detail, at least to me.

Now to quiiickly note her dynamics quickly, let's talk a bit about how she is a big sister. Like, for real. She's got a baby brother in Sota/Parker, and the two do seem to have good relationship going on. However, I really want to see more of this! There's way too little of it going on right now, and it's mostly been typical siblinghood. I'm so glad there's still full on family aspects in JN, which is what I loved in Sun & Moon so so so much, but I want to see more. MORE! MORE-

I already talked about how I enjoy her dynamics with Gou and how their childhood friendship is showcased so well, and yet I still grave to see more. The two know each other well, and Gou always, ALWAYS respects Koharu, while Koharu ain't afraid to tell what's on her mind to Gou. Thou, she also knows that Gou would judge her if she were to ask about Pokémon bonding tips. Dyamn.

Now: I want more of Koharu and Satoshi. The two def seemed to have a bit of a "uugh who are you don't talk to me" approach, but it naturally faded as they went on their first trip to Nibi City's Fossil Exhibition. And they've been in good relations since I'd say.

Also to quickly note, I love how Koharu has been mentioned in couple scenes as being the character who's taught them first-aid or told about jealousy and how one should take Pokémon's feeling into consideration (even if this latter one should be obvious to Satoshi but, I digress, Satoshi was way too focused on Riolu and just assumed Pikachu would be fine since they've been buds since forever).

There's also so much more I still want to learn about: how exactly did she meet Gou and why she decided to be friends with him, does she have other friends besides him (because I would assume so but she's never shown with anyone else), give us an episode that's focused on Koharu & Sota, let her see Satoshi battle as well (afaik, she has NOT), let her meet Alola Squad + other past companions, and oooh there's so much I want her to do and I see so, so much potential in her character and I really really REALLY hope the writers don't screw her up.

Now is that all I wanted to talk about regarding Koharu... I guess so. As you might have figured out by now: I almost have no issues with how Koharu is written. She's enjoyable to watch and, suprisingly, I find the pace of her story-telling pleasant and not too fast nor way too slow. Could it do well with a bit faster pace? Possibly, but due to me seeing her as sort of a mid-season addition akin to how Precure or Digimon do them, I'm fine with this approach. Considering the current pace, I think she'll end up finding what she wants to end up working towards to by the end of this year, or early next year. And, despite how many might fear, I highly doubt it will be Contests. As it's pretty clear JN isn't out there to promote mainline games feature-to-feature, but instead cherry picks stuff it wants to do. I'm still quite certain, that she'll end up becoming a professor of her own fields, possibly of fossils (which, considering DP's Underground feature, could fit very well in promoting this feature of the remakes). Maybe even become a team leader of a fossil researching team, as she definitely showcases the skills for it, for knowing soil, fossil digging and again, team leading. And I totally didn't figure this out while writing this post. :'D (I totally did.)

So. I believe I'll end this post here, as this is already quite long by now and, honestly, there's not much left to talk about. It really feels good for me to talk so positively about a character in JN, as it's no secret that I ain't the biggest fan of the show. However, Koharu's approach speaks to me personally, very well, and I so, so look forward to seeing how her journey ends up going, and where it will lead her.

So who's up next on the list of discussions? I think you guys can guess it.

And it's gonna be a doozy one. Oh man oh man.

Thank you so much for reading if you came this far, have a fantastic evening/morning/whatever, and take good care of yourselves!

This was Smiling Performer aka Aleira, signing out! PEACE!

[astranix]

ok so i sorta wrote it. sorta

regulus isn't swim team captain but he IS a really good swimmer and and and also there's jegulus:

"Ah, fuck it," Sirius Black says, effectively starting the countdown to the end of the short, and admittedly ridiculous life of one James Potter. Not that he knows it yet. He's an idiot, this foolish, naive James Potter, who doesn't know just what he's getting himself into. "I'll call my brother."

"Your...brother?" James Potter asks, slowly looking up from the clipboard in his hands. "You have a—huh?"

James has known Sirius half his life, distantly, if nothing else.

