#I bet he's exhausted

[phantom-phrases]

Danny Fenton just wants someone to be proud of him.

Not in the obsessed way Vlad is.

Not in the way his parents are proud of his ghost hunting (which is a double bladed sword, because it's stranding him further and further from them and his school work.)

Not in the way people are proud to be 'weird' or 'outstanding', either.

Jazz is proud of him for continuing to be himself, but she is also a child - she shouldn't have to be the guardian, not so soon.

Clockwork is proud - but he can't vocalize as much too far, or the timeline may shift from the reaction.

Danny Fenton just wants someone to say they're proud of him, at his very core, no matter what or who he is.

[nekrosmos]

Price had to shave. Entirely.

It was for a minor surgery; one of his last op had left him with a small piece of shrapnel stuck under the skin of his jaw, which hadn’t been noticed right away, preventing the wound from healing properly. Sure, he could have only shaved the sides and kept a mustache, but he figured now was the time to do a full shave, even if he really, really hated the idea.

He didn’t tell anyone about the surgery, but Nikolai sure noticed his foul mood the few days before it. A few probing questions here and there, but John absolutely refused to elaborate, so Nik let it go.

And then the day came. They were busy getting ready, Price in the bathroom while Nik was getting dressed in their bedroom, hips moving to a song the speaker on his nightstand was blaring. That was why he didn’t hear the beard clipper buzzing, and that was why he almost fell back in surprise when he was greeted by a face he had not seen in well over 10 years when he turned around.

"Нифига себе John, give me a warning next time. What is this for?"

Price avoided eye contact, focused on getting inside his shirt and grumbling an answer Nikolai almost struggled to understand.

"S'nothing, got a small surgery later today, had to shave. Don't make a big deal out of it Nik."

A glance to the side of John's face and Nikolai noticed the wound, raising an eyebrow at this. He didn't like the fact that John had hidden a surgery from him at all, the captain's stubbornness often a point of contention throughout their relationship, but Nikolai had to admit that the sight of his lover's freshly shaved face was quite the distraction.

The initial shock now gone, a wide smile appeared on Nik’s face as he moved towards John, his arms wrapping themselves around his shape while John grumbled some more, trying to escape his partner’s embrace until Nik firmly locked his chin between his hand and lifted John’s face, finally taking in the full sight of a fully shaved John Price. 

“Aaaah, like when we were boys.” Nik said, smile still as wide, eyes tenderly staring at his lover while a thumb ran across John’s cheek.

“I look fucking twelve, Nik. Do you know how long it took me to shut the sergeants up last time Farah told them about my time without a beard? Three. Fucking. Months. They kept asking for pictures, tried to bribe Laswell a few times, too. I am never going to hear the end of it.” 

A hearty laugh escaped Nikolai’s lips, amused and endeared by John’s reaction. 

“You can always threaten them with hand-to-hand combat training with me if they give you any trouble.” 

Whatever complaints came out of John after this, Nikolai didn’t hear, as he was busy kissing the bare skin of John’s jaw and chin, big hands grabbing the side of his face and keeping him in place as he did so. It was like going back in time, flashbacks of their time together as younger men coming back to him, missions in the desert watching John’s face redden because he was too proud to wear a hat, memories of time spent together in bars, Price getting so drunk that Nik had to carry him back to the barracks, all those times Nik had stared at him with longing in his heart that he thought would never be fulfilled, only to now have him all for himself, all these years later. 

“I think we are going to be late, John.” was all Nik said before gently pushing John against their bed, lips immediately meeting his bare skin once more, kissing and teasing while John slowly relaxed under him, each kiss breaking his guard down, bit by bit. 

It would take John a long time to regrow his beard to what it was, and Nikolai was going to enjoy every single second of it.

[vcepsis]

Currently going insane over the phrase "down for the count".

A character who is notorious for not sleeping enough. Maybe they're the team leader who insists everyone else sleeps first. Maybe they always take the night watch after being awake all day. Maybe they simply can't sleep, whatever trauma buried in their brain too loud to silence.

Either way, it's well known they only get maybe a few hours a night if they're lucky, and it's bound to catch up to them.

Soon enough, they're finally forced to slow down - due to an injury, illness, or simply collapsing from exhaustion.

The caretaker watches over them as they make up for what is sure to be an incredible sleep deficit. And eventually, their breathing completely evens out, sleeping deeply for the first time in who knows how long.

"They're completely down for the count."

(Bonus points for the caretaker who is just so relieved that the whumpee is finally, finally sleeping. They've watched the whumpee work themselves into the ground for far too long - they deserve some actual rest.)

[the-cookie-of-doom]

"I don't want to talk about this." Kim doesn't have anyone he can talk to about this.

Porsche takes three shot glasses out from behinds the bar and lines them up. Fills each. "Drink," he orders.

