#I have a couple more I wanna redraw but that can wait

[justanotherjaydrawing]

5 year redraw time!! Didn't wanna try anything too fancy, just wanted to have fun drawing Yamaguchi like I did 5 years ago.

[applesandbannas747]

i wanna hear your thoughts on the fence challengers: long shot preview pages if you want to share!

oh mAN I have so many and they are all over the place!!

The first one is a little thing, but I bet Seiji had a crush on Marcus Washington when he was a kid--Nick's horror, Harvard's teasing, and Seiji's indignant blush imply as much.

And a fun fact, Jo posted a mini preview of baby Seiji to Patreon on February 14th...maybe I'm reading into it too much, but that's nothing new XD

Next couple of things are about the scene with the trophy case. It was really interesting and fun to see side-by-side redraws of Robert! It really illustrates the way the style has evolved, and also I gOTTA say it feels like Jo is more invested in Robert based on the level of detail she put in--like it's not just a style comparison, it's also just obvious a lot of attention was put into these shots when a) she could have just reused old shots (which she's done before, so I know it was an option), or kept it more simplified like she did when drawing the original shots.

I also think it's sweet that the redraws have Robert looking much more like Jesse than the originals.

And I am sure I will get flack for this, but I have incredible second-hand embarrassment from Nick leaving his newspaper clipping + note in the trophy case jfhdasl like bestieee noooo anyone can see that shit now oh my god please stooop

Onto some Nichoji thoughts! I love that Seiji's been confirmed as a before-bed reader! Him having a Kindle makes sense for the sheer efficiency of it too lmfao. Of course it's also adorable to see him in reading glasses <3 And then my favorite detail is Nick's stupid nightlight...notice where it is?

Rather than illuminating Nick's side of the room, it's peeking around the curtain and lighting up Seiji's reading, which is beyond adorable and sweet. I wonder whether Seiji stole it or Nick put it there knowing Seiji likes to read before bed, and I love both scenarios.

Also, it's fucking adorable that as soon as Nick mentions their date appointment, Seiji takes off his glasses and lowers his Kindle because it's got his full attention and investment.

And a quick pitstop to the locker rooms!

I like the visual metaphor here with Aiden and Bobby both very casual about changing and both literally having their shirts open; meanwhile, Seiji's straightening the cuffs on his button-down, which is already neatly tucked in and complete with his tie. It just highlights how Seiji's a lot more closed off than the others, and I think this was a neat trick to remind us of that.

In regards to plot, I'm still...really disappointed in the pacing. I know most people feel like it's a slowburn/it's taken a long time to develop, but if you waited to read Fence at all until it was complete and then read it all in one sitting, I think you'd see how unbalanced it is. Williams says that their first match will be in three weeks back right after tryouts:

which means everything between issue 12 and CHALLENGERS has happened in 3 weeks. Seiji and Nick's relationship is so sweet and cute, but it went from resentful rivalry to puppy love overnight with very little 'screen time' dedicated to the actual transition from resentment to friends (which I could write a whole essay on but this is not the post for that lmfao). Furthermore, the fact that it's the first match of State Championships rather than first match of the season is crazy to me. I'll admit, I didn't fence in high school--it wasn't even an option because we didn't have a team. And despite hours of research, the structure of high school team fencing is not entirely clear to me. However, I do know that typical high school sports go through the season, facing every other team in their division or whatever. Based on performance in those matches, they can qualify for state, and then their win ratio determines their seeding order for the state championships that happen in like 1-2 days. Seeding order is who you go up against in a bracket, so it's what this diagram is, basically:

(side note, but it appears there are 24 schools competing at state). Again, fencing could be different, but it kinda seems to me like we skipped over the season and went right to State Championships, which just cuts out so much development and build-up. It's like we're speed-running the entire story to get to the end faster. We cut out showing the development in the romance, and now we're cutting out the development of the plot. There's still plenty that we can do at state, of course, but imagine how much more it would mean to see Nick fencing in front of Robert if we'd built that up more. I just don't understand how we spent 12 issues on try outs, 4 on a practice match, 8 on camp, and none on the fencing season. It feels so abrupt and unbalanced. Tryouts and camp were my favorites arcs because they felt pretty well-paced as self-contained pieces of the story. I just feel like we needed waaaaay more relationship development between those two arcs to be satisfying, and I feel like there should be waaaaay more build up during the fencing season between camp and State Championships.

and now, the moment you've all been waiting for: my devastation over Eugene's role (???) in the story. I honestly question why he's in the story at all--at this point, it would have made more sense to have him flat-out not make the team. Except that keeping him this long lowkey backs up the theory I've had on his role since Striking Distance/RIVALS: Eugene is here to make everyone else look better/cooler/more impressive. The very first thing that struck me when reading the first look was this:

The dialogue here suggests that only one reserve actually gets to be on the team in the end, and the reserve is Nick. And, worse, everyone expected it to be Nick. Sure, it's sweet that Seiji thinks Nick's the better fencer, but all I can think about is how hard Eugene's worked for ten years trying to make the team as opposed to Nick's three months of fencing. Now, I love an underdog story. But it's interesting because Pacat stated in an interview (I'd have to go find where for the specific quote) that he always feels bad for the person who's been working to be #1 their whole lives only to be knocked out of the running by an upstart underdog--which I've always assumed would influence the path taken in Fence...and it seems like we may well let Seiji and Jesse remain above Nick in skill (or at least it seems like we won't be dethroning Seiji, even if we go for Jesse), but Nick's overcoming smaller obstacles. And those smaller obstacles hurt worse to see crushed because Eugene almost made the team in a way that mattered, only to have that taken away. It would have been less cruel to him and his fans to let Nick take the reserve slot back in issue 12, but instead we brought Eugene along to serve as a means to make Nick out 'secret weapon' and elevate his story.

I will say though, this page is one of my favorite Eugene moments because I see the character I selfishly want Eugene to be in it. From the context of the panels above, this page is likely Williams telling them that only one will be fencing in State Championships, and this is their reaction. Eugene's immediate concern for Nick and the comforting hand on his shoulder followed by a bright smile and a thumbs up--he just cares so much about other people and it so used to smiling through his own pain/disappointment and comforts Nick through being positive (and as seen back in issue 12, up playing his competitiveness) and acting like it's no big deal.

Eugene deserved better, but if this is where he goes out, I think I can live with it. Better to see him go now than continue to be a means to uplift the rest of team by being less than. but, man, I was really hoping we were turning it around after his moment in REDEMPTION being the only KR boy not to lose his bout

anyway, thank you sm for listening to my rambles!!! <33

[emry-stars-art]

EDIT: PENCIL HAS BEEN REPLACED AND IT SEEMS TO BE WORKING AGAIN!! Thank you to those who donated, you have my ENTIRE heart for now and always

Hiii I’m back to bother you all again with technical difficulties. Long story short, if I have diagnosed the problem properly, I need a new Apple Pencil! And if I’m wrong I’ll need to replace both my pencil and the iPad itself!! But (and I am sure this will surprise no one that’s read this far) - I have no money 🥲

This isn’t quite a 100% necessary expense. I still have a handful of job applications sent out that are still waiting on replies, and hopefully I’ll have some more income sooner rather than later - but since comms and art have been one of my main sources of income this year, this is gonna be a decent problem for a little bit 😅 in the meantime I’m going to reach into the void and boost some stuff and offer additional ways that maybe I can earn some money for the month!

So if you do happen to have extra cash, some ways that would help a ton: my patreon (this month’s star tier sticker is going to be an aftg mermay design of some sort or another), my etsy, my kofi shop, or plain old kofi donations. But I also wanna be able to sweeten the pot a little, so there’s more!

I’m selling a couple original pieces over on kofi as well, including Raven Kevin, the Jean & Jeremy piece, and the og mermay comic from last year 👀

I’m taking low-stakes sketch commissions, also on kofi! For 15usd you can drop an aftg/tsc sketch request, and if you want to be tagged when I post it, leave your url as well! Additional characters for a little extra, and you can drop specific reqs - give me thoughts, ideas, meme redraws, outfits, or ask for a specific scene or specific au of mine (sure is a good month for mermaids 👀). I’d also take requests of my own ocs, but unfortunately for these kinds of sketch requests I won’t be taking others ocs.

All that being said, of course I understand if donating isn’t possible for you rn, so I’m not trying to make you feel guilty about scrolling past lol. If you’d like something free to do you can also just leave a nice comment or tag on something I’ve drawn to get my mind off the issues 😅 thank you so much to all you lovely people who support me in every way, it’s literally my livelihood and makes me so happy every day to make you happy, so! I hope you all have a wonderful time zone, and I hope you’re as excited for more merms as I am 😌💕

[booigi-boi]

I am asking about your Tinky-Ted fusion. Do you have a design or just an idea?

Absolutely! Here's what the design is, I've drawn it a couple times. A redraw has been on my to do list for a while, lol 👍🐐 (including Blinky Bill cause I love the arms)

There's two ways I've made a Tinky Ted fusion work, might be a long read

CCRP has Tinky's DNA and they wanna do something with it. They reopen an old lab in the building that was used for more inhumane experiments. They go to the tech support floor and request Ted stay after work to fix something for them. Ted is then force to stay there and kept as kind of a lab animal. The process of inserting Tinky's DNA is painful and takes months to show any results, but the experiment is a success and Ted is involuntarily and painfully being able to transform into a yellow goat like creature. How will CCRP use this to their advantage? Who knows

Sam is tired of seeing his wife sleep with Ted of all people so he's finally going to do something about it. After stalking him for a while and catching him leave work, he takes Ted to the Nantucket bridge, beats him up, and throws him into the frozen water. Ted should be dead but he isn't. He finds himself in the Black and White, face to face with a nightmare creature who is eerily excited to see him. The creature tells Ted he's waited for this for years and laughs. A brighter than bright yellow flash then suddenly blinds Ted as he then finds himself laying on a beach in Hatchetfield, wet and bruised, as if no time had passed. With some effort he limps back into town and runs into Paul, who is horrified and surprised to see him. Time did pass, about 3 weeks, and everyone assumed Ted had died. Ted however has no recollection of what happened to him and as far as he was concerned, he didn't care to know. Fast forward to few weeks and Ted starts to get flashes of pain and nausea. He sees his veins turn yellow for a moment every time these pains occur. With every passing week the pains get more violent and he can barely get out of bed. Sometimes he dreams he's walking around his neighborhood and thrashing whatever he sees. But it is just a dream, right? He looks like a yellow weregoat creature in these dreams and he doesn't have control of his body, as if someone else inside his brain is making him do things against his will. When he wakes up from these dreams he can no longer feel pain. He is however sometimes covered with blood and his clothes are torn. The worst thing however is that he seems to have tiny holes in his head where there were once horns.

That's kinda it, lol. I'm in a hurry as I'm writing this so feel free to ask follow up questions about anything. I do have a third one, but it's pretty much the same as the CCRP one but instead of CCRP it's Hidgens

[stepswowdsen]

Sen's Rambles

Recently got a cute purple bow I started wearing. I got my ears pierced on Outer Science Day (8/31), coincidentally! I got some small cheap stainless steel star ones for now. After that, I'll go get some post earrings 🙏

The school semester started for me on the 4th, so I'll be busier and won't have the time to draw as often.

I'll try to keep up my posts of posting something everyday (or almost everyday) since I usually post stories right before I go to bed, art and/or rambles

I clipped my bow to my hair loosely so it doesn't tug on my hair but it almost fell off, so I'll also think about getting a bow with a scrunchy eventually too. Since I wanna wear a cute purple bow like Selena, but I still want it to be comfy. Right now this bow is still fine ^^

Cute purple Selena-esque bow 🎀💜 I got it cuz it reminded me of my wife

Admittedly I'm still thinking of what ship I wanna draw for my birthday on 9/12… I think it'll be posted late since I was mainly working on school work this week. I think it needs to be a Sen-core ship.

I was having a hard time deciding what ship I wanted to draw. I feel like it should be XanLena since Selena is my KHR OC (and beloved wife), but I'm also open to others too. I think I want to draw them in traditional Viet clothes as a redraw of my old XanLena pieces in the past.

I also considered drawing KuroEne or JuAli.

Since for JuAli, I've been sketching ideas irt a potential Tegaki fan-animatic with them. Particularly the Vocaloid Song crossover I thought of...

I also had some other ideas too of art ideas to draw with them! I wanna draw them in Chinese and Arabic traditional clothes, and then have them wear matching couple hanfu at some point.

I really want to make coloured doodle ship pieces for the rest of my ships that can match the quality of the KuroEne one I drew.

The expressions and colours are so good in my recent KuroEne art that I want to be able to match the same level of quality for my other ships too.

I've drawn KuroEne recently, so I wanna draw a ship piece with others. Though it'd be fun~ 9/6 Day is HaruTaka, KonoEne, and KuroEne Day, since 9 is Haruka/Konoha's Mekakushi Dan member code, and 6 is Takane/Ene's 🖤💛💙

Kuroha/Saeru is usually denoted as "XX" in merch since he's not apart of the Mekakushi Dan, but gets included as part of 9/6 by association.

Mr. XX

9/6 is 6 days away from my birthday, which is also Ene's MekaDan code. We were made for each other, wifey~ 💙 🤭 💘💞

Animatic Ideas

JuAli x Unfriendly Hater by Meddmia (illustrated by WOOMA)

JuAli x Wi-Fi Imagination Wild Boy by rerulili

KuroEne x Strawberry by Kashii Moimi (illustrated by SOMAZ)

KuroEne x Bougainvillea by Kashii Moimi (illustrated by Somaz)

Not a whole MV though obviously (at least not now), but an illust of them biting into a strawberry based on the Strawberry MV's illust.

Though I do eventually want to make tegaki fan-MV animatics for all of my ships. Just to name a couple. I have tons more ideas

Sen's Animatic Ideas

JuAli x Unfriendly Hater by Meddmia

JuAli x Wi-Fi Imagination Wild Boy by rerulili

KuroEne x Strawberry by Kashii Moimi

KuroEne x Bougainvillea by Kashii Moimi

Commissioning Arts

I've commissioned arts of XanLena and KuroEne from amazing artists, which I will post on main eventually ^^

I wanna commission JuAli and IdaTatsu too in the future, I'm just waiting on JuAli and IdaTatsu for now cuz I haven't finished drawing my character concept art ref sheets for them yet.

Because I want it to be art of them with my HC designs. I still need to refine my sketches and design Alibaba's outfit.

I'd love to commission LimGuda but Douman has a really detailed and complex complicated design so I think that'll be for the future.

[beevean]

Opinion: How could Sonamy progress in IDW?

[note: the original article was written in Spanish by @latin-dr-robotnik​]

Today we’re going to discuss a recurring topic on my blog, with a more complete perspective.

