#Her and her group are so funny. Like you have a dude haunted by the ghosts of dead wizards. A girl who's haunted by visions of the future.

[the-halfling-prince]

Drawtober Day 9: Lantern

My oldest OC from when I was ten my beloved

[cursedzucchini]

You know what? Fuck it

DC x DP prompt #3

I think at least lmao.

Anyway! Jason starts making videos on YouTube for one reason or another (is really stressed, no one listens to his rants Abt books who cares). His content is mostly bad books he read or really really really long rants Abt pride and prejudice. Like 3 hours on one tiny detail he noticed on his 214th read through.

He's kinda popular, mostly bc his terrible books videos. He talks Abt the ones that made him the most mad, which coincidentally are mostly romance and supernatural. Like he's one of the well known figures in the supernatural romance critique group (whcih is pretty small, but well). (Also he doesn't show his face on camera, bc secret identity and stuff, it's just his voice over a video of something mundane, like the sky or a room in which is a fly or something)

And now this can go two ways, that i can think of (w dead on main in mind at least)

1) one day Jason finds a book which is supernatural romance and is actually good. It has a kidna cliche system for the supernatural stuff, but with a refreshing twist. The characters have depts and flaws, yet are still very likable. The plot is actually interesting and overall the story's theme is death, not belonging anywhere and overall stuff that is very close to Jason's heart. The story doesn't shy away from violence and it is suprisingly accurate.

(I'm.gonna reblog this w pretty long idea of what this book could be Abt, bc i don't wanna annoy ppl lol)

Anyway Jason kinda falls in love w it, and it becomes famous for being the first novel Jason rated positively or something.

Meanwhile Danny, who was told by jazz writing is good way to get his feeling out, and just wanted to make a quick buck, is really fucking confused how tf did his book become so popular and who tf is this nerd who rates books for a living.

(basically big fan Jason and suspicious/awkward Danny lmao)

2) there is a famous series on Jason profile. It's the worst fucking series he ever read and it's just fucking awful. All the characters are fucking terrible, always going on and on about one thing, the romance sucks in a way that isnt even funny. Jason would love to believe some wrote this as a joke, if it wasn't for the absolute cringefest this was, and it wasn't a whole ass series!! Like who writes 12 books for a joke?

Danny ducking Fenton that's who. Dude was so ducking annoyed at his rogues, he threatened them w writing a terrible romance novels abt them. The ghosts, knowing his terrible grade in literature backed off for a moment, before someone crossed the line. And write Danny did. It was the worst thing he had ever written, the love interest was perfect caricature yet still faithfully go the original. And Danny, because fuck them he lost sommuch sleep over that one prank, decided to publish it. (The book was pretty thin so it didn't take that much time writing it). Unfortunately it became immensely popular in the infinite realm. So the ghosts started crossing lines on purpose. Before Danny figured it out, he had already published his fifth book and was writing another three. After some bargaining, getting a book written Abt them as a piece of shit love interest became a reward.

And while yeah, he had to say his writing was terrible and the books sucked, some small part of him was kinda proud y'know? Like a mother of her twelve ugly as fuck toddlers.

So when he saw some nerd on the internet not only shit talk his book, but also get money of it?

Danny decided to haunt him (just like his books did him, now that everyone knew Abt them thanks to this guy)

(enemies (sorta it's not that serious tho) to lovers ala terrible writer Danny who hates his books and kinda famous YouTuber hasn't who also hates Danny's books)

--

Fuck this is way too long wtf. Anyway imma reblog this w 1) book idea. Might add whatever i think the twelve books could be Abt. Pls if u want to add anything to this pls do!!

[mybedroomceilingsbored]

spewing whatever shit pops into my head for all my fav tma characters

ALRIGHT babes a whole entire six people wanted to see my opinions on characters so far (i just finished #103), but i don't rlly have a direction to take with this. i was thinking about giving them ratings but idek what i'd rate them ON lmao. SO!

Jon-ohoho he's so DRY and so FUNNY and somebody needs to bitch slap this man. how am i supposed to get a goofy workplace drama if he's so genre-aware?? i don't like him THAT much, but honestly the whole show would be a lot more boring without his paranoia. also was his skin rlly so bad that it took an entire MONTH to get him thoroughly moisturized? ur body is a temple, johnny boy :(

Martin-omg he's such a bean. i relate to this man a lil too much for comfort-he's bullied waaay too much by absolutely everyone in this podcast. if he reads too many statements and turns into another jon or smth i'll SWIM to the uk specifically to yell at the writers, this man is to be PROTECTED at all costs! also he SOUNDS like a fucking redhead. you can hear it in his voice. and it shows very clearly in his poetry.

Tim-hehehe ICON. s1 finale tim was honestly the greatest thing ever, the way he's changed is absolutely breaking my heart. prancing into the office during a worm attack and immediately sitting down on 20 cans of CO2 sounds EXACTLY like smth i'd do, honestly props to him for staying so calm during the whole thing. and the fact that he's fucking all these cops for information is just *chef's kiss* tbh, his entire EXISTENCE is a power move. he's got a statement coming up and i'm kinda terrified. he's been so.. depressingly realistic lately and i'm scared for him :(

Sasha/Not Sasha-sasha seemed so sweet, i wish i'd gotten to know her better before the switch! all i remember from her first vocal appearance is staring into space afterwards, trying to remember how i used to pronounce 'calliope'. i feel like her death/switch didn't hold as much gravity as it should've-i rlly wish i'd seen more of her! also, the way not sasha was the LEAST suspicious to jon-that monster's got acting CHOPS. we need her in the local theater group, HOW TF can anyone be that convincing?!?!?!

Monster Pig-last statement i listened to, so it's VERY fresh in my mind lmao. this pig deserves DEATH. i don't fucking CARE if it's "friendly", it ATE a FUCKING CLOWN. KILL ITTTTT. i am a VEGETARIAN

Michael-by FAR my favorite, the best character i've come across in quite a while, god's favorite princess <3 i adore this wonky man, he's such a legend. PEAK laugh. and he's so chaotic lmao!!! (no he absolutely did not die, what are you talking about???? that didn't happen. or Michael Shelley's tragic backstory that had me literally crying over a gd podcast, no way. i'm in DEEP denial) i adore how his first vocal appearance was just strutting into Jon's office, kidnapping a realtor, monologuing abt his identity issues, stabbing the archivist, and sashaying away. SUCH a funky dude, i adore him

Elias-he gives me bitter oldest kid vibes, this man needs therapy. what a kooky asshat, stop peeping on people.

Jude-hot in every way possible. sorry but it's TRUE. a rlly bad liar tho. not only does she speak in fucking italics, but you can tell she's giggling kicking her feet twisting her short little hairs as she's trying to get jon to shake her hand. bitch, you're sexy and you know it, SPEAK UP!!

Wormy Jane-an icon, honestly. the whole EMBODIMENT of ick. not to mention if i actually saw this woman i'd lose my SHIT, she terrifies the bejeezus outta me. her statement was what made me (sorta) stop picking at my face (for a little bit at least). i honestly wonder what she was on that made her stick her whole fucking arm in a HAUNTED WASP'S NEST. it's also so hilarious that she was camped outside Martin's apartment for WEEKS and nobody rlly questioned it-this woman is on a MISSION. slay, ick queen.

Melanie-this woman has more balls than anyone else on this damn podcast (ahem, elias mostly). we stan a girlboss with a knife-the way she was just planning to JUMP him??? melanie's 100% RIPPED, she SOUNDS like a gym rat i think. i wanna see her beat the shit outta all these ghosts :3

You're A Lighter-idk how to spell his actual name and i'm too lazy to look it up, so this is what y'all're getting. the snotty old library dude with such a kooky voice, all i could think of when i first heard him was the Kool-Aid man lmaoo. and he needs to take better care of his assistants!! EXTREMELY unsustainable :( he's like a bowerbird collecting all the shiny homicidal books.

Helen-she ATE my babygirl??!!!!?!?!!?! COMPLETELY unacceptable. i won't deny the girl's got guts for just.. chilling in Michael's creepy hallways, but COUGH UP THE CREEPY BLOND for christ's sake.

Trevor Herbert-10/10 honestly. i LOVED his statements, the vampires are SO CRAZY CREEPY and i love how he just kinda fucks around? does some light stalking? and usually ends up with a bunch of dead monsters! in essence, he looked an eldritch horror in the face, called it a slur, and whacked it with a stick. legend.

[onesapphireeye]

yeah, i said it

You and Aemond have a workplace situationship. It's about time that changes.

modern!aemond x reader + "Kiss my ass." "Gladly." warnings: use of she/her for reader. some cussing.

nori says: i did something and tumblr ate this ask so if you were the anon who requested this, please reach out to me again! off or on anon, i promise i won't bite!!! also lmao oops its not beta read & i thought it would be SHORTER. xoxo

more prompt asks to come!

word count: 2,094

[new group chat started:]

[aegon added you!]

[aegon added aemond!]

AEGTAR: Dragonpit tonight? The hot new girl wants to get shown around our haunts. Baela said she’s down. I’m thinking about trying to get them to make out. ;P

OUTGOING: stop messaging me on the work chat and focus on finishing your part of the presentation.

OUTGOING: and stop making new chats! you can literally reply to the 100 other chats you make a day, just click the maximize button!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AEMTAR: What she said.

AEGTAR: WHaT sHe SAid!!! Suck up.

“Come onnnn!” You glanced up from your monitors to see Aegon leaning over the side of your cubicle. His gaze had a mischievous glint, and the corners of his mouth twitched with suppressed excitement.

He was a few years older than you and, though he had the advantage of being the CFO's grandson, his lack of ambition had kept him out of the promotion talks.

You, on the other hand, had been promoted twice from an internship and had now caught up to his fulltime employee status.

After an uncomfortable situation in the break room, where you had been the object of his workplace affections, you let him in on what unpleasant things you could do to his nut sack if it ever came near you. You had also let slip that Hannibal was your favorite tv show, and chomped your teeth dramatically in his direction.

He hadn’t spoken to you about hooking up since, but had instead relegated you to “dude friend” status and regularly tried to use you as a wingman.

You wished he didn’t talk to you at all, but this was better than before. 

“If I go, it'll be like cosigning a death sentence for her.” You cast a look at the newest employee, perched in a tiny corner cubicle. Today marked seven days since she’d joined the team, her face still holding that infectious glow of fresh enthusiasm. You had been her once, before you'd let this job (and Aegon) suck the joy right out of you.

Aegon gave you his best attempt at puppy dog eyes and you returned it with a look of stone-faced determination. But he didn't let up. ���Don’t be a cockblock! She likes you and asked if you were coming before she said yes.”

“So you lied to her?” Your gaze burned straight through into the back of Aegon's head, and you heard a snort coming from in front of you.

You stood up to look over your cubicle’s divider wall and saw Aemond sat in his chair, arms crossed and brow furrowed.

You knew he was thinking about intervening on your behalf and defusing the situation, just like he did every other time his brother tried to push your buttons.

You glared at him. “You think workplace harassment is funny, Aemond? That’s not very becoming of a manager.”

Aemond's expression was stern, like he was trying to fight a smirk. He was supposed to be the steady voice of reason in the presence of his brother’s antics, yet now he remained silent.

Girls would tell you around the cooler that he probably had a crush on you, but you knew better. 

It was more than a crush.

He was pussy whipped and half in love.

You two had already been fucking for the last few months. 

At first, it had been your idea to keep it a secret and you thought Aemond would understand. But you could tell he was getting more and more frustrated with you for not wanting to make your relationship public. He didn’t want to see Aegon or anyone else hitting on you.

Aemond had been your lead when you were an intern and while he may have been into you then, your career success hadn’t been thanks to any special perks given by him.

You wanted to avoid the potential drama of work gossip while also maintaining your hard-earned reputation, but couldn't deny that you had also begun to feel an emptiness in not being able to formally declare your relationship.

Of course, you had made the decision to be private before you realized how much it bothered you to see him being flirted at. You said ‘at’ because, for most people, Aemond was like an impenetrable wall.

You were starting to think about having a real conversation about where you both stood and if there was still a chance of becoming something official. But you were afraid that he had already gotten too comfortable and settled into the status quo of being in a situationship.

"I didn't want to type it out, but think we should go." You gave Aemond a pout when he spoke up but sighed, knowing you had been out voted.

Aemond texted that he was en route, and a quick glance at his location showed he was about ten minutes away. You finished the final touches of your make-up and zipped up your thigh-high boots. You grabbed a small purse and decided against a coat, hurrying out to the parking garage.

You spotted Aemond's car rolling up and waved to him with excitement. It stopped in front of you and you opened the door with a wide grin. “Perfect timing, Baby!”

He rolled his eyes at you and frowned. “I really wish you'd let me pick you up at the door.”

“Why, when this is more efficient?”

“You can be too pragmatic at times.”

“Hello pot, meet kettle.”

He looked amazing in his leather jacket and blue jeans. You could see a white V-neck t-shirt and his signature Valyrian steel chain peeking out from underneath.

You got into his car, and as you turned to close the door and buckle up, the dress you were wearing slid up your thighs and his hand instantly went to grab it.

You loved many things about Aemond: his long hair, the scar on his face, his morning voice...but nothing could top your love for his hands.

Especially when they were in or on you.

“Your dress doesn’t seem to want to stay in place." He smirked teasingly as he gave your thigh a kneading squeeze. “Should have worn something shorter.”

You could tell he wasn’t entirely serious, but you weren’t going to take the bait. His religious background and jealousy could suck it; you were choosing not to bite. Whether you were his girlfriend or not, you weren’t about to let him dictate what you wore. You could compromise on many things for him, but this was not one of them: it was your body and you would die on this hill. 

You playfully slapped your hand on top of the one holding your leg, then rubbed it. "Kiss my ass, you prude." 

Aemond laughed as he pulled out of the parking garage. "Gladly."

The Dragonpit was, as always, busy as hell.

It was a the only club in town that never had a happy hour and somehow that made people feel like it was exclusive. In reality, influencers had been paid to promote it and they’d done their jobs well. The line usually stretched around the building.

You were suspicious of the online reviews, as the music was too loud, the dance floor was cramped, and one of the two exit doors was usually blocked by commercial-sized trash bins. If you were doing audits, you'd rate this place a recipe for disaster.

If there was a plus side though, it was that your Targaryen coworkers knew the owner and could walk straight in.