They go to different schools, but they'd met back when they were fifteen, at the same place, Hogwarts Swimming Academy—and after seven very narrow races, had conceded to becoming sort-of-friends.

They've come some way from then, two years and two trophies later, but Sirius has never even mentioned a brother.

Never, nope, nada.

James would have remembered that.

Sirius hums, suddenly very busy with his towel.

James waits.

"He just got back from France," Sirius says, with a sigh, and finally looks up at James. "Well. I say got back but it's really more like left for good."

James only vaguely knows about Sirius's strange situation, his fight with his parents, the reason he lives with his uncle in England.

"He's living with Alphard too, now," Sirius continues, "and it's um. Odd," he laughs, bleak and dry, "we're like strangers, hardly brothers. First time I'm meeting him in two years, let alone living together. He had a falling out with my—er. His parents. And...it apparently escalated, so now he's here."

"Right," James wants to play it off as cool, even though it's so not, but Sirius looks highly uncomfortable, "right. So, so—he could actually take Fenwick's spot? As in, erm. He swims well?"

Yeah, good going, Potter.

Sirius finally cracks a grin.

"Better than me," he says, which is incredibly doubtful.

Sirius is—well. He's Sirius Black.

"Anyway," he shrugs, "he can come by tomorrow. Just check him once, alright?"

It's when they're about to go back home that James realises he's never asked anything else about this supposed brother.

"Hey, Sirius!" James calls, and Sirius, swinging a leg up around his bike, looks up. "What's his name?"

"Oh, you won't need a name to recognize him," Sirius says, sounding amused, as he revvs up his bike, and rounds it out of the parking lot.

(-)

Sirius was right.

James doesn't need a name to recognise his brother.

He's late, and the team is already doing warm-ups when he comes. Barty is still struggling with his dive on one end, Caradoc and Rosier are in the centre lanes.

But, but.

There's someone here James hasn't ever seen before.

He cuts through the water faster than the swimmers in all the other lanes—is he even fucking breathing—and there is something so strange about how naturally he becomes one with the water, every arc of his arm perfect.

Oh, fuck.

The boy stops smooth at the opposite end, reaching an easy ten seconds before Rosier, and stands, sticking his elbows on the white-blue edge. He isn't wearing goggles, one bored eye on Barty, and oh, yes definitely, absolutely, this is Sirius's brother.

If James didn't know any better, he would say this was Sirius himself.

They're probably the same height, although he might be taller, and he is... pointy, in a way, thinner and bonier, cheekbones sharper, hair shorter.

He is some sort of wrung out, triangular version of Sirius.

James doesn't realise he's been staring, until the boy looks away from Barty, and meets James's gaze head-on.

James's throat is suddenly too dry, as he swallows, and half-raises an awkward hand in greeting.

The boy looks him up and down, slow and assessing—he's literally fifty feet away, why is James feeling so fucking freaked out—and finally, raises a mocking hand back, smirk pulling on his face.

He's fucking smirking.

Before James can react, say something, anything, he's swimming again, this time towards him, head disappearing under the water for so long that all he can do is marvel at this dude's lungs.

He reaches too quick—god, he is so good—and ducks his head up from the water, right at James's feet, who backs a step away.

"Impressed?" the boy asks, that infuriating smirk playing on his face again, not even slightly out of breath. His hair is wet, eyes tinged red. His voice is different from Sirius's, though, very different, his accent apparent in every syllable.

James ignores the question.

"You must Sirius's brother, then," he says. "I'm James."

"What gave it away?" he asks, dry, and sticks up a hand to shake, "I'm Regulus."

Reg-u-lus.

Another star, James thinks, taking the boy's offered hand without thought, and nods back with a polite smile.

Regulus's smirk comes back full force as he tightens his grip instead of letting it go, and James only has time to widen his eyes before the boy is pulling him in, with a surprising amount of strength.

James tries digging his heels in, but that only makes him slip faster, and he falls in with a resounding SPLASH!

