#I am now at my grandma’s place thankfully

[otaku553]

Turns out living just a few miles from an active 10,000 acre wildfire has health consequences

[wonderjanga]

We Thought You Died?!

Billy became a hero in 1959, and he was a hit. He was extremely popular. Captain Marvel was a beloved hero. As for the Squadron of Justice? They were beloved too. They, plus Captain Marvel were the superheroes of that time. They were the flipping blueprint for being a hero, especially Captain Marvel. Then the bubble formed in 62, and they just disappeared off the face of the earth and everyone thought he died.

Then, out of nowhere, they just reappeared.

News channel: *showing a clip of Marvel*

Grandson: *tugs on Grandma’s sleeve* “Grandma, that looks like the hero guy the teacher are making us learn about.”

Grandma: “Amazing. He looks just like the real thing.”

Yeah… People didn’t really believe it at first. Though, to be fair, all the Fawcett heroes have been gone for over sixty years.

Old Man: “It’s disrespectful is it what is. Just because you have the same powers doesn’t mean you can dress up as a dead hero.”

Old Woman: “ I just feel bad for the families. To see someone dress up as your dead husband or wife and then go around pretending to be them? Disgraceful.”

It was then the Justice League got involved. They really couldn’t have these people running around like this. Not only that, but some of the imposters are lethal. Not to mention that there are people in the Justice League who used to know the Fawcett heroes. They were friends with them for Christ’s sake. So that’s why unanimously, they went and confronted these guys.

Supes: *hovering over Fawcett*

Marvel: *helps a cat out of a tree and sees him so he flies up*

Supes: *disapproving look* “I hope you know that if you’re trying to be a her—”

Marvel: “Oh my gods, your suit is awesome!”

Supes: “Thank you…?

Marvel: “Are you a new hero? What’s your name? Are you from Fawcett or are you gonna join us here?”

Supes: *computing, still stuck on the first question*

Meanwhile, Flash and Minuteman were arguing which then somehow spiraled into them getting tacos. Batman and Robin, and Mister Scarlet and Pinky are just fighting. And Bulletgirl and Wonder Woman had a civil conversation that actually got them a lot of information.

After sorting out the entire misunderstanding that they were all imposters, things thankfully got lighter.

Marvel: “Oh my gods, Jay, you’re an old man! What happened to your long luscious locks of beautiful brown hair?”

Barry: *holding back a laugh* “Long luscious locks?”

Jay: “Okay, it was not long, luscious, or beautiful. He just insists on calling it that to embarrass me.”

Marvel: “But it’s true! Or it was true.”

Jay: “No it wasn’t. I had perfectly average hair, thank you very much.”

Yeah, Billy met up with some of his old friends, and they were all ecstatic to see their eight feet tall, golden retriever who just wanted to make the world a better place.

Marvel: “So your not an hero anymore? Then what happened to the JSA?”

Alan Scott (First Green Lantern): “We disbanded…”

Marvel: “WHAT? Why?”

Alan: “Well, we were getting old. We needed to retire.”

Marvel: “Oh yeah.” *sounds a little bummed*

Alan: “I mean, there’s now this thing called the Justice League? Wildcat joined them. So did Mr. Terrific.”

Marvel: “That sounds like a ripoff of you guys!”

He joins anyways. So do the other Fawcett heroes cause they might as well. That’s when things go down hill once more because the JL are forced to remember that a couple Fawcett heroes, mostly Spy Smasher, kill people.

Batman and Spy Smasher: *tied up the Joker after beating up his goons*

Spy Smasher (SS): “Alright, let’s get out of here.” *pulls out a gun and puts it to the Joker’s forehead*

Batman: “What are you doing?”

SS: “I’m ending this…?” *cocks his gun*

Batman: *slaps the gun away* “No, you’re not. He’s going back to Arkham.”

SS: *pulls another gun out* “Yes, I am. Are you seriously telling me you don’t want to permanently end this guy? I’ve heard people call him a terrorist.”

The two then duked it out and the Joker still went back to Arkham anyways. Spy Smasher was so salty, not that literally anyone could blame him.

Marvel: “Wait, so people don’t kill villains anymore?”

SS: *sitting next to him, bandaged*

Wildcat: “Nope. Nowadays, you got to turn them into the police and let them break out again. I know it’s stupid.”

Marvel: “But what about the mass murderers? What about the Black Adams or the Captain Nazis? People who have done messed up stuff?”

Wildcat: “To jail they go. Why do you care anyways? It’s not like you killed any of your villains.”

Marvel: “Well, I didn’t, but I gotta ask because Smasher is trying so hard not to physically claw off his own skin at the thought of these guys just breaking back out.”

Safe to say, getting used to the modern world, took some getting used to for everyone. As for Billy, he chills with the gang at the old folks home, reminiscing about times as if he’s aged with them.

Also, like, genuinely, their disappearance would show up in top ten unsolved mysteries vids because genuinely, they just disappeared with no trace.

Billy also doesn’t know what to think of the many memorials he finds of himself and the other Fawcett heroes around the country.

[mae-gi-writes]

rile you up | lee Minho (xo kitty)

You’re Minho’s latest form of entertainment and he cannot just get enough of riling you up.

Genre: romcom, slice of life, school!au, minho is a little dick

———

“Fuck you, Minho.”

“What a ray of sunshine you are on this fine day.”

You grit your teeth together, almost grind them to nothing, and repeat the words with even more conviction, “I said fuck you.”

”Watch that tongue sunshine, might fall out if you’re not careful,” Minho’s grin just widens at the way your eyes have narrowed into slights. If looks could kill, he would’ve been shot int he head twice, revived, and shot once again. But thankfully for him, your narrow-eyed stare is nothing scarier than a cute kitten ready to take her claws out.

It’s a boring, rainy and muddy Wednesday afternoon and you really don’t want to be here, in English Lit, listening to professor Lau drone on and on about love and friendship in the verses of Lord Byron’s poems and how, if you read in-between the lines and analyze the intonations, the words, the onomatopieas, you’ll find a much deeper definition of Lord Byron’s feelings.

And Minho sitting right beside you is not making it much easier.

“You’ve got a pimple growing on your left cheek,” Minho squints at your face as you turn away, cupping your face with your hands as your eyes find the lock tick, tick, ticking at the far end of the classroom. Thirty more minutes of this torture.

“Can you just stop hyper-analyzing me like I’m some kind of lab rat?I’m really not in the mood for this right now.” You snap back.

“Woah,” Minho sighs before he shakes his head, “you really did wake up on the wrong side of the bed today.”

“And you, my friend, need to mind your own business.”

“Minho and Y/N.”

Professor Lau’s voice causes both of them to wince, physically, before looking up to see the said old man with bespectacled glasses, the book of poems in his hand and his eyebrows raised as though he expected better.

If you’re being honest, you really do enjoy Professor Lau’s classes, normally. Normally.

But not today. Today, you’re having a completely off day. You woke up late, you couldn’t sleep at all last night, and all the coffee had run out by the time you’d made it to campus. Your grades are suffering and you’re currently trying to ploughing through all the assignments without drowning.

And the worst of it all, you miss home.

You miss your mom. You miss your family, your brother with whom you would fight with at every occasion and play Mario kart with. You missed your grandma, your aunts, the food they cooked, the shared laughter, the smiles…

You’re in so deep in your thought process that you haven’t even registered that Professor Lau is telling you off until he calls for your name that brings you back to attention.

“—yes?” Your eyes flit up to Professor Lau’s and a wave of emotion suddenly takes its toll on you. You try hard to blink back the sudden burn of tears at the corner of your eyes, crawling up your throat.

“I was expecting better of your behaviour, miss Y/N,” he says, pointedly looking between you and Minho with pursed lips, “in my office after class. You’re up for cleaning duty.”

Great. That’s exactly what you need. After everything.

Fucking. Great.

———

“These pretty hands cannot clean,” these are Minho’s first words as the rest of the class files out to leave you two alone on cleaning duty and as you had predicted, there are papers all over the place, test papers and pens and pencils, “I’ve taken care of my hands all these years. I am not ruining it just to clean a classroom.”

“You are so freaking dramatic,” you roll your eyes, standing up to find the cleaning supplies that are stacked at the back of the class, in the storage closet, “let’s just get this over with and we can both move on with our lives and I won’t have to see you again for the rest of this week.”

“What’s up your arse, dude?” Minho follows you, one hand leaning on the doorframe as you start pulling out the duster, the cleaning rags and the shiny new broom that Professor Lau is currently obsessed with, “you’ve been acting really weird.”

“What?” You scoff, proceeding to hand him the broom because you know he’s never going to be the one on his hands and knees cleaning the floors, “I’m not. I’m just tired.”

“No, you’ve been acting off all week. You’re all snappy, your dark circles are so prominent you look like a walking zombie and you keep asking me to go fuck myself,” Minho rolls his eyes, “also, how do you use this?”

“Jesus chri—“ you make a move towards him, grabbing the hand holding the broom while struggling to circle his back and grabbing the other, “you keep that thing steady, then you brush the dirt from this one—“ you grip his hand and shuffle it over the floor in a sweeping motion, “until it goes into the pan. Got it?”

It's only then you realize the warmth emanating from Minho's back. If you move a little closer, you could press your cheek against him. He smells like something citrus and fresh mint and man.

Somehow, it makes goosebumps explode all over your skin. You step back abruptly, noting the heat searing through your palms where you had touched him just as he turns to face you, "you seem to be a natural at this. Why don't you do it?"

"I'm gonna take care of the floors," you're glad for the distraction that comes in the form of the rag, for there's a knot of heat in the middle of your chest and you're not quite sure how to deal with it, "let's just get this over with."

There's a long moment of silence as both of you focus on your tasks, which helps to calm down your nerves. Somehow, the sound of Minho's brush is conforting to hear.

Until he speaks up, "so you're gonna tell me what's wrong?"

"Why should I tell you, of all people?"

"Because there's nobody else around and seeing you all mopey makes me actually feel bad for you."

You wipe off the dusty corner by the teacher's desk, "Do you have any ounce of decency in you somewhere?"

"Not when you're involved," Minho snickers.

You whip around, throw the balled-up rag at him and smirk in satiafaction when it hits him square in the head, "ow--what the fuck, Y/N?!"

Glad that you managed to piss him off, you turn and continue, "oops sorry. My hand slipped."

It's not ultimately Minho's fault that you're more anxious, more easily irritated than usual. So you can't really take it out on him. But he doesn't make it any easier either.

Thankfully, the rest of the cleanup goes smoothly as butter and he parts ways with the excuse that he needs to go find his aupposed lunch date, to which you merely rolles your eyes and headed for the dining hall alone.

It doesn't normally bother you to be alone. On the contrary, you relish in those silent moments of freedom without having to hear an earful from Kitty and Q, or having Yuri complain about yet another one of her life's family miseries.

But as you find a vacant seat by the door, you can't help but suddenly feel a little small in a room full of people who seem to be right where they should be. And something in your heart constricts and clenches so hard it causes a soft sob to die at the back of your throat.

You grip your spoon a little tighter and bite down so hard on your lip that you feel the tangy taste of blood.

It feels lonely.

------

You're kind of sick.

Not physically sick.

Just sick of hearing christmas carols ringing all over campus. Sick of smelling hot chocolate in the air, sick of seeing luggages being dragged on vacation.

Sick of being here.

For an international student, returning home for Christmas was never an option. The airplane ticket is too expensive for your familt to afford, and you wouldn't ever impose that on them. But if you had to admit to that selfish part of you; you wished you were privileged enough to get to fly out at every chance you got.

Alas, that is not the kind of life that you live.

So when the doorbell rings at seven-thirty in the morning on Christmas Eve, you're more than surprised to find none other than Minho standing by your door with his hands in his pockets.

"Wh--Yeah? What do you want?" You frown upon noticing the lack of luggage behind him. Knowing Minho, he packed like a diva.

He hums and peeks inside your flat, causing you to shuffle into his peripheral vision, "what do you want Minho?"

"You're not packed."

"Wise observation, smartass."

He brushes past you and strides inside, taking his shoes off casually by the door, "why not?"

"None of your business."

He throws you an exasperated look, "you gonna keep being like this?"

"I don't know, are you gonna keep annoying the hell out of me?"

He can't help the grin that spreads over his face at that, "you're fun to mess around with."

"Well for your information, it's not fun. Not for me," you don't hesitate to walk over before grabbing onto his arm and tugging over to the door, "really. I'm fine. Now leave."

"I'm surprised you're not going home for Christmas," he continues as you're pushing him out of the door.

It stings, "why?"

