#I need him to finish the song

[sunshineandlyrics]

Farleigh singing 'Rent' by Pet Shop Boys in Saltburn x

[rowrowronnie]

still forever thinking abt him

[brainworms-all-night-long]

> BAD APPLE!! || METAL COVER by RichaadEB ft. Cristina Vee

This time you're not hurting me, this time I will take a stand All the hatered in my eyes building up an evil plan Standing lonely in the night, with the darkness by my side Looking deep inside myself and revealing only fright

[senditothemoonn]

This started as me wanting to draw them as old men and kind of spiralled from there…

[luck-of-the-drawings]

[<==PREV PAGES] [NEXT PAGE==>(not out yet.wait a year.or maybe more.imagine.]

saw alot of comments on prev pages; saying 'i HATE that mean teacher! im gonna FIGHT HIM!!' & i LOVE the energy!! it WOULD be nice. to have that catharsis. but the story of young tidestrider is Not one of catharsis. it is a story of being so small and so special and sucking so bad.

[sunsetsandsunshine]

~ 𝙸 𝚜𝚙𝚢 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚝𝚝𝚕𝚎 𝚎𝚢𝚎… ~

❤️👻💜👻🧡👻❤️👻💜👻🧡

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝚃𝙸𝙲𝙺𝙻𝙴𝚃𝙾𝙱𝙴𝚁 𝙳𝙰𝚈 𝟷𝟹: 𝙲𝙰𝚁 𝚁𝙸𝙳𝙴˚*•✩•̩̩͙*＊·̩̩̥͙

𝙶𝚎𝚗𝚛𝚎: 𝙵𝚕𝚞𝚏𝚏

𝚆𝚘𝚛𝚍𝚜: 𝟷,𝟾𝟺𝟻

𝙻𝚎𝚎: 𝚁𝚊𝚙𝚑 🐢❤️

𝙻𝚎𝚛’𝚜: 𝙳𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚎 🐢💜 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙼𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚢 🐢🧡

𝚂𝚞𝚖𝚖𝚊𝚛𝚢: 𝚁𝚊𝚙𝚑, 𝙳𝚘𝚗𝚗𝚒𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙼𝚒𝚔𝚎𝚢 𝚊𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚗 𝚊 𝚌𝚊𝚛 𝚛𝚒𝚍𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝙳𝚊𝚍 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝙻𝚎𝚘 𝚒𝚜 𝚜𝚝𝚞𝚍𝚢𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙰𝚙𝚛𝚒𝚕 𝚋𝚊𝚌𝚔 𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚊𝚙𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝…𝙸 𝚠𝚘𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚌𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚙𝚎𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚊𝚖𝚘𝚞𝚗𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚎…

(𝙰/𝙽: 𝙱𝚞𝚝 𝚖𝚘𝚜𝚝 𝚒𝚖𝚙𝚘𝚛𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚕𝚢: 𝙳𝚘𝚗’𝚝 𝚋𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚐𝚞𝚢! 𝚃*𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚝 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝙺𝚒𝚗𝚔/𝙽𝚂𝙵𝚆 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐𝚜 𝙳𝙽𝙸!!!)

𝚆𝚊𝚛𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚜: 𝙲𝚞𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚝𝚒𝚌𝚔𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐, 𝚊 𝚖𝚒𝚗����𝚛 𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚜𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚖𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚘𝚖𝚎 𝚓𝚘𝚔𝚎𝚜 𝚊𝚋𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚍𝚛𝚞𝚐𝚜 👁️👄👁️…

＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝚂𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚢 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚜𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚢 𝚙𝚘𝚜𝚝𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚜𝚎 𝚖𝚍𝚗𝚍𝚑𝚜𝚓𝚓𝚜˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙

“Are we there yet?” Mikey whined loudly. 

“Uh…no?” His immediate older brother said, sighing impatiently. 

“…Are we there yet now?” Mikey whined louder. 

“No, Mike.” Donnie huffed through his palm as he rested his cheek on his hand, effortlessly playing his Nintendo Switch as he started to drown out his younger brother’s consistent complaining and restlessness. 

Which…you would think he got used to by now. 

The orange cladded turtle let out a short grunt loudly and dramatically, dragging his hands down his face, “Are we there yet now—?”

“Mikey, I swear to God if you ask that question one more damn time I will not hesitate to open the car door and throw you into ongoing traffic.” Raph growled lowly at the youngest. 

“Boys…be nice to each other, please…” Splinter exclaimed from the front seat as he drove. 

“But Dad! Mikey’s being annoying!” The tallest turtle moaned and groaned as he sunk in the middle seat.

“When is he not?” Donatello mumbled under his breath. 

“Boys…” The rat said warningly. 

“…Sorry, Dad…” The teenager’s grumbled collectively as they glared at one another. 

