#I could have sworn that button said Save Draft

[swan-of-sunrise]

The Winter Soldier (Chapter Four)

Summary: (Y/N) and Sam worry about their new super-soldier friend after it’s revealed that he’s on the run and wanted by S.H.I.E.L.D., the very agency he’d dedicated himself to.

Pairing: Steve Rogers X Reader

Word Count: 1.3k

Warnings/Disclaimers: None

A/N: Hope you all enjoy!

Chapter Four (Previous Chapter)

“It’s such bullshit! Captain America’s a criminal now?!”

“I know, Greg.”

“They haven’t even said what he’s done!”

“Yep, it’s ridiculous…”

“How can they organize a manhunt for him but not say what he’s supposedly done?!”

(Y/N) pinched the bridge of her nose and let out a frustrated groan. “Greg, you’re my friend and I love you but I can’t keep having this conversation with you.”

The line was silent for a moment. “What do you mean?”

“We’ve been having the exact same conversation for almost a half an hour! You can’t believe that Cap’s a criminal, I agree, you complain that they haven’t said what he’s wanted for, I agree, then you start going all ‘Law and Order’ on me!” She exclaimed, immediately regretting her outburst; with a sigh, she sat down in her desk chair and rubbed her forehead. “I’m sorry, Greg, that was rude. I don’t like what’s going on either; Captain America stands for freedom and honor, he always has, and it just seems…wrong that he’s the subject of a manhunt. I seriously doubt that Captain America of all people did anything to break the law.”

“Wow, when did you become such a big Cap fan?”

“I went to his exhibit when I was at the Air and Space Museum yesterday, and I guess it got me interested.” (Y/N) half-lied, fidgeting with the sleeve of her sweater as she pressed her phone closer to her ear. “Anyway, the reason I called was to tell you that it might take me a little longer to get the draft of my book to you; I still need to look over the last couple of chapters and with everything happening…it might be hard to focus on writing today.”

“Don’t worry about it, Mike’s busy reading through a nine-hundred-page thriller that was sent in this morning so that’ll give you some time. Sorry to cut this short but I’ve gotta go, I have to check on mine and Mara’s dinner reservation for tonight, so I’ll talk to you later, (Y/N)!”

“Talk to you later, Greg!” (Y/N) hung up and set her cell phone down on the desk with a sigh. Ever since she and Sam turned on the television at breakfast and saw the breaking news, she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was horribly wrong; Steve Rogers wouldn’t be on the run from S.H.I.E.L.D. unless he had a damn good reason to be. I’m sure he’s fine, he’s probably been through much tougher scrapes than this, she thought to herself with forced optimism as she turned on her laptop and began typing.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Humming along to Billy Joel’s ‘Movin’ Out’, (Y/N)’s fingers flew across her keyboard as she typed and she smiled, proud of the fact that her writer’s block from the week before was now officially over and that she was so close to completing her very first novel. Not bad, not bad at all, she thought, hitting the ‘save’ button and stretching her arms over her head to relieve the build-up tension in her shoulders.

“Now this is good music, Booksmart!”

She spun her desk chair around to see Sam standing in the doorway of her bedroom and raised her eyebrow as she turned down her music. “Oh, so Billy Joel’s okay but everything else I listen to is garbage?”

Sam gave her a teasing eye-roll. “I never said that your music was garbage, I just said it was weird. How’s the writing going today?”

“I edited twelve pages and just spent an hour trying to describe a Soviet Cold War-era missile, so it’s been okay. How was work?”

“It was good, I didn’t have any meetings scheduled so I spent most of the day playing chess with the old timers. I swear, I think Gary cheats but I can’t figure out how he does it…”

(Y/N) shrugged. “Or maybe you should just accept the fact that you’re terrible at chess and the old timers take great pleasure in seeing you lose.”

“Ha, ha, very funny. You still cool with driving me to the shop to pick up my car?”

(Y/N) got up, turning off her computer and unplugging her MP3 player from her speaker with a grin. “Of course! Driver picks the music, though!” She laughed and practically skipped out of the room as Sam let out a groan of defeat and followed her. “Oh, don’t be so dramatic, Birdbrain, it’s not like I’m making you listen to a CD of ambient throat singing!”

“Wouldn’t be surprised if you had some of that…”

Five minutes later, they were on the road and the two of them were singing along to her one of Panic! At The Disco’s newest singles at the top of their lungs; out of the corner of her eye she could see other drivers shooting them odd looks but she couldn’t care less, she was enjoying herself far too much.

Sam chuckled as the song came to a finish. “Damn, their new album is good. You know, I didn’t start listening to alt-rock until I met you.”

“Then you should be thanking me for bringing such good music into your life!” Giggling, (Y/N) turned down the volume and glanced over at the cheerful man sitting beside her, her smile faltering as she asked, “Do you think he’s okay, Sam?”

Her roommate’s expression grew serious and he shook his head. “I really don’t know. I saw on CNN earlier that inside sources claim he’s wanted by S.H.I.E.L.D. in connection to the assassination of their director, but I don’t buy it. The guy we’ve met, who’s so dedicated to his job that he hasn’t bothered getting a life outside of it, wouldn’t be a part of something like that. I think something else’s up and I’ll bet anything he’s out there trying to figure it out.”

(Y/N) bit her bottom lip, nodding after a moment. “Yeah, me too.”

“Just you wait, this whole mess with S.H.I.E.L.D.’ll be cleared up in no time. I’m calling it right now, Steve’s gonna ride up to the VA on his motorcycle and dramatically whisk you off your feet, and the two of you are gonna ride off into the sunset together while one of those sappy love songs you pretend not to like plays in the background.” Sam's teasing smirk widened when her cheeks flushed. “C’mon, Booksmart, you both were mooning over each other like teenagers after the meeting yesterday; I felt like I was in the live studio audience of a soap opera taping.”

“You know, I could always kick you out of the car and make you walk all the way to the shop, if you'd prefer.”

“And I'd still get there before you ‘cause you drive like a grandma...”

Soon after, she pulled into the auto repair shop’s lot, parking under the shade of a tree before turning to Sam with a smile. “Did you want me to stay just in case your car isn’t ready yet?”

“That would be great, actually, thanks!” Sam gave her a grin before getting out of the car and heading into the shop.

(Y/N) rolled down the windows and sighed when she felt the soft spring breeze against her skin. Taking advantage of the peaceful moment, she let her imagination wander and began brainstorming different stories and characters in her head. You should probably finish the book you’re writing before you start on another one, she thought with a playful eye-roll. Her childhood dream of becoming a published author was in the middle of coming true, and she couldn’t be any happier about it.

Just then, her eyes drifted to a silver truck that was driving past the parking lot. It was going fast so she couldn’t get a very good look at the driver, but for a split second she could have sworn that the man driving the truck had the same blonde hair and chiseled jaw as Steve Rogers. Chalking it up to worry for the runaway super-soldier, she closed her eyes and murmured, “Whatever he’s up to, I hope that he’s staying safe.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I’ve created a Spotify playlist inspired by this series, and I’ll be updating it every time I upload a new chapter. Enjoy!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4BenknAqQQnOWY8NmSa23V

Tagging: @mrs-obrien​ @lahoete​ @awkward117​ @cminr​ @momc95​ @awkwardnesshabitat​ @marinettepotterandplagg​ @khuang3​ @supersouthy​ @benakenalove​ @brooke0297​ @hufflepeople​ @becausewelie​​ @outoftheregular @supreme-tantrum​

Chapter Five

“The Winter Soldier” Masterlist

[kurodachimagic]

Chocolate and Cherries - Chapter 1

Summary: When Adachi falls into the arms of a kind stranger his life changes for the better.

Rating: Pg 13

Tags/warnings: Fluff, getting together, au, Writer Adachi, Chef Kurosawa.

Word count: 6.2k

A/n: This story was written for the cherry magic mini bang! Thank you @hiwatari-art for inviting me to join! Had a lovely time working with you as always. Thank you to my other artist over on twitter guacagabs. The entire story is being posted right now. Thank you to @schnaf for being a great friend and beta!

Read on ao3

Adachi dragged his feet on the pavement as he made his way home from work. He was already too exhausted to start his writing day with the best mindset but it would have to do. He’d already skipped four days this week and if he didn’t actually sit down to work on his book, it would never be published. He let out a deep sigh and shook his head slightly.

The situation was not ideal by any means, he was not great at cooking and it was already too late to start dinner, but he definitely needed to eat something or his mind would absolutely quit on him, he knew that much.

Adachi knew he should probably get something healthier but he refused to waste even more time walking to the store, so he decided to stop by the food cart near his flat for his usual emergency menu: two tuna onigiris with mayo - along with a can of soda in the hopes that the caffeine would boost his creativity. He was not too happy about it, but he didn’t have much time to contemplate his choice because as soon as he had paid, the first few droplets of water hit his shoulders. Looking up, he felt the next few drops hit his nose and his forehead. He cursed inwardly and simply took off awkwardly running the last few blocks home, trying his best not to slip and fall, his dress shoes nothing but a hazard in this particular situation.

The building door was so close, he could see it through the pouring rain; just a few meters and he would be home. Adachi rushed, his hand extended already to grab at the door handle when his body collided with something - someone - and fell backwards. It was as if time had slowed down; he could see the face of the person he ran into frozen in shock, his eyes widening as he saw Adachi falling, while Adachi could only think about the pain this would cause him, physical, yes, but mostly emotional. He always managed to get himself in embarrassing situations and now -

His neighbour extended his hand just in time to catch Adachi’s and pulled him upright effortlessly, his expression switching from shock to a relieved smile. “Are you ok? I’m so sorry, I hadn’t seen you.”

“Thank you! I’m so sorry,” Adachi said, feeling the heat rise to his face, partly because of his clumsiness and partly because his neighbour had not let go of him yet. In fact, Adachi could have sworn that the guy was rubbing his thumb on the back of his hand. He didn’t know what to do, so he tried again. “Uh, sorry. I should’ve been more careful.”

“It’s ok, I’m glad that you didn’t get hurt.” The man seemed to suddenly remember they were standing in the pouring rain and pulled Adachi to the door. “Come, you’ll catch a cold in this weather.”

No matter how hard he thought, Adachi couldn't remember ever catching his name but he had seen this man before in the elevator and in some of the common areas. He seemed to be a bit of a recluse, much like himself.

The man opened the door and finally let go of his hand before ushering him in. “After you, Adachi.”

Adachi’s eyes widened; he didn't know how the man knew his name, but he didn’t mention it. He walked inside and called the elevator, followed closely by his saviour. Once the doors opened, he stepped in and turned around, pressing the button for the fifth floor and finally facing the man. "Thank you, again…" he trailed off.

"Kurosawa. My name is Kurosawa." He pressed the fourth-floor button.

Adachi smiled and bowed to him. "It was nice seeing you, Kurosawa. Have a good night."

The elevator dinged and Kurosawa bowed with a smile before exiting. “Good night, Adachi,” he waved.

Adachi hesitantly waved back as the elevator doors closed. Before he knew it he was one floor up, opening the door to his flat, throwing his work bag on the sofa and taking his wet clothes off with a groan before going to the bathroom.

What a day. Not only had he stayed late to finish on that project Urabe had handed to him but he also made himself look like a fool in front of his very cool neighbour, and to add insult to injury now he needed a hot shower to hopefully avoid catching a cold. He shook his head and hopped under the stream, washing himself thoroughly and letting the hot stream relax his muscles.

