#Hey remember those doodles I did

[characteroulette]

Never A Gentleman (Professor Layton) (with RGB guys of course)

It was better to accept that he could never make up for his many mistakes. It was better to let others live for him.

Hey major character death and mature warning. Dark Luke AU is a wild ride hahaha (edit: Luke's weird crush on Layton is also a thing)

[shaykai]

He thinks the name is ill-fitting but humerus (he also refuses to call them Watchers- both because it doesn’t suit them in his opinion and also because it makes Gortash upset)

All in all he finds them to be pretty nifty murder machines! He hasn’t the faintest clue how machines work, but he tries to help Enver with them- namely through the occasional suggestion or being an unwilling guinea pig

(For instance, Gortash didn’t tell Vat’il that he was working on installing scrying eyes and thusly giving them the ability to see invisible targets. The way he found out was by getting jump scared by a Watcher that, as far as he’s concerned, shouldn’t have been able to see him)

[safyresky]

Scrimbly Jacqueline 44/52: Halloween scrimbly! Jack and Jacqueline are gonna kill it at the Legend-Legate Halloween Party because yes, Jacqueline did indeed get Jack on board...

All he had to do was dare her to cut her hair for it! It went a little like this...

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

It started, (as most things did for her, weirdly enough) with a sprite sleep.

It wasn’t out of the ordinary. Especially this close to Spring’s approach. Work ramped up for Jacqueline and like, nine out of ten times Dite would be startled by a large thump out in the atrium, only to see her girlfriend COVERED in snow laying face down by the pond.

“Long day?”

“SO long and I am SO tired. I can’t even make it to the bedroom. What EVER will a cute LIGHT AS A FEATHER sprite like me do~”

Apparently, roll over, throw the back of her hand over her forehead and pout with really big cute eyes right at Dite.

“Well it’s a GOOD THING your fluffy, tall, and VERY strong girlfriend is here to rescue you.” She knelt down, picked her up bridal style and flew the pair of them right to her rarely used bed.

“Boop!”

“Hehe. Boop.”

A finger came up, booped her nose, and in seconds Jacqueline was passed out, a welcome chilly presence against Dite’s side.

They stayed cuddled like that for a while. Dite amused herself in the meantime. Stole Jacqueline's phone and scrolled through the tag she had for stuff to show Dite later. Let her brother know where she was, threatening him under pain of death should he try to wake his sister up and bring her back out into the field (he promised he wouldn’t and said he, too, was in hiding and Winter was who they had to watch out for). Checked in with Elle, since, y’know, Jacqueline’s phone was RIGHT THERE and Dite knew her url. Napped for a bit.

But when it became apparent that Jacqueline’s sprite sleep was just that, and would last more than half a day, Dite wriggled her way out and shifted to watch mode.

It was quite fun, really. Keep up with her notifications, place sweets on the bedside tables to see if they’d rouse the sprite (and they did but Dite always missed it by THAT MUCH, only knowing Jacqueline had eaten the treats based on crumb distribution), re-tuck her in every so often, cuddle when Dite decided sure, why not, she could totally sleep for a bit! You know, that sort of thing.

And while keeping vigil at her side, Dite booted up her PS4 and played her very favourite game possibly ever: Hades.

She lost count of how many runs she did. But she got a fair way along in the storyline by the time Jacqueline woke up. So much so that she didn’t even notice the sprite rouse and slowly make her way to the edge of the bed. And she must’ve been there for a hot minute because it wasn’t until Dite had dealt the final punch onto Learnie that she realized her girlfriend was awake and watching, and NOT because she had noticed calmly while button smashing. No.

It was because the moment Learnie exploded, Jacqueline made a noise that may have been a purr? And said, “Mm. That's hot.”

Right in Dite’s ear.

Needless to say, Dite was startled. So much so her flight and fight response kicked in and she shot into the air, longbow drawn, arrows ALREADY LAUNCHED before she realized what had happened.

“Oh! Oh no! Jacqueline! I’m so sorry!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay!” Jacqueline pulled an arrow out of the bed, feathers flying about. “It’s fine! I scared you! My bad. I knew you were in the zone but didn’t realize how in the zone you really were—hhh.”

The breath escaped the sprite as Dite grabbed her in a very tight hug. Emphasis on the tight.

“Dite. Dite. I need to breath—” the top of her head was wet. Why was it wet? Was Dite—

“I’m s-s-sorry!”

“Oh, sweetheart, you don't have to cry about it!” Wiggling out of Dite’s grip (a challenge in itself), Jacqueline managed to throw her arms around the goddess’s neck and squish her nice and tight. “I’m okay! Really.”

She pulled back and held onto Dite’s face, wiping the wet off her cheeks and immediately booping noses.

“Boop!”

Dite laughed. “You’re so cute.” sniffling, she wiped the rest of the wet away, fanning her face. “Whew. Okay. Okay. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Positive! It’s just a couple arrows.” She pulled another one out of the bed. “And I’m slippy.”

Laughing, Dite pulled her close and kissed the top of her head. “Okay! If you insist.”

“Which I do. You’re playing Hades? That game you've been telling me about for like. GOD. Two years at this point?”

“Yep!” Chipper, Dite floated back down to the bottom of the bed, picking up the controller and popping Zagreus up to the next level. “It was a fun way to spend the time while you slept. How long have you been watching?”

“I woke up to a you died screen. Very disorienting. But then I got to watch you go through the underworld! Nyx is hot. So is Achilles. Like, everyone in that house was pretty hot.”

“If you think that, just wait! There’re a bunch of characters that weren’t in the house during that run! Wait until you see Thanatos. You’re gonna think he’s so hot”

Grabbing the blanket and wrapping it around herself like a cloak, Jacqueline picked up her phone, plopping down to sit beside Dite as she continued her run.

“It’s been a while since you played it.”

“It has! I got busy and I’d beaten the main plot. Now I’m doing the epilogue plot! And I’ve added some heat to make it harder, which is why I died so soon! One of the bosses was given a chariot and a MACHINE GUN. I think. And I was NOT ready for it.”

“Why did you pick it back up again? Had the urge?”

“All MONTH actually! They announced a sequel.”

“They did?”

“Yeah! It looks super cool! Here, let me show you the trailer.”

Pausing the game, she pried Jacqueline’s phone out of her hand, pulling up the Hades 2 sneak peek. Jacqueline watched with rapt interest, eyes going big.

“Woah. That looks dope.”

“Right? And it looks like it has a LOT more gameplay and I am SO EXCITED! I can’t wait until it goes into beta! I’m hoping I can play it during pre-release. I think you’ll really like it, too.”

“Really?”

“Yeah! The protagonist uses MAGIC! AND she’s trying to rescue her family! She’s Zagreus’s little sister.”

“Oh, cute! Maybe I’ll keep tabs on it then, if you think I’ll like it. And also, magical little sister. LOVE that.”

Dite giggled. “I thought you would. Wanna try playing the first one?”

“Maybe later. For now, I am perfectly content sitting right here and watching you play.” Pecking Dite’s cheek, she grabbed her phone back and opened it up, catching up on messages.

“What did you do to my recent emojis?”

“Don’t worry about it!”

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

It had also started small.

After their brief chat, Jacqueline didn’t really show any more interest in the game, though she was happy to start her own save and do a run or two or five. Which Dite had expected, of course! Jacqueline always liked up close combat and was a big fan of button smashing (you had to be when you played Super Smash Bros with her younger siblings. They were FAST—but Jacqueline was faster and Dite, even faster!) and Hades was full of button smashing.

And incredibly hot characters, according to Jacqueline. Dite took her word for it.

At any rate, Dite was not prepared for the ensuing love the sprite ended up having for the game’s sequel. Not until she got back from work to...WAY too many missed texts from Jacqueline.

DITE IT ENTERED EARLY ACCESS

I gotta pay for it? WHACK.

GUESS WHAT I JUST DID

OH GIRL IT’S DOWNLOADING

I can't find my ding dang controller

I STOLE YOUR BLUE ONE! SORRY BABE XOXO

Oh girl. GIRL. It’s so cool

Oh it’s so FUN

Okay. Just got my ass whooped.

OKAY WOW YEAH super different mechanics but like, really fun. She has this cool thing that I think replaces Zag’s cast basically? But it’s like a big sigil looking thing and it KEEPS THE LIL GUYS FROM MOVING ABOUT! I love it

NEW GODS

THEY’RE HOT

SOME OF THEM LITERALLY

I don't wanna give you too many spoilers but lmk if you’re free tonight? I’ll bring my laptop! And return your controller. Maybe. Idk it’s my favourite shade of blue, so...😈😈😈

There was a brief gap, according to the timestamps. Enough for a couple of runs, Dite guessed. The messages continued after, borderline unintelligible (Dite thanking the gods for small miracles like autocorrect as she read on).

Oh

Oh NO

DITE

DITE SHE NEVER GOT TO MEET HE R BROTHER

SJVHUHVUI

VUUEAKCJWNE

ASDFGHJKL

I’M SO SAD AND HEARTBROKEN OMG

SHE DIDNT GET TO MEET HER BROTHER? NOW SHE HAS TO GO SAVE HIM? SHE’S NEVER GOTTEN TO MEET ZAG?? I THOUGHT THEY HAD LIKE SOME TIME TOGETHER BEFORE CHRONOS BUT APPARENTLY NOT???

OH SHE’S SO CUTE WHEN SHE’S LITTLE I’M 🥺😭🤯

Another bout of silence before the final string of texts.

...girl I'm hooked.

I'm OBSESSED

I need the full game SO BAD

MELINOË 😭🥺😭🤩🤩🌨😭🧜🏻‍♂️

That seemed to be the end of it. Dite giggled to herself, quickly typing a few replies.

Well the good news is now, you own the full game! Yay💕💕💕! We should share Steam libraries if we haven’t already! 😘😘

So sorry for the late replies, blue eyes! 💙💙 It's high season for me! But I'm home now and yes, absolutely free.

What do you want for dinner? I can grab something or make something and we can hole up here for the night! Just you, me, and the sequel to critically acclaimed god-like, rogue-like dungeon crawler game Hades 2! 💙💖⚔

Also the controller is your favourite shade of blue because I got it for you, silly! 😘💕

The replies were instantaneous.

Is for me? YAY! 😁😁😁

I’ll be right over!

Can we do Za from that place by the tower of Pisa? 🥺🥺🥺

🍕🍕🍕🍕

Dite laughed.

Sure! I’ll grab it and meet you back here?

😎🆒

And that was Jacqueline for yes.

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

It was obvious once she’d returned with the pizza that Jacqueline was absolutely ENAMOURED with the game. The love radiated off of her in waves as she talked about it!

And talk about it she did. The pair of them spent the entire evening and well into the morning taking turns doing runs, guessing story beats, and trying to see who could make it farther out in the runs each in-game night.

By the time the sun rose down below them, Jacqueline had unlocked the path up to Olympus, and BOTH girls had squealed in excitement (enough to upset several cherubs as they flew away angrily. One even hissed).

They’d called it there, then. Angry cherubs made for a bad time.

But that certainly didn’t stop Jacqueline.

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

Whether with Dite or on her own, Jacqueline could not get enough of the game. It was like Dite said; she was enamoured with it. She loved it on its own, and she loved how much fun she had when playing it alongside Dite.

And maybe, just maybe, she felt a bit for Melinoë.

Whatever the case, it fast became one of her favourite games and was very much on the mind when talk of the Legend-Legate Halloween party came up once more.

For the last almost fifteen years running, Santa had been joining the festivities given that he now had a Legate of his own.

And for the last near fifteen years running, Santa and Charlie had won the costume contest every. Single. Time.

So when July came around and Halloween hit the shelves, talk of the costume party came up once more amongst Jacqueline and her Legend, the Big Bother himself.

It’d become a regular lament around this time of year.

See, she and Jack had won the contest since their first year both attending post reunion. They had held onto the trophy for a couple of sweet, sweet years when Charlie got his Legate status and he and Santa swooped in and managed to steal the trophy every goddess damned year.

“And I am tired of it, Jacqueline! I mean, the only reason they’re winning is because they have  SEVERAL departments FILLED with costume experts, I mean, come on. It simply isn’t fair!”

And sure, maybe Jack had a point. But like, they were using the resources they had at their disposal so like. You know. Why not.

Jacqueline had said as much, only for Jack to grumble and glower and tell her to stop defending the enemy.

“In fact, you should stop fraternizing with the enemy, too! No Charlie hangouts until after Halloween.”

Jacqueline had bit her tongue. Swallowing her laughter, she cleared her throat.

“Okay, but like, if I do that…how will we know our enemy? We can’t defeat them if we don’t know them, you know?”

“No, I don’t know! Good point! Okay, fine. Keep fraternizing. We’ll see who fraternizes last.”

Jacqueline snorted. “What the frost does that mean?!”

“I’m having a moment, Jacqueline! You think I know what the things I say mean when I’m having a moment?!?! Honestly. Where’s the support!”

He’d gone on for another good twenty minutes, much to Jacqueline’s amusement. Finally, though, he had eased off, and chit chat returned to the regular gossiping and bitching as they made sure to keep the snowcapped mountains…well. Capped with snow.

Of course, before finishing for the night Jack had once again reminded her to start thinking of a costume that would beat the Calvin-Claus duo once and for all.

It was distracting her something fierce that evening. She’d already lost two death defies to Chronos! TWO! And that hadn’t happened in like, the last ten Underworld runs. Goddess above, the costume thing shouldn’t be bothering her that much.

Finally getting the last hit in on Chronos, Jacqueline sighed. She piloted Melinoë around the decrepit House of Hades, really wishing the game was fully out. She was dying to see how gameplay would work re: saving the rest of Melinoë’s family. She also really, really wanted to reunite her with Zag! She couldn’t WAIT to see the plotlines and the arcs and the—

Oh. Now there’s a thought.

Sending Melinoë back to the Crossroads, Jacqueline sat up straight.

She knew exactly what costumes would give them the trophy this year.

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

“DITE!”

“JACQUELINE!”

“I JUST HAD A BRILLIANT IDEA.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah! I can trust you, right?”

Dite laughed. “We are literally dating, Jacqueline. Of course you can trust me! Why wouldn’t you be able to?”

“Because this isn’t your run of the mill Jacquie brand idea. This is serious stuff, Dite. This is...Halloween related.”

“Oh! You’ve thought of a costume for you and Jack? For the Legend-Legate party?”

“YES! And I think it’ll have a really good chance at winning the whole thing.”

Dite’s wings fluttered. “That’s wonderful! What’s the catch?”

“For this to work, there are two big things I have to do. The first one: use what I have at my disposal which is a literal goddess of a girlfriend.”

Dite flicked her ponytail. “Hedone is at your service!”

“I like that you added the sparkles.”

“You don’t think that was too much?”

“No! Not at all! I loved it!”

Dite grinned, hovering. “Yay! So what do you need from me?”

“Access to godly forages and godly resources.”

“Done! We’ll check in with Mom’s side of the family, they’ll probably let us do more nonsense than Dad’s side. So what’s number two?”

“I need to convince Jack to do it.”

“Why is that?”

“I think we should go as Mel and Zag.”

Dite brightened. “Oh! Oh, I love that idea! That’s so cute! We can make the weapons HERE and we’ve got TONS of reference material to get the fits JUST RIGHT and I can find some laurels for you both that’ll REALLY make the look proper godly, ou, it’s going to be SO FUN. I bet Jack’ll go for it!”

“I know if worse comes to worse I can guilt him about it but that’s not really how I want to go about doing it, you know? At least, not seriously.”

“Well, how about a PowerPoint?”

Jacqueline blinked. “Oh, shit! That is a great idea! I fucking love PowerPoints!”

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

And that’s how, months later, Jack found himself at Jacqueline’s recently-restored-forgotten-about-house, seated on the huge sofa and watching as Jacqueline set up a PowerPoint presentation on the TV, Dite grinning like a maniac beside him.

“And…there we go! Open up!”

The PowerPoint loaded.

“Why Jack and Jacqueline Should Attend the Legend-Legate Party as Zagreus and Melinoë from critically acclaimed, god-like, rogue-like game Hades and its sequel, Hades 2. That’s a bit of a mouthful, don’t you think?”

“But it gets the point across, right?”

��Jacqueline, I don’t even know who these characters are.”

“Well good news for you: The first half of this PowerPoint will make sure you know just that. We’ll start with the first game, because that’s where your character comes from: Zagreus, Prince of the Underworld!”