Today’s article was inspired by an ask I got a few days ago about my possible perspective on the future of IDW Sonamy. I thought it would be interesting to revisit and expand this topic, because it’s still something of great interest for thousands of fans all around the world, and because SEGA has recently adopted a very peculiar position on the couple and their dynamic. As I detailed on my article SEGA and its most recent Sonamy side – more canon than ever, the dynamic has been going through a shift that can be distinguished into two main parts: 1) the commercial potential of Sonamy as a merchandising and marketing icon; 2) the stability of the interactions in the comics, in the short monthly stories on Sonic Channel, and so on.

That being said, there’s no need to mention that we’re going to focus entirely and nothing more than on this ship. I usually suggest other articles for those who prefer to read on other subjects, but today I will recommend our Discord server [translator’s note: the server is mainly Spanish-speaking], where discussions about ships are limited on their own canal that is separated from other themes: general discussions, music, fangames and mods, fanfics, fanart and even gaming in general. As you know, if you want to bring something else to our community, or just avoid talking about Sonamy, you’re more than welcome to join. Now, back on track.

What’s going on with Sonamy in IDW?

To recap what’s happened in these last months: Sonic and his friends finally got through the nightmare that was the Metal Virus, he and Amy hugged a few times, and since very recently they’ve been involved in a short arc about Chao races in Twinkle Park Zone, with a sinister background. In these last months after the eradication of the virus, there have been much closer and warmer interactions between our two hedgehogs, and I suspect that part of this is what inspired that question in the first place: what’s going on?

As I commented in the article where I proposed that Sonamy is “more canon than ever” (I know that it’s an exaggeration, that was the point), SEGA is treading carefully and the main canon seems to be willing to negotiate a more open representation of the relationship between the two in their different continuities, from best friends to something more. What I did not expect to happen was reading an answer from Evan Stanley (artist and writer that replaces Ian Flynn) about their dynamic, summing it up with “they like each other”.

The redrawing of Sonic’s expression when Amy hugs him in a recent drawing of hers made people wonder if this was yet another example of SEGA’s “censoring” (comparison below), to which Evan answered that it was modified to keep Sonic in character: he’s a guy that does not show much emotional vulnerability or too many negative emotions, and this is why sometimes the artists have to adjust WIPs to keep in line with this official point of view. Evan assured that this is not any kind of confirmation that Sonic does not like Amy, and doubles down by highlighting that in the official material, in the wikis and on Sonic Channel they show that, and I quote: “They like each other, but Sonic just isn’t the kind of guy who is going to make goo-goo eyes at Amy or perform grand acts of romance. If you wanna see that, that’s what fan works are for.”

And Evan’s words are a great way to sum up what’s going on with IDW Sonic right now. When it comes to interactions, they’re working with two characters who deep down “like each other”, but both show it in their own way. Amy is much more proactive when it comes to express her feelings, while Sonic only sometimes shows a glimpse of his feelings, with a smile or a small gesture. But at the end of the day they’re still friends and, depending on the situation, the comic can focus more or less on these details.

Comparison between the first sketch showed by Evan and the final product. The modification of the expression was minimal: Sonic’s slight blush was changed into a smile, maybe being a little overwhelmed by the gesture of affection.

The “progression” of the dynamic in the future

A good part of the answer to this question is based on my idea that right now, when it comes to Sonamy, we reached some kind of comfortable plateau. What am I referring to? To the fact that there have been a lot of varied interactions in these last 3 years of the comic, and they’re everything I could have asked for and then some. When we talk about Sonamy in canon, as Evan said, we don’t tend to hope for great romantic gestures from Sonic, we barely even ask for a look that hints that they understand each other beyond what it seems at first glance, so the fact that the IDW continuity is betting so much on this ship is basically a dream come true. For this reason, I don’t think things will change much in the future.

If I have to make a prediction on Sonamy’s future in IDW, I believe that there are still a lot of possibilities that our known writers (and maybe new writers!) could explore more, to see what makes this dynamic work so well. Actually, about 10 years ago, Ian Flynn wrote that if they could take advantage of the abilities and similarities between the two characters as adventurous spirits and with a strong moral sense, they would be “like poetry in motion”. This largely happens in IDW Sonic if you look carefully, but there are always new stories to tell and opportunities for them to work together and explore a bit more their strong bond, stronger than other friendships that they share. When the next major arc comes (which seems to be getting closer), they could explore aspects of their dynamic that are slightly more experimental, like being separated for extended periods of time and under dangerous situations… as long as they don’t turn it into a painful experience like the Metal Virus arc.

What Ian Flynn wrote about Sonamy, what works and what doesn’t. This was written in 2011, when Archie Sonic was still the major comic continuity, and when, according to Ian, Sonic was still “tied” to Sally Acord, leaving little room to the writers’ opinions.

The reality is that I see a stable future for the dynamic in the IDW universe. Sonamy is not fit for a lot of drama (fights, breaking up, etc.) without feeling forced or completely out of place, and only fanfics and fanart could be capable of capitalizing on this kind of content. On the other hand, for reasons I detailed in past articles, SEGA would not dare to alter the established order of the dynamic, let alone new that they managed to recover and maintain control over the ways Sonamy is being portrayed everywhere. SEGA won’t pull a Dragon Prince, which ended up confirming the main ship and then they made them go through a crisis and break up in a heartwrenching way in the graphic novel that acts as a bridge between season 3 and 4.

In short

The future of IDW Sonamy is looking bright and stable. I don’t think there will be serious changes to what we’re experiencing right now, and this is why both Evan Stanley and Ian Flynn agree that the dynamic is practically in the perfect place, keeping in line to how SEGA wants them to be represented together. This means we won’t see more affectionate gestures than what we’re seeing now (I doubt we’ll ever see again Sonic offering Amy a rose like in Sonic X), but it also means that we have now a solid basis for our expectations. In the now old IDW Sonic #2, Sonic and Amy had the chance of seriously talking a bit about what they thought of each other, with Sonic being determined to keep living life his own way (although he wouldn’t mind Amy to accompany him… or even suggesting himself that she could come), and Amy being determined to respect his way of life, because that’s what she loves about him, and she doesn’t want him to change. Since then, all we have seen and we’ll keep seeing in the comic is a consequence of this key moment; the two philosophies that they have and they share, in a constant back-and-forth with some tense moments and some cute moments.

An interesting detail that wasn’t included in the ask and that makes me think is the possibility that all of this will feature in the games as well. This is a completely different matter for another day, but I like to think that there is the possibility that we’ll see SEGA being more interested in inserting more Sonamy in the games, even if in an indirect way like in Sonic Unleashed and its emotional support, especially if the rumors that we’re about to get a soft-reboot are true. Romance is not something Sonic games are famous for doing well… at all, but that doesn’t mean it would be a bad idea to add a little sprinkle of IDW Sonamy in the mix.

And finally, I think I’ve talked enough about this topic, As you know, we’re waiting for some news, and I hope we’ll see each other again here or on our Discord. We’ll see if on this 25th something interesting happens. In any case, see you next time!

The moment that shaped the present and future of their entire relationship, 3 years ago.

[sillyunicorn]

Lol didn't realize i should've sent it as an ask:

50, 39, 7

I'm getting sleepy buuuuut here 'tis, I hope you like, thanks for the ask!!! The weird song choice is courtesy of what was playing when I wrote this :)))

Your prompts: “Sometimes i feel like i wanna make out with you is that a friend thing to do?”

“I was listening to that love song, and you came to mind. Weird, right?”

“You can share my jacket with me, since you’re shivering.” (I did them in reverse order, hope that's ok!) The ficlet: Crossing Lines (G, 900 wds) The takeaway line is around the corner.

“What the hell?” I say. “I’ve never seen it this long.”

We get in line behind another couple, and I wrap my arms around my middle. I wasn’t counting on having to wait outside for our food, and I only have on the hoodie I was wearing earlier when Simon and I decided we needed food before we started our Lord of the Rings marathon.

“Here,” Simon says, opening up his coat. I just look at him, not understanding.

“You can share my jacket with me, since you’re shivering.”

“I am not shivering,” I say, but my teeth betray me by chattering.

“Come ‘ere,” he laughs.

I take a breath and step into him. I keep my arms folded around my middle as he wraps me in his over-large jacket. For once I’m glad none of his clothes fit him properly.

We stand like that for awhile, me slightly hunched over so his arms can wrap around my shoulders. I can’t help but breathe in his scent, a mix of his cheap deodorant and shampoo and something earthy that I think is just him. I’m almost disappointed when the line moves and we have to break apart.

Back at our flat, I get the movie queued up while Simon rambles about his day. I’m only half listening until Simon drops this line:

“I was listening to that love song, and you came to mind. Weird, right?”

“What love song?” I ask, feeling my pulse pick up.

“You are the Apple,” he says. “By Lady Lamb?”

“Simon, that’s not a fucking love song,” I laugh.

He blushes faintly. “Is too. Besides, ‘s’how I feel. Still need your teeth ‘round my organs.”

I’m struck speechless for a moment. Is he making a fucking vampire joke right now? But he looks serious, which is somehow even worse.

I pretend to pounce on him, tickling him around his waist and letting my fangs drop. “I’ll get my teeth ‘round your organs,” I say. He laughs, and it breaks the spell. My heart rate returns to normal, but his words tumble around my brain as I turn the movie on.

Simon and I have been close for a long time. I’ve picked him up when he needed it most, and he’s done the same for me. He accepted my condition without batting an eye. We only moved in together a few months ago, after both our roommates moved in with their significant others, and the more time we spend together, the more the lines between us seem to blur. I feel like I’m constantly redrawing them in my head. Tonight, apparently, I can move the line to the other side of “cuddling in your coat” and “making vampire jokes that are maybe not jokes and also somehow weirdly intimate”. Okay, I guess I didn’t really have a line drawn there, but it seems implied right?

It’s a good thing I’ve seen this movie a million times, because it is the very last thing on my mind. Much more pressing is Simon’s knee, which has somehow moved over to rest against my foot where it’s curled up on the couch. My toes are a little cold, so I wiggle them under his thigh.

Instead of complaining, he tilts his head over at me and smiles, then scoots closer, stretching his arm over the back of the sofa.

“Are you still cold?”

Am I? Not exactly. Could I be warmer? Of course.

I don’t say any of that, but instead shift so that I’m up closer to his body, his arm behind me now.

“I can only assume you meant that as an offer to share the wealth of your excessive body heat,” I say.

“Of course,” he laughs, dropping his arm to drape across my shoulders.

I don’t think I’m imagining it when his hand starts rubbing circles on my arm. I’m definitely not imagining it when he leans his head against mine. I wonder if he can feel how fast I’m breathing, how hard my heart is beating.

I let my hand fall to his knee, just resting there on his joggers.

“Baz,” he says, softly. I don’t think either of us are watching the movie anymore.

I close my eyes. “Yeah?”

“Do you want…I mean… I want….” he takes a deep breath. “I know we’re friends. I don’t wanna do anything to mess that up. But also…”

I’m frozen. I’m metaphorically on the edge of my seat. I think I’ve forgotten how to breathe.

“But also,” he continues, sounding like he’s bracing himself to jump off a cliff, or maybe out of an airplane, “sometimes I feel like I want to make out with you… is that a friend thing to do?”

I laugh silently, turning my head to knock our foreheads together.

“It’s definitely not,” I say.

“Right, right,” he says, pulling his head back and lifting his arm from my shoulders like he’s been burned.

“But,” I say, catching his face in my hand, “it is a more-than-friends thing to do. If you’re okay with that?”

His eyes are wide and wild. “I’m okay with it. Are you okay with it?”

“More than,” I say, and press my lips against his. It’s a good thing we’ve seen this movie before, because we don’t see any of the rest of it tonight.

[lawslessons]

Not So Tough Now, Huh?

Not So Tough Now, Huh? (Zoro x Luffy)

Hello! This is inspired by the amazing @xruffyx drawing of Zoro and Luffy where Zoro is holding Luffy up by his shirt. I saw that drawing and thought of a cute and somewhat spicy little one shot to honor the amazing art piece! Please check them out and send them all my love xx

https://xruffyx.tumblr.com/post/636611591540998144/yeah-more-zolu-redraws-because-i-do-not-know-how

Warnings: Teasing, Suggestive Behavior

Synopsis: Challenge accepted. Luffy, Chopper and Usopp decide to see who can manage to wake up the swordsman first. But little do they know that Zoro has a little trick up his sleeve for his captain.  

No one knew what exactly spurred Luffy’s mood, and they were all too amused to even ask why this was happening. But it seemed to be a rather average, uneventful day on the Thousand Sunny when Luffy came to the middle of the lawn deck and started to smile. 

“I want to play a game!” Luffy laughed. Chopper and Usopp both looked at each other in excitement, they both smiled and looked at their captain with stars in their eyes. 

“A game? What game?” Chopper asked as he clapped his hooves together and moved to be standing on top of a box to be more at Luffy’s height. Luffy sported his signature toothy smile and rested his hands against the box. 

“Zoro is sleeping, right?” Luffy asked. Usopp rose a brow and looked around the deck. Nami and Robin were both talking to one another, steam was coming from the kitchen so he knew Sanji was in there. A slight hum could he heard too, so he knew Franky was in his workshop while Brook worked on orchestrating a new piece. 

“I think? He’s supposed to be watching out of the crow’s nest to see if any ships are getting close,” Usopp explained, but Zoro sleeping came as a surprise to no one. “But Luffy, what does that have to do with your game?” Usopp asked his grinning captain. 

“Perfect! It’s everything. I wanna see who can wake Zoro up first,” Luffy explained with a cheeky smirk. Usopp and Chopper both felt the blood drain from their cheeks at that suggestion. 

“Luffy, isn’t that dangerous? Zoro may be upset by that,” Chopper pointed out, but he was honestly just saying that out of fear for himself. Luffy simply laughed away the concern and shook his head. 

“It’ll be fine! Come on, it’ll be fun!” Luffy said before he grabbed both of his friends by the hand and moved to run up to the crow’s nest. When they were there, Luffy pointed to the door and nodded. “He’s asleep.” He stated. 

“Shouldn’t you be more upset by that?” Usopp scoffed to which Luffy shook his head. 

“No one is here! It’s ok,” He assured his friends before he pointed to Chopper. “You’re first.” Luffy said to the small creature. Chopper gasped and moved to hide behind Usopp’s leg. 

“Me? Why me?!” Chopper asked as he glared up at the captain. Luffy shrugged and started to scratch at his chest. “Because you always have the best ideas.” That seemed to be all Chopper needed to snap out of his funk. He smiled and started to dance around and giggle. 

“It’s not like you saying that makes me happy or anything, idiot!” Chopper giggled to which Usopp sighed. 

“You’re too easy...”

After a couple minutes of thinking, Chopper opened the door rather loudly with an armful of medical paraphernalia in his arms. “Oi, Zoro! I need your help! Someone’s dying!” Chopper exclaimed. The swordsman didn’t seem to notice Chopper being in the room, he continued to snore and relax under the afternoon sun. “You’re dying...?” Chopper tried next with no avail. He stood there for a minute before he pulled away, sighing. “He won’t wake up!” Chopper complained as he put his supplies back in his backpack and looked over at Usopp and Luffy. 

