#He's heard weirder from the two of them at this point

[jtl-fics]

Fluent Freshman - Part 10

PREVIOUS

He calls his grandma to thank her for everything. She promises him that if anything keeps him from her on Christmas she’ll just make her way over to South Carolina to see him. “Maybe I can give that boy who is bullying you a piece of my mind!” She says and he loves her for it even if the thought of Andrew vs. his 70 year old grandma gives him heart palpitations that have nothing to do with the five hour energy he just slammed when no one was looking.

(He had eaten turkey because Abby had asked if he didn’t like it when he had forgone the white meat being passed around. She looked SAD so he just piled the dark meat onto his plate (at least it has less tryptophan) trip and now he needs to counteract the turkey. He could not afford to be sleepy on the impending car ride.)

He lets her know that everyone likes her pie and Abby had been overjoyed when he informed her that his gran always attaches a recipe card to the bottom for any pie in transit / for public consumption. (This is a woman who has been asked enough that she has the confidence to assume).

He gets off the line and feels the 5 hour energy kick in when Captain Neil appears out of nowhere next to him and he thinks he strains something when he resists the flinch his rapidly beating heart almost forces him into. “What language was that?” He asks.

“Polish.”

“You really do know a lot of languages. Just like your friend said.”

DANGER. DANGER. DANGER.

“Not that many.” DEFLECT DEFLECT DEFLECT “When are we heading out to Columbia?” DAMMIT

Captain Neil blinks but smiles, “We’ll be heading out in a little bit. Abby’s packing us leftovers. Too bad there’s no pie left. Do you think we could make it at the house? Andrew really liked it.” Neil says.

Pie is a safe topic. Pie will not betray him. Also if Andrew wants pie then he can’t kill FF until FF makes it and, perhaps, the pie will buy him a few extra days of mercy from his executioner.

“We can try. The secret ingredient is a grandma’s love though.” He says because it’s on the recipe card. It’s the most important ingredient in the whole pie. It’s what can keep a pie warm across a country. “Gran always says whipped cream can be used as a substitute though.” he says.

Captain Neil blushes.

DAMMIT WHY? WHY BRING UP THE WHIPPED CREAM?

“Well, we’ll have to pick some up from the store.” Captain Neil manages.

FF blanks his face as best he can and nods but gets up his heart beating too fast to remain seated. “I’ll be outside.” He says because he needs to walk around in some circles while he can. The car ride to Columbia is going to be a nightmare in general but especially since he slammed the five hour energy.

Kevin is the reason for the hold-up and the reason that FF gets 80 more laps around the house. He’s reminding them that they can’t stop exercising just because it’s a break gesturing to himself and the 20 minutes of squats that he just did to burn off the pie and then to FF who passes a window for the 10th time since this conversation started “See FF is keeping up with his fitness. Be more like him.”

Wymack eventually drags Kevin out of the house and into his car since they’re spending the break together. He flashes FF a thumbs up as FF passes and FF (unaware as always but great at mimicking social cues) gives him a thumbs up back.

It’s then that they get into the car. FF (as is the way of the world) is sitting bitch with Aaron and Nicky on either side of him.

Captain Neil is up front and starts to play some music. Both Nicky and Aaron are conked out before they even reach the entrance to the interstate. They have also slumped onto FF with Aaron asleep on his shoulder and Nicky drooling into his hair.

“You can just shove them off.” Andrew says.

“It’s fine.” FF says reminiscing about the last time he’d had something like this.

20 minutes later it’s not fine because the five hour energy is definitely kicking in but it would be so rude to move and wake Nicky and Aaron up. Nicky is probably tired because he came to check on FF five different times the night before and kept dragging him away from whatever Saw movie he was taking notes on and Aaron ate a LOT of white meat so he’s filled to the brim with tryptophan.

But he thinks he’s about to vibrate out of his skin.

He closes his eyes to try and breathe through this when.

“Smith said that we can try and recreate his grandma’s pie. We’ll just have to do a grocery run tomorrow.” Captain Neil says in Russian.

“It was good pie.” Andrew returns in the same language.

“He said that the secret ingredient is grandmotherly love.”

“It was on the recipe card. It said for best results be sure to add throughout the baking process.”

“His grandma said whipped cream was a good replacement. That it goes great with the pie.”

Uh-oh

FF knows that tone.

FF has fled across campus, the bus, the dorm room, and (one one notable occasion) the locker room when he has heard that tone coming from Captain Neil.

“Pie isn’t the only thing it will enhance the flavor of.” Andrew says back and FF feels as the car speeds up.

FF wishes that Andrew would just hurry up and crazy murder him already. He’d take the reverse bear trap over this psychological torture. He wants to pull up his phone and read if the Geneva Conventions list this as a war crime.

NEXT

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[rambles-about-minecraft-ocs]

theres something so funny to me when hermits are talking about redstone and theyre like "and then theres an etho hopper clock here-"

like. of course they use etho hopper clocks, itd be weirder if they actively avoided using it, considering its like. a redstone thingy that is very useful and still works even after all this time, and from what i understand it was like. a pretty big deal in terms of useful things you could do with redstone back when he first made it because it opened up ways to do even more things with redstone

and like for the most part theyve probably been referring to that particular thing as an etho hopper clock for longer than theyve even known etho personally, considering the etho hopper clock predates his joining hermitcraft by at least 1-2 years, and several of the other hermits joining hermitcraft by even more. so of course they still call it that

on a related note, most of them likely had at least heard of etho before meeting him, even if they didnt personally watch him (tho i know some did) since he was an old school minecraft youtuber. like his original season 1 of "lets play minecraft" started when minecraft was so new it hadnt been officially released yet. literally back in minecraft alpha. he was a minecraft youtuber OG

so with those two points taken into consideration it completely makes sense that "etho hopper clock" is something ingrained into the terminology of anyone that does stuff with redstone somewhat regularly. theres no reason it wouldnt be

but when you put it into contrast with like. their actual interactions with etho. it kind of cracks me up???

its like. in my head the vibes are this: imagine building something and being like "okay guys, for this machine we need to use an archimedes screw, which is named of course after its inventor archimedes, a man so genius that to this day he is regarded as one of the most brilliant inventors and mathematicians to ever walk this earth" and then like thirty minutes later you go to a restaurant and you see archimedes, of classic antiquity fame, trying to eat a sandwich but the ingredients keep falling out in increasingly comedic manners. so you of course call him pathetic to his face, and then ask if he wants to try out your new totally-not-a-scam product that you carry on you at all times for opportunities like these. and for some reason he doesnt just say yes, but buys two

[7ndipity]

Every Little Thing

Yoongi x Reader

Summary: When you overhear Yoongi talking about how clingy you’ve been lately, you decide to take a step back from your friendship to give him space. But your sudden absence goes far from unnoticed by him.

Word Count: 2k(wtf?!)

Warnings: angst, swearing, only partially proofread

A/N: Thanks so much to the lovely anon who requested this! This story, I... I don’t know what happened, I went from struggling to get it to work at all to getting waayy too carried away. I kinda had to stop myself at the end before it shifted into something else, but maybe if y’all want a part two, we can pick up from there?

Masterlist

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As you got off the elevator, you couldn’t help the faint bounce in your step as you made your way to Yoongi’s studio, your bag slung over one shoulder, a grocery bag of snacks and drinks for the two of you to share.

Ever since you and Yoongi(and in turn, the rest of the members) had become friends, The Genius Lab had become a hideaway of sorts for you. Whenever you were feeling stressed or overwhelmed, you knew you could call Yoongi, and he would tell you to come over, letting you camp out on his couch while he worked, occasionally asking for your thoughts or opinions on a specific song or line.

As you neared his studio door, you noticed it was slightly ajar, allowing the voices from inside to slip out into the hall, quickly recognizing them as Yoongi’s and Namjoon’s.

“You wanna come to lunch with me and Hoseok?” Namjoon asked.

“Agh, I can’t, I told Y/n’s we could hang out today.” You heard Yoongi’s chair creak as he stretched, letting out a groan.

“Again? That’s like the third time this week, people are gonna start thinking you’re a couple or something at this rate.” Joon joked, making your cheeks flush lightly.

“Nah, it’s nothing like that,” Yoongi replied, sounding tired. “They’re just being clingier than usual, you know what they’re like.”

You frowned at his words. What did he mean by that?

“I know it’s just cause they’ve been stressed lately,” Yoongi continued. “But honestly, it’s gotten to the point where it’s weirder for them to not be here.”

Joon chuckled. “I’m surprised you don’t find that annoying.”

“I didn’t say that I don’t,” Yoongi said. “But it’s Y/n, so I let it slide. Anyway, on that track you showed me-”

You stepped back from the door, the sudden tightness in your chest making it slightly difficult to breathe as you quietly made your back down the hall to the elevators. As the metal doors closed, you replayed what you had overheard in your head.

Yoongi had always told you that he didn’t mind you hanging around, but maybe you had started to abuse that privilege, grown too dependent on him. Was that how he really felt about you? Had you become a nuisance? And if so, why hadn’t he said anything?

Pulling your phone out of your pocket, you quickly found his number and hit the call icon, trying to swallow down the lump in your throat before he picked up on the second ring.

“Hey, are you almost here?” He answered, sounding much brighter than a few minutes ago.

“Uh, actually, I don’t think I can make it today.” You said, trying to keep your voice steady.

“Is everything okay?” He asked, concerned.

No, one of my best friends hates me. “Yeah, everything’s fine, something just came up, sorry.” You bit your lip, managing to slip out of the building without running into any of the other members and making your way down the street to the bus stop.

“Okay.” He sounded unconvinced. “Is it anything I can help with, or-?”

“No, no it’s-, it’s a work thing.” You said, the words falling flat on your own ears. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll call you later, okay?”

“Alright.” He said reluctantly. “Bye.”

“Bye.” You hung up, letting out a deep breath.

You could tell he hadn’t believed you, but you didn’t really care at the moment. If he wasn’t going to be honest with you, why should you be any different?

Suddenly presented with the afternoon to yourself, you decided to head to the park, wandering along the river as you thought over everything.

You and Yoongi had come here together not long after you had moved to the city, the last few blooms of the cherry blossom season clinging on stubbornly to their branches. He’d promised to bring you back the next year, so you could see them in their full glory at peak bloom.

Of course, life and work had gotten in the way, as they often did, and before either of you had realized, the season had nearly passed again before he could keep his word. You’d told him at the time that it didn’t matter, you’d just been happy to spend time with him, a recurring theme for you apparently…

Had you been a bother to him back then as well? You didn’t believe so, but the earlier sting of his words had left you questioning everything, even if you knew it might be an over-reaction.

It was dark by the time you made it home, flopping down on the sofa with a tired sigh as you contemplated your options.

So you’d been bugging him lately, that was an easily fixable problem, right? Just leave him alone for a bit, it was as simple as that, wasn’t it?

You weren’t so sure as your phone suddenly buzzed on the cushion next to you, drawing your attention to Yoongi’s name illuminated on the screen. You’d forgotten you said you’d call him.

‘Hadn’t heard from you, just wanted to make sure you’re okay?’ The text read.

Now who’s the clingy one? Was your immediate first thought.

‘I’m fine, just tired. Talk to you tomorrow.’ You typed shortly before turning off your phone and going to bed, with no intention of texting him the next day unless he did so first.

For the next week, you tried to keep up with your new normal; you didn’t go by the studio, you avoided texting him unless he did first, and generally avoided his invites to hangout with vague excuses.

One place you couldn’t avoid him though was dinner with the other members. It was a monthly tradition that you usually looked forward to, but as you stepped through the door of the restaurant, you only felt a wave of nervousness, for what though exactly you didn’t know.

“Y/n!” Tae quickly hopped to his feet to give you a hug, the others all greeting you enthusiastically. You noticed Yoongi didn’t speak, only nodding to you politely, but his eyes never left you for a second, seeming to study your every move.

“Y/n, do you want my seat? I know you usually prefer to sit by Yoongi-hyung.” Jungkook asked, starting to get to his feet, but you quickly waved him to sit.

“It’s okay, you don’t have to move for me, I’m fine over here.” You said, settling in the free seat next to Jimin, which happened to be directly across the table from Yoongi.

Everyone quickly settled into their usual routines and conversations, the mix of voices blurring into an almost comforting buzz, allowing you to zone out for a moment and relax, but a single low voice managed to snap you back to attention.

“I haven’t seen you all week.” Yoongi said quietly, a noticeable heaviness in his voice.

“Yeah, things have just been kinda busy.” You tried to say convincingly, but it was hard to pull off under his gaze. Luckily, Jin asked you about something from the show you’d been watching and gave you an easy out of the conversation.

You managed to get through the evening well enough, talking with the others, even making plans with Jimin for him to help you pick out some new furniture for your apartment. You’d felt Yoongi’s eyes on you all evening, but hadn’t said anything.

It was later that night when you were pulled from sleep by the sound of someone knocking persistently on your front door.

Cautiously, you climbed out of bed and padded to the door.

Who’s there?” You called anxiously, trying to remember where you’d put your old baseball bat, in case you needed to defend yourself.

“It’s Yoongi.”

You froze, staring at the door in surprise for a second before going over and peering out the peephole.

Sure enough, he was standing on your doorstep, causing a brief sense of relief that was quickly replaced with confusion and the same nervousness from earlier.

Not quite knowing what else to do, you cracked the door open slowly, taking in his slightly disheveled state; hair mussed and faint bags under his eyes. He looked the same way as when he would pull all-nighters at the studio.

“What are you doing here?” You asked.

“Why’ve you been avoiding me?” He responded with his own question, staring you down.

“I-, I haven’t-”

“Don’t lie.” He stopped you.

Glancing around quickly, you pulled him inside, not wanting to have this discussion in the hall.

“You’ve been dodging my texts and calls, you wouldn’t sit with me at dinner, you asked Jimin for help with furniture shopping, which you know he’s terrible at.” He continued as you closed the door. “So, tell me please, what has happened to make you start ditching me?”

“Why didn’t you tell me that I was annoying you?” You snapped.

He stopped, staring at you in confusion. “What?”

“I heard you and Joon talking last week,” You said, his face falling as the memory came flooding back. “About how clingy I’ve been, and how I’ve been annoying you by hanging around so much.”

“You haven’t been-”

“Don’t.” It was your turn to cut him off. “Don’t try to tell me that it’s not true or you didn’t mean it. What I want to know is why you weren’t just honest with me?” You hated the way your voice started to shake as you spoke. “Why didn’t you just tell me to fuck off or something? Why do you put up with me if I'm such an annoyance?!”

“Because I fucking love you!” He blurted out.

You froze, staring at him in shock. “What?!”

“I-, I love you.” He said quietly.

“You love me?” You repeated, hurt and frustration still churning in your stomach, not letting you take his words to heart. “You love me, but you think I’m annoying?”

“I think everyone’s annoying!” He tossed his hands up in frustration. “The difference is that I like your annoyance!

“I like that you’re loud and weird and make terrible jokes, I like that you nag me to take better care of myself.” He said. “I like that you’re happy holed up in my studio with me. I like that you sing along to every song that you recognize, even without realizing that you’re doing it.”

He took a cautious step closer, pleading with his eyes as he spoke.

“I like every little annoying thing that you do, because they’re what make you you. I’m so sorry that I made you think anything otherwise.”