By some miracle, Jack actually sat through the entire slideshow, paying rapt attention and interrupting a minimal amount and learning quite a bit. Dite was more than happy to compare the game to both sides of her family in real life, much to Jack’s amusement. By the time Jacqueline made her way through the Hades 2 portion, Jack had a pretty good working knowledge of the characters and the game. Games, that is.

“So! In conclusion! Here’s why we should go as these two. One: they’re siblings, so are we! Two: they’re MAGICAL siblings. So are we! Three. They are INSANELY hot. Four: LOOK at how BADASS their fits are! Five: the big ass weapons are DOPE and WILL get us bunny votes. Six: I’ve gone ahead and pulled a Santa and Charlie and used the resources I have at my disposal.”

“Which are?”

“Ta-da!” Jacqueline grinned, presenting Dite. “Celestial girlfriend!”

“That’s me! AND I’ve gone ahead and gotten everything we need to get this going!”

“You know, Dite, technically you’re the enemy here too.”

“Hey! Jack! Be nice!”

“No, it’s okay babe! He’s right. But here's the thing. I love Jacqueline very very much and,” she leaned closer to Jack, her cheery disposition falling, determination taking its place, “I want to see Santa and Charlie go down just as bad as you two do.”

Jack looked surprised. Pleasantly so. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Alright then.”

“So? What do you say?! Please? Please Jack? Pretty please?”

Jack looked thoughtful for a moment, rubbing his chin and hemming and hawing.

“Need I remind you about the time you accidentally stabbed me and then left for fourteen hundred years?”

“You do not, thanks.”

“Okay, good. Just checking. So? What’s the answer?”

“Tell you what, little flurry. I’ll do this costume with you. But! If and only if you cut your hair as short as Melinoë’s for the thing. You know, authenticity’s sake and such.”

Jacqueline patted her hair which was, presently, very, very, very long. “My hair?”

Jack nodded. “Yep! Off it goes. Right up past your shoulders.”

“...done.”

Jack sat up in shock. “Really?”

“Yeah! I’ll cut my hair for this. But you HAVE to go as Zagreus. No take-back-sies, especially after my hair cut.”

Jack smirked. “Done.”

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

About a week before Halloween, Jack popped by to visit the fam only to find Jacqueline with very, very, very short hair.

“Wow,” he said, pulling out his seat and helping himself to the coffee time spread. “You really went and did it.”

“Yep! I told you I would! And also, you dared me to."

"Ah yes! Right. I did, didn't I?"

"Yep. And Jacqueline Frost does NOT go back on a dare."

"Evidently."

Dite brought the costumes by earlier, by the way. They’re done and just about ready to go! We’ll need to try them on and make sure they fit well and all that jazz but then we’re good to go!”

“Weapons, too?”

Jacqueline grinned. “Yep! Actual, FUNCTIONING weapons! I was playing with Lim and Oros earlier, holy heck. If that’d been my loadout during the piracy? I’d have conquered the piratical world, Jack.”

“Well it’s a good thing it wasn’t! There’s be no living with you then, King of the Pirates.”

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

Halloween week rolled around and with it, the Legend-Legate Costume party.

Jacqueline stood in her room, all dressed up, admiring the freeze job on her left arm. The ice was thick enough to give her arm an almost ghostly look about it underneath; close enough to Melinoë’s ghostly prosthetic of sorts to work for her.

Grabbing Lim and Oros and taking a few practise swipes, she tumbled out of her room,

“JACK! You ready? We gotta GO!”

“Chill out, would you?”

Across the hall, Jack’s door opened. Out he walked, in his Zagreus costume—huge sword and all.

“AH! You actually DID IT!”

“Of course! You actually cut your hair, and I am a man of my word.”

“Woo! Yes Jack!” In her excitement, the sprite was hovering a bit, the north winds filling the halls. “We’re gonna kill it today! That trophy is as good as ours.” Landing, she swiped through the air with Oros.

“Yes, just one little detail we need to fix.”

“What?” Jacqueline landed. “What detail?”

“Eyes. Quite literally. I have a little spell that may work, but it won’t do eye colours we don’t have in our genes.”

“So instead of one red, one green, it’ll be one blue, one gold-ish?”

“Bingo. I thought we may be able to do the red what with our favourite uncle and all,” (Jacqueline snorted), “But wen I asked Dad, he told me that the only reason his eyes were that dark was because of all the negative magic and whatnot that he used. Something like that.”

“Really? I always thought they were identical except for the eyes and hair.”

“Nope! Same eye colour too!”

“Damn. I do NOT envy Gran.”

“Nor do I. Anyway, hold still, would you?”

“You remember which side is which, right?”

“How could I not? With how informative your presentation was and how you haven’t stopped talking about the game?” He sniffed. “Please.”

There was a pull of magic in the air. Jacqueline looked down at the ice on her arm—yep! Two-toned eyes.

“Ou, that’s banging.”

“Banging?”

“You know darn well what I meant to say. Let’s bounce so I can go swear.”

“And so we can win that trophy! The look on Santa’s face when we take it from him will make my Christmas. I won't even ask for anything else! Except for maybe a framed picture of the exact moment we're announced as the winners.”

“And if we don’t get it, we have WEAPONS. We can take it,” Jacqueline smirked rather devilishly, stabbing the air with the dagger. She spun on her bare foot and ran down the stairs, weapons trailing magically behind her.

🎃👻🍷🥳✨

It was Cupid and Dite who were hosting this year.

Their villa was done up, lights flashing, the smell of good food wafting down their way. Decorations were put up, and it looked like some of the other gods were hanging around as well.

They made their way into the atrium, the party in full swing as they looked for this year’s hosts.

“Jacqueline!”

“Dite!”

“Ou it looks so GOOD ON YOU!!”

“And look at YOU!?!?!? Are you NEMISIS?!”

Dite giggled, flaunting the armour and standing very tall. “Sure am, Princess.”

“Oh, I love it! Why Nem, though? She’s so rough and tough with Meli and you for SURE can’t do that with me, your cute and lovable girlfriend!” Tilting her head and smiling sweetly, she folded her hands under her chin, Lim and Oros in her grasp.

“Dad was inspired by you two and had this great idea—”

“I sure was! I'll take it from here, kiddo." Cupid finally appeared, floating towards them. "Hey! Jack! Ya made it! And Jacqueline, look at you two! Lookin’ good.”

“You have got to be joking me. Really Cupid? Really? THESEUS?”

Cupid laughed, doing a loop-de-loop on the way over. “Yeah! Did it with you in mind! I’ve played my fair share of Hades, so when Hedone told me you and Jacqueline were doing Zag and Mel, I thought, hey! You know who annoys the shit out of Zag? THESEUS! And so, ta-da!”

He floated back, arms outstretched, lights catching onto the costume.

“I can’t even be mad anymore, Cupes. I’m simply impressed.”

“Ha! That’s the spirit, Jack. Anyway, c’mon in! Mind the crowd. Some of the more laid back family members are here—and some of our Greek cousins, too. Dionysus and Bacchus are in the house. It’s gonna be a PARTY TONIGHT! HAHA!”

“I saved you some treats! C’mon!”

Dite pulled Jacqueline away, the sprite grinning up at her as they disappeared in the direction of the food. Jack smiled, watching them go, content.

“I gotta say, Jack. I’m surprised you agreed to this.”

Jack quirked an eyebrow as Cupid floated closer to him, at eye level with his fellow Legendary Figure.

“Oh?”

“Yeah! I never thought you’d go for something like this,” he gestured to Jack’s Zag outfit, “for a costume.”

“Jacqueline was very excited about. She insists it’ll knock Santa and Charlie right off their pedestal.”

“Oh, I think it will. You’ll never guess who they’re here as.”

“Mario and Luigi?”

“Nope.”

“Scooby and Shaggy?”

“Ha! That’d be funny to see. Nope! Wanna guess again?”

“Not particularly.”

“Buzz Lightyear and Woody. From Toy Story.”

Jack laughed. Out loud. “Really? THAT’S the costume they went with?!”

“Oh yeah! So ah, between you and me, Jack…” the god floated closer. “I think you and your sister got this.”

“You and Dite have a good shot too.”

“Ha! Are you kidding? We don’t enter that shit.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Hedone gets a little too competitive so I ah, try to avoid competitions as much as possible. Seriously, it’s terrifying. You should see her playing board games. Risk? Monopoly? Yikes. She brings even the greatest strategists to tears. Minerva hasn’t been the same since the last board game night. It’s bad, Jack.”

“It’s funny you mention that. When Jacqueline gave me her presentation on the world of Hades—or at least, this iteration of it—” he gestured to himself. “She got very…intense when I asked why she was helping.”

“Yeah. You’d think love was enough, right? Nah. That coupled with beating someone at a competition? Yeesh. You’re lucky you made it out alive, let me tell ya.”

Jack snorted. “The night is still young and this sword is very, very real. Or so I’ve been told. It’s lighter than I expected.”

“I think Heph did that on purpose.”

“I’m not sure whether to be thankful or offended.”

“Eh, when it comes to these guys, it's usually a bit of column A, column B. Regardless, I think you guys have a good chance at winning tonight! Helps that I’m hosting too. We gods are a vain bunch. And I don’t think I could stop them from voting even if I tried.”

“Ou. Then I can tell Scott that I got the godly vote.”

“Ha! You’re gonna be insufferable all year! More so than usual.”

“Only if you’re Scott.”

“Is that why you agreed to the costume?”

“Cupid, please. You know damn well why I agreed to it.”

Cupid smiled. “I do, yeah. I just wanna hear you say it.”

Jack tried very hard to look annoyed but it did not work. He bit back his smile.

“Well, you know how it is. You do very silly things for the people you love.”

“Ha! There it is! You betchya!”

“And you know…there’s no big, huge, grand gesture I can do to make up for everything I did to her,” Jack continued, finding himself watching their Legates in the distance.

Jacqueline already had chocolate on her face, Dite fawning beside her as they helped themselves to some drinks, talking animatedly with Tinkerbell and Peter Pan—ah. Roy’s kids, Jack realized. Olivia and Myles. The pair of Legates were admiring Jacqueline's weapons while she shoved an entire cupcake into her mouth, Dite showing them how to wield the set.

Jack smiled softly. “And while there may not be some grand gesture I can make, there’s all sorts of little things I can do to make up for it all. And this is one of them.”

Cupid chuckled, clapping Jack’s back. “Attaboy! C’mon, let’s get you a drink.”

[sysig]

Some scribbles :) (Patreon)

[erinwantstowrite]

Halloween AU!!!

hey so. i put SOOOOO much effort into this au and for what? at least it ended up looking cool? anyways Halloween is my favorite holiday and i just HAD to make something for them!

i had a LOT of ideas for what everyone would be, but i really wanted to stick to a certain theme cause it's based around Halloween. i knew i had to have a vampire, werewolf, and a witch. cause like... obviously. iconic Halloween stuff!! but i took some liberties with everyone else and i think they turned out pretty cool!!

Jason was originally a fox shifter (which i still love and might draw art for some day) but i went with a bear in the end. is that because i thought about tiny bear cub Jaybin and wanted to cry? yeah. yeah it is. i KNEW Steph was going to be my werewolf though i started doubting myself when i went to draw her. turned out to be my favorite drawing on here which makes sense cause she is my light my love my daughter my will to live and all that jazz

Tim was actually gonna be a harpy but thank god i didn't go for that in the end. Duke was the one that was a bitch and a half trying to figure out BUT!! comments on the post asking what y'all thought led me towards Psychic so THANK YOUUUU everybody that commented!! (specifically those who thought of ghost!! Duke and Tim ended up being a perfect duo in this au)

Babs was pretty easy to figure out what I wanted for her. I read somewhere that they are seen as protectors of forests/ are considered spiritual authority figures and also.... she looks cool as fuck. Did not expect how easy it was to find a ref for a deer in a wheelchair though? I can never find the right hand or face angle reference but that was super easy???

For Bruce there was literally no question he HAD to be human. it's literally so funny that everyone who knows Batman thinks he's a spooky vampire but he's human. his first son, however?????? THAT'S the vampire. I knew Dick had to be a vampire too. A little nod towards that one comic run but in my au nothing bad happens ever 🥰 Damian also being a bat shifter is very on purpose because how funny is it that he's a bat man. Literally not a single person in the League thinks that Bruce is telling the truth about being human. Bruce you are NOT beating the secretly a vampire allegations.

adding in Jay's hilarious joke it's so fucking funny:

Alfred is actually a demon. I CAN NOT remember who made this post so if someone can help me find it, it would be appreciated!! because this was inspired by them!!! but somewhere i saw someone talk about Alfred being a demon that Thomas and Martha made a deal with (i think it was for an au idea?) and I just HAD to put it here. Alfred looks so human and everyone expects it, but he's definitely not. I put the ??? because it's so fucking funny. see if you can spot the 1 hint i put on his drawing that something is amiss!!

Peter is from an alternate dimension still, but it is not a world of creatures like him, it's just the same as LoF canon except Peter grew some extra limbs and eyes. He finds that it's actually pretty easy to fit in with the Waynes. Hard to feel like a freak when a guy can turn into a fucking bear, or your dad is a vampire, and the teenagers in the family are trying to summon ghosts or make potions.

additional doodles for this au:

i am still debating whether i am going to draw something for this au or write a oneshot, but i DO want to do something with these for Halloween

[waitimcomingtoo]

Question…?

Pairing: Peter Parker x best friend!Reader

Synopsis: Peter accidentally sends you mixed signals when he kisses you for the first time then stands you up

Masterlist

You and Peter laid opposite ways on his bed so you could face each other while doing some chemistry homework together. Peter had stopped paying attention to his homework around ten minutes ago and was now just doodling in between looking up to sneak glances at you.

“What did you get for number 9?”

“Um, I got 13.” Peter stopped doodling and read from his page.

“What? How? I got a negative 658.”

“How did you possibly get that?” Peter laughed and stretched his neck to see your work.

“I don’t know. I hate math.” You whined and drew your knees to your forehead. Peter couldn’t help but stare at your bare legs that stemmed from the little lounge shorts you had on. Peter was usually pretty good at keeping his feelings for you to himself, but when you wore things like that, it became significantly harder to contain himself.

“Stop staring at my legs, perv.” You said without looking up from the problem you were doing. Peter blushed a deep red and quickly looked away, panicking now that you had caught what he had been doing.

“I wasn’t.” He lied and pretended he was looking at his notebook the whole time.

“Yes you were.” You smirked and looked up. “Perv.”

“You’re the perv who keeps looking at my feet in these tight little socks.” Peter joked as he rubbed his foot on your leg, making you gag.

“Ew. Get that off of me. And what are you implying, mister?” You laughed and hit his foot with your notebook.

“That you have a foot fetish and everyone knows.” Peter shrugged.

“I do not. And even if I did, you think I’d be attracted to your nasty feet? You don’t even wash your legs in the shower.”

“How do you even remember that? I told you that in like eight grade.” Peter laughed and felt secretly pleased that you remembered such a random detail.

“Ninth grade.” You corrected. “And I remember everything, bitch.”

“Oh yeah? Then do you remember when you had a crush on our drivers Ed teacher that year?” Peter smiled teasingly and put his notebook down.

“Oh yeah.” You laughed. “Mr. Whiler. That dude was double handsome. His eyes were Spotify green and he smelled like sandalwood.”

“Remember that time he wore his shirt unbuttoned and you looked over at him so many times that you rear ended a priest?” Peter asked and rested his chin on your knees.

“It wasn’t a priest. It was a Eucharistic minister. And I barely tapped his car.” You scoffed and flicked his forehead.

“Barely tapped? His whole trunk opened and those little crackers fell on the ground.” Peter reminded you as he pushed your notebook down.

“They’re not crackers. They’re the Eucharist. Finish your work.” You playfully scolded him and nodded towards his notebook.

“Remember when you got scared during your first time driving and parked at a green light?” Peter kept going and pushed your notebook again.

“Do you remember that we’re supposed to be doing homework?” You mocked his tone and lightly smacked his head with your book.

“Homework is boring. I wanna talk to you.” Peter whined and rubbed his foot on your leg again.

“Get your dogs off of me. I’m allergic.”

“Fine. I’ll just rotate then.” Peter said as he scooted next to you.

“Just like them damn rotisserie chickens.” You sighed and went back to your homework. Peter stayed quiet and watched you work for a few minutes until he got bored again.

