#But all of that aside I definitely think they could be buddies. They're both pretty social people and they have a lot in common.

[chiscribbs]

I got one question if you don't mind what do you think it would be like if Donnie ever met Varian would they be friends like get along or would they be rivals?

Ha! This is a fun question. Okay, so-

(Assuming, just for the sake of the scenario, that: A. Donnie's tech isn't far too advanced for Varian to even understand, since he's a long way off from seeing that kind of technology in his lifetime, and B. Var isn't completely and utterly distracted by the "half-human, half-turtle" element and spending the entire time trying to figure out what they are and how they operate-)

I think they'd get along? Or at very least, I think Varian would be impressed and maybe even a little star-struck with Don's inventions, much like he was with that of Demanitus. Likewise, Donnie would probably appreciate the innovation that Varian's inventions show (even if the methods are a bit primitive by his standards). I really think they'd both enjoy having a like-minded person around for once, too - they can talk science-y things together, to the combined confusion of their respective friends/teammates. Imagine Don telling Varian about time-travel, and the boys relating over accidentally releasing an ancient evil that tried to destroy their home, lol.

There's definitely still the possibility of them butting heads, especially if they disagree on certain scientific fronts, since they're both incredibly stubborn - but generally speaking, I'd say they would get along pretty well. Their respective skills are different enough that they wouldn't be stepping on each other's toes too often and they seem to have more similarities than differences, opinion-wise. So, yeah - they'd be science buddies (imo)!

Another thing worth considering is how Varian would react to/get along with Draxum, since he's an alchemist like Var! But unlike Var, he uses and embraces mystic elements in his experiments, which will probably twist the former's brain a bit, lol. Maybe he'll come out of it a little more open-minded to the usefulness of magical elements and be inspired to incorporate them into his own inventions, on the odd occasion?

[yourpalmickeymouse]

Howdy Mickey!

How'd you come across Donald and Goofy?

Y'know, your two best friends, I mean you have a lotta best friends but they're the best of the best!

Howdy hatred-n-hav0c,

You're definitely right that Donald and Goofy are my best of best friends. Whenever we're together, I feel like I'm part of an unstoppable team. I couldn't have asked for better pals.

I actually met Donald when I was a part of the Junior Woodchucks when I was much younger. There was a regional summer camp-off where Junior Woodchucks from all around Calisota would meet. They had us split into groups of two, as sort of a buddy system, and guess who I was paired up with... Not Donald. It was another kid actually. But he ended up getting sick and had to go home early. So I was then paired with the only kid without a buddy, Donald.

We initially didn't get along as we butted heads and pulled some pretty nasty pranks on each other. We were both kinda troublemakers 😈 if you could believe it ha ha. But when the Official Junior Woodchuck End of Camp Competition rolled up as well as some potential sightings of Bigfoot, we learned to put aside our differences and work together... We didn't win or even see Bigfoot. But I think we got something even more valuable 😉. After that, we found that we actually had a lot of similar interests, like cameras and fishing. And we've been friends ever since, writin' letters to each other or even visitin' each other's hometowns.

I know some people like to give Donald flak for his temper or his bad luck. But he's one of the bravest most hardworkin' people I know. I believe a lot of his rage comes from the fact that he cares so much and wants life to be fair not just for him, but for everyone.

As for Goofy, I actually met him a little bit later. Or at least I think I did. Goofy is a little bit older than us, so while we were teens, he was a young adult just startin' in life. He actually worked as a janitor at the high school and college I went to. To be honest, a lot of people saw Goofy as well... goofy and didn't give him the time of day. But that never really discouraged him as he was always confident in who he was and was friendly with everyone he met.

Unfortunately, I hate to admit I was kinda in that crowd who didn't really see much in him😓. What could I say, I was a teen just followin' the crowd. But one day I was down in the dumps at school and you wanna know who came to comfort me. It was Goofy. It was at that moment that I found how truly wise, kind, and dependable he was. He just knew exactly what to say and was even willin' to drop everything and help me out with the problem. After that, I started to treat him differently and we quickly became close friends. I even help him babysit Max when he came into the picture 😊.

Honestly Goofy is a friend I really need at times. Whenever an issue seems too complex to handle, he somehow can find the simplest solution where you wouldn't even think to look. He also has such a huge heart and is willin' to do anything to support anyone in need.

[pearlnareff]

@isleofair @ghostlyswamp Hi friends I was on silly goofy goose mode this morning and reblogged the Tiger and Bunny Ask Game right before dashing to work so this comes to you so many hours late JF:IOEFJ Aaand since there are two questions overlapping I figured I would just put you both in a basket with a bow in one post 2. Who are your top three favourite characters and why? My top three characters are Rock Bison/Antonio Lopez, Lunatic/Yuri Petrov, and...... we can shove Ivan and Keith into that third spot together because I can't choose and I won't :D Bison and Yuri fit two character archetypes I'm always drawn to, but all four of them are just so interesting and actually goofy in their own ways. Sure Yuri isn't goofy in the usual sense but he's so dramatic and extra and pretty it's perfect. Ivan is my son and Keith is my neighbor I will always wave to while checking the mail. He is a close and personal friend of mine, we live in the same cul-de-sac. Antonio grills in my back yard and Yuri lives in my basement and helps me with my taxes-- I'm fine this is fine. GOSH I had to scroll back up I have to include Ryan Goldsmith he's so perfect I hate him I want to gnaw on his head he's so dumb ugh anyway this is fine. 8. Any ships? And if so who? I definitely ship Taibani because. Yes. And FireSky because they're both perfect and deserve so much love and happiness forever yes. Apart from those two.... I ship Ryan and Karina so hard platonically is that weird. 9. Favourite buddy duo Okay putting the ships I just mentioned aside because Yes. Rock Bison and Origami Cyclone as a buddy duo are so important to me. They would seem so mismatched but they're just. So great and their dynamic is silly and. Mhm 10. Is there any character dynamics you wish we had seen more of? Every single one of them. Every one. I want more of all of them. Give me more of them. All. OKAY but real answer Barnaby and Kaede would be fun to see. But that's also for the sequel fic in my head I'll (probably) never write because I'm the worst. (Also clarifying this is Not at all anywhere close to a ship thing., I have to clarify that cause I accidentally gave someone the impression I shipped Antonio and Ivan and that is. Not True. Barnaby and Kaede are Step Dad and Daughter yes) 11. Any characters you think could have been good friends if they had been given a chance? How about the Exact Opposite. Make Yuri have to spend the day with Subaru. 19. Do you have any head canons you want to share? Unfortunately I don't think I have any headcanons that aren't popular fandom takes. I do have a lot of Thoughts about how I would continue the story post season 2 but idk if those count as headcanons or not JF:WOEIJF Oh my headcanon is that Yuri isn't dead does that count? he's alive and happy and nothing bad has ever happened

[spandexual]

"Also who are your favourite reds to smash together, lately I’m into crossover shipping so toku is fun for that" from @27danone

WELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

everyone x Captain Marvelous (GokaiRed) is canon and real so do with that what you will. I especially like Alata (GoseiRed) x Marvelous tho, not just because they're handover buddies but because they genuinely do match very well. The Gokaigers are insanely OP yeah but the Goseigers are pretty much the only team that could take them 1:1 even with all of their powers imo just because THEY'RE so OP too lol. That aside, Alata's bright and pure literally angelic but NOT stupid or foolish personality complements Marvelous's wild, reckless, morally questionable one so well.

pretty sure GaoRed and AbaRed never met but kakega is 1) a really funny ship name and 2) they're both similar enough that they would have a lot in common 3) different enough they wouldn't be turned off by the mirror effect I think. And I think Ryouga deserves a man who would know how to look after his daughter. Not that Kakeru (weird calling him that and not just Red) would instantly be the world's best dad, but being a veterinarian shows a level of maturity and care that lbr the very vast majority of reds are missing lol. Marry These Men

Jan (GekiRed) x Sosuke (Go-OnRed) would be entirely fucking stupid and it should happen just because of that.

Takeru (ShinkenRed) x Yamato (ZyuohEagle) are a fair few years apart I know BUT I think zoologist with daddy issues Yamato would do verryyyy well with kitty boy samurai lord :)

not sure if Tatsuya x Naoto (TimeRed x TimeFire) counts as redxred but they ARE both red so I'm counting it. uhhh watch Timeranger or check my recentish posts about it bc holy fucking SHIT dude. They're the proto-Shinji/Ren in many ways but like. even more painful.

not redxred but Lucky (ShishiRed) x Emu (Ex-Aid) 4 eva btw it's so fucking funny that Lucky is the literal only person Emu has had romantic tension with when they met for like 5 seconds and Ex-Aid was basically a BL. AND that nishimen shoot wants to make out with iijima or whatever is going on with their twitter accounts. ghost-aid...

there are definitely others but that will do for now lol

[beauzos]

obligatory yuty for the ask!!! but also if you dont want to only talk abt yuty then Ummm fulbright:3 or both even if youre feeling fancy...

Send me a character and I’ll list:

I already got one for Yuty, but thank you! So Fulbright it is.

Favorite thing about them: His pure of heart, dumb of ass nature... idk! I just feel like his bombastic, friendly personality is so lovable. I was invested in him from the second I met him! He just leaves such an impact with his silly but earnest personality. I love how determined he is, how he's got these big emotions and how much he believes in Blackquill and isn't scared of him one bit even though everyone else is because he sees Blackquill's raw potential. Waaaa. It's nice. Least favorite thing about them: Beyond him tasing Blackquill, um. What they did to his character by having him get murdered off-screen before the game starts lol. I think the way they did the Phantom twist was incredibly lame and I've talked extensively about it before so I'll spare y'all and just link the posts where I've bitched about it instead. 1 | 2

I haven't thought about it in a while so my opinions may have changed a bit idk just read these KRKFNM Second post isn't mine but I did leave a fucking tag essay so there's that. I do plan on replaying Dual Destinies soon to see what I feel about the game after knowing everything I do now, though. Favorite line: idk if it's a favorite line exactly but my favorite moment with him is in Turnabout Academy where he pops out of the art room window and is like "oh it's y'all!! in justice we trust!!" and helps out Athena and Apollo while Athena excitedly greets him n Klav and Apollo are like ??? It's so cute. brOTP: Ummm him with Ema is pretty fun! I want all the detectives to be buddies, and I think that Ema would originally be so pissed off and annoyed by him, but come to appreciate his earnestness and kindness. I think once she cools off and becomes a proper forensic detective she'd mellow out and be much more open to befriending people she works with. I think they'd get along very well. I also like the headcanons where Bobby really looks up to Gumshoe, so I like their dynamic too.

I also think him and Yuty would be fun. I think Nahyuta would be annoyed by Fulbright at first like Ema, though. But Fulbright probably fills a similar environmental niche to Datz, so I think Nahyuta could deal with him eventually. I imagined this scenario (admittedly in a shippy sense-- I think Madhibright is a funny ship and kinda cute, but I don't actually ship it anymore, they're just pals) where they meet post-SOJ and thought it'd be fun. Here's that post I made. OTP: Blackbright, I guess! IDK, I don't ship as much for him as I used to, but this is still my number one. I LOVE their dynamic in DD, I love the possibilities of what a dynamic could be like post-DD had he lived, so on. They're definitely Together but it might be kind of an unlabeled grey area friendship gay thing too. I don't know KRKF but I like them a lot! It's fun. I think they're very cute. nOTP: I dunno. Who are they gonna ship him with if not Blackquill? The Phantom? I've seen cute stuff with the Phantom and him as buddies that I find interesting. I wouldn't call romantically shipping them a NOTP, it's just vaguely weird but I don't really care at all. So, none I guess. Random headcanon: He's from the South and has a Southern accent!!! I love giving characters I like Southern accents it's kind of a thing I do if I have an excuse to, lol. It's why like half the Tazmily villagers were written with accents during my Mother 3 fanfic days. I think it suits him, idk why. It's better than the goofy ass voice they gave him in DD 😭 Unpopular opinion: idk. I don't know what people think about him, aside from him being another character the AA subreddit will try to convince you just absolutely sucks. Aside from, like, I don't know, I think it's a bit off sometimes if AUs where Bobby lives that people try to put all the blame for shitty behavior towards Blackquill on the Phantom. I get why, but I think sometimes it's worth examining how his position of power could be harmful to Blackquill regardless of his pure intentions or whatever. He's a cop, after all.

I know some people are uncomfortable with the ethics of a ship with Blackquill while he's still in prison (which is why some folks will specifically only interpret Blackbright as a post-DD thing) but I'm also like. idk I think THAT'S worth examining too! By people smarter than me. I'm not doing it KRKF I just find their dynamics interesting, warts and all.