Feeling in a bit of a better mood, Adachi got out of the shower, wrapped himself in a towel and went about getting into a comfy set of pyjamas. He finally sat at his desk and opened the white doc of doom, checking the time and cursing as he realized it was 9 pm already. He slouched in his chair, throwing his head back with a groan. This book was going to take a million years at this rate, he really needed to prioritize his schedule, put on some good hours into it each day, especially during the weekend, he needed to -

Adachi’s stomach growled loudly, reminding him that his emergency dinner laid abandoned in its bag. He got up and stomped over to the sofa, unwrapping the onigiris and eating them without so much as a thought before returning to his spot. He promptly sat down to continue with the daily task of staring at the document while he begged his brain to type something - anything - out. But his mind had other plans though, Kurosawa’s face and gentle smile kept popping in his mind. Maybe it was because of the way he moved, how he had kept him from falling with his sharp reflexes, or maybe it was how elegant he looked even when he was soaking wet, how well his suit fitted him. Kurosawa was like some sort of superhero, or… no, he was more like a Prince Charming from an epic battle world. That was a start - it was not the murder mystery he had thought about, but it was definitely a start.

The sound of Adachi’s footsteps worked like a metronome, helping his mind settle into a rhythm. He was starting to see things in more detail: The brave prince paced in his castle, his sword close by his side, the problems his kingdom was facing were almost too much to bear and with his father on the brink of death, it was all on him. A shadow appeared above the citadel - the… the… ‘kingdom x’ was being attacked by a three-headed dragon. How would he fix this and save his people? Had someone sent the dragon or did it act with free will? Did the soon-to-be king have secret magic powers? Maybe they were a secret even to himself!

With renewed energy and excitement, Adachi sat down to work. This new world just wanted to be written, to become a reality, and he was not going to stop it. Aided by the occasional sip of soda and a few “stretching breaks” that were more like actual pacing, he managed to draft four thousand words by 5 am, effectively breaking his 3 thousand word record from just a few months ago. If he could keep up the pace he could finish the book within the next month and send it to Tsuge for editing and review. He sent a quick text to his friend to tell him the good news and got into bed; he would probably regret staying up so late tomorrow, but now he didn’t have it in him to care. Writing was definitely his call - even if he was very close to missing his goal of being a published author by 30.

---

The commute to work was nothing short of hell. The morning started with Adachi missing his usual train and having to take the next one during rush hour - not that he ever managed to avoid rush hour, but he usually took the first train during it so it wasn’t as crazy as later in the morning. This resulted in him having a very unpleasant ride, squeezed half to death between the sea of people, feeling like a canned sardine with a bad case of insomnia. That was the other issue, the previous writing night ended up being a success but even though he’d been exhausted by the time he was done, it had been impossible to fall asleep. Now he was on his way to a long workday with a pounding headache and a sour mood. If given the opportunity, Adachi would’ve chosen to take the day off to sleep and feel refreshed enough by sundown to continue writing.

His job was definitely a necessary evil, but sometimes he couldn’t help but resent it. On the verge of thirty, Adachi spent most of his day at the office, writing his reports, Urabe’s reports, and occasionally picking up the slack of some of his colleagues. There was barely any time for hobbies or relaxing and least of all to be an aspiring writer. To be completely honest, Adachi had started viewing his day job as his second career in the past year. His heart and soul were focused on his new goal, what he really wanted. In the end, if writing didn’t become his main income, it wouldn’t matter, he was passionate enough about it to continue no matter what. After all, living in the fantasy worlds he created was more than enough for him.

Adachi made it to his desk just on time, but running those last few blocks only served to make his mood even sourer. He pulled at the collar of his shirt with a small huff, still thinking about his writing and leaned back in his chair until it touched Urabe’s shoulder, startling him.

He turned around swiftly, blush already rising to his cheeks. “I’m so sorry, Senpai.”

Urabe nodded and waved him off. Then, he cocked his head and looked at Adachi in more detail. “What is going on with you, Adachi? You look tired.”

“I just had trouble sleeping last night, that’s all,” Adachi said with a heavy sigh. He could picture so many things he would rather do than give explanations about his personal life, but he would feel too guilty if he was rude to Urabe when he was only worried about him.

“Hmm, are you sure that’s all?”

“Yes. I’m ok.” He attempted his best smile. “Thank you for asking.”

“Adachi,” Urabe pouted, his brows burrowed into a childish frown, just like every time he would ask Adachi to take on more work, any semblance of concern already gone out the window. “Can you finish this report for tomorrow? The boss is really piling stuff on my shoulders and I already had other plans for today.”

Sometimes Adachi wished he was a bad person, or a bad colleague even, but he couldn’t help taking on the extra work when it was needed, after all, he didn’t have much of a life. He rolled his eyes but nodded. “Yes, of course.”

“Oh, wait. Is your birthday today or tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow.”

“And you’re turning 30, right?”

Adachi nodded once again, hoping to end the conversation as soon as possible; he didn’t want to be reminded of the passage of time or how much he hadn’t achieved by now.

Urabe rolled his chair closer and elbowed him. “Aaah, you sly weasel. Do you have a date?”

“Of course not. I’m just looking forward to getting home and sleeping.” That was literally his birthday plan.

Urabe frowned and gave him a quizzical look. “But you have... ‘dated’ before, right?” He winked.

Adachi shook his head slightly and saw the same look many people gave him, a mix of pity and judgement.

“You should ask one of the girls out. I’ve heard Yui is single and she’s very pretty!”

Adachi slowly turned his chair towards the copy machine and saw Yui across the room. She was, in fact, very pretty, but… she didn’t spark anything in him. She looked like a work of art, pleasant to look at, but not for him. “No, I don’t think that would work.”

“Adachi, if you don’t date someone by the time you turn 30, you will turn into a wizard!” He whispered.

“What? That’s ridiculous!”

“It’s true, you’ll see!”

Adachi rolled his eyes and turned back to his desk, finally starting on the reports needed. The sooner he was done with that, the sooner he could return to his writing.

--

The elevator opened its doors for Adachi and the ding that followed made his muscles relax instantly. Only a few more minutes and he would be up in his flat, taking his shoes off and cooking something quick before sitting down to write. He felt inspired by the beginning of this new story and he wasn’t about to let a bad day at work ruin that for him.

Just as the doors started to close, someone put a bag between them to keep them open. The first thing Adachi saw was a girl with a cute and gentle look, a black wispy fringe framing her face and a sweet smile. She nodded at Adachi and he smiled and nodded back. He wondered if he would ever date a girl like her, if sharing his life with a partner and doing things together would be so different than what he did now. The answer was probably not, since he assumed nobody would be supportive of him working all day and writing all night; if he was honest with himself, he didn’t really have time for a relationship, even if he sometimes yearned for a bit of company - theoretically. Adachi blinked repeatedly, suddenly crashing back into reality when he saw the looming presence of Kurosawa behind her, giving him a weird look he couldn’t quite place as he ushered the girl into the elevator.

Out of sheer awkwardness, Adachi nodded and mumbled a quiet hello at him, looking away as a blush crept onto his cheeks. Was that Kurosawa’s girlfriend? He groaned and let his head fall back against the elevator wall. He’d been caught staring at his neighbour’s girlfriend like a creep. He ventured a sideways glance and realized Kurosawa was still looking at him with a weird expression.

Thankfully, the ride was short and only a minute later, Adachi was home, barely paying any attention to his basic needs as per usual. He made some instant ramen and added a bit of egg to it before eating it mindlessly, daydreaming of his new story and the magic system involved.

Perhaps it was quickly becoming a much more ambitious project than he had anticipated but as long as the writing flowed, everything would be ok. What was supposed to be a long writing session soon turned into an early night after Adachi’s brain decided to shut down mid-sentence, putting him to sleep sitting at his desk, his head hanging down and his spine hunched over.

[chaotic-losers-the-house]

Silver and Gold

N/: Hanbrough has officially taken over my soul. My crops have been watered, my skin is shining, and hotel is still Trivago. IT Chapter 2 made me ship these two so damn much, holy fuck. Enjoy this little one-shot I made of them.

———————

Mike didn’t really dream much. Ever since the fire, his head has been filled with nothing but screams of anguish and stinging tears from his eyes. But the nightmares had faded with age. He’d sleep so terrifyingly well, that some swore he was almost dead. Granted it wasn’t perfect, but it was... passable.

When he was thirteen, Mike had an unfortunate encounter with Henry Bowers and his goons. Thank god he didn’t have to worry about them anymore. He was tormented, called an outsider to the point where he believed it. Mike couldn’t be more grateful for Bev throwing that rock at Bowers.

After that day, the Losers has been a part of Mike. Not just his friends, but a part of him. Every second of that summer felt like such a wonderful eternity. If it wasn’t for IT’s torments, then perhaps he could say it was the perfect summer.

He was so grateful for all of them

Eddie and his ridiculous fanny packs that held the inhaler he didn’t really need

Stan and his love of birds that he’d talk about so passionately

Beverly and her pack of cigarettes that she’d carry on her person

Ben and his poetry that would speak such beautiful words

Richie and his Hawaiian shirts that he’d wear on the daily alongside his large glasses

And Bill...

Bill and his sketches that covered pages of books. His paintbrushes that would delicately brush over Mike’s arm as his skin was covered in bright colors. Bill had said that gold was a wonderful shade on him, and he believed it. He’d believe anything Bill told him, because he knew it was real.

He knew Bill was real

———————

Mike didn’t know when it happened. Maybe it was in his senior year of high school, when the Losers were all young adults, but he had noticed a change. How his dreams had come back seemingly out of nowhere. However, they were eerily more clear than any of his other dreams.

He’d dream of the farm, where he had invited Bill to help him with the animals. He would remember Bill feeding the lambs, and him bending down to prepare their food and one of them climbing onto his back. Mike laughed when that happened, and he laughed so hard since it happened so much.

Mike would vividly see Bill with a lamb laying on his lap, the boy having a soft smile and caressing the animal with such a delicacy that it felt unreal. When Bill would turn to him, oh god, how Mike could barely hold himself. Bill had these baby blue eyes that were so soft, so gentle. They reminded Mike of the sky, of the sneakers Bill would sometimes wear to school. He also noticed how Bill had such pink lips. Lips that seemed like they could shame roses. How Mike wanted to kiss those lips. To touch that delicate, creamy skin. But he didn’t, because they were just friends. It almost felt... unreal, to have such thoughts.

But Mike knew it was real, because Bill was real.

———————

The past couple of days had been rough. Not in the sense that they were frustrating, but they were just tiring. Mike had grabbed all his belongings and drove out of Derry. He had planned to go to Florida, where it could be a brand new start for him. Away from all the small minds and judgements.

Until he called Bill, that is.

How Mike wanted to see him again. His brown hair with silver streaks at the front, and his beautiful blue eyes that Mike dreamed of endlessly.

Once arriving to Bill’s grand home (that he unintentionally bragged about, alongside his money), Mike practically lifted the man off of his feet (not that Bill complained). It was a quiet moment between them. It didn’t need words. They both knew what they wanted. So it didn’t surprise Mike when Bill had pressed his lips to his cheek, planting a small peck.

It made Mike blush furiously, but by Bill’s pure smile and his searching eyes and his soft “I missed you”, Mike decided to leave his insecurities behind and kiss Bill on his lips. Yes, that was a good day. They had nearly forgotten about Mike’s things for nearly an hour, as Bill had dragged Mike into his house and onto his couch where he straddled the mans lap and kissed him passionately. Mike didn’t really complain, though, as he got to smother Bill’s neck with hickeys and hear his soft moans.