Regulus Black's laughing when he comes up, gasping and bewildered—

"What the—absolute—fuck," James pants, "was that?!"

"Well," Regulus says, bobbing around in the water, and looking too pleased for his own good, "you didn't tell me whether you were impressed or not."

James wants to throw him and his stupid french accent out the fucking window right now.

"And this is supposed to impress me?" James asks, still shocked, as he shakes the water off his hair and starts climbing up the bars, a wary eye still on the other boy.

"Nah," Regulus says, "but you won't forget me now, will you. First impressions and all."

It's not a question, and before James can formulate some inadequate reply to that, he's gone again, kicking off from the wall and swimming, his backstroke as good as his freestyle.

James wouldn't have forgotten him anyway.

"Fuck," he mutters, when Regulus is gone, glancing down at his clothes, dripping water everywhere, "fucking hell."

"James!" the little piece of shit calls from the other end of the pool, "am I on your team yet?"

James shakes his head, disbelieving. This boy is fucking insane.

(-)

Right.

So, Regulus Black only hates James enough to get his one good pair of clothes wet (with chlorine swimming pool water, of course), but he apparently loves everyone else on the goddamn team.

And everyone loves him back.

Rosier, who'd taken a whole year to get used to James and Sirius's brand of humor, Barty, who still doesn't much talk to anyone—

They're all suddenly...talking together.

And laughing, joking around.

Chummy is the word James would use, which is just bizarre, especially since Barty Crouch has probably never made a single friend before—harsh, but true—and Rabastan Lestrange had unanimously been considered too intimidating to initiate a conversation with.

By the end of the two hour practice, Regulus has taught Barty how to dive perfectly well.

(James grits his teeth, and tells Regulus he's on the team. Barty cheers and claps Regulus on the back, which again: what the fuck.)

(-)

Rabastan seems to have adopted Regulus, really.

They're standing outside, James is waiting for his Mum, and Rabastan is carrying Regulus's fucking bag for him, as said boy talks on the phone.

"So?" Rabastan asks, when Regulus comes back, expression suddenly blank. It looks strange on him, his face as still and sharp as a marble statue, eyes still red. "Do you need a lift?"

"Er, no," Regulus mumbles, mumbles, like quietly, "Sirius said he's, um. Talked to Mrs. Potter?" he turns to James, who blinks.

"He can't come pick me up," Regulus explains, looking away, like he's embarrassed. For what though, James can't explain. "Said that Mrs. Potter would drop me back at Alphard's when she comes to pick er—you up."

"Alright," James says, slowly, because there really isn't anything else to say.

There's an awkward sort of pause, broken only by the honking of a car that reaches the gate, speeding so fucking much that James is sure it'll crash.

It stops an inch away from the metal bars.

Rabastan winces, as the driver honks again, loud and impatient.

"And that'll be Rod," he mutters, before nodding a goodbye to them, and rushing away.

Then it's just the two of them standing alone.

Regulus doesn't speak, or even look at him.

(-)

"Thank you," Regulus says, to his Mum, when they reach Alphard's place. James has been here a couple of times, mostly after swim meets. It's huge, all white brick and green lawns. "Thanks a lot."

"It's no problem, honey," Euphemia replies, smiling at him, eyes still worried.

"Oh," Regulus nods, looking surprised, "right, right. I'll—I'll just go. Goodnight."

And he fumbles with the car door, before rushing out.

"Good," James says, belatedly, "...night."

He's gone already.

"The poor boy," his mum says, quietly, shaking her head as she takes a turn, "awfully jumpy, he looked."

"He wasn't like that earlier," James huffs. "Pulled me into the pool with full clothes on."

His mum—being the traitor that she is—laughs.

"I suppose you need that every now and then," she adds, smiling at him through the rear view mirror.

"I was caught unaware!" James insists, "I could have drowned."

"Well, that would have been just terribly embarrassing for me," Mum laughs, "having a son who's been on the swimming team since ten years now, drown in the pool with twenty swimmers milling around him."

"Mum."