I get it, though. Sometimes you just don't wanna fucking get into it SDJN but yeah! Song I associate with them: Never Ever Getting Rid of Me from Waitress. Quintessential Blackbright song Favorite picture of them: This pose is my fave everrr it's adorable.

though I also like the one official art where he's crying looking at Blackquill. ok gay ass

[baronessblixen]

Saw your tags-- I think that's why S8 is my favorite: for all its (many, many, many) flaws, Mulder and Scully were allowed to be unabashedly heartsick and in love and goofily happy and a couple. It felt like the next step of their S7 dynamic; and, of course, having William on board doesn't hurt things.

I also loved Doggett, loved Skinner's more hands-on role, TLG were fun, even Monica was neat-o, and Kersh coming back? Stressful but he served a purpose. The ending with Mulder, Scully, and their baby while Doggett and Monica nail Kersh to the wall sets up so much potential-- Mulder still saving the world, but as an independent (without the chains or the FBI to hold him down); Scully has everything she could ever want and the future is bright; TLG are so happy their buddy is back; Doggett got some closure helping Scully, finding Mulder for her (when he couldn't save his son); Monica was... there, but sweet; and Skinner got to shake off the shackles of the previous seasons and be both Mulder and Scully's rock.

Love it. And even the... not great episodes had good character moments for Scully and Doggett and Skinner (and the rest can be fast-forwarded.)

I wish the two parter finale could be scrapped and completely reworked (I just watch until Mulder/Scully escape from her apartment and right before Krycek shows up, then skip to the ending of Existence and fill in the rest w/ fic); but manos de piedra, Mulder in beige running game on Doggett on a Saturday while Maggie throws his partner a baby shower, Skinner being nosy about the paternity (he knows, BUT) and even Krycek parts were... worth it? XDDD

ESSAY ASIDE, XDDDD, it's fun for me~. ;)))))

Very valid opinion! It's nice that the angst from the first part of the season somewhat eases off in the end. For me, it's just all too muddled. I didn't like the inclusion of that brain disease (so unnecessary), or the fact that Mulder came back from the death and was pretty much the same he always was. The whole "is he the dad or is he not" was tiresome to me. There weren't even all that many MSR scenes! And then they're separated for all of Existence for no reason whatsoever.

There definitely are great moments. I love Doggett and Skinner, too. All in all, though, it's not enough for me. But I love that you love the season so much. It would be boring if we all only liked the same things!

[gontagokuhara]

Also I was thinking about that one ask someone made in like 2019 when you said nagito had a shitlist that makoto and byakuya were on bc they're gay people he doesn't respect and I was like WHYYY im literally so used to nagito being up makoto's arse in both canon/fanon it was surprising!!! Also peep the nagito with hooves reference to Mr brunner in that post

Like since I went through the old asks earlier today idk if you were serious about it but nagito with hooves is quite literally just Mr tumnus and I kept laughing at the imagery while I was at work Ngl I was procrastinating on the 4 quizzes and 1 test I have tomorrow by reading some of the old pointy objects asks 💀

okay last thing I just wanna say I can't remember who named gonta but to me it was so unhinged and random so it was probably nagito wasn't it LMFAO also the idea of baby baby gonta literally makes me want to cry please keep doing him right in this fic PLEASE😭 okay that's it BYEE

Okay I just wanna say idk what rantaro looks like when his power is activated but I cannot imagine anything other than a That's So Raven mid-sentence freeze where he looks like the "Monday left me broken" cat. Just like "yeah so anyway I was—👁👁...." and shuichi has just,,,, never questioned it LMFAOO

hiiiiii <3 when i saw this last night i ALSO went deep in the pointy objects tag to find the asks ur referencing but also a littol trip down memory lane ahead of getting started writing. we all know the drill by now all of my ramblings are below the cut <3

first of all (because u sent this one first) ur very right about shuuichi being a little bit of a bozo wrt: noticing rantarou's having a Precog Moment. he's (rantarou) has grown pretty used to getting hit with brief flashes of the future, so he's pretty good at maintaining a poker face when he's struck by one. we see it the sliiiightest bit way back in ch1 while rantarou is driving, and in the middle of speaking he is hit with a vision — it's not something he elaborates on but he does see more or less what ends up happening once the monsters rush the car. naturally makoto and byakuya are good at sussing out when he's having one — and as a very heavy aside, it was a vision of him and shuuichi as best buddies his first day of school that had him pursuing the friendship so ardently, and ultimately got them where they are now. brothers <3

and yes back to those asks!!! they are up to like.....jesus christ late-2019 was over 4 years ago at this point so THEREfore so are the asks. that said, in reading over them all again i don't think there's anything i said way back when that doesn't hold at least slightly true currently (with one exception, being the mystery poly relationship ending, and that's more to do with issues i foresee in incorporating it into the fic itself in a way that makes sense). the ones about nagito though? DEFINITELY still bang all this time later

which leads me into: your questions! there is definitely a level of respect nagito allows towards makoto (byakuya....not So much LOL) but when you know a guy for thousands and thousands and thousands of years.....and he marries the obnoxious rich guy in what is so *obviously* a downgrade for a big five god like himself (not unlike how nagito at least somewhat views hajime as having somewhat "settled" for nagito; i could go on and on about the inner machinations of po!nagito i love that stupid fuck for how comparatively little he's on-screen)...............nagito is a little disappointed. even all this time later. he is not byakuya's biggest fan LMFAO

tbh so much of my early answers on nagito (aside from how he was actually Present the first few chapters, so it made sense) stem directly from the fact he (+ shuuichi) are the direct inspiration for pointy objects as a whole. specifically this video, which i credit ch1 as being the catalyst for pointy objects becoming.......well almost 200k and counting. shuuichi as percy's counterpart and nagito as dionysus the unpaid, eternally cursed camp counselor (with hajime as mr brunner, thankfully hoofless) was the starting point for pointy objects FOR sure, and it's just expanded quite a lot past that over all this time. that video jumpstarted the idea in my sister (who handed it over to me pretty much from the get-go), and the pjo musical is what i loosely structured the lore/plot around, but i think the observations i've heard from readers that pointy objects does well at expanding well past the boundaries of the source material hold true! if you do happen to take a peek at the linked video, though: pretty much the whole of ch2 was very heavily inspired by the song which i think is obvious on reread. that sprite edit started it all fr thank you youtube user evie

and yes: it was nagito who found and subsequently named gonta! 8 years and counting of gonta being camp's designated favorite by literally everybody (nagito) (hajime) (most of the campers) (the mioda triplets) (me, connorlizabeth bazwrites). as is probably obvious [gestures at my entire tumblr] i am gontas #1 ride or die, he's my pride and joy, and i will definitely continue having fun with po!gonta TRUST <3 in the spirit of not saying too much ill leave it at.........gonta enjoyers. we are going to eat good.

[cavewolf]

chris' legitimate pokemon scarlet review broken down into categories for your viewing experience (spoilers duh)

CHARACTERS: love the guys in this game. all of team star are so delightful arven is great and nemona is a new fav rival. i wasn't expecting to like clavell as much as i did but he was super fun. gym leaders for what they are (they play very minor roles but thats just how pokemon is aside from bw1 where they show up at the team plasma castle) are super good i especially liked ryme she's awesome. i felt the character writing was a lot better than last gen and they balanced the 3 rivals a lot better tho this could partly just be because of the three split stories focusing on one each.

POKEMON DESIGNS: mixed bag. loved a lot of them like tinkaton the ancient paradox pokemon and tatsugiri. meowscarada quickly became one of my fav starters i love its design and personality. but some of them didn't really do it for me. especially the bugs

HUMAN DESIGNS: really nice. i'm glad pokemon is continuing to diversify the body types of its female cast. i love the women + girls in this game. mela, eri, geeta, sada, rika, katy (I LOVE HER!!!!) and ryme were especially standout designs for me. the guys have cool looks too. i like brassius' edgier take on a grass gym leader and atticus autism warrior!!!!!

STORY: really good. i'm not kidding like god damn. i loved it in this game. it's easily in the big leagues with sun/moon, the gen 5 arc and pla for me (though i just like pla because it's rehashed pmd lol). the starfall street plotline was cheesy but i loved it , i love to see autism friend groups. they're very sweet. path of legends has an excellent motivator in 'your buddy's dog is sick' and like FUCK dude i'm not letting this guys dogy die!!!! arven is a very sweet character so it's nice to help him out. victory road is more standard fare but i liked the new take on the elite 4 (the interview and there being multiple champions). but obviously the closing act really sells it for me. i've seen people say it makes less sense in scarlet because sada is caveman themed, but i honestly think this made it more interesting. if i was playing violet i wouldve been like ohh yeah of course the guy in the glowy robot space suit is an android but the juxtaposition between ancient and futuristic stuff in scarlet makes it more impactful imo. i like how a futuristic ai can only function with the power of ancient crystals, ties it into both games nicely. plus sada sacrificing herself is a little sadder since i doubt there's more chargers in dinosaur times than the far future (she's double DEAD dead). i'm also just a sucker for evil ai and glitch effects anyway

MUSIC: gooooooood!!! there's been some mixed reception on the gym leader theme but it grew on me. penny's theme is one of my favs but all of the team star related ones are good. the area zero theme is genuinely incredible

GAMEPLAY: it sure is a pokemon game. i had some performance issues mainly loading times before/after battles and after cutscenes. i crashed randomly once during the orthworm mission when i went into its tunnel but nothing to the extent i've seen online (not to say it didn't happen). for what it's worth, i was playing it in handheld. but the basic pokemon battle formula always entertains me. the new gimmick is pretty so i like it.

VISUALS: it absolutely could be better but it's not distractingly bad. it's more just servicable. the updated textures (and sometimes models!) of pokemon look good and the humans look good too. definitely improved some animations (but i missed gloria's unique little tiptoe animation downstairs from swsh). the environment flops a lot, especially when it's not in towns.

[brewing-radianite]

26 28 29 30

For nanobomb parent trio and tremorheal pleasee

so many ships... i love you...

i will say: im really bad with finding character-specific theme songs, let alone ship themes. like i listen to rap, r&b, low-fi, edm, kpop, jpop, alternative, indie bands, videogame soundtracks, and MORE; i still could not tell you a song off the top of my head unless i already had one in mind so i highkey scuffed that question im ngl. sorry nonnie ily

i would like to personally thank you for giving me a nanobomb mood to work on Instruction Manual. kisses your forehead

Nanobomb:

28.) What do they do when they’re away from each other?: They have the same friend group so I imagine even outside of 1-on-1 time, they see each other a lot! But ofc they can't always be together. Killjoy listens to a playlist Raze made for her specifically of songs that make her (Raze) think of her (KJ) + Raze probably has a little robo buddy (like a tamagotchi!) that KJ designed custom for her to play with. very cute...

29.) One headcanon about this OTP that breaks your heart: I feel like they really try their hardest to keep their relationship secret, but if it ever got out and they were pressured to break-up (especially by Brimstone or Viper, two people very impressionable on KJ and Raze respectively), they genuinely would. And it would hurt, it would tear their hearts up, and ultimately prove to do more harm than good keeping them together. But I don't think they (especially Killjoy) could look the higher ups in the face and really advocate for themselves and risk any further consequences. Confrontation really isn't Klara's thing, and yeah she'd be miserable, but it'd be a huge stress point for her.

30.) One headcanon about this OTP that mends it: Aside from being girlfriends, they're really good best friends too, and that makes a good foundation for their relationship. Granted, Raze has a number of people she considers close to her (Jett, Breach, etc.) but Killjoy is certainly among them and that's part of how their romantic feelings sprouted to begin with.

Tired Parent Trio:

28.) What do they do when they’re away from each other?: All three of them have significant roles in command, so they’re often together, but often deep in their own work too! They usually have to divide their attention and spend time tending to the other agents (especially the duelists + breach + cypher who are usually doing something they shouldn’t be) more often than not. 

29.) One headcanon about this OTP that breaks your heart: The amount of stress that comes with keeping their relationship secret - especially while they actively advocate for others to not have relations - puts so much strain on them. They really are walking on thin ice everyday of their lives, and they’ve probably come close to breaking up if not having already broken up before because of it. It’s so wrong, but being together feels so right. 

30.) One headcanon about this OTP that mends it: they make each other feel young again. 

TremorHeal:

28.) What do they do when they’re away from each other?: to be honest, given how loud the duelists are, i can't imagine sage misses the volume aspect of breach when he isnt around LMAO. but she's definitely one of the fewer more gentle and delicate agents, and he misses her soft touch and soothing words (and voice of reason that he hates to admit is usually right). She misses his smile, though, and being held in his arms. Passes time with the duelists because their rowdiness simulates his well, and Raze is close to Breach, so Sage can talk to her about him. Breach, meanwhile, prepares the sappiest shit he can think of to say when they're together again. Figures it'll make her smile. (It does.)