“Do you ever wonder what Mr. Whiler is up to now?” Peter asked you.

“He’s a drivers Ed instructor. He’s probably up to absolutely nothing or whippits.”

“Probably.” Peter chuckled. “But hey, you’re over 18 now. Do you think if he asked you out, you’d say yes?”

“Ew, no. He knew me when I was 16. Anyone who knew me when I was 16 has to die.”

“I knew you when you were 16.” Peter reminded you as he took your notebook and tossed it into the bed. With your hands free, you got an idea and grabbed a pillow.

“Oh shit. You’re right.” You pretended to gasp before tackling Peter and smothering him with the pillow. He laughed and pushed the pillow out of your hands, leaving him lying on his bed with you hovering over him. You looked into each others eyes for a minute and shyly smiled at each other.

“You seriously wouldn’t date him if he came back into our lives?” Peter asked you in a soft voice.

“Gross. No he’s way too old. I don’t like him like that anymore.”

“Do you like anyone like that anymore?” He asked, making you gulp. Your eyes dropped down to Peters lips for a second before looking back into his eyes.

“I don’t know.” You lied. “Do you?”

Even though Peter should’ve seen that question coming, he didn’t. He didn’t know how to tell you that he had fallen in love with his best friend and only brought up your old crush because he had a recurring nightmare that he lost you to your old drivers Ed instructor. He felt his face turn bright red and quickly thought of a diversion. He gasped loudly, making your eyes widen.

“What?” You asked. With you being distracted, Peter seized the opportunity to flip you over so that he was the one pinning you to the bed.

“Hulkmania is running wild, brother.” He said in a deep voice.

“No.” You whined. “Don’t do your Hulk Hogan impression. You know it grosses me out.”

“I fear no man, no beast or evil, brother.” Peter continued in his deep voice.

“Get off of me.” You playfully groaned and tried to wriggle out of Peters grasp.

“No. Not until you tell me who you like.”

“I asked you first.”

“No you didn’t.” He laughed. “ I asked you first.”

“Well you weren’t supposed to fact check me.” You snapped before breaking out in a smile. Peter smiled back before getting an idea.

“Hey, can I body slam you with my entire body weight?” Peter asked in a casual tone.

“I’d prefer if you didn’t.”

“Okay. Incoming.” Peter announced before dropping himself onto you and knocking the wind out of your chest.

“Ow. Get off me, fat ass.” You laughed and tried to push him off.

“You love this fat ass.” He insisted and stayed on top of you. You laughed and looked into his eyes, unable to be mad at him.

“I do. I can’t help it but I do. It’s a sickness.” You laughed softly and pushed some hair off his forehead.

“It’s okay.” He smiled. “I love your fat ass too.”

“Peter?” You asked suddenly as your smile faded.

“Yeah?”

“Can we always be this close?” You asked him, taking him by surprise. Peter propped himself up on his elbows to look at you beneath him but found no words to say. He always wanted to be close to you, but he needed you to know that he wanted to be closer. Before Peter could overthink it, he dipped his head down and kissed you. He could feel your eyes slowly flutter shut, eyelashes tickling his face as the went down. Once you got over your initial shock, you kissed him back. The kiss was slow and soft and sweet until Peter realized what he had done. He quickly sat up and held his hands up.

“I’m sorry!” I don’t know why I just did that. I should’ve asked you first. I’m didn’t mean to-“

Peter was cut off by you grabbing his shirt and pulling him back down into a kiss. He didn’t know what was going on or what this meant for your relationship, but he went with it. He kissed you with more confidence this time as he slipped his fingers through yours to hold the hands he was pinning to his mattress. Time seemed to slip away as you kissed each other and the only thing that broke your bubble was the sound of May opening Peters door.

“Y/n, your moms-“

“AH.” You and Peter jumped away from each other and screamed at the unexpected interruption. You wiped your lips and grabbed your notebook in a failed attempt to make it look like nothing had been going on. May looked between you and Peter and held back a laugh when she realized what she walked in on.

“God, May! Don’t you knock?” Peter exclaimed and put his hand over his pounding heart.

“Oh, sorry. Didn’t realize I was interrupting something.” May said with a coy smile.

“May. Go away.” Peter whined and threw a pillow at the door. May shut the door a little so it wouldn’t hit her and laughed at Peters attempt.

“I just came to tell you Y/n’s mom is at the front door. She wants her home now.” May said. You and Peter stayed silent, refusing to look at each other or speak.

“If you can tear yourselves away from each other, that is.” May added with a cheeky smile.

“May.” Peter said through clenched teeth and chucked another pillow.

“Just teasing. Come on, Y/n. I’ll walk you out. Unless you wanted your mom to come in here?” May asked innocently.

“No!” You exclaimed and jumped off the bed. “Don’t bring my mom in. I’ll leave.”

Peter felt his disappointment sink in as he watched you gather your things and go towards the door. You looked at Peter before leaving and wished you could give him a proper goodbye but it was impossible with May standing right there. Instead, you gave him a soft smile and a wave that said you wished you could stay but had to go. Peter returned the wave and hoped it conveyed how much he wanted you to stay. You gave him one last look before disappearing out his door.

Peter could barely sleep that night in anticipation of seeing you the next day. He woke up groggy but with excitement I’m his chest as he got dressed. He put a little more effort into his appearance than usual and found himself checking himself in the mirror every few seconds. When he finally got to school, he was on high alert. He scanned the hallway in search of you but wasn’t able to spot you anywhere. He began to worry that you felt like you had made a mistake last night and were avoiding Peter because of it.

“Hey.” Your voice suddenly came from behind Peter, making him jump and scream.

“AHH.” He yelped and turned around.

“Sorry! I’m sorry! I didn’t know how to approach you. Oh my God. I should go.” You tried to run away but Peter grabbed your backpack.

“No wait. Come back.” He chuckled and pulled you back towards him. Even though Peter had looked at you nearly everyday for the past 15 years, he felt like he was seeing you for the first time. Now that the line between friendship and relationship had been smudged, you looked different to Peter in a way that made his fondness for you grow.

“Hi.” You smiled sheepishly.

“Hi. Good morning. How did you sleep?” Peter asked as he moved a strand of hair off your forehead.

“Don’t do this to me.”

“Do what?”

“Act all sweet and normal after what happened last night. After what we did.” You whispered and looked around for who might be listening.

“Did we do something? I can’t remember.” Peter played dumb and made the gap between the two of you smaller.

“Peter.” You whined. “Don’t play games with me right now. I already feel awkward enough around you. Do you think we could talk?”

“Yeah. Come here.” Peter took your hand and brought you into the closest janitors closet before shutting the door.

“Why are we in a janitors closet?” You looked around and grimaced.

“For privacy.”

“We need privacy?” You looked at him with a coy smile.

“Yeah. I think so, at least.” Peter laughed shyly and suddenly felt nervous around you for the first time since the day you met.

“Oh. I think so too.” You replied with a timid smile. You looked at each other for a minute and uncomfortably swayed back and forth, neither sure what to say first.

“What did you want to talk about?” Peter asked after a beat of silence.

“I wanted to talk about last night. I just didn’t want to do it in a crowded hallway.”

“So did I. You left before we got a chance to discuss…” Peter trailed off and smiled sheepishly.

“Us?” You finished his sentence for him and took a step closer.

“Yeah. Us.” Peter grinned. “I would love to talk about us. Preferably not in this dark and smelly janitors closet.”

“The one you pulled us into.” You said out of the corner of your mouth.

“Yeah. My bad. What if we talk tonight? Maybe over some food?”

“Like a date?” You asked coyly.

“Yeah. I would like to take you on a date.” Peter said with confidence this time.

“Okay. Do you want to meet at Delmars or something?”

“Yeah. I’ll pick you up at 6 and can walk there together.”

“Okay. Perfect. But what do we do until then? I still feel a little awkward around you. I’m not really sure how I’m supposed to act.”

“I honestly don’t know either. So how about this? Until we talk everything out tonight, we’re just the same friends we’ve always been.” Peter suggested and took a step closer.

“Okay. Sure. Until tonight, just friends.” You nodded as you eyes fell to his lips. You looked back and forth between his lips and his eyes a few times before crashing your lips to his. You threw your arms around his neck to pull him closer as he wrapped his arms around your waist. You knocked things off the shelves as you made out in a flurry of teeth and kisses. Peter could barely believe his wildest dreams of being with you were coming true and in a damp and dingy janitors closet no less. He pushed that out of his mind and smiled into the kiss as he tried to memorize every groove of your lips. You could have stayed in there with him for hours but the bell ringing reminded you that you had somewhere to be.

“Okay, okay. I need to get to class.” You laughed against Peters lips. He put his hands on your face and kept kissing you.

“Shhhh. Class is for nerds. Stay in the smelly closet with your best friend.” He said between kisses.

“Peter. I have to go.” You laughed again and tried to push him off. He came right back and kept kissed you.

“You have to stay.” He whined against your lips. You caved and kissed him back for a few minutes before pushing him off again.

“We’re just friends, remember? Just friends don’t make out in closets.” You reminded him as you wiped your lipstick off his lips.

“But I’m feeling romantical. Kiss me on my hot mouth.” He said and went in for another kiss. You kissed him back for just a second before pushing him off.

“Peter.” You laughed and held him back with your hands. Peter let out a comically long sigh and stayed away from you.

“Fine. I’ll see you at 6?” He smiled and took both your hands.

“Uh huh. And a bunch of times before that because we have a majority of our classes together.”

“How lucky am I?” Peter sighed and leaned down to kiss you again. You couldn’t help but kiss him back until you heard the second bell ring.

“I’m leaving now. Try to calm down until tonight.” You teased him as you fixed your disheveled clothes.

“No promises.” He sighed happily as you left the closet. Once he was alone, he jumped into the air and pumped his fist before doing a little happy dance.

Peter did in fact see you many times throughout the day and could not focus on anything else. He rested his chin in his hand and stared at you for the third class period in a row before accepting that he was not going to be getting anything productive done today. When his last class finally ended, he rushed back to his apartment to start getting ready. He jumped in the shower and when he got out, he saw that someone had been blowing up his phone. He assumed the texts were from you and looked into the mirror before reading them.

“Okay Parker. Don’t blow this. All you have to do is tell your best friend you’re in love with her. How hard could it be?” Peter said to his reflection to hype himself up before reading the texts. Instead of the flirty messages he was expecting, he instead learned of an active crime scene that needed Spider-Man’s attention.

“Dammit. Active shooter at the bank?” Peter sighed and quickly read through the police report. He knew he had to put all other plans on pause until after the crime was dealt with.

“It’s only 3 pm. I have plenty of time to go there and make sure everyone is okay before our date.” Peter talked to himself as he swung to the crime scene.

A few hours later, Peter swung home and slipped into his apartment via an open window. He pulled his mask off with a heavy sigh and plopped down on his couch. He had managed to stop anybody from getting hurt, but doing so meant fighting off severely men much bigger than him for hours on end.

“Pete? Is that you?” May called from the kitchen. Peter rubbed his tired eyes before trudging into the kitchen to sit at the counter and watch May do the dishes.

“Yeah. It’s me.”

“How was it? I saw what happened on the news.”

“Luckily no one got hurt. Except me.” Peter winced as he rubbed one of his many injuries from the night.

“At least you can sleep tonight knowing you did the right thing. Oh, and did you talk to Y/n yet? She came by looking for you before.” May asked over her shoulder.

“She came by?” Peter perked up a little when he heard this.

“Yeah. She seemed pretty upset. Did you guys have a fight?” May asked, making all the blood drain from Peters face.

“Oh balls.” He whispered under his breath.

“Peter. Language.”

“May. May, this isn’t good.” Peter gulped and pulled out his phone. Sure enough, he had 3 missed calls and a bunch of texts asking where he was. His heart dropped to his stomach when he realized what he had unintentionally done.

“What happened? Was it a fight? Was I right?”

“It wasn’t a fight but it’s about to be.” Peters hands shook as he dialed your number but your immediately declined. He tried calling a few more time before sending you a text.

“Why? What did you do?” May stopped making dinner to focus on her nephew. Peter said his texts go from “delivered” to “read” with no response. He knew you were too angry to reply to him so he put his phone down with a sigh. He then looked at May, who was looking at him expectantly.

“We kissed yesterday.” He admitted. “And we made a plan to talk about what it meant and our relationship and-“

“And you were out on patrol?” May gasped when she realized what he was about to say.

“Yes.”

“Instead of with her?” May slammed her hand on the counter with anger.

“There was a bank robbery! I didn’t think it would take as long as it did. I didn’t mean to stand her up. I just…forgot about her.”

“Peter, believe it or not, girls don’t like being forgotten about.”

“What am I gonna do, May? I goofed. I goofed real bad.” Peter groaned and hung his head in his hands.

“No, Peter. This is much worse than a goof. You fucked up big time.”

“May! What happened to watching our language?”

“I made that rule before I realized my nephew was a fucking heartbreaker.” She said and pointed an accusatory finger at Peter.

“I didn’t mean to stand her up, May.” Peter whined. “I would never do that to her. I just got sidetracked by something more important.”

“Peter, this girl has been your best friend since pre school. She has been there for you every time you needed her. How do you think she feels after you kissed her and then stood her up?”

“Probably really bad.” Peter said quietly.

“Yeah. Really fucking bad, Peter.”

“I know. I really fucked it up this time.” Peter said as tears came to his eyes. He looked at his phone again to see if you texted him back but there was nothing.

“You need it make it up to her. Immediately.” May said with folded arms.

“How? She’s never gonna talk to me again.” Peter started to cry for what he had done. May sighed and felt guilty for making Peter feel worse than he already did. She went over to him and pulled him into a hug as he cried into her chest.

“She’s gonna talk to you again. She just needs some time. So what you’re gonna do is apologize to her and let her know that when she’s ready to speak to you, you’ll be there.”

“Okay.” Peter sniffled.

“And Peter?” May asked and cupped his chin.

“Yeah?”

“Be there.” She said sternly.

Peter nodded before going to his room to get changed. Once he was back in his regular clothes, he went across the hall to knock on your apartment door.

“Hi. Is Y/n home?” Peter asked hopefully once your mom answered.

“She went out a little while ago. She’s not with you?” Your mom asked.

“No, she’s not.” Peter sighed. “If she comes home, could you please tell her to call me? Tell her it’s important.”

“Okay. I will.”

“Thank you.” Peter smiled weakly before running off towards the elevator. He made his way out of the building as he could and ran to Delmars.

“Is Y/n here?” Peter asked as he burst through the door.

“I outta beat your ass. And you know what? I will.” Delmar said as he walked around the counter and grabbed Peter by the collar of his shirt.

“She told you?” Peter asked as he braced himself for a punch.

“Put him down, papi. Let her have her revenge on him first. Then you can beat him up.” Delmars daughter, Louisa, said without up from her magazine. Delmar looked at Peter angrily before dropping him on the ground.

“She didn’t have to tell me anything. I sent my daughter over to talk to her when I saw that she was crying.”

“She was crying?” Peter worried. “Did she say anything?”

“Yeah. She said her best friend stood her up. I’m assuming that’s you?” Delmar asked and folded his arms.

“It is me.” Peter admitted. “But it was an accident.”

“Y/n comes in here all the time. She’s a sweet girl. Always puts money in the tip jar and asks me how I am. Why would you hurt a sweet girl like that?” Delmar asked and took an angry step towards Peter.

“I didn’t mean to. I go caught up in something and missed our date. You know me, man. You know I’m not a bad guy. I just did a bad thing.” Peter said, making Delmar back off a little.

“You better make things right. She was very upset when she left here. And I don’t like seeing nice girls cry over idiot boys, okay?”

“I know. I’m sorry. I’m gonna fix this. Can you just tell me what happened?”

“Like I said, I saw her crying so I sent my daughter over to check on her. She told my daughter that you stood her up so I gave her a free sandwich and let her pet my cat until she felt better.”

“Then where did she go?” Peter asked desperately.

“How should I know?” Delmar scoffed and went back behind the counter.

“Okay. Thank you anyway. I’m gonna try to find her.”

“You better. And don’t come back here unless you want an ass whooping. You little punk.” Delmar called as Peter ran out the door. Once Peter was gone, you came out from the back of the store with an empty cup of tea in your hands.

“Is he gone?” You asked in a weak voice.