Kim side-eyes the glasses. Looks around the bar; near-empty at this hour.

He drinks, one after the other. It burns going down.

"I'm still not talking about it," he says.

"I know." Porsche pulls a single shot for himself. Kim admires his restraint. Then again, only one of them can afford to get laid out, and Porsche has decided it's going to be Kim.

Kim taps one of the glasses, and Porsche obliges him with two more pours. By the time he sets the second face down on the bar top, he feels it. Warmth in his face and cotton in his head. He can convince himself he's barely tipsy, so long as he doesn't move his head, because then the earth tips out from under him. Tipsy.

"Ready to talk about it?"

"Ask me."

"Are you trying to sleep with my baby brother?"

Kim hums. Shakes his head. Regrets it. "Nope, not ready."

Porsche whistles, impressed, and pours another shot.

"You're going to be so fucked up tomorrow."

The six shots Kim sucked down slam him twenty minutes later. He should have expected it; Porsche probably did, and that's why he's laughing at Kim now, snapping pictures of him slumped over the bar and moaning in misery, offering no comfort. It was Porsche's idea to get him loose-lipped with truth serum in the form of alcohol, but Kim let him do it, so it was his fault, really.

Once Porsche has gotten enough blackmail material to last a lifetime, he closes up the bar, then drags Kim over to a booth so they can talk.

"So. Porchay."

"Porchay," Kim agrees, a lyrical slur into his arms.

"You wanna tell me what's going on there?"

"I like him s'much. He's so, so-mmm, good, he's good, and nice, and..." Kim trails off, mumbling something incoherent. "Kissed him."

"What?"

"I kissed him. On his face. I missed. He smells s'good. I wanna kiss 'im again."

Porsche laughs. "Are you trying to sleep with him?"

"Mmmno. Maybe?" Kim tries to push himself upright, and only manages to slump enough enough that he can side-eye Porsche as he says, "Dunno how."

"What?"

"Are you gonna be mad?"

"Probably not. What do you mean, you don't know how?" Kim makes a miserable sound. His eyes are fever-bright, and his cheeks are flushed, and Porsche is pretty sure it's not just from the alcohol. Kim buries his face back in his arms to hide. "Kim, are you-?"

"No." He waves a hand at Porsche. "Kinda."

"Kinda."

"You know."

Porsche does know, but he a mean part of him wants to make Kim say it, because he's an asshole, and bullying little brothers is what he does. He's definitely not going to bully Chay about this, his poor brother would die. So he can harass his own boyfriend's younger brother instead. He relents, though, because Kim looks all kinds of pitiful and sad when he next surfaces from the sanctuary of his arms. Scratch that, he looks distressed.

"I think I want to, I do, I want it - but I haven't - and Chay - I don't want to - what if I'm not-"

"Take a deep breath, kiddo." Kim does. "What, you're afraid of disappointing him?" A small nod, and Kim looks so young, and nervous, that it pulls at Porsche's heart. "Aww. You couldn't."

"Yuh-huh," Kim mumbles.

"Nah. Trust me. That kid is so gone on you." This makes Kim smile. Bright and beautiful and bigger than Porsche has ever seen. In person, at least.

"I love him so much."

"Yeah?" Porsche knows for a fact that Kim has not told Chay as much. He already knows how smitten Kim is, and has for a while - it's why they're having this conversation at all, because Kim is over his head in love, and doesn't know what to do about it, and God forbid he talk about it sober - but the confirmation is nice to hear.

"I gotta - gotta tell him." Kim squirms around until he successfully gets his phone out of his pocket, pushing at the buttons on his lock screen in an unsuccessful attempt to open it. Porsche careful reaches across and take it from him.

"Hey, no, absolutely not. The first time Chay hears that from you is not going to be in the middle of your drunken ranting. He deserves better than that."

Doesn't mean he won't want to know about it later, though, which is why Porsche has had his phone on and recording this entire exchange. He'll save it for their wedding.

"I'll write him a song," Kim declares. "I'll write so many songs, a whole album. all about him, I'll-I'll-" He seemingly loses his train of thought, patting around the table like he's looking for something. Probably a pen. Porsche helpfully hands him one, and Kim latches onto it, scribbling lyrics into a napkin. Porsche can't wait to see what he comes up with later.

"Why haven't you talked to him?" Porsche gently prompts, interrupting his creative flow. He's pretty sure whatever lyrics Kim is coming up with right now are nonsensical anyway.

"Afraid."

"Oh what? Of him rejecting you? Because that's impossible."

Kim shakes his head, looks like he's about to throw up, manages not to. "The other thing."

"What other thing?"

"Him wanting me." Except Chay does want Kim, and Kim has to know it. He's not blind. Porsche tells him as much, and Kim shakes his head, says, "He thinks so, because he doesn't have me. But if he does, and he doesn't want me anymore, because I don't, I don't..."

Porsche thinks Kim might say, I don't know how to be loved, and it breaks his heart. He slides around the booth so he can pull Kim into his side, and tries not to react when Kim bursts into tears. He didn't know Kim knew how to cry.

"Chay's so good, he's everything, and I'm not, I'm not, I don't-"

"Hey, hey, stop that. Calm down, it's okay, you're okay. Come on, what's all this?" Porsche ruffles his hair and laughs. "You're Wik! You're Khimhan Theerapanyakul.

Kim wheezes, "Not good," and Porsche crushes him in a one-armed hug that Kim doesn't even try to fight.

"Good enough for my little brother. Kay? Trust me, I'm the expert, and I'm giving you my blessing. So pull yourself together."

"Nnng?"

"Yeah, idiot, I'm giving you my permission to defile Chay."

"I wanna hold his hand and kiss his cheek and take him on a date. A real date. Imma get him flowers. What kind of flowers does he like?"

"He's allergic."

"Oh."

"But you can still do the other stuff."

"Oh." Another brilliant smile. "Yay."

"But before that..." Porsche waits for Kim to put it together, but he doesn't, blinking up at Porsche with his big brown eyes and waiting for direction. Porsche finishes the thought. "You have to talk to him first."

"Oh. Not yay."

"Hey, at least you already know what the answer's gonna be." Porsche cuffs his shoulder. "Do it for Chay, so you can have all that filthy hand-holding and cheek kisses and dates."

-

The next day greets Kim with the worst hangover he's had in his life, his body violently rejecting every ounce of alcohol he forced into it. When he can stop throwing up long enough to string together a coherent thought, he texts Porsche to inform him he's the worst person alive, his ideas are horrible, Kim is never trusting him again, and he's going to kill him the next time he sees him, just for good measure. His body hurts in ways he didn't know were possible, and it's Porsche's fault, and vengeance will be had. Just as soon as he can walk again.

Drink plenty of fluids! Porsche cheerfully replies. And don't forget to talk to Chay. Or else I'm sending him the video of you last night.

Well.

Fuck.

[doomed2repeat]

Another rant, but I need the “I used to be a Colin fan until he went to a brothel and wrote about sex in his journal but he broke my heart and now I hate him” people to get a grip. Seriously. There will be other leads, but you don’t really like Colin because you refuse to understand his story.

I don’t fuck with Debling at all but I’m not throwing Penelope away because of that, I understand why she went that direction even as I hate that choice. THAT is liking a character.

You just wanted a sexual blank slate to project your desires onto, either for yourself or for Penelope. And that’s fine, this genre is about fantasy and it’s personal about our own desires. But literally hop off Colin and move on. This whining is not about him, so just wait for a different lead who fulfills that specific fantasy for you and stop acting like he in particular betrayed you.

[ziggy-scardust]

I’ll miss Pope Francis, but the man really lived just long enough to celebrate Easter Mass and shame the shit out of JD Vance.

[rubberduckyrye]

Anyway Kaito was a Sonic Adventure Kid. Maybe not a full blown Sonic kid, but very specifically grew up on the Adventure Games. His favorite was SA2B because I'm shameless about inserting myself into characters.

Also this ties into the AuADHD headcanon I have for him so this is gonna be hella AuADHD coded but anyway:

He was OBSESSED with Crazy Gadget solely because of the gravity mechanic and Final Rush/Chase because SPACE. He got an Electric Guitar in his tweens that he messed around with as a hobby but the only song he knows how to play well is "Live and Learn" From Sa2. He also listened to that song on repeat and drove his grandparents crazy enough that they bought him headphones for his birthday. Sometimes he gets so excited that he needs to lock himself in his room and blast Live and Learn into his eardrums and play along with his guitar (Again, it's the only song he knows how to play) and he goes nuts. Jumps around his entire room. His room is a giant mess afterwards but he does not care!!! He never feels more alive than when he gets to do the most exaggerated, active Autism Stimming in the Universe!!

I think there is a very special tie to Kaito's interest in the SA series and his (very undiagnosed) AuADHD though.

Like on a sadder note, I don't think Kaito can happy stim otherwise. He probably got shamed for anything like hand flapping so he just, taught himself to hold that all back until he got home and into his room. There he could explode in the excited stim! But even then he probably was shamed for being so weird and stimming that he took up guitar just to get his hands to focus on something while he's buzzing too much. He dances around with his guitar and jumps around his room because he has a lot of pent up AuADHD energy.

But at least he does have this outlet--because when he's finally done he collapses onto his bed, almost breathless. Again he never feels more alive than when he's having a Moment in a safe space like his room, stimming in the only way he knows how. He just wishes he could feel like that all the time.