“Usopp, you’re next!” Luffy said as he tried to shove Usopp into the room. Nearly on the verge of tears, Usopp grabbed at the doorframe and looked back at Luffy. 

“I can’t Luffy, I have an incurable disease known as I-am-scared-Zoro-will-kill-me-if-I-wake-him-up disease!” Usopp proclaimed as he started to use his feet against the door frame to stop Luffy from pushing him in. Luffy pouted and pulled back after that. 

“I thought you were the bravest one here,” Luffy mumbled, and within seconds, Usopp was away from the doorframe and standing tall and proud in front of them. Usopp smirked and ran his thumb and pointed finger along his jaw until it met at his chin. 

“You’re right about that, Luffy. I am the bravest man in the world, the conquer of all seas, Captain Usopp!” Usopp declared as he stuck his hand up in the air and quickly brought it down in a fist. Chopper gasped in excitement and clapped his little hands together. 

“Amazing!” Chopper praised to which Usopp smirked. 

“I shall be the one who wakes him up! No one else can beat me!” Usopp said as he went into the room with a brave look on his face. But the moment he laid eyes on Zoro, his entire bravado fell. “Oh.” he said in realization. And before he could back out, the door behind him was shut and he heard giggling. Panicking, Usopp began to bang his fists against the door. “Oi, Luffy! Chopper! Open the door!” He loudly whispered as his banging became as panicked as his voice. “Please! He’s going to kill me!” Usopp pleaded. After a minute of deliberation between Chopper and Luffy, and more begging from Usopp, the door was finally opened and Usopp fell down with an unsatisfactory thud. “I am never doing that again!” Usopp stated as he pushed his laughing captain away from him. 

“It’s your turn now Luffy!” Chopper said with a big smile on his face. Luffy didn’t look phased, he smiled and looked at the now closed door. 

“I can do it,” Luffy said before he walked inside of the room. Within an instant, the door was closed on him and he heard Usopp and Chopper snickering behind the door. Luffy looked around and saw Zoro resting his back against the wall and sleeping. His soft snores filled the room and Luffy slowly approached the beast in front of him. But just as he was about to grab Zoro’s shoulder, a hand met with Luffy’s wrist and tightened around the small joint.

Zoro groggily opened an eye and looked up at his captain while he yawned and tried to shake the sleep out of himself. 

“Zoro?” Luffy asked in surprise as the swordsman stood up and towered over the petite male in front of him. 

“I heard you were trying to wake me up,” Zoro said with his deep, raspy, tired voice. Luffy felt a strange shock go through his body just by hearing Zoro talk, it made his heart begin to race. Unbeknownst to Luffy, Zoro was able to feel it. Because of the hand on Luffy’s wrist, Zoro was able to feel that slight rise in his captain’s heartbeat. He had to admit that it made him feel a little proud, he didn’t even know he could have an effect like this over his precious captain. He was going to have some fun with this.   

“Why did you want to wake me up, captain?” Zoro asked as he leaned in closer to his captain and smirked down at him. Luffy looked at Zoro with wide, searching eyes and felt his pulse increase just a little more at the way Zoro was addressing him. Luffy was stunned silent, his lips slightly parted when he looked up at the swordsman. 

Zoro chuckled and gently popped his thumb into his captain’s mouth and felt his tongue and warm mouth before he pulled away. He was still tired and somewhat annoyed for being woken up, but seeing Luffy like this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. Luffy’s cheeks turned red as he tried to pull away. But he wasn’t really trying, something deep inside of him kept him close to Zoro and kept him interested. 

“Why did you want to wake me up?” Zoro asked, this time he didn’t bother to hide that annoyance he had towards Luffy, after all he always prided himself in how long his naps were, being interrupted wasn’t something he liked no matter the circumstances. “Ever since Chopper came in here, I’ve been awake, I’ve just been waiting for you,” Zoro felt Luffy’s heart drum rhythmically under his thumb and he smirked and gently traced the vein that was there. Luffy’s breath became shallow and the captain looked confused with himself and why he was reacting like this towards Zoro. Maybe Zoro wasn’t really that annoyed anymore.  

“T-The reason was -- “ Luffy began before he was interrupted by Zoro grabbing Luffy by his shirt and lifting him up so they were eye level.  Zoro stared at Luffy and tightened his grip, the bags under his eyes were evident. 

“You got something to say, Captain Bastard?” Zoro asked as he pulled Luffy closer to him just to make the poor captain that much more embarrassed. Luffy looked away with red painting his cheeks and he started to squirm to leave Zoro’s hold. Zoro smirked and moved to use his index finger to feel down Luffy’s jaw and down his neck. Zoro drank in Luffy’s soft sounds and devoured the small groan that came when he applied pressure on the sensitive spot on his neck. 

“N-no, sorry...” Luffy said before Zoro finally put Luffy down and eyed him. Luffy didn’t understand what Zoro was doing, but he liked it. The tingles that shot down his spine nearly made his heart jump out of his chest. 

“Better tell them that you won, captain.” Zoro breathed into Luffy’s ear. Luffy softly gasped and reached forward to grab at Max’s shirt in his surprise. This was the exact reaction Zoro was wanting. He smirked at Luffy and gently nudged him away from him. “Or maybe I’m the one that won, you’re not so tough now, huh?” Zoro teased as the flustered captain quickly moved to make his way out of the crow’s nest. With Zoro’s laugh ringing in his ears, Luffy left the crow’s nest and used his hat to partially cover the deep color on his cheeks. 

“Luffy? Are you ok? You’re all red!” Chopper gasped as he reached for his beg and began to rummage through it for some medical supplies. Usopp looked at the captain and then at the swordsman who went back to sleeping. 

“So why were you in there so long?” Usopp asked.

Luffy pulled his hat away and plastered on one of his signature smiles. “I won!” he said as he glanced over at the closed door and felt his pulse race again. Luffy wasn’t even sure if he won, after all, his feelings were all jumbled together and he didn’t know how to sort them out anymore because of Zoro. 

The raspy voice, the hand on his wrist, the thumb in his mouth, him grabbing his shirt, the fingers on his skin. Him whispering in his ear... Luffy felt his chest tighten and a small sigh escaped his lips. How could he win if he was still so confused? Maybe that was what Zoro was plotting. 

“I didn’t win.” Luffy suddenly said. 

“We know,” Usopp teased as he pointed to the door. Luffy tensed, did they find out what happened between him and Zoro? “Zoro is still asleep, so I think that he won.” Usopp pointed out. Luffy had to admit that Usopp was right, but his reasoning was completely different for that. 

“Yeah, Zoro won.” Luffy agreed with a flustered smile. Unbeknownst to him, the swordsman sported a cocky grin at hearing Luffy’s words through the door. Oh yeah, he was winning. 

[fluorescencefuture]

Hwayugi / A Korean Odyssey Episode 5 Review

No one really reads these but I just want to put my hot takes out there

And also I changed the way I’m categorizing it again! Gonna list negatives and positives:

Negatives

The child acting is not the best in this show. Not a lot of special effects in this one, thank god

Apparently, this minor character Alice is supposed to be the White Dragon-Horse. What I'm saying is they shafted the horse again

Wukong’s favorite color would not be green it would be peach get your shit right

I just...do not care for the main leads’ romance. I know the whole thing is that they actually do love each other but pretend it’s just a product of the golden bracelet, but their “real love” scenes legitimately feel forced. His attempts to ask about her interests seemed more like an interrogation than genuine affection.

I swear it's not just me refusing to see it, I’m trying my best, but the chemistry is just not that good, to the point that I keep skimming through their nighttime bench scenes because I know it's just the same old platitudes that mean nothing to me because they really do not work together

Hwayugi reinforces my belief that if you're gonna do a romance involving Wukong he's better off as the subject and not the object. Like, he should be the protagonist focus character instead of the love interest himself.

Or have him being the one being pursued instead of the one pursuing. I feel like he'd be the type to either be completely aware of someone's affection but refuse to address it, or the type to be extremely dense when someone feels deep romantic love for him and realizes it a mite too late

I know romance isn’t Just Like That in K-dramas, because I’ve partially seen What’s Wrong With Secretary Kim and Crash Landing On You and I can still tell they did the “hate-love” dynamic in those shows better. I’m honestly slogging through the romance because:

Positives

The side cast is great and I love them too much. The best scenes are really when everyone’s hanging out with each other. I love that ever since Wukong gained co-ownership everyone started crashing at the mansion more

Mr. Lee noticing the weird ongoings but still sticking around Samjang, what a king

White Bone Demon is adorable. There were two filler dance sequences she had in this episode but she was cute so it doesn’t matter too much. I really hope nothing bad happens to her, she’s so wholesome

Summer Fairy still a queen and General Winter still a king, best advice friends

Wholesome homemaker Wujing I love him and I hope nothing happens to him too. Hot!Bajie grew on me, his attitude is hilarious

Even the OC dog demon secretary got a moment with her shitty sketch of the ghost

Now Demon Bull King was the stand-out this episode. Him waiting for people to praise him for the award he got but nobody knows/cares about it was hilarious.

So Princess Iron Fan here was cursed to live miserably and die painfully every reincarnation, and Demon Bull King can only save her by becoming a deity as fast as possible. Their star-crossed love is infinitely more interesting than the main couple. I wouldn’t want the show to have it as the main focus, but I sure want to see much more of it

That scene of him saving and patching up her reincarnation in the 30s, and she doesn’t know who he is, and he doesn’t try to tell her because he knows she’s going to die...like dude, he loves his wife so much =,(

Maybe I’m face blind but the lead actress is unrecognizable when they put her in less dowdy outfits. Even if she's still too pretty since it's TV, there's a noticeable difference. A lot more believable and less lazy than the American style of “just put her in a ponytail and glasses”

Honestly, I would redraw parts of this or draw the outfits but like, with my designs of the trio. South Korean fashion is really great

Some top dialogue exchanges this episode:

Demon Bull King: Why are you here cooking side dishes? Aren't you supposed to have two meetings later?

Sha Wujing: Yeah, I just wanna feed my boy before I leave

-

Demon Bull King: We share the house, we don't share the stuff in the house. Stop letting the zombie watch the home shopping network, please let your friends apply for a parking sticker before you invite them over, and stop using my lotion

Sun Wukong: Hey congrats on the award you got, pretty cool

Demon Bull King: Here, let me show you how to apply the lotion properly

-

Sun Wukong: I'm kinda depressed today

Demon Bull King: It's low blood sugar, here eat some candy and put on this facial mask before you go to sleep

[milstrim]

Strong Words of Encourage-Mint!

"Okay, you win," Tony conceded, pointing an accusing finger at the kid walking next to him, "This is the best sandwich I've ever had. But don't let it go to your head."

Penny took a bite of her own sandwich, polishing it off and throwing the wrapper at the nearest trash can where it landed perfectly in the hole. She flashed him a cheeky grin, "Never. Nothing goes to my head. Ever."

"Uhuh."

Tony took another bite, pushing his glasses farther up his nose. Today, they served more than the purpose of carrying around his own personal badass AI, but actually blocked the bright New York summer sun that bounced and glared off the windows of buildings and nearby cars. Heat passed through the crowd like a dusty wind, hanging onto him and letting go just as quickly as a new wave took its place. He licked his lips at the heat, hoping that whatever Penny's trip through the city had planned was prepared for a water break.

"So, where to, kid?" he asked, throwing his own wrapper in a trashcan, though he begrudgingly admitted that it was much less cool than the kid's shot, "'Cause I don't know if it can surpass the best sandwich in Queens."

"It's gonna be great, Mr. Stark!" Penny chirped, ignoring his comment and bouncing forward a little. He smiled. "There's this really cool tunnel thing that turns into an arcade. It just opened last week and the graphics are so good, it's like it's actually real! They also have an escape room if we wanted to do that too. It's supposed to be the hardest one ever, no one's cracked it yet!" Tony smirked. Between the two of them, it'd be done in ten minutes tops, "Oh! And there's this cool, like--it's like a superhero store? They have a bunch of really cool Avengers merch and there's this life size Captain America plushie that's like three hundred dollars and it has the funniest sayings ever. You've got to see it!!!"

"Sounds like a full day," Tony commented, wondering when life had ever become this carefree. He was spending the day discussing afternoon plans with his intern, just for fun... No, not his intern. More like his kid. He couldn't help himself as he gave the girl a fond look. It'd been two years since they'd met, she was almost eighteen, and she changed so much, yet her bouncy childish joy still hung in a bubble beside her. Tony took a breath, surprised to find his breath taken away with the thought of how much she'd grown, "So, where to first?"

"Where do you wanna go first?"

"Nope. Your day."

She bumped into him playfully, sticking her tongue out at him. He blew a raspberry in her direction, dragging a delighted, crinkling giggle out of her.

"The arcade is closest," she said.

"Cool, let's go do that first. Which way?"

"Um, it's a couple blocks over," she started, stopping, much to the chagrin of the bustling crowd. She stepped away from the stream of traffic. Tony followed, "We can take some shortcuts, though."

"Y'know, you're pretty impatient," he teased.

"No! I'm just showing you my amazing street cred of knowing the streets."

"Okay, Underoos. Lead the way."

She shot him a look, but still led him through the alley. And then another, and then another. The first two were completely fine. No surprises, no boogy man jumping out of them. Nothing other than the toxic smell of a dumpster. By the third one, everything went downhill.

Now, Tony didn't have a 'spidey sense' or whatever she and her friend called it, but the moment he stepped on the street, the feeling of wrong overtook him. Maybe it was instinct, or maybe it was the way Penny had slowed down, her body language reeking of fear. Almost against his will, he took a step further, reaching out for Penny in an attempt to pull her back.

He'd barely reached her by the time something clattered at their feet. It was small and round, barely bigger than a bouncy ball, a sickly gray color shining dully in the darkened alleyway. Before any movements could be made, it stretched, revealing a clear vial.

Smoke began dispensing from the ball, billowing in thick clouds. Extremely thick for how small the thing was. Tony's breath shortened immediately, and before he clamped his mouth shut, stuffing it into the crook of his arm, he shouted to Penny, "Don't breathe, kid, just run!!"

Surprisingly unaffected, he moved forward, gripping Penny's hand as he did, but he was stopped short, almost falling with his cut short momentum. He whipped around to stare at Penny, his eyes widening with horror.

She was rooted in place, her eyes dreamy and droopy, as if she was nothing more than a vacant shell. She swayed. Her legs shook. She fell.

The man rushed forward, barely managing to catch her, and feeling like someone would have to catch him soon as well. His vision swayed dizzily from the lack of air, and Tony couldn't stop himself from taking a breath in at the sudden movement. He expected something bitter or tasteless, and for him to faint immediately if it had already taken Penny out so quickly, but instead, he was fine. Nothing happened save for the burning of peppermint on his throat and burning his nose.

Peppermint.

He cursed. Penny was dangerously allergic to peppermint, a fun little gift from her spider powers. Whoever had done this hadn't come for him. They wanted Penny, and they knew just how to do it.

With that horrifying thought, Tony ran. Or, well, he tried to run.