(-)

Sirius is tired when he reaches back. He rides his motorcycle in, whistling absent-mindedly, and removing his jacket, drops the keys on the table.

Regulus is sitting there and eating, jaw tight.

"What the fuck was that, Sirius," he asks, and Sirius blinks at him, confused. "You said you'd come pick me up!"

"Yeah, but," Sirius sighs, "I got late, alright. We've got to submit this shit for chemistry tomorrow and Marlene hasn't even started, plus— "

"But you said," Regulus stresses, hand clenched around the fork in his hand.

"And then I changed my mind!" Sirius says back, in the same tone, annoyed. "Anyway, it's not like I left you waiting. I called Effie. She's very reliable. And she's driven me millions of times, so I don't see what's the problem. James is— "

"James," Regulus cuts in, sneering, and shit, he looks like fucking Orion Black now, "didn't need to know that I'm such a fuck up that my parents don't want anything to do with me, and neither does my brother, apparently!"

Sirius blanches, stares at him. What—

"I don't know what bullshit story Alphard told you," Regulus continues, eyes suspiciously bright, "but you were the one who sneaked out at night and literally fucking ran away. I was kicked out!"

"Regulus, I— "

"No, shut it, you don't even know," Regulus says, quieter now, staring at the tabletop, "mother told me to get out. She said she's sick of seeing my face, and that all I remind her of is you. Just because I try acting like—I don't care, doesn't mean you can just— "

"Regulus," Sirius whispers, and pulls him up from his seat, wrapping his arms around him. Regulus stands there, rigid and breathing too quick, before he relaxes just a tiny bit. "Fuck. I didn't—I didn't mean to— "

"Are you crying," Regulus asks, looking faintly annoyed. Sirius might be, actually. He hasn't ever seen Reg bursting out like this. "Why're you crying? This was my moment, goddamn it."

This kid is so fucked up, Sirius thinks, and hugs him tighter.

Regulus is taller than him, which had been a rather unpleasant shock at first, and still makes it hard for Sirius to reconcile this person with his scrawny, tiny slip of a brother.

"You always steal my moments," Regulus grumbles, voice muffled into Sirius's shoulder, who can't help but laugh.

"I'm sorry," Sirius says, and he means I'm so so sorry I left you alone with them and I'm so sorry I didn't understand earlier, "And James wouldn't think anything like that. I haven't told him about...all this, of course I haven't."

"It's probably obvious," Regulus mumbles, "him, with his mother laughing and joking and teasing each other like they're fucking friends. Us, living with our old gay uncle halfway across the world."

Ah, yes.

The stark differences between what a parent should be like, and Walburga and Orion Black.

"Hey, Alphie isn't old," Sirius says, instead of explaining how he'd felt all this too, all of this, right down to that feeling that maybe there's something irreparably wrong with him because of them. "Besides, why do you care so much about what James thinks?"

Regulus goes stiff in his arms.

Sirius pulls back, and looks at his face, pink and flushed, Regulus Black is blushing!!! and stares at him, incredulous.

"No way," he says, "no way."

"He's such a dork," Regulus says, snorting.

"No fucking way," Sirius repeats, with feeling.

"I mean, I don't know," Regulus says, "he was staring at me funny and I wanted to...to..."

"...flirt with him?" Sirius suggests, dreading his answer.

"No!" Regulus yelps, "yes? Maybe. I don't know what I did, though."

(-)

bonus because this ended in a very unsatisfying way:

("What was his reaction?" Sirius asks, belatedly, "like...how did he seem?"

"Wet?" Regulus guesses.)

