#Friday is Bonzo Day

[daisyflower74]

I know I'm one day or two late , but i saw 'Becoming Led Zeppelin' in IMax on Friday. I'm here to say that I'm in love with the movie. It was incredible and has inspired me to believe in myself and the music. I feel inspired to play my guitar, I feel inspired to be happy, and the director (Bernard MacMahon) has definitely accomplished what he was trying to make the audience feel. I'm also here to point out a few other details. I'm so incredibly happy that Jimmy (my beloved) felt comfortable to laugh and talk about his points and how he felt , I'm happy that Jonsey was talking too. Jimmy had my eye the whole movie that I had tears. Bonzos tapes and laughs made me smile and really touched my heart. Robert's honesty also touched me. So cheers to Led Zeppelin, the band that has given me a reason to live and be happy! - Yours truly, Trinity. 🤍

[hippeasantwitch]

Friday after the usual protocol upload day. Things continue to be far drearier and my cat has tired of watching me and fallen asleep. Also Bonzo is in my house.

[brairotextream]

The combo of being both a taskmaster and the Magnus protocol fan rn is so funny, taskmaster has a mr blobby thing going on and its mostly horney and very funny, meanwhile tmagp is having a twisted "mr blobby" (bonzo) thing which is mostly terrifying (but i also find very funny). I have horrible mr blobby on Thursdays and slightly less horrible me blobby on Fridays scheduled these days.

[disneytva]

July 2024 Programming Highlights

Saturday, July 6

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series “These Boots Were Made for Willa/Double Troubled” (1-03) (10:00-10:30 a.m.) “These Boots Were Made for Willa” – When Willa’s favorite boots go missing, she teams up with Lost ‘n’ Found Detective Bree to track them down.

“Double Troubled” – Zed’s and Addison’s clones turn on them and try to steal their lives. TV-G

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series “Alien vs. Shredator/A Wyatt Place” (1-04) (10:30-11:00 a.m.) “Alien vs. Shredator” – Wynter and A-spen start a band! But can they reconcile their differing musical visions?

“A Wyatt Place” – Willa and Bucky put Wyatt through an “alpha-dog boot camp” to help him win over Eliza. TV-G

Friday, July 12 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel Disney Jr.’s Ariel “Copy Catfish/Happy Crabby Day” (1-06) (9:00-9:25 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior/10:00-10:25 a.m. EDT on Disney Channel) “Copy Catfish” – Ariel grows frustrated when her little cousin Jewels visits and won’t stop copying her.

“Happy Crabby Day” – When King Triton declares Happy Crabby Day as a day off for all crabs, Sebastian must try to relax. TV-Y

Saturday, July 13 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series “Invasion of the Bucky Snatchers/The Dining” (1-05) (10:00-10:30 a.m.) “Invasion of the Bucky Snatchers” – Bucky turns the school into a Bucky-themed dystopia.

“The Dining” – When Bonzo discovers mysterious blueprints in the diner, he becomes possessed by the desire to build a spaghetti waterfall! TV-G

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series “Training Dae/Youngins & Dragons” (1-06) (10:30-11:00 a.m.) “Training Dae” – Addison is determined to help Dae, the quirky new witch at school, feel welcome.

“Youngins & Dragons” – Zed and little sister Zoey must team up to fight a monster hunter. TV-G

Wednesday, July 17 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel Pupstruction “The Petsburg Music Festival” (1-25) (7:00-7:30 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior/7:30-8:00 a.m. EDT on Disney Channel) The pup crew is excited to perform at the Petsburg Bowl, but the big show is almost ruined when Bobby thinks he’s not invited and sets out to steal everyone’s instruments. TV-Y

Friday, July 19 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel Disney Jr.’s Ariel “Smoothie Shake-Up/Family Picture Day” (1-07) (9:00-9:25 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior/10:00-10:25 a.m. EDT on Disney Channel) “Smoothie Shake-Up” – Ariel and her friends volunteer to run Ravi’s Juice Stand while he’s away, but their lack of communication stirs up a big mess.

“Family Picture Day” – Ariel tries to help Ayanna with a hair emergency on their family picture day. TV-Y

Saturday, July 20 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series “Foul Play/Catch Meat If You Can” (1-07) (10:00-10:30 a.m.) “Foul Play” – The stress of directing the school play causes Addison’s alien energy to fritz.