The rodent father sighed, plugging his phone into the car unit as he stopped on a red light. “…Why don’t we listen to some Podcasts on the radio?” He offered, trying to find something that his boys would enjoy that didn’t involve ripping each of their tails off.

“Yohou listen to podcasts?” The purple banded teenager exclaimed curiously as he took off his headphones. 

“Of course!” Splinter announced proudly, “I’ve been listening to this one that Spy-itify recommended me…it’s really good and well thought out!”

“It’s…It’s…'Spotify', Dad…” The hazelnut eyed teen corrected. 

“That’s what I said; 'Spy-itify'.” The father said simply, causing Raph to facepalm and stuff his face right back into his phone.

“What’s the podcast about?” Michelangelo asked as he leaned his head on the closed window as Splinter started to drive again once more.  

“It’s about this man talking about nature…it’s extremely interesting; I think you three will enjoy it.” The charcoal eyed rat explained. 

“Huh…sounds cool enough.” Donnie snickered, “What’s the guy’s name? Like, the one who mainly talks in the podcast and stuff.”

“Zach Green.” The rat said. 

“He sounds like a drug dealer…” Raphael mumbled under his breath, earning some small snickers from his younger brother’s as their Dad started to play the podcast in the vehicle. 

A guy, most likely 'Zach Green', started singing as there was a ukulele playing in the background…

…And he sang…

…And sang…

…And. SANG.

And the three teenager’s wouldn’t have minded if the dude sounded…y'know, good! 

But he didn’t sound good. 

At all. 

“Grass is green~! The green is the grass~! The grass is the green and the green itself is greeeen~!” The speaker’s sung as the three teenagers collectively sighed as the Podcast continued to play amongst them. 

“…How about we play 'I spy' instead of listening to Shaggy get high?” Mikey suggested as his Dad hummed along to the tune…

Poor soul probably knew this song from heart…

“Anything but this.” Donnie agreed. 

“Best idea I’ve heard all day.” The second oldest murmured, crossing his arms as he looked at the youngest expectantly, “Well? You gonna say 'I spy' or what?”

“Let a guy think for a moment!” Mikey shrieked, “Okay, okay, okay…I spy with my little eye—”

“—More like pink eye.” The turtle with glasses giggled under his breath, trying to cover it as a cough as he saw his younger brother side-eyeing him. “Y'know, Dee…we could really go.” The orange banded teenager glared.

“Bet. Catch me outside. 3:30 on the dot.” The purple cladded mutant threatened. 

“Bet.” The youngest repeated. 

Donatello raised an unamused brow, “I already said 'bet' you phrase snatcher!” 

“You don’t own the word 'bet', you four-eyed freak!”

“God— 'BET' YOURSELVES!” Raphael snapped, taking a deep breath as he pinched the bridge of his snout, “I swear to literally anything and everything holy I am completely envying the fact that Leo doesn’t have to suffer in this freaking hell-hole with me.”

The second oldest leaned forward and tapped his Dad’s shoulder, “Speaking of which…how come Leo got to study with April while I—”

“We.” Donnie corrected swiftly. 

“—I had to stay with these two excuses for mutants, Dad?” Raphael continued, frowning deeper as his Dad became unresponsive and became completely entranced by the radio, “Dad? Dad? Dad? Daddy? Father? Dad— aaaaand you have your 'I’m locked in to this music' face…gotchu...” The tallest turtle huffed as he sat back down in the middle seat.

“As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted.” The youngest huffed, “I spy something…grey/gray.”

“Grey/Gray? Grey/Gray as in ashy? Ashy as in you?” Donnie smirked, his smirk turning to a smug grin as the orange banded teen glared back at him with a mix of disdain and pure disgust.  

“Donnie, I swear—”

“Is it the car seat?” Raph muttered, dying in complete humiliation about the fact that this was his onlysource of entertainment. 

Michelangelo shook his head, crossing his arms as he leaned back on the seat, “Nope. Try again.” 

“Is it…Dad’s fur?” The turtle with glasses guessed.

“Nooooooope!” The smallest mutant dragged out, sticking his tongue out at the second youngest causing Raph to just sigh, slumping in the chair further.

This car ride was going to be his 13 Reasons Why…

“Okay…seriously, though. Raph-Taff, what’s up?” Mikey asked carefully, looking over his older brother’s stiff and utterly overall unhappy demeanor. 

The second oldest just grunted, glancing away and his frown drooping as he locked eyes with his immediate younger brother, “You can tell us anything.” Donnie assured.

“Well…not everything. Almost everything. Semi-everything.” The genius clarified, “Buuuut you get the point…”

“No, no Ihi really really dohon’t...” The red banded teen grimaced. 

“What Egghead Humpty Dumpty is trying to say is that you can tell us what’s bothering you. You haven’t been your usual…let’s just say 'Sarcastic Sappy Self'.” The hazel eyed teen confirmed, biting back a chuckle as he saw his purple themed brother gasp in offense. 