AU where Regulus is swim team captain

[clumsyclifford]

hello!! i am back and on desktop this time. the blog is just as pretty. alex + yellow = v v attractive jfc. this is a long one so buckle in.

to begin: i hope you have the most fun on your day road trip and sing your heart out to atl and taylor swift. i love driving long distances and idk just driving in general is fun. have the absolute best time MWAH

my birthday is in november!! november 23 to be specific. i share it with miley cyrus which is something i always found to be very cool when i was growing up and watching hannah montana. it also means i am a sagittarius and funny little fact i realized is that my best friend is a gemini. alex and jack are also a sagittarius and a gemini. from being 13 i know that tyler and josh from twenty one pilots are also a sagittarius and a gemini. something about sagittarius and gemini besties idk.

also yeah!! ao3 year in review!! it's a bit complicated to figure out at first and if you read a lot the finding pages thing can be pretty tedious, but it's def worth it once you figure it out. it gives you a lot of different stats about everything you read and it's pretty cool. now i am going to go look at your fics to remember my favs. you deserve the praise so i am willing to offer it. jeez you write a lot i respect the motivation sm. you write quite a bit of angst and i won't lie i try to stay away from angst so i haven't read your fics that seem super angst-y based on the tags. BUT there are still so many i recall reading and loving nonetheless. on a quick scroll-through: i usually don't read high school AUs but "paint me in trust (i'll be your best friend)" was super adorable and lovely. "thank god i'm yours" is one of my favs iirc. also i love love love "it's not always easy (but i'm here forever)" like yes please romanticize alex gaskarth i love it sm. "i won't be silent (and i won't let go)" and "i fell asleep in a city that doesn't" are both super fluffy and romantic and are favs of mine. in case you haven't picked up on it i adore very fluffy and romantic fics lmao. alright i am continuing to scroll and there are so many more i could list that i love but this section is getting quite long. just know if it's about a kitchen or hotel rooms being for lovers i probably read it and adored it and that pov is so valid.

waterparks!! will not lie i only really started listening to them about 6 months ago having been distantly aware of their existence for several years by being a fan of bands in the same genre. listen as long as you let yourself be vaguely annoyed by awsten is prevents you from being in love with him. follow him on any social media platform for like a day and you'll be sick of him typing in nothing but all caps within hours. simply do not romanticize him and you can keep yourself from falling!! so this is coming from a slightly fake parx fan, but some of my favs by them have been peach (lobotomy), crave, numb, fuzzy, violet!, you'd be paranoid too, and lowkey as hell. that is a very songs-from-their-most-recent-album-heavy rec, but whatever. i did give the disclaimer about being a fake parx fan.

yeah hayley does have 2 solo albums now!! petals for armor and flowers for vases / descansos. pfa is the one i didn't really like upon first listen but has grown on me. i haven't even listened to the second one in its entirety oops but we won't mention it. dead horse is good but simmer (pretty sure that was the other single??) just ain't it for me. the album has some lovely songs but it's just a hit or miss album all the way through. some favs of mine on it include pure love, taken, crystal clear, watch me while i bloom, and why we ever. it's sorta a storyline album about healing if that adds anything to it?? but anyways. i started listening to paramore around the time after laughter dropped and it grew to be one of my fav albums in existence. idle worship is probably one of my fav songs like ever. i def understand being slightly put off by bands with songs that make religious references (me with twenty one pilots' earlier music that makes a lot more religious references considering i'm not religious whatsoever) but i think i am blinded by being in love with hayley williams and just ignore it. idk that she's like super religious?? she's addressed believing in god and stuff a few times but she's def not the "rub it in your face" type and if she's making refs in music more recently then they're subtle enough i'm not noticing them. ik albums like brand new eyes had a lot more because it was shortly after that the band split and the songwriting process was essentially her and ex-bandmate co-songwriter arguing about their religious beliefs (turns out he ended up being super homophobic and transphobic all based on his religion so do with that what u will and thank the clown for leaving). i feel u on the "i meant to start listening to them" because that's essentially how i started listening to them. i told myself i was going to and then finally forced myself to do it. fuck falling for awsten knight what's more risky is falling in love with hayley </3