29.) One headcanon about this OTP that breaks your heart: Their morals and personalities are so different they probably clash a lot at first. And neither of them admit it, but both can be hurt pretty easily. I imagine there's a lot of times where they must genuinely think, "Is this going to work out? Am I happy with this relationship?" because their needs and expressions are so vastly different. If not for their diligence, respect, humility, and (Sage's) maturity, they probably wouldn't go too far. Out of the 3 ships here, this is probably the one that has the highest risk of breaking up going off personality clicks alone.

30.) One headcanon about this OTP that mends it: They give each other so much strength. He teaches her to be more confident and outspoken and advocate for herself more. She teaches him to be more gentle, that it's okay to cry, it's okay to be in pain, it's okay to seek comfort in others. He can always come to her, and her arms will be held wide open to receive him. And he will always fight by her side, she doesn't have to bear any burdens alone or be overly cautious to protect herself and those she loves. They can fight together.

[malachi-walker]

Happy birthday, Mal! I love your fics, they evoke so much emotion in me and have made me cry many a time. I don't often reread fics, but i've reread multiple chapters of Rhythm and Blues because they're stuck with me so much. You capture the emotional pain of their trauma and the catharsis that comes with their growth so beautifully. You also write some brilliant meta and just consistently post some fantastic thoughts. Also your love for swords is very appreciated. <3 have a lovely day!

First of all, my apologies for not replying sooner. I was making my mind up about something that would definitely require the use of a read more and thus necessitate dragging myself to desktop (which I hate because my laptop predates the dinosaurs.)

But seriously. Thank you so much. This is honestly one of the sweetest comments I've ever gotten and definitely made my already pretty sweet bday even better.

So about that read more. In honor of you, @metalesbo, my friends @n7punk and @jem-jarrett and everyone else who sent me well wishes or just really loves my work... Here's the opening section of the next chapter of R&B. Enjoy. It's a long one.

Adora Eternia is about two months shy of her fourteenth birthday when she first realizes she's in love with her best friend.

Though--if asked--she would hasten to explain that it wasn't when she fell in love. But trying to pinpoint the exact moment is an exercise in catching mist: the more she tries to grasp it in her hands the more it spreads out and covers everything. It just is: pure and simple and very, very complicated.

It's the beginning of December and the whole town is covered in a thick blanket of snow. Winterfest will be here in a few weeks, so to help out the kids who want to get gifts for their friends the Right Zone administration has shuffled around the groups that usually take their monthly trips on the third and fourth Sundays of the month to double up with the other two. As part of group three, she and Catra got the first week (the other three members of their crew are week two folks anyway and thus outside the reorganization.)

It's still kinda weird to think that: their crew. For so long, it was just Catra and Adora. Adora and Catra. One unit bound together, just them against the world. But there's also something nice about being part of a small cluster, their "scrappy little lone wolf pack" as Catra had once put it with a wry grin before Lonnie shoved her over with an, "Excuse you, I'm a great people person when I'm not busy making sure you idiots haven't set yourselves on fire!"

They all got a good laugh out of that one.

But regardless, the holidays are coming up and this is the first year that any of their group has felt like actually doing anything for it, aside from wrangling together a sleepover and seeing if they can convince the kitchen staff to slip them some leftover eggnog.

They made each other promise not to go too extravagant and keep each person's gift to ten dollars or lower. Even though their quarterly stipend has increased from three hundred to four hundred to match with inflation over the past eight years, it still isn't a whole lot for three month's worth of expenses, especially when they also have to budget regularly for clothes to keep up with the seemingly endless growth spurts.

There's also the usual budgetary concern of keeping her and Catra's first aid kit well supplied...

Adora shakes her head to dislodge the intrusive thought and continues marching onward through the snow. This trip is a good thing. She won't let all the awful realities of their life taint it.

With so many kids running around and wanting to shop on their own to surprise their giftees, Right Zone had to negotiate with both the local police and whatever other civic authorities they could get ahold of to come out en masse and keep an eye on them all. The kids had still come with their usual teachers, of course, but doubling the load and also splitting up was a logistical nightmare. Which is just a convoluted way to say the town is positively crawling with uniformed officers, off duty members of the fire brigade, emergency personnel, and other such authority figures quietly keeping watch and making sure no one tries anything.

Adora knows that somewhere in the press of bodies, Grizzlor's busy wrangling two new "brats" (seven and nine, respectively, and definitely not friends.) Somewhere, a certain Magicat is probably grumbling over the indignity of being forced to wear shoes and kicking every snowpile she can, like she can send a direct message to whatever cosmic force is responsible for her current frustration.

On an ordinary month she and Catra--being old enough to be allowed a bit more freedom to do what they want--would buddy up to watch each other's backs while they did their shopping. But this isn't an ordinary month, so once they'd each gotten gifts for the other three they'd split up on opposite ends of Main Street with an agreement to move clockwise to avoid running into each other. Afterwards, the entire group would rendezvous at the small clock tower in the park a block over before heading back to Right Zone.

Ten dollars wasn't a lot to work with, but Adora had done her best: a new stress ball for Kyle, some moisturizing oil for Rogelio since the early winter shed had wiped out his supply and he'd been too busy to pick up some more, a twelve pound kettle weight for Lonnie now that their shared exercise routine was getting a bit too easy for her... Utilitarian choices, to be sure, but she's been paying attention and that has to count for something.

Catra's the difficult one, of course. Partly because Adora doesn't want to just get her something practical, but also because they share nearly everything between them already. About the only thing that is definitively off limits is Catra's guitar, and she's told Adora enough about her time with Tao over the years that Adora wouldn't even ask. Beyond that... Well, there's a reason why most of Adora's day off hoodies have small strands of orange fur stuck to them.

Still. I want to get her something that's hers. Something she'll like. Something she doesn't have to share with anyone, not even me.

In the end, she nearly walks past it. In one of the artisanal shops that dot small towns like liver spots, she finds a display of hand stamped necklace pendants, with a design sheet beside it. There are a lot of the usual nature designs and such, but the one that catches her eye is a treble clef with the five staff lines bleeding out from it. They ring the edge of the pendant in a half circle, and scattered haphazardly along the lines are the other music notes.

The lack of proper order would drive Adora insane. She understands that it's just meant to look pretty, not be an accurate representation of musical notation, but still... She knows her own (broken) brain well enough to know that.

It suits Catra, though.

"Hey," Mismatched eyes looked down at Adora as her head draped backwards over the back of their desk chair, the throbbing behind her left eye threatening to escalate into a migraine. "Guess I don't have to ask how the composing's going."

"It sucks," Adora groused back, sitting up and gesturing Catra over. She jabbed at two particular spots with the half chewed off eraser end of her pencil, two hard jabs each, like she was filing a complaint. "Most of it is just what I'm going for, but these two places here... They aren't sounding right. I've been going back and forth over structure all afternoon, but nothing I do helps."

"Hmmm..." Catra stroked her chin and nudged Adora over so she could sit on the arm of the chair (they'd never gotten around to requesting a second, mostly because Adora didn't want to risk Shadow Weaver suspecting they were getting too chummy.) "Got any scratch paper?"

Adora pointed to the pile of half crumpled notebook paper she used when making adjustments and Catra snorted. "Ok, dumb question. Just let me see here..."

Grabbing a pen, she quickly inked a fresh set of staff lines and copied the notes Adora had already put down, making sure to leave space to work. Glancing between the two, she drummed her fingers on the desk, playing along in her head.

"Hmm..." Catra murmured, worrying at her lower lip with a fang in a manner that was... Oddly distracting. "Ok, how 'bout this?"

Adora jolted, tearing her gaze from Catra's face to look at the sequence of notes scribbled onto the scratch paper. She paused, brow furrowing as she played them over in her mind's eye. It was a little unorthodox, veering away from the path she had carefully laid out... But also blending well with the next part. Almost like the notes took a quick detour and then lead the listener back to where she wanted them.

"Yeah..." Adora replied thoughtfully, the tension all over her body starting to smooth out. "Yeah, that could work."

"Awesome. Let's take a look at the next part."

They ultimately ended up spending several hours going over the entire piece, sussing out every place where Adora was having even the slightest niggle of unease. She didn't accept all of Catra's changes and Catra didn't push the matter, but the ones she did...

They felt right. More right than they had ever felt when it was just Adora running circles around herself.

When they finally finished up she looked over at Catra, tail waving sedately in that way it got when she was simultaneously engaged but relaxed, and asked, "Umm... Do you want to learn with me? I like doing this."

'I like making music with you.'

Catra paused, looking over at Adora searchingly, almost like she couldn't believe the question had come up. No matter how many years had passed between them, that look never really went away, and every time she saw it Adora's chest ached in a way that was hard for her to process.

"I'd like that."

Catra's composing style is very different from Adora's. More wild, more willing to bend and break the rules if it means maintaining audience engagement, but there's always an underlying order to the chaos. To her surprise and pleasure, Adora found herself learning just as much from Catra as Catra was learning from her. Their styles brought out the best in each other.

The jingle of a bell kicks her out of the memory. Mind made up even though it's nearly double her budget, Adora scans the stand of necklaces for the one with the treble clef pattern.

It isn't there. Adora swallows down the disappointment, though she can't help the sigh. Of course. The town was well aware of the large population of music students a short drive away and catered to them accordingly. But there are also dozens of kids out on the street tonight. It isn't that big of a surprise that the design sold out.

Not surprising, but disheartening nonetheless.

She's just begun to turn away when a voice calls from the back. "Hang on a sec there, little miss."

Adora jumps, but remains where she is as a large Taurian man with a massive snow white beard trundles out from a door behind the counter, wiping his hands on his apron. "Was there a particular design you were interested in?"

Adora points at the treble clef, hope rising. "This one. But it looks like it's already sold out."

"Hmm..." The man scratchs at his chin. "Well with Winterfest coming up, I'm out of blank pendants-"

Adora's shoulders slump.

"-But," The man continues with a smile. "I can double stamp it onto the back of another. Ordinarily I'd charge extra for that, but it's my fault for not ordering enough blanks. Rookie move. Besides, it's the holidays. Now would that be all right by you?"

Nodding frantically in case he changes his mind, Adora scans the other designs, quickly alighting on one in particular. "That one!"

"The claw marks? Bit of an odd combination, but the customer is always right," The old man winked as he reached out to take the necklace from her. "My jig and press is in the corner over here if you wanna watch."

Adora was glad he specified, because as nice as the man seemed there was no way in hell she was going into a back room with a stranger. But she stood next to the window beside a display of miscellaneous knick knacks and puzzles, watching him carefully place the pendant in a cushioned stand to avoid damaging the already printed side and tighten it into place before moving beside the machine.

"You're gonna want to cover your ears," He tells her, patting the machine with one massive hand. "Had to switch to a steam press when the arthritis caught up to me. Used to do it all by hammer. This boy's okay, but he gets loud."

Adora nods, glad for the warning when he bellows "Clear!" and the machine's hammer comes down once, twice, three times with a sound like the ringing of an enormous bell. Once the machine is stopped and carefully turned off, the old man removes the pendant from the press and hands it over to Adora for inspection. "What do you think? Does it pass muster?"

Adora runs her fingertips over the impressions in the metal, memorizing the feel of it, the leftover warmth of the impact. "Perfect."

"Good. Now let's get you rung up."

Counting the five dollars she attempted to surreptitiously slip into the tip jar (the old man winked as he turned back around, so stealth fail) Adora went very over budget, but the others would have to put a gun to her head for her to admit it.

Besides, it's Catra. They already know she's the sole exception to all of Adora's carefully maintained rules.

With everything finished, she continues trudging through the snow toward the park, breathing a sign of relief as she moves away from the shopping district and the people thin out; no one wanting to go to the park in the middle of such bleak weather. Angling around a clustered group of bare trees, she spots the small clock tower in the distance, as well as the figure already standing beside it. Grinning, Adora picks up the pace a bit until she can see Catra clearly and--

Her breath catches.

Since her only experience with this kind of thing has been through books, Adora always expected this moment would be more dramatic. Like back to back in the middle of a fight, or eyes locking from up on stage. Something spectacular, like fireworks, lime explosions, like the feeling of playing a song without a single mistake for the first time. It's always seemed like such a big deal in the stories, and in a way, it is.

Because there's Catra, lost in her own world as she gazes up at the streetlight that's just come on, her left hand extended to let the snowflakes fall into her palm and the light catches the orange of her fur just right to make a blaze of color against the black of her coat. She looks so small, standing in that space all alone on a cold winter's night, but Adora knows deep down that she could never be that small, not when she's Catra, not when she means so much...

Pretty much everything about the past hour--about her entire life since they met if she's being honest--snaps into crystal clear focus.

Oh. I get it now. I'm in love with you.

