#I just need to get the comics out of my word doc and onto a canvas

[butterfilledpockets]

the dude-dles

(some warmup doodles of the B.E.N.T)

↓full page ↓

this shitheads own the only hammer capable of shattering my art block

[spaghettificationandpretzels]

There's Nothing Sweeter Than My Baby

This is my first Gaz fic. I've just started uni break so I finally have the ability to write again, this idea grabbed me by the throat months ago and refuses to let go so I'm writing this instead of my millions of WIPS

Contains: Deadly levels of fluff, it's all fluff, I'm not sorry, this man is a puppy dog so don't blame me, hints at smut.

Masterlist

Song inspo (of course it's fucking Hozier)

1.4K Words

Gaz had never been so mesmerised by fabric before.

"You with us, man?" Price's words pulled him from his thoughts; Kyle hated his army functions, they were always so dull.

He nodded. "Yeah, I'm thinking I should have given my ticket to my sister, at least she would be having fun."

Price chuckled. "Just get drunk, I know I am." Gaz sighed, for all their talk, once the gentry had finished their posturing and platitudes, they left the grunts to themselves.

Right on cue, Soap appeared with Simon in tow, their hands full of fancy glasses, and they settled beside their teammates. "I got this one for you Gaz, it's winter melon." It was comical to see Simon without his mask, a fancy drink in a tiny glass in his massive hand.

"Thanks man." It tasted like melon candy and a headache, but it was better than nothing.

"Is y/n coming?" Soap's tone was too almost too nutural.

Gaz nodded. "Yep, she'll be here soon."

Their table went quiet, and Price and Simon shared a look before Price turned to Gaz. "You gonna ask her to dance?"

Gaz blinked. "I don't know."

Simon cleared his throat. "Your arms are going to fall off it you keep carry that torch."

Gaz was going to refute him, tell Simon you were just friends but the tap of Soap's finger and a point towards the grand staircase stopped him. "Holy shit." He had never seen such a pretty shade of yellow, like you were wrapped in the fading sunlight of a spring afternoon.

You made a beeline for the group, stopping only to snatch a glass of bubbling champagne from a tray. "Hey."

Simon was the first to speak, twirling his thin drinking straw as if he were a cheap villain in an old movie. "Don't you look nice." He shoved Gaz in the shoulder. "Don't she look nice Kyle?"

His mouth was still agape, Soap and Price snickering from behind their drinks. "Yes, yes, you look lovely y/n."

You smiled. "Thank you Kyle." You paused for a moment, the poor man looked like he was going to keel over with nerves. "Will I be on your dance card tonight?"

He blinked. "Yep, yes, I would love to dance with you."

Simon, Price and Soap exchanged a look as Price hid his red face behind his glass; now was not the time to laugh at the poor man. "Wonderful, I need to go thank Kate for the invite." You turned to Price. "Please don't drink to much while I'm gone."

He chuckled. "You're off duty Doc, I can do what I want."

****

Kyle was a coward, a terrorist killing, war criminal hunting coward, or at least that's how he felt watching you awkwardly dance with a man old enough to be your father.

"He's an earl, you know?" His team had been taking turns for the last hour and Soap's Scottish lit had only grown stronger as he got drunker, your disapproving looks only served to spur him on. "You're going to lose your lady to an old earl." He snorted as you pulled away. "Wait, no, she doesn't like him much." He slapped Gaz on the back, and it was hard enough for him to shift from his spot. "Go on laddie, before someone else steps in, you did tell her you'd dance with her."

Gaz sighed and downed the rest of his whiskey. "Right.." His shoulders fell. "I don't fucking know how to waltz."

Soap chuckled. "You'll do fine, just don't step on her lovey shoes."

He took another deep breath and stepped out onto the dance floor, heading right to you with determination. But any confidence he had faded like a dying star when you flashed him a smile. "Kyle, I thought you'd run off."

He shook his head. "No, we haven't danced yet, and I want to do that, with you."

You did your best to hold back your giggle. "Is that you asking me to dance?"

He nodded and squared his shoulders, extending his hand like a Victorian gentleman. "Y/n, may I have this dance?"

You nodded and took his hand. "I would like that very much."

You stayed at the edge of the dance floor as the soft music continued, taking a deep breath before addressing the elephant in the room. "When are we going to talk about what's going on between us?"

He managed to hold back his flinch, the hint of upset in your voice was enough to make his chest sting. "Now's as good as any time I guess."

You huffed. "You guess? We spent weeks sitting with each other by Soap's bedside after Makarov shot him, then he finally checked out and you almost kissed me and now you're acting like nothing happened."

His eyes fell to the floor. "I know, I didn't know where to start. I didn't want to fuck things up."

You smiled softly and lifted a hand to his cheek. "You won't, don't worry."

The tension bled from his body as he resisted the urge to nuzzle into your palm. "Can I kiss you?"

You nodded. "I would like that."

He leaned down, his nose brushing yours, before pulling you into a kiss. It was soft, his thumb and forefinger holding your chin as the other hand splayed across your lower back. His chest swelled, so this is what love felt like, like drowning in a roaring river, all the sound sucked from the air while he got pulled into the undertow.

He pulled away and slid his hand up your body, uncaring of the people standing around watching. "The hotel gave us a room for the night, something about throwing us a thank you breakfast, you wanna save the cab fair and come to stay with me tonight?"

You nodded. "That's very thoughtful of you Kyle, shall we go now?"

His face broke into a grin, and he looped his arm around your lower back. "I like your thinking."

You slowed as you walked by the rest of the 141. "Get it off your chests now, you've all got one minute exactly."

Simon was silent, and Soap was so drunk that he was just smiling like a madman, so Price was the one to add his two cents. "Just use protection, I'm too young to be grandfather." Kyle's eyes went wide, and Price broke out into a belly laugh. "Off you go kids, go have fun."

You pulled Kyle away by the arm and waved. "I won't forget this."

The elevator ride was smooth and quick, and you were in his room in a flash. His lips found yours again, and you leaned against the door. His fingers slid around your body to find the opening of your dress. "You need to unlace the corset sweetheart."

He took a deep breath. "Right." He moved behind you, his hands never leaving your skin as they reached the bottom of the dress where the bow was tied. It took him a while, but the dress slowly loosened, and he slid his hands upwards to slip the cap sleeves off your shoulders. You stepped out, and his head tilted; he was expecting lace underwear, not more skirts.

"It's called a petticoat, it makes the dress more puffy." You took his hand and brought it to the hook and loop closure, and he struggled for a moment before that, too, came free.

He stretched his hand out, softly pinching the short silk dress that covered your skin. "A chemise, my dear, it stops the corset boning from pressing against the skin."

He grabbed the hem with a soft smile. "Can I?"

You nodded. "Of course." He marvelled at the softness of the silk as it came off, and his breath caught in his chest as he took in your bare flesh. His fingers reach out, brushing your flesh with a gentleness that didn't seem possible for hands so calloused. You took his hand and placed it flat on your breast, and he seemed stuck dumb. "Are you alright Sweetheart?"

He nodded. "Oh, I'm fucking great. Shit, I think you're the prettiest woman I've ever seen."

You smiled. "Ok, you're very overdressed."

His dress greens were suddenly even tighter and scratchier and that was saying something. "Yes I am."

You reached up and slid the coat from his shoulder, placing it on the nearby chair before you turned your attention to his shirt buttons. "Ok then, I guess we should fix that."

He nodded. "You should." He grinned and kissed you again, deeper this time with a promise of things to come. "I love you y/n."

You sighed as your hands hit the hard, warm muscle of his torso. "I love you too Kyle."

Fin

@chaos-4baby @candy616 No idea if this is your thing so no pressure.

[serendertothesquad]

Favorite OS fanfics? If you read them

Oooooh well do I got some for you, anon! Shame a lot of my favorites are restricted to Google Docs and aren't publicly published anywhere, but I'll give some a shoutout anyway.

Ships Ahoy!: An absolute classic. Lilac's entire slate OS-wise, really, but Ships Ahoy will always be a favorite. Beautifully crafted with great character dynamics, big old lore, and lots of gut punches that make me go "oof" and then sob eternally. There is also...

Full Circle: An unofficial sequel to Ships Ahoy that focuses on Olive and Oscar's relationship, with Otto, Otis, Oona, Oprah and Olympia all playing matchmaker to try and get them back together. Holy shit is it one of the funniest Odd Squad fics I've read, especially as far as Otis not knowing what shipping is and Olympia and Oona's shipping war is concerned. The A/N at the end is also something that resonates with me a lot, and as someone who writes OS fanfic, I like to look back on it every once in a while because it's very true.

Forever and a Mile: This one is a bittersweet and adorable one-shot that focuses on Octavia in the time she was tube-blocked by O'Brian and was confined to Precinct 13579's HQ, as well as Opie, the mysterious ballpit agent. I love this one because it gives a lot of depth to the ballpit and shows off some of the levels within it, while also making me feel sympathy for Octavia for all that she's going through.

OSMU: Fanfiction Friction: I'm putting this one here mainly because it's one of the few OSMU fics I've seen. It follows the Mobile Unit as they realize that, well, there are no fics written about them, and they do all this wild and crazy stuff in an effort to get a story out of it. There are an absolute fuckton of jabs to various things -- Elon Musk, ABBA, the comic book industry, and even the author himself, among others. There's even a bit where the author makes a jab at someone who was a bit of a pervert who liked to make up stories about agents naked and/or in bathing suits (key word is "was"; they got banned from Deviantart twice and AFAIK they are not around anymore), but you might not know that without context. If you're uncomfortable with that, though, the rest of the story is just as enjoyable if you skip it.

Viva La Vida: Villain Olive is a popular concept in the fandom. This is one of the earlier instances of it! The winner of a trivia contest held by Lilac, the idea for this one was conceived by Joshua Kilimnik and the story was written by Lilac. It features Olive slowly turning to the odd side due to a rapidly declining sanity with Odd Todd giving her all the pushes she needs. I like Olive's internal struggle throughout the story, as well as the (bad) ending which caps things off perfectly. (There's also a good ending, added for those who don't like to see Olly-child suffer. Just as beautiful!)

Icing: Fuck your two-sentence horror stories. All my homies hate two-sentence horror stories. Have a 91-word horror story that's one hell of a flashfic and puts a terrifying spin on what was already a pretty terrifying line in-series.

Through Frostbitten Stone: There is another fic I read a long time ago where Olympia manages to get hypothermia while trying to save Otis. (That's the gist of it. The full context would derail this bit.) This fic takes a bit of a different turn from that, with Otis getting hypothermia instead of Olympia, and is also one of the longest Odd Squad fics I've ever seen (and that is barring my own, thank you). It's a hefty read at nearly 30k words, but it's a beautiful read that showcases the Otis-Olympia partner dynamic perfectly.

...Okay fine. FINE. Two more and then that's it. God there are way too many good ones.

Star Agents: This was one that was Google-Docs-exclusive and has now been published onto AO3. And thank God, because it is incredibly good for an AU story where Otto and Todd are partners while Olive is on the villains' side. There are more chapters that are buried in Google Docs currently, but I recommend keeping an eye on this one for updates.

From The Desk of Doctor O: I like the format of this one. Dr. O trying to reform Odd Todd through court-mandated therapy sessions is also a really neat concept. Mainly because, if Odd Squad's judicial system were more realistic, I can 100% see court-mandated therapy being a thing. Definitely looking forward to seeing where this goes.

---------------------

This isn't an exhaustive list by any means, but there ya go, my list of favorites. I do like how the fic scene is still going strong with this fandom 10 years later lol.

Of course, I'm also nominating my own stories: my FiMFic catalog of crossover stories, and my AO3 collection of stories. Enjoy!

[batberryparfait]

having sat with it for a while, and reread it with the express knowledge of what it is, i think i need to write a lot about the recent upd8. full content warning for frank discussion of CSA below the cut.

i was definitely blindsided by (for lack of better words) the shock value of the upd8's content, and i think that being detached from that state of "holy shit that's fucking insane that they did that" makes it a lot easier to say they shouldn't have done that. or, at the bare minimum, they should not have done what they did in the way that they did it.

exploring Doc Scratch as a sexual predator is not a terrible idea, nor is it something Homestuck shouldn't or can't do. multiple characters (chiefly Rose and Vriska, but just about half the cast has beef with the guy) have a lot of completely unconfronted baggage with Scratch, and i think that completely waffling past those aspects of the characters would be a waste.

however.

however.

i think the way Scratch's influence on and abuse of Vriska was handled in the recent upd8 was 1) absolutely not appropriately included in the content warning and 2) absolutely not handled correctly. a lot of other people have said it, and i'll add my voice onto that pile-- this is a subject far too intense to be written as what amounts to whump with a vague, inconclusive content warning.

it's important to note that i still really like the upd8 itself. even if it could've been handled better (the echeladder is in extremely poor taste and the content warning was not ample enough for the content of the upd8), it's still absolutely cutting writing that does not mince words... but it feels like it wants you to think it does, in a way?

Homestuck very rarely every directly says things as heavy as they are. what happened between Terezi and Gamzee is never called sexual abuse, but that's what it was, and Terezi's recovery from it is out of focus but still consistent with that fact. Dave's childhood is clearly shown to be abusive, but the exact extent of it is mostly masked by both the story rarely dwelling on it (or positing aspects of it as heightened/comical) and by Dave himself being a character that does not tackle these things more than a handful of times (in pesterlogs that a lot of people skimmed anyway).

this upd8 calls Doc Scratch a pedophile. this upd8 does not mince words about the fact that Doc Scratch is a sexual abuser of children. maybe it was written in such a way that it was meant to be read as a joke (i.e. Bro throwing Dave down a flight of stairs being a SBaHJ reference, doing something absurd and terrible in an in-your-face way), but that potential comedic reading is completely lost when the rest of the upd8 is like that. it's like immediately following Dave and Bro's strife on the roof with a scene of Dave graphically injured.

i don't really have a conclusion or finale here, just a lot of rambling thoughts. i love Beyond Canon thus far, i think it's absolutely stellar and i can't wait to see what the team does next. i hope this upd8 and its rollout having issues doesn't dissuade the team from doing more heavy things like it; i think clearer, more explicit content warnings are an absolute must if we ever get anywhere near this level again (and that a content warning in the actual flash is fucking imperative for archival readers), but all in all the story being told is worth being told.

[welcometomypinkbox]

Spider-Man & Ms Marvel: Love & War

By: Reborn Dark Phoenix

OMG THIS WAS THE BEST FANFIC I HAVE EVER READ! Is so WELL WRITTEN! You won’t be able to find it as it is delete. This is more of people who like Spider-Man comics where he is OLDER And People who might like Peter x Carol which depict here make a great couple.

Also we won’t be able to find this fic as it is deleted 😔 will post more soon!

Chapter 1: Minimal

If there was one thing Carol loved about having super speed, it was that she could race from her house to the edge of the atmosphere in less than five seconds to get to space. And if there was one thing Carol loved about space, it was how blissful and awe-striking it was. Despite having seen the beautiful view every day since she took up this habit three years ago, she was always struck with wonder when she saw the Earth from space.

And her most absolute favorite thing about space? Free-falling.

As she allowed herself to plummet through Earth's atmosphere, she felt the heat of the massive kinetic energy consume her body, as it warmed her and her body absorbed it. She loved this feeling, the heat nipping at her body; it was so tingly and pleasuring. She loved being able to do this every day, just flying up and plummeting back into the earth, and almost hitting the Atlantic Ocean before maneuvering herself to race to Manhattan.

This... this was probably the best thing to happen to her because of becoming Ms. Marvel.

Well, actually, Peter was... this was a close second, though.

As she arrived at the shores of Manhattan, people looked nonchalantly up at her form; superheroes had been around the city for almost 20 years now; showing up worldwide less than 10. This was a common occurrence, and flying deeper into the city, people didn't even give her a second glance, if they took a first glance, even. Carol was grateful for that-she was having a good start to the day, and the last thing she needed right now to ruin it were ogling eyes looking at her. It was one of the reasons she preferred flying high above the buildings and at super speed. Although, she did enjoy the lower, slower flights she had when she and Peter travelled through the city... well, enjoy wasn't a good enough word, really.

Suddenly, something jumped onto her back and her eyes were covered by a pair of hands. Now normally, she'd knock whoever this was into the atmosphere, anticipating an attack and then a battle, but this set of hands was all too familiar to her, and she simply smiled, waiting to hear his voice.

"Excuse me, but is this the ferry to Staten Island?"

She laughed as she flew up to a nearby building and landed. The person jumped off, and Carol turned to see her most favorite person in the whole world smiling at her: the Amazing Spider-Man.

"Enjoying your week off?"

"Eh, I guess," the Webhead replied with a slight shrug. "Yeah, I'm off the team for a while, but all these thugs just won't let me take a break, y'know? All the regulars like Doc and Rhino and such are locked up on the Raft at least."

"There's something," Carol said as she sat on the ledge, Peter joining her. "What've you been up to these last few days?"

"Well, the lab's needed me more than usual, Jameson's having me freelance more and more, and I'm visiting Aunt May tonight. Kind of dull, really, now that I hear all that out loud." Carol let out a small giggle at that. "Oh, c'mon-that's what you laugh at and not my jokes and quips?"

"They've been kind of failing in quality as of recent, babe."

"Yeah, name one time they've-actually, don't respond to that, it'll hurt my already fragile ego, and the bad guys depend on my fragile ego to help me mock them while I beat them up every day."

"The team says hi, by the way-Logan, Cap, Jess, Falcon, Luke & Danny especially."

"They miss me?"

"Nope, they've really enjoyed the quiet; they've asked me to tell you to take more vacations."

"Ba, humbug," Peter said as he rolled his eyes. "Remind me to pull a joke from my bag next time I see them."

"I'll be sure to do that," Carol purred as she brought his face to hers and began slowing and lovingly kissing him, letting herself get lost in the passion until...

"Captain America to all on duty Avengers, report to the Mansion for emergency mandatory meeting."

"Noooo....," Peter sighed as they separated at the sound of Cap's voice on Carol's comm.

"Sorry, Spider, duty calls."

"Fine," he pouted before smiling, giving her a warm hug. "Let me know what it's about & tell 'em I said hi."

"I think that in their book, that'd break the happy silence."

"Aren't you a bag of laughs..."

*Avengers Mansion, 10 minutes later*

Carol touched down on the mansion grounds at the same time her best friend Jessica, or Spider-Woman to SHIELD & the rest of the world, did.

"Carol!" Jess cried as she embraced her best friend. "What's new with you, huh? I haven't seen you in forever!"

"... Jess, we saw each other two nights ago; before you, Tasha, Clint and Bobbi were called in by Fury for that mission in the East. Remember?"

"Yeah, but that seems like forever ago," the British Avenger/SHIELD agent replied with a smirk. "Oh speaking of which, can you keep a secret? Guess what I found out. Bobbi is crushing on Clint."

"Wait what? But Clint's-"

"With Natasha, I know, and that really is upsetting for her. She asked my advice about it on the mission. Oh, don't tell anyone, ok?"

"Such a good friend you are, Jess," Carol smirked as the two made their way down the mansion hallways to the conference room. "But my lips are sealed."

"What's the seal for?" Logan's voice came as he joined them from his mansion quarters, walking with them to the meeting. "Actually- don't wanna know; better if I don't so I don' have to get involved in any way." The two women chuckled as the three of them entered the conference room and took their seats at the massive table.

Captain America, Tony Stark (Iron Man), Thor, Bruce Banner (the Hulk), Yellowjacket, Wasp, King T'Challa (Black Panther), Hawkeye, Black Widow, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Falcon, She-Hulk,

Hercules, Tigra, Namor the Sub-mariner, Nova, Mockingbird, Wonder Man, Luke Cage, Dr. Strange, Iron Fist, Noh Varr (Protector), General Ross (the Red Hulk), Daredevil and now Ms. Marvel, Spider Woman & the Wolverine. The full roster of the pantheon of Earth's Mightiest Heroes was now assembled. The only one missing was the Amazing Spider-Man.

"Alright, everyone," Stark began. "Thanks for meeting here on such short notice."

"What's this about, Tony?" T'Challa interjected.

"There's been some... complaints as to how the Avengers are operating." At his words, everyone at the table was shocked.

"Who's been complaining?" Bobbi Morse asked. "I haven't heard anything from SHIELD, and Hill would definitely make sure that Clint, Natasha, Jessica & I would've known about this kind of thing-you know how she isn't so fond of us."

"Bobbi's right," Clint Barton added. "Fury may be in favor of superheroes and the like, but Hill still is against the notion of unsupervised superhumans and vigilantes-we'd have heard something." Carol couldn't help but notice that Bobbi slightly went a bit pink at Clint agreeing with her.

"Are governments and nations complaining about how we handle threats, how we operate?" Simon Williams asked.

"It's not so much as governments or the UN or even SHIELD," Steve Rogers spoke up. "More like... one government."

"This is about the motions going on in Congress," General Ross interjected. "I've been hearing the rumbling about this for some time."

"What rumblings?" Cage asked. "And what's going on in Congress?"

"Remember back when we took the Hood's Syndicate back last year in Los Angeles when Moon Knight asked for our help?" asked Stark. The whole team remembered-that had been a more difficult fight, one of many times the team's full roster had had to be called in. "Well, I'm sure you remembered that one lady who was kind of badly hurt during a tussle between Grey Gargoyle and Wonder Man, and she had come to us to pay for her medical expenses. The way she saw it, it was our fault that she ended up injured and that we should've been more careful. Naturally, I felt kind of bad-" at that the entire team rolled their eyes-"oh come on, I can be human too; anyways, the point is Stark Industries paid all her expenses in full, me taking the responsibility."

Vision cocked his head sideways. "I am not sure I fully understand how that relates, Iron Man."

"Well, it was supposed to be kept on the down low, Vision. But a few months ago, word got out... and suddenly, Stark Industries is bombarded with letters from the courts and lawsuits across the country, not just from regular people, but from businesses. It's starting waves of lawsuits against almost everything we do. The government got wind of this, and since then, Congress has been brewing up a storm on superhuman and vigilante activity across the country-how it's slowly becoming reckless and dangerous. They're even talking about mutant problems again."

Logan, Wanda, Namor & Pietro groaned at once. "I'll always be amazed at how it's always America who seems to have the problems with mutants, yet no other country seems to have it as bad," Wanda exclaimed.

"How bad are these lawsuits?" Banner asked.

"Not too bad; in reality, most of them aren't even accurate or founded in truth-and I'd like to thank Jenny and Matt here for their expertise in law for helping me and the company with that. The major problem is the government's response," Stark continued. "They are motioning for the Avengers to take more responsibility for the actions we take

as a team; and it's not just us they're going after-they've got their eyes on various heroes in the States-Moon Knight in LA, Scarlet Spider in Houston, those New Warriors, the FF, Punisher, Black Cat, other independent heroes....they're associating all of them with the Avengers, being we're the face of heroes on this planet."

"How's their stance on the X-Men, Stark?" Logan asked.

"I'm not exactly sure, but they seem to be moving against the various teams you guys have going-X-Force and those New Mutants-"

"Hey; X-Force rarely does anything in America without Slim's or my approval... well, I can't speak for Deadpool, but you know what I mean. The New Mutants are just kids we're raising and training up to be the next generation of heroes. We've made sure up to now-"

"That's what they're worried about," Ross interjected. "Up to now; from what I've heard, they're questioning the Avengers having mutants on the team, especially Namor and Wanda, being how powerful they are."

"They dare question my motives? They should tread carefully," the Atlantean monarch mumbled.

"Not just you Namor-they're worried about the number of mutants taking residence up in San Francisco since the mayor opened it up as a safe haven; they're worried the X-Men may lead them in some revolution."

"Look, that's just one of the problems," Steve continued. "Congress is looking at all our past incidents here in the nation-Hulk's mind control under MODOK and his resulting rampage in Vegas, our LA Syndicate grudge match, our last battle with Magneto's Brotherhood; and they're also looking at other incidents... like Spider Island, the FF's near accidental destruction of Manhattan, the time the New Warriors almost blew up Stanford in their fight against Nitro..."

"There seeking to control us, aren't they?" Dr. Strange asked.

"I think so."

"They can't do that!" She-Hulk said. "The Avengers are an internationally supported team, and we have authority granted by the UN; we're backed by SHIELD & SWORD! Hell, the mansion grounds are considered international territory. Alpha Flight & Excalibur aren't bothered with this kind of thing. They think they can try to control us?!"

"In essence, they can try-the majority of us here are still US citizens. The only ones they can't touch are Thor, Hercules, Namor and Panther; maybe our resident SHIELD agents can get away, since... well, they work for SHIELD."

"So is that an alternative?" Carol asked. "We have to work for SHIELD to avoid all this?"

"No." Cap's voice was firm and commanding. "The Avengers work for no one. We go anywhere in the world where we're needed, even if it's Latveria. The government has no right to try and control us, because what we do is give back to the world best we can with what the world's given us." This seemed to calm the team down a bit.

"I just want to ask everyone that they be a bit more careful out there, avoid as much collateral damage as possible and whatnot, and just be overall the best you can be," Stark said. "It's getting annoying to deal with all these lawsuits. Carol, I'm sure I can count on you to relate this to Peter, right?"

"Yeah of course; although," Carol said, a smile creeping onto her face, "knowing him, he's probably already messing it up somewhere." At that, everyone laughed.

*Somewhere in the Lower East Side, NYC*

"I'm sorry... what?"

"You heard me-I want reimbursement! Someone's gotta pay for what happened to my restaurant!"

"Dude, why are you asking me? I just beat the bad guys up! Don't you have insurance for this kind of thing? I mean, it happens, like, every day out here."

Spider-Man was having a bit of a problem-swinging to Midtown, he happened across a robbery in progress, and being the responsible hero he was, came in and taught the thugs a few manners. Of course, they tried to fight back, shooting and stuff, but Peter was just too damn quick for them, and in only few minutes and jokes later, the thugs were taken down. Police were now taking them away, and he was just about to be on his way... when the restaurant owner demanded he pay him back for all the damages.

"You should be telling those guys to pay you back!" Spider-Man said as he pointed to thugs being pushed into the armored vehicle headed for Ryker's. "They DID try to rob your store!"

"Yeah, but they weren't shooting or anything! They were just taking money and they'd have left-then you show up and ruin everything, they shoot the place up and trash my restaurant! I should sue you!"

"Right... ok. Listen, I got to go now, so you keep suing passing heroes that save your life and I'll just go back on my way." With that, Peter swung off, with the restaurant owner yelling after him, "THE BUGLE WAS RIGHT ABOUT YOU, WEB FREAK!"

'Sue me? What's there to sue me for?,' Peter mused to himself as he arrived at Midtown and ducked in an alley to change to civilian clothes. 'I barely have any money to my name; I'm doing overtime at Horizon and freelancing as much as possible for Jolly Jonah to get enough money for this.' Exiting the alley and mingling with the populous, he checked his jacket pocket. 'Ok, envelope & cash are still here. Ok, Parker, time to go hunting.' With that, Peter began his third day of searching through Manhattan's best jewelry stores.

*Avengers Mansion, an hour later*

Carol and Jess sat in the lounge, watching a rerun marathon of one of the most popular shows in the country, based off one of the world's most popular comics.

"I loved T-Dog," Jess frowned. "He was awesome, and that was just a bad way to kill him off. I swear, those stupid prisoners... but I still love The Walking Dead."

"Can you imagine if a zombie apocalypse actually broke out in real life? The chaos that'd be caused; what if some of our own were infected?"

"Oh come on, Carol, like THAT'D ever happen; Wolverine heals from everything, we have two gods on the team... must I go on?" The two laughed, realizing that if a zombie apocalypse did ever happen, it wouldn't stand a chance against the superheroes of Earth. "So, how's my male counterpart?"

"He's alright, doing his thing, being bored out there, being all mine," Carol answered with one of her rare luminous smiles; Peter's name always brought a smile and happy memories to her mind. "He's visiting his... aunt tonight."

Jessica was quick to notice the faltering in Carol's voice. "Carol, don't tell me the woman still makes you nervous?"

"She's so sweet and loving, don't get me wrong, and we get along just fine-but that warning she gave me the first night I met her... I've never been so scared in my life. Seriously, if it was you, you'd feel the same way."

"I doubt it; I'd just manipulate her into liking me instantly."

"Of course you would," Carol replied with a smirk. "You always want to take the easy way."

"I'll have you know, Ms. Danvers, that I am very-"

"Ho Spider Woman, Ms. Marvel." Both women turned to see Thor standing at the doorway, his hammer in hand and a fierce grin on his face. "There is trouble brewing upon the streets, and the locals have asked for our assistance. What say you, maidens, are you ready for a battle?"

"Oh yeah, Thor," Carol replied, her eyes glowing. "I'm ready for some action."

*Avengers Conference Hall*

Steve and Tony had remained behind in the conference hall, looking at the various documents, forms and digital files of every lawsuit, complaint and government ordinance that Congress had sent them about their activity in the country.

"Tony, I know what I said to give the team a bit of support," Steve remarked. "But to be honest, I have a bad feeling about where this is headed."

"Honestly, Steve," Stark replied somberly. "I kind of feel the same way."

[livingroombeat]

Progress update 12\11\23

Yo!! Ive been randomly gone for like 20 days so heres a progress update finally! Im going to post the rest of a3 eventually, tbh i just couldnt be bothered because uploading pages is super tedious, it takes about 2 minutes per page, which doesnt sound that bad but when i have to upload almost 100 pages in one session that means it takes over 3 hours to upload! and it is a super tedious process too. So i kinda just kept putting it off because of that. Eventually i would like to make a new website where i can just bulk upload all of the pages super quickly. But you cant do that with blogger and i cant code lmao.

But while ive been putting off uploading the pages ive been kinda thinking about the problems with the comic as it stands. A3 did not need to be 300+ pages long, it couldve been a third of that, but i kept putting a single line onto each individual page, which resulted in the page count being way too high. But that is a simple problem to fix, just put more lines onto each page in the future. So im gonna do that with a4 and beyond.

But there is also a problem that has been kinda cropping up as ive been turning my plan in the google doc that i plan the comic in into actual comics, and i could go on a long rant about this for thousands of words but i wont do that because that would be super annoying. There would also be loads of spoilers. So instead im just gonna say that there was a major problem with the structure and progression of the story which was rooted at the foundation of the entire plot, and i have been thinking about how to fix it for all of these (around) 20 days. But now today i finally figured it out, so im gonna post the rest of the pages soon-ish whenever i get around to it and then i will work to restructure the rest of the story A LOT. The structure will be COMPLETELY CHANGED. The actual story itself wont be changed tho. But yeah anyway thats the update. Sorry about being a bit vague but i couldnt go into more detail without spoilers.

[wolfandtheraven]

some tips that might actually help ;w;

if you haven't been writing in forever -> write something (anything, 1 word, 2 words) that could tangentially be related to a creative piece (i.e. the tiniest of a fragment of a poem, a weird dream you had, turn your shopping list into an acrostic poem, write about an object in front of you even if its a boring 5 word description) read something [reading literally anything, fan-fiction, novels, comics, poetry, anything, can give your brain a spark to write something like that. If you do get a spark just throw words on a page, phone notes app, iPad notes, a word doc, a google doc, anywhere]

if a blank page bothers you -> in Microsoft word you can change the background colour of your word documents which can make them not stark white! I've switched mine to black with white text cause my eyes/brain struggle with the black text on white pages, but it can also help remove that stuck point. Another potential helper is to open a document [on whatever device/platform you are comfortable with] and jot down words, then use that document the next time you write literally anything. I know that a blank page feels daunting so yeeting a bunch of stuff onto the same page can help.

can't write but you love talking? -> a lotta writing software has dictation now! (yay for accessibility!) talk to google docs/your word document and let it write onto that page for you, this can be a good way to get stuff out of your brain and down somewhere so you don't forget it. Which can also be helpful if you get stuck with "this needs to be worded exactly right or I'm not writing at all", because you're just talking about the thing rather than trying to write the thing it might mess up understanding you but you can edit it later if you actually want/need it to make sense

don't tie yourself to a single project -> as someone who's brain hates being forced to stick to one thing, especially when its suddenly interested in thing b, do not force yourself to work on a project for any reason [unless money is involved or you are absolutely required aka uni essays] writing bits and pieces for the 6 different ideas you have floating around is better than writing nothing at all

free yourself from "sit and write" bullshit -> all that advice of "making a habit" and "write x amount of words per day" and "do x writing activity"? throw it out the window, we don't use that shit here. write eclectically and wherever your brain can sync [if you get an idea on a bus, find a way to write even just the sentence that's on repeat in your head cause you think it sounds just perfect, it can help you later]

write with the idea that literally you and only you have to read your notes -> if you have a story/plot idea, don't write formally about the plot, don't even start writing the story itself if that's not your jam! write as if its a silly little post to yourself/your close friends [bonus this can make you smile later when you re-read stuff you wrote] write in memes! write in nonsense words that make sense to you! it doesn't matter!

if you're struggling to write content for the thing you want, make memes instead -> meme templates are easy to come by and can easily be used in MS paint it gives you the illusion of having been working on the thing without actually working on the thing, making it a bit easier to keep working or to work on it again in the future

don't be afraid to completely overhaul ideas -> I've been writing the same damn book for 10 years because I've had to overhaul it three times, and I finally don't hate looking at it, writing it, or reading it sometimes you really have to toss everything except some names/settings and start fresh to make a project work with you instead of against you

I hate writing advice on this website because it'll be a list of things to get over a writer's block and then one of them will be like

"Take a break :) sometimes if you're struggling with writer's block, taking some time away from writing helps :)"

bitch I haven't been able to write anything since 2014. This is a solution to a different problem.

[toriowlfluff]

PART 6

The long awaited DECKED-OUT COMIC IS BACK! Well…”comic”. It’s more of a picture story :o because I just couldn’t keep up with the comic style I was going for before. I hope you don’t mind!

More is under the cut!

it becomes morning over Docs peculiar half mansion. The sun just peaks over the horizon as rays of its warmth hit the two sleeping hermits right on their faces. Well, on one of their faces. Grian was curled up on Docs chests, covered by warm protective fingers that belonged to a hand far bigger than any of the other hermits in the colony.

Docs face scrunches up like an annoyed cat, knowing they need to get up. With gentle eyes he lightly brushes his fingers over the soft feathers that belong to Grian. The only reponse he got was a groggy squeek.

"Grian. We better get up soon, you dont want to leave Mumbo waiting."

Doc had made plans with Mumbo and Iskall to meet up in front of the Townhall by morning so they couldn't sleep in this time.

The creeper hybrid sighed and lightly poked Grian as a Plan B, which earned him a jab and an annoyed Tiny that is sitting up now, still covered by green fingers.

"Alright alright... let's get ready then."

by the time they left Docs base, Grian had developed a certain nervousness to him. he was skittish and unsure with every step Doc took away from the safe confines of their overnight shared home.

"Doc... you're gonna be with me right?"

The Avian stammered. sitting on Docs shoulders as they headed through the nether path ways.

Doc replied with utmost calmness.

"I will, I'll be right behind you. but remember. 'You' gotta do the talking part."

Grian unfolded his wings and flutters into Docs now open palm.

"Of course!"

Docs chuckling echoed through the tunnels as they soon arrived at the Netherportal they were heading to. And with one last breath Grian felt Doc move through it, teleporting them to a fresh breeze of overworld air.

The morning sun partly illuminated the path in front of them. dots of shiny light rays littered the floor.

There, a bit further ahead was Mumbo and Iskall, both facing the opposite direction of the impressive Town hall.

Docs mellow expression turned into a frown when he looked down at the tiny bird in his hands who is now clutching his little heart, scrunching up the fabrik of his red sweater he was wearing. The Shifter suddenly felt a strong desire to protect and reassure him.

His expression turned relaxed again in order to not show his concern.

"Hey, it'll be alright. it's just our clumsy Mumbo afterall."

His big fingers brushing circles into the tinies' back. He felt Grian relax, even just a little bit.

"I know.. it's just Mumbo."

And with that he took to the skies and started flying towards the moustached man and his friend.

It didnt take long for him to land right behind them. They seemed to tower above him, making this mission far more expreme than he initially thought. But setting his stupid primal fears aside, he opted to open his mouth with a short "uhm, Mumbo?"

He felt his heart do a leap of adrenaline when both of his supposed best friends turned around. They first looked around but soon locked eyes onto him on the ground in front of them.

For Mumbo, Grian seemed to be miles away, so fragile, so out in the open so... small. He had to fight every fiber of his being to not scoop him up and protect him from the harsh reality of the world.

And for Grian it took every cell in his body to not step back out of instinct.

His confidence in self control crashed though, when Mumbo kneeled down, speaking an unsure "Grian," ultimately making the smaller flinch and step back an inch or two.

"O-oh sorry, my bad-"

Mumbo immediately apologized. The bird Tiny could only focus on his raven haired friend now, he knew Iskall was still there but his view was filled with just Mumbo now.

Trying his hardest, he swallowed his unnecessary shock with a shaky,

"It's a-alright,"

A short but painful silence was broken when both of them stammered eachothers names at the same time.

"M-Mumbo,"

"Grian,"

"Oh, Sorry,"

"Sorry-"

They chuckle at eachother from the shear absurdity of their predicament.

The nervous laughs died down when Grian held up his hand to indicate he'd start talking and Mumbo let him.

"Listen Mumbo,"

the air around them has softened considerably,

"I wanna apologize for what I did yesterday. I might have overreacted a little bit,"

Mumbo interjected, his face filled with an expression of regret and guilt.

"I..might have overreacted aswell, I... shouldnt've done the thing I did. I don't wanna blame it on anything else but I sure got a lot of work to do when it comes to respecting boundaries don't I?" Both of them smile at eachother, "-besides I feel like I deserve this in particular."

Mumbo held his left hand out in front of them, showing off the two bandaids around his fingers Grian sliced to get free.

"Oh yeah.. that part, I- I’m sorry.."

Grian looks guiltily away, holding his other arm protectively.

Mumbo sighed with a smile, making Grians hair flow in the wind created by it and making the smaller look back up at him.

"It was my fault to begin with, Grian. I'll work on my pants behavior.. which is pants, let's not deny that here."

They chuckle again at Mumbo's use of words.

The winged hermit suddenly stops as Mumbo continued his soft fit of chuckles. All the fear he had from the day before vanished. This was Mumbo through and through. His best friend. He wondered why he never understood it sooner. He felt anger and regret and happiness seep through him for a second before landing on an emotion he couldn't even name.

With one leap he hugged the Redstone genius' nose, who's hands immediately came up to hold his tiny friend in place.

"I forgive you, you big lug, I didn't mean to hurt you. And I promise I'll be more careful too."

Mumbo knew and just pressed Grian closer. "It's all water under the ol' bridge now, little guy."

Iskall and Doc are now standing next to eachother. Both of them locked eyes with a smile of relief.

Their mending was cut short though, when a voice came from behind them.

"Are we intruding on someyhing here?"

Everyone looked to the way the voice was coming from, Grian still in Mumbo's hands and held close.

It was their leader Xisuma who was covering something in his hands.

"X?" Mumbo asked quizzically but he was ignored when Xisuma spotted Grian.

"Ah~ Grian! youre just the hermit I was looking for."

He said in his chipper accent while holding out his intriguing gloved hands. One creating a temporary wall in front of the other.

"I've got someone you might wanna see again..."

And with that he reaveals...

TO BE CONTINUED…

[dylanmunson]

one | started at hello - JQ |

short story of the imagine /joe takes a liking to you\

series list | wattpad | master of masterlists

wordcount: 1.2k : also im kinda going off my experience at con, i also have no idea how the autograph bit works but we move, word vomit, Joe fluff in the next chapter! 

It was a warm early spring evening when i got tagged in the post. I look through the notifications and see what i'm being tagged in, headline reading "Joseph Quinn Coming To Comic Con."

I click the link to the website, it taking a few minutes to load since the wifi is terrible. Once loaded i'm left with a screen showing ticket prices for each day of comic con and photo ops for all the guest that are appearing, i scroll down finding Joes name and click on "buy now" having already brought a ticket for comic con the week before, I go straight to check out punching in my details. There were two options for the photo op, a normal photo or photo with the upside down set, I decided on the normal photo op.

A few days later it was announced that Joe would also be doing a talk on the Sunday and be doing autographs during the day, however tickets for the autographs could only be pursued at the actual event itself.

/////

Now the morning of comic con, I lay in bed for a little longer going onto my phone and looking at the weather before checking my other social media. I throw my phone onto the bed before walking over to the bathroom, turning on the shower while brushing my teeth and sorting out my makeup and fake tattoos for the day. I finish brushing my teeth grinning in the mirror at myself before stripping of my clothes and getting into the shower. Having washed my hair the night before, its now tied back so it doesnt get wet, i wash my body and re shave my legs since i'm wearing a dress today. Once i'm happy and clean, i jump out wrapping a towel around my body walking back into my room to get my cosplay ready.

Deciding to do a two in one cosplay, i pop on my two piece harley quinn suit just in case i get overly hot and overwhelmed and need to get out of the red dress. Tying the string around my middle, i look in the mirror and pop my shoulder length hair into two half up half down ponys with black and red scrunchies just to add to the look that little bit more. Once my hair is up, i walk back into the bathroom and begin applying my makeup, I do a red eye look, smudging black eyeshadow under my eyes a little before applying some eyeliner to my waterline.

Happy with how my eyes look, i start cutting up and placing my fake tattoos on, before going back in and adding my winged eyeliner and mascara. Deciding to put my red mac lip stick on just before i get to the centre. Sitting on my bed, i start drawing on my thigh tattoos with a pot of eyeliner, using the pot and a paint brush instead of a penned eyeliner as it looks better, in my opinion anyway, it then set the eyeliner with powder and setting spray before checking my phone for the time.

I stand and begin putting my dress on, i grab the bag im taking with me and put in my portable charger and cable, lipstick, spare eyeliner, sketchbook and pen and some chewing gum. I pull on my left doc tying it as tight as i can before doing the same to the right, but instead of putting on matching i opt for my cherry red boot. I pack some extra plasters as well just incase!

I look at my reflection in the mirror, taking a few selfies before grabbing my key and heading out the door to the train station. I know i'll get looks but i'm not fussed. The train ride was quick and hot. The underground is not the one. Getting off the train and going to the next platform to get onto the train to the centre i begin seeing other people in cosplays, and start talking to them. Having gone by myself, everyones lovely, I see a few hellfire shirts grinning to myself, it not fully setting in that im meeting Joe today.

Me and my new friends get on the train, and begin chatting about other cons that theyve been to. The excitement starting to settle in as we arrive at the station which is next to the centre. Everyone gets off and starts crowding to tap out. I wait back a little before heading out deciding not to push, we'll get there when we get there.

Going straight to the queue, its not as long as i thought it was going to be, but its in no way short either. Once in the queue the excitement beginning to take over, i see someone dressed as scoops ahoy steve. "oh my god its steve! hi dad" i grin shouting over to them, they laugh and wave then i realise their friend is dressed as eddie "oh my god hi other dad" i laugh waving at the people.

Getting into the centre, i get my bag checked and a stamp on my hand before wondering over to the big time table sheet on the wall. Joseph is due to do his upside down shoot in the next 30minutes, so i decide to spilt from the group and go to the autograph section, wanting to secure a ticket.

After 10minutes of walking around and finding it, i look around for the big photo of eddie munson, its kind of hidden in the back, i walk over to the staff member, there being few people surrounding the Joes autograph area. "hi could i get a ticket for" i finish as she nods, clearly knowing who i'm asking for. "Do you want today or tomorrow love?" she sighs "could i get tomorrow?" she nods, turning around and grabbing the small numbers book ripping out a ticket and handing it to me, "bring that tomorrow and show it to whoever is here" she smiles "thank you so much!" i smile, handing her to cash for the ticket before turning to walk out.

I see a guard and a few other people that look 'important' come out of a door, which im amusing is the celeb greenroom/breakroom? Which is only a few foot steps away from where i'm standing. When i spot the loveable man that is Joseph Quinn, walking out sending the people around him a wave as he's ushered away, "hi, hello" he smiles. I grin at the man and send a little wave. His chocolate brown eyes sparkling in the natural light that is peaking through the larger windows in the room. His chestnut hair looking fluffy yet so fine and soft. Pair of blue jeans and a simple white tee covering his body. This man is a work of art and isnt even trying. I sigh softly as he walks past looking and waving in my direction, smiling softly but just enough to show off the little indents in his cheeks. Now with his back towards my direction, i grin like an idiot. Feeling even more excited for my photo later! 

Munson taglist @alicefallsintotherabbithole @steves-robin @onlydruig @tenderhornynihilist @itsyouimagines @witchsbitchestime @kyomiite @girl-with-an-orange-cat @flatoust11 @udontcarethisshit @chloepricerk800 @kellysimagines @caitfrogs @get-me-to-wonderland @bdpst-massacre @lagataprrr @goldenharrysworld @oo0lady-mad0oo @presidential-facts @qu7nn @pleasantlycrazyworld @ladyapplejackdnd @little-cupcake17 @meaganjm @dixontardis @megsrose @chaos-incorp @sourbutcalm143 @lieblingsmenzch @kbakery @positivevibesnlif3 @stcastwh00re @greatfandomsgalore @eddies-gf-86 @mariar597 @lothiriel9 @lesliemcawesome @chrisevansmarvelmcu @zdarie @notbeforelong @jayy-sins @witchy-bisexual @stephanie-lkj 

[danses-with-dogmeat]

could you do the anxious tics prompt with fo3 and new vegas companions? sorry, i think i’ve asked you to add characters a lot but i just really love your writing ^^”

FO3 and FONV Romanced! Companions react to Lone's/Six's Anxiety Tics

Here you are, my love. Please never feel bad about requesting more people! It's honestly what I live for, and I loooooove making content for the FO3 and NV folks, since I feel like there's a lot less written about them in general 😊

So thank you so much for the ask!

Here is the prompt with FO4 Companions!

FO3

Butch:

     The flash of large red-framed letters had caught Butch’s attention as the pair stood waiting to speak to Doc Church outside his clinic in Megaton. “Whatcha got there, babe?” he had asked, before realizing that it was, in fact, exactly what he had thought. Lone blushed as they looked up at him, hiding behind the pages of their comic book. “You really kept that? After all these years?” They had nodded to him, explaining that it was a sort of security blanket for them, that they could always count on reading the same story, seeing the same happy ending each time they looked between the pages, each time they felt uncertainty or stress, they could count on Grognak to see them through it. He grinned whenever he saw them with it, often curling up beside them, or leaning his head on their shoulder to try and read along with them. In these cases, Lone had to read the pages slower than they normally would, reading the same comic book over and over for the last 10 years means you can skim through it pretty quickly, but they don’t really seem to mind. Now they get to watch as this person that they care so much for enjoys the comic book they relied on and adored for so long.

Charon:

     The ghoul was curious about Lone’s tendency to nap directly after dealing with stressful situations, but he decided not to voice any inquiries. His companion would explain themself if they wanted him to know more. One day, they did. Lone had thanked him for always looking after them while they rested off their anxiety, and mentioned that it was something they couldn’t help. Charon had nodded at them, acknowledging their gratitude, before his blue eyes had narrowed in his effort to process the rest of what they had said. It seemed strange to him, sleeping off nerves... Wouldn’t that make it more difficult to sleep? He decided that the logic of it didn’t really matter, whatever it was that caused it, he would look after his partner as they took the time to rest. Soon enough, they would beckon for him to join them, leaning against his shoulder or laying their head in his lap as he kept watch over them. A scarred hand would come to run softly through their hair, or graze lightly over their arm as they dreamed away their anxieties alongside their watchful partner.  

Clover:

     Lone wasn't quite sure why, but it seemed to them that Clover was always so handsy whenever they became anxious. They had to admit, they didn't necessarily mind it, but she always seemed to get frisky at the most inopportune times. Meanwhile, Clover just can't seem to figure out why Lone is always casting hints her way in the middle of stressful situations. She gets it, she totally is picking up what Lone is putting down every time they draw their bottom lip between their teeth and gnaw away so suggestively, but do they really have to do that right now?! Once Clover finds out it's just Lone's way of coping with their anxiety, she feels sort of foolish… but that doesn't stop her from getting a little turned on whenever Lone does it, even though the timing is usually inconvenient for both of them. But after the trouble and stress has passed, Lone will certainly need to blow off some steam, right? If that’s the case, Clover is more than ready for it. 

Cross:  

     Cross often noticed when Lone had trouble focusing, she tends not to miss a thing, especially when it comes to her Lone. When she sees her partner struggling to keep their attention trained on the person speaking to them, she usually will step in and ask if the person can speak to her companion again at a later time. Her direct and clear way of speaking is a relief for Lone when they are experiencing tension, as their listening becomes almost ineffective when they are being spoken to during times of high stress or anxiety. Paladin Cross understands this, and pays particular attention to speak slowly and with great care in these times. Due to her affinity for speaking this way normally, she and Lone tend to never have issues with communication; which evidently, tends to keep Lone from becoming anxious when they’re around their partner.

Fawkes:  

     Within his first couple weeks of traveling alongside Lone, the mutant noticed their need to constantly snack. When he decided to inquire about it, and they hesitantly explained their habit to stress eat, he wasn’t sure he understood it, but he knew that he had his own ways of dealing with his nerves, which came in the form of wringing his hands whenever he became anxious. So, if this is how Lone deals with it, he will accept it without question. It wasn’t until one fateful day, when Lone had realized they were completely out of snacking material and they were on the brink of a breakdown, that they realized Fawkes had taken their words to heart, as he reached out a large hand, filled to the brim with an assortment of their favorite snacks from one of his pockets. All this time they thought he only kept ammunition in there, turns out, their partner always had a well-stocked stash of their anxiety-repellent hidden away for cases just like these. They smiled coyly as they took a box of snack cakes, and a tin of crisps, settling down beside Fawkes as he lightly ran his hand up and down their back as they leaned into him, their breathing already beginning to return to normal with each passing moment.

Jericho:

     The ex-raider always thought it was a little annoying, the way his companion would stutter at him every time something got dicey, or when they had to deal with some sort of verbal confrontation. It was painful to watch, and when he brought it up to them, and they stuttered back an embarrassed response, he realized it was well out of their control. It would still bug him, and he might make an off-handed comment about it every once in a while, but the more he saw that those comments weren’t funny to his partner, the more they glared at him as he laughed at his own rude jokes, he decided he should refrain from such talk. Lone hadn’t developed a thick skin like most wastelanders he was used to, and certainly not like most raiders; and he would have to constantly remind himself of that. After his realization, he wouldn’t say a word about their stutter again, and God help anyone who did. You mention his partner’s stutter, you’ll probably have one too by the time he’s done with you. If you still even have a tongue, that is.  

FONV:

Arcade: 

     The doctor almost flinched at the feeling of Six’s fingers wrapping around his thumb the first time they did it, but he managed to keep his composure and simply utter a sarcastic comment in response to their sudden action. But when their stress passed, and they explained that it was a tic of theirs that they had trouble controlling, he immediately understood. Not only was he a doctor (so you know, he has pretty extensive knowledge regarding things of this nature) but he’s also had his own lovely tangles with anxiety in the past, and can’t really blame Six for their habit (despite the fact that he has absolutely no tics of his own to deal with). However, his understanding of it doesn’t mean he isn’t going to make some sort of humorous comment on the action whenever it occurs. At Six’s annoyed expression he says that he is simply trying to lighten the mood a bit, maybe distract them with his humorous musings. Six thinks he must not have a clue that he exercises his own coping mechanism (ahem, sarcasm) whenever their gesture makes him uncomfortable, so they end up trying to keep themself from grasping onto his thumb to the best of their abilities. But, to be honest, they’re relieved when Arcade begins reaching over his hand to them in times of stress, his eyes avoiding theirs, and his comments going unuttered, but his thumb extending outward to allow easy access nonetheless. This gesture usually results in a kiss on the cheek for the doctor when his partner has gotten through their bout of stress.

Boone: 

     He had noticed it when he first met the courier, the way they couldn't look him in the eye. Boone hadn't been sure if it was just him, considering his constant need to wear sunglasses and his somewhat stoic demeanor, or if it was the way they were with everyone, but either way, he didn’t mind in the slightest. When he found that it was a result of their anxiety, he simply nodded to them in understanding, and the pair went on their way. The sniper honestly wasn’t big on direct eye contact himself, another boon of wearing sunglasses was being able to keep your eyes trained wherever you liked, and so people tended not to notice his own habit of avoiding eye contact with them. He threw the idea out to Six one night, and soon enough the pair wore matching sunglasses nearly all the time. And though, as he said, he didn’t mind Six’s habit one bit, the knowledge that they only looked people in the eye when they felt completely comfortable and at ease with them made it all the more special when they did decide to look into his eyes when the pair was talking, or sharing a tender moment. In those little instances, Boone liked to study the details of his partner’s eyes, committing their warm and vibrant glow to memory, paying distinct attention to their unique shape, and the way their pupils dilated as they gazed back at him. He only wondered if they noticed his eyes doing the same in return as he took in the details of the one he loved.

Cass:  

     The caravaner always tends to offer some form of alcohol to Six whenever she sees their leg shaking in such a way. Cass is familiar with the side effects of withdrawal when she sees them, and she'll try to help her partner to the nearest drink as soon as she can. When Six finally asks her about why it is that she offers alcohol to them when they’re feeling stressed, mentioning that it maaaaaay not be the most healthy coping mechanism for anxiety, she is a bit confused. They were anxious!? Strange, she only tends to shake like that when she hasn't had a drink in a while. With the knowledge that it’s a nervous tic of theirs, Cass uses it to her advantage to better tell when her partner needs to take a load off, or blow off some steam. At the sight of their leg thrumming away, she’ll give their thigh a pat to get their attention, and then ask if there’s anything she can do to help them. As luck would have it, a stiff drink does tend to give Six the time to calm their nerves, so that trend isn’t completely abandoned once Cass has found out the truth about Six’s habit.

Raul:

     "What's the matter, boss? Can’t find the right word? Lo siento, mi corazón, English isn't my best language, but I can try and help if you want." Raul is… confused at first. Whenever Six snaps their fingers, he can't seem to figure out if they're trying to find the right word to say, or if they happen to be looking for something, maybe they're trying to keep time, or make a beat? Maybe they’re counting something, trying to remember a phrase? Once they tell him it’s just a nervous tic they have, Raul looks a little embarrassed at the fact that he didn’t assume this earlier on. The ghoul tries not to pay much attention to his partner’s habit, since he knows it must make them a little self conscious when people point it out, but sometimes he can't help but snap along, trying to make a little song to go along with their own improvised rhythm. When Six does finally notice his contribution, Raul just likes to wink at them in response, flashing a playful little smile as they blush in embarrassment at the fact that he caught them doing their nervous tic.

Veronica:

     When Veronica noticed that her partner had pierced ears, she was ecstatic. Ecstatic, and jealous. She always wanted to pierce her ears, to find or make her own pretty little earrings to decorate herself with, but alas, ear piercings were certainly not within the limits of Brotherhood dress and decorum. Given her interest in them, it’s no surprise that she noticed the way Six twisted the backs between their fingers, twiddling the bits of jewelry absent-mindedly whenever they became stressed or nervous. Often times, Veronica would reach a hand out to gently pry their fingers from their earring, pulling their hand to her lips so she could give it a small kiss before bringing it to settle somewhere else, to keep them from damaging the little bits of jewelry in their ears that she envied so much. 

[nightlight-firelight]

Hi everyone! Sorry for the long wait! Art block (Or writing block?) is the worst and I’ve been busy. I’m also trying to make this a gender neutral story and I’m not too experienced on this so hopefully I’m doing ok so far! Now with that out of the way, on to chapter 2!

“Falling (in love) So Fast That I Can’t Even Think!”

Chapter 2

You take a second to realize that he was holding you a bit tight around the waist, and the silence of the tension began to build every second that neither of you moved.

“Hi?” You ask him. You mentally smacked yourself in the head for that comment. At this point of view, you can see that the, now real and very handsome doctor, eyes were a shade of blue that could take your breath away and-

“Oh, um,” Eggman studdered out a bit softer and less confident the what you have seen him in the show. “Hi.” He finally decided to look around at his predicament and examined your room.

“Where am I?” Eggman finally pulled you back onto the bed, creaking slightly from the unexpected new weight. Your mind finally snaps back into reality as the warmth from his hands fades from your hips, already missing the connection he had. You need to relax, and not freak out the poor man sitting on your bed.

“You’re in my room.” You finally managed to push the words out of your lips. His face turns to confusion and worries at all of the merchandise of not just his universe, but the main Sonic series as well. His mind mostly likely wandered into a ‘crazy fan’ mode and tried to back up. You perk up and lean back slightly, making sure to not fall off the bed this time, but also give him some space to relax. Ivo’s movements began to quicken as he still backs up, almost falling off the other side of the bed. He catches himself and looks at you with a face of slight panic and worry.

“What’s all this? Who are you and what-” You cut him off with a hand slightly raised, signaling to calm down and to relax. “Breath, please. I won’t hurt you.” You promised him as you instruct him through a breathing exercise. After a small bit of confusion between the two of you, you lead the poor man into your living room, hesitantly on his part, and led him down on your couch. Just walking into your kitchen to grab two white ceramic mugs, you hear him clear his throat.

“So, what’s going on?” You can feel his gaze on you as the first mug is filled with hot liquid, the steam coming from the filling mug as your brain thinks of what you should do. You switch mugs, taking out his mug for yours. You take a breath.

You’re in my house, and not in your multiverse.” Finally giving him some type of answer as his, at this point, huge bear paw-like hands, envelope the mug and took a small sip. You went to grab your mug as he commented on the choice of beverage you had given him.

“Hot Cocoa?” The question you as you at on the opposite side of the couch, holding what you liked to think, that at this moment was your liquid courage. You take a small sip and taste the liquid pooling into your body. You almost blush as you remembered the ‘CowBot’ episode where Eggman offered Sonic and Tails hot coco and messed with them, waiting for his machine to arrive.

“I thought you might like it.” You confess as he stairs back into his cup, pondering on his whole situation. He takes a breath and looks at you.

“Can you explain to me how I may have gotten here?” All you could do is nod as you start the long trek into the explanation of who is and on all of your knowledge on how he may have gotten here.

______________________________________________________________________________________________

The next few hours were, as you expected, emotional. You had to start with who you were, where he was, and leading him into the conversation that may or may not have caused way too much emotion for the both of you.

“So the main series follows Sonic and his friends, but mostly Sonic, throughout his adventures fighting his version of the doctor. There in the form of games.” He takes a sec and has a look that tells you to keep going. You explain all the story of how the franchise came to be from the nineties till the game you were kinda worried about. Sonic Adventure 2. You tell him the basic plot points and slowly explain how the Main Univers Doc’s Grandfather died along with his grandchild, Maira. He winces when you explain this and see that he’s shaking whenever the two popped up. When you explained that Shadow was made by his Grandfather, his mood perked up and he getting giddy and you have to admit, his cute squeal of figuring out that somewhere he could be related to one of the most powerful people on his island. You smile and after his cute reaction, keeps the conversation going with more information about the franchise. By the time you had reached the current point of the history of the franchise, the man had a lot of questions.

“So let me get this straight,” Eggman’s posture was lax as he was leaned back into the couch, making himself more at home for the time being. “You’re telling me that the main version of me has released a water monster god, a prototype of Shadow, that is a giant lizard, a god within the earth that’s made of darkness, and tried to play with time and space like it was a toy?” He questioned as he took another sip of his now lukewarm cup of cocoa, stroking his mustache pensively, looking at you for a reasonable answer on why he would do so. “Well the BioLizard thing wasn’t truly his fault, but the rest were planed. And I’m saying ‘planned’ with quotes because I don’t think for a second that he thought a few of those through.” You chuckle at the main Doc’s decisions. While you did think his plans were really good, sometimes you think he may have never really thought things through before going to start his plans. Doc downs the rest of his drink as you realized that your cup is still half full. He sets it on the counter in front of the two of you and leans back into your couch. You smile at the thought that he’s finally warming up to you. In all reality, he could take you down with a swing of his fist and run anytime, but having him trust you this much to serve him a drink and have a nice conversation did bring up some fuzzy feelings you have been trying to push down withing the last few hours.

“So I’m still confused, how did I get here?” Doc asks as he cracks his spin a bit to relax better. You take another sip of your dink and set your cup down. You look him in the eye with a bit of confusion. “I’m not sure. I just watch the DVD and you were the one to start seeing me, after the ending of your battle with Sonic and Tails, that white light appeared and you grabbed me before I fell off my bed.” You look towards him and blush a bit, your face now warm from the memory of the save. “Thank you for catching me, I don’t think a concussion would have helped the situation now, would it?” You try and make the small joke appealing to make it less awkward. He blushes and nods, a small ‘no problem’ slips from his lips as you can see he’s trying to not make eye contact and his cheeks, just slightly visible under his mustache, a small bit of warmth wraps around his cheeks. Your brain gets hit with a moment of clarity and you jump up from the couch and take a second to grab your DVD player from your room, bringing it back to him to study. “I’m not sure if this would help you get back home,” You start, “ But it’s a start.” You also hand him the note that came with the box along with the Sonic figure. He takes the figure first and rolls it over a bit, looking at the detail.

“So this figure and the note came along in the box with the DVDs?” He asked as he set the figure down as he grabbed the note. You blush and remember that wasn’t the only thing in the box. You almost had forgotten the figure of the living breathing man in front of you. You ask him to give you a second and hurry back to your room. Searching the room, you almost give up on finding the figure, until you spot it halfway under the bed. You bend over and grab the figure and examine it. It’s still the same figure, but less detailed now. It actually looks like how one of the box set figures is. Cheaply made and having a missing paint splotch here and there. It still was a good-looking figure though, just not as best made. You start your very slow pace back to the living room, taking a small bit of time to think about something. The Sonic figure was still the same as it was before the doctor arrived, why did the doctor change-. You stop mid-way in your hallway to finally piece a big puzzle together. The figure of the doctor was some type of catalyst for his arrival. Like a gateway to get here. ‘And now that the figure is back to normal, does that mean that the Sonic one-’ You didn’t finish that thought as you hurry back to the living room, the doctor just putting the not back onto the counter. He looks up as grabs the DVD player and sets it onto his lap. He smiles as you enter the room.

“ Hey, you ok?” He asks you as you sit back down next to him, gently grab the Sonic figure, cradling it with some care.

“I’m ok,” You answer with some melancholy in your voice. “It’s just that I’ve been thinking of something that just came to me.” You look over to him, Doc staring back, patiently waiting for you to continue. You take a breath and look him in the eyes. “The box set also came with a figure of you as well.” You explain as you gave him the small toy, his face going into a slight pout over the quality as he looks it over.

“I’m much more handsome than this.” He sulks over the craftsmanship of his figure compared to the one in your hand. You pat him on the back with your free hand, feeling him tense for a sec and then relax. You giggle at the line, remembering it from the 30th-anniversary comic. Your mood lightening up a bit at his reaction. “It was actually just as well made before you appeared in my room.” You explained as you rub your thumber gingerly over Sonic’s quills. Your mood dampens a bit. “I’m really thinking that the figure was the way-”

And a giant flash of white engulfed both of your eyesight. You scream as you feel a sense of weightlessness as you clutch the figure closer to you. Opening your eyes after that flashbang of light, as see that you’re in. You blink and take a look around. You try and gain a scene of where you were as you feel like you were falling down. You see Eggman trying his best not to scream as he is also in the same predicament as you. You look at this ‘tube’ as you decided to call it and take a look a the warping walls. They move with colors that remind you of the goop In Super Mario Sunshine. The colors of yellow, magenta, and white mixing together and making the whole experience feel like a trippy dip around a pipe. The tube had some slight aura to it as it was some type of fuzzy feeling in the back of your spine, not good but not unpleasant either. You look down past your now slightly screaming partner in crime to see a large warp ring that looked something right of the Sonic movie, looking to land right over some type of woods. You realized from the rate your accelerating from and the height from the ring to the ground would lead to more than a few broken bones.

Holding your breath and snaping your eyes closed as you wait for the pain to hit, the now cool air of the new land you arrived on pools into your skin as you want to feel at least a bit of joy knowing that right at the end, you feel cool. You never did feel the ground but instead a pair of arms holding you and the sensation of rocketing back up. Opening your eyes, you see Doc holding you again, having been lifted from the ground by two sleek black jetpack type of wings protruding from the back of his jacket. He looks down at you with a smirk and chuckles a bit.

“We have got to stop doing this.” He’s sarcastic, and the potential way of flirting, way of teasing sends you a bit more than tomato red in the face as you wonder if it’s the altitude of the comment that making it hard to think right at the moment. You almost didn’t hear him as he starts to talk.

“It looks like we’re flying over Seaside Island Jungle.” He starts to explain. “I’m going to fly us back to my lair and we can figure out from there what’s going on.” You look over his shoulder for a brief second to see the portal closing and finally dusting away with a puff of gold sparks. Looking back and see a breathtaking view, seeing the full grand scale of the island from up in the clouds. You can even start making out at sever locations from both seasons. You only think of what’s going to happen next when you see golden sparks emulate from your closed hands and feel a heavyweight in your arms and Doc quickly getting down to the ground, getting to be just at the end of ‘Nameless village’ as your reflexes grab on tightly to what you were holding onto. You both look down and see a very unconscious Sonic the Hedgehog in our arms. You look him over and inspect the teenager and see that he’s breathing, and in an ok shape. You look back at Doc and even he’s surprised by this addition to the group.

“Is he ok?”You question him as he gives Sonic a once over. You getting used to finally landing on the ground, stretching your legs after that small adventure.

‘He’ll be fine after some rest, but he looks exhausted.” Eggman questions as you scoop Sonic back up into your arms, being careful of his quills, making sure you don’t end up looking like a human banana peel. You look over at Doc and he looks like he’s, and you have to look a bit more closely at his expression because he looks, jealous? You ponder on that thought that the man might be jealous of the unconscious blue blur as the both of you set off into town, wondering where to go from here.

“Hey!” You hear a cry from in front of the, three? of you. You look up and see four multi-colored anthropomorphic animals. “What did the two of you do to Sonic?” Cried the two-tailed Kitsune. You see all three, with the exception of Amy, who at this point is trying to stop the trio, of Sonic’s friends close in around you. You give a panicked look to Doc as it dawned on you that Doc and yourself were about to be attacked by Tails, Knuckles, and Sticks.

Shit.

[honouredsatoru]

JJK Characters x You on a date

notes : I tried including Gojo's love for Digimon since I also grew up watching Digimon and loving the anime with all of my heart, also because Gojo's seiyuu, both Japanese and English versions, voiced for characters in Digimon, so I wanna pay homage to the both of them. other than that, I also included my love for arts and history, something I tried to incorporate into my writing, just to make it like.. lilith's style, ya know?

extra notes : also I wrote megumi for Elli, just because haha.

warnings : slight cussing. not proofread lol. other than that, none. 100% fluff!

characters : gojo satoru, fushiguro megumi, kugisaki nobara, nanami kento, itadori yuji.

Gojo Satoru - Arcades, vintage shops, especially collectors, especially Digimon, comic book/manga stores.

[Your name]! [Your name!]! Look, look! It's the Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 series! All 9 of them! Let's get in!"

"Ahh hold on. Towu! We're supposed to visit the cat cafe, you promised that you would go with me and take pictures with the cat hairband on! And I'm starving!"

You jokingly scowled at him, tapping your Doc Martens feet on the ground, arms folding.

"Fucking adorable. Let me see if I can tease her more, hah." A smirk soon appeared on this blue-eyed darling of yours.

"Let me get the manga and I promise, I'll go to this cat cafe with you, baby. Hm?"

"Oh alright."

"I love you, sweetheart. I know how much you wanted to go there but the manga. I- ahaaaa"

He started pouting as he kept pointing in the direction of the Digimon manga by the window. You quickly opened your camera, taking pictures of him sulking, emitting a soft giggle that actually made his heart squeezed with joy.

He presses his lips against your forehead, thumb circling your cheek, gently squishing them before opening the door, yanking you into the comic book store with him. You vowed to hide the comic books once he goes on a mission. After all, he made you wait a month before the two of you finally get to go to this cafe you always wanted to visit.

"Baby, I can read what you're thinking. Your face shows it too. Hehe. Watch me hide your panties."

Taking in a few gulps of air to deepen your breath, you opened your eyes, to meet the love of your life's own eyes, snickering at you, his large hands on the crown of your head before ruffling your already messy hair. There is no way you can stay mad at this man, as childish as he is, you know he loves you and deep down? He knows you love him too.

Itadori Yuji - Thrift stores, internet cafes to play online games with you, cinemas.

"Candy! [Your name] love! Don't! Make! Me! Ahhh cover up for me! I am gonna lose! I am gonna-"

He turns around to face you with soft eyes, his eyebrows slightly droopy before looking back at the computer, taking in the seconds in his head to register the fact that he lost in his mission with you in Inferno.

"Awww sorry babe. I mean.. you just started playing CSGO, so tell me, why- again- damn it- you wanna- AH. Damn it! Throw the fucking grenade! I mean why you wanna play this game, you need more practice- FUCK YOU."

Gentle chuckles were heard, emitted from his throat, his soft, peach toned lips landed on your cheek repeatedly as he rubbed soothing circles around your back.

"Breathe, bunny baby. You're so feisty whenever you start having online matches. Breathe. I love you, and I don't want you to get your blood pressure rising because of these dumbos, hm?"

Your lips curl into a faint and appreciative smile, nodding while your eyes are glued to the screen, ignoring the fading laughs and snickers from the people acknowledging your mini rage.

"I love you too. If I win, I'm getting us boba and chicken nuggets. So let me fight them, okie?"

"Yes ma'am!"

Megumi - Museums, art galleries, photo exhibitions, aesthetic cafes.

"Oh Gumi bear, look at that! That is the Raft of Medusa, it was done by Thèodore Géricault, he himself interviewed two survivors from the shipwreck."

He looks over your eyes that shine with excitement and pure happiness.

"Art"

Was what he thought every time he laid his sight onto you. God knows that he falls in love with you every single time he is blessed with your presence. Resting his arm around your waist, pulling you closer, inhaling the scent of mixed berries and wild roses, he swore he heard his heartbeat increasing every two seconds in a span of one minute.

"Oh really? What do you think this painting is all about?"

Glancing at him before returning to the painting, you puffed your cheeks, pressing your lips together with your index finger curled on your chin and your thumb under it.

"Lord, she is so cute whenever she does that. Can I kiss her? Should I? No wait, she's trying to tell me her own interpretation of this painting. To me. Oh wow. I'm gonna kiss her... later. I can't interrupt her." That is all he could think of. You. He is deeply, madly, beautifully in love with you.

"In my opinion, it tells me the ways of how men, or human beings, seek out in order to survive. When we are at the brink of desperation, insanity, happiness, greed, lust, desire, wrath, grief, don't we all do things unimaginable to help us go through the day? They even resolved to cannibalism. I think even I would commit to that if I was in an extremely dire situation."

You looked at him, a wide smile on your face, emitting a soft giggle that entered his right ear and stayed within the chambers of his mind. He closed the spaces between the both of you, sealing his lips onto yours, with the intention of making this very moment last a little longer heavy within his heart.

"Art."

Was what you thought of him.

Nanami Kento - Theatres, historical museums, fine dining restaurants.

You squealed, lightly clapping your hands as you ran to a block of marble, your foot tapping against the floor. He chuckles, hands in his pocket, taking fast strides towards you.

"Namnam! Look look! That's the Parthenon Sculptures! It was founded in hm... Athens, yes! If I am not mistaken, around 438 to 432 BC. These sculptures decorated the insides of the Parthenon, it is a temple located at the fortress of the Athenian Acropolis. It is said that this temple was built to appreciate and worship the Goddess Athena, she was the deity worship in Athens. Also, ah ah! Did you know that the word parthénos means "maiden", "girl" or ‘virgin"? And I-"

You look at him, your magnificent lover wearing a dark brown trench coat, with ecru brown trousers and a black turtleneck tucked in, his neck layered with white gold necklaces. Your hand unconsciously scratches your sideburns, giggling at the side of his stoic expression, eyes piercing yours beneath that yellow-green glasses he constantly has on his chiseled face.

"Oh... I am sorry... I didn't mean to bore you. I was just so excited because you know me! I love anything that is related to ancient greek history and mythology. I can't seem to get enough of it and it is absolut-

"I'm not bored, [your name]. I was just paying attention to every single word that pretty lips of yours uttered. It's magnificent that you knew all of this. It shows just how smart, curious, bright your mind and soul is. And darling?"

"Huh?"

"I am lucky to be blessed with someone like you. With Gojo constantly following me, there is no way I can read the books I bought for myself. However, having you around, breaking the ice with your random history tib bits, I feel like I am reading the pages, savouring each word, alphabet, sentence, thus expanding my quest and love for knowledge."

You looked down. Normally, you're not the type to tear up this easily but seeing how this man, this angel of a man, appreciates the little things you loved and adored, you can't help but let the waterworks out. You lifted your head up to meet his gaze, the tip of your nose slightly stuffy. You grabbed his arms, clinging onto him, the difference of height and size makes it sweet to the eyes of strangers surrounding you both.

"Oh Namnam. Thank you so much. This means the world to me. Shall we... go and see the best of Ramesses the Great? I've loads to tell you!"

Nobara - Shopping malls, ferry rides, beach dates, parks with cherry blossoms.

"Baby... tell me, have you ever seen anything as joyous as the ocean?"

You two stood by the seashore, fingers intertwined, your head resting on her shoulders, the sound of the seas splashing against the rocks and the warmth around your foot, it tingled but it feels good at the same time.

"I don't want this moment to end, [your name]."

"Why is that, pretty one?"

A faint sigh leaves her lips, you feeling her body loosen up.

"I just.. school is sort of stressful so my time spent with you liberates me from the pressure, fatigue, and image of curses embedded in my brain. Walking with you... through this airy womb of skies and clouds, don't you know it makes me happy?"

You leaned closer, pressing a soft peck on her cheeks, earning yourself a pair of scarlet cheeks with a gorgeous smile from the one next to you. You turned yourself to face her, hands on her shoulders, bringing her body closer to yours.

"Whenever and wherever you need me, I will be there. I might not be perfect, but I am gonna do my best to be the one you can always count on."

You pressed a kiss on her left cheek.

"I love you."

A kiss on her right cheek.

"I love you."

A kiss to the lips of the woman whom you shared your entire universe with.

"To the moon and back, I love you, Kugisaki Nobara."

The end.

tags : @tojisveryown @sookyshima @megumifushi @sixeyesgojo @sirthisisa-wendys @sasso-oda @fushigurocockslut @nkogneatho @kotarousgf @noritoshiikamo

[maxwell-grant]

Jumping off from my previous question/suggestion, might I please ask if there are any superheroes you think would make fine Pulp Villains and any Supervillains you think would make convincing Pulp Heroes?

I'm gonna go ahead and remark that I'd personally suggest to anyone who's trying to create pulp characters inspired by superheroes (which would be probably about 90% of you who may want to do that sort of thing) to flip the script around a little. As in, don't try to create pulp analogues to the Justice League/Avengers upfront, but play around with some of the lesser-known icons and filter those through your idea of what “pulp” means (which is gonna be quite different than my own or anyone else’s). 

I’m not gonna really mention characters I’ve already talked about before like Vandal Savage or Namor, instead I’ll pick new ones and see what can be highlighted about them.

Regarding “Superheroes who could make fine/convincing Pulp Villains”, even though he’s a character I've read basically nothing on, Martian Manhunter definitely leaped out to me as an obvious option. He’s a Sci-Fi Superman who takes the first half of the name to an extreme that borders on comical, except he’s not a square-jawed white man, he’s a 1.000 year old green alien from Mars with shapeshifting powers who can look as monstrous as the artist desires. He’s the product of an advanced civilization and genetic modification, and on top of the Flying Brick powerset and shapeshifting, he also has incredibly powerful and extensive telepathic abilities, he can become invisible, phaze through matter, use telekinesis and other weird abilities. A lot of pulp stories closer to sci-fi were based around the idea of taking one of these abilities and extrapolating horrific consequences for them, and J’onn has those by the dozens. He also has an extremely mundane weakness that would allow him to be beaten by Macready with a blowtorch if that’s where the story ended.

He was also a law enforcement officer from Mars who became a police detective and it’s even right there in his name, and again, I have never read anything he’s in (I should probably pick the Orlando mini), I know he’s for all intents and purposes a generally nice man who tends to job a lot in crossovers and cartoons, but the idea of taking all those great vast and horrifying alien powers, combining all of them into a single character who also happens to be the last survivor of a doomed planet (and one who actually lived through it’s collapse), and then making that character a former cop trying to resume his work on Earth? 

That is a Pulp Supervillain begging to happen, and a particularly horrifying one at that. And hey, speaking of The Thing-

Now, Plastic Man’s potential for horror has already been explored quite a bit in some of the darker DC continuities like Injustice and DCeased, and it’s quite funny seeing a lot of these turn Plastic Man into The Thing because there were quite a handful of Wold Newton pages that ran with the idea that Macready from the original story was Doc Savage, and that the secret chemicals that Eel O’Brian was hit by that gave him his powers were actually samples of The Thing contained in one of Savage’s labs. Regardless, the idea of a former street crook suddenly gaining bizarre shapeshifting abilities that allow him to reign terror on his gangster associates could make for a great premise as a pulp crime story that veers into horror as the gangsters gradually figure out what is Eel O’Brian’s deal, and then the story can take a more tragic turn.

The thing about Jack Cole’s Plastic Man that modern takes on the character neglect is that, while Plas was a lively roguish anti-hero (arguably the first of it’s kind in comics), he’s still for intents and purposes “the straight man” (HA, right, Plastic Man being “straight”). He’s the relatively sane hero who plays off Woozy’s wackier misadventures and the imaginative madness that Jack Cole paints his adventures with, and it makes for an interesting contrast considering Plastic Man is already a weird character, having to ramp up the strangeness of the world around him so that he still remains the sane man. There are ways to twist this into something quite horrifying, even tragic for Plastic Man as he either struggles to maintain coherency, or embraces the shifting chaos the world’s spiraling into for better or worse (and definitely for the worse towards those on the receiving end of his vengeance, or even his humor).

Now, onto the flipside, regarding Supervillains that could become Pulp Heroes -

Normally I’d not mention the Batman villains here, because I already have a lot to talk about in regards to them as is, they comprise some of my favorite comic characters, but I pretty much have to make an exception for Two-Face in this topic, as not only a pretty obvious option but one with even case studies to prove it, as not only do we have The Black Bat, a 1930s costumed pulp hero with an identical origin story and several other conceptual overlaps with Batman, as well as The Whisperer, a young hotshot police commissioner who dresses up as a disfigured vigilante to kill criminals without consequence (and who’s somehow less of a maniacal asshole in his secret identity than in his regular one), but it turns out that there actually was a 1910s pulp hero called The Two-Faced Man:

Crewe was created by “Varick Vanardy,” the pseudonym of Frederic van Rensselaer Dey (Nick Carter, Doctor Quartz), and appeared in three short stories and two novels and short story collections from 1914 to 1919, beginning with “That Man Crew” (The Cavalier, Jan. 24, 1914). 

Crewe is “The Two-Faced Man.” 

He is in his forties and has gray hair and a “sharply cut and handsome profile—until one caught a view of the other side of his face and saw the almost hideous blemish that nearly covered it, and which graduated in corrugated irregularity from a delicate pink to repulsive purple.” 

Crewe is two-faced in another way. Crewe is a saloon owner in below Washington Square. But he has another identity: Birge Moreau, portraitist and socialite hanger-on. Crewe uses both his identities to solve crimes as an amateur detective.

The only person to know about both of Crewe’s identities is a police inspector who is also Crewe’s friend and who Crewe helps in pressing cases - The Encyclopedia of Pulp Heores by Jess Nevins

And speaking of obvious picks for Supervillains turned Pulp Heroes,

Assuming I even need to make a case for Kraven the Hunter other than just presenting this cropped panel from Squirrel Girl and in particular the art painted on the Kra-Van, or even just telling you to read Squirrel Girl and it’s take on “The Unhuntable Sergei” (I had no idea most of the people saying “Kraven’s arc in Squirrel Girl is as good if not better than Kraven’s Last Hunt” weren’t actually joking in the slightest and I speak as someone who has Kraven among their absolute favorite Marvel characters, it had no right being that good), I’m going to quote the brilliant Rogue’s Review from The Mindless Ones that lays down in painstaking detail why Kraven could make a killer protagonist in that horrifically over-the-top pulp fashion

One thing that strikes me writing this, is how well Kraven could hold his own comic. There’s always room for a book spotlighting a ruthless, hardcore, gentleman bastard, and Kraven’s raison d’etre makes him supremely versatile, so well suited to any genre, any environment. It’s odd that more writers haven’t jumped on the fact that in a universe where off-world travel is possible – indeed, common – a hunter like Kraven would have a field day. 

I can just imagine the opening scene – herds of weird cthuloid bat creatures grazing in the gloomy green nitrogen fields, bathed in lethal, bone splintering fog, when, suddenly, LIGHT! from above and an unholy bellowing: “CTHGRGN fthgrgnARAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHGN!”

They look up in fear and then they start to run – ploughing into and over each other, tentacles flailing, as from the space-ship’s docking bay Kraven silently plummets, barely dressed for the cold, a glowing knife smothered in elder signs jammed between his teeth. 

You should have seen him one night previous, sipping alien tokay around the Captain’s table with the other guests, discussing the morning’s hunt; and the way he insulted the Skrull dignitary by forgetting himself and accidentally sporting his favourite piece of formal wear: his boiling unstable dinner-jacket of many colours, fashioned from the hide of one of the Ambassador’s super kinsmen.

Whoops!

Midway through Kraven explaining how the best way to irreparably damage a symbiote is to wait until its bonded with you and then seriously maim yourself, the Skrull decided it might be a good idea to simmer down, while his beautiful Inhuman lover hung on every word.

The deeper I get into this the more convinced I am that the MU’s hunter-killer extraordinaire wouldn’t limit himself to bloody planet Earth. And neither would he limit himself to this dimension, or universe or timeline. The guy’d be just as at home leaping, sword raised, onto the back of a T-Rex in the Savage Land, as he would be ploughing through werewolves in the graveyards of Arkham or tracking a howling Demon across Mephistopheles’ realm. 

He’d work perfectly in all these environments because he has a damn good reason to be casting a bloody swathe through them: wherever there’s big game, you’ll find Kraven.

The next choice I guess is an oddball, but not that much of an oddball if you know already what is my main frame of reference towards Marvel

I don’t think people appreciate enough that the main reason Shuma-Gorath has anything resembling a fanbase has nothing whatsoever to do with the comics he was in, but entirely because, when Capcom designers had a list of Marvel characters to pick from to work on Marvel Super Heroes, they took a look at the diet Cthulhu and went “gimme THAT one”, and then went all-in in giving the alien squid monster a funky personality along with a great stage and music and animations and all that great fighting game character stuff, and now he’s maybe the most popular Dr Strange villain along with Dormammu and Mordo, despite having ZERO film appearences or major showings in comic sagas.

Capcom's designers redefined Shuma-Gorath from a nebulous cosmic evil into a comically smug cartoon bastard who can rant about devouring all dimensions and souls horrifically while also cracking poses and zingers like “How do you expect to win a fight with only two arms?” and having dinners with Dhalsim or hosting Japanese game shows in his endings, and it kills me that none of this ever made it’s way into any depictions of the character outside of MvC. 

So that’s kinda what I’d go with. I’d take Capcom’s Shuma-Gorath, depower him a bit obviously from his canonical power, and run with the premise of his MvC3 ending where he decides that, well, if he's the unlikely savior of this pathetic planet and these wretched human dogs like him so much, and he’s clearly having a much better time here among them than he ever had drifting among the stars cealessly consuming life, then maybe he can take a break from all that eldritch business and keep up hosting the Super Monster Awesome Hour and maybe fight whatever PITIFUL villains think can take HIS planet. I mean, he’ll probably still end up destroying the planet by the end, but why not give this hero business a try?

Just until he gets his full powers back of course. 

I mean you can’t deny he DOES look pretty good in that bowtie, surely The Great Shuma-Gorath wouldn’t be so unmerciful as to deny these vile wastes of flesh something good to look at in their brief and miserable lives.

[docockbrainrot]

i think i want you (to leave)

Summary: We’re all running from something. Sometimes, metaphorically. Sometimes, literally. Literally running, from the very strangely hypnotizing supervillain that seems hellbent on ruining every bit of your life he can get all eight of his limbs on.

Pairing: Doc Ock X Reader/ Otto Octavius X Reader

Content: Slow Burn, NSFW eventually, 18+

AO3 link here.

Previous Chapter

Chapter 5

anathema// former vandal

The next several days are an uneventful blur. You barely leave your apartment, except for brief dog walks and grabbing food from the bodega across the street.

It’s 9 pm on Saturday and you’re fresh out of the shower, tucked away in a very fuzzy robe, lounging on the couch and watching YouTube on your television. You almost miss the subtle taptaptaptap sound coming from your window, you're so engrossed in the cooking show you’ve been binging. Gotta fill the void somehow, right?

You can’t see anything outside from where you’re sitting. The lights are on and make it impossible to peer through the reflections on the glass. Maybe it’s a bird. Or a branch is caught on the fire escape. Either way, you certainly can’t be assed to check it out and you take another sip of your chamomile tea- you’ve been trying everything under the sun, just about short of literally snorting lines of melatonin, to try to sleep better at night. Nothing’s been working. But you have been making a very valiant effort.

A few moments go by and you forget all about the window disturbance until,

TAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAPTAP.

It’s jarring. It’s loud. Above all else, it’s annoying. Chekov spares you a look, like you’re the one making a racket. Effectively exasperated, you make an effort to set, not slam, down your mug, feeling decidedly not Calm and Relaxed as the tea promised. Suppose it’s not miracle shit though, is it? You would not be a good candidate for a horror movie because you fearlessly storm over to the window and throw it open (it wasn’t locked in the first place; you’re quite terrible at remembering to). You stick your head out and glower at whatever irritating mischief is happening out here, ready to rip the fire escape off the side of the brick building.

You’re greeted by something cold and hard (and indubiously metal, judging by how it felt against your sternum) shoving you back into your apartment, sending you sprawling unceremoniously to the hardwood floor. A string of profanities ready to leave your tongue, you sit up and adjust your robe in an attempt to preserve a modicum of your modesty. The rant dies in your throat as red eyed claws grip the threshold of your pre-war window and it’s almost comical the way He maneuvers himself in, far too large to be making these sorts of entrances. Standing up to his full height before you while you’re still sitting dumbfounded on the floor reminds you of just how impressively built he is. You manage to pick your jaw up, but your ass remains firmly planted on the wood.

“Uh… you could have just used the buzzer, dude. I have a front door, you know,” you sputter out, brain blitzing in pretty much every way possible. Your thoughts are racing and eventually they settle on the most important thing you can think to ask in that moment: “... Why aren’t you wearing a shirt.” You can't help the way your eyes are drawn to his broad chest, gaze lingering on the vast scarring that spills out from the metal contraption clamped around his midsection.

Otto very graciously closes the window behind himself. Or at least his little robot accomplices do it for him. You still aren’t sure what’s going on with that- the whole AI thing. Not even a blip on your radar of concerns at this point. “Didn’t want anyone to see me come in. Your building has a camera on the front, facing the street.”

“That’s why you’re shirtless?” You ask dumbly. Interesting method of camouflage. “What? No- what? It doesn’t matter- listen to me. I need you to do something for me. A small favor.”

He doesn’t seem to notice the compromised position he put you in. Typical. Gathering up your broken pride, you get up and tighten the tie of your robe a bit. It isn’t until then that he has the decency to look a smidge embarrassed and you hope you didn't just give him a free show on your way to getting to your feet. “You literally just broke into my apartment and now you’re asking for a favor? We barely know each other!”

“Less complicated when there's nothing personal involved yet, plus- you let me in,” he corrects you. You wish he would stop doing that. You wish he would stop meeting with you like this, under weird and mysterious circumstances. Even though it's only been like twice. You're already over it.

“You threw me across the room!”

“Touche.”

Otto does not apologize and you did not sincerely expect him to. The look on his face reads more like the cat that got the canary than regretful. You feel as though you’ve come to recognize that expression on his face and you also feel as though you don’t much like the fact that you’ve enough encounters with this man that you can recognize a damn thing about him. “What… could you possibly need me to do for you? I am not robbing a bank.” You just want to get that out into the open as soon as possible.

“I don’t need your help robbing a bank,” he snorts as if the idea is preposterous and you take a moment to feel insulted. Wow. Okay. You could totally rob a bank if you wanted to. Deciding to not comment on your wounded ego, you let him get to the point. Otto pulls something out of his inner coat pocket. It's some kind of rolled up paper and you think at first maybe it's a newspaper or magazine. He unfurls it onto the coffee table and holds it open with two metal claws on either side so it doesn't ravel itself back up.

You realize it's a blueprint. "This is… Oscorp," you point out stupidly, brow furrowing in confusion. There's levels to what's happening here. Layers upon layers, melding together with rot and decay and you can all but smell it. But there's something missing, something that would tie all of the wackjob shit that's been happening to you and around you together. It feels like when you have a very particular thought and then walking into another room makes it dissolve from your head. You're trying to grasp for it, to fit the puzzle pieces together, but it's just out of reach.

"Yes. It is. I have a small task I need you to do," Otto starts off, metal phalanges pushing his glasses up onto the top of his head as he looks over at you. For the first time, you can see his eyes in the light. The warm amber feels like a mockery- you have seen his cruelty in action.

"Where did you get this?"

"Does it matter?" Of course he'd say that.

Your fingertips brush against the metaphorical wayward chain link. It's right there. You just have to grab it and pull it back to you, like the anchor of a ship before it can set sail.

He's talking. You aren't listening. He's tracing a finger over the schematics. You don't see it. Realization washes over you in a heart-dropping tsunami. The voicemail you got from Oscorp plays like a broken record in your mind. 'Hello, Y/N. We're calling in regards to your employment status here at Oscorp. Unfortunately, due to a breach of security, we are having to make staffing cuts and are going to have to let you go. We appreciate your time and effort and wish you the best of luck in your next endeavor.' It didn't make sense at the time. A lot of things didn't. You replay the scene of poor David, desperately pleading for his life at the hands of the man hunched over here, just in your living room. You mentally re-run it over and over like bad 80s sitcoms on late night television.

"Lab Coat Guy…"

You don't realize you whispered it out loud until Otto goes silent.

"What?"

You slowly look at him and take a single step backwards, shaking your head. The company embroidered on David's lab coat hadn't been clear to you in the moment- but it's crystal in hindsight. Oscorp. "You got me fired." Your tone is flat, until anger flashes through you, like a streak of lightning through a dark, moonless sky, illuminating all of things that didn’t make sense before.

"It doesn't matter. What I need you to do-" He's so nonchalant, so blasé that it only stokes the embers of frustration until there's a roaring blaze burning beneath your skin. It's all about him, what he needs, what he wants. He has the nerve, the audacity, to keep traipsing into your life, kicking you while you're down and then ask for favors? You want to say all of that to him but unfortunately for you, you're an angry crier. Your outburst of bravery at him the last time you saw each other had surprised even you- but now there's so much more emotion roiling around inside you.

"No. No, no. Fuck you. You got me fired! I can't- I can't not have a job, I have to pay rent! You could get me arrested for just talking to you!" Oscorp had you canned to tie up any potential loose ends before anymore Davids could slip through the cracks. You think about how scared the poor dude must have been, threatened into stealing blueprints from the biggest corporation in the city, for one of the most infamous criminals. You don't know how they found out you were even remotely involved and you don't want to know.

Tears are streaming down your cheeks and once the floodgates have opened you're very familiar with how long it's going to take to close them again. After all you've been bottling this up since you found out, too disappointed to even tell any of your friends or family.

Otto appears taken aback, to say the least. He even looks like he's at a loss for words; that's a first. You know he could kill you where you stand in the blink of an eye, but in that moment you don’t even care. You’ve been trying so hard for so long to get on your feet, to do things for yourself and get away from the past. You moved across the country, you left everything behind, you got a damn dog. It seems like every time you manage to take a step forward in life, you’re knocked flat on your ass, apparently literally sometimes. It isn’t fair. Things don’t come easily to you, you’ve always had to work for them. You aren’t wealthy, you aren’t a supergenius, you’re just… you. The job at Oscorp was good money and you really felt like you were getting your shit together for a while.

“They’re not who you think they are,” he says finally, so calmly, with such carefulness about his words, that you sniffle pathetically and look up at him. He doesn’t look nearly as pleased with himself as you thought he might. And here you’ve been, under the impression that he gets off on hurting people. “Oscorp. I’m not… I’m not just doing this for me. You have to understand that.”

The schematics are furled up and tucked away. You make the mistake of meeting his eyes. Maybe it’s just the tears that blur your vision, but you swear you see a softness there before they’re hidden away again by his glasses.

He lingers at the window.

“I hope you’ll reconsider.” And then he was making his exit, even taking care to gently close the window on the way out. But he raps on the glass with his knuckles from where he stands on the fire escape and you know the look of confusion on your tear-streaked face speaks for itself. Otto points to the latches on the window. ‘Lock it.’ He mouths before he’s gone, presumably to wreak havoc and harass other unsuspecting young women that don’t want anything to do with him.

You thought everything had come together- but the more sense you make of it, the less you seem sure of the bigger picture. You aren't even sure exactly what he wanted you to do.

You’re left with an endless bounty of questions, and not enough answers to satisfy any of them.

[queenofdawson]

I posted 155 times in 2022

That's 155 more posts than 2021!

13 posts created (8%)

142 posts reblogged (92%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@pick-and-shovel-laborer

@trencri

@leaderintitleonly

@sisipck

@gcldbound

I tagged 148 of my posts in 2022

Only 5% of my posts had no tags

#goldie o'gilt - 82 posts

#scrooge and goldie - 39 posts

#scroldie - 34 posts

#scrooge mcduck - 33 posts

#the king of the klondike- scrooge ❤️ - 31 posts

#;queenofdawson - 30 posts

#queenofdawson - 29 posts

#rp meme - 16 posts

#classic goldie: comics - 14 posts

#rp memes - 14 posts

Longest Tag: 94 characters

#✘჻     v  /     the     train     yard     ghost.

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Hello Internet! Goldie O Gilt here! Apparently all the cool cats are online these days, so I’m giving it a shot! And of course, to shamelessly flirt with Scrooge! So send a gal your questions, I’m here all night folks!

{Hi Mun here! So this will be a Goldie ask/RP blog. Mostly Scroldie but I am willing to multiship/multimuse, it’s all different universes though! You have your choice between classic Goldie (a mixture of 87 and Comics Goldie, with a hint of canon divergence for the kick of it) or 17 Goldie! Say Classic or Blondie to have the difference or it will be random, unless previously requested! May go semi NSFW but we’ll see!}

4 notes - Posted May 1, 2022

#4

"Goldie, C---n't trust ---- mine ---gin. ------ away. Don't ---- ----ck. ----ve ----n. - Doc" It's covered in dirt and the words are smudged. (Upsetting Anon)

Goldie stood there in shock before struggling to try to get the mud off. It was a fruitless effort, however, she got the idea. Doc was breaking up with her.

Originally, she was hoping it was some kind of message to stay away from the mines, but she supposed they just weren’t meant to be. Doc was a kind and generous man who deserved the world but never took more than he needed. She was an infamous miner who once stole from the Richest Duck in the world. Story of her life, it was fine.

The old woman then took a deep breath before going back inside, putting the paper on her table to let it dry. In a desperate last stand to hopefully hear words that she was wrong about, she left Doc a message on his phone about the letter and what had happened, sent a same day letter inquiring if he was breaking up with her or what his message was (probably a break up, she thought to herself).

Once the hen had finished all that, she simply walked to her room and fell onto her bed, finally bursting into tears on her pillows. She knew no one could ever love her, but for once she got her hopes up! Guess a golden girl like me isn’t meant for love, she thought to herself as she drifted into a fitful slumber.

( @leaderintitleonly, don’t shoot me! Shoot the anon!)

5 notes - Posted August 29, 2022

#3

🛒

Comics Goldie:

50 Inch Flat Screen,

White Sofa,

36 Inch Flat Screen.

87:

12 Gauge Shotgun Slugs,

Paper,

Pens.

17:

New Lingerie,

Ticket to Duckburg,

Map for Treasure in Barcelona.

5 notes - Posted June 4, 2022

#2

Goldie...is that you?

Play dumb! “Who’s Goldie?” Not that dumb!

As much as she wanted to admit who she was to Scrooge, this entire situation sucked enough as it was. She didn’t want to drag him of all people into her problems. Hopefully, he’d buy her terrible excuse for a lie (darn child being bad after the loss of adult lying techniques! They just don’t work the same!)

7 notes - Posted August 16, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

This is a regulatory scheduled message from your favorite Goldie Network, from Silver (Comics Goldie) and Glitter (87 Goldie)!

“What’s with all the racquet?! Geez, it sounds like an avalanche out there today?”

{And of course Blondie (17 Goldie) is merely taking advantage of the chaos everywhere to steal some awesome treasure. You do you Blondie!}

7 notes - Posted June 27, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[thetriggeredhappy]

(I love all of your writings) one of Scout's voice lines literally broke my heart. The one in the Birthday mode which said that no one came to his birthday :"((( the fact that he called everyone his best friends make it sadder. Can you write about that a little bit. I know that you have written about his birthday before but can you do one more pleaseeeeeee

birthday boy time

(warnings for alcohol mention, mention of violence, and injury)

-

“Happy birthday, lad,” Demo greeted, clapping him on the shoulder as he passed by. Scout lit up, calling back a greeting in return.

Call him a sap, but he hadn’t quite given up on having fun birthdays yet. He’d heard it a hundred times from most of the rest of the team, that you stop focusing so much on your birthday when you get older, but not this guy. Scout was determined to actually have a nice birthday.

That being said, he knew by then, after those first few years working with the team, that they had a bit of a history of not necessarily being 100% on board with doing a whole thing purely because someone was a year older, and he mostly settled for bugging some of the team into going out for drinks or ordering a bunch of pizza and playing board games, stuff like that. A hundred times more low-key than what he’d do if they were in Boston, but hey, he took what he could get, and it usually ruled anyways.

To be honest, he didn’t even really have plans that year. He’d said as much when he was asked earlier that week. It was the middle of the week, not all that close to the weekend, so going out with everyone was pretty much off the table, as was getting drunk considering they all had work the day after. He was gonna head into town and get himself a gift, that was most of his plan, maybe hang out with everyone later on too. He’d been saving his money for a while, a just-in-case fund that he’d been working on for a few years, a luxury he didn’t have growing up, and didn’t tend to spend much money on himself outside of snack food and Bonk and sometimes comic books or little things like that. It would be nice to get himself something he really liked. That alone was plenty of excitement. Not an adrenaline kind, just a regular, nice sort of thing.

Overall, he was honestly just thrilled that apparently everyone actually remembered this year, greeted all morning by similar casual “hey, happy birthday”s, including a particularly excited one from Pyro, who hugged him and spun him in a few circles outright. He had plenty of time next year to do some really sick birthday stuff, but overall, he was just gonna chill out, treat himself for once, and relax.

-

“Alright everyone,” the Engineer said grimly, half an hour previously, casting a look around the room. “Here’s the plan.”

The team minus their fastest member were all gathered around the debriefing table, and this time, rather than Miss Pauling with official orders or Soldier with the latest new strategy, it was the Engineer standing up front holding a piece of chalk.

“We’ve been over this, Toymaker, twice weekly all month,” Demo drawled, rolling his eye.

“I know that, but this is important,” he stressed.

“It is true,” Heavy rumbled, nodding solemnly. “This is big deal.”

“We can’t afford to let this one get mucked up considering our history,” the Engineer said firmly. “Every year it’s somethin’. This year we aren’t taking any chances, especially after that catastrophe last year.”

A groan from the team as they collectively remembered. A nod from the Engineer.

“We’re lucky Firebug was the one to ask why Scout was in the kitchen combing the cabinets and not one of us, otherwise he would’ve found out for sure. If he knew we all forgot his birthday, it would crush him,” he said emphatically. The team looked embarrassed as a whole, while Pyro looked particularly mortified. “And we can’t just buy the damn kid a few pizzas and hand him alcohol like that was the plan again this year.”

“Fortunately for all of you, I’ve been so generous as to look into a few things,” Spy piped in, pausing to take a drag from his cigarette.

“As if you won’t take any excuse to snoop,” Sniper mumbled, and was glared at.

“I resent that remark,” Spy scoffed. “Regardless. I happen to know that we’re in luck, and that Scout is planning to go into town for a short period of time this afternoon. For what purpose, I’m not sure. But it should mean we have plenty of time to set everything up.”

“I trust you all have gifts ready?” Medic asked, and received a general murmur of agreement, and made a check on the paper he had attached to a clipboard. “Ja, ja, that is good. Herr Demoman, Pyro, you are done with your baking?”

“Cake is baked, iced, and decorated,” Demo nodded, Pyro giving a thumbs up of agreement.

“Soldier, how are decorations?”

“Acquired and prepared for deployment!” Soldier barked, holding up a hand in salute.

“Doc, Heavy, you two were meant to run interference,” the Engineer said, and the two nodded. “With that not a worry, how about you help with the cooking and decorating?”

“Heavy can do this,” Heavy agreed, and Medic nodded as well, jotting down a few notes on his clipboard.

“And the snake was gonna help with anything that went wrong, and Sniper, you were gonna help with headed into town for anything we needed last minute,” the Engineer said, and received nods from the two of them.

“Do we need anything so far?” Sniper asked.

“No, we’re fine for now. And I’ve got my own setup handled,” the Engineer said, and nodded a few times to himself. “Alright. Sounds like we’re golden.”

“Ja, very good. Herr Spy, would you keep an eye on Scout and let the rest of us know when we can begin getting ready?” Medic asked.

“Obviously,” Spy said.

“Alright. Now go on, get, he’ll be wondering why we’re all running late, act natural,” the Engineer said, shooing them all from the conference room.

-

Later that day after battle was over, Spy dispersed news not long later that Scout had gotten changed into civvie clothes and gone into town on his bike, and they all leapt into action. Within half an hour, the decorations were ready, streamers and balloons in every direction, the table unfolded from their storage (only used when they needed to seat the entire team, which wasn’t often) and was set up with the cake, ready to have candles lit, the presents were stacked neatly, the Engineer had set up the new sound system he’d been working on (put into crunch time to have ready for the occasion), everything was set up and perfect. The only thing they still needed was Scout.

They settled in to wait, knowing town was a good twenty minutes away, thirty if he was headed to the better one. By the time he found everyone, Spy said that it had been about ten minutes, and they took around thirty to set everything up, meaning that Scout would probably be at least another ten minutes, maybe as much as half an hour. Spy would keep his eyes open and warn them when he came back, but in the meantime, they could relax while they waited.

In the meantime, Soldier and Demo attempted a few ‘finishing touches’ (putting party hats on his more docile raccoons and setting out some firecrackers and sparklers, respectively), and some of the other members of the team sat to play cards for a bit. Pyro, easily the most antsy, burned their way through the box of matches that sat waiting next to the cake one by one and started idly playing with their lighter when they ran out, occasionally lighting some of the extra candles.

Half an hour came and went. Forty minutes. Fifty. An hour.

They asked Spy if he had any word yet. The answer was no, and the visual of a few cigarette butts littered around Spy’s feet and a scowl.

The Engineer played a few song requests on the sound system. Soldier switched around party hats on the raccoons to better suit their personalities. Demo lit a sparkler and let it burn out. They switched card games.

At the two hour mark, the concern was starting to build in all of them. Maybe Scout went even further than any of them had expected. He hadn’t told any of them to wait up for him, to be fair. But he always told them outright if he wouldn’t be back for supper, and he hadn’t said anything, and should’ve been back by then. It was getting well into sundown.

“I am preparing to declare Scout as officially AWOL,” Soldier mumbled somewhere near the two/and-a-half hour mark, just a bit angrily, adjusting the party hat on Corporal Munch where it was crooked. Demo patted him on the shoulder to console him.

“He’ll get here when he gets here,” he assured, going back to fiddling with a party popper.

“Don’t waste those,” the Engineer warned. “And no queens, Go Fish.”

A groan from Medic. Demo shrugged. “We have some extra. Here, just to liven her up.”

He tugged the string on the popper, setting it off and sending a short shower of confetti onto Soldier, and that was where it all went wrong.

Corporal Munch, startled, made a little yelp-like noise and quickly clawed up Soldier’s chest, startled and attempting to escape. Soldier tried to grab on harder, but that just made the raccoon even more alarmed, and it rushed to clamor faster, digging claws in hard. Heads turned in time to see Soldier losing his grip and the animal rushing away towards the nearest enclosed, dim space, which just so happened to be the table Pyro was sitting at with the cake.

Pyro leapt up from their seat, battle instincts kicking in for a moment, and the movement startled the Corporal, who veered suddenly and crashed directly into one of the chairs, toppling it and the one directly next to it and making the entire table jerk.

Pyro, panicked, quickly grabbed the cake stand before it could fall over, dropping their lighter and the candle in their hand. The two things landed on the tablecloth, and by the time Pyro realized their mistake, they’d already lit the thin paper tablecloth on fire.

Shouting around the room as teammates attempted to leap into action, Pyro trying to save the cake from the fire first and foremost, Soldier attempting to catch the Corporal, who was only becoming more freaked out over time. Heavy moved to snatch up some of the other flammable items off of the table, but misjudged where Pyro was moving, and Pyro collided with him, the cake tumbling from the stand and directly across the both of them. The Corporal, entirely confused on the commotion, attempted to claw into the space under the cards table, making Medic yelp as his legs were torn into, Sniper rushing to try and catch the animal as well. Demo, having found the fire extinguisher, realized he was a bit late as he tried to put out the table, most of the tablecloth gone and the fire having spread across the streamers, and he tried to put out what he could, and it was only with the Engineer’s cry of dismay that he remembered, oh, right, those streamers were on top of that shiny new sound system, weren’t they. With a final puff, the ‘Happy Birthday’ sign went up in flames and was gone, and the team was left there in the wreckage.

Spy rounded the corner into the room, eyebrows furrowed from the commotion he’d heard. When he saw the smoking, foamy, cake-y remains, all he could do was sigh, kneading at the bridge of his nose. “Something new every year, is it?” he drawled.

-

It took them the better part of forty minutes to clean up the mess, and even then, the room had a weird smell to it. By the end of everything, all they had was one of the undecorated practice cakes Pyro had baked, some party hats, and some poppers. And by the time they were done cleaning up, Scout still hadn’t returned.

“At least he doesn’t have to see what a damn mess we made of things,” the Engineer sighed, and that seemed to be the consensus.

It was much later that Spy finally let them know that he’d seen the headlights of a motorcycle coming up the road, and the team just sighed, too tired to work up much energy. Some of them at least planned to call out a ‘happy birthday’ at him, but all they could do was stare when he walked into the room.

“Hey, guys,” Scout croaked, attempting a smile through a bruised lip.

“What the hell happened to you?” Sniper demanded, taking in the sight.

Scout was busted up in a number of different ways. What looked like a former bloody nose and a swollen lip seemed to be the worst of it, an amount of blood all down Scout’s front, staining what looked like one of his nicer civvie shirts beyond repair. There was also a dampness to his shirt and hair and a stain that implied he’d been splashed with something, practically drenched by the look of it, and he carried himself just slightly off-balance and held a bag in the arm not cradled to his abdomen.

Despite that, he managed a laugh, a lopsided grin. “Man, what the hell didn’t happen to me is more like it,” he said, shrugging. “Had a weird one.”

“Are you alright?” Medic demanded, already standing up, from his chair, and Scout shrugged again.

“Just bruises and all, it’s not an emergency or whatever, but I’d appreciate a heal or somethin’,” he admitted, and Medic left the room, hurrying towards the infirmary. “Forreal, though, what a fuckin’ night.”

“What’s on your shirt?” Spy asked, entirely deadpan, looking vaguely disgusted.

“Uh, I think it’s a margarita?” Scout said, glancing down at it and picking at his shirt vaguely. “I, uh, I should start from the top. Okay, so I went into town, right? I was just gonna buy some stuff real quick, and I got, uh… I got a little lost.”

“A little? Scooter, you’ve been gone all day!” the Engineer admonished.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. There was construction on the usual road, I think they’re fixin’ a bridge or somethin’. Anyways, I got pretty far off track, but I got to town eventually. Just took a while. Anyways, I do my shopping, but because I was all rattled from havin’ to take a hundred detours I totally forget that there’s this one guy at the store that hates my guts, and I’ve gotta split pretty fast before he knocks some teeth out, y’know?”

“Do we want to know why he hates you?” Demo asked, a bit of humor in his tone.

“Nope,” Scout said simply, grinning right back. “So, yeah, but on my way into town I saw at the bar they have some kinda thing goin’ on, right, some kinda weird drink special. So I figure, hey, I’ll walk in, get the new drink, then I’ll leave, y’know? I don’t wanna have to drive home after dark and drunk. So I order, and as soon as I order some guy who’s been at the bar too long already starts tryin’ to pick a fight with me, right? And it’s a whole thing, and I finally get my drink but now there’s a whole thing, and I kinda make this offhanded comment at this gal nearby, y’know, tryin’ to make sure he knows we’re in a public place, all ‘hey, you’re really gonna embarrass yourself by pick in’ fights right in front of this real pretty girl?’, right?”

“Oh no,” Sniper sighed, already seeing where this was going.

“Well, yeah, bad luck, turns out that’s his girlfriend, and he shoves me into some guy, and I get a whole drink all over me, and mine is all over some third gut, and this whole brawl breaks out—anyways, busted lip and no drink and I’m probably not allowed in that bar anymore, but whatever, I finally start headed home.”

“Right,” Spy said, suspicious.

“And, uh, I never wanna drive at night because there’s all these animals out here, right? And the roads are shitty. And I’m headed back, and it’s dark as dicks, and I think I see this rock and I try and go around it, but then the rock moves back in my way because it’s a lizard or whatever and I hit the breaks and swerve straight into a pothole and just barely manage to keep on my bike, but I donk myself on the handlebars and totally throw my leg out of wack and all that. And, uh, and now I’m here.”

“Christ alive,” the Engineer marvelled.

“Bad day to have,” Heavy said, also stunned.

“Hey, it’ll be a funny story to tell later,” Scout shrugged, still grinning. “Got those new shoes at least, though.”

He pulled a shoebox out of the paper bag, and the box was dented into some kind of new parallelogram, barely resembling its past shape. Scout, meanwhile, was still smiling.

Silence in the room. “Well. While it is unlikely you need any more excitement today,” Spy trailed hesitantly. Pyro, understanding the cue, leapt up and hurried off into the kitchen, coming back with the cake.

“Woah, seriously?” Scout asked, eyes lighting up. “You made me a cake? Mumbles, you’re the best!”

“We, uh… we had more planned, but, some things went a little wrong,” the Engineer admitted, and trailed off as well as he looked at Scout.

“Not that we get to complain,” Demo laughed, seeming to come to the same realization as the Engineer.

“Are you joking? This rules!” Scout said, and lit up further when Medic returned with his Medigun, shaking off his injuries within a few moments. “Hey, thanks guys, seriously, no idea what I did to get such cool teammates. You guys are awesome, I mean it.”

“Dunno how we got a bloke like you, either,” Sniper shrugged, voice quiet compared to the rest of them. “Not many people can laugh after a day like yours and still have the energy to be pleased with anyone.”

“Aw, hey, I mean… y’know, it’s nothing,” Scout shrugged sheepishly, glancing away for a second. “Hey, you guys are playin’ cards? Deal me in! Oh yeah, hold on, we need plates and stuff for cake—“

He dropped his bag near the door and hurried into the kitchen. The room was quiet behind him. Demo held up a party popper, glancing around the room. The Engineer took it from him, shaking his head.