Scooping up Penny, he began to stumble out of the alleyway, only to be met with a wall of people. There were three of them, all with guns in hand. Waiting. He turned on his heel, only to discover the other end was surrounded with three men as well, as dangerous and formidable looking as before. He spotted a red octopus on their jackets.

He hugged Penny tighter, and held out a gauntlet covered hand. His glasses lit up, Friday already calling a suit.

A man took a step closer, his gun held aloft. Tony took a step backward, his eyes dancing around and looking for an escape. Penny couldn't stay in this cloud of peppermint for long. As if hearing his thoughts, a rack of coughs shot through Penny, who buried her shaking form into his shoulder. He had to get her out.

"Hand over the girl," demanded the closest man. The group closed in, but remained wary of the weapon gripped onto his palm.

"Not happening," he snapped, "I think you know what happens to people that mess with me. So why don't you just go ahead and keep moving?"

"You know it's already too late for that."

"I don't think it's ever too late for anything."

"I do," the man responded, and that was all he had to say.

The men rushed forward all at once, a tidal wave. Tony fired immediately, but was only able to fire out one shot before they were on top of him. He kicked out violently, but was horribly unbalanced by the girl he held in his arms, limp and unaware of the world.

A punch landed to his face, knocking him backwards and the glasses off of his face. Assumingly distracted, he felt arms grip around his kid, tugging painfully at her, but he managed to cling on. In his desperate attempt to keep the kid with him, however, he found himself defenseless.

Another fist. Another kick. Tony felt his nose snap and his arms bruise beyond belief as he was rammed against the dumpster, arms worming between his, digging and tugging and tearing. But Tony refused to let go, unable to do anything else. All he could do was shield Penny from being hurt and taken.

But all he could do wasn't enough. Tony's legs wobbled, his body shook, and Penny was torn away. He reached out immediately, struggling to force himself up only to be met with the butt of the gun against his face. He went down like a rock, his head tearing against the concrete painfully.

Tony Stark had never been one to give up though, and this was a moment he was determined to not let pass by. Even if it killed him.

The sound of a car screeching to a halt is what managed to stir him to his feet, throwing away the dizziness that faced him and instead running towards the group of kidnappers. No longer encumbered with a child in his hands, he held out his wrist gauntlet. The first two missed, but the last hit the man holding Penny. He dropped to the ground just outside a gray van, Penny tumbling with him.

Another took his place, hooking arms underneath the limp girl and attempting to herd her back into the van, but he rushed forward. Anger burned in his eyes and leapt from his palm. Now close enough, he hit the man picking up Penny, forcing him to stumble back, and knocking him down with a swift shot.

Tony couldn't stop to make sure Penny was okay, instead swerving back to face the rest of the group, who were sprinting forward and redrawing their guns. The first slammed up to him, clicking his gun and ready to fire. Tony grabbed his wrist as he approached, clumsily twisting and placing his armored hand over the barrel, only just able to stop the metal that bounced against his hand painfully.

He took in a wispy breath, adrenaline pumping. He threw the man into the next one, forcing them to tumble to the ground, not that it would keep them down for long. He turned to the next one, firing two quick excessive shots that blasted the gun out of his hand and sent it clattering on the pavement. Tony punched him, his metal hand swiftly knocking him out.

Three down. Three to go.

The two he'd shoved to the ground earlier had stumbled back up, and now all three surrounded him, guns drawn and pointed at him. Tony pointed his gauntlet, gasping for air and refusing to move from where he stood over his kid protectively.

"Give it up, Stark," the tallest man demanded, a trickle of blood running from a cut over his eyes. Tony glanced around harriedly, desperately searching for an escape, for something to use. The sound of whooshing let him know he didn't have to.

"I've never been known for that," he snarked back, ducking and swerving for Penny just as the suit clanked down in front of him. Tony didn't even have to watch the fight, though he would've preferred to see the way their faces widened and whitened with fear, instead kneeling beside his kid.

No longer in direct contact with the peppermint bomb, the swelling had receded, and, when he placed two fingers to her neck, he was relieved to discover her heart was beating normally. Her breaths were a little shallow, but she'd live.

Penny blinked awake, her eyelashes fluttering open. For a moment, she looked lost, unfocused and unseeing, before they shifted and locked onto him. Immediately, a look of trust washed over her, and it made Tony equally terrified and fond. He'd barely saved her, yet she still held out a hand and gripped his fingers as though he would protect her forever.

He would try.

"Are you o'ay?" Penny mumbled, her words heavy as she began to regain control of her body. Tony wanted to scoff, but he was sure he looked like a bruised and horrid mess. His eye was bruising, his nose tender and broken, and trickles of blood escaping from given cuts.

"I'm great, kiddo," he responded instead, "But I think our little playdate is over, so why don't we go home?"

"I wanted you to see the Captain America doll."

"We'll go another time," he assured.

"Really?"

"Really."

[softboywriting]

Christmas Lights | Peter Mendes | Mendes Triplets AU

Summary: Taking a chance on Peter Mendes may be the best thing you do this Christmas. [fluff] [triplet au] [college au]

Word Count: 4k

|Masterlist In Bio|

Making friends on campus is hard when you don't know a single soul in the town you've moved to. St. Augusta college has the exact major program you've been looking to get into. You spent two years back home at your community college doing your prerequisites since it was far cheaper than doing four to six years at St. Augusta. The only downside to college in a small town is that everyone seems to know each other and they aren't really looking for new friends.

Christmas is approaching and you've been planning on going home for the holidays but you can't exactly leave your cat alone in your apartment for a few days. Bugs is not exactly one for traveling either, so a three hour car ride home would be absolute hell. You decide to stay, to wish your family Merry Christmas via video chat and open presents with them that way. Well. That's the plan anyway.  

Thursday, four days before Christmas, you win tickets to go see the light display at the park in town. It's a huge event and people come from all over to see it. You honestly didn't think you would win and you only entered because you figured it would be something fun to do other than sit around your apartment and watch Netflix.

When you pick up the tickets at the administration office you find out that it's a pair of them. Wonderful. You've got no one to go with. For a moment you wonder if you should just give them back, to have the secretary redraw the winner. Surely a couple would love these. You know if you were still with your ex boyfriend you'd love to. No. You'll find someone to go with.

So the hunt for a companion begins. You text the girl you talk to in your psychology class, having her number from a project you worked on together a few weeks ago. She's got plans. You text your friend Amie back home to see if she wants to drive up for the weekend and hang out. Nope. Her car is broken down. Just when things look bleak you remember the community board in the courtyard of your apartment complex. There were always postings on there for lost dogs, tutoring, and private classes of all sorts. Why not just see if someone wants to go with you?

You get back to your place and take a seat at the computer. Bugs jumps up on your lap and headbutts your stomach. "You wanna go with me Bugs?"

He meows.

"Yeah I didn't think so. I'd probably look like a freak walking my cat on a leash."

He purrs, flopping over on his side and covering your legs.

You open up a blank document and sigh. Alright. This may be a new low for you, but hey, maybe you'll make a really good friend. You type up the flyer and even add a few clip arts of Christmas lights along the bottom. It has your school email address on it in case anyone wants to contact you. You were going to put your number on there but thought better of it. You don't want some douchebag sending you nudes or something.

One brisk sprint to the community board outside later and you've got it posted. Now you wait. If no one replies then you'll go alone and give your spare ticket to some kid in line at the display. Here goes nothing.

____________________

Saturday morning you wake up with you phone blinking with a notification. You grab it and slide up to unlock. It's your email. Your school email. A surge of excitement courses through you and you're hoping someone has replied to your bulletin.

You open the app and flip through some emails from your teachers about assignments due after the holiday break. Sure enough there is one that's from a student. You can tell because it doesn't have a name attached as a contact like the staff emails do. It just says unread from pmend2580@staug.edu.

Hi, I'm Peter. I saw your post on the community board. If you're still interested I would like to go.

You chew on your lower lip, nervous about going. What if this guy is a creep? You can bring your pepper spray. Maybe you can assess him by showing up early to the community board and seeing if he looks like a weirdo. Not all creeps look like a creep though. Okay. You're not being fair. Not all guys are bad, besides if you don't reply to the email, he probably won't show up right? He'll just think you've found another companion.

All day you contemplate emailing Peter back. Do you want to go with a guy? Maybe you should wait and see if a girl wants to go. But then again, you didn't specify your gender on the posting. So he doesn't even know if you're a guy or girl. Well that changes things. You're gonna do it.

Around dinner time you email Peter back. You tell him to meet you at the board on Christmas Eve around six and that you're going to be wearing a white coat. You still don't reveal your gender, just in case. _____________________

The time has come. You put on your puffy white coat, boots and a pair of gloves. You give Bugs some kibble and head out to the community board in the courtyard. There aren't very many people out there, a few groups of people talking near the decorated trees at every corner of the yard. There is no one by the board and you're kind of disappointed but relieved. Maybe he would flake out.

"Hey, are you the one with the tickets?"

You turn and you're met with a guy quite a bit taller than you. He's got a mop of curly brown hair, flushed cheeks covered in freckles and greenish hazel eyes behind some cute round glasses. He's in a bulky pink hoodie with a jean jacket over it just like he said he would be. He looks familiar, you're pretty sure he's in one of your classes.

"Peter?"

"That's me." He pulls his hand from his hoodie pocket and you shake it. "I'm so glad you replied back. I really want to see the lights, I just don't have the extra cash for a ticket this year."

You smile big and he grins right back. "I'm glad you replied too. I didn't really want to go alone."

"Then why'd you buy the tickets?"

"I didn't. I won them."

"Oh! Gotcha. Well, let's go? We don't want to miss it."

"Right. Do you want to walk or..." You look over at your car in the lot and wonder how much gas you have.

Peter shrugs. "It's a short walk. Like twenty minutes tops?"

"Probably, and I wore my boots." You look down at your old black snow boots. "They're pretty comfortable for walking."

"Let's get to it then!" Peter says excitedly, patting your shoulder. "No time to waste."

_____________________

The walk to the park proves very interesting. You learn that Peter is studying to be a photographer and does photos for the school newspaper while also doing some freelance work on the side for a couple of students with blogs. Both of you love hot chocolate with cinnamon in it. You both love the color pink, and you both have cats. His is a girl named Peach after Princess Peach from Super Mario. He is also in your business management class, and you can't believe you didn't pay more attention to him. He's so cute.

When you get to the park you show your tickets at the booth and they let you skip the line to get in. Once inside you can't believe how much it has changed since you visited once as a kid. There is a ten foot tall reindeer, life-size snowmen with tophats, and a small replica of the eiffel tower that's all lit up with tiny star shaped lights and a big star on top. It's incredible.

Peter tugs your arm and you follow him over to where an old woman dressed as Mrs. Claus is handing out flyers. "We have to do the scavenger hunt."

"The what?"

"Hello! Join the scavenger for a special surprise at the end of tour of lights!" Mrs. Claus says, handing a flyer to you and a few kids who are nearby.

You look over the list. "Find Santa's belt, Rudolf's nose, the elves stockings, Mrs. Claus's glasses, and the magic Christmas bell. Take a photo with each object and show at the end of the tour for a special Christmas surprise."

Peter takes the list and looks like a kid in a candy store. "They changed it up this year. This is going to be so much fun."

You can't help but smile. Peter has turned out to be the best companion you could have hoped for so far. "What is the prize at the end?"

Peter looks up from the list. "No clue. It changes every year. Last year I got a stocking."

"Oh that's actually kind of cool. I figured it'd just be like one of those big candy cane sticks or something."

"Nah, they go all out." Peter looks around the park. "We should start the hunt, we don't want to be the last ones to find everything."

"Why not?"

"They could run out of prizes for the night. Plus, I want to stop by the elves workshop and get some hot cocoa." Peter puts his arm out and you take it, looping yours under his. "Let's do this thing."

_____________________

The scavenger hunt is a blast. You and Peter literally comb through every display trying to find the items on the list. So far you have found the elves stockings and Mrs. Claus's glasses. Rudolph's nose is your next target as you head for the sleigh display.

Just as you reach the sleigh you see the last person you ever expected to see. Your ex boyfriend Blaine. He's got his latest fling on his arm, some tiny little thing with dark hair. Honestly you have no idea why he ever dated you. Every girl he's dated since you, there's been five in the last nine months, has been your polar opposite. You're not sure if it's him trying to not think of you or if it's that those girls are his type and you just weren't.

"Can we look for Santa's belt?" You ask, stopping mid stride and Peter looks back, clearly confused.

"We're right here though?"

"I know...I just don't want to do this one yet."

Peter walks back to meet you and crosses his arms. "You're avoiding someone."

"What? No, I-"

"Oh come on. Who is it? Family? Ex best friend? Ex boyfriend?" He looks around at the people nearby.

You sigh and roll your eyes. "It's my ex boyfriend if you must know. I'm surprised he's here considering our hometown is three hours away."

"Oh, dramatic." Peter puts his arm around your shoulders. "Which one is he?"

"The guy over there with the Steelers hat on with the girl attached to his arm." You point out Blaine, clear as day.

Peter nods and pushes his glasses up. "He looks like a douchebag."

"He is."

"Why'd you date him?"

"Small town? He was the best I could get?"

"Ouch." Peter laughs. "Well, you wanna make him jealous? I can be your pretend boyfriend for a while."

You look Peter over and he holds his arms out. "You are way more handsome, and you're definitely bigger." You chew on your lower lip. "I do want to get back at him."

"I'm all yours." Peter laughs. "Sounds like he really hurt you. I'm all about getting back at a douchebag."

"Alright. Yeah. Why not?"

Peter wraps his arms around you and walks you toward the sleigh display. He grabs your gloved hands and holds them close to your chest. It's actually nice. You haven't been held since you were with Blaine.

"There's Rudolf!" You point to the front of the light display and sure enough it's Rudolph but his nose isn't lit up.

Peter pulls you toward a big present box nearby. It's got a lid like a chest. He lifts it up and you grab the huge pom pom like ball out of it. Rudolph's nose.

"Wanna pose for a picture together?"

"Yes." You pull out your phone and hold it out while Peter leans down behind you, both of you holding the pom pom as you make goofy face and snap the picture.

"Oh hey," Blaine says as he approached with his girlfriend. "Crazy seeing you here."

Peter wraps his arm around you and holds you against him, pressing his face into your hair. "Do we know you?" What a power move.

"Crazy? I go to school here." You roll your eyes.

"This is your ex?" Peter asks, as if you hadn't already told him. He's playing along very well.

"Yes." You lean your head back against Peter's chest. "Why are you here Blaine?"

"Date night." Blaine grins, kissing his girlfriend grossly and for way too long. "It's so romantic here, and Christmas Eve is the perfect time to see a light display. I couldn't imagine bringing my beautiful girl anywhere else."

Peter rubs your side obviously reading into how tense you've gotten with Blaine's asshole demeanor. "Isn't it the best? I brought her here for our six month anniversary." He looks over at you with a smile, having really put emphasis on six months and you bite your lip. "We're going to dinner afterwards, the steakhouse on tenth street. They do a Christmas Eve special for couples. Reservation only."