“I just needa get out of here…” Raphael emphasized, rubbing his temples like he’s seen centuries worth of knowledge, “School was rough. School is annoying. Kids are annoying. Y'all are annoying— no offense.”

“None taken.” The two youngest said in sync.

“And I just need to distress…” Said the older turtle, going on his phone only to be met with a completely pitch black screen, “And my phone is dead. Yip dee doo da fuckin' day…” He cursed. 

Mikey rubbed his chin in thought, leaning on the inside door hand rest, “I have an idea for that, actually. Just trust me.”

“'I have an idea' and 'just trust me'…two words I never want to hear come out of your mouth ever again.” Donatello insisted almost immediatelty. 

“Shut up.” The smallest mutant exclaimed to his immediate older brother, inhaling and exhaling loudly before continuing, “Okay…so I spy with my little eye—“

“Seriously?” The elder mutant deadpanned. 

“Trust me, I said!!!” The younger shouted once more to try and get his point across, “I spy something…black.” 

“…Black?” The second youngest asked, tilting his head. 

“Black.” Mikey confirmed.

“Ohooo…black.” Donatello snapped his fingers, nodding as he relaxed in his seat. 

“Black!” Michelangelo beamed as Raphael looked around in confusion, wondering if his younger brother’s were going to elaborate on this whole 'black' nonsense or if they were just going to communicate via gibberish. 

The red banded teen scratched his head in confusion, “…What is happening…?”

The youngest gave his red cladded older brother a knowing look, causing the red cladded mutant in question to just simply sigh longly, “Right riiiight…trust. I got it…”

“Uhhh…�� Raphael hummed, looking around the car for something…well, black; as his little brother’s so veeeeery clearly stated. 

The chocolate eyed teen raised an uncertain eye ridge, pointing at his own black sweatshirt that he was wearing. 

The purple and orange duo nodded, “See? Black!” Donnie grinned, poking his older brother’s sides and causing his older brother in question to shriek loudly and try to cover his middles, wiggling his way over more to Michelangelo. 

Whiiiiiich…was a first. 

“Yeah! Black!” The smallest mutant smirked cheeringly, prodding the other side of the black sweatshirt wearing boy, “You got it?”

“Ihihi gohohot ihihat I-Ihi gahat ihat!!” Raph said immiediatley, kicking his legs on the car floor as he pushed on the other two’s shoulder’s. “Ehhhhh…I don’t think you do…” The young genius teased lightly. 

“Dohon’t a-act smahart with me yohou l-lihittle shIHIT NO!! Mihikey nonononohoh!” He said as he saw Mikey wiggling his fingers near his neck, causing him to try and hide his face in Donnie’s shoulder, swatting the youngest away. 

“D'aww~! Hey, big bro! Need a hug~?” The scientist said innocently, wrapping the taller in a hug as the shortest of the three skittered and scratched the red banded mutant’s shell lightly; almost barelytouching it. 

The red banded mutant in question wheezed loudly, banging his fists on the car seat whilst his legs stomped up and down, “Wohohoah! Mr. Deflating Balloon Man— yohou okay?” Mikey teased, making sure to trace the patterns on his elder brother’s shell in a very veeeery mean manner. 

“Are you boys alright back there?” Splinter asked, getting out of his trance as the podcast soon and finally ended. 

“We’re fine!” Donnie beamed, wiggling his fingers into the crooks of the chocolate eyed teen’s neck right beside him, “Right, Raph?”

Raph squealed loudly with laughter, not answering.

Well…not answering in word form, perhaps.

The Father rolled his eyes fondly at his son's, looking away from the rearview mirror and focusing back on the road. 

“See!? He agrees.” The youngest beamed, “We’re perfectly fine and dandy, Dadio.”

“'Fine and dandy?'” Donnie repeated in amusement, causing the orange banded teen to almost laugh as loudly as Raph currently was.

Key word: Almost. 

“Fine and dandy.” Michelangelo confirmed, kneading his hot-headed brother’s hips and sides as the taller leaped like a drunk frog, “STAHAHOP!! HIC LEHEHET HIC HIC GOHOHOH!!!” 

“People are gonna think we’re beating you up or something by the way you’re squirming, bud.” The purple banded turtle joked, letting go of the taller teenager as the smaller teenager spidered his fingers all over his tummy.

“MIHIHIHIKEY!!!” The older wailed, pushing the other’s hands away as they slowly but surely stopped. 

The two youngest’s giggled, fist bumping each other for successfully turning Raph’s frown upside down. 

Splinter drove into the O’Neil’s driveway as Leo walked out of the front door to the apartment, waving his goodbyes to April as he got into the car. 

The eldest sat in the front seat, buckling up as their Dad drove to their home.