Now, it’s nearly been about five months since Mike moved in, and he was laying on the bed, waking up from a great sleep. The previous night was filled with red wines, hearty laughs and, at times, wonderful make-out sessions. It wasn’t that Mike didn’t want to make love to Bill (their make-outs would almost lead to that), but he didn’t want to rush things. He wanted Bill to remember all the great things with him. From the day they met at the river, to the day Bill moved out of Derry.

Mike let his eyes get adjusted to the bright light of the morning sun, groaning and stretching his arms. He looked to his side to see Bill, already woken up with his laptop on his lap, reading glasses put on and typing away at the keys. Bill did nothing to acknowledge Mike’s presence, as he was too focused on his work to bother. Mike simply smiled at that. Bill always did this: his brows furrowed and his eyes never leaving the screen of his computer until Mike would make a wonderful distraction by kissing his lips til he payed attention.

Mike propped himself up so that he was sitting behind Bill, and he wrapped his arms around his waist. Bill didn’t turn his head, but simply let out a small chuckle. Mike rested his head on Bill’s shoulder, moving his lips to kiss Bill’s neck and cheek. Now Bill simply couldn’t ignore, as the feel of Mike’s lips on his skin was just intoxicating and so delicious.

Bill pressed the save button on his computer to make sure his drafts weren’t lost and shut it down. He removed his glasses and placed them on top of the computers cover. The story could wait, as right now, he had more important things to worry about. He turned around to meet Mike’s eyes, which were so full of love and adoration.

Mike could only smile when Bill positioned himself on his lap and cupped his face with his hands. Bill leaned in and closed the gap between them, kissing Mike softly. Mike deepened the kiss, and allowed Bill to push him back down onto the mattress. His hands wandered from Bill’s waist to caress his back, which Bill moaned at the touch. They parted and looked at each other fondly.

“Morning” Bill said, his smile holding pure admiration “M-Must you do this to me every time you w-wake up?”

“What?” Mike said playfully “Kiss your pretty face and pull you away from your screen? Seems like you enjoy it from the noises you make”

Bill could only flick Mike’s ear gently “Oh s-shut up” he chuckled, as he burrowed his face at the crook of Mike’s neck and kissed the skin there.

Mike turned his head to plant a soft peck on Bill’s forehead “Admit it ,baby, I’m a pretty good distraction”

“Alright fine” Bill said, looking up to gaze at Mike “Y-You’re the best distraction I could h-have” He paused to move his lips to Mike’s ear and whisper “And I love you for it, Mikey~”

When Bill turned to look at his man, Mike was so red he could’ve sworn he was a tomato. Bill simply giggled when Mike flipped them over and kissed him lovingly. This was a life that both of them adored: a life without any fears or regrets. Just new experiences and lasting memories. And the best part was...

It was real

[avegetariancannibal]

“Nor’easter”

[I've had this in my drafts since January 2018 and I just read over it and don't know why I didn't post it. So... here’s some Hannigram snowed-in trope from season 2!]

Will opened the door to let the dogs out and found, to his surprise, Hannibal standing on his porch, covered in snow. The dogs all gave him a friendly sniff before bounding over to the trees.

"I didn't hear you drive up," Will said. He peered out into the darkness. "I... don't see your car."

"Stuck in the snow about half a mile from here," Hannibal said, his voice shaking slightly from the cold. "I tried to call but the storm seems to be playing havoc with my reception."

Will's first instinct was to tell him to take a hike, but he saw a way to use the situation to his advantage. As he'd told Jack, he was a good fisherman. The fish was here, right now, on his doorstep.

"Come on in," Will said, opening the door wider.

As Hannibal hurried in, the dogs followed soon after, shaking snow off their bodies and all over their new guest just as he was taking off his coat.

"Ah---"

Will barely suppressed a laugh as he headed towards the bathroom. "I'll get you some towels."

"Perhaps I could borrow something dry to wear," Hannibal called after him. "I don't think I'll get a ride out of here tonight in this storm."

******

Will dug through the linen closet for a pair of towels, and then through a box of old clothes he'd been meaning to take to the men's shelter in town. Everything smelled a bit stale, but it was all clean. He came up with his college sweatpants and a bright purple cardigan he'd owned for years but never worn because... well, bright purple.

He wondered if he should call Jack and tell him... Tell him what? That he was having a sleepover with Hannibal Lecter? It wasn't as if he didn't trust himself to handle the situation without Jack Crawford's input. Right? He shook his head at himself and went back into the living room.

Hannibal had already stripped out of his wet clothes and looked to be about to move on to his underwear.

"Not shy, I see," Will said, holding out the clothes and towels.

"I didn't think I had reason to be," Hannibal said.

Will snorted. "Not modest, either."

Hannibal blinked at him. "I only meant that I didn't think my state of undress would matter to you one way or the other." Suddenly, his expression turned decidedly sly. "But I can dress elsewhere, if it does matter."

Will's cheeks burned, and he hoped the dimness of the room hid them. "Just... hurry up. I was about to go to sleep when you showed up at my door."

Hannibal glanced around. "Where...?"

"You can have the guest room upstairs," Will said. "I don't have an extra space heater, but you can take a couple of dogs with you. Buster's the warmest one, he's good under the covers, but he can be a bit gassy."

Hannibal's gaze fell upon the dogs, who had shuffled into their beds near the fireplace but who were all keeping a watchful eye on their guest. Buster, having heard his name, wagged his tail.

"Perhaps I'll manage on my own..."

Will rolled his eyes. "Just take a dog or two, Hannibal. You'll freeze half to death."

He clicked his tongue at the dogs and gestured for them to follow Hannibal up the stairs. At first only Buster hopped to his command, but Max grudgingly heaved himself out of bed and went.

Hannibal lingered at the bottom step, arms laden with the borrowed clothes, and appeared to want to say something.

"I'd offer you something to eat," Will said, "but I'm pretty sure all I've got is canned soup."

"Thank you," Hannibal said, tossing a weak smile over his shoulder. "I think I have everything I need."

**********

Will woke to the sound of the floorboards creaking near him. He knew instinctively that Hannibal could have moved in complete silence, so there had to be a reason for making noise.

"What is it?" he sighed.

"Your dogs took their leave of me," Hannibal whispered, the shivering audible in his voice. "I imagine they returned to their own beds as soon as I fell asleep."

Will reached over in the dark and flicked on the lamp. Hannibal stood at his bedside, hair mussed, hugging himself in the cold, and looking better than anyone had a right to in that terrible cardigan. Only one thing was missing.

"I could have sworn I gave you some sweatpants," Will said.

"They were rather snug," Hannibal said.

Will flashed on an image of himself as a 20-year-old, still built like a fawn. "Ah, yeah, I guess I was a scrawny thing when I bought them."

Hannibal reached up to undo the buttons on his borrowed cardigan.

Will sat up. "Whoa. Whoa, what are you doing?"

"Giving this back to you," Hannibal said. "I'm sure my own clothes are dry enough by now, so I can make my way back to my car. Perhaps I'll be able to drive out..."

Will glanced toward the window. The snow was still falling in frenzied swirls as the wind howled like an angry, living thing. The drifts had to be twice as deep as they were when Hannibal showed up.

"You're being ridiculous," Will told him. He held up one corner of his blanket. "Just... just get in and keep to your side, would you?"

"If you're certain---"

"Before I change my mind, you'd better."

He turned off the lamp as Hannibal slid into bed behind him. Even though there was a clear foot between them, Will could feel the weight of him on the mattress and smell the good smell of him. The mustiness of the cardigan couldn't cover it up, the mingled scent of whatever cologne he used and the ozone of the storm that still seemed to linger on him.

"Goodnight, Will," Hannibal said, already sounding drowsy.

"Yeah, ‘night," Will said, though he was sure he'd never fall back asleep now.

*******

He fell so deeply asleep that waking up just felt like moving on to another dream. In this dream, he was wrapped around Hannibal as tightly as a howler monkey clinging to a life-saving branch. His head rested on Hannibal's shoulder and his hand had snaked itself under the ugly cardigan to the warm expanse of belly beneath. Their legs were a tangled mess.

Around the same time he realized it wasn't a dream, he also realized he was jabbing Hannibal's hip with a particularly insistent morning erection. He backed away from Hannibal as quickly as he could.

"Guess I'm not used to sharing the bed with anyone," he mumbled, by way of explaining himself.

"Mm hm." Hannibal lay on his back, fingers laced over his ribs, eyes open and staring up at the ceiling. He didn't look at Will.

Will frowned at him. "Were you awake all night?"

"I thought it the best way to keep to my side," he said. "As you instructed me."

Will's face burned with shame. "I'm sorry---"

"You chose a perfect torture for me," Hannibal went on, still focused on the ceiling. "The smell of you so close, and your warmth drawing nearer and nearer to me as I lay perfectly still---and then to be subjected to the touch of your body."

Now Will was just confused. "Look, I'm sorry I rubbed against you in my sleep. I didn't mean to.”

"Don't continue the farce, Will."

Hannibal sprang up from the bed and went about putting his pants and socks back on.

"Are you leaving? Hannibal, your car is half a mile away and it's still snowing." A thought suddenly occurred to him. "Wait---why is your car half a mile away?"

"I told you.” The hideous cardigan came off and Hannibal's own shirt and coat went back on. “I was driving and it became stuck in the snow."

"I mean why were you driving half a mile from my house," Will said.

Hannibal sniffed. "Feigned ignorance is unbecoming on you."

With that, he hurried out the front door so quickly, he left his shoes and coat behind. Will, still in nothing more than his boxers and undershirt, vaulted outside after him. He stumbled off the porch and fell face-first into soft, deep snow. The sudden cold contact knocked the breath out of him for a moment.

By the time he'd gotten his wits about him again, Hannibal had plowed ahead a good thirty or so feet.

"God dammit, Hannibal! Get back inside before we both freeze to death!"

He moved to climb out of the pit he'd made for himself, but only sank further in. The surrounding snow, disturbed by his efforts, toppled in after him. He was buried up to his shoulders as he sprawled half on his knees and elbows.

Buster was the first one to check on him, barking happily at first as if they were playing a fun game, then with increasing anxiety. Winston and Zoe and the others soon joined him, whimpering or howling their distress. One of the bigger dogs stomped on his back, no doubt in an attempt to save him, but only managed to push him further down, like a pat of butter being pressed into a heap of mashed potatoes. He thought of how the news story of his death would play. Something like "local man once thought to be a cannibalistic murderer was accidentally buried alive by his pack of dogs in what police are calling a hoarding situation gone bad" seemed about right.

He felt the load of dogs lighten and then there was a strong hand on the back of his neck. He was yanked up onto his knees by the collar of his undershirt.

"I'll go back inside," Hannibal said, his tone one of grand concession, "if only to keep you from doing something foolish."

*******

Hannibal made them both mugs of hot cocoa laced with whiskey. Will, wearing a new set of underpants and shirt, sat in the semidark, warming his lips against the hot ceramic of the mug. Hannibal was just as quiet, and seemed not to want to look directly at him.

Will thought back to the last time someone had shown up unannounced on his doorstep in the middle of the night. If he hadn't been plagued by hallucinations---and Alana so plagued by ideals of ethics---he would've gotten laid that night.

"You were on your way to visit me," Will said. "When you got stuck in the snow."

"Nothing as friendly as that," Hannibal said, still not looking at him. "I was only going to drive past to catch a glimpse of you."

"Wow."

"I loathe pity."