It's a bad idea. Adora knows that. Shadow Weaver is enough of a menace while believing Catra is simply her roommate, her sometime tool--and Catra had ended up being all too right about the torture not stopping, even after years of Adora trying to direct Weaver's attentions away from her. If the evil old bitch figures out Adora's feelings run deeper, so much deeper...

Her heart beats double time. This whole thing is an unmitigated disaster.

But it's still the best worst thing that's ever happened to her.

She must make a noise, because Catra's ear twitches in her direction, snapping her out of that distant contemplation. She turns her head and looks at Adora, lips curling in a lopsided grin. "Hey, Adora. Wow, you look like you've seen a ghost."

Adora blinks, coming back to herself and mumbling the first excuse that springs to mind. "... Just cold."

"Well no shit. C'mere."

When she closes the distance Catra glances around warily, making sure they're the only ones around, before reaching up and retying the scarf around Adora's neck, patting it once when she's done. "There. I know I make it look good, but you don't have the advantage of fur like me."

Adora looks down at the thin AC/DC t-shirt that Catra's wearing beneath her half open coat, the line of her collarbones and neck, and makes a snap decision. "Is it okay if I give you your present now?"

Catra blinks, a little thrown by the non sequitur. "I mean... Sure? Do you want me to give you yours?"

"I'm good with either," Adora shrugs, trying to ignore how fast her heart is beating, how much she wants to do this before this moment slips away. "I just want to."

There's a long moment of silence as they each examine the other, equally searching. What Catra's looking for, Adora doesn't know. She isn't sure she wants to know.

"Okay."

Breathing deep, Adora reaches into her pocket and pulls out the necklace on its leather cord. Careful to keep the pendant hidden in her hand, she passes it over, fingertips sparking as it's taken. Catra brings it close to her face, running her fingers over the four parallel slashes on the side facing her.

"Why the claw marks?"

Adora laughs, nervous butterflies positively rioting in her stomach. "Because you're a badass. Duh."

"True," Catra smirks, flipping it over and squinting at the other side. "And this?"

"Badass, loves music with all your heart. Not mutually exclusive concepts," Adora says, trying not to give away how much she thinks about this, how much she wants to take that hand in hers. She settles for a playful shoulder bump instead. "Plus we all know you're secretly a big softie."

"Excuse you, I am all sharp edges," Catra giggles, lightly elbowing her before transitioning into a soft little smile. "... Just not with everyone."

Oh God oh God oh God. That smile will absolutely be the death of her.

Swallowing past her horrible awareness of that softness, Adora asks, "So you like it?"

"I love it. Good luck ever getting me to take it off," Catra laughs, then frowns, flexing her fingers. "Hands have gone a little numb, though. Help me put it on?"

Adora.exe promptly crashes to desktop. But she still somehow manages to move, helping Catra hold back her mane so she can slip the leather cord over her head and tuck it beneath her hair. If she hesitates a moment too long in letting go, at least Catra only shoots her an amused glance. "How's it look?"

"Great," Adora manages to croak out, trying to swallow past the sudden dryness in her throat. "You look great. Umm... Happy early Winterfest, I guess?"

"Well, I'm gonna hold onto yours a little longer," Catra laughs, playfully sticking out her tongue before reaching out. "C'mere, you big dork."

Adora shuffles closer, mind and heart both screaming as Catra draws her into a hug, nuzzling her head against the side of her neck. A little whisper. "Thank you."

Adora swallows again, even harder. "You're welcome."

Between them, the necklace rests, the music side pressed right up against Catra's heart.

----------

Fun fact: the shopkeep is based off a cool old dude selling machine pressed necklaces I ran into at a Scottish festival when I was 13, and he made such an impression I never forgot him. Anyway, happy Valentine's! Have a Big Gay Realization!

[manggaetteokkie]

Can I just gripe here for sec because I've got some beefs lol 1- Can fans stop getting upset for the guys as if they're not adults and can't speak up if something bothers them enough? This whole free Jungkook from Jimin is annoying. I tried ignoring but the bitter reaction to today's little Jimin close up to JK's neck clip makes me want to set fire to my eyebrows. If Jungkook was seriously bothered like extremely uncomfortable, I do not believe Jimin would still be doing it (page 1)

(Page 2) Jungkook is not a pushover. He could at anytime have a sit down and tell Jimin not to do it anymore. If Jimin then kept on doing it then I doubt Jungkook would be willing to spend so much time with someone who didn't respect his boundaries. Instead they're the best of friends. 2- People doubt how much JK cared about JM after the non bday post but this is the same dude who got lost and ended up crying to Jimin about how sorry he was because he did not want to lose that relationship lol

omfg I know you wanted to vent but holy shit “makes me want to set fire to my eyebrows” is an expression I will have to use at some point in my life because good lord I don’t even know what it’s supposed to express but I feel it in my soul

That aside, this post is pretty much exactly everything I agree with? All this grade AAA beef is what I’m here for, so let’s make a tasty steak out of it x)

I mean, the boundaries thing pretty much goes both ways. On one hand, as you’ve said, if Jungkook really didn’t like something, he would’ve told Jimin by now and Jimin would’ve stopped. They’ve been together long enough to have had the necessary discussions without needing people feeling so-called-righteous-anger on JK’s behalf as a catalyst for change. 

On the other hand, Jimin himself is also not oblivious enough to miss how uncomfortable Jungkook would’ve been with skinship, so he himself would’ve reigned it in. The fact that they spend time together outside of what we see on screen pretty much shows that they are close and comfortable with each other’s presence? Not just comfortable, but they would be willing to seek each other out to spend even more time together? Like, even if there are stuff about each other that bothers them, it’s clearly not anything that matters or we should care about?

And yeah, measuring the depth of a relationship based on whether or not he posted for Jimin’s birthday is definitely a weird one for me. I can somewhat understand people feeling unhappy because “hey, it’s just a birthday post, would’ve taken him 2 seconds to just show this little bit of appreciation and appease the masses”, but still... I think I’ve already made my feelings clear so I’m not gonna bother repeating my words. This is the guy who, in 2015-2016, had a big enough fight with Jimin to have Jimin leave in a fit of anger, only to call Jimin a few minutes after to apologize??

Like damn, the funniest thing to me is when people say “ah Jimin and Jungkook are not close, they just do it for the cameras” or “Ah, it’s probably all faked, look at how JK didn’t even post for his bday” in 20-fkn-20. Bro, it’s been seven years, if anything were to have happened to break their relationship, it would’ve already happened a few years ago. If they didn’t like each other, JK wouldn’t have booked tickets to Tokyo for Jimin’s birthday, Jimin wouldn’t have boarded that flight to South Korea just to celebrate JK’s birthday before leaving again, they wouldn’t be drinking buddies, etc etc.

Part of me feel that it’s literally because people only look at their relationship face value, only seeing Jimin as this affectionate hyung and Jungkook as this introverted dongsaeng. Yes, this is part of who they are but it’s not all they are. They understand each other’s struggles because they are similar, as seen during their documentaries series when Jimin rushed over when he heard that Jungkook had hurt himself because he thought he was going to cry. Yes, that comment might have been made as a lighthearted joke after seeing that JK was fine but there’s an underlying meaning that he knows how frustrated JK would be because of how his injury would affect his performance. Similarly, Jungkook understands Jimin’s frustrations of being unable to give his 110% because of his neck pain.

Anyways, I got a little too into my answer (sorry anon, for this long ass reply) but seriously, the relationship between Jimin and Jungkook is a hill I am willing to die on. I literally don’t care if you ship it or not, you just can’t in good conscience say that they don’t care about each other when we’ve had 7 years worth of proof that they do.

[odd-birds-and-booksellers]

Anything Like Christmas Wishes

It’s a very late and final “Tis the Damn Season for Two Dumb Bitches” from me and I’d like to once again express my hate for anything @doc-pickles talks me into and promise to never partake again. I hope you all had lovely Christmas and enjoy a little more of the Kit Kat universe, I never planned to write more than one oneshot for him and here we are so let me know what you think.

This is part of the Anything like series so if you haven’t already go check it out.

“Dad!”

Alex caught sight of Kit as he exited his friend's house, apparently, one of the kids in his class was born on Christmas Day which meant his parents always went overboard on the Christmas eve party.

Alex had been pretty bummed to lose half a day with Kit on their first Christmas together but he couldn’t let him down, especially when Kit had been so excited telling him all about this famous party. He had to admit the smile on his face had been well worth it. He’d only been in his life for a little over six months but Alex already felt like he’d known him forever, he’d made a point of knowing everything about him, what he liked, what he disliked, allergies, shoe size, favourite ice cream flavour, teachers names, anything and everything he could think of, he even quizzed Jo on her pregnancy when she let him. He was so desperate to not feel like the outsider looking in and the family he could've had.

“How was the party Kit Kat?” Alex asked as he buckled the young boy into his car seat, ruffling his hair affectionately before he shut the door.

“It was awesome...Jamie’s dad set himself on fire.”

Alex chuckles peering up to see Kits grinning face that was covered in chocolate cake still in the mirror. “Oh well, that sounds safe…”

“It was really funny…”

“I’m glad you had fun, are you excited for Christmas tomorrow?”

“Yeah, I’m so excited.” Kits eyes light up at the mention of Christmas as Alex pulls out onto the street. “Momma and I are gonna watch the Grinch and make lunch together, momma always burns something.”

Alex chuckles, catching Kit's eye in the mirror as he pulls up at red light, the miniature Alex falling into a fit of laughter as Alex shudders at the thought of Jo’s cooking. “Oh don’t I know it.”

“What are you doing dad?”

“I’m probably gonna go into work and check on my patients…”

Alex hears Kit gaps dramatically at his answer, making him furrow his eyebrows as he looks back at him. “You’re not...you’re not gonna see bista and El?”

Bista and El, Kit had accidentally called Alexis his bista instead of sister the first time they’d met and they’d found it so funny it had ended up sticking. It had been a great relief to Alex to see them all get along, Kit was so excited to have even more family and well for the twins Alex assumed they were getting used to surprise family members appearing every five years, plus they really enjoyed having a younger brother, someone to teach all the cool stuff they knew to and boss around.

“No, they're with their mom this year. We take it in turns. I saw them last year, so this year it’s their turn with her so I’ll see them the day after and then we’ll come to pick you up in the afternoon.” Alex forces a huge smile on to his face, hoping Kit doesn't pick up on the fact that it doesn't quite meet Alex’s eyes, he really hated spending Christmas without his kids, he hated more that he’d gone from the guy all alone on Christmas to the family man cutting the turkey and then back to being alone again.

“Oh…” Kits face dropped as they pulled up to Alex’s, looking down at his hands as he waited for Alex to open the car door for him. “So you’re all alone?”

“No no I’m okay buddy, I’ve got a lot of kids at the hospital that need my help.” It wasn’t a complete lie, he could go to the hospital, sure he wasn’t due to work but he’d definitely have something to do, he'd never wished a kid sick but he sure could use the distraction.

“You can come to my house.” Kit exclaims, throwing his hands up in excitement, sending sweets flying as they both kick their shoes off by the door, Kit tugging at Alex’s sleeve and he excitedly tells him his new idea. “Momma won’t mind at all, you can share my presents.”

“Thanks, Kit Kat, but you don’t have to worry about me, you and momma have your own plans.” He watches as Kit deflates once again, his little lip jutting out the same way Jo’s does. Alex hated this, he hated hurting his kids however inadvertent it was. It's clear a change in topic is in need if Alex is gonna rescue this KitKat and Daddy day. “Now...who wants to play Mario kart?”

-

The spend the rest of the afternoon playing as many games as they can, Alex may have gone overboard with the sweet treats, he was kind of a sucker when it came to spoiling his kids, it wasn't until Kit had begun running purposefully in the wall only to fall into a fit of giggles and go again that he realised he'd made a mistake one that he'd have to somehow explain to Jo.

“HI MOMMA,” Kit screamed the minute Jo opened her front door, his eyes wide as he raced past Jo, spinning around in circles in the hallway.

“Hi Kit Kat” Jo laughed bemused as she looked back at him before turning towards Alex who was sheepishly making his way up the drive with Kits bags in hand.

“He’s kinda sugar high” Alex mutters rubbing the back of his neck as Jo steps aside to let him, they’d agreed he’d have Christmas Eve with the Kit this year but Alex didn’t wanna lose any time with him so they’d decided he’d spend the evening with him at Jo’s so he could do the bedtime routine and Kit could still wake up with Jo. Jo had promised to make herself scarce already feeling bad Alex wouldn’t be with Kit on Christmas, much to Alex’s dismay who really wouldn’t mind spending time with her and Kit together, but Jo was pretty against the idea of giving Kit the wrong idea.