“Catch Meat If You Can” – Wyatt teams up with Eliza to help him keep a secret from the wolf pack. TV-G

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series “When Bucky Met Barky/The More, The Burier” (1-08) (10:30-11:00 a.m.) “When Bucky Met Barky” – Bucky adopts a zombie dog named Barky to boost his followers online.

“The More, The Burier” – Wyatt teams up with a monster who promises to help him get over his fight with Eliza. TV-G

Wednesday, July 24 Original Series – Extended-Length Episode Premiere on Disney Junior Firebuds “The Camp Fire!” (2-16) (7:55-8:20 p.m. EDT) The Firebuds must battle a forest fire while attending a family summer camp. TV-Y

Friday, July 26 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel Disney Jr.’s Ariel “The Cuttlebaby Sitter/Flounder the Leader” (1-08) (9:00-9:25 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior/10:00-10:25 a.m. EDT on Disney Channel) “The Cuttlebaby Sitter” – Ariel volunteers to watch cuttlebaby eggs to prove that she’s a good babysitter. *Alanna Ubach (Disney’s “Coco”) guest stars as Ms. Cuttles

“Flounder the Leader” – Flounder is chosen as the team coach for the Royal Family Cricket Game. TV-Y

Saturday, July 27 Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series “No Woman BFF’d Behind/Pet Peeves” (1-09) (10:00-10:30 a.m.) “No Woman BFF’d Behind” – Worried that they’re drifting apart, Addison and Bree set out to rekindle their BFF connection.

“Pet Peeves” – Addison and Zed open a supernatural pet-sitting business. TV-G

Original Series – Episode Premiere on Disney Channel and Disney XD ZOMBIES: The Re-Animated Series “Something to Tok About/Last Fan Standing” (1-10) (10:30-11:00 a.m.) “Something to Tok About” – Zed watches funny videos on ShrimpTok and ends up having to save humanity.

“Last Fan Standing” – Dae and Bree use dark magic to prove they are their favorite band’s number-one fans. TV-G

Monday, July 29 Original Series – Extended Length Episode Premiere on Disney Junior and Disney Channel Mickey Mouse Funhouse “Happy Campers” (3-10) (7:00-7:30 a.m. EDT on Disney Junior/7:30-8:00 a.m. EDT on Disney Channel) On a camping trip, the gang must help restore Orion the Hunter and other constellations when they accidentally knock them out of the sky. TV-Y

[unusual-ly]

Hugs for Bonzo Day~!

[cheeseria]

just rewatched zombies and hsm feeling great

[luckycheesefoodie321]

It’s 10:31pm BUT IT’S STILL BONZO DAY!!!

HAPPY BONZO DAY YALL!!!

Been heckers and idk I just forgot when Friday’s rolled around but this one has been in the works since 2 weeks ago...it just never got put together in time for a Friday... mostly just wanted BONZO in a dress but was debating whether our boi would be into that... so this is slightly younger Bonzo playing some sort of flower in a play and he’s not that jazzed about the situation but whatever, he’s an artist...he can roll with it!

I’m actually realllly liking this one. Especially his face and hair. It’s looking particularly good in this one I think...though idk what’s going on in his eye XD

Hope your BONZO day was merry and wonderful y’all!!!

[mybrainproblems]

So on the one hand: Misha has done some kind of insane shit and a lot of it is publicly documented, quite a bit of which is great dramatic tabloid reveal material even if spn fans are fully aware (we are not a good representative of the average voter)

On the other: Reagan was president, Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura have been governors. Glenn Jacobs aka WWE wrestler Kane is currently a mayor in Tennessee

So really, Misha Collins running for public office really just comes down to how good of a PR team he can get. If he does, I cannot wait for him to get asked about shit like straddlegate on live American television.

[unusual-ly]

Ly Analyses (rants about) The Written Zombie Language In ZOMBIES 1 And 2

I have normal priorities too I swear Happy Bonzo Day

(Text only version below the cut at the end)

References from Mark Hofeling’s website here

Text version below

The design of the original Zombese alphabet for ZOMBIES 1 is based on the creases and folds of the brain, which makes sense as something the first zombies would recognise and associate themselves with when unstable or semi-stable. Plus, it’s a cool aesthetic choice and far more creative than if it resembled the Roman alphabet that we use.