You hadn’t moved as he spoke, fighting the tremble in your lip as your eyes had misted over with tears.

“Y/n?” He asked anxiously.

You didn’t speak, choosing instead to lunge forward, wrapping your arms tightly around him in a bruising hug. He staggering back slightly at the force of the collision, arms immediately coming up to hold you in an equally tight embrace.

“I missed you.” You sniffled, burying your face in his chest.

“I missed you too.” He replied, holding you tighter, pressing a soft kiss to your head. “I’m also sorry for telling you I loved you in a shitty way.”

“Eh, it’s kinda on brand for us, honestly.” You teased, making him let out a huff of laughter.

“I guess you’re right, fuck.” He shook his head.

“You wanna try again?” You offered.

He pulled back to look at you. “Really?”

You nodded. “If you want to.”

He nodded, pulling away enough to take your hand, running his thumb over your knuckles as he pressed his lips together nervously, eyes shaking slightly as he met your gaze.

“I love you, Y/n.”

He’d barely gotten the last word out before your lips were on his, effectively shutting you both up for the next several minutes.

When you finally pulled back, his eyes were blown wide, lips swollen and red from your assault, his breaths coming out in shaky puffs.

“I love you too, by the way.” You said, grinning at his slightly dazed expression.

“Cool, c’mere.” He said, pulling you back in, making you giggle as he eagerly reconnected your mouths.

Taglist: @sopebubbles-replies @btsw1fe @this-must-be-my-tardis @whitefoxgirl @bethanysnow @coffeedepressionsoup @main-bangtansmauyeondan @captainorangegoose @k4ngelz

[littleplantfreak]

I can't go back to sleep until I write Umemiya pining after a girl who's busier than he is apparently so. I didn't really proofread sorry! :P

The first time he meets you, you literally fall into his arms. Not in the romantic way though, you're just running so fast that when you stumble, trying to skew your direction enough that you don't hurt him, he's fumbling to catch you. The box of books your trying to bring to the library donation box scatters and you're in the most awkward hold ever. "Sorry, really should've watched where I was going," you tell him, out of breath and sweaty. He tries to help you pick up the books but you wave his hand off, before saying a quick goodbye and heading off. He laughs about it later, remembering your hair completely disheveled from the fall and the way you went back to running to the library even though he's sure it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

He ends up asking more people about you, finding out more about you from them, than he's able to glean from his rare run-ins with you. You're as active in the community as he is, just in different ways. Walking a bunch of younger kids to school in the morning because they have to cross a busy street and the school hasn't been able to cover the crossing guard position just yet or helping run the fundraiser for a local shop's owner who's sick, your schedule is packed even when you don't plan for it to be.

Everyone can see him getting a stupidly goofy look on his face as he calls out a quick greeting seeing you on your way somewhere. The first time he sees you tired he's nervous immediately. It's totally normal, given how much you do, but the hunch in your shoulders and sluggish way you're eating the food at Pothos has his stomach turning. He's considering asking Hiragi for stomach medicine now. When you go to leave he's grabbing the fabric of your sleeve gently tugging, a little unsure if you'd be against him grabbing your hand. He's a gentle guy, but no one's seen him treat anyone that delicately before.

"I know you're busy, but could you make time for me?" He's asking, and you misunderstand his concern for you as him really needing help with something, shooting a text to the people you were supposed to meet. You agree and he leads you to the school rooftop, giving you a brief tour.

"What did you need help with again?" You ask, yawning into your hands.

"Ah..." He trails off because he didn't need help but he figures you must've thought that when he asked for your time. "Ya see this hammock over here? I'm trying to figure out if I need to get a new one! Could you try it out for me?" He figures trying to explain that he just wanted to spend time with you might go over your head, so making up an excuse is the best bet, not to mention he might be able to get you to rest.

You're not fazed in the slightest, having been asked weirder favors. "Yeah, it's not gonna fall over or anything, right?" It'd suck to lay down only to end up face first on concrete.

"No no! It's completely safe I promise!" And he's relieved when he finally sees you lie down. It's insanely comfortable too. You start melting into it, pretty sure at this point you're gonna be glued to it forever. "Comfy?" He smiles, knowing for a fact that it is.

"Mm," you mumbled a little out of it. If you don't get up soon you might just fall asleep.

"Think there's room for two? I heard checking that it can handle it's weight limit is important," He says nearly laughing at such an easily seen through excuse, knowing you're probably too tired to even register his logic. Patting the side, you scoot over a bit, waiting for him to lie down too. "O-oh no I was kidding-,"

"Umemiya," and the way you're saying his name, a little gruff from exhaustion has his hear pounding in his ears. You pat the side harder, punctuating your silent demand. It's a tight squeeze next to him, but not entirely uncomfortable, noting how big he actually is next to you. "Think you need a bigger one," you say practically in his neck due to your positions, setting his nerves on fire. Is it hot up here? He's sweating a little, feeling a flush climbing up his neck to his ears. You go quiet, and as he looks over you're fast asleep, starting to drool on his shoulder a bit, chest rising and falling softly.

He's the human equivalent of an exclamation point now, unable to actually move to get off unless he wants to wake you up, which is currently unthinkable. He's able to get his phone out though, and is texting Hiragi in incomprehensible strings of text all in caps, an excess of emojis flying into the chat. Thankfully, Hiragi's had years of experience translating what Ume's trying to say, and when he gets the gist he's thrilled. He hopes they stay up there all day, and his stomach eases reflexively at the though of his leader tied up and unable to cause any trouble. Umemiya gets a quick text back in acknowledgement saying Hiragi'll make sure no one comes up to the roof for the afternoon.

Eventually, after calming down his giddiness, he also end up passing out, getting the best, yet sweatiest sleep of his life. He also ends up with a nasty sunburn on his arm that fell into a patch of sunlight on the side of the hammock, but thinks it's very much worth it when you panic and start massaging aloe into it. Once you wake up, you realize his ply was to get you to rest all along and you're thankful for it asking if you could borrow his hammock again sometime. He's nearly tripping over himself trying to explain that you could come here every day and it wouldn't be a problem, in fact it'd be amazing if you did because he could show you how his garden is doing and introduce you to everyone and, and, and. He's got you giggling with the enthusiasm, before you shake your head saying once a week probably works better. "Maybe tuesdays?" you ask and he agrees, obviously please. "It's a date then." You say, grabbing your stuff before asking him to show you the way back to the front of the school.

He nearly has a heart attack at the word 'date' but for the rest of the week, he's so excited it's annoying, eventually a flustered Sakura yelling at Ume to "Shut up about your girlfriend" and he does. For about 1 minute.

[sigmalaussene]

Top ten weird ways Oswald Cobbepot gets called in Gotham

As I was rewatching Gotham, I decided to write down every name that people in the show canonically call Oswald Cobblepot aka the Penguin. It was a wild ride. Please enjoy

10. "Funny looking fellow"

(season one)

We start with a simple one. This isn't even an insult, it's just a fact. He is, indeed, a funny looking fellow. I'm pretty sure they say it more than once too.

9. "The Dapper Gangland Kingpin"

(season two)

This one it's just silly, especially since it was written on a newspaper. Just... that's weird ? Idk it's silly it makes me chuckle

8. "Yellow rat snitch"

(season one)

We start getting a little weirder. Why a rat? And, more importantly, why yellow???

7. "Stupid lame birdbrain"

(season four)

Just so mean. Especially since this scene it's his dumb husband making a room full of people chant it

6. "Golden goose"

(season one)

Right back to season one and it's incredible dialogue. This one is particularly amazing thanks to Oswald's reply to it, which was, of course: "Honk honk". I can't even start to describe that scene. It's a classic.

5. "Beaky nosed freak"

(season five)

Definitely the best nickname the last season had to offer. Like, you know that moment when a guy kills your bestfriend/girlfriend and you call him the silliest name you can think of? This is one of those times.

4. "Scaley faced bitch"

(season one)

This is the first one in the show, directly from the first episode. I am a firm supporter of calling men bitches when they deserve it, and he did, so I wholeheartedly approve this message. Adding the scaley face part just makes it more poetic.

3. "Sad little breadhead"

(season two)

This one from never fails. Imagine it delivered with the most condicending tone in the world. Just amazing. Makes me laugh every time.

2. "Fruitcake leprechaun"

(season two)

This. This is the one that started it all. It was thinking about this one that I decided that this rewatch I was gonna write down all the nicknames. I dont know if it has something to do with english not being my first language, so I don't have the background of the word "fruitcake" used as an homophobic remark, but this name is one of the funniest things I have ever heard in my life.

1. "Limping little chickenbutt second banana"

(season one)

This couldn't not be on the first place. I am obsessed with the writers of this show, i want to get inside their brains. Because like what does it mean? How did they come up with this? I need to know every thought that crossed their mind for them to write this. This is art. This is poetry. Incredible. Amazing. Absolutely insane. Kudos to the actor who played Maroni because if they gave me that line I wouldn't be able to say it with a straight face.

Bonus:

(For the fans, he is also called "the only thing Nygma cares about". Just... you know, in case you forgot)

Some recurrent nicknames are: "Pengy", "Ozzie", "freak", "cockroach", "punk", bird related names (bird/birdman, feathered friend, chicken, turkey...) and "little"/"tiny" followed by almost anything (man, friend, dirtbag, bastard, creep, twerp, freak, weasel...)

Edit: i realize i didn't mention "Major Crumblepot" and that's on me sorry guys

His haircut is described as "disco vampire hair" at one point (another classic)

He is also called "specimen", which is really funny, and "dewdropper"?? for some reason I don't remember but it was in my notes and I couldn't ignore it lmao

[sergeant-angels-trashcan]

Bestie I NEED to hear your thoughts about Harley and Bruce possibly being secret twins 👀👀👀👀👀

Been thinking about this for WEEKS i fear!!!! This came right as 'rona dragged me down I'm sorry this took so long!!!

I don't know or care about how secret twins happens, what happens in the bedroom of Thomas and Martha and Alfred Pennywayne is NONE of my business unless they invite me which is fine btw

since they're fraternal twins they COULD TECHNICALLY have different dads. am I saying Alfred is Harley's bio dad perhaps and the clown is going to have empty space where his head used to be but I digress. This explains SO MUCH I feel but also we should in no way think that the parents know this. They don't know nor care because THAT IS THEIR BABIESSS. it would probably be Bruce and Harley finding out when they're forty or something because someone needs a kidney. They purposefully forget the information. They don't need it.

And as insufferable as Thomas is with Baby Brucie can you IMAGINE how AWFUL he would be as a Girl Dad tm. I am thinking of your "if you detain one you detain both I KNOW MY RIGHTS" post but with two children!!. Also Thomas would be THEEE cattiest mfer amongst the other dance moms. My god Alfred and Martha would never know peace. Also a million zillion pictures of each parent konked out while holding 2 sleeping toddlers, THINK on it I beseech thee it's so cute. (But then, Thomas accidentally saving/kidnapping Harley from the park and Bruce and Harley INSISTING they are identical twins. Everyone is like no you really aren't until Thomas gives them the most murderous look known to man over their tiny heads. VERY funny when Jason and Cass also do this)

Maybe Harley was very very sickly as a baby and they kept her a secret to keep the press away. I can see family not talking about Martha's pregnancy AT ALL particularly if it was high risk in any way like she would be visibly pregnant due any day and someone would ask her if she was excited about the baby and she would deadass say 'what baby'.

The ideal scenario the Pennywaynes have for their offspring is that they keep the bambini hidden. as far as the press knows one day 18 year olds pop up outside the Wayne Manor as fully formed scions to the empire. You've never heard of them before? GOOD. That was the point.

Also the DRAMA, the ANGST, I think this makes sense with Bruce's weird dynamic with the Joker (though this could work with just siblings ig)?

Bruce doesn't want to kill the person his twin loves because it would hurt his twin, who HE loves. And killing the Joker could result in Harley hating him! Bruce trying so hard to be supportive for Harley and just be there for her so when she finally decides to leave the Joker she knows Bruce has her back.

Bruce knowing all the stuff about what support systems do that helps and hurts victims of intimate partner violence so he's always playing this balancing act of what he feels like he can say/do about him before it affects Harley. And it being his self given job to stop the Joker from doing HIS self given job. If he helps Gotham he hurts Harley. If he tries to help Harley, he hurts Gotham (does very interesting things to the brainworms when thinking about Jason's murder! about why Bruce feels like he can't or shouldn't go after the Joker--because he's proven he will kill a child and use their mother to get them, that is not a man above using his partner to hurt his nemesis!!! and that would be a whole thing for Bruce, he doesn't act because he's genuinely terrified, worried that if he fails he'll lose harley too

idk if the Joker would know about Harley and Bruce being related or Bruce being Batman but I could see this being the turning point for how Harley views the Joker. Like, she'd been going over to the Manor to help Jason talk through his feelings every month for years. Would it have mattered if the Joker knew he was her nephew?)

Also makes the weird sexual tension Bats has with the Joker even weirder if he IS aware of their relationship. He'd be so gross about it. Yes the Joker wants the Wayne twins. He flirts with them in front of the other to piss them off, mostly Harley. Would highkey lie and say Bruce was flirting with him to drive a wedge between Bruce and Harley oh my god I went such a not fun direction with this

Identical twins could be very funny if they were separated at birth no i do not know why they would be separated just roll with me. the one that does not transition is like "why do you have a picture of me as a kid this is creepy what do you mean that's you' . Everyone at college is like ha ha you two look like you could be related! You do the same icky face when you eat pineapple. They dOn'T sEe iT

Maybe she was kidnapped (by like a very young deathstroke or something idk) and SOMEhow Oswald Cobblepot winds up with this feral toddler in his possession. A goon made a terrible life choice perhaps? And Ozzie is just an up and coming crime lord, still settling into the family business, how tf is he supposed to know the Waynes are missing THIS child? if he knew don't you think he'd be extorting people??? I think they could have some very fun and adorable Stacker Pentecost and Mako Mori vibes this man has NO idea how to raise a child but by god!! He will do it right!!! Literally nobody knows about her, he would have people killed for suspecting her existence.

But also take your daughter to work day??!? Harley yelling at incompetent goons in a sweet baby voice. Ozzie is SO PROUD of her, he wouldn't have minded her going into the family business but she's going to be a doctor!! He is just a proud papa!!! Fearsome crime lord The Penguin with sparkle pink nail polish and bows stuck to his head having a tea party with Lil Harley.

I think this is ALSO interesting with the Joker!! I would love if the only reason his dumb ass wasn't taken out the moment he stepped foot in Gotham was because he's Harley's Boyfriend. The only thing stopping the rogues from turning on him is that Harley likes him!! Is he the Gotham version of a crypto-finance bro?

What if it's an older Harley who is kidnapped? Like post Thomas and Martha shooting. It's part of what cements Bruce's notoriety as the Last Wayne. (Everyone asks if he can sense her through their Twin Bond and he gets sooooo mad that's not a real thing!!!! He feels so guilty because if that was a real thing, shouldn't he be able to find her? Shouldn't he know????)

Cut to Batman and Joker in a showdown and there is Harley and Bats CAN'T STOP STARING?!??? why does she seem so familiar? The Joker notices of course and starts saying some very crass things but the IMPORTANT part is that at some point Harley mentions not minding beating up on Batman because she once had a baby brother who was terrified of bats, so she's doing this for him!!! And Bruce is like wait I once had an older sister and I'M afraid of bats?!?!