She’d insisted she’d be attending her hospital Christmas Eve party which is why she was standing there now, shaking her head as she crossed her arms over her chest, the deep red satin dress clinging to her body making Alex avert his eyes up to her face which wasn’t helping much because the red lipstick she’d chosen to wear really had his mind spinning as he stepped into her house.

“I can see that...Thanks for bringing him here, I don’t wanna ruin your time together I just thought it would be easier to put him to bed here.”

“Jo I get it you don’t have to explain it to me, I’m happy to do whatever makes you happy” Alex mutters carefully choosing his words as she closes the door leaving little space between them, making Alex shift uncomfortably.

“So you keep saying…”

“Well, I mean it, Jo.” Alex’s voice changes, sounding a life more serious as he peers his head around the living room door checking that Kit was alright, watching as their son every toy he could out of the toy chest in there. “So you're going to that Christmas party?” He asks looking back to Jo gesturing to her dress.

“Yeah...I wouldn’t usually, I mean if I’m off on Christmas I’ve always usually been with Kit but I...it’s only fair you have time with him but I can’t sit here on my own so the party’s a good distraction.”

“Well, you could’ve hung out with me and Kit.”

“No no, it’s your time I don’t wanna encroach.”

“Jo really it’s-“

Alex is cut off by another male voice.

“Jo...Hi” There standing in the doorway to the kitchen is a man Alex doesn't recognise dressed in a smart suit navy blue, that screams more expensive than one-months paycheck. “You must be Alex...Kit’s dad right?” The mystery man moves towards Alex, offering his hand out for him.

“Right.” Alex nods, his hand tightly clasping around the mystery man as he sized him up. He hadn’t seen Jo with another guy yet, he knew she’d been on a few dates the last six months but he hadn’t actually seen a guy with her, seen a goy put his hands on her. He’d assumed he’d be okay, so much time had passed since they’d been together but seeing this guy here now, in the house his son lived in, Jo dressed up to the nines to go out with him...it all made him feel sick.

That should be him, this man is in his place, in a life that should’ve been his but he’d ruined his chance a long time ago and he couldn’t really blame any guy for wanting to be with Jo.

“Sorry this is erm Dr Walker he’s the trauma chief at work.”

Dr Walker pulls his phone from his pocket as it pings, tutting at something before he begins to type away furiously. “We should get going.”

Alex withheld a growl that rumbled low in his chest as he watched Walker walk straight past Jo looking down at his phone as he grabbed his coat from by the door.

Jo looks a little uneasy as she checks her watch, glancing between the two men in her hallway before letting out a shaky breath. “Alex…”

“It’s fine Jo...go, have fun, you deserve it.” Alex shakes his head smiling at her, watching as she calls Kit to say goodbye before following the doctor out, glancing back at Alex as she heads down towards what he assumes must be Walkers car.

-

When Jo returns home later that night she’s pretty sure she’d never been happier to see her little yellow front door, waving goodbye to Dr Walker she heads up her drive, as she slips into the door she can hear the TV still on in the living room, poking her head around the door she spots Alex sprawled out across the sofa, one hand clutched on the remote, the other behind his head as he snores softly. His face is covered in Kits face paint in a pattern Jo could only describe as a drunken tiger, it made her chuckle softly as she stared at him. The relationship he’d been building with Kit made her heart soar, they were best buds and she was glad Kit seemed to adjust to his presence so quickly. It wasn't much of a surprise to her though, Kit had pretty much been a carbon copy of Alex since birth, even though Alex insisted he saw a lot of her in him.

A crash from behind her makes Jo jump as she whips around spotting those mischievous Karev eyes staring back at her. There Kit was standing on the staircase, dressed in his dinosaur Christmas PJs, his green teddy Link had bought him when he was born tucked under his arm, the Batman torch he’d dropped down the stairs lying on the floor by Jo’s feet.

“Hi Monkey...what are you still doing up?” She asks narrowing her eyes on him as she slips out of her feels making her way halfway up the staircase to meet him.

“Checking to see if Santa had been.”

Jo smiles, stroking her hand as across his cheeks as she sits on the steps, patting the space beside her for him to sit. “Well you know he only comes if you’re asleep, so you better run back up to bed.”

Kit squirms in her arms, protesting immediately making Jo frown. “But I need him to know I’ve changed my Christmas wish.”

“You have?”

“Yeah…”

“What about that remote control truck you wanted?”

“I don’t want it...I want dad to come for Christmas.” Jo opens her mouth, words failing her as her heart breaks a little, she hadn’t expected Kit to ask that she had never wanted to give Kit the wrong idea about doing things as a family it was the whole reason she'd not invited him, even though she'd questioned her decision every time she saw her boys together, having to remind herself each and every time that they both weren't hers, only Kit was. “He’s gonna be alone, I don’t want him to be alone.” Kit mumbles pulling at Jo’s hair as his eyes downcast to the living room doorway.

“That’s a really nice wish Kit Kat.” Jo smiles softly brushing back his hair, pressing a kiss to his forehead. “You know the good thing about Santa?...he always knows what your Christmas wish is, now back up to bed please.” She whispers, holding her hand out for Kit as she guides him back up to his bedroom.

Half an hour later when Jo managed to slip out of Kits room, happily convinced he’d finally gone back to sleep, she wonders if Alex had woken up at all.

She finds him exactly where she’d left him, sleeping soundly on the sofa, he looked so peaceful and she had to fight the urge to curl up beside him. “Alex…”

She tried to gently shake him awake as she kneels down on the floor beside him. “Alex.”

“Huh, what’s the time?” He croaks abruptly sitting up as he looks around the room frantically trying to get his surroundings.

“Just gone midnight.”

“Oh sorry,” he sighs, rubbing a hand down his face as he meets her eyes, making Jo’s heartbeat speed up as she realises how close his face is. “How was your night?”

There’s something that flashes through his eyes as he asks about her night and she knows he’s testing the waters, wanting to ask about the man he’d met earlier.

“It was okay,” Jo shrugs, smirking as he looks her up and down.

“Just okay?”

“Eh pretty stuffy, I hate these parties, don't even know why I bothered.”

“And that Dr Worker?”

“Walker.” Jo corrects, she has to bite her lip to stop herself from laughing as she watched the lines form across Alex’s forehead scowling after the thought of the man. “What about him?”

“How was he?”

“Fine...so was his wife, who I’m good friends with,” Jo mutters waiting for Alex to react as she fiddled with her empty ring finger. She hadn’t even worn her ring that long but she’d never got used to the empty space it left.

“Huh?”

Jo rolls her eyes he really was dum sometimes. “She got called into surgery last minute but I’d already agreed to go with them so I didn’t have to walk in alone and he wouldn’t take no for an answer, anyway she joined us there.”

“Oh I thought-“

“Oh, I know what you thought.”

“I’m sorry Jo, I know I have no right…”

“No, you really don’t.”

Alex sighs, for a second there had been a wave of relief flood through his body when she’d told him it wasn’t in fact a date she’d been on, but that was soon replaced with the reminder that she wasn’t his, and that he’d still be going home tonight alone. Slowly he rises off the sofa, grabbing the throw banker he’d laid out and haphazardly folding it up never meetings Jo’s eye as she rises from the floor in front of him, “I should get going. “

“Alex?” He’s just made it the doorway when he feels her slender hand wrap around his arm pulling him back towards her before he even has a chance to question it.

Suddenly she’s all he can see, her red lipstick a little faded from her evening out, her eyes a little tired but they still had the same beautiful sparkle they always had when they’d look at him, he honestly thought he’d never not see pain reflecting in her eyes when he’d bumped into her at the hospital six months ago but he was relieved to see that wasn't true.

He watched as her eyes flick up, pursing her lips as she tries to fight the smile on her face as Alex stares back at her dumbfounded still, his whole body set on fire from her simple touch.

Mistletoe.

Mistletoe hanging neatly with a gold bow from the doorway, Alex hadn’t even noticed it earlier this evening.

Jo raised her eyebrows at him in a silent question, her hand still wrapped around his arm as she leaned in closer her breath fanning across his face making Alex’s heart thump harder in his chest.

He wasn’t a shy guy, he didn’t get nervous kissing women he was attracted to but this wasn’t just any women this was Jo, Jo who knew him better than most people, Jo who he loved with everything in him...still even now. Jo who happened to be standing before him in a red satin dress that set his pulse racing with one glance and suddenly he was a teenage boy who’d never kissed a girl sitting in the nurse's office.

He’s hesitant as he leans forward, pressing his lips against her soft cheek. It’s a simple and sweet and over way too soon but it’s closest he’s been to her since they’d reunited and with every movement, Alex was scared she’d back off, turn around and tell him she hated him and she’d be well within her right to.

“That’s pathetic,” Jo whispers stepping closer to Alex, both hands tracing up his arms coming to rest against his shoulders. “How the hell am I meant to know if we still have something with a kiss like that?”,

Alex shakes his head confused for a moment, surprised as his hands wind around her waist as if they’d never stopped doing so, “You don’t know if we’ve still got something?” He asks in disbelief at how she could ever question their connection as he feels h er fingers tangle in the hair at the nape of his neck and he lifts his lips in a small smile as she leans further into him.

“Well it wouldn’t be bad to confirm it…” she teases, her lips brushing over his.

Alex cuts her off, his lips pressing against hers, making Jo yelp as he pushed her against the wall tightening his grip around her waist.

“How’s that for you?” He mumbles nipping at her bottom lip gently. Smirking at the way her red lipstick is now smudged, his cocky boy self proud he’d been the one to smudge it.

“Good…but erm maybe we should check again?" Jo mutters little breathlessly, her thumb wiping her own lipstick from Alex’s lips as she leans back in pulling Alex’s head down so she could reach him as her lips find his again. “And again,” She whispers in between kisses. Now she’s started she can’t remember why they haven’t been doing this the whole time, maybe the pain she felt had been covering over the memories of him because right now she’s pretty sure nothing ever felt as good as this. “And again.”

The tiny groan Alex lets out, lets Jo know he's thinking the same thing as his hands slide higher up her waist.

When they break part in need of oxygen, Jo finds herself holding back a laugh at the absurdity of the situation, leaning back against the wall with Alex’s arms still around her. When she finally catches her breath she pushes off the wall untangling herself from his arms and for a moment he thinks she’s leaving but she surprises him as she reaches the bottom step when she turns around holding out her hand for him.

“Come on…”

Her words seem to act as cold water shaking Alex from his daze as he stops dead letting her hand fall between them. For a moment the fear they'd both read this all wrong creeps in.

“Jo I don’t wanna rush this, and it’s late and Kits asleep and I have no idea what this means or if I’m dreaming and then this means nothing at all but I know we should slow down…”

Jo wants to laugh because she’s never seen Alex Karev wanna slow down anything, he’d told her he loved her before they’d even kissed, he’d asked her to marry her before they’d been together a year. He had never taken things slow, not with her. She got it, he was scared, god knows she was but all she knows is that she spent most of her evening stood alone at that party tonight wondering why she wasn’t at home eating Chinese takeout with her two favourite boys in her pyjamas. And then she remembered she was too scared to, scared of being hurt again. Maybe this won’t work, maybe they aren’t destined for forever or maybe they are. Maybe if they just keep trying one day it will all work out, all she knew was that she didn’t wanna look back and think of how happy she could’ve been if she’d just been a little less scared.

“I think we’re a bit past the taking it things slow stage Alex...now come on there’s a little boy who’s Christmas wish for his dad to be here when he wakes up...you wanna make his wish come true? Maybe make my wish come true too?”

She grabs hold of his hand dragging him upstairs without a response, keeping her firm mom voice on so Alex couldn’t argue with her. They had plenty of time to sort it all out, right now she’d really just like to fall asleep in his arms again.

-

“Mom...mom he’s been, he’s been, he came...Santa came.” It’s Kits voice that wakes Jo up the next morning the little boy bursting into the room, stocking in hand as he clambers over Jo’s bed completely obvious to sleeping Alex he’d kicked in the stomach.

“He did…” Jo grins just about catching Kit before he falls headfirst off the bed, her whole face lighting up at her sons' excitement.

She watched as his little face twists up when he’d notices the usually empty side of his mom's bed is currently occupied, frowning as he peers over recognising the sleeping figure. Of course, Alex could sleep through all that noise.

“DAD” He screams leaping over Jo as he jumps onto Alex’s back making him groan as he shook him awake. “YOU'RE HERE” Kit squeals, hugging Alex's back tightly, as a sleepy Alex winces twisting carefully as Kit sits on top of him.

“Oh hey Kit Kat, good morning bud…” Alex smiles sleepily, rubbing a hand over his face as he looked towards Jo who was smiling beside him, her eyes watering slightly as she met his.

“Mom, dads here.” Kit whispers his little arms wrapping tightly around Alex’s neck as he hugged him close.