also yeah!! you've articulated my feelings towards tde. every song is so vastly different that it's hard to like it all. #1 fan is pretty decent though, and that's not just my bias about finding both ross and his gf hot and a cute couple and getting to see them together and ross half naked in a mirror in the video nope not at all. he's my fav himbo!! he has no personality!! no thoughts head empty!! i still love him and his strawberry-growing saga on twitter tho <3 the hazard of being in love with ross lynch since i was 12. girlfriend better be a fucking banger and there's quite a few already released singles in the tracklist so i have hope. i believe my show is in chicago on november 19 which is a thursday. kinda sucks since i intentionally bought the chicago tix nearly two years ago (the show was originally supposed to be april 25 2020. lol.) because the show was on a saturday and i have to drive 3 hours to get there. obviously i can't speak for them as tde but r5 shows always fucking slapped and i can vouch for them (realized i haven't seem them live since 2016?? 5 YEARS?? wtf) so if u genuinely like them. would recommend going to see them.

anyways. i have not listened to luke's solo album yet. i plan on it. this has gotten so long but i tried to respond in all areas and even organized it in different paragraphs this time (thanks being on desktop!!). hope you are well. hope you have a lovely day. hmm what's a little "going on in my life" fact. i got new glasses a few days ago and my eyes essentially said fuck off because adjusting to the new prescription has left me with eyes that hurt and occasionally slightly nauseous. here is to hoping my eyes get their shit together. mwah LOVE YOU TOO - the other bella/cubs anon/idk

okay hi hello. i have put this off because holy hell it's long but let's do it. i am putting a cut because this whole thing is long even without my answer

first: the road trip was super fun thank you!!! i am intrigued by this information regarding sags and geminis, we should do some scientific inquiry. enquiry. i don't know if there's a difference between those words.

aha! well i tried the ao3 year in review thing and i would say it had about 55% accuracy but still i agree it's fun to look back at that kind of stuff. and i feel you on the angst thing i go through phases of writing angst-heavy stuff and then writing very fluffy stuff and it is entirely based on my mental state buuuut i have lots of fluff and i'm glad you found it all and that you liked it yay <333 KITCHENS ARE FOR LOVERS i will die on that fuckin hill. hotel rooms as well but primarily kitchens.

dfgjhgdlfkhgdfmj honestly i dont use twitter enough that i would see his tweets enough that that would bother me also the fact that he tweets in all caps means that i just picture him yelling everything he tweets which i find absolutely hysterical so i don't think that would help. i have added these parx songs to my listen asap playlist and will get to them when i get a chance thank you i am excited also i already know lowkey as hell and it slaps super hard so im very much lookin forward to the rest of these. merci merci

YEAH simmer was the one i didnt vibe with. and honestly i feel zero compulsion to get into hayley williams as a solo artist. i just don't vibe enough to want to do that so i doubt i'll be listening to her anytime soon but maybe if i hear the songs in passing or get super bored one night, idk who can really say. but yeah christianity typically puts me off of music (speaking as a very jewish bitch) although there are notable exceptions in the cases of thomas rhett and the driver era. i'm just not attached to hayley enough to be like ehhh this doesnt matter. does that make sense

FAVORITE HIMBO PLEASE HGSDFGDFGKLFGJ i dont follow him on twitter but i have seen some interviews of ross and rocky and tbh they're great i love the way ross speaks like i like his speech mannerisms and i like his FACE and HAIR and. yeah. i think hes pretty. and i think he and 5sos SHOULD collab i think that would be sexy as hell. can you imagine that. oh my god can you imagine a ross lynch/luke hemmings collab. i'm not even really talking to you anymore bella because i know you haven't listened to luke yet and don't have a stake in it but if anyone else is reading this long ass answer. ross & luke collab. okay im going to move on and not think about that now. but i probably won't see tde unless i get a job this semester because i'm trying to stop spending so much money on big indulgent things like concerts likeee i was in a really good habit of not spending that much and then suddenly i got paid for one summer and i was just goin Crazy and i need to dial it back. plus i wanna see ajr and noah kahan equally bad so like. i have to make some calls about priorities here. it's Much to think about

good luck to your eyes i'm sure your new glasses are hella cute tho!!! LOVE YOUUUUUUU