The blue banded teenager let out a small snort, looking towards the back to see his immediate younger brother’s face the exact same shade as his own bandana, “Jeeheez..whahat dihid I miss?” 

“I daha— hic don’t wanna tahalk ahabohout it…” Raph grumbled, his beet red blush deepening on his face as Donnie and Mikey snickered slightly, giving each other one last fist bump of victory. 

·̩̩̥͙＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚𝙵𝙸𝙽˚*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚＊·̩̩̥͙ 

(𝙿.𝚂.: 𝙸𝚏 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚎𝚗𝚓𝚘𝚢𝚎𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚌, 𝚙𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚜𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚐!!!)

[heynhay]

i love everybody because i love you

[hadesknockedupintheunderworld]

Still blows my mind the disparity between the Eng and the JP localization of Sonic Frontiers

So in the og English Tails expresses that he needs to part ways from Sonic so he can grow into a hero on his own, right? That he can't grow by being with him?

But like. The director of the game, who worked with Ian Flynn, worked on the JP localization and it's like. You're telling me that when they localized that scene for the Japanese audience

That it was about Tails learning that there are things only he can do? That instead of concluding that he needs to part ways from Sonic and become a hero, he just comes to realizes the ways in which he and Sonic fill each other's gaps? He learns that he already is on equal footing with Sonic. The two of them are just heroes who save people in different ways?

[whenuwishuponastar]

I just crave protection for my ball of perfection <3

[o-sunny-day]

Bro does NOT have his whole life ahead of him

Bro IS bamboozled

Taken aback

(Milk AMV wip)

WOULD YOU GUYS BELIEVE ME IF I SAID IM IN THE CLEAN UP STAGE???

the progress has been slow- but luckily itll speed up a LOT with Winter Break. still dont feel good giving a specific release date but like.. uhh… FINE, January 1st.

Better be done before then, if not, ill prolly just show the animatic or somethin cause clearly id have given up- IM NOT GONNA FOR THIS THOUGH IM TOO HAPPY WITH THE ANIMATIC NOT TO CONTINUE!!!!

whats that?

I said thered be no more wips?

uhhhhhhhhhhhhh

I lied.

Im impatient with myself

[littlecrow4]

This is officially the LONGEST I’ve spent finishing a piece AND AGAIN ITS ALL BILL’S FAULT!!!

I’m gonna start sneaking in little Bill’s so it’ll be a fun little game of “Spot the Bill”

[great-tusk]

Happy New Year! Let’s start it with something nice. Mutuals, drop your f/o and your dynamic + aesthetic in an rb, and I’ll make you a moodboard. Here are a few examples of ones I made for my ships.

STATUS: OPEN!

[petorahs]

entire time I read about Odysseus' character I just imagine pirate!Aventurine doing his cunning, manipulative things. and his unwavering, steady loyalty to his wife. bro.... I love that guy.

[hyunpic]

hyunjin on bubble

[accidentally-in-fictional-love]

🤔🕸️🎯 please these have all been so so good

I Don't Know How to Feel (But Someday I Might) - Random Bob Taylor Headcanons

Warnings: Mentions of a lot of canon events such as his suicide attempt, depression, self-esteem issues, and his kidnapping, as well as brief but nonspecific references to smut.

Notes: My first random~ I couldn't decide on which one(s) to do, so I just did all of them! As such, here's actual proper mini drabbles for 20 tropes, just for you and Bob 😊 The last time I wrote for him I just had a crush on him, now I love him, so I'm glad I get to explore all sides of him with this 😊 I ended up writing so much that I couldn't keep my bulleted list, so yeah here's a toooooon about the sweetest man who deserved the world and to heal QwQ

Angst: You're shocked when he finally tells you about his past. It's hard to get out, and he's mentally blocked out so much that he doesn't even remember half of it without help from newspaper clippings and taped recordings of that time, but still it all haunts him as he tries and fails to move on. He doesn't invite you over for the first few months you know each other, and when he finally does he seems very ashamed about his home and the state of it even though he cleaned up beforehand. You can still see the remains of the mazes he tried so desperately to scrub away so they wouldn't scare you off, and it doesn't as you ask but get no answer. Talking about it is hard even if he can't remember it all, and you have to do the work yourself after he trusts you with who he used to be. It's already been a year since his kidnapper was killed, and he was very wrongfully imprisoned, but knowing they were both gone is what makes him want to start healing even though he's afraid, and the day after you find out everything you can you just go to his house and hold him even as the mess already starts to build up again around the two of you.

Cute: Without the past weighing him down, you see that he's incredibly cute when he smiles, something he didn't do very often. There're a lot of cute things you never noticed before now that you're closer to him, such as the way he avoids your eye with a blush when you compliment him, how he treats everything he does with such care, how he links his pinky with your own when he's feeling affectionate but doesn't wanna be pushy. You tell him he's cute one night when you're laying in bed with him, your hand brushing aside his bangs, but he doesn't look appreciative of it as his small smile fades. He tells you not to tease him, he knows he's not, and you spend the rest of the night showing him how much you mean it. He tries to tell you how cute you are a few days later, his face red as he links your pinkies, and when you kiss the tip of his nose in thanks he looks utterly adorable as he blushes and tries to hide his small smile from you.

Dreams: He wants to leave town, but he's been trapped there for so long that he doesn't know how; he kept the house when his parents moved away, he never added anything for himself once they took everything, and he really wants to start over fresh with you. He confides all this to you as you sit on the floor together, watching movies on your laptop since he doesn't have a couch or a TV, and you just promise him all of it as you cradle his head in your lap and feel him hold your leg a little tighter.

Family: He hasn't spoken to his family in years, not after they moved away when they couldn't take being in town anymore, and they were more than okay with leaving him behind to fend for himself. It seems like they cared more about how the Incident had affected them more than it affected him, and he'd been alone for years until you finally became his neighbour and started talking to him. He still doesn't keep in contact with them, not knowing where they went or even if they were still alive, but he's okay with that now that you were his family. Sometimes you think about starting a proper family with him, but he still gets uncomfortable around kids who were his age when he was taken, but that's something you'll work through with him when the time comes.

Fear: It goes without saying, but even as he grew from a child into a man, the fear that they'd come back for him still persists. He sees them in everyone, his memories foggy and allowing them to exist in everyone, even you when you first move in. The house had been empty for ages, no one wanting to buy it with him living next door, not with his sneaking around and digging and fits in the middle of the night. He was the ghoul haunting the street, the monster scaring away all the guests and feeding the rumours even though he tried so hard to appear normal, all while he himself was afraid of the creatures lurking under his bed and waiting for him to slip up for one single second. So he avoided you when you started moving in, even though you were way too young to have taken him 20 years ago, because you were a stranger and you could be in on it, you could've found him for them. You didn't know until after he'd confessed everything to you, but when you were at work he'd broken into your home to make sure you weren't with them, risking it all for his own peace of mind, but after finding nothing to incriminate you it did help him sleep easier that night. It arose again when you noticed him watching you, him doing it enough times to get you to want to speak to him, and thoughts of ghouls and monsters crept through your head in your neighbours voices as he gave you a shaky hello and hurried back inside. You learned together that he was no monster and you were no Invisible Man when you invited him over to your place for a welcome party, everyone watching you as you offered him desserts and taste tested them for him when he was too afraid to risk it.

Fluff: Once he gets used to being touched, you discover that he's quite the cuddler. He finds such comfort in you that he ends up drawn to you without even realizing it, and you quickly get used to the feeling of him slotting against your back as you cook or do dishes, or against your side when you sit together and watch things. Sometimes it hits him that he's practically laying on you or stopping you from doing your tasks, and he closes himself off as he pulls away and apologizes for getting in your way, but you never fail to pull him right back and say you like his warmth. When you start spending the night together, you can tell he wants to hold you as you fall asleep but it feels like it's too much, so you offer him one of the stuffed animals he's gotten you just to get him used to the idea. You smile in your sleep when he eventually decides that it's you he wants to hold, and you let him envelope you on the nights where he's good, and when his fits crop up and he looks like he's in so much pain you just rest your head on his chest and hold his hand over your heart until he feels it beat even in his sleep. It lulls him every time, his breathing slowing and his body stilling as he wraps his arms around you and comes out of it naturally, awake just long enough to see you and know he was safe before falling asleep again.

Friends: Your friends don't like him, but you try to change that every single time you meet up. They've all heard the whispers, and his public arrest doesn't help, but you tell them about the real him, the one who's been healing with you there to help, but they don't believe it until after they see you together a few months into your relationship. He's different than before, healthier, stronger, more like himself again as he gives them all a polite greeting and sits close to you. You feel their stares the entire luncheon and you know he does too, but he doesn't run even when the arrest is brought up to your horror. He answers swiftly and gives no details, and the friend is chastised by everyone for asking, but he seems actually okay with it when before it would have been enough to make him shut down for the rest of the day. You can tell they see it more as time goes on and you remain together, their care for you extending to him when they see how happy he makes you in reality, that taking over their concern over the rumours. You know it'll still be a while before he sees them as his own friends, but it's a start when his next greeting is more genuine than forced as you all meet up for dinner.

Happiness: The word has been foreign to him for most of his life, his last remnants taken from him and numbed by the poison in his veins long ago, but you think he might be remembering how it feels when you glance at him one day and see him smiling even when he doesn't know you're looking. Usually he only does it to ease you, to make you feel better and show that he is indeed having fun with you, but you can see true happiness in him in the moments where he's facing away from you, when he's so content that the past can't get to him. You want to capture it forever but you know you can't, instead committing it all to memory as he watches the ducks eat bread by the waterside, the sky fill up with stars on cloudless nights, children play without a care in the world the way children should always be able to. You're always so busy watching him slowly reacquaint himself with the word that you don't even notice the moments where he's looking at you, when you're too busy to watch and lose yourself in something. That happiness is always the strongest, no amount of residual pain can sully it as he watches you jog over in the early morning for a kiss before work even in the rain, when you spot your favourite movie on the streaming platform you'd pulled up, it now added to the roster to your surprise, when you're so tired you can barely sit up until you're leaning on him and reaching for his blanket to warm your chilly shoulders. He doesn't think that before he met you he even knew the meaning of the word, but he might now as you catch him looking and blush under his gaze, and he blushes right back when you drop whatever it is you're doing to press a quick kiss to his cheek.

Hate: It takes you a long time to notice it, but while he doesn't hate much in his life, he definitely hates himself most of all. He shows it in the way he doesn't like looking at himself, or talking about himself even though he's trying to get better, but most of all you see it every time he looks at his bedroom door. Ever since you helped clean it up, the room remaining empty ever since the police confiscated everything inside, you've been trying to turn the room into something positive to help him forget everything he had to do to cope and solve his own mystery, but so far he's avoided every attempt with a new excuse. Finally he tells you he'd just rather board it off completely, let time take it like the rest of him, and you end up unable to say anything to placate him as he asks you to leave when you try and fail to help him. He lets himself fester after that, shutting you out for the longest time since you first met, and the next time he opens the door for you you can see that he'd regressed in your absence and his self-hatred. You don't leave as you help him paint over the mazes this time instead of just trying to wash them away, and he confesses to you that every time you bring up the room he remembers everything that he did, not what they did to him, all the wrong he convinced himself was right, how much he hurt those families even though he was just trying to help them. He hates himself so much for it, what they made him into, and he wouldn't be surprised if you hated him to for it too, but you can't, you never could, and you promise him that as you lock the room until he's ready.

Hopes: He's never hoped for much in his life, too stuck in his own head and his past and the mazes to dare hold onto something like that, but you find him saying the word more and more as time goes on. He hopes it's sunny today, he hopes they still have that sweater he saw the last time he went shopping and he hopes it's still on sale as well, he hopes he'll get to see you later. Before he used to use more neutral words, he guessed that rain was coming, it was rational that the sweaters sold out since he waited, he didn't blame you if you had something else to do later, you didn't have to come over. It showed you that he was trying, letting himself want to find the positives in things, instead of just accepting everything that happened as it was. You know for sure that he's changing when he cups your cheek and whispers that he hopes you'll still be there in the morning, your legs intertwined in bed, and you tell him you hope that he still wants you around a month from now before he says that he'll still want you a year from now, two even, and when you try and up it to three he kisses you and hopes for forever.

Hurt/Comfort: He still has bad days despite things getting so much better, and for a long time he hides that from you as he locks himself away and tries not to let himself fall back into old habits. It takes him months before you get a call on one of these days, and he takes so long to answer your hello that you wonder if maybe you're being prank called. Finally he replies, and his voice is small and broken as he tells you he's not okay, he can't do it anymore, and you race over the second the line goes dead. Since you're neighbours it takes only a minute to run to his door, your shoes forgotten at home as you use your spare key to get in, and when you find him curled up in the living room surrounded by the scattered pages of his mazes and memories you have to make sure there's no weapons around to go with it. He'd been on suicide watch after his arrest since he'd grabbed an officer's gun and attempted to shoot himself with it, but since the safety was on and he was too upset to notice they were able to stop him before he could figure it out. His fingers are covered in ink and his cheeks are wet with tears and streaks from where he'd touched his face, most of it around his eyes as he'd wiped at them. You instantly take him by the hand and lead him to your place, his head down as he avoids any gazes although there are none, and when you're back at home you sit him down at your kitchen table and clean him up. He doesn't tell you what set all this off, and you don't ask, you know he'll speak when he's ready. When he's all cleaned up you just take him to bed and play white noise on your laptop, something that will clear his mind until the overexertion puts him to sleep. Once he's out, you return back to his place to gather up all the papers and tuck them safely away, knowing that he won't be ready to finally get rid of them but not wanting him to see them when he gets home again. You find him reaching for you in his sleep, and when he wakes up and feels you in his arms it brings him so quickly to tears he knows that he can never do this alone again. After that he always tells you when it gets bad, and you're always there to comfort him as he mumbles every bad thought in his head until he's clear again.

Love: Neither of you ever say the word out loud, both too afraid to scare the other off with it, but you feel it in everything you do. You feel it in the home cooked meals you make for him, in the way he keeps picking things up for you that remind him of you while he's out shopping, in the way he trusts you enough with a spare key to his home as you give him your own right back. You hear people say it all the time on the street or at work or in the movies you watch together, and it's always on the tip of your tongue, but he hasn't been loved in a long time, he isn't even sure if he parents still loved him when he finally got home after those three weeks, not when they'd already buried and mourned their little boy. So you don't say it, keep it locked up inside your mouth as it claws and screams to get out and tell him when you wake up and find him looking like an angel beside you. You wish you could erase every bad thing that'd ever happened to him, he never deserved any of it, but you also don't even dare to dream about the version of him he could've been when he's already perfect the way he is. He was never broken, he never needed to be fixed, but you think he might've fixed you with the way he presses his lips so gently against your bare skin, looks at you with eyes that whisper how perfect he thinks you are, even when you tell him everything that happened in your own life that made you think you didn't deserve his kindness. You're helping him plant flowers in his yard to replace the memories of what he'd buried there before, the grass still dead from when it'd all been dug up and left to gather snow and rain and other painful memories as he stared out his window at it. You're covered in dirt, and already you've slipped and landed hard on your butt and gotten mud on your favourite pair of jeans, and you aren't even sure if you'd grabbed flowers or vegetables as you stare at the labelless packets in your hands, and the words tumble out of his mouth all the same as he crouches down next to you. You almost miss it at first, he'd said it right as you tore a packet open and hoped for the best, but he repeats it just as easily as you turn to face him and ask what he'd said, and your tears fall into the pits along with everything else to help the area heal as you can finally say it back.

Music/Dancing: He doesn't listen to music often, sometimes the tunes remind him of songs he'd heard while he was captured, so you're careful with your music when you're together, just in case. Eventually, he finds some new stuff that sound like songs he might've liked before the Incident, and when you make him up a playlist of old songs that might've been his favourites you get to see what happy nostalgia looks like on him as he lights up and remembers a time before the poison. He isn't much of a dancer, whenever you try to get him to join you he just gives you a nervous smile and shakes his head, but sometimes you manage to get him to slow dance with you, with your head against his shoulder and his hands on your waist, an adult version of all the school dances he missed out in his fear.

Platonic: He's only ever had platonic relationships in his life, they were far and few between but until he meets you he never even considered anything more. Platonic is safe, it's normal, it's polite. It keeps people at a distance he thinks, no invitations to give or accept since he isn't dating the other person, he sees no need to get that close. He views these friends as acquaintances, just barely above strangers, people he knows the names of but isn't sure if he can fully trust after a lifetime of being alone. He knows you might be the one when he feels differently about you compared to the others, when he wants to call you his partner and not just his friend, although he doesn't believe you'd ever want the same, not with him.

Romantic: Once he gets a grasp of relationships and being wanted, he surprises you by being quite the romantic. It's all based on what he sees others do, having no actual experience with it as he fought with his trauma, so at first it's a lot of roses and pet names and hand holding, which is very nice coming from him, but you also want him to be more himself when he tries instead of just trying to act normal. You secretly urge him to do so by showing him your own version of romance, which is different from what he's gathered from others, and one night he admits to you that he doesn't know what to do because you're so different when it comes to your dates and what you clearly do want. You just kiss his forehead and tell him to show his love in the ways that feel right to him next time, not to everyone else, and the next date night you find a bunch of handpicked daisies along with a new stuffed animal for your growing collection, because he saw both on his way to work and they reminded him of you.

Smut: It doesn't happen often, but sometimes when his head is clear enough to allow himself to feel desire, which he tends to avoid because he's still getting used to innocent physical touch with you, he'll go over to your place and initiate things slowly and carefully. Your patience is endless with him on these nights, and sometimes it doesn't even go anywhere if he gets too overwhelmed, other times it's over before it begins because he's not used to this and every touch is too much and not enough at the same time. When you finally do sleep together, you spend the whole time making sure he feels safe and okay, and in the end he cries as you press gentle kisses all over his face and torso as he holds you so tight against him like he'll never let you go.

Spicy: Likewise, things aren't often spicy between you, but once he does become more okay with his own desires and knowing he has permission to touch you, he'll sneak in some neck kisses and press himself up against you just to hear you laugh. More often than not he eventually gets used to casual makeouts when you're over for movie night, and while it doesn't get far you feel satisfied enough to know he trusts you enough to let it physically show, even if it does make him blush if you mention it at all.