After he comes down from that emotional high he starts playing with his chao for an hour or two before he clonks out for bed.

[the-meme-monarch]

"i didn't have a horrible horrible cavity pain moment today :) that's great they hurt really really bad so I don't like when they happen" <- doesn't know they're about to brush their teeth and have a horrible horrible cavity pain moment

[the-deadlock-south]

we lost the game but i won in looking cracked in front of strangers so did we (i) really lose (yes)

[consult-sherlockholmes]

You're welcome, sweetie. I saw you working (i guess) and I didn't want to bother you (I can't concentrate knowing that you're only wearing a sheet Christ God)

And err... I left my phone number in one of the bags, you know... in case you need m-... in case you need to bring you more groceries, yes.

Get better soon! 💋

At least someone brought me food while John was replacing me eating food with someone else while I was suffering all on my own abandoned. How dare this Steven seduce him and steal him away from me this vulture snake, carrion eater. So this is a rare occurrence, I don't say this often, but thank you. Just take this that my brain is already influenced by it all. And the sheet is a necessity my temperature has been increasing since hours and I won't put my suits through that abuse of disease ridden body fluids. Easier to wash and handle as well, and I started freezing inbetween so I can wrap myself in a blanket interchangeably. I have to try to work as much as I can before I am completely incapacitated, it feels as if it's getting worse every hour.

[bleue-flora]

i dont think tommy said the nuke wasnt canon, he seemed to be talking about how he canonically didnt lose a life to the nuke because in the 2022 ending, no nuke killed anyone

I guess?... I don't know. It doesn't really make sense since basically Jack is pretty insistent that he did blow everything up, and yet all the buildings remain, so... and the reasoning he gives for not dying in the nuke is that he can't die, which is part of his lore. Tommy doesn't really answer how he and Tubbo are alive, except to say that the nuke wasn't canon (presumably as in canon death is what he means) and he was left with 1 life when everyone left. In response to Jack's comment about not being able to actually die, Tommy responds "Not that either of us would know anything about that" but since he fought a monster in between his Tubbo comment and Jack's, he may have meant that as a response to his above statement about logistics... so if Jack blew everything up, but everything is still standing, then the most reasonable explanation is that the Incident did happen and eventually he gained his memories back and visits Techno's house from time to time... (which people said including anons in my inbox)

So people are wrong, it is not a retcon but an extension, the end of season 2, whatever that was... even so what's funny is that innitors are more happy with this ending versus a restart even when it's down right depressing. Tommy is alone. He hasn't seen anyone besides Tubbo in a long time and lives very far away from the main dsmp area. But take it from me, the quiet is nice, living alone is nice, but being utterly alone is miserable. To live alone with no outside interaction besides one person is really sad to me, and the fact that the area is still so triggering for him is also a testament that he hasn't healed, and living alone won't heal him. Especially not when part of his trauma revolves around him feeling alone in Exile. So really, it's a very depressing ending. Tommy just wanted to have fun with his friends and in the end, he has no one but Tubbo and his sheep and a cabin in the arctic he stares at for hours. He didn't mend his relationships with people, even still bringing up Jack exploding his hotel after it's been years since then. He did literally move but he didn't heal, he didn't grow, he wasn't able to form better relationships or claim what he yearned for. And that to me is a sadder ending.

As as aside, I've talked about before how all the ghosts have sheep, so an interesting theory would be that he is actually a ghost haunting the land... have another au free of charge I guess lol... do we think the sheep is colored? maybe it's red...

[danrifics]

listen dan was a sore loser sure but my man is fucking tired from performing 2 sold out live shows and then phil makes him do sponsored content, let the man breathe 😭

[vickyvicarious]

"Dr. Van Helsing, are you mad?" He raised his head and looked at me, and somehow the tenderness of his face calmed me at once. "Would I were!" he said. "Madness were easy to bear compared with truth like this. Oh, my friend, why, think you, did I go so far round, why take so long to tell you so simple a thing? Was it because I hate you and have hated you all my life? Was it because I wished to give you pain? Was it that I wanted, now so late, revenge for that time when you saved my life, and from a fearful death? Ah no!" "Forgive me," said I.

He's so dramatic... 'Was it because I've hated your guts all along, huh? Is that what you think?'

[rosamellow]

if a beautiful curly-haired man with NPD graced me with his presence i wouldn't be an ingrate about it

[j00stkl31n]

He’s so real for this

[aroihkin]

Boss finally took his fuckin MAGA flag out of the front lobby where it was draped front and center on the front of the desk facing the doors for the longest fucking time. I wish I could say he's realized anything about that shit, but he probably just wanted to take it home to more easily fap over.

Blue collar work just be like this. It's exhausting.