Blaine looks annoyed, and one upped. Which, honestly he has been because Peter is really selling the lie. "Funny, we were gonna do that too. Guess we'll see you there."

"Really?" Peter grins. "Because the only restaurant on tenth street is a McDonald's. Get over yourself and stop being a dick in front of your ex."

Your jaw drops and Peter threads his fingers between yours. He walks you away from Blaine and you can't help but let out a laugh in astonishment. Peter just destroyed him in a matter of seconds like it was nothing.

"I can't believe you did that," you say, looking back at Blaine and his girlfriend who's yelling at him about something. Probably for embarrassing her.

"Yeah, well, he was being a dick. You could tell he was trying to rub in that he was on a date with someone who wasn't you. I can't stand guys like that."

You lean your head against Peter's arm. "Thank you. You didn't have to do that, I could have just walked away."

"What kind of fake boyfriend would I be if I didn't defend my fake girlfriend?" He laughs and you laugh too. What a crazy night it's been.

_____________________

You and Peter finish the scavenger hunt and go to the prize booth to show your photos. The worker hands you both a lidded box that's wrapped up like a present and you step aside to open it and see what you got.

"Fuzzy socks!" You squeal, holding up a pair of fluffy candy cane striped socks.  "These are awesome!"

Peter opens his box and he's got a pair to but they're green and red. "I'm not sure these will fit me, but you can have them." He looks down and sticks his tennis show clad foot out. "Maybe they will?"

"You'll have to see." You turn in your gift box at the little drop off bin for people who don't want to take it with them. "I suppose it's time to go back home now."

"Yeah." Peter pushes his glasses up. "I had a great time. Thanks for letting me go with you."

You chuckle. "I almost went alone. I didn't know if you were some creep or not. I'm glad I did email you back though. You're pretty cool."

"You are too. And I promise I'm not a creep." Peter crosses his fingers. "Swear I'm normal."

"You're a goof."

"Yep. That's me." He loops his arm under yours and the two of you head for the apartment complex. You really are glad you decided to say yes to him. This night was incredible, even though you saw Blaine, it was still great.

_____________________

"Any plans for Christmas?" Peter asks as the two of you stand outside the front door to your building.

"Nope. Just me and Bugs video chatting my parents some time in the afternoon. They've sent me a few gifts in the mail so I've got some stuff to open."

Peter runs a hand over his hair and bites his lip. "Well, if you wanted to, my brothers and I are making breakfast and stuff. I'm sure they wouldn't mind if I brought a guest over."

"Do your brothers live with you?"

"Yeah," he turns and points at the building to the left of yours. "We share one of the penthouse apartments."

"Fancy." You raise your eyebrows. "Those things are like super expensive."

Peter smiles sheepishly. "They are, but all three of us have full ride scholarships and Raul got a massive grant. We all pay our part from our grants pretty much but Raul pays a little more since he wanted the big apartment."

"Ah, I see. Well...can I get your number? I'll text you if I am able to make it?"

Peter pulls out his phone. "Of course."

The two of you exchange numbers and say your goodbyes. You head up to your apartment, smiling to yourself. Peter is kind of awesome. You finally feel like you've made a friend. Christmas miracles do exist.  

_____________________

Christmas morning. It's snowing heavily when you wake up. Bugs is on your head, asleep against your hair. Your phone lays on the pillow beside you, notification light glowing. You grab it and turn it on, seeing two messages. One from your mom saying Merry Christmas and one from Peter telling you their building security code and there is a photo attached.  

You open the photo and it's him in a Santa hat and the ugliest sweater you've ever seen. In the background there is another guy, his brother you assume, and he looks super similar. Maybe Peter was a twin. You reply back with a photo of Bugs in his little Christmas sweater you had put on him last night.

After a call with your mom and dad, making plans to video chat around one in the afternoon, you decide to go over to Peter's apartment. He's been sending you photos all morning of the food and you just can't resist. He's such a dork but he's so genuinely cute.

You bundle up and cross the courtyard to head to his building. Peter meets you at the front door and you laugh at his reindeer print pants. "You didn't have to come all the way down here."

"Yeah, I did." He chuckles as you walk down the entry hall. "I sort of forgot to mention something."

"Uh oh. What?" You stop short of the elevator doors. "Is there where you tell me you're a crazy psychopath and you're gonna eat me?"

"No!" Peter's face goes white but he quickly realized you're joking. "No, no no no. Okay that sounded bad. Okay no, I just forgot to tell you about my brothers."

"What? Yes you did, you said they live with you?"

"Not that. I mean, we're triplets."

"Oh!" You laugh. "That makes sense."

"What?"

"Well, in your photo of your Santa hat I saw one of your brothers in the back ground and I thought he looked super similar to you."

"Oh. Yeah, that was probably Shawn. We look the most alike." Peter pulls out his keycard to the elevator and swipes it to go up. "Raul still looks like us, but his hair is darker and he's got a little bit more angular of a face. Anyway, they're really excited to meet you."

"Why's that?"

Peter rubs his neck and blushes. "I don't bring a lot of guests over."

"Like just female guests or?"

"Any really. My brother's always tell me I'm antisocial. Whatever."

You step out of the elevator and Peter heads to the left. "I wouldn't have guessed you're antisocial. You're pretty talkative with me. You told me about so much yesterday."

"Yeah well, you're easy to talk to." Peter pushes open the door to the apartment. "And-"

"Damn Peter!" One of the brothers says as you walk in. "How'd you manage to get the balls to talk to her?"

"Shut up Raul," Peter says, throwing a pillow at him from a nearby sofa.

Raul stands and walks over to you. "I'm Raul. His older brother."

Peter rolls his eyes. "By minutes."

"Every second counts." Raul smirks and shakes your hand. "Merry Christmas, welcome to our shithole."

"Raul!"

You stifle a laugh. "Merry Christmas to you too. I was told there would be breakfast?"

"Just missed it. I ate it all." Raul says with a shrug and a tummy pat. "Christmas morning munchies."

"Oh shut up," Peter says and motions for you to follow him to the kitchen. You do and Raul flops down on the sofa laughing at his own dumb joke. "Shawn, this is the girl I told you about." He introduces you and you shake Shawn's flour covered hand.

"Hey, welcome. We've got a ton of food, please eat. It's just us." Shawn says, gesturing to the counter with plates of pancakes, scrambled eggs and bacon.

Peter hands you a plate from the cupboard. "Don't be shy okay? I promise none of us will judge you for eating a bunch or something."

You take the plate and grab some of everything. "Don't worry, I'm starving so I won't be shy."

_____________________

Post breakfast the guys open gifts. There are quite a few under the tree and you're surprised to find there are three for you. Considering you just met Peter yesterday and the other two today, it's a shocker. How could they even know what to get you?

"How...how do I have gifts?" You laugh as Peter plops a small red box in your lap.

"Well, last night I went out and got some stuff in case you did decide to come over. I really hoped you would, and I didn't want you to feel left out."

"That's so sweet." You lift the lid and inside is a little bag of cat toys and treats. "For Bugs!"

Raul chuckles and hands you another box. "Open this one."

You tear open the small box and inside is a hot cocoa mix in a mug that says Meowy Clawsmas. All of you have a good laugh at that.

Peter hands you the last box and he's flushed.  You give him a look and open it. Inside is a flat small envelope. "What is this?"

"Just open it," Peter says.

You tear open the little seal and inside are two printed tickets to the ice rink downtown. "Ice skating?"

"I think Peter is asking you on a date," Shawn says from where he's cleaning up wrapping paper on the couch.

You flush, warmth spreading across your cheeks. "You want to go out with me?"

"Y-yeah. The light display was so much fun I thought maybe... y'know, we could do something like that again." Peter pushes his glasses up and clears his throat. "It doesn't have to be a date. We can just go as friends, or if you want to go with someone else that's okay."

"Peter."

"Yeah?"

"I'd love to go out with you." You lean forward and give him a hug. He seemingly melts into you, big hands coming up and resting on your back. "Relax."

Raul and Shawn let out a little chorus of awes.

"Thanks for not making Christmas suck this year." You laugh, pulling back and pushing Peter's hair out of his face. "I'm glad I took a chance and invited you to the light display."

"Me too. Merry Christmas," he says with a smile and you smile back.

"Merry Christmas."

_________________________

Thank you for reading! Please reblog if you enjoyed this and reblog to support and encourage myself and fellow writers. Next part coming soon! - A

Custom header per part made by the incredible delicateshawn

*****Note: none of my works should be posted anywhere outside of my linked accounts. I do not give permission to repost with or without credit to my accounts. Please notify me of any reposted fics.*****

[bronzeflower]

Turtleneck Sweaters

Here’s a fanfic of the pairing between my builder, Victor; @dads-typo‘s builder, Alex; and Arlo! We call it Varlex because it sounds cool but they’re all dorks

This work is also on ao3 -----

Victor had stayed the night over at Alex’s workshop after a particularly wonderful night, and he was woken up by Alex shifting.

“Victor,” Alex called out. “You gotta let me up. I’ve got work.”

“But you’re so warm!” Victor protested, huddling himself closer to Alex. “Five more minutes? Please?”

“I guess since you said please…”

Victor made a happy sound, and Alex appreciated the next few minutes of warmth and comfort before sighing.

“Alright, Victor, come on. I gotta get to the Commerce Center before Higgins gets there.”

Victor whined, but he let go of Alex, and Alex got out of the bed and started to get dressed.

“I guess I gotta get to work too…” Victor frowned, sitting up and brushing his hair back.

Victor started to get dressed in the clothing he had worn the night before, and he had just gotten on his button-down shirt before Alex stopped him.

“You can’t possibly be thinking about going out like that, right?”

“Like what?” Victor questioned.

“Like <i>that</i>,” Alex gestured towards Victor’s neck, and Victor brought a hand up to it and grinned.

“I mean, I can always unbutton my shirt more,” Victor teased. “Show off more of those lovely marks you left on me.”

Alex flushed brightly and turned away from Victor to grab a turtleneck from his closet and shoved it towards Victor.

“Just wear this,” Alex ordered.

“I’m probably going to end up stretching it, you know,” Victor pointed out.

“Doesn’t matter,” Alex said, still flushing furiously. “Just put it on.”

“Fine, fine,” Victor removed his button-down and put on the beige turtleneck. “It’s a little tight, but it fits. And Gust will appreciate me dressing a little nicer than usual.”

Victor grabbed his leather jacket and put it on overtop the sweater.

“Am I looking good, babe?” Victor asked, doing a dramatic twirl while Alex basically devoured him with his eyes.

“Yeah…” Alex said, though he blushed and looked away once Victor made eye contact with him.

“Well, I like that reaction~,” Victor commented. “Shame we’ve got to get to work, otherwise I’d suggest a round three. And also I don’t wanna get yelled at by Gust for being late again.”

That coaxed a laugh out of Alex.

“You’d stop getting yelled at if you arrived on time.”

“I don’t need your logic,” Victor joked, and he rolled his eyes when Alex chuckled. “I just need you to kiss me before we got to go to work.”

Alex obliged, and Vice smiled into the kiss.

“Thanks for the turtleneck!” Victor said once they parted from the kiss. “You’ll probably never get it back.”

“As long as you wear it…” Alex sighed, and, when Victor left, he wondered if it was really worth hiding the hickeys if Victor was still going to be that insufferably hot.

Victor made it to A&G Construction, and he was, in fact, on time. He was going about his normal workday when Arlo entered into the store.

“Oh! Arlo!” Victor grinned. “Welcome to A&G Construction! What can I do for you?”

“I, uh,” Arlo did a once over of Victor. “W-where’d you get that turtleneck?”

“It’s one of Alex’s,” Victor answered. “I think he was embarrassed by the number of marks that he left on me last night.”

Victor demonstrated by pulling down the collar of the turtleneck to show off just a few of the hickeys had been piled on his neck.

Arlo swallowed, and he followed Victor’s movement as he pulled the turtleneck back up.

“But surely you didn’t come in here to ask me about the turtleneck. So, what can I help you with?” Victor asked, and Arlo racked his brain for what he had come into the building for before he got distracted by Victor.

“I’m here to check on the development of something,” Arlo said, not really remembering what that something was.

“Oh! You mean the development of the Civil Corps outpost in Southblock, right?” Victor reminded, and Arlo nodded.

Victor brought out the documentation of the outpost and started explaining a lot of jargon that Arlo didn’t really understand, but he did his best to listen regardless.

“And we’ll probably need some carbon steel bars for the supports. Alex isn’t going to like that too much. Remember his rant about it? Unfortunately for him, it’s the best reinforcement material, so he’s gonna have to head to the mines to grab more iron if he takes on this project.”

“There’s no one I would trust more to do it,” Arlo stated, and Victor nodded in agreement.

“Well, care to take the commission over to him?” Victor asked. “Afterall, we’ve finished the blueprints for the assignment.”

“No problem.”

“Great! One more thing,” Victor grabbed onto Arlo’s harness straps and pulled him down into a kiss. “There we go! Now, off you go!”

Arlo wordlessly left with the commission in hand and went off to search for Alex, both to give him the commission and complain/praise about the turtleneck he’d given Victor to wear.

Arlo eventually found Alex and gave him the commission after Alex accepted it. After going over what the commission entailed, Arlo changed the subject.

“So, uh,” Arlo started. “About that turtleneck Victor was wearing…”

“I know,”’ Alex said. “But it was that or have him walk around town with half of his hickeys on display.”

“The hickeys might have been better,” Arlo admitted. “Alex, he <i>pulled down</i> the collar to show me some the hickeys you gave him and then pulled it back up.”

“Oh god.”

“I think he was trying to murder me.”

“Well, at least he probably won’t wear it again after today,” Alex said. “And he’ll go back to his regular attire.”

That seemed to be the case for the next week or so, but, one day, Victor wore the turtleneck again. Alex and Arlo just about died when seeing Victor wear it again, and it may have led to more...intimate actions.

And then Victor continued to wear it, almost always at the times his boyfriends least expected, and it was starting to take its toll on them.

“The sweater has to go,” Arlo prompted after he and Alex suffered through too many near-deaths at seeing Victor in the sweater. There was even one point where Victor had worn a <i>blazer</i> with it, and that was just too much.

“Agreed,” Alex nodded. “He’s too hot for his own good.”

With the two of them in agreement, they developed a plan to get the sweater back from Victor.

They invited Victor on a date, and Victor met up with them in front of Alex’s workshop wearing the accursed sweater along with some black jeans with various tears in them paired with combat boots.

"So, what were you two planning?" Victor asked with a grin. "Going to the Round Table? Hanging around town?"

"We were thinking of going down to the docks," Alex said.

"The sunset is supposed to look beautiful from down there," Arlo added, and Victor went a little pink.

"What are we waiting for then? We don't want to miss the sunset!" Victor declared, grabbing Arlo and Alex's hands and starting to walk towards the docks. "So, how has work been going for the two of you?"

"Good," Arlo answered first. "Or, at least, there haven't been any major threats recently, and, while it makes my job kind of boring, I'm glad that Portia is safe."

"And you, Alex?"

"I'm finishing up on that Civil Corps outpost. I'm guessing Arlo's going to be getting busier after it's installed though," Alex admitted.

"Probably," Arlo agreed. "But that's why we're going on a date now. I don't really know when I'll be able to accompany the two of you like this again."

"You need to hire more members," Victor recommended. "You've got to give yourself time for breaks."

"That's pretty rich coming from you, Victor," Arlo countered. "You're just as bad."

"Worry about yourself first, babe," Victor advised. "Alex, I'm glad you, at least, know how to take care of yourself."

"You only say that because you haven't seen him passed out next to fishing spots at three in the morning," Arlo said.

"I'm trying to get king fish for the museum..." Arlo defended.

"You can do that without staying up until you pass out."

"Anyway, Victor," Alex promptly changed the subject. "How has your work been going?"

"Gust has made me redo this one blueprint, like, eight times, and I swear to god if he makes me redraw the entire thing again because a line wasn't straight, I'm going to lose my shit," Victor complained.

"Same as always then," Alex joked, and Victor laughed.

"At least QQ is supportive of my efforts."

"What about Albert?" Arlo questioned.

"He's technically my boss, but he's a lot more chill than Gust is," Victor answered. "He's usually the one going out and about doing errands, so I don't actually see him as much as you would expect."

There was a moment of comfortable silence before Victor spoke up again.

"Hey, Alex, think you could give me a couple of finishing tips when we reach the docks?"

"Course. Do you have your fishing rod with you?"

"Who do you think I am? Of course, I do," Victor answered. "Also, race you two there!"

"Wha-?" Alex began to say, but Victor had already let go of their hands and was sprinting the short distance towards the beach.

Arlo and Alex followed after him, reaching the beach not that long after Victor reached it. Victor grinned at them, and he laughed good-naturedly.

"I win!"

"You got a head start," Arlo countered.

"Can I still get a kiss though?" Victor asked, directing his puppy eyes in his boyfriends' direction.

Arlo sighed in an exasperated manner, but he smiled lovingly.

"Sure," Arlo agreed, and Victor received a soft kiss from Arlo, and Victor giggled almost mischievously once he received the kiss, his cheeks tinting pink.

"You two, Alex?" Victor asked, going over towards his other boyfriend in the hopes of getting yet another kiss, and, of course, Alex obliged.

Victor grinned victoriously once the kiss was over, like he had won the best prizes in the world. He was completely ridiculous.

They reached the dock, and, since it was about an hour before sunset, they fished for a while, Alex delivering on his promise to teach Victor a couple tricks when it came to fishing, and Arlo appreciating the way the activity allowed him to relax since, well, there wasn't that much trouble Victor and Alex could get up to just by <i>fishing</i>. 

It was actually peaceful, and Victor managed to catch a fish or two in the hour they waited for the sun to start to set, going to sit at the edge of the dock once the sun had begun to reach the horizon.

The sunset was beautiful. The sky stained itself with red and pink hues and the colors bounced off the water of the ocean in a way that made the ocean seem like it was glowing. Victor was leaning against Arlo's shoulder while holding Alex's hand.

Victor brought Alex's hand up to his lips and kissed the back of it, prompting a blush from Alex.

"What was that for?" Alex asked, and Victor smiled in a way that could be construed as shy.

"Wanted to," Victor answered, and he brought Alex's hand back down into his lap.

It was so sweet that Alex almost felt bad about what he was going to do next. Just almost.

Once the sun had set, Alex stood up, letting go of Victor's hand in the process.

"Well, that was nice~" Alex announced, turning around and then promptly 'slipping' wherein he fell off the dock and into the water.

Alex's head popped up just a moment later, not really giving Arlo or Victor time to worry about him.

"I'm fine!" Alex announced. "Just a little wet..."

"Soaked more like," Arlo responded, helping Alex out of the water.

"Are you okay?" Victor fretted.

"I said I was fine..."

"Yeah, but you're gonna need to get out of those clothes," Victor said, already bringing his hands to the hem of Alex's shirt and pushing it up. "Though I do like the look~"

Alex blushed at the comment as well as Victor's careful removal of his shirt.

"Here, have a towel," Victor said, wrapping the towel around Alex and gently rubbing his skin dry.

"Why do you have a towel?" Alex questioned, getting a little bit caught up in the intimacy of Victor drying him off.

"Well, sometimes you've got to clean up spills, right? Water, some juice, and, well, cum, of course, but you didn't hear that from me," Victor winked, and Alex rolled his eyes. Yeah, that would be why Victor would carry around a towel, wouldn't it?

"We literally just heard it from you," Arlo pointed out, and Victor laughed.

"I mean, we can always spill some stuff here," Victor teased. "I've got condoms and lube with me as well~"

"When don't you have that stuff on you?" Alex asked.

"I've got to be prepared," Victor answered. "Never know when I'm gonna get down and dirty with someone."

"You only have sex with Arlo and me," Alex said.

"You think I haven't pulled Arlo into some back alleys to have some fun?" Victor mentioned, and the flush on Arlo's face said that Victor was absolutely telling the truth. "You can always join in if you want to~"

"Though, some of the places have been a little too cramped for three people," Arlo said.

"That's true," Victor pondered, and he took off his sweater. "Guess we're gonna have to find some new places."

"W-we shouldn't have sex <i>here</i>!" Alex protested, flushing brightly at Victor suddenly taking off his sweater.

"I mean, probably not, but you still need a change of clothes, yeah?" Victor commented. "And, I don't exactly have a change of clothes on me, and I doubt either you or Arlo do, but you've got to get in some dry clothing."

Alex took Victor's sweater as he handed it to him, putting it on. It had definitely stretched out since Alex had given the sweater to Victor, but now it was big in a comforting way, fitting like a boyfriend sweater.

Alex glanced over to Arlo and nodded. They had completed their mission. They were free of Victor wearing the turtleneck sweater. And Alex had gotten his sweater back.

The next day, Alex got a cold. Really, what else did he expect to happen when he purposefully made himself fall into the water in a scheme to get Victor to return his sweater?

It was a weekend though, so Alex didn't have to worry about work at all, so he refilled his water bottle, ate what he could, and went straight the fuck to sleep.

He woke up eventually, feeling marginally better than he had that morning, and there was a knock at the door.

He should probably answer that, but comfy...

Alex started to gather the courage to get out of bed, but, apparently, he didn't need to as the person let themselves in. So it was someone with a key, which meant it was one of Alex's friends.

Or his boyfriends, as the case may be, as Alex could hear Victor's loud exclamation of his name resounding through the house.

"He might not even be here," Alex heard the voice of Arlo.

"Yeah, but I haven't seen him all day! He always does the inspection on weekends. I went into the Commerce Guild today, and even Antoine was wondering where Alex was."

"I'm over here," Alex called out, his voice pretty weak both from the sickness and having not used his voice all day.

"Oh, you're sick," Arlo pointed out the obvious.

"Hm-mm," Alex hummed.

"We didn't wake you up, did we?"

"It's fine," Alex croaked out. "Needed to eat soon anyway."

"We can get you some food!" Victor proclaimed. "What do you want? I'll head over to the Round Table and grab something for you."

"Anything is fine..." Alex said.

"Even steamed potato fruit?" Victor joked, and he laughed at the grossed out face Alex made.

"Anything but that."

"Alright, alright, alright, I'll come back with food you actually like," Victor stated. "Arlo will look after you while I'm gone, won't you, darling?"

"Of course," Arlo agreed.

Victor left to grab some food, and so Arlo was left alone with Alex.

"Your water bottle is getting pretty empty," Arlo mentioned. "I'll refill it for you."

Arlo refilled the bottle and returned back to Alex.

"Do you need anything? More blankets? Pillows? I can head to the Clinic to get some medicine if you'd like."

"Arlo, I'm fine," Alex insisted. "It's just a cold."

"I know, I just want to take care of you."

Alex buried himself further into the covers, his face going pink from the statement.

"Thanks..." Alex mumbled.

"It's no problem at all," Arlo responded with a soft smile.

"Don't you have work or something though?" Alex asked.

"What, I can't take my break to take care of my sick boyfriend?"

"There's probably better things to be doing..."

"Nah, there's nothing I'd like more than to just take care of you," Arlo insisted. "I'm just glad you're not like Victor when you're sick."

They both remembered the last time Victor was sick. That was...rough, and for the sake of all of them, both Arlo and Alex hoped that Victor wouldn't get sick again for a good while. Or never get sick ever again, though that was a somewhat unrealistic wish.

It was around then when Victor returned from his trip.

"I got meat! And some fruit and vegetables if you're not up for eating anything super filling," Victor announced when he walked through the door. "And you probably shouldn't have coffee when you're sick, so I brought you some tea instead. It should help with the sore throat. Just let me know if you want something else or -"

"Victor," Alex interrupted because he knew Victor would keep going for ages unless someone stopped him. "Thanks."

Victor stopped, and he smiled brightly, practically glowing as he did so.

"It's no problem! Just say the word, and I'll do whatever you need."

"I think I just need to eat and then go back to sleep," Alex stated.

Alex ate what he could and then fell asleep to the sounds of Arlo and Victor having a conversation about something that Alex couldn't really keep track of, but the background noise was nice.

The next time Alex awoke, Arlo and Victor were gone, but there was a note that was clearly written by Arlo on his bedside table.

"Victor and I had to go back to work. We'll check up on you when we can. Take care of yourself! We love you."

There were a bunch of hearts all over the note that Victor almost certainly drew, and it filled Alex's chest with warmth.

Over the time Alex was sick, Arlo and Victor visited him frequently, but he also got visits from Nora and his other friends.

It was nice to be so pampered, Alex had to admit, and he quickly got better, going outside and heading over to the Commerce Guild to grab a commission.

“I haven’t seen you in a while,” Higgins snidely said. “Thought you had given up.”

“I was sick,” Alex responded.

“The competition was boring while you weren’t here,” Higgins stated before running into the Commerce Guild, and Alex was almost flattered that Higgins seemed to be concerned about him.

“Alex, it’s good to see you’re doing better,” Antoine greeted once Alex walked inside. “I was starting to get worried.”

“Yep, I’m all good now,” Alex confirmed. “Just here to pick up a commission.”

So everything went back to normal.

At least until a few weeks later when Alex walked into A&G Construction and almost died upon seeing Victor wearing a black turtleneck with red accents. That <i>definitely</i> wasn’t one of Alex’s.

“Hey, Alex~,” Victor greeted, his voice flirtatious to an almost over the top degree. “Anything I can help you with?”

“I’m...you...uh, you got a new sweater…” Alex pointed out, unable to keep his eyes from roaming up and down Victor’s torso and staring at the way the fabric clung to Victor’s arms.

“I did~. Do you like it?” Victor did a little twirl, showing off the sweater in all its glory, and it had Alex’s throat going dry.

“Victor, stop flirting with your boyfriend and get back to work,” Gust scolded, and Victor pouted.

“Fine, fine,” Victor pushed his hair back and soothed the folds of his sweater. “Welcome to A&G Construction! What can I help you with?”

Alex found himself thankful for Gust’s intervention, but, even without Victor’s relentless flirting, he still had to deal with the fact that Victor had apparently gotten himself his own turtleneck sweater, with absolutely no regard for the sanity of his boyfriend.

Actually, thinking about it, the destruction of his and Arlo’s sanity was probably exactly the reason Victor got that sweater.

“Arlo, I think Victor might be trying to kill us,” Alex said the next time he saw Arlo. Arlo looked confused, which meant he had almost certainly not seen Victor yet.

“What makes you say that?”

“He got his own sweater,” Alex informed, and Arlo’s eyes widened.

“Oh no.”

“And I don’t think the dock trick will work again.”

[everlarkchristmasgifts]

Something Suspiciously Like Hope

Written for Day 2 - Secret Santa Exchanges.

Unbeta’d. Rated T for language. Enjoy :)

Peeta takes the slip of paper from his pocket and stares at the name, written in her small, careful cursive. Again. As if the writing changed from the last time he read it.

Katniss Everdeen.

The gods of Random Name Drawing have a sick sense of humour, that’s for sure.

God, what if she drew his name, too? Then what would he do? He fights back a shudder — what are the odds of that happening? — and tosses the paper in a nearby bin. It’s not like he’s ever going to forget it, anyway.

He takes stock of his very limited options as he mixes up another batch of dough for the bakery’s famous Christmas shortbreads. He can’t get her anything too impersonal. That just seems… rude. Not to mention, a gigantic lie. They’ve never been friends — hell, the slip of paper with her name on it is about the entirety of their exchanges over the years — but they’ve been in the same classes since kindergarten, so that should count for something, shouldn’t it?

But on the other hand, he can’t get her anything too… not impersonal, either. Nothing that could out the feelings he’s carried around like a backpack full of bricks for over a decade. That would be… not a gigantic lie. But also, his absolute worst nightmare come true.

He should have asked to redraw his Secret Santa when he had the chance. Knowing Ms. Trinket, though, she never would have allowed it.

There’s a tiny sliver of grey area that he can work with here. What’s the happy middle between a five-dollar café gift-card and a dozen long-stemmed red roses? Is baking her a cake from scratch too heartfelt, or just the right amount of caring and not-caring?

I put together this cake just for you, but I also work in a bakery and make literally thousands of cakes just like this one in a week, so don’t feel too special.

“Why does this have to be so hard?” he mutters to himself.

“Surely not the dough, son? You could make those cookies blindfolded by now.”

Peeta jumps maybe three feet in the air. He’d almost forgotten his father was still in here, too.

“Not the dough,” he says, shaking his head.

“What, then?” his father prods.

Peeta sighs, but there’s never been any point lying. His crush on Katniss Everdeen has been his worst-kept secret since he was five and saw her for the first time, after which he declared to everyone in earshot that he would marry her someday. If Katniss ever heard, she’s been too polite to say anything.

“A Secret Santa exchange at school. I drew Katniss.”

His father goes quiet for a minute, then asks, “Why’s that so hard?”

“What do you mean, why’s that so hard?” Peeta exclaims. “What am I supposed to do?”

His father shrugs. “I guess that depends on the sort of impression you want to make.” He dusts off his flour-covered hands and crosses his arms. “Do you really want to go about your last year at school without ever having been honest with her? Could you live with that?”

“I think I could live with it,” Peeta whispers without hesitation. “But I think I’d regret it every day, too.”

His father smiles. “Then I guess that’s your answer.”

“So, what do I give her?”

The smile spreads into a grin. “Something unforgettable.”

Peeta says nothing. Just furrows his brows and turns back to his dough, rolls it out into a thin sheet.

He has an idea. More like a sapling of an idea, really. A weedy little sapling struggling to break up into the light. It’s a ridiculous idea given that they only have until the end of the week to exchange their gifts, but he thinks he can do it. He’s got everything he needs back home, so the twenty-dollar price limit isn’t going to be an issue (or does that just make him look cheap?) and what’s more… if he plays his cards right, it will be unforgettable.

Peeta finishes his shift with a smile on his face.

XXX

The canvas barely fits inside his beat-up Corolla.

Never mind ‘unforgettable’. She’ll be lucky to ever forget him after this. The guy who made her carry a massive canvas all through the halls with her. Less of a ‘something to remember me by’, and more of a gigantic ‘screw you.’

He parks in his usual spot at school and collapses against the steering wheel. He’s gotten a collective ten hours of sleep this past week working on the damn thing, recreating the woods which border District 12 in wrenching, painstaking detail, but it’s worth it. It has to be.

A fist raps against his window. Peeta jumps high enough to hit his head on the car’s felt ceiling.

“Hey! Is that it?”

Without waiting for a reply, Finnick swings to the other side and settles himself in the passenger seat. He twists towards the back and lets out a low whistle.

“Dude. It’s huge.”

“I couldn’t do it with anything smaller,” Peeta mutters.

“Sure isn’t going to be a secret now.”

Peeta shakes his head and gets out of the car. “I never said it was going to be.”

“So… you’re going for it?” Finnick jumps out and slams the door shut. “You’re actually gonna do it?”

Peeta sucks in a deep, sharply cold breath. “I think I… maybe?”

“Peeta!” Finnick punches his shoulder. “Seriously, man? That’s awesome.”

Peeta snorts. “Yeah. Two guesses how it’ll end, though.”

“You still reckon she’ll say no?”

“I just don’t see why she’d say yes.”

“You know, Annie says she’s real nice.”

“So? I’m not after a pity date, Finn. I just… I know she’ll like this. That’s all.”

“Yeah, she will. You wanna know what I got my Secret Santa? A box of sugar cubes.”

He almost laughs. “Seriously? Why?”

“Well under the twenty-buck limit, and ‘cause Clove Andersen could stand to be a whole lot sweeter, don’t you think?”

Peeta snorts. “When she decks you, and she absolutely will, don’t expect me to step in and save the day.”

“All you’d have to do is flash that smile and she’d be off me and all over you.”

“Yeah, not really the image I’m going for right now.” Peeta pulls in another deep breath, sets a hand on the car’s roof, and nods to himself. “So, you going to help me bring this thing in or what?”

XXX

His own Secret Santa gift — from Madge, mercifully, a pair of thick, silly, reindeer-print socks — had been front and centre at the top of the pile in Ms. Trinket’s room. At the end of class, he grabbed it and bolted, the tips of his ears burning as he caught Katniss out the corner of his eye, approaching her massive gift, propped up at the back and taking up damn near half the wall, with a frown on her face. He considered for all of a nanosecond staying and waiting for her to unwrap it, just to see her face when she saw it. But that same crippling self-doubt that always seemed to afflict him around Katniss squeezed at his chest and he just… couldn’t.

God, he’s such a loser.

He plops down on a damp bench right on the far edge of the school, far enough away that the chatter and laughter from everyone else is little more than a distant echo. The cold air dusting past his face brings his thoughts into more clarity. He should have seen this coming a mile off. It happens every single time. He’s never been able to string more than five words together in Katniss’ presence; why would today be any different? Combine that with a giant, what-the-fuck of a gift, and it’s a damn wonder he was able to walk through the school gates at all this morning.

The phone in his pocket vibrates with texts he’s not sure he wants to see. Probably just Finn asking how it all went. Maybe one from his dad, too. Peeta groans and fists his hair. His own damn fault for telling everybody.

“Peeta?” a soft, smoky voice whispers behind him.

He jumps about ten feet in the air and spins to face his assailant. Katniss Everdeen, her hands tucked into the pockets of her patchy coat, staring at him with eyes as grey as the storm clouds above. An omen or not, he’s not sure.

“Katniss,” he breathes.

She smiles, the barest quirk of her lips. “I wasn’t sure you knew my name. I guess… I guess that was wrong.”

His cheeks flush as he sets himself back down on the bench. “I’ve always known who you are.”

“I’m starting to get that, yeah.” She perches herself on the bench beside him, even though there’s not a whole lot of room for them to share. Even through his thick coat, the warmth Katniss radiates is enough to make him feel like his blood is boiling.

“It’s incredible,” she blurts out before he can say anything. “I mean, I knew you were good — I think you’ve got paintings hanging in every corridor in there — but that painting is… amazing, Peeta. Really.”

“I’m glad you like it,” he murmurs.

She sets a warm hand on his forearm. The contact is like lightning beneath his skin, but it anchors him, too; this moment is real. He’s not dreaming it. And it’s fucking amazing.

“I love it,” she tells him, low and deliberate. “Thank you, Peeta.”

He clears his throat. “You’re welcome.”

She lets her arm fall from his, and he misses the warmth all at once. “I kinda feel bad about what I got my Secret Santa now, though.”

“Who’d you have?” he asks.

“Delly.”

He barks out a laugh. “What did you get her?”

“A fluffy pom-pom keychain shaped like an owl. Prim picked it out. I had no idea what to get her.”

“I can tell you with absolute certainty that Delly loved it.”

She smirks. “Oh, I know she did. She jumped me right in the hallway as we were leaving and hugged me.”

Peeta smiles. “That sounds about right.”

A couple from the year below them walk by, hand-in-hand. As if by some unspoken agreement, Peeta and Katniss stay silent, their gazes trained on the ground, until the pair pass by.

When he looks up again, their faces are much closer together than they were before — or maybe they were always this close? Katniss’ cheeks are a bright, glowing pink, and she’s looking everywhere but his face.

“We should… uh, meet up, maybe?” she says, all fractured, and he thinks it fractures something in his head, too, because she cannot possibly be saying what he thinks she might be saying. “Some day during the break? I could, um… maybe show you the woods when it’s snowing, and you could paint or something? If that’s even something you wanted to see, I don’t even know if you —”

He cuts her off before she can ramble anymore, because even though it’s completely, utterly adorable, he’ll be damned if he lets her talk herself out of this now. “I’d love to come to the woods with you, Katniss,” he says, leaving no room for anything else.

“Good!” she says, a little too loudly, but Peeta’s not sure anything could beat the pounding of his heart for volume right now. She clears her throat and says, “That’s… good.”

“Yeah… good.” Damn, he’s eloquent.

“How’s Boxing Day for you?”

“Yeah… good,” he says again. Katniss lets out a tiny chuckle, one that he swears makes his heart skip a beat.

A bell goes off somewhere… the school, maybe? He’s got no way of knowing, or caring. All he gives a shit about right now is Katniss Everdeen, right in front of him, so close he could maybe kiss her if he didn’t think that would be kind of weird. Before he can move, Katniss is shouldering her bag and making her way back towards the building.

“Merry Christmas, Peeta,” she whispers, a real smile, however tiny, tipping her lips now as she walks away.

He grins what he’s sure is the dopiest, happiest grin the entire world and calls back, “Merry Christmas, Katniss.” For the first time in forever, the self-doubt doesn’t even enter his head.

In its place now is something suspiciously like hope.

[frobin]

Anyone remembers the Chapter 794 - 802 when Mom and Dad Strawhat wore couple shirts? Because I still remember this every time the OTP feels becomem strong...er. 

There are  A LOT of reactions to that. But reblogging all would make this blog kind of... boring. So, this is a compilation! 

Please find the posting you like most and reblog those!

http://deepseasushi.tumblr.com/post/129202019489/lets-take-a-moment-here-zoros-0-resistance-for

@deepseasushi  lets take a moment here: - zoro’s 0 resistance for booze - law at the far right being mildly disgusted? idk he grump - frobin - frobin wearing couple tees

http://baeyuries.tumblr.com/post/129202765678/couple-shirt-it-is

@baeyuries couple shirt it is

http://kaolinite91.tumblr.com/post/129202973359/just-focus-on-franky-and-robin-clothes-are

@kaolinite91 Just focus on Franky and Robin clothes.. . . ARE THEY WEARING COUPLE SHIRTS??! It is a very similar design! So Frobin is One Piece otp..and it’s confirmed! Hahaha

http://best-alternate-universe.tumblr.com/post/129223319114/today-is-a-good-day-for-frobin-shippers

@best-alternate-universe​ Today is a good day for Frobin shippers #they are wearing the same shirt come on

http://minzapinza.tumblr.com/post/129228228929

@minzapinza​ THESE TWO NERDS ARE WEARING MATCHING OUTFITS. THEY ARE FUCKING MARRIED IM GONNA

http://ielline.tumblr.com/post/129237117727/wait-i-just-realised-that-franky-and-robin-wear

@ielline Wait I just realised that Franky and Robin wear the same outfit in the latest chapter o_o A white tank top where it’s written “Corrida” (not sure for Robin but…) and a black underwear/short xD

http://otakusteve.tumblr.com/post/129270244117/franky-and-robin-found-time-to-go-souvenir

@otakusteve Franky and Robin found time to go souvenir shopping together on Dressrosa

http://onepiecemadness.tumblr.com/post/129287654898/when-you-and-the-bae-got-matching-outfits-3

@onepiecemadness When you and the bae got matching outfits. <3

http://zoros-broken-sword-yubashiri.tumblr.com/post/129291450833/when-you-and-the-bae-wear-matching-shirts-and

@zoros-broken-sword-yubashiri When you and the bae wear matching shirts… And outfits.

http://saisai-chan.tumblr.com/post/129296867769/can-we-just-appreciate-the-fact-that-robin-and (coloured panel) 

@saisai-chan can we just appreciate the fact that Robin and Franky are wearing matching outfits

like. not just the tanktops. they’re also wearing matching shorts. that’s adorable

http://bastchet.tumblr.com/post/129465852435/really-i-have-an-itch-to-send-a-letter-of-sbs-to

@bastchet Really, I have an itch to send a letter of SBS to ask Oda himself what he actually thought when drawing this. #still in hype #this is happening #i just cannot

https://tko-san.tumblr.com/post/129765880755/chapter-801

@tko-san Chapter 801

http://yuushishio.tumblr.com/post/129771183092/franky-nico-robin-chapter-801 (edited) 

@yuushishio Franky & Nico Robin | Chapter 801. #Okay I know a whole fandom are fired up by Sanji (me too) #but first let me squeezing a little for these cute Frobin moment

http://onepiecetrash.tumblr.com/post/129776560119/look-at-how-cute-she-is-like-yes-this-is-my

@onepiecetrash lOOk at how cute she is, like “yes this is my boothangbae & we’re matching & imma reck that little metal booty tonight ;^)” #I ship them so much ;-;

http://dreamingxsweetly.tumblr.com/post/129788746730/do-i-see-more-frobin-wearing-matching-tops

@dreamingxsweetly Do I see more Frobin wearing matching tops #yes yes I do

http://queereyeforthedarklordsatan.tumblr.com/post/129834049149/i-dont-give-a-fuck-about-anything-but-matching

@queereyeforthedarklordsatan  I DONT GIVE A FUCK ABOUT ANYTHING BUT MATCHING SHIRTS RIGHT NOW #mATCHING SHIRTS

http://bastchet.tumblr.com/post/129989260785/chances-are-these-two-will-keep-putting-on-their

@bastchet Chances are these two will keep putting on their matching outfits in the upcoming arc. #looking forward to see this again in the next chappie #I HOPE SO #PLZPLZPLZPLZ

http://axiola.tumblr.com/post/130039659956/when-you-and-bae-coordinate-outfits

@axiola when you and bae coordinate outfits

http://lilmissjacqui.tumblr.com/post/130114698043 (coloured panels) 

@lilmissjacqui  

https://tko-san.tumblr.com/post/130261499125/hail-the-size-of-human-heads-franky-holds-the (edit) 

@tko-san​ Hail the size of human heads? Franky holds the umbrella.

http://issoman.tumblr.com/post/130267691678/so-much-frobin-feels-in-chapter-801-3-also (redraw) 

@issoman So much Frobin feels in Chapter  801 *^* <3  #my OTP#SUUUPPEERR#SO MUCH LOVE

http://minzapinza.tumblr.com/post/130271254519

@minzapinza does he protect her from the hail #i guess i just really wanna see frobin happening

http://housewaifutoaster.tumblr.com/post/130286725008/two-ships-for-the-price-of-one-panel-%E3%83%AE

@housewaifutoaster TWO SHIPS FOR THE PRICE OF ONE PANEL. (♡ ヮ ♡) While Ruffy is calling out to his one and only navigator to save them (instead of having a ball with this terrifying situation like he normally would), Franky’s instinctively protecting Robin so that she doesn’t get hit by any of the hail. #teehee #just noticed this after rereading the chapter #so cute #precious otps #in such subtle and adorable moments #d'awwww #still protects her even after einies lobbie #so sweet #and even though he'd usually be having fun with this #in truth it was because nami was usually there to take care of things

http://onepiecetrash.tumblr.com/post/130308049159/honestly-though-this-was-the-highlight-of-the

@onepiecetrash hOnestly though, this was the highlight of the chapter because while everybody is fighting/arguing/etc., she’s just standing there looking cute af next to her bae #she slays me everytime

[blapalap]

i took some screens throughout the movie.

cant find a way to go around from having the video player ui in the way but heres me talking a lot.

of all the times ive ever watched this, i never caught on the fact that there were a couple of guards approaching Tzipporah as she lashed out that Moses had to stop. its. its the little things.

the expressions of Aaron in the baackground. *chefs kiss* really bringing that detail of heightening all that he witnesses, as Miriam speaks to Moses.

like theres nothing else he couldve one to hold her back. RIGHT as she says the last words.

and when Miriam started singing the lullaby, both her brother, from opposite ends, began to turn their heads at the same time. i dont know if thats aa purposeful detaail by the animaators or if im just reading too faar into it. still neato.

and in these two parts, its pretty much the last Moses interacts with his parents. Both involving hugs. one end being (emotional) strangulation and the other TRying to bring comfort.

i just gott say, i sure love the face of the Queen here, especially the way her chin was drawn. good square shape.

immmmm pretty sure Ramses doesnt. if he does, Seti probably wouldnt have said shit.

the goodbye. in like the three pixels worth of quality, ya can juuuust see the tears forming in his eyes. very subtle. very detailed. very human.

i actually paused to see if there would be any special to the sandal. eh. not really. two dudes. blue and red. clearly not the brothers. but just leaving it out there for any future refrence just in case it turn out to be in fact a lil easter egg.

TFW opening the oven door to get food out and youre blasted with that hot air. and its around this time i start taking screenshots incase i wanna go back and use as redraw material for a chaaracter of my own (matu)

(Matu is inadvertently influence a lot by this dude. already got two songs from the movie in their playlist :))c)

(especially from when he hit his shit faced low point. Matu might as well fall into a well. a million wells.)

the "Huh?" the [Nervous Chuckling]. His grip for dear life and her snarky grin. it all ties so well in this one moment. Tzipporah is gonna have FUN!

hehe nakey.

the robe is so fucking huge and alos OOOOH SO thats how he got the robe.

(oh yeah im definitely gonna redraw Matu with this face. the 5 oclock shadow included)

(and that should cover how much im willing to work on for Matu.)

*sniffs* the animators sure knew what they were doing. *thumps chest proudly*

FOOT. LEGGY. also i paid close attention and yeah turns out that for the rest of the movie of since he had met the burning bush, he walked barefoot. no more sandals on the hot ass desert heat sands. fuck it. I like his style.

yeah see. no more shoes.

*places hand softly on cheek* these two ladies are so pretty. *checks files* aaaand. yeah thats all i took. had to do below 30. 27 screens. im gonna wait at least a few months until i ask th library agaain.

got Prince of Egypt DVD from the library. gonna have this be the last bit of joy to spend on this laptop before he goes total blow out.

[dappercapricorn]

Summer Camp’s For Losers

Hiya @mellifluous-cicadas, I’m your secret valentine~ This was turning out longer than expected, but here’s the first part of the story for ya. Since you originally said you enjoy meme redraws and the like (which I could not provide due to being too ill and moving to put a good effort in), I tried to aim for a story of the more wacky and humorous type. I hope you enjoy~ I don’t know how far I’ll eventually take this (I’m enjoy the idea I got going), but the other parts will be posted here as they come (as I don’t have an AO3). On to the story~

“Let me get this straight. You want me to tag along with you on some far fetched road trip to search for cryptids that you want to try and videotape for your weird vlog?”

“That would be correct.”

“And you’re not sure how long this will take?”

“Nope.”

Lance hesitated, shuffling his weight from foot to foot. “I dunno Keith, I was supposed to start job searching since I decided not to jump right into college.” The other male standing in front of him on his porch looked up with a pout. “You know better than to pull those dog eyes on me.”

“Please! You’re always complaining about the lack of adventure in your life. Besides, I’m not going to college yet either and we have the whole summer ahead of us! This is the first real chance I have at proving these creatures are real other than the piss poor efforts of setting up night cameras in my yard I have.”

With a sigh, Lance relented and stepped back into his home to pack a bag. “You’re lucky I like you or I would’ve shut the door on you by now like a group of persistent Jehovah's Witnesses.” Despite these words, a soft smile spread across his face as he shook his head. Twenty minutes later, a large backpack in hand, Lance scrawled a quick note to his family to leave on the fridge before he walked out the door to join Keith in his car. “Oi, since when did Shiro let you drive his Mazda?”

Keith poked his head out of the driver’s window to look back at him. “What? He actually gave it to me for a grad present. Besides, Allura made him get one of those soccer mom vans.”

“Pfffft, oh man, really? That’s freaking hilarious.” Lance laughed as he hopped into the front seat. “So mister ‘I’d totally marry mothman’, do we even have a plan?”

“Nope! The three of us shall be hitting up whatever environment along the way that holds high potential for cryptid sightings before moving from there.” Pidge piped up from their spot. They were typing away at a laptop in the back seat behind Keith.

“Holy shit, were you always back there?” Lance jumped, hitting his head on the ceiling in the process. With a hiss he rubbed his head and glared back at them. “Hey, shouldn’t you be back at home? Don’t you have like, summer homework to do or some nerd camp to attend or something?”

“Hah, camp’s for losers and homework’s never been a problem.”

“Does your mother know where you’re going?” Lance looked over to Keith. “DOES SHIRO KNOW ABOUT THIS WILD PLAN OF YOURS?”

“What they don’t know won’t hurt ‘em.” Both chimed in unison as Keith started the car and pulled out onto the road to begin their journey out of town. Lance sweatdropped as he gave in and leaned back into his seat. He might as well get comfortable for the long ride ahead of them.

In the livingroom of Keith’s home, Shiro sat beside Allura on the couch. He scanned through the daily paper while she watched a documentary on space travel. “Do you know where Keith went off to? I saw him haul a duffle bag into his car and speed off down the road.” He asked, glancing up over the top of the paper.

“Hm?” Allura looked up from the television. “Oh yeah, he said Pidge was attending a summer long science camp of sorts and he was attending as a counselor for community service experience and to act as a sort of chaperone for them I guess.”

“Is that so? Hmm.” Shiro returned to reading an article about nearby UFO sightings and missing goats.

A mixed playlist of bands like My Chemical Romance and Green Day filled the car as Keith drove off towards the Eastern coast of the country. “Well, do you at least know what cryptids or specific habitats you wanna hit up or whatever?” Lance questioned a couple hours into their trip. “Don’t tell me we’re just driving until it’s either time to rest up or you spot something worth checking out.”

“Well...It’s kinda both?” Keith shrugged, keeping his eyes on the road.

“You see Lance, we have a general idea of what we’d like to showcase on our vlog. It’s kinda hard to get much when you live in a desert town, so that’s why we’re branching out, if you will. I guess we’ll be doing a loop through the country of sorts that will eventually lead back home. Our first group of sneaky critters are the ones found along the Eastern states, like Keith’s husbando mothman, the Jersey Devil, and big foot just to name a few. So we’ll be looking for forested areas for starters along with checking out the towns and cities that have more frequent sightings.”

“I see...Well that’s something I guess.” Lance rolled his eyes. Soon his stomach rumbled loud enough to be audible by others. He pointed out a sign for an upcoming rest stop. “Hey, unless you moth brains thought enough to pack a starting supply of food, we should stop to eat. Then probably stock up on stuff to keep us going for a while.”

Keith was hesitant, but Pidge agreed with Lance. “Shit, he’s right. We actually only have random bags of junk food stashed around the car. There is plenty of bottled water, but I don’t think any of us will be too happy trudging through the woods with only chips and twizzlers to fuel us.” With a sigh he pulled into the rest stop as soon as its exit sign popped up before them.

A light drizzle greeted them as they parked and stepped out of the car. “Hurry up guys before we get soaked! We can waste time after eating and buy some of our stuff here.” Lance called back as he used his jacket as a makeshift umbrella. The trio scurried into the building. Only a few other people were milling about at the time. “Ah, much better.” Lance shook out the water from his hair and readjusted his jacket. “Sooo, what do you guys wanna get? There aren’t too many restaurants to choose from.” He asked while eyeing the dismal variety at the food court.

“Let’s share a pizza I guess?”

“I’m not riding in the same car as you if you’re gonna ingest any sort of dairy.” Pidge side eyed Keith and shook their head. “Let’s just pick out our own things and find a table to gather at.” After agreeing upon one of the numerous empty tables to meet at, they each lined up at whatever place sounded appetizing. Pidge and Keith chatted about their favorite cryptids while Lance watched on while drinking his milkshake and shoveling fries into his mouth. Aside from the handful of disgruntled staff, no one was really around to pay them mind anyway.

The rain continued to fall after they’ve eaten. Wanting to stay dry a bit longer, they decided to hunt down what they could for supplies. Lance spotted a non branded general store of sorts that was similar to a CVS or Walgreen's. “This’ll have to do until we stumble across actual stores later on.” As the light storm continued, they took their time wandering each ilse and filling up the small plastic cart Lance pushed ahead of him. They stocked up on easy to eat/prep foods like bread, tab open cans of fruit, beans, and soup, jerky, peanut butter, granola bars, a couple packs of toilet paper, and some first aid supplies. Between Keith and Lance’s grad present money and Pidge’s stash from their tech repair side business, the three had more than enough to last through the trip. Well, they had hoped so at least. Keith had Shiro’s emergency credit card stowed away in case they ran out and could get home.

By time they began carrying their bags to the car, the rain died down to a light misting. Keith unlocked the car and opened the back hatch so they could store their supplies. As Lance set his load down he spotted a black plastic case secured to the floor. “Uh Keith, what’s in there?” He inquired out of curiosity.

“Oh, just my knife collection. I figured it might come in handy not only for general use, but hey, we may need to defend ourselves at some point.” Keith replied in a nonchalant tone while opening the case to show off his assortment of blades. “Do you want one to keep on your person?”

“Er, I’ll pass for now. Besides I do have a pocket knife on me. It’ll suffice until we get into the thick of things I suppose.”

“Whatever, suit yourself.” With a shrug Keith hopped back in and waited for the others before he began driving once more.

Pidge spoke up a couple minutes in after having skimmed over something on their computer. “Hey, since we still have a long distance between our current location and the group of creatures we want to investigate first, how about we check out something a bit closer beforehand? There’s the Honey Island swamp monster in Louisiana and then big foot’s stinky cousin, the skunk ape down in the Everglades of Florida. Do either of those sound good to you?”

Keith pondered this for a moment. “Nah, I’d rather not. Both are in swamplands and marshes that I really have no intentions of wading through. I’d also rather skip the croc infested Everglades and just head straight for the New England forests to look for bigfoot himself.”

“Well, I guess you have a point there.” Pidge nodded and looked back to their screen. “So, then where are we headed to first?”

“West Virginia to meet up with my boi mothman.” Keith grinned and pulled back onto the highway. Lance let out a groan and rolled his eyes. This was going to be a long summer.

With no other intended stops the group began the long drive to West Virginia. Lance and Keith took shifts driving and Pidge spewed out random trivia about either their current location or a random cryptid to keep things lively. As three am rolled around, they were all grumpy and tired. Not wanting to risk sleep deprived accidents, they stopped at a shady looking motel to sleep before hitting the road again at ten. Despite Lance’s worry they did not, in fact, get murdered in their sleep by some crazy hillbillies to be either eaten or sold to the black market.  By two they drove across the state border and Keith directed the car towards his intended location.

“Before we set up somewhere there’s someplace I wanna check out first.”

“What, a mothman exhibit or something?” Lance asked, eyes skimming over the passing scenery with a bored expression.

“Why yes, actually.” Pidge poked their head in between the seats. “We’re way too early for the festival as it’s held in September, but not only does Point Pleasant have the origin location and most sightings, there’s a museum dedicated to them.”

Lance dragged a hand down his face. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Well let’s go see this oddball museum I suppose. ‘Cause I can only assume we’ll be camping or something in the near future.”

After looking up the museum’s location via Google, Pidge directed them towards its location. As they pulled into an empty parking space, Lance’s phone buzzed with a call. Seeing as it was Hunk, he answered while they all exited the vehicle and walked towards the entrance. “Yo, this is Lance. What’s up buddy?”

“Oh thank God, you picked up on the first try. I was worried about you. Where are you? I heard Pidge and Keith are at a summer camp or something, but when I went to your house to hang out, you were nowhere to be seen. Your parents said you went on a road trip to tour colleges with Keith. Things just don’t add up, yo. This is all freakin fishy and I just wanted to at least make sure you were alright.”

“Well, uh you see Hunk...Keith pretty much dragged me along to travel the country in search of elusive creatures to potentially film with Pidge tagging along as well.”

“Wait, WHAT?”

“Don’t tell Shiro or my folks. Love ya. Bye.” Lance spewed out before hanging up and redirecting his attention to the building in front of him. Getting questioning looks from the others he just waved it off. “Oh that was just Hunk being a worry wort. Don’t pay him any mind.” With that he lead the way inside and to the admission desk. Once the tickets were acquired they set off to explore the small exhibit.

For such a small subject matter, there was enough content to occupy nearly three hours of their time. Although, they had to practically pry Keith from each section once it was time to move to the next. Lance was actually impressed. There were various sculptures of each rendition of mothman with a small plaque describing who first encountered it along with its origin location. A side room contained the museum’s collection of photographs along with footage playing on loops on the wall mounted televisions. It even had a gift shop and of course they just had to stop there before they left. Keith and Pidge both got t-shirts and pitched in to get one of the large plush versions to prop up in the empty back seat behind Lance.

Back on the road Keith steered the card towards the forested part of town. “So, our first actual stop will be the Ordnance Works, or more fondly known by locals as the ‘TNT area’ because of what was stored there. There are several concrete domes scattered about. Which is where they stored gunpowder or something? I dunno, but each one has a small clearing and I heard there’s even secret tunnels. Although most are sealed away or inaccessible due to water and other things.” Pidge debriefed them as they read off from the long set of notes stored on their computer.

“Don’t worry. We’ll just be setting up camp in one of the clearings with some cameras to monitor the area. After we get set up, we’re gonna do a little hiking in the surrounding woods with our handhelds to look for any evidence they live in the area or to capture any odd encounters we have before retiring to our tent for the night.” Keith spoke before Lance could protest. “Whether we find anything or not, we’ll also spend another night in the actual town just ‘staking out’ areas to see if we can experience any sightings there.”

“Sounds like a grand ol’ time. Hopefully we won’t have to put that knife collection of yours to use so soon into our trip.”

“It’ll be fine Lance.” Keith gave him a faint smile before turning onto a dirt road hidden among the tree line. “It’s supposedly a short drive from here. We’re gonna set up at one of the middle section ones so that we’re well into the forest, but not deep enough to wind up utterly lost.” He explained as they traveled further down the road. It only grew rougher and more narrow from there. Eventually Keith pulled over in a small alcove like clearing as the car could not travel any farther. Their destined camp site was well within walking distance anyway. “Come on guys, it’s a little after six and we’re losing daylight. We’ll have to hustle if we want to be done setting up in time to wander the area with some sorta light before having to switch to flashlights.”

Once parked they hopped out and grabbed their bags from the back. Lance carried the tent while Pidge followed behind with the other supplies in hand.  Keith led the way, various cameras stowed away in a few different bags. Six minutes later the path branched off and they headed left where it soon ended and opened up to a grassy clearing. Situated smack in the middle was a domed, concrete wall with a sealed off entrance.  “Here we go. Come on guys, let’s get the tent and cameras set up so we can head out. We have little time before the sun fully sets.” Pidge assisted Lance with the tent while Keith set up three cameras to post at even intervals around their campsite. They finished around seven. The sun was already well on its way below the horizon. Keith and Pidge each carried a handheld recorder while Lance brought along a large flashlight.

“So do ya have any specific plans, Keith?” Lance asked as he brought up the rear of their line with Pidge between them.

“We’ll walk out a short way from camp and wander the surrounding circumference of the area. We should be able to cover a decent amount of ground and still manage to find our way back. Pidge does have some high-tech GPS stuff on ‘em in case we run into trouble.”  Keith replied with a glance over his shoulder. “Now let’s start huntin’. Hopefully we don’t run into any security patrols or anything. I did hear they’ve turned this general area into a wildlife preserve or something of that nature.”

As they began, Keith turned his camera towards himself to address whatever small group of followers he had for his vlog. “Yo, Keith here and welcome to another episode of ‘Cryptid Catchers’. Today begins my summer long journey through the states in search of our beloved hidden creatures. I’m joined with my fellow fan Pidge and boyfriend Lance who willingly tagged along to help us out.” He stopped to pan over them before continuing. “We’re currently in the woodlands of Point Pleasant, West Virginia where the mothman legend began. More importantly, we’re actually hiking through the Ordinance Works area of the town where the very first sighting occurred. Before retiring for the night, we’ve set off to scout the nearby area for any signs of this elusive creature. Let’s see what we can uncover, folks.”

After the brief intro, Keith turned the camera forward once more and continued down their current path. Lance kept a watchful gaze of their surroundings, keeping an eye out for any security patrols, potential threats, or even any pair of illuminated eyes from the underbrush. He could only hope this went over well and that if there really was a mothman out there, they wouldn’t devour them for a late night snack.