Sweet: As your dates come more often and you get the official title of Partner, you find that he really loves visiting new places with you that he always wanted to go to but never has. Sometimes it's as simple as the flower shop he drove by or the park on a non-busy day, and sometimes it's further places like the beach or even the aquarium in the next town. Sometimes it's even places he should've gone when he was a kid but missed out on because he couldn't afford it or didn't feel safe enough to go to, not without one of his parents there with him, and you love the look of joy on his face as he gets to experience mini golf and water parks and a live show in the park for the first time. You can't leave his side as he does, he can take care of himself for sure, he's done so for years, but having you there keeps that small part of him that thinks he'll be taken again at bay despite being a grown man and easily able to stop anyone who tries. It's the one part of him that refuses to acknowledge his growth and who he was now, but you find that going out and staying with him helps him forget just enough that it eases up on its own, and you're happy to receive a small dolphin plushie from one of his aquarium visits without you because he loves the calmness and beauty of the place.

Random (Dreams): He often has nightmares, which you completely understand once he reveals everything to you, but you don't understand how bad it is until the first time you spent the night. It took him forever to actually want to fall asleep, a million excuses for the two of you to stay up ready on his lips each time you felt yourself get sleepy, and you only get a couple hours in before he jerks so hard next to you that it wakes you instantly back up. His fits are subtle, the kick a bad one that doesn't come again, but you can see on his face how much pain he's in as he shifts and rolls and clutches at your blankets. You don't wake up until you notice that he's crying, his eyes wide and pupils blown in the dark as he looks for his attacker and sees you leaning over him instead. He hit you only once, clearly in self-defense as he almost slid right off the bed, and you don't raise your voice or try and stop him as he switches to cowering instead when you don't disappear. You give him space and let him realize that the reason he wasn't home was because he was with you, letting him catch up to everything as you whispered softly that he was okay, he was safe, they were long gone, and even though you didn't get to fall asleep until dawn you were perfectly fine with that as you turned the lights back up and just laid with him until the felt okay enough to pass out with the rising sun.

Unlisted (Healing): It took him a long time to be able to let go of his old habits, but it gets easier with each visit you find when there's a bunch of new stuffed animals waiting to find homes, his old room cleared of the bins and therefore no longer needing them. You took the first one, and together you dropped off the rest at a local shelter for the kids to pick through, and the next time you see one on his table you find out that it's for him, something he had as a child and wanted to have again now that he knew you'd support that. It takes even longer for the mazes to stop, but together you find that if he draws them on your skin and traces the way out it helps. The association with you and your softness and gentle words makes them less painful, comforting even since they're not stuffed into endless notebooks and covering his walls, and when he's done you let him wash it all away and kiss the places where they used to be, no more maze, he can go home. You find out that home slowly becomes anywhere he's with you as he holds your drying arm to his cheek and looks content instead of afraid.

[triglycercule]

all i have been able to think about today is that silly little knife game where you stab the spots between your fingers and try not to hurt yourself and how that silly little game is SO horrorkiller. i cant explain it it bothers me so much that i cant explain it but it just does its so them

they play it when theyre bored. because when in doubt bodily mutilation and the risk of hurt and pain is always an appealing one. and when i mean they i just mean killer because horror wouldn't wanna just hurt himself on the fly like that for funsies. he likes to see others hurt because hahaha FINALLY some damn entertainment!!! but hurting himself???? nononnno hes already got enough body pain as it is oh and killer has already grabbed his hand and started playing (and now horror can't back out because killer's got him sucked in the game)

they sing the silly little song. horror has all his fingers the knife goes chop chop chop if killer misses the spaces in between horror's fingers will come off! and they are both enraptured and both captured in this childishly morbid game. it's so anticipatory because they both know its all up to killer to decide if horror gets hurt. hes more than precise enough to keep the game going for hours long without ever hitting horror but would he want to keep it going for that long? horror doesn't know how long killer would want to wait before getting to see him react to getting hurt

and killer does eventually do it even after theyre sung the song over and over countless times and tried different harmonies and finally killer decides to end this little song and dance and stab into horror's hand. maybe he decides to do a finger. maybe the palm if he really wants to piss horror up. its sudden its surprising and GODDAMN is it painful!!!! horror's trying not to show it but with all the sweat and the way his fingers are twitching killer can see that it hurts him. it's a bit amusing :3

and then horror grabs the knife from killer and they do it all over again but this time horror's the one doing the stabbing. he's not as precise as killer. he hits him a lot more than killer hit him but goddamn it he is in PAIN and wants to let it out because hes annoying and irritated and goddamnit would killer just stop looking at him with that blank smile while he's bleeding out from his hand???? yeah horror's pissy

horror's annoyed and trying to get some form of petty revenge on killer (he likes it when he finally manages to get that stupid smile to falter just a little bit) and killer's watching horror desperately try not to just stab the knife through his oh so very exposed soul that he could very easily hurt if he really wanted to hurt killer. anyways the game finally ends when either one or both of them get bored! but thats fine!!! killer will get bored again and horror will end up escalating it to a messier point than it was before and the only thing that'll get hurt is the surface that they use to stab between fingers. oh and eachother of course :p