#I usually draw them for more freak stuff but these are tame so

[sharpibees]

⛓️ CHAINS CHAINS CHAINS⛓️

[supercasey]

So I've been playing The Hades Game like fucking mad for the last few weeks, and although I'm not very far in it (at least, I don’t think I am; I’ve only beat Hades once!), I'm absolutely in love with it! Anyways, a certain idea has been kicking around in my head for awhile now, so I thought I'd share it with y'all; feel free to tell me what you think of it! (Warning: spoilers for when you beat Hades the first time!)

Anyways, I've already seen a really cool AU post for if Demeter raised Zagreus on the surface by herself (which you can find HERE; please check it out, the outfit for Zag alone is an amazing concept, and I love the artwork!!!) but I keep thinking about an AU where, after Zagreus dies at birth, Persephone runs away and takes his wrapped up body with her.

On the surface, she reconnects/reunites with her mother Demeter, and with her aid, the two of them manage to resurrect the newborn baby, though now he has more white in his hair than anything else. After that, Persephone sends Hades a letter to tell him that Zagreus is alive and well (because she actually has some fucking class), before proceeding to raise Zagreus on the surface with her mother, far away from the entrance to hell. The Olympians also help her out a bit, but mostly they just help by hiding Zagreus when it’s necessary.

(The rest is under a cut ‘cus this got a bit long, sorry!)

Years pass in relative peace, until Zagreus is about as old as he is in-game (I think he’s around 20-25ish???) and is living well, working with his mom and grandma to take care of their gardens and live peacefully away from mankind; he especially loves tending to the animals and guiding lost mortals to safety. However, one day while foraging for fruit in the deepest corners of his mother’s signature garden, Zagreus happens across a strange man in long robes, who introduces himself as Thanatos.

The two men get along swimmingly from minute one, and after agreeing to meet with each other again soon, they leave and tell their families/friends all about the experience, having no clue who they are to each other. After all, Thanatos was told growing up that his lord’s first wife died giving birth to their first and only child, who was a stillborn, and Zagreus thinks his father died of disease (his mom didn’t have to heart to tell him anything bad about his dad). Needless to say, they’re gonna be in for quite the shock soon.

Cue Hades losing his shit and calling on Thanatos, Megaera, and Achilles to go find his progeny and bring him home; he gives them special permission to leave the Underworld without any resistance, trusting Than to lead the way back to Zagreus. Achilles is less than thrilled to be performing such a morally grey task for his master, but Meg and Than are eager to prove themselves, so he begrudgingly agrees to help, even if it hurts his conscience to do so.

Persephone and Demeter also freak the hell out on their end, scared shitless by the fact that Death incarnate has just met their son/grandson, and they’re worried that he plans on coming back again soon. Demeter suggests sending Zagreus to live with the Olympians until this all blows over, but Persephone disagrees, wanting her son to stay nearby in case he grows ill (it’s implied that she’s a bit overprotective of him, mostly because she’s afraid of him dying again; this also means she refuses to let him know that he’s in any danger, believing it would only make things worse for him in the long-run). Frustrated but understanding her daughter’s pain all too well, Demeter at least convinces her to call on the Olympians for aid, which Persephone agrees to do.

The gods promise to help of course, but... well, they're low-key lying; they wanna see how this plays out first.

After several days of traveling through hell (literally), the “let’s kidnap Zagreus” gang makes it to the surface, and they immediately head to Persephone’s garden. All this time, Zagreus has no idea that he’s being targeted, so he goes about his chores as usual, only to run into Than again, and hey, he brought some more friends for him to meet! Zagreus is friendly with all of them, being raised to be very polite by his guardians, and while he’s busy chatting with Than and Achilles, he doesn’t notice Meg sneaking behind him. Just as Zagreus is rattling on about how the animals have been faring this summer, Meg stabs Zagreus in the back with a blade coated in Hades’s blood, cursing him to belong to the Underworld again.

With Zagreus now unconscious from a sedative that was mixed with the blood, the trio hurry off with him back to the Underworld, but not without Persephone seeing what they’ve done to her son. Horrified, she begins to sob, and winter arrives in the mortal world without so much as a fall season in-between this and the summertime.

When Zagreus comes to, he finds himself in a bedroom similar to the one he has in the game, but it’s much cleaner and has less objects of personal value to him. Hades is standing at the foot of his bed when he wakes up, and very calmly, Hades tells Zagreus that he’s his father, and that from now on, Zagreus will be living in the Underworld with him and his people, where he so obviously belongs. It’s a shame his mother can’t be here, of course, but they just need to wait awhile, that’s all; surely she’ll come to her senses and return home soon, now that her husband and son are here.

Zagreus jumps out of bed and faces his father as soon as he’s done monologuing, ready to tell him off for what he’s done, but to his shock, Hades hugs him as soon as he’s on his feet, and admits that he’s waited for this day for a long, long time. He asks his son to please just accept that this is his home now, and despite still being a bit surprised (and subtly hugging Hades back because Longing), Zagreus tells him straight up that he can’t, that he has to get home, especially with winter coming in a few months!

Dejected but not overly surprised, Hades simply nods in acceptance, but he still warns Zagreus that it’s no use trying to fight it; he’s stuck here, now and forever, so he may as well get comfortable and try getting along with him, because no one’s going anywhere anytime soon. Zagreus is horrified, but he nods nonetheless, unsure of what to say or do just yet.

Later that night, as Zagreus is struggling to sleep in this new, unfamiliar place, Achilles comes to him and apologizes about what’s happened, and although he can’t magically fix everything for him, he tells Zagreus that it actually is supposedly possible to escape; it’s just that no one’s ever done it before. Driven by his desire for freedom and the thought of reuniting with his mother, Zagreus tells Achilles that he’s going to find a way out, no matter the cost. Achilles congratulates him on his tenacity, but warns him that it won’t be easy. Still, he’s willing to help Zagreus as much as he can.

From then on, I imagine the game playing out very differently from the original, with a rather frazzled and scared Zagreus trying to get home to his mom and grandma, but with none of his training from Achilles in this AU, he has to rely on something his mother taught him; his connection with earth and all it’s inhabitants. Or, in his case, his connection with the spirits of animals (a cross of his dad and mom’s powers). That’s right, I’m making The Hades Game into a fucking Pokemon-ripoff, but still with some rouge-like elements mixed in (mostly with Zagreus not keeping his animals after runs).

Having royally fucked up in not stepping in sooner to protect Zagreus, the gods end up helping him out by sending down animals associated with them for the young god to tame for a run (I’ll come up with them later). They usually offer a selection to choose from, and from there Zagreus can build up a team and use it to try and escape the Underworld.

To replace weapons, I like to think he’d have “signature” animals that can help him out for any of his runs, specifically ones from Achilles, Poseidon, Zeus, Demeter (once he reaches the surface at least once), and eventually even Hades gives him one if they bond together enough ((yes, it’s Cerberus... kinda; it’s a puppy version of him, otherwise he’d be OP as fuck)). Zagreus’s signature animals can all be given names, and they keep certain skills that they pick up through enough experience battling in the Underworld for Zagreus.

As for story-line stuff, Zagreus ends up in a very fish out of water situation as he tries to get to know everyone in Hades’s house (he’s still our kindhearted Zag, after all, and he knows most of them aren’t to blame, not even really Than!) while also focusing on his goal to get home to his mom. Hades ends up being a lot nicer to him in this AU, perhaps overly so, as he’s trying to make his son like him more in order to make up for lost time (and fill the hole in his heart that Zag’s initial death as an infant and Persephone leaving with him created). It’s part of the reason he’s even letting Zagreus try to escape; he wants him to learn that it won’t work on his own terms (and maybe also scare the kid so bad that he comes running to him for comfort afterwards).

Also, I should really note that Zagreus is 100% a sweet country farm boy in this AU, and he has no idea what the fuck is going on with pretty much anything in the Underworld, much to everyone’s astonishment. For example:

Meg: Gods, it must be weird getting used to everything down here, huh? Sick of stepping in bat shit yet? Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it, and Dusa’s pretty good about cleaning it up to begin with. Zagreus: I mean, I guess? It’s not that different from chicken shit tbh. Meg: What the fuck is a chicken???

After that... yeah, I dunno. I’ll try playing Hades some more, see if I think up anything else that could be interesting, but for now, I hope at least someone ends up liking this dumb AU (if not, I’ll still like it... might even try my hand at drawing for it a bit tbh). Again, please check out the person who’s post/art I linked earlier in the post, ‘cus their art is really awesome and inspired me to include Demeter more in this AU!

[yoondoze]

make a wish | jjk - 2

jeongguk didn’t know it, but his wish came true. as the best things in life do, it comes back around.

alternatively: a compilation of scenes in the after of “make a wish” and how they pile up and weigh you down until it’s too much to handle.

pairing: jeon jeongguk x reader

word count: 6.4k

genre: angst, fluff, romance, best friend!au, mutual pining... shh

warnings: language. besides that, this is pretty tame! only slightly edited bc its 2 in the morning and i just want to get this up lol

a/n: didn’t mean for this to be so long but i got a little carried away. this wraps up make a wish, so i hope you guys like it! also, feedback is always appreciated in any way shape or form <3 muah!

It’s just as you’re leaving when Jeongguk’s phone rings. His eyes widen in disquiet as he stares at the number displayed at the top of his phone. In preparation, he shakes out his limbs dramatically and takes a deep, exaggerated breath. Considering it’s for your entertainment, you roll your eyes and wave him on.

He picks up.

“Hello?”

The voice on the other end is muffled as you try your best to listen in. Your heart pounds in anticipation, gripping onto the straps of your purse with white knuckles.

“Yeah. Okay. Okay, great.”

He paces around the room aimlessly. His fingers fiddle with a loose thread on his sweatpants as he listens closely. You’re sure he’s already sweating, more nervous than you could imagine despite the playful act he put on before answering.

“Yeah. That’s fine! Okay, thank you so much. Alright, bye.”

He’s facing away from you as he clicks the end call button. Just as you’re about to ask, he spins on his heel, lips pursed as he holds back a grin.

“Guess who got the job?”

A toothy grin spreads across his face as he singsongs. Jeongguk’s expression of pure excitement is a privilege to see. It’s impossible to deny how it lights up your own.

“Oh my god, you got the job?”

“I got the job!”

His bangs bounce as he jumps with both fists raised in glory. You squeal, going in for a tight hug and swaying back and forth as you congratulate him.

“I’m proud of you, Gguk,” you say into his shoulder. “Really, I am.”

And when you say it, you mean it. After so many months of struggling at his old company, he took the leap and applied for a position at a more well-known film studio. The late night introduction practices with you, which included him reciting prepared resume-esque lines and weeks of tiring interviews had paid off like you knew he deserved it to.

“Okay. I should get home,” you try, voice strained as his arms crush your diaphragm like walls in a deadly escape room. Upon hearing your winded sentence, he loosens his grip.

You don’t even think about what it might mean before you place a departing kiss to Jeongguk’s cheek, fueled by the elation running through you at the upward turn of events. It’s an accident, it just happens naturally as if it was something you’ve done a thousand times. It only hits you that you shouldn’t have after it’s already done.

Sure, you make out and kiss all the time, but the difference is that’s only when you’re taking advantage of the benefits you worked out. That kissing is all attraction, nothing chaste or romantic like this. So when you pull away from the hug, you expect to see his eyebrows furrowed in confusion and giving you a look of disgust.  

“Uh-” you sputter, ever a wordsmith, trying to think of some rational explanation to excuse why you might have kissed him like that. The previous bouts of joy sparking in your heart fly out the window.

However, his eyes only show a mild, innocent surprise. At his silence, it doesn’t seem like he’s going to address it, and you assume he’ll assume it was just congratulatory. You can work with that.

“Bye. I’ll text you when I get home,” you blurt as untroubled as it can come, spinning on your heel and hurrying out the door. After closing it behind you, you slump back against it for a breath.

God, what were you thinking? Were you fucking stupid? Your fingers find your forehead finds as you try to convince yourself it wasn’t that bad. You’re prone to over analyzing, anyway. Jeongguk’s too occupied to think about it like that. He just got his new job, he has a thousand new things to worry about. He won’t read into it. If he does, he’ll think of it as a heat of the moment sort of thing.

Right?

Inside, Jeongguk pauses, staring at where you were standing just a second ago and scratches the back of his neck. The corners of his mouth turn up slowly. 

He finds himself checking his phone every five minutes for a text from you, which never comes.

☆☆☆

At the end of the day, it was your fault. 

It was your thoughtless action that made Jeongguk think that incorporating romantic gestures like that into your relationship could still be platonic. You rocked the boat with that one, but it wasn’t enough to completely capsize your vessel, and for that you were grateful. 

Still, your heart now tore itself into smaller and smaller pieces every time he kissed you goodbye or grabbed your hand to swing it back and forth or wrapped his arm around you after cleaning up. 

“By the way,” he says, tossing you one of his shirts from his place in front of his dresser. He pulls on a clean pair of boxers as you cover up. “There’s this work dinner I have to go to next week for networking and stuff, and it’s a buffet-type thing so they charge you for a spot. But, I found out that there is a couple’s discount and was wondering if maybe… you’d want to come with me?”

The hopeful sparkle in his eyes is one you just can’t ignore. Doing so would feel like a one-way ticket to hell, the only valid consequence for such a rotten crime.

“Yeah, sure.”

His smile at your compliance takes away all the apprehension you might have had, at least for a second. He wears it like a medal.

“Okay, good. I have to talk to a lot of people so I’d just feel better if you were there.”

Your brows draw together as you watch him get dressed. “But Gguk, you’re good at talking to people,” you say, going as far as to admit teasingly, “You’re fairly charming.”

He laughs, hopping into his slacks. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I don’t freak out inside. It’s scary!” The dark brown mop of hair atop his head jostles into his eyes as he adds, “There’s gonna be a lot of well-known people there so it’s my chance to make some connections.”

Despite that, you’re sure he’ll be just fine. By nature, Jeongguk is inviting and easy to talk to. That is one of the reasons why you became such fast friends, and probably why you lasted so long. Along with his agreeable presence, his captivating looks probably wouldn’t hurt in striking up a deal either, though you’d never say that to his face.

“What’s the dress code?”

“Semi-formal I think?” He says, looking out of the corner of his eye. “I don’t know what that constitutes in terms of dresses but…”

A certain memory tugs at the back of his head. He considers just leaving it there, maybe slightly sentimental for his usual image, but what’s the harm in bringing it up?

“Do you remember the dress you wore for my brother’s graduation dinner? The blue one?”

You, on the other hand, are just surprised he remembers something like that. It must have been years ago by now. Still, it’s a good memory. It was a breezy evening by the shore to celebrate his brother’s graduation from college. The dinner was nice, but the best part was when you and Jeongguk ended up sneaking off to go sit on the beach later on in the night.  

Jeongguk is intertwined into nearly every lasting memory you make. It’s hard to imagine a world where he isn’t a part of each story you retell or each thought that crosses your mind.

“Oh, yeah, of course. It’s probably buried in my closet somewhere.” 

He’s relieved you don’t question him.

You might have to do some digging when you get home to find it, but you definitely still have it. It’s not like you have the money to be purchasing new semi-formal dresses for every occasion.

“That would be good. Or something like it, I don’t know.” He finishes buttoning up his shirt and tugs on the cuffs to straighten them out. His reflection in the mirror sends you a beaming smile, at this point accepting how his heart rate seems to spike every time he sees you in one of his shirts nowadays. He’s gotten very good at lending them to you casually.

He continues after a glance at the clock tells him he’s been letting his time with you slip on for more time than he can afford even though he wishes he could stay. “Anyway, I have to get going so make sure you lock the door behind you when you leave.” And then he’s padding out the door, car keys jingling in his hand as he picks them up from the dish on the kitchen counter.

“Oh, and Y/N?” He pokes his head around the hallway entrance to see you. “There’s coffee out here for you when you want it.”

He dashes off before you have the chance to react or even say thank you, a sheepish grin tugging at his features as he walks to his car. When you go out to see, it’s already made with cream and sugar, just the way you like.

☆☆☆

“You look really pretty tonight, Y/N,” Jeongguk says, voice soft as ever, eyeing your dress as you step out of the car. “Seriously, I mean it.” The heels you wear click evenly like a metronome’s beat on the pavement as you walk around to join him at his side.

You ignore the heat in your cheeks, rather offering an endearing grin as you grip the clutch in your hand. “You too, Gguk. You’ll do great tonight. I wouldn’t be surprised if you made everyone here fall for you while you’re at it.”

His initial thought is to ask if that includes you, but his better judgment tells him it’s too bold. Instead, he just laughs and hands his car keys to the valet.

The dinner is a week later at a stunning three-floor, dimly lit fine dining restaurant decorated with dark hardwood and intricate chandeliers that make the soreness in your neck seem worth it while observing them.

Jeongguk cleans up nice, and even though you’ve already known this for a long time, you consider it a treat since this attire rarely, if ever, sees the light of day. 

He props out his elbow and nudges for you to take it, which you so graciously do. Together you walk to the glass doors, through which you can see the party has just started. You can already hear the muffled music and chatter in the background.