The acrid smell of sweat hit you as soon as the bouncer opened the door. Aemond grabbed your hand, and you both weaved your way through the throng of bodies on the dance floor until you reached the bar.

Aemond pushed his way to the ledge while you stayed close behind him. You glanced over the crowd to look for any familiar faces. You smiled as soon as you spotted Baela deep in conversation with a tall brunette, you realized it was Cregan Stark from her department upstairs. She gave you a wave and you motioned for her to come over. 

“Drinking anything?” Your attention was brought back to Aemond, who was looking over his shoulder at you. 

You nodded your head in the affirmative. “Just some shots, you pick.”

Baela, without Cregan, embraced you with a hug. Her promotion away from your work floor had happened recently, and you were amazed she hadn’t taken over the company yet. She was a motivator for you, almost like a guide. 

“I'm so glad you two showed up! Aegon said you were probably going to bail?” She sent an odd look at Aemond and you raised your eyebrow in question.

The Targaryen male cleared his throat, pointedly ignoring his cousin. He held out a short glass filled with a clear liquid and you accepted it without hesitation, offering a smile and a polite thanks.

“Aegon doesn’t know anything.” Aemond said and you verbally agreed. “Where is he anyway?” 

Baela made an expression of disgust and gestured to the same doorway you had walked through. Aegon and the new girl were in a tight lip-lock, as if they were trying to suck the air out of each other's lungs to survive. You two had walked right past them without even noticing.

“Seven days? That’s got to be some sort of new record?” You heard Baela say. That poor, poor girl. You threw back your shot in memory of her reputation at work.

You shook your head and remarked, “It’s almost insane how he always gets what he wants.” Aemond snickered and Baela gave you a cute frown.

“Honey, he’s rich.” You laughed at Baela’s words and guessed that was the only explanation you needed. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got a Stark to climb.”

Aemond drank his shot and returned both empty glasses to the bar counter, giving his cousin a dull look, "none of us need to know that."

She stuck her tongue out, as she floated back through the crowd. 

You both drained your second round of shots in one quick gulp. Your tolerance for alcohol wasn't great, but you weren't even close to being tipsy. You just felt a little more relaxed from borrowing some liquid courage.

You locked eyes with Aemond and gave him your most flirtatious look. "Should I go find something to climb?" He shifted his weight to rest an elbow on the bar, eliciting a few grumblings from the people trying to get by. 

“Let’s see what you can do.” He challenged you with a smirk that burned with mischievous fire. You met his challenge and sashayed to the edge of the dance floor, swaying your hips dangerously and capturing his full attention. He watched hungrily as you moved your body to the rhythm.

His look darkened when another man approached and tried to cut in. Aemond quickly stood and pulled you to him, possessive and protective. "Don't even think about it," he growled, his low voice washing over you like a stormy sea. “Pick someone else’s girlfriend.” The stranger quickly retreated in the face of his will.

You raised an eyebrow at him, testing the boundaries of his newfound declaration. "Girlfriend?" You said with a mischievous smirk, chin resting on his chest. "Don't you usually have to ask the girl you're claiming? We aren't living in medieval times."

Aemond looked down at you with wide eyes, searching for something in your expression that wasn't quite there. Then with a deep breath and a determined look, he asked "Do you want to be my girlfriend?"

You beamed up at him and touched his cheek tenderly. "Yes," you breathed, standing on the tips of your toes to press a gentle kiss against his lips. "Absolutely."

Happy that mess had been sorted out, his grip was firm as he pulled you close and spun you around. The rhythm of the music reverberated through your body. His thumb traced your spine as his breath grazed your neck, a heat rising between you. 

It didn’t take long before you were grinding your ass into him. 

Off the dance floor, your coworkers looked on in wonder. Aegon and the new girl had joined Baela and Cregan. 

Baela let out a sharp cry of excitement. She slapped Aegon on the arm, nearly shoving him off his feet. “I called that shit! You owe me twenty dollars!” 

norinote: remember you can send me prompts from here or your own ideas! xoxo.

[number1rizgukgakstan]

FHJY EPISODE 17 LIVEBLOG

Spoilers under the cut

Adaine trying to relax for her friends is so sweet I love her so much

ANKARNA FACE REVEAL??? ANKARNA FACE REVEAL!!!

Fig wrote a song so banging she managed to reach out to and touch her God. I love her so much.

The way she's trying to reach out to Ankarna is so sweet to her. The fact they're bonding over their girlfriends being out of town is insane.

"You have always known" GOES SO FUCKING HARD. BRENNAN LEE MULLIGAN YOU HAVE DONE IT AGAIN!

What Fig does to Ruben is lowkey wild when you think about it. What are you doing to that poor guy. What did he do to deserve this.

BRITISH KRISTEN FUCKING GOT ME AGAIN holy shit. K2 you are in my head what is up with you???

WHY IS EVERYONE HELPING HER DO THIS? They're all absolutely deranged I love it.

EMILY AXFORD'S LUCK IS FUCKING WILD. I LOVE IT.

This whole scene is so crazy what the hell is happening

Jawbone is so fucking sweet I love that man so much. He's so great. I love how much Kristen is concerned for him and how close they are. Jawbone's amazing <3

Murph's face while Kristen talks to Bobby Dawn is SO FUNNY. They're great.

Brennan Lee Mulligan how dare you make me cry about Bucky Applebees right now.

AYDA LEFT FIG A TON OF ANCIENT MUSICS I'M CRYING SO HARD. INCREDIBLY SICK BASS FROM YOUR GIRLFRIEND MY BELOVED

Fig talking about her future made me so happy,,, the kids are alright.

DID AYDA LEAVE HER A METEOR SHOWER??? OH MY GOD OH MY GOD OH MY GOD HOLY FUCKING SHIT I LOVE LOVE. BRENNAN LEE MULLIGAN I OWE YOU MY LIFE. I have NEVER in my ENTIRE LIFE HEARD ANYTHING AS ROMANTIC AS THAT MESSAGE. I AM OVERWHELMED WITH EMOTION. And the ending was just fucking great. "You are not going to believe how much my dad spent on this jet ski" absolute peak comedy.

The foreshadowing of Fig leaving the group is a little sad, but like. You know what? Fig's great. And wherever she goes I know the Bad Kids have her back :)

SHE WRITES AYDA A LETTER [sobs] These two ARE true love!

"A DOG RIDING A HORSE, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?" destroyed me.

PORTER IS EVIL!!! FIG IS VINDICATED!!!!!! FUCK YEAHHHH!

Ankarna and Cassandra's fascinating relationship will haunt me forever. And the fact that Ankarna fell before Cassandra also haunts me. holy hell

AHHHH THEY WANT TO KILL ANKARNA :(

FUCK. YES! Is coming back to fucking bite the party in the ass. Kristen Applebees you have to pull a nat 20 out of your fucking ass

Kristen's bid for president being the key to stopping the big bad evil guy is absurd to me. I love her so much

I love Emily Axford so much. She always swings to the fucking fences with her acting and I love her so much.

GOD I LOVE PORTER he's so fucking evil he's great.

Riz is so smart and Murph's luck has been INSANE. That whole scene had me WRACKED with emotion. His insane spy shit fucks so hard this is so cool.

"AYDA, AYDA MARRY YOU" FUCKING. I LOVE HER SO MUCH

BOBBY DAWN IS IN ON IT, FUCK YEAH

HOLY SHIT. HOLY SHIT! GOD OF WAR ANKARNA??? INSANE

BAKLAVA IS REAL??? BAKLAVA IS REAL!!!!!

PORTER WANTS TO BECOME GOD??? DUDE. THE FUCKING HUBRIS.

The final battle's going to be at Fabian's party isn't it??? I'm so excited

This group has such good chemistry and they're such good friends and I love them SO MUCH

Riz's ability to case a fucking joint is ABSURD. This man is BUILT for this shit and it's great to see him do the shit he's best at.

The RatGrinder's Plan as its laid out now is so scary, and I CANNOT WAIT to see how this all plays out. Aguefort picked the WORST time to go on fucking vacation.

FUCK SHE WROTE PORTER'S NAME ON THE TEACHER EVALUATION. FiG NOOOOO

THEY HAVE TO KILL THOSE FUCKERS. Maybe the RG's just need therapy but you just need to KILL THOSE FUCKING TEACHERS.

"WAIT, NON-STUDENTS CAN'T VOTE?" KRISTENNNNNNN

Fried Rice Dimension in the Garage, losing it.

"this is too easy" god Murph you're so right this is too fucking easy

FUCK THEY PUT THE CLOUDRIDER IN FABIAN'S FUCKING HOUSE.

THE BEER PONG GAME WAS A RITUAL? FUCK! OISIIN GOD DAMN IT I WANTED TO ROOT FOR YOUUUUUU

"Oh, My Mom's Gonna Kill Me" FABIAAAAAAAN THATS SO FUNNY.

[sally-face-fan-72]

Sally face fanfic (#2)

Heres the second chapter because i feel like the first one kinda dragged, and maybe this one's better?

TW: child abuse, possibly offensive language

Chapter 2: Sally Face.

Its the next day,

Its not a typical day, but its a day of dread and many regrets,

Bologna Sandwich day.

Sal absolutely despises Bologna day because the bologna at lunch tastes different from typical bologna.

Literally everyone hates the school lunch on days like these, except for that rude, blonde kid, Travis.

Travis is the son of a preacher, particularly Kenneth Phelps. Their family is known for owning the Phelps Ministry, which is probably one of the last places Sal would ever wanna be.

Sal for the most part doesn't hate Travis. If Sal's being totally honest, he thinks Travis is projecting his insecurities onto Sal and his friends.

So, by the time the bell rang, it meant lunch time.

Sal wasn't surprised to see Travis scarfing down his bologna sandwich.

Sal dazed out at Travis, was trying to figure out how he eats that disgusting shit, While the group was in a deep debate.

"What are you looking at?" Larry asked while trying to look in the same direction Sal was.

Sal peels his attention from Travis and puts his attention back onto the group at his table.

Ashley, Todd, Maple, and Chug were all having a group discussion on who was most likely to become a criminal in the friend group.

"Hey dude, you okay? You haven't been talking at all today, everything alright?" Larry asks, with a genuinely concerned look on his face, ignoring how the group branched off and talking about ghosts haunting public places — something in which Larry loved to talk about.

Sal closes his eyes and softly shakes his head, trying to snap himself out of it, replies "Yeah Yeah, I'm fine."

Even though Sal went back to looking at his tray and started eating his apple, he couldn't shake the urge of anger with a slight undertone of sympathy (somehow.)

Almost like it was on a whim,

"Does that bologna smell funny to you guys?" Ash questions while having the most disgusted look possible on her face.

"I thought last week's was a little off putting but it seems to be worse this week." Todd adds with an equally disgusted look.

"I heard it's made from goat meat." Larry said, half joking.

"Didn't a bunch of kids call in sick the day after bologna day last week, too?" Sal budded in.

"Aw, hey, you guys! Don't ruin lunch for me. please! It's the only good part of the day." Chug says, chewing on the bologna sandwich in his hands.

"...Group huddle..?" Sal suggests while looking at chugs half eaten bologna sandwich, a feeling of queasiness in his stomach.

"I'm in" Larry agreed.

"Me too!" Ash added.

"Count me in." Todd responded.

"Have fun, I'm going to stay here with Chug" commented Maple.

As Todd, Ash, Sal, and Larry make their ways next to the exit of the cafeteria, they stand in a circle.

Sal starts by saying,"We need to find out if there's anything wrong with this bologna. Maybe there was a batch of bad beef or it's expired or something."

"Or bad goats. I'm telling you, dude, the shit is funky. Doesn't taste like no beef to me." Larry added, once again, on the goat theory.

Todd, adding his smarts to the conversation, stated "The product is most likely a blend of low cost meat components from different sources of beef, pork, chicken and or turkey."

"Todd, man, you're making my stomach turn." Larry wraps his arms around his stomach.

"This is like the hot dog incident all over again." Ashley sighs.

"..Ugh, I hope not." Larry says, squeezing his stomach harder.

"You know, Sal might be on to something. There could be an issue with the lunch meat. I'd like to take our sandwiches to the science lab and see if I can find any bacteria or signs of expiration. However, it would be helpful to know what the exact ingredients are." Todd explained.

"Okay. Ash, you go with Todd and help him in the lab. Larry and I will try to get more information on the bologna." Sal decided.

"Sounds like a plan." Ash agreed.

-

Sal and Larry almost immediately began talking to Maple and Chug.

"Oh... Uh. Hi, Larry." Maple spoke.

"Hey, Maple." Larry replies.

"Aren't you going to eat your lunch?" Sal questions Maple.

"My mom made me peanut butter and jelly again. I'm just kinda tired of it, you know?" Maple sighs.

"Ah, I mean, If you're not gonna-" Chug says with mouthful of food.

"Of course you can have it, Chug" Maple answered, sweetly.

"Heck yes!" Chug exclaimed.

Sal and Larry walked away. They make their way towards the front of the cafeteria where they had been a few moments ago.

"Hi, Kim. We wanted to ask about the bologna. Could you tell us where the school buys it from?" Sal asked.

"Why you want to know about bologna, eh? Something wrong with Kim's cooking?" Kim questioned Sal and Larry.

"No, no, we were just wondering where it-" before Sal could finish, Kim snapped back.

"You kids go and sit back to chairs now. No more question."

"..Do you think we could just see the package or-" Sal tried to finish but before he could,

"No packages for you. Just butts in chairs. Go on."

As they walked back into the crowded area of the lunch room, Kim stared at them.

"Well, that was a failure. She always seems so unhappy, I wonder why she stays here." Sal questions.

Larry and Sal, In hopes to find at least a small red herring, walked to their last contender, well, it's more of a last resort.

"I thought I smelled trash. What are you flamers up to?" Travis asked.

His eye looked swollen to high hell, It's been happening for a while now. It's no big surprise to find a new bruise on Travis every week if not on the daily.

Honestly, Sal couldn't help but feel a little remorse for the comment about his dad he made, but he had to thank himself.

If it weren't for that comment, Travis wouldn't have punched him, and he wouldn't have spent that moment afterwards with Ash.

"Get bent, Travis." Larry retorted.

Sal shook the feeling and added "Don't you have some sandwiches to attend to?"