Harley looks at him REALLY HARD and all of the sudden she's screaming "BABY B????" and roundhouse kicking the Joker into some metal oil drums. NOBODY beats up her baby brother!!!!

The rogues go fucking insane

(the age thing. Harley is technically a day older than Bruce. She was born at 11:50 PM and he was born at 12:05 AM. They make older sibling/younger sibling jokes all the time and think they are very funny. The Batkids would disagree)

[sorinethemastermind]

Only One Tent

You've heard of the only one bed trope, but what about only one tent and no bed? Aka the "Yes, you can use me as a pillow" prompt won the poll. #Sorvus

 Soren had shared a tent with Corvus before. One of the first things King Ezran had done after reclaiming the throne had been to travel across Katolis; visiting every town and hamlet, no matter how small. Soren had accompanied him, of course. It was his duty as a Crownguard to ensure that the king remained safe. And though Corvus hadn't been a member of the guard at the time, he had traveled with them anyway. Their trusty guide to the woods and wilds of Katolis.

 He was such a tree guy. It was kind of cute.

 For the first week or so of their travels Corvus had insisted on sleeping outside, saying that the stars made a better roof than a canvas tent. Soren had tried to point out that the whole thing with stars was that there was no roof, but Corvus had just rolled his eyes and claimed that he was missing the point. 

 However as they'd traveled further north the nights had become colder, and eventually even Corvus had been forced to admit that the stars didn’t trap heat as well as good old canvas. So Soren had offered to share his tent with him. And, though he'd declined the offer at first, it hadn't been long before the pair of them were pressed back to back in Soren's tent, savoring each other's warmth as the snow fell outside. It had been warm, cozy, and wonderful.

 And somehow less uncomfortable and awkward than whatever it was they were doing now.

 Soren glanced over at Corvus from his side of the tent. The other man sat on the opposite side of the small canvas room, knees drawn up to his chest and arms folded. As much distance between them as there could be in the cramped little space.

 Soren cleared his throat. "Don't you think we should be helping? I feel like we should be helping."

 "King Ezran told you to rest." Corvus reminded him, barely sparing him a glance. Soren wondered if it was because of how many times he'd had to say that, or if it was something else. Like, maybe, he didn't know; the fact that they had kissed twenty minutes ago and the king had walked in on it.

 "But don't you think-"

 "King Ezran." Corvus repeated, putting extra emphasis on the words this time." Told you to rest."

 Soren let out a loud hmph. Ezran had said a lot of things. Like how the destruction of Katolis wasn't his fault. And how there was nothing more he could have done. And how the people were lucky to have had him there when they did. And those just obviously weren't true. So then, maybe he didn't need to rest either?

 "Why don't you get some sleep?" Corvus urged him gently, shifting a little bit closer. Soren looked up at him through the curtain of blond hair that had fallen across his face. He hadn't realized his head was drooping. 

 Straightening up, he rolled his shoulders. "Nah, I'm fine."

 "You haven't slept in nearly two days."

 "But." Soren pointed out. "I have drunk more hot brown morning potion in those two days than any other. So I'm wide awake! Really, we shouldn't even be in here. We should be out helping."

 He began to reach for the tent flap, but a hand on his shoulder stopped him. His friend's - boyfriend's? - grip squeezed slightly as he spoke.

 "Soren. Are you okay?"

 The question caught him off guard.

 No. He was not okay. But people didn’t usually ask so he didn’t usually have to lie. Anyway, what did it matter? He was used to it. It would be weirder if he was okay at this point. Was anybody ever really okay, anyway? 

 "Yeah. Of course." Soren flashed a wide smile in Corvus' direction. "Why wouldn't I be?"

 "Because..." Corvus trailed off, too many reasons to name them all. "I'm just worried about you."

 Soren paused, his smile faltering. Then it was replaced by a smaller, genuine one. “You don’t need to be… Corvy?”

 Something in Corvus’ expression told him this nickname wouldn't stick any better than the others he had tried. 

“Alright, not Corvy.” he said. “How about-”

 “How about you rest like the king ordered?”

 “Fineee.” Soren groaned, letting the tent flap drop from his hand. “Just for an hour.”

 He flopped back down onto the ground, feeling the corners of his armor jab into his sides, the sticks and stones littering the dirt floor of the tent poking into his back. The saying should have been sticks and stones can break my bones, and they sure as heck make it impossible to sleep too.

 For a split second he wished he had accepted the bedroll Opeli offered him, if only so that Corvus wouldn’t be stuck lying on the cold, stony ground. But the selfish thought fled just as quickly as it had come. The hospital needed them more. He would have given them this tent too, had Opeli not insisted it was too small to be of any use. 

 And it was small. Corvus laid down on the ground beside him, the forced proximity making their shoulders bump. Not that Soren was mad about that. He tried to stop wiggling, for Corvus’ sake. If he needed rest, then his friend - partner? - definitely did. He’d ridden for days just to get here, and now was worried about him? 

 But knowing that they both needed to rest didn’t seem to make sleep any more attainable, and they both spent the next ten minutes staring at the canvas roof above them, eyes wide open, elbows and shoulders gently bumping into one another each time they moved. Unable to do anything else without disturbing Corvus, Soren had to be content simply wiggling his toes. Which, he realized after a moment, were sticking slightly out of the tent. It really was small. Or he was just big. It was probably that last one. He was a prime physical specimen, after all.  

 "What are you doing?" Corvus asked, rolling onto his side to look over at Soren.

 “I, uh, nothing. I’m resting.”

 Corvus didn’t seem convinced, so Soren rolled over to face him so he could properly explain why this should count as resting and now they could get up and go help. The words died on his lips when he realized that, in this new position, their faces were mere inches apart. Corvus’s hair tickled his forehead and their noses bumped as he shifted.

 “Really?” Corvus asked, his breath warm on Soren’s face. 

 Soren reached out and poked his nose.

 “What was that for?” Corvus asked, sitting up in his surprise.

 “It was right there, what did you want me to do!?” Soren asked, rolling onto his back to look up at him, blowing the hair out of his face. 

 Corvus blinked a few times, the color in his cheeks deepening. Then he looked away. “What are we, Soren?”

 Soren’s heart dropped and he sat up, propping himself up on one elbow as he looked over at his friend of two years. “I, uh. What do you want to be?”

 He knew what he wanted. And for a second there, when they’d kissed, he’d thought maybe that was what they were now. That maybe they were a thing. But the way he’d asked that… now he wasn’t so sure.

 Corvus took a deep breath and let it out slowly before replying. “I thought that maybe… maybe it was just the adrenalin, or the rush of having survived. Of both of us being okay. But what I would like is for it to have been… more than that.”

 Corvus looked at him, his eyes kind and smiling in that way Soren loved so much.

 “Corvus. We almost die, like, every day.” he pointed out. “And we’ve never done that before.”

 “But-”

 He stopped him with a quick kiss, which became a few kisses, and he felt that addressed Corvus’ concerns pretty well. 

“So… can I tell everyone that you’re my boyfriend now?” he asked, finally drawing back. 

 Corvus lay back down on the ground, crossing his forearms behind his head as a kind of makeshift cushion. “I suppose you can.”

 “Yes!” Soren flopped onto the ground beside him, punching a fist in the air. “I guess we already sort of told Ezran.”

 “I can’t believe…” Corvus trailed off, shifting so that he could pinch the bridge of his nose with one hand as he closed his eyes. He sighed. “What’s done is done.”

 “Yep!” Soren said cheerily, not feeling a drop of regret. “He was going to find out eventually.”

 He shifted uncomfortably on the uneven, stony ground. He’d forgotten how jabby it was. A stone pressed into the back of his head and he sat up, shoved it away, and laid back down. And just as quickly sat back up. 

 “Sorry, I didn’t mean to lie on you. I can move over.”

 “That would sort of defeat the point of me putting my arm there.” Corvus said, and Soren realized that it hadn’t been an accident. Corvus scooted a little closer, stretching his arm out further towards him. 

 “You hurt your head, Soren. The last thing we need is you banging it against a rock.”

 “So… you’re saying that I should use you as a pillow.”

 “Yes. I am a pillow.”

 “And you’re a pillow… for my health?”

 “What else would it be for?”

 Soren just smiled and lay back down, resting his head gingerly on Corvus’ proffered arm. One of the perks of working out, it seemed, was that muscles could double as pillows. More people should tell you that. He would have to keep it in mind. 

 Corvus rested his other arm across his chest, fingers absently playing with a torn edge on Soren’s armor. Curled up together in the warm closeness of the tent, Soren finally felt himself relax. He hadn’t realized how on edge he’d been until it all washed away. 

 Sure, he had a lot of work to do and there were people out there that needed helping. But he could take a couple minutes to shut his eyes, and just listen to the sound of Corvus’ slow breathing beside him, and the rustle of the tent in the wind.

 Anyway, Corvus needed to rest, and if Soren got up to go and help out around camp he was sure to follow. So really, the only way to make sure that his boyfriend got some sleep was to get some himself. 

 Soren closed his eyes, letting himself relax for the first time in at least two days, probably longer, and with a stifled yawn sleep took him.

[takenbypeter]

Are you jealous?

Eddie Brock x reader

Words: 1140

Author’s note: this takes place after no way home

FLUFF BINGO

Peter.

Eddie couldn’t point out why that one name sounded so off putting to him. All he knew was that there was this new kid at your work and you’ve been talking about him for the past two minutes.

You were currently going on about how bright the kid was. How he was a hard worker which you were glad about considering your last couple coworkers have been slack offs. But that name just kept pricking the back of his brain. Well that and Venom’s voice that never shut up.

Unsure when you were planning to give him the chance to talk he interrupted you, “sorry, what did you say his name was again?”

“Oh, his name is Peter, um…Peter Parker I think it was.”

‘Peter Parker! Eddie, we know Peter Parker!’

You continue on, your voice becoming background noise while Eddie seems to be putting pieces together.

This happened for a while, his facial expression growing weirder by the second.

“Yeah he just started this week but he’s already gotten down so much…” you tilted your head sentence being interrupted by the fact that Eddie hadn’t met your eye for a minute now.

“Hey,” that seemed to get his attention, “have you been listening to me?”

“Hm? Yes of course I’m listening to you,” he said motioning for you to continue and after giving him a side glance you did.

‘Tell what we know.’

Eddie’s face scrunched up and you tilted your head pausing and wondering if he had something to say but when he didn’t, you continued.

‘Eddie we promised no more secrets.’

‘Eddie. Say it.’

Eddie brought a hand up covering his mouth, while he mumbled a shut up which Venom obviously ignored.

‘Say it. If you won’t I will.’

“Eddie? Eddie are you okay?” You asked concern clear on your face. He hasn’t said much the past few minutes and his expressions kept shifting in odd ways.

‘Don’t be a loser Eddie. Say it.’

That was the last straw for Eddie. “Can everyone just be quiet for one…second!”

That got the both of you quiet. Shifting in your seat you push yourself away from the counter table, “seems like Venom has much more interesting things to say than me, so I’ll just leave you and Venom to it then.”

They watched as you made your way to the couch only a few feet from them. You couldn’t blame Eddie for his outburst, you knew Venom was always in his ear. There was nothing he could do about that.

“Look what you did, Eddie.”

“What!? I did?!” He whisper-yelled, “no buddy, this is all you.”

“If you just said what I told you to say then we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

“No if you never got in my head we wouldn’t be in this situation.”

You heard some more back and forth, trying to block it out to give them privacy. Sure you were slightly concerned but ultimately those two usually worked things out on their own.

You heard, “okay I’m going,” followed by some footsteps and then Eddie plopped himself on the other end of the couch.

He didn’t make any movements he just sat there.

“I’m not going to bite, you can come closer,” you said, refusing to look his way yet.

“Right.” He scooched over a tiny bit.

You two sat there for a moment, heads turned to the screen and you were beginning to wonder if he’d actually say something anytime soon. But you didn’t get to wonder too long.

“I’m sorry,” he started, already positioning his body towards you. “That outburst was in no way directed towards you.”

“I know that Eddie, it’s okay.”

You sit there again before you finally ask curious what all the fuss was about anyway, “so what was that all about?” You question, pointing towards the counter where you all were seated just a moment ago.

Eddie pushes his lips into a line and brings his eyebrows together causing a wrinkle to crease in the center of his forehead.

“What were you jealous or something?“ you tease causing him to give a little laugh. “No. I’m not jealous.”

‘We are a little.’

“No. No.”

He pauses again and your curiosity builds up, “so…what is it then?”

Letting out a breath he decides it’s better to tell you now than have you sit here mad at him for not telling you. “Okay, so remember when I told you that I was like sucked into a portal into another universe and you made that face, the one that makes me feel like I’m crazy.”

He paused and pointed at your face, “that’s it, you’re doing it right now.”

You shook your head quickly, shaking off your expression, “no I’m not. Go on.”

“Well when I was sucked into that…other place, there was a guy. His face was everywhere, on tv all over the news, he was sorta a good guy—a hero. He had superpowers and everything. Well that guy—that kid was named Peter Parker.”

Although you tried your best to conceal your expressions you couldn’t help but have your eyes widen at the revelation.

He nodded before continuing, “but it seemed like the whole world turned on him for killing one guy is what I understood.”

Eddie takes a moment to think and when you’re about to ask him something he starts abruptly, “—and if he’s the good guy and he’s a kid and people are turning on him for killing one guy, a bad guy I would assume, what does that make me?”

You angle your body laying a comforting hand on his leg while he goes on. “Venom eats people—granted it’s bad people, but it’s still people,” he faces you expression torn, “am—am I the bad guy?”

You barely wait a beat before protesting his worries, “hey don’t start with that. Look at me,” to make your point you gently reach out and press your hands against his scruff that covered cheeks his skin feeling warm against yours.

“You are not the bad guy here,” his eyes are all big and wide while he looks up at you from his brown hues. “What Venom does is…unorthodox yes but you are not bad. Eddie you have your own problems—just as any one—but one word I would never ever use to describe you is bad. You do your best with what you have.”

Eddie’s looking at you one moment and then the next his forehead is pushed against your shoulder.

“Better?” You ask as he responds with a nod against you.

After a moment of just resting like that he mumbles out, “thank you, I needed to hear that…and I’m sorry for yelling earlier.”

“Yeah that was uncalled for,” you joke and he smiles against your body, thankful for being so fortunate to have you by his side.

[emeritus-fuckers]

Random idea as long as I'm allowed to make two requests, if not delete/ignore this, but the papas, nihil and seestor playing video games with reader!

nihil is one of the papas, you don't have to specify you want him too lol - rat

Papas and Sister Imperator playing video games with their s/o

Primo (he/him)

He doesn't really play himself, but he's very willing to watch.

He likes two types of games: the ones where you get to build, farm and make friends (The Sims series, Minecraft, Stardew Valley) and games where choices matter and there's a mystery to be solved (Detroit: Become Human, Baldur's Gate 3, Life is Strange).

If you play games where you get to build, he asks if you'd mind letting him give you design ideas, as he was always interested in architecture. Your in-game houses never looked better, he's an excellent architect.

He also memorizes all the gifts and recipees from Stardew Valley for you. Considers it a good brain excercise.

With the other kind of games, he is fascinated by all the options they offer and the concept of morality.

Although he does think Detroit: Become Human got way out of hand with the plot. It was one of the few times you heard him mutter cursewords in Italian.

He does enjoy Neil Newbom's performance in games, though. He's the only reason Primo bought you Resident Evil: Village and insisted you play together.

Secondo (he/him)

Well, he does like classic arcades.

And surprisingly, it doesn't take long for him to grow familiar with a joystick. So if you have a console, he's pretty good at it after a few days.

He's weirdly good and Doom. It's very concerning how good he is at Doom.

And MovieStarPlanet. This man spent so much money on MovieStarPlanet it's insane.

He needs his character to look fabulous, after all. He will actually make it a point of pride that his character is dressed better than yours.

He plays as a female character, by the way.

Naturally, he played the Barbie games, too. His favorite is The Barbie Diaries: High School Mystery.

Terzo (he/they)

Terzo is rather decent at classic platformers, like the original Mario Brothers game or the old Sonic games.

You show them a dating simulator and the bastard is obsessed.

He gets a new phone just to have more dating simulator games on his phone.

This is all fine and dandy until he he gets his hands on Mystic Messenger and stayed up at nights to play the night chatrooms.

On maximum volume. On maximum brightness.

Needless to say, Omega was not amused. Neither were you.

It gets even weirder when Terzo starts throwing around phrases in Korean that they learned from the game.

Korean with a very thick Italian accent.

Omega is losing his mind, especially after Terzo, having not gotten enough sleep one night, accidentally tried to perform a ritual from the Arcana, rather than the one he was supposed to.

You both end up on technology detox as Omega insists it's crucial for you two to touch grass.

Copia (he/him)

We all remember him playing Driving Miss Daisy.

We also all remember that he sucked at playing Driving Miss Daisy.

He's good at co-op games, though!

Like Minecraft or Raft. Or even Stardew Valley (that one mod is forever in my heart).

Especially Minecraft. Copia yearns for the mines.

You find a bigger hill or a mountain in the game? He insists to dig a room in it as your first base.

You leave for a bathroom break and suddenly Copia's wearing diamond armor and you have a giant underground empire.

You know he didn't cheat, he doesn't even know how to input cheats in the game.

He's the same in Stardew Valley. He was at the bottom of the mine with the original pickaxe and a crappy sword in less than a week in-game.

Science can't explain how he did that. Or why the mines is the only thing he's good at in those games. He sucks at everything else, he is a mines-only boy.

Old Nihil (he/him)

He is not going anywhere near the computer after Swiss and Sunshine showed him Five Nights At Freddy's.

He is not risking that shit again.

He will sit in the corner of the room and sulk if you play video games while he's around.

Young Nihil (he/him)

Even in his youth, he was older than video games and not very smart.

He gets way too distressed about the games so you put him on a gaming ban for the sake of both his and your own sanity.

He does like watching you play, though. Especially as he cuddles up to you.

He keeps complimenting you while you play. He's proud of you!

Young Sister Imperator (she/her)

She would not have the time.

As much as she loves you, it's almost always a no.

She doesn't mind if you play something while you're together, she's just... not gonna have the time to actually play.

Although considering it's the 60s, it's probably more likely to assume she just hears about you going on about arcades.

Which she doesn't mind, even if the games seem completely absurd to her.

Old Sister Imperator (she/her)

She will die of embarassment if anyone finds out, but she's a sucker for old Pokémon games.

She even has the first generation Pokédex memorized.

You leard that by accident while looking for mods for Minecraft and she automatically quotes the Bulbasaur Pokédex entry as you gush over the cute creature.

She's embarassed to say the least. You totally use it as blackmail on her.

And pay for it in the bedroom.

(Step on me in those red heels of yours Seestor please.)

~

Written by Nosferatu.

[probably-writing-x]

Armour - Chapter Two

Rafe!AU x Reader

Summary: Having your heart broken was one thing. But Rafe watching somebody break your heart? That was something nobody could prepare for.

Warnings: Cursing, mentions/hints of a toxic relationship

Word Count: 3K

Author’s Note: I LOVE writing this series and this whole concept, I feel like I could carry it on forever - once again, this chapter was inspired by this gif so I feel like this might be an ongoing theme for this series <3 Thank you for the love y’all.

After that night, you hadn’t thought of James. You and Rafe had returned home and, when Sarah asked how your night was, you’d told her you’d slept better than you had done in days. She’d probably tell you that you were crazy for going round to the house, and tell Rafe he was stupid for getting himself involved. She’d tell him this was too much like the old Rafe, the one that craved the power and the fights, and that he wasn’t like that anymore. But you knew that little spark in Rafe would always stay - for the few people that he cared enough about to make sure that nothing bad happened to them. And you’d seen that last night, the way he’d spoken about you; someone fighting your corner.

“Good morning,” Rafe groans as he walks through to the kitchen, dragging a hand over his face.

He’s wearing a pair of joggers that hang low on his hips, accentuating the V-lines around the bottom of his abs, his torso visible for the few seconds as he struggles to pull a hoodie over his head.

“Is it even still morning?” Sarah laughs, pouring out another cup of coffee and handing it over to him.

“I had a busy day yesterday,” He rolls his eyes, “You know, travelling and all that.”

He sits down at the kitchen island beside you and offers you a small smile just before his lips touch the coffee mug, his eyes warm in the steam coming from the cup.

“Did you get up in the night, Rafe?” Sarah asks, settling a hand over her growing bump and leaning back against the kitchen counter.

He frowns over his coffee and shakes his head, “Nope, slept like a baby.”

“That’s weird,” Sarah frowns too, “I could’ve sworn I heard the door open.”

“Probably just baby brain,” He clears his throat, “I’m going to hop in the shower.”

Sarah watches with a suspicious squint in her eyes as he disappears, “I swear he gets weirder every time I see him.”

You laugh and look down as you feel a smile spread onto your face, you’d have to thank him later for last night.

Sarah comes over and takes the seat that Rafe had been sat in, shifting herself so that she’s facing you, “So, I need you to be honest with me, how are you feeling?”

You turn so that you’re facing her too and Sarah stretches out her hands for you to take, both of you squeezing into the contact, “I’m okay, so much better than I was. It’s just weird, you know? For nine years he was the person I told everything to. Even when we weren’t living together or anything, I’d wake up and send him a text or call him before I went to sleep. I keep getting this weird instinct to just reach for my phone because I feel like I haven’t heard from him and then I realise that… I don’t know, I won’t.”

She nods reassuringly but doesn’t say anything else, letting you continue.

“I just want to know why,” You laugh a little, “Not in a weird ‘what’s wrong with me’ kind of way. But just… it was nine years of my life, you know?”

“Okay, I maybe shouldn’t be suggesting this because I think, as the best friend, I’m meant to tell you to stay far away from him, but maybe it would do you some good to meet up with James and talk it all through. Do you think?”

After last night? You weren’t sure he’d ever want to see you again, especially if he thought Rafe would be with you again.

“Yeah, maybe, we’ll have to talk about everything at some point, I guess I-“

You’re cut off as your phone pings on the counter and a message notification comes up from James again.

I think we need to talk after yesterday. I’ll pick you up and we can go for coffee if you’re free?

Sarah eyes the message too, “After yesterday?”

“Right, yeah, with the box and stuff, I thought that was his final straw or something,” You look down so that she can’t realise that you’re lying, “Um, I better go and get ready, tell him that I’ll be free.”

You squeeze Sarah’s hand as you leave, hurrying up the stairs as if running from the conversation. She probably wouldn’t be too mad if you told her about last night, but she’d almost definitely tell you that it was a bad idea, that Rafe is a bad influence even all these years later. It was the same way you didn’t tell her about the night at the beach with Rafe, or the countless other nights like that - she’d tell you Rafe was her brother but it wasn’t a good idea. And you weren’t exactly ready to hear that.

You go into the bedroom that had become your own and close the door behind you, just as there is the sound of the ensuite door opening. Rafe steps out, a towel wrapped around his waist, beads of water dripping around his shoulders, dipping down from his soaked hair.

“Oh shit sorry I-“ Rafe comes to a halt, glancing up from his phone in his hand, “The shower in the other bathroom is terrible so I just… I thought you were downstairs so I-“

“Rafe, it’s fine,” You laugh, “Not anything I haven’t seen before.”

He fakes a gasp, “You’ll embarrass me, (Y/L/N).”

You roll your eyes, “I don’t think anything embarrasses you, Cameron.”

He chuckles and drags a hand through his wet hair, “So, I was thinking we should get out of the house today. I miss the beach when I’m in New York, one of the few things to miss about this place.”

“I actually,” You clear your throat, “I have something to do today.”

Rafe frowns for a second, “Ooh, mysterious,” He stretches out a hand and pokes at your side, “What are you doing?”

“I just,” You shake your head, “I have a meeting, you know, to sort out the house and stuff.”

“Oh, okay, cool,” He nods, “Well, be back by sunset and we can go for a swim. Sound good?”

“Sounds good,” You return, “Now please go and get some clothes on.”

“Keep it in your pants, (Y/N), you know you love me,” He wiggles his brows, exaggeratively swaying his hips as he walks out of the room, closing the door behind him.

Your eyes settle over the room, landing on the box still sat beside your bed. The rest of it was closed away now, but the shot glass and now your toy giraffe, sat on your nightstand. You smile a little at the sight, thinking only to yourself. It felt like a couple of brightened moments in a week you were sure wasn’t going to get any sense of light. Today would likely be another darkness, but you’d be coming home to another bright place.

~~~

Within the hour, you’re showered, changed and ready to leave, sat on the edge of your bed waiting for James to text. Twelve minutes after he’d said he’d be there, he texts to say he’s outside. You grab your jacket and hurry down the stairs, glancing back to see Rafe and John B stood outside in the garden. John B is pointing something out and he’s holding a plank of wood in one hand as if he’s preparing to build something. Rafe nods along and seemingly agrees, laughing at something John B says that seems to brighten up his eyes. Your heart sinks a little at the guilt that comes with the view, knowing he would hate to think of where you were going right now. But you open the front door and close it quickly behind you, hurrying down to the car waiting with the engine still running.

You open the door and climb in quietly, feeling oddly far when you don’t have to lean over to kiss him in greeting.

“Hey,” You breathe out when he doesn’t make any move to say it first.

“Hi,” James glances at you, “Where do you want to go?”

“Are there really many options?” You frown, settling your hands into your lap and picking at the skin beside your thumb to give you something to focus on.

James chuckles a little and moves to reverse out of the driveway, “Fair point, let’s go.”

He drives you the short distance across the island to the one coffee shop that anyone actually used here. It’s near enough empty as you step through, thanking James for holding the door open for you. You order your regular and he orders his, sitting at a table in the far corner as if sheltering yourself from the world.

“So, I would ask how you’ve been but that feels weird when I saw you yesterday,” James comments, dragging his finger around the rim of the coffee cup on the table, “But how have you been?”

You swallow down a sip of your drink, too hot so it scratches your throat as it goes, “I’m okay, and I’m sorry about last night.”

He shakes his head, “Look, it’s your house too (Y/N), at least until we sort everything out. I just don’t know why you didn’t text me. And why you thought you should just show up in the middle of the night with Rafe?”

You nod as if you’re being told off, “No, I know. It was stupid. It was late and we were just planning on getting in and leaving, I didn’t plan on you seeing him, and I especially didn’t want the two of you to argue, you know that.”

He’s silent in his agreement, pausing for enough time for it to settle before he says, “So why is he here?”

“He’s back from New York for a few days, just coming to see Sarah,” You explain, taking another sip of your drink and wincing as it burns at your tongue.

“Perfect timing,” James raises his brows momentarily as if being sarcastic, “I’m sure he was happy to see you.”

“Wha-“ You pause, reconsidering the idea of starting up an argument that he’s already ignited, “What is that supposed to mean?”

“Come on, (Y/N),” James rolls his eyes, “I know the way he used to be with you.”

“We’re friends, we’ve always been friends.”

Perhaps that wasn’t so true, just maybe. Before you and James got together, you’d been so sure that you and Rafe would be inevitable. There was the night you kissed at the party, there was the night on the beach with far too much alcohol, there were countless days and countless nights. Just as you were losing hope of him ever reciprocating your feelings, you’d seen him kiss a girl at another party, and you’d used that as confirmation enough. Two weeks later, you’d gone on your first date with James. Nine years later, you’d still never told Rafe how you’d felt before that - especially since the two of you had started living such different lives.

“I knew how he felt about you, it was obvious. God, the first time I met those guys he acted like I was the worst person he’d ever met,” James scoffs, “I thought he was going to rip my head off when I said we’d be moving away for college. He could’ve done the same last night, too.”

“You know, you don’t get to talk like that anymore. You split up with me. So it shouldn’t matter to you how anyone feels about me, whether or not that’s true,” You defend, tucking your arms around yourself as if closing yourself away from him.

“I don’t think I noticed it when we were in college, it was just me and you in our own little world and for a long time I thought that’s what would make us last. But we moved back here and it’s like everywhere you turn there’s another memory of you two - another piece of him that you’re holding onto even years later.”

“We’re friends. He means a lot to me. That’s what friends are.”

You let the silence fall.

He’s silent too and it surprises you. Normally, he would find any way to keep an argument going if he’d started it, he’d argue back and forth constantly until you agreed - he didn’t just let arguments end.

“I didn’t come here to argue with you,” He takes a deep breath, “I’m sorry for the way I ended things. I know I probably didn’t go about things in the right way, but I think if I’d have tried to do anything else I… well, I don’t think I’d have been able to do it.”

You feel the lump grow in your throat, the way it seems to constrict your words just a little too much as you say, “Then why did you?”

He breaks eye contact then and looks down at his cup, his finger still swirling around the edge in continuous circles, “Do you remember the first time we went out?”

“Our first date?”

“I picked you up from your house and I had to wait down the road because your parents might see me. And we went out, and I knew then that this was it for me, like within one date I’d just already decided,” He doesn’t meet your eyes, “And then I walked you home and I stopped around the corner again so that your parents wouldn’t see me. And you walked up to your house and Rafe was sat on the steps up to your porch, just waiting for you to get home.”

Your heart sinks at his words, like a weird feeling of not knowing the inevitable.

“And I guess for the past nine years that’s how it’s always felt; like Rafe was just waiting for you to go back home to him.”

“You’re blaming this on Rafe?” You raise your brows, your words feeling coarse and dry as you speak, “We were together for nine years. I chose you for nine years, every fucking day I chose you, and you want to tell me that you blame this on Rafe? That Rafe’s the reason you broke my heart?”

“Broke your heart,” James repeats, nodding slowly, “Your heart didn’t seem too broken last night.”

You let out a scoff and bite down just a little on the tip of your tongue as if trying to calm the anger bubbling out of you, “Right, yeah. I had one night where I felt a little bit fucking human again, after not sleeping, not eating, crying until I thought I’d be sick. After asking myself over and over and over again - what did I do? what should I have done? what’s wrong with me? And this whole thing you’re just going to blame on Rafe?”

“Where is he right now (Y/N)?”

You stop in your tracks, your hand clenching around the heat of your coffee mug, your words seeming to sink in the air between you.

James takes a long pause, his eyes scanning your face as if waiting for you to find the answer, “Waiting for you to come home.”

~~~

It’s an uncomfortable drive back. Neither of you speak a word. So much so that the tyres suddenly seem to make too much noise on the road, and you feel like you can hear the sound of the wheel turning under his grip. There’s a welcome relief when you watch the car turn into the driveway towards Sarah’s house, and an overwhelming dread when you catch the sight you know that James has seen too.

Rafe is sat on the steps in front of their house, the copy of To Kill A Mockingbird in his hands, a third of the way through the pages. He glances up at the sound of the car, a slight drop in his features as he recognises the face behind the wheel. He sets the book down on the side of the steps and stands up, his jaw clenching as you watch him.

James doesn’t say a word, but there’s the slightest tiniest hint of a smirk on his lips as if he’s been proven right about everything.

You wait until he cuts the engine and pull your seatbelt off, pausing before you push open the door, “I didn’t know that he’d be-“

James opens his own door and pushes himself out before you have a chance to say anything else. You follow suit quickly, scrambling out like the car’s on fire.

“Couldn’t wait to jump on her could you, buddy?” James bellows, storming over to Rafe.

“Excuse me?” Rafe looks taken aback, glancing at you as your eyes catch, “This is the house meeting you were talking about?”

“House meeting?” James looks at you, “So you couldn’t even tell him you were seeing me?”

“I just- I didn’t-“

“So what is it? You’re trying to come crawling back to her?” Rafe interjects and you flick your eyes to him as if a warning, though now he is only focused on James.

“You want to talk about crawling back? It seems pretty fucking convenient that you show your face around here the minute (Y/N)’s not got a boyfriend anymore.”

“Right, yeah, that’s why I’m here. Maybe it’s a good thing I came home, to pick up the pieces of the shit you left her in.”

In a conversation about yourself, you’ve never felt smaller. It’s like you’re shrinking into the space around them, disappearing when all of their anger is fuelled by you and focused on themselves. You’re sure you could disappear and they’d remain - hot headed in their hatred.

“Pick up the pieces? That’s what you think you’re doing?” James laughs, both of them practically steaming in their anger, “You’re not doing fuck all to help when you’re trying to get into her pants two seconds after she’s singl-“

“Enough!” You yell, sounding like the word has come from someone other than yourself as you feel your hands start to tremble.

Both of the boys silence, finally looking away from each other to focus on you, their anger sinking into the same pool as your disapproval. Rafe’s eyes seem to settle back into himself, like a realisation of how he’d been acting - he’d been doing the exact thing that he hated seeing in James, the way he ignored you in favor of his own focus. He looks like his younger self when you watch him. That anger, that hatred, the kind that he’d had before he moved away. That kind that gave him a million more problems. He’s that boy again.

“Just stop doing this, okay?” You drag a hand through your hair, “Neither of you get to talk on my behalf. Neither of you get to choose what’s best for me, or force this narrative of what you think is going on in my life. I’m sick of it. Have this masculinity battle some other time but god do it when I’m not here.”

With that, you disappear around the side of the house, shortcutting through the garden gate and finally letting yourself breathe, the tension in your chest seeming to return.

Rafe looks at James as if he could go again but in that moment all he can think of is you. The disappointment in your face as you’d walked away, the way you looked at him like you didn’t really know him. He drags a hand through his hair and all he can think of is how you tell him you’re sure he could suit any hairstyle. He stops himself from smiling, the urge fading when he looks at James again.

“So, what? Maybe a week or so and you’ll ask her on a date?” James folds his arms over his chest, “Or is a week just too long to wait? Hell, maybe you’ll be engaged within the month.”

“You know what, James,” Rafe clenches and unclenches his jaw, “Just go,” He waves his hand in the boys direction, his body turning away from him as if it’s gravitating back to you.

And with only the thought of you, he backs away from the fight.

~~~

You’re sat on the half-made dock at the end of Sarah and John B’s lawn, your feet pushing through the surface of the water aimlessly, eyes focused on the way the water curves around your ankles. Your chest has seemingly settled now but if you let yourself think of everything for too long it seems to flurry in anxiety again.

“Can I sit? Or should I put myself in time out?” The words come with the sound of footsteps creaking along the wooden planks, pausing as if they’re sure they are a safe distance from you.

You don’t turn around, “Sit, as long as you promise to be quiet.”

Rafe mumbles a ‘yes ma’am’ and takes his spot on the edge of the dock beside you. You feel him looking at you, his eyes burning into you as they scan your face. You weren’t crying and it seems to relieve the tiniest bit of worry within him. But you looked drained. Not tired in the way you were when he first saw you - but drained in the way that life seems to have been just slightly pulled away from you.

He opens his mouth to speak but stops as you lean back, fingers linking between your hands over your stomach as you lay against the dock. The sun hangs bright above you and you close your eyes, a deep breath forcing a rise and fall in your chest. Rafe watches you, the innocence in your features. He’d relied on those exact features for a lot of moments in his life. Your smile when he needed reminding of a good memory, the way your jaw clenches when you’re angry when he needed reminding of when he was in the wrong. Your eyes when he needed to come back home.

After a moment, he leans himself back too, his shirt wrinkling against the wood as he lays down, one arm tucking underneath his head. He turns his face towards you, observing.

You poke one eye open and squint in his direction, “Stop staring, weirdo.”

Rafe smiles, “So you’re not completely ignoring me,” He nods his head a little against his arm, “Does that mean I’m at like a six on the scale?”

“The scale?”

“The scale. How mad you are at something, you don’t remember?”

Of course you remember. When the two of you had been at school, he’d used that ‘scale’ as a way of you telling him how bad your day was - on the days when you had exams, and your friends were being shitty, and your parents were having problems at home, you’d say you were closer to a 10. It applied to everything - when he annoyed you, when you and Sarah had argued over something silly, everything.

“I’m a seven.”

He laughs a little and it seems to sit welcomingly in the space between you, easing the clench in your chest just enough.

The two of you stay in silence for a while after that, watching the sun disappear momentarily behind a cloud, casting a welcome shade over the water. You focus on the rise and fall of your chest, breathing in and out deeply to avoid the discomfort coming from laying on the dock. Rafe stays still beside you for a while, before his leg slightly shifts to the side so that his knee knocks against yours. You fight back a smile and turn around to look at him;

“Yes?” You raise your brows.

He pushes himself up so he’s leaning over you on his elbows, his head blocking the sun out so you can look at him without completely squinting against the light.

“I’m sorry,” He nods, “I really did have no idea you were with him, I was just waiting until you got back. And I don’t know, as soon as he said that I just felt like I lost it. It was weird, I don’t think I’ve felt angry like that in years.”

You nod in response, watching the guilt cast a darkness over his features.

“How did it go with you two today?”

You push yourself to lean up on your elbows too, matching his stance as he settles back to his side of the dock.

“Well, he’s not your biggest fan,” You laugh a little, staring out on the stillness of the water, “I don’t know, it just seems like he wants to think our relationship was doomed from the start, like we were just putting off the inevitable.”

“Well, did you ever feel like that?”

You take a deep breath, “I don’t think so. I don’t know, I just thought we’d stay together. God, I think after our third anniversary I was pretty certain that this would be it. But after what he said today it just feels like the two of us had been in two different relationships for all this time. And now I’m thinking, why didn’t he ever propose? Why did he want to move back here when I had my whole life at college? I mean, shit, Sarah’s having a kid and I was still just a girlfriend after nine years.”

Rafe nods, “Yeah I know what you mean. He was crazy for not wanting to marry you after all that time.”

You turn your head to look at him but he stays looking out over the water dismissively.

“God, who wouldn’t want to marry you?”

You feel your heart swell for just a second and turn your head away from him to look back over the water, both of you letting the silence fill in the empty gaps of the conversation you hadn’t yet had, that you didn’t need to have just yet.

“So, the sun is about an hour from setting,” Rafe points out, “How about that swim?”

~~~

You make your way back downstairs with your swimsuit on, a towel held under one arm, your flip-flops slapping against the wooden steps.

“Hey! I feel like I haven’t seen you today, how did it go with James?” Sarah stands up from the couch as you come downstairs, “Are you going out?”

You glance out at the garden, Rafe not visible along the stretch of the lawn, “Yeah, I’m just going for a swim. And it went well with James, a little bit of closure at least. Still feels weird.”

“It’s bound to,” Sarah nods, reaching out a hand to squeeze your arm, “Did you tell Rafe that you saw him?”

“Um, yeah, yeah, he knows,” You scratch at the back of your neck.

“God, I’m surprised he didn’t flip. I don’t think there’s anyone he hates as much as he hates James,” Sarah shakes her head.

You’re about to speak again but are cut off by the sound of the garden door sliding open. Rafe appears on the other side, poking his head through the created gap between the door and the wall.

“You ready to go (Y/L/N)?” He looks at you, a soft smile on his lips, a sort of calm resting in his features.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” You return softly and he nods, disappearing again.

“He’s so different when he sees you,” Sarah shakes her head, glancing over at the spot where her brother had just been.

“Different how?” You frown, letting your eyes trail back to her.

She shrugs her shoulders and rests a hand over her bump, running her fingers over the skin, “Just like he’s grounded, like he’s home.”

You feel the lump form in your throat, the way it once again makes it feel impossible to think of anything to say.

“Go on, he might be grounded but he’s still impatient,” Sarah jokes, gesturing her head in the direction of the door.

You laugh and follow her instruction, closing the glass door behind you as you walk down to the dock. Rafe is sat on the edge, his legs dangling over into the water. In only his swim-shorts, you can see the contortions of his muscles across his shoulders, the way they dip in his skin and seem to make him look bigger than he ever seemed normally. His skin isn’t as tanned as you remember him being but you suppose he doesn’t get as much sun when he’s in New York - not the kind he got here, anyway. And part of you seems to remember just how distant he was nowadays, his return feeling all the more temporary.

You hang your towel over the edge of the dock next to his and pull off your flip flops, leaving them at the edge too before breaking into a sprint straight past him. Your arms outstretch in front of you and break the surface of the water first, submerging your underneath until your toes feel the cold of the still water too.

Your head breaks the surface and you drag your hands up to draw your hair way from your face, now slick against your scalp.

“Very graceful,” Rafe smirks, “How on earth do I follow that?”

You watch him stand from the dock, stretching upwards before taking a few steps back. Within a split second, he catapults himself into the air, drawing his knees upwards so that he lands in a cannonball into the water, spray dispersing into the air and all over you.

“Well, I wouldn’t call that graceful,” You laugh, blinking away the water from your eyes.

From where Sarah and John B’s house was, you could see the sunset through a clearing in the trees if you swam around to the right angle. And you and Rafe knew the islands well enough to know exactly where to go.

By the time you swim around, the sky is painted with a yellow hue, sun lowering down seemingly a few feet from the horizon.

“I’m sorry about today,” Rafe breaks the silence, turning himself in the water to face you.

You kick forward so that your body tilts back, head hanging into the surface water, “You already said that.”

“I know, I just hate when I feel like I’ve disappointed you,” He comments, watching the way your body floats in the water.

You smile a little to the sky, “You didn’t disappoint me.”

He pauses for a moment, “So, I didn’t ask you earlier but, did he tell you the reason why he ended things?”

Your body tilts to turn you upright once again in the water, hands pushing through either side of you to maintain your position, eyes locking onto him. His hair is slick against his head and there are small beads of water trailing down either side of his cheeks, looping around under his jawline. He’s home. For the first time in years, he’s back here and it feels like it’s actually him - not some replaced or changed version. You’re both back to being sixteen again, sneaking liquor out of your houses, staying up until the sun called you home, misfit ways of surviving life in this isolated haven. And you realise it then, for a fleeting moment where you let yourself accept it - it’s Rafe that makes this place home.

“He…” Your voice trails off then, considering every possible outcome that would come in return for telling Rafe exactly what had been said earlier, exactly what you’d come to learn.

But the moment is fleeting. And you’re back in seconds to a reality. To a broken heart and a broken home, to New York, to your future, to James, to Sarah just a matter of metres away, to everything and everyone that you didn’t want to lose. To Rafe.

“He couldn’t give me a reason,” You swallow the lump in your throat, your eyes not breaking away from Rafe.

“The guy’s an idiot,” Rafe shakes his head, turning away from you and towards the sun.

You watch as he does, watching the glow that radiates from his skin, the way it seems to warm the air around him.

James might be an idiot, but maybe he was right.

———

Taglist: @viianey

[bimoonphases]

@wolfstarmicrofic March 14 – prompt 14: Polyjuice Potion – word count 700

Polyjuice Potion - Temporarily transforms the drinker into another person

Remus looked up from his book as Sirius and James stumbled in from the portrait hole. It wasn’t unusual for those two to disappear somewhere together, but the fact that Sirius’s shirt and trousers were baggier than what he usually wore and, conversely, James’s were very tight was.

“Did you two finally shag and put each other’s clothes back on by mistake?” Lily piped up from the carpet where Peter was absolutely destroying her at chess.

“You wish, Evans,” Sirius said.

“Admit it, you can’t take your eyes off me like this,” James added, pirouetting to show the way his trousers were clinging to his skin.

Remus frowned. Something wasn’t right.

“There’s something weird about you two,” Mary voiced his thoughts from the armchair where she was braiding Marlene’s hair. “I mean, weirder than usual.”

James winked while Sirius passed a hand through his hair and suddenly it clicked.

“No!” Peter exclaimed, apparently having come to Remus’s same conclusion.

He got up and walked over to their friends, looking at them closely.

“You didn’t!” he stepped back, eyes wide.

“Did what, exactly?” Marlene asked.

“These two went and drank Polyjuice Potion!” Peter said. “How did you do it?”

“Slughorn’s personal stash,” James and Sirius chorused.

“Wait, so you,” Mary pointed at James, “are really Sirius?”

“Correct,” ‘James’ bowed.

“And you are actually James?” Lily pointed at Sirius.

“You know it, Evans,” ‘Sirius’ smiled.

Remus got up from the couch, eyes fixed on his friends. And then it clicked again.

“For how long will it last?” he asked.

“No clue,” ‘James’ smirked.

“We might be back to ourselves by tomorrow, or we might not,” ‘Sirius’ shrugged.

“But why did-“ Remus started before pinching the bridge of his nose. “No, you know what? Don’t tell me. I’m going to bed. Pete, you coming?”

It didn’t take long for the other two to follow them into the dorm, but it was enough. Peter closed his curtains with a yawn and Remus settled in bed as he peeked at ‘Sirius’ flop down on James’s bed while ‘James’ climbed into Sirius’s before turning the lights out with a flick of his wand. Remus waited a couple of minutes then he got up and tiptoed to Sirius’s bed, silently parting the curtains.

“Pads?” he called softly.

“Moony?” James’s voice hesitated.

“Why?”

Remus settled on the mattress, searching for Sirius’s hand and ending up taking one of James’s calloused hands in his.

“It was fun?”

“If you say so. But it’s weird for me, talking to you and hearing James’s voice instead…” Remus reached up and let his fingers wander on the other’s mouth, ignoring the strangled sound which came from it. He got closer. “Or feeling James’s lips…”

The kiss lasted a couple of seconds before three things happened all at once. ‘James’ jolted back from Remus with so much force he fell of the bed.

“PRONGS, DON’T YOU DARE KISS MY BOYFRIEND!” came from James’s bed.

“LUMOS MAXIMA!” Peter shouted from his.

Remus blinked against the light, taking in James sprawled on the floor, Sirius wide-eyed by James’s bed and Peter, wand in hand, smirking from his.

“You really thought you could play us?” Peter said. “Make your two best friends believe you had swapped bodies?”

“It was worth a try,” James grumbled.

“Not so sure,” Sirius said, eyes fixed on Remus.

“Boyfriend, eh?” Remus smiled.

“I mean…” Sirius blushed. “If you’d like?”

Remus shook his head, laughing.

“I’d love to, you idiot.”

Sirius crossed the room and jumped on the bed, kissing Remus fiercely.

“Fucking finally,” Remus heard Peter say.

“You knew?!” James exclaimed.

“Of course I knew, Prongs, I’ve got eyes.”

Remus laughed again in Sirius’s kiss and they let go of each other, both smiling.

“Well, I learned two new things today, then,” James said, getting up from the floor.

“One is Pads and Moony because you’re oblivious, but what’s the other one?” Peter asked.

James looked at Remus and immediately looked away, blushing.

“Apparently, I’m not straight,” he said.

“Prongs, what the hell?” Sirius groaned as Remus and Peter burst out laughing.

“And that’s what you get for playing your friends for fools,” Remus smirked, pecking his boyfriend on the cheek.

[viewlumia]

Nothing will be more weirder than the Ninjago fandom acting like Cole was in love with Nya throughout Rebooted.

Through the entire Love Triangle ordeal, he never actually acts for Nya, instead only reacting to Jay. Observe:

Blackout

In the previous episode, The Art of the Silent Fist, there was a scene between Cole and Nya. Throughout that episode, Nya was struggling with her newfound feelings towards Cole (given to her by a machine I might add but that's a conversation for another day). Nya talks to Cole in that scene and it ends with them holding hands and Cole jokingly saying "Don't tell Jay."

Why am I bringing this up? Because I honestly have trouble looking at that through a romantic lense. I often see people use this as evidence even though it doesn't match up with how the show would later indicate romance (they looked at each other so they're in love now! Chemistry, what's that!) More importantly, Nya never actually articulates her feelings for Cole in this scene. This is crucial when getting to Blackout. In Blackout, after Pixal blurts out that Cole is a perfect match for Nya, not Jay, who entered the room at the time, his first instinct is to attack Cole as soon as he saw him! From the POV of Cole, this looks like his friend calling him names and a whole lot of other things seemingly out of nowhere, he never actually heard about the "Perfect Match" results and that combined with the previously mentioned scene leaves us with a Cole who isn't in love with Nya and is only focused on Jay.

The Curse of The Golden Master

In this clip, after the ninja head into the sewer like a certain other group of color coded ninja, Jay gets into another spat with Cole after Cole dared to *checks note* look out for Nya's safety. This causes the two to get into an argument and ignore Nya falling from the broken ladder.

Now this scene on it's own doesn't mean much, but when paired with the other episodes mentioned, it starts to paint a bigger picture. This scene is a tipping point for Cole, going from someone clueless about his situation and fighting with Jay to letting this petty, near one-sided rivalry get in the way of the task at hand.

This scene is honestly the perfect representation of the Love Triangle in Rebooted: it was never really about Nya, she was just a stepping stone to get to Jay yelling at Cole over a situation he has no idea he's even in. Cole isn't out of the woodwork either as he begins to ignore Nya solely so he can insult Jay, but hey, it can't get any worse right?

Codename: Arcturus

It got worse.

In Codename: Arcturus, we see Jay, Cole, and Nya at the movie theater to "prove who Nya should go out with." Now, you may ask "doesn't that sequence end with both Jay and Cole asking who Nya will date and her kidnapping a cleaning robot?" yes, it does! But the important thing here is that it wasn't even Nya's idea in the first place ("Hey, it wasn't my idea to go on a double date to decide between you two.") Interesting thing of note, this is the only episode in the entire season where it's actually shown Cole fighting for Nya's affection, but even then it's not really about her, it's about getting back at Jay more than anything.

I know someone will come in wondering about "authorial intent," the intent in question being that Cole could be a potential love interest for Nya moving forward, but while I can see the intent, I can also acknowledge that what actually landed on the page and later the screen does not match the intent at all. Instead of Cole falling in love with Nya and getting into a spat with Jay that way, we got Cole treating Nya like a stepping stone to get back at Jay, disregarding her feelings in the process.

TL;DR: Kai should've knocked Jay and Cole upside the head for being weird about his sister

[neo91502]

Mysterious Guardian Pods

2,366 words

One inconspicuous afternoon, SMG4 and Mario were (unsurprisingly) on a wacky adventure. This particular adventure being them trying to find random meme objects that SMG3 placed around the Showgrounds, which includes the forest surrounding it too. On this fateful day, they just so happened to hear a whirring noise that almost sounded as if something was going to crash, but passed it off as maybe a meme causing that sound.

Unfortunately for them, it actually was important. While they were about to grab a meme object, there was a very loud and sudden boom, as if something crashed. The two of them made brief eye contact, both knowing to rush over to the site of where they heard the noise.

Strangely enough, they saw more signs of plant life, almost as thoughof plant life, as if there were more plants suddenly growing near the crash. The closer they got, the weirder it got. It was as if a whole jungle sprouted out of nowhere right at the crash site. As they got closer, there was a strange turquoise and golden guardian pod with an arrow pointing down, looking as if plants were helping to hold it up. There looked to be a golden flower pattern around against the main turquoise color on it.

“What the…” SMG4 trailed off as he saw the mysterious guardian pod’s door opening to reveal a new guardian. What SMG4 didn’t understand was why there was a new guardian and who this may even be. This includes his curiosity going as far as to questioning if there’s a partner to this new, mysterious guardian.

It looked as if there was some kind of light on a string that glowed a peach color until it faded away and a clink was heard. As the person started to walk out, SMG4 started to see the outfit. Sure enough, Mario is definitely the avatar. Again. Even though SMG4 suppressed the urge to sigh, he continued to study exactly who is coming out from the guardian pod. They had a general turquoise and gold outfit, similar to the design of the guardian pod, and had small parts of peach to pink on them as well.

When he saw their eyes, his own eyes widened a bit as he noticed it wasn’t at all how he expected. To be fair, he had to admit to himself that it definitely complimented the colors of their outfit too. Mario, on the other hand, wasn't nearly as interested. It didn’t help that he was thinking of spaghetti, otherwise, he might’ve been more curious.

“...Who are you?” SMG4 called out to the figure who was looking around at the plants near themself, somehow not noticing SMG4 and Mario standing not too far away from them.

That got their attention quickly.

“Oh, uh…” The person started, hesitantly continuing, “I’m… SMG9. I don’t know much else to tell you or how I even am here now.”

SMG4 slowly walked closer to SMG9, who seemed even unsure of their own name. He did notice how their ears seemed to be a little differently shaped, almost like an elf’s, but not quite. The blue-clad meme guardian looked over at Mario, sharing similar expressions. They definitely needed to tell SMG1 and SMG2 about this as soon as possible, and SMG3.

-

On a regular day to check up on the Internet Graveyard, SMG3 only found it in complete ruins. There was no explanation as to why there’s so much wind, let alone it being in complete havoc and in ruin. He tried to find some kind of explanation as to what was happening, but he was finding small tornados. As much as they weren’t the most helpful nor wanted, it at least wasn’t full blown tornados. It still didn’t make sense though.

The further he tried to investigate, the more severe the weird weather became. It felt very unnatural for this to happen, even with all the dead memes causing chaos at times. It sure is a rough job to try and maintain the dead meme cycle, but this is even worse at the moment. As he continued in (with his hat blowing off sometimes), he felt almost as though there was a strong wind trying to block and barricade him away from getting to something.

Even though it was harsh winds, he still managed to tough it out, like he always does, and got to the source of the phenomenon. When he did, it was calm, like the eye of a hurricane. Strangely enough, it was pretty peaceful and calming. That was until he noticed a guardian pod. It was a strange guardian pod. It was pretty dark, but with the contrast of a bright arrow pointing up with a nice pink down to purple gradient and an orange-peach kind of color outlining it. It also had rainbow colored spots, similar to what an arcade carpet might have.

Low and behold, the door was already open apparently. He glanced around to try and spot the perpetrator of who he assumed was the cause of the abnormal weather. Soon enough, he spotted someone who had a wide, mischievous grin on their face. It almost looked maniacal in a way, but more full of mischief out of anything. SMG3 didn’t even know how to even describe what this person even looked like.

All he could say was that everything about them looked chaotic. Spiky and long white hair with two strands going over the ears and ending in an explosion kind of shape. They had a darker complex that the white hair definitely complimented against them. The hat looked as if someone bit out of it, but with two small holes that are right next to each other, as if chipped, but more like bitten. He couldn’t even start on the ears nor eyes. As far as he could tell, their ears were long and elf-like, but more pointy and longer. The right pupil being shaped like a three and the left pupil being shaped like a seven with the irises being like an eight that was filled in fully rather than having the two empty spots in them.

SMG3 really didn’t know how to even describe them. You just kind of had to see them for yourself. He did have to admit, the diamond shape on the cuffs of their gloves looked nice with that cyan color looked nice along with that same color being star shaped on their overall buttons. The general outfit was dark exactly like their guardian pod, their sweater littered with the arcade carpet shapes of rainbow colors.

Another weird thing he noticed was an almost astral kind of spacey tail. It was purple into pink to the tip and littered with orange-peach dots, as if they were stars, in it too.

SMG3 shook his head and confidently approached the person, who he assumed is a meme guardian since they came from the guardian pod that’s suspiciously designed just like them, and cleared his throat when he was close enough.

“Hey, what the fuck are you doing?” SMG3 sharply asked when he got their attention. He noticed some kind of long and sharp weapon before it suddenly dissipated into sparkly stardust before his eyes, unable to get a good look at it before it was gone.

The source of the severe weather turned around and stopped, a ball of wind vanishing as they shut their hand around it, leaning back and bending their back to look backwards at SMG3. It felt unnatural and disturbing to see that, but SMG3 didn’t let his guard down by getting a little creeped out on how they bent back like that to look at him. He noticed that the emblem on the cap was like the one on the back of their gloves as well; a pink hurricane symbol with an orange-peach diamond in the middle as if to be the “eye” of the symbol.

“Me? Well, the name’s SMG10! Pleasure to meet you!” SMG10 called back at SMG3 in a sing-song voice with an unnervingly large smile. SMG3 was able to quickly tell they definitely had fangs, and they did not look dull whatsoever. Despite that, he did kind of like the general chaotic nature of this mysterious and new meme guardian.

Sure, he should tell SMG1 and SMG2 at some point, but, for now, it’ll be fine. He should just focus on trying to learn more about SMG10 and teach them how to maintain the life cycle of memes, seeking to get them to help him with it. It’d be much easier if he did have help after all.

-

After a while, SMG3 and SMG4 ended up meeting up in the Showgrounds. Unsurprisingly, it was in SMG3’s cafe for a coffee.

As usual, SMG4 would order his typical coffee and it devolved into random rambling about his day. That was until SMG4 suddenly mentioned about a guardian pod and a new meme guardian. It caught SMG3’s attention pretty quickly.

“–and there were a lot of plants!” SMG4 happily rambled on.

“Wait, wait. Hold on a moment. Go back to what you were first saying? What do you mean you and Mario found a new guardian pod?” SMG3 quickly asked, sitting at the same table as him, across from SMG4 and leaning forward now, brows furrowed and eyes narrowed at the other meme guardian.

“Yeah, Mario and I found a new guardian pod that crashed right near us when you hid those meme objects around the Showgrounds. It crashed in the forest right near us when we were about to grab one. It was really strange seeing so many plants flourish near the crash and even more at the guardian pod,” SMG4 replied, not saying the exact same thing as last time, trying to add more details as he thought back to it.

“...And there just so happened to be a guardian pod that crashed right near you two where you were?” SMG3 asked, sounding comedically dumbfounded. Not only is he really puzzled over this, but it seemed like around the same time when he found the other guardian pod himself in the Internet Graveyard.

“Yep! Sure, it was… abnormal and I don’t know why there’s a new meme guardian now, but they seemed good and okay! In fact, their name is SMG9 and they're at the castle now,” SMG4 continued to ramble on, seemingly very happy about some new guardians suddenly appearing that have no reason whatsoever to even be here.

Something then suddenly struck SMG3’s mind, his eyes widening. “S… SMG9?” SMG3 blurted out loud on accident, emphasizing the nine. Something about that seemed really off. The more he thought about it, SMG10 had to be SMG9’s meme guardian partner and those numbers seemed weird.

It felt that maybe, just maybe, that those numbers had a deeper meaning to them… Why would there have been a sudden gap between their numbers? Where’s the SMGs from five to eight at then? Did those numbers hide deeper meanings?

SMG3 decided to not dwell on it further and focus on the current matter on hand, and that being; There’s now new meme guardians and SMG3 and SMG4 needed to tell SMG1 and SMG2 as soon as possible.

He didn’t notice SMG4 was trying to get his attention either, which was his fault.

“Hellooo? Earth to Three? You there?” SMG4 asked, waving a hand in front of SMG3’s face until he got his attention.

“Huh? What? Oh, right, sorry, I was thinking about something,” SMG3 half-apologized, a little too sidetracked at the moment as he looked back at SMG4.

“Okay, good. Now that I have your attention, why the fuck did you suddenly say SMG9 and why did you emphasize the nine?” SMG4 suddenly asked him, sounding a little harsh, which he didn’t mean to, but he was really curious and also tried getting SMG3’s attention for the past couple of minutes.

“Right, that. I was just thinking about what happened earlier. I also found a guardian pod too. It was in the Internet Graveyard while I was doing a check on the dead memes and to check up on it in general. When I got there, it was in utter chaos and havoc. There was abnormal weather and so, obviously, I went out to find the source of the strange weather, right?” SMG3 explained, waiting for a nod from SMG4 to make sure he’s listening.

He then continued, “Then I eventually found the source of it all, which was really tough to get through, but I clearly got through it with barely any trouble (he lied, he went through a lot to get to the center) and it was uncomfortably calm and peaceful. That’s when I found the source. There was a guardian pod and the door was already open. Then I looked around, yeah? There was then this mysterious person, who was the meme guardian and the true source of the phenomenon of the weather, and they radiated chaos. Luckily, they stopped as soon as I called out to them. Found out their name is SMG10 and then taught them how to maintain the dead meme life cycle and all of that. Oh, and they helped me clean up the Internet Graveyard. They’re still there in the cafe I used to live at though,” SMG3 finished explaining, surprisingly saying a lot more than he had originally expected himself to say.

SMG4 was a little gobsmacked at how much SMG3 even said and how there’s another meme guardian, especially landing in the Internet Graveyard. He wasn't sure what to say, he just sat there with his jaw dropped and wide eyes.

The both of them knew for sure now that they had to contact SMG1 and SMG2 as soon as they possibly could and tell them the news about new memes guardians.

They both had to do something.

Yet… They both end up becoming friends with the two meme guardians that suddenly and randomly arrived.

…The third and the fourth meme guardians have much to learn about these two mysterious ninth and tenth meme guardians.

They don’t know what truly can happen later on in the story.

pssst... search in my tumblr with the tag ' #smg4 guardian pod ' to see what the guardian pods look like themselves and '#smg9' and '#smg10' for their designs...

[marvelmcumania]

SPOTIFY?

Pairing: Peter Quill x Fem Reader

Summary: You introduce Peter to Spotify.

Note:Okay my first Peter Quill drabble? IDK I tried cute and all hehe and this not a promo for spotify English is not my first language Do not repost Feel free to reblog and let me know your thoughts

Navigation | Masterlist | Marvel Masterlist |Peter Quill Masterlist

You met Peter during his welcoming party from space it was weird cause his Grandpa said they had lost him since he was a child, but weirder word had left when an alien attack happened and he was a part of them.

"So you fought a purple giant alien?" you asked him warily, drinking your mimosas

"Yes, I was a part of it" You nod giving him a smile he has been so handsome from that day you two became great friends he shared with you about his time in space and why he was kidnapped.

"So your dad wanted you and he was a freaking planet?" Peter's story got weirder day by day you both were sitting in a cafe.

He nods gulping his coffee "You heard that right after my mom died" he pauses for a moment his face changing and you keep your hand on his "And then I ran away a spaceship came and took me the person who took me was a real father to me even though I screamed David Hasselhoff is my dad" he chuckles and then continues the story of how Yondu saved him from creepy ravagers to sacrificing himself and how his father was killer of his mom.

Much later he talked about the love of his life who was sacrificed for the soul stone when questioned about the stone he replied saying it was another long story and that the present one is dead but her old version is living which again was for another story.

After having more talks Peter and you started deciding on dating giving it a try since your shitty exes. Now you both were cuddling on the sofa scrolling through your phone and showing him the latest technology although he had used the advanced one that too in space.

"Hey hey wait what is that?"

"What?"

You swipe the phone"The green icon?" he says pointing towards it.

"Ah, this" you clicked on it "This is Spotify a music app" Peter's eyes widened looking at it.

"So we don't use those music players?" You shook your head smiling at him.

"No, but we can see the lyrics also you need to buy premium" He cocks his eyebrows at you "Yep they added weird features but hey the app is fun except for them stopping being greedy."

He nods taking the phone from you and you start teaching him how to use the app he is excited that now people have no worries about the wires sticking but the fun with it the old ones was different.

Taking your hand he puts on the music and then spends the day enjoying dance and music and soon finding love for each other

[thiswasinevitableid]

What It's Worth (Indruck)

A big yeehawgust prompt winner was: Undead Cowboy. This fill is NSFW and does mention blood

The stars stud the sky, the sliver of moon rising from the mesa meaning Duck can see them clearly as he lays on his back in the dirt. 

His bedroll is okay, but the memory of frost in the air makes him wish he’d had time to snag a few more spare blankets. But all he could manage this morning was the essentials.

He wasn’t going to spend a single minute longer in that damn place than he had to. 

They lost the farm in West Virginia two years ago, when Duck was seventeen. His uncle, Papa Newton’s brother, had offered to let the family move to his property outside Santa Fe. 

It seemed like a fuckin miracle. Until they settled in and Duck realized his uncle intended to treat them as free labor rather than family. If he has to polish one more round of dishes he’s gonna throw the whole dinner table out the fucking window. 

A week ago, when his uncle started making noises about finding his “niece” a husband, Duck decided there was no point in sticking around. Not if that’s how his uncle intended to use him. 

So here he is, as far from town as a days ride could get him, hidden from view of anyone on the trails. He’s keeping a small fire up; seems worth the risk to keep the coyotes and cougars from getting too close. 

There are footsteps, barely audible, on the other side of the fire. A shadow, with two red pinpoints about six feet off the ground. 

He doesn’t have a gun; unlike Winnie, his horse, they all belonged to his uncle, and the fucker might call him a thief and send the sheriff after him if he snuck one away. 

“Do not be alarmed.” The voice in the darkness is lilting and weak, “You are in no danger…no danger from…from…”

A thud as the body hits the earth, landing in the ring of firelight. Duck cautiously sits up, buck knife in hand, as the stranger groans and raises up onto his knees with a woozy shake of his head. 

The red Duck saw comes from the glasses the man wears on his narrow nose. His whole face is angles. His hair is silvery in the light, which is odd given the fact he appears only a few years older than Duck. 

“You okay?”

The visitor grips the knees of his pants, “No. I am so very, very thirsty.”

“I got a little water to spare.”

A weak laugh, “Nono, that will not save me. I need…I need…” He tips his head up with a sigh, as if steeling himself in order to make the request, and fangs catch the scant moonlight. 

Duck’s heard the stories about vampires and even weirder things out in the desert. He never put much stock in them; he spent his childhood in the woods, then the desert. He understands how easily folks can spook themselves out in the wild. 

“Please say you ain’t after my blood.”

“I am. I have not fed in so long, I was too ambitious in my travels to Greensboro. Too weak to catch an animal. If I go much longer I will become feral, mindless, draining any passerby until they are a husk” he looks up, frightened, “Please, please help me.”

“Uh.” Duck looks around like someone wrote the right thing to do in the sand. He wouldn’t let a human die of thirst. And he doesn’t want anyone getting their throat ripped out. But this feels like a real good way to trick a kind-hearted traveler into being dinner. 

“I will do anything you ask” a shudder and a groan, making the stranger hunch forward, “take me to bed, ask me for my weight in gold, the keys to the city, anything, please.” He sobs, trying to crawl forward but only making it to the bottom of the bed roll and clutching it.

“Okay.” Duck begins unbuttoning his shirt, “Okay. You can have a drink, but I, I keepin my knife on me, y’hear?”

“Perfectly. I would not begrudge you such measures, not when you are helping me.” He struggles forward until he’s straddling Duck’s knees. He’s dressed like the cowboys Duck watches with envy as they ride past the house, except every piece of clothing is black. 

“Rather impractical in a desert, I know. But I find it suits me.”

“It does.” Duck doesn’t catch the answer in time. The last thing he needs is some fella thinking he’s flirting with him. 

“You are very kind. Oh” he notices Duck pulling his shirt collar to the side, “I need not drink that way, I assume you do not wish me to be any closer than necessary. Your arm will suffice.”

“I, uh, I work with my hands and arms so this’ll be less of a pain in the neck. Or not but, uh, you know what I mean.”

The vampire nods, delicately scooting into Duck’s lap. He shivers as the visitor noses his throat, humming happily. 

“You smell divine.”

“I been on the trail all day, doubt I smell like a basket of roses.”

“Better.” The voice purrs, “now, this will only hurt a moment.”

Fangs sink into his skin and his entire body lights up in pain, telling him to fight, to run like a jackrabbit. Then all at once it subsides, pleasure rolling like a wildfire on the prairie, lighting up nerve after nerve until he wonders if they’ll burn out. 

The vampire has one hand in his hair, supporting his head, the other pressing down on his shoulder, and through the fire crackling in his brain he can tell he’s talking.

“...So good, thank you, thankyouthankyouthankyou.” The deep bite is over, but he continues nipping at the skin, licking and sucking at the blood. He’s wiggling closer, hips bucking a little, making the neediest sounds Duck’s ever heard between his thanks and praise of everything from Duck’s eyes to the way he tastes. 

If he could guarantee the man on top of him would be like this, Duck wouldn’t be half as put off the idea of getting married. 

Gradually, the touch on his neck changes to deliberate licks, the last one ending with a kiss as the vampire sits back on his heels. He looks drunk.

“I..I am very grateful for your help.”

“You don’t say?” Duck teases. 

“Have I not made that clear–oh! Oh it is a joke.” He grins, mouth still a bit red, “You are a very charming human. And my offer stands; you may ask anything you wish of me as payment.”

He could get a train ticket, or the money to buy one. A place to stay. Clothes he didn’t have to fix up to be right himself. 

“That’s real decent of you to offer but I wouldn’t make someone pay me for a drink if they were dyin of thirst. Don’t seem right to ask you to.”

“You are very kind. I will not intrude on you any longer.” The vampire tries to shift out of his lap and hisses. Duck looks down and sees why.

“Y’know, most fellas have a harder time doin’ that once they’re drunk.”

“It, it is nothing” he looks away, embarrassed, “it is merely the natural response to feeling full and safe while in the arms of a handsome man.”

“That so?” Duck licks his lips, “tell you what. Since you biting me got me all riled up, I changed my mind. I want this” he palms the vampire through his pants, “as my fee.”

“Gladly.” Wiry arms drape over his shoulders as Duck undoes the buttons and pulls his dick from his trousers. It’s a nicely sized thing, big enough to be tempting without feeling intimidating, and when he wraps his hand around it the responding squeak is almost a chirp. 

“There we go, sweet thing, lemme get my hands on you.”

“Only if I am permitted the same honor.”

“Hmmm” Duck pretends to think as he steadily strokes the shaft, “dunno, why should I let you feel me up?”

A pout, “Because I will be so very good for you. I was good for you when I fed, wasn’t I?”

“You were, sweet as a peach. Okay, you can touchAHhey” he laughs as hands greedily paw his sides and thighs. 

“Thank you, oh you are lovely to touch, lovely to hold.” Kisses spread across the closing wound on his neck, “what a lucky creature I am to have found so wonderful a human oh, ohohoh” his hips jerk wildly and he cums on Duck’s fingers. 

“Pent up?” He kisses a cheek that he suspects would blush if it could. 

“So it seems. Goodness, such things seldom take me by surprise.” A playful kiss to his ear, followed by a nip, “shall I return the favor?

Duck feels one half of him lean into the idea, the other wrench so far back he thinks it might dislocate his joints. 

“Nah. I’m, uh, I’m too, uh, tired, fuck, not not turned on, uh. Fuck.”

The vampire cocks his head, then nods, “Then I will not press the matter. Would you like me to stay awhile?”

“Yeah.” He murmurs, “Yeah I would.”

Duck nestles down into his bedroll as his visitor gets his clothing back into order, and falls asleep to long fingers in his hair and a gentle voice telling him of the moths and bats fluttering across the desert sky. 

—--------------------------------------------------------------------

He goes home when his uncle finally finds him and tells him that if he won’t do his family duty, he’ll find someone to marry Jane, Duck’s sister, to. 

Jane’s only 14. 

Duck spends the whole ride home hoping the lousy fucker gets thrown by his horse. 

A month later, he’s traveling with the old asshole and the equally cold-hearted, sneering woman he married to a party in Santa Fe. Mr. Indrid Cold, one of the area's richest and most mysterious residents, is said to be in search of a wife, and so Duck is in the most masculine dress he could find, hair still short and chaperones scowling as they enter the fine house off the city square. 

Duck tries to occupy himself in small talk, and while some of the women there won’t give him the time of day, others invite him into their cluster to hold crystal punch cups and whisper some of the most ridiculous shit he’s ever heard. 

“They say he’s a vampire!”

“Don’t be silly, my aunt said she saw him out in broad daylight.”

“Some of them can do that. It depends on their age.”

“Not this theory again, Josephine.”

“I told you, my name is Joe.”

“Anyway, even if your aunt did see him, that won’t help us. They say he throws one of these every few years and no one actually sees him in attendance. He just watches from somewhere so he can learn about us.”

Duck shudders at the idea; this whole thing is already a pain in the ass. It doesn’t need to be a creepy pain in the ass on top of that. 

“Pardon me.” A man with the blandest features imaginable addresses the group, “may I accompany you for a turn around the gardens?”

He’s offering his hand to Duck. 

“Is this a fuckin joke?”

A mild smile, “Not at all. I have been dying to speak to you since you arrived.”

Duck takes the offered hand, lets the man link their arms as they head into the courtyard. The gardens are stunning, if a bit overgrown, and Duck points out where a screech owl has hollowed out one of the trees. 

“Glad they kept the ones that actually grow here. Some folks try to bring the trees from back east out to make their gardens and they just up and die. On account of it bein, y’know, a fuckin desert.”

“That does seem rather ill-advised.”

They talk more about Duck’s move to the desert, and the longer they speak the more Duck feels like he knows the man’s voice. He just can’t place it. 

“I take it you are not a fan of the proceedings?”

“I, uh, I ain’t not, uh-”

“You do not need to lie, Duck.” A small smile. 

“It just ain’t my world.” He looks down at the dress, “rather be in sackcloth than this fuckin thing.”

“Mmm, I imagine you’d make a rather striking cowboy.”

“Like to think so. Aw fuck.” He turns to where the clock is striking eleven, signaling the end of the party, “I didn’t hobnob nearly enough.”

His companion squeezes his arm, “I would not worry too much about that.”

They say their goodnights and he rejoins his aunt and uncle, only to discover that they’ve booked him a room at a nearby hotel while they stay in a finer one across the road. Almost like they’re hoping his being alone might tempt their host into appearing at the foot of his bed like a fucking ghost.

He chucks his party outfit into the corner, the night hot enough that he decides to risk sleeping in the buff. The church on the other side of the square has just finished ringing midnight, and his eyes are going leaden, when there’s a shuff of his window opening. 

He’s five fucking stories up. 

Frozen, he watches a huge, winged figure squeeze through into the room. It’s some sort of fucking moth-man thing, and it’s glowing, red eyes are looking right at him. 

“Don’t come another fuckin step closer.��� Duck grabs his boot from the ground, ready to throw it. 

Four arms raise in placation, “You are not in any danger from me, Duck. You were before, you are not now, and you never will be.”

“Your voice…are you the fuckin-”

“-Vampire from your camp? Yes.” Reality snaps for a moment and then the silver-haired man is standing there, clad in a simple black shirt and pants. 

“Holy fuck, I thought vampires could only turn into wolves and bats and shit.”

“My moth form is actually my true one. It is a long story. But the point of it all is: I am also Indrid Cold. And was your companion for much of this evening.” He clips a pin to his shirt and the same bland face comes into view. 

“Jesus.” Duck breathes as Indrid returns to his usual human appearance and sits on the bed. 

“Parties overwhelm me. A small enchantment is the best way to see if there are any guests I wish to know better. Up until now there have not been.” He sets his hand on Ducks covered knee, “why your aunt and uncle sent you here as anything other than a handsome bachelor, I shall never know. You looked so unhappy tonight all I wanted was to take you in my arms and whisk you off somewhere you could be yourself.”

“I, I didn’t mean to hide it from you.”

“I knew at the campsite. I can see the future, and when you rejected further advances it told me what was behind them.” A gentle, fanged smile, “you are a good looking man, Duck. I have not ever seen you as anything else.”

He relaxes, tucks his legs in so Indrid can come closer and stroke his cheeks.

“I throw this party every few years to keep my sire off my back about the matter of marriage. I suspect that may not be the case after tonight.”

“Y’know, getting down on one knee is more traditional than climbing through a window.” Duck teases.

Indrid laughs, “Nothing so rushed. I came because I could not stand another moment away from you. And because do have an offer for you. If you allow me to court you, know that I will never claim ownership over you, nor force you to live as you are not. If you wanted to ride from here to Alaska I would not stop you. Whatever freedom you desired would be yours. I’ve no need to control you, my sweet” he grins, “but I do ask for the chance to make you mine.”

The heat in his voice is clear as a spring sky. 

“That so?” Duck kisses him once, “how are you gonna prove bein’ yours is worth it?”

A longer, deeper kiss, Indrid nipping his lip as he pulls back, “However you wish. Though the idea you are about to suggest is one I am very much in favor of.”

“Yeah?”

“If I might be so bold, ah, I…the futures show you enjoying it immensely if I take my true form.”

Duck hesitates, “Let me see it again?”

The bed groans as the mothman reappears. He’s toffee-brown, chest so downy that Duck’s hand sinks into it. 

“Fuck, you’re real fuckin soft.”

“Thank you” A chirp of pleasure, “oh that spot has been itching for hours.”

“Which part of you did you, uh, see me enjoyin?” 

Indrid opens his mouth, in which Duck can see rows of small, sharp teeth along with the pointed canines. His tongue extends, long and flexible, “ith!”

It should scare the fuck out of him,  but all Duck does is kick the covers aside and lay back, spreading his legs. 

“Get to it.”

“Gladly.” A fuzzy cheek tickles his left thigh as Indrid nuzzles him. Then he gasps as teeth drag down the skin. 

“Do not think I did not notice your reaction to my bite last time. Most humans find it neutral or painful. Few moan as I drink them down.”

“Didn’t even know I was moanin’. Was too busy listening to you be a cute needy thing.”

“I was, wasn’t I.” The tongue teases his folds, “I will be as obedient and sweet as you desire, my darling one, for I do need you.”

Duck wants to say something flirty in reply, but then the tongue pushes into him and he moans. It’s incredible, pressing and teasing, happy little chirrs floating up from Indrid as he takes Duck to pieces. 

When his tongue presses on a certain spot, Duck yelps, and his hands flail for something to grab. They land on Indrid’s antenna, and a pleading, chirping groan breaks from the vampire. 

“Ohhhyes, it’s been ages since someone toyed with those.” He messily laps at Duck’s dick, “mmmf, you could make me do just about anything by pulling on them.”

“Want you to fuck me.” His horny brain blurts it out without warning and he clamps a hand over his mouth. 

“Do you wish me to?” Indrid sits up, wings fluttering shyly and hands soothingly petting Duck’s legs. 

“I do, I really fuckin do, but I can’t risk-”

“You would not be. I cannot have children with humans. At least not that way.”

“You sure?”

“Completely.”

Duck takes a deep breath, “Then come down here and fuckME, oh, ohfuck.” His heels dig into the bed as Indrid sinks into him. His cock must be as strange as the rest of him, if the way writhes inside him is anything to go by. 

It’s also fucking huge. 

“A-apologies.” Indrid is jerking and twitching, clearly trying to keep from moving to fast or pushing too deep, “I, I have never done this with a human before. I did not account for the size, god how tight you are, how small, oh you’re delightfully warm too.”

“Fuck.” Duck groans, tilting his hips to try and fit more inside him. 

“Do not strain yourself. My, my anatomy will do the work in a moment.” He purrs, running two hands through Duck’s hair, “I am here to serve you, not make you exert yourself.”

He says it with such sincere affection that Duck leans over to kiss one, quivering wing. 

“Oh that’s fuckin wild” He gasps as another part of Indrid’s cock presses into him, still flexible but firm, pushing him open. Several spread wider outside of him, catching at his dick and Indrid pushes deeper with hungry, demanding growl. 

Duck doesn’t black out, but if you asked him to describe the what happens next in detail in court, hand on the bible he wouldn’t be of much use. His legs hook onto Indrid’s own, claws dig into his hips, and Indrid’s cock drives into him, his bulk meaning Duck’s face ends up pressed to his chest.

 From there he has no choice but to cling to him, feeling the purr in his chest as he promises Duck he will do this and more whenever he asks, be at his service, be good for him because his body is worth that, because Duck is worth that, and just as tears prick his eyes from the intensity of sensation, from the fact the can feel himself cumming, tightening around Indrid as best as his body can manage, there’s a cascade of thank yous, and then his lover cums in him, so much that it runs back down the shaft and is Indrid trills and thrusts a final time. 

“Goodness” Indrid pants, rolling them over so Duck is atop him, cock slipping free as he does, “that was incredible, but I do feel I must ask if you are alright.”

“Better than, sugar.” Duck smooths his hands over Indrid’s chest, “ain’t sure I can walk for a few minutes though.”

“Well then, if you need anything, I shall simply fetch it for you.”

“Indrid? Did you mean it? About wanting me to stick around.”

“Nothing would make me happier. But if you need time to decide, or if you do not want to stay, I will not be angry.” He grins, tracing a heart on Duck’s cheek, “though I will add, imagine the look on your wretched uncle’s face when he learns Mr.Cold would like you to stay and be courted, and that Mr. Cold has already bought a fine suit the handsome Mr. Newton.”

Duck chuckles, “Yeah, that does sweeten the deal. Ain’t the only thing makin’ it worthwhile though.” 

Indrid chirps happily, and wraps his wings and arms protectively around him. 

(To be fair, his uncle nearly fainting from shock the next afternoon is extremely fucking worth it).

[yzafre]

thoughts on tmnt 2003

I finally finished watching 2003 for the first time! I've been compiling thoughts as I go along, so here they all are, for the "I like hearing what new people think of my favorite things" crowd (and also just to give myself a place to put them).

Spoiler alert: it's mostly positive, and forgiving of the less-than-positive. This gets long, so I put it below a read more:

Okay, so I saw everyone talking about how different Rise was from 2012, and how it jarred people, and some people couldn’t stomach it, but I never saw anyone mentioning 2003’s place in this discussion?  Because I didn’t realize just how much 2012 pulled from 2003, and I feel like the expectations that set about what it means to do a new iteration of the franchise definitely had a place in how people received something different

On that note, I kind of want to do a “who wore it better” post about all the arcs 2012 adapted... (although 2003 probably also pulled its ideas from somewhere else – I've heard the comics, maybe?  I barely know anything about those, so have no idea how closely they’re connected.).

The City at War arc (good series of episodes, btw) really clarified a point of difference for me in how I understand 2003 and 2012 Raphael.  And by that I mean I think 12!Raph would agree with 03!Leo?  Not on the honor/it’s our fault point, but on the “the gangs are out there hurting people, and we should do something about it”. I’d need to re-watch some episodes to check my work here (I think the episode where they meet Murakami sticks out most in my head?) but 12!Raph seemed to have – at least verbally – an investment in the idea of stopping bad guys simply because they were hurting people.

Okay so obviously Same As It Never Was is agonizing, BUT.  Leo in Usagi’s world was SOOOOO funny to me.  omg.  Everyone just being all “ninja deceit”!  “Dishonorable ninja”!!  With Leo’s whole... deal.  Like from the beginning of the show I was like “isn’t bushido a samurai thing?” when Leo brought it up, so to see it being highlighted here is.  Mwah.  Even Usagi being “bluh bluh you’re turning me into a ninja with all this sneaking around >:(".  SO funny.  I was dying.

I’ve talked several times on how 2012 invested in inter-connected, long-form plots rather than being purely episodic, so it’s interesting to see 2003 move that way as the seasons go on!  I don’t think it ever quite reaches the level of ‘12, but you can definitely see how the writers were inspired by the plot work going on here, and went “okay, can we do that but more?”  The differences between how the two shows do it is interesting, too, but that would be a whole other conversation.

Similarly, I can see how part of Rise’s inspirations might’ve been some of the weirder world-building stuff going on in ‘03.  Everything about the underground city/ the Y’Lyntians, the idea of the Utrom/Kraang being here since long ago, all the more mystic stuff that ‘12 only sometimes dabbled in.  ((I also think part of the way Rise was written was to be in dialogue with the themes of ‘03 and ‘12, but that’s also a different conversation.))

I was aware of Grudge Match before watching the show, but given what I knew about it I honestly expected Mikey to be much more obnoxious about it?  Like yes he wouldn’t shut up about it in the multi-part immediately after the Nexus arc, but after that it seemed like he only mentioned it, what, once every couple episodes? Grudge Match implies he was louder about it off screen – which would be in character – but given how good the show usually is at “show don’t tell” for setting up characterization it stood out to me.

Okay this is petty but.  I am getting very tired of the constant movie quotes.  Stop that.

Okay so on the topic of “show don’t tell” characterization – Leo's ptsd arc was good.  Like this was a thing I knew about before starting the show but everyone was right it was goooood. Like obviously within the limitations of a kids show, but a wonderful amount of nuance for that audience. It tracks so well start to finish, even from season 1 where Leo was shown to have this.  Really strong but devastatingly rigid sense of identity?  Like what it means to be a warrior, and who he has to be because of that.  Like the thing with his identity being tied to the swords, and then the reason why he was tempted by Shredder’s initial (lying) offer. It all tracks to like.  Okay when he fails.  When he can’t live up to it.  Of course it shattered his mental state and threatened his sense of identity.  Of course it did.  And then just several arcs of different plots but with this other character story woven through them.  Just in how he was approaching it.  This is the shit I was wanting from ‘12 the whole time.

And Usagiiii.  Usagi.  I love him so much, and this was such great use of him. Building up a solid, believable foundation for a very enjoyable relationship between him and Leo, then bringing it back at this critical juncture in Leo’s character.  FUCK their conversations in Samura Tourist were so good.  Amazing.  Fantastic.

Actually just all the work that’s done with the turtle’s allies is great.  The homeless/junkyard people.  The super-heroes.  Leatherhead.  Usagi.  The Daimyo.  Just... all of it?  I love it?  It makes the world feel more alive and the turtles grounded in it as like.  Real people.  Who make connections and upkeep them and.  Yeah I love it.

I reached Tale of Master Yoshi and noooooo it’s.  It’s the 2012.  It’s the 2012 backstory.  The inspiration for 2012’s whole thing… its right here… ((Although is it just me or,,, does Yoshi (our hero) look a lot more western compared to Mashimi (our villain)?  There’s something about that.... hm. Hmmmmm.))

Hello season 5! A!Ni!Me! Bullshit!!!  Very accelerated anime bullshit.  Obliviously this is a huge inspiration for Rise, though I appreciate that that show took more time for the powers to build up.  Also the ninja tribunal are assholes and very questionable teachers.  Would it kill you to actually explain anything ever.

Huhhh okay so I am picking up a LOT of Rise vibes not just from the mystic powers/glowy lines, but from Splinter’s deal with the ninja tribunal, and how they wouldn’t hesitate to sacrifice the boys, and how the brothers need to stick together.  VERY reminiscent of Rise!Splinter’s deal with the Hamato.

Noooo not Oroku Saki getting possessed by a demon.  Hello Rise backstory.  I see.  It really all comes back to 2003 doesn’t it?  Rise was definitely made by people who looked at S5 and went “okay, can we do that but more?”

Have I talked about how much I love that from the beginning the show was just like “oh yeah also actual superheroes exist in this world, it’s just an accepted thing”?  Because I do.  Love it a lot.  Having most of them be really old/kinda retired/people are forgetting about them was a good idea though because otherwise.  Their spotty presence at cataclysmic events would be much more noticeable.

Dragon fight is cool.  That is all.

The fact that at this point Stockman is just straight up like “Let me die.  Please let me die” is.  Well it sure is something!

I’d heard the last two seasons weren’t as good and… yeah.  Like it’s not bad, it’s just… less good.  I miss the world and characters of the previous season.  Though hey did the Rise gear designs steal some inspo from this season?

HOWEVER.  The episode introducing the dark turtles.  Where Leo’s like “if you’re really my clone, you should value honor and the code of bushido!” and his counterpart just... stares solemnly for an extended time before being like “lmao yeah nope” and sucker punching him was hilarious, and got a sharp laugh out of me.  Favorite moment in this season.  I actually liked this episode overall, too.

So.  Hm.  Mikey has always been very un-serious – a jokester, (verbally) a bit of a coward at times, easily distracted.  But as this season goes on it really feels like they’re amping it up/exaggerating those traits, to the point of stripping away anything else at times. Similarly, his brother’s willingness to indulgence/reactions to his silliness seems to fluctuate wildly, but on a downward trend - they always razzed him, but in this season... well they paired his increased goof-offs with increased put downs/jokes about it. This, while a bit annoying to me as a characterization choice, does track on a more meta-textual level.  By this point it’s 2006-2007.  2007 is the year Big Bang Theory aired, which I find to be, uh…. Tonally representative of the cultural attitude in the US between 2008 annnnd… 2013-ish?  There was this extra-concentrated feeling of, like… snideness and sarcasm that I remember around that time period.  It’s also very prominent in TMNT 2012 – especially in Season 1 (when binging that show I was hit by high school memories so viscerally that I said, out loud, “oh, GOD, we really were all Like That, weren’t we?” only a few episodes in).  Similarly to my post about the increasing frequency of the “Gibbs slap”, I find it interesting to see the way the changing attitudes are reflected in the same show as time passes.

LET STOCKMAN REST jeZUS

Overall, I see three kinds of episodes in season 6: mediocre, good, and what I call “good but out of order”.  What I mean by that last bit, is like… okay, the Graduation episode was good in theory, but felt very strange coming after Season 4/5, you get me?  Things where the concept is solid, but seems to be placed in the wrong position in their arcs, which I think is a knock-off effect from the lightened tone of the season.

Oh.  I just got to the second episode of S7 and.  I don’t…. hm.  So, I could deal with the simplified designs in Fast Forward, because they got some cool new gear stuff added in as well, but this is.  Uh.  Worse. But even beyond that – the dynamics also feel sort of off.  If Casey has been going to this gym for a while, why is April only now doing something about it….?  I don’t feel like she would have let this go just because the guys weren’t there. Also I'm putting it down here now that I think the whole digital world thing is kinda dumb

I do think 2012 looked at a lot of the ideas for S7 and went “interesting idea, we can do it way better”, which I commend them for.  Admittedly, these can also be stock tropes: April getting possessed also reminds me of Ghost Busters/Zuul, and mind control is a pretty standard trope, but… well, you know.  2012 took so much else from 2003, you can’t help but wonder if they pulled inspiration here, too.

Oh they are wayyyy over-using the Shredder/Foot Clan sting/motif this season and it is getting,,, annoying,,,

I kept waiting to see what they were doing with it, but they did not handle Donnie’s guilt arc with anywhere near the finesse they did Leo’s.  It wasn’t… horrible, I guess.  It’s just notably lacking in comparison. They didn't even have Leo really sit down with him to talk about his own experience like???

I did appreciate them bringing back all those side characters in the finale.  I’ve already mentioned I love the plethora of allies and friends they gave the turtles in this iteration, so obviously that was going to please me, though they could have gotten a little bit better showing in the final fight.

Lmao the guy I thought was gonna be rat king!!!!  He’s there lurking and watching in the distance???

Good show!  But yeah I’d agree with people who say that the heart of the show is really in the first 5 seasons.  After that the characters and stories feel a bit… flattened? The more I pushed through the last two seasons, the more I was missing the first 5, which I really, really enjoyed. Ranking on my personal tastes of the series I’ve watched so far, meeting each show where it's at, it goes Rise > 2003 > 2012.  Rise and 2003 are really close, with Rise just beating it on account of “it was my first show” and also “I REALLY like anime bullshit”, although there’s potential for that to shift or fluctuate as it marinates in my brain. That being said, 2012 is the one that makes the creative part of my brain go crunch-crunch, so take that as you will. Continuing to go backwards puts me at the 1987 series, so I suppose that’s next.  I have plans to watch the new TotTMNT with family during the holiday season, so unfortunately I’m up for an (agonizing) wait on that one.