-

But in ZOMBIES 2, Zombese went from its own 18-character alphabet to a 26-character cipher code matched up to the 26 letters of the Roman alphabet. Languages with their own writing systems other than the Roman alphabet don’t just consist of direct matches to every Roman letter, but of phonemes, some of which match a single Roman letter while some take multiple Roman letters together to make their sound e.g. th, sh, tsu, yae etc. At least the original pronunciation guide used zombie-sounding phonemes, even if they didn’t match what was spoken onscreen...  IT DOESN’T EVEN MAKE SENSE TO HAVE THE ZOMBIE WORDS DIRECTLY DECODE TO ENGLISH, SHOULDN’T THEY DECODE TO ZOMBIE-TONGUE?!

-

The original Z1 guide could theoretically be put together to make a word or phrase in Zombie, e.g. characters are read as sounds like rrrgg, gnnn, eaah etc. BUT trying to make the words given as examples in the Z1 guide just doesn’t sound like the Zombie-tongue spoken in the movies, so these pronunciations don’t actually work.

-

Using the new Z2 guide applied to Zombie-tongue seen in Z1 does not translate to anything in English, meaning there’s no consistency between Z1 and Z2.

-

In comparing the Zombese in Z1 to Z2 further - The only translated Zombese we see in Z1 is “The End”, which contradicts Z2’s guide. We see a lot of Zombese written joined up like the graffiti in the power plant, or a promo image of Bonzo with a quote written in Zombie, and written in any direction, as on clothing. But in Z2, the Zombese is always separated. Plus a Zombese “I” is randomly included in the sign that reads “Z-nema” instead of a dash, between the “Z” and “N”? And judging from the sign seen in a recent Z3 behind the scenes photo, Z3 will be the same.

-

CONCLUSION:

CANON ZOMBESE IS DUMB AND I’M GONNA MAKE MY OWN PRONUNCIATION GUIDE USING THE PHONETIC ALPHABET CUZ I’M A NERD WITH NOTHING BETTER TO DO

[luckycheesefoodie321]

Oho what is this??? An on-time BONZO Day post???

It is indeed...and idk y’all be the judge but he kinda looks like Markiplier XD

But anyway it’s our boi looking a little older, a little scruffier...got that distinguished artist look...running that art gallery... is commissioned to do street art in the city... lives in a studio apartment, despite doing quite well for himself... I didn’t intentionally do that to his eyebrows but the boi looks so soft I cannot!

The neck of that shirt can just GO tho...but I reallly like this one...also that bit of yellow is a headband peaking out from under his grey beanie...

I hope your Friday has been a good one. A peaceful one. A productive one. A fun one. For Friday is BONZO Day so

HAPPY BONZO DAY!!!

[unusual-ly]

An addition: Bonzo isn’t actually speaking Zombie. He just likes to see how Zed and Eliza will interrupt his nonsense

Dumb Zombies Headcanon #1

Zed and Eliza can’t actually understand Bonzo. They just pretend he’s contributing to the conversation and move on.

[zippocreed501]

FRIDAY NIGHT SPECIAL

Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band  - Canyons Of Your Mind (1968)

In the UK, eccentricity - like most things - was governed by class. In days of old, if your average Jo Bloggs happened to show a little individuality, a smidgen of uniqueness they were branded the village idiot and/or Bedlam bound. On the other hand, if the Major stepped out each morning nude, with his testicles painted purple blasting everything that walks or squawks with a shotgun whilst singing 'Tit Willow', he was just an eccentric character.

[rhythm-catsandwine]

Led Zeppelin playing the newly wed game!

Robert hit the button that would call Bonzo and Jonesy. Jimmy sat beside him and waited. 

 “What’s taking them?” 

 Robert shrugged. “It’s early for them.” 

 Finally, Bonzo popped up on the screen. “Why er we doing this so early?”

 “It’s 11:00!” Jimmy laughed.

 “Where’s Jonesy?”

 Bonzo rubbed his eyes. “He’s coming.”