"International kids usually do," he folds his arms, proceeds to lean into the open doorway and you got another whiff of his scent, "what? Daddy didn't want to pay for you this time?"

"My dad died. Two years ago."

There's surprise first, that flashes through his eyes. Then realization slowly dawns.

There’s some kind of weight in your chest. Like your heart has just broke.

"What?" You laugh but it's dry and twisted, "cat got your tongue? Too shocked to speak? Poor little Y/N, who doesn't have a father to pay off her credit card bills, right?"

"I didn't know--"

"Of course you didn't. You never asked."

"I'm--" he swallows, looks away, "—sorry."

You scoff, "don't. It's okay. I've been over it for the past two years."

It's not what he says but rather the way he looks at you that makes your insides shrivel up with dread and fear and the idea that he'll never look at you the same way ever again.

Because the thing is, no matter how much Mjnjo teases you, bullies you into oblivion, you do enjoy the attention, the banter. It's almost as if it's better than just being ignored altogether.

And amidst all his teasing and his annoying personaity, there are bite and smidges of Minho's kindness smattered in-between, flecks of tenderness that makes your heart soar, your brrath

To have such a man look down at you, pity you, makes you want to be sick.

"Y/N--" you cut him off before he can even try to make it up to you, "it's fine, Minho. Just drop it--"

"Wha--I said I was sorry, don't give me that look--"

"I said drop it!" You swerve around on him, anger bubbling from deep within your chest as blood pulses through, rushes through you, "for one goddamn second, can you just leave me alone?! I don’t need this—this constant bullying of your part! It’s tiring and it’s just so goddamn frustrating and humiliating so will you just stop?!”

The shocked silence that follows your sudden outburst is heavy. If the tension had been thick before, it’s now so hard you can barely cut it with a knife. You try to regulate your staccato breaths, try not to let your body take over your mind as you focus on breathing in, breathing out, breathing in. Breathing out. Just like that.

Calm. Like water. Like you’re a river that never stops.

“Just go, Minho,” your words are bitter. You can barely look his way, an overwhelming surge of irritation, guilt and hurt swimming through you.

Thankfully, the young man seems just as surprised as you are and leaves without even a backward glance. That’s when you finally cave in and allow your legs to crumble to your floor. Pressing your head against the door, your body instantly gives into the sadness that crumbles through you like used up tissue, soaking in all the tears that are suddenly cascading down your cheeks without restraint.

You cry yourself to sleep that night.

———

“Minho, I’m really sorry about my behaviour.”

You stare.

Your reflection stares back.

Shit. This doesn’t feel right. You close your eyes, exhale a soft breath, and open them once more only to find a set of familiar brown eyes gazing back at you.

It’s just the day after Christmas and though the majority of your friends were still off campus, you’re well aware that a certain Korean young man has decidedly stayed back because of his mother’s offshoot shooting commercial.

However, you still hadn’t gotten the guts to go back and ask him for a formal apology yet. Did you even need one when he’d been the one prodding you with a stick like he would with a nest of aggressive bees?

Oh well. You decided you’d be the bigger person and make the first move. As always.

So you look back to your reflection with renewed determination, take a deep breath before forcing the words out, “I am really sorry for my shitty behaviour, Minho, I should’ve—no,” you shake your head, start again and clasp your hands together for good measure, “I’m really sorry if I offended you in any way, I was hurt—no. God. I sound so pathetic.” You can’t help but curse at the mirror.

Inhale. Exhale. Deep breath. And you try once more, this time adding a small smile.

“I’m really sorry for everything that I said. I was being a bit insensitive and wasn’t in the right headspace—“ you break off with a frustrated snarl, “god! Why is it so hard to apologize to the dude?!”

“The dude’s standing right here.”

Shocked, you swivel around only to find none other than the said question in person leaning against your doorway, eyebrows raised and a semblance of a smirk lining his lips.

“M—Minho,” you feel like slapping yourself for sounding like a stuttering goldfish. Quickly, your hands smooth down your sweater, hiding them in the big bell sleeves as your eyes find everything — anything, to get off his face, “what—what are you doing here?”

“I was looking for you, actually.”

“Why?”

You’re still not looking, deciding that the faint crack in your dorm room is much more interesting.

Minho’s footsteps approach as he strides close, close enough that you get a whiff of his expensive cologne and restrain yourself from sighing out loud.

The bastard smells too good, you feel like crying.

“Why?” He scoffs, “isn’t it obvious?”

“Not really.”

“Alright. Fine,” you’re still not looking at him, which is why you almost jump out of your skin the moment you feel the gentlest graze of his fingertips at your jaw.

“Wha—“ you stutter, eyes flashing up to his on instinct.

Dark brown meets swirls of maroon. You almost lose your breath.

In the mid-morning light with sunshine falling over half of his face, Minho looks like he’d just walked out of some fashion magazine.

“What are you…doing?” You manage to murmur out. Barely.

It’s hard to concentrate when he’s right there, in your personal space, looking a little too dashing for his own good.

“You’re right. I was being a selfish dick to you two days ago,” his grip on your chin is firm, his dark eyes even firmer, “so I’m sorry if you took it the wrong way.”

You laugh, “wait—is Minho actually apologizing? To me?”

“Don’t get used to it.”

“But this is a legendary moment,” you fake a mocking gasp at him, “I should record this right now.”

“Don’t make me regret it, Y/N.”

Chuckling, your eyes crinkle up as you allow yourself to roam over his features, “okay okay, I’ll stop.”

Minho fidgets and doesn’t say anything back. Weird, considering that he has a comeback for everything. You feel his hand drop from your chin as he takes a step back, lips pressed together and face looking like he’s uncomfortable being here.

Do you make him uncomfortable? It’s not a sight you’re used to seeing. Something tugs at your heartstrings but you try and ignore it.

“What is it?” You ask instead.

“There is…” his eyes dart away, “something I need to tell you.”

“About?”

His hand drops. Instantly, cold swoops in.

“About me. And you.”

You squint, “Minho I swear, if this is one of your stupid jokes again—“

“I like you.”

You blink.

He gazes back. His eyes. They’re gazing straight at you. Focused. Intense. Hot.

So hot it causes a flame to burst in your chest.

Wait…your mind backtracks, what?

“You—“ your mouth opens. Closes. Opens once more, "I'm sorry--what?"

His eyes answer in his stead. Dark orbs swirling with a depth that makes your skin explode in goosebumps. You realize, all too soon, how close you are, how -- if you want -- you can diminish the space between just with one single step forward.

"I like you," he says it honestly. Somehow, you relish in the way he says it. Clear and transparent. No inside games, no beating around the bush, "maybe more than a little."

You sense a but. "And?"

He rolls his eyes, "and maybe I just don't know how to show it."

"You mean, acting like a five year old boy who bullies his crush for fun because he likes her?"

"Something like that."

"Okay," you drag out the word in hopes that it will hide the way your heart suddenly skips a beat, the way your legs feel weaker at the knees, "so what--what now?"

"Well, that's the part where you tell me you like me back--" Minho catches himself upon seeing you raise a brow at him, "--or not. Your choice, your rules, doll."

Doll? You can feel the flame bursting through your chest and squeezing your heart. It aches so much it hurts, though it seems that your smile can't help tugging at the corners of your lips as you watch him and despite his seeming nonchalance about the whole matter, there's the slightest sheen of pink that gives him away.

Cute. Your brain chants.

"Well," you tilt your chin up in what you hope is a confident manner, "you normally take a girl out to dinner first."

"Is that a yes?" Minho smirks.

"Did you hear what I said?"

"Yes, yes I heard alright. Fine," he sighs and crosses his arms over his chest, "tomorrow night. Dinner. Be ready by six. I'll pick you up."

"Tomorrow? But wait I--"

"You better be there, doll."

And with that, he swivels on his feet and walk away while whistling a soft tune, leaving your heart flooded with a tide of mixed emotions that erupt through your chest and butterflies running along your skin.

---

Minho: I'll come pick you up by six. Be ready then. Wear something cute but casual. Nothing fancy.

Y/N: i like how you're telling me how to dress up when you're the one who's supposes to be wooing me.

Minho: oh you don't have to worry about that.

The way he replies so smoothly has goosebumps running along the back of your neck and you squeeze your hands into fists. You're still sitting on your bed, trying to digest all this new information as another flurry of messages burst through your phone, probably fron Kitty's latest reaction your news.

Kitty: what?! Minho?! And you?! He asked you out?!!! Omg how did I not see this coming!!!

Y/N: i thought you were a matchmaker.

Kitty: well YEAH before he went and ruined it!!! Anyway, what are you WEARING?!

Y/N: i have absolutely no idea. He said something cute but casual, so I'm guessing there's not gonna be any fancy dinners or anything.

Kitty: omg!! Minho and casual doesn't sound right. Maybe he really is trying to woo you!!

Y/N: should I wear shorts? Pants? A skirt?

Kitty: definitely no pants. Maybe that cute skater skirt you wore to Yuri's party last semester?

So you do. The skirt's baby blue colour contrasts well with the simple white tshirt you decided to wear with it, and throwing on a beige cardigan and some white sneakers complete the look. You add a small blue bow into your hair to match, and take one last look at yourself in hopes that you're looking exactly how Minho wants you to--

No. That's the wrong way to go about it. Minho likes you. Yes. You. Not the girls he's always so uses to seeing. You don't have to impress him.

That’s how you meet him right outside your door, with your newly-found resolve as you catch the simple white tee and ripped jeans, hair styled just the way he likes it, just enough to make every woman’s heart swoon.

His eyes do a once-over, “not bad, Y/N. You clean up nice.”

“Not bad?” You scoff, “I’m sure there are much better adjectives to use.”

He grins, “we’ll see.”

Minho brings you over to the Han river by electric scooter, with you standing in front and holding on to the handlebars as he guides you across the street even though it’s technically illegal for people to do such a thing. But with the wind in your hair and Minho’s warmth at your back, you don’t find yourself complaining.

“Han river?” You raise a brow at him as he parks and pays for his e-scooter ride, “really? So cliche.”

“The Han River is a classic,” he looks at you pointedly, “and I’ll have you know, I’ve never brought anyone here before.”

“Ooh, does that mean anything?” You wriggle your brows and he scoffs, looks away, “shut up.”

You weren’t expecting him, of all people, to be a fan of romantic gestures such as this. But when he parks his scooter in favor of walking alongside you by the trail — even with his multiple complaints about the dirt being too dirty and people needing to revisit their wardrobe fashion — you can’t help but wonder how much effort he’s putting into just being with you. Because knowing Minho, walking on crushed grass and having his shoes in dirt is quite a big deal.

“Look, do you want to be swooned or not?” He replies when you ask him the question, even looks offended that you’d dared ask such a thing, “I thought girls loved it when boys brought them here.”

“Yes I know that,” your grin is so wide that you’re surprised it hasn’t broken your face in two yet, “and don’t get me wrong. I love it, but I never thought you—of all people — would bring me here, of all places. It’s just not…”

“Not what?” He scowls.

“Just not you,” you confess, and then, seeing that his frown seems to take a permanent fixture on his face, you quickly add, “so the fact that you’re doing it…thanks. It means…something. You know?”

Heat springs through your cheeks at the sudden confession and you quickly look away, anywhere, but not before glancing at Minho to see that he has a faint smile dancing across his lips.

As the evening wears on, you get to talk about everything and anything; from worries about your future and the rigorous routine of adult life, about which game box is better and which restaurant serves the best korean noodles, which Minho argues does not exist, considering that every single noodle joint in Seoul is a pro in making them.

"We're the city of noodles and gimbap, obviously there's more than one good noodle stop."

"You speak like someone who hasn't tasted Uncle Cha's food yet. You know, the snack from across the road to campus."

Minho's nose wrinkles, "nah I'm good--"

"Oh no you don't," you grab onto his arm before he has a chance to run away, "nu-uh. Let's go get them right now, actually."

Surprisingly awed by Cha's cuisine, Minho has no other choice than to grumble out a faint agreement. It's no secret that it makes your day.

"But the environment--" Minho shudders, "I think I saw a cockcroach scuttling about in there."

“Oh yeah,” you let your eyes follow the wall and trail back up to him, pointing at his face, “there’s one.”

Shoving you playfully, he pulls out his tongue in such a childish manner you can’t help but burst out laughing.

You decide to take the walk back along the Han River even if it makes a detour, stopping by a coffee shop to grab some hot chocolate. The city lights now illuminate the city like stars scraping the earth’s surface and you can’t help but feel amazed by how beautiful the scenery is, with the wind trickling through your hair and soft music from busking sessions in the background.

“I’ve never actually walked along the Han River before,” you confess to him as you gaze down at the black waters sloshing against the river edge, “thanks, Minho.”

He has the look of a satisfied five year old child who got a gold star for his best behaviour, “you’re welcome.”

“Who knew you’d be the one to bring me here?” You jostle his shoulder playfully before taking a sip of your hot chocolate.

“What’s that you’re implying?” He frowns.

“That you’ve surprised me and my expectations.”

“And that’s supposed to be a compliment?” He looks horrified and dramatic, “you’re harsh, Y/N. I’ll have you know, I haven’t—“ he stops himself just in time for you to swoop in and push, “yeah? You haven’t what?”

“Nevermind,” he sips his own drink and you notice the way his ears have turned red.

You giggle, “tell me, have you gone on dates before?”

“Wha—of course I have! What kind of question is that?!” You keep on laughing and laughing at his face, shaking your head as you try and muffle your chuckles the best you can, “oh god—oh my god, you never have. It’s written all over your face—“

“You talk too much,” he mutters into his drink and turns away from you, ears as red as a fire engine.

You nudge him, smiling, loving that side of him that he’s never really shown anyone before. Because you all know the cool, confident Minho. But this, this side of Minho is uncharted territory.

And you’re all here for it.

“Why not, though?”

His eyes narrow as he looks back at you, “what?”

“Why haven’t you brought anyone out before?’ You fidget with your cup, glad that it’s warming your hands so you can busy yourself with something, “because I’ve seen you, with different types of girls. All the time—“

“Yeah that didn’t mean anything.”

“But you still went out with them.”

“Is that jealousy I hear in your voice?”

“What?” Heat flushes through you, “no, I just—“

That’s when you feel it. His hand, fluttering up to yours. He pries your hold from your cup gently before bringing it down between you, fingers entangling with yours like they’re meant to be there in the first place.

And when your eyes flutter to lock onto his, there’s liquid warmth in those pools of brown, a tenderness you’ve seldom seen before.

“This is new too,” he murmurs then, “all of this.”

Your heart skips a beat. There are no words to be said.

You swallow thickly, look away, and don’t miss the soft chuckle that falls from his lips as he keeps swinging your hands back and forth between you, his smile a permanent fixture on his face. One that your lips mirror faintly as you keep walking back towards your dorms in comforting silence.

———

“Was that romantic enough for you?”

Minho’s question is met with a chuckle from your part as you finally reach your dormitory. A few stray students are still studying deep into the night, some already asleep on the deep blue couches in the common room as you make your way through, hands still entertained from earlier.

Your heart has been skipping and rollerblading into ecstasy ever since.

“Hmm,” you hum, even tilting your head in thought, “guess so. Though if I had any complaints—“

“You wouldn’t tell me, because there aren’t any,” Minho finishes for you, “right?”

“Oh i have plenty, but I’ll keep it for another time,” you flash him a mischievous smile. You’ve reached your corridor by that time, your words causing Minho to shoot you a suggestive look.

“another time?” He repeats with a cock of his brow.

You bite your lip and look away to avoid the fact that there’s a faint, yet growing smile on your face, “yeah. Maybe.”

The said young man’s lips pulls into a small smile, “I can work with that.” He murmurs, and something warm pools in the middle of your chest.

It’s hard to control yourself around Minho especially when he’s not being a little shit. Because the fact is; he’s very enticingly charming and likable.

“Well, that’s me,” you’ve reached your door then, glad that for once your dorm room is free of activity since both your roommates have gone home for the Christmas season, and turn towards Minho.

“Thanks you, for tonight,” your cheeks are warm with heat but you can’t resist grinning up at him, “I had more fun than expected.”

Minho sucks in a dramatic breath, “wow. I think i finally got a compliment out of your mouth.”

“Trust me, that’s me being nice.”

“I know,” he flashes a grin at you and before you know it, his arm has gone up to press against the doorway, caging you in and suddenly making you feel smaller than you are already. His body heat rolls into you in waves, the scent of his boyish cologne making you dizzy as your body leans into him unconsciously.

“So,” he breathes. He’s so close, so close that if you move just a little, your noses would brush, “since I’ve taken you out on a date, do I get to kiss you now?”

Air stills in your lungs. Your teeth find your lower lip.

“It depends,” your whisper is so soft he barely catches it, too enthralled by the way your mouth curves and moves with the words, “will you take me out again?”

“If her highness wishes,” Minho chuckles, tilting his head so that your noses brush. Electricity zaps through your body, goosebumps raising at the back of your neck, “I’ll take you wherever you want.”

Your eyes lock. There’s warmth, want. Desire swimming through his own pools of brown.

“Sounds like a promise,” you breathe, “so when will that—“

“Y/N.”

The way he says your name has a knot tightening in your stomach. Your body tenses in anticipation.

He’s gazing at you as if he’s only just seeing you. His lips are so close, you can feel his breaths on your lips. Hot against cold. He smells divine.

You’re so lost in your own daydream that you respond a few seconds late, “y-yeah?”

“Do me a favor?”

One hand cradles your cheek. You freeze.

“Hm?”

“Stop talking.”

And before you can do anything else, his mouth presses against yours.

Fireworks explode. Behind your eyelids. Through your body. Blood races and your brain goes fuzzy with want and desire as Minho’s other hand wraps around your waist to tug you in, his other hand clasping your jaw firmly as he kisses you. Once. Twice. He’s a good kisser, yet so gentle and tentative.

You’re taken by surprise for a few seconds, before you finally melt into him and kiss him back. A sigh escapes you as your hands go up to wrap around his neck, and the groan of satisfaction he lets out makes your entire nerves buzz with delight.

Tilting his head to the side to kiss you deeper, longer, you let out a gasp against his mouth as he pulls you even closer still, as if he can’t get enough of you. You haven’t realized you’re pressed to the door until your back meets the hard wood underneath and you yelp softly at the way his tongue swipes over your bottom lip to ask for entrance.

He kisses you softly, yet so firmly as if you’re the only thing keeping him alive, satiated. His hand at your hip moves up, tracing the back of your spine, the side of your rib cage before brushing against the corner of your bra and making you squirm while your hands curl into his hair. You tug, causing a grumble to echo out of Minho’s chest. His tongue darts in and you part for him like melted butter so that he can kiss you and ravage you without restraint.

Everything falls away, with only Minho being your anchor. You smell him, feel him against you, and want nothing else other than the dizzying rush that makes your stomach erupt with fireflies.

Your mouths part with a pop and he takes this chance to nip at your jaw, littering kisses down your neck before suckling on a soft patch of skin. Your body reacts instantly, curving into him as your lips part in a soft, minuscule moan. That’s enough to snap him back to attention.

He gazes up at you, chest heaving and all heavy breaths. His lips are swollen and red and just so beautiful. Hair tousled like he’s just tumbled out of bed and you quickly decide that’s the look you love best on him.

The curfew bell sounds and he curses.

“Minho,” you murmur when he leans in, noses brushing to capture your lips into his once more. You sigh, eyes falling shut as he takes your next set of words away.

It’s almost as if he’s drunk on you, as if he just can’t get enough.

The thought makes you shiver. Your heart swells with emotion.

“Minho,” you murmur once more against his lips. He groans, pulls away onto to bury his face into your neck and humming, “yeah?”

“Curfew’s in two minutes.”

“I know,” he’s pressing open-mouthed kisses over your collarbone and you can’t help but whimper and cradling his head closer to you despite trying to make sense of your thoughts.

“Y—You should go,” you stutter out but it’s almost like you’re talking to yourself. He’s clearly in his own world, suckling onto your skin and leaving purple marks to claim you as his. He pulls away, groaning appreciatively at the sight you make.

“Do I really have to go?” His dark eyes — darker than you’ve ever seen them — flickers over your features. There’s a kind of hunger to them that makes you shiver.

“Yes,” you stammer out, heart almost bursting out of your chest when the boy merely tugs you close before he rests his head atop yours. He holds you, breaths you in, and your eyes close on their own accord, taking in the moment like it’s the last.

“I’ll see you in the morning,” his whisper grazes the shell of your ear and you shiver. He pulls back and there’s the kind of crooked smile that makes your heart tighten, “goodnight, Y/N.”

“Good night, Minho,” you murmur and dropping a last kiss atop your temple, you watch him walk away, raising a salute with his hand as he does so.

———

A/N: GAHHH IDK WHAT I WROTE AND I GAVE UP AT THE END I HOPE IT’S ALRIGHT BUT ANYWAY I’VE BEEN OBSSESSED WITH MINHO THESE DAYS.

[cutelittleriot]

Return to origin band together

It was time for King Gristle and Bridget's wedding and everyone was so excited and happy for the soon to be married couple.

Poppy especially was happy her best friend was getting married and she was going to help her with her wedding dress! She has so many ideas she wants to share!

Right now she has to go get Branch who said he had something to do. She had let him be for the time being but now she has to go find him it's almost time for the wedding!

When Branch was heading out to go help King Gristle he passed by his Grandma's old pod. He looked at it both fondly and sad. He had alot of good memories there with her and his brothers but also some bad ones. Like her getting eaten,his brothers arguing and well leaving him. He hasn't gone back this entire time but now that he feels better mentally he thinks he is finally ready to take that step.

Slowly he makes his want into her old pod. Instantly he is hit with smells....old smells that he could faintly recognize. He could smell sweat which was gross probably from when Spruce was working out,he could smell books he once caught Clay reading in secret and he promised he wouldn't tell anyone and he never did. He could also just barely make out Grandma's old fluffleberry cake smell. Everything else he couldn't put a name too but he knows 2 of them were Floyd's and John Dory's he just couldn't tell who was who.

Looking around everything was exactly how he left it before the great escape. He made sure to at least clean up her pod before he left just becuase he needed something to do when he wasn't working on his bunker plans. Walking around he spots them,brozone merchandise some posters and records mostly, grandma always did support them even if she wished John wasn't so hard on his younger brothers.

Taking a record he looks at it fondly, maybe one song wouldn't hurt right? Contemplating it he puts in the record player that still worked and soon the song played and it felt like he was there again....back to the night it all went wrong. He thinks about his brothers,would they even recognize him? How would they even react to his new body?

He doesn't know how long he was there staring at that album record but the next thing he knows is Poppy is talking to him. "Uhm Branch?" She asks him curiously quickly he sets the album beside the record player while he stops the record player from playing anymore music,he didn't want to hear anymore.

"Oh um hi Poppy" He says trying to smile but it's forced and it very much hurts his face to do so. "Are you alright? It looks like your smiling and crying at the same time it kind of looks like it's hurting your face" She points out. "Yeah it does hurt my face" Deciding that it's no use he stops smiling,no point in smiling she could easily tell something was bothering him.

"I guess I'm just missing my uhm grandma, I was just listening to some of her old records" He says fondly as he puts up the old record. Poppy takes a look at the album and gasps "Brozone! No way I love Brozone!" She says excited her tail wagging like it loves to do.

"Really?" He asks excited with his own tail wagging a bit before he stops it "I mean really

?" He didn't meant to sound excited but finding out that your girlfriend loves the boyband you were part of does one excited even if he would like to put that behind him.

"I didn't know you liked them too" She tells him as she throws him the old record to which he scrambles to catch but thankfully he does. "I don't I'm actually hate listening it's a new thing. My grandma had very questionable tastes just look at how she decorated this place" He gestures around the old pod. "I'm sorry but there's just some stuff that shouldn't be macramed,am I right?" He asks before he goes to put away the record. He really didn't want to look at it anymore and bring up more memories.

Poppy looks at her Boyfriend she could tell something was bothering him,if his tail flicking back and forth was also an indicator along with the way he was talking. "Uhm kind of seems like there's something your not telling me" She says looking athim curious but also a bit worried. She knows Branch often keeps things to himself but they were a couple and couples share stuff. She won't force him but she can try to coax him into telling her later on.

"What? Don't be silly,no" He says with a fake grin trying to wave her off he really didn't want to talk about his brothers at all. "Hey I need you to be real with me" She tells him gently taking his paws into hers. "It seems more than a macrama issue,if your having feelings you can talk about them" She gently coaxes him.

He looks at her and really thinks about it,she has been there for him throughout so much and he has been there for her for so much from becoming friends with the bergens to the world tour to the transformation he knows Poppy will listen. "Ok....your right" He says he wants to say it he keeps trying but nothing would come out. Mentally he sighs maybe he can tell her after the whole wedding thing was over.