“Yes, mi amor. He’s gone. Did you like the tea? My mother makes a homemade batch every day.”

“I liked the tea.” You said quietly as you stared into your empty cup.

“You can hide out here as long as you like, but we should at least call your mom. She’s probably wondering where you are.” Delmar said as he rubbed your shoulder to comfort you.

“That’s okay. My mom texted me a few mins ago and said Peter came by looking for me. I think it’s safe for me to go home now.” You said and smiled weakly in appreciation.

“Okay, mi vida. I’m sorry he let you down tonight. If you were my daughter, he’d be dead and in a shallow grave by now.” Delmar said, making you laugh a little.

“Thanks. Thank you both for cheering me up and letting me hide. I’m just not ready to talk to him.”

“I get it. I wouldn’t be ready either. Let me know how it goes. And if you need to hide out some more, you know where to find us.” Louisa said and pulled you into a tight hug. You had never spoken to her before today but felt grateful that she decided to help a stranger. You thanked them both again before leaving Delmars and walking home. Your mom told you Peter asked you to call him once you walked into your apartment but you lied and said you were too tired. It was too much to get into tonight and all you wanted to do was sleep.

The next day at school, Peter saw you by your locker and froze. You looked like you had gotten as much sleep as Peter, which was little to none. Peter took a deep breath before walking up to you.

“Hey.” Peter smiled weakly and braced himself for the worst possible reaction from you. Instead of screaming at him like he assumed, you just kept getting your stuff out of your locker.

“Okay. You’re not talking to me. I deserve that.” He nodded. You slammed your locker shut and started to walk away.

“Wait. Please just let me explain.” Peter begged as he ran in front of you. You didn’t make eye contact with him but he could see your lip beginning to tremble.

“I don’t understand.” You said in a weak voice.

“You don’t understand what?”

“You kissed me. You asked me on a date. I was perfectly fine with us being friends but you changed things. Why would you do all of that just to stand me up?”

“I didn’t stand you up. I got caught up in something really important and it took longer than I expected. That’s the only reason I didn’t show up. And I’m so, so, incredibly fucking sorry that I didn’t show up. You have no idea how much I wanted to be there and go on that date. Something just came up and I had no choice.”

“I get that. Shit comes up. But why didn’t you text or call?”

“To be perfectly honest, I completely forgot about the date until I finished with the other thing. I didn’t remember until May told me you had come by.”

“You forgot?” You asked as you finally looked at Peter. The sadness in your eyes was replaced with stone cold anger that sent a shiver down Peters spine.

“Yes.” He admitted. “But only because what I was doing was super important and needed my full attention.”

“What is this “super important” thing you had to do that made you forget about me?” You asked and folded your arms.

“I can’t tell you.” Peter grimaced as the words came out, knowing you’d never believe him.

“You can’t tell me?” You raised an eyebrow.

“No, I’m sorry. I can’t tell you.”

You stared at Peter for a long time as the anger you felt inside doubled. You balled your hands into fists and wanted to punch him right in his face but instead, you just walked away.

“Wait.” Peter called after you and ran up to you again. You didn’t look at him as you walked to your next class.

“Can we please reschedule to tonight? We still really need to talk about us.” He said as he struggled to keep up with you.

“No.”

“No? But we never got a chance-“

“Let me make this perfectly clear, Peter.” You cut him off. Any chance of “us” happening ended last night when you decided not to show up. I got no call, no text, and now some half assed excuse that doesn’t even come with an explanation as to where you were? And to top it all off, you had the nerve, the absolute fucking audacity, to tell me that you forgot about me. You forgot about me? Was that seriously supposed to make this all better?”

“No. I don’t know. I’m sorry.” Peter rubbed his eyes in frustration. “I know I fucked up. But please, I really really like you. I want to give us a chance. I screwed up last night but don’t let that ruin what we have.”

“I can’t ruin it. You already did.” Your voice cracked as you walked away again. This time, he let you go.

As much as you wanted to avoid Peter and let him suffer, you had an hour long lab period with him after your first period class. You walked in and went towards your usual lab table out of muscle memory. When you saw that Peter was already sitting there, you froze.

“Hey.” Peter smiled brightly when you made eye contact. You immediately looked away and stopped at the closest lab table.

“Can I please sit here?” You asked without even looking at who was already sitting there.

“You can sit that pretty little thang anywhere you like.” Flash smirked and patted the seat beside him.

“Thanks.” You mumbled and took a seat. Peter watched you sit beside Flash and felt a bubble of jealousy in his stomach. He wanted to listen to what you were saying but didn’t want to invade your privacy.

“I’m not sure if you noticed, but no one ever sits with me for labs. And that’s because of my horrific personality and general off putting vibe. I’m also really bad at biology-“

“This is chemistry.” You cut in.

“Really? Oh shit, I’m even worse at that.” Flash laughed. “Anyway, how would you feel about doing all the work and letting me copy?”

“Yeah. Sure. Whatever.” You mumbled and started doing the lab work. Flash noticed you weren’t dishing back with your usual insults and frowned.

“You okay?” He asked in a kinder tone. You had one of those moments where you were fine until someone asked you if you were okay, prompting you to break down.

“I’m fine.” You said in a shaky voice and quickly wiped your face. Flash noticed your tears and looked over his shoulder to see Peter staring at you with all the guilt in the world on his face.

“How come you’re not sitting with Parker?” Flash asked you. You blinked back a few tears and tried to focus on your work.

“We had a falling out.”

“Oh shit. Really?” Flash snorted and looked over his shoulder again at Peter, who was looking back this time. Peter could tell you had said something to Flash about what happened and his curiosity was killing him.

“What did he do?” Flash nudged you when you didn’t answer.

“Why do you just assume he did something?”

“Because you’re the one who changed seats.” Flash said, making you shrug in agreement.

“And because Parker’s an idiot.” He added after a beat. You couldn’t help but smile and nod your head.

“Yeah. He is.” You chuckled and looked over at Flash. Peter clenched his fist in jealousy over Flash getting you to laugh and smile but kept quiet.

“So come on. Tell me what he did.” Flash urged now that he had cheered you up a little.

“No. Here’s the answers to the first page.” You said and slid your work over to him.

“Thanks.” Flash replied and copied your work down. Peter watched this with tight eyes and felt his jealousy worsen. Lab days were usually spent giggling and flirting with each other as you shared answers and now he had to watch you do that with Flash.

“Here’s page two.” Flash handed you his work after a couple minutes of silence.

“You finished? I thought you were gonna copy me?”

“I was. But I’ll let you copy me if you tell me what Parker did.”

“I’m not gonna tell you. And these are all wrong.” You laughed and handed the page back to him.

“That’s because I just wrote down random numbers. I didn’t realize you were going to actually look at them.” Flash scoffed and snatched his page back. You threw your head back laughing at his erratic behavior, catching Peters attention in the process. Peter couldn’t imagine what Flash could’ve possibly said to make you laugh like that but it made white hot jealousy course through his body.

“He’s staring at us, you know. With those beady little rat eyes of his.” Flash leaned over to whisper in your ear.

“Flash.” You laughed in surprise and checked behind you to see if Peter had heard that. You accidentally made eye contact with Peter and quickly looked away.

“What? Haven’t you ever noticed that he kind of looks like he always has a frog in his mouth? And he’s trying to keep it from jumping out?” Flash asked you in a genuine tone.

“Shut up. You’re so mean.” You laughed and playfully shoved him away from you. Peter just about fell over when he saw this and loudly cleared his throat to get your attention. You looked over your shoulder and made eye contact for just a second before looking away.

“Can I at least know what he did?” Flash whispered again. You let out a sigh and decided that since he had made you feel better, you’d give him what he wanted.

“He said he’d take me on a date and he didn’t. I waited all night for him and he never came.” You said simply and went back to your work. Flash was quiet for a long time and when he didn’t respond, you looked at him in confusion.

“He’s a loser. You deserved better.” Flash said with a sympathetic smile.

“Oh. Thanks.” You smiled in surprise at his chivalry after expecting a crude response.

“Let me take you on a real date to make up for it.” Flash said at full volume, making Peters stomach drop. Before you could answer, the bell rang and the period ended. Peter ran out of the classroom as quickly as he could before he could hear you after to go on a date with another boy. You gave Flash your answer as you collected your things.

“Thanks for letting me sit with you.” You said to Flash as you walked out of the class together.

“Anything to mess with Parker.” Flash smiled and held his fist out. You fist bumped him and felt lighter then you had since last night.

You continued to avoid Peter for the rest of the day, not an easy task considering you had almost every class together. He knew the one place you couldn’t avoid him was your locker, which was conveniently right next to his. He got his stuff that he needed for the night and waited until you showed up. You soon showed up and saw Peter standing by his locker, making you want to walk right out of the building. You knew you couldn’t leave without getting your books so you held your chin up and went to get your books. You could feel Peter staring at you with his puppy dog eyes and couldn’t help but roll your eyes to the ceiling.

“Hey.” He said in a quiet voice. You didn’t answer and pretended to take interest in one of your textbooks.

“I miss you.” He tried again, making you pause a little to internally admit that you missed him too.

“I heard you’re going on a date with Flash.” He added, catching you off guard.

“What? Did Flash tell you that?” You frowned confusion. You hadn’t meant to respond, but that came out of nowhere and you wanted to know more.

“No. I heard you guys talking during lab today.” Peter admitted, gaining the slightest inch of hope now that you had spoken to him. You were about to tell Peter that you turned Flash down, but you decided to let him suffer a little after the way he had made you feel.

“Yeah, well, I bet you have a lot to say about that.” You said with a roll of your eyes.

“I do.” Peter replied, making you sigh and look at him.

“Go ahead. Tell me he’s an idiot and a womanizer and that I’m stupid for going out with him and-“

“I hope you have a nice time.” Peter cut you off. “I hope he picks a place you like and pulls your chair out for you and drives you home in his expensive car. And I hope you fall asleep that night with a smile on your face because you had a nice time. That’s all I was gonna say.”

“Why would you hope for that?” You asked with suspicion.

“Because you’re my best friend and that means I want you to have a great date.” Peter said sincerely. You eyed him skeptically but heard him out.

“Even if it’s not with me.” He added and held his breath in fear of your response. You looked Peter up and down and felt your heart ache in your chest. You hated being mad at him because the only person you wanted to confide in about your heartbreak was him. All you wanted was to talk to your best friend and let him make you feel better.

“I’m not going on the date with him. I said no.” You admitted and avoided eye contact with Peter.

“You did? Why?”

“I told him it wouldn’t be fair to him to go out with him because even though you’re a total butt munch who sucks major balls and I hate with all my heart, I still have feelings for you.” You confessed as you slowly looked into Peters eyes.

“You have feelings for me?” Peter asked in a soft voice and took a step closer to you.

“I have for a while. That’s what I was gonna tell you last night but you never showed up.” You felt angry again and took a step back.

“Can we please have our date tonight? I swear, I will show up this time. Nothing could keep me away.”

“I don’t know. Are you gonna tell me what super important thing kept you from showing up last time?” You asked and folded your arms.

“Yes. Tonight I’ll explain everything.” Peter promised you. You were too curious about what caused him to stand you up to stay no, so you reluctantly nodded your head.

“Fine. I’ll give you a second chance.”

“That’s my first favorite kind of chance.” Peter smiled in relief.

“But if you blow it tonight, I’m never speaking to you again. I mean it.”

“I won’t blow it. I swear.” Peter promised you. “Can you meet me on the Brooklyn bridge tonight?”

You were silent for a long time as you stared at Peter until you finally found the words.

“Why the fuck would we have this relationship changing discussion on the Brooklyn bridge?” You asked after a beat of silence. Peter paused, realizing that that was a valid question, before responding.

“Just please try to trust me. I know I’ve given you plenty of reasons not to. But everything will make sense after tonight. I promise.”

“Fine. It better.”

“I’ll see you then?” Peter asked hopefully.

That night, Peter put on his Spiderman suit and swung to the Brooklyn bridge. He felt so anxious that his hands shook as he grabbed the next web so he tried to push everything from his mind. When he landed on top of the bridge, he scanned the street below until he found you. He let out a nervous breath before jumping down and landing near you.

“Hey.” Peter said to get your attention.

“Oh my God. Hi.” You laughed in surprise when you saw who was talking to you.

“Can I show you something?” Peter asked through his mask, catching you off guard. You looked behind you to make sure Spiderman was talking to you and not someone else but found no one there.

“Sorry, Spiderman. As intriguing and random as that offer is, I’m kinda waiting for somebody. It’s really important.”

“I know. It’ll just take a sec.”

“Okay, fine.” You agreed. “As long as you bring me right back.”

“I will.” Peter promised as he slipped a secure arm around your waist. You let out a nervous breath and wrapped your arms around his neck for more support.

“I’ve always wanted to do this.” Peter grinned under his mask before shooting a web and swinging away. You let out a thrilled scream and held on tight as Peter swung you up to a building that stood opposite the Brooklyn bridge. You opened your eyes once you felt your feet on the ground and gasped when you saw what he had wanted to show you.

“I love you” had been written in webs on the bridge in giant letters. The lights of the cityscape behind it lit it up a soft yellow that made you feel a warm feeling inside.

“Aw, that’s beautiful, Spiderman. Who did you do that for?” You turned to him to ask.

“I did it for you.” Peter said and took a step closer to you. Your fondness for it turned to fear as you took a step back.

“Why me? You don’t know me.” You laughed nervously and wondered if Spiderman had been stalking you without your knowledge.

“Yes I do. You’re my best friend. I know you better than anyone.”

“Okay. I’m officially creeped out now.” You laughed nervously and stepped dither away from him. “This is on me for letting a stranger swing me up to a place I cannot escape from.”

“I’m not a stranger.” Peter tried to tell you as he walked towards you.

“You may be Spiderman but you are still a stranger and I am feeling in danger.” You said as you peered over the side of the building, only to confirm you had no escape.

“What? No, you’re not in danger. Look. It’s just me.” Peter laughed and went to take his mask off. He found himself freezing for a moment, knowing that this would be the moment before absolutely everything changed.

“You said “it’s just me” and then didn’t take your mask off.” You pointed out.

“I know. Just give me a second. I’m shy.” Peter said and went for the edge of his mask again. You looked at him expectingly and felt your heart pounding over being seconds away from finding out who Spiderman was under his mask. Peters heart was pounding for the same reason.

“Okay. No going back now.” Peter said to himself before pulling his mask off. He watched your eyebrows go up in an initial surprise before your face settled in a fond smile.

“You know, so many things just made sense.” You said with a gentle laugh.

“Right? Didn’t I tell you it would all make sense after tonight?” Peter smiled now that he had gotten an good reaction. You stepped closer to him and held his hands, just trying to feel the suit in order to convince yourself that this was really happening.

“So this is why you missed the dance last year? And the decathlon?”

“And why I didn’t show up last night. There was a robbery-“

“On 5th avenue.” You realized. “I saw that. You were there?”

“I had to be there. I have this great power and with that comes with a great responsibility.”

You were quite for a minute, then made a face and laughed.

“Peter. A catchphrase? Do you seriously have a catch phrase?” You covered your mouth as you laughed.

“No.” He whined. “That wasn’t a catchphrase. It was more like my tag line if I was a comic book.”

“You’re making it so hard to be attracted to you right now.” You continued to laugh but never let go of his hand.

“What? I just swept you off your feet -literally- after telling the entire world I loved you with my webs.” Peter said as he pointed to the bride. You looked at the bridge again with a whole new perspective now that you knew it was you best friend telling you he loved you. You then looked at Peter and couldn’t contain your smile.

“Yeah, but then you said something that gave me the ick.”

“Are you kidding me? I should be ick free after giving you the grandest of grand gestures.” Peter said and gestured to the bridge again with both arms. You laughed at how worked up he was getting before wrapping your arms around his neck to look at him. Peter settled his hands on your waist and gulped a little as he anxiously anticipated what you were gonna say.

“I love you too. I was gonna tell you that yesterday but then some bitch ass had to rob a bank and keep you from me.” You told him, making him laugh in both surprise and relief.

“Wait, nobody died right? Or was that super insensitive?” You asked him.

“Nobody died. I got punched in the nuts though.” He said though a laugh.

“Aw. Poor baby.” You pouted sarcastically and stroked his cheek. He laughed again before resting his forehead against your to look into your eyes. You stayed that way in comfortable silence for a moment before Peter felt your body freeze in fear.

“Oh my God.” You whispered.

“What’s wrong?”

“It just occurred to me that I’m standing on top of a random building with nothing but your noodle arms anchoring me to the floor. I’m gonna pass out. Take me to the ground, please. I beg you.”

“Hang tight.” Peter chuckled and safely swung you to the ground. Once he set you down, he crawled up the wall behind you and slipped his mask back over his face so that no one would accidentally see him.

“Peter?” You asked and looked around. He slid down on a web the way a spider would and stopped once he was at face level with you.

“I should probably be going now, little lady. Crime doesn’t take a night off.” He said in a his Hulk Hogan voice.

“Oh no. Do you have to go use your great power to take care of your great responsibilities?” You teased him and held your hands over your heart.

“I get the sense you’re teasing me.” Peter said in his usual voice.

“What gave you that idea?” You smiled sweetly and rested your hands on his upside down face.

“My spider senses tell me everything.” He returned to his funny voice to mask how nervous he was to be this close to you. You laughed at his joke and stroked his cheek under the mask.

“Will I see you again, Spiderman?” You asked in an exaggerated swooning voice.

“Only if you commit a crime.” He played along.

“Then I simply have to give you something to remember me by.”

“Your handkerchief?”

“Something better.” You laughed softly as you rolled his mask down to just under his nose. With just his lips exposed, you brought his face closer and kissed him, upside down in that alley way. Peter kissed you back and felt his heart explode in his chest as everything felt right again. It felt just as perfect as the first kiss and both of you knew that something big had just begun. When you pulled away, you rolled his mask back down over his face and smiled to yourself.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Peter.” You whispered in his ear so no one passing by could overhear his name. Peter felt his face blush beneath his mask and felt grateful you couldn’t see him.

The next day, Peter didn’t see you at your locker before his first class but saw you sitting at your usual lab table when he walked in. He smiled at the sight of you and felt relived that not only was you relationship back to normal, it was elevated. He sat beside you and you exchanged timid smiles. You still felt a degree of awkwardness around Peter as you didn’t know how things were going to be from now on. There was a substitute teacher today instead of your usual professor and when she passed around a work sheet for everyone to do, she accidentally skipped you. When Peter noticed this, he put his hand in the air.

“Could we please get another worksheet? My girlfriend didn’t get one.” Peter said once he was called on. The substitute had no idea why several people turned around to look at you and Peter with surprised faces, or why you looked like you’d just been asked for your hand in marriage.

“Oh, sorry. Here you go.” The sub said and handed you a sheet.

“Thank you.” You said before sneaking a glance at Peter. He was quietly doing his work, not making a big deal out of what he had just called you. You, on the other hand, were internally flipping out over the label.

“You just called me your girlfriend.” You leaned over to tell him.

“Did I?” He smiled cheekily but kept doing his work. You grinned at how nonchalant he was being and went back to doing your work.

“I’m sorta seeing someone.” You said without looking up.

“What? Who?” Peter dropped his pencil ad his attention whipped to you.

“Spiderman.” You causally shrugged and kept doing your work. Peter chuckled in relief and picked his pencil back up.

“Oh. Well I wouldn’t want to come between the two of you.”

“Thanks. We can still be friends though, right?” You asked and looked over at him.

“Yeah, totally. Just friends.” He nodded in agreement as he leaned in. You leaned the rest of the way and kissed him for just a moment before pulling away. You were both smiling and blushing messes as you went back to your work.

“What did you get for number 6?” You asked after a beat of comfortable silence.

“I got pH = 12.”

“Fuck.”

“What?” Peter wondered.

“I got “J.D. Salinger” for some reason.”

Tag List 🏷️

@awesomebooklover17 @thebookwormlife @imanativeofswlondondahling @serendipitous-amor @tom-hollands-wifey

@whatareyouhidingpeter @takenbyheartstrings @ultrunning @imyourliquor-youremypoison @andreasworlsboring101

@letsloveimagines @peterparkoure @a-villain-vying-for-attention @justcallmehitgirl @jackiehollanderr @maryjanee23

@geeksareunique @emmamarshmellow @unbelievableholland @flixndchill

@sovereignparker @every-marveler-ever @undiadeestos @caelestii-e @​ ​ @fiantomartell

@solarxmoonchild @canyouevencauseicant @illwritetomorrow @thehappygrungelife

@saysomethingspiderman @smilexcaptainx @quaksonhehe @kelieah @seasidecrowbar

@lovelessdagger @electraheart-3174 @unbelievableholland @yourtypicalhotmess

@horanxholland @thesuitelifeofafangirl @marshxx @heyheycharlatte @nooneinvitedfascistbarbie

@maybemona @alexxcorona113 @lethal-wisdom @xo-spidey

[night-raven-tattler]

Love beyond spoken words - part 1

Summary: Everyone has a way of saying "I love you" without using those three words.

Characters: Ace, Jack, Azul × GN!Reader (separate, romantic)

Other parts of the series: Jamil, Rook, Idia, Sebek

Warnings: food mention (Jack's part)

By opening the document, you agree to Mx Tattly's terms of source confidentiality.

-ˋˏ’✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈

You had no idea how Ace was able to maintain an average of 80 for his grades, because it never seemed like he was paying attention in class

Even when he was hunched down over his notebook as if he was writing down notes, he still gave you the impression he was not listening to the lecture

...because he wasn't, really

A folded piece of paper fell on your textbook from the direction of the seat next to you, and if the red heart doodled on it was any hint towards who the sender was, you knew he wouldn't allow you to pay any more attention to the rest of the lecture

You unfolded the piece of paper, and the words written on it brought a small smile to your face

"Hey hot stuff, wanna ditch Deuce and Grim for a lunch date? □yes or □yes"

You decided to tease him a little, so you drew a third square with a "no" written next to it and crossed it, then you folded the piece of paper and tossed it in his direction

And watched how his confident smirk turned into an offended frown in less than a second

He scribbled down something and threw the piece of paper towards you once again, huffing just so he caught your attention enough to look at him and see how hard he was trying to act hurt

"Come on! I even called you 'hot stuff' and everything!"

You couldn't deny that the whole situation made your heart skip a few beats

Your banter was no secret to anyone: all of your friends knew you and Ace loved to push each other's buttons in an endless silly game of cat and mouse

Yet the written notes kind of made the whole situation have an intimate note to it

It was a game just for the two of you, only for your eyes to see, antitipation and excitement building up as both of you slowly added to your secret conversations

"So you call me 'hot stuff' only when you want me to do something?"

You scribbled back and threw the paper at him and watched how his eyes widened as they followed the words on the paper, and a bit of pink dusted his cheeks as well

He hesistated before he wrote down a reply, and he slid the unfolded piece of paper towards you

"I won't admit anything on paper so you have no physical proof you can show off to the others."

You turned towards him and rolled your eyes, showing him exactly what you thought of his reply

But then, he signed to you to turn the piece of paper around

And, as you did, you discovered another message from him

"I wouldn't mind telling you exactly what I think about your looks if you say yes to that lunch date."

You waited a few minutes before writing down on the piece of paper, letting Ace grow a bit anxious and impatient from your lack of response

He watched as you folded the piece of paper and placed it gently on his slightly open palm

And he had to hold himself back from fist bumping the air when he unfolded the piece of paper, revealing how you crossed out your previous "no" answer and marked the other two "yes"s instead

『••✎••』

Jack had a hard time expressing his more sentimental feelings outwardly, and you assured him that you still knew he cared about you

While he was not a poet or a novelist, he still wanted to learn how to express his care for you better

And one day, an idea finally came to him as he watched a few students exchange notes during class...

It all started when he ran to you during P.E. and silently handed you a water bottle before going back to where he came from

On the water bottle, you noticed a small sticky note, slightly wet from the condensation on the cold bottle, and the note had a message written on it

"Remember to drink water. I don't want to see you dehydrated."

You quickly looked for Jack in the small crowd of students, and when you finally spotted him, you noticed how he was trying to look everywhere but at you, while rocking a cute blush on his face and neck

One day, you forgot your notebook in the library, but luckily your knight in fluffy armor retrieved it for you

As you took it from his hands, you noticed the sticky note on it, but before you could ask anything about it, he walked away

"We have a test next Wednesday. If you need help with studying, you can ask me for help."

Jack was sweet enough for you to buy you lunch while you saved two seats for the two of you somewhere in a more secluded corner of the cafeteria

He returned to you with his lunch and your own - a whole grain bread sandwitch and a bag of assorted nuts

And the usual note you've started to get used to

"You look tired. Hope you regain some of your energy with this."

You looked up to him, who was trying to pick between looking at you and looking away from you

You smiled sweetly at him, unwrapping your lunch and starting to eat and chat, and Jack appreciated not bringing up his new habit right away

As much as he denied it, Jack liked to be admired and felt a sense of pride whenever you watched him outrun his track and field clubmates whenever you dropped by

His speed and stamina was something he obtained from his own efforts, but he couldn't help but wonder how much of the motivation he carried with himself daily was multiplied by your influence

Jack discovered he became more and more determined every day: to become stronger, to become a better student, to show you that you always have him to rely on in times of need

You waited until the club took a break to approach Jack; you handed him a towel and he mumbled a thanks before dabbing it on his sweaty face and neck

You also handed him a sports drink as you praised him for his hard work

The bottle was unexpected, but what surprised him more was the sticky note he noticed as he took the bottle from your hands

Even though the note was slightly wet from his sweaty palms and condensation, the message it sent was clear

"I'm very proud of you. Keep going! I believe in you!"

He shily reached his hand towards you and took a hold of your hand as his tail wagged happily, occasionally brushing your legs

『••✎••』

The contract on the desk in the Lounge's VIP room was unlike any Azul has previously seen

The paper was slightly wrinkled, the whole thing was handwritten, and the hearts at the corner of the paper were not part of any contract etiquette he was familiar with

Amongst the sea (pun not intended) of probably misused legalese he didn't quite know himself and a bunch of sentences written in overly pompous formulations vaguely resembling formal speech, a certain phrase caught his attention

"The contractee will be able to exchange 10 minute break times with any desired act of affection from the contractor, as long as the contractee provides proof of fulfilling the required terms."

The contractee being him, and the contractor being you, of course

Azul's face turned pink, and a small smirk appeared on his face

Even when you were away from him, you still dedicated time to make sure he was taking care of himself in the silliest of ways

Your little unprompted attempt at playing his own game was amusing, and his mind raced with all the ways he could take advantage of the terms you presented him with...

That's why you were summoned to him VIP room a day later

"I'm quite interested in your offer. However, I think we should discuss the terms of the contract further before we sign it."

You were both amused and surprised by how professionally Azul was playing along your silly little game, but you remembered he was in Octavinelle for a reason: he liked being entertained

And you had fun while drafting the contract, so you supposed your idea was entertaining enough

Still, you were happy he was so eager to indulge you

Game or no game, you were still determined to sign a contract with favorable enough terms

"What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I'd like to propose a better way of defining the affection I'd be receiving, and I would also like to suggest offering different rewards for different timestamps."

Azul anticipated your stubbornness to influence you heavily in the negotiation, yet he didn't quite imagine the extent of your determination to have him rest

You did not even allow Azul to reduce the break time anywhere under 10 minutes

The terms you settled on were simple: 10 minutes for physical affection outside of kisses, 20 minutes for kisses anywhere outside the face, and 30 minutes for a kiss anywhere on his face

And when the piece of paper finally had both of your signatures on it, you stamped the paper with a kiss before handing it to Azul, whose face turned red at the gesture

You never expected Azul to take the contract as seriously as he did; you received at least one message a day of him telling you he was taking a break to drink some water and relax his hands

You didn't plan of breaching the contract either: you always did everything your greedy little octopus asked for

You got to spoil your boyfriend while he finally had a convincing enough reason to take a break: it was a win-win in your book

『••✎••』

[steddieas-shegoes]

“Hey, Wayne said you refused to talk to the therapist.”

It was day 34 of visiting Eddie in the hospital, and there was finally a light at the end of the tunnel. If Eddie would talk to the therapist, he could be released into Wayne’s care.

The therapist spent two hours with him, and apparently got nothing more than some sighs and eye rolls.

“I didn’t like him.”

“Well, we can get you another one.”

“I don’t like them either.”

Steve rolled his eyes.

“You haven’t even met them yet.”

“I just know I won’t,” Eddie said as he crossed his arms, hissing when he rubbed against the bandages still covering most of his torso.

“Do you want to stay in the hospital forever?”

“No.”

“Then why can’t you just talk to the therapist? You don’t have to tell them everything, just how you’re feeling now.”

“I don’t want to.”

Steve was trying not to get frustrated. He promised Wayne he’d try to talk some sense into him patiently. It was proving to be harder than he thought it would be.

“What is it that you don’t want to tell them?”

“That maybe I did kill Chrissy! That maybe if she had just gone home or I told her no that she’d still be alive! Maybe Vecna would have gone to the next victim and I wouldn’t have to be here in pain!” Eddie was breathing heavily, his heart monitor beeping more rapidly the more he spoke.

Steve didn’t visibly react, though he wanted to. He wanted nothing more than to reach out and hold Eddie, turn back time and pretend that it was possible that Chrissy wouldn’t have died, let Eddie live his life not knowing these horrors existed.

He wanted to be able to scrub the memory of carrying Eddie’s limp and bloody body from his mind so he could go back to his regular nightmares of him dying, not the man he-

“Sorry.”

Steve’s thoughts came to an abrupt halt when Eddie spoke his apology so softly into the room. It was a direct contrast to how he’d been before, and it was startling.

A thought occurred to Steve, one he hadn’t thought of in at least two years, but felt right now.

“You know, I used to be kind of friends with Chrissy. Not close, but we talked.”

Eddie stared at him curiously, probably wondering where this could be going.

“It was funny. It didn’t happen until I wasn’t popular anymore. I guess that just shows she was a great person.”

“Yeah. She was.”

“I remember I was sitting alone eating lunch. Jason and his crew weren’t there and she walked up to me and said ‘let’s be lonely together for today.’ And I guess that was our thing, being lonely together. It sounds stupid.”

“Doesn’t sound stupid to me.”

Steve looked up and saw Eddie’s wide, wet eyes staring back at him, silently begging him to continue his story. Maybe he needed this.

“It happened a few more times and then we ended up hanging out a few times before graduation. We actually,” Steve paused and bit his lip. This would give a lot away and may end up making things worse for Eddie, but he wanted to believe it would help. “We bonded over our crush on you.”

He let it sit in the air for a moment, eyes refusing to look back up at Eddie.

Until he felt a hand on his.

“You both had a crush on me? Me?!”

“Don’t tell Robin, but she was the first person I came out to. Accidentally. And it wasn’t really coming out so much as admitting I thought you were cute.”

“You thought I was cute?!”

“Well, yeah! Always playing with your hair and doodling during class. Helping the freshman find their classes. Giving those speeches. You were brave.”

“Steve. That’s not bravery.”

“It is when everyone is willing to hurt you because of who you are.”

“I barely ever actually got beat up. Words are just words.”

“We both know that isn’t true.”

Eddie nodded, swallowed, then sighed.

“Yeah. I just didn’t want anyone to feel like me.”

“That’s why we had a crush on you!”

“Well, that’s nice that you bonded over that.”

Steve didn’t like the sudden change in his tone. Like he’d liked hearing the story, but now he realized it didn’t matter.

And maybe it didn’t.

Chrissy was still gone. Eddie still had to watch her die a terrible death.

They were both still traumatized.

But Steve still had a crush on Eddie that wouldn’t go away no matter how much he repressed it.

And maybe that part of the story was something that could change for the better.

“Robin told me I’m an idiot.”

“Yeah, she tells all of us that often.”

“But this is about something specific.”

“What is it?”

“Well, I never got over my crush on you. And instead of saying something about it, I just thought I’d forget about it eventually.”

Eddie blinked at him.

“Chrissy once dared me to ask you out. She said when you graduate, I should do it. Just take the risk.

She was pretty sure you were into both anyways.”

“She was right.”

“Yeah, she usually was,” Steve nodded. “But the problem here is you haven’t technically graduated yet.”

“No I haven’t.”

“You could, though.”

“Maybe.”

“But you have to get out of here first.”

“I see what you’re doing, Harrington.”

“What’s that?” Steve smirked and reached out to move Eddie’s hair away from his face.

“Bribing me to graduate with promises of a date.”

“Is it working?”

Eddie sighed. “Unfortunately.”

“Good. So you’ll talk to the therapist tomorrow?”

“I don’t have a choice, do I?”

“You always have a choice, I’m just hoping you choose you.” ——————————— When Eddie walked across the stage two months later to get his diploma, Steve was giving him a standing ovation.

He ignored his original plan of flipping off Principal Higgins, he didn’t want more eyes on him than he already had.

He ignored it because now he had a new plan. He was gonna walk off the stage, throw his cap in the air, and then kiss Steve Harrington.

Part 2: Prologue

[firelightmlpoc]

Hey, just wanted to say good on you for standing up against the completely batshit accusations that have been thrown around the fandom lately. I cannot fathom how anyone believed those screenshots for even a second. I doubt you’ll get an answer, since the harassers are stuck in an echo chamber of validating their actions and will likely just stick their heads in the sand and pretend they can’t hear you. It sucks ass, but seeing that there are at least some people who will publicly question this bullshit is refreshing.

Of course. There’s a reason ‘innocent until proven guilty’ is something that’s supposed to be a baseline for an accusation of actions that have caused harm. After all, if someone makes a false accusation that then is treated as true, then another innocent person gets harmed, & then the waters get muddied for any other accusations thereafter.

After all, if someone lied about harm done & then makes another accusation, who’s to say that accusation isn’t just another lie? Something-something, ‘boy who cried wolf’. Then it also makes any other accusations in the nearby vicinity seem lest trustworthy because people don’t want to be wrong again.

Some people solely jumped on this hate-train specifically because it was against Pansear Doodles, & wouldn’t have interacted with this accusation at all if it didn’t center around someone they didn’t already dislike.

You want proof? Easy.

Look at the accounts saying ‘I always knew that Pansear was bad! Good to get proven right…’ and then look at their accounts. Almost always, they’ve been bashing Pansear (and other artists who do shipping of Slugcats & other similar art) because they just didn’t like the topic. And, instead of just acknowledging that they don’t like that content & moving on, they internalize that dislike & then try to find a reason to attach said dislike to the author. Then, they look for anything the author did wrong (be it true or not) & suddenly cry out:

‘I was right all along for hating this person!!!’

There’s an account that replied to my earlier post which REALLY clearly shows this in action.

@hourglass-meadow .

This reply is what they said.

An ask they responded to directly about Pansear. (Long-winded, yadayada.)

Their response:

And their first response to seeing Pansear gone.

Now, you know how many posts they made about Pansear potentially being a problem? None, except for the ArtiHunter comic, which has nothing actually ’problematic’ within. What about an ‘I hope the victim can find peace…’? Nonexistent.

These people don’t care if these allegations are true or not.

They don’t care who else gets hurt in this mess, as long as it isn’t someone in their circle.

They just want to see a ‘bad guy’ who is someone they don’t like get punished.

They want to claim their righteousness for all the world to see, as they cast judgement; a lynching in the court of public opinion.

And all of this targeting, IF this is fake, is more-or-less because people didn’t like seeing Pansear & others making /shipping/ art.

Because they saw someone else making something that THEY deemed ‘weird.’

There’s something to be said about the current political climate here, be it the Puritanical aspect of eliminating anything ’other’, ‘weird’, or ‘disgusting’ from sight no matter how innocuous/harmless it is;

the ‘Guilty until Proven Innocent’ mindset going around that makes actual victims more liable to not out their abuser out of concern for what will happen to their abuser (As, statistically speaking, abusers tend to be someone close to the abused, before abuse starts.)

Or even just the fact that people are simply emboldened to be as shitty as possible while they believe they’re anonymous online, because they’re of the mindset that they’re immune to consequences because they aren’t being directly known by these internet people in-person.

Don’t believe me? Look at every account celebrating Pansear’s self-eviction from the Rainworld community. Look at their actions & words from before this accusation. And then check what I said again. Cross reference this shit. See that the majority don’t care if there was a victim, much less if the potential victim is ok now or not; they just wanted someone they didn’t like, for one arbitrary reason or another, gone.

Cruelty was the point of many people’s actions against Pansear here, & by jove did they get what they wanted.

Remember folks! Remember this well:

No matter how much you align with leopards-that-eat-people’s-faces, the leopards won’t think twice about your face being next on their dinner plate.

That’s enough words from me for the time being, however.

[lillified]

I think i remember a doodle thing you drew where Starscream was shouting "do you want to be hated?" at megs and i can't find it for the life of me 😭

hey! this ask actually sent me on a bit of a journey—I could not remember the post you’re talking about at all, which doesn’t usually happen with stuff I’ve made! It felt very familiar, but I could not recall anything else about it.

At first I thought you might be thinking of this scene from Terror of the Skies—

—where merc Starscream berates Megatron for sparing her. It’s close, but the wording clearly isn’t correct, and I didn’t feel like the context was quite right.

So, I thought it might be from another short comic, Black Hole—

—which seemed like a sure fire hit, given the entire story of the comic—but even then, Starscream never said those exact words in this comic. I felt like whatever it was had to be closer.

While I was scrolling through my backlogs, though, I remembered a really specific project that I never ended up completing. It was extremely unfinished and i was pretty sure I’d never posted it anywhere outside of Twitter, but it stuck out in my mind. So I went to find it, and sure enough:

I did write that, but apparently, it was Elita and Megatron!

There’s still a good chance this isn’t exactly what you’re thinking of, but it is the closest thing I could think of or find. I stopped working on this WIP so long ago that I know the second panel was supposed to have words, but i completely forget what they were. I won’t spoil what I remember about the context, but you can make your own inferences if you’d like.

Sorry for the long thread, your ask genuinely intrigued me! especially since it’s still possible that there’s another post somewhere even further back that I’m forgetting that fits the bill. I guess I’m just flattered that someone else is interested enough in my stuff that they’d remember something like this!

[factual-fantasy]

29 asks! Thank you! :)) 🍕

This is a good question :00 and it kind'a got me thinking..

If there's a situation effecting Ingo only, and its making him feel down... it'll be easier to tell. His frown is more genuine, and he doesn't talk as much. Emmet will notice pretty quickly..

But if Ingo and Emmet are sharing a stressful or upsetting situation? Ingo will go big brother mode and put all his emotions aside to comfort and calm Emmet down. After all is said and done, Ingo will find time to himself to cry it out or vent his frustrations alone. Just so Emmet doesn't have the extra stress on his shoulders.

I can imagine Emmet is aware that Ingo might bury his emotions or brush them aside sometimes.. but I can see Emmet not being aware that Ingo does it this often or with this intense of emotions. If he knew I'm sure he would make an effort to reach out to Ingo more often and comfort him too..

That makes for a good comic idea ngl.. 👀

Howdy and Poppy actually need the most work out of all the neighbors <XDD

I have this general idea that Poppy's house was built by her parents when she was little, and she's lived there ever since. I have- I'm sure a very common headcannon- that she struggles with anxiety and usually deals with it by staying on her peaceful little property.

For Howdy I mainly have ideas for his friendship with Barnaby. I imagined when he first came to the neighborhood he was kind'a nervous about meeting his new neighbors..

But thankfully Barnaby came along and broke the ice. He came on in, complimented the shop, cracked some jokes, bought a few things and had a chat with Howdy. In the end they learned a bit about each other and he made Howdy feel relaxed and welcome. :))

tbh I have no idea <XDDD I'm assuming there's hair gel, hair curlers and prayers involved XDD

Wally thankfully isn't so tired he's at risk of passing out- but I can see him frequently falling asleep on benches or tables <XD In that case Barnaby will likely be the first to find him and gently wake him up

@littlebluemew

He'd probably be spooked out of his mind might and go straight to Ratchet for help <XD

@milk-powrit

You know? I actually haven't thought much about them.. I considered that they knew about Julies wishes to become a neighbor an just didn't stop her. I should work on them more tbh..

@glitchhayden418

WAIT NO LETS TALK ABOUT THIS--

(In response to this post)

<XD Boy do I need all of those things- 💀💀 also thank you! :))

@holly-opal

:DDD Thank you!! :)))

@babqftim-questers

<XD In my pinned post I explain that I cant really draw my FNAF Au stuff atm,, nor do I feel like I have the mental energy to do so..

But hey I'd thought about coming back to Deltarune so that's something.. <:DD

oooo neat! :00 I've doodled some of the Unova Pokémon as slimes recently.. perhaps I should give the Conkeldurr line a go! :00 Maybe I can make the veins work <XDD

Boy have I, its all over tumblr XDD

THATS THE COMFORT IN THE HURT/COMFORT RIGHT THERE BABY LES GOO 💪💪💪

But for real, thank you! :DD I'm so glad to hear you like hurt/comfort too! And that you feel I do it really well!! :DDD 💞💞

In my AU, Eddie and Frank are just friends. Mostly because I don't like drawing or writing lovey dovey content for characters that aren't my own.. ehgk- 💀💀

Also thank you! :))

I have no plans for him to discover the truth, but i have plans for Eddie to eventually go "something is very wrong with this neighborhood, and something is very wrong with me."

I do have plans for Home to be the culprit behind Eddies predicament. Mostly because I want Home to be the main/only powerful and seemingly malicious entity in the neighborhood <XD

As for Frank and Eddie, I explain in the ask above that they are just friends in my AU :0

And thankfully, no. My Barnaby does not chase Eddie for being a mailman. XDDD

My version of the koopalings didn't look after JR, Kamek and Kammy did mostly- :00

And I cant remember the order of ages I gave them.. but I know I made JR the youngest, and Ludwig the oldest :00

Thank you!! :DDD I'm glad :}}}

So far I don't have any plans to for Wally to find out home is alive- and the house never does anything to make Wally suspect its alive :00

If you kept waking up at night, you wouldn't assume your house is alive- you would probably be just like Wally and assume you have some kind of weird insomnia problem..

If you heard strange groans and cracks in your house, you wouldn't assume its alive. You'd be like Wally and think "ah, makes sense. This house is super old, weird creaks and groans in the floorboards is normal." ..Get the idea? :0

@gummy-wyrmonastring (I cut out the images because they're not mine <XD)

(Slime rancher comic in question) AAAAA thank you so much!! :DD I'm glad you liked my comic!! :))

And I've heard of Undertale yellow,.. I cant say I'll play it- but I've heard good things about it that's for sure! And I've seen a lot of cool fanart for it too.. 👀👀

@whereismycupofcoffee

I cant recall ever having a dream that was better than reality- and so far this summer has been the worst in my life.. 😅👍

WAAHGHGG THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! THIS IS SO SWEET!!! 🥺🥺💞💞💞💞

@cry-stals

Ahh sorry, Y/N isn't apart of my Au <:/ And neither is the welcome home website- My AU is through the perspective of the puppets world being a real world :))

The text is google translated to-

"Hello! I just wanted to say that I really love your art! Your Slime Rancher AU and Welcome Home AU are very good! I hope you continue to create great works for us! Sincerely, - Japanese followers"

My response:

AAAAA Thank you so much! :DD Im so glad to hear that you like what I make!! :)))

ああああ、本当にありがとう！ :DD 私の作ったものが気に入っていただけてとても嬉しいです!! :)))

@hershelwidget (Ask was sent after this post I think)

Thank you!! :DD And I believe I know the movie you're talking about!! :DDD Its with the 9 little doll people right? I don't remember much of the movie- but I remember thinking "what on earth is happening-" and "wow this just got super dark what the heck--" XDD think it was a great movie!

@minnesotamedic186

Oooo! It sounds horrifying! :DD I'll have to look into it.. 👀👀

The only thing I can recommend is references, references, references. <:/ That's what I do!

Also thank you!! :)))

@nerdy-aroace (Referencing thins post)

AWWW THAT'S ADORABLE YOU'RE SO RIGHT FOR THATTTTT 😭😭💞💞💞

Well that's simple, Arceus created all the slimes, evolutions and all. Probably 100s and 100s of each line. And then they just filled up the planet. The final evolutions created more slimes and the first stage evolutions ate the plorts of the bigger ones.

(Sorry for the late reply! This got buried💀)

WAAHGGGG THANK YOU!! :DDD

[aclowntiny]

A Date Like No Other- Basketball Player!Mingyu x Female!Reader (College AU)

Inspired by the famous tumblr post 😄 also I’m quite tempted to do a part 2 for this one if anyone is into that hehe

Word Count: 3600 | College AU, Basketball Player!Mingyu, Humor, Fluff | Warnings: drinking mentioned, one suggestive comment, one minor swear

He was the guy on campus everyone would have sold organs to go on a date with. The sports guy. The really tall guy. Handsome, plays on the school team, movie love interest guy.

You were the weird girl hardly anyone talked to, and you just liked him because he drew on your notes with you.

History was boring you- you’d already answered the questions and they read the pages out loud at a snail’s pace, sending your eyes diving into the pages lest you want to rip your hair out and coat your long thin institutional table in it. Saving that, you reached into your backpack and pulled out a green ultra fine marker, popping the cap. You reached over and doodled a frog sitting in his funny little amphibian hunch on one of the multitudinous papers strewn about the table before the guy sitting next to you glanced over, a huge smile spreading across his face before he suppressed laughter.

"I've been frogged!" That, of course, had him almost snorting in aborted amusement.

Wait...did that mean? "Oh, sorry, those were your notes, huh?" You asked in response, hand hitting your head lightly. "I got them mixed up, sorry for defacing your property. I can get you a new sheet if you were going to turn that in-"

"Nah," your neighbor, whose name was Mingyu if you remembered from roll call, held up a hand of both restraint and reassurance, "it's fine! I'm going to keep it. I love him. I think he needs a hat, though."

"Oh, I got it." This time, it was a brown marker you grabbed, quickly outlining and filling in a tiny cowboy hat for your creation. "There we go, how's that?"

This time, a full snort. "He looks handsome to me. What's his name?" Mingyu whispered as your professor drew a tad bit closer.

"Uh, Clint Eastwood?" You shrugged, having not exactly thought that far- in fact, not at all, the whole shindig starting at full zero thoughts, head empty.

"Well, I'll take him with me to every class I have," Mingyu replied, glancing fondly at the doodled frog before taking his pencil and drawing a fly between two pieces of bread, "and feed him, too."

At that, you exhaled a quietened laugh, smiling back as wide as he'd done.

"What? Wouldn't that be what a frog eats?"

You had to admit that it would be.

From that day on, you two added one or two things onto Clint Eastwood's page every class session. He had a top hat at the ready for dressing up, a little garden of flowers, a very badly drawn horse to ride, a soccer ball to play with, and a plate of the takeout Mingyu had just really wanted that day. You didn't even know what his major was. Maybe it was just sports. Could one go to school for simply basketball? Who knew? You guys didn't really talk, just drew and whispered and laughed about your froggy little world. Either way, to your simultaneous amusement and annoyance you found yourself really able to see the hype behind the legendary Kim Mingyu. For all the popularity, he was a good guy. And you know what, he was cute. But, like, heart cute. The face cute was just a bonus.

~

"Hey (y/n), do you ever go to any games? I've never seen you at one," Mingyu mused as you strode out of class, backpacks loose over your shoulders.

"Well," you paused, letting your expression be cut by a half-joking, half-serious wince, "no offense, but I'm not a huge sports person? So I haven't gone because I don't have anyone to go with and it hasn't seemed worth the money. Not because of the game, just because of how much they charge for the ticke-”

"Hey, don’t worry, I get it," he laughed, "well, my little sister could use someone to go with, and the ticket would be on me. I save on buying them for myself because, well, you know."

"You're too busy slamming dunks or whatever it is basketball players do," you supplied.

"Depends on your position," Mingyu just chucklef in response, pushing the big silvery-painted fire exit-esque handle of the history building's double doors open.

"Basketball has positions?" You burst out incredulously, squinting both in confusion and at the onslaught of sunlight assaulting your eyes as you emerged past the threshold.

Another laugh. "Come and find out."

~

The game was made more fun by knowing a player- it gave you something to care about as your eyes followed Mingyu's run along the smooth floors, the way he leapt to toss the ball to some guy just as tall or even taller than him. He really played with passion, passion and a clear sense of fun if his remarks on the court were any indication. His sister was pretty cool, too. She looked like a fashion model straight out of Seoul, but she was fun and sassy, not afraid to tease her big brother about the shot he missed when he ran up and greeted you at the sidelines or shoot a questioning look between you two as you told him to do it for Clint Eastwood, whom Mingyu replied was his good luck charm before shuffling back off on sneakers that squeaked against the floor.

Even though you didn't actually hang out with him the whole time, just at celebratory victory ice cream after, you came to history lecture the next session feeling closer to Mingyu, and he must have felt the same as he started talking to you instantly. You rarely initiated conversation, but always welcomed it.

He thanked you for coming to the game as if he hadn’t paid for it, then asked what your major was. You told him and bounced the question back. Turns out it was business, not sports. That history lecture was just GE you both had to get out of the way. The most interesting history lessons to you weren't generic national history or war maps, but all the odd sideline stuff like how some people believed huffing toilets might have helped them during the Black Plague.

"They what?" Mingyu asked, eyes widening and mouth agape as class commenced.

Maybe that was why people didn't really talk to you.

Such reflection was inaccurate, however, as you mindlessly doodled a ridiculous-looking bug-eyed dog on the now-shared note paper and Mingyu chuckled and gave it a collar, smiling when your glance upward met his eyes.

The moment you rose from your seat after lecture, notebook shoved back into your backpack and pencil case into one of the side water bottle holsters or whatever they were called, Mingyu started talking to you again, this time about how glad he was that he didn't join a fraternity like his teammate Johnny.

"Yeah, because see, this one guy just got so drunk he didn’t know where his car was and his girlfriend lost her nose ring, then another guy was sick and they threw him outside and he woke up in the cold locked out of the house, and the houses stink, too, like they smell so bad…”

"Yeah," you muttered, taking each of your bag straps in your hands this walk, palms sliding over the rough fabric, "dude, you couldn't pay me to live in one of those."

“…they’re practically taking after those Black Plague people!” He joked, bringing a smile to both your faces as he mimed taking a sniff, waving his hands in front of his nose and bursting into laughter.

“Except they should know better,” you added, shaking your head in amusement, “they need to get smart like you and I.”

He didn’t laugh, just nodded in approval. "Right? And everyone there has already hooked up with each other. I'm so tired of all that, too. That's not the kind of date I've been looking for, you know?”

In a sense, you did not know, being that none of your classmates had even hardly made conversation let alone a risqué pass, but you got it. Being as popular as Mingyu was, you’d seen how fellow students threw themselves at him sometimes. Had to get uncomfortable, especially if his facial expression at a few of them said anything. They weren’t usually very original, either, poor guy. He was just a clear end goal, and someone who loved his sister and his little drawings and celebrated with ice cream as often as cocktails and laughed at toilets didn’t deserve that. Mingyu wasn’t an ideal, he was a real person. Someone who just needed to have some damn fun for once.

“Sure. You need some- no, you deserve some- creativity. If it was up to me, I’d take you on a date like no other,” you joked, chuckling as your gaze rose back up to his eyes.

“You would?” At the sight of Mingyu’s eyes widening, you wondered if your phrasing had inadvertently crossed a line. Sure, you were totally willing, but- “Alright, just name a time.”

“Wait, really?” This time it was your turn to gape, one hand dropping off your backpack strap to fall to your side. Your heart picked up its pace. Never in a googolplex of years would you have thought Mr. It Boy K. Basketball would want a date with you. Being his friend was surprising enough.

“Yeah, of course. I think it’d be fun,” Mingyu beamed at you, “and I trust you. My sister likes you, too. If…if you really meant it, that is.” He added that last bit as his own gaze dropped and one hand reached up to rub the back of his neck.

Giggling shyly at his sudden sheepishness as well as the situation’s sheer absurdity, you tilted your head his way, smile melting back out of the shock. “Well, thanks, that actually…really means a lot. Get ready for an epic time, then!”

He cocked a brow, turning down between a row of potted trees toward the food court. “Have something in mind already?”

Actually, you did have something you always wanted to do if you could get someone else- it would look too weird to be the only one. Why not do it with Mingyu?

“Be afraid,” you nodded, smirking in satisfaction.

“Well then, how should I dress?”

“Just casual is fine,” you shrugged and teased, “we can’t all afford black tie, Mr. Business Major.”

“Fair enough,” he chuckled, still giving that wide smile you’d come to anticipate seeing, “Friday night?”

“Friday night,” you repeated.

~

“Get ready for Friday Night Showdown!”

“Um, (y/n), this is the grocery store.”

Your lips turned upward proudly as you rotated from a fist pump into a Vanna White pose before the mart. “I know.”

“Are we…” Mingyu paused, clearly searching for words. “Fighting in here or something?”

“We are not,” you replied cryptically, looking all the more satisfied as you passed between the automatic doors, Mingyu at your side.

“Am I doing your shopping?” He looked at you with still-raised eyebrows, though amusement colored his expression.

“That would be messed up!” You denied, shaking your head. “Though admittedly funny.”

“Don’t get any ideas for date two!”

Your heart flipped at Mingyu’s easy smile, how casually he said that…the way he flushed and looked away the moment the words left his mouth. He was already thinking of your next date? Hope he likes seafood, you internally joked.

“Yeah, no shopping tonight unless you wanted some snacks. Because tonight,” you skipped over all the central aisles of kitchen supplies, soap, and dry goods, making a beeline for the meat section… well, more specifically the fish counter, “is all about the face-off.”

In a split second you caught Mingyu’s eyes dart down once more past rows of cans, bottles, jars of just about every color you could ask for, dancing over their numerical markers as if to say farewell to actual shopping. Then, his gaze was back on you, your gestures, over your shoulder to the tank at the end of the fish counter. The tank full of lobsters with big claws and small patience. His eyes met yours again. He knew. You could see it.

You nodded. “Oh yeah. Pick your champion.”

He twisted his cap around backwards, revealing his face, those big, innocent brown eyes, once more. “Uh, quick question: how do you suggest I keep mine straight from the others?”

He was asking in earnest. That was another thing you liked about Mingyu: not only did he possess childlike wonder beyond what somebody in his age and station in life probably should, he was also a bad liar in the purest, kindest of senses. He really, truly, had never had a grocery store lobster beatdown date, and he couldn’t fake interest if he tried. So now he wanted tips, advice you could give him as if you had already had loads of grocery store lobster beatdown dates. All you could do was smile back at the tall basketball player and every small kindness he’d shown you thus far. The way he’d simply seen you.

“Good question. Don’t they have different colored wristbands?”

He arched a brow, clearly fighting a snicker. “Different what?”

Pantomiming a band with one hand grabbing the other, you stuttered. “You know, the… the claw restraints! The wristbands!”

“I don’t think they have wrists, (y/n),” Mingyu teased, reaching over and ruffling your hair.

Well, of course you realize this means war. “Alright, you are on,” was all you said, eyes narrowing.

He perked up at that. “What’s the bet?”

“Winner gets to pick the next activity,” you reply, sauntering a few steps closer to the lobster tank and pointing to one with a purple band over its claws that was clearly ready to throw- well, for lack of better terminology- hands, “and I choose this one.”

“Well, in that case,” Mingyu returned to your side, arm pressed against yours as he peered into the tank, “the logical choice would be to pick the one in red in front of yours. May the best crustacean win.”

And at that, his competitive stare melted back into that boyish look as he turned to you. “…did that sound cool?”

It almost came out as a snort, you burst out laughing so violently. “That was legendary,” was all you could wheeze out.

~

“Ha ha! I can’t believe it!” Mingyu grinned and bobbed up from his bent tank stare like an excited puppy, pumping the fist that wasn’t holding the mart beer can he’d bought as his lobster shoved yours away in victory.

The pair of crustaceans had been locked in claw-to-claw combat, tussling very slowly over nothing in particular but their proximal frustrations, and Mingyu’s had apparently vented harder, shoving yours back after some aggressive minutes. Mingyu had gotten into the fight, nudging you when something extra exciting happened and even providing commentary on sideline fights between sips.

First drawing a fly sandwich, then that. Truly, who'd've thunk?

“Neither can I," you mock-pouted, crossing your arms, "purple always wins."

"Says who?" Asked Mingyu, who leaned down closer to you, face mere inches from yours.

"Says me," you shrugged, feeling warmth spread across your face.

"Well, you know what?"

You could feel warmth of his breath ghosting faintly over your cheeks, your lips. "Wh- what?"

"As much as I enjoy a good bar," he leaned back a bit, clapping, "I did need something else. Something new. This was fun! Wanna go play basketball in the park? I bet we'll have the court to ourselves!"

There it was again. The reason everyone liked him. Movie love interest vibes, even beneath the oddly-tinted fluorescent lights of commerce. A smile like a boy on the body of a man. Probably not something they usually imagined to see over a lobster tank. Over hoops in the park, though? That tracked, even if it was a bit of a one-eighty from his breath fanning your face.

Beside any of that, he had won the right to choose.

"Sure," you smile, "let's keep your winning streak up."

And with a hand clasped around yours, that athletic strength was tugging you out the grocery store door to a rush of evening wind and the sound of mutual laughter.

~

Basketball really was that man’s passion. Just about the only thing about it you knew about the sport was what a slam dunk was, but what different shots scored different points? You wanted to throw a three-pointer, but what was a three-pointer?

You learned what it was, what an assist was, that elbowing was illegal or something like that because every game had a reason to send the players to sports jail like grown-up cops and robbers.

You got the ball in the basket twice with no help, and that was achievement enough. Mingyu had ran across the court to high-five you both times as if you’d just won him a game. When you messed up the angle of another throw, he got behind you and, trying your best to focus with his chest flush against your back, you tried again and sent the ball sailing without the betrayal of the previous throw’s dramatic arc.

“So can we give Clint Eastwood a basketball now too?” Mingyu asked out of the blue, dropping to the concrete at your side, legs crossing and knees brushing.

“What,” you chuckled, “do you have him with you or something?”

Reaching into his jacket pocket, he pulled a small white square out and unfolded it to reveal the piece of lined notebook paper with margins full of marker and pencil scratch, most notably your hatted frog friend. He kept those notes in his pocket?

With the one not holding Clint, he ran a hand through his short black hair. “I do like to have him with me,” he answered with a tentative smile.

You twisted slightly, feeling your spine pop from its prior exertion, and remembered his words from the basketball game as he’d visited your seat, making you laugh with a failed attempt at spinning the ball on his finger. “As a good luck charm?”

He shook his head. “I think we’ve added something almost every time we’ve been together. He’s like a log of all the memories we share.” With that, he scooched closer to your side, his jacket falling over the folds of your own clothes slightly. “And I like our memories, Frog Girl.”

What could you say to that? “Frog Girl?” You just giggled, eyes on his.

“That’s right,” Mingyu nodded, “I can’t believe I would never have talked to you if you hadn’t drawn a frog.”

“Ah, college,” you sighed, tilting your head, “the golden years, and yet it’s so easy to ignore everyone else.”

“Well, no longer,” Mingyu shot back, gaze honing in on…well, you weren’t sure, but you liked it, “I figured out what I want to do with my victory wish.”

You smiled at the phrase ‘victory wish’, a term that was just so him. “I thought that was this.” For emphasis, you waved a hand along the court, feeling the night breeze that much more on the skin of your palm.

“Nope,” he shook his head, smirking as his eyes fell back on yours, “I didn’t say I was using it then, I just asked if you wanted to come out here and you said yes."

Well, coat you in flour and call you a biscuit. "You evil genius, you." At that, you gave a grin and a shake of your own head, unable to resist feeling a bit impressed. Man plays games, he picks up some strategy. You'd have to remember that.

"I prefer to think of myself as a nice genius," Mingyu said, and then, switching tones completely, doing another one-eighty to one sweet enough to make your heart swell, he continued, "and about my wish: can I kiss you? I can't think of a better way to end Friday Night Showdown."

Deathly afraid of saying something stupid, you answered by shifting from your crossed legs, folding them to the side as you sat up, knee resting slightly on the edge of his leg as you pressed your lips to his. The slick of his sports jacket between your fingers felt cool as you gripped it to hold both yourself and Mingyu in place as he surged forward into you. For his speed, his eagerness, his kiss was surprisingly soft, not digging too deep but just firmly holding you, treasuring you as if the feeling of your lips was about to fade. Oh, buddy, I'm not going anywhere, you murmured in your head against the feeling of his ever-so-slightly chapped lips.

And as he pulled away, separation painfully slow, deliberate, Mingyu looked you dead in the eyes, blinked at the sudden return of hazy park streetlight, and said “Wow.”

You nodded. “Wow.” Can’t believe how well those lobsters worked, you wanted to say. "You're full of surprises, Mr. Basketball."

“Mr. Basketball,” he mused, gaze briefly drifting from yours, then back. “I wasn’t sure you were going to be that into me, being so funny and smart and artistic and stuff, but I just couldn’t help myself. And boy am I glad for that,” he grinned.

For that, all you could do was kiss him again.

No more hoops were shot that night, only words tossed out with new glee as you, now wrapped in Mingyu’s jacket, pointed out lesser-known constellations, like the Dutch giraffe one or the Poop Deck. After all, you had a reputation to keep up on that date, and everyone had already seen the Big Dipper.

[nell0-0]

Writing requests open?? What about Wind doing something that is SO REMINISCENT OF TUNE that Time and Wars start sweating? Or TIME GOING FULL MASK BEHAVIOUR causing Wars to have flashbacks?

I am very in love with your HW-era art, especially with Mask, by the way 💜

Not sure if this 100% fits the request, but hopefully you like it anyways ^^

Main characters: Wind/Tune & Time/Mask

Wind was biting his tongue. It could be barely seen between his teeth, peeking out the slightest bit. Sitting down on a log as he was, back teetering dangerously back and forth from exhaustion, it was a tad concerning.

Or it would be if Time wasn’t already familiar with such a sight. Legend could keep sending the sailors all the sneaky worried glances he wanted, and Wild could try to cook as many of the sailor’s favorite dishes as he could with the ingredients he had, but none of it would make much of a difference.

The long walks had been hard on the sailor, and that summed up with chasing down the latest batch of black blooded monsters from Twilight’s time, the shift to Sky’s era and the subsequent series of favors they completed for the people of Skyloft (which Wild insisted in calling side-quests, Farore knows why), had been taking a toll. Not only on the sailor, of course, as Four could also be seen on the edge of camp laying on top of his bedroll, completely knocked out for the night.

In short, it wasn’t a surprising sight for Time. Wind biting his tongue, the back and forth rocking and the restless ears, flopping up and down without apparent rhythm. It was one of Tune’s tells regarding deep exhaustion.

For a hero used to adjusting his posture to the rocking of the waves, long hours spent looking at the horizon with nothing in sight, this particular adventure was draining. Then again, it was one of Tune’s tells, not Wind’s. Even though they were the same person, it was only in the way that Mask and Time had once been one in the same. That was probably why the others were concerned.

Casting a quick look in Warrior’s direction, the captain didn’t seem to notice anything odd. Probably not realizing this was something out of the ordinary for Wind, since it was so normal to see from Tune. So, since the captain was out, it was up to Time.

Getting up with creaking knees that made Hyrule snicker, Time walked towards the sailor, dropping to the ground next to the log in which Wind sat.

“Hey.”

Goddesses, Time cringed internally. An accomplished warrior he may be, but casual conversation was not his forte.

“Hey there.”

Then again, not that it mattered if Wind was so out of it to not notice.

The thought of getting Legend’s ice rod to see if Wind’s peeking tongue would stick to the icy orb did cross Time’s mind. The reaction would have been priceless, all wide eyes and betrayed looks. Time could picture it. He was quick to discard it.

After all, a prank like that would lose effectiveness if it was expected. Tune’s reaction had been so memorable he still remembered vividly to this day.

“You want to talk about whatever has you down?”

A grunt. A negative, then. Not that it surprised Time, he had been expecting this kind of response.

Rummaging through his pack, he looked consideringly at some loose parchment, then thought again and grabbed one of his newer journals, with barely a name (which they shared, so it wouldn’t be an issue) and a little log of the last couple of time jumps.

After some time just letting the silence fester, Time asked again, just to get the same negative response. Plan b, then.

In the end, Time passed the journal and some ink to Wind, who looked at them uncomprehending.

“Here, take it.”

Little hands did take the items, peeking tongue retreating to the insides of the mouth as downturned lips showed confusion.

“It helps sometimes, to draw instead of talk. If you’re too tired, or just don’t want to talk, then doodle some.”

“I’m not a little kid.”

The indignation would have been endearing if it wasn’t funny as hell, because he had said those exact same words to Tune all those years ago (or to come. It was a matter of perspective. Time magic was confusing like that).

“I know.” Time patted the cover of the leatherbound journal pointedly. “I use them too, and I’m grown up, aren’t I?”

That got a laugh. A win on Time’s book.

“Grown? More like old.”

With a fond smile, Time messed Wind’s hair, who protested the treatment heavily. And yet, the weight against his hand increased, seeking contact and reassurance, as Time knew it would.

“Here, let me show you some of my doodles.”

And when Wind criticized how badly Time drew everything BUT horses, the man shrugged.

“Take it up with the guy who taught me to draw in the first place if you’re so bothered.”

“And how the hell am I supposed to do that? I probably won’t even met him, ever!”

“Oh, believe me, you will.”

Years later-ago-somewhen, when there was a war that included different time periods, fought over a hero that wasn’t supposed to awaken so soon yet had to, with two displaced kids holding the same sacred title as the captain, a certain sailor had a realization.

He looked down at his hands in horror, then up towards the sky in despair as he yelled.

“Oh my goddesses, I can’t believe that-that-“

Mask pouted scowled, used by now to the antics but no less inconvenienced.

“Are you gonna teach me to draw Epona or not?”

“Shut it, this is your fault in the first place!”

“Sure” Mask shrugged, wanting the dramatics to be over with. The chances of it working were slim, but never zero. At least it would speed it up. Hopefully.

“On my pride as an artist, you will learn how to draw something else other than horses, that I swear!”

Mask sighed. “Okay. But Epona first.”

Mask never ended up learning to draw anything else other than horses during the two years that followed that interaction.

[scorchieart]

Doodles and Dust

Genre: Slice of Life

Characters: Jin Grandet, Sariel Noir

Wordcount: 700

Prompts: In the shadows, Make it...

A/N: My gift for the 2024 Ikemen Exchange over on @flash-exchange for @pathogenic. Despite them having one of my favorite friendships in the game, I don't often write these two together. So I'm very happy I got to work on this for ya, Ollie!

“Cinnamon sticks, old man— You scared the sugarcubes outta me,” Jin heaved, clutching the door with one hand and his chest with the other. It always was a shock running into him unscheduled. Doubly so in a dark attic.

Sariel did not look up from the trunk he rifled through. “If you are looking for your magazines, Prince Yves disposed of them last week,” he said.

“Magazines?” scoffed Jin. “You misunderstand. I am here for the same noble reason as yourself.” 

“How fortuitous that we both elected to use our lunch breaks productively today.” Sariel lifted his head and cobwebs swayed off his hair giving his face a ghoulish glow. “I have this area covered. Please start by searching there.” He pointed to a corner where stacks of dusty bookshelves leaned against one another in ominous invitation.

Jin groaned, masking it with a blazing grin. “You’re looking for a magazine, right?” 

The entirety of Sariel’s annoyance flashed with a single eyebrow twitch. “A notebook. Red. With my handwriting.”

“Embarrassing diary entries from your youth, eh?”

“An accelerated course is necessary to bring Belle up to speed with Rhodolite’s governance,” Sariel explained soberly. “I thought it prudent to reference study plans I developed from Prince Leon’s early tutoring days. Why reinvent the wheel?”

It was just a joke. Jin raised his arms in surrender and waddled over to the shelves, each so full to bursting, grabbing one book might topple the entire configuration.

Where to begin? 

Behind looked most stable. Plus he could hide there and snooze. Hey, this was supposed to be break time.

Jin scooted into the shadows, but something already occupied his napping spot. Carefully, carefully, he pulled out a large, ornate frame.  From first glance it looked like a typical painting of the palace grounds—lush rosebushes clearly recognizable to any Rhodolitian visitor—with seven tiny figures scattered across. Boys. But closer inspection revealed more; the boys were not in fact original subjects of the painting but crudely pasted on, torn edges revealing glimpses of different origins. On top of it all, notable blots of ink were scribbled over the scene, as though someone had once left behind harsh criticisms of the work.

“No way!” Jin exclaimed, “I thought I lost this ages ago!”

“And I thought those pieces were pilfered ages ago,” Sariel called as he joined him.

“You never asked. I never told,” Jin said, studying the collage. Long ago, this attic was his preferred place to practice quill-usage in solitude. He reverently glided his fingers over the markings. A pair of dark gloves covered the twins’ interlocked hands. A wide smile cut across Chevalier’s stoic face. Tears welling in Clavis’s eyes replaced with glittering stars. Even Sariel’s fury melted at the doodles.

To a child, the attic is an escape to worlds beyond imagination. To an adult, it is a prison of memory.

“Someone’s missing,” Sariel commented.

“Well, Luke wasn’t around yet.”

“Yes. But I meant His Majesty.”

Jin inhaled. “He wouldn’t have fit. They don’t make portraits that small for kings,” he said.

“But you left a sizable gap in the middle there.”

“As if I’d remember my muse from that long ago?”

“As well as you remembered to discard your drafts, it seems.” Sariel approached the frame and plucked a loose paper sticking out from the corner. Jin reflexively snatched it from his hands.

“Oh my. Embarrassing doodles from your youth?” Sariel asked with glee.

“Yves just missed a page,” Jin said, stuffing it into his pocket. Sariel decided not to comment on how Jin accidentally revealed his lie. Nor how he spotted the unmistakable drawing of a dark-haired boy with glasses on that paper.

“Goodness, how time flies!” Sariel announced. “I can always create a new study plan—Prince Luke requires one regardless. And speaking of recreating things for Prince Luke…” he mused, one hand stroking his chin. “It would be short notice, but I don’t believe the royal painter would mind. And gathering the princes would be beneficial for Belle to interrogate you all at once.”

The attic was indeed a place to unearth memories. Sometimes it worked well to inspire new ones, too.

Jin beamed. “Fine, but you’re standing next to me. Got it?”

Ever helpful, Rio volunteered to organize the entire event. He swiftly located and invited the royal painter from the farthest edge of the kingdom, booked and gathered the princes in the ballroom (resolving any and all inter-factional scheduling and squabbling conflicts that arose), and gallantly escorted Belle to the venue all with such efficiency, the princes invited him to join in for the painting. Neither Jin nor Sariel protested when he perched himself between them bearing the biggest smile of the bunch.

And that’s my headcanon for the story behind the 1st anniversary group portrait :)

[gentlebeardsbarngrill]

10/09-11/2024 Daily OFMD Recap

TLDR; Vico Ortiz / Nat Faxon's birthdays!; OFMD Cast & Crew Birthday Calendar; David Jenkins; Rhys Darby; Taika Waititi; Samba Schutte; Kristian Nairn; Nathan Foad/Matt Maher; Madeleine Sami; Anapela Polataivao; David Fane; Dominic Burgess; Adopt Our Crew: OFMD Rewind; Articles; In Person Events: Calypso's Birthday in PA; Garlic Soup Autumn Bingo; LoveNotes: Featuring Damien Gerard <3;

== Vico Ortiz Birthday! ==

October 10th was Vico's birthday! So many people put out lovely dedications to our wonderful Jim! Chaos Dad was no different!

Source: David Jenkins Twitter / Lucy's Twitter

== Nat Faxon Birthday! ==

October 11th, 2024 is ANOTHER OFMD Birthday! This time-- Our dear Swede!! Happy Birthday Nat Faxon!

== OFMD Cast & Crew Birthdays ==

Hey crew, completely random but someone was asking me if there was a calendar for all the birthdays going on-- and I don't know of one so I put one together on the Repo. I'm still filling it out, but it has a chunk of the main cast in there. Hopefully I'll have as many as I can find done by early next week. If you know of some you don't see feel free to ping me, I'm always happy for help!

OFMD Cast & Crew Birthday Calendar

== Rhys Darby==

Rhys has been VERY busy. First off-- looks like he's got a new comedy show coming to Portland on 12/04! You can get your tickets here!

Source: Rhys Substack Oh! And Rhys & Rosie's son Finn's band, Great Big Cow is going to be playing in New York On Dec 16th! Wanna check them out? You can buy tickets here!

Source: Rhys' Twitter

For those of you not on Substack, Rhys has been doing some pretty fun Daily Doodles for us!

Wanna support our lovely Captain? Join him on his Substack!

More news on upcoming work for Rhys -- He'll be joining Lauren Graham in "The Z-Suite"! Check out the article here!

Source: HollywoodReporter

== David Jenkins ==

Our friends over at @adoptourcrew made a lovely post for National Coming Out Day, and Chaos Dad shared it with love <3

David also posted this picture on his instagram with the phrase "Guys This Is Important". Which as you can well imagine, triggered some HONKING.

He did however want us to go into the weekend not honking TOO hard and clarified on Twitter a bit later.

Source: David Jenkins Twitter

== Taika Waititi ==

In case you didn't remember that Taika's a stone cold fox here's a quick reminder.

Source: Popeofthebowery Instagram

In addition (and I'm not sure why Tumblr is fighting me) he had a really adorable message for his wife Rita Ora on The Masked Singer a couple days back. Check out the post here.

SourcE: Isladavis Instagram

He was also out on the George FM Radio show! With his FUZZY JACKET.

Source: George FM Radio

== Nathan Foad ==

Nathan is always giving us so many fun little instagram stories, showing his cheeky side.

Also then he turns around and takes glorious headshots and destroys us in his beauty. Matt Maher was caught commenting on this little piece of heaven <3

Source: Nathan Foad's Instagram

== Samba Schutte ==

Samba's new film, Advanced Chemistry-- is really getting some traction! Collider Article

He was recently on the Chirpse Hurts Podcast Re: Advanced Chemistry as well!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Chirpse Hurts Podcast❣️ (@chirpsehurtspod)

If you haven't seen it yet, and want to check it out, it's available digitally on these platforms!

Amazon

Fandango At Home

Apple TV

Also-- Samba and team are asking for folks to review/rate the movie to help boost it, and show off Samba's awesome skills. Wanna help them out? Once you've watched, please take a few minutes to review on:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Samba Schutte (@sambaschutte)

Source: Samba's Instagram

Amazon

Rotten Tomatoes (This one in particular to get them on the Tomatometer!)

IMDB

Letterboxd

== Kristian Nairn ==

Kristin is going to be doing more book signings in Ireland at Eason O'Connell Street on October 12th! Are you in town? Check him out here! Eason Events!

He's also sending out so many thank yous for all the support with his book!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Kristian Nairn (@kristiannairn)

Source: Kristian Nairn's Instagram

== Madeleine Sami ==

Our dear Madeleine Sami is back with more episodes of Double Parked airing in Aotearoa!

Source: Madeleine Sami's Instagram Stories

== Anapela Polataivao ==

Back by popular demand, Tina is being shown again on Oct 13th at 7:30pm at HIFF! Ticket info!

Source: HIFF Instagram

Not sure where this is at-- but it's gorgeous with our beloved Auntie.

== David Fane ==

Just the most adorable selfie with the even more adorable man.

Source: David Fane's Instagram Stories

== Dominic Burgess ==

Dominic would like to wish you all a Happy National Coming Out Day as well!

Source: Dominic Burgess Twitter

== Adopt Our Crew: OFMD Rewind ==

Our friends over at @adoptourcrew were back again Oct 10 with Episodes 4-5 of S2 in #OFMDRewind! Once again joined by the ever fabulous @astroglideofficial!

For those of you with Twitter-- if you haven't already, please go check out the thread! If you aren't on twitter and you would like to see what went down you can read them in the AOC section of the OFMD Renewal Repository!

Source: Adopt Our Crew's Twitter 

== Articles ==

Source: AdoptOurCrew Twitter

== In Person Events ==

Our lovely crewmate @ringasunn was kind enough to give me a sneak preview of the next Calypso's Birthday event going on in Millvale PA at Harold's Haunt on 11/9 at 6pm! There's more news to come so if you're in the area please follow them on their Instagram for more information and staying up to date!

Source: Harold's Haunt Instagram

== Garlic Soup Autumn Bingo ==

It's that time again! Looks like there's going to be a cozy #GarlicSoupWeek event going on! Looks like November 10-16 is when it's happening! If you wanna get involved and stay up to date on the latest news, please visit @garlicsoupweek on their Linktr.ee!

Source: Teal Oranges & Garlic Soup

== Love Notes ==

Hey there lovelies-- wow, the last fews days have had so much happen! First off -- Mental Health Awareness Day was Oct 10, and National Coming Out Day was Oct 11! Our sweet Damien Gerard gave us a beautiful message for Mental Health Awareness Day and I wanted to share it tonight for those who didn't see it, since it really made me tear up. I did want to mention though lovelies before we get there-- whether you're in the closet, or out and proud-- or not even sure who you are yet. Just know that you're valid, and beautiful, and the world is such a better place because you're in it. I hope you have a safe and wonderful weekend, sending so much love your way.

Source: Damien Gerard's Twitter

[onlyhaos]

📚 · reader x tutor!Seungkwan , fluff (a lil suggestive at the end if you squint)

“Your tutor is fucking hot—“ Your friend gasped, as she saw him walking around campus, making your eyes roll in annoyance.

Well she was right, in some type of way, but he was your damn tutor.

Maybe if he wasn’t so strict with studying he’d only be hot instead of.. well hot and annoying. The way he eyed you up and down the second you entered the quiet library, always left your cheeks flushed.

But you couldn’t think of him like this, he’s a tutor, nothing more and nothing less, he was supposed to help you with your difficulties.

“He’s okay, but you’d say otherwise if you had him as your tutor. He’s like a hot..nerd— But with a downside” You said, as you continued walking with your friend. Arms intertwined, as you talked and laughed.

“Is he that bad? I’ll gladly take him if you don’t want him.” She giggled. “Be happy that your tutor doesn’t give a shit if you understand something, or well.. that’s sad too.” You replied with a small laugh.

Parting ways, your friend went back to their dorm while you had to walk to the library. Even though you already saw yourself in your bed, some takeout next to and your favorite show playing, you let out a big huff the second you were met with the library doors.

“Hey,” Seungkwan said quietly, making you wave at him. “We’re doing maths today, did you get your books?” He asked.

“Yeah, I did.” You said, sounding as exhausted excited as always, but still sitting down next to him to get out your stuff.

Some time went by and you couldn’t focus anymore, it was just all so boring. I mean, looking at Seungkwan himself wasn’t boring at all, but you just had zero interest in this subject.

Doodling in your notebook, you didn’t realize Seungkwan already staring at you. “Y/n, you’re not focused. Are you even listening to what I’m saying?”

Your eyes shot open wide again, making you meet his slightly irritated gaze. Closing the page you drew on, letting out an awkward cough and looking back at him, you mumbled a small “Sorry”.

As Seungkwan went back to teaching, you couldn’t resist staring at him. Those pretty glasses, that.. perfect side profile. He was mesmerizing, maybe that mesmerizing that you completely drowned out the way he was already staring at you.

“I’m sorry— I can’t seem to foc-“ You were cut off.

“Why do you look like you want to kiss me?” What?

Maybe you did want to kiss him, fuck no. You wanted to kiss him, no ‘maybe’.

“I don’t want to kiss you.” You said quickly, and as Seungkwan heard your words he gave you the ‘then focus’ look. Letting everything quiet down, you realized that you really didn’t want to do maths.

“I do want to kiss you.” Well. That was sudden, but what should you have done? Kissing would always be better than maths. And you said yourself that he was hot.

“Well I don’t kiss women who call me a, did I remember correctly, hot nerd?”

Your eyes widened, “When did you hear that? Are you hallucinating? That never happened..!” You exclaimed, lowering your voice the second you remembered where you were at.

“I remember that the girl who said it, I don’t know, had a phone case with a self made sticker.. oh wow, you have that sticker.” He smiled at you sarcastically, you were caught.

“But you are.” You told him, not backing down now. Seungkwan eyed you, “You’re a brat, I’m doing my best and I get called a nerd?” He spoke in a questioning tone.

You told him that it was good, being hot and a nerd. But damn, that was embarrassing. Telling your own tutor that he was hot even when he looked concentrated? You don’t even know how you actually had the strength to tell him that.

But what you also didn’t know is that you’d end up in his dorm, because you didn’t learn one thing yet.

How good of a kisser Seungkwan is.

— ౨ৎ

stop y’all🥹🥹 I want to thank you for 100 followers!! I’m happy that a hundred people appreciate my work so much that they decide to follow me! I’m really thankful and am giving you this as a small gift. Ily💓