 “You both knew about this for a month!” Robert  frowned. “11 is too early?”

 “Ss the apocalypse it doesn't matter.” Bonzo huffed as Jonesy sat down beside him.

��Jimmy grinned in amusement. “You look well-fed Jonesy.” Then laughed at the eye roll he received.

 Robert held up the papers. “You remember the rules right?”

 “Yes, we memer. We both get it right to get a point, n we can’t look at the other answers.” Jonesy took a sip of tea. 

 Bonzo glanced over at Jonesy. “I told you to wear the …”

 Jonesy glared back 

 “Can we start? Or are you going to play dress-up Jonesy?” Robert asked 

 “This is going to be recorded.” Bonzo pushed Jonesy out from view.

 Jonesy growled then came back a few minutes later dressed in a black, long sleeve shirt, that complemented Bonzo’s dark gray one.

 “Can we start now?” Robert fluffed his gray- gold hair.

 “Yes.” Bonzo handed Jonesy the mini erasable board of white.

 “You have your set of questions?” Jimmy asked. 

 “Yes.” 

 “Who said I love you fist?” Robert read, then wrote down his answer. “If you two cheat we will know.”

 “We don’t need to!” Bonzo’ had a smug smile.

 They all turned the boards around. 

  [Bonz, Bonzo and Robert , Jimmy].

 “We get one point!” Jonesy stuck his tongue out.

 “Who is most likely to forget important events?” Jimmy asked. 

 [Jonesy, Jonesy, and Jimmy, Robert.]

 “2 and 0” Bonzo nudged Jonesy in the side. 

 “Who is most likely to forget the date of important events?” Robert pulled his eyebrows together. “That’s a bit redundant.”

 [Bonzo, Jonesy and Robert, Robert.]

 “We get one point!” 

 “I forget when things are? If it weren't for me we would be late for everything!” 

 “I remember and you get us there on time.” Jonesy stated.

 “Who is the messiest?”

 [Jonesy, Jonesy, Jonesy, Robert.]

 Jonesy glared at Robert.” That is not how the game works.”

 “You are!  I remember the last time I was there at your farm! You leave everything out! I had to step around all the instruments and whatever else you leave just randomly lying out on the floor.”

 “Shut up!”

 “So a draw then?”

 “Yes!” Jonesy fussed.

 “Who has the weirdest appetite?” Robert read the last question he had. 

 [Bonzo, Bonzo, Jimmy , Robert.]

 Jonesy picked up their set of questions. “Who is the most competitive?” 

 [Bonzo, Jonesy, Jimmy, Jimmy.]

 Jonesy turned to Bonzo. “How am I more competitive? Before this virus took over you were at the races nearly every Friday and Saturday night!”

 “When Jimmy said he was indexing the library you did the same and now you have half a bloody album written and it's been a month! “ Bonzo defend.

 “Who is the best cook?” Jonesy read another question.

 [Bonzo, Jonesy, Robert, Robert.]

 Robert grinned happily “I happy that one was on there!”

 “Why?” Jimmy was watching the other two bicker.

 “Cos they will have another cook-off and make too much food! We can make our way to their humble home and have a feast!”

 “But then we have to choose sides.” Jimmy looked a bit scared.”Stop bickering and ask the next question!”

 “Who goes all out on holidays?”

 [Bonzo, Bonzo Robert, Robert.]

 “Who fell in love first?” Bonzo read.

 [Bonzo, Jonesy , Jimmy , Robert.]

 They all looked at their husbands with intrigue. 

 “When?” Bonzo asked.

  “ early 70  when you drove me home one weekend. You?”

 “Las time in 69 that you stayed up with me when I couldn't sleep and we went on a walk together.”

“Jim?”

 “The first time I heard you sing.”

 “71 when I finally let go of……”

 “Robert?”

 “It doesn’t matter.”

 “Robert Anthony!”

 “I was in love with Bonzo before and then I finally realized just how head over heels he was for Jonesy.”

 “Who was the most nervous on wedding day?” Jonesy interrupted them

 [Bonzo, Bonzo , Jimmy, Robert]

 The game went on with Bonzo and Jonesy getting the majority of the points,  until the last question.

 “Who takes longer in the shower?” Bonzo asked.

“That was the last one. Bye!” Jonesy hung up on the golden god and dark lord.

 Robert and Jimmy stared at the black screen. 

 “I think they shower together. Who won?”

 “They did by a landslide.”

 Robert pouted and headed to the kitchen to start lunch. “I can’t believe they can shag for hours.”

Tag list

@ledbythreads @sacramentogirl23 @girlofthemoon75 @poomerpong365 @tartcakes123 @ritacaroline @outcastedangel @raptorcat1960 @sweet-lady-jane@americaspencil @tangerine-page @brownskinsugarplum76 @m-faithfull

[unusual-ly]

HAPPY BEANS

HAPPY HUGGY BOY WITH HIS HAPPY GREESKA HAPPILY KICKING HER FEET

LOOK. AT. HER. FEET.

[kangaracha]

Prompt: Zed and Eliza deep friendship that shows their dependency on each other? (Also platonic cuddling and touches)

Zed finds her on the roof, twenty minutes after the end of the world.

She’s sitting on the apex, her face turned firmly eastwards and her eyes trained on the horizon, watching the sea – the calm, glassy ocean, reflecting the moonlight like a pool of shining silver. Seabrook sits like a postcard between her and it, silent cul-de-sacs stretching across the impossible distance between her and the water. She doesn’t move as Zed settles silently  in the space beside her, nor does she acknowledge him when he tries to ask what she’s doing up here, or why she’d come up here instead of going home after…after…

It should be a cold, clear night, the moon full and winter drawing on, but it is hot as a summer afternoon out here, thick black clouds slowly shifting across the sky to obscure the moon while they sit on the roof and sweat. The air is acrid and stiff, rasping at his throat as he breathes in and out; he wishes he was back downstairs, inside the relative safety of the house.

“Do you ever watch those monster movies they play on TV on Friday nights?” Eliza asks after an age, her voice deceptively calm.

Perched uncomfortably beside her, Zed frowns and pokes at a loose shingle underneath him, trying to shove it into a more secure position. “I thought you hated those,” he says carefully, as if this might be a trick.

Eliza’s lip curls in disgust. “I don’t,” she claims. “They’re anti-zombie propaganda. Bonzo…Bonzo likes watching them.”

Zed gives her a look that says he doesn’t believe her, but all he asks is, “So?”

Eliza shifts restlessly, her fingers digging along the edge of a shingle like she’s trying to pry it from the roof. “Most of those movies end with an angry mob coming to kill the monster, you know.”

Zed shifts his shoulders – rolling the tension from his body or shrugging in disregard, she can’t tell. “The monster wins in some of the though, don’t they? What about like, Frankenstein? Or Beauty And The Beast? Zoey loves that movie, you can’t tell me the beast doesn’t-”

“Frankenstein’s monster kills himself,” she points out. “An angry mob almost kills the beast, until he turns into a human. That’s not winning.”

“Okay,” Zed says slowly, searching for another example. “What about that werewolf one last week? Bonzo said that one was a good one.”

Eliza hesitates. “I don’t know,” she admits. “I told…I told Bonzo it was stupid and I was busy when he tried to tell me about it the other day. And now-”

She stops short, her breath caught in her throat before she can say it out loud. Her hands clutch at the roof; she feels kind of unsteady suddenly, her stomach churning at the thought of it, the fear clutching at her backbone, the regret-

“The point is,” she snaps instead, trying to fill up her empty lungs with something that tastes less like ash in her throat. “Stories about monsters only ever end one way.”

She almost looks behind her, the punctuation to her statement, but fear paralyses her, and all she can look at is the ocean, so close and yet so far from her reach.

“He’ll be alright, Eliza,” Zed says, deceptively calm. She can see him in the corner of her eye, watching her, but her eyes won’t focus on him properly, won’t turn far enough to see anything else in the middle distance.  

Behind them, there is an explosion that punctuates his words, loud enough that the house shivers beneath them. Zed jumps. Eliza grows still, her knuckles turning white against the shingles.

“Will he?” she asks in response, quieter than anything she’s said before.

“Yes,” Zed says firmly, and chances a look behind them, towards the cacophony of noise that carries across town, the shouts and the screams, the sirens and the crack of guns, rebounding off the pavement. “He’ll be over in the 400’s painting something and back by morning, bet you anything.”