"You're lucky it's bologna day..." Travis threatened.

Sal had to drag Larry away before he could get another word in with Travis.

"Who the fuck does that pretentious prick think he is!?" Larry says to Sal with clear fury in his eyes.

-

Soon after, Larry and Sal split up, Larry searching for Kim's file, and Sal going to help Todd and Ash.

As Sal helped Ash break into the janitor's closet, and helped Todd get the sample, he needed a break from his prosthetic.

Sal walks up to the boys bathroom, opens the door, and walks in.

he walks up to the nearest sink towards the door.

Sal unbuckles the buckles on the back of his mask and places the prosthetic onto the sink. He then turns on the water, makes a cup with his hands, and starts cleaning his face.

Sal notices a white thing on the pale-orange bathroom floor that catches his attention. his eyes drift away from the mirror to the piece of crumpled up paper near the trash can.

Sal glanced at the balled up paper next to the trash can. It looked as if someone tried to throw it away, but missed. He was resisting the thought of picking up the note and seeing what it said, but everything in his mind was telling him to pick-up and read the note.

Sal buckles his mask back on and walks over to the note in front of the trash can.

'Hmm...Couldn't hurt to take a quick peek...'

Sal picks up the crumpled piece of paper off of the floor.

It reads, "I know we don't really know each other and you probably have your opinions of me. I thought maybe if I told you how I feel, things could be different. The truth is, I can't stop thinking about you. I'm crazy about you. I think you're amazing! But I know these feelings I have are wrong. It's not the way a boy should feel. Shame swallows me whole, just writing these words.

My father would kill me but I can't live in his shadow forever, I just" a bunch of scribbles block the rest of the words from being seen.

Sal places the note down and goes to check the bathroom stalls, maybe the person that wrote that letter was still in the bathroom?

Sal knocks on one of the stalls,

"Anyone in there?" Sal asks

"No duh, fuckwad. Buzz off!" Travis barked.

"Travis? Were you just...crying a second ago?" Sal asked, as you could hear sniffles and muffled sporadic breathing.

"Sally Face? I — No! What the hell? Can't a guy get some privacy?" Travis sputtered.

"Why do you hate me so much?" Sal looked down to the floor.

"Because you and your dumb friends are a bunch if homos! It's sick! It's not right! God will never love you! Why should I?!" Travis argued

Sally takes a seat on the tile floor, next to the bathroom door. "...You know we aren't all actually gay, right? I mean, besides for Todd. Todd is super gay. But that's part of who he is and I think it's wonderful. He's one of the kindest people I know. How could anyone hate Todd?" He replies back to Travis.

"Ugh!" Travis grunted.

"Is your father pushing these beliefs on you?" Sal started questioning the blonde kid.

"Just because my dad is a preacher doesn't mean he owns me! I'm my own person!" He retorted back to the blue boy.

"Yeah, but..." Sal sighs "Well, you seem so unhappy, man."

"Are you sure your dad isn't putting too much pressure on you? I bet it's tough being the son of such an intense man." Sal empathizes.

"You have no idea what it's like." Travis replied

"I'm sorry, man"

"Don't feel sorry for me, Sally Face, I don't need your pity." Travis growled.

"We don't have to be enemies, you know that right?" Sal asked.

All that came from Travis's side of the stall was silence.

"I think under all of that anger, there's a good dude who's afraid to be himself." Sal says.

Sal continues, "If you ever need someone to talk to or if you need to stay away from your dad for a while, you can hang out with me."

Travis sniffles, obviously tearing up, ". . . Why- Why are you being so nice to me?"

"I don't think you're a bad person, Travis" Sal says honestly.

"You know, I don't really hate you... or your friends..." He confesses

"I didn't really think so." Sal commented.

"I- I guess- Well, I'm sorry I've been such an asshole. You didn't deserve that." Travis admitted.

"That means a lot to me. It really does." Sal continues "Thank you. And what I said, about being here for you if you ever decide you want a friend, I meant that."

Travis sniffles "Don't push your luck Sally Face."

"Oh, uh, here. I was gonna flush this down the toilet.. but I guess you can have it. I found it on your desk." Travis muttered.

Travis handed Sal an envelope with his name on it.

"Thanks, Travis."

"Okay, now scram so I can have my alone time. And, uh..." Travis pauses.

"What?" Sal questions.

"Don't tell anyone about this or you're dead! — Er, I mean, just, please don't tell anyone about this. Okay?" Travis asks him.

"I won't" Sal assured.

Sal gets up off of the bathroom floor, picks up the crumpled-up piece of paper, and drops it into the trash that it was once sitting next to.

Sal walked out of the bathroom with a new found worry.

A rude, blonde kid by the name of Travis.

(word count: 1968)

I have 2 more parts, but idk if i should post them. please lmk if you have any questions or tips, because I have no clue what to do with the plot and I haven't known for the past year.

[ddarker-dreams]

hxh chapter 395

IT HAS BEEN 22 YEARS SINCE CHROLLO WAS FIRST REVEALED IN THE MANGA... 23 SINCE HE WAS FIRST MENTIONED... AND FINALLY........ WE ARE GETTING HIS BACKSTORY . all in god’s (togashi’s) timing. i literally couldn’t believe my eyes when i woke up to baby chrollo on the tl wednesday morning. i’m just now getting the time to scribble down all my thoughts that have been haunting me since then. is any of what i’m about to say coherent? probably not. i’m just so excited that i can barely put it into words. like. how am i supposed to function. i sure don’t know. i’ll put all my screaming + rough analysis under the read more then summarize what new things we learned about chrollo and the phantom troupe. idk how to format this so i’m sorry for anyone who braves the abyss below. anyways , without further ado ... 

(the link to the chapter for anyone who is curious)

nobunaga frames the flashback with the statement “fueled by despair and anger, we were searching for a purpose...” which more of less confirms the widely accepted notion that the phantom troupe was formed to give these people something to do. after reading that, i was expecting to go into some depressing stuff right away, but instead we get to see the baby phantom troupe members kinda roughhousing each other? acting like lil rascals. so i’m assuming nobunaga’s statement comes into play a bit later. 

the spiders seem to have been split up into smaller cliques before they eventually formed together, these groups being chrollo/franklin/shalnark (HIS LIL MISSING TOOTH OH MY GOD), machi/uvo, and phinks/feitan. 

this more altruistic viewpoint further convinces me that something major must’ve happened for chrollo’s worldview to shift so drastically. here and throughout the rest of the chapter, we can see him championing the cause of sharing knowledge with others around his age instead of hoarding it. this immediately sets him apart from the uvo/machi and phinks/feitan cliques who want to keep anything remotely valuable to themselves. Hmm.  

i could be wrong, but the architecture of this church having crosses + pews seems reminiscent of the abrahamic religions, leaning more toward catholicism perhaps? this must play into chrollo’s fascination with catholic aesthetics in his adulthood. it seems that compared to the rest of meteor city, this church was somewhat of a safe haven. 

NGL it’s kinda funny little baby chrollo looked @ phinks and uvo and went hm. yeah those dudes are definitely not the church crowd. baby chrollo being able to teach himself various languages just from watching tapes that everyone else his age finds too boring to sit through though... he’s always been a little genius. interestingly enough, the compliments on his intellect never seemed to have gotten to his head? he always took them in such a good-natured way. he seemed like such a kind boy... meteor city’s elders mention how bright he is in the next page too. i wonder what they expected from little chrollo though? 

“perhaps he could be of use to the elders? you think he may be able to solve the problems plaguing the city...” 

very curious to know if they meant now or when he’s older. anyway, the elders took an interest in him from a young age, only for chrollo to completely disregard them when he became an adult (chrollo stealing one of their abilities for his fight against hisoka). 

i’m in ABSOLUTE agony. while this interaction is so cute, i can’t help but think about how paku prioritized chrollo’s life despite his philosophy that ‘the head of the spider [himself] can always be replaced’, which lead to her own death 🙁 OUCH OUCH IT HURTS... her care for chrollo and the troupe ran so deep. now we get to kinda see why. chrollo so brazenly telling paku that he loves her when it’s very likely she’s rarely (if at all) heard those words growing up in a place like meteor city......................... ah...........AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH 

HE’S A LITTLE GENIUS!!! LOOK AT HIM GO !!! 

‘no way he was born here...’

it makes sense that chrollo ended up getting voted to be the leader of the troupe since his intelligence has been universally praised all along. a smart lil guy. i really can’t get over the fact he did all this just so the other kids could understand/enjoy the cartoon more 😭😭😭 that just leaves me with the same, pressing question that machi has here... 

‘is that chrollo?’ 

she must’ve been shocked to see him go from :D to :| ........... what happened to my MANS...

[chokulit]

hopped on the scooby doo train choo choo

(doodle based on that one image)

also, have some thoughts:

- ok so Fred and Velma were childhood friends and Velma was always interested in the supernatural - she started a mystery solving gig and Fred came along cuz he didn't wanna see her get hurt - she insisted she didn't need help (she's kinda stubborn like that) but she eventually caved and brought Fred along with her - their first client is a girl named Daphne who's CERTAIN that her house is haunted

-theyre suspicious of her at first since she's friends with many of the same ppl that bully them but it turns out she's actually qutie nice and delighted to meet ppl who FINALLY believe her for once

-like there was one time where the bullies called for an investigation and of course Velma agreed to go but all that was waiting for her was a sick prank

-maybe that's why Fred is protective of her idk

-"Velma, you sure about this whole, "crime-solving" thing? I mean, remember what happened last time?"

-"Fred, it's always been my life's dream to do this, why is it that now, you're suddenly being unsupportive?"

-"Velma, you sure about this whole, "crime-solving" thing? I mean, remember what happened last time?"

-"Fred, it's always been my life's dream to do this, why is it that now, you're suddenly being unsupportive?"

-and then Fred gets all sad and tries to walk away as Velma tries to apologize but just as he's about to walk away, they stumble upon a clue that finally puts everything together - they don't often meet since at school Velma is kind of an outcast and Fred does a lot of volunteer work and Daphne has SO many extracurriculars - its why shes suprisingly skilled at many things (maybe she and velma bond over being gifted kids) - she's also very social and is good at getting people on her side but she's not like malicious or anything - is just another skill that she can use to get info out of ppl

-oh yeah she's not with her old friend group anymore cuz Fred and Velma helped her see how toxic they were

- Velma sometimes forgets to eat or go outside or sleep since she's so focused in her studies - oh yeah the first time they met Shaggy they thought he was some zombie or something but turns out he's just some weird dude - has the least interest in the supernatural but thought the idea of it sounded like fun - he's actually pretty mysterious and spooky like they never find out his actual real name and even though he says he goes to the same school as them they can never actually find him there - but he's really nice and funny and gives good advice - but he sometimes says something really ominous and he's like "haha, so anyways, I heard they ran out of ham in the sandwich store—"

[kayrllylikesblitzwing]

Hnnnghhhhh I should be drawing transformers …

BUT I LIKE THE ZOMBIE MAN.

HELLO I’m posting some ocs because recently I’ve gotten into a new rp server and it’s like one of those usual “oh kids go to highschool and they have powers and it’s alllllll monitored by the government” BUT they allow aliens too so it’s pretty neat

I brought in a TON of my old ocs who I used to use Back In The Day when I roleplayed on my hero academia roblox servers which HAS to be the most haunting, most horrible Experience of my entire life thus far. But basically I redrew a lot of my characters who I added to the new server im in and gave them a basic little sketch design and NOW im going to INTRODUCE THEM TO YOU

The girl in red is Fuji she is very mean and very manipulative and very evil and her ability is basically she can just glitch. Like it’s so funny the universe thinks she’s an error so she constantly like fades out of existence and stutters and lags and stuff but still remains. She can glitch through walls, lag and glitch other people, and even insert something like a trojan virus into others, where she can control them remotely, albeit she won’t have control of her own body while she controls them…. PRETTY COOL, pretty EVIL!

NEXT the weird SpongeBob looking thing is literally god. I’m not joking!!! In the lore of my own universes this guy, Sir Boxers (which, fun fact, had a close friend name him and it stuck perfectly!!!) is legitimately god he has the ability to warp reality and do legit whatever he wants. Ofc for the sake of the rp I have to tone down his power so we made this super crazy dramatic backstory that he was like the reigning but benevolent king of his dimension but then he got usurped by some evil force and sent into another world, trapped in a weaker, smaller vessel that can’t do as much as his other godly form, and he’s like trying to return to his dimension to restore order… it’s a funny thing LOL he’s just a joke character

Next is T-0FF-E3 of TOFFEE, and I HAVE DRAWN AND POSTED HIM BEFORE!!! I just didn’t like his design cuz he was too skrunkly so I bulked him up. I already talked about him but basically he was a regular dude and when his powers started showing up he just like mutated into a machine. Super nice, doesn’t know his strength, I love toffeee

Next is Liberty and I very Love Her!!! She’s a little bit of a mess because she’s both like a gym bro but also a cat girl so she’s pretty funny LMAOO she’s extremely competitive and almost aggressively supportive but also has the ability to turn things into weapons!!! As long as she can put both of her palms on something she can turn it into a weapon but that does NOT mean she can use it effectively, because a) the more elaborate the weapon, the more energy she needs to use on it to create it, b) the mass of whatever she makes the weapon on doesn’t change so if she makes like a weapon out of something heavy she might not be able to pick it up and c) she has NO EXPERTISE in any weaponry WHATSOEVER lol

Next is… Romeo 😍😍😍 he’s fucking disgusting! Little Zombie Boy “died” when he was an infant of like some sort of tumor in his brain but even though he was medically dead his body just persisted on its wild Basically his ability is he has full control over every single individual cell in his body and can use his his abilities to manipulate his flesh and stuff however he pleases and can just put himself back together if he’s torn apart. He’s like that trope where people talk abt bats and they’re like THE BATS ARE MORE SCARED OF YOU THAN YOU ARE OF THEM becuz Romeo lowkey is scared of everyone NOT socially inept but he just doesn’t like to interact and because of his strict upbringing

Next is Coronette and OKAY SHES ONE OF MY ALIENS Coronette was initially a part of a species I made for transformers where this group called the crixstaline were Cybertronian minicons that escaped to another planet, initially just to colonize it but then they sorta mutated with it… anyway Coronette is similar to that but I removed all of Cybertronian stuff from her stuff and made them just a species of PURE crystal theyre so cool they have their own language and like customs and stuff and UGH I might post their lore Bible one day it’s so cool anyway. Coronette is a princess from Crixstal, which is a planet that fell to foreign alien influences, and she hates earth and is stupid and dumb and wants to go home but doesn’t know WHY she can’t go home (planet was destroyed L BOZO) and she’s an iPad kid

TWO MORE second to last is CHIP and first of all I would like to say he is named after my dog and I have three ocs named after my dog two are named Chip Mooney and one is Chip Gebelhoff and the second Chip Mooney is based off Neil cicierega—

BUT ANYWAY this is the ORIGINAL CHIP other than my dog Chip used to wear red but I made him blue bcuz it fits him better and because I wanted a rainbow with my characters designs Anyway chip has the super power of onomatopoeia which means that when he says words like Pow or Boom they actually take affect in the world around him. This is disastrous and deadly and after he unintentionally nearly killed his father by activating his powers on accident, he has become mostly selective mute. He’s really guarded with how and when he talks and he’s JUST like those redditors who write like scripts of how they’re supposed to like interact and talk with people so he specifically doesn’t accidentally say a word that might trigger his power’s affects anyway he has my favorite ability

AND FINALLLLY we have Whizzer he’s a little guy the youngest oc of the line up. HES AWESOME he’s actually a remake of one of my OLDEST OCS EVER, who was an umbrella academy oc. Whizzer has a weird little astronaut bubble head not just to protect himself from anything, but to mostly protect others— FOR YOU SEE, whizzer’s ability is that his lungs are SO POWERFUL, if he breathes, he can basically desolate an environment of all of its oxygen and even take the oxygen out of other peoples lungs. He wears his little bubble so he doesn’t suffocate no one but also so he doesn’t breathe in nasty stuff like smog or bugs all of the time cuz that??? That would be bad.

ANYWAY. That’s my oc post have a wonderful day!!! Will blitz post soon❤️❤️❤️

[cocoabubbelle]

Watching “Scooby Doo, Where Are You?” (1969-1970 CBS) + Thoughts

Episode 15: Spooky Space Kook

That was an uncomfortably long pause between the opening credits and the episode’s title card.

From the get go, this episode is going to get on my sensory nerves if that noise will be a reoccurring element for the criminal.

The ever changing interiors of the Mystery Van gives credence to my (on the spot) theory that the Van in question used to be a futuristic/space vehicle (almost like the Tardis!) that crashed onto earth in Coolsville and disguised itself as a car that the Scooby Gang found and just stuck by ever since, adjusting its insides to fit whatever needs they have at the given moment.

Creepy Farmer with a shotgun! Approach with caution, gang.

Farmer either is an innocent man who’s sick of reporters bugging him about the “haunted” space craft (because apparently it’s not interesting enough just being extraterrestrial) and who happens to look mean, or he’s the culprit.

Everyone else: *staring at and concerned about glowing footprints that disappeared.* Random hen: *just vibing and trying to eat the worm nearby, then mistakes Scooby’s tail as a gigantic worm and makes him panic*

“Oh you big chicken, it was only a chicken!”

Farmer gave them gas. Hope he’s not the culprit.

Gahhh, here comes that annoying sound.

“What’s that funny noise?” Torture for my ears.

Scooby keeps swiping more than his fair portion of Shaggy’s snacks, which wide up catching the attention of the Space Ghost.

These are still the early days where the masked criminals aren’t fooled by silly disguises.

Daphne’s care for her appearance leads to another clue that the abandoned airfield.

Freddy becomes the dude in distress before Daphne becomes the damsel in distress for this episode.

Instead of answering Daphne’s question of what the button/lever in charge of the hoist suspending him would look like so they could get him down, Fred ignores her and tells Velma that she surely can figure it out. Velma points out that just because she’s the designated smart one of the group doesn’t mean she knows squat about mechanics. Mr.-Afficionado-For-Traps loses his patience and tells the girls to go find Shag and Scoob in the large airfield rather than dignify them with a clear description of the button/lever or admit that he also apparently doesn’t know what it looks like. donotcallhimajerkdonotcallhimajerkdonotcallhimajerk…

Shaggy and Scooby accidentally scare each other by getting covered in white sheets and mistake each other for ghosts as they hide.

Velma and Daphne manage to find them, and Shaggy managed to get Fred down offscreen before it cut to the part after Fred is free (I still think the girls could have helped him just fine had he not lost patience with them.)

Where there is potentially food, Shaggy and Scooby will be there!

Shaking my head at Scooby withholding food from Shaggy and eating it behind his back. At least Shaggy isn’t mad because he correctly deduces that the kind of fresh food laying around is for the space ghost, but apparently “real” space ghosts wouldn’t eat anything from earth like chicken and ham. Clearly they haven’t watched a lot of the older sci-fi series/films.

Scooby decides an automatic dishwasher is a great place to hide while Shaggy’s foot get caught in a small tin bucket and accidentally starts up the machine. At least Scooby gets a free bath and massage!

“I wish I knew where Shaggy and Scooby were.” Me: Awww 😚 Shelma momen-! “They’re supposed to be helping us! 😠” Me: 🤣

Animation Goof: Velma’s realistic eyes and lashes

Frelma moment with Velma personally assisting Fred in holding a random newspaper to better find the next clue.

Fred and Shaggy unintentionally prejudiced against aliens because 1) why would aliens be eating OUR food, and 2) why would aliens be interested in reading OUR newspapers?

Shaggy’s method of stealth? Spinning up the trash bin’s lid he was hiding in so it can close after he got out. When Scooby tries it out, he doesn’t get out of the way in time and gets bonked on the head.

ASDFGHJK-!!! SCOOBY WHY WOULD YOU TOSS THE KEY TO THE DOOR YOU ARE HIDING BEHIND OUT THE WINDOW WHERE THE CULPRIT IS?!?! 🤣

Space Ghost gets in anyway without key. Shaggy and Scooby need key to unlock door they just locked to escape.

They jump out the window to grab the key, and jump back in through the window. They unlock door and escape while Scooby makes faces at the Space Ghost. 😂

Shaggy where and how did you get that medieval torch???

Not 1, not 2, but a whole team of space ghosts??

Shaggy and Scooby’s running away leads them to another clue. Shaggy’s suspicious face and Scooby’s impressed face are a lot funnier looking to me than I think they are meant to be 😅

Parachute to the rescue!

Sheriff to the rescue too! And the farmer came along. He claims he got worried about the kids so called the sheriff.

“It’s high time we got to the bottom of these shenanigans!”

YAY! Farmer not the bad guy! Space Ghost just ran the other way!!

Fred almost gets Space Ghost Culprit killed or seriously injured by turning on the gigantic fan of the research lab’s wind tunnel. He and the culprit are lucky that only the Space Ghost Outfit get’s blasted away and reveals a complete stranger before turning the fan off.

Farmer recognizes culprit as his next door neighbor, Henry Bascomb (who was neither known nor alluded to for the audience until the reveal).

Did they all just leave the guy in the wind tunnel? Did they at least lock it from the outside so the wouldn’t escape?

Animation Goof: Shaggy’s hair several shades lighter.

“And I’d have done it, too, if you kids hadn’t come along.” 😤😤😤😤😤

Freddy ruins Shaggy and Scooby’s attempt at bravado by scaring them. 😕 why is Freddy so unlikable in this episode?

Day 15 of no “And I would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids!”

[finsterhund]

I found a story where the narrator starts off by describing his uncle as "probably on the spectrum" that goes into detail about how he's weird and reclusive and doesn't like talking with his family only then for his special interest he poured all his love and care into coming to life and killing him with his last words being how much he saw the error of his ways and wished he could have spent more time with people (and evidently been less neurodivergent) and the narrator going on about how if he just spent more time with people and less time isolated with his creepy old special interest he wouldn't have died. And the narrator ending the story with a "be careful having obsessions because you don't know what they'll do to you" ass "the moral of the story is" segment and man neurotypicals really do just fucking hate us for existing huh. How meanspirited do you have to be to think that way? It's like a completely taken seriously made for the purpose of revenge "my trains" (lemon demon) ass scenario where the story really does feel like it was only written for the purpose of getting revenge on your relative who builds models by literally having it where somebody is killed by theirs with no rhyme or reason as to why. Nevermind the complete lack of narrative logic of why something you cared for and treated with love would come to life and murder you in the first place. No reasoning was given beyond "the narrative is punishing him for having a hobby in a way that isn't societally approved" like logically if this thing was alive it only thrived because the dude laboured over it and by killing him it guaranteed itself to languish and rot and suffer and ultimately be destroyed. Makes no sense. Just left a bad taste in my mouth. It's the polar opposite of that cute comic I saw a while back where someone finds a haunted doll and as they laboriously restore it the toy feels loved and as a result doesn't harm their new owner.

Idk maybe I'm just reading too far into this but it really came off as a "fuck you for devoting your life to a weird hobby instead of making yourself available to other people in a neurotypical way" and that sucked.

Also an aside but it frustrated me when the narrator was like "oh these models aren't really around anymore, they've fallen out of fashion for being creepy and dated" as if the problem isn't that the neurodivergent people who'd love nothing more than to pursue these hobbies can't because their status as "lesser than" in our capitalist wageslave society making them exploited and unemployable means they're a group less likely to be able to afford these hobbies in the first place and less likely to have the space, time, resources, accessibility to pursue them as their contemporaries/elders did decades ago. If you have the space you're a "recluse" for spending time there, if you don't you're a "hoarder" for trying to pursue these hobbies in the tiny little boxes afforded to you. No I'm not bitter that one of my many childhood dreams after visiting Miniature World is impossible because I don't even have a fucking basement of my own that I can set up a little model town in why do you fucking ask?

Idk maybe there's another perspective of what happened in this universe where the uncle has an entire online friend circle catered around his hobby and the evil paranormal shit happened because of a bitter family member casting some curse and it turns out the narrator of the canonical story is full of shit and it's a classic case of wildly unreliable narrator. That would be funny in a very morbid ass way. Like,

Narrator: my mom cared so much for him and tried to keep him in her life even though he kept pushing everyone away

Uncle, on his Usenet board: my sister keeps mocking me for spending my money I earn as an adult on my models and acting like she's our mother. She's had our entire childhood to practice being cruel about the things I care about without overtly coming across as abusive and she gaslights me when I try to confront her about it what do I do?

TrainBoy64: She's trying to hurt you but knows better than to do it in a way that will make her look like the asshole. Try "grey rock" like I mentioned last week. Nobody deserves your time or commitment even if they're related to you.

Uncle: thanks man. Wanna see the new conductor I painted?

TrainBoy64: sure thing just remember to keep the photos under 200kb this time. My bandwidth sucks.

Narrator: my uncle freaked the fuck out when I accidentally damaged one of his models

Uncle, online: hey guys, today my sister brought her kids over and I tried to explain to them how these things are delicate and they need to be careful because they're not toys but my nephew directly disobeyed me and damaged my favourite building. I got upset and started crying and my sister yelled at me and said how her kids were more mature than I am but I thought I very clearly explained everything. I still feel bad though because I want to encourage kids to get into the hobby and don't want to stop them from visiting if they still want to.

TrainBoy64: your sister probably talks about your models to her kids as if they're toys and speaks down about you around them. I know it hurts but try to remember that it's their mom's fault, not theirs. If you want to keep inviting them over maybe try setting some ground rules until they're a bit older or make a cheaper area just for them to play with.

The uncle: thanks. I love my nephew and it makes me so happy when he visits. I just wish he was a bit more careful.

TrainBoy64: that will come with time. Remember when you told me how you accidentally ruined your first model plane when you were 11? Maybe he felt just as bad as you did but was better at hiding his emotions.

The narrator: after my uncle went missing my mom did everything she could to get law enforcement to take the case seriously and she was very upset

(the mother feels an extreme amount of guilt for pushing her brother away just as much as he "pushed her away" and it took him fucking dying for her to realize this. Or, alternatively, the guilt at her using dark magic to "teach him a lesson" and accidentally killing him in the process is absolutely fucking eating her up inside)

Idk. That's what I'm going with now. Made me feel a little bit better about the whole thing.

[aspenmissing]

𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝙷𝚘𝚞𝚜𝚎 (𝙿𝚝 𝟸)

In the music store, Craig is sitting at the counter looking depressed.

"Hey Craig? Remember us?"

"Guys, look I'm really not in the mood to answer any of your questions, ok?"

"Oh, don't worry. We're just here to buy an album, that's all" Y/N says. She flicks through and picks up an album. She talks to Sam and Dean as they approach the counter.

"You know I couldn't figure out what that symbol was and then I realized that it doesn't mean anything. It's the logo for the Blue Oyster Cult" She then turns her attention to Craig "Tell me Craig, you, uh, you into BOC? Or just scaring the hell outta people? Now why didn't you tell us about that house...without lying through your ass this time" Craig sighs.

"All right, um. My cousin Dana was on break from TCU. Ah, I guess we were just bored, looking for something to do. So, I showed her this abandoned dump I found. We thought it would be funny if we made it look like it was haunted. So, we painted symbols on the walls, some from some albums, some from some of Dana's theology textbooks. Then we found out this guy Murdock used to live there so we ...we made up some story to go along with that. So, they told people, who told other people. And then these two guys put it on their stupid website. Everything just took on a life of its own. I mean I, I thought it was funny at first but... now that girl's dead! It was just a joke, you know. I mean, none of it was real, we made the whole thing up. I swear!"

"All right" Sam says softly. Sam, Dean and Y/N turn to leave.

"If none of it was real how the hell do you explain Mordechai" Dean asks Sam and Y/N.

==

Back in their motel room, sounds of the shower running. Dean and Y/N enter and walks over to Sam bed, Dean lifting a packet labelled 'Itching Powder'

"Hey, we're back" Dean calls out.

"Hey, where were you two?" Sam says from the bathroom.

"Oh, we went out" Y/N says, trying to contain her giggles, Dean puts his finger to his lips, shushing her, also trying to contain his laughter. Y/N picks up Sam's underwear from the bed and Dean shakes the content of the packet onto it.

"So, I think I might have a theory about what's going on"

"Oh yeah?" Dean says, still shaking the packet.

"What if Mordechai is a Tulpa?" Sam asks.

"Tulpa?" Y/N asks. Sam emerges from the bathroom, wearing only a towel around his waist.

"Yeah, a Tibetan thought form" The two swing around hastily.

"Ahh, yeah, I know what a Tulpa is. Hey why don't you get dresses, I wanna go grab something to eat" Dean enters the bathroom, smiling at Sam as he closes the door.

"I'm gonna go and get a soda" Y/N says and she leaves. Sam moves his attention between the two then turn to pick up his underwear.

==

The three went to a local diner and Y/N goes over to a table and Sam and Dean gets the drinks.

"There you go gents"

"Thank you" Dean saying taking his and Y/N's coffee. Sam taking his. They make their way to Y/N, Sam grimacing and adjusting his jeans.

"Dude what's your problem?" Y/N asks, slightly smirking.

"Nothing, I'm fine"

"Yeah?"

"Yeah"

"So, ahhh, all right keep going. What about these Tulpas?" Dean asks

"Ok, so there was this incident in Tibet in 1915. Group of monks visualised a golem in their head. The meditated on it so hard they brought the thing to life. Outta thin air" Sam says.

"So?"

"That was 20 monks. Imagin what 10,000 web surfers could do. I mean Craig starts the story about Mordechai, then it spreads, goes online. Not there are countless people all believing in that bastard"

"Now wait a second. Are you trying to tell me that just because people believe in Mordechai, he's real?" Y/N asks. Sam looks uncomfortable.

"I dunno, maybe"

"People believe in Santa Claus-how come I'm not getting hooked up every Christmas?"

"Cuz, you're a bad person. And because of this..." Sam turns to his laptop, showing Dean and Y/N a photo of one of the Hell House symbols.

"That's a Tibetan spirit sigil. On the wall of the house. Craig said they were painting symbols from a theology textbook. I bet they painted this, not even knowing what it was. Now that sigil has been used for centuries, concentrating meditative thoughts like a magnifying glass. So, people are on the Hellhounds website, staring at the symbol, thinking about Mordechai ... I mean I don't know, but it might be enough to bring a Tulpa to life"

"It would explain why he keeps changing" Sam grimaces and adjusts himself again.

"Right, as the legend changes, people think different things, so Mordechai himself changes. Like a game of telephone. That would also explain why the rock salt didn't work"

"Yeah, because he's not a traditional spirit" Y/N says.

"Yeah" Sam says, still fidgeting.

"Ok So why don't we just...uhh ... get this spirit sigil thingies off the wall and off the website?"

"Well, it's not that simple. You see, once Tulpas are created they take on a life of their own" Sam says.

"Great. So, if he really is a thought form how the hell are we supposed to kill an idea?" Y/N asks.

"Well, it's not gonna be easy with these guys helping us. Check out their home page" Sam says, still itching and adjusting. Sam shows Dean and Y/N footage from the previous night.

"Since they've posted the video their number of hits have quadrupled in the last day alone"

"Hmph. I got an idea. Come on" Dean says.

"Where we going?"

"We gotta find a copy store" They rise to go.

"Man, I think I'm allergic to our soap or something" Sam says itching and jiggling. Dean laughs and he walks away.

"You did this?" Dean continues laughing, this time joined by Y/N.

"You too! You're friggin jerks!"

"Oh yeah" Dean says.

"Sorry, Sammy. But Dynamic twins gotta stay work together" Y/N says, following Dean, then followed by Sam.

==

In the trailer park, Ed and Harry sit in a trailer with all their equipment

"No, no, no, forget it. Forget it! I'm not going back in there again"

"Harry. Look at me. Right here. Ok? You are a ghost hunter, ok?"

"I know, but, Ed, I've never seen a real ghost before Ed, like a real ghost, an apparition!"

"This stuff here...this is our ticket to the big time right. Fame, money, sex. With girls. OK? Be brave. WWBD. What would Buffy do. huh?"

"What would Buffy do. But Ed, she's stronger than me" Harry whispers.

"It's ok" There is a pounding on the door. Harry jumps a foot in the air and squeals.

"Who is it?" Harry asks.

"Come on out here guys, we hear you in there" Dean replies.

"It's them!" They stick their heads out the door.

"Ah, would you look at that! Action figures in their original packaging-what a shock"

"Guys, we need to talk" Sam says.

"Yeah, um, sorry guys. We're ahhh, a little but busy right now"

"Ok well we'll make it quick. We need you to shut down your website" Dean says. Ed laughs.

"Man, you know, these guys got us busted last night, spent the night in a holding cell..."

"I had to pee in that cell urinal. In front of people. And I get stage fight"

"Why should we trust you guys?" Ed asks.

"Look guys. We all know what we saw last night, what's in the house. But now thanks to your website there are thousands of people hearing about Mordechai" Y/N says.

"That's right. Which means people are gonna keep showing up at the Hell House, running into him in person, somebody could get hurt"

"Yeah, yeah..."

"Ed maybe he's got a point, maybe...."

"Nope..."

"No"

"We have an obligation to our fans, to the truth" Ed says.

"Well, I have an obligation to kick both your little asses right now-"

"Dean--Dean, hey, hey, just, forget it, all right? These guys ..." Sam sighs "probably bitch slap them both, I could probably even tell them that thing about Mordechai ... but they're still not gonna help us. Let's just go"

"Whoa... whoa..."Ed and Harry say in unison.

"Yeah, you're right"

"Oh well, there loss" Y/N says. The three start to walk away, Ed and Harry trailing behind."

"What you say about...?" Ed asks.

"Hang on a second here"

"Wait...wait"

"What thing about Mordechai you guys?"

"Don't tell 'em Sam" Dean says.

"But if they agree to shut the website down Dean"

"They're not going to do it, you said so yourself" Y/N says.

"No wait. Wait. Don't listen to him, ok? We'll do it. We'll do it"

"It's a secret Sam"

"Look, it is a really big deal all right. And it wasn't easy to dig up. So only if we have your word that you'll shut everything down" Y/N says to Ed and Harry.

"Totally" Sam, Dean and Y/N look at each other.

"All right" Sam says. Dean hands them some paperwork.

"It's a death certificate. From the '30s. We got it at the library. Now according to the coroner, the actual cause of death was a self-inflicted gunshot wound"

"That's right he didn't hang or cut himself"

"He shot himself?" Ed mutters.

"Yep. With a .45 pistol. To this day they say he's terrified of them"

"Matter of fact they say if you shoot him with a .45, loaded with these special wrought-iron rounds -- it'll kill the sonuvabitch" Dean says. Ed and Harry snigger gleefully. Harry spins and bolts back toward the trailer, Ed follows more slowly.

"Harry. Slow your roll buddy. They're gonna know we're excited"

==

In the cafe, Sam, Dean and Y/N are sat in a booth, Sam looking at his laptop, Y/N eating her cake. Dean reaches up to the 3D artwork of a fisherman holding a big fish and pulls the cord. The fisherman's mouth moves up and down and an extremely annoying laugh play. Sam pulls the cord to stop it.

"If you pull that string one more time, I'm gonna kill you" Dean, deadpan, stares at Sam while pulling the cord again. Sam immediately stops, glaring at Dean. Y/N smacks his arm. Dean snickers.

"Come on man, you need more laughter in your life. You know you're way too tense" Sam gives Dean another dirty look. Dean sighs.

"We've learned from reputable sources that Mordechai Murdock has a fatal fear of firearms. All right. How long do we wait?" Y/N asks.

"Long enough for the new story to spread, and the legend to change. I figure by nightfall iron rounds will work on the sucker" Sam holds his beer out to Dean and Y/N, who lifts their own and taps it.

"Sweet" Dean takes a long drink and Sam starts grinning. Dean goes to put the bottle down but it is stuck to his hand. Sam cracks up as Dean stares at it, confused.

"You didn't" Laughing, Sam holds up super glue.

"Oh, I did!" Y/N starts laughing and puts her beer bottle down. She then goes to put her spoon down, but it doesn't come off her hand.

"I should have known" Y/N says with a defeated look, trying to take the spoon off her hand. The twins shake their hands while Sam, laughing, pulls the string to set the fisherman laughing again.

==

Dean, Sam and Y/N enter the Hell house on alert, guns drawn, and begin a methodical search, staying back-to-back. Dean readjusts his gun hand.

"I barely have any skin left on my palm" Dean says, snarky.

"I'm not touching that line with a ten-foot pole" Y/N says. Dean shines his flashlight in Sam's face until he winces, then moves into the other room. Sam and Y/N follow. "So, you think old Mordechai's home?" Y/N asks.

I don't know"

"Me either" A voice says from behind. Sam, Dean and Y/N spins, pointing their guns at Ed and Harry.

"WHOA!! WHOA!!"

"What are you trying to do, get yourself killed?"

"We're just trying to get a book and a movie deal, ok?" Ed replies. From the basement comes the sound of knives being sharpened. Sam and Dean are immediately back on alert "Oh crap" Ed and Harry crowd in close behind Sam, Dean and Y/N with their cameras "Ah, guys, you wanna...you wanna open that door for us?"

"Why don't you" Y/N says. Mordechai bursts through the door holding an axe and screaming. Sam, Y/N and Dean empty their gun chambers. He holds on, then wavers and disappears into mist. Sam, Dean and Y/N wait a beat, then take off to ensure the other rooms are clear.

"Oh God. He's gone. He's gone"

"Did you get him?" Harry asks

"Yeah, they got him?"

"No, on camera, did you get him on camera"

"Ah, ah, I"

"Let me see it, let me see it" Harry takes the camera and flips it open. Mordechai appears, slams his axe through the camera, forcing Harry to the ground and disappears. Dean runs in.

"Hey! Didn't you guys post that B.S. story we gave you?" He asks.

"Of course, we did" Sam and Y/N appears in the other door, gun at the ready.

"But then our server crashed"

"Yeah"

"So, it didn't take?" Y/N asks.

"UH...mmm..."

"So, these, these guns don't work"

"Yeah"

Great. Sam, Y/N, and ideas?"

"We are getting outta here"

"Yeah. Come on, Ed" Harry says, grabbing Ed. Harry and Ed run past Dean to the other room, where Mordechai appears again. Screaming, they run to the front door but it is locked. Mordechai follows them.

"Jesus Mary and Joseph"

"The power of Christ compels you; the power of Christ compels you. THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU" Ed shouts.

"HEY! Come and get it you ugly son of a bitch" Sam says behind them. They fight until Mordechai pins Sam against the wall, axe across his throat.

"Get out of here, now!" Sam says to Ed and Harry.

"We're out of here..." Dean and Y/N are in the other room splashing kerosene everywhere. Mordechai lifts Sam off his feet with the pressure of the axe on his throat.

"Dean! Y/N!" Sam shouts, gasping and the two appears.

"HEY!" The two shouts in unison. Y/N holds up a spray bottle and lights the gas, a plume of fire appears.

"Go, go, go!" Dean says to Sam. Sam runs past them, Dean and Y/N follows, Y/N pulling Sam as he stops and leans over, holding his throat.

"Mordechai can't leave the house, we can't kill him-We improvise" Dean holds up his lighter, flicks it, and throws it back into the room. It bursts into flames and the three run outside.

"That's your solution? Burn the whole damn place to the ground"

"Well, nobody will go in anymore. I mean look, Mordechai can't haunt a house if there's no house to haunt. It's fast and dirty but it works" Dean says.

"Well, what if the legend changes again and Mordechai is allowed to leave the house?"

Well-well then, we'll just have to come back" Y/N says. They watch the house burn.

"Kinda makes you wonder. Of all the things we hunted, how many existed just cuz people believe in them"

==

Sam, Y/N and Dean are hanging out by a picnic table at the trailer park. Ed and Harry approach carrying grocery bags.

"I was thinking that Mordechai has a really super high attack bonus" Harry says.

"Man, I got the munchies right now" Ed turns his attention to Sam and Dean "Gentlemen" Then he looks at Y/N "Pretty Lady"

"Hey guys"

"Should we tell 'em"

"Hey, might as well, you know, they're going to read about it in the trades"

"So, this morning we got a phone call from a very important Hollywood producer.

"Oh yeah, wrong number?" Dean asks.

"No, smart-ass. He read all about the Hell House on our website and wants to option the motion picture rights. Maybe even have us write it" They place their grocery bags into a totally overloaded car.

"And create the RPG"

"The what?" Y/N asks.

"Role playing game" Ed replies.

"Right"

"A little lingo for you. Anyhoo, ahh, excuse us, we're off to la-la-land."

"Well congratulations guys. That sounds really great"

"Yeah. That's awesome, best of luck to you"

"Oh yeah, luck. That has nothing to do with it. It's about talent. Sheer unabashed talent" They nod at each other.

"Later" Ed says, making a hand gesture. They get in the car and start pulling off.

"See ya round"

"Wow" Y/N says, watching them leave.

"I have a confession to make" Sam says.

"What's that"

"I, uh...I was the one that called them and told them I was a producer" Dean and Y/N laughs.

"Yeah well we're the ones who put the dead fish in their back seat" Dean says, gesturing to himself and Y/N.

"Dude, that thing stunk" Sam laughs then seconds later all three of them are laughing.

"Truce?" Sam asks. Y/N and Dean looks at each other and nods.

"Yeah truce" she says.

"At least for the next 100 miles" Dean adds. They climb into the Impala and take off.