Speaking of weddings "Oh hey look at the time we're gonna be late to the royal wedding! Let's go get married " He redirects the conversation and grabs Poppy's Paw and begins to head out. "Wha Branch!?" Poppy exclaims very confused at what Branch said. "Huh oh I meant let's go get Brudget and Gristle married" Branch says trying to correct his mistake although....he wouldn't mind marrying Poppy but nows not the time to be thinking about that.

"Oh yeah becuase it would be weird if we got married" Poppy jokes and Branch agrees with her though the atmosphere was very awkward. The two transformed trolls head out of the old pod and begin to sing.

*Timeskip past the song cause there's no way in hell I'm writing that*

Soon every bergen and troll are there to celebrate. Bridget who is in a wedding dress covered in balloons floats down happy as she can be as King Gristle watches in awe at his beautiful soon to be wife.

Poppy jumps onto Bridget's shoulder as she looks at Bridget's beautiful dress in awe. "Oh my gosh Bridget you look so adorable!" Poppy gushes. "Thank you so much for being my maid of honor Poppy you really have no idea how much this means to me. I couldnt have done this without you" Bridget says with a smile.

"Oh of course Bridget I love you like a sister,probably. I don't have a sister,so I wouldn't know,which is fine. It's something I'm coming to terms with slowly" Poppy says beginning to ramble. "Uh Poppy can we uhm unpack the sister thing after the vows?" Brudget asks interrupting her rambling.

"Ah yeah no of course,you go get em girl! Before I do!" Poppy says grinning before using one of her claws to pop the balloons on the dress releasing a bunch of glitter. "Like a beautiful angel sent from heaven" King Gristle gushes as he looks at his soon to be wife.

Bridget begins to skate her way up the isle as Poppy and Branch watch together happy as they could be with their tails entertwined. Bridget walks up the stairs to King Gristle and he happily takes her hand as they look into eachother eyes lovingly.

"Hey Bridget you still have time to run for it" A bergen tells her to which King Gristle laughs sarcastically. "Haha very funny Aunt Smead. I'm uh so glad you could make it" He tells his aunt.

"Dear beloved we are gathered here today to celebrate the sweet sweet love of Bridget-Hey girl, and Mr.Yummy-Tummy himself, King Gristle. Now falling in love is easy,we've all done it, I've done it a hundred times,thousands even if you could that semester I spent abroad". They trail off when Branch hears something.

He isn't sure what but his ear twitches it sounds like footsteps small ones so it has to be a troll or something around the same size as a troll. Looking around he tries to pinpoint the noise when Poppy notices him looking around. "What is it Branch?" She whispers to him. "I hear something and I'm trying to find out what it is" He whispers back as he continues to search but isn't having any luck.

"Stop the wedding!" A voice yells out much to the surprise of everyone. Branch knows he has heard that voice before he just can't remember where. Everyone gasps and looks around to where the voice is coming from. They look up only to see what appears to be a troll standing on top of a antenna.

"Uh Brudget do you know this guy" Gristle asks confused. "I can't remember all my suitors Grissy" She says to him. The troll then slides down a clothes line and then jumps and hangs onto a balloon strong and then lands and that's when Branch recognizes just who that is.

"Sorry is this bad timing?" The troll asks their skin was a semi muted teal color along with their hair being a darker teal color. They were wearing a pair of goggles a brown vest with fluff at the top and shorts. Their ears were turned just a bit downward almost seemingly stuck that way. Branch gasps at seeing just who decided to show up after 20 years.

'No no why now? Why him?!' Branch mentally screams as his ears lower and his tail tucks showing how nervous and scared he was. 'Please for the love of sugar don't recognize me' He begs to whatever deity there is out there.

"I'm just trying to find a troll named....Woah Baby Branch!" The troll looks at Branch and Gasps and runs up to him with a grin Branch knows all to well. "Uh your making a mistake stranger that looks similar to me there's no Branch here" He says hoping to fool him but he can tell it doesn't work.

"Look at you, you got so big! Your not a Branch anymore your like a trunk ! Junk in the trunk!" He yells smacking Branch on his butt and ow that hurt his tail did not like that.

"I bet I can still pick you up!" He says happily as he picks up Branch even though it was obvious Branch did not like it at all. "Ooh you got heavy" the troll complains as he throws him up in the air. "Ahh there goes my back!" He complains as Branch tries to climb away only to fall on top of the unknown trolls face. "Ahhh Charly horse! Oh God two Charley horses!" He complains as Branch is still trying to get away.

It was taking everything Branch had to not unsheathe his claws right now. Even if Branch didn't want to see him again he still didn't want to claw at his face even on accident. "Hey! Stop right there, you put my boyfriend down and us who you are and what you want!" Poppy says taking charge and unconsciously begins to slightly bare her fangs to the unknown troll as a warning as her tail flicks back and forth.

The troll sets down Branch who backs away in case he gets anymore ideas of picking him up. "Hey your right totally rude of me. Didn't introduce myself, I'm Branchs brother " He explains holding out a hand with a grin .

Everyone gasps at the new information "WHAT?!" Poppy screams in shock as everyone else gasps. "Oooh drama corn me Dinkles" Tiny Diamond says always eager for some good drama as Mr Dinkles shoots out a small bucket of popcorn to which tiny happily munches on.

"Correction, used to be my brother, not anymore" Branch says turning around and crossing his arms his tail flicking in irritation.

"Hey uhm remember earlier when I said you should open up to me and be real?" Poppy asks as she looks at her boyfriend.

"Well..." Branch starts before Poppy cuts him off. "You could've started by telling me you had a secret brother!" She tells him as said brother takes a good look at his baby brother especially at his differently shaped legs and flicking tail.

"Former brother" He says correcting her. "That's not how DNA works!" She says feeling a bit frustrated at how much he wasn't telling her. "Dad did you know about this?" She asks hoping he can answer her. "Oh what would I know about secret family members" He says and Branch catches in that he knows something but isn't going to share. That's something to talk about later.

"Oh my gosh I was being so rude. I've never met anyone from Branch's family before. I'm Poppy Branch's girlfriend, should we hug,fist-bump smile and wave for now and see where the night takes us?" She says so excited to meet someone from her boyfriends family.

"All of the above" He says with a smile and a shrug. "Wait I know you. Your the guy from Brozone! We were just listening to them!" She says so excited to see a member of her favorite boyband in person! "Yeah brozone!" Cooper yells joining Poppy in on her excitement

"Oh wait wait wait wait, don't tell me. OK um well your not the heartthrob" She says trying to go through the various members. "Well that's your opinion" the troll says awkward. "The fun one? No your kind of uptight" She says. "Uptight?" The troll says surprised at being called uptight. "Hmmm not the sensitive one either" She says quickly rubbing it of band members. "Ok alot of assumptions of someone you just met thirty seconds ago" the troll says awkward.

"Oh oh I got your John Dory! " Poppy says finally figuring it who it was. "The leader" John says with a smirk. "The old one!" Poppy calls him to which Branch almost laughs and John just sighs.

"Uhm sorry to interrupt but we lose the venue at eleven so" King Gristle says to the trolls but ends up shushed by Bridget. "Shhhh I'm trying to listen to very hot gossip" She says with a grin she was always a bergen for gossip.

"So wait if your Branch's bro then that means all the other Brozone bros are Branch's bros, too! Branch! How come you never told me?" She asks him both confused and excited. "Becuase it's complicated" Branch simply states not looking at them his tail giving another irritated flick.

"Oh sweetie,it's cause you weren't in the band" She says trying to placitate him by patting his back. Heh wasn't in the band yeah right. "Oh Branch was in the band alright" John Dory says with a grin. "What?! No way! Which one was he?" Poppy asks dying to know which one her boyfriend was. "Bitty B" John answers smiling. "Bitty B?! No that's impossible Bitty B had glasses!" Poppy says unable to comprehend her boyfriend was Bitty B the litteral baby of Brozone. "Oh and a diaper" John adds.

"Aaaaaaand a falsetto made of gold. Not that anyone cared,but that's all in the past. Because they stopped being my brothers the day they walked out on me and never came back!" He says almost growling out the words as his fangs are showing and his ears are pinned back.

"Whoa whoa whoa,that's not fair Branch I did come back really. I was only gone for a month tops. I needed some time to clear my head and I would come back and I did but the thing is that when I came back nobody was there. The tree was destroyed and well I thought you were dead" John explains to him his ears drooping a little.

That surprised Branch his brother actually came back? It was only 2 weeks after their big fight and breakup that grandma got eaten and a week later they had the great escape "It wasn't until I heard about you saving the world from the rock apocalypse that I even realized you were even still alive" Jd tries to explain.

"Oh,that's so sweet he realized I was still alive 20 years too late!" He exclaims. "Hi I'm sorry he gets hangry if he skips breakfast" Poppy says getting between the two and gently pushing Branch away before something bad happens as she could tell that Branch was getting more irritated by the second as it looks like his claws were about to come out any second now.

"I had breakfast it was avocado toast with two poached eggs some cayenne for a little kick and you know what it was delightful!" Branch says taking what she said litterally. She gently pulls him off to the side "Branch what's going on with you?" She asks wonder just why was he acting this way she hasn't seen him this riled up in a while not since he was grey.

"The question we should be asking is what's going on with him!" He say pointing at Jd. "I bet you he's only here becuase he needs something" he says crossing his arms. Why else would he show up after 20 years unless he needed something. "That's not true Branch he's your brother" She tells him hoping to prove him wrong.

"Branch I'm gonna be straight with you. I need something." John dory says proving Branch correct. "And there it is" He says secretly upset about being right. "Come on man I'm trying here" Poppy tells Jd she really was trying to help him here.

"Wait wait wait hold up Branch. It's about Floyd" He tells him. His ears perk up Floyd? What was going on with Floyd? He subconsciously begins to feel around the same vest he has wore for 20 years. "What do you mean?" He asks a bit worried. "He's in danger. I hadn't heard from him since the Band broke up. Until I got a letter from him. Dear John Dory I'm being held against my will by superstars Velvet and Veneer. Come to Mount Rageous at once and bring our brothers,love Floyd" He explains.

"Wait wait so you got a letter one night from Floyd after 20 years of no contact? Doesn't that sound just a bit suspicious?" Branch asks his eyes narrowed. "I know it sounded suspicious but just in case it was real I went to Mount Rageous alone before I went looking for you guys. Besides it not like I knew where any of you were.

"I found where this Velvet and Veneer were performing that night,and there was Floyd. He was trapped in a diamond prison. And you and I both know the only thing that can shatter Diamond" Jd tells him and Branch nods the perfect family harmony. The very thing that caused them all to break up is now the very thing they need to save Floyd.

"So you came here to get the band back together and sing the perfect family harmony" Poppy says to which Jd nods. "Oh yeah so we can attempt to sing something we've only tried once and failed so miserably at that we broke up and never talked to eachother again" Branch exclaims getting annoyed at all of this.

"We are so in!" Poppy exclaims excited with her tail tumping against the ground. "What?! Uhm could you give us a second" Branch tells Jd and he moves Poppy away from hearing distance.

"Okay what are you doing?" He asks because just what was going through his girlfriends mind right now?! "This is your second chance with your brothers Branch" She explains as if it was that simple. "Its not that easy okay?? You don't get it Poppy you don't have any siblings" He says even though he thinks he might be wrong with the way King Peppy was acting.

"That's my point. Branch you are so lucky to have a brother to fight for. I mean,if I had a sister it would be so perfect. We'd be best friends,and we'd teach each other things,and we'd never fight. And we'd always have each others back and we wouldn't even have to talk cause we'd think all the same thoughts, and everyonewould ask us if we were twins and we'd laugh-" "Poppy!" Branch says stopping his girlfriend as she was getting into one of those phases.

"But...if she were ever in trouble I would do everything I could to help her, I would show up" She says smiling hoping Branch understood where she was coming from. "Okay listen if there was a brother that I might do this for-and I'm not saying there is.....it would be Floyd" He says. While he did lobe all of his brothers Floyd was definately his favorite.

"I'm not hearing no!" Poppy exclaims excited. "Yeah that works for me!" Jd exclaims having heard Poppy. "Yeah! Brozone 2.0,Brozone reunion,Brozone here we bro again,Brozone where'd they bro? I don't know we're gonna find them!" Poppy says excitedly coming up with new names and titles.

Then their ears perk up when they hesr rumbling it was loud and they can feel the ground shaking. "Hey looks like our rides here!" John exclaims as the dirt beneath him moves up like something was coming out of it and soon enough a armadillo bus pops out of the ground. "Here she is!" John explains happily as he jumps off the bus.

"Oh that's coming out of the deposit" Gristle winces at the damage. "Meet Rhonda,yall ain't she a beaut?" John asks happy to show his baby brother and his girlfriend Rhonda. Rhonda happily makes a weird roaring noise at them tail wagging. "She's uh really something" Branch says not really knowing how to react.

His instincts are telling him to run away from the big armadillo bus but he is staying right here he isn't going to run. Rhonda happily licks Poppy covering her in glitter. "I think she likes me?" Poppy questions as her instincts were telling her the same thing.

"Yeah she does,or she's marking you as prey,you can never quite tell with Rhonda" Jd laughs as he heads inside. "Uh guys I'd you don't mind I really cannot wait another minute to marry the gorgeous specimen" Gristle says lovingly holding Bridget's hands and giving them a kiss. "I now pronounce you husband and wife" the bergen says and Bridget happily jumps on Gristle and begins to smother him in kisses as the bergens cheer.

The two trolls watch on happy for the now married couple. "Okay all aboard who's going aboard." John says hopping inside Rhonda. "Bye everybody! We're getting the band back together!"

Poppy tells the snack pack along with Prince D and Peppy who bid them farewells.

"Have an awesome honeymoon!" Poppy tells Bridget with a wave. "Thanks Poppy" Bridget says thanking her troll best friend before resuming kissing her husband.

"I love you guys!" She yells out one last thing before they take off inside the armadillo bus.

For anyone curious here are everyone's ages and my timeline for this series

Brozone break up

Branch:3

Floyd:13

Clay:14

Spruce:15

Jd:17

Great escape

Still the same

Timeskip to the movie

Branch:23

Floyd:33

Clay:34

Bruce:35

Jd:37

[darkwitchoferie]

Accidentally in Love

Steve and Eddie have been dating for months, but neither of them have noticed until Robin and Nancy confront them about it.

Read on AO3 here.

Steve and Eddie sat on the floor in front of the couch, pressed into each others’ sides while they watched tv in the Munsons’ new living room. It was about 5:00 am, but it wasn’t all that unusual for the pair of them to be awake together the whole night. The whole group had nightmares, which had thankfully gotten less in the six months since Spring Break, but Steve and Eddie both had insomnia on top of that. So when they couldn’t sleep, they were often together.

They were just getting to the end of Kiss Me, Stupid on the Movie Channel, when Wayne pushed open the door. “’Mornin’ boys,” he greeted them.

In a move he saw frequently, they turned to look at him in unison, “’Morning Wayne.”

“Look what I got,” Wayne announced, pulling a worn horseshoe out of his coat pocket.

“Excellent,” Eddie grinned, jumping up to rummage under the kitchen sink until he came up with a hammer and nails. He dragged a kitchen chair to the door and stood on it to hammer nails through the shoe his uncle held above the door. “Where’d you get it?”

“John, at the plant, his sister and her man have a horse boardin’ stables not too far off. Guess he was out there a couple days ago and remembered me sayin’ somethin’ about needin’ a new shoe.”

“Why do you need a horseshoe?” Steve asked.

“To hold luck,” Eddie said, as if it were obvious. “See, you hang it like this, so the points are up, and it collects good luck for the household.”

“We lost the old one, went down when the old place was sucked into that hole. And we made sure to get a mirror this time, neglected it last time,” Wayne said, tapping the small, age-spotted mirror they’d found in a thrift shop, that now hung beside the door. “You hang a mirror by the door to protect the house from evil spirits,” he explained to Steve’s puzzled look. Eddie finished hammering, hopped off the chair, then hurried to the bathroom, leaving the hammer on the counter.

“Is that why you and Eddie pour out some of your first beer too?”

“Mm, no. That’s an offerin’ to our dead. His ma, my wife, my pa, I think he pours out for Chrissy too, though he’s never said so. But it’s a way to remember and honor your dead.” Wayne looked puzzled. “Do your people not have traditions like that?”

He shook his head. “I don’t have family, not the way you and Eddie do. I think my dad’s parents are dead and I’m not sure about my mom’s. Neither of them ever talked about their parents or aunts or uncles or anything. The only thing I know about either side is that Mom’s family’s Italian and my grandma gave her a recipe book of her own recipes when they got married. For all I know, they could be alive and well in Italy. So I have no idea what any of my family was like, except my parents.”

“And your parents suck, Stevie.”

“I know,” Steve smiled just a little as Eddie rejoined them. He sat back down on the floor, running his fingers through Steve’s hair and gently scratching the back of his head as he did. Steve sighed, closing his eyes, and leaned into his hand.

Wayne cleared his throat as he lifted the chair and slid it back under the table. “You boys get any sleep last night?”

“There’s still a chance for sleep,” Eddie commented. Wayne just raised an eyebrow, knowing they both had to leave for work at the video store by 9:30. “It could happen!” he protested.

Despite being cleared by the local police, and the FBI agents that were brought out, a fair number of people in town were still suspicious of Eddie. That had made Keith reluctant to hire him when Robin and Steve first broached the subject. Then he realized he had no other options – very few people wanted to work in the video store and those that did were still in school. Monday mornings and early afternoons were almost as busy as Friday afternoons just in the opposite direction. While more people were checking stuff out on Friday, most of them were returning those same videos early in the day on Mondays. This made Fridays and Mondays the only two days all three of them worked at the same time. Robin suspected that parents came in early on Mondays to avoid their kids asking for more movies.

On Mondays, since Steve drove them all in and Eddie only worked a short shift, Nancy came in around 2 o’clock and hung out for the remaining half an hour until Eddie was clocked out and ready to go home. Things had started to slow by then, as always, so the four of them usually hung around the counter with each other.

Eddie pressed himself against Steve’s back leaning over and around him, so Steve had to bend forward a bit, to put a hand on the counter. “Good afternoon, Lady Wheeler. How is the wide world this day?”

“Hi Eddie,” Nancy smiled at him, well used to his dramatics. “Hawkins is… Hawkins, nothing new to report there. The kids have apparently formed some after school study group on Mondays, so I have extra time before I have to pick the boys and El up.”

“Why? Like, they see each other all the time, why bother creating a study group?” Steve wondered, still bent slightly forward since Eddie hadn’t moved at all.

“Ah, I asked Mike the same thing this morning. If they’ve got an official study group, they have to have a teacher there for any help they might need. Apparently, it’s aimed at helping El catch up on stuff without her needing to ask during class since that makes her nervous because of a bully back in California and without making it obvious that it’s all for her.” While she spoke, she watched as Eddie’s free hand wrapped around to the front of Steve’s hip and he slid his thumb into the slightly shorter man’s belt loop.

“That’s sweet,” Robin commented.

“Mm, they can be, when they want to,” Nancy agreed, referring to the four boys. “But other than that, nothing new. Unless there’s something new from you?” She and Robin turned expectantly to the two men.

“Mm, nope,” Steve shrugged the shoulder Eddie wasn’t leaning on. The two turned together as the phone rang. Steve reached for it under Eddie’s arm, who barely moved out of the way. “Thank you for calling Family Video. How can I help you today?”

With Eddie no longer paying attention to her, Nancy turned to Robin with a raised eyebrow. She just shrugged and shook her head in response, causing Nancy to roll her eyes and mouth today. Robin nodded once.

“Dingus, you love me, right?” Robin asked as soon as the Wheeler family station wagon pulled out of the parking lot.

“Of course I do. Did I not tell you today? Sorry. I love you, Robs.”

“You did tell me, but I appreciate it again. And I love you too,” she smiled, leaning in for a hug. Enough close calls with death made them all the more willing to tell each other how they felt. “My point is,” she continued, stepping out of the hug, “people like us, soul mates like us, they tell each other everything, right? I mean, especially the big things in life, like when they start dating someone new.”

“Did you finally ask Vickie out?! Rob, that’s amazing! When?”

Robin was almost sad to wipe the excited look off of her best friend’s face. “Not me, Dingus! You! You and Munson and all your touchy-feely-mushy so-in-love-we-can’t-hide-it crap.”

“Huh?”

She knew he got confused easily, but this was too much. “You don’t actually think the two of you have been doing a good job hiding your relationship, do you? Because you’re not. You’re so not. You’re like one step shy of renting a billboard or a marching band to proclaim your love to the whole state.”

“Robin,” he said, reaching out and putting his hands on her shoulders. “I love you, but you’re crazy. And very wrong. Eddie and I aren’t dating.”

“Really? And that little possessive hold he had on your hip earlier was… what? ‘Cause I know platonic, and honey, that wasn’t it.”

“What are you talking about? Eddie’s tactile with everyone.”

“No he is not. At least, not the way he is with you. And! Did you or did you not let him read those two books to you? The um… the ones by Terry Whatever-his-name-is?”

“The Colour of Magic and the new one – The Light Fantastic?”

“Yes! Those.”

“Yeah? I mean, he was really excited about them. Read the new one as soon as he could get his hands on it, in one night. When I told him about my issues reading since the head trauma shit, he offered to read them to me. So?”

“So, as said, soul mates,” she waved her hand between the two of them. “But you don’t take an immediate interest in my stuff like that. No, that came out wrong. You are interested in my stuff, come to band shows and you let me ramble your ears off about the stuff I like, but it’s different. Not bad different,” she quickly reassured him, noticing the apprehensive look starting to form on his face. “Just different. And then there’s the dates.”

“We have not been on any dates.”

“Uh-huh. So you wanted to go see Invaders from Mars, in the theater. And decided to pay for both of you and snacks. When usually, if you and I go together, one of us gets tickets, the other gets snacks. And you can’t say it was because he couldn’t, because he’d been working with us for like two months.”

“That… wasn’t a date.”

“Mm. What about that baseball game? Ya know, the one he bought tickets to? Eddie, who we all know loves sports, happened to buy tickets for you two to see your favorite minor league team like a week after you mentioned that you hadn’t been able to get to see a game in years. That was totally a coincidence, right? Definitely not a date. Just like the Judas Priest concert he took you to in August definitely wasn’t a date.”

“Uh….”

“Or, how about your standing Wednesday evening date? Everyone knows that is your date night but, if there’s an emergency, you two can be found at Judy’s Diner, in your usual corner booth, with separate meals but sharing a strawberry shake. Steve, you are literally wearing one of his Metallica shirts, right now,” she plucked at the material under his Family Video vest.

In shock, Steve dropped to the floor. “We’ve never even kissed though, we can’t be dating,” he said softly.

“Wait, seriously?” Robin dropped to sit in front of him.

---

Meanwhile, Nancy parked her car in front of the Munson’s replacement trailer. “Eddie?” she asked before he could open the door. She twisted in her seat to better face him. “We’re friends, right? Me and you.”

“Of course we are!” he swiveled to face her “Wait, why?”

“I just… friends tell each other when they’re dating someone. Or not dating someone.”

Eddie gasped. “Did you and Jon break up? Did he break your heart? Do I need to –”

“Jon and me are fine,” she interrupted. “I’m not talking about us. I’m talking about you and Steve.”

“What about me and Steve?”

Nancy groaned in frustration. “How long have you and Steve been seeing each other and why haven’t either of you said anything to at least me and Rob?”

“There’s nothing to tell, we’re not dating.”

“You are though.”

“Nope. Pretty sure I’d know if I were dating someone, Nance.”

“Okay, but hear me out. Steve likes his personal space, Eddie. Sure, he hugs people and is happy to do it, or other little stuff like that. But he doesn’t cuddle during movies. Or, let people drape themselves over him while he’s doing anything.”

“He does to.”

“He doesn’t. He doesn’t even let Robin do that. Have you ever seen her cuddled up to him like that?”

“That’s gotta be a her thing then.”

“It absolutely is not. There is only ever one person who’s… allowed, I guess? One person who he is totally comfortable being all over him whenever and it isn’t Robin. Do you wanna know why it isn’t Robin?” Eddie nodded his head. “Because he only does that with someone he’s dating. Trust me on this, I know the difference between how he acts when he is and isn’t seriously dating someone.” He still didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t look quite as disbelieving either. “Okay, I know you’ve eaten his cooking, we all have. But, has he ever made anything he calls ‘fussy’ for just the two of you? No Robin, no kids, and probably at his house, so no Wayne either.”

He started to shake his head then stopped. “He made… something that sounded like bologna, but was pasta? He called it fussy,”

“Bolognese?”

“Yes!”

“Insisted you eat at the kitchen table instead of in the living room and even served it on the good China?”

“He said all that work meant we had to appreciate the food and sitting in the living room with paper plates isn’t appreciating.”

“He’s not wrong about that. Point is, that’s his grandma’s recipe. And that was a date.”

“What about the lasagna?”

“Meat or veggies? Canned sauce?”

“Spinach and mushrooms, not canned sauce.”

“Date.” Eddie stared at her, wide-eyed. “Has he ever made spaghetti…,” she hesitated, trying to remember the name of the dish, “carbonara! Spaghetti carbonara for Wayne? It’s spaghetti noodles, with an egg sauce and crispy bacon. Like, made it at the trailer on a day that he knew Wayne didn’t have to go to work so the three of you could have dinner together?”

“Yeah,” he said hesitantly.

“That’s his winning-over-the-parents meal. It’s another of his grandma’s recipes – they all are – but he told me the carbonara looks and tastes fussy without looking like he’s trying to overshadow my mom’s cooking.”

“He made a cake for Wayne’s birthday.”

“That is just because he likes Wayne, not because he’s trying to impress him.” Nancy reached over and squeezed his arm.

“I’m dating Steve?” he asked softly.

“Yeah, sweetie, you are.”

“Since when?! Does Wayne know? Why didn’t I know? Did I miss him asking me out?” his eyes widened in horror. “Did I ask him out and then forget?”

---

Steve did not immediately go over to Eddie’s after dropping Robin off like he normally would. It felt odd to him to not drive out to the trailer park, but he made himself go home. Inside, he took the stairs two at a time then just stood in his bedroom doorway, looking around. There were the jeans and t-shirt Eddie wore two days ago, dropped in front of the laundry basket instead of actually in it because he’d tried to toss them in, missed, and hadn’t bothered to pick them up yet. He knew if he looked in the basket, he’d find a mix of both their clothes. Eddie’s acoustic guitar sat propped against the wall beside his window, the notebook he was currently using to plan a DnD campaign was sitting on the nightstand under the book he’d been reading on his side of the bed. He had a side of the bed, same as Steve did at the trailer, that’s how often they shared a bed. He knew without looking that if he opened the dresser drawers, nearly half of his stuff wouldn’t be in there, but would have been replaced with Eddie’s. The missing half of his clothes were in Eddie’s dresser. He looked down the hall at the open bathroom door and could just make out the two toothbrushes in the toothbrush holder.

“Are we living together too?” he asked himself quietly.

He spent a while longer cataloguing all of the things in his house that were Eddie’s or that had some connection to him. The polaroid of the two of them at the Indianapolis Indians game, where Eddie was actually wearing one of Steve’s baseball hats. Steve’s ticket to the Judas Priest concert, taped to the mirror on his closet door, along with a couple movie tickets that he remembered going to with just Eddie. A look out into the backyard at the bonfire pit Eddie had helped him dig reminded him of several evenings spent by the fire, just the two of them, roasting hot dogs and marshmallows and Eddie telling him stories about the constellations they could see. In the dining room, the China cabinet reminded him of dinners he’d cooked especially for Eddie. In the living room, there was a staged family picture where Eddie had drawn X’s on the glass over his parents’ faces, but a heart around Steve’s face.

Did he even want to be dating Eddie? A sharp pain stabbed through him at the mere thought of not being around Eddie constantly. He stared up at the portrait, not really seeing it but picturing Eddie – his long fingers wrapped around the neck of his guitar or threaded through Steve’s own while they walked into the diner; his curls escaping the messy bun he’d tried to put them in and blowing in the wind from the open car window as they drove aimlessly around; his wide smile and infectious laugh; the easy, simple affection in most every interaction; the feel and sound of his voice as he lay spooned behind Steve, telling him some story or other or just talking.

He wasn’t sure how long it had been since he got home when he heard the front door open. “Stevie?”

Steve spun around from where he’d been staring at the family portrait. “We’re dating,” he blurted.

“Oh, thank God!” Eddie’s shoulders slumped in relief. “I thought it was just me who didn’t realize! ‘Till Nance confronted me in the car, anyway. Ya know, Wayne knows too? Said ‘it’s obvious, boy’ and he ‘assumed everyone knew’ and that’s why we weren’t outright telling people. How can everyone know something about us that we didn’t know?”

“You don’t even like baseball.” Steve wasn’t sure why that was what came out of his mouth, but it was too late to take it back.

“Eh, the game wasn’t too bad. Maybe it’s high school sports I have issues with? Plus, you were so excited the whole afternoon. You don’t like Judas Priest.”

“They aren’t bad. But you do. You had a blast at that concert, and I had fun watching you have a blast. We have a standing date night.”

Eddie looked perplexed for a second. “Wednesdays, at the diner. We split a strawberry shake. Who…?”

“Robin. Right after you and Nance left. I think I’m still processing,” he turned to look back at the portrait. “You drew a heart on my face.”

“Hm,” Eddie stepped up behind him, pressing against his back like always. “Yeah, I did.”

“We basically live together.”

“Huh. Yeah, I guess we do.”

“I’ve never dated anyone this long without kissing them,” Steve said softly after a moment.

“We can fix that,” Eddie responded, matching his tone.

Steve turned around, his arm brushing Eddie’s chest as he did. Their inch in height difference usually wasn’t all that noticeable, but then, Steve usually didn’t have to tip his head back to kiss someone. For just a moment, they stared into each others’ eyes. Then Eddie grinned, tapped Steve’s nose with the tip of his, and leaned in, pressing his lips to the younger man’s. Steve surged forward, gripping Eddie’s hips and pressing their chests together.

Some time later, they lay in bed together, Steve half sprawled across Eddie’s chest and Eddie’s fingers gently combing through Steve’s sweaty hair.

“Important question,” Steve asked after a bit.

“Shoot.”

“Do we count today as our anniversary since it’s when we realized we were dating, or mid-May, which is when Robin thinks we started dating?”

Eddie chuckled. “Well, we don’t actually have a day for mid-May, do we? But we know today.”

“Mm. Good point,” he leaned up to kiss his boyfriend again.

[nothererightnow369]

fucking stressed beyond belief right now

TL;DR: My savings? fucked. Family drama? Ongoing and getting worse. My health? Going down the fucking drain, apparently. The election? I really don't like waiting to find out if my friends and I are going to have our rights stripped away, or if we are going to be in danger because the fascists lost and think the answer to that is terrorism.

I'm going to put these in order of most to least important, but this is going to be a long one.

I am obviously extremely stressed about the election. I am a disabled (unilaterally deafblind) queer afab person whose friend group is made up almost entirely of people who are some variety of queer/neurodivergent/disabled/etc, and I am in a ruby red state. I desperately need Kamala to win because my local and state government isn't going to do anything to benefit my community, so I am 100% reliant on the federal government to restrict how badly they can fuck us over (or, you know, do things to help, but at this point I am willing to just accept "minimally fucked over.") My state is 100% ready to start stripping my friends and I of our rights as soon as they can, and if Trump wins they have the green light to do that, and I am fucking terrified of that happening. Between what he has done in the past, Project 2025, and what Trump himself has promised to do, I don't want to live in an America where Trump gets a 2nd term. You know what else I am terrified of? The fact that, if I get what I want and Kamala does win, these fascist assholes are going to throw a temper tantrum about it. We have already seen people threatened with machetes for voting, ballot boxes lit on fire, and bomb threats sent to polling places in GA. Just imagine how bad it will be when you tell these assholes they lost. I live in a state with 37 federally recognized active hate groups and I have run into members of 7 of them (thankfully, I have only had one coworker dumb enough to brag to me about being a member of one of these groups, and I don't work at that place anymore). (sidenote, but I highly recommend everyone familiarize yourself with the symbols associated with the hate groups active in your state). So even if Kamala wins the election and I don't have to worry about the president taking away my basic human rights, I have to go to work tomorrow and worry about these people looking to take their anger out on someone. I don't exactly look like a cis/straight/christian/republican woman, so I will probably look like a good target for them. I know two of my friends have to work tomorrow, so I have to worry about them being targeted (especially since they work nights and crime does tend to spike at night).

Now onto more personal issues. My sister decided to throw a full-blown temper tantrum over wanting to see a specific dentist for her jaw pain and, because she is one of my mom's favorites, my mom throws a fit until I just handed over the $2,250 for her to get her fucking dental splint and botox. This took a huge chunk out of my car savings ($1,500 from car savings, $750 from my "I get to actually go out and hang out with my friends now" fund). She promises she is going to pay me back, but given that she has "borrowed" $12k from me in just the past two years (so not counting the whole year when I first got a job, after being kept at home against my will mind you, and she took my card and spent anything that didn't go to bills/grandma's funeral payments) and hasn't paid any of it back (but can get mini fridges for my younger siblings rooms while complaining about her electric bill) I don't really have any hope of that happening unless a certain other family member (who I have contacted, and I am waiting to hear back from) pressures her into it. So now I'm just here, working on commission after commission hoping to make back my car money by the end of the year (although I may still have to ride out the whole commission season like this if I want my "fun with friends" fund back.) and find a way to convince her to give back my driving privileges or let me get lessons from someone else (something I also covered when I contacted that other family member). I know my mom is going to have a fit if that family member does choose to address this stuff with them, but I am left with no other choice. I can't just keep living in a hostage situation where I am led on by false promises while I watch her spoil other people, literally at my expense. I wish I could just throw a fit like they do where they hit, slam doors, break things, and yell at people until I get my way, but I have a feeling I wouldn't get the same results they do. Regardless of what happens, I am going to have to do "committing arson at Bath & Bodyworks" levels of burning the candle at both ends if I want to have any hope of having a car by the end of January. Now, there is some mental illness stuff that actually makes doing that much work easier for me (lets just say when I am home alone with no way of getting out for anything other than work, a part of my brain just starts compulsively working on anything to distract me from the fact that I am trapped here) but it's still a lot to have to deal with.

What isn't helping is that my health is just going down the toilet at a pretty rapid pace. I have always had issues with sleep, but I have started experiencing new difficulties with that, so sleep and I are almost entirely divorced. Additionally, I have been having issues eating, or, more accurately, my issues with eating have gotten worse. I have always experienced heartburn when I eat certain foods, but that used to be managed by just taking meds as needed/if I plan on eating something I know triggers a reaction. You know, normal people shit. Now it happens if I eat anything in any meaningful quantity, so I have been having to take more meds, and even then it doesn't always work. There have been too many nights in the past couple of weeks when I have to play "heart attack or heartburn." Additionally, I have been having issues just swallowing. This is a thing I have had issues with for a while. One of the downsides of not having a gag reflex is that sometimes things will just get stuck in your throat, and you just have to keep swallowing until it goes down. Before, it only happened every now and then. Now, it seems like it happens towards the end of every meal, and it's so fucking annoying. Thankfully, I should be getting my insurance card soon, so I should be able to get that checked out, but I still fucking hate it.

[acepandemi]

Today is honestly kind of a weird day.

Apparently, the 4th of May is Star Wars Day. I knew that, but this is the first time I'm on Tumblr on this day and it's suddenly waaaay more obvious.

The thing is, I live in the Netherlands, and over here, the 4th of May is Remembrance Day. Started out as, and still largely is, specifically WWII remembrances, but expanded to remembrances for "all Dutchpeople killed in armed conflicts since the start of WWII, no matter where in the world".

Let me make things perfectly clear, I am not upset about this, nor am I complaining. "An it harm none, do what ye will" and all that. It's just... a bit weird, cognitively.

Like, I know my Dad will pick me up later today to go to the memorial service in the cemetary in the little village my grandparents lived in, the same memorial service he's been taking me to every year since he deemed me old enough to understand (though my age was still firmly in the single digits), except for when I was in university and not always able to get away for this date (I would attend a local memorial service on those occassions). With a little freedom torch pin stuck to my shirt.

And I will be standing there, in that little churchyard less than a hundred meters from my old primary school, like every year. Watching flowers being laid at the little memorial for the people from that village who were killed in the War, my grandparents' neighbours, and the young Rhodesian Air Force Pilot who crashed his plane near the village (you can still recognize the spot by the damage to the trees) and is now burried so far from his place of birth.

And at 8 o'clock, like every year, the church bells will sound the hour, sounding just slightly of-beat, like always, and usher in two minutes of silence, only broken by the crows cawing in the trees around the cemetary.

And I will think about the things that happened back then. About the friends of my grandparents that didn't survive the War. About how my maternal grandparents' house was bombed, and my grandma barely managed to grab her baby, my aunt, and run out of the burning building (grandpa was thankfully out). About how this should never happen again.

And I will also think about the things that are happening now, and how I just have no idea how to respond? How it is all so overwhelming and I don't know what to do except listen. Wondering what my grandpa, who joined the Resistance not despite of being Autistic (in hindsight it is quite obvious), but because of it, because it gave him such a strong sense of justice, would have to say about the current state of the world if he were still alive? I don't think I'll come up with any answers.