“Yeah, he is baby.” Jo’s voice cracks a little as she watched the two, turning away slightly as she wiped her own tears on Alex’s T-shirt sleeve that she’d thrown on at some point early this morning.

Alex tries to ignore the way his heart breaks knowing the reason for Jo’s tears as he watches Kit begin to rip open his stocking, he’d missed this, he’d missed their family he missed her. All this time wasted.

“Don’t…” she whispers from beside him softly as she snuggled into his side watching as Kit begins to line up some of his gifts. “It’s okay we have time now.” She mumbles against his neck as if she knows exactly what’s he thinking her hand tenderly reaching up to wipe the tears he hadn’t even known he was crying before he felt her wipe them away.

“This is the best Christmas ever.” Kit exclaims looking up at his parents completely unaware of their quiet moment as both their faces smile brightly back at him.

Alex nods wrapping an arm around Jo as he tugs her closer to him, pressing a kiss to the top of her head as Kit begs them to follow him downstairs to the rest of his presents.

“Yeah, it’s a pretty amazing Christmas...” Jo agrees as Kit crashes down between them, the little boy's laughter ringing out as Alex hoists him up ticking his side as Jo begins to smother him in kisses.

[the-satellite]

Hello friends and welcome to ☆Hateful Nostalgia☆. I was exposed to the mob talker mod WAY too young bc I was an unsupervised child on the internet watching mod showcases and SkyDoesMinecraft. Looking back these sucked, the stories were often bland and the designs were milk toast at best and tits out at worst. So for the sake of procrastinating on working on anything substantial I grabbed the main 6 I remembered and gussied em up. Redesigns, rewrites, better names, all that bullshit. If your interested in better photos, design notes, story details and rambling hit the basement, otherwise here's a line up you should click for better quality.

Also I wrote all this once before already but I deleted it like a dumb bitch. On the night Unus Annus was murdered in front of my eyes no less. Was a rough fuckin night.

The Creeper- Kupa. An explosive pyromaniac with a habit of making empty threats and yelling. She protects what she believes to be her territory with a suicidal passion, but if you manage to get her to cool down and soften up she's pretty sick to hand out with. Hard of hearing, has at least one bout of head trauma at all times, and deathly allergic to cats.

Because the creeper is kinda the og I wanted to reference AT2's design more than the others, but I'm p sure the only thing I actually kept was the red hair and brown gloves. Otherwise I was doing whatever. I really wanted to lean into the explody bit of creepers, so I gave her some bite and dressed her in clothes referenced from Irish railroad workers. This may also be why I keep imaging her with a very heavy Irish or Scottish accent, whichever would be most incomprehensible when angry. Every color but her skin was color picked from one of the references, with some minor alterations for makes my eyes happy reasons.

With Kupa I imagine a story line with her would largely be about her as a character and her development than like an actual adventure narrative like everyone else. She starts off ready to blow up both you and herself in a misguided attempt to defend what she sees as her's and opens up and learns not everyone is out to get her. Lots of time taken to understand her childhood and how she ended up how she is. Very simple, probably the default or tutorial run people would go through.

The Zombie- Bee. The ill husk of a missing explorer suffering from a less than conventional appetite. She wallows in her self imposed loneliness, believing herself to be an irredeemable monster doomed to hurt those around her. What she really needs is a buddy and some clue to who she used to be. Rough voiced, chronically fatigued, and prone to spontaneous combustion in sunlight.

 I definitely consider this one the weakest for design sadly. I imagined Zombies as humans who went into strange caves and caverns and didn't come out for years, only to pop up as completely different people. I just tossed AT2's design. The first thing I did was make her a bit of a genderbent Steve and tinted her green bc Zombies in game are just Steve but green. Tore up her clothes, colored picked the darkest colors I could from the clothes on the in game and boom, Bee. I do vaguely regret not making her eyes pure black but I also still wanted her to be human enough to fit with the other overworld mods.

 Ok so Bee actually has a basic story. When you meet her she's aggressive, but as a warning. She fears the possibility she may hurt somebody so heads for threats immediately. Going back and forth between her cave and village for a while you learn more about the situation with the missing folks who come back and Bee as a person. After a bit you pick her up off her depressed ass and start a nocturnal adventure of refinding your past, adapting to who your becoming, overcoming self destuction, and slow burn babey!!! 

The Skeleton- Ulna. One of the few surviving warriors of a now destroyed kingdom and dead culture. She spends most of her time now traveling alone, hiding in trees and shooting anything see sees as a threat- which is everything- in the face with homemade arrows. Very much suffering from loss of her home and a bad case of lost purpose. A woman of few words, very antisocial, and naturally nocturnal.

 I came in with the Skeleton wanting to make her seem mysterious, so my first thought was immediately a cloak and a mask, but I wanted her face to like be visible so I went with the face paint. I didn't actually know that I wanted to do under there so I went with wraps that are reminiscent of the original outfit but still not tits out bc it's so fucking easy! Gave her a quiver, color picked the cloak and face paint from the in game model and the wraps from AT2'S art. I did like. Subconsciously draw her eyes the way I do Asian characters but I didn't have anything specific in mind so like go nuts with what you think she is.

 Ulna's deal is very much her lack of purpose or home and the entire thing is about finding that again. She's found sitting up in a tree during a storm pointing a bow and arrow into your face. She eventually let's you stick around until the storm is over and theres some bonding into deep night until the rain stops. You ask if she wants to come with on your little travelling sword for hire business, she says sure, sleep schedule shenanigans, backstory angst, and road trip bonding happens and she eventually decides that helping people is her new purpose and you're her new home

The Spider- Park. A young adult experiencing the world for the first time through her tribe's rite of passage. She's really just trying to figure out how to live life outside of the cave she's been stuck in her entire life and aggressively trying to be an independent adult despite not knowing anything about being an independent adult. Its projection. Blind in the daylight, naive and excitable, and taken to refusing help at her own risk.

 Ok so. I don't know who looked at the spider and said "purple haired loli with puffy pants" so I once again yeeted the whole thing, only really keeping the kinda cutesy and childish bits. Spiders are a tribe of humans what live in caves unless they've broken off to live on the surface. Kids are kept inside until they hit a certain milestone, where they come up to explore at night. They're usually small and pale, but are pretty kickass when necessary. Again picked the colors off the in game model, played with the lightest gray for the skin, and bc I couldn't figure out anyway to use the stripes so they're on the patches lol.

 Park's meeting is probably the funniest and most meet cute one here, in that she accidentally drops on top of you from a little cliff drop off. Cue loads of apologies and an explanation about the spider deal and being blind in light. She asks for some help getting around and bam babey friendship and emotional attachment! What follows is kinda a buddy of coming of age story with the obligatory goes home and is miserable scene. Generally it's just about being a scared young adult and having someone to fall back on and why that's important. Also crushes and young people being bad at that.

 The Blaze- Amber. A demonic entity who would let the world burn and the sun die if it meant she'd get her soul back. She's known for being ruthless, taking souls through force instead of making deals like other Blazes. Keeps this forceful nature even once she's become friendly, makes you do dump shit. Territorial, eyes glow and dim with her life, and runs remarkably warm.

 Amber here is the first one I actually did! I was just. Really tired that she was in a bikini. I decided early on I wanted overworld mobs to be human and everyone else was decidedly not, so Blazes are demons who gave up their souls under false pretenses to other Blazes. Because of how little clothes AT2's design wore I had essentially free reign and my thought was immediately to lean on golden knight bc of how Blazes are found protecting fortresses. The gold isn't picked from anything bc I was looser with the colors, but everything else is, and the hair is supposed to represent the smoke. Also the sticks in her hair are blaze rods bc I don't like them just floating around her.

Amber is found in the Nether obviously, protecting a fortress and immediately trying beat your ass and either incinerate you or make you give up your soul. During you prove yourself a p damn good fighter and she makes a deal to show you how Blazes exist and pursade you to give your soul up willingly. Bonding happens and she explains where the souls go and what happened to her. Insert line about how she dug in the sand for her soul until her fingers bleed bc I'm an Arcana freak lol. In general I'd just like her to learn to adapt to who she is now and learning to live life well instead of letting her anger burn her up from the inside out.

 The Enderman- Violet. A confused but sweet young bit of void created by and connected to the Ender Dragon. Her relationship with reality is tenuous at best and abusive at worst, making stable existence rather difficult. She doesn't know a name, age, gender, anything about herself aside from that she likes sweaters. Communicates primarily through psychic connections, docile and sweet, and melts like a witch in water.

 Violet was incredibly easy, so this may be way short. Endermen are decidedly human shaped void from the End with varying sentience. They're direct extensions of the Ender Dragon, and nobody knows how they're made or where they come from, not even they do. Adventurers who escaped The End say they seem scared of it though. Violet in particular is pretty damn new and extraordinary nonconforming, and I tried to show that with her sweater and ponytail. Once again, literally all colors picked. Definitely the simplest but one of my favs.

Violet is the sweetest meet up I think. As your traveling between villages you notice a strange enderman watching you and plant a little flower in front of her. She picks it and you hear a happy little trill come from you and a pretty voice say thank you in your head. Now you have a tall dark teleporting travel buddy! After a little bit of back and forth she tells you in some broken English that the Ender Dragon made her but she doesnt know how, and that it's bad and needs to be killed for the sake of Endermen and that's the new goal. Spoiler they're the corrupted souls of those that died fighting it, with it gone Endermen are free to exist as their own being and do whatever, hurray!

[vagrantblvrd]

PreFAHC Battle Buddies where Ryan is an ER nurse & ends up treating his neighbor Jeremy when he stumbles into the apartment, bleeding & bruised. They end up going out for coffee when Ryan isn't dying & Jeremwood happens. Flash forward, Ry is the Vagabond & someone gets hurt, they're stuck at a safe house & he ends up treating the crew member & has a ~shockingly~ fantastic bedside manner. Just, some soft Jeremwood FAHC & breaking scary Vagabond expectations with soft ER Ryan, Jeremy & crew.

Okay, so like.

Jeremy’s got these cats and maybe some plants and whenever he’s on a job or whatever for a while he knocks on Ryan’s door and asks if he’d mind looking after them while he’s gone?

Just pop on over to feed and water them, play with them to keep them from wrecking the place? He’ll pay him and everything.

Ryan just, ahaha, because cats usually aren’t that fond of him but sure, sure, and no need to pay him because neighbors, right? Maybe return the favor with Ryan’s own bunch of houseplants when he’s working doubles or what have you.

This goes on for a while without incident, they give each other copies of keys to their places and it’s a No Big Deal for either of them.

Like, sure. Ryan sometimes comes across a set of knives or brass knuckles. (Every so often there’s something that looks like it could be dried blood, but it could be something else? Paint??? He’s certainly no an expert, hahaha.)

He finds a gun once or twice, all of them left out by happenstance, like Jeremy was just so damn tired from whatever it is he does he put them down and kind of forgot. Had to leave at a moment’s notice and forgot to put them away properly most likely, since the texts he sent Ryan asking to look in on things seemed a bit frantic?

Anyway, surely Jeremy isn’t up to anything untoward.

And then one day Ryan gets home from work later than expected, feels guilty because he promised Jeremy he’d look after the cats and plants for him while he’s out of town, right? Only it’s been a shitshow of a day, this clusterfuck that was on the news. Gang war or something and they were short-staffed to start with so he ended up working a – hell if he knows? He’s pretty sure he had a morning shift, but that was a day, two, ago maybe and everything between then and getting home is a blur.

He heads straight to Jeremy’s place because the cats have to be starving by now and oh, God, please don’t let them have gone feral. Wreck the place and destroy the plants and everything in their path because they’re horribly spoiled brats.

Ryan walks into a war zone, shit knocked over everywhere. Pillows shredded and bits of toilet paper trailing out from the bathroom because of course they’d go that that first. Plants overturned and somehow they they to the food, dragged the bags and containers out and tore into them, evidence everywhere and the cats?

Loudly making their displeasure known because the wet food has proven a most formidable foe, will not come out from their metal shells no matter how many times they get knocked off the highest of kitchen counters or batted into the wall.

“Jesus Christ,” Ryan mutters, because what even happened while he was at work?

He sets his bag full of important things like balled up jacket because summer and hot and too tired fold it like a human being. Tupperware for the lunch he packed however long ago and eaten who knows when. (Can’t remember the last time he ate, but surely it can’t have been more than a day?)

Bits and bobs and phone that’s at fifteen, maybe twenty percent charge left at this point.

Goes to get a brook and dustpan after he sorts out the food situation for the cats and does his best with the plants. (A little battered, sure, but they look like they’re going to survive.)

And then!

Just as he’s rooting around Jeremy stumbles through the door, all fucked up because reasons?