[drabbles-mc]

not saying that looking forward to reading this fic was the thin thread giving me the will to live through the morning today but i'm also not NOT saying that sksksk

omg stop this whole opening sequence is already sooooooo fucking immersive. like i'm THERE. i'm lurking over Danny's shoulder and i'm eavesdropping

To this day, that chafes his ego, ruffles his feathers, the lens fixed on him like that, subjected to being a subject. <- i love this for a multitude of reasons. one of them being the fact that i just KNOOOOW im gonna be obsessed with absolutely everything that you have to say about Danny. but i also love this because as much as i love to baby-girl-ify this man to my heart's content (because look at that FACE) it's so so nice to see this man having a little bit of an existential crisis. i love to see this man experiencing something that makes him a little less than the perfect little cherub i have him pictures as in my mind sksks

okay im SOOOOOOOOOO glad you included the conversation between Danny and Zipco in this. because for one thing, i love that it builds out Zipco a little more as A Guy and A Dude. but i also love the way that the two of them bounce off each other. i'm not afraid to admit that i've had a Thought Or Two about them in my mind because of this whole banter sesh. i just!!! i love them

But yeah, aside from the occasional mini-revelations from the Gospel of Zipco, these guys don’t look at anything too close. <- the fact that i will never be able to stroll up to the store and buy a copy of the Gospel of Zipco is going to haunt me for the rest of my days because i just KNOW that shit would be a trip

“Ey, here comes Mr. Forty-Five-to-Life. Tell me, how funny were you walking on yer way outta that place?” <- BRUCIE!!!!!! 😂 the way i nearly spat out my fucking drink at this whole bit. i am KEKWing to the maximum. these men simply cannot restrain themselves

“You clowns think I let just any ole asshole in here wit’a fuckin camera? Mm-mm, I clocked that this kid weren’t no princess.” <- fucking obsessed with the banter among this group of absoklute fucking jackals but i LOOOVE that johnny is just mr. cool swooping in and lowkey taking credit for it. like he's known danny was a sleeper agent all along sksks

It was in those moments, he got it - why they were together, why they got together in the first place. <- not to get on my Benny Cross Hater Soapbox but the way that danny is entirely too kind and forgiving in this moment 😂 like i know i know that on some level he's right but also another part of me is just like. kathy could do so much better for herself and he's sitting RIGHT THERE WITH A CAMERA sksksks

Like if someone put a camera in her hands and let her run wild in that human zoo they called the Stoplight, yeah, Danny’d bet money she’d make some memorable pictures. <- something something danny's art is defined by his loneliness. something something his whole body of work involve being surrounded by people and yet he feels so distant from everyone. something something he sees himself in kathy because she is also surrounded by people and yet inexplicably alone

GOD. YOUR MIND. THESE TWO!!!!!! AHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Tell Me Sweet Little Lies

Part 1

⁂

Pairing: Danny Lyon x Kathy Cross

Word count: ≈ 3.1K

TWS: Allusions to infidelity, love triangles, angst, civil disobedience, mentions of jail.

Notes: (ꔘ) indicates this comes directly from movie dialogue. SNCC = Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, a student-led Civil Rights activist group in that organized campus sit-ins, boycotts, and other civil disobedience campaigns in protest of segregation in the south throughout the 1960s.

He couldn’t figure why she didn’t kick him out after staying so long, why she’d let him carry on jabbering away about himself like that. 6mos documenting the lives of the Vandals, Danny Lyon’s got new colors, a promising book idea, and a lotta trouble ahead thanks to the highly inconvenient crush he’s got on Kathy Cross. As she’s progressively pushed aside by her husband, Benny’s allegiance to the club and his own personal code of lawlessness, she too finds solace in Danny, their shared half-in/half-out club status bringing the two closer than either bargained for. Forging a bond strong enough to jeopardize his journalistic objectivity and her marriage, the question now is when and where to draw the line.

⁂ “Yeah, so that’s when I punched’a guy. I mean he’s over here all apologizin to me and y’know– I mean jeez what kinda sissy ya gotta be to do a thing like dat?”

“But– okay, so,” Danny responds, squinting, face half-obscured by his Nikon F, “weren’t you the one who dented his car?”

With a lethargic nod, Frankie drags from the cigarette at one corner of his mouth and exhales out the other without disturbing its peace, like the cigarette was always there. Like he’d come out the womb with it right there.

“So, but–” Danny’s confusion, though audible, is still hidden behind the camera as his finger comes down, punching the shutter button and pulling the advance lever twice - punch then pull, punch then pull - grabbing a couple of shots before the vignette of smoke framing Frankie’s face dissipates. “So, why hit him? I mean, you’d already dented the guy’s ride, right?”

“Maaan,” Frankie waves his hand like he’s shooing away a meddlesome pigeon that won’t take no for an answer. “I just don’t got no patience fer those kindsa guys, y’know? I mean, yer not wrong. I’m the one who dented his car, right. But it’s like, then– So whats’a loony fuck apologizin to me fer? I’da respected him more if he’d gotten in my face er somethin, y’know. Least showed some spine. I promise, I know it sounds daft-backwards but it just really got my goat y’know, him apologizin like that.”

Danny can’t help chuckling at Frankie’s logic there, shoulders shaking as he drops the camera. It bobs against his chest drawing the strap taut around his neck while he reaches in his shirt pocket for a joint he’d rolled earlier. Smoke discharges in short, sharp gusts when he lights up because he’s still laughing, pretending like he can’t wrap his head around Frankie punching some guy after being the one to scratch his car. But if he’s honest, Frankie’s logic makes more sense to him than Danny cares to interrogate further just now. There’s a reason he’s on this side of the camera.

Frankie isn’t part of the main cast Danny’s been tagging along with, more a featured guest, a “now introducing” sort of fella. But Frankie’s just the same as the other guys Danny’s gotten to know in the sense that while Danny observed, Frankie didn’t observe him back much. That wasn’t like every job he’d had either. How many times had his subjects challenged him, flipped the script as it were, started giving to his take, that kind of thing. But the club guys were good like that. No one inspects him too closely. He’s as good as another barstool to these guys and they’re as good to each other in the same way.

Which in truth, after the last job, is a welcome relief. And since Danny’s not out to volunteer too much personal information about himself, certainly not all that had happened in his time with the SNCC before he came back to Chicago, he’s liable to slide on by, undetected. No waves, just pictures. Not like his time down south. The protests, the violence, the thin blue line that seemed to crush them from all sides, the hope, the fear, the stark reality in the voice of a promising, young black activist, no more than 18 or 19, from Montgomery; a voice that still rings in his ears like the kid’s there, right in front of Danny in that pool hall.

What’s it mean for you that our struggle’s what puts guys like you on the map? Will you remember us when you’re acceptin that Pulitzer? And if you do, will you say you remember out loud?

To this day, that chafes his ego, ruffles his feathers, the lens fixed on him like that, subjected to being a subject. Because Danny knows how right that kid really is. But as much as he hates it, he also knows the value of, every once in a while, being put in focus like that. Still, he squirms under that kind of scrutiny more than he’d care to admit, an ant under a magnifying glass with the added misfortune of being in the sun’s path. So yeah, it suits him just fine that the club guys don’t look so close. Well, except for the occasional scattered, out-of-nowhere but not entirely unprofound observations. Usually from Zipco.

Out of all the guys, Zipco has a way of taking Danny the most by surprise. Because even as Danny embodies much of what he rails against, Zipco, more than most people, has a surprising capacity to rethink some of the broad sweeping proclamations he’s always making. At first, he might cling to them like a drowning man to a life raft. Until, confronted by the opposition up close, he’d realize the pool he’s in is only waist-deep, at which point he’s forced to let the life raft go, dazed and confused as to why he was holding on so tight in the first place.

Like that time he was going on about pinkos and college boys and the navy, the first car show Danny went to.

…

Danny held the microphone out and away from him, arm extended toward Zipco, “Lookit dese pinko mothafuckers,”(ꔘ) who was moving around so much, Danny already knew the audio was going to be dogs hit no matter how much he messed with the levels. Sound quality doomed the moment they stepped foot outside because who tries getting good audio in an open field with some crappy, used reel-to-reel?

But Zipco was on a roll, “S’like my brudder,” so Danny let it ride. “Y’know my brudder? We swing the same way but only thing is he’s a pinko. There’s somethin in is head, is wrong, y’know? But when he gets drunk he’s just like me. Otherwise he thinks different.”(ꔘ)

“What do you mean by ‘he’s a pinko?’”(ꔘ) Danny asked, still fiddling with the knobs on the tape deck in the hopes he could level set enough so he wouldn’t have to hold the mic out so far. The muscles in his arm were already starting to cramp.

“Ey,” sidestepping the question entirely, Zipco launched into a separate interrogation, “ain’t you s’posed to be takin pictures?”(ꔘ)

“Yeah,” Danny replied coolly.

“So what you got the microphone for all’a time, then?”(ꔘ)

Danny broke focus from the recorder to look at Zipco, “I don’t know. I was thinkin,” pausing to slide his aviators up the bridge of his nose. “I could record people talkin maybe. Use it with’a pictures. Make a book or somethin maybe.”(ꔘ)

“A book, huh?”(ꔘ) Zipco examined him through narrowed eyes like that was the richest, most quaint thing he’d ever heard.

Unphased by the skepticism, Danny just nodded, “Yeah—”(ꔘ) voice trailing off, Zipco’s disbelief deemed either too small or too simple to be bothered by.

“Yeah.”

“—maybe.” Danny redirects the interview back to the original question, “So, what d’you mean by ‘he’s a pinko?’”(ꔘ)

“Pinko, uh y’know,” Zip shrugs, “college boy. Dey wear tennis shoes and short pants, y’know, shit like that.”(ꔘ)

“Uh-huh. And what’s your brother do?”(ꔘ)

“Ah, he’s in the Air Force. Goin to Thailand, next November. Air Force mechanic. Dey took him. Dey wouldn’t take me, y’know. Dey took him cause he’s a clean-cut, all-American boy. Y’know short pants n’ tennis shoes.”(ꔘ)

Danny was altogether unprepared for the nerve he’d struck or the ensuing monologue, as Zip became more and more impassioned.

“I told my brudder– he went to college. One year. I said,” Hand gripping the neck of the glass jug of wine Zipco always carted around with him, he pointed the bottle in accusation, like Danny was actually his brother, “‘Fucker, you don’t quit that college im’a beat da shit outta you!’ And he quit. Cause I tole him I don’t want no goddamn pinkos in my family. Cause I can’t stand dat shit, y’know. Cause if you can’t work wit your fuckin hands, you ain’t no fuckin good.”(ꔘ)

That was when Zipco finally stopped to take a breath, but before Danny could get in a word of follow up, he chugged right along, albeit more calmly this time. “I, uh, y’know I like to work. I ain’t no fuckin prick. Like to work wit my hands n’ shit. I work hard for my money y’know.”(ꔘ)

Danny took a beat, in case he had more left, before agreeing, “Oh yeah, yeah.”(ꔘ)

As Danny put the mic down in the grass next to him to set up the camera, Zip eyed him suspiciously. “So, what d’you do?”(ꔘ)

“I studied photography …” When that was met with no response, Danny dropped the punch-line, real smooth, “… in college.”(ꔘ)

Chuckling, there was a smirk of admiration as Zipco nodded, knowing he’d been got but not as sore about it as he’d expected to be.

And while he had enough respect not to call Danny ‘pinko,’ Zipco had still taken to calling him ‘college boy’ occasionally after that. That is, until a few months later, on a ride-along out to Ohio for a different car show when Danny finally convinced him that he technically did work with his hands.

“Ey, lookee here,” Zip put his foot on the cooler and tipped back the lawn chair he was sitting in as Danny approached from behind, “college boy’s made it to da party, eh?”

“Hey Zip,” Danny said, “Lemme ask you something,” adjusting his lens before kneeling down to snap a picture of Zipco looking right at him, arm defiantly flung over the back of the lawn chair. “You, uh— you ever consider it actually takes hands to do what I do?”

“Fuck outta here. What you mean?”

“I mean,” Danny stood back up again, hands up like the cops got him surrounded, camera in one of them and said, self-satisfied as a politician, “There are no pictures without these.”

Zipco chewed on that for a moment like he couldn’t figure if it was the most profound or profoundly stupid thing in the world. He must’ve fallen on the side of the former when he made up his mind though because there was a little head-bow of agreement and a smile of surrender. He dropped the whole ‘college boy’ bit after that.

But yeah, aside from the occasional mini-revelations from the Gospel of Zipco, these guys don’t look at anything too close.

Heck, if it wasn’t for Kath none of them would’ve even known about the few times Danny’d been to jail. Which of course, he had no way of knowing Kathy was gonna break that news because if he did, he never would’ve told her in the first place. Just considering the possible scenarios as to how it might’ve come up in conversation – one he wasn’t there for, no less – Danny wished a hole in the earth would crack open and gobble him right up.

But boy, were the guys floored when they heard. Worse than a sewing circle the next time Danny came to the bar. Chattering amongst themselves, eyeing him as he walked past the pool tables to greet them like– well, Kathy once described it as, ‘like dey was plannin somethin over dere.’(ꔘ) And the closer he got, the faster they closed ranks and hushed up. Virtually indistinguishable, but for the tattoos and tough stares, from a gaggle of primary school boys talking all kinds of shit by their lockers about that poor kid who didn’t know he’d stepped in dogshit and tracked it through the hallway.

Naturally, Brucie started busting his balls the minute Danny pressed play on the tape recorder.

“Ey, here comes Mr. Forty-Five-to-Life. Tell me, how funny were you walking on yer way outta that place?” Brucie announced it without looking from his newspaper like it was one of the bylines. “Pretty boy like you’s bound to fetch top dollar in dere.”

Talk about deer in headlights. So caught off guard, Danny’s head practically spun. “The heck you goin on about?”

An arm whipped around his neck with the force of a U-lock, and in that low Golden State lullaby of his, Cal joked, “That’s some solid civil disobedience there, brother. And here we all were thinking you’re a law-abiding, tax-paying cit-o-zen,” ruffling Danny’s hair with each over-enunciated syllable.

“Yeah, not some dirty commie,” Corky hooted into the neck of the beer he’d been sipping out of.

Releasing Danny, Cal stood up straight, all serious now and a little bit salty, “Hey, dipshit. Y’know communism and the Civil Rights Movement aren’t the same thing?”

Corky just rolled his eyes, with another one from Wahoo on its heels in a show of support like, Get a load’a this guy.

Johnny chimed in from a stool all the way down at the end of the bar to settle the matter, “You clowns think I let just any ole asshole in here wit’a fuckin camera? Mm-mm, I clocked that this kid weren’t no princess.”

A surprising remark from someone Danny thought he’d made no impression on, nevermind one that favorable. Sure, Johnny let him tag along on rides and take pictures but he and Danny weren’t especially cozy. And Johnny wasn’t especially sentimental. Not out loud, anyway. Second only to Benny, he was the most reserved of the bunch. Except when he was drunk, which Danny noted pretty early on with some fascination, happened less often than the other guys.

Still, uncomfortable as it was, being discussed in his absence, Danny held his breath waiting for it to get worse. For the real kicker to land, the punchline that would launch a feeding frenzy of accusations that he’d been telling tales out of school. Because surely Kathy had told them who’d been in the jail cell across from him. He could already hear the ridicule, the disbelief that didn’t even exist yet.

Probably it’d be Brucie who’d start in, maybe Zipco. So, you mean to tell me you met Mr. Big-Fuckin’-Dreams, Martin Luther King, in a fuckin drunk tank? In middle-of-shit-fuck-nowhere Arkansas?

Before Danny could get the chance, Cal would already be correcting them. Alabama, you nitwit. Not Arkansas.

Cockroach might pipe up, Ey, ain’t dat guy, uh, a doctor er somethin?

Someone else’d interrupt, Nah, dat guy’s a man o’ the cloth wit The Man Upstairs. Deacon, er a reverend, er some shit.

Cal would beat Danny at correcting them, again. He’s both. Reverend and doctor.

And Danny would just sit there, fiddling with the camera, ears red, laughing but the laugh’s all thin and tense because really, how do you convince a bar full of blue-collar bikeriders that you, little old you, met the Martin Luther King Jr. locked up overnight in a rural county jail down south?

Mercifully though, he wouldn’t have to convince them. Because it seemed apparently, Kathy hadn’t offered up that part of the story. So relieved Danny was at the time, he had to hide feeling nearly knocked over with it.

See, because he’d told Kath the whole story. He hadn’t even meant to really. But by the time she was pouring a fourth cup of coffee, the afternoon sun was shining right through the window, lighting up the shag area rug on her bedroom floor, a bright orange reminder he’d stayed past their agreed-upon 12:30 curtain call. And mid-telling her all about how he wound up getting his last job – how he’d been makin pictures since he was 17, how he’d had a knack for it throughout college, but that his time in the SNCC’s what made him a real journalist – he couldn’t figure why she didn’t kick him out after staying so long, why she’d let him carry on jabbering away about himself like that.

Anyway, the punchline never came, and Danny was grateful to avoid the regret he might’ve felt sharing that with her. There was no way the guys would’ve bought that he met the good Reverend King in the klink. That would’ve been dead on arrival. Truth perceived as a lie that he would’ve never lived down. And nothing’s worse than the truth you can’t live down.

But Kath was that good at flipping the script that way, putting him in focus without him noticing. He suspected it was from all the time she’d spent watching Benny, casting her impressions of him and then voicing them, if only to cultivate some back and forth that might resemble a conversation. Because Danny had seen it, Benny was a tough nut to crack. Even for those that knew him, it was hard to know know him. Every once in a while though Kathy would catch him in a sharing mood and that’s the most Danny’d see him talk. It was in those moments, he got it - why they were together, why they got together in the first place. Something special, intangible, that thing called love, that two-person ecosystem insufficiently described by words or pictures no matter how hard we still try.

Yet there was distance too. Always would be. Impossible, really, trying to know someone like that, aloof, prospecting for new info, digging up a bit more each day, piece by painful piece. Because talking to Benny wasn’t like talking to an actual person. It was more like he was some great celestial object and you, always in-orbit; the only way to him was around. In that sense, Danny really felt for Kath.

Still, even as he felt her loneliness like it was his own, like he’d been living it all these years, he also found her love for Benny, her commitment to loving him, altogether compelling even if she still hoped to change him somehow. There was a resilience, a covert reserve of strength in that loneliness, something that made it so sometimes he got to thinking she might even be better at making pictures than him. Like if someone put a camera in her hands and let her run wild in that human zoo they called the Stoplight, yeah, Danny’d bet money she’d make some memorable pictures.

…

There’s no easy way to tell her though - heck, he learned it the hard way himself - operating on the edges of things doesn’t make for the most efficient agent of change. But it’s the best for documenting the moment, the for-right-now. If he learned anything in the Montgomery county jail, if he learned anything from those moments watching Kathy and Benny, it was that.

On the edges and right now are certainly his place, anyway.

═

taglist: @narcolini, @drabbles-mc, @ashlingiswriting, @tofuwildcard, @cositapreciosa, @axreliono, @bellinitini, @complete-nonsequitur, @when-did-this-become-difficult, @ladygoatee (tagged everyone I previewed this to in wc but no pressure to read bc I know not everyone is in this fandom)

[storiesforallfandoms]

haunted house ~ billy loomis;scream

word count: 1489

request?: no

description: when his girlfriend is terrified by a haunted house, billy promises to protect her no matter what

pairing: billy loomis x female!reader

warnings: swearing

masterlist (one, two)

*to celebrate the start of spooky season!*

I looked up at the abandoned building turned haunted house. I don’t know who decided it was a good idea to make a haunted house out of a place that was supposedly haunted. I definitely don’t know what possessed me to go with my group of friends to the damn haunted house either.

“Do you think we’ll see, like, an actual ghost or something?” Tatum asked as we waited in line to enter the haunted house. “What if we see an actual dead body and we just think it’s a prop?”

“What if we get possessed?” Stu added. Tatum giggled excitedly and leaned into him.

“We’re not gonna get possessed,” Randy said. “Or see any dead bodies or ghosts. The place is an old abandoned home, not a murder site.”

“Not that we know of,” Stu whispered to Tatum, causing her to giggle again.

I crossed my arms and looked up at the scarily decorated building. Not that it was something I was about to admit to my horror crazy friends, but I was terrified to go into the haunted house. I hated haunted houses, I always did. I went once as a young child with my parents and some asshole thought it would be funny to chase after a five year old with a fake chainsaw. I didn’t know it was fake at the time of course cause, you know, I was five.

Noticing my discomfort, Billy put an arm around my waist and pulled me to him. “Hey, don’t listen to Stu. We won’t see any ghosts or dead bodies, it’s just gonna be a harmless haunted house.”

“Harmless, sure,” I said, trying my best to smile at him.

Stu and Tatum excitedly ran into the haunted house once we got to the front of the line. I could hear Tatum scream the moment she passed through the door, which only made my stomach turn even more.

Randy entered next, followed by an also hesitant Sydney. I was glad not to be the only one who wasn’t excited by this idea. When it came to me and Billy, I was also hesitant at first. Billy pulled on my arm slightly, finally getting my legs to move.

The minute we walked through the door, the air was stuffy from the fog. The lights were so dim that I could barley make out the figures of my friends in front of me or Billy beside me. There was a bright, blinking strobe light that showed the outlines of the bodies around us; whether they were real people or just dummies I couldn’t tell.

The first scare was some kid jumping out from a room wearing a Jason Voorhees mask wielding a fake machete. I screeched and clung to Billy’s arm as he laughed and kept walking. I could hear screaming from the other attendees and jeers from the people playing the characters.

Billy’s hand slipped from mine and my panic began to rise. I still couldn’t see very well and now the strobe lights were starting to disorient me. I just wanted to get to the end and to go home.

I had my arms around myself, as if that would protect me, when a group of kids ran past me, giggling and screaming. They startled me slightly, but not as much as one of the haunted house workers jumping out at me, a mask over his face and a fake chainsaw in his hands. Flashbacks to my first haunted house played before my eyes as I screamed and covered my face. I backed away until I hit a wall, but my attacker kept coming, chainsaw raised over his head. I began to sob in terror as it became evident that the chainsaw wielding maniac wasn’t backing away.

“Hey man! Get the fuck away!”

I recognized Billy’s voice as the chainsaw finally shut off. Through the dim light I could see Billy shoving my attacker away before kneeling down next to me.

“She’s fucking crying, alright? That means back the fuck up and leave her alone!” he snapped as he knelt down next to me. “Are you okay, babe?”

I shook my head, unable to speak due to my sobbing. Billy put an arm around me and pulled me to my feet.

“Keep your head ducked, I’ll get us out of here,” he said.

I tucked my head against shit shoulder as he led me out of the haunted house. I jumped with every scare that came at us, but for the most part I was able to avoid any further upset. Once we walked out through the exit door, I took a deep breath and savored the fresh air in my lungs.

Stu and Tatum were already out and basically dry humping on the fence as they waited for us. Tatum shoved Stu away as Billy and I approached, eyeing me specifically. “What happened to you?”

I shook my head. “I d-don’t wanna t-talk about it.”

“Man, they really got you, huh (Y/N)?” Stu asked. “Which was it? Was it the dude with his guts spilling out everywhere?”

“Leave her alone,” Billy said. “I’m gonna take (Y/N) home, I’ll meet up with you guys later.”

“Awe, why do you guys gotta be such party poopers?” Tatum asked, but Billy ignored her as he brought me to his car.

I looked at myself in the sun visor mirror. My eyes were bloodshot and puffy and my nose was as red as a tomato. I could see the tear streaks now stained on my flushed face. I looked like hell, or at least that I had been to Hell and back.

“You don’t have to drive me home, Billy,” I said when he got into the driver’s seat. “I can call my parents to give me a run home.”

“It seems like you need someone besides your parents right now,” he said. “Besides, I’m not jumping to spend the night with a sexed up couple, my ex-girlfriend, and the horror movie aficionado who would likely talk about how lame that haunted house was the whole night.”

This was enough to put a small smile on my face. Billy smiled back at me and started driving towards my house.

The beginning of the ride was silent besides the static sounds of Billy’s car radio. I rolled down the window to let the air blow on my warm face. I sighed, a sense of guilt eating away at me still for pulling Billy away from our friends.

“Wanna talk about it?” he asked.

“Not really,” I responded.

“Okay, then we don’t have to talk about it.”

It was something I appreciated about Billy. He respected my wishes and didn’t push me further than I wanted to go. There’s not a lot of guys, or a lot of people for that matter, that would do that.

“I hate haunted houses,” I said, resting my head against the seat. “My parents took me to my first one when I was a kid and I got chased by a guy who had a fake chainsaw, like the guy who cornered me back there. That shit stuck with me, I’ve never been to a haunted house since. Not until tonight anyways.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? We didn’t have to go.”

“Cause you seemed so excited by it, and everyone else was going. I didn’t think it would be that bad until I lost you and had a repeat of that episode from when I was five.” I sighed and ran my fingers through my hair. “God, why couldn’t I just fucking get over it?”

“Being traumatized isn’t exactly something you get over,” Billy said. “You were a kid brought into an environment where a kid should never be.”

We pulled up to my house and Billy reached over to put his hand on mine. I looked up at him and smiled. It was nearly impossible to be upset when I had such an amazing guy on my side.

“Next time, I want you to tell me when you don’t want to do something,” he said. “It’s not fair to you, especially if it’s something that will bring up old memories like that.”

“I promise,” I said.

“And I promise to always protect you, no matter what. No one will ever hurt you as long as you have me.”

“I know.”

I leaned forward to kiss him. All the upset I had been feeling just moments before seemed to vanish from my body as his lips pressed against mine. His hand was gently as it caressed my face while the other closed in around my hand.

When I pulled away, I glanced at my house to see that the lights were off, indicating that my parents were likely gone to bed.

“Park down the road and I’ll sneak you in for the night?” I asked.

Billy smiled like a kid on Christmas morning. “Deal.”

[fudgetunblr]

Stranger Things 4 volume 1: a Character Analysis 

(for the second to last time besties, let's go)

Jane/Eleven: deserves a nap. should be compensated for all the shit she does for others. Victor Frankenstein, is that you ???

Will: gay™ & an artist™. "turn arooouund,, looook at what you seeee" - still has the worst haircut in the show (they've done you dirty my man). I'm not saying Alex Standall,, buuuut....

Mike: has the worst wardrobe in the show (affectionate), asshole (affectionate), bad friend (derogatory).

Dustin: apparently the smartest person in this show apparently. has a tone problem. still funny :)

Lucas: has the best hair on the show :) jock™. Trying to do other things than just play D&D, good for him. Shot the final shot, v proud of him <3

Max: trauma™ - also deserves a nap fr. she was a skater girl™, we love her ok ??? she's great

Steve: babysitter (derogatory)™. Still trying to find a girlfriend ??? (take a break king). hairy™.

Nancy: gaslight, gatekeep, girlboss™

Robin: disaster lesbian™ (love the representation)

Eddie: looks like he's 30, why are you in high school my good sir???

Jonathan: in his Zach Dempsey era <3 pothead™

Joyce: couldn't even be gone for like two hours before everything went to shit. deserves a break !!! has now been to Russia

Murray: rat (affectionate)

Hopper: so in season 1 they played on 80s archetypes and turned them upside-down blah blah, but my dude is in is 80s hero era, they've completely lost the thread of what they did in the beginning.

Erica: amERICA ! ! ! still playing into that sassy black girl stereotype I see. loved when she played D&D with the gang though <3 "it's a club for nerds" she's not wrong

Henry/One: *it was Agatha all-along*

Victor: :(

Doc B (not me shortening his name): no comment.

Argyle: Netflix owns Eduardo Franco at this point, so it was only a matter of time before he joined Stranger Things. Good to have you here king. Pothead™

Mr. Wheeler: you may hate him, but he speaks the truth. "A club for people who won't graduate high school" cut to a bunch of people who've continuously repeated their senior year.

Mrs. Wheeler: you flirted with an underage boy last season, I have not forgotten mam.

Barb: still haunting this show I see.

Enzo: he's a cool dude, I'm glad you're not dead king

Suzie: tech™, mormon™, like lowkey the coolest person on this show

Other characters: *exists*

BONUS!

Ships:

Mileven: you know when you date someone when you're like twelve and it's cute and then suddenly you're older and it's not that cute anymore? yeah. Girlboss + Stick vibes :))) (sorry Mike, not my words)

Byler: currently a one sided affair, let's be real, the writers never intended for this, but it's cool that they're doing something now, and if Will does end up not being queer, at this point it will be queer baiting.

Jancy: "We're fine" cut to them not being fine

Stancy (this can not be their ship name): god, this again ??? we can't just switch every season it's exhausting

Mucas: they still care about each other and that is all that matters

Joyce x Hopper: that hug sustained me for another year

Suzie x Dustin: couple goals™ (fr though, they're like the healthiest relationship on this show)

Squads:

LA Crew: yells in unison. buries dead bodies ?? is perhaps the saddest crew I've ever seen, like I know they're going to El, but God they haven't been plot relevant for a few episodes. They're fun though so I'll accept it. Vibes > Plot.

Hawkins Gang: making a bunch of progress. plot relevant™ - off saving lives and shit. Dustin has no one told you to respect your elders?

The Adults™: off on a trip to Russia, just casual things you know. Still keeping the Soviet storyline alive even though that should've died last season.

The guys™: lmao they haven't been a friend group since like the beginning of season 2 :'(

The Hellfire Club: I'm ngl, if I was Lucas I would also bounce

[maximons]

Tricks And Treats

Summary: Pietro tries to get Wanda and Y/n to finally admit their feelings for each other and takes them to a haunted house. Too bad Wanda is a full on scaredy cat...or is that exactly what is needed?

Word Count: 2,915

Genre: Fluff

Requested?: Yes

A/N: Finally back with the Fluff! Here’s that one shot I promised like a week ago lmao Happy Reading!

Halloween was for sure your favorite holiday.

You knew you were in the minority with that thought, seeing most people picked Christmas as their favorite, but you didn’t care. You always loved the time of year that came with Halloween, your birthday fell pretty close to it, you get to dress up and pretend to be someone else for a day, and it’s full on spooky season! What wasn’t there to love?

Well apparently a lot, at least according to your best friend Wanda.

For someone who’s a witch, you find it very funny that she doesn’t like the holiday.

You first met Wanda during the whole Ultron situation, back then she took on a more ‘emo’ appearance. Don’t tell anyone you said this, but you wouldn’t mind if she adopted the look again cause damn, so you just assumed Halloween and all things spooky would be for her, right?

Wrong.

You quickly learned that Wanda was not a fan of scary. You remember asking her to go see this new horror movie with you, it was your first time hanging out alone together and you just figured it’d be something she was into.

By the end of the movie, her face was buried in her knees, and she didn’t believe you when you told her the movie was over. The poor teenager working the theater was pretty annoyed with you both.

Needless to say, you didn’t bother her about anything spooky related again.

So when Pietro came to you two asking if you wanted to go to the new haunted house in town, you were beyond shocked that she agreed without a second thought.

“Uh, Wanda are you sure?” You asked, very hesitant. “I don’t know if you’ve ever been to a haunted house before, but-”

“I know what they are, Y/n.” Wanda cut you off before you finished, seeming very enthused, which confused you more. “I think it’ll be really cool!”

“Yeah...Wands, I know this group. This isn’t your typical ‘few scary decorations with the occasional light jump scare’ thing. These guys are intense.” You tried again. You didn’t know what had gotten into the witch, but you were sure she was making a mistake here.

“Y/n/n, relax. I’m not a child, I can handle myself. Trust me, okay? It’ll be great!” The bright smile on Wanda’s face was always a sight you welcomed, but it confused you in the moment. Still, you knew once her mind was set on something...let’s just say it’d be easier to find all the infinity stones than to talk her out of it.

“Alright, if you say so.” You shrugged, deciding it was best to drop the topic. Besides, she was right, Wanda’s a grown woman who can make her own choices. You just get to wait to be able to tell her that her choice was a stupid one. “So Friday night?” You asked Pietro, who nodded excitedly.

“Friday night!” He confirmed.

“Okay, cool.” You took another quick sip of your morning coffee before setting your mug down. “I gotta get ready for training. So happy to be working with Steve today instead of Nat, he’s always a walk in the park.” You said sarcastically with a roll of your eyes. “Wish me luck.” 

The twins wished you luck as you left the room to go get ready. After they were sure you were out of earshot, the witch turned to her brother. “This is your plan? Are you crazy?”

“I know, I know, but trust me, okay?” He reassured, walking to the fridge to grab himself a drink. “Y/n loves this stuff, and as she is the love of your life-”

“Whoa, whoa, I-I never said-”

“-You should experience the things that she loves to do.” Pietro finished, ignoring his sister’s intervention. “I’ll do my best to stay out of your guys’ way, and you have the whole evening to yourselves. Sounds perfect to me.”

“Yeah, until I act like a complete, how do they say, ‘spaz’ around her again.” Wanda sighed, leaning on the kitchen counter in defeat.

“You won’t. You know what kind of things to expect now. And if you do freak out, all the more reason to be by her side. She will protect you.”

Wanda looked at her brother in confusion. “I can protect my self.”

Pietro rolled his eyes playfully. “Not what I meant. You will see, sestra.”

Friday night came before you know it, and you, Wanda and Pietro were waiting in the line to buy your tickets to enter.

“Holy shit, this is a long line.” Pietro complained, causing you to chuckle.

“Not surprising. It’s the week before Halloween, weather’s nice, and this group doesn’t come to New York a whole lot. More surprised it isn’t longer actually.” You shrugged.

“Why don’t they come to New York? I thought this was one of America’s more popular states?” Wanda asked.

“It is, but ever since Loki invaded and our merry band of misfits formed, tourism and things like this have been down a whole lot.” You leaned down to get closer to Wanda’s ear. “I guess we’ve been the scary ones all along.” You joked, but Wanda was more focused on trying to calm down and forget the feeling of your breath against her ear.

“Everything alright there, Wanda?” Pietro asked after a moment, teasing smirk on his face. Before Wanda could even fire back, a voice from in front of you spoke up.

“No way! You guys are Avengers!” The group in front of you turned around, one of the guys recognized you instantly.

“Uh, yes...we are.” Wanda awkwardly stated. You knew Wanda hated fan interactions, and to be honest you weren’t a fan of these situations either. They were unpredictable. The Avengers were either beloved or despised, and you’ve been on both ends of the reaction spectrum. Wanda and Pietro, unfortunately, have seen a lot more animosity than you and the others.

Honestly, you couldn’t even fault the ones that didn’t love you guys. You weren’t ignorant and knew your battles have caused a lot of problems for a lot of people. You could sympathize, but that didn’t mean you wanted to be on the receiving end of that anger. Especially not when you were trying to just have a fun night out with your friends. “Look guys, we’re really just here to have a good time. We don’t wanna cause a scene.” You said.

“Nah, nah, it’s cool. I think you guys are awesome!” The guy said, and it was clear to you then that the dude was baked out of his mind. “Especially you, with the red wiggly woos!” He pointed to Wanda as he gave a terrible impression of her hand movements. You smiled, happy to see a fan interaction go well for Wanda.

The joy you felt didn’t last long though, as another guy in the group turned to you, blunt in his hand. “Hey, you’re the fire one right? Can you do me a solid?” He gestured to you, asking you to give him a light. You sighed, the twins chuckling at the situation.

“Yeah, but don’t ask again.” You ignited the tip of your finger, gently placing it on the end of the blunt. The group turned around in line and continued to go about their own conversation. You felt Wanda elbow your side, and you turned to see a smirk on her face. When you heard Pietro’s snicker, you groaned.

“Shut up.”

“Look at you, helping delinquents. Aren’t you supposed to be a superhero? Bringer of justice and all of that?” Wanda teased and you rolled your eyes playfully.

“Yeah, but I’m the fun one. It’s just weed.” You said confidently, but the witch saw through it and you dropped the act. “And the last time that happened and I said no, the dude burst into tears.” You said under your breath.

“There it is.” She smiled, and you couldn’t help but smile back despite you being the subject of mockery. You loved seeing her smile, you didn’t care about the reason why.

Before you knew it, Pietro announced that you guys were next in line to buy tickets. He bought his and stepped aside so you can go next. “Hi, two please.” Wanda turned to you with her eyebrows scrunched in confusion.

“Wha- Y/n, I can afford it.” She chuckled nervously, flattered by the action.

“I know, but when I have to drag you out of here cause you’re paralyzed in fear, at least you won’t regret dropping forty bucks on it.” You shrugged as you handed the cashier your credit card.

Wanda’s face reddened, something she quickly tried to hide from her brother who was enjoying this way too much. Her flustered state faded quickly when she processed what you said. “Hey!” You chuckled before thanking the cashier as she returned your card.

“Please go to the table to sign your waivers, entrance is down that hill. Enjoy your night.” The monotone voice told you that the poor woman’s been working all night. You didn’t have time to dwell on that though as you felt a panicked tapping on your arm.

“What’s wrong? We haven’t even entered yet.” You teased.

“W-what did she mean by waivers?” You chuckled at the panicked tone in the witch’s voice.

“Just means if you have a heart attack or something, you can’t sue.” You shrugged nonchalantly, but Wanda took it very seriously and turned to you with even wider eyes.

“That can happen!?”

“Well, it happened at least once if the thought of doing a waiver.” You answered, once again, nonchalantly. You looked at Wanda and could swear you saw her blood run cold. You laughed, which resulted in you receiving a glare. “Relax, Wan, you’ll be fine. You’re an Avenger, you’ve faced off against killer robots, stared death in the face time and time again!” You exclaimed dramatically as you waved your arms. You noticed Wanda start to smile and relax her shoulders. 

“Thanks, Y/n.” She gave you a sweet smile, and you couldn’t help but melt.

“Yeah, anytime.” Your eyes locked with Wanda, you were about to look away but couldn’t. ‘Wow, were her eyes always this green? They’re beautiful.’ You thought.

A blush appeared on the witch’s face as she tore her gaze from you. You were about to ask what happened, but were interrupted. “Let’s go slow pokes!” Pietro’s voice shouted, effectively breaking the moment.

“Yeah, yeah Sonic, we’re coming!” You rolled your eyes as you shouted back. Wanda giggled at the banter between you and her brother, she loved that you two were close. With that, you and her headed down the hill towards the entrance.

After about a half hour, it seemed Wanda was holding up well. The three of you walked out of the corn maze, and she had a triumphant smile on her face. “I thought you said this place was scary.” She teased causing you to roll your eyes playfully.

“Congratulations you survived the corn maze, you get to join the hall of fame with the other twelve year-olds.” As if to emphasize your point, three twelve year-olds ran out of the maze in giggles, clearly unaffected. Wanda pouted. “Aw, don’t worry. I thought you were very brave.” You teased yet again, which resulted in an elbow to the side.

“You’re a jerk.” Wanda held back a smile as she strutted forward. You laughed as you jogged forward to catch up.

“Alright, are you guys ready for the big one?” Pietro asked and your eyes widened.

“Oh, Piet, I don’t think that’s a good idea.” You said as you nudged your head towards Wanda, hinting that you didn’t think she could handle that. Unfortunately, she caught on.

“Aw come on, Y/n. I’m not a baby.” 

“I know, but you can’t go from the corn maze to...that.” You gestured towards the haunted maze entrance, a giant purple demon with smoke blowing out of it’s ears looming over. You guys turned at the sound of screams, and saw a group run out of the maze in fear, which then dissolved into laughter.

“They seem to be having fun.” Wanda gestured towards the group.

“Yeah, after the screams of terror.” You shot back. “You can’t go from walking around the block to running a marathon.”

“Oh yeah? Watch me.” Wanda strutted forward towards the entrance, determined to prove you wrong.

You groaned as you looked over to Pietro, who watched the whole ordeal with a cheeky smile. “Your sister’s insane.”

“Yeah, but you love it.” Pietro said under his breath, but you still heard it.

“What?”

“Nothing!” With that, the man sped forward, catching up to his sister at the entrance. You stared after him for a moment in shock before joining them.

The three of you walked the path, and everything seemed to be going well...for all of five seconds. The first jump scare happened behind Wanda. The loud screech startled her, and she jumped with a scream. She stumbled into your arms, and you wrapped them around her in order to keep her from falling. You chuckled, and Wanda looked up at you with the intention to glare. However, when your eyes locked again, Wanda couldn’t help but stare.

You, of course, had to ruin the moment. “Not too late to turn back, y’know. This is just the beginning.” Wanda groaned and pulled away from you, continuing forward. You laughed. “You can hold my hand if you want!” You don’t know what compelled you to say that, but you knew you weren’t entirely joking.

And you didn’t regret it when Wanda reached out and held your hand without another word. You smiled, squeezing her hand.

What you didn’t see was Pietro giving Wanda a thumbs up as you both walked past.

At some point, you guys lost Pietro in the dark maze. Wanda wasn’t even worried as she still held your hand tightly, and you knew the man would be fine and he’ll meet up with you at the exit. 

Wanda had been holding up better than you thought. You wouldn’t say she was good per say, seeing as she screamed and practically jumped into your arms at the slightest sound, but she hadn’t collapsed on the ground in tears yet, so you’d count that as a win.

“Gotta say, Maximoff. I’m impressed.” You said as you two walked down the maze hand in hand.

“I’m just being that super brave Avenger like you said.” Wanda giggled, and you couldn’t help but melt at the noise.

“Well you’re doing an awesome job. Even if the last three guys almost made you pee your pants.” You laughed loudly as you took in the shocked reaction the woman gave you.

“Y/n!” She scolded, but before you could even respond, the worst jump scare yet occurred. 

A large animatronic growled and lowered from the ceiling right behind Wanda. The witch turned to look briefly as she screamed loudly and jumped to you again. This time, however she literally jumped into your arms. You quickly braced your hands under her thighs, catching her, as she wrapped her legs around your waist. The force from the jump caused you to stumble back into a darker corner of the maze. Your back hit a hay wall, and you and Wanda laughed at the moment. Your laughter continued for a moment, and Wanda lifted her head from your shoulder to look into your eyes. Both of you got quiet as you continued to stare, sensing the moment shift.

“You okay?” You whispered, almost as if talking to loudly would shatter the moment. Wanda nodded, eyes still locked onto yours. After a moment of silence, she spoke up.

“Y’know...I think a distraction would help.” Your eyebrows shot up at the insinuation. You doubted you heard her correctly, but when you saw her eyes shift down to your lips, you knew what she wanted. And you wouldn’t lie and say you didn’t want it too.

“I...Yeah, I think I could help with that.” You barely got your sentence out when Wanda smashed her lips to yours roughly. You tightened your hold on her thighs as she wrapped her arms around your neck. You stood there, making out roughly against the wall of the maze. As wild and sudden as this was, you wouldn’t trade this moment for anything.

Pietro noticed you two were gone for a really long time. He was beginning to get concerned, and pulled out his phone ready to call one of you. Turns out he didn’t need to. 

You two came out of the maze, only you weren’t alone. You and Wanda each had a security guard holding your arm. After you two were out of the maze completely, they let you go and walked off. It was then that Pietro noticed both of your disheveled states. And he could swear he saw two or three hickeys forming on your neck.

“No you didn’t-” He started, but you cut him off.

“Not a word.” Your hand found it’s way to Wanda’s as you guys walked towards the exit of the park, figuring it’d be bad Avengers press if you guys stayed any longer at this point. You had an awesome night anyway, and didn’t care if it ended a little early. Besides, you had a feeling you’d get to have some more...fun when you got back to the compound.

You didn’t notice Pietro high five Wanda’s free hand.