Eliza turns her head, just far enough that she can see the edge of the 400’s. The streets are pitch-black, just like theirs, and clouded in smoke, so thick that she can barely see the rows of rundown houses amidst it. The flames grow in the corner of her eye, brighter than she remembers them being (or maybe her eyes have just gotten used to the dark…but the sound is getting louder too, the roar of the blaze, the screams of the people that flood the streets, and Bonzo ran towards the-).

She turns back to the sea. “What about us?” she asks, quieter again still, so that she thinks maybe he won’t hear her speak at all.

Zed looks behind them again. In the dark space between them, his hand finds hers, warm fingers prying hers up from their death grip on the peak of the roof. “I don’t know,” he says slowly, every word drawn out like they might be enough to keep the mob at bay. “I can’t see which way…”

“Is it bad?”

Zed looks again, pulls a face, but doesn’t answer, just grips her hand tighter, like a lifeline he can’t let go of. Eliza’s not sure she could let go either, for fear that she might lose him forever.

They used to sit up here until midnight, she remembers, watching the lights of Zombietown flicker in and out as intermittent power rolled through the lines, or tracing the streets of Seabrook from the centre of town out. Once, Zed had found a pair of binoculars, and with those they could see everything in Seabrook – the school, the shops, the sweeping green parklands and crystal-clear pools glittering in their backyards, like they couldn’t just walk down and swim in the ocean at any given moment. It was their tradition – on sleepless nights, they come to Zed’s roof, and they whisper about what it would be like to live in Seabrook.

Privately, Eliza wonders if this is the last time they will ever sit here.

“We should go inside,” Zed says instead, when the silence has stretched too long and the shouting behind them has grown too loud. “It isn’t safe up here.”

“We can stay one more minute,” Eliza replies. She’s still looking at the sea, tracing the faint lines of waves as they roll into shore; a whole different world, so close it feels like she could step off the roof and into the soft sand, and yet so impossibly out of reach too.

“Eliza,” Zed says, a little more urgently – his eyes stray too far behind them again, and then downward. He has a sister to worry about, of course, and a father. He shouldn’t be out here on the roof with her, who has nothing, not even her mum anymore (the thought settles like a stone in her throat; hard to spit out, and even harder to swallow down). He should be inside, trying to help them, as close to his family as he can be.

“Okay,” she acquiesces and gets carefully to her feet. She has to let go of his hand to do so – her fingers feel cold and empty in the space that is left, detached from something far too important to lose. “Okay, let’s go.”

“We’ll be okay, Eliza,” Zed says, like a promise, and she tries not to meet his eye. He is open, earnest and honest, and she is…cynical, already sure in her heart that they have nowhere to go, whether they try to disappear into the streets or hide up here on the roof and wait for the humans to find them.

She should reply to him, should try, for her friend, who has risked leaving his family to come up and sit with her here while the world falls down around them. She should thank him, at least. But instead, she says nothing at all; just climbs down from the roof and into his bedroom, where the smoke is thinner and the air marginally cooler, where the noise from outside is slightly dimmed. He follows her without question or argument; the guilt settles deeper in her stomach, a knife so deeply embedded so doesn’t know if she will ever be able to get it out.

Behind them, Zombietown burns on, the flames and the people that light them spreading street by street, until nothing is left in the morning light.

[keepswingin]

but nevertheless (it’s all for the best)

(part one) (part two)

part three: don’t let it freak you out

(it’s just been so hard)

.

“This is just as hard on them as it is on you,”

“I know.”

The day after the divorce paperwork is settled is a Friday. It’s raining heavily outside, thunder clapping and lightning arcing across the sky in deadly strikes.

When Jason walks outside at the end of the school day, instead of his mom waiting for him, it’s Auntie Bree, tucked away behind a spotty windshield.

She explains that his parents were double-checking the house one last time before officially parting ways, and he had stayed silent after the information, making Auntie Bree sigh before carefully reminding him that he wasn’t the only one hurting right now.

The words had shocked him—his parents weren’t hurting, they were the ones causing this!—but Auntie Bree had stuck to her guns, and now here they were, her car slowing to a stop outside Jason’s house, blueish and dreary in the darkness of the thunderstorm.