Bleeding and hobbling around and generally mini flesh wound injured a la every action movie ever. (Shot or stabbed, but only enough that it’s cause for worry but not cut scene death worry?)

Ryan comes out, broom and dustpan in hand – thinks at first he didn’t fully close the front door thanks to his exhaustion or maybe the cats are acting up again, but no, no.

It’s Jeremy standing in his living room looking like shit, gun out and aimed at Ryan who’s like, “Uh...” because okay, wow yes.

All that plausible deniability he’s been working on regarding Jeremy and his everything is kind of pointless now, you know.

Jeremy and this general feeling of well, shit because no way Ryan doesn’t turn him in or whatever after this.

Definitely no way Jeremy’s going to kill him because talk about rude, and also that hardcore crush he’s got for the guy, you know? A shame he’s going to have to move though. Go to ground somewhere until the cops stop looking for him and all that, that he won’t get to see Ryan anymore but it’ll certainly be the smart thing to do.

And then Ryan’s like, “You’re kind of bleeding. A lot.”

Jeremy’s aware of that, thanks???

Ryan looks at the broom and dustpan he’s still holding and just sighs, because he, too, has this hardcore crush on Jeremy and also the whole medical professional business?

“If you don’t shoot me I could do something about that,” Ryan says, and waits until his words register with Jeremy, Jeremy lowering his weapon to set the broom and dustpan aside.

Waits until Jeremy puts the safety on and sets his gun aside and gives Ryan this crooked little smile he takes for permission before he gets the first-aide kit he remembers seeing in Jeremy’s bathroom. (Big old thing, obviously gets used a lot. Because reasons?)

When he comes back out Jeremy’s got sitting at his kitchen counter, got the lights on and everything and Ryan heads on over. Notices the gun Jeremy’s set on the counter a little ways away and while it should feel like a threat, it doesn’t?

Jeremy’s oblivious though, busy trying to get out of his jacket, but his injuries and the whatnot make that a whole Process, so Ryan has no choice but to help at this point.

��Need a hand?” he asks, because the last damn thing he wants is to spook Jeremy, do something he doesn’t like.

Sure, sure, Jeremy’s pretty easy-going most of the time, right? Bright and friendly and just overall great kind of guy, but this isn’t the usual scenario for the two of them and all that.

Jeremy sighs and gives Ryan this pitiful look, and Ryan snorts as he helps Jeremy out of his jacket, this horribly purple thing and up to that point he’s not been thinking about Jeremy’s fashion choices, right?

But honestly, the purple and orange with this pop of yellow is all-over horrible and he may or may not say something to that effect.

Jeremy huffs, because rude, and also it’s a fashion statement. (What kind he doesn’t say, and Ryan chooses not to ask because he’s not sure he’d like the answer?.)

Jeremy watches him work, Ryan muttering to himself here and there, and Jeremy amused by it because Ryan is personally offended by some quick patch jobs Jeremy did himself that are in various stages of healing. Crooked, uneven stitches that are a goddamned mess and infected and other atrocities. Just grumbles as he goes about dealing with those once he’s got the newer injuries fixed up and such.

When he’s finally done he just sits back and looks at Jeremy, all annoyed because what incompetent asshole has been stitching him up before this? Ryan wants names.

Jeremy is just grinning at Ryan because dear God is he an adorable asshole.

“That would be me,” he says, and doesn’t explain that he’s maybe been in trouble for the past few days. On the run from some enemies he made a while back and kind of forgot about?

Patching himself up in some shitty little safehouse somewhere and then more running and hiding and shootouts before he got rid of them for good and stumbled on home. (Was totally involved in that clusterfuck that had Ryan at the hospital for forever going from patient to patient with no reprieve.)

Ryan eyeing Jeremy because he suspected as much and is just.

“Alright then,” and assuming Jeremy doesn’t just kill him makes a mental note to teach Jeremy how to piece himself back together properly.

And then it gets a little awkward because oh, right, Jeremy might just do that?

But Jeremy’s not reaching for the gun or one of his knives or anything along the lines. Is just looking at Ryan with this dopey little smile and Ryan isn’t sure what to do with that?

So.He cleans up. Packs the first-aide kit back up and puts it back where he found it after he scrounges up some paper and writes down the stuff Jeremy’s going to need to restock plus a few things he didn’t have on hand that he probably should?

And then he comes out to find Jeremy about to fall asleep and bullies him to his feet and puts him to bed because he needs it?

Stands there and stares at Jeremy after the idiot falls asleep, the cats popping up out of the woodwork to snuggle him. Sighs as he closes the bedroom door and finishes cleaning up the mess the cats made while they were both out.

Stares at Jeremy’s gun on the counter for a long, long moment – he really should call the cops, do something about finding out Jeremy’s a damn criminal, but he’s too tired to deal with all that at the moment.

Cleans around the gun and dithers for a bit before he digs through Jeremy’s freezer and transfers one of the tupperware containers of leftovers out of Jeremy’s freezer to the fridge to thaw so he’ll have that on hand whenever he wakes up along with a note telling him to fucking eat, only more politely worded?

And then he grabs his bag and locks up after himself to go to his place down the hall.

Plans to take a shower and all that? (He’s got the next few days off thanks to the clusterfuck and extra hours at the hospital and plans to use them to catch up on missed sleep.)

But he’s so fucking tired and just passes out the moment he stops moving. (Sits down on his crappy couch to get his shoes off and all and bam, lights out.)

Wakes up to a blanket draped over him and note taped to his glasses that are on the coffee table, simple little thank you and something about food in the microwave?

And when his brain is kind of in working order again he gets up to check and finds one of Jeremy’s many, many tupperware containers of food and a smiley face on a post0it note and is like, huh.

Has no idea what to make of it, but he’s starving and Jeremy’s an amazing cook and since he didn’t kill Ryan in his sleep they must be okay???

So he eats the food Jeremy left him and then take a shower and deal with dirty laundry and other everyday things.

Runs into Jeremy on his way up from the laundry room and it’s this awkward little dance in the hallway – that thing people do when they try to slip past one another and keep going the same way and all that.

Jeremy still looks like shit, but less so, and Ryan’s in old sweats and his dork glasses and it’s just.

Weird?

And then Jeremy is like, “So, about the other day?”

Ryan expecting a threat to keep his mouth shut if he knows what’s good for him, but nah.Because Jeremy just wants to thank him for fixing him up and it’s the most awkward thing ever?

Somewhere in there Jeremy blurts out a thing about getting coffee sometime? And Ryan is just “I’m not much for coffee?” because awkward, and Jeremy is like oh, thinking Ryan’s trying to let him down gently, but!

“There’s this new burger place downtown?” Ryan says because dork who loves his food, and he and Jeremy had this whole discussion about best places to grab a burger around town and anyway, anyway.

Short story short they  go out for a lunch date a few days later and that leads to other lunch dates and dinner dates (coffee a few times, even) and then all sort of things.

First kisses and so on and both of them head over heels for the other. Ryan patching Jeremy up when he does something dumb or someone gets the drop on him. Finally getting around to teaching Jeremy how the patch himself up that won’t leave scars, or much of one anyway.

And, you know.

Some situation wherein Ryan ends up as the Vagabond.

(Someone at Ryan’s work or one of their neighbors ratting the two of them out and Ryan in a tight corner – has to choose and of course, or course he chooses Jeremy.)

The two of them going on the ~run, leaving whatever city they’re in until they end up on Los Santos and it’s Jeremy’s turn to teach Ryan a few things since he’s in Jeremy’s world now.

Jeremy used to take him to the shooting range before things went to shit on them, brought him down to the gym and all that? Wanted to be sure Ryan could defend himself if something ever happened, you know? (And of course there was the whole thing where Jeremy would pin Ryan, grinning down at him until Ryan cheated like a bastard and kissed him to put him off-balance, reverse the tables on him and all that. Sexy wrasslingand all that, both of them laughing like dorks and so, so in love. Those times at the shooting range where Jeremy had to readjust Ryan’s grip on his gun and so on, get all up in his personal space and both of them super aware of it? The whole shebang.)

But now it’s a bit more serious because if they’re not careful they’re going to get themselves killed and Ryan’s a good student. Fast learner, and while he thinks the dumb mask Jeremy gets him as a joke is overkill he goes along with it anyway since Jeremy’s got his own face mask and Rimmy Tim bullshit going on.

Everyone in Los Santos hears about the Battle Buddies after a while, this Vagabond character and Rimmy Tim.

Look at Ryan as the bigger threat because of the skull mask and never really seem to pick up on the fact he’s really not? Like sure, he’s good at his job and all, but mostly a disaster.

Rimmy Tim’s the one to look out for, but since he insists on the horrible fashion choices and friendly nature they see him as the bumbling sidekick, and honestly?

That’s exactly what Jeremy wants.Wants people to underestimate him because they won’t see it coming when he puts a knife in their back. Will be looking to the Vagabond and forget all about him.

And while he’d rather Ryan not be in that position? It’s easier to protect him, counter intuitive as it might seem.

The Fakes pick the two of them up at some point, and it’s an uneasy situation for the two of them at first.

Yes it means bigger, better opportunities for them, but it also means these assholes have the potential to fuck them over but good.

Learn about the two of them if they’ll be working together. Find their weaknesses and exploit them, but  it also, also means better protection for them too. (Everyone knows the Fakes look after their own and all that, but the Battle Buddies are a bit on the paranoid side of things at this point, so it’s a whole Thing, them settling into the crew.)

And then!

There’s a botched heist and the Ryan going to ground in a crew safehouse with Geoff and Michael. Geoff’s a little bit stabbed and Michael's a little bit beat up and eyeing Ryan warily because the Battle Buddies are still kind of a mystery to the crew, you know?

Ryan who ignores the way Michael's watching him as he goes to patch Geoff up, all, “Looking kind of rough there, boss,” and “I’ve got some experience patching people up,” and “If you lose any more blood you’re going be super dead, but sure.” when Geoff insists Ryan fix Michael up first.

And since Geoff would rather not be super dead he’s just fine, alright, fix me up.

So Ryan does, you know? Ropes Michael into being an extra pair of hands and tells them what he’s doing every step of the way, patient as hell with both of them even though they’re idiots?

And when Geoff’s as patched up as he’s going to get he deals with Michael who’s all fluffed up like Jeremy’s cats when they bring the vacuum out and all, but he calms down when Ryan continues on without batting an eye. (They assume, because he’s still wearing his mask.)

After they’re both patched up Michael eyes Ryan again because the moron’s bleeding a little bit himself, and offers to fix him up. Won’t do as good a job as Ryan’s done for both of them, but better than nothing, right?

Ryan’s a little surprised at the offer, but agrees. Talks Michael through the more serious stuff while Geoff watches them, all hmm because the rumors about the Vagabond don’t match up with this side of him, you know?

And after they get back to the penthouse and things go back to normal the others start to see it too, realize he and Jeremy aren’t that bad.

Time passes and the crew realizes that okay, wow, Ryan is in fact a disaster of a human being and while Jeremy’s not quite so bad they’re both the crew’s kind of disastrous, and then, idk, shenanigans?

[sweetheartben]

Hey there! I saw your 500 celebration post, so congratulations!! I also would love to make a request so how about Roger and reader unkwoingly having feelings towards each other until one day they're venting about how the person they love doesn't love them back and then they confess it's them and the kiss and it's beautiful. I need some silly fluff in my life, I'm too sad right now. Thanks!! :) xx

Thank you so much for sending something in!! this was so much fun to write and in true me fashion this tuned out way longer than anticipated, enjoy!!💗

You watched with wistful eyes as Roger messed around with his drums through the glass from the control room. He had insisted on getting the drum solo for the new song absolutely perfect, therefore missing going to get pizza with the boys and staying back to bang on some cymbals instead.

You were sitting in the sound technician’s chair with your feet kicked up on the mixing desk, careful not to push any important buttons that would completely mess everything up. You offered to stay back with Rog so he wouldn’t get lonely but you were quickly regretting your choice. 

Sitting and watching Roger play his drums was the most painful torture you’d ever felt in your life. Mostly because you couldn’t do anything about the way he looked.

You couldn’t go up to him and stand between his parted legs and brush the sweaty blond locks away from his pretty, angelic face. You couldn’t place your hands on his bare chest peeking out from the half unbuttoned, white shirt. And you most definitely couldn’t kiss those plush, pink as a rose lips. 

You and Roger had started out as good friends and you really thought that’s what you’d always be. You had fun together, sometimes laughing at your apartment till dawn and supporting each other through everything that life threw your way. Like friends do.

But somewhere along the way that changed. You got a crush on him. A big one at that. 

It’s like a click had gone off in your head. Suddenly Roger — your buddy; became Roger — the man who’s hands you seem to have a fascination with and who’s personality and quirks you absolutely adore and who’s lips your name sounds absolutely heavenly rolling off of.