“By the way,” he says, leaning down to your ear, like what he’s about to tell you is no big deal. “I… might have told my coworkers that we’re engaged-”

“Engaged!?” you whisper, eyes wide and staring at him incredulously. 

So maybe he should have told you earlier. In his defense, he needed the extra time to produce an irrefutable excuse. In the end, it was only sort of reasonable, but he was hoping you would just roll with it. Isn’t that what the two of you always did?

“I know, I know! But listen. It just makes more sense in terms of you being my plus one and it also makes me seem like I have my shit together. And it’s always good for me to seem like I have my shit together, right?”

You sigh, narrowing your line of sight at him. “Okay. What do I do if someone asks why I’m not wearing my ring then?”

He mutters, “Oh, yeah.” Then he’s fishing through his side pocket and out comes a shiny silver ring with a small diamond placed into the center, held so flippant between his fingertips. “It’s my grandma’s. Borrowed it from home for this weekend.”

His heart pounds. Was that smooth enough? He has a lot of talents, but he isn’t sure if this was one of them just yet. Jeongguk tenses as he waits for your reaction. Best case scenario, his carefree attitude about it will rub off onto you.

“I figured it’d fit you,” he adds.

When it slides on perfectly, you know there’s no going back. Yet somehow, it is completely in character of him. You should have expected something like this because Jeongguk always has and always will be a man of spontaneity.

You’ll have to ask him how he knows your ring size sometime.

Inside, he introduces you to his coworkers. There are too many to remember but you catch a few here and there that you recall him talking about before, like Namjoon, the diligent Production Assistant and Taehyung, another member of the crew who he often eats lunch with. It’s an initial blur of faces and few-worded exchanges before you can take a breather off to the side.

“Not bad?” he asks, his thumb tracing circles over your knuckles. The way it makes your heart flutter is addictive. He has you in his palm and he doesn’t even know it. Unfortunately, you don’t know if it’s something you can give up yet, not without it being messy.

There’s a short line behind a board that displays the seating arrangement, and though it’s moving quickly, it allows you a moment of space from the other guests.

A tired smile pulls at your lips. “Not bad.” You squeeze his hand in yours.

The people in front of you move from the board into the dining hall so both of you can inch up. Jeongguk’s eyes trace the small handwriting, eventually spotting the two of you in the far corner of the room.

Dinner goes well, and Jeongguk does the most of the talking. It’s nice to see him so bright as he laughs with his coworkers. It’s that part of him that he’s had since he was a kid, the part that made him fit in so naturally and charm every person around him. Seeing it out in the open and no longer repressed from emotional baggage is heartwarming. Compared to a few months ago, you might not recognize him at all.

After a while, Jeongguk wipes his mouth with his napkin and pushes his chair out from the table. “Alright, I’m gonna head to the bar lounge for a little while and see who I can talk to. Are you gonna be fine on your own?”

He’s nervous, you can tell. By the way his eyes dart around the room, the way he’s biting the inside of his bottom lip. 

“Yeah, go ahead,” you nod, taking a sip of water. “I’ll just stick around here.”

He gives himself a once over and wipes his palms on his slacks.

You tap his shoulder, bringing him down so you can whisper to him a small, “You’ll do great.”

He pulls back with a shy, one-sided smile. “Thank you. I hope so. Text me if you need anything.” Effortlessly, he plants a chaste kiss to your cheekbone that has your face ablaze and excuses himself from the table. The feeling of his lips on your skin sticks well after he’s gone.

Ryujin, the script supervisor, puts down her drink with a roll of her eyes. “Finally, all the boys are gone. I’ve been trying to talk to you the entire time but he’s always butting in!”

It pulls a laugh from you. “No, no, he’s just trying to help,” you explain, “I’m new to everyone here so he just doesn’t want me to feel awkward.”

“Yada yada,” says a bubbly Chaeryoung, a PA, waving it off with her hand. “I expected him to be protective with how much he talks about you, but wow. It’s cute though. Sometimes I wish I had someone like that.”

“Yeah, I’m really lucky,” you nod, reminded that you’re just pretending. You’re lucky, but not that lucky. “But… wait, what kind of stuff does he say about me?”

Ryujin chortles at your worry. “Oh, only good things. Just stuff you do together, jokes, those kinds of things. You’re involved in a lot of stories in some way or another.”

“Like, “This one time in high school, Y/N and I got in a fight...” or “Last week, we went to this new brunch spot and Y/N got this sandwich…’” Chaeryoung clarifies, but it only makes you want to pry further.

As she says it, both of the memories come floating back clear as day. You can’t remember what exactly you argued over, but it had been when you were paired as partners in a history class. The sandwich, you recall, was heaven on earth. The images are picture-perfect despite how they’d been buried.

The fact that Chaeryoung remembered things you didn’t is mildly startling, but you’re more surprised that Jeongguk shared so much. Not that it’s an issue, you just didn’t think you’d find yourself being perceived by so many people you had no prior knowledge of. The idea of him spilling your high school gossip fits like a puzzle to his persona, but the thought never occurred to you that he might think about you when you’re not there.

But you won’t let yourself become too optimistic.

“Yeah,” you laugh, “I think it’s different since we grew up together as family friends. He’s in a lot of my stories, too.”

“Ugh, that’s cute,” Ryujin sighs. If only. “So when did you start liking each other? Or start dating?”

You take a deep breath as if you’re looking back on the day when in reality you’re just trying to come up with the most believable love story you can manage. It’s also your most ideal. Maybe if your current situation went the way you wanted.

“I think we liked each other at different times over the years. Y’know, I liked him when we were kids, he liked me when we were teenagers, kind of on and off like that. But sometime after college, I think the cycle lined up once and for all and…“

Do you think you could manifest it by speaking it into existence?

“...here we are.”

That thought was stupid. You make yourself forget about it. Stop with the hope, remember?

When you finish your spiel, you think you’ve finally made it in the clear. Until another question comes.

“So what was your first date like? Was it weird?”

You know they’re just trying to make conversation, but god, you’re not ready for this. You’re preoccupied with other problems. If only they knew how your brain was short-circuiting in an effort to think up an explanation that will make you sound versed and most importantly, convincing. You go with what you wish had happened. 

“Um, a little bit, but since we had been close friends for such a long time, I think we had that mutual understanding of how things were so we could laugh about it. We just…” you say, shaking your head along, lips pursing as your train of thought rolls through the detailed daydream you know so well. “...went out to dinner one night... and it was sort of a process to transition to something more romantic, I guess, but it just kind of happened.”

But it feels nice to be Jeongguk’s girl. Even if you’re just playing a part. If you sink yourself into the atmosphere, tune into the clinking of the glasses, and the relaxing jazz in the background, you can pretend you’re really engaged and sharing your love story to whoever will listen.

Would it hurt too much to hold out on it one day become reality?

“I’m always so happy when the company hosts these events,” Chaeryoung comments, leaning back in her chair to take in the room. “It’s the only time I can come to a place like this since you know I can’t afford it with my own money.” A small talk sort of laugh bubbles up from her as she says it. There is an inkling of confusion that strikes you at her words, but you think you’ll just brush it off for the sake of being casual.

Ryujin looks to you as she adds, “And they even let you bring a plus one for free! You know, I was thinking of bringing my boyfriend, but I just felt like it might have been too soon…”

Your brows furrow as you recall the conversation with Jeongguk. Didn’t he say that it was a pay per guest scenario?

“So the company pays for these dinners?” you ask out of pure curiosity and with no hint of suspicion weaved in your tone.

“Yeah!” says Chaeryoung. “It’s all from the company’s budget since this is technically a networking event. Usually, people swap ideas or come up with deals that turn into projects a couple of weeks down the line.”

You nod along as she explains eagerly, but all you can hear is that there never was a price to pay to begin with, and more importantly meaning that there never was a discount. Not one that Jeongguk needed you around for. 

But why would he lie? 

Maybe Jeongguk was embarrassed asking for your company or didn’t want his ego bruised by telling you it was free and he wouldn’t have to pay for you. It’s the benefit of the doubt for your best friend (and love of your life, but that’s a separate issue) that makes it your first thought. In reality, thinking about the boy you know, it doesn’t make sense. At this point, he shouldn’t have to feel like that when it comes to you. 

Whatever the case may be, you hope that he knows he’d never need an excuse to invite you somewhere. It’s not like you’d ever refuse. You’d never refuse him, not in any life.

☆☆☆

It’s the middle of the night when another bad dream jolts you awake with a pounding heartbeat. Your eyes flutter open, brimmed with tears, to reveal that the moon is still high in the sky above the towering buildings, and a shift to the side facing the nightstand lets you know you have another three hours before you have to start your day and leave Jeongguk’s apartment.

The last few weeks, the dreams have been growing more and more common. Not enough for you to dread going to sleep just yet, but definitely something you’re quickly getting sick of. At this point, you’re tired of going to sleep just to wake up freaked out in a cold sweat. You chalk it up to the stress piling on you, not only that of regular adult life but that of your messy relationship with your best friend.

How ironic that must be, considering the whole reason it started was to relieve stress when now it’s your main source.

You empty your lungs with a shaky sigh and slide to the edge of the bed, intending to fetch a glass of water to calm yourself down. Before you can reach your feet, Jeongguk’s arm catches you at your waist, and then you’re being reeled back under the covers.

“Easy,” he mumbles, his voice grainy and low from sleep, “You’re fine. Talk to me.”

You swallow thickly, the scenes from your subconscious flashing back to you. “Um, that’s alright. Not a big deal.”

You wish he’ll just leave it at that and fall back asleep like he usually does. When his breathing steadies, you think you’re in the clear, but you are horribly mistaken when he yawns and adds, “You’ve been having a lot of nightmares recently.”

Is it another prompt for you to talk? You’re not sure what to say. 

In fact, you’re never sure what to say anymore. Never sure what’s too much, what’s too little, what the difference is between what you say and what you mean. The line blurred months ago and now you’re wandering blind.

You’d enjoy moments like this if it wasn’t for the stark fact that the person you’re with doesn’t love you like you love him. 

 “Yeah…” you agree. Right now, your chest is heavy and not strong enough to support a conversation. You hope that he’s not too drowsy to take the hint.

A small sound from him makes it seem like another sleepy sentence is in the works, but fortunately, the tension in your chest begins to fade when nothing comes out. His hair shuffles against the pillow and he presses a featherlight kiss to the back of your neck, lips lingering there for a second too long before he sinks back into his position.

When you’re sure he’s slipped under the veil of slumber again, you carefully slide out of his grasp and squeeze into your own space at the edge of the bed. You don’t know how much longer you can last like this.

☆☆☆

“She texted me.”

The sentence makes you stop chewing. Your movements stop aside from an absent blinking, gears spinning overtime to process it.

“She uh, she wants to meet up,” he tacks on. “I think I should go.”

“Why would you do that?”

Jeongguk slowly twists the pasta around his fork, taking a blatant newfound interest in his dinner. He takes a deep breath, but when he opens his mouth, the words catch in his throat.

“I don’t know. I think we need to talk about what happened.”

You scoff, and he takes an immediate offense to it. His eyebrows knit together as a wounded expression takes form on his features.

“What happened? Gguk, she dumped you because you were going through a hard time and she didn’t want to ‘deal’ with it.”

It’s not just you playing the protective best friend role and trying to talk sense into him. It’s not jealousy, either. And sure, maybe you never liked her to begin with, but for good reason. She ended up doing exactly what you thought she would - shattering his heart into a million pieces and leaving it for someone else to pick up the pieces. And considering that’s been you on a multitude of occasions, you think your point of view is valid.

“Listen, I don’t blame her… That can be really hard on someone.”

“So it’s okay for them to just pop in out of the blue, say they can’t handle your emotional issues and bounce? Someone who they claimed to love for over a year and a half? Someone who they were thinking about marrying?”

Jeongguk purses his lips as you speak, a hefty exhale coming through his nose in frustration.

“I just miss her sometimes!”

And you really wish Jeongguk would love you back, but we can’t all get our way, can we?

Not to throw yourself a pity party, though. It’s not like he owes you anything for what you do because you brought it on yourself. He doesn’t control your feelings, even when you want to blame the nerve he has for smiling because it makes you get all jittery. 

“She doesn’t even give a shit about me anymore! She’s out with other guys, doing all this shit, posting it everywhere. I… I loved her so bad and she acts like she has no clue.”

You give him pep talks when he’s about to go out with someone else. You comfort him when he’s distraught over someone else. You love him when he loves someone else. 

And then-

“You don’t know what that’s like.”

You freeze. Your heart leaps to your throat, closing the gate on your lungs until you forcibly open them again as subtle as possible. A stinging feeling you know all too well burns in your eyes as you try to hold back. Jeongguk doesn’t notice in the slightest as his gaze is still fixated on his food.

Your initial reaction is anger. All you want to do is yell, tell him wrong, tell him that you know it all too well because you love him and he’s pathetically oblivious whether by his nature or by choice. Everything you want to say, shouts and confessions, float across your mind and bounce around the walls as each one brings you further to opening your mouth and letting them spill. Then you just want to cry.

But you won’t do any of that. Your situation won’t allow it, not if you want to risk losing him. It’s not a risk you’re willing to take, even if it means suffering in it by yourself and letting the irony of his words go unrealized.

“Yeah, you’re right,” you sigh, the fork gripped by your white knuckles tapping mindlessly against the side of the bowl as you swallow the feeling back down. Your hand comes up to scratch at the corner of your eye, wiping away the wetness beginning to pool composedly so he won’t notice.

“I don’t.”

☆☆☆

It’s on a Tuesday evening a couple of weeks in the future when you next see him. 

Maybe more than a couple. Maybe a few. Maybe too many. Just enough for his tone to turn to something more confrontational than just casual when he sends you a text saying that he wants to see you again. Particularly when he specified that no, he needed to see you again.

He suggests the park by the river. You’ve been there a few times with him for lunches and to hang out, but the energy is different this time around. Both of you know why you’re here, even though you never thought you’d have to be. 

For a while, you didn’t want to make things weird, so you’d come over when he’d ask and leave as soon as you could in an attempt to curb the damage on your heart. It wasn’t until three weeks ago that you actively started flaking on him. You’d let his calls ring until he hung up or left a message and say you were busy when there was absolutely nothing going on. 

He stopped by your apartment at one point, too. You were freaking out after he texted you he’d be visiting, pacing around and wondering what to do, what to respond, if to respond at all. The knock at your door came sooner than you expected. Before you were about to pull it open and face what you’d been so casual about denying for so long, it occurred to you: You could simply not open the door.

So you waited. He knocked a few more times, sighing so loud you could hear through the door. He called out your name softly, as if he knew you were right on the other side. He stayed for a few more minutes. Then came the sound of his footsteps padding away. You were safe for another day, but the awful feeling stuck in your chest for days.

It stuck in his, too. He knew he should have never gone that far, never said anything that night, but he also wondered if he could have done it any other way. Standing at your door and having to face the fact that you were undeniably steering clear of him, because of him, was a nightmare. It was stupid of him, but you’d see past it - wouldn’t you?

And now you’re seeing him live and in person for the first time in god knows how long. It’s a foreign feeling you’ve never felt with Jeongguk before, and you hate it. It’s been long enough for the sense of familiarity to fade, or at least be buried by time. 

Is this how a comet feels when it passes earth again after so many years apart? Does it feel new every time seeing how things have changed, or are they old friends who pick up where they left off?

“ So… what’s been going on with you?” Jeongguk asks nonchalantly, leaning back on his elbows and shaking the hair out of his eyes. “It’s been a while.”

“Uhh, I don’t know,” you shrug, vision focused on the calm waters in front of you. You tug at the grass under your fingertips, loosely hugging your knees to your chest as you sit beside him. “Not much I guess. Just work as usual, you know.”

“Yeah, but how are you?” he presses, trying to find your eyes as you avoid his.

He knew something was wrong from the evident distance and your attitude, but he didn’t think it’d be this bad. He didn’t think he’d fucked up this bad.

Your laugh is awkward and forced. “I’ve been fine. Been good.”

Thinking about the past few weeks, it’s not hard to remember but incredibly hard to grasp. It’s the same moments over and over, sourced from a lonely routine. Day by day spending time with yourself, missing Jeongguk, thinking about texting him but never doing it. Wash, rinse, repeat.

His face turns from you and you miss it the second you can’t see it. The feeling is off and both of you know it. He sucks his lower lip into his mouth, biting at it as he thinks of what to say. If the wrong thing comes out, he’s worried he’ll chase you even further away. It took so much to even get you here.

“Listen, can I be honest with you?” he says.

Honesty is the best policy, isn’t it? He’s tired of beating around the bush. The two of you know so much more than bland small talk.

“Sure.”

He takes a deep breath. “I always thought that nothing could ever be uncomfortable with you and me. Like we could be straightforward and blunt without it being weird. But things right now are really weird and I don’t know what happened. You’re avoiding me and you don’t want to see me. It’s not like it used to be.”

Your nails scrape beneath each other, entangled in your lap. Clearly things aren’t the same, but you don’t have the energy to be snarky. There are so many things to address and you’re ignorant on where to start.

“I know there wasn’t a discount for the work dinner.”