And after the two minutes are up, the local marching band will play the Last Post and the national anthem, and the crowd will disperse, and we'll talk to some people we know, and then Dad will drop me off at home again.

And meanwhile a large part of the rest of the world is just going "Yay, Star Wars!" today!

It's just weird, okay?

[kitthepurplepotato]

hey love!!! it's me! i dont know if you remember me, but i've been liking, reposting, commenting and following the series 'my weird roomate boyfriend' and i absolutly adore your work and writing, and for a while now i haven't heard updates from you, not about the fanfic but about you, and i just remembered you and wanted to ask how are you. i've been a little worried, and we really dont know each other and there's no reason for you to trust me but i really just wanted to make sure if you're doing any better or just need someone to talk to, im here if you need a friend!

im sending you lots of hugs and sweets and lots of lots of good!

i will understand completly if you decide to not answer this, but im really just worried for my favourite author and would be more then happy if you could give me an update for how are you doing!

have a wonderfull day and a wonderfull week and please please please dont forget to drink, eat, and rest and remember to not overwork yourself!!! love, me!

Oh my god, of course I remember you, silly! I absolutely adore you 💜💜💜💜💜

Also, perfect timing because I wanted to post an update on my situation but I wasn’t sure how to start or if it’s even needed?

Thankfully, things are getting better now, I just got sick from all the stress and the constant meltdowns I’ve had almost every day (yes, I just had Covid 3 weeks ago yet here I am, sick again, love my life.)

/warning for everyone - mentions of death, depression, suicidal thoughts and other bad stuff, also, a lot of TMI/

I’m not going to lie, this was the hardest week of my life and I don’t say that lightly (I lost my father suddenly a year before, and my grandma died in a house fire just a few months back.)

I had a really hard time understanding that all these terrible things do not mean that I’m not good enough to live and they aren’t signs that I shouldn’t exist in this world. I felt like life’s trying to force me out of its territory by terrorizing me until I break down, taking everything I love and cherish and it all felt so unfair. I really thought I’m old enough to not go back to that terrible place I crawled out of when I was 17, but this “thing” was the last straw.

With that said, I want to thank you guys for all the kind words and also my best friend @porusuniverse who woke up at 2 fucking AM when she had to wake up at 5, just to keep me company after having the worst nightmare of my fucking life and also for the ridiculous amount of hours she had spent with me and kept me fucking alive while this thing got sorted. She is an absolute legend.

I’m not going to lie and say everything is 100% alright, but I’m getting there.

/TMI OVER/

I am slowly getting back into writing, I have half a chapter of the Izuku one and the Aizawa one is almost finished! Also have a half chapter of the Bakugou one. I wanted to finish at least one of them tomorrow but then I got sick, so we will see when I’ll be able to post any of them. I’m trying to concentrate on the Aizawa one now as there’s only one chapter left and then I can give the other two the attention they deserve, but I’m also trying not to FORCE myself to write but rather just do what I enjoy so will see which one wins, eyy!

I can’t wait to be back. Like honestly, I miss Tumblr, your comments and writing in general soooo sooo much 💜

See you soon and thank you for being so kind! I’ll definitely bug you the next time I manage to go down the rabbit hole but let’s hope I won’t because I don’t think I have the mental energy for another round 😂

Cheers, everyone! 🥦

Kit 💥

[jyndor]

I know some have a hard time with the word hate (lmao including my phone which autocorrected it??? bro let me live my life) but I truly, unequivocally hate some things. this is personal and it is also political but it's mainly just me trying to put my feelings of non-community, isolation and disconnect into words. probably not well but I put it under a read more so frankly if you're not comfortable with me saying things in inarticulate ways about my own history, idk what to tell you lol

tw for imperialism, genocide, depression, and the existential agonies idk lmao

like britain. not the land, not the individual people lol but the power and empire and the idea, in the same way I hate the united states. idk if there is a more accurate word for the feeling I have that is based in deep, deep hurt. like bone deep. hurt for damage they've done to so many peoples, but also like... over the past year I've begun to identify this emptiness inside of me - I was always looking for community and connection and identity as a kid so far removed from my extended family. I've always joked about how much I resent my parents for moving away from new york because they took me to a place devoid of culture but like I mean my parents got to enjoy the richness of so many cultures growing up, and they also had community (I am not including my mom's mom because she is a person I do in fact hate).

like... so when friends of mine growing up would have their confirmations, for instance, I'd feel sort of left out because I had nothing. my parents ran from catholicism rightfully so imo lmao, and my mom was so good about trying to find me a church to go to when I asked even though I didn't believe in God, certainly not in the Christian belief in God. we ended up in a unitarian universalist church thankfully but I mean I didn't really value it because ~angsty teen shit.

when I say I hate my grandma I mean I am so deeply hurt by her actions towards my mom and also me, and it feels like the same feeling that I get when I think of Imperial powers and how they've harmed both my own family and also so many other people who've had way worse outcomes than just isolation and loneliness and lack of community or identity, or the feeling I have towards capitalism which ofc is intrinsically linked with colonialism and imperialism.

this is something I am coming to understand about myself in my thirties. that i have always been a very, very lonely person. I think that's why the found family trope always works so well for me. because I'm beginning to find mine, and they aren't the people who I desperately wanted to find commonality with as a child.

it's funny because I've always viewed my politics as fairly separate from my internal life - like I couldn't see any connection between why I was always fighting with bullies and bigots in school, why I always immediately understood power dynamics and supported marginalized groups even if they had nothing to do with me and even if I didn't like know the details - ofc my first time hearing about palestine I was like... ?? how are they wrong for wanting liberation? even if I didn't know the history like I do now or like I will in the future when I've learned even more of it.

I remember this english kid (my first love lmao barf) doing a presentation on the troubles in 10th grade and asking like... lmao idk anything about this but how can you say that the british were the good guys here???? then I learned later the personal connections I have to irish history and it was like... I never even knew. I had no stories, no family history, no connection to a culture that my family came from. so there's this guy telling me, a descendant of the people he's blaming for the troubles, history that I should have known.

it's funny how every time I tell one of my friends irl that I do not respect my elders, I have to explain why - they eschewed their own story in order to have the security and safety of whiteness in the US. they continue to protect that whiteness with their money and votes, and have shown an absolute lack of respect to their descendants when we've asked them to hear us out.

I don't hate them though. I know there's a difference in the way I feel towards them and the way I feel towards the things, the british empire, the united states, that made them react the way they did. idk if that makes sense.

at least they aren't cops lmao I would legitimately hate them if they were.

[cherubispunk]

a little update for you all from Lu,

so, I’ve had the ultimate showstopper of a week. I’m talking the whole shebang. Somehow my sister and my grandma ended up in hospital for different reasons??? 😃 aha…what? And I’ve been dealing with that on top of a load of work recently coming in and recovering from a virus (thankfully not the new strain of covid). So I haven’t been active aside from the odd scroll through my dash. I haven’t even been reading fic yet a lone writing it because I just don’t have the time right now. Which is so sad because fic is my best escape. I’m literally cream crackered when will the horrors end? 😭 😂

BUT— that being said, I am okay. I’m in a Better place compared to Monday when it all went down. Just gotta get back up and running. My work and family are my main priority at the moment. So my wips will have to wait. And for those who sent love into my inbox, I will get to replying as soon as I can. I love you all. Stay safe please xxxxx

[tutuandscoot]

Part three of the interwiew moment feels thing. Is Scott dissing current ice skating saying they grew up in an era where they had to take risks? Also i find the fact that they sometimes choose what to do based on what would be more unexpected hilarious. And Scott mentioning Suzanne by name saying she sort of lay the groundwork for that, like yea give that woman all the credit she deserves. Oh and them talking a lot whenever they do meet up now thats really endearing, sort of derailing the interwiew. Their parents waking up at 4 in the morning every day for years oh they really must have loved seeing their kids doing what they loved, it seems like a small thing but really its huge, how much they did for their kids. And the train analogy is nice and Scott saying he really likes it too when tessa is wondering if shes taking it too far. They really support each other so much. And them ending the interwiew saying they wouldnt be where they are without all the people supporting them. Its a really nice way to end the interwiew not focusing on themself but on others. And yea thats the interwiew. I hope this wasnt too rambling for you. If I manage to form more coherent thoughts about parts of this, il send you another ask. But yea the interwiew had a really nice vibe to it, being serious but not at the same time.

No this was a more coherent summary than I could’ve done!

This bit about their parents sacrificing so much for them:

So heads up I’m not a parent and I’m an only child so i might be speaking out of my arse here and of course every family situation is different

Disclosures out of the way;

When I was growing up dancing and being super into it and quite talented- starting to look for more opportunities out side of just my crappy dance school, my mum would basically drop everything for me. She wasn’t a single parent but she basically was bc my dad did nothing for me in this respect, she had one part time job that didn’t pay much and every single cent went to me and my dancing. I didn’t have the early wake ups like vm did thankfully but I had to travel really far away to get better training. She would pick my up from school after work 3 days a week and we would drive 2 hours away for 4 hours of dance, finish at 9 and drive home for 2 hours while I sleep in the car and the next day I would have to be at school at 6 am for school dance, then there was the exorbitant fees for training, pointe shoes, uniforms, physio, competitions, travel- my first international competition I got to the finals and she didn’t have enough money left to get a ticket to watch me, so she waited in the dressing rooms listening over the sound system.

She did so much for me and when I stopped dancing due to my back problems she layed an enormous amount of guilt on herself thinking it was her fault/ she shouldn’t have let me pursue this when my back condition developed bc it ended in so much pain and heart break. That was really hard for us and we fell out of our very close relationship over that grief, but we’re now getting back on better terms.

(I’m sorry this is a little life story)

On the contrary:

My best friend growing up who I danced with, she was one of 3 kids and her family was far more well off than me, she did dance and gymnastics- I’m pretty sure at one point she was national level at gymnastics. Anyway, one day her mum said to my mum “I could never do what you do for your daughter (me)”.

Now she had 3 young kids, worked full time, understandable it would be hard to take her daughter all around the place.

But VM’s parents did it.

They both have multiple siblings, yes some of T’s were much older when she was a child starting skating, but Scott’s were closer in age. T’s parents worked full time- her grandma helped out a lot. Skating is RIDICULOUSLY expensive and very hard to get funding for- a lot of adult skaters work other jobs to support themselves. They did it- they did all that for their kids- their youngest kids at that which a) in a way the others were older and could take care of themselves more but b) raising kids is expensive and again I’m not a parent but I imagine by kid 3 or 4 this gets exhausting- so now having the last kids to be born in each family be the ones doing the most and having the most insane- as VM said, depraved lifestyle full of strictness most kids don’t ever insure- their parents still did that for them.

This is not a comment on good and bad parenting- as I said people have different situations- but there are some that really do go above and beyond and don’t let anything/ don’t make excuses for themselves as parents for not giving their children everything to succeed- VM’s parents are incredible they deserve so much credit for what wonderful children they raised- NO MEDIA TRAINING- they were just raised so well to be kind and empathetic and appreciate every opportunity to afforded them.

Parents of the freaking century!!