It had been terrible; living with the knowledge that Roger didn’t think of you or feel about you the same way. Of course, he didn’t. He was a rockstar, who could have any girl he wanted. So why would he choose you?

Your pondering was interrupted by a loud crash. One of the cymbals had fallen over.

“Everything okay?” you asked through the intercom. Roger's reply was a huff. 

Confused, you made your way into the recording space and stood there watching as Rog picked the cymbal up and set it back into it’s place with the occasional curse word inbetween. Even from where you were standing you could see the furrow between his brows and his pursed lips.

“Rog, are you really okay? You seem a bit… frustrated,” he’d seemed a bit on edge the whole day and it looked like a falling cymbal had been his last straw.

“I'm not frustrated for fuck’s sake. Everything is just fucking peachy,” clearly that was sarcasm. 

He finally got the cymbal back into place and took his seat behind the drums. He lifted his drumsticks, still clearly mad, getting ready to do some more angry smashing, but suddenly stopped midair. 

If he was being bitchy, you were going to leave him at it, but just as you turned to leave-

“Wait,” came his voice and you stopped. 

“I'm sorry, I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. You’re right, I’m frustrated,” you turned back to face the drummer with a questioning look in your eyes, “Very frustrated, actually.”

“Why?” you were truly curious.

He avoided your gaze and fiddled with his drumsticks as he replied.

“It's just- you remember that girl I told you about? The one I really like?”

Ah, yes, the girl. You remembered her very well. Kind of hard not to since she’s all Roger ever talks about. You were extremely jealous. She had occupied Roger’s brain and it seemed she didn’t plan on leaving. 

The worst part was that everything Rog had told you about her was almost disgustingly lovely. She sounded perfect and kind and truly a wonderful person, which made it all the more painful to hear about her.

You mumbled a soft ‘yes’ and waited for Roger to carry on.

“Yeah, well, I don’t know what to do. I just want to tell her how I feel so bad. I want to kiss her and hold her and call her mine, but I- I’m afraid,” he got more and more quiet, “I'm really afraid, Y/N.” 

His words made something inside you twist and a green monster was eating away at your heart, but you mustered up the courage and pushed your jealousy aside. Your friend needed help and you were going to give it. 

Youu sat down on one of the amps, completely missing the way Roger’s baby blue eyes followed your moves with a look of longing.

“Well, you told me she’s a good friend, right?” you asked, looking up through your lashes and continued after a nod from Roger, “Then you have a really good foundation to work with. If the relationship falls through or the other person doesn’t feel the same way, there’s a way back. Sure, it might be awkward but I think if you like her as much as you’re telling me…it’s worth it to try.”

“I think I love her,” you hoped Roger couldn’t hear your heart breaking. God, it felt like you were being ripped in two.

He sounded so sincere, you didn’t even have the heart to pretend that maybe he was being a fool and just maybe she had a really nice pair of tits. No, it was real. And it hurt.

You swallowed hard and locked eyes with him from across the room.

“Then you should really tell her, I mean-“

“It's you,” you blinked at his words, “I- I love you, Y/N. You’re the girl I love. Always have.”

“What?” your throat was dry and your heart was racing so fast. Did you hear him right?

“I know you probably don’t feel the same way. You were just telling me last week about some guy, so I know I have no chance with you, but-” your feet carried you over to the drumset almost on instinct and you stopped in front of a wide-eyed Roger still fiddling the drumsticks in his hands. The blood in your ears was rushing so loud and you couldn’t hear anything Roger was saying; the words ‘It’s you’ repeating in your head like a broken record.

You gently pried the sticks out of his hands and placed them on the bass drum behind you. He watched you with a gaping mouth and curious eyes as you placed your trembling hands on his shoulders, one drifting to brush along his jawline.

“Rog, that was you, silly boy,” you giggled. His eyes widened even more if it was possible and then his face lit up in a blinding smile. Your heart squeezed in your chest as Roger’s hands settled on your hips and pulled you into his lap.

“Really?” he looked so cute, searching your face for an answer that was alrealy clearly there in the form of your glowing eyes and a giant smile matching his. 

“Really.” another giggle followed before your lips were against his and everything felt right.

The kiss was sweet, filled with roaming hands and soft smiles as you desperately tried to get as close as possible. His hands were on your back, holding you steady while yours were gently running through his long hair. You stayed like that, connected in every possible way, until you needed air. But even then you didn’t go far, touching your forehead to his with dopey smiles on both your faces.

Roger was your favourite person to kiss, you realised. This was your first kiss with him, but you already knew, he’d be the person you’d be kissing for the rest of your life. And you really didn’t mind.

You finally broke apart from your embrace when Freddie’s voice rang through the intercom. 

“Finally, darlings! I thought I’d have to lock you two in some bunker to get you to admit your feelings! Now please, I hope we won’t catch you having sex in the middle of the studio any time soon!”

You hid your furious blush in the crook of Roger’s neck as he chuckled and soothingly rubbed your back.

Everything was just perfect.

[goodmythicalmoaning]

Audience

Ship(s): Rhink/Chase

Warnings: smut, degrading, praise, poly(?)

Edits. Jumpcuts, voiceovers. All of these things began to take more time as they had to be done more often. Rhett and Link's game had been going on for almost a week and a half before the others started to notice. How could they not? Constant touching, gazes held for too long, sexual innuendos every other minute? The two were a mess, and the office started taking bets. The game was on.

"You alright, Link? You look a little.. flustered." Rhett's words were testing, just as they started with every day. It was a common thing for him to speak with a certain gentle tone when first seeing Link in the mornings. He had dealt with everything from angry Link with a headache to dominant Link playing daddy. Today though, he could physically see the tension which was so familiar to him. The set of his shoulders, always on guard. The slight darkness to his usually bright eyes which came from a near-constant state of pent up lust.

Their rules had been simple. No getting off in any way, and whoever breaks first has to sub for the next week. Link had been about ready to bite the bullet for a few days now, his frustrations leaving him irritable. His pride was much too hard to bite back though. The thought of Rhett teasing him while desperately fucking him too much to allow.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Rhett. You should probably fix your fly though, buddy." Link's voice was slightly thick, all too recognizable to Rhett. The taller of the two turned away from the camera to fix his jeans, annoyed at his body's reaction to the mere presence of his counterpart.

Chase rolled his eyes at the two who were obviously prodding at each other's need.

"Editing this is going to be a nightmare. Should we apologize to them now?" Steve's voice spoke the words which had been rolling around in his mind.

"They'll probably get a nice surprise out of it. Wanna bet they find some way to grind in this video?" Chase's laugh came easy, the anxiety of talking about his boss's relationship long gone in years past.

"Oh they're definitely going to do something to each other." Steve's voice exuded confidence, but Chase didn't waver as his eyes followed their gazes at one another.

"No.. I think that's against their dumb rules. You know this has to be a hard game. I think at least one of them will do something sexual though." Rhett at that moment had looked away from Link and closed his eyes, surely spurred on by something the other had said.

"Twenty bucks and you're on." Stevie said while holding out her hand.

Link ran a hand through his hair, and his restrained shaking could be seen.

"Deal."

"You guys get ready, starting in three... two.. one.." Stevie counted down, watching as the two of them regained their composure. Rhett checked the monitor to make sure his hair wasn't a mess, and Link rolled up the cuffs of his sleeves. Everyone in the office could feel it. That subtle sense of tension when Rhett and Link were feeling frisky.

With a quick quip, and a pause for editing purposes, the boys had begun, falling into their characters with ease. Rhett stumbled slight more than usual, and Link's intense gaze held longer with everything his eyes fell upon. His movements were calculated, more like a robot and less like the clumsy boss Chase had come to know. It made his skin tingle when those blue eyes held his for even a moment. He couldn't fathom how Rhett was getting by with merely a slight stutter.

"Take your time, you'll get there eventually." Link's voice cut through yet another stumble of Rhett's bit. His tone was demeaning, as if he was scolding a child rather than being helpful to his co-worker and best friend. Chase felt his own cheeks get hot, but Rhett's gaze was one of defiance.

"Shut up, Neal." Stevie quickly wrote down a time stamp, on days like these she would help out the editors by writing down where some jump cuts would need to be made. The icy stare Link assessed Rhett with seemed to suck all of the air out of the room.

"Oh calm down, /Rhett/." The name was laced with power, Chase could see Rhett's resolve beginning to fizzle out. Stevie tried to direct them back to the show. For the first time since joining mythical, her request was cast aside, everyone in the studio seemed to hold their breath, waiting for Rhett to make the next move.

"I don't have to take orders from you." If there hadn't been a microphone a few inches from their faces, the others wouldn't have heard it at all.

Chase had to look away, his whole body screamed at him to watch, but their words were too effective. He was afraid of losing the game he wasn't a part of.

"God, this is gay." Stevie spoke just above a whisper, averting her eyes from the tension as if it made her slightly uncomfortable, but she wanted to let them get it out. She couldn't stand this for another day.

Link responded by turning in his chair, the slight difference in their height didn't matter when he was like this. His entire body radiated control. Nobody missed the slight whimper from Rhett when Link quietly spoke, his voice deeper than usual.

"Is that right?" Chase closed his eyes, allowing himself to bask in the slight southern drawl. He didn't notice that Rhett did the same. "Well.. that's too bad, then."

At those words, all hell broke loose. Link stood up, and braced his hand on the back of Rhett's chair, now looking down at the taller man. Stevie stood up, and began signaling to other crew members, having them shut off cameras quickly and get out. Chase, in that moment, lost his cool. A soft whine left his mouth while Rhett began to plead with Link, and the other crew members filled out.

"Well, Rhett. It seems we have an audience."

Chase's eyes snapped open wide, taking in the even gaze of power now directed at him. It was as if the very core of his being was starting to feel the temperature drop.

"I'm sorry, guys. I know this is really inappropriate, I should go." Chase surprised himself at being able to manage getting through the apology and halfway to the door before Link called out to him.

"Stop."

It was impossible for the younger not to follow the direct order, hell he would have dropped to his knees had Link been bold enough to ask.

"Turn around." It was as if a force outside of himself compared the boy to follow the simple instruction. The attention that both of his bosses gave caused his knees to nearly buckle.

Rhett was painfully aware of how much need thrummed through his body as Chase approached with a slightly trembling lip.

"I said I was sorry, Link." Link waved off the apology, and for the first time that day, he truly took in the appearance of the younger, even taking in a few details he had never considered before. His fingers slowly traced Chase's soft jaw, woeking their way into the hair just sprouting from his scalp. Rhett's soft whimper of jealousy was silenced with a hand gesture.

"I'll get to you in a moment." Link had never sounded more comfortable in Chase's opinion. He couldn't catch a stutter or slur in speech. The man was truly in his element.

Link's hand tightened in Chase's hair, sending tingles of pain and pleasure through him. Link admired how he was seeing the pleasure from the angle above for once.

"Do you want to say and watch us?" Chase barely caught the question while he followed Link's eyes over his body, slightly breathless at where his gaze would linger.

"Yeah, I uh.. I would." He couldn't come up with anything more. Not while Rhett's hand had began running over his own body, undoing shirt buttons with ease.

"Try again." Link's voice was demanding, the tone alone telling Chase what he already knew. The tone told him Link was in charge, and Chase was a toy to be played with.

"Ye-es sir." One of his knees did buckle when Link released the grip on his scalp, and turned to his lover.

Rhett resembled a puppy getting attention for the first time. He was beside himself in a way Chase had never seen. For once his height didn't make him look powerful. The lanky arms and legs left him looking slightly awkward. He looked like a man who needed to be told what to do, how to do it. Rhett was truly a puppet only existing for Link to pull the strings.

"Look at you, sittin' all nice n' pretty for me." Link took on a different tone with Rhett. Slightly less harsh. Chase was still shaking from the attention he had gotten.

The small boy flopped down in his chair, not caring that he made noise. Some part of him was just hoping to hear Link speak to him again.

"I am. I've been good." Rhett's voice was different as well. Almost childlike in the way he spoke. He was stating a fact to his counterpart. Chase thanked god for the lights shining on them, illuminating the lust and need within Rhett's eyes.

"One.." Link began to count, and Chase began to feel a sense of panic. He knew action would come behind the numbers, but he didn't know what to do about it.

Rhett wordlessly nodded, standing to let his shirt slide from his shoulders.

"Two.." Link's voice took the malicious tone again, his gaze falling on Chase from the few yards away which separated them. A look of amusement flashed across his face at the sudden panic reflected on Chase's.

"Three."

Rhett had already sucked off his jeans, leaving his underwear on as he stood patiently waiting for the attention to shift back to him. This seemed like another game to them, but no one had informed Chase of the rules.

"Looks like your time is up, Chase, and you didn't give me what I wanted."