He nods, looking out over the river. “Yeah, figured.”

“So why’d you lie?”

It’s his turn to shrug. “I just wanted you there and I didn’t know how to ask you. I… was starting to feel the shift and I wasn’t sure what to do about it. Saying that just gave me an excuse to take any of the weight off.”

He adds quietly, “Your turn.”

“Gguk,” you start, shaking your head as you try to find the right words. You think of the kiss, the dinner, the ring, the argument.

“We act like a couple. We do things couples do. We pretend we’re a couple. But... we aren’t a couple.”

He’s silent. He knows where you’re going. He knew it before you even got here because if you didn’t bring it up first, he would have.

“I think you already know what’s going on, but if you need it spelled out for you, I kinda caught feelings for you. And then you give me your grandmother’s wedding ring and tell me you love me and it hurts so fucking bad because I know you don’t mean it like that. Not the way I wish you did.”

The words dissipate into the fresh evening air, soon filled by delicate chirps and birdsongs. Distant laughter floats around the park, with muffled ferry horns layered behind it all.

“How do you know?”

Your hand pauses, chlorophyll green blades pulled taut between your fingers. No fucking way.

“What?”

He scratches the back of his neck before locking his eyes with yours. “How do you know... that I don’t mean it like that?”

He’s not playing with you, is he? No, he wouldn’t. You respond slightly confused, hesitant to lean into his words just yet.

“Are you saying that you do?”

He laughs and it makes your chest feel like it might burst open. “You’re kidding, right? I’ve been saying it. I mean, I thought I was being obvious.”

You suppress the excitement bubbling in your stomach for a second longer to throw him a questionable expression with an extended palm for emphasis. “You told me you wanted to go see your ex-girlfriend and were talking about how you loved her.”

He exhales through his teeth as he squints at you. “Yeah, that went a little far...”

“Only a little?”

“I’m apologizing, so let me, please?” He says, eyes wide with a small smile tweaking up at his lips. “It was stupid. I wanted to see what you would say or if you would get jealous. ‘Cause I thought you might have felt the same and at the time that was the only thing I could think of doing.”

Your expression falls.

“Wait, so did you actually meet up with her?”

“No, no!” He exclaims, rushing to refute such a bizarre idea. “Yes, she texted me, but I said no. Everything you said was right, so… it wasn’t worth it.”

He thinks he’s done, until he sees your stare still lingering on him. What’d he miss? He flops over on his stomach, elbows in the grass as his chin rests on his palms to look at you.

“You also said I didn’t know what it was like to love someone who didn’t love me back.”

A cheeky grin grows on him. “Okay... but technically you don’t because I loved you back the whole time.” One of his arms lowers to the ground, his fingers finding your own. He weaves them together with an affectionate squeeze. “You just didn’t know.”

The way your heart flutters is different this time. Gone are the tiring nerves and teary eyes and the weight of stress on your shoulders. It’s a comfortable sort of excitement, one that you’re in love with almost as much as you are with the boy himself.

“Since when?” you ask shyly, feeling the tingle in your cheeks. 

It’s a relief to have Jeongguk back. A life without him wouldn’t be one you could ever get used to. 

He was there at the start, he’s here now, and he will be here for as long as he possibly can. When it comes to you, there’s no doubt. He’s yours every time.      

His deep brown eyes sparkle under the setting sun, golden and glowing, as he makes a point to find your own. Tone dulcet and tender, he says it like it’s the most obvious thing in the world.

“Since always.”

[cowandcalf]

Writer’s Month 2020 - To Find A Way

Prompt No.2  - Quarantine

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Danny rubs the hand sanitizer between his palms. He pulls the face mask over his mouth and nose the moment he gets out of the car. They're in a Worldwide lockdown. It's unreal and insane what's going on. Two days ago, everything has been fine and now everything has flipped upside down. He can't wrap his mind around the chaos that has taken over. Grace is safe and at home with Rachel. He still breaks out in a sweat knowing there's an invisible threat creeping into his guarded world and he can't do shit about it. He misses his baby girl. No visitations but he calls her daily via face time.

The lockdown with its rules weighs heavy on everyone. Chin, Kono and he are with HPD and allowed to be outside. The workload has reduced drastically and Danny deals with the challenge of having too much spare time at hand. And that's the main reason his thoughts circle around a big handsome guy with strong, large hands who hugs a plant like a scared kitten. This unique and invested care for a flower, a flower, Danny saw a few days ago makes him draw a shaky breath now and then.

Jesus. This guy won't leave his thoughts. The confidence and self-esteem in every move have caught Danny's attention from the first encounter. But he's also sensed the invisible cracks. The flicker of Steve's eyes when Danny wasn't in his field of vision. The slight slip of his features when Steve couldn't find a bag for the plant. And the almost scared look when Danny went out the door with a flower Steve seemed to care so much for.

Danny's legs eat the distance to Kamekona's shrimp truck and seconds later he pounds at the closed door.

"Take out's not before twelve o'clock. Don't queue up! Don't mess with the rules! No food without a face mask." Kamekona's thunder voice hollers through the closed truck.

"It's me, big guy. Open the door. I'll have take out, three times, for Chin and Kono and myself. As I've agreed." Danny waits. "My mask is on, Kame! My hands are sanitized. Don't let me wait in this heat with my face half-covered. It's brutal out here. Come on."

The door opens an inch. "There's a box to your left, put the money in there. I only take cash, no cards."

They exchange food and money and the door closes again. "Wait, Kame, wait. Steve – I,"

The door stops mid-movement and gets pushed open with a jerk.

"Whoa, careful there. I almost dropped the food." Danny grabs the bags with both hands.

"What about Steve." Kamekona looks intimidating with his face half-covered behind a black mask. His big, shovel-like hands stuck in black rubber gloves and he wears a tent-size red apron with the print of his face – covered behind a black mask.

Danny chuckles and waves with the bag in his hand. "Don't you think you overdo it with the brand stuff?"

It's uncharacteristic for Kamekona not to get lost in a speech about business and keeping up with the top seller. He comes straight to the point. "Leave Steve alone. He's not a people's guy. He likes solitude.

Danny licks his lips. "You protect him. Why?"

Kamekona gets this stoic look when Danny touches a sensitive topic. The answer surprises him. "He's Kama'āina."

"And what else?" Danny can't feel the heat, can't feel how his shirt sticks to his damp back. "I'm – look, he has this thing about him –" he hopes Kamekona would chime in but he just stares at him. "He's ex-military, right? There was something odd in his behavior yesterday. He doesn't look like a guy who deals with flowers. It wasn't even a shop. It was more – "

"Yo, brah, Steve's not like all others. You needed a flower, he needed someone to drop by. I wanted to make sure he's okay. I haven't had the time to go check up on him last week."

"You check up on him? Why?" Danny's interest peaks. His heart thumps and his mouth turns dry. "Is he sick?"

"No more information." His friend has made up his mind. Danny recognizes the tone.

"Hand me another lunch bag." Danny digs into his pocket to get more money.

"For Steve?"

"Yep. He had a hard time when I took his plant. I could tell. I go and check up on him."

Kame eyes him gently. "Don't move too fast and don't talk too much.”

Danny's eyebrows climb up his forehead. "Something else, dude? A foot-rub maybe?"

"You don't know, Steve. He's –"

"Dangerous?" Danny teases.

"Just watch out and make sure he sees you all the time. It’s Lockdown, too. He’ll be twitchier than usual." The door to the truck closes with a soft click.

 Danny watches the front door of Steve's flower shop that looks more like an abandoned building with dusty windows surrounded by tamed jungle and big bushes. Countless pots with a variety of flowers mark the path that leads to the front door. He hasn't taken the time yesterday to take the scenery in. The wild beauty isn't chaotic at all if anything it's picturesque. Danny pays tribute to the attentiveness that has shaped this place.

Who's this guy? Danny performs the same procedure with hand sanitizer and face mask before he grabs the lunch bags on the passenger seat and gets out of the car. He knows Steve watches him. No one can drop by this place by accident. But so far, Danny hasn't been yelled at and shot at. So far, he counts this as being tolerated on the property.

He lifts his hand to knock on the door when a voice sharp as a blade barks a question behind his back. Shit. Danny hasn't seen or heard anything a second ago.

"What the hell are you doing here? Kamekona didn't call to tell me someone's coming."

"Hey, I brought –" Danny is about to turn around.

"Freeze!"

Like a gun shot the word impacts on Danny's eardrum. He lifts his arms to show he means no harm. He doesn't say a word and stands still. Holy fuck.

"Turn around, slowly and keep your hands up where I can see them."

Danny turns around. He faces a dangerous-looking man with dark hair who wears a white flimsy tank top covered in smudges of dirt. He stares at the gun in Steve's hand. Kamekona hasn't exaggerated. And Steve’s looks changed. Nothing resembles the behavior from yesterday.

"Pull your mask down." Steve moves like a tiger, with grace and power. He approaches slowly.

Danny breathes the earthy air with is eyes fixed on Steve's hard features. His jaw muscles pop prominently. "Hi, Steve. I brought lunch. Kame made your special dish, extra garlic, and lots of vegetables."

Steve's shoulders slump imperceptibly. Danny exhales with care. "Can I take my hands down?"

Steve comes closer. "Why did you come? I don't sell any flowers today, not ever again."

Danny's eyes drop to the broad shoulders and the golden, tanned skin. "Are you hungry?" Danny watches how Steve works his jaw and purses his lips. He lifts the bag with a fluent, slow motion. "Smells delicious and I'm sure you could need a refuel after you crawled through the jungle."

Steve scoffs, " I wasn't crawling through any jungle."

"But you're just as dirty as if – "

Steve walks toward the door without paying attention to Danny. Yeah, that's not true. This guy has eyes everywhere. Freaking Rambo. Steve flicks the gun safety on and pushes the weapon into the waistband of the back of his jeans. Danny's abs tense hard and he holds his breath. Yeah, well. His tongue flicks over his lips and his eyes drop to Steve's ass.

"I'm not eating outside." Steve shouts over his shoulder. He leaves the door ajar.

"You arrogant sonofabitch." Danny sputters flabbergasted.

TBC

Also on AO3 - To Find A Way

[hunter-the-sad-skeleton]

First chapter of my Hlvrv fanfic I’ve been working on since August 24th! Hlvrv and its Gordons belong to @year2000electronics​(Hope y’all enjoy!)

Admin P wandered around, looking in at various AUs that he passed, freezing as he passed one and backing up and looking in. His eyes shrank in panic as he registered what was happening. They may not have been a Gordon, but he would be DAMNED if he let a kid die to a barnacle. Gordon or not, he’d save them from a Bad Ending. Stepping into the AU, he moved swiftly, rescuing the small child from the barnacle.

“Hm…..? Pop pop…? Wh-What are you wearing…? That’s not your usual lab coat…” Justin peeped, shaking slightly.

“It’s alright, Amya, you go on and take a little nap, I have a surprise for you…!” Admin P smiled.

“Okay…wait, hang on, I thought you guys said you got rid of all the barnacles in the lab….” Justin yawned.

“A few just...Slipped under the radar...Plus, you slipped away from the main sector.” Admin P explained.

“Right...I’m sorry, Pop Pop…” Justin yawned.

“It’s alright, dear...Now, take a nap..” Admin P hummed.

“Okay…” Justin yawned, dozing off.

Admin P sighed in relief, returning to the others.

(later, with everyone else.)

While sneaking in, hoping not to get noticed right away, Admin P jumped as a voice peeped up behind him. “P, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?! THE BOSS WAS SO WORRIED HE GOT TEMPTED TO GO LOOKING FOR YOU TO MAKE SURE HE DIDN’T GET YOU!”

“Sorry, I needed some fresh air, so I stopped by an au.” Admin P explained.

“And WITHOUT leaving a NOTE?!” Admin F chimed in. “You CAN’T just do stuff like that, P; that’s not how this works!” Admin F added on.

“What are all of you yelling about now?!” Boss sighed, walking out, finally noticing P was back.

“Well….Where have you been?” Boss asked, extremely calmly compared to the other two.

“Okay, so I stopped by an AU or two to get some fresh air-well, as fresh as the air can GET around Black Mesa-And I noticed that instead of spawning OUTSIDE one of the locations, I spawned INSIDE one of the locations. Confused, I took a look around to see what was different, I didn’t see much different, so I was gonna leave. Then, as I was about to leave, I heard a voice-Now, not a voice in my HEAD, if it were that, I’d have freaked out, no, I mean an actual person-” Admin P said.

“Okay, so….What’s that mean? What’s that gotta do with anything?” Admin F asked.

“Well, I searched around a bit and I found-” Admin P said, holding up a glove. “This.” Admin P said, frowning slightly. “It appears he stuck with a theme; Bad endings.” Admin P said.

“Wait, what’s so bad about THIS one? All of their characters are still alive, right?” Admin F asked.

“Not really...I looked a bit more into the AU while hiding somewhere safe around the area I spawned in and realized that one of their characters HAS died.” Admin P explained. “One of the main guards of the group-maybe one of the worst, but still a main guard because they really cared for this one nonetheless.” Admin P added.

“Oh? Really now?” Admin F asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, really.” Admin P nodded. “Anyways, that dead guard was really close to the Tommy of this AU. And Tommy didn’t seem to take their death very well. And ended up using some of his own Dna and some of the deceased guard’s dna to make a tube-clone of sorts-more like a child than anything.” Admin P explained.

“Wow.” Admin C grimaced. “I mean I know I take stuff badly but….Heck!” Admin C winced.

“And the child seems to have um...wandered too far from the main area of this lab.” Admin P said.

“I don’t like where this is goin’.” Admin F stated.

“And uh...Apparently there is a Barnacle in the room this child hid in.” Admin P said. “And I-I-I may or may not….Have uh...Anyways, this is Amya Coolatta!” Admin P said, pulling them out of his coat.

“.......” Admin C’s jaw dropped.

“I’M SORRY, YOU KIDNAPPED A CHILD?!?” Admin F coughed, choking on his coffee.

“Okay, now hear me out! If I didn’t take the child, they were going to die a gruesome death! I saved them!” Admin P defended.

“You made sure to pause their AU, right?” Admin F asked.

“Most definitely, we don’t need an accident happening.” Admin P nodded.

“Good. The others in their AU don’t need to panic.” Admin F nodded.

“Right. I know that that specific Tommy has….separation anxiety, so pausing the AU is a necessity.” Admin P said.

“So….What, do we take care of the kid now?” Admin F asked.

“We’re helping them get their good ending so they don’t get murdered by a Barnacle in the most INHUMANE WAY possible.” Admin P said.

“P, you SCARE me sometimes.” Admin C grimaced.

The group fell silent at the adorable little yawn that came from the child. “C, go get the room ready for them.” Boss said quietly.

“Right away.” C said, nodding and slinking off to go do as he was told.

(The next morning.)

Loverboy slowly got up, tiredly walking down the hall to the lounge. “Good morning, everyone!” Loverboy smiled.

“Morning.” Swap nodded.

“Salutations.” Freeman nodded.

“Good morning, LB!!” Doc grinned.

“Where’s Kittle?” LB Asked.

“Well, I haven’t seen him yet.” Swap shrugged.

“I think he went back to his room.” Freeman suggested.

“Probably! He tends to go there when he needs alone time!” Doc agreed. The four’s conversation was cut off by the sound of a door opening, followed by a shriek of “WAIT, WHAT?!?” which was ALSO followed by fast footsteps into the lounge.

“Ah! There he is!” Doc laughed.

“Good morning, Kit-” LB started.

“GUYS, WHEN THE FUCK WAS THERE A SIXTH DOOR?!” Kittle snapped.

Everyone froze, falling silent. “A…….SIXTH….door?” Swap repeated slowly.

“YES.” Kittle growled.

“I don’t remember there being a sixth door….Gaaasp! You realize what this means, right?!” LB grinned in a way that filled most’s stomach with dread.

“Yeah!! I do!! Someone new’s here!!” Kittle snapped.

“Show me the door!” LB asked gently. Kittle gestured for him to follow, LB following like an excited puppy.

(at the door.) “Here we are.” Kittle said, gesturing at the door.

“Huh….’The Adorabean?” LB said, head cocking to the side in confusion.

“Probably a typo.” Kittle scoffed, going to knock on the door.

“Be gentle! They could still be asleep!” LB warned. Kittle looked at LB as if he was just told not to touch a burning hot stove.

“It’s almost the afternoon, LB. They need to wake up at some point.” Kittle sighed before banging on the door.

Before LB could object, Kittle opened the door, walking in.

“Kittle, wait!” LB called out, hesitantly following him in.

Kittle looked around the room, taking the details in for what they were like. In the room, he found; a notebook, a box of crayons of sorts, some more drawing supplies, a few stuffed animals, a pillow fort, and a small golden retriever backpack. “So she’s….a kid?” Kittle grimaced.

“Kittle, we can’t just barge in!” LB scolded.

“Why’s a room here if we can’t go in?” Kittle asked smugly.

“We need to respect privacy!” LB scolded. The two froze, falling dead silent as a ‘mrrp’ sound was heard in the pillow fort.

“Uh…...actually, I don’t wanna get in trouble, let’s move.” Kittle said, rushing LB out. As the two left and got into the lounge,  Swap noticed the two Gordons returning from the sixth room, raising an eyebrow at the vigor with which they returned. “So?” Swap asked. But before anyone could answer, crying could be heard down the hall.

“HOLD LOVERBOY BACK.” Admin P announced over the intercom.

Swap grabbed Loverboy instantly, holding him back. “No.” Swap said.

“BUT THEY’RE CRYING, SWAP!! THEY NEED HUGS!! AFFECTION!! AND COMFORT!!” Loverboy whimpered.

“Okay, they’re awake...Admin C, please go explain what’s happening.” Admin P said.

“Wait, why not F?” Admin C asked.

“You know exactly why not F, and they’d probably feel more comfortable hearing it from you.” Admin P started. “And don’t use the voice modifier; it’ll just scare them” Admin P whispered.

“Wait, what?” Admin F asked, confused.

“No more questions. Now get moving, C.” Admin P dismissed.

“Fine, fine…” Admin C sighed.

“Alright, everyone, I have an announcement to make.” Admin P announced.

“We are listening.” Freeman responded curtly.

“I’m pretty sure you’ve already guessed, but I found a sixth person to help last night, so I want each of you to meet them one-by-one. One at a time.” Admin P continued.

“Okay! Am I going first? I wanna go first Cause they really need a hug right now!” LB nodded.

“No. I’m very sorry LB, but no.” Admin P declined.

“Now, there is one condition.” Admin P added.

“What’s that?” Kittle asked sarcastically.

“Until all have met the new person, no sharing anything about them. Especially with Loverboy. We know how...Enthusiastic, he gets about new people and we do not wish to overwhelm this new member here due to various mental health problems that they have.” Admin P said sternly.

“Understood.” Freeman nodded.

“10-4.” Swap said seriously.

“Sure.” Kittle shrugged.

“As you wish!” Doc grinned.

“Aww….Fine!” LB agreed.

“Good. We’ll go from the most tame to least, to warm them up to people. Admin C is waking them up right now, so I’m here to choose who goes up first. We’re changing the lineup here though, to add a bit of...FUN to the order. Because children enjoy fun.” Admin P explained.

“WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, WAIT, STOP!! IT’S A CHILD?! LIKE A FULL-GROWN-HUMAN CHILD?!?” Swap exclaimed, looking like he was seconds away from cardiac arrest. “I THOUGHT WE WERE HERE TO FIX ‘BAD ENDINGS’ WHY IS THERE A HUMAN CHILD HERE?!” Swap demanded, suddenly making the entire room fall dead silent, every other Gordon in the room looking just as shocked.

“Um….I feel like we should wait a bit to answer that question.” Admin P winced.

“I DON’T FEEL GOOD ABOUT THAT-THAT MAKES ME WORRIED!” Swap exclaimed.

“It’s fine, anyway, let’s continue. Everyone understand?” Admin P asked.

“Yes.” They all said simultaneously.

“Well, Doc will go first. Doc, head into the new door labeled ‘adorabean’; when you head in, you will be faced with a blank room so that there is nothing that can harm the new subject here. When you interact with the new subject, be as calm and tame as possible, we do not wish to scare them into believing we will harm them; that is not what we are here to do.” Admin P explained.

“Alright, I’ll do my best!” Doc agreed.

“I mean it, Doc. They’re VERY skittish and easy to spook. Plus, their mental health issues could cause a panic attack, which NONE of us are equipped to deal with, especially none of you in the room.” Admin P stressed.

“Okay, okay, okay! I will, I will, I will!” Doc nodded.

“Good.” Admin P nodded. “Now please proceed.” Admin P instructed.

Doc nodded, going into the room.

(In the room.)

Justin waited patiently, staring at the wall, pretty much dozing off into the void, tail swooshing back and forth as though ready to attack something, not noticing the other person in the room. “Hello?” Doc called softly, staring at the feline person that was most definitely NOT a Gordon.

Doc jumped as a whack was heard against the wall. Justin sat back up, shaking their head, realizing what they did. “Ow…” Justin winced.

“Whoa, are you okay?” Doc asked, concerned.

“.....” Justin sat there, staring at him for a moment, processing everything.

Doc stood there awkwardly, realizing he was in absolutely, 100 percent, ZERO danger. But the Kid staring blankly at him made him feel a sense of unease. Did he break them?

“Are you a doctor?” Justin asked suddenly.

“Wait, what?” Doc asked, confused.

Justin walked over casually. “You look like a doctor!” Justin explained. “Or...A mad scientist!” Justin added, tail swooshing back and forth still.

“Oh, uh, yes! People call me Doc!” Doc explained.

“Well, you look like Unca Go-Go, so I’m gonna call you Unca Doc!” Justin grinned, booping his nose, ears and tail perking up instantly out of happiness.

“....Hug?” Doc asked.

Justin’s eyes lit up. “Yes pwease!” Justin nodded, hugging him tightly, Doc picking them up for the hug.

“Whee!” Justin smiled when being pulled into the hug.

“You’re an excitable little fella ain’t ya?” Doc grinned.

“Yep!” Justin giggled. Okay. THAT WAS CUTE. “Oh, you’re just a PRECIOUS little thing!” Doc laughed.

Justin purred, tail sticking upright.

“Okay, Kittle’s going to go next, Doc, please exit the room.” Admin P said over the intercom.

“Okay! Bye-bye, Amya!” Doc waved.

“Buh-Bye Unca Doc!” Justin waved.

Doc walked out, giggling as soon as he was out. Upon spotting this, everyone else was filled with confusion. “Kittle, you’re up next!” Doc beamed.

“....I leave everything to my roommate if I don’t come back.” Kittle said, going to walk into the room.

“Drama king.” Admin P sighed.

“Wait, you have a roommate? Meaning people actually ya know...Like you?” Swap asked, confused.

“OH, BUZZ OFF.” Kittle growled, immediately walking into the room, noticing the emptiness of the room unlike before.

“Hmm….” Justin hummed, staring at the wall, getting ready to pounce with intent.

“Uh….Hell-OH NO!” Kittle yelped, immediately rushing over and picking the child up before they hit the wall.

“Huh? Dad said flight was impawsible...How am I flying?” Justin asked, tilting their head in confusion.

Kittle set them down, jumping away and gripping the wall, shaking slightly.

“Hm? Oh! New person! Hello!” Justin waved excitedly.

“Demon….!” Kittle whispered to himself.

“Are you okay?” Justin asked, worried at the reaction.

“Did I spook you…?” Justin asked, ears flopping down.

“N-No!” Kittle peeped.

(Timeskip later.)

“So your name was….Amya, right?” Kittle asked.

“.........L….Legally…..Yeah…” Justin winced.

“It’s a nice name!” Kittle complemented.

“...Th…….Thanks…” Justin smiled weakly.

Kittle tilted his head in concern. “Are...You okay?” Kittle asked, worried at the response.

“Y-Yeah, I-I’m fine..!” Justin assured weakly.

“...You don’t wanna be called Amya, do you?” Kittle asked gently.

“I…….no…..” Justin frowned slightly.

“Well, what wouldja prefer?” Kittle asked. “Something gender neutral? Masculine? Something less feminine but still has feminine vibes to it?” Kittle added.

“.........Justin…?” Justin asked gently.

“Justin it is! He/him pronouns I’m assuming?” Kittle asked.

“Y-Yeah….If it’s no trouble…!” Justin nodded. “I-If it’s too much trouble, I-I don’t mind she/her pronouns…” Justin added.

“No no, that don’t matter! My comfort don’t matter, yours does!” Kittle said. “Now let’s get ya outta that skirt, I….doubt you’re enjoying that!” Kittle said, standing up and walking over to the closet. “Favorite color?” Kittle asked.

“Uh….Purple?” Justin said, confused.

“Hm….They don’t got any boy clothes in here...all of these are too feminine for your comfort...They DO have a sewing kit though! So….let’s just say it may take a while...Don’t worry, just hang out in this tank top and shorts for a while!” Kittle said, turning away. Kittle started pulling all the materials needed to make a jacket, Justin quickly changing into the tank top and shorts, already feeling slightly more comfortable.

“This is nice….” Justin gasped.

“Okay, I’m gonna sit here and work, PLEASE do not touch the machine, I do NOT need you getting pricked.” Kittle said, sitting down at the sewing machine.

(Thirty minutes later.)

“Okay, time to flip it rightside in to see if the seams worked properly…” Kittle sighed, turning it rightside in. “Yes….it works…! Okay…!” Kittle said, looking at the now asleep child. Kittle quickly slid it on him, smiling as he heard him start purring.

(Timeskip to later in the lounge.)

“He’s been in there a while. Is everything okay?” Swap asked.

“He doesn’t wanna leave.” Admin P replied.

“What?” Swap asked.

“He refuses to leave the room.” Admin P clarified. “This child sparks joy. So he’s refusing.” Admin P added.

“I’ll go grab him!” Doc said, going off.

Doc returned a few moments later, dragging Kittle by the back of the HEV suit. “Come on, Kittle, it’s the next person’s turn.” Doc sighed.

“But-But-But child!” Kittle argued.

“But nothing. Now sit down.” Doc said sternly.

“Okay, but hear me out-” Kittle started. “The child sparks joy!” Kittle finished.

“I know, but everyone else still has to meet them.” Doc argued.

“Swap, it’s your turn. Hurry before Kittle runs back in.” Admin P instructed. Swap nodded, hurrying in.

(In the room.)

Justin played around with a plushie like a cat would, waiting for their next visitor.

“Hello?” Swap called, catching Justin’s attention immediately.

“New person!” Justin peeped, bouncing up onto their feet, still holding the toy in their mouth like a cat.

“uh….Can I see your-your passport?” Swap asked. Justin perked up, running to their backpack and pulling out a small, beaten up notebook, running back to present it to Swap.

“Here it is, sir!” Justin said, opening it to show a poorly drawn variation of a passport.

“..........” Swap was silent while reading over it. None of the writing was legible, which made sense, due to them being a child.

“Is everything in order?” Justin asked, fidgeting with the stuffy from earlier nervously.

“...Yup.” Swap said, handing it back.

“Yay!” Justin squeaked, hugging the stuffy tightly, immediately attacking it again, once they realized what it was.

“So you’re...Amya, right?” Swap asked.

“...............Yeah…...” Justin said hesitantly, still playing with the toy, probably more now.

“Huh……...I can see why Kittle and Doc like you so much.” Swap nodded.

“Yeah! Unca Doc and Unca Kit are nice!” Justin grinned.

“Unca Doc and Unca Kit, huh?” Swap hummed.

“Yeah! Doc’s name is easy to say, but Kit’s name takes too long, ya know?” Justin asked.

“Well, I’m Swap, pleased to meet you.” Swap smiled.

“Nice to meet you, Swap! I’m gonna call you Unca Swap!” Justin giggled.

“That’s….Adorable.” Swap said softly.

“Hee hee hee!” Justin giggled.

“Can I mess with the hat?” Justin asked.

“..........Sure….” Swap said, removing the helmet and placing it on Justin’s head.

“Oooh! Rooomy!” Justin squeaked, running around in a circle excitedly.

Kittle peeked in through the door, taking a photo. Blackmail; GOT.

Justin eventually stopped running around, taking the helmet off and shaking their head. “Whoa...That’s cool!” Justin squeaked, ears now visible.

“...........do you have cat ears?” Swap asked.

“Oh! Yeah! Papa says he doesn’t know where I got them!” Justin giggled. “He thinks it mighta been because he pet a cat!” Justin giggled.

Swap grabbed the helmet, putting it back on. “....Are you human?” Swap asked very quietly.

“I mean….I think? Papa’s human and I don’t know my other dad, so…..” Justin hummed. “I can’t think of any reason for me not to be human!” Justin smiled.

“Ah.” Swap nodded.

“What about you?” Justin asked. “Are you human?” Justin added.

“Um, yes!” Swap said swiftly. Justin raised an eyebrow.

“Are ya sure?” Justin asked.

“Yes!” Swap said.

“Hmm….Okay!” Justin grinned. “Are you SUPERhuman?!” Justin asked, eyes lighting up.

“Super...Human…?” Swap asked, confused.

“Ya know, a-a human with superpowers! Or powers that humans don’t normally have!” Justin explained. “Like shapeshifting! Or flying! Or...Ya know...Stuff like that!” Justin explained excitedly.

“....................Sorta.” Swap said.

“Sorta?” Justin asked, head tilting in confusion.

“I can do this…” Swap said, grabbing Justin with his hair tendril, picking them up by the ankle and lifting them up.

“Whee!” Justin grinned, giggling happily. “That tickles!” Justin giggled.

“Oh, you mean like this?” Swap asked, moving another to tickle their stomach.

“Eee! Ah! I’m under attack!” Justin giggled.

“Alright, Swap, time’s up. Freeman’s up next.” Admin P announced over the intercom.

“Freeman?” Justin asked, squeaking as they were set down.

“You’ll see. See you later, Amya!” Swap waved, walking out.

“Bye-Bye, Unca Swap!” Justin waved back.

“Freeman, you’re up.” Swap called, heading back to the lounge. Freeman nodded, walking in.

Justin was now making a nest out of various blankets and pillows and stuffed animals. “Hello, little one.” Freeman waved.

“I’m not little! I’m a big boy! But hello!” Justin waved.

“Ah. My mistake.” Freeman shrugged. Justin grinned, hopping out to meet him.

“You’re...Freeman, right?” Justin asked. Freeman nodded.

“Indeed. And you’re Amya?” He asked.

“The one and only...!” Justin grinned weakly, nodding hesitantly.

“Pleasure to meet you, Amya. You seem to be a….Joy, to converse with.” Freeman stated.

“You too!” Justin grinned eagerly.

“So what do you like to do in your spare time?” Freeman asked.

“I like to dra-” Justin started, staring at the wall blankly.

“........A-Amya-” Freeman started, getting startled as Justin whacked their head into the wall.

“Dang it, not agaaaaain! Mmm….” Justin grimaced, rubbing their head.

“....heh…..” Freeman chuckled quietly, standing up the child, gently rubbing their head.

“Purrr….” Justin purred, ears going back.

(An hour later)

“Okay, Freeman, time’s up.” Admin C announced.

“Oh! Bye Uncle Freeman!” Justin waved.

“See you later, Amya!” Freeman smiled, walking out.

(Meanwhile, with the Admins.)

“I-I-I-I-I need to go…! I-I don’t know where, but I need to go!” Boss stuttered, turning around on his heel and starting to walk away.

“Awww! I haven’t seen him smile in forever!” Admin C smiled.

Admin F burst out laughing at The Boss’s reaction, resorting to holding onto a table ledge to not fall over.

“What the-” Admin P said as the Boss ran into him. “Are you okay?” He asked, concerned.

“I-I-I-I need to go…! I ju-I just-pbbht!! I just need to go!” Boss said, hurrying out.

“...................What happened?” Admin P asked.

“I’M TOO GAY FOR THIS SHIT!!!” Boss screamed outside the room.

“AH HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!” Admin F cackled, finally falling off the table.

“Gordon smiled and Boss wasn’t ready!” Admin C chuckled.

“Ah. The Gay panic. Understood.” Admin P said, then paused, realization hitting him. “ARE YOU SAYING I MISSED HIM SMILE?!” Admin P asked.

“Yep!” Admin C nodded.

“MOTHER-”

“Loverboy, you’re up.” Admin C announced. “Please, do not get too excited when entering the room.” He added.

“Okay!” Loverboy nodded.

“Like, I really mean this; she gets startled REALLY EASILY and either scream or cry if you scare her.” Admin C stressed heavily.

“I woooooon’t!” Loverboy groaned.

“Promise?” Admin C asked.

“Pinky promise!” Loverboy said.

“Okay. You may proceed. CAREFULLY.” Admin C repeated.

“Sounding kinda like an overprotective father there, C! But I will, I will!” Loverboy promised, walking in.

Inside the room, Loverboy looked around for the new inhabitant, not spotting them. Thinking they were hiding, he went to look around, freezing when he heard the sound of something running around in a circle. “Hm? Hello?” Loverboy called out.

Loverboy spotted a small kitten trying to chase its tail on the carpet of the room, tumbling over on occasion. “Oh! Hello!” Loverboy waved. The kitten looked towards him, mewing at him, causing Loverboy’s eyes to light up in happiness. Lb got down on the floor, holding a hand out to the kitten for them to sniff. The kitten sniffed his hand, gently licking it.

“Awwww….!” Loverboy awed. Loverboy gently patted the kitten on the head, getting it to start purring.

“Are you the new guy I was told to meet?” Loverboy asked gently, expecting a response. The kitten started meowing, like, a lot, almost like it was calling out for its mother or something. Loverboy gently picked up the kitten, hushing them to attempt to calm them down.

The small kitten started suckeling on his thumb, showing that they were hungry. Loverboy looked around the room, finding a water bottle, a bottle warmer, kitten formula, and a bottle.

“Huh….Convenient!” Loverboy grinned. Reading the instructions, he started making the formula.

(A few minutes later.)

LB set a heating disc on his lap, putting a blanket over it so as to not burn the kitten on accident and set the kitten on it, putting his hand on the back of the kitten and one of his fingers on their throat to make sure they’re actually swallowing their food.

Afterwards, LB noticed a chart of sorts, noticing that it had time, date, and weight on it. Putting two and two together, LB got up, finding a scale, and writing down the date and the kitten’s weight.

“So you are….273 grams...” Loverboy said, writing down the info required.

LB put the kitten down, gently booping them on the nose. “Tchoo!” The kitten sneezed. LB’s eyes lit up, sparkling in adoration at the tiny sneeze.

“asdfghjkl-Gesundheit!” LB said, stumbling over his words. The kitten yawned, giving LB the signal that they were tired. Shrugging, he put the kitten down, laying down with them, falling asleep alongside them.

(Timeskip a few hours.)

“Okay, LB, that’s good enough. You can leave now.” Admin P announced.

LB slowly woke up, noticing the kitten curled into his side. LB slowly sat up, so as to not disturb the kitten’s slumber.

“LB, get up, we need to get moving, progress has been stalled.” Admin P repeated.

“Aww….Okay!” LB frowned. LB patted the kitten on the head, getting up and walking out.

(With the other Gordons.)

Loverboy walked out to meet the other Gordons, sitting down on the couch. “So? How’d it go?” Doc asked.

“I met a kitten!” LB smiled.

“A humahooha?” Doc asked, quirking an eyebrow in confusion.

“When’d we get a kitten?” Kittle asked, confused.

“What’s a kitten?” Swap asked.

“It’s a small baby cat. Where did it come from?” Freeman asked.

“I don’t know, but it was chasing its little tail and it stumbled and it was just so adorable!!” LB grinned.

“That sounds….Alarming.” Freeman said, raising an eyebrow in concern.

“Uh…” LB started, getting cut off by loud meowing. “Oh! It’s hungry!!” LB said, getting up and rushing to go feed the kitten.

“Okay, Gordons-where did-where’s Loverboy?” Admin P asked.

“He went to go feed the kitten….?” Swap explained.

“Kitten? What-What-What kitten?!” Admin P stammered.

“The one in Amya’s room, apparently!” Doc added. Kittle flinched, recovering as soon as possible, not wanting to clue anyone in on anything yet.

“C, could you go check on Amya, see what’s going on?” Admin P asked.

“Sorry, uh, a little busy at the moment!” Admin C replied.

“Okay, how about you Gordons go check?” Admin P sighed.

“Okay!” Doc nodded.

“Sure.” Freeman nodded.

“Arright.” Kittle shrugged.

“Okay.” Swap nodded.

The Gordons went to the room, leaning in slightly. “You’re a good little kitten, aren’t you?” Loverboy grinned, putting the kitten down. The kitten mewed up at him, as if responding to him.

“Awww! You’re adorable!” LB Grinned.

The kitten purred, rubbing its head against Loverboy’s leg. “Aww….!” LB chuckled, patting them on the head. LB picked up the kitten, the kitten’s limbs pretty much ragdolling in their spot. “Okay, let’s weigh you~!” LB smiled, walking over to the scale to weigh them. “You weigh….280 grams!” LB said, writing down the numbers on the chart.

“You’re a chunk boy, huh?” LB gently teased, scratching them behind the ears, getting loud mews of what seemed to be protest.

“What? Are you saying I’m wrong?” LB asked. The kitten, not mad about getting called chunky, waddled towards LB, mewing loudly as they nuzzled his hand. “Oh?” LB hummed, looking down at them.

“Does someone want cuddles?” LB asked, already gently picking them up, getting happy meows in response.

LB sat down, placing the kitten in his lap, the kitten already kneading in his lap. “Oh! You’re gettin’ all cozy, huh, bud?” LB joked.

The kitten purred, finally settling down in his lap, falling asleep fairly quickly. “Well, guess I’m stuck for a while, huh…?” LB smiled gently.

The other Gordons decided to leave the two alone, returning to the lounge area. “Well? What’s the verdict?” Admin P asked.

“They’re sleeping.” Freeman said.

“Oh?” Admin P asked.

“Yep. Out cold.” Kittle added.

“So her test is gonna be postponed…” Admin P hummed.

“Well, who CAN do their test?” Kittle asked.

“Hm...I...Don’t know...Let’s wait for them to wake up again. That’ll make it easier.” Admin P suggested.

“Right.” Freeman nodded, everyone else following suit in agreement.

(Timeskip an hour later.)

LB woke up to find that the small kitten had turned into Justin, almost instantly hugging them and spewing nonsense, causing a sickening crack to come from the room, startling pretty much everyone who wasn’t in there.

Swap got up, about to run in before Doc pushed him back down. “No. Loverboy probably just gave her a hug.” Doc explained.

Loverboy walked out to the lounge holding Justin’s hand, sitting down on the couch. “Huh? Where’d the kitten go?” Swap asked, confused.

“Oh! He’s right here!” LB smiled, gesturing towards Justin.

“So…..She’s a cat AND a person…?” Swap asked, confused. Freeman looked up from his book, nodding as he closed it and set it down.

“Shapeshifting. Since she’s still a child, however, I’m certain that she can only change into a kitten and gets stuck for quite some time.” Freeman explained.

“Oooh!” Doc said, snapping his fingers as he understood it. “That’s a cool ability, Amya!” Doc complimented.

“Th...Thanks, Unca Doc…!” Justin said, faking a smile.

“I see you two are back.” Admin P said over the intercom.

“Yep!” Loverboy nodded.

“Yep…!” Justin added.

“Excellent. Amya, we’re here to help you get past your ‘bad ending’. To do so, we have spent countless hours researching your AU, researching your ending, everything under the sun.” Admin P started. “We’ve gathered enough knowledge to be able to create a simulatory experience of your bad ending.” Admin P added.

“Ooh…!” Justin gasped.

“BUT!!! Just because it is a simulator does NOT mean there is no danger: it is still your BAD ENDING.” Admin P warned. “You are to be careful. You are to be aware of your surroundings at all times. You are to be ready to scream if needed. You are to be ready to defend yourself. This is still Black Mesa, Amya. It is still inCREDIBLY dangerous. If you get in danger and cannot get out of it, you are to call out for help IMMEDIATELY.” Admin P stressed.

“Oh, okay…!” Justin nodded.

“I mean it, Amya. I don’t want you thinking you can take on something that you truly cannot.” Admin P stressed.

“I will!” Justin sighed.

“Will you?” Admin P asked.

“Yes!” Justin groaned.

“Promise?” Admin P asked.

“Yes! I Puppy promise!” Justin nodded, pretty much melting everyone’s heart.

“Alright. Please proceed through the door.” Admin P said.

“Okay!” Justin nodded, walking through the door.

“I’ll be right back, I’m gonna go do something really quick.” Admin P said.

“Okay, we’ll keep watch for you.” Admin F nodded.

“Good. Make sure it goes according to plan.” Admin P instructed.

“We will.” Admin F nodded. With that, Admin P walked out of the room to go deal with whatever he needed to deal with.

“Be careful!” LB warned.

“I will be!” Justin waved, walking in, door closing behind him.

As Justin walked in, the room turned into the forbidden room at Black Mesa. Justin walked around, looking at the room and observing everything inside. They soon came across a hallway that was empty. They felt nervous for a moment before remembering that it was Black Mesa; they had empty hallways everywhere. They shrugged it off, proceeding forward through the hallway, not noticing the feeling of something wrapping around their leg, thankfully, Admin F noticed and immediately rushed to the intercom to shout into it.

“AMYA, LOOK OUT!!!!” Admin F yelled into the mic, catching Justin’s attention.

“Why’s it grabbing her?!?” Admin C asked, panicking.

“I DON’T KNOW, IT SHOULDN’T BE ABLE TO DO THAT!! IT SHOULD BE JUST A HOLOGRAM!!” Admin F snapped back, shaking slightly.

“Let go!!!” Justin whined, trying to pull his leg away, grip on his leg only tightening, causing pain to shoot through his leg.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, what’s going on in there?!” Kittle asked, temper slowly growing.

“SOMETHING’S WRONG WITH THE SIMULATION!” Admin F panicked.

“What is?!” Kittle demanded.

“THE BARNACLE-I-IT’S NOT SUPPOSED TO BE PHYSICAL!! IT’S SU-IT’S SUPPOSED TO-IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE A HOLOGRAM!!” Admin F explained in a panic.

“So open the door and cut the simulation off!” Kittle snapped.

“I….” Admin F stammered.

“Well?!” Kittle snapped.

“I-I-I can’t…” Admin F said shakily, face going pale and shaking becoming slightly more obvious.

“What do you mean, F?” Admin C asked.

“I-I-I-I-I can’t cut off the simulation or open the door-I-I-I-I-I-I-It won’t let me…!” Admin F stuttered, trying everything he could.

“What…?” Kittle gasped.

“Move.” Swap said, backing up.

“What?” Kittle asked, shaking out of it.

“I. Said.” Swap started, getting a running start. “MOVE!!” Swap yelled, ramming against the door as hard as possible, breaking it down with a loud crash.

“SWAP!!” Kittle yelped.

Swap got up, tentacles already at work to get Justin free. “LET. MY. NIECE. GO.” Swap growled, tentacles prying the Barnacle tentacle off, Swap diving to catch the small child, Kittle quickly grabbing something and throwing it at the Barnacle to kill it.

“Hey, Amya, look at me, look at me.” Swap said, gently guiding Justin’s chin up to look at him. “There you are...I’m here.” Swap said, gently hugging Justin as LB showed him how to earlier.

Justin melted into the hug, sobbing into Swap’s chest, Swap gently patting him on the head. “I was so scared, Unca Swap….” Justin hiccupped.

“I know, I know...It’s okay…” Swap hushed.

(In the Admin room.)

Admin P walked into the Admin room, feeling confusion at seeing C comforting F.

“What happened while I was gone?” Admin P asked, concerned.

“It-something happened and-” F started.

“I can explain, you take a breather.” Admin C hushed. “Someone or someTHING sabotaged the test for Amya and she got hurt because of it.” Admin C explained calmly.

“Oh my! How did she get hurt?” Admin P asked worriedly.

“The Barnacle grabbed her leg and she started fighting to escape which only tightened its grip.” Admin C answered. The two turned to look at the screen focusing on the group, Justin sobbing into Swap as his lower leg was getting bandaged up. “It had an Iron Grip, P.” Admin C frowned.

“Oh my God…” Admin P gasped.

Admin C turned to P, face full of sadness. “We can’t risk her getting hurt again. Her test needs to wait a bit longer.” Admin C said, half begging, half stating fact.

“I…...Agree. She does need time to heal anyway.” Admin P agreed.

(With the others.)

Doc leaned into the room, curious as to what was happening. “Is everything alright?”

Doc froze at noticing that Justin’s lower leg was bandaged and that he was sobbing into Swap’s chest. “It’s okay, kid…” Swap hummed.

“What happened?” Doc asked, worried about the scene before him.

“A Barnacle got ahold of Amya during her test. The grip gave her a nasty injury.” Freeman explained.

“Oh my God...My poor niece..!!” Doc squeaked, running over and trying to  take Amya from Swap to hug her, Swap immediately giving him a glare and a slight growl, immediately causing Doc to back up.

“Indeed.” Freeman nodded sadly.

Swap slowly got up, carrying Justin out to the lounge. “Unca Swap, can I sit with you for a while…?” Justin asked shyly.

“As long as you need to recover.” Swap nodded.

Swap reached the couch, sitting down with Justin in his lap, sweet voicing softly to calm the small one down. Justin eventually fell asleep in that position, curling up slightly. Swap smiled slightly.

“Want me to move ‘em to their room?” Kittle asked, voice a whisper.

“Nah. they’re fine here.” Swap declined.

“Ya sure?” Kittle asked.

“Yeah. I don’t need to get up for anything.” Swap explained. Kittle nodded.

“Well, I’m heading off for bed. Night, Swap.” Kittle yawned.

Swap nodded, waving goodnight as Kittle walked back to his room. Swap gently pet Justin on the head, being careful not to wake him up. It felt weird; he’d barely known the child for a day, yet there was this...Instinct to protect them. He shrugged it off, thinking it would be over in a day.

[spidermecc]

Unintentional love (Elu fake dating AU) Ch. 3 - Never again

Elu fake dating AU chapter 3 is up. As always, comments and feedback is very welcome. I hope you enjoy, let me know what you think. Find it on AO3 here.

”Oh my God Lucas, just pick a fucking shirt, they all look the same” Basile grunted.

The boys had spent the last hour in the same mens-wear shop, trying to find a new shirt for Lucas to wear to the party tomorrow.

”Honestly Lucas, you’re already dating the guy, why are you so stressed out?” Arthur asked sympathetically, while Yann picked up two shirts and headed for the dressing room.

”Fuck off, I just thought it would be nice to look good for once, it has nothing to do with him” Lucas said, not completely being able to hide his blush.

He had never been the type to care about what he was wearing, but even though he’d rather eat dirt than admit it, he was probably trying harder because he wanted to impress Eliott. He knew he didn’t stand a chance anyway, and Eliott was just helping him out to be friendly, probably because he didn’t have many friends at his new school, but he couldn’t help but want to look a bit different at the party, and maybe, just maybe impress Eliott a little bit.

“Fuck it, I’ll just wear the same shit I usually wear, let’s go get something to eat, I’m starving” he said, giving up on trying to find anything nice. Everything he’d tried on was either way too expensive or way too .. not him.

“FINALLY, I was beginning to think I’d have to eat the granola bar that’s been in my bag for four years” Basille exclaimed, almost running out of the shop.

“Yeah, let me just pay for this and we can get out” Yann said, fishing for his wallet in his bag.

After they exited the shop, they found a nice little café with cheap pizzas and beers to hang out at. It was nice to chill with the boys, they didn’t do this kind of stuff often, but when they did, Lucas always enjoyed it, even though they drove him mad half the time. This time was no exception. They’d all been grilling him about Eliott all week, and Lucas had successfully avoided the topic every time.

“So tell us something about this mystery guy” Yan said, while cutting his pizza with the shitty plastic knife and fork the café had given them.

“I already told you guys a thousand times, there’s not much to say. We’ve just hung out a few times and well, yeah we’re seeing each other I guess” Lucas answered, trying to avoid the topic yet again.

“Nu-uh” Basile said taking a sip of his beer, “you’re not getting off the hook so easy this time. Tell us something about him, I mean how did you manage to hook up with him? He looks like an actual model, if I was gay or bi or whatever, he’d be on my TO-DO list” he said laughing at his own joke.

Lucas couldn’t argue with that. Eliott did look like a model. His perfectly messy hair, his signature brown jacket, and those eyes.. those eyes that Lucas saw every time he closed his eyes, were out of this world. But what did Lucas actually know about Eliott? He knew that he was absolutely stunning, that he apparently was interested in the foyer, he had no social media (none that Lucas could find anyway) and that he drew weird looking rats in the library alone. It wasn’t much to go on, and if this whole pretending to date thing was going to work, he needed more. He pulled out his phone and found his newly added contact: Mon mec <3

Lucas: Tell me three things I should know about you

As soon as he hit the send button, he started worrying. That was a weird text to send out of the blue right? Shit Eliott didn’t even have his number, he should probably tell him who’s texting.

Lucas: This is Lucas btw. Lucas: Your pretend mec, haha

Read

Putain, what the hell was that mess? He’d sent three incoherent messages and not surprisingly Eliott left him on read. Fuck, was he even going to show up to the party tomorrow after Lucas sent him weird ass shit like that?

“Are you texting your boyfriend?” Arthur asked, mouth full of peperoni pizza, oil dripping down his chin.

“Nah, it’s Mika, he forgot his keys, so I have to head back, see you guys tomorrow” he said, desperate to get out of there, go home and bang his head against the wall until brain cells, that he obviously didn’t have, magically started to appear.

“Okay, see you tomorrow man, can’t wait to meet Eliott” Yann said, with such an honest smile that it broke Lucas’ heart. He really hated lying to his friends, especially Yann.

“Yeah, he can’t wait to meet you guys either” he answered, putting on his scarf, feeling like an absolutely horrible friend.

____

When he finally got home he threw himself on the bed and yanked his phone out of his pocket. Still no answer from Eliott. Of course not, why would he answer such silly messages from a complete stranger? While Lucas was contemplating how to tell the boys that Eliott would not attend the party tomorrow, without letting them know that he’d been lying he heard a pling.

Eliott: Phew, you just go straight to the personal questions, huh Lucas?

Shit, he’d offended Eliott. Of course he had. He could have at least started off with a ‘hey’ or a ‘thanks for agreeing to be my pretend boyfriend and going to a party with a bunch of people you don’t know’.

Lucas: I’m so sorry, I know that was totally out of the blue and weird

Eliott: Hahah, I’m kidding Lucas.

Lucas felt a weight lift off his chest. So Eliott wasn’t upset with him?

Eliott: I’ve actually just spent the last hour thinking of a good answer and I think I have it, are you ready?

Lucas: I’m ready, hit me

His heart starting racing out of nowhere. The prospect of getting to know Eliott, even if it was just three facts, had him sitting on the edge of his bed, tapping his foot on the floor in pure anticipation.

Eliott: 1. My spirit animal is a raccoon. 2. My favorite music is dubstep. 3. You’ll have to earn the third.

Lucas read and reread the message for what might have been ten times. Dubstep? Really? How was this mystery guy, who looked and talked like an actual angel, into freaking dubstep? Also, a spirit animal? Lucas had never even considered what his might be, but God, Eliott was an actual dork.

Lucas: How do I earn the third?

Eliott: I’m sure you’ll figure something out.

Shit, was Eliott flirting with him, or was Lucas just imagining things? He decided not to dwell on it and continued tapping on his phone, forming a response quickly, so Eliott didn’t think he’d left him on read.

Lucas: So those rats with masks on them that you were drawing in the library were actually raccoons?

Eliott: RATS?! Wow Lucas, you’re already breaking my heart and we’ve only been dating for a week.

His heart started racing. He felt kind of sorry for teasing Eliott about his drawings, but he couldn’t help himself. He wondered if Eliott also had a huge grin plastered on his face right now, because Lucas sure as shit did.

Lucas: I’m a real heartbreaker, sorry

Eliott: Yeah, I noticed at the bus stop, no mercy huh? Eliott: So it’s your turn now, no?

The grin that had been dominating his face during the entire conversation fell as soon as he saw the message. Eliott had probably, maybe, meant it as a joke, but the prospect of Eliott thinking he was cold hearted, made him want to cry.

Lucas: Actually, I’ve got to go, I have a ton of homework. See you tomorrow at the party.

Eliott: Okay, see you tomorrow.

He threw his phone on the other side of the bed and buried his face in his pillows. He definitely wasn’t ready for tomorrow.

______

Lucas was standing in front of the bathroom mirror trying to tame his hair. He’d been in need of a haircut for a while now, but he barely had money to pay the rent, so spending money on a haircut was the furthest from his mind, when Mika barged in. “Looking good kitten, meeting up with your new man?” he said, toying with Lucas’ hair. “Yeah, we’re going to a party tonight” he answered, swatting away Mikas hands. “Bring him over to the apartment some time, I have to approve before you take the next step you know” he said, still playing with Lucas’ hair, not getting the hint. “Need to see what his intentions are with our little kitten” he continued, laughing. “Gosh, can you please fuck off Mika, the last thing I need is you scaring him away with your sex talk” Lucas answered, starting to get slightly annoyed. “Gee always so touchy, you know you have to loosen up a bit, or you’ll never get any dick” he exclaimed, finally pulling his hands away in defeat. “Have fun, remember to use a condom” he finished with a wink, leaving Lucas’ hair in a worse state than it was to begin with.

As soon as Lucas left the apartment he regretted not bringing his scarf. The cool night air was already starting to sting, and he could feel his ears starting to cramp from the cold. He’d agreed to meet Eliott halfway, so they could arrive together, making the whole thing seem more believable.

“Salut” he heard a voice from behind. There he was, Eliott Demaury in all his glory. He looked stunning as always, wearing a white t-shirt, a skin tight leather jacket and skinny denim jeans, showing off his perfect figure. Lucas was pretty sure his mouth was starting to water, but he tried not to dwell too much on it. “Salut” he answered, trying to sound nonchalant, and probably failing miserably. “Let’s go” Eliott said as he started walking. Lucas was struggling to keep up, seeing as Eliott’s legs were much longer than his, almost jogging next to the taller boy.

As they walked, it almost felt like they’d known each other for ages. Lucas kept joking about the raccoon drawings, while Eliott dramatically clutched his chest, as if Lucas was breaking his heart all over again. They talked about music, which subjects they liked and disliked, which movies they liked (Eliott’s favorite was Titanic, how cliché), until they finally circled back to the drawings.   “You know for someone who looks so innocent, you sure can be a sarcastic little shit” Eliott laughed, after Lucas, once again, had made fun of the drawings. “I’m sorry. And I don’t look innocent” he said, another laugh escaping him. “Yeah you do. You’re short but spikey” Eliott said continuing “you know what you remind me of?” “What?” Lucas said, looking up at the taller boy, clinging on to every word he said. “A hedgehog” he said, bursting into giggles. “A what?! I do NOT look like a hedgehog” Lucas exclaimed, trying to look upset, but he was pretty sure the huge ass grin on his face gave him away. “Whatever you say, but I’m pretty sure that a hedgehog is your spirit animal” Eliott said, lightly puffing Lucas shoulder. Lucas couldn’t help but smile at how cute Eliott looked when he was smiling and joking and he wished that they could just keep walking for hours, talking and laughing.

As they reached the apartment, Eliott swung his arm around Lucas, who involuntarily flinched. “Calm down, it’s just for show right?” Eliott said, seemingly amused by the expression on Lucas’ face. “Yeah, sorry” he answered, staring down at the ground. As soon as they entered the smoke filled apartment, they were greeted with his loud friends. “LUCAAAAAAS” Basille screamed, trying to drown out the music. Yann shook Eliott’s hand, introducing himself as Lucas’ best friend, and Lucas felt a pang of guilt wash over him again. He really hated lying to his friends.

After the boys had introduced themselves, they all went out onto the balcony, where Arthur was trying to roll a joint, but failing miserably, having drunken one beer too many. “Here, let me” Eliott said, reaching out and taking the paper and weed from Arthurs trembling hands. “Damn, good looking and good with his hands, what a catch Lucas” Basile exclaimed, and Lucas had a sudden urge to throw him over the balcony. “I’m the one who got lucky” Eliott said with a wink, not taking his eyes off Lucas. He couldn’t help think of, how in another universe, they were actually dating, and he was happy and contempt with his friends and his gorgeous boyfriend getting along. But right here, right now, it all felt a little bit too much, and Eliott’s gaze made him feel sad about all the things he wished he could have but didn’t.

“It’s getting pretty cold, I think I’m going to head inside” Lucas said, grabbing his beer from the balcony floor. “I’ll go with you, here you go” Eliott said handing over the joint to Arthur, “nice to meet you guys, we’ll catch up later” he continued as he swung his arm around Lucas, and opened the balcony door for him. They had only been doing this for an hour or so, but it was already proving very difficult for Lucas to handle it. Every move Eliott made, seemed effortless and natural, he almost let himself believe for a second that they weren’t pretending.

They headed inside, and got comfortable on a couch in the corner. “Your friends are cool” Eliott said, taking a sip of his beer. “Yeah they’re great, they can be a pain in the ass, but they’re really the best friends a guy could wish for” Lucas answered honestly. “I’m jealous of you, you know” Eliott said, staring intensely at Lucas. “Huh?” “You have these great friends, and I can tell how much they care about you just by the way they were trying to impress me, it’s adorable” Eliott said, his smile dropping faintly. “I’m sure your friends are great as well” he answered, trying to cheer Eliott up, desperate to see him smile again. “Yeah, something like that” he said, putting the beer bottle to his mouth, almost finishing it in one sip. “I’m gonna get another one, can I get you anything mon mec?” he asked a playful smile lingering on his lips. “No I’m good, thanks” Lucas said, a faint blush appearing.

Eliott had been gone for almost twenty minutes and Lucas was starting to get worried. As he was getting up to look for him, a guy came over and sat down next to him. Lucas looked at him, and got the feeling he’d seen the guy before, but he couldn’t quite make him out. He had long blond hair, tied up in a tight bun, wearing a navy blue shirt and a silver necklace around his neck. “Salut, I’m Curtis” he said, handing Lucas a new beer. “Salut, Lucas” he answered, still scanning the room for Eliott. “Why do I get the feeling that I’ve seen you before?” he asked, confirming Lucas’ suspicion that he looked familiar. “I’m not sure, but I think I’ve seen you before as well” he answered, not fully committing to the conversation, still concerned about Eliott’s whereabouts. “I’m friends with Idriss, maybe you know Imane?” the guy said, scanning Lucas’ face, trying to catch his eye. “Are you looking for someone?” he finally asked. “Yeah sorry, I’m looking for my uh.. my-my boyfriend, Eliott” Lucas said, feeling awkward saying the lie out loud to a stranger. “Eliott is your boyfriend?” the guy asked, looking surprised. “Yeah, uhm why- do you know him?” Lucas answered, nervous that he’d overstepped, by calling Eliott his boyfriend to someone who might actually know him. “I don’t know him personally, but Idriss mentioned him a few times” he said, continuing “but uhm I saw Eliott on my way over here. He went into a room with Lucille, his ex-girlfriend” he said, looking slightly uncomfortable. “His what?” Lucas asked, his heart stopping for a few seconds. Eliott had an ex-girlfriend? Here at the party? Why hadn’t he told him? “Yeah, I recognized her from some photos Idriss showed me of them a while back” Curtis continued. Lucas could feel the heat rising to his face. He felt like he’d been completely fucked over. If Eliott wanted to hang out with his ex, which probably wasn’t an ex anymore if they’d spent such a long time alone in a room, he could have just told him.

“Hey, come on, I’m sure they’re just talking” Curtis said, trying to cheer Lucas up, who was now busy fiddling with the sticker on his beer, trying to hold the tears at bay. Why was he so upset? Eliott had upheld his part of the deal, he’d met his friends as Lucas had asked, so he probably thought it was done and over with. “I have an idea, let’s get some shots huh?” the blonde said, getting up and pulling Lucas up with him, dragging him into the kitchen.

Ten minutes and five shots later, Lucas was absolutely fucked. His vision was blury and he could feel himself babbling, not sure what words were coming out of his mouth, but apparently Curtis, who hadn’t stopped laughing for two whole minutes, found it very entertaining. “Can I tell you a secret” Lucas said leaning into Curtis, almost whispering in his ear. “Yeah, shoot” “Eliott and I aren’t actually dating” he said bursting out on laughter. It all seemed so funny and stupid right now. They hadn’t even been able to keep up the act for one night before Eliott was off with his ex and Lucas was spilling the secret to strange guys. “Come again?” Curtis said, seemingly confused. “Yeah, we’re just pretending, it’s aaaaaall fun and games” Lucas continued, still laughing like a maniac. “But why?” “Was trying” he was literally struggling for air, it all seemed so silly right now, he couldn’t stop laughing, “to get rid of a girl” he finally managed, taking another shot, almost spitting it out in the process, not being able to contain his laughter. “Wow, that’s.. that’s a relief” Curtis finally said. “Huh?” Lucas had finally stopped laughing and looked at Curtis, for the first time tonight he noticed how he was actually quite handsome. Not Lucas’ type at all, blondes just weren’t his thing, but he was definitely good-looking. “That means that I get to ask you out, what do you say” Curtis said, flashing a smile at Lucas. Lucas wasn’t sure what was happening, but he found himself giggling “suuuuure thing” he managed, between giggles. He was definitely too drunk, because this guy couldn’t actually just have asked him out right? And what had he answered? He suddenly couldn’t remember anything. But before he had time to process what just happened, and what he’d said, he felt his stomach turning. Without a word, he ran to the bathroom, knocking over some girl in the process, desperate to reach the toilet before he spilled his insides all over the floor.

After five minutes, Lucas had thrown up everything he’d drank all night and probably all of his meals the past five days. He managed to get up and wash his mouth and face, and got out of the bathroom, desperately looking for his jacket. He needed air, he needed to get out of here, when a hand touched his shoulders. “Eliott?” he said turning around, not able to hide his disappointment when he saw the blonde guy before him. “Hey are you okay? You just ran away, and locked yourself inside the bathroom, I was getting worried” “Yeah I’m f-fine” he managed “have you seen Eliott?” “He left with Lucille, I think” Curtis said, not meeting Lucas’ eyes. “Oh.. of-c-of course.. I should go as well” “Want me to walk you home?” Curtis asked, hand still on Lucas’ shoulder. “No, no, I’m good, I’ll see you later yeah?” he said, grabbing his coat from the couch and practically sprinting out of the apartment.

He wasn’t sure how or when he got home, but he finally managed to get to the apartment and throw himself on the bed, not bothering to take off his clothes. ‘Never drinking again’, he thought to himself, closing his eyes, trying to will the room not to spin, never again.

[argothiathedreamer]

Been playing Breath of the Wild and I figured I’d tell you all about my experiences:

-Accidentally jumped into a freezing pond without realizing what the temp was and drowned.

-Tried to see if I could take out a Guardian on the plateau with nothing but bombs and arrows, *spoiler* I COULD NOT and wound up having to book it the fuck over a wall to get away from it. Immediately ran into a bunch of stalkoblins and got annoyed so I ran away from them too.

-Called King Rhoam a bastard under my breath every time I saw him.

-Let the guy at the Dueling Peaks Stable tell me about how to catch a horse while I sat there on the back of a horse I just caught, because I figure I need to make sure the NPCs know their programed lives have some purpose right?

-Game: “There’s a super simple way for you to get over this barracade between you and that shrine beside the Dueling Peaks Stable~” Me: *Climbs an fucking cliff and dives off the top of an waterfall, paragliding down to the shrine with no way of knowing if my stamina will hold out* Game:”... Okay yeah, I mean you could also have just used the power we gave you at the start of the game, but you do you, I guess.” (I made it flawlessly btw, but yeah I didn’t even consider using the freeze ability until I was actually inside the shrine.)

-Caught and tamed 4 horses but only registered 2 (Latin and Shadow), discovered I’m a natural at taming horses since I also ran out and caught Horse #1 (the first horse I didn’t register) in under 2 minutes.

-Climbed all the way around Mt Lanayru from the Hateno side towards the Naydra Snowfields on a quest of my own design unable to actually go up and over the top since it’s too cold, once I got around to the other side however I saw a Lynel AND a Hinox at the bottom and NOPED back to Hateno.

-I have taken a shot at or otherwise tried to kill every single goat I have seen in this game. I don’t know what my vendetta against goats is, but apparently I’m compelled to immediately draw my bow upon sighting one. It’s like an instinct... I have also killed a lot of birds, but like... that’s just business I need drumsticks for cooking stuff. Whatever I’ve got going on with the goats... that feels personal. In my alternate universe past life I must have been a Hylian who got harassed by goats.

-Killed like... 6 Bokoblins at an encampment with a single Bomb Arrow. Pretty proud of that one.

-Drowned like 12 times, not so proud of that one... (I have bad luck with water)

-Cooked so much food I think the NPCs are starting to worry about me.

-Made my way down the entirety of Lanaryu road from west to east, and spent more of it climbing walls to get around enemies who were definitely too strong for me than I did with my feet actually on the ground.

-Went out onto Hyrule Fields, was minding my own business, saving horses from Bokoblins, murdurizing goats, the usual. Then I ALMOST RAN FACE FIRST INTO A FULLY OPERATIONAL GUARDIAN WHO CAME CRAWLING OUT FROM BEHIND A ROCK LIKE A NIGHTMARE SPIDER/OCTOPUS. Made it up a huge rock and out of its sight in record time, proceeded to have a mini meltdown at the top. I don’t think it even noticed me.

-After that I left Hyrule fields and went back towards Lake Hylia, saw Farosh and was sitting there admiring it, while also planning how I was going to deal with the local Bokoblin Tree House of Horrors when BAM! I got struck by lightning. Probably would’ve been my first major death, except I very luckily had like 3 fairies in my pack. Anyhow I got revived and just start running back the way I came hoping I can outrun the storm and get somewhere safe (in the rush I forgot that I could just unequip my metal weapons) ultimately remembered that teleporting was a thing and went back to Dueling Peaks Stables.

-After that I decided the Guardians weren’t all that scary and set off across Hyrule Fields in search of Hestu.

-Rescued Horse #2 (who shall not be registered, but is still my buddy) from a bokoblin and rode him all the way to the Wetland Stable, where I found Hestu!

-More importantly I also found Kass!!!!<3

-Was going to head up to Zora’s Domain and meet Sidon <3 but after trying to head out 3 times in different directions and each time running  into a freaking lightning storm that chased me all the way back to the stables (I am grateful that Horse #2 is FAST AS HELL) I decided it was time to call it quits. Saved in the inn at the stable and put the game away for the night.

-Poor Horse #2′s out in the rain... I feel bad for him, but then again he’s hanging out in a pretty ass, super safe forest... He’s fine... as long as he doesn’t get struck by lightning.

[livingasaghost]

a comprehensive list of all the lyrics from reputation that remind me of feyre/rhys/feysand/acomaf:

“WE THINK WE KNOW SOMEONE, BUT THE TRUTH IS THAT WE ONLY KNOW THE VERSION OF THEM THAT THEY HAVE CHOSEN TO US” - introducing the high lord and lady of the frikkin night court PLEASE BOW

ready for it 

“knew he was a killer first time that i saw him” - UM HELLO MEETING RHYS AT THE FIRE NIGHT?!

“in the middle of the night in my dreams you should see the things we do baby” - i swear half of their relationship started in their heads those filthy idiots

“knew i was a robber first time that he saw me” - feyre literally becomes a spy in tamlin’s house

“but if i’m a thief then he can join the heist and we’ll move to an island” - THEY PULL OFF THAT HUGE HEIST TOGETHER IN ACOWAR AND THEY BASICALLY WANNA MOVE TO THAT LIL CABIN IN ACOMAF am i shouting i’m sorry

“he can be my jailer burton to this FEYRE” - at first he’s kind of her jailer but then she falls in love with him soooo (also this could be satire bc tamlin was literally her jailer)

“every love i’ve known in comparison is a failure” - TAMLIN THE TOOL AM I RIGHT

“i forget their names now, i’m so very tame now, never be the same now” - satire again but she does become ‘tame’ once she goes back with tamlin

“baby let the games begin” - oof acowar am i right

end game 

“big reputation ooooh you and me we got big reputations” - literally rhys and feyre both end up with big reputations 

“ooooh you and me would be a big conversation” - THE DEFINITION OF THEIR EFFING RELATIONSHIP

“i got a bad boy persona that’s what they like -- you love it” - freaking rhysand oof

“you hold me down and i’ll protect you with my life” - literally rhys about feyre

“i don’t wanna touch you i don’t wanna be just another ex-love you don’t wanna see” - feyre when she doesn’t realize she loves rhys and they’re mates lol

“KNEW HER WHEN I WAS YOUNG RECONNECTED WHEN WE LITTLE BIT OLDER” - okay so feyre and rhys didn’t know each other as kids BUT they were mentally connected by the bond so that’s kind of the same thing??

“reputation precedes me, in rumors i’m knee deep” - RHYS AND amirightladies

“for all your beautiful traits and the way you do it with ease” - literally i swear rhys says this about feyre all the time

“for all my flaws paranoia and insecurities -- i’ve made mistakes and made some choices that’s hard to deny” - and here’s rhys being self-deprecating as always

“i hit you like bang, we tried to forget it but we just couldn’t” - oof talk about their whole relationship 

“i swear i don’t love the drama it loves me” - okay so this is like feyre and rhys both like both of them attract so much freaking drama without even trying

“i can’t let you go your hand prints on my soul” - FEYSAND FEELS

“you’ve been calling my bluff on all my usual tricks so here’s the truth from my red lips -- I WANNA BE YOUR END GAME” - in acomaf when feyre is just a DUMB DEPRESSED ABUSED BITCH rhys is like UH UH I AM CALLING YOUR BLUFF AND BRINGING YOU BACK TO LIFE ANGEL 

i did something bad

do i need to even do this one lol

“i never trust a narcissist, but they love me” - this whole song is about tamlin we BEEN KNEW

“for every lie i tell them, they tell me three” - literally tamlin and ianthe whenever they talk to feyre lol

“this is how the world works, now all he thinks about is me” - when she leaves tamlin is so bent up on her and she just wants him to let it go but HE CANT

“IF A MAN TALKS SHIT THEN I OWE HIM NOTHING i don’t regret it one bit cuz he had it comin” - poetic cinema

“they say i did something bad, then whys it feel so good?” - tamlin and lucien and everyone just thinks she’s evil and awful for siding with rhys but it doesn’t even matter HAHAHA

“so i fly em all around the world and i let them think they saved me” - when feyre goes back to tamlin’s court oof

“they never see it comin what i do next” - feyre causing trouble in the spring court in acowar hehehe

“he says dont throw away a good thing, but if he drops my name then i owe him nothing and if he spends my change THEN HE HAD IT COMIN” - HEAR THAT TAMLIN YOU HAD IT COMIN

“they’re burning all the witches even if you arent one - so light me up” - this whole song is just a feyre anthem am i right

don’t blame me

“don’t blame me love made me crazy” - feyre when she pretends the bond is broken at the end of acomaf lol “NO TAMLIN I PROMISE ID NEVER DO THAT RHYS MADE ME CRAZY”

“something happened for the first time in the darkest little paradise” - the freaking night court is a dark little paradise am i right

“for you i would cross the line” - FEYRE! CROSSED OVER! FROM THE SPRING COURT! INTO THE NIGHT COURT!

“they say she’s gone too far this time” - literally everyone judging her for jumping ship to rhys

“echoes of your name inside my mind, halo hiding my obsession” - !!!!!! THEY LITERALLY ECHO IN EACH OTHER’S MINDS!!! AND THEY’RE SO OBSESSED!!!

“i once was poison ivy but now i’m your daisy” - this line is interesting bc in theory she went from a daisy to poison ivy but RHYS actually turned her from the depressed poison ivy she was in acomaf to the daisy that loves him and fights for their court OOF

“and baby for you i would fall from grace just to touch your face” - FREAKING THIS LINE!!!! FEYRE FELL FROM GRACE BC SHE WANTED TO TOUCH RHYS’ FACE!!!

“if you walk away id beg you on my knees to stay” - all i can picture is rhys on his knees rememberrrr

delicate

“my reputation’s never been worse so you must like me for me” - RHYSAND TO FEYRE 

“we can’t make any promises now can we babe? but you can make me a drink” - this is like the beginning of their relationship bc they never really make promises to each other but they just spend time together and hope it’ll work out

“oh damn never seen that color blue” - mmmmm rhys’s eyes what a time

“is it chill that you’re in my head?” - honestly this whole song is rhys @ feyre

“do the girls back home touch you like i do?” - feyre thinking about freaking amarantha???

“echoes of your footsteps on the stairs, stay here honey i don’t wanna share” - all those times that rhys had to leave to do whatever business he had

“sometimes i wonder when you sleep, are you ever dreaming of me?” - !!!! the purest lil rhysand 

“sometimes when i look into your eyes i pretend you’re mine all the damn time” - if this isn’t feysand i swear

look what you made me do

GO OFF FEYRE GO OFF!!!

“i don’t like your little games don’t like your tilted stage the role you made me play, of the fool, no i don’t like you” - FEYRE GOING OFF ON TAMLIN AM I RIGHT

“but i got smarter i got harder in the nick of time, honey i rose up from the dead i do it all the time” - i just like to imagine feyre drawing herself to her full height with her wings and her fierce face and just towering over tamlin in rage

“i’ve got a list of names and yours in red underlined” - i mean....feyre has a list for sure

“LOOK WHAT YOU MADE ME DO!!!” - tamlin look what you made her do geez

“i don’t like your kingdom keys they once belonged to me” - MMMM feyre once liked the spring court but then he just LOCKED HER IN AND TOOK THE KEYS

“the world moves on another day another drama drama, but not for me not for me all i think about it karma” - feyre going to rhys is totally dramatic but she keeps thinking about the karma of it all

“maybe i got mine but you’ll all get yours” - FEYRE @ THE SPRING COURT

“i don’t trust nobody and nobody trusts me” - lucien @ feyre

“i’ll be the actress starring in your bad dreams” - god if this aint feyre

“i’m sorry the old feyre can’t come to the phone right now -- why? OH! CUZ SHE’S DEAD!” - !!!!! SHE IS NOW HIGH LADY GO OFF GIRL

so it goes

literally just the feysand sex anthem 

“see you in the dark, all eyes on you my magician” - rhys is totally feyre’s magician omg

“gold cage hostage to my feelings” - so many cage metaphors but this is a good nice cage bc it’s just her being held hostage by her feelings and not a mean white guy

“all the pieces fall right into place” - that’s feysand for ya

“you know i’m not a bad girl, but i do bad things with you” - FREAKING that’s just the definition of rhys and feyre 

“i make all your gray days clear and wear you like a necklace” - honestly this works for both of them bc they both make their gray days clear (and wear each other around lol)

“but i got your heart skippin when i’m gone” - rhys always being afraid when feyre goes off 

“scratches down your back now...” - i mean...need i say more?

“you did a number on me, but honestly baby who’s counting?��� - let’s pretend i like writing about sex yikes

gorgeous

IF THIS AINT JUST TRUE FEYSAND

“you should think about the consequence of your magnetic field being a little too strong” - rhys definitely has a very strong magnetic field 

“and i got a boyfriend he’s older than us, he’s in the club doin i don’t know what” - lol @ tamlin

“you’ve ruined my life by not being mine” - i mean...come on

“you’re so gorgeous i can’t say anything to your face, cuz look at your face” - yes rhysand is GORGEOUS *DING*

“and i’m so furious at you for making me feel this way” - feyre was always just so mad whenever she started liking him bc she didn’t want to what a dumb bitch

“you should think about the consequence of you touching my hand in a darkened room” - this is like the whole beginning of their relationship haha

“ocean blue eyes looking in mine i feel like i might sink and drown and die” - !!!!! RHYSAND!!!

getaway car

I MEAN COME ON??! is taylor just copying acomaf??!

“it was the best of times the worst of crimes” - what tamlin did was a crime honestly

“i struck a match and blew your mind but i didn’t mean it and you didn’t see it” - this is all of tamlin and feyre’s relationship in acomaf honestly like feyre does stuff she doesn’t actually mean but tamlin doesn’t see it anyway

“i wanted to leave him, i needed a reason” - !!! SHE WANTED TO LEAVE TAMLIN!!! SHE DIDN’T HAVE A REASON THO SO SHE JUST CRIED FOR HELP!

“he poisoned the well i was lying to myself” - did he not?

“you were drivin the getaway car we were flyin but we never get far” - rhysand swooped in (although technically it was mor but whatever!)

“it was the great escape the prison break, the light of freedom on my face” - when feyre finally made it to the night court oof!

“he was runnin after us i was screamin go! go! go! but with 3 of us honey it’s a sideshow” - this is exactly what happened

“we were jet set bonnie and clyde - until i switched to the other side” - she and tam were partners! but then she jumped ship to the night court!

“i’m in a getaway car, i left you in the motel bar, put the money in a bag and i stole the keys, that was the last time you ever saw me” - i like to think about how feyre just skipped out of the spring court like the devious little minx she is

“i was riding in a getaway car, i was cryin in a getaway car, i was dyin in a getaway car, said goodbye in a getaway car” - oof

king of my heart

AND ALL AT ONCE!!!

“we rule the kingdom inside my room” - yep that’s feysand alright

“cause all the boys and their expensive cars with their range rovers and their jaguars never took me quite where you do” - tamlin gave her so much and yet he really didn’t give her what counted hmmmm

“AND ALL AT ONCE YOU ARE THE ONE I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR KING OF MY HEART BODY AND SOUL” - sigh

“your love is a secret i’m hoping dreaming dying to keep” - they have to hid their love when feyre goes back to tamlin and now i’m sad

“change my priorities the taste of your lips is my idea of luxury” - before rhys feyre really didn’t have anything to fight for so he gave her purpose and life and proved that she had that in her all along, even without him

“is this the end of all the endings? my broken bones are mending with all these nights we’re spending” - RHYS LITERALLY BROUGHT HER BACK TO LIFE AFTER SHE LOST SO MUCH WEIGHT AT TAMLINS

“baby all at once this is enough” - feysaaaand

dancing with our hands tied

“i loved you in secret, first sight we loved without reason” - even though she didn’t love him from that first time at the fire night, even when she saw him she was like OOF THIS GUY

“my love had been frozen, deep blue but you painted me golden” - !!!! NAME A MORE PERFECT LYRIC! FEYRE WAS LITERALLY DEPRESSED AND BLUE BUT RHYS BROUGHT HER BACK AND MADE HER GOLDEN!

“you said there was nothing in the world that could stop it, i had a bad feeling” - literally just them going to hybern

“you had turned my bed into a sacred oasis” - need i say more

“people started talking, putting us through our paces, i knew there was no one in the world who could take it” - when word got out that they were together and ppl just hated that

“but we were dancing, dancing with our hands tied” - mmmm starfall

“i loved you in spite of deep fears that the world would divide us” - like honestly feysand to the extreme

“so baby can we dance through an avalanche?” - oof

“i’m a mess but i’m the mess that you wanted” - FEYRE IS SUCH A MESS! RHYS IS SUCH A MESS! BUT THEY BOTH WANTED EACH OTHER!!!

“cause it’s gravity keeping you with me” - they’re literally mates and they keep being destined to be together it’s gravity bay-beeee

“i’d kiss you as the lights went out, swaying as the room burned down, i’d hold you as the water rushes in, if i could dance with you again” - literally the end of acomaf i’m sad

dress

the other feysand sex anthem yeet

“our secret moments in a crowded room, they got no idea about me and you” - oof when they have to go to the court of nightmares

“there is an indentation in the shape of you, made your mark on me a golden tattoo” - this is so feysand it hurts

“all of this silence and patience pining and anticipation my hands are shaking from holding back from you” - like???? honestly get a room

“say my name and everything just stops i don’t want you like a best friend” - remember when feyre thought they were just friends LOL

“ONLY BOUGHT THIS DRESS SO YOU COULD TAKE IT OFF” - it be like that sometimes

“inescapable i’m not even gonna try” - that’s exactly what their relationship is

“and if i get burned at least we were electrified” - oh they were electrified all right

“i’m spillin wine in the bathtub, you kiss my face and we’re both drunk, everyone thinks that they know us, but they know nothing about...” - just like...imagine the two of them...im crying

“even in my worst times, you could see the best in me” - !!!!! feyre @ rhysand and rhysand @ feyre

“flashback to mistakes, my rebounds my earthquakes, even in my worst lies you saw the truth in me” - tag a more perfect couple

“and i woke up just in time, now i wake up by your side, my one and only my lifeline” - IT’S THEM! EACH OTHER’S LIFELINE!

this is why we can’t have nice things

“why’d you have to rain my parade? i’m shaking my head i’m locking the gates” - honestly tamlin is at fault like he didn’t have to be an asshat and yet...

“THIS IS WHY WE CAN’T HAVE NICE THINGS DARLING BECAUSE WE BREAK THEM I HAD TO TAKE THEM AWAY” - feyre taking herself (the nice thing) out of the spring court bc tamlin’s an ass

“did you think i wouldn’t hear all the things you said about me????” - literally so much shit-talking is done in the spring court i swear

“there i was giving you a second chance but you stabbed me in the back whlie shaking my hand” - the definition of tamlin honestly

“so i took an axe to a mended fence” - BYE BYE BITCH

“but i’m not the only friend you lost lately IF ONLY YOU WEREN’T SO SHADY” - lucien even said tamlin was in the wrong!!! AND TAMLIN WAS SO SHADY HE WENT TO THE KING OF HYBERN!!!

“here’s a toast to my real friends!” - we love the inner circle

“and here’s to my baby!” - we stan rhysand

“and here’s to you cuz forgiveness is a nice thing to do -- I CANT EVEN SAY IT WITH A STRAIGHT FACE” - LOLOLOLOL

call it what you want

okay out of ALL OF THE SONGS this one is definitely the one that matches up the most, the one that i think is truly 100% the best feysand song in existence

“my castle crumbled overnight” - feyre literally was in the spring court and then suddenly she just felt awful and tamlin was the worst

“i brought a knife to a gunfight” - feyre trying to fight amarantha but also trying to go against tamlin

“all the liars are calling me one” - IANTHE AND TAMLIN OOF

“nobody’s heard from me for months, i’m doin better than i ever was” - !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAS BITCH

“my baby’s fit like a daydream, walking with his head down i’m the one he’s walking to” - rhys does not care what anyone says or thinks he just loves feyre oof

“SO CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT YEAH CALL IT WHAT YOU WANT TO” - literally no one understands them outside the inner circle and i just wanna die

“my baby’s fly like a jetstream, high about the whole scene, loves me like i’m brand new” - RHYS LITERALLY FLIES! AND LOVES HER LIKE SHE’S BRAND NEW!!!

“all my flowers grew back as thorns, windows boarded up after the storm” - funny bc it’s a court of THORNS and ROSES but also she did change from that innocent soft girl to someone who would cut a bitch for her friends, she also is really closed off at the start of acomaf and rhys just...

“he built a fire just to keep me warm” - KEEPS HER WARM!

“all the drama queens taking swings, all the jokers dressing up as kings” - the frikkin spring court (tamlins the drama queen lol)

“they fade to nothing when i look at him” - dare i say oof

“and i know i make the same mistakes every time, bridges burn i never learn at least i did one thing right” - SHE DID ONE THING RIGHT

“i’m laughing with my lover making forts under covers” - picture feysand building a pillow fort

“STARRY EYES SPARKING UP MY DARKEST NIGHT” - LIKE COME ON!!! THE NIGHT COURT!!! IM SCREAMING!!

“I WANT TO WEAR HIS INITIAL ON A CHAIN ROUND MY NECK, NOT BECAUSE HE OWNS ME BUT CUZ HE REALLY KNOWS ME” - okay wait this one though....dare i say....oof

“you don’t need to save me, but would you run away with me - yes” - that’s like the definition of feysand 

new year’s day

“there’s glitter on the floor after the party” - STAR FALL!!!!

“don’t read the last page but i stay when you’re lost and i’m scared and you’re turning away” - i’ve run out of cool anecdotes so cut to me sobbing

“i want your midnights” - like...all their nightmares....

“i can tell that it’s gonna be a long road, but i’ll be there if you’re the toast of the town babe, or if you strike out and you’re crawling home” - oof

“i stay when it’s hard or it’s wrong or we’re making mistakes” - still feeling things

“hold on to the memories they will hold on to you” - im sad

why she disappeared

“when she fell, she fell apart” - feyre in acomaf am i right

“cracked her bones on the pavement she once decorated as a child with sidewalk chalk” - FEYRE’S A PAINTER! IT FITS!

“when she lay there on the ground, she dreamed of time machines and revenge and a love that was really something, not just the idea of something” - honestly tho if this aint feyre

“when she stood, she stood with a desolate knowingness, waded out into the dark wild ocean up to her neck, bathed in her brokenness” - *singing* acomafff

“said a prayer of gratitude for each chink in the armor she never knew she needed” - it helped her find rhysand

“standing broad shouldered next to her was a love that was really something” - OOF

“without your past, you could never have arrived, so wondrously and brutally, by design or some violent exquisite happenstance...here” - !!!!!! FEYRE ARCHERON EVERYBODY!!!!

[thehorde]

random thoughts about Virgil inspired by The Dynamic Duo, me and my anxiety:

- his Instagram is of everything but his face. feels the need to justify any selfie-esk type of post

- doesn’t ever answer the phone. can be spotted shoving the phone under a pillow when it rings because he doesn’t want to deny the call and have people know he's ignoring them...

- wears headphones in public but keeps pulling one out just in case someone’s talking about him

- fingernails bitten to the stubs, sometimes bleeding and he hates it

- constantly trying to tame hair frizz

- would wear a hoodie more, but he’ll look like a rooster if someone decides to jerk it off

- constantly drawing on himself

- has no idea how to respond to compliments, usually settles for awkward smile/fingerguns/ “uh, thanks, I try”

- “i’m not actually good at this, i just practice a lot”

- wants people to look at his stuff but doesn’t want to be around when they do because, aproval=good, watching expressions=not so good and so awkward

- He’s such a Freaking Nerd, but is also painfully aware of this. “yeah, haha, I’m one of those people.”

- really desperately wants to be seen as super chill

- is not chill

- he can’t hear anything anyone says to him in a crowded room and generally shuts down because he can’t concentrate with all the noise

- uses subtitles religiously because brain+sound+words= not compute

- will take his phone out, pretend to text someone when he’s too close to someone in a crowd, but really just doesn’t want to have to talk

- will take the stairs if someone is in the elevator if it means avoiding awkward silence

- the worst part of meeting people is Meeting People

- carefully planned walking speed to make sure he doesn’t get to the door at the same time as that other person.

- doesn’t step on cracks because one day he decided that was a good idea and now he can’t stop. Also, has to switch off which leg steps over the crack, which just makes it more irritating.

- he makes mental appointments for calls he has to make and stresses all day until the time comes only to continuously push it back until he has to wait until tomorrow

- canceled plans?? you mean, bliss?

- He feels like his volume level is just overall two or three notches below everyone else?

- He has captured the nack of sitting on the internet doing nothing but trembling out of his skin because he should be doing school

- once got lost on the bus system and cried in a gas station bathroom and had to call Patton to pick him up

- death jokes 24/7

- likes the tired/chaoitic vibe??

- Is commonly referred to as the ‘quiet kid’

- really into Nightvale and the Twilight Zone. But always skips the Twilight zone song at the beginning because its super creepy

- finger tapping

- his favorite pair of jeans are now ruined because he picked at ONE frayed thread, and then ended up plucking the pants apart over the course of two days and he honestly doesn’t even know how it happened. there is a huge pile of picked jean threads under his desk now

- in the same vein, also tore apart his steering wheel cover because it started to rip and he ‘had to make it even’

- loves cats a lot

- likes Dark things but gets nightmares if he watches things too close to bedtime

- while walking through a dark room: “dont imagine that someone is right behind youDONT IMAGINE SOMEONE IS RIGHT BEHIND YOU” *books it across the room and flies outside*

- constantly worried he looks too young to be doing this

- usually shocked that people think about him when he’s not physically present

- is aware that he is too self-conscious and now is self-conscious of how self-conscious he is...

- “are they staring at me cause they think im cute or they want to murder me or is my hair weird?”  

- sticks stuff in his mouth too much (stawp, not like that)

- eats maybe once a day because, is this hungry? or is this feeling upset?? am I thirsty?? whats the signal??

- tried to put cheezits in ramon noodles to give it some...thing? it was a bad idea.

- likes to tell stories, but isn’t sure if people care

- Relateable Humor(TM)

- one time he passed this weird statue of a pig with human hands in the dark and was so terrified by it he crossed the road. Repeat the earlier rendition: dont imagine it’s is right behind youDONT IMAGINE A DEMONIC CERAMIC PIG IS RIGHT BEHIND YOU” *starts booking it across the parking lot*

[kakooshi]

Would You Like Some Tea In Your Cauldron?

Read on Ao3

Warning: Implied/Referenced Drug Use

Levi hated losing bets. He rarely ever lost courtesy of his dear uncle, but this year, all it took was his misplaced faith in a racehorse named “Jean” during the Qatar Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe for him to end up being at the mercy of the scheming, shitty, four-eyed freak known as Hange Zoe.

There had been a raffle draw, and Levi’s dare was to decorate his house for the Halloween season and give out some sweets to the trick-or-treaters.

It was better than what Erwin had done on Valentine’s a few years back, when he had to sniff the armpit of every man in the pub just because he revealed his hand too early (It was a historical event) to Mike. Hange still had photos of the event saved in their so-called “family album.”

The problem was that Levi wasn’t too keen on giving out the only sweets he had. Candy didn’t exactly come at a cheap price, and he definitely wasn’t going to spend his entire salary buying new ones to cater to some brats’ sugar rush.

There were tea-flavored candies sent to him as gifts from his Grandfather Ackerman, who had worked as an employee in a candy factory and had later run several teahouses in the country during his younger days.

While Levi was fond of tea, he wasn’t a fan of it being used as a candy flavour. Its taste was very faint and unusual to begin with; sweet but not exactly the ideal type of treat that the little ones would gobble down wholeheartedly and come back for greedily in the next spooky years to come.

The night of Halloween was relatively uneventful for the man as per usual. Even as a kid, he never experienced the thrill of egging some poor hag’s house, or screaming his throat raw in one of those badly decorated third-rate horror booths, or even carving pumpkins and snatching wet apples with his mouth just for the hell of it.

Most importantly, he never had the luxury of preparing a costume…even until now. Hange encouragingly told him that he didn’t have to; he was already scary-looking enough.

“Ow!” Hange held their stomped foot, jumping up and down while Levi scoffed and took the basket of candy from them to place it on the breakfast nook.

The first few trick-or-treaters that came to Levi’s house were tame considering that they were under adult supervision. On the other hand, Levi secretly found it annoying how some parents, teachers, nannies, and even older siblings would apologize to him for the children they accompanied thinking that he looked like a serial killer from a textbook slasher. Was his appearance really that unsettling?

When he opened the door, basket in hand, a little girl in a pink, fairy costume quailed in fright and went down the porch steps to hide behind her mother.

Guess there was no need for a well-thought out prank; his “pinch-me-and-I’ll-punch-you” expression already came in handy.

It was almost 9:00 pm, and the hoots of the owls could be heard in the distance. Levi was ready to remove all the decorations much to his chagrin, but just when he was about to store the remaining candy back in the cellar, something caught his ear.

“Eren, it’s almost late,” said a little girl’s voice. “Mom’s going to get really worried, you know.”

“Just one more house left!” someone replied doggedly. Yep. It was definitely a brat.

“If I recall, your father said not to trick-or-treat at 10 or more houses. You still have an appointment with him after all,” Not bratty. Also, the kid sounded smart for his age.

“One more bag of candy won’t hurt, Armin.” The footsteps got louder.

With a sigh, Levi turned away from the cellar with the candy still in his arms to meet his last trick-or-treaters for the night outside. Upon opening the door, the first thing he saw was a boy who looked to be about 7 or 8 years old. He was dressed as a dog…no, a werewolf, what with the puffy ears, fangs, and paws he wore for feet. The ruffled fur of his top matched the color of his hair.

On either side of him were a raven-haired girl and a blonde boy. The girl was dressed as a huntsman, a plastic axe by her side, and the boy a warlock. Together, they seemed to be quite the fairly strong bunch.

As if a flip had been switched, the wolf boy immediately perked up at Levi and flashed a wide grin, “Trick-or-treat!”

He was the first kid not to show signs of fear in front of him. How interesting.

The other two weren’t as enthusiastic. The girl stayed silent, though Levi could tell she was a little wary of him. Meanwhile, the blonde muttered the greeting with a nervous stutter, twiddling with the pouch he held while huddling up to the girl. Levi couldn’t blame him; his sunken eyes spoke for themselves.  

“You brats better be thankful I still haven’t cleared the Jack-o-Lanterns off my lawn,” Levi said tonelessly, stepping down the stairs while grabbing for a pack of candy.

“Our apologies, sir!” the blonde stammered. “If you’d like, we can leav—”

“Eren just wants some more candy, that’s all.” the girl interrupted.

“Guys!” shouted the wolf boy. Shaking his head in embarrassment, he looked back up to Levi again, holding up his cauldron treat bucket in a silent plea. “I just need one more for my secret stash, sir.”

“Your secret stash?”

“Yes,” The boy blushed before continuing, “My father’s a dentist so it’s not often that I get to eat lots of candy.”

The sourness from Levi’s expression dissolved and was replaced by sympathy.

“Well, I wouldn’t want your long journey to go to waste, would I? Here…”

Levi poured several pieces of candy into Eren’s bucket. He felt something twitch in his chest at the sight of the boy’s wide, green eyes gleaming in happiness. If he had a tail, Levi was sure it would be wagging by now.

“These are from Teas’ Time, aren’t they?” the wolf boy, Eren, asked excitedly.

He didn’t bother to wait for his answer and picked out a piece, tearing at the wrapper with his teeth with an alarming vigor. Levi raised a brow and made a confused face at the other two kids waiting patiently for their sugar-deprived friend.

“He always eats the candy after receiving it. That way, he’ll know which ones will become his favorites,” the blonde explained, as if reporting a scientific experiment.

“Tch,” Levi kneeled down to Eren’s level, “So, how does it taste?”

To his slight amazement, Eren seemed to be enjoying the candy judging from the pleased expression he wore; he hummed in answer: ‘It’s good!’

No, it’s not, really. Levi tried the candy for himself; it was certainly healthier than most sweets but it didn’t hold a candle to the likes of Kitkats, Snickers, or Twix candy bars. Hell, even that candy corn crap tasted better than the hard, circular disks currently making Eren’s eyes glaze over.

Then again, it was better than not having any at all.

“Huh,” Levi regarded him in kind, “The ones in your possession are Citrus green tea, by the way. You still have more flavors to try.”

Eren’s face fell, “Thank you, sir, but my Dad won’t let me have any more. They’ll ruin my teeth,” he pulled off his fangs to show Levi a crooked but clean set of them; no cavities in sight.

Well, that’s understandable. Levi stood up to bid the boy and his friends goodbye but the former stopped him with an exasperated “Wait!” before he could.

“Are you going to give out some more next Halloween?”

Levi weighed his choices. No, he didn’t want to do this again. God forbid his house get wrecked; he was already lucky not to have done much cleaning the first time save for the removal of decorations.

But one look at Eren’s puppy dog eyes compelled him to think differently. Yes, there was absolutely nothing unusual about inviting a child to trick-or-treat at his place when he was opposed to the very idea hours ago. Not at all.

“Shit’s expensive so one flavor for every year. Be sure to collect them all before you don’t have the balls to go trick-or-treating anymore,” He offered, ignoring the surprised gasps from the other two.

Eren looked about ready to bounce off the floorboards, fangs bared, “Thank you, Sir! I can’t wait!”

In a flash, the boy was down the front steps joining his friends, both relieved that the night was over. They all waved at Levi, departing into the streets with the autumn breeze ruffling their clothes. Eren in particular gave one last smile at him before digging in his pack to wolf down—excuse the pun—more of the sweets from his grabby little fingers.

For the first time that night, Levi’s lips quirked up a centimeter. Perhaps he ought to treat Hange out to see that science fiction horror film they were so crazy about.

For the next three years, Levi would leave some candy waiting in a mini black cauldron by the porch for little Eren to find. Since they were of premium quality (or so his grandfather claimed), each year promised a different flavor, and with every bite, Eren’s adoration for the maddeningly expensive stuff only grew.

Citrus green tea, green tea latte, classic iced tea, black tea…Levi could only go for so long until hearing his tea-obsessed relative sob happily from the other side of the phone at the news of someone genuinely enjoying his brand of candy.

His friends were just as happy at the news.

“Looks like you’ve got yourself a faithful follower, Levi.” Erwin said one night over brandy.

“He’s just happy because he finally figured out a way to clear out his pantry,” Hange cackled. This earned them another well-placed stomp on the foot.

Levi had learned quite a lot about Eren too—like how his ears would turn red every time Levi asked him about his intake of sweets, or how passionate he was in his ramblings about anything other than the different candies he collected from the other houses. Levi’s favorite was the one where he and his two friends from before, Mikasa and Armin, reported some guys shoving their dicks inside carved pumpkins as part of some sick, twisted dare to the police and were given ten times the candy they had that day because of it.

“Levi, why have you never gone trick-or-treating?” a 12-year old Eren asked. He was perched on top of the red loveseat in his living room, Hogwarts robe pooling over the edges and glasses falling askew from the upside-down position he was in.

“My uncle never made me go. Juvenile delinquents used to put weed in candy bars back in the day, so he didn’t want to be responsible for my getting wasted,” Levi said as if commenting about the weather.

Eren’s flipped over in shock, “You can put drugs in candy?!”

“Yes, which is why you should be extra careful when receiving treats from strangers; even the most benign things can become the most dangerous when placed in the wrong hands.”

Levi found what he was looking for in the fridge—Chai tea. Eren’s favorite.

The boy in question nodded slowly in understanding, “No wonder Dad only let me trick-or-treat at my relatives’ place.”

“Hm.”

Eren’s eyes were fixated on Levi for quite a while. He propped his elbows on the sofa, chin resting above them as he sent the man a soft smile, his glasses sliding a little onto his nose to reveal bright green, mirthful and genuine.

“I trust you, though.”

Levi returned one of his own; he threw the candy at Eren, “Up until now, I’m still baffled by the fact that you didn’t piss yourself seeing my face for the first time.”

Eren laughed while unwrapping the foil. Popping the candy into his mouth, he gave a pleased hum, chewing slowly to savor the taste.

“Oh, I was pretty scared alright,” he spoke while he ate, “I thought you were going to whip out a scythe or whatever; complements the murderous look on your face and everything.”

“This coming from the kid who said he trusts me.”

Eren simply flicked his wand as if to ward him off, sticking his tongue out.

Eren didn’t come to Levi’s house the following year.

At first, Levi supposed it was because Eren had indeed grown up and was definitely too old to ever trick-or-treat again. Surely, his friends and family found it pretty strange for someone as adventurous and fun as him to spend the last few minutes of Halloween with an almost broke college student, and a grumpy one nonetheless.

But Levi knew Eren wasn’t the type to ditch friendships like that, although to be quite honest, Levi wasn’t exactly sure when he started considering Eren as his friend. Maybe the boy was just that likeable despite his tendency to be a little shit.

Eren had messaged him online 7 hours after Halloween Night ended. Suffice to say, Levi didn’t know whether to congratulate or pity the boy with the news he’d been given:

Brat: I got braces :/

Levi pondered a bit before typing out his message and pressing the send button.

Levi: Mashed potatoes and gravy, then?

The notification came faster than he could blink:

Brat: :D

Halloween couldn’t possibly be more hectic this time around. Levi’s dorm mates had invited him to participate in the new “Zombie Run” sponsored by his very own university; his fingers were still sore from when he punched the Walking Dead who had tried to cop a feel chasing him.

He was just about to nurse his knuckles with some ice packs when he heard the clicking of boots on his porch steps.

Levi was at the door in an instant; ice packs forgotten on the floor; he pulled it open to see tousled brown hair and vibrant green eyes.

It was Eren, now a teen, who had come to trick-or-treat at his doorstep for the first time in three years. And oh—

The boy’s getup was certainly….riveting. He wore a red button-up underneath a black military jacket with side seams that went below the waist, matching gloves and high-knee combat boots, and white pants accentuating his shapely legs…

Levi mentally smacked himself before taking in all of Eren’s costume. Speaking of legs, they were fitted with belt straps…no…Eren was actually wearing a harness, its unique pattern contrasting nicely with the red shirt and white pants. There was even a small leather skirt that Levi didn’t notice until later.

And shit, Levi now had to look up at his face because of how tall he’d gotten. It was kind of annoying.

Gone was the scruffy, werewolf boy from 7 years ago. Before him stood a sharply dressed cadet, an air of confidence and integrity about him. Tonight, Eren was a soldier…ready to fight on the frontlines; it was the best costume Levi had ever seen him in.

“Trick-or-treat,” Eren greeted. His voice was lower now, and his braces were gone too; there was only a set of perfectly straight and white teeth.

Eren whirled around, the long end of the jacket flowing behind him. Levi caught a glimpse of the insignia on his back, a white wing overlapping a blue one, “Do you like it?” he asked in a way more akin to a princess flaunting her ball gown.

Levi did a mock bow, “Why yes, Your Highness.”

The boy smirked before quickly pulling out dual blades from his sides (Where the fuck did they come from?). They looked pretty fucking sharp.

The older male raised his arms, whistling lowly, “At ease, soