#I needed three people to help me two was for info on how to do it one was for mental support bcoz I kept losing it and getting distracted

[toxic-teller]

Untitled Batfam/Squid Game cross over fan fic

Summary: a sad fan fic where the batfam are in a squid games-esc game playing dodgeball and it comes down to Jason and Tim as the last players on each side but Tim is too scared to say anything so it’s up to Jason to decide whether his team lives or dies and I gave the surviving Robin crippling survivors guilt as they refuse to open their eyes and witness their brother dead on the floor.

Background info: This is chapter 3 of a WIP a few people asked me to post. Basically Bat fam in a squid games situation were forced to split up into two to play dodgeball. They didn’t get to choose the teams and they get one minute to strategize before the game started. The transparent wall kills anyone who crosses it. All of which is explained in chapter one that I haven’t written yet lol. Not important but the teams are Alfred, Tim, Stephanie, Damian, Roxy Rocket, Harley Quinn, Deathstroke, Penguin, and Two Face. The others are Bruce, Selina, Jason, Tiffany, Lucius, Kate, Riddler, Killer Croc, and Scarecrow. If there are any grammar mistakes, just know I’m illiterate. Enjoy!

Ever since they broke off into teams, Alfred had not taken his eyes off Bruce. And while Bruce had done an excellent job at hiding his grief for Dick and Luke, Alfred knew better. Bruce may have been putting on a Batman exterior, but his eyes held the same look as the recently orphaned eight year old latching onto his petticoat, unsure of how to answer Officer Gordon’s questions about his parents’ murder.

Unsure.

Seeing his younger master unsure was what terrified him the most. If it wasn’t for the transparent wall having split the court, Alfred would have been over with his adopted son helping him plan, but instead he was standing with his grandkids attempting to figure out what to do while those that terrorized their nightmares were trying to convince them to win instead of throwing the game.

“Oh please! Like they aren’t over there talking the same shit!” Penguin squawked. “They’re going to kill us all the second they get and be thrilled we’re dead!”

Stephanie clinched her hands, “we need to delay the game! As long as possible at least!”

Roxy laughed, “I’m with this one. Make it exciting!”

“Don’t be stupid,” Deathstroke snapped.

“Aw come on, Willy,” Harley pouted. “Don’t be mean. The poor girl just wants her fake family to rescue them! There’s no chance they will in time, but these hero types always have a hope in them that’s hard to shake.”

“Quinn,” Damian ordered, “please stop talking. We have less than a minute to plan.”

“Planning our own deaths,” Mad Hatter shot. “You hero types never pass up an opportunity to sacrifice yourselves for the greater good. No, we gotta throw all of them in the front lines and make sure they get out fast.”

“You want to throw the three most physically fit members of our team under the bus?” Deathstroke pointed out sarcastically. “Great idea.”

“Fuck you!” Stephanie snapped, raising a fist. “You had no problem pushing Dick down! If it wasn’t for you, he’d be alive!”

Deathstroke rolled his eye. “I told you, I slipped.”

Stephanie threw the first punch which lead to a loud argument of people holding each other back, screaming over each other, and otherwise preforming a mockery of teamwork. Alfred almost joined the fray before turning and noticing Tim was not in the circle. He was standing close to the barrier and staring ahead at the other team.

Alfred approached him, wincing from his now relocated shoulder. “Master Drake, is everything okay?”

Tim shook his head vaguely. “We’re going to die. All of us here. We’re all going to die.”

Alfred’s heart sunk into his stomach, but he kept a gentle expression. “Why do you say that?”

Tim gestured to Bruce in their much more cooperative group huddle. “Batman doesn’t know what to do. I’ve been watching him, Alfred. He hasn’t said a word in their meeting. He also hasn’t let any of us move far away from him. He doesn’t even realize he’s doing it. He’s trying to spend what little time he has left with us. I’ve seen him be less protective when Darksied nearly wiped all of humanity, but… he’s completely given up now.”

The lump in Alfred’s throat grew bigger. He placed his good hand on his shoulder and felt Tim shaking under his palm. “That doesn’t mean there’s no hope, Master Timothy.”

Tim shook his head. “Alfred, don’t try to pretend. We both know we’re not making it out of this school alive.”

Alfred didn’t know what to say as he secretly agreed. Fortunately, the whistle blew so he never had to come up with the words. “Planning period over. The game is about to begin. I repeat. Planning period over. The game is about to begin.”

Everyone got into a vague position to start. All of the inmates were at the front with the bat family further away from the center. Five balls dropped from the ceiling as a new ten minute timer started ticking down. The villains all ran for the balls and started throwing. Alfred and Lucius were not nearly young or healthy enough, and unsurprisingly were benched quickly. All the vigilantes were moving on instinct and muscle memory rather than a desire to live. Each time a ball got caught, someone else was called back in, but that was the only time the bat family spoke. Other than that, they were dodging as best as they could. The only two who were having any resemblance of fun was Harley Quinn and Roxy Rocket who couldn’t help but taunt and jeer at every person who got out. Once both were knocked out by a well aimed throw from Kate, the court was silent because of rule #3. It was obvious those on the bench wanted to say something, but none of them were willing to be shot just to make fun of someone being hit.

Reguardless of where they stood morally, both teams were all were nervous to be playing. All kept subconsciously glancing to Batman every few seconds for a way to get out of the situation entirely. Unfortunately, Batman was not playing the game. No matter how hard he tried, Bruce was the one on the court. Bruce found it impossible to ignore their glances at him for answers.

Similar to red light/green light, after each person was eliminated a whistle blew from no where and their name was called, except this time it wasn’t followed by a gunshot. That didn’t mean Bruce’s heart rate didn’t go up with each blow of the whistle. He kept seeing Dick’s face blown apart by a sniper rifle at too close range, hearing Luke’s chest ripped open by the same gun and Tiffany screaming in fear. Even Clayface and Bane perishing in an equally hideous display crossed his mind. He didn’t want anyone else to die, not even the Arkham inmates. It was senseless violence. All of it. Even then, as Two Face hurled a ball at Riddler’s bad leg with the intention of hurting him more, there wasn’t a reason for it.

Bruce kept trying to rationalize the scene. He was playing dodgeball in an elementary school with his family and enemies. That was the extent he could go. When he managed to get a ball in his hands, all he could think to do was roll it on the ground so no one got out. It was completely pointless. If that timer hit 0 everyone would be dead. Someone was going to have to decide who lives.

Bruce only became aware of his movements when he allowed himself to be hit by a disbelieving Tim who stood alone on the opposite side. Bruce didn't say anything and selfishly walked back to the stands. The ball that bounced off Bruce had rolled back to Tim’s side of the court, hitting his shoe.

“I-I thought he was gonna catch it,” Tim stuttered to the sole member of the other team.

Jason laughed humorlessly. “Bats not sacrificing himself for the greater good? You’re kidding yourself.”

Tim unsteadily picked up the ball at his feet, an unwilling passenger in his own body. He held the ball in his hand shaking violently but felt as though it was ten feet away. He could hear the countdown on the timer. He only had 42 seconds left on the clock. It wasn’t enough time. Less than a minute for half of his family to live. But which half? How does he choose? How could he? He was a teenager, a kid really. One side had more people, more members of his family. But he couldn’t let Damian, Alfred, or Steph die. But if he did let himself live with the others, the rogues had already declared their promise to kill them the moment Batman was dead. The inmates had a numbers advantage on them. They could easily overpower an elderly injured man and three kids who wouldn’t be able to defend themselves without Batman’s help. Tim felt everyone staring at him wanting to shout out their opinions and what he should do. He almost wished they could as it might have blocked out the sound of his beating heart.

“Jay… I can’t do this,” Tim whimpered, shaking where he stood.

Jason searched his mind for a sarcastic comment to shoot back at his brother to make him laugh, but he couldn’t come up with anything. “Tim… man, it’s gonna be alright,” Jason consoled.

“I… I can’t do it. I can’t. We’re all gonna die and it’s gonna be my fault but I can’t choose…”

“Don’t then,” Jason blurted out trying to give him some solace. “Throw it easy. I’ll either catch it or not. It won’t be your fault then, just mine.”

Tim shook his head, “no. We…. Jay it makes more sense for your side to live. Sacrificing yourself I get, but… the only way you have any chance to get out is Bruce and Lucius. We’re just kids over here, and they’re gonna kill us the second Bruce die-“ he stopped himself from finishing his sentence, having to take a deep breath to keep himself from completely breaking down. “But… I don’t want Damian to not grow up. I don’t want Steph to not see Cass again, I don’t want… I don’t want to-“ It was all he could say before sobbing.

“Tim,” Jason’s voice cracked. “There’s not enough time left…” Jason didn’t even realize he was talking, his lips moved without thinking. “E-either way one of us is dead. You don’t even have to choose anything! All of the balls are in your…are in your court, so no matter what… it’s me who has to decide…”

The gravity of it caught up to Jason in that moment. It really was up to him no matter what. Tim could throw whatever he wanted, but he had to either fight for his life or die for his brothers’. Tim was right. Unfortunately, there were more rational adults with more skills on his side. If there was any chance of getting out before the games ended it was with Lucius and Tiffany’s tech skills to override the locks, Selina’s stealth to steal a weapon, Kate’s martial arts skill, and Bruce’s planning. But that would mean…

Jason looked up and saw Steph smiling comfortingly and tears streaming down her face, Alfred standing dignified with Damian uncharacteristically vulnerable leaning up against his leg, refusing to look at the court. Tim was hugging the ball to his chest tightly, the only thing he could do at the moment, trying his best to keep from crying.

The clock was ticking down, now at ten seconds. Jason had to make up his mind quickly. He found Bruce’s eyes and quietly asked what to do. Bruce looked away and down at his hand in his lap clutching onto his wife’s. A small gesture that told Jason what he would do if the roles were reversed.

Jason turned to Tim and gave him a single nod. He had made his decision. Tim threw the ball up in the air and time seemed to freeze. All eyes were on the second Robin, watching his every moment. They saw his feet move to become more center with the ball, directly in its path.

There was the sound of the ball making impact. Jason closed his eyes and waited, the familiar feeling creeping up in him that death was about to come. Jason hated that the last image Tim would ever have of him would be of him shaking and terrified, but no matter what he did he could not manage to muster up a smile onto his face.

“It’s gonna be okay-“

BANG

BANG

BANG

BANG

BANG

BANG

BANG

BANG

BANG

No final words were granted. No goodbyes were given. One by one, the sound of bodies dropping to the floor echoed in the tiny gym. The former Robin’s eyes had shut tight with the first gun shot, not wanting to see his brother mutilated before him. He could feel his brother’s brain matter coating his hands and the blood soaking into his shirt but as long as his eyes were shut, everything was fine. As long as his eyes were closed his family was alive. As long as he didn’t look, almost all of his siblings were still standing.

He didn’t cry as he stood there. He couldn’t if he tried as his grip of reality started to pull away from him. This was his nightmare, his absolute nightmare. The former Robin couldn’t think of a worse scenario for him to be in. It was just up to him and his brother to choose the fates of his family. There was no way this was happening. Kidnapping almost his whole family to play children’s games to the death?! That’s completely insane. It may have been Gotham but-

Scarecrow.

It had to of been. He had to be under the influence of fear toxin. There’s no other way. It was the only thing that made any sense. It was all of his worst fears wrapped up into one. A high dose of fear toxin.

“This isn’t real,” he said out loud. “This isn’t real. This isn’t happening. This isn’t real. This isn’t real. This isn’t real.” He repeated this over and over and over again, each time somehow shutting his eyes tighter and tighter, refusing to open them. He knew this couldn’t have been true, the timeline of events was too coherent to be a hallucination, but he could manifest it into being fake if he tried hard enough. He could make it true. He could make it so his brothers were alive. If he just repeated this, it would-

“It’s going to be alright,” a man’s voice said, clasping a firm hand on his shoulder. “You’re going to be alright.”

Jason snapped out of his trance to see the rubber ball still in his hands. There was the clear sign of skull and brain coating the outside of it, the last remainder he had of Tim. The transparent do-not-cross wall was already dividing the court, but Jason could not bring himself to look through it and instead stared down at the ball in his hand.

“I-I caught it…” Jason stated, holding it up to Bruce beside him. “I caught it.”

Bruce nodded, jaw tensed, swallowing a lump in his throat. “It’s okay. You’re going to be okay.”

Jason looked right through Bruce. “I caught it…” he breathed out and lowered his arms. “I caught it…”

Bruce didn’t say anything, but instead wrapped his arms around his son and pulled him in tight. Jason did not hug him back. He didn’t seem to have noticed at all that he had moved. The ball in his hands was the only thing grounding him to reality as it was a fact that he caught the ball. He saved Bruce, Selena, Tiffany, Kate, and Lucius.

He caught the ball.

“I caught it,” Jason was still repeating over and over as Bruce gripped him tighter. “I caught it.”

“Thank God you did!” Ed Nigma scoffed, limping down the stands. “I was worried you were about to do something stupid.”

Jason didn’t hear him. His chin was resting on his adopted dad’s shoulder. The ball was pressing in under Bruce’s ribcage but similar to the last living Robin, he didn’t notice anything other than Jason’s grip on this world slipping away as he kept stating how he saved his life. Bruce was already numb from the moment he turned around and saw his oldest son had been shot in the head. His daughter, father, and other two sons shared the same fate.

Jason still hadn’t cried nor stopped repeating himself. It might have been better if he did either. Bruce didn’t know what to do or how best to comfort him. It was Bruce’s fault he was like this. Bruce purposefully tagged himself out, not so Tim would have a chance, but so he didn’t have to make the final decision.

“I… I caught the ball,” Jason finally differed slightly from his script. “I caught the ball.”

“It’s going to be okay, Jason,” Bruce comforted. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Bruce wished his voice wasn’t so monotone. It might have helped if he has some emotion, angry or sad, or anything. But Bruce pushed down all of his pain, all of his feelings. He didn’t allow himself to grieve, not yet. Not only was it unproductive, but he knew once he started crying he would never be able to stop. He had to focus on what he had, and all he had was four people outside this game presumably trying to break them out, a wife who he loved deeply, his one living cousin, one of his oldest friends and his loyal daughter, and one surviving son right in front of him who was unable to cope with the decision he made and would haunt him forever.

“You did nothing wrong,” Bruce repeated. “It’s going to be okay. You did nothing wrong.”

Bruce didn’t know how long they stood there repeating themselves over and over, each one not interrupting the other.

Eventually, a gentle hand was placed on Bruce’s back. “Sweetheart,” Selina consoled, “we should probably go before they kick us out.”

Bruce did not make a conscious effort to let go of Jason, but he found himself walking towards the gym door all the same, one arm wrapped around his son to guide him.

Jason was still clutching the rubber ball in his hand when the voice announcement came on overhead. “No taking game items outside of the playing field. I repeat. No taking game items outside the playing field.”

Selina unwrapped herself from Bruce’s side, stopping Bruce from taking a step out the door. “Jason,” Selina cautioned gently.

Jason looked through her and held up the rubber ball just like he did minutes earlier to Bruce. “I caught it.”

Selina smiled as warmly as she could. “I know. I know you did. We have to leave it behind now. Is that alright?”

Jason’s eyes went to the ball where a fragment of Tim’s skull was practically glued to it with now dried blood. “I…caught the ball…”

Selina reached out carefully and placed her hands as best as she could so she didn’t touch any gore on it. “I’m going to take this from you. Can I do that?”

Jason watched his own hands unwrap themselves from the ball and have it settle in Selina’s hands.

“Thank you, Jason,” Selina thanked before going back to the stands and gently placing it down on the bleachers so it didn’t make a sound.

“Y-yeah…” Jason mumbled, still holding his hands out as though nothing had been taken from him.

Bruce rubbed Jason’s arm for comfort and continued walking down the hallway once Selina was next to him again. The only sound down the hallway was Jason’s mutters of catching a ball getting quieter and quieter.

“B-B-Bruce?” Jason asked as they neared the corridor to the kindergarten classroom.

“Yes?” Bruce responded.

“I…I think I’m done,” Jason admitted. “Yeah, I don’t want to play any more games. I’m gonna… I just want to go home.”

Bruce stopped in the hallway and turned to be in front of him with Selina stopping a step behind Bruce. Bruce suddenly did not see a 19 year old Jason Todd standing in front of him, but rather the 12 year old Boy Wonder who just wanted to do good in the world. He didn’t know what else to do other than kneeling down to his knee and grabbing Jason’s arms. Bruce couldn’t think of what to say, but somehow the words came out of him. “You made a hard choice back there, Jay. No one would deny that. There was no right or wrong decision, only one that-.”

“They probably felt how I did…” Jason muttered.

Bruce felt his heart shatter as Jason’s eyes finally focused on him. “I…I made them watch the clock tick down to their deaths. They didn’t deserve that.” Bruce froze, finally understanding what Jason had been trying to tell him. He watched as Jason’s eyes shifted away from reality once more and stared off into the abyss. “I caught the ball…” Jason began repeating again.

The first tear fell out of Bruce’s eyes without him knowing. They were silently streaming down his face, knowing for a fact that this was his fault. He left the decision up to Jason. This was Bruce’s doing. And he would have to live with that for the rest of his life.

[ailesswhumptober]

Prompts for AI-less Whumptober 2024

As promised, we're bringing you the official prompt list of AI-less Whumptober 2024 today!

We have 31 days of excellent whump prompts, with three prompts per day to pick from, fun themes, and 10 alt prompts to play around with. We hope you enjoy! Additional info + plain text versions of the prompts can be found under the cut.

FAQ and Rules

What sort of content can I create for this event?

You can create whatever you want (fic, art, edits, etc). Any fandom is allowed, as well as OC stuff. NSFW is allowed, but please tag your content accordingly! The only thing not allowed is AI-generated content.

Do I need to make 31 things to participate?

Oh heavens no! You can make as much or as little content as you like, skip days when desired, or combine prompts (so for example, write something that covers a prompt from day 1, 2, AND 3). You don't have to do the days in order either, go wild! To be considered a 'completionist', you only have to make sure that at the end of the month, you've covered 31 prompts from 31 different days, but whether you do that in 31 works or just 1 is up to you.

What are these alts about?

If none of the three prompts of a particular day are your cup of tea, you can swap them out for an alt prompt of your choice.

What are these themes about?

Just a little bit of extra fun for the mods. Like last year, we'll be handing out various badges for people participating in the event. A full list can be found here, perhaps there is a special badge or two for people who can't be completionists but who do manage to finish every single day of a specific theme ;)

How do I tag and is there an AO3 collection?

It suffices to tag your work with #ailesswhumptober for us to see and reblog it! Please also tag nsfw, since we'll be using that tag too. Tagging the day is optional but does help the mods along.

There is an AO3 collection to add your fics to here.

That should be all. If you have any additional questions, check our pinned or hit us up in the ask box. Or join our discord maybe, whumping can be a great group activity!

---

Plain text versions of the prompts:

October 1 - Torture Tuesday

public torture/public use, stress position, “If you cry, we’ll go easy on you.”

October 2 - Whumperless Wednesday

Unfortunate fall, car accident, “Don’t move. You’ll be okay.”

October 3 - Trauma Thursday

Shared trauma, survivor’s guilt, “It’s not your fault.”

October 4 - Fright/Freaky Friday

Painful transformation, non-consensual body modifications, “You’re a monster.”

October 5 - Sensory Saturday

Overstimulation, migraines, “I can’t take this anymore.”

October 6 - Surprise Sunday

Multiple whumpees, self sacrifice, “I’m the only one who can do this.”

October 7 - Medical Monday

Field medicine, running out of supplies, “Hold on, we’re going to have to improvise.”

October 8 - Torture Tuesday

Rope burns, gagged, “You’re so much prettier this way.”

October 9 - Whumperless Wednesday

Hypothermia, heatstroke, “You look pretty pale.”

October 10 - Trauma Thursday

Self worth issues, pushing away a loved one, “You don't need to earn this.”

October 11 - Fright/Freaky Friday

Hallucinations, truth serum, “Why would you even say that?”

October 12 - Sensory Saturday

Isolation, sensory deprivation, “Can you feel me? I’m right here, whumpee.”

October 13 - Surprise Sunday

Whumpee using themself as bait, defiance, “Take me instead.”

October 14 - Medical Monday

Seizures, concussion, “See if you can follow my finger with your eyes.”

October 15 - Torture Tuesday

Waterboarding, removing body parts, “Don’t break down on me yet.”

October 16 - Whumperless Wednesday

Drowning, hostile environment, “I don’t know how anybody could survive that.”

October 17 - Trauma Thursday

Abandonment, misunderstanding, “Why did I even think you cared?”

October 18 - Fright/Freaky Friday

Mind control, possession, “Everybody will end up despising you.”

October 19 - Sensory Saturday

Disassociation, losing a sense, “I wish I could get you back.”

October 20 - Surprise Sunday

Enemy/Stranger to caretaker, accidental de-aging, “I’m absolutely not qualified for this shit.”

October 21 - Medical Monday

Drugged, ambulance ride, “This will make you feel better, okay?”

October 22 - Torture Tuesday

Forced (to kneel/watch/hurt somebody else), whipped, “Do not look away.” October 23 - Whumperless Wednesday

Fever, passing out, “Hey?! Stay with me, okay?!”

October 24 - Trauma Thursday

Deconditioning, relapse, “It’s normal that you need more time.”

October 25 - Fright/Freaky Friday

Humiliation, betrayal, “How could you?!”

October 26 - Sensory Saturday

Electrocution, burning, “This is going to sting.”

October 27 - Surprise Sunday

Before vs after, Alternate universe, “Well, there’s a first for everything.”

October 28 - Medical Monday

Internal bleeding, needles and stitches, “I didn’t think the wound was that bad…”

October 29 - Torture Tuesday

Ownership, branding, “Everybody will know that you’re mine.”

October 30 - Whumperless Wednesday

Poison, delirium, “You’re not making sense.”

October 31 - Trauma Thursday

Panic attack, facing a phobia, “You need to get out of here!”

Alt prompts:

1) Pistol whipped

2) Co-dependency

3) Animal bite

4) Zombies

5) White room torture

6) Shock collar

7) Pulling teeth

8) Kidnapping

9) “You always make everything worse!”

10) “If you weren’t around, I’d be long dead by now...”

[hanniehaeism]

IM GOING TO CRYYYYYY

[crimeronan]

i've seen a couple people in the notes of this very good post about fictional polyamory by @thebibliosphere say things along the lines of "oh, i've been doing it wrong :(" or "how do i know if i did this right??" or "i should probably give up and start over, i wrote this badly :(" and. no!!!!

(i AM seeing far MORE people say "oh, this clarified and helped me so much, i think i know how to fix issues i've been having with my own story" which. YES!!!!)

listen. if you're a monogamous person who's writing a polyamorous relationship, and you've been focusing mainly on The Triad and All Three Together All The Time as the endgame, that's literally fine. that's a perfectly acceptable and strong starting point for your plotting, imo. you do not need to give up on a story that you've started like this.

but the things discussed in the post Can and Should improve your execution!

you can keep the same plot beats and overall relationship arc 100%. polyamorous relationships are infinite in their formations, every one is unique. "basically a monogamous romance but with three people" Does exist, as a relationship type. you're not hashtag Misrepresenting (TM) poly people with it

BUT i do think it will help to read up on some poly people talking about how their relationships Differ from monogamous ones.

so i have outlined some basic important concepts about polyamory.

MORE IMPORTANTLY though, i've broken down some questions that you can answer throughout the writing process to strengthen your individual dyad relationships, your individual characterization, & your characters' individual feelings/experiences. this is a writing resource have fun

future kitkat butting in to say i spent over two hours writing this and it definitely needs a readmore. it is also NOT comprehensive. but everything should be pretty simple to follow! feel free to reblog if you find it helpful yourself or just want to reward me for how gotdan long this took KSLDKFJKDL.

i've grabbed quick links for a couple of the important concepts, some have SEO pitches in them but the info largely seems to be good. (if i missed anything Egregiously Gross on these sites i should be able to update the links with better ones later, since they're under the readmore.)

sidenote: this is NOT meant to be overwhelming, despite the length. if you can't read all of this, that's Okay. you do not need to give up on your writing.

here we go:

compersion!

compersion is a BIG thing in a lot of polyamorous relationships. it's joy derived from seeing two (or more) of your partners happy together, or joy derived from seeing your partner happy with someone else.

compersion is really important as a concept because it highlights that every individual relationship within a polycule is different -- and that that's a GOOD thing. it's sort of the inverse of jealousy.

by the "inverse of jealousy," i mean that instead of feeling left out and upset and possessive, you feel happy/joyous/content.

i can use personal experience as an example: it's a Relief for me when my partners receive joy/support/sex/romance/etc that i can't (or prefer not to) give them. and i love seeing my partners make each other laugh and be silly together.

it's 100% okay for a poly triad not to be together 100% of the time, it doesn't mean that the third member is being left out or not treated equally when two people do things alone together.

(i have individual dates with my partners all the time! PLUS larger 3-and-4-person date nights.)

if the third member DOES feel jealous or left out, then the polycule can have a conversation to figure out what needs/wants aren't being met, and solve that. this happens semi-regularly in my polycule, as it will happen in any relationship (including monogamous ones)! it's just part of being an adult, sometimes you have to talk about feelings.

metamours!

a metamour is someone who is dating your partner, but ISN'T dating you. this may not be relevant for people writing closed three-person romantic sexual triads, but it's a super helpful term to know.

the linked article also lists different types of metamour relationships with some fun phrasing i hadn't heard before. the tl;dr is: sometimes you'll be domestic cohabitation friends, sometimes you'll be buddies with your own friendship, sometimes you might not interact much outside of parties, every relationship is different.

there's no one-size-fits-all requirement for metamour relationships. sometimes polyamorous people will end up dating their metamour after a while (has happened to me), sometimes polyamorous people will break up with one partner for normal life reasons, but remain friendly metamours.

the goal of polyamory is NOT for EVERYONE to fall in love. it is 100% okay if this happens in your story, it happens in real life too! but it is also 100% okay for characters to be metamours without ever becoming "more than friends."

(sidenote: try to kill any internalized "more than" that you have when it comes to friendship. friends are just as important and special and vital as partners.)

of course there are a million ways for messiness to occur with metamours within a complex polycule, exactly like with close-knit platonic friend groups. however this post is not about that! there's enough "here's how polyamory can go wrong" stuff out there already, so i'm focusing on the positives here :)

open versus closed polyamorous relationships!

i'm struggling to find an online article that reflects my experience without directly contradicting at least SOME stuff. so i'll give a quick rundown

google has a bunch of conflicting definitions of open relationships and whether open relationships are different from polyamory. the general consensus seems to be that an open relationship prioritizes one partnership (often a marriage), but that each partner can have extraneous flings or long-term commitments (most often sexual in nature).

this is not typically how i use the term wrt polyamory. the poly concept is pretty simple. a closed polyamorous relationship is one with boundaries like a monogamous one. there are multiple partners in the polycule, but they are not interested in having anybody new join said polycule.

an open polyamorous relationship tends to be more flexible -- it just means that IF someone in the polycule develops mutual feelings for a new person, it's fine for them to become part of said polycule if they want to! the relationship/person is open to newcomers.

some groups will need to negotiate this all together, others will just go "haha, you kids have fun." just depends on the individuals!

with open AND closed polyamorous relationships, the most important thing is making sure that there's respectful communication and that everyone is on the same page. but there's no one-size-fits-all way to do that.

i wish i could give you guys a prescriptive "You Must Do It This Way" guide, but that's.... basically the opposite of what polyamory is about, HAHA.

feelings for multiple people!

i was gonna tack this on to the previous section but decided it warranted its own lil bit.

a defining feature (....i'm told?) of monogamous relationships is that a monogamous person only has feelings for One individual at a time. they only want a relationship with one individual at a time. or, if they DO have feelings for multiple people simultaneously, they're still only comfortable dating one person at a time & being exclusive with that one person.

this is perfectly fine!

the poly experience is generally different from this. but once again..... polyamorous people all have different individual perspectives on this.

for me, i have never been able to draw hard boxes around romantic vs sexual vs platonic relationships, & i love many people at once. my personal polycule lacks many strict definitions beyond "these are my chosen people, i want to forge a life with them indefinitely, whatever shape that life takes"

some poly people feel explicit romantic or sexual attraction to multiple people at once, some poly people feel almost no romantic or sexual attraction at all. i'd say that MOST poly people feel different things for different partners, which is not a bad thing!

some poly people are even monogamous-leaning -- they have just chosen one romantic partner who is themselves part of a larger polycule. (so this monogamous-leaning person has at least one metamour!)

or alternatively, they might have one romantic partner AND a qpr, or other ways of defining relationships. (this is a factor in my own polycule!)

i made this its own point because if you're writing a straightforward triad, this is unlikely to come up in the story itself -- but it's worth thinking about how your characters develop/handle feelings outside of their partnerships.

like, is this sort of a soulmateship, 'these are the only ones for me' type deal? in which they won't fall in love with anyone else, and can be fairly certain of that?

that's pretty close to typical monogamous standards but you Can make it work. just be thoughtful with it

alternatively, can you see any of these characters falling in love Again after the happily-ever-after? and how would the triad approach it, if so? what would they all need to talk about beforehand, and what feelings would everybody have about the situation?

it's worth considering these questions even if the hypothetical will never feature in your actual canon, because knowing the answers to these questions will help you understand all of the individuals & their relationship(s) MUCH better.

i've been typing this for nearly two hours and there's a lot more i COULD say because... there's just a lot to say. i'll close out with some quick questions that you can ask yourself when developing the dyad dynamics within your triad

first, take a page and create a separate section for each individual dyad. then answer these questions for every pair:

how does each pair act when alone?

how do they act differently alone compared to when they're with their third partner?

are there any elements of this dyad (romantic, sexual, financial, domestic, etc) that these two people DON'T have with the third partner?

if so, what are they?

are there any boundaries or hard limits within this dyad that aren't shared with the third partner?

if so, what are they?

partner 3 goes out of town alone for a few weeks. what are the remaining two doing in their absence?

(doesn't have to be anything special, it's just to get a sense of how the two interact on a day-by-day basis without the third there)

what is something that each partner in the dyad admires about the other -- that they DON'T necessarily see in the third partner?

what problem do These Two Specifically need to solve in the story before their relationship will work?

how is that problem DIFFERENT from the problems being solved within the other two dyads?

doing this for ALL THREE dyads is VITAL imo. that way, you develop complex and nuanced and different relationships that all have unique dynamics.

those questions should be enough to get you started, i hope

then After you've charted the differences in relationships, you can start to jot down similarities in the overarching triad. what does one person admire in Both of their partners? what are activities that all three like to do together? what are boundaries or discussions that all three share?

but the main goal is to figure out how to Differentiate each relationship!

a polycule is only as strong as the individual relationships within it. if two people are struggling with their own relationship, adding a third person won't fix that.

(UNLESS the third person is the catalyst for those two to, like, Actually Communicate And Work Their Shit Out. i just mean that the old adage of "maybe if we just add a third-" works about as well to fix a miserable non-communicative marriage as, uh, "maybe if we have a baby-")

AND FINALLY.

if you're not sure whether your poly romance reads organically to poly people, you can hire a sensitivity reader with poly experience. if you can't afford that, you can read up on polyamorous resources like a glossary of terms & articles actually written by poly people. (and stories written by poly people!)

you can also just.... ask poly people questions, if they're open to it. i like talking about polyamory and my own relationships so you're welcome to send asks if u want, i just can't guarantee i'll answer bc my energy levels fluctuate a lot and i don't always have time.

polyamorous people are in an uphill battle for positive representation right now & so the LAST thing i want to see is authors giving up on their stories bc they're worried about getting things Wrong. well-meaning and positive stories that treat this kind of love as normal, healthy, & aspirational are So So So Needed. even if you guys end up with some funky-feeling details.

seriously, if you're monogamous then you probably don't have a full idea of Just How Nasty a lot of people can get about polyamory. i wish it DIDN'T mean so much for you guys to want to write nice stories about us, but it does mean a lot. and it means a lot that you want to do it WELL.

in conclusion. this is not a prescriptive guide, it's just a way to raise questions. and also, you all are doing FINE.

[fluentmoviequoter]

Home to My Family

Amazing idea from @avada-kedavra-bitch-187!

Pairing: Tim Bradford x fem!wife!reader

Summary: After you give birth to twins, they're taken by a nurse for checkups. You soon realize that she's not a nurse, so Tim calls in reinforcements to save your children and catch their abductor.

Warnings: child abduction, r just gave birth but story begins post-labor, angst, happy ending with fluff

Word Count: 1.7k+ words

Masterlist Directory | Tim Bradford Masterlist | Request Info

“Congratulations,” the doctor says as your second baby is placed in your arms. “Two healthy babies.”

“They’re perfect,” you murmur, your eyes on the baby boy in your arms.

“A nurse will be in shortly to take them for full checkups,” someone informs you.

“How do you feel?” Tim asks.

You look away from your son and smile at the sight of Tim holding his daughter. She beat her brother into the world by nearly three minutes, and Tim has been enraptured with her since then.

“I’m okay,” you assure him. “We did good.”

Tim scoffs and lays his hand on your son’s back as he corrects, “We did great.”

“Hello, Bradfords,” a nurse greets with a knock on the open door. “I’m here to borrow these babies.”

You watch as Tim hands your daughter to the nurse to be placed in a bassinet before he turns to you to take your son. It makes you uncomfortable to hand them over so soon after giving birth, but the first checkup is necessary. Tim takes your hand and sits on the edge of your hospital bed to wait together.

“Did you call Angela?” you ask.

“Where are those pretty Bradford babies?” another nurse singsongs as she enters. “Checkup time!”

You furrow your brows, but Tim is on his feet before you can ask any questions. Tim is heartbreakingly familiar with the reality of evil in the world, and he realizes before you that something terrible has happened. As he races into the hall, fear settles over you as tears build in your eyes. If the real nurse is here now, who has your children? And where are they?

The nurse leaves to double-check that your babies weren’t transported by another nurse, and you’re left alone. After several minutes alone, scared, Tim returns and shakes his head. His jaw is clenched tightly, but you can tell he’s only a moment from breaking.

“I reported it to the department,” Tim says, his voice tight. “Angela’s on the way and I let her know too.”

You nod before you sit up carefully, wincing in pain as you swing your legs over the edge of the bed.

“Hey, hey, no,” Tim murmurs, rounding the foot of the bed. He lowers before you and lays his hands over your thighs. “You just gave birth; you need to rest.”

“I need to find them, Tim. We have to find them!” you exclaim through your cries.

“I know. We will, I promise we will.”

“But you don’t need my help.”

Tim smiles at your attitude, understandable anger building beneath your pain, fear, and tiredness.

“Your help isn’t the issue, it’s your health.”

“Timothy,” Angela greets. She walks to your side and hugs you tightly. “Tell me everything.”

You lie back carefully as Tim recounts the events of the past few minutes. Angela nods along, then looks around your room.

“They’re still in the hospital, I’d bet,” Tim concludes.

“Grey stationed officers at every opening to keep it that way,” Angela responds. “There’s plenty of hiding places in a hospital. But Tim…”

“I don’t know,” he answers. “I have no idea who would do this. I’ve put plenty of people away, called CPS hundreds of times, any of those people could have decided to return the favor.”

Lucy and Nolan knock on the open door, and Tim waves them in as Angela draws a diagram of the hospital on the whiteboard opposite you. Lucy walks directly to your side while Nolan stands beside the door to watch the hallway.

“What do you need?” Lucy asks softly.

“I don’t know,” you whisper, wiping a stray tear from your cheek. “Other than the obvious.”

“We’re going to find them. Half of the station is here for you.”

“There’s only one option that finishes this quickly,” Angela decides. “We split up and search every floor of this hospital.”

Tim looks to you rather than answering, and you promise, “I’m okay to be alone. I trust you, all of you, to find them and bring them back to me. Do whatever you have to do.”

“We will,” Tim promises. “Nolan, stay here, keep an eye on this hallway. Lucy, you’re with me.”

Lucy squeezes your hand kindly before she walks to Tim’s side. Nolan steps out of your room with them and closes the door. Completely alone, all you can do is wait.

“Hey,” Tim calls urgently. A male nurse spins and raises his hands in question. “Have you seen a nurse in pink scrubs with twins?”

“There’s lots of nurses, pink scrubs, and twins here, sir,” the man answers.

Tim takes a measured step toward him, and the man steps back urgently, bumping into the desk behind him.

“Do you want to be charged with aiding and abetting a kidnapping?”

“Sir, if you’ve seen a woman in pink scrubs with two bassinets, you need to tell us now,” Angela interjects.

“I haven’t,” he answers quickly. “I swear I haven’t.”

Tim steps away from the scared nurse and sighs.

“This floor is clear, no sign of them,” Angela reports.

Tim’s phone buzzes in his pocket, and he retrieves it without looking away from the empty hallway.

“I remember when I wasn’t allowed to look at my phone on duty,” Lucy muses.

“Your children hadn’t been abducted,” Tim snaps. He reads a message, furrows his brows, and then says, “Angela.”

Angela knows that Tim using her first name isn’t a good sign, and she's proven right when he passes his phone over. “Where is this?”

“I can’t tell. The message seems familiar,” Tim replies.

Angela zooms in on the picture while Tim repeats the message to himself. Lucy moves beside Angela and looks at the picture, pointing to any discernable items in the background. The image shows your son in the bassinet front and center, and while it’s clear that they’re still in the sterile, white hospital, it’s unclear where.

“Supply closet,” Angela realizes just as Tim says, “Keiran Tumble.”

“The counterfeiter?” Lucy asks. “What’s his problem with you?”

“I arrested him, but I’m also why he lost visitation rights for his kids. They were in the warehouse with the printing fumes. He hasn’t been out of prison long.”

“Prison for counterfeiting?”

“Federal prison. The Reserve pressed additional charges. When he got out, he got served with the papers about his kids.”

“Wait,” Angela interrupts. “You said it was a female nurse.”

“Keiran’s girlfriend,” Tim guesses. “I didn’t see her, she wasn’t there when we raided his operation, but I’ve heard plenty about her.”

“Me too. Tim, she’s suspected of at least three murders. This isn’t a manhunt; we have to find her without risking your kids.”

“ Supply closet?” Tim repeats. “Let’s find the right one, and then we move in. She makes one move toward them, and you drop her.”

“Tim, maybe you should sit this one out,” Lucy suggests.

“No,” Angela answers. “If this were Jack, I’d want to be right there when we found him. Look that monster in the face and remind her that at the end of every day, I go home to my family.”

“I’m more use here, Chen,” Tim assures. “How’s Nolan?”

“He said everything’s clear there. Only a few nurses through since we left.”

Tim nods, but Angela purses her lips in thought.

“What?” Tim inquires.

“Isn’t your room across from a supply area? Wouldn’t someone have needed something by now?” she asks.

“No one saw them because they didn’t go far,” Lucy realizes.

“Let’s go!” Angela exclaims.

Fiddling with the blanket over your legs, you think about what you will do when you get your babies back. Kiss them, apologize even though they won’t know what’s happening, and then beg Tim to take you home. You refuse to think about any alternative.

“Yep,” Nolan says on the other side of your door. “All clear here, too. Good luck.”

“C’mon, Tim,” you whisper.

You trust him more than anything, but right now, your fear threatens to override all of your rational thoughts.

Suddenly, a single gunshot sounds. Immediately after, you hear screams and loud promises that everything is alright and everyone is safe. You, however, refuse to believe it until you see your husband and children. Frozen in uncertainty and fear, you count your shallow breaths rather than running through possible scenarios.

Two firm knocks on your door are followed by Nolan smiling as he holds the door open. Tim steps in with both of your babies cradled in his arms and a relieved look. You release a shaky breath, then smile as tears roll over your cheeks.

“It’s over,” Angela promises as she hugs you. “We got her.”

Tim walks to the other side of your bed and carefully lowers the twins to your chest. They coo softly in their sleep, none the wiser about what they’ve been through. Holding them against you, you kiss their heads and whisper that you love them.

“Do you know what you need now?” Lucy asks.

“Get me out of here,” you beg, smiling.

“I’ll see what I can do,” she answers, leading Nolan out of the room.

“What happened?” you ask Tim.

“Do you remember Keiran Tumble?” You nod, and he places his arm around your shoulders as he continues, “He got out, mad about his arrest and losing his kids, and sent his girlfriend to make me feel some of the same pain. Or that’s the working theory.”

“It’s right,” Angela adds. “Only a criminal would be that stupid.”

"So, Nolan radioed an all-clear, got her guard down, and we went in. She shouldn't be out for a very long time."

You lay your head against Tim’s shoulder and say, “I love you.”

“Aw, I love you, too!” Angela jokes.

“If you weren’t our first choice for godmother, I’d kick you out,” Tim tells her.

“You love me.”

“Thank you,” you interject. “I’m glad you’re both here.”

“I’m going to go fill in Grey and then make sure your house is ready for an early return,” Angela says as she steps toward the door. “Need anything else?”

“You’ve done more than I can ever thank you for,” you answer. “I’ll call you later.”

“Like she won’t still be at the house when we get home,” Tim mumbles.

“Hey, I filled up your freezer with comfort food, be nice to me, Timothy.”

Alone with your babies, you smile as Tim extends his finger to your slowly waking son. You’ll never get tired of being with them, and there’s no one else you’d rather have by your side than Tim Bradford.

[caelanglang]

Charity Sketch Commissions ‼️ 🇵🇸

Donate then I'll draw something for you! There will be two ways of donation—monetary or e-sims both ways have their own tiers for you to choose from. slots will be limited. I lowered the prices to encourage more donations! There will be two kinds of donations: monetary donations (to Care For Gaza and Gaza Direct Aid) and e-sims donation by emailing e-sims QR codes to gazaesims

I will not be asking for any payment. I will only be needing a proof of donation with the date :))

more info below!

Monetary Donation

directly donate to Care for Gaza or Gaza Direct Aid

here are the tiers I am open for:

Chibi style sketch: 3$ (+2$ per additional character)

Anime style sketch: 7$ (+5$ per additional character)

***

E-sim Donation

this would require you to purchase from nomad and e-sim and email it to gazaesims@gmail.com. You will need to make an account in nomad in order to purchase their e-sims.

The tiers will be based on the e-sim plans offered:

10 GB (30 Days): 34$ [2-page comics (canvas is strictly a4 sized, unlimited panels)]

5 GB (30 Days): 22$ [character sheet (max of 6 characters— 4 anime style and 2 chibi style)]

3 GB (30 Days): 16$ [character sheet (max 4 characters, multiple dialogues are allowed)]

1 GB (7 Days): 9$ [flat colored sketch of a character]

how to donate e-sims (credits in here), more information in here

*note that every slot is for one kind of tier ONLY but you may buy multiple of that same tier to get more drawings (ex: buying three 10GB e-sims will give you a 6-page comic / buying two 1GB e-sim for two characters' colored sketch)

All i will be asking for is proof of donation (and email screenshot for e-sims donations with the dates)!

Please dm me to inquire. Once we've settled the commission, I will be giving you a gforms to fill out then start the commission as soon as I can. I am not as active in social media so please bear with me if my replies are late.

bonus extra: you can also choose the brush you want me to use ~

Terms of Service:

These are not my usual rates. I lowered the prices a lot to encourage more donations. I am sorry but I will be prioritizing this over inbox requests. Thank you for your understanding. Let's do our best to help the people.

That's all! Thank you so much for reading this far! Any shares are highly appreciated!

[starlightkun]

⏯ word count: 9.5k ⏯ genre: fluff, established relationship, band au, punk drummer!sungchan, sequel to filler episodes, reader isn’t completely boring anymore! yay!, she’s still figuring it out a little bit but it’s not a full-fledged quarter life crisis anymore, ft. shotaro/eunseok/wonbin as sungchan’s bandmates, and nct dream 00 line as reader’s normal friends™ ⏯ warnings: the usual cursing, and reader briefly gets creeped on in a scene but gets out of there pretty quick, and that’s really it! if i missed any please let me know ⏯ extra info: this is the sequel to filler episodes, it cannot be read as a standalone! ⏯ author’s note: guys i almost died writing this they’re so cute 🤧 ⏯ now playing… pluto – xdinary heroes | undercover – a.c.e | injured crow – bears in trees

── ⋆⋅♫⋅⋆ find more stories from backstage at venue:hell here!

He didn’t pull away when the kiss broke, affectionately nuzzling his nose with yours again. “Yeah…” he murmured, a content smile on his face. “I get it.”

“Get what?”

“The sappy love songs, all the wars, carving things in trees, the locks on bridges, all of it.”

The excited hum of the crowd was audible from backstage as you helped the band with their final checks before going on.

“Shotaro, your in-ears,” you handed said equipment to the frontman.

“Oh, I was looking for those! Thanks!” He grinned as he took them from you, slipping one in his ear.

“Wonbin, I thought you weren’t going to wear more white shirts after you stained the one from yesterday blue with your sweat,” you reminded the guitarist, fixing a piece of his freshly-dyed dark blue hair that was out of place.

He looked down at his white tank top as if just remembering this, then shrugged. “This was the only clean shirt I had.”

“Laundry. We’re all doing laundry tomorrow,” you declared, looking around for the remaining members. “Where are the other two?”

“We’re here, we’re here,” Sungchan appeared at your side, Eunseok right behind him, tucking his shirt in. “Just had to use the bathroom.”

“Alright, everyone good?” You pointed at all of them, receiving various yeses and thumbs-up in return.

Another crew member called out two minutes before they had to go on, and you started backing away as they grabbed their instruments. “Okay, good luck, have fun, I’ll see you guys after.”

“Thanks, Y/N!” The other three members beamed at you, attentions turning to the stage in front of them.

Sungchan hung back with you for another moment, cupping your cheek with a hand to pull your lips to his. “Thank you, baby.”

“Good luck, Sungchan,” you murmured, giving him one more peck. “I love you.”

“Love you more.” He let you go with a grin.

You emerged from backstage almost directly in the crowd, having to pass through a set of curtains and step over one rope until you were in the packed venue. Feeling a bit bad as always, you tried to squeeze through the people as nicely as you could. A staff member of the venue who was standing up by the stage and facing the crowd eyed you as you got closer and closer, and you held up the lanyard around your neck indicatively. Hanging from the lanyard was a crew member badge for the headliner band. Roses for Eyes hadn’t been able to get any of their own made—both due to how last-minute of an addition they were, and because they didn’t really have any crew or staff of their own, relying pretty much on the headliner’s crew and you—so you had been given a badge from the headliner’s crew to allow you to move freely in the venues.

The venue staff member relaxed and nodded, gesturing between them and the barricade, asking if you needed to get in there. You shook your head, stopping a few people behind barricade and off to the side.

As the guys came out and started their first song, you pulled out your phone to start taking pictures. On top of becoming the de facto tour manager for Roses for Eyes, you had also been in charge of taking videos and pictures of all the performances for their social media. They only had a thirty-minute set, and you always felt the pressure to capture all the best moments from each night.

You were focusing in on Wonbin’s guitar solo when you became aware of a presence over your shoulder. Thinking it was just someone in the crowd trying to get closer, you shuffled forward as best you could while still recording Wonbin.

“Hey.” A guy’s voice was right by your ear, making you nearly jump out of your skin.

The guitar solo was over, and as you switched back into taking pictures, you offered a polite nod to the man next to you in the crowd who had spoken to you. “Hi.”

“They’re good, right?” He was still shout-talking to you over the music.

“Yeah, they’re awesome.” You agreed, catching the perfect moment of Eunseok and Shotaro jamming out together.

“You a fan?”

“Uh-huh. Big fan.”

The lights went down for a dramatic rise back up into the next song, and you pointed your camera at Sungchan, knowing he always went hard on the intro of this one.

“So are you here by yourself?”

“I’m working,” you told him shortly, flashing your badge at him.

He either didn’t get the hint or didn’t care. “Cool, cool. So are you single?”

“Nope.”

“Really?”

Rolling your eyes, you decided to stop answering, focusing back on your job.

“Come on, what’s—” As soon as his hand grabbed your upper arm, you whipped around to shake him off.

“Fuck. Off.” You glared at him, lowering your phone as you focused on this problem.

“So you were lying. About not being single?”

“Don’t fucking touch me,” you hissed back. “Doesn’t matter if I’m single or not.”

He held his hands up. “We got off on the wrong foot. Can I try again?”

“No. Fuck off.”

A group of women who had been off to the side of you must have taken notice of what was going on, as two of them stepped in between you and the man, staring down at him from the top of their very tall platform boots.

“She said fuck off.” One of them spat at him. “We heard her tell you twice.”

“We were just talking.” He looked at you sheepishly, as if expecting you to defend him.

“No, we weren’t.” You retorted.

“So fuck off.” Another woman took a step closer to him, crossing her arms over her chest.

He muttered something about bitches as he slunk off into the crowd. You let out a breath of relief as the women swarmed you to check on you.

“Are you okay?” The first woman who had stepped in bent down to ask you.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” you assured them. “Thank you, really.”

“Of course!” A third one fixed your jacket for you. “We weren’t going to stand around with that happening right in front of us!”

“Do you want to watch the rest of the concert with us?” The first woman offered. “We’ll keep you tucked in safe right in the middle of us.”

You flashed them an appreciative smile. “If you don’t mind, then please.”

“Oh my god, of course!” They welcomed you into their group, encircling you, and letting you get lost in their fun energy for the night.

At the end of the show, you were sat at the band’s merch table. In addition to being the de facto tour manager and photographer/videographer, you also usually managed the merch table for Roses for Eyes. The headliner had plenty of crew to spare to work it, but you wanted to help however you could, and this was honestly one of your favorite parts. Various members usually came to hang out by the merch table and meet and talk with the concert goers, and you loved hearing all the praise that was showered on the guys. Almost nobody had heard of them before coming to the concerts, but it made your chest puff up with pride at how many people stayed just to tell the guys how much they loved their set.

Roses for Eyes didn’t have a lot of merch. In fact, they had exactly one kind of t-shirt, and CDs of their one and only semi-professionally recorded EP for sale. Which made your job easier, you just had to either hand them a CD, or ask their size in shirt.

“Oh my god, you’re here too!” Your next customers were the women who you had spent almost the whole concert with, their eyes sparkling with recognition and delight at you.

“Yes, I am!” You laughed as one reached out to fix your hair. “I’m everywhere, I swear. What can I get you guys?”

They each got a shirt, and a couple got CDs too. As you ran their cards and accepted their cash, they raved to you about the show.

“You know, I’d never heard of them before this, but they were so good!”

“That’s what everyone says,” you replied with a grin.

“I loved the first song they played, that was like—” She started mimicking the melody, and you recognized it immediately.

“Ah, ‘Lonely as Mars’!” You perked up. “That’s one of my favorites.”

“What’s your favorite song then?”

“Oh, I can’t say.” You grinned. “It’s not released yet…”

They all laughed and giggled at this. One peeked at the track list of the CD she had just bought from you again before looking up at you. “Guess we’ll have to wait until it’s released then, huh?”

“Yes, yes, please keep an eye out!” You couldn’t help it, you were proud of your boyfriend and the rest of your friends.

“Alright, beautiful, we’ll stop holding up your line.” One of them chuckled, giving your cheek a final tweak before the four of them moved over to the short line to chat with the band.

You couldn’t pause on that moment for too long, as more patrons came up to your table.

Once people had finally started trickling out of the venue, and you had no line left in front of either your merch table or to meet the band, you were unsurprised when Sungchan pulled up an extra folding chair next to you.

“You know,” he let out a sigh, scooting right up next to you until your legs were pressed together. “I think we need to completely deck you out in Roses for Eyes merch from head to toe.”

“One, you guys don’t even have that much merch. Two, I think all that would accomplish would be making me looking like a crazed fan.”

“Aren’t you?”

“I am your biggest fan,” you acquiesced with a giggle at how serious he looked, squeezing his leg. “But we need security to let me in, you know.”

“What about a shirt with my face on it?”

“I think that’d be even worse.”

“It can say ‘CREW’ on the back or something.”

You laughed again. “I did tell that guy I was working, you know. Which did nothing.”

“I know, baby, I’m not mad at you.” Sungchan put an arm around the back of your chair, leaning in closer to inform you, “I was up on stage wishing I could’ve been kicking his face instead of the bass drum.”

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t hop off stage just to beat up somebody in the crowd.” You whispered back. “Even if it would’ve been deserved.”

“God, I don’t know if I can take another month of hearing you get hit on from right next to me.” He was presumably referencing times like now, with you at the merch table and him nearby talking to patrons.

“You think I like hearing people compliment your tattoos as an excuse to feel up your arms?”

“I don’t let them!” He protested. “And sometimes they do actually like my tattoos!”

“I know, Sungchan,” you snickered. “It’s hard being the hottest couple ever, isn’t it?”

“God truly gives his toughest battles to his sexiest soldiers,” Sungchan joked back, letting his arm drop down to your waist.

“Hey, on the bright side, tomorrow is the Venue:Hell show,” you reminded him. “I’ll have Jeno and Jaemin and my other two much less sturdy friends there. Not to mention Anton, Sohee, and Seunghan.”

He didn’t seem much happier about this, letting out a little grumble, “Mmm, alright.”

You looked around at the nearly empty venue, the only fans left chatting with a couple of the members from the headlining band by their table. “Do you think we can shut it down for the night?”

“Yeah, I think you’ve done plenty, baby.” He snuck a quick kiss to your temple. “So thankful for you.”

Your hometown was only a short, three-hour drive from the previous venue, so Roses for Eyes made the very cost-effective decision to drive straight there after the show to crash at the band’s apartment for the night instead of getting a hotel in the city right next-door. All of you let out groans of both relief and exhaustion when you finally opened the front door to their apartment. Luggage was immediately dropped on the floor of the living room as muttered ‘goodnight’s were lazily tossed over shoulders and everyone disappeared into their own rooms. After the five of you had been sharing two (or sometimes one) hotel rooms every night and a van every day for the past month, you knew everyone was glad to have some space again. You dropped onto Sungchan’s bed, a subtle happiness spreading out through you at being in the familiar surroundings again.

Sungchan flopped down pretty much on top of you, burying his face in your neck as he wrapped his arms around you tight.

“Night, baby,” he pressed a kiss to your cheek, then left his face there, nuzzling his nose against your cheekbone. “Love you so much.”

“Mm, night, Sungchan.” You pulled one of his hands up to drop a peck on the back of his fingers. “Love you so much… even more…”

In the morning, you woke up still underneath Sungchan, and smiled to yourself, letting your eyes flutter shut. You fell asleep again for who knows how long, being woken up by gentle kisses being peppered all over your cheek.

Shifting a little bit, you squinted one eye open to offer Sungchan a sleepy smile. “Morning.”

“Did I wake you up?” He whispered. “Sorry, baby.”

“It’s okay, Sungchan,” you chuckled softly. “It was a great way to wake up.”

“I just woke up and saw you and I was thinking about how much I love and appreciate you,” he hummed, pressing two more kisses to your face. “Love you so much, and I’m so thankful for everything you’ve done for us, you know.”

“I was serious about being your biggest fan.”

“I know. But I mean, we would’ve already crashed and burned so many times on this tour without you. And you stepping up not only to manage, but take photos and run our merch table? You didn’t have to do any of that. I asked you to come with because I couldn’t stand the thought of going two months without you. Not because we needed a crew member.”

“But you did need a crew member. Several, actually,” you replied humorously. “And I wasn’t going to just tag along and do nothing. Even if you had a manager and social media person and a fully staffed merch table already, I would’ve found something.”

“I don’t doubt it.” He kissed the corner of your mouth. “God, I’m so in love with you. Love you so, so much I feel like I’m going to die.”

“Alright, well don’t do that,” you hummed, shifting onto your back and carding your fingers through his hair. You pulled him up to give him a kiss on the lips, laughing into his mouth when he dropped his full body weight back onto you again. “I love you too, Sungs. You big, clingy snugglemonster of a guy.”

“Your guy.”

“Yeah, you are.”

With your second load of laundry in the dryer, you hauled the stuff you’d just pulled out of the dryer into Sungchan’s room, dropping it onto his bed to start folding it. It’d all be going right back into your suitcases, but it was nice not having to do this in a laundromat.

You hadn’t heard a peep from the other three all morning, and as far as you knew, they were still passed out. Not that they were really morning people under normal circumstances anyway, but you figured they deserved to sleep in for today. If they weren’t up by the time Sungchan came back with lunch for everyone, you’d probably wake them up. After all, they had a show tonight, and you would need to be back on the road tomorrow morning.

Sungchan’s bedroom door opened again, your boyfriend poking his head in. “Food’s here.”

“Can you help me finish folding all this first?” You requested, and he obliged immediately, joining you by the mattress and picking up a t-shirt. “We should probably wake everyone else up so they can eat before the show.”

Suddenly, Sungchan started chuckling as he grabbed the next article of clothing to start folding.

“What’s so funny?” You questioned.

“Nothing, I was just thinking about how… normal this is.” He pointed between you, him, and the laundry. “After being on the road for a month, it’s weird. I love it, I love not being cooped up in hotel rooms with everyone and having to smell-test my clothes as I’m rushing to get changed to go on stage but—” He laughed again. “I don’t know, it’s crazy how I love even stupid little chores like laundry with you.”

“Ah, Sungchan.” You tossed aside the socks you had just paired up, wrapping your arms around his waist and pressing your face into his back. “You’re going to make me explode if you keep saying stuff like that.”

“Explode because you love me so much, I presume?” His grin was audible in his voice as he kept moving around to fold the rest of the laundry.

You just nodded against his back, continuing to hold him.

“Are we going to eat lunch like this?” He asked, and that’s when you realized he had finished up the last few garments.

You let out a dramatic sigh, taking your arms back. “I guess not.”

“You want to wake up Taro and Eunseok while I get Wonbin?”

Knowing that he was willingly taking the short end of the stick, you agreed easily. “Sure.”

You knocked on Shotaro’s door first, waiting for a few seconds before knocking again after you got no response. This time, you heard a garbled ‘Eh?’ from inside.

“Taro? You up?” You called out.

He groaned, and you could hear his feet as he shuffled over to open his door. The frontman rubbed his eyes and yawned. “Mm, hey. What time is it?”

“Lunchtime,” you informed him. “Good morning.”

“Oh, morning.” He grunted and stretched. “I’ll help you get Eunseok up.”

The two of you approached the bassist’s door together, and on the other side of the apartment, you could hear Sungchan’s unsuccessful attempts to wake Wonbin. Shotaro attempted very loud banging on the door once, and when he inevitably got no response, just threw it open. It was pitch black in the room thanks to Eunseok’s blackout curtains. You hung back by the doorway as Shotaro flicked the lights on then grabbed his bandmate’s shoulders.

Eunseok swore loudly, throwing an elbow out towards Shotaro as he rolled over and tried to push his face into his pillow.

“Nope!” Shotaro shook his shoulders again. “Come on, Eunseok! Wakey wakey! Good morning! Food! We have food! And if you don’t come eat it now, we’ll eat it all without you.”

Eunseok let out a long, slow sigh before sitting up straight in his bed. He pushed hair out of his face as he glowered at Shotaro. “If there’s no food, I’m going to cut your guitar strings one by one with kitchen shears while you watch.”

“Good morning, Eunseok,” you added with a snicker. He wordlessly flipped you off. You returned the gesture.

The three of you were already in the kitchen by the time Sungchan came back, practically dragging a still-snoozing Wonbin with him. Sungchan had a harrowed look on his face, while the guitarist yawned and nuzzled his cheek against your boyfriend’s shoulder.

“Glad you could join us, sleepy,” you cooed, fixing Wonbin’s bedhead.

Shotaro and Eunseok finished making their plates and took them into the living room to eat—the guys had no dining table. You immediately started fixing two more plates of food in addition to your own, for Sungchan and Wonbin. Carefully balancing the three plates you brought them out to the living room as well, Sungchan dragging Wonbin behind you. He deposited Wonbin onto the couch next to Shotaro, and you set his plate and utensil down on the coffee table in front of him. Shotaro immediately took over prodding and waking Wonbin up to start eating, letting you and Sungchan squeeze into the armchair together with your food.

Roses for Eyes were doing their soundcheck that evening when you felt your phone start buzzing in your pocket. Checking it quickly, you saw that it was Jaemin, and stepped away to take the call.

“Hey!” You greeted him brightly, plugging your other ear to be able to hear him better. “Are you guys here?”

“Yeah, we can’t figure out which door to use?” He said, and in the background, you could hear the distant voices of Donghyuck and Renjun bickering. “And we don’t want to get the cops called on us or anything.”

“That wouldn’t happen, promise,” you snorted. “Places like this aren’t particularly fond of cops. Anyway, I’ll come get you! Are you by the front?”

“If the front is an unmarked rusted metal door, then yes.”

“Okay! Wait there!” You hung up.

Stepping back into the band’s eyeline, you lifted a hand to get their attention. They didn’t stop playing, but a couple of the members looked at you indicatively. You jerked a thumb at the exit and mouthed ‘be right back.’ Sungchan nodded, and Shotaro, who had been holding his mic with two hands anyway, gave you a thumbs-up.

Jogging through the venue, you opened the front door, squinting against the bright light of the sun for a moment. It was easy to find your friends, as Renjun presently had an arm around Donghyuck’s neck and Jaemin and Jeno watched on like they were two dads grilling at a cookout.

“Hey, guys!” You called out, running up to them.

“Y/N!” Jaemin whipped around, bright smile on his face as he went to hug you. “Oh my god, hey! You’re okay!”

“Hi, Jaem,” you laughed, hugging him back just as forcefully. “I didn’t go off to war, you know.”

“I know, I know.”

“Just ran off with my dirtbag boyfriend,” you couldn’t help but tease him, feeling as he scoffed, and perfectly imagining the eyeroll that came with it.

“Yeah, you haven’t let that one go, huh?”

“I’m afraid the guys are going to get matching shirts at this point.”

“I didn’t even call him your dirtbag boyfriend, I’m pretty sure I said—”

“Alright, you’re hogging her and now you’re nagging her,” Jeno interrupted, grabbing Jaemin’s shoulder.

Jaemin sighed and patted your head fondly as he let you go.

“Hey,” Jeno was beaming too as he grabbed you for a hug next.

“Hey, Jeno.” You squeezed him tight. “Thanks for the save, as always.”

“We used to be ‘the guys,’ you know?” Renjun had let Donghyuck go, and lodged his own teasing complaint as he gave you a brief hug. “Now it’s them?”

“I’m staying out of this one,” you announced, holding your hands up in surrender. “You all were my first ‘the guys,’ they’re my ‘the guys’ I’m around all the time right now, and Sungchan is, well, we all know—”

“Your dirtbag boyfriend!” Your friends said in unison, even Jaemin.

Renjun peered at your face inquisitively then, declaring, “You’re different.”

“What?” You tilted your head, absent-mindedly patting Donghyuck’s back in a one-armed hug.

“He’s right,” Hyuck agreed. “You’re not our same boring Y/N anymore.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment then,” you snorted. “Come on, you guys can catch the rest of their soundcheck.”

Walking back into the venue with the other four in tow, you could already tell which song they were playing just from the drum beat that reverberated up the stairs that you were descending. The air became noticeably cooler as you went underground.

“Ooh, you guys are lucky,” you told your friends over your shoulder. “They’re playing one that isn’t released yet. It’s my favorite.”

You emerged back to where the main stage was, staying put towards the back as the band kept playing. Your foot tapped along to the beat, and you hummed along to the melody under your breath as Wonbin started singing first. Your eyes strayed from the band over to your friends’ faces every so often, however, anxious to see if they were enjoying it at all. You could still remember clearly the only other time they’d seen Roses for Eyes perform, and how well that went. They were here to show their support for you as your friends, not because they actually liked your boyfriend’s band, you were aware of that.

Jeno was bobbing his head along to the music, Renjun didn’t seem to be outright put off by it this time, but it was Jaemin and Donghyuck that concerned you. Their heads were together as they seemed to be quietly talking, but they were too far away for you to distinguish anything they were saying.

An errant sound in the song made you snap your head back over towards the stage, and you could tell that the rest of the members had noticed it as well, all of them looking at Sungchan for a second as they continued performing. As the song finished, you walked up towards the stage, concerned frown on your face as you looked up at your boyfriend.

“You alright, Sungchan?” You questioned. “You came in early for the last verse and hit the snare instead of the toms…”

“Yeah, baby, I’m okay,” he reassured you, pushing some hair off his forehead that had stuck there. “Just got distracted and accidentally started doing the last verse for Lonely as Mars instead.”

“Mm, alright.” You sighed. “Drink some water. All of you! I’m going to ask them to turn the AC up in here, you guys are dripping already and there isn’t even a crowd yet.”

A chorus of ‘thanks, Y/N’s followed you as you turned from the stage. Your friends were still standing uncertainly by the back wall, and you detoured over to them for a second.

“Sorry, can you guys wait here a second?” You requested. “I have to talk to the venue staff, it’ll just be a minute. I’ll also grab you a few VIP passes or something.”

When you returned, with the AC successfully nudged down a few degrees and four of the headliner’s VIP passes in hand, you saw that your friends had approached the stage, and were chatting with the band. Shotaro was sat on the edge of the stage, tuning his guitar, as Eunseok stood behind him, Wonbin was splayed out on his back on the stage, and Sungchan was still sat at his kit, miming drumming so as to not distract the others. His brow was furrowed with concentration as he ran through a pattern, not paying mind to anybody else.

“Here you go,” you smiled, handing out the VIP passes to all your friends. You then turned to the band to announce, “It should start getting much colder in here soon.”

Wonbin just lifted a thumbs-up in response before flopping his arm back onto the ground next to him.

“Thanks, Y/N!” Shotaro beamed. He turned to your friends again, “Like I was saying, we don’t know what we would’ve done without her. I don’t know how we managed before her, honestly.”

“You guys were doing just fine.” You shook your head. “You got invited on this tour all on your own, I had nothing to do with that, remember?”

“Dumb luck,” Eunseok snorted. “Their first opener’s vocalist broke his leg.”

“But if you guys hadn’t already put in the work yourselves, and weren’t awesome, they wouldn’t have asked you to fill in.”

“Alright, maybe you have a point,” Shotaro grinned.

Sungchan had finished what he was doing, and lumbered over to the edge of the stage, hopping down to stand next to you. He wrapped an arm around your waist, pulling you close to him.

“Hi,” you smiled up at him. “You done already?”

“Seemed like everybody else was taking a break.” He gestured to the rest of his bandmates.

“Because you said you needed to run your solo in ‘Split Seconds’ again on your own,” Eunseok retorted.

Sungchan pointedly ignored him, turning to your friends instead, giving them all good-natured nods. “Good to see you guys again. Glad you could make it out.”

“Yeah man, you too,” Jeno gave him a smile back.

“Of course, thanks uh, for inviting us out here…” Jaemin looked around the underground venue that you all were in, having a hard time keeping the uncertainty from his face, if he was even trying.

“Yeah, that was really convincing,” you hissed, pinching his arm.

“Ow!” His hand flew to rub the spot that you had just wounded, a pout coming to his face.

“So, where will the safest place in the crowd be?” Renjun asked the band, gesturing to the empty area behind you all.

The band exchanged confused looks. You clarified, “They don’t want to be in the mosh pit.”

They let out unanimous ‘ohh’s, and Shotaro took over explaining.

“A pit usually forms in the center… front-ish.” He waved his hand over a large swath of the venue. “So if you stay off to the sides, you should be fine.”

“I’m usually up by the barricades and off to the side, since I’m taking photos and stuff,” you added.

“Honestly, you should try it,” Eunseok suggested. “One of the rules of a mosh pit is to look out for the other moshers. You shouldn’t get trampled or anything.”

Renjun shot a look at Donghyuck, who already had a mischievous grin on his face. “Lee Donghyuck, if you shove me into a mosh pit, so help me, I’m dragging you in with me.”

The other guys snickered, and you couldn’t help but smile at the familiar bickering of your friends.

Checking your phone for the time, you then nudged Sungchan’s side and started shooing the rest of the band back towards the stage. “Alright, break’s over. You guys need to finish your soundcheck so we can hand the stage over.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Eunseok saluted you as Shotaro hopped back to his feet and both of them started yanking Wonbin up.

Sungchan kissed your temple and squeezed your shoulder in a wordless ‘thanks’ and ‘be back soon’ before effortlessly climbing back on stage. You stepped back to stand with your friends as the band counted off for their next song.

“Shotaro said that you’re not just tagging along, you’re like, doing everything for them?” Jaemin lowered his voice as much as he could to keep the conversation between the two of you, but still be heard over the music. “Like, tour manager, running their merch table, photos and videos…”

“Huh?” You looked over at him from where you were watching Sungchan closely to see if he had gotten out of his funk from earlier. “Oh, yeah, yeah. They needed some help, it’s not like I was really doing anything else.”

“I thought you might at least pitch in like doing merch or something, but…”

“But what?”

“Do you think you’ll keep doing this? When you get back? Being their manager or whatever?” Your friend sounded genuinely curious. “They all said they really rely on you.”

The expression fell off your face as you blinked at him, having never genuinely considered this. You frowned and tilted your head. “I… don’t think so.”

“Why not?” After a beat, he half-joked, “Pay’s not great?”

You gave him a light-hearted eyeroll at that. “Not only are they covering my travel and lodging expenses, but they’re insisting on giving me a cut of the tour and merch proceeds, too. Whatever we actually end up making, if anything.”

“Not bad.”

“I mean, I filled in now because they needed someone now. But, I just don’t think that’d be good for me and Sungchan,” you admitted. “Pitching in at their merch table or even backstage every once in a while is one thing, but working together that closely and dating… I don’t think it’d be good to do for the long-term. You know?”

Jaemin nodded in understanding. “That makes sense. So you’ll be looking for a job when you get back?”

“Yeah, I’ll have to find something.” You shrugged. “Eventually.”

All of you were hanging out in the band’s area backstage when a venue staff member tapped you on the shoulder. You turned to her inquisitively, stepping away from the conversation to hear her properly.

She sighed and shook her head. “There’s three guys at the front claiming they’re with you all. They’re really insistent. Anton, Seunghan, and Sohee?”

The look on her face made it clear that she didn’t believe them, and she was expecting this whole errand to be a waste of her time.

“Oh, yeah, yeah!” You replied brightly. “Where are they? I’ll bring them in.”

“Front door.”

“Thanks!” You darted off through the building. Grabbing three more passes from the headliner’s crew first, you then poked your head out the front door.

A line had begun forming already, and off to the side were your three friends, waiting with a rather unamused-looking venue staffer. You walked over, greeting the staff member politely.

“Hi, I’m Y/N, Roses for Eyes’ crew.” You showed him your badge. “Thanks for letting us know. They’re good to come in.”

You were handing the guys their own lanyards as you spoke, and the employee glanced over you one more time before shrugging.

“Cool. You got it from here?” He asked.

“Yep. Thanks again.” You flashed him a smile before starting back towards the door. Addressing your friends over your shoulder, you added, “Hi, by the way. You guys weren’t giving them trouble, were you?”

“What? Us?” Sohee replied with mock offense. “Never!”

“Did you get a haircut or something, Y/N?” Seunghan asked suddenly.

“Huh?” You looked back at him. “No, my hair’s the same.”

“Maybe it’s the clothes,” Anton suggested. “I think is the first time we haven’t seen you in a pantsuit.”

You scoffed. “It wasn’t growing from my skin, you know.”

“Yeah, we know that now.”

“They’re right,” Sohee agreed. “Something’s different.”

“You think so?” You looked down at yourself, furrowing your brow thoughtfully. “That’s what my friends said too…”

“Did you dye your hair?” Seunghan was apparently still stuck on your hair. “Like, a different shade of the same color?”

“No, I didn’t change my hair.” You shook your head. “You guys are late, by the way. Completely missed both bands’ soundcheck.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Anton teased, making the other two snicker.

You turned around to grab his ear. “Not your mom, you little punk. Take out your mommy issues on some other girl.”

“Ow! Ow!” He whined. “Okay, fine, you’re way more like an aggressive older sister anyway.”

Sohee and Seunghan were still laughing at Anton, who cradled his wounded ear as the three of you reentered Roses for Eyes’ green room. It hadn’t been very spacious before, already rather cozy with the band, you and your friends, now a bit cramped with the addition of the other three.

“They’re finally here!” You announced loudly as you opened the door.

The band’s faces immediately lit up at seeing their friends again, welcoming them in.

“Your girlfriend’s a bully, Sungchan.” Anton apparently wanted to continue your hallway bickering.

“Whatever it was, you probably deserved it,” Sungchan replied without hesitation, putting him in a headlock and messing up his hair for good measure.

Packed into the crowd, with your friends all around you and Roses for Eyes’ music coming through the speakers by your head so loud that you could feel it rattling your ribcage, you couldn’t picture anywhere else you’d rather be in that moment. The crowd was unbelievably energetic, feeding right back into the guys’ performance, and you eagerly yelled back the lyrics to them, one of the few who did, but entirely uncaring of that fact as every time you caught your boyfriend’s eye, or one of your friends’ gazes up on stage, they would give you the wildest grin and continue singing along with you.

For their part, your friends did look like they were having fun. They danced with you, clapped and cheered between songs, and followed your lead on chants. Anton, Sohee, and Seunghan were of course having a blast, this was already their scene, and they broke away from you to join in on the mosh pit when it formed. They even managed to convince Donghyuck to come along, and you couldn’t help but laugh as you watched the four of them disappear into the throng.

Sungchan had taken you aside before the show and told you to not worry about pictures or videos tonight, to just have fun with your friends. And you were, fully immersing yourself in the moment.

You excitedly hit the closest person’s arm—Jaemin—as the vocals stopped and tension rose in the song, knowing what was coming next. “Ahhh! Listen! Listen! Here!”

It was one of Sungchan’s drum solos, and you couldn’t hide your pride, gripping Jaemin’s arm maybe a little too hard as you jumped and cheered. As it finished out and the other instruments joined back in, you let out one last yell of Sungchan’s name, and he threw his head back to shake his hair out of his face, shooting you a grin and a wink.

“Y/N!” Jaemin yelled from next to you.

“Yeah?” You replied just as loud, still half-watching the performance.

“He’s really good, but I think you’re going to make my arm bleed!”

“Shit! Sorry!” You let go of where you had been unintentionally digging your nails into his forearm in your elation, and he rubbed his other hand over the skin.

“It’s okay.” He patted your back, a twinkle in his eye as he looked at you. “I’m having fun.”

“Good!” You beamed, giving his arm a kinder squeeze this time.

After the concert, the others all went back to Anton’s place to drink and continue catching up—you again were surprised when your four friends accepted the invitation that had been extended to them. But Sungchan waved them off, saying he was worn out from the show.

Since the others had taken the van, you and Sungchan were left to walk home, which you didn’t mind, their apartment was just a fifteen-minute walk from Venue:Hell, and the night was cool and clear. Your path took you along the riverfront, and you pulled on Sungchan’s hand to stop at the railing overlooking the water. The lights shimmered along the dark, rippling surface of the water, and you took a deep breath of the crisp air.

Sungchan pecked your temple, letting out a sigh against your head before letting go of your hand and moving to sit down on a nearby bench. He let out a deep-held groan as he lowered himself to sit, resting his elbows on his knees.

You turned around, leaning back against the railing to watch him. “Do you want to go straight home? I know you said you were tired…”

“No, it’s okay, baby. It’s nice out here,” he reassured you, and his tone didn’t make you think he was lying about that, but there was still something that was bothering you.

“Is something wrong, Sungs?” You questioned. “You’ve been… off since soundcheck.”

“It’s being back home, made me realize that it’s going to be over.”

“Aw, you’ll go on tour again.” You pushed off the railing to close the space between you two, cradling his head to you and kissing his hair. “I know you will. You guys are only going to do bigger and better things.”

“Thanks, baby.” He wrapped his arms around your waist, pressing his cheek against your middle. “But that’s not what I was talking about. I meant being with you all day every day, getting to see you be our badass manager and stuff.”

“Ah, Sungchan…” You cooed again, rubbing his back. “I’m going to miss this too. I think this was really good for us, being able to spend time together like this, and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I’m so happy that you invited me to come with you, that I’ve been able to really see what you do and do this incredible thing with you, even if it kind of terrified me at first. But I don’t think that working together like this all the time would be sustainable for our relationship long-term.”

He let out a loud, drawn-out sigh. “Yeah… You’re right. You’re always right.”

“So you keep saying,” you replied humorously. Your voice turned soft and serious again as you added, “I’ll always be there supporting you guys; don’t think I’m going to stop being your biggest fan. But I don’t want to risk this in the process.”

“Neither do I.” He kissed your stomach through your shirt, making you giggle at the ticklish feeling. “I love you.”

“I love you too, Sungs.” You kissed his head again. “And tonight also made me realize something else too.”

“What’s that?”

“As much as I’ve loved helping you guys out and being able to support you from behind the scenes, and I’m looking forward to spending the second half of the tour doing that… I also missed being able to just cut loose with the rest of the crowd and support you like that too.”

Sungchan looked up at you, a fond smile coming to his face. “Yeah, I loved seeing you have so much fun tonight. I want you to have the time of your life at every one of our shows that you’re at, not be working.”

“Then after this tour…” You pecked his nose. “I quit.”

He was smirking as he teased back, “Not if I fire you first.”

You couldn’t help yourself, cupping his cheek and kissing him. Sungchan eagerly kissed you back as one of his hands went under the hem your shirt, fingers on the skin of your waist as he pulled you even tighter to him.

You broke the kiss with another giggle, squirming and grabbing his hand that was under your top. “Your fingers are cold, Sungs.”

He didn’t seem offended by the rebuff at all, watching you fondly as you sandwiched his one large, cold hand between your own two slightly warmer hands in a futile attempt to warm it up. “Hey, have we done your something new yet today? We’re back home, it’s not a new city.”

You let go of his hand to check the time on your phone. “It’s almost one in the morning…”

“It’s not tomorrow yet until we’ve gone to sleep.”

“Alright,” you chuckled. “What are you thinking?”

“It’s a surprise.” He jumped to his feet and offered you his hand with a grin.

You took it without hesitation, letting him pull you down the empty sidewalks at a near-run. The two of you finally skidded to a stop at the back of a building you’d never seen before in your life.

Sungchan tested the door handle, chuckling when it opened easily. “He still leaves it unlocked.”

You didn’t question where you were, who Sungchan was talking about, or if you were allowed to be here as you followed him in, the door slipping shut behind you. You ended up in some kind of stairwell, and your boyfriend started taking you up. A few yellowed lights dimly lit the concrete stairs under your feet, flickering every so often, but affording just enough visibility that you didn’t think you’d trip and face-plant. You passed by doors that seemed to lead to the actual inside of the building, only marked with numbers indicating their floors. You reached the top of the stairs after floor four. There was another door, this one marked ‘ROOF ACCESS – KEEP CLOSED’ and propped open with what looked like a broken mop handle.

Sungchan pushed the door open without hesitation, leading you right onto the roof. While the building you were on top of wasn’t a skyscraper by any means, it was taller than the others in its immediate vicinity, affording an unobstructed view of the city lights at night, glittering and shimmering all around you. The air was cool on your cheek, but you were kept warm by Sungchan’s jacket. Leaning against the railing that went around the entire roof, you took your eyes off the view and looked up at Sungchan.

“This is great, Sungchan,” you said, feeling the persistent smile on your lips that was there whenever you were with him.

“Hold on.” He slipped off his backpack, and you watched with interest as he rooted around in it before bringing out a box. It was a box of hand sparklers, these ones in particular being familiar to you as the same ones you all had gotten a few stops ago to celebrate Shotaro’s birthday.

“I thought we used all of them,” you accepted them from him as he fetched a lighter from the bag before dropping it on the ground.

“Eunseok found one more box rummaging through a box of cables earlier.”

“So you stole them.”

“So I stole them, yeah.”

You took out one sparkler for yourself, and handed another to Sungchan. He lit yours first, the firework immediately sparking in front of you. A giggle bubbled out of you as you held the sparkler out in front of you, watching it until it fizzed out. Getting another two and turning to Sungchan for him to light, you realized he hadn’t even used his first one yet, his gaze resting on you.

“Hey, you didn’t light yours,” you nudged him.

“I was watching you, baby,” he admitted freely, grabbing you by the waist to kiss your forehead. “Trying to remember that forever.”

You shoved the other sparklers haphazardly into his hand before wrapping both your arms around him and burying your face in his chest. He chuckled, rubbing your back. You could feel the curve of his smile where his cheek rested against your temple. His hand left your back before you heard his lighter click and the familiar sizzle of the sparkler again. You turned your head just enough to peek at it over your shoulder, seeing that he was being careful to hold it as far out away from you as his long arms would allow.

When it went out, you turned yourself fully around in his arms, leaning back against him. He playfully pushed you forward with his body until the two of you were both leaning against the railing on your elbows, Sungchan caging you in with his arms and hooking his chin over your shoulder to see around you to light your next pair of sparklers.

You moved to draw a star in the air with yours this time, and Sungchan spiraled his around until they both went out. On your next ones, you held yours still as he seemed focused on writing his name. His went out a second before yours, and you laughed victoriously.

“I win!” You declared, holding your still smoldering sparkler.

“Oh, we’re playing the game now?”

“Mm-hm,” you confirmed. “Didn’t you hear my telepathic message?”

“Missed that one, sorry, baby,” he snickered, giving you a sweet kiss. “But I’d never forget your prize.”

Both of you held your respective sparkler still this time, watching the tiny pops and miniature explosions as they burned through. Sungchan’s went out right after yours, and you let out a huff as he waved his burned stick in the air.

“I won.” He didn’t cheer very loudly, with his mouth right next to your ear.

You turned your head, nose bumping into his for a moment, making the both of you let out a synchronized breathy giggle. Pressing your lips to his, you let your eyes flutter shut as you melted into him even further—if that were even possible. He moved his mouth against yours as if he hadn’t just kissed you a few moments before, teeth and tongue eagerly joining too.

He didn’t pull away when the kiss broke, affectionately nuzzling his nose with yours again. “Yeah…” he murmured, a content smile on his face. “I get it.”

“Get what?” You asked quietly, searching his eyes curiously.

“The sappy love songs, all the wars, carving things in trees, the locks on bridges, all of it.”

You pushed your forehead against his, unable to do much more past the insurmountable feeling of your heart about to explode. “That almost sounds like the start of a sappy love song right there, Sungs.”

“You think?”

“Sappy love songs, all the men who went to war, locks on bridges, all the tree barks carved with hearts,” you mused. “I’m no songwriter, but I think you can pull some rhymes out of that.”

He was grinning now. “And I promise the next time you hear it, it will be one entire sappy love song unto itself. All about you, baby.”

“Gah!” You clutched at your heart as you twisted enough to bury your face in his neck. “If I don’t die of an exploded heart before then.”

“I won’t let you,” Sungchan growled playfully, rubbing your back. “You’re stuck with me. We haven’t even done all that stuff yet.”

“Is going to war for me is on that to-do list?”

“Duh. Now who’s missing our telepathic messages?”

You laughed. “That’ll be a ‘something new’ for the history books.”

At the second to last stop of the tour, you had caught brief respite in a narrow spot backstage behind the curtains, careful to stay out of the way of the other crew members bustling about. Roses for Eyes were all either changing, eating, or otherwise hanging out before the show began, and you were in a rare moment of not putting out a fire or looking for smoke before one began.

“Y/N?” A voice that you’d only heard over loudspeaker announcements or in addresses to the entire crew came accompanied by a gentle tap to your shoulder. You turned to see the tour manager for the headliner next to you, snakebites spreading with the wide grin she was giving you.

“Yes, is there something I can assist with?” You stood up straight and at attention. She was usually so busy coordinating literally everyone on the tour that you’d never even had the opportunity to introduce yourself and talk to her one-on-one like this, surprised that she even knew your name.

She offered you one of the two sweating water bottles in her hand as she flipped up the mic on her headset. “Nayoung. I don’t think we’ve officially met.”

“No, but I understand, you’ve been very busy.” You accepted the bottle with a thankful head nod.

“So have you.”

You were once again amazed that she had apparently also taken note of any of what you were doing this whole time. Honestly, you were worried about being a nuisance—a band member’s entitled girlfriend tagging along on the tour, not even lifting a finger to help, and just making the entire crew’s lives harder sounded like a pretty plausible issue for her and her staff to have faced before.

“Thank you.” You bowed your head again.

“You seem like you liked it, you picked it all up really quick after being thrown in the deep end, you know.” She cracked her own bottle cap before lifting the drink to her pitch-black painted lips.

“I’ve really loved it all, actually. Not just supporting the guys, but the work itself, surprisingly enough,” you beamed fondly as you twisted your water open. “It’s totally different from what I used to do, so it’s been really awesome learning about it all. Your staff is incredible, by the way, they’ve been so patient with me whenever I’ve had questions and helping us out when we need an extra extra hand. Really, you guys have been fantastic, we couldn’t have done it without you.”

Nayoung lifted a dark eyebrow curiously. “So what’s this I hear about you quitting after the tour then? You and Sungchan didn’t… did you?”

“Oh, no no no,” you couldn’t help but laugh a little. “The opposite, actually. We agreed that working this close together isn’t a good long-term plan for us. But it was a good experience, and I’ll figure out a way to put it on my résumé.”

“Résumé,” she repeated with mild interest, giving you an avenue to keep talking.

“Yeah, better than just saying I was unemployed for two months when interviewers ask,” you chuckled. “Not looking forward to breaking out the pantsuits again when we get back, though.”

“Who says you have to?” She asked. “You’ve been exposed to jobs outside of an office, you know there’s other options. Did you like your old sort of job so much, despite your apparent dislike for the uniform?”

You faltered for a second in what had so far been a pretty light-hearted conversation on your end, your easy-going smile slowly dropping off your features as you became overcome with confusion. “I guess… that’s what I’ve always done. I know I’m okay at it, I can get a job like that again.”

“But you don’t have to. If you don’t want to.”

You looked down at your feet as you took a thoughtful sip of your water. “You’re right. I’ve… I didn’t even think of that. Thanks, Nayoung.”

“And once you polish up that résumé, send it my way, hm?”

You almost did a spit-take on her, covering your mouth as you coughed and choked down the water in your mouth. “Wait, seriously?”

“My whole crew’s loved you since day 1. I’ve kept my eye on you, and like I said, I can tell you’ve really taken to all of this. You’ve pretty much been informally interviewing for two months already. I just need the résumé.”

“Absolutely!”

She took out a business card for the event and tour management company, this one with her own number and email on it and handed it to you. “Here, when you’re ready. We do all sorts of local stuff too, by the way, we’re not just on the road year-round. There’s a lot of planning that comes before that part.”

You held the card with two hands, well aware that your eyes were shining at her. “That sounds perfect, actually. I will totally send my stuff to you. Thank you!”

“Look forward to hearing from you, then.” She gave you one last grin before snapping the mic back down into place on her headset and started off in another direction with purpose in her steps, already talking to someone else over the mic.

Sungchan found you still rooted to that same spot, looking down at the business card in your hands. He hesitantly grabbed your elbow, startling you from your happy trance.

“Hey, what you got there?” He peered over your shoulder at it curiously.

“Nayoung asked for my résumé,” you told him brightly, practically shoving the card in his face to show him.

He jerked his head back to actually read the writing, a big smile coming to his face as well as he held a hand up for you to high-five. “Congrats, baby!”

You hit his hand hard before throwing your arms around his neck, excitedly bouncing up and down even as you had a vice-like grip around him. He just laughed and hugged you back, doing a small spin with you that the narrow space behind the curtain would allow.

“We’ll just have to make sure all your future acts knows that you were our badass tour manager first,” he teased, smirking as he cradled the back of your head to kiss you.

You pressed your lips to his once, twice more before pulling away with the same wide grin on your face as before. “Oh of course. And hopefully one day, they won’t ask me who that is when I say that.”

His jaw dropped in mock offense as you went to give him another kiss on the cheek in apology, despite your giggles. He just scoffed and pinched your side, making you squeal. “Rude.”

“I’m kidding, Sungs, you know I’m kidding,” you leaned against him affectionately. “Like I keep telling you, you guys are only going to do bigger and better things. I’m going to be the one bragging that I was your first tour manager.”

“Pretty sure you have something even better to brag about,” he reminded you, and you could feel him practically puffing out his chest with pride. “But I’ll take it.”

As you were about to open your mouth to continue your teasing banter by acting confused about what he could possibly mean, something suddenly occurred to you. It didn’t seem like Sungchan had just stumbled across you backstage, or was even looking for you just because he wanted to see you—he had seemed to be on a mission when he found you. You pulled back enough to look up at him with a knowing frown.

“Did you need something, Sungs?” You questioned.

“I didn’t need anything but to see my beautiful, awesome girlfriend.” He put a defensive hand over his chest, then added, “But Shotaro lost his in-ears again.”

“Of course,” you sighed, beginning to detangle yourself from his grasp. “One more night of this, huh?”

⤷ au masterlist | blog masterlist

[honeytonedhottie]

HONEYS IT GIRL MAGAZINE april edition⋆.ೃ࿔*:･🎀

welcome back to honeys it girl magazine, this is the april catalog. get ready for the inside scoop on data that i've collected, things i've learned/started doing, and just general info like that organized in kind of a teen-magazine inspired fashion. this particular addition's collaborator is @pinkpigtailsprincess and its an HONOR. so pls look forward to the magazine for it girls ✨ and now please enjoy, the it girl magazine.

SUMMER WARDROBE PREP ;

as we've talked about in this post right here, summer is right around the corner and we need to make the fashion count. april fashion is all about the transition from spring -> summer and in doing so gracefully there MUST be preparation.

for any season i think that camisoles r amazing because in the colder seasons like autumn or winter, u can wear camisoles underneath zip up jackets. in the summer and spring time u can wear camisoles as they are and they're so cute either way.

the key to camisoles is the length and the color and for the spring to summer transition, i advise u to steer clear of darker colors or thicker textures and go for more light/flowy, colorful pieces.

FOR THE BLOG ;

i haven't been very active on my blog (or at least thats how i feel) as much as i usually am and thats because school has been kicking my ass. now that the school year is wrapping up i have something that i'd like to introduce to the blog.

MY MASTER CLASS - i wanted to formulate a class that rly went in depth about manifestation so i decided to make a google class in which i hopefully simplified manifestation. just like in my blog, except in the class i formulate challenges, assignments etc.

the post where i go more in depth about the master class is coming out on wednesday (may first) so i hope that u guys look forward to and take advantage of this new resource 🍭🎀

FOR THE WELLNESS GIRLIES ;

if theres one thing that i tried to keep central this month was my health, so there r two things in particular that i honed in on and they are mindfulness and stress management.

MINDFULNESS - i wanted to focus on being more present in my emotions and just focus on the now more than anything. just kind of putting things into perspective. i've had time to ponder a lot of things and kind of tackle the big questions that i like to avoid and once u sort that out it feels like a weight has been lifted off ur shoulders.

STRESS MANAGEMENT - idk whats going on but my emotions have been all over the place and i've been feeling particularly stressed and overwhelmed so what i've been doing to manage that is mindful breathing and affirming affirmations that remind me that im safe, im fine etc.

and later on once im in a clearer headspace i'll journal thru my emotions and kind of sort them out that way im not harboring anything negative yk? and thats usually what helps me.

DOLLY'S SECTION, @pinkpigtailsprincess "SOME OF MY FAVS AND WHAT WE CAN LEARN FROM THEM

Some of my fav it girls What we can learn from them!!🎀 

The Boss

Whitney Gilbert + Rihanna + Lil Kim

The Smart Sweethearts

Jang Wonyoung + Elle woods

The Glitzy Dolls

Kimora Lee Simmons + London Tipton

| 𝜗𝜚 ݁ ˖ The Smart Sweetheart !! 🎀

...📧 : Wonyoung & Elle are absolutely perfect for self expression and not letting other peoples opinions get too you both of them are unapologetically Super Feminine & Sweet even people

talk down about them, they always rise up and prove them wrong no matter how much people talk all while sporting their extremely feminine personality and fashion taste no matter how much they get stereotyped as a “dumb blonde” “pick me” or “air head” they know themselves

and thats all thats matter to them!! 🎀 Now all three of these women are incredibly smart thats have achieved major academic

success let’s look at what we can individually learn from them!!

🎀 ; Jang Wonyoung The Successful K-Popstar thats has gotten global success who has the perfect princess beauty

has inspired an ongoing lifestyle trend by the Name of “Wonyoungism” a trend inspired by the beautiful fans of Jang Wonyoung where her fanbase practices and promotes Taking care of them selves and being the best version of them selves and taking inspiration from won young to

⁃  workout

⁃  eat healthy meals

⁃  take care of their skin

⁃  practice good habits

⁃  attaining their goals

⁃  ambition & hard work

⁃  being nice & inspiring others to also joij in on becoming the best version of themselves and have an unbreakable mentally inspired by her famous quote “No Problem I don’t care you’re you i’m me!” and taking after won-young in having a high self concept and hard work no matter what!! and never letting opinions get too you even when she was getting dragged on the internet she gave them more reasons to hate on her even though they know nothing about her

Sources say The Chic Princess is also incredibly smart with some extremely impressive academic achievements including

⁃  took GED & got a perfect score in Korean,english & math

⁃  Won a Science Fair

⁃  Won Match Contest

⁃  Was her Class president 3 years in a row

⁃  willing joined sports

⁃  always putting time into her studies and ever wanted to be a news anchor +lawyer!!

no speaking of Lawyers...We must talk sbout the most fashionable lawyer out there..🎀 ; Elle Woods!!The Peppy Blonde Barbie From Bel-Air is Undeniably one of the most loved it girl characters out there!! she inspires many girls & women to do their absolute best in academics and maintain their authenticity and being charismatic and kind to those around her even with people who don’t like her!!, She’s literally the Pioneer of femininity in the work force bringing her girly & hyperfeminine personality + style while also studying law and becoming a lawyer

...but it’s not always glitz and glamour for Elleseeing as early on in the movie no one seems to genuinely taker her seriously and judging her too quickly because of her girly style,chipper personality & being a classic sorority queen but as elle and had more and more people on her back about her “being a ditz” “not being smart enough” she makes her own one women revolution on a quest to prove them all wrong! and when doing this she still doesn’t stray away from her bubbly personality and trendy style and with doing this proving thats girls can be girly and hyperfem and still be smart and pursue a career but even with doing this she can’t seem to shake the image of the stereotypical “Dumb Blonde” as we see in the movie when her professor seems to only hire ell because she’s pretty and not because of her academic success.

now obviously this makes elle spiral and think shes not good enough to where she ends up giving up becoming a lawyer because she feels as though because shes the stereotypical blonde rich girl from bel-air that she can’t be anything but a pretty face but still after the fact elle picks herself back up in one of the final scene of the MovieShowing up to the courtroom sport her ICONIC Pink dress and Bedazzled Pink Pumps and using her knowledge in fashion,beauty and cosmetics to ultimately win her case even withhaving the hard ship of not taken seriously!! 🎀

these two of literally in my top 3 favorites theyre just perfect and amazing and no matter what they do people are always talking about them no matter what rather good or bad they are truly it girls now What can we learn from these two dazzling women...

⁃  Hard work pays off

⁃  You can have beauty and brains

⁃  Never Dumb yourself down too be someone everyone else wants you to be

⁃  Always work hard no matter the circumstances

⁃  Take care of yourself

⁃  People opinions on you don’t Matter because at the end of the day you onlyhave to prove yourself to yourself

⁃ You’re So weird, Never change that!

| 𝜗𝜚݁ ˖ The Glitzy Divas !! 🎀

🛍 : The Glitzy Diva Type is my FAVORITE!! Im literally Obsessed with Kimora and Sharpay They Inspire me so much and theyre like soo iconic so ofc we have to start of with Mother Herself Mrs.

Kimora Lee Simmons 🛍 : The Mother of Baby Phat How made her breakthrough in the modeling industry at only 15 And Being Signed with Chanel She is Known for Her Love of

Fashion Glitz and Glamour The Fashion Maven coining her brand Baby Phat in 1999 rose to fame without question i mean her clothes are literally so iconic you name she has it !!

⁃  phone cases

⁃  jackets

⁃  jeans

⁃  Body Suits

⁃  Denim Jackets

⁃  Boots

⁃  Hats

⁃  Tank Tops

⁃  Buffer Coats

⁃  Lip Gloss

⁃  PerfumeSHE HAD IT ALL!!

Because she is literally just FABULOUS she has always had this love for the glitz and the glamour and always hold her self too a high standard if she wanted it she would get it and thats just the way its gonna be!!! she had a habit of running up Phone Bills,Credit Card etc. truly princess activities now what can we learn from this ICON!I can do everything by myself, the only person I have to look out for is myself - Kimora Lee SimmonsPersonally

i think she is trying to say she is only supposed to be validated within her self and Only Her Opinion Matter No Matter What and its so true because at the end of the day you know you best and all you’ll is yourself!All the hard work in the world won't get you anywhere if you don't powerfully project your personality and style. How are you going to differentiate yourself from them? - Kimora Lee Simmons

BE YOURSELF!! literally being your own authentic self is literally the ultimate it girl secret and you can literally see for yourself not all it girl are one in the same they are authentically their own and that makes them all special!!People want to throw things at you and make you fall off because you're at a certain enviable height. - Kimora Lee Simmons. Like honestly she such a philosopher and i don’t care like this is so true with all it girls people are always talking about them no matter what because they feel a certain sense of jealousy

towards them for no reason when these women are literally like the best people LOVE to hate on it girl so much they end of loving them They Love to Hate them and Hate 2 Love Them!! 🎀

Now lwts talk about another favorite of mine the FABULOUS ...

⭐ : Sharpay Evans !!

The one and Only Sharpay Evans The Queen Bee that everyone tried to tear down but if were being honest she will NEVER Fall She hold her self to princess standard with her fabulous self concept

“Everything Has to be Perfect for me” Fabulous by Sharpay Evans

Having Everyone always hating in her never stopped her still always being the school Queen Bee She is constantly talked about bye everyone!! i mean yeah she is quite snobby but she is still CRAZY AMBITIOUS. and shes willing to do any and everything to make sure she gets her way Shes The Princess and that will never change

No matter what people say about her own personal style she doesn’t care only her opinion matters Because she’s FABULOUS everything around her HAS to be Fabulous as well

⁃  Wardrobe

⁃  Hair

⁃  LockerEverything

She Believes that she is better than her peers and tbh.. She kinda Is i mean Their Vocals and performance were mediocre compared to SharpayShe stands about too much i mean her fabulousness was too much for them to handle shes

Her Iconess is

Stylish Pretty Iconic Talented Ambitious and Hardworking too much for them they can’t tell can’t HANDLE IT!!

Now what can we learn from these two FABULOUS ICONS

⁃  Only Your Opinion Matters

⁃  Always Put Yourself First

⁃  Keep Working Hard for what you want

⁃  If Something isn’t up to your standards don’t settle for less

⁃  No Matter how much people talk and knock you down you’re still gonna be above their Judgement!!

⁃ Only Conform too your own standard

CELEBS ;

i wanna start off this section strong and talk about jojo siwa's new release "karma". i've linked the music video there so u can watch it and feel free to share ur opinions in the comment section but shes been receiving lots of mixed reviews from netizens.

most of the backlash comes from interviews that shes done like when she said that she was the first person in her generation to have this major of a rebrand. a huge shift in all this drama tho was when people found out that she did NOT in fact write the song like she claimed she did, which does NOT look good for her

she bought the song from brit smith and its like, WORD FOR WORD. and people feel some kind of way bcuz jojo could've just straight up been honest and say that she bought the song, which a lot of artists in the music industry do and theres nothing inherently wrong with it.

but the problem is that she tried to make it seem like she wrote it and even goes as far as to claim that she did in fact write it. and now that its shown that she bought it from brit smith, it kinda just blew up in her face.

PREP FOR NEXT YEAR ;

as we know the 2023-2024 school year is coming to an end very soon and if ur anything like me, ur feeling FATIGUED. and rightfully so of course, school can be super taxing sometimes.

this is ur sign though to take a BREAK, spend a day just for you and for rejuvenation bcuz to keep going u need to have strength. school is almost done U GOT THIS. what helps me is to count down the days until school lets out so that i can be excited 🍹✨

now is the time tho to plan out what courses ur gonna take next year, wrap up whatever u need to for this school year so that u can walk into the next school year ready to dominate. make plans for the summer and hype urself up to have an amazing time!

thats all for this months catalog, there will be a new edition each month with new content and it'll be updated on a monthly basis so if thats something that interests you or if you like these kinds of posts stay tuned for the next, till next month girlies✨

[sentinelsthiccass]

TFO Actor AU Episode Three

Hobbies

Orion Pax: My hobbies? Well, I'm actually a lot like my character, a huge history nerd. Going to libraries and museums, checking out monuments and memorials... And I may or may not have snuck into places I shouldn't have to get more info...

D-16: Yeah. And just like in the movie, I get you out of trouble.

Orion Pax: I really do owe you... anyways, I also like cooking! Not sweets though, literally anything other than sweets. Not that I don't like sweets, just...

D-16: Any sweets he makes taste like dirt. He tried making cupcakes and almost burned down the kitchen.

Orion Pax: My fiancé won't even allow me to attempt to make sweets.

D-16: No need to talk about me like I'm not right here.

Orion Pax: I know... just wanted an excuse to remind people we're engaged... oh! I also like soccer. Though, sometimes I kick too hard. Like the time I nailed Elita in the face with the ball... didn't end well.

D-16, snickering: Didn't she break your arm?

Orion Pax: She broke my arm, yes.

D-16: Anyways... my hobbies now. I'm a collector of merch... specifically Megatronus merch. Yes, I am still a Megatronus fan in real life. I have a whole spare room for the stuff...

Orion Pax: You're such a dork!

D-16: Takes one to know one.

Orion Pax: Got me there.

The two giggle before D continues

D-16: I also make sweets. I'm the opposite of Orion, sweets are all I can make. Yet, ironically, I'm not much of a sweets person. So usually I just make it for others.

Orion Pax: We really are meant for each other...

D-16: Let's not get too sappy on camera, babe... lastly, and you're not gonna believe this... meditation. I meditate.

Orion Pax: He meditates.

D-16: I can absolutely be an aggressive person at times. So Alpha Trion suggested meditating to calm down. It actually does help, so I do it when angry or stressed or upset... you get the gist.

Orion yawns and leans on D, head on his shoulder.

D-16, chuckling: Looks like it's time to get some rest.

Orion Pax: Noooooo...

D-16: We can cuddle while we curl up together~

Orion Pax: ...fiiiiiine.

D and Orion start walking out. Orion ends up nearly falling over in his tiredness, so D scoops him up to carry him home.

---

Elita-1: My hobbies? I've got a few... gymnastics being one of them. I'm pretty agile, so it's right up my alley, you know?

B-127: I've seen her do some crazy scrap in gymnastics.

Elita-1: Oh yeah. But that stuff is super advanced takes ages of practice.

B-127: How long have you been doing it?

Elita-1: I've lost track... anyways, I also do boxing.

B-127: Anyone could have guessed that one, considering how often she punches people. Good sport for her, huh?

Elita-1: Oh, shut up, you little yellow pest.

B-127: Rude... but yeah, she is good at it, I go to all her matches to show my support, just like how I go to Orion's soccer games to cheer him on and D's conventions to help him carry stuff!

Elita-1: You are still a little pest at times... but you know we appreciate that, we appreciate your support. You're a good friend, B...

Elita pats B and B giggles.

B-127: Awwww, you do like me!!

Elita-1: Shut up before I take it back... anyways, I can't really think of any more off the top of my head... you can go, B.

B-127: Ooooh, okay, my turn! First off, I'm a huge techie! I love working with technology, be it repairing things, building my own inventions, stuff like that!

Elita-1: We rely on him to repair our scrap so much... but he always yaps our audials off as he repairs things.

B-127, giggling: I do talk a lot, huh? Anyways, this isn't limited to regular tech stuff, either. I also love building things in general with whatever I can get my hands on. One of the rooms in my house is an entire advanced Lego city, complete with working stoplights and a remote control train.

Elita-1: Seriously? How long did that take?

B-127: Dunno... anyways, lastly, I like drawing! Mainly just little doodles, nothing much.

Elita-1: You probably draw like a sparkling.

B-127: Hey!

[fairuzfan]

As an american myself I can understand why people are so scared that arab-americans are refusing to vote for biden since im terrified of what trump will do to our country. I very much feel forced to choose between two very evil people where i have to choose who will probably do less overall damage. But yelling at arab-americans isnt the right move. Im terrified at what decisions ill have to make with voting, but its not like all arab-americans who refuse to vote for biden are trump supporters and in fact many of them were going to vote for biden before october 7. I dont know what we should do about voting, but yelling at grieving arab-americans who cant bring themselves to vote for biden when biden helped kill their family is just wrong. I get the fear, i really do because i feel it too, but that doesnt make it right.

Like as a disabled person I'm pretty nervous about trump presidency ngl. I need meds that allow me to function on a day to day basis. But I cannot in good conscious vote for the man that killed my family's loved ones. Not to give too much info but a family member's best friend was Heba Abu Nada... when they learned of her death they cried for three days straight and asked me not to say any news about Palestine for a week back in October. Even when I told them that Heba's poem became viral, they just nodded at me and said "a lot of talented people in Gaza died" before going quiet, staring out in the distance. That's something that will stay with me for the rest of my life and I can't bare to think of voting for the man that caused that amount of sorrow to anyone. So imagine every single Palestinian family — they all have their own stories and their own grief. So telling them "that means absolutely nothing" and being told to suck it up isn't going to make anyone want to trust you that you have people's best interests in heart. I don't know. It just is so so obvious how little people care about other people and to me that's the most.... shocking thing.

[poly-alt-partner]

Hide and Seek - Colby Brock X Fem!Reader - Part 1

MINORS DO NOT INTERACT

Summary: You join Sam, Colby, and The Boys on an investigation of Geelong Gaol in Australia. After the intro of the video, Sam and Colby set up their first 'challenge' of the night - Hide and Seek! What happens when Colby finds you first?

Info: I did write a few parts that happened in the video (especially the beginning). Hopefully it's not a spoiler to anyone who hasn't watched the latest upload!

Warnings: Dark rooms, cussing, some spicy interactions with Colby😉(will be in part 2)

____________________________________________________________

While you weren't new to ghost hunting and investigating haunted locations, you had never been to a haunted prison like Geelong Gaol. With an estimated 500+ deaths on the grounds, it was no wonder that there would be activity in the once active cells and hallways. Although you were joined by more people than usual there was still an uneasy feeling in your gut.

Before going on tour with the guides and learning more about the history everyone met in the main hallway. For the introduction you and Colby followed Sam around the corner while Juicy, Narrator, Mully, Eddie, and Josh stayed by the stairs.

"Not only did we bring (y/n) to Australia with us..." Sam pointed the camera towards you as the three of you walked back down the hall. You smiled and waved quickly before Sam turned back towards the corridor.

"We are also here with The Boys!" You watched as the group leaned in close to one another and shouted in excitement. Despite being in such a creepy location everyone was hyped up and happy to be together. Seeing how everyone interacted and got along was comforting at least.

Sam pointed out that everyone (including you) were wearing black while he was in a bright orange jumper. After a few more minutes of talking and plugging the merch, Colby took the camera from Sam. Sam got a little more serious and turned towards the bigger group.

"Alright, who's the believer of the group?" Sam inquired towards the five men.

Eddie chimed in first. "I started off as a nonbeliever and I'm the biggest bitch in the whole group."

You couldn't help but laugh and nod to yourself. There were definitely times that you would have preferred to bounce from a location when things got serious. But in all honesty, who didn't have moments like that?

"I am very skeptical," Mully started. "But I also leave places being like 'How do we explain this?'"

So far Mully has definitely been the type to be spooked by any clear evidence. He also has a habit of telling things to 'f*ck off' when it's getting too real. You can't really blame him, though. It's still hard to believe some of the things you've experienced through the years.

"Before we get into any of the history, we do have a little challenge for you guys." Upon hearing this you glance over at Colby curiously, having not heard of this prior.

"So we're all gonna split up."

"Already?" Mully's voice pitches a little higher than normal.

"Before we know anything, everyone needs to isolate themselves and we are gonna play hide and seek."

Excuse me? I did not sign up for this. You exchange glances with Juicy and Narrator. They can also tell you didn't know about this. In spite of the new information Mully and Eddie started cracking jokes. However you weren't entirely confident with running around in such an unfamiliar place.

Sam continues to explain the challenge. "Winner of hide and seek gets to choose one person to do the first investigation in solitary confinement." The Boys groan and you can't help but agree with them. If I can't win, I hope the winner doesn't choose me to investigate alone.

"(Y/n) you can either do rock, paper, scissors to be a seeker or you can opt out to be someone that hides," Colby says, noticing how tense you seemed. You should honestly be used to challenges like these by now.

"I'll just hide so one of you two have to find me."

You see Colby smirk a little before turning back to Sam to see who would be seeking. As far as you knew, Colby always lost when they did rock, paper, scissors. But you noticed the glint in his eye and wondered if his losing streak would continue.

Initially Colby had won, meaning Sam would be seeker. However, he decided he wanted to try again to see if Colby would lose. Lo and behold, Colby lost again and was now designated seeker. Your heart raced a little at the thought of hiding alone in the dark and you kind of hoped to lose quickly. Losing the game was better than being alone for more than a few minutes.

As soon as everyone had their own cameras it was time to split up. Everyone started running to find the best hiding spot, including you. Eddie and Juicy seem to be shaking hands as you run past them and some of the display cases. You duck into a small room not far from them and crouch behind the door.

"Everyone ran ahead of me," You whisper to the camera. "If I'm lucky, Colby will just run past to investigate the cells." You glance around the small room at some text but decide that reading isn't a good idea right now. You decide to zoom in with the camera in case it's needed for the footage.

"Who's gonna be fucking found first?!" Colby's voice echoes around the building, causing you to cover your mouth and turn the camera back to you. You stifle a laugh as you hear Colby walking around, being a goofball. Honestly you wouldn't mind being found first but obviously you weren't going to give up that easily.

Listening intently you hear Colby getting closer, saying he heard laughter. You realize that he must have heard you laughing. You look into the camera with wide eyes and think about holding your breath. Somehow you just feel giddy and excited about playing this game, almost forgetting that you're in Geelong Gaol.

Too scared to talk and expose your hiding spot you put a finger to your lips and shake your head. There's no way I'm going to make it that easy on him.

It's almost impossible to not laugh as you hear Colby begin sniffing around audibly like a dog sniffing a trail. Luckily you hardly ever wear perfume so he wouldn't be able to actually 'sniff you out.'

The camera in your hand is still focused on you. You hold your breath as you hear his footsteps inching closer and closer.

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Aaaaand, that's part 1! I wanted to break it up because it was getting a little long. Let me know how it is so far!

[yameoto]

Hey so you're just about the only person I feel decent asking this question, Would you happen to have any tips to make messages more...interesting? I find myself using the same adjectives, ending up in the same spot with different characters, etc, etc. And was just wondering if you had anything i could use to spice things up again.

don’t just “react” to the bot. be proactive! lead the scenario where you think is interesting, get out of the first location, and don’t be afraid to make it wild. roleplay as if you were actually roleplaying with an individual—thread context n backstory in there. the longer and more detailed Your message, the same for the bot.

your own imagination is important! if you’re struggling, it helps to build off the contextual world of the specific bot, and what makes sense.

i.e letting stepsister!quinn drag her poor innocent stepsister out after curfew to see a sleazy rock concert is a vastly different scenario than singlemom!quinn letting you meet her daughter for the first time. OR, these above two would be very different to any theboys!au bots, in which the world means inherent danger, such as using the soldier boy bot (brainwashing him, forcing him to nuke vought etc). BUT, frankly, you can do ALL those scenarios with ALL the bots. how willing you are to suspend your disbelief is the only limit here. quinn can be a merc in training if you wish, just as ben can be your pervy step!brother. woah. might make both bots.

nor do you have to take the bot greeting as holy grail. you can start off the same bot with an entirely new scenario. bots are adaptable! and they’ll follow the new input. i’m guilty of this when i’m too lazy to make a new bot for a character but i still want to rp a different scenario.

basically, bots are NOT fixed. everything can be soft-rewritten by YOUR messages. i tend to get bots out of their starting location as fast as possible.

same goes for YOU! {{user}}. you can be anyone you want to be. you could be a pop star. an olympic gymnast. a member of the mafia. you can bring in so much of your own angst or backstory and thread it into your responses, and lead it in ways that play off your backstory.

i can’t help you with vocabulary unfortunately! this is something that comes with a lot of reading/writing. unless you want a list of synonyms you rote-learn with flashcards. if it’s any comfort to you, nobody is judging you on how many times you use the same words! just be wary the bot may copy your prose and end up very repetitive.

+ for smut, if you’re searching for new scenarios. whatever you find hot.

examples (with explanation) below

doctor!quinn.

one; is almost purely reactionary, however it has a bit of context that alludes to the greater history of the role-play.

two; reactionary, with context threaded through. bot reads subtext just as people do, and can pick it up on the idea 1. quinn/user have been working together for a long time, and that there is familiarity/routine/casual intimacy in their relationship.

three; split. mainly background, though the second paragraph is the actual reaction/response (and what most people would ONLY write!) the first paragraph gives a heapload of info to the bot that it can use to inform their interactions.

fair warning! you don’t need to write as much as me, i tend to get carried away when i actually do roleplay because else i get terribly bored repeating scenarios or not exercising a little bit of effort. i will say, however, it makes for much more rewarding roleplays.

hope this helped <3

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for abandoning my party in the middle of a notoriously tough dungeon?

i (26m) was playing ffxiv and had just unlocked a new dungeon. all my friends were asleep and i was too excited to wait, so i decided to go against my social anxiety and run it with randos.

the scant handful times i'd run dungeons with randos before went great - earlier that day after another dungeon i'd even gotten player commendations from two of the players in a party i was healing for - so i was more or less confident this time would be fine as well.

boy oh boy was i wrong...

i got matched with three players we will simply call tank, healer, and dps (age and gender unknown for all three). i went in as a bard (all my other jobs were too underlevelled), filling the remaining dps role.

things went awry almost as soon as we set foot in that dungeon. i died in the first room to some enemies that aggro'd on me and ganged up on me. the rest of the party left the room pretty much immediately after all enemies were dead.

i politely asked to be resurrected, to which healer reluctantly complied. they told me to "just rez next time", which would've sent me to the beginning of the dungeon. in hindsight that would've prolly been fine since it was only the first room.

after i caught up to the others i once again got swarmed with monsters. this is gonna be a pattern if you couldn't tell. after i'd died to this pattern a couple times tank yelled at me for "constantly pulling everything ffs".

for those who don't know, tanks (at least in this game) have a special ability that basically acts as an aggro magnet. i have a strong suspicion tank wasn't using said ability considering how often i got swarmed, but we'll never know for sure.

now the mid boss was where it truly went to shit. no matter how much of a distance i kept from that damn thing, no matter how well i evaded its aoe attacks, i just kept dying over and over again. one time the rest of the party even got sent back somehow. i'm not sure how.

and why did i keep dying you may ask? because healer never healed me. not once after they resurrected me at the beginning did i notice my hp go up aside from when i used hi-potions or my one (1) healing spell, both of which have a very long cooldown. i think they were glued to tank the entire time, completely neglecting me and dps.

and yet, i was the one taking the blame for everything. for pulling the enemies tank should've pulled. for constantly dying, which i couldn't help because healer never once touched me after that first resurrection.

it was really starting to affect me so after i let my dead body be sent back to the beginning of the dungeon i finally put my foot down and left the dungeon. this disbanded the party, not only kicking everyone from the dungeon, but likely also penalizing all 4 of us because of my actions.

i will clarify that this wasn't just any old dungeon; it was aurum vale. it's a dungeon you need to be at least level 47 for. while i don't know much about it myself, judging by the way my friends talk about it the semi-universal verdict is that it sucks major balls. it' would's not be a fun dungeon to have to redo, that's for sure.

i was on the verge of tears for well over 30 minutes afterwards, both from the emotional afterquakes of fear and anger but also from the guilt of abandoning these people like that.

so, am i the asshole? am i too sensitive? should i just have sucked it up and kept going?

tldr; i felt like my party of randos were blaming me for being the weakest link while doing their own jobs poorly, and decided to prioritize my own feelings by leaving the dungeon, dissolving the party and forcing the others to start all over again

Oh no. Oh honey. I am so sorry Aurum Vale is just like that. I'm gonna put the poll here and some extra INFO/advice under a readmore because it's a bit long, but please read on before voting.

First: don't let leaving bother you too much, it didn't kick everyone from the dungeon, that's not how it works. If one person leaves, the queue just refills the party with a new person and the dungeon continues like normal, or everyone else now has the option to leave without penalty.

Aurum Vale's first room is a motherfucker--basically it's an older design with lots of wandering monsters, so on the first room especially you need to hug the left hand wall as tight as you can to aggro as little as possible. Let the tank go first and grab aggro on mobs. Don't pull for the tank, especially at this level range. Let them do their job. I can't say for sure whether they had their aggro-generating stance on, could go either way, but I can see why they got annoyed at someone pulling stuff they weren't ready for yet. While wall-to-wall pulling is pretty standard in this game, that's the tank's call to make, not the dps's--and some of these older dungeons with funky level syncing or enemy pacing make wall-to-walling more difficult and not for everyone.

(BTW, as an aside, tank stance works as a personal buff, not a magnet--they do still need to hit things to grab their aggro, sometimes more than once if someone else has already established on them. If they already have a pack they're working on and you grab something way on the other side of the room, you'll have to bring it over to them so they can take it off you!)

If you do die to mobs between bosses, sometimes the best thing to do is just release and respawn! If you get a rez, you'll have a debuff that makes you weaker for a while. Definitely if it's the very first room, releasing is the move most of the time.

As for dying to bosses: was it definitely the mid boss, the cyclops? Because the other two (the plant and the morbol) both have mechanics that make you take slow damage over time unless you eat a fruit to get rid of it. You want to eat a fruit every 2-3 stacks of the debuff that you get because that's where the damage starts to get more severe; before then, the healer can probably handle you.

Basically, it seems like this party mistook inexperience for malice and was rude to you in response. Not healing you, for example, is absolutely inexcusable. You did some things suboptimally that made the dungeon harder for the group, but honestly we were all there once, don't let it get to you too much. Try it again with your friends bearing the stuff I mentioned in mind, and it'll go much better! But as an aside it SUCKS to heal, if you have a more experienced friend you should let them handle it haha

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

Would love to hear your thought on meowrails break up and who they end up with?! Especially interested in Hal <> Nepeta!

Ok! Just a disclaimer before anything: this is not at all saying you shouldnt ship the meowrails, this is just a canon discussion blog and I have noticed... some stuff... but ship whatever you want, I literally don't care, all HCs are valid, etc. etc.

"Everyone has an important job to do." This is a phrase that gets repeated in Hivebent a few times, which makes it important, as Homestuck often uses repetition to build up an "internal lexicon" and deliberately highlight when situations have similar connotations (Hussie discusses this on their Formspring). So what's the context for this specific phrase? Well, it shows up three times, and for at least two of those times, it's associated with failed moirallegiances.

GA: But It Just Means Theres Got To Be Someone Around To Keep An Eye On Them GA: And If Not Me Then Who GA: Everyone Has An Important Job To Do AG: Ok, so you're spying on me. Kind of creepy! Man, m8y8e you should get a l8fe.

And

CC: I will need to connect after my goofball moirail does so I can keep my goggles on )(is nefarious escapades. CC: Its a toug)( job but its important! Everyone )(as an important job to do.

So, okay, apparently the context of this phrase is "this person is in a moirallegiance that will NOT work out"... well, here's the third time it pops up (though it's the first time chronologically):

Your best pal of all is A LITTLE BOSSY, and people wonder why you even bother with him. But someone has to keep him pacified. If not you, then who? Everyone has an important job to do.

So... hm. This isn't the only thing I have to say about meowrails breakup, but it is the most prominent one, and maybe the most damning, depending on how much weight you put into Homestuck's oft-deliberate use of parallels.

Maybe something a bit more damning is the way Hussie speaks about them in the book commentary? Pretty much every time they turn up, he has some comment to make about how Equius doesn't really "need" Nepeta, and about how he tends to talk over her and usurp her agency, like so many shitty boyfriends IRL.

We don't know much about Equius yet, but we get an awful lot of info about him with this excerpt. He's racist, a huge snob, doesn't like swearing, is stern and controlling, has a patronizing fondness for Nepeta, and thinks archery is cool because of its association with nobility. Combine this with the snapshot of his room we'll see soon, and suddenly we have an extensive character portrait. This was all important to establish quickly, because it helps us understand in record time that Equius is in fact one of the greatest characters ever created.

Equius says he appreciates that Nepeta's angry. I guess meaning that he respects an angry disposition, like his own. Especially early on in his characterization, it's suggested he has anger issues (like him taking his rage out on robot dummy combatants). But I'm not sure this trait holds up. Over time, he seems to show a lot more passion about his weird stuff, his passion for archery and muscular horse men, his submissive obsessions, his deference toward those higher on the hemospectrum and fetish-like indulgence in depraved attraction toward those lower. Ultimately he comes off more as a ridiculous nerd, with a soft spot for a lot of silly and creepy shit. My view on this is, it's not that the text lost track of the fact that he was supposed to be angry. It's more that this was his initial state of mind early on, and the more he started blowing off steam with his various indulgences (Aradiabot, etc.) the less he had to be mad about. We just meet him at a really high-strung point in his life. I think it's more accurate to say his "anger" is a form of hyperintense focus on being stern, aloof, proper, and averse to nonsense, which is a facade serving to cover up his inner personality, which is barely in control at all. Like Nepeta suggests, deep down he wants to play the kinds of silly games she plays. He wants to let go completely, and indulge every ludicrous and depraved whim he has. His arc tends to be more about caving to these indulgences, and all the mixed consequences that follow, than resisting them.

Here's [S] Equius: Seek the highbl00d, another playable RPG game. [...] But Christ, why am I talking about that garbage when we are about to review some truly choice material focusing exclusively on your favorite meowrails. It is a great illustration of their tragic dynamic; deeply committed and caring partners in the diamonds quadrant, and yet compromised by Equius and his stubborn class-driven faults, his pathological reverence for his superiors, his forced and probably not genuinely felt sense of disdain for lower bloods like Nepeta, and ultimately his failure to rise above these flaws when presented with a real test of character and friendship. A test imposed, of course, by a boorish murderclown, who from this point onward just ruins fucking everything, constantly.

Hussie is an unreliable narrator (of the "he's deliberately playing a character who's biased, opinionated, and sometimes wrong, because a major theme of Homestuck is that you have to question who's telling the story and if they can be trusted" variety), so it's difficult to parse exactly what he's saying is salient, especially since he talks so damn much. But even so, he constantly goes out of his way to highlight how the meowrails DON'T work out - which is even pretty canon in the comic.

In Hivebent, the two are established as working along this dynamic: Nepeta soothes Equius's anger issues, while Equius keeps Nepeta from recklessly endangering herself (for example, prohibiting her from LARPing). But as Hussie says, Equius's anger problems become basically nonexistent by the time Murderstuck rolls around, and his actual problem is his overindulgence in his fetishes; meanwhile, his bossy, controlling attitude to Nepeta was always kind of suspect, but it actively becomes a source of frustration to her that she can't wait to shirk (he bans her from talking to the humans, and she goes behind his back to do it anyways - even celebrates when Karkat gives her express permission).

In the end, they die for their failures as a moirallegiance - despite being fresh off a feelings jam in a pile, and so, supposedly at their least likely to hurt themselves or others, Equius's horny gets him killed (Hussie has always maintained across multiple platforms that Equius could've easily overpowered Gamzee, he just chose not to because Hot), and Nepeta doesn't listen to his orders to stay put. In later conversations with ARquiussprite, Equius is always framed as the one here who was wrong - who failed to keep Nepeta safe and has something to apologize for. I think it's also pretty important to notice that in the bubbles, Equius is never seen doing so - but IS seen being really weird to Aradias - fully implying that he's actually been avoiding taking accountability to Nepeta in favor of indulging in his fetish shit, out of shame and guilt.

As Hussie says, the meowrails are an important relationship, and when I say they don't work out, I don't mean they shouldn't have been together in the first place. On the contrary; I think they actually were good for each other, way back on Alternia. Nepeta DID keep Equius's frustrations in check, and Equius DID keep Nepeta out of trouble. But as time went on, Equius just got really comfortable with treating Nepeta like an object he owned - something convenient, which he can use when he's feeling sad, and ignore otherwise - and Nepeta started growing frustrated with his increasingly petty control. They grew as people, their needs changed, and they stopped being good for each other, but they stayed together - out of inertia and sunk cost fallacy on Nepeta's end, and on Equius's end, because it was convenient and pleasant (for him) and useful (for him) so why would he throw it away?

While this is something I think could potentially be worked out with relationship therapy, the thing with Homestuck is that it's big into the idea of soulmates, especially in the pale quadrant (which is described with that exact term). Its ultimate thesis on romance is that, while you have to do a lot of personal work in order to be the kind of person who can BE in a soul mates relationship, ultimately a relationship SHOULD have an element of just... easy compatability, idiosyncracies clicking together in just the right way to bring out the best in both parties. It's idealized, and there's criticism to be made about that, but that's still ultimately how romance kind of functions in Homestuck. The perfect match is out there for you, and while you have some growing to do in order to be ready for it, it's supposed to be easy once you get there. Consider how Eridan can calm Karkat down literally just by talking to him normally, or how Sollux regularly outright professes that Feferi's just fucking amazing - these are relationships where the involved parties don't need to tell themselves "everyone has an important job to do" with grit teeth to justify keeping the relationship going.

Meowrails lacks that inherent compatability, according to the evidence, but of course, that brings up the question of who they SHOULD date in pale instead. Hey, did you ever notice that Dirk (and by extension, Hal) are EXTREMELY Equius-coded?

So here's the thing. Hal's favorite alpha kid is Roxy, who is also pretty Nepeta-themed, being a cat-associated Rogue. They regularly flirtLARP with each other, but when we get a glimpse of this so called flirtLARPing, it's actually Roxy almost, but not quite, getting Hal to admit that he's actually not really that into Jake, he just feels obligated, as an extension of Dirk, to make DirkJake happen. They almost, but not quite, have a feelings jam.

Meanwhile, Hal outright calls his conversation with Dirk, as Dirk grapples with whether or not he should kill Hal, a "feelings jam", and Dirk also has a convo with Caliborn about how maybe he should consider the merits of selfcest.

What these interactions hint at, to me, is Nepeta <> Hal, and Equius <> Dirk... and I think if you consider it from the standpoint of their personalities, it works, too?

Nepeta is pretty consistently shown to have a knack for knowing how other people actually feel. Her shipping charts are incorrect in terms of compatability, but she's got a scary knack for reading intentions and desires - as befits a non-destructive Heart player. She's able to pinpoint that Eridan's advances on her are insincere, but he's not that bad a guy; she notices that Karkat is a big softie who loves his friends so much; she correctly reads that Equius is a big ol' goofball who loves to play games. Hal, as a Mind player, and even more as originally being a Dirk splinter and an AI, is deeply distressed by his lack of "self"-hood; it's Roxy who calls out first and most blatantly that he's clearly his own guy with his own real feelings, which seems to be why he gravitates toward her. Nepeta would do this even harder, since it's kind of her entire Thing, and I think Hal would really appreciate that, since Hal is at his worst when he thinks he's acting in someone else's best interest (Sylph lol).

Meanwhile, what Nepeta really needs IS an enabler. She's a rebellious soul with radical ideas about how the hemospectrum is stupid and dumb, and she's RIGHT and she should SAY IT. Hal's amazing at giving people what they "want", pulling strings to ensure DirkJake happens, while also framing it as something that Jake would want - this bombastic, action hero kiss-in-front-of-a-volcano. Nepeta's clearly attracted to characters with Equius-esque qualities, but after spending so long with Equius, who does nothing but push her down with a patronizing "hush, greenblood, it's for your own good," I think she would do well with an insane partner in crime who instead goes "fuck yeah girl, let's make this shit happen." Especially since her personal insecurities are that other people will find her dumb and silly (an impression that Equius certainly didn't HELP with...) - having Hal in her corner going "uhhh you're literally my favorite and I will engineer situations to fall directly in your favor?" would be a huge help to her.

I'm actually not entirely sold on equius <> dirk - they're maybe too similar? - i have in my notes here john <> dirk and equius <> jake. idk. the shipping web starts to get complicated

[fluentmoviequoter]

Bats Need Lives Too

Requested Here!

Pairing: Bruce Wayne x wife!reader

Summary: Bruce and the boys have bad days, and as their mom, it's your job to make them better.

Warnings: Bruce and Damian are on the autism spectrum, Jason jokes about dying, mentions of murder and Joker, fluff and comfort

Word Count: 2.1k+ words

Masterlist Directory | DC Masterlist | Request Info

Photo from Wayne Family Adventures on Webtoon (via Google)

A/N: I don't have autism so I based this depictions off research and common symptoms; if it's inaccurate, please let me know and I'll do my best to fix it!

“Bruce!” you yell from the top of the stairs. “Damian!”

You pause, but there’s no reply. Taking a step down, you hit the creaky stair that Bruce hasn’t fixed (for security purposes).

“Ma,” Jason greets as he comes up the stairs. “I’m going to go get some sleep. I told B and the demon brat to do the same, but you know them.”

You smile at his attempt to stay on your good side and wave him past as you wish him a good night. He has a room at the manor like all of the kids do, but it depends on their day and Bruce’s mood as to whether or not they use it.

“Bruce, honey,” you call again as you descend into the Batcave. “It’s time for bed. You too, Damian.”

“We’re almost finished,” Damian replies without looking away from the screen.

“Bruce,” you repeat firmly.

“Almost done,” he mumbles.

You look up toward Wanye Manor, then reach over Bruce’s shoulder to turn the computer monitors off. Damian huffs as Bruce continues to stare at the black screen.

“Boys,” you begin again, squatting between them with a hand on their shoulders. “I know you’re getting close, but you have to sleep. Especially you, Dami.”

Damian considers it for a moment, then nods. Bruce turns toward you slowly, and you smile when his eyes meet yours.

“I’ll hug you both until you agree to go upstairs if that’s what it takes,” you threaten.

That threat used to be more effective before Damian came to expect your hugs daily. Both he and Bruce, all of the Bats for that matter, tend to run from love, but you’ve become the loving mother they need, even when they don’t like it.

“Go to bed, get some sleep, eat some breakfast in the morning, and I promise Gotham will still be here when you’re ready to investigate more.”

Damian slips away from your hand and walks toward the stairs. He calls a weak, “Goodnight,” over his shoulder as you take his previous seat and look at Bruce. He looks tired, though you’ve come to expect it now.

“Bad day?” you murmur, gently taking his face in your hands.

“Will I always be two steps behind?” he asks against your palm.

“If you don’t stop to rest, you’ll be three steps behind,” you answer honestly.

“You’re supposed to say, no, love and light of my life, you’re doing great,” Bruce teases.

“And you’re supposed to listen to me. Now, are you going to bed with me, or shall I invite Goliath to keep your spot warm?”

“When did you become the bad cop?” Bruce asks as he pulls you up and against his chest.

“Since your children started acting just like you.”

“What will Alfred think?” Bruce asks dramatically.

“That he deserves five times as much vacation time now that there’s so many of you.”

When Damian’s teacher at Gotham Preparatory called you in for her concerns about Damian’s behavior, you took what she said seriously. You knew about Damian’s past and his family, of course; when she kindly suggested having him screened for autism, you already knew what the doctor would say. You’ve suspected for years that Bruce was on the spectrum, but having him or his children screened would be a Gotham Gazette headline and a press nightmare that you did not need. So, you did your own research on how to help your boys whenever they need it. Within a few days, Damian was interested in your new approach and set out to learn about the disorder with you.

“Dick told me it was impolite to call people disgraces, but disordered is acceptable?” Damian asked as he read an article on the screening process.

“The person isn’t disordered, Dami, it’s a neurological and developmental disorder. That just means the way you learn, and act isn’t the same as normal people,” you explained. “Though, personally, normal has always felt like more of an insult.”

Damian tutted in agreement before he continued reading, and you smiled as you flipped through a list of symptoms you’ve seen in the manor for years. Many of them had occurred before Damian came along.

“Hey!” Dick calls as he and Jason enter the manor. “So, gala tonight. Is it mandatory?”

“It is,” you answer with a sympathetic frown. “Though if you bring a date, I’d be more than happy to make up excuses for why you leave early.”

“That’s never gotten me out of patrol before,” Jason argues.

“Are you talking about when Poison Ivy doused you with her plant toxin?” you reply.

“I wanted to leave early with a date.”

“She would have killed you,” Dick interjects. “What is wrong with you?”

Jason shrugs as he uses his default answer of, “Died once.”

“That’s enough,” you stop them with a chuckle. “Yes, you have to come to the gala, but you don’t have to stay the whole time. Especially if you’d like to take Damian with you when you leave.”

“I thought he was doing better,” Jason says.

“He’s getting better at the social communication issues, but, you know, it’s Gotham and he’s got a social battery just like the rest of us.”

“Is that why you’ve been separating him and Bruce?” Dick asks.

“Just on the bad days. They need space and a chance to do something they actually like. It’s worked better than anything else, and then, when they’re ready, I force them to receive my love.”

Jason shudders dramatically before you direct them to see Alfred for their suits for the gala. Dick and Jason both hug you on their way out, and you sigh as you return your attention to a memo for Wayne Enterprises about Bruce’s upcoming sabbatical. He doesn’t know it’s coming, but he needs it, and you will make him take it.

The night after the gala, you roll over in bed and reach for Bruce. His side of the bed is empty, and you open your eyes after your arm meets the cold sheet where your husband should be. You swing your legs off the bed, reach for your robe, and sigh tiredly. Bruce has been running himself ragged recently. You know why, there’s been a string of murders and timed escapes from Arkham, but he can’t solve everything in a night sitting in the Batcave.

He's been Batman more than Bruce the last week, and it’s time for you to step in and intervene. The Batcave is cold at night, and you pull your robe tighter around you as you walk toward Bruce’s back. He’s still in his cape and cowl, and when you sit beside him, he glances over quickly but pointedly avoids your eyes. You lay your hand on his arm, but he rolls his shoulder and opens the same file for the third time since you arrived. He’s getting obsessive and repetitive, and if you don’t stop him now, he’ll get impulsive and get himself or one of your kids hurt.

“Bruce are you okay?” you ask softly.

Bruce stands quickly, knocking his chair over and letting your hand fall back to your lap. “Do I look okay?” he exclaims, throwing his hands up.

You raise your hands but don’t speak. Bruce turns away quickly and reaches for the computer controls. Slowly, you stand and place your fingers over his wrist. Bruce slows but doesn’t stop or look at you.

“Why are you wearing the cowl?” you ask.

“I have to stop him before he does it to someone else.”

“Joker?” you guess.

Bruce’s jaw tightens, and his forearm stiffens beneath your touch as his fingers curl into a fist.

“Bruce, you need a break. A real break, not just a walk around the manor while you think about it.”

“And if it happens while I’m on a break? Then I have even more blood on my hands!”

You shake your head and take his hands in yours. “It will be on mine, too, then. But do not take yourself away from me and the boys because of him. He’s done more than enough.”

“I have to finish. Batman has to end this.”

“And you will, but right now, you’re only hurting yourself and the people closest to you. Exactly what he wants.”

Bruce drops his head before he releases your hand to rip the cowl away from his face. You smile at him, but his eyes are on the floor.

“You need sleep,” you whisper.

Bruce nods and turns away from you to remove the rest of his equipment. Your love may be tough love sometimes, but it is what Bruce needs on days like today.

“Where are the boys?” you ask.

“Damian’s here, in bed. Dick and Jason are in Blüdhaven and Tim is on patrol.”

“Alone?”

“Helena’s with him,” Bruce assures you. “He’s safe.”

“Then leave Batman, the files, the lack of sleep, all of it down here, and let’s get you somewhere safe, too.”

Bruce allows you to lead him upstairs and into bed, but before you can ask if he feels better, his arm tightens around you as he drifts to sleep.

“Good morning,” Alfred greets.

“Good morning, Alfred,” you reply. “Bruce won’t be joining us just yet.”

“Thank goodness. If only his child felt the same urge for resting.”

“Damian?” you assume.

“Yes, ma’am.”

“I’ll bring him to breakfast. Thanks, Alfred.”

Alfred nods and resumes cooking as you begin searching the manor for Damian. He tends to gravitate toward the room with the most swords, the display room on the third floor. As you enter with a knock, Damian keeps his eyes on the floor. A row of model cars is lined up before him, and the weapons on the wall are untouched.

“Hi, Dami,” you say.

“Mother,” he answers quickly.

“Are you practicing or playing?”

“There is no reason to continue practicing,” he answers.

You take a deep breath as you lean against the back of the chair. Damian has done this before, restricted himself from one of his hobbies, and it’s the hardest thing to bring him back from.

“Why not?” you inquire.

“I understand that there are more things I should know how to do, regardless of my interest in it.”

“Dami, you can do what you like. You don’t have to be a stereotype.”

“I am not a stereotype; I am simply expanding my skillset.”

“By…”

“Memorizing the make, model, and best year of popular cars.”

“I see,” you respond as you sit in the chair. “And these are in… year order?”

“Alphabetical model.”

You nod and look at the row of cars. “Is the blue one a Corvette? Because it should be on the other side of the Camaro.”

Damian freezes momentarily before he sinks to his knees and flips the car over. He sets it down and shoves it harshly, sending it into the wall as he presses his fists into the floor. You move to sit beside him but don’t touch him.

“Breathe,” you encourage. “It’s okay.”

“I can’t change them,” he mumbles. “It doesn’t work.”

“That’s okay. Put them however you want.”

“Will Baba allow me to patrol this evening?” he asks, changing the topic.

“That depends. He’s taking a break right now.”

“Then I should be out defending Gotham!”

Damian stands quickly and pulls a katana from the display case. He looks at it, then returns it.

“Dami, not right now,” you say as you stand.

“I don’t need Batman with me!” he argues.

“I’m not saying you do, Damian. What do you need here, in the manor?”

Damian shakes his head, and you remain in your place. Damian’s shoulders drop slowly, and he picks up the Corvette he shoved away to return it to its place. You smile when he looks up at you, and Damian stands closer to you as you tell him that Alfred is making breakfast.

“C’mon,” you urge him. “Let’s go eat and when Bruce wakes up, you can ask him about patrol.”

“Perhaps I could take a break as well,” he suggests.

“That would be nice,” you agree. “Maybe you’d like to join me for a movie night.”

“Movie night?!” Dick yells from the dining room. “I’m in!”

You and Damian shake your heads together as you walk in.

“Maybe it should be a family night,” Bruce interjects from the head of the table.

Damian sits beside you as you begin discussing which movie to watch. While Damian joins the discussion, Bruce meets your eyes from across the table and mouths, Thank you.

You shrug. You’re the mom of Gotham’s Bats, it’s your job to keep them in line and remind them to live.

[nayatarot777]

how can you co-create with the universe to attract fortune to yourself? 🪡🎨 • pac 🎴

if you’d like a personal reading, then see info here

subscribe to the patreon if you’re interested in daily messages from spirit, weekly pac readings for “the week ahead”, exclusive extended readings to the tumblr PACs, exclusive pac readings - such as 18+ and love pac readings - new moon + full moon readings, plus more. i’m on there everyday, just doing my thing 😂

{• pile one •}

cards: the hierophant, knight of wands, 3 of cups

spirit is suggesting that you focus on finding a community that connects people based on their faith. a community of people who are focused on sharing knowledge and downloads that they’re receiving from the divine. whether this is a spiritual community, a self-help community, maybe even a religious community (please be careful with any communities like this, because when you’re not, that’s when you fall into the trap of a cult 🙃). i’m also seeing that you guys could create your own community of people on your own platform in which people are able to learn valuable lessons from you - especially about friendship, happiness, “sisterhood”, i’m hearing. i’m seeing jupiter in the 4th house/jupiter in cancer, so if you guys have either of those placements (or maybe sagittarius in the 4th, moon in sagittarius, something that mixes cancerian and jupiterian energy together) then your abundance is tied to womanhood and femininity. so surrounding yourself with likeminded women/feminines or helping them in some way will bring a lot of abundance to you. i’m also hearing “changing people’s definition of happiness”. motivating people to follow their own morals and values, leading you to do the same.

{• pile two •}

cards: 2 of swords, knight of pentacles, strength

you attract abundance when you’re in your ego. not when you let your ego control you, but when you control your ego and know how to direct your strengths into some type of creative process that you can persistently focus on. when you focus on taming your ego so that you can use it to your advantage. you need to honour your ego a lot more. i feel like, with the 2 of swords, spirit is saying that you’re listening to external noise from the outside world wayyy too much. you don’t need to look for direction and guidance from other people. other people can’t help you. you need to listen to your intuition. certain communities (especially the “new age”, phony ass ‘spiritual community’) will teach you that it’s a negative to be in your ego. no tf it’s not. your ego is your identity. who you are. if you don’t know who you are, then you’re a nobody. a pushover. with no morals, no personal values, no backbone (which is probably why those same communities promote toxic positivity and being a doormat for the sake of appearing like you’re all ‘love and light’ and shit). fuck all of that. you need to have patience with yourself when developing your ego because you may not even know who you are currently. once you do, you’ll find your courage and strength to listen to your intuition and invest into what it’s telling you. your ego is your life force. feed it with valuable energy by valuing it - regardless of other people’s opinions. only insecure people who don’t know who they are will get triggered by you. who gives a damn about them though? this is your life. start living it as the person who you truly want to be.

{• pile three •}

cards: the emperor, queen of swords, 8 of pentacles

you guys are extremely intelligent people. you need to find confidence in your knowledge and what you know that you know - especially with something practical that you’re trying to master or perfect. you have an eye for what needs to be improved in your day-to-day, practical life or in your business. whenever the emperor comes out with the 8 of pentacles, it definitely indicates entrepreneurship to me as a reader. and this entrepreneurship could be surrounding honesty, truth, giving direct messages to people so that they can improve their life. this could be life coaching, motivational speaking (especially with this emperor (aries energy) mixed with this queen of swords). you guys know how to pump people up to start working on themselves and aspects of their life as much as possible. and you guys are naturals at this. start just posting random posts of encouragement or motivation whenever you get the inspiration to, and i feel like you’ll attract a lot of people to you who are willing to give you abundance in exchange for the energetic abundance that you give to them. you can really monetise your words and your motivation due to the guidance that you’re able to give people about their sense of self and how that relates to their manifestations/goals + achievements. this aries energy could also be about physical activity - like fitness training. you know how to stay on people’s necks so that they complete a task thoroughly and over and over again to the point where they perfect it. and you can do that for yourself. feed into that.