“Thanks for the ride home, Auntie Bree,” he cringes as he says it, always has, but he never minded.

His mom had told him how excited her best friend was to have a godson, especially after things worked out a certain way with her and Uncle Bonzo that they couldn’t have a son of their own.

He feels guilt wash over him as Bree leans around so she can give him a quick hug, leaving a kiss on his cheek.

She was only trying to help him understand what his parents were feeling and going through and he had pushed her away and had stewed in angry silence for most of the car ride.

It wasn’t her fault his parents were separating.

(It wasn’t his fault either.)

Jason grabs his school bag before tugging his grey sweatshirt hood over his messy hair and popping open the backseat door.

He makes a run for it, slamming the door behind him and reaching the safety of the front porch in record time. He hears Auntie Bree pull away as he pushes open the door, taking two steps inside, and that’s when he hears it.

It...it sounds like crying, but Charlotte was being picked up by Aunt Wynter today and wasn’t to be dropped off until after dinner so that his parents had time to do what they needed to do, according to Auntie Bree.

Jason quietly shuts and locks the front door behind him before taking a few steps forward, hiding against the hallway wall.

He drops his bag to the floor with a near-silent thump as he inches closer to the entrance of the living room.

Once he’s close enough he peaks his head around the corner and is surprised—shocked—at what he sees.

His mom is sitting on the middle cushion of the couch, his father on his knees in front of her, his hands clutching hers like they’re his lifeline, and his mom is crying, tears slipping down her cheeks, her eyes red, his dad mumbling over and over again.

His eyes are red too.

Jason pulls his head back, afraid they’ll see him.

He stands there, listening.

“Addison, please,” his father says, begs, his raspy voice breaking halfway through the second word. “Please, Addy. Please.”

His mother sniffles, “We’ve been trying to fix this for so long. So, so long.” She pauses. Thunder booms from outside, rattling the house. They stay still. “Wyatt I don’t know what else we can do.”

“I still love you.” Dad says, sounding raw. “I will never stop loving you. You’re my forever.”

His mom’s crying grows louder, into heart-wrenching sobs that echo through the empty house.

Jason presses his back to the wall and slides down it, resting his hands on his knees once his butt meets the hardwood floor.

His mom cries like that for a while.

He hears his dad saying things to her the entire time, but his voice is too low, too deep, and her cries are too shrill, too loud, so he can’t hear much.

Eventually, after another rumble of thunder that sounds farther away, his mom’s cries quiet, and it’s silent instead.

It’s silent for what feels like forever.

When he hears his mother move, Jason risks another peak around the corner out of curiosity.

His dad has his head buried into his mother’s stomach, his arms wrapped loosely around her, holding onto her, never wanting to let go, to lose her.

Jason doesn’t want him to let go of her either.

“Baby, please,” his dad whispers, his voice muffled against her shirt. “Baby—“

His hands find their way to her hair as he hugs her to him, purple clashing against pink. “I can’t lose you,” his voice breaks. Dissolves into nothing.

Jason doesn’t think he’s ever heard his dad sound like this before. He’s always been so strong and so brave and so certain.

Right now he sounds...

Terrified. Lost.

Like he’s pleading for his other half to stay.

“Wyatt, please, don’t make this any harder than it already is.”

He shakes his head, pushing his nose into her stomach, squeezing his eyes shut, memorizing her hair, her shoulders, pulling back so he can leave a kiss on her nose, her cheeks, her chin, her neck, her lips—

He presses his forehead to hers, one set of broken eyes staring into another.

“I don’t want to let you go.”

Jason watches as his mom leans forward and kisses his dad, over just as quick as it was started. Jason watches as she runs a hand over the top of his father’s hair, fixing it.

“You have to,” she murmurs, tracing his left cheek, his father stiffening at the contact.

(Jason doesn’t know why but they do.

They know what used to be there, what used to stand between them.)

His mom drops her hand and then falls into him, her head coming to rest on his shoulder, his strong arms wrapping tightly around her, her own going around him.

Jason watches as his mom lets his dad go and wonders if he’ll ever truly understand one day, when he loves someone.

(x)