[sakuramiku]

03/01/24 - 03/03/24 💐

if i'm being honest, i'm still in such a huge funk but i really wanted to escape so i thought it might be the perfect time to go see the love of my life. i think the timing was honestly perfect because his birthday was on the first day that i arrived.

i left my house for the airport around 4:30am which wasn't that bad. i was so anxious that i was going to sleep through the time my flight would take off but i was thankfully sleeping very light so i didn't have to worry. i charged up my 3DS so i got to start re-playing majora's mask but i didn't play for very long. when i landed, my love actually passed me in passenger pick up and had to double back. i truly hate being picked up from any airport. after he picked me up, we had a very long talk for the drive. he hid his hair the entire time because he didnt have time for a haircut.

when i go to visit him, we have to drive from north carolina to south carolina as he lives very deep in the country. i didn't eat any sort of breakfast because we were supposed to go to eat as soon as i got down there but the drive was so long that he wanted to rest. we took a nap together for the first time in forever, i love sleeping next to him. he holds me so tight. it's perfect. after he got up from his nap, we went to get his haircut and GOD. we waited over an hour to be serviced. so damn annoying. it was loud as well. i met his cousin though and he introduced me as his wife,, AHHHH. it made me so happy. he actually asked me if it was alright when he introduced me as his wife. after we did that, we quickly drove to a sushi restrauant that he likes in town because we thought going to cracker barrel wouldnt be worth it because we were so hungry. i got this tempura based roll and god was it delicious. i really enjoyed eating sushi with him . . though, he got steak and rice. we briefly picked up a few items that i needed from walmart & went back to his house.

i got to truly meet his son in person which made me happy. he is such a cutie. he asked me to pick him up and take him to his room so we could watch tv . . when the loml followed us, he yelled that his father needed to get out and leave us alone. he spent the day calling me his girlfriend and played nintendogs with me and his dad. it was nice. his mom asked us to go get groceries so we decided to take a nap, but we overslept. i haven't been sleeping much and whew. i slept for twelve hours that first night. it was really needed because i was DRAINED. when i woke up around 3am, my lover and i watched a movie but eventually i fell back asleep.

the next morning, we decided to go to cracker barrel for breakfast as that's usually our spot when i go down there and our spot in new york city is this chain restrauant called BBQ's. that was the place where my parents and i enjoyed. we would always enjoy going because times square is always so beautiful. after the breakfast, we explored the mall. we went to barnes & nobles and a bunch of clothing stores including target where my bf got me some stuff. now for the best part, WE WENT TO BUCEES. I LOVE BUCEES. my husband got me some water because i was nauseous and bought myself + my friend some merchandise. i fucking love bucees. i couldn't find the plush slippers which sucked. but the stuff i got was still cute. we drove back to the house and saw all the children including his at his grandmas house. to which his son yelled "my daddys girlfriend" cute as hell. for dinner, we drove to wingstop. it was his first time and he thought it was decent. we are trying american deli next time.

on sunday, we decided to stay at home until it was time to go to the airport and everyone tempoarily left the house so yeah. i got to meet more of his family which was nice. i hate that i had to leave. i am already planning the next trip.

[blackgirlalmighty]

Personal vent post incoming I don’t know how to do a read more on mobile I’m sorry:

I’m so sick of struggling like this. I am so broke all the fucking time and I feel like a failure and a loser and a shitty person bc my younger autistic sibling is my dependent and we’re barely making it. He was denied disability. We have no parents to live with or ask for help. They’re dead. Grandparents are dead too. I work full time and technically ‘make too much’ for food stamps or rent assistance or utility assistance

I can barely focus cause I’m so stressed out all the time. I have no motivation no energy to do anything even things that make me happy. My health is in the shitter and some days (like today) I’m literally shaking from not having enough to eat. I am in fucking eating disorder recovery and I have to lie to my care team about how much I’m eating because the answer isn’t that I’m purposely restricting it’s that I can’t afford groceries for two people every week.

It’s not always this urgently bad. Today I am freaking out because I am super short on rent and we have very very little food in the house and I have no idea what I’m gonna fucking do. I’ve texted a friend and an older brother (who literally just got out of homelessness himself) out of desperation but they’re not getting back to me yet. I just don’t know what to do anymore. Every single plan and plan B and plan C I had in place this entire year to try to carry us through financially either fell through or some bullshit happened that cleaned me out, starting with when we moved and the movers charged me $400 over what they told me initially and put my account negative and started the shitty chain reaction I’ve been fighting off all year. Every 2 weeks my account goes negative before I get my check. Every single month electric company is sending me a disconnect notice that I just barely beg them to let me pay a tiny bit of the balance to last me until the next one.

Finally started getting my feet under me a little in September then my fucking car broke down, $2k repair bill. Over $300 a month to pay that off with no ability to change the amount. That took every single cent of my yearly piddly raise and then some.

Then 2 weeks ago my cat starts pissing blood. Banfield can’t see her so she gets rushed to urgent care vet and thankfully she’s okay now but that was $400. The last of my teeny tiny cushion I had to try to prepare for days like today.

I’ve pulled from my 401k as much as I’m legally able. I’ve borrowed from friends and relatives who barely have anything themselves. My younger sibling had a tiny inheritance from his grandma and that’s almost completely gone now which breaks my fucking heart.

Where do we go from here? What the fuck am I supposed to do? Do we just get evicted and try to find a shelter? Do I sell off everything I own? Everyone around me seems to have their shit together and I feel like I’m drowning and drowning and drowning. My mom died and trusted my sibling’s care to me and I feel like I’ve let her down.

[notes-of-scorpio]

with love

I saw my Grandma for the last time on Sunday morning. The 26th of March to be precise. 

She is 93 year old. I am yet to hear once she has passed, but it will be soon. Probably in the next couple of days or so. 

I said my goodbyes to her in the rest home. She looked cozy underneath all those layers of wool. Blankets I recognised easily from my childhood, come out of storage to provide warmth again to her dying form. 

I hope she is comfortable. The doctors assured us that the drugs they are administering into her will allow her to pass as if she is falling asleep. I hope she is warm. I hope she feels better. I hope she falls into rest peacefully.

A few tears escaped by accident. I thought I was ready. I was. But I must have had some extra things to process before she was gone for good. 

Crazy how with just a little touch and a circumstance can cause such old memorise to resurface at lightning speed. It was time for us to go; my sisters, my mum and dad, me. I caressed her thin grey strands and her forehead with the back of my hand. I rubbed and soothed her tired arms, ever so delicately. I didn’t hold her hand even when Dad told me to. She looked too comfortable and her hands were curled together under the blankets. I made a note not to disturb them. 

Suddenly I was transported back to the house up the hill in Redwood Avenue. Grandma and I always had a special bond. We liked the same things. The colour blue, our favourite, although trivial and meaningless. It meant a lot to me. We both had a thing for sweets, but lemon curd was our weakness, and lucky for us Grandma always had a full little jar of it in the fridge whenever we came to visit! We’d eat it by the spoon straight out of the container. She had the best (authentic) recipes for shortbread, and unsurprisingly, lemon cake. Grandma was a keen cook too and never failed to produce a good and proper roast. I remember the smell of their old house where we would spend Christmas as a family. They had a brilliant large old fashioned Grandfather clock which took pride of place in the living room. It’s been there since my sisters and I were tiny tots. Most likely before we could crawl. We spent hours in that house playing Ludo and Old Maid. Grandma always hated Old Maid because she would lose the most out of us all. But even when she lost, she’d bubble with laughter, and it was so epically contagious that we’d all double over in fits of giggles. Me and my sisters LOVE to laugh. I think we got that from our lovely Grandma who was never afraid to laugh at herself every once in a while. 

I felt calm in the rest home. The tears were falling but I was content. I knew she lived a full life and all the way Grandad was with her too. He’s doing very well currently, but I understand he must be struggling right now. We are all effectively playing the waiting game at this point. But just like Grandma, Grandad is strong and still smiling with our company. 

We left Grandma’s room and took Grandad with us for coffee at the rest home cafe. He is doing the best he can and so are the rest of us. We are well, and thankfully, we all know what to expect and I suppose that is all we can ask for when things like this arise. The saying ‘all good things must come to an end’ has been attached to my thoughts since. I’m taking it as a positive, for you can’t fully appreciate something until it is well and truly gone. 

We said we would be back to see Grandad again soon and made our way back to the car. All of us sat there for a bit listening to the radio. The song ‘You’ve Got A Friend’ by Carole King was playing. Mum started singing along. So did I. 

Keep your head together

And call my name out loud,

Soon, you’ll hear me knocking at your door

You just call out my name

And you know wherever I am

I’ll come running, running

To see you again

I wanted to write this because I have been preparing for her passing for a while now. Her name is Doreen, and she has had a long, beautiful and fulfilling life. I am grateful I got to spend so much time with her and cherish every single memory we have together. 

[albumwalloffame]

Let’s talk about The Shaggs

Yep, I’m talking about this album cover again, why? Because some information, that quite frankly I should have looked up before posting this album cover as part of the Album Cover Wall of Infamy 2021 Advent Calendar has recently come to my attention. So, let’s talk about this information and why it makes this cover so much worse.

So, the first question I should answer is, “Who actually were The Shaggs?” and beyond just “The band behind one of the most infamous albums in rock history”. The Shaggs were a rock band formed in New Hampshire, and was composed of three sisters, Dorothy, Betty and Helen Wiggin. Now, one might believe that, it being the sixties and these three being kids, they heard some records and wanted to make their own music, and admittedly I thought that too, because I was, and really still am, an idiot. These girls were literally forced into being a band by their father.

Their father was a man named Austin Wiggin Jr. and when he was young, his mother did some palm reading and predicted three things about Austin’s future, two of which came true, and the third was that his daughters would form a popular band. So, when the first two predictions came true, Austin tried to make the third come true, and how did he go about doing it? Getting his daughters interested in music by buying records? Letting them go to concerts? Nope, he literally pulled them out of school and bought them instruments and made them become a band.

Despite this literally being the worst way to form a band ever, it’s also noted that Austin never let his daughters go to any concerts, or even really have much of a social life. Helen even said that he was “Inappropriately intimate” with her once. So yes, these girls were essentially abused into becoming a band to fulfill a prophecy from a man’s dead mother.

So, my comment about “These girls look like they hoped their parents didn’t see them on a rock album cover”, is almost apt, but I can’t say it isn’t somewhat accurate. They look like they don’t want to be here, probably because the quite literally did not want to be here, it is a very “We’re here because Dad would kill us if we weren’t” vibes, and I do think he would literally kill them, nothing makes a musician legendary like death. Austin seemed like the kind of man who would go that extra mile. However, and I am trying not to say “Thankfully” here, Austin had a heart attack and died at the age of 47. After the family moved out and sold the place, the person they sold it to believed Austin’s ghost haunted the place and donated it to the Fremont Fire Department, who used it for a firefighting exercise.

As an aside, I genuinely did not think you could have a crazier story in music than The Beach Boys, the band that had ties to Charles Manson. However, this surpasses all of that.

So, that is the end of this band right? Their father died and they disbanded? Well guess what, in the early seventies, some guy actually played a few of their songs on a radio show, and that man would somehow go on to have a music career. You probably think, “Oh, he was probably just some nobody lo-fi noise jazz musician”, but no, this man became one of the biggest names in avant-garde and rock fusion, in fact he was actually present during the PMRC hearings alongside John Denver and Dee Snider, yeah, Frank Zappa was a fan of this band, and is probably a major reason for this band’s cult following. You know who else liked this album? Just a little punk kid from Washington you’ve probably never heard of, his name was Kurt Cobain. Yeah, The Shaggs are partially to thank for the big Grunge explosion of the 90s.

So, is this still one of the worst album covers in music history? Yes, again, it has the ickyness of parental abuse on it, they look uncomfortable because they probably are uncomfortable. They didn’t want to be musicians, but because their grandma predicted they’d be a popular band, their father tried to make them into a band. It is kind of funny though, he never did live to see the prediction come true, because they are something of a popular band in some circles.

I guess my comment wasn’t the only ironic thing about this band, eh?

[meenawrites]

Apologies and Explanations

... Hello...

I'm just going to launch straight into profuse apologies for basically disappearing here and on A03 for probably more than a year now? Yikes. I'm really sorry to everyone who's been waiting for fics to update or the people who took notice and tried to check in on me. Honestly the explanation seems paltry from the place I'm in now, but I'm going to explain to the best of my ability anyway. 

Around the time I disappeared on here, my family was going through a bit of a crisis. My grandma was in the urgent care unit because of Covid and it wasn't looking good. To top it off, my mental health and OCD which I have been struggling with since 2020 at this point (yikes) took a nose dive at the same time and began affecting basically all of my hobbies. Even writing fics became painful and felt dangerous in a way so I just stopped. I didn't know how to explain (and still don't frankly) so I just kind of dropped off the face of the Earth for a bit. I don't know how to explain without going into the nitty gritty about my OCD which is not something I feel comfortable doing here to be honest. 

Thankfully, my grandma did make a miraculous recovery, which relieved a lot of months-long stress for the family, but my mental health was still bad and I was honestly scared of engaging in any hobbies I enjoyed, including tumblr and A03 but also most forms of reading in general. It was honestly a tough time, but thankfully over this last year or so I've gotten much better and I'm in a much more comfortable place now. That's not to see everything is behind me, but I am certainly functioning much better and have been able to go back to things I enjoy. 

Part of the reason I've been gone so long is because I unfortunately felt really embarrassed for disappearing for these reasons, which I know is dumb and I should have come back sooner and just explained, but I felt unexplainably ashamed in a way that this had all affected me so much and that I hadn't been able to pull myself out sooner. 

But I've finally decided enough is enough and I miss this community and engaging with people so I am back. I understand if anyone is mad at me for disappearing with no explanation and not answering. I just hope that you can forgive me and I will be trying my best from here on out. 

To anyone who actually read this whole thing, thank you so much.