Will knew he should shut up He knew it. He was going to fuck up whatever lame fishing expedition he had planned with Jack Crawford because if he didn't shut up, he was going to figure out how he felt about Hannibal and that was going to make his life so much worse.

"I'm not pitying you," Will said, not shutting up. "I'm... genuinely surprised. It's not feigned ignorance, if you were thinking of accusing me of that again."

"So you're merely dense," Hannibal said.

"About this, yeah, I guess," Will laughed. He thought about putting down his mug and sliding into Hannibal's lap, but shook it off. "I don't like the idea of making a move on Alana's boyfriend---and don't protest that you're not. You know what I mean."

Hannibal winced into a smile. Only now did he glance up at Will. "So what would you have me do?"

"Get some sleep," Will said. "Finish your cocoa first or throw it out so the dogs don't get into it."

He downed the rest of his drink in one slightly too-hot gulp, then crawled into bed. He listened to Hannibal fussing about in the kitchen for a bit, the sound oddly comforting. There's a cannibal in your house, he told himself, and you're supposed to be entrapping him not having sleepovers with him. He tried to feel worked up about that, he really did. Maybe the righteous anger would come roaring back at some point, but it felt so far away. Certainly farther away than the warm, good-smelling body now sliding into bed behind him.

"Must I keep to my side this time?" Hannibal asked.

"I suppose not," Will said. "After driving all this way and trudging half a mile through the snow, a few inches doesn't seem like much."

He didn't get a response to that, so Will scooted backwards until his back touched Hannibal's chest. Eventually, he felt Hannibal shift slightly so that they fit smoothly together, like fire logs in a pile settling against one another. He watched the snow battering against the window, so thick that he couldn't see the sky beyond, and fell asleep without one drop of the cold touching him.

-end-

[cruddyborderlandstheories]

athenas or the new ign videos... hmmm

im gonna go for the ign videos (moze gameplay and sanctuary-iii, no guns yet, i have a reason for that) because athenas hasn’t gotten its sweet instagram video yet. once that’s released i’ll do a full post on it. by the time i got around to finishing this post, they had released the video. oh boy... gonna do the gun post then the athenas post, i think. alright, off we go.

tl;dr: we read the entire end user agreement DAHL thrusts upon us for using the ECHO device, talk about some stuff like how (spoilers) it seems like Lilith will be getting her powers back at the end of the game, and a voice line Lily says that sounds like “Tyreen took my powers. it’s like Tannis said: [inaudible] Siren” (altho im not 100% sure on the [inaudible] part because 1) it sounds weird and 2) there’s a drum beat and also the devs are talking over her, the Siren part seems fairly accurate because of the way her mouth moves). so you know. im gonna be agonizing over that until i can hear what she says. ive already spent an hour just repeating it over and over. i nearly fell asleep lol

we’re gonna start with the moze gameplay (the first 14 minutes of bl3) because chronologically it’s first in both timeline and release date

i love the license plates on the right there

also it looks like they added in claptrap’s old welcome sign from windshear waste! time to stand in front of it for 30 minutes to see if any messages pop up like bl2

fast travel station as well, definitely going to see if/where i can teleport and going there immediately. i imagine this is more for DLC stuff and grinding tho.

also! i do believe we saw Covenant Pass previously. good to know this is actually where it is!

Marcus saying “And Welcome to Pandora!” in the beginning confirms that, yes, they’re going to be on a bus!! i wonder if there will be a fight scene before that though. it’s interesting Clappy mentions that “those jerks who tried to murder you are the children of the vault!” so i mean... there’s gotta be... right?

im also convinced this intro is going to be a mirror of Borderlands 1. i stg if it starts out with the first few notes of Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked and then swaps songs I’m going to lose my mind

also also, the order is totally going to mimic the bl1 one. Fl4k = Mordecai, Amara = Lilith, Moze = Roland, Zane = Brick. We even have Lilith taking Angel’s spot as the mysterious voice in our heads, and probably Marcus driving, AND being dropped off at a bus stop.

bet the reason they changed it from ‘Moze as the Bot Jock’ to ‘Moze as the Gunner’ is because it fits under ‘Roland as the Soldier’ better. Also, ‘Zane Flynt as Himselfs’ would be a play off ‘Brick as Himself’. Amara as the Siren is obvious, and ‘Mordecai as the Hunter’ vs ‘Fl4k as the Beastmaster’ is pretty similar as well, given Fl4k has all those Hunter skills.

the 4 basic emotes im guessing. im so glad we have the option to boop our friends in the face with emotes.

also moze’s little bunny skin is adorable

the ECHOnet used to be called “Riftspace”, “the Spline”, and... “MercTel: A Cyber-Dahl Joint” lmfao

specifically calls out Pandora. also, “artificial megastructures”??? THAT’S SO COOL

AND FUCKING

SENTIENT MEGASTRUCTURES???? 

gearbox. please. i have never ever wanted anything more in my life. please. it’s probably my birthday. PLEASE GEARBOX

also interesting that the user agreement specifically notes ‘Respawns’. I assume this is a joke because New-U stations have been confirmed not canon

“Core law”. Core law? Core... daddy? ... ????

core as in like a core government somewhere that’s not the border worlds? that’s interesting...

“The Legion”, okay, acknowledging TPS, that’s dope

“Project Blackrakk” ... im interested

“Thresher Company” lmao

im curious if Axton was apart of any of the mentioned ones. i don’t think it’s been stated, but i could be wrong

“Chieftain Oort”. also ‘Recently Legless Gary’, lmfao poor dude.

oh yeah im sure this is fine. also holy shit did they google the synonyms for ‘change’ and just start listing them? lmfao

“implicit subscription to the Digby Vermouth ‘Dig’s Gigs’ secret concert subscription service” 

sorry, what?

if this doesn’t come up again in the future- if we don’t get a spam letter or 3 in our mailbox about this concert subscription thing i'm gonna be so disappointed

Dahl hates you if you’re not a fan of hyper-jazz, “you snob” lmfao

my brain hurts, they’re good at writing these 

damn phones exist? i thought everything was ECHO. aight, that’s good to know. i guess there just aren’t any phone networks around the border worlds

also “shared dreamspaces” sound really cool

hm. that’s no good lmfao. also i love that the buttons are ‘Agree’ and ‘OK’. there is no escape, once you agree, you can’t even leave because you’re agreeing that you’re trapped with these rules even if you cancel.

that’s fucked up, DAHL. can’t believe you treat your user base the same way you treat your employees. i guess i shouldn’t be surprised.

anyway, shoutout to literally the only TOA I’ve ever fully read in my life.

also, clicking through this TOA too fast WILL end claptrap’s voice line early. so be careful if you want to hear what he has to say!!

oh shit lmao I gotta go edit that Fl4k post

ok im back ~time magic of being able to save things in drafts and post them at a later date~

sliding preserves momentum, so you can actually slide (nearly) the entire way down! i love this.

small, but claptrap bends his antennae when trying to be stealthy. i thought that was a pretty cool detail

“and some guns include an alternate shooting mode~! try it out!”

player: `immediately shoots claptrap in the face`

i died lol

a very nice look at this sign.

good to know that the twins really are tempting people to join with promises of food. i mean it makes sense, i imagine most of the cultists are desperate for stability and a reasonable life on pandora.

also, Shiv calls himself “holy influencer of the children of the vault” lol. i love that. gearbox really is going for the internet’s throat, isn’t it?

i do like that hovering over an NPC will give you their name only and not name/healthbar.

a better look at one of the signs referencing the Mother!!! i was waiting for this, the only real look we got at one was in that one scene with Moze and IB

“Behold the Mother strength surrender to the truth” 

yeah that’s not ominous...

i assume the mother and father are intended to be tyreen and troy? but idk how i feel about that implication...

i like the new little gear/spring effect for the magnet lol

new lilith! i know a lot of people don’t like it, but i do. she looks better than the bl2 vers. altho i think it’s weird they swapped both bl1 and bl2′s ‘AI’ effect to those dots and then didn’t bring it to BL3. the dots effect felt cleaner. curious why they’re not applying it to bl3 when they went thru all that effort in 1 and 2.

... back up please.

i like that there is a changing icon for long pressing now

“time to check out our slay of the day!” sounds like Tyreen but tbh i legit thought this was moze’s reaction to opening the chest at first lol 

you can hear someone start screaming in agony while she’s walking up the stairs, so i know it’s not moze, but im so used to the VHs talking when they see a new piece of loot my brain just assumed.

also THE MUSIC IN THE BACKGROUND IS A REMIX OF BANDIT SLAUGHTER!!! IM SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS I WAS FREAKING OUT THE FIRST TIME I HEARD IT

also, claptrap when dropping health yells “this could save your life! then, you’ll owe me a life debt!” bullshit im pretty sure you already decided we owed you a life debt the moment we stepped off that bus

“i see it... the great vault” - a line from a cultist you kill

i know i mentioned in this post that the Great Vault may be already opened, but it could also just be a Vault they’re planning on opening and using the propaganda to convince the cultists to help them find it. 

“if you help us get this vault open, you’ll be handsomely rewarded! you’ll get superpowers! you’ll get regular meals! you’ll get money and guns and dates!” you know, the usual stuff. 

either way, elevating the Vault to a higher state (god/heaven/whatever) makes sense if you’re running a cult.

btw there is a hidden chest in the scaffolding to the left of the door, if you’re interested in grabbing some better guns before shiv. personally, i’ll be using the toy guns.

also the TVs are actually playing propaganda now!!

this one is asking questions that i cant understand due to the sound effects of the chest and claptrap talking, but it says something about “... the dust? ... join the Children of the Vault!”

“hey shiiiiiv all your dumb friends are dead!!”

shiv be like

“all my friends are dead”

some cool level-up art! I notice these are the same pictures as used on the japanese site. i wonder if they change depending on which VH you’ve picked (If you’re playing Amara/Fl4k, do you get pics of Amara and Fl4k? the player is playing moze, afterall).

also also “it’s a KIA on the knife wielding maniac. suuuper dead.” 

it’s cool that the VHs have specific lines for the deaths of bosses. i hope that continues and it’s not just a ‘15 min of intro gameplay’ thing. you know, where everything is super detailed in the beginning and then slowly gets less and less as the game progresses? anyway, moze’s little chuckle is fuckin adorable lol

ah. the door closes now so you can’t even explore Shiv’s room before Lilith shows up. gearbox plS you know me too well, i was looking for a g l i m p s e

claptrap’s voice line for getting released is SUPER off time, he hits the ground before going “you did it! i’m sa-ahhhhhhhh!” it’s weird, wondering if that’s just a glitch.

also also we get a nice listen to the revive ally sound. i could’ve sworn it wasn’t in the first look at this mission we got, because i heard it for the first time during the coop Zane/Amara gameplay on Promethea. i might be wrong, tho.

im very curious what these symbols are claptrap is beaming up

i mean you know what im gonna say

they look eridian

and they do

so wtf clappy why u beaming up eridian letters to Lilith

i assume maybe Tannis gave clappy some weird upgrade or something so he could communicate with the crimson raiders without the CoV listening in? it could be that Tannis or someone is decoding this message since Tannis does know how to translate Eridian (as shown in her bl1 ECHOs)

... or at the very least she gave Lilith a translator

the darkening makes it so that you can see the crackening. also this COULD just be a beam that lilith can see from wherever she is, but i want to believe there’s more eridian stuff. bc eridian stuff is fun.

this is so fu cking crisp im dying i love it

lilith’s tattoos spreading down her fingers

same symbol as her chest tattoo. maybe the symbol denotes new powers? like how lily has one on her chest for phasewalking, and a new one on her hand for teleportation

i love how her wings look like actual fire. i fucking love this

lilith is looking so fucking good in the new engine

im glad they got rid of her super red eyes, tbh it looked a bit weird

i think they are really pushing her fire affinity, im sure we’ll see Maya has an elemental affinity as well (im calling corrosive) and im sure Tyreen will too (slag). Amara looks to be Shock because that’s her ‘default’, but who knows until (if) bl4 comes out. but corrosive wings on maya would look SOOO fucking cool. please. please please please.

god she looks so good compared to bl2. i love how the tattoos softly glow in the dark, too. i gotta play this mission late in the day...

“you’re... the voice in my head, right?” i love this so much, i really hope my shitpost comes true.

lilith gives you a grenade mod for completing her mission! im really glad they are PUSHING through the tutorial/intro so you can get right into the game. bl2′s ‘intro’ of all these tutorials was brutal. especially waiting to unlock your action skill.

in 3 you get your action skill automatically at level 2!!! which is insane, i love it! they’re jumping right into it, it’s great. and they seem to be pushing for you to get all the stuff you need right away. 

it’s curious to note that in bl3 we get our class mods at the end of the Promethea demo (after Gigamind), since in bl2 you get your first (usually?) after the hunting the firehawk mission and both seem to take place immediately after we get to the ‘base of operations’ of the game (Sanctuary vs Sanctuary-III).

yep that quest is 100% in line with the quest marker. 

i imagine From the Ground Up may be discovering where the Vault Map/Key actually is? maybe bringing people to the Recruitment Center (notably Tannis)

for this scene. i hope this takes place after the HBC, because i seriously... can’t imagine the twins showing up, taking the Vault Map, bringing it to the HBC, and then NOT taking Lilith’s powers/trying to kill Lily and accidentally taking her powers. it just doesn’t make sense, Vault Hunters be damned, we are level 2 they could melt us easy peasy. 

If anything, it feels like we COULD find the Vault Map in the Recruitment Center, Tannis tries to activate it/fix it, we find out it’s mega broke, and then the Sun Smashers show up and take it. but i seriously can’t imagine Lilith nor the new VHs allowing that to happen while they’re still there. maybe if Tannis sends us to do something while Lilith is gathering other CR members? then it could make sense if they attack while Tannis is alone with the Key...

OR

we end up finding something in Shiv’s room that shows/helps us realize the Sun Smashers bringing the Vault Map to the Calypsos. tho this would mean the quest From the Ground Up is SUPER short and I imagine it’s not. Maybe we raid a camp of theirs like the one in front of Sanc-III with the bridge/ramp? We need to be about level 6 before we go and we start From the Ground Up at 2 so there’s obviously something DEEP we’re missing here. maybe this is a mission where we go gather the other Crimson Raiders? HMMMMMMMM...

.... oh.

nevermind lmfao

she opens her ECHO immediately after this LOL i feel kinda dumb now

raiding their camp it is! the Droughts sounds like a fun location. Very much like the dust. you guys think there’s a Shade situation going on there? i’m excited to see it. Still think we’re going to use Shiv’s room to get that lead, though. i just really wanna watch tv lmfao. i hope this means the bandits run from the camp to the HBC, or we find info that the bandit warchief sent a party to the HBC with the Vault Map. either way, i just don’t want the twins showing up until after the HBC or i will have so many questions. “why didn’t you kill lilith?” being the first. “the god queen wants her head!” ur goddamn right she does, so why doesn’t she (try to) kill lilith???

85% already?! hot damn

also

that’s one badass description there, Moze

also also

while having gun slots locked is pretty normal, im surprised they’re locking class mods and relics, too! i wonder when we’ll be able to equip relics. maybe when we first go to eden-6 or smth. or maybe after we meet up with Rhys. shit maybe he’s just handing us an artifact (im gonna interchange these a lot, sorry!) in that Promethea video lmfao

“ready to chuck some boom and frag some maniacs” lol moze i love you

if you’re playing Zane... `equips grenade mod for checkmark` `immediately equips second action skill and never actually uses grenade mod`

“it’s the firehawk! the god queen wants her head!” 

like i alluded to before, i would not be surprised if Tyreen doesn’t know she can absorb Siren powers... when she goes to succ lilith in front of Sanctuary-III, it’s totally possible she actually was trying to kill her. That could explain why she looks so intrigued at her hand like “oh shit okay lets see what this can do”

might be why she was okay with sending her cultists after her instead of showing up herself.

“alright, we got a foothold. maybe things are turning our way. come on killer, you’re with me” we are going to explore the SHIT out of shiv’s room.

alright alright alright

let’s move on to the Sanctuary-III stuff

yessss

i love the quest objective thing, it looks like we will be able to swap through our quests with the push of a button! also im curious why exactly we’re going to promethea right away. i wonder if the twins say something about moving there after getting the vault map/lilith’s powers, or if we hear from rhys. im expecting something about the vault map, since our vh will admit they don’t know rhys at all when talking to lorelei. but for some reason we need to be within the city limits? since lily says ellie got us within the city limits. 

hmmmmmm. okay, okay, maybe the map was trying to lead us to promethea for vault reasons during that short amount of time that we had it and it was working. maybe promethea is what we see when tannis is activating the key during that one cutscene? ohhh shit how dope would it be if we got that fucking easter egg message? omg “Children of the Vault. Come to Promethea. We are not on Pandora anymore. Tannis is not what she seems. Do not open the Vaults.” and everyone is like ‘uh did that thing just mention Tannis by name??’ and now it’s REALLY important to get the map back just so we can figure out wtf it’s trying to tell us. 

i will question how ‘Tannis is not what she seems’ would affect character relationships, especially if it’s said so early in the game. so perhaps we only hear the first part of the message. maybe it’s corrupted because it was recently broken. iunno. just playing around with ideas. the canon of this game is like flarp putty until sept. 13th

anyway moving on because this is literally the first f r a m e of the video

i like that you can see pandora’s eridian scar. if the destroyer is speaking through eridium to people, it’s gonna bust outta the side of this planet like you wouldn’t fucking believe lmao. eridium is a window to the soul and if you stare long enough into its glossy, shining sides, the destroyer stares back

that or it’s just like a beacon, slowly spreading its influence across the universe. but i like the idea that the destroyer can waltz out of a big enough hunk of eridium. so it will bust out of pandora’s eridium scar. F in chat for pandora but also lmfao the amount of tentacles and rage would be unparalleled.

reality is that the twins are probably farming this scar for eridium to turn into slag for multiple purposes. like brainwashing their cultists, giving them powers, and ensuring their guns have their manufacturer’s quirk (im getting to this in my next post bc im just gonna compile all the ign gun videos into one big post)

the floor art is different from the actual sanc-iii demo. i mention this first in my behind closed doors panel analysis, but im gonna mention it again because this is ~official~. the floor list on the first walkthru of sanc-iii we got had the names of all the crimson raiders and lines leading to their shops. so we had the infirmary/tannis, marcus, moxxi, etc listed on the floor. i imagine this new sanc-iii will change as we get more people on board or if we do a sort of re-decoration of the ship.

also also, it’s cool to see that we have 4 rooms on the minimap, likely one for each of the VHs (and your coop buddies). ive seen speculation that the other, non-played VHs will hang out in their rooms when you’re not playing them, and tbh i really hope this is the case.

we also know this version of sanctuary-iii is after pandora, so there are no promethea citizens aboard yet. which makes me double certain the first sanc-iii video we got takes place either after endgame (explaining why Lily has her tattoos back) or right after Athenas (explaining why Maya is there). which... i mean... spoilers, guys. 

that’s one good lookin fast travel station, holy shit

im in tears over here because “Caution: no steppy”. this is so fucking funny to me

no steppy on me

okay moving on because i will cry laugh over this for forever im allowed

moze’s room is so much different than amara’s

also i notice she’s on the left of the two on the top, which makes me hope the other 4 are reserved for the other VHs (or your coop buddy).

compared to the official sanc-iii demo video

and amara’s room

moze’s is so barren oh my god

someone get this girl like... a colorful throw pillow or something

baaank. also doubles as the secret stash. kinda upsetting, because that is infinitely less loot i can store when i make a lot of characters. also if i upgrade the bank once, is it upgraded across all my other characters too? or are the guns i put in storage slot 11 locked up until i buy the upgrade?

either way, i am saddened because no more mule characters. and way less space the more characters you make and more gear you find, because all gear you put in here is there across all characters. i hope this means our backpacks will be a lot bigger this time around!

supamax mfg shows up again

ppm/04-02 matches up with the number behind the fast travel station. i wonder if this will come into play. if the number changes later in-game im going to freak the fuck out bc that means wherever we are isn’t actually sanctuary-iii

ppm/04-02. remember that 👀

also, the wall behind the golden chest changed from red to steel/greenish. can’t tell the actual color. same as the floor

you know. that color.

“golden keys are popular. you can get some in-game and also get them online”

in-game you say??? im interested! i wonder if there will be some sort of arena (like moxxi’s) where if you complete it you get a key as a reward. i saw people speculating about some sort of randomized boss rush, that could definitely be a way to get gold keys, as well.

oooo engine room! im excited to explore here.

original size is 16. so, we have 40 backpack slots! still... you know... only 1 above the max of bl2, but hey. at least that’s an upgrade. as small as it may be

on the bright side: bank upgrades increase capacity by 5. with a base of 10, and 8 upgrades, we have 50 slots to fill. which is a big leap from the original 24. it is still a shame we have to share these across characters, tho

offline cultist stream? makes me think the CoV really was trying to steal/take over sanc-iii from the crimson raiders and we went to go take it (back?) in Taking Flight. either the CoV found/ordered Sanc-III, or the crimson raiders were building it/fixing it up, their stronghold got taken over, and the CoV were prepping it for takeover.

the shooting range. and if you notice that little CoV symbol in the bottom left there? yeah pretty much backs up my previous theory

all those red bits are tied to ellie’s crew challenge. so we’ll be collecting things for her!

an altar for scooter 😢

“we’re gonna get those cultism sumbitches, believe you me”

where you get yeeted out of Sanc-III. im definitely going to try jumping in it to see if it kills me. doesn’t look like the drop pods are available yet

that’s not clappy, pretty sure he’s hanging out on the bridge right now

schematics for veronica

the thing i was most excited about in this video!

loooots of customizations! which excites me because i know eridium used to get useless late game when you’ve grinded all the raid bosses. it looks like eridum is going to be in ultra high demand. but u can bet ur ass im gonna be unlocking all those fucking customizations asap.

veteran rewards is also super super interesting

hgggggg i wanna know what the shields do!!! 

i like the vault symbol at the top of the item card as well, shows you its a special type of weapon/item. im honestly surprised we’re able to buy ‘veteran rewards’ so early in the game? i mean obvi we won’t have enough eridium (look at the costs!) but it’s wild it’s even accessible. im personally a fan of the first bonus ‘anointed: gain life steal on action skill end’

looks like these guns have been chosen

to give them those special bonuses

i do see that just anointed is not class specific, but the ones that say anointed gunner or maybe anointed siren will be (confirmed by the devs in video).

you pay with eridium, so maybe the vending machine has some way to confer the power of eridium to the guns. or some shit. iunno. it’s possible this won’t be available until the end of the game, hence veteran rewards, and is only being shown to us right now since this is a showcasing video.

pandoran civilian. no promethea civilians today folks! i am CONVINCED that the old sanc-iii demo takes place after the end of the game. at least after athenas.

it’s weird seeing moxxi hanging outside her bar.

is also cool to know that the 4 slot machines are actually available. seems like npcs can play them, but we can use all 4 if we want to. which is really nice

the one on the far left is called the ‘loot boxxer’ and it gives mostly guns lol. i see they are taking jabs. good for them

better pic of the leftmost machines

Zer0 seems to have a bounty board? not sure if this is like a physical bounty board or if they will contact you when they want something dead, but it is cool to note. this isn’t shown in video, just the devs speaking about it.

similarly hammerlock has ‘big game hunts’ where you find “rare, challenging creatures” and kill them for him

apparently we’ll be killing something known as a manvark

this book

i fucking recognize this book

HAMMERLOCK NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

in all seriousness tho

hammerlock probably isn’t in his room because we haven’t rescued him from eden-6 yet.

a cool thing about the crew challenges: as you progress through the game and do these challenges, sanc-iii will ‘grow and change to reflect the things you’ve accomplished’. altho another dev says “sometimes these are optional things, like challenges” 

so now im like oh shit we’re gonna change sanc-iii as we play the game. i wonder if that means we’ll be changing the hull, too. because you know. the blue paint job. we gotta go STEALTH. sneaky beaky into the calypsos fleety

tannis doesn’t have the saurian on her table. also, interesting note, she DOES have the eridian log in the corner. meaning she must have had that before eden-6. interesting... maybe we’ll find more on Pandora.

she is still covered in blood tho. idk i don’t have an explanation for that. don’t think i want to think of one, to be quite honest.

oh no. (those are skulls next to all the gurneys)

“tannis plays a much bigger role in bl3 than she has in past games”. bigger than borderlands 1? that is... impressive. she’ll be running the health vending machines (which is weird bc i could’ve sworn in the promethea demo, zed was still running them... hm.)

another angle of sanc-iii

clappy? you good there?

the devs said they’re using him to plug a hole. i assume the calypsos shot at the ship as we’re leaving or smth.

lily with no tattoos, who also looks significantly more pissed than her other sanc-iii demo counterpart

you know. because she got her tattoos.

also

fucking

lilith says something right here. all i can make out is “Tyreen took my powers. it’s like tannis said. ..... [inaudible] Siren.” maybe some weird word i haven’t heard before? i swear she’s saying ‘like tannis said: a ‘m...’ Siren” but i am not 100% sure. if someone could help me out, that’d be rad.

so its sounding like lilith rushed in with explicit warning from tannis about tyreen stealing her powers, and tannis knew tyreen was some sort of Siren and warned lily, but lily didn’t listen. it could also be that lily is saying something like “im not a siren” but i can’t really hear it if she is. it sounds like she saying a word that starts with m to me. if someone could help me with this i’d owe you my life

whew. i am. fucking TIRED.

im gonna sleep for like 3 hours and then wake up and make food before the fl4k streams start.

[andromedahawking]

NaNoWriMo, Day 1

1,667 words, done! Take a looksie if you’d like. (Warning: this is unedited, first-draft quality writing. Don’t expect AO3-level stuff here.)

Today was Tuesday, and that meant one of three things was going to happen:

Maria was going to have a very bad time, because American History would be devoted purely to working on the group project due at the end of the term, and she would have to do all the work, again.

Maria was going to have a normal bad time, because History would be divided between lecture and the project.

Maria was going to have a good time, because History would be 100% lecture, and the group project would wait until Thursday.

Needless to say, she really really hoped that possibility #3 was going to come through for her today.

She walked onto campus at 9, still bleary-eyed from the night before. She sworn she was going to stop getting so drunk, what happened? It was amazing how quickly she'd ditched that resolution.

“Yo, Taylor, wait up!”

She looked back. There was Adrien. “How’s it going today?”

“Awful,” she groaned. “You remember how I said last night was going to be nice and quiet and I’d go to bed early?”

“Yeah. Didn’t go very well?”

“No, it didn’t…”

He smiled crookedly. “That’s always how it goes, isn’t it? You say it, but then when it’s time to do it, it all just sorta falls apart.”

“Pretty much,” she said. “I ended up getting absolutely smashed and fell asleep at the kitchen table.”

“Oof. That sounds rough.”

“It was fun up until about 2, then I tanked, hard.”

“Well, at least you had fun?”

“I guess.” She opened the door to the History building. “I at least got my stuff for today done before I started knocking back shots.”

“That’s good,” he said. “I know Monaca’s gonna be doing stuff that we won’t understand if we didn’t do it.”

“Does that mean there’s no group project stuff today?”

He made an uncertain noise in his throat. “Mayyybe. Maybe not. I dunno. It’s gonna be something, but I don’t know what exactly.”

“It’s gonna be ‘something’? That’s specific. Very specific.”

He smacked her arm playfully. “Don’t knock me for not knowing. It’s not like she’ll follow the syllabus to the letter.”

“If she does, today is gonna suck.”

“I hear you, sister.”

They entered the classroom. The seats were empty, but Monaca was there at her desk, feet up, book in one hand, bottle of Snapple in the other. “Mornin’,” she greeted, not looking up from the book. “How was your weekend?”

“Saturday was okay, Sunday and Monday… ick," Maria said, sitting down. “I’ve had better days than those.”

“I didn’t really have much going on this weekend, so it was pretty meh,” Adrien said.

“Anything worth going into detail about, Maria?” Monaka asked.

“Not really. Sibling rivalry, too much to drink, the usual.”

“That’s a shame. Hope today goes better.”

“Me too.”

—

The rest of the class trickled in, looking various levels of tired and/or hungover. Apparently there had been some sort of party in one of the dorms or something. Whatever it was, it made her feel a bit better knowing she wasn’t the only one who’s head felt ready to explode.

When 9:30 hit, Monaca put down her book. “Okay, is everyone here?”

“No, we’re missing Jackson and Hannah.”

She let out a sigh. “Okay, well, we’re gonna have to start without them, I’ve got a full class’ work for you today.” She stood up. “So, let’s start with a question: I say 2050s, what comes to your brains?”

“Mazer!”

“Mazer.”

“Energy grid.”

“Mazer.”

“Teller City.”

“Energy revolution.”

Monaca smiled. “That’s what I figured. We had two presidents in the 2050s and a bunch of history happened, but most of us really only remember a few of the big things: President Mazer, Teller City, or the energy grid. I know you guys all had US History in high school, but the first half of the 21st century is a bit, ah, fuzzier in terms of analysis than the rest of the timeline. Then, of course, anything past ’64 is just too fresh off the presses to touch quite yet, and I don’t think I need to tell you why. How many of you were born before or during 2064?”

About half the class raised their hand, Maria included.

“Yup. Thought so. In general, if the people being taught about it were alive then, it’s better to avoid teaching it.” Monaca turned on the smartboard behind her. “2050s, however, are fair game, which makes me a very happy person, because that’s what I focused on when I was in college. So, this unit will be devoted entirely to going through the 2050s, with special focus on the details of what made the big changes possible. If you guys want to know what got the energy grid started, or why Mazer was so popular, or when Teller City became a hub, this is a good time to pay extra attention in class.”

“2050s 101?” someone quipped.

“2050s 202, thank you very much,” she said, grinning. “And, don’t think I forgot, anyone—”

Oh, no. No, no no no no.

Oh, and there was the rest of the class, groaning with her.

“—the group project is due on December 1st, last day of the semester. I’m going to be very generous, and give you the second hour of all the Thursday classes to work on it.”

“The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away,” Maria said through her hands.

“You’ll be fine, guys, don’t be so dramatic,” Monaca said. “And besides, you got to pick your partners, so really, you should be thanking me.”

“Thank you?” Adrien said.

“You’re welcome. Now, 2050! Let’s get started with 2050.”

—

“So basically, 2050 was 2049, except somehow even more devoid of anything important,” Maria said to Adrien as they left.

“Yeah, pretty much,” he nodded. “But it sounds like things start getting interesting in 2051.”

“I really hope so, ‘cause I’ve been a good girl and not fallen asleep in this class yet, and I don’t wanna break my streak.”

“You’re a freakin’ nerd, Maria.”

“I’m a cool nerd, you jerk, and don’t forget it.”

“Mm-hm. Whatever you say.”

“See you in English tomorrow.”

“No, German, remember?”

“Same difference!”

She waved goodbye to him, and made her way back to the parking lot. Her phone buzzed in her pocket.

Thalia: hey loser before you come back you need to go grocery shopping

Oh, so that’s how it was gonna be today?

Maria: Hey loser, when you get out of bed, you need to get in the fucking shower like I told you before I left.

Thalia: I *did*. *Gawd*

Maria: Keep up the attitude and I will kick your ass into next Wednesday. Get in the shower, now.

Thalia: I already showered! jfc

Maria: Thalia, I will not hesitate. Get. In. The. Shower.

Thalia: I. ALREADY. DID.

Maria: If you’re lying I’m taking away your computer again.

Thalia: Im so fuckin scared

Thalia: it isnt like I *showered* or anything

Thalia: unlike what my sister thinks

Maria: Keep it up, Thalia. Keep it up.

Thalia: we need cheddar and we need ketchup and we need burger patties

Maria: I hate you.

Thalia: mwah

Maria growled, shoving her phone back into her pocket. Why did little sisters have to be the most infuriating creatures on Earth?

She got in her car. “Tesla, I need to go to the grocery store before heading home today, remind me.”

“When would you like to go?” the car asked.

“No later than 15:00.”

“I will remind you at 14:00.”

“Thanks. Take me into the city, I have to meet up with John today.”

“Where are you meeting?”

“Down at that ritzy place on Columbus.”

“Giove?”

“Yeah, Giove.”

“We’ll be there in 15 minutes, with traffic.”

“Sweet.”

—

Giove was a nice Italian restaurant in San Francisco’s Little Italy. Maria saved going there for important meetings or special occasions. Today, with John… it was sort of both.

Thinking about it, it hadn’t been all that long since she saw him last. It was November 1st today, and she’d seen him in July. So that was, what, a few months? Not that long, in the grand scheme of things. John lived in New York, anyway, so getting out to see him wasn’t something they’d planned on happening frequently. When he’d called last week to suggest meeting up, she had offered to let him stay the night, but he'd declined. “Church stuff,” he’d said. Whatever that meant.

The fog was starting to burn off when she arrived, the sun shining through a small hole in the blanket of gray. It was still plenty cold for her taste, so she hurried inside and got to their table.

John showed up a few minutes later. He looked a bit better than last time: he’d gotten a neater haircut, and his facial hair was less unruly. He was wearing a button-up shirt this time, which was an interesting change. She wondered what he would look like in a three-piece suit.

“Hey there, Maria,” he said, sliding into his chair. “How are you?”

“Hoping to get rid of the last of my hangover with this lunch,” she said. “How about you?”

“The Hyperloop gives me anxiety, but less so than other modes of transport,” he said. “Other than that, nothing incredible is happening in my life.”

“That so?”

“Well, besides the obvious.”

“Right…” she said. “…I’ll get it out of the way, you and I are both thinking about election day, right?”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “I’m not looking forward to it. It’s going to be one of the closest in recent history.”

“Closer than ’64, do you think?”

He frowned as he thought about it. “On an electoral level, probably not, but popularly, it’s going to be very tight. It could go either way.”

“I’ve been trying not to think about it, but… it’s hard,” she said. “I turned off my WiFi in October.”

“Same here,” he said, laughing weakly.

[itsomgitsgreenblogging]

Fashion Of His Love: A Solangelo Fanfiction

Here it is, the long awaited follow up to my Solangelo fic Boys Boys Boys. This fic includes, Solangelo, College AU, bad pop culture references, gas station flirting, and millennial issues a la my own college experience. So if you are interested in those things, i hope you enjoy this!

Read the whole fic here!

Preview:

  “I haven’t even went on a date with him yet, let’s not jump the gun here.”

              “Look who’s talking, says the guy who wanted to jump his bones at the bar.”

              Nico sighed and buttoned up a slim black shirt and motioned to himself, as Hazel nodded in approval. Okay, yes. He had glimpsed at Will Solace from across the bar, and maybe in his slightly inebriated state had said something about “loving that boy so right that he wouldn’t leave the bed for a week”, but no one could prove anything except maybe the NSA agent who was probably looking at the snapchats that Hazel was sending to their friend Piper. And when Will had actually walked to the bar Nico had clammed up until that asshole has been annoying, so no harm no foul and Nico was pretending it didn’t happen.

“Holy shit Nico did you lose a fight with a brick wall?” Percy Jackson asked him as Nico rolled into the café the next day.  

               “Thank you Captain Subtly for reminding me, how could I have forgotten that my face is reminiscent of John McClane circa Die Hard?” Nico snarked back as he sank down in his seat, dropped his backpack, and opened up his coffee. He took a nice long swig of the cup.  

               “Seriously, what happened? Do I need to fight someone?” Percy asked concerned. “Do I need to draft in Reyna and Annabeth?”

               “As always I appreciate you willingness to throw down and involve your girlfriend in the ass-kicking, but don’t worry, I took care of the ass-kicking myself.”      

               “That’s not cryptic at all,” Percy said suspiciously. Nico gave up dodging the question in Percy’s raised shoulders.

               “Some douche at the bar I went to last night was slinging homophobic slurs at this guy, I introduced my foot into his mouth through his ass.”

               “That was thoughtful of you,” Percy said with a smile. “Did you at least get the guy you saved’s number?”

               Nico squirmed in his seat, and Percy’s green eyes blew out wide. Usually Percy held the Guinness World Record for world’s thickest skull, but somehow when his switch was flipped onto Optimal AnnoyanceTM he could almost smell Nico’s comfort level like a Labrador Retriever could smell a bag full of dog treats.  He grabbed Nico by the jacket and began shaking him.

               “Oh my god you totally did! You got a guy’s number, oh my god I need to call Reyna and Jason—!”

               “Percy shut the fuck up before I kill you—and why would you tell Reyna and Jason?!”

               “Because it’s nice to keep your parents in the loop, especially when their little boy is getting laid.”  

               “Jackson I am this close to socking you in the jaw.”

               For a minute they sat there together in comfortable silence. Percy smiled into his cup thoughtfully.

               “I’m happy for you, man,” Percy said quietly, with the big smile of his that still pulled at Nico’s stomach.  

               “Shut up,” Nico said before feeling his own mouth pull up. “Thanks. Just so you know, he’s way more my type than you were.”

               “That’s a low blow, bro.”  

               “Don’t wear a band tee-shirt on your first date,”  Hazel told Nico as she lay on his bed the next Friday. Nico had been looking at his tee-shirts contemplatively when his sister had made her comment.

               “It seemed to work okay last time,” Nico told her as he held the apparently offending shirt in his hands.

               “Yeah, when you got into a bar brawl. And you don’t even like heavy metal.”

               “Like I said, it worked. Also, aesthetics.”

               “Hey Edgelord, do you want this boy to be your boyfriend or not?”

               “I haven’t even went on a date with him yet, let’s not jump the gun here.”

               “Look who’s talking, says the guy who wanted to jump his bones at the bar.”

               Nico sighed and buttoned up a slim black shirt and motioned to himself, as Hazel nodded in approval. Okay, yes. He had glimpsed at Will Solace from across the bar, and maybe in his slightly inebriated state had said something about “loving that boy so right that he wouldn’t leave the bed for a week”, but no one could prove anything except maybe the NSA agent who was probably looking at the snapchats that Hazel was sending to their friend Piper. And when Will had actually walked to the bar Nico had clammed up until that asshole has been annoying, so no harm no foul and Nico was pretending it didn’t happen.

               “Will you at least let me wear my leather?” Nico asked her, exasperated.

               “Of course,” Hazel giggled, and Nico rolled his eyes and reached over to ruffle Hazel’s hair. He pulled on his jacket and stuffed his wallet and phone into his pocket. “We want you to get the second date, after all.”

               “Alright, I’m off. I’m meeting him there.”

               “Text me to let me know how everything’s turning out! Or if he’s a serial killer and you need me to go Dr. Reid on him.”

               “Okay, alright,” Nico said as he reached over to press a kiss to Hazel’s head.  “Have a good night and if Frank gets handsy know that I’m watching, always.”

               “We’ve been going out for two years—!”  

               Nico shut the door and snickered to himself, before walking down the flight of stairs.

               The restaurant Nico and Will were meeting at was just off campus, and it was a nice enough night that Nico didn’t mind the walk. However when Nico got there, he found Will sitting outside the restaurant with a sheepish expression as Nico noted the overflow and crowd of people.

               “What the hell—“ Nico started as Will gave him an apologetic grin that flashed brightly with the light from the passing cars.  

               “Yeah, like, two parties of ten people are trying to get in, and they don’t take reservations,” Will explained as he stood up and he brushed off his jeans and Nico actually took him in fully for the first time.  

               Back in the day when Nico was thoroughly uncomfortable with the feelings that male beauty inspired, he had spent his adolescence bubbling away in a cesspool of self-hatred and teenaged angst, stunting any hopes of love from the get go. Nico had also been morning the loss of both mother and sister, and dealing with so much other hopeless and terrible shit that the idea of dealing and processing his sexuality wasn’t something he could even wrap his head around. Nico had metaphorically attempted to pull the plug, dissociate human beings from the feelings that they inspired in him, so no one would be able to take advantage of those feelings that Nico did want to have. People were awful and always wanted something from him, and Nico didn’t have any part of him that he wanted to give. If he gave himself proper distance, it was easy to deal with those pesky feelings and properly defang them so they had no weight or heat. Nico had dealt with that, grown from that. When he got to college he had finally been able to work on it, to try dating, with little success but at least he thought he had a handle on male beauty. He had at least run a decent gambit.

               And so for some reason he had been under the assumption that the heat of his desire for Will Solace on the night of the bar brawl was half due to beer-goggles. However, without the interference of alcoholic beverages Nico was discovering there was absolutely no distance between Nico and the most beautiful boy that he had ever seen in his entire life and somehow Will Solace was hotter sober in his jeans, tee-shirt, and rumpled flannel. There was no room to think around it, no ability for his brain to deconstruct and analyze and plan when the boy in front of him was so close and his eyes were so blue and warmth was radiating from his golden speckled skin and the curl of his hair was making his thoughts all muddled and when he began checking out the way his shirt stretched over his broad shoulders the most eloquent thought that Nico could come up with was: holy shit I am so fucking gay what the fuck.

               “So…uh…what do you want to do?” Nico asked him, rocking back on his heels, thankful that his mind-vomit was not coming out of his mouth.

               “I don’t know, I was kind of waiting to think about it until you showed up,” Will said with a shrug. “I figured we could do what we want.”

               “I’m getting the feeling that you are rather laid back,” Nico chuckled, though he felt like his mouth was full of rocks.

               “It’s all an illusion, I’m actually very uptight,” Will said with a playful wink. Oh my god, Nico thought desperately. He just winked. At me. As if I’m wink-worthy. He must think I’m wink worthy oh my god.

               “Maybe I could help with that—“

               Holy fuck shut the fuck up Nico you are literally the worst, the irrational part of his brain said as he physically swallowed and choked on his words.

               “—I mean, if you don’t mind, I know a really good pub? There are milkshakes?” Nico croaked.  

               “Are there strawberry milkshakes?” Will Solace asked very seriously.

               “Yes, definitely.”

               “Alright I’m so in,” Will said with a pleased grin before translating albeit a tiny bit embarrassed at his eagerness. And Nico took a deep breath, relieved that he wasn’t the only one with dinner-date-nerves. “I’m a pretty cheap date.”

               “Lucky for me then, since I’m paying,” Nico told him as they began to walk.

               “You don’t need to do that,” Will tried to argue in return. “I mean, you got a black eye defending my honor.”

               “It’s my pleasure,” Nico promised. “Where too?”

               That night they stayed out until it was past the witching hour, and Nico could have sworn there was magic in Will Solace’s hands as they sat on the hood of Will’s beat up car in the parking lot and talked about everything and nothing. Condensation collected in rings on the paint where they left their Styrofoam cups, the sky met the city with a halo of light as its margin, and for just one moment Nico could have sworn that this was what his whole life was leading up to as Will Solace kissed his forehead and wished him goodnight. And the next moment he wanted so much more that it scared him when Will Solace walked away.

               Hazel teased him when he couldn’t hide his grin for days when Will Solace texted him and asked about a next time.  

               “I’m telling you, Neeks, these textbook costs are killing me, I swear,” Will groaned. “I can’t even properly take you out.”

               It was about 2:00 AM in the morning, post-midterms, and Nico had found himself on the phone with Will who had just finished a late night exam at 9:00 and wanted desperately to blow off some steam. Not that Nico minded that. In fact, not that Nico would ever admit it, since their second date Nico had been waiting by his phone eagerly just hoping for another. (To the chagrin of all his friends, who threatened to out him as a complete sap but were only held back on fear of death). So they had walked down the street to the gas station on the corner past the campus and apparently the late-night sleep-deprived hyper-bubbliness was in full force as Will nearly skipped through the gas station with the very accustomed to this bodily-torture Nico who was following behind him.

               “Listen, does it look like I care that our third date is taking place at a gas station before we watch a heinous amount on Netflix with our friends being gigantic cockblocks?” Nico asked him seriously as he walked down the aisle.

               “You are doing your serious face, I can’t translate. It could mean, a. you are screwing me, b. you are being deadly serious, or c. a combination of the two,” Will told him in return as Nico rolled his eyes. “Oh, you just did that cute eye-roll thing, based on context clues I’m going to guess it’s a.”

               “Asshole, you aren’t taking a test anymore,” Nico chuckled as Will leaned down, and Nico shoved him half-heartedly. Will made a show of leaning against the honey-roasted peanuts as if he were wounded.  

               “Let’s figure out a way to game the system,” Will said thoughtfully as they walked down the aisle together. Nico’s steps stopped, and yet he tried to keep his swagger pointedly undeterred.

               “Oh really? Like how?”

               “Uh…who gets benefits?”

               “Federal workers? University employees? Married people?”

               “Nico,” Will said extremely serious as he grabbed Nico’s hands, a glimmer of humor flashing in his eyes. “Let’s get married.”

               Nico laughed aloud suddenly, and Will’s chuckles followed suit as Nico disengaged.

               “I thought you agreed with Lou Ellen,” Nico said as he picked up a bag of pretzels before discarding them with chocolate chip cookies. “The whole marriage is an institution created by the patriarchy to control women as financial incentive thing. And I do want to devour the patriarchy whole.”  

               “Sure, I hate the patriarchy as much as anyone and I wouldn’t want to get in the way of your patriarchy snack. But marriage is about commitment and love, really, when you think about it,” Will pointed out as thumbed the lip of ketchup flavored chips, and Nico moved down the aisle slowly and deliberately.

               “And since when have you met anyone who was married and didn’t hate their lives?” Nico asked him in return.  

               “Well, Percy’s mom and second step-dad.”

               “Yeah that makes such a valid and strong argument,” Nico snorted.

               “Baby,” Will groaned as he pulled Nico close, his fingers curled in his belt loop and Nico felt his heart stutter. “Baby, be sweet to me. I need you to be my sugar daddy, I need the money.”

               “I thought you like me naughty,” Nico said with a grin that pulled wickedly against his teeth.

               “Oh trust me, I do, but I like you better when you’re sweet to me,” Will chuckled, and Nico could feel him shiver as Nico slipped his hand into his back pocket, as Will reached for what he had obviously spotted on the hook behind him.

               “I’ll be whatever you want me to be tonight, if our friends leave us alone,” Nico promised with a chuckle and the way Will licked his lips made Nico’s insides go funny.

               “Be my husband then,” Will said with a smile as he offered up the ring pop between them, free of its wrapping. Nico took the cherry lollipop in his mouth, and watched as Will squirmed as he swirled his tongue over it. Nico stuck his finger through the ring and released it with an intentional pop. By that point Will’s face was ruddy.

               “Okay if our friends are going to be the witnesses,” Nico said as he admired the ring pop. He suddenly broke out into chuckles, as he allowed Will to curl his arm around his waist. “Where do you want to go?”

               “Where?”

               “On our honeymoon of course,” Nico laughed as he ducked into the next aisle and out of Will’s grasp.

               “Let’s go skiing,” Will told him as he tossed him a bag of potato chips.

               “Salt and vinegar, yum,” Nico chuckled as he admired the bag and threw it in the basket.  “And yeah, maybe when you have more than like three dollars in your bank account.”

               “Ugh, Neeks, don’t be so cruel to me!” Will bemoaned as he threw in a bag of Chips Ahoy, Cheddar Sour Cream lays, and Funyuns. “I have like, twenty bucks.”

               “Don’t call me that and maybe I’ll consider it,” Nico said as he fished a can of Dr. Pepper for Will and an orange San Pellegrino for himself. “Oh, right, don’t you have to pay like sixty bucks or something to get your marriage license?”

               “Wait, what?” Will suddenly cried in an act of dismay.

               “I guess we’ll have to cancel,” Nico said as he tried his hand at teasing him.  

               “Only postpone,” Will said in return suddenly, making Nico blink and the butterflies in his stomach flutter. And then suddenly he blinked, and his face grew redder. “Ah…I mean…”

               “I know what you mean,” Nico promised, unable to help feeling his own face grow hot.

               They paid for their purchase (and Nico made sure to tip the cashier who looked tired of everything but especially the antics they had just pulled). Will had taken the bag and it swung between them as a silence fell heavily as they managed to get back to Nico’s dorm. Nico didn’t know what to say, and was relieved when Will broke it,

               “Did I really just mess up?” Will asked seriously.

               “No, you didn’t,” Nico told him honestly as he resisted the urge to grab his phone and disengage.

               “Can I…uh…hold your hand?” Will asked, switching the bag between his hand and holding out his arm. And for some reason Nico had the feverish urge to run away, as if somehow this would make things more intimate than flirting could ever do. But he didn’t, and instead took Will’s hand. “This is nice.”

               “Are we dating?”

               The words came out in a rush of syllables, timed with the curling of Will’s warm fingers with his. And immediately, Nico wanted to bash his head into the wall for being so stupid, for blurting that out during a 2:00 AM run to a gas station with a boy that Nico desperately wanted to be with but was totally jumping the gun—

               “I would like to be,” Will told him in return before smiling shyly. “Could I…um…be your boyfriend?”

               “Yeah,” Nico said as he tried to swipe his tongue over his teeth, in order to get some moisture. But it was Will’s mouth he was really watching, waiting for those words he desperately wanted to come out, to be there for him. “Could I be yours?”

               “Yeah…I would really like that,” Will promised him, his eyes flickering.

               There was a moment between breaths, and then they kissed. Nico was pressed back against the wall, and Nico could hear sound the bag was dropped haphazardly, but it didn’t matter because he felt like his heart was going to come out of his chest. Nico wrapped his arms around Will’s neck, as Will pressed them against the wall and moaned into his mouth, and the sound made Nico’s head go all fuzzy and his knees go weak until they were forced to break apart to breathe.

               “I’m really glad you did that,” Nico told him as he turned to let the brick cool down his face, his breath still laboring in his lungs, and heat pulling lower than what was appropriate. “Because I wanted to do that since the first time I saw you.”

               “Same though, same,” Will promised as he licked his lips.

               They looked at each other and then broke out into laughter.

               “Hey, idiots, stop making out and get up here with the snacks!” Annabeth Chase called from the second story window.

               “Nice work, Will! I’m proud,” Lou Ellen said in return as she waved a handkerchief out the window.

               “I’m going to need to see his driver’s license young man!” Jason’s voice came from behind and he could hear Piper and Percy hooting behind him.

               “Screw all of you, I’m just going to stay down here and make out with my hot boyfriend!” Nico shouted in return as he yelled.

               Will’s grin was enough to make that all worth it.  

[justsomeantifas]

Here’s your dose of “What the Fuck Is Going On” news (2/18/2017 - 2/19/2017 edition)

Trump and the GOP put out a survey called the "Mainstream Media Accountability Survey," which contains a number of problems. It contains extremely leading and biased questions, it contains information that is outright false, some questions are badly written or filled with errors, and it was sent out to a selection of people on Trump's email list ensuring biased responses. It's also been revealed that nothing seems to actually be submitted or processed when one hits the submit button, it's just a link to Trump's donations page asking people to give him money "to help us fight back against the media’s attacks and deceptions.” (source) (source)

After Michael Flynn was fired as national security advisor and retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward declined the offer, Trump is having some difficulties filling in the spot. Retired general and former CIA Director David Petraeus has reportedly pulled his name from consideration but there is still a short list of people being considered: Keith Kellogg, John Bolton, and Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster. (source)

Seema Verma is Trump's pick to be administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and she quietly went through her confirmation hearings this past week. There's been some concern over Verma's history as well as her beliefs regarding what health insurance programs should cover, for example she doesn't believe that they should be required to have maternity and newborn coverage. And if her past track record shows how she’ll handle this position, then lower-income people are likely going to be paying more for their healthcare. (source) (source)

Trump seems to be changing his opinion of whistleblowers/leakers and wants to have them caught and prosecuted. During Trump's campaign he seemed to be a fan of leaks, as long as it wasn't targeting him and now his administration. Trump now wants investigations into what he sees as an effort to undermine his presidency, especially after the Michael Flynn fiasco. (source)

Scott Pruitt has been officially confirmed (52 to 46) and sworn in to the the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).  Pruitt is considered one of the most controversial picks in EPA history, and nearly 800 former EPA staffers, scientists, engineers and attorneys wrote letters against his appointment. As Oklahoma’s attorney general, Pruitt sued the EPA more than a dozen times. He is a climate change denier whose own LinkedIn page refers to himself as “a leading advocate against the EPA’s activist agenda. ”There's also fears that with Pruitt in place, Trump can now quickly and easily overturn the Clean Power Plan and "Waters of the US" rule. (source)

After Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) cancelled their meeting with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, they went ahead and had another meeting. However, ICE set the invite list and completely excluded the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in what was supposed to be a discussion about the recent raids taking place. (source)

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee held hearings to discuss legislation that would weaken the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Species Act currently has more than 1,600 plants and animals under its protection however Senate republicans argue that the bill violates states’ rights and property rights, as well as limits economic growth in drilling, mining, and agriculture. (source) (source)

Trump signed legislation that ends the Office of Surface Mining's Stream Protection Rule, a regulation to protect waterways from coal mining waste. At the signing, Trump called the regulation "another terrible job killing rule" and said ending it would save "many thousands American jobs, especially in the mines, which, I have been promising you — the mines are a big deal. This is a major threat to your jobs and we’re going to get rid of this threat. We’re going to fight for you." (source)

Trump son-in-law, Jared Kushner met with top executives at Time Warner to express his concern over their “unfair coverage slanted against the president.” Reports state that Kushner was specifically complaining about two Trump critics, Van Jones and republican strategist Ana Navarro. (source)

After Trump gave a press conference where he ranted and raved for over an hour, he took to Twitter to address those who were criticizing him. He quoted Rush Limbaugh's review of the event where he said it was "One of the most effective press conferences I've ever seen." Trump said that many agree with that opinion and the outlets saying there are those who believe otherwise is nothing but "fake news." He then went on to say that these outlets, and news media in general is "the enemy of the American People!" (source) (source)

The Associated Press reported on a leak that the Trump administration was planning on using up to 100,000 National Guard troops to "round up" undocumented immigrants. The leak was an 11 page draft memo, and Trump quickly said that the reporting was "100 percent false," and cited his popular fake news argument. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer and a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security said the claim was false. Less than an hour later they admitted that the story was based on a real document but they didn't really consider taking that action. (source) (memo)

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide three cases in the upcoming months that could help or hinder Trump's effort to ramp up border security and accelerate deportations. One case involves whether immigrants in custody for deportation proceedings have the right to a hearing to request their release when their cases are not promptly adjudicated. The other two case are whether the U.S. government officials can be sued over mistreatment of non-citizens. (source)

The FBI will most likely not press charges against former White House national security adviser Michael Flynn. Flynn gave an interview in January where he told the agency that he did not discuss sanctions with Russia. Lying to the FBI is a felony, however the FBI is not going to pursue charges unless more information emerges. (source)

With Tom Price giving up his seat to become Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary, there are now several candidates running to replace his seat in Congress. One woman, Karen Handel, is echoing Trump by stating in her fundraising email “If elected to Congress, she will work to build a wall on the border and end Muslim immigration." (source)

This weekend marks the third straight weekend that Trump will be going to Florida at his Mar-a-Lago Club. This, topped with his family’s trips and security is costing the taxpayers an enormous amount of money. The cost is far beyond past presidents security and travel costs and will likely balloon to hundreds of millions of dollars by the end of his four-year term. Trump’s three Mar-a-Lago trips since the inauguration have cost the federal treasury an estimated $10 million alone and New York is paying $500,000 a day to guard Trump Tower. According to police officials’ estimates, an amount that could reach $183 million a year. Another issue here is that some of the money is going directly into the pocket of the Trump Organization. Not only are his trips to his signature properties doubling as marketing opportunities for his brand, but The Defense Department and Secret Service are seeking to rent space in Trump Tower, where leasing a floor can cost $1.5 million a year. (source)

This year's Conservative Political Action Conference will feature Breitbart News editor, Milo Yiannopoulos, as their keynote speaker. The event will be hosting Ted Cruz, Mike Pence, Scott Walker, and Carly Fiorina. (source)

The White House budget office has created a list of programs for Trump to consider eliminating in order to cut down on domestic spending. Some of the programs on the list include Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the Legal Services Corporation, AmeriCorps and the National Endowments for the Arts and the Humanities. (source)

U.S. Secretary for Homeland Security John Kelly said that Trump's new travel ban will happen, but it will likely not target green card residency holders this time. Kelly also stated that people in planes already inbound will be allowed to enter the country. (source)

The U.S. Energy Information Administration's educational website for children has been reworked by the Trump administration. The website is designed to teach children about energy and the environment in a fun and engaging way. Now the site has been changed, the description of the environmental impacts of energy sources has been reworked, and two pie charts concerning the link between coal and greenhouse gas emissions have been removed altogether. (source as well as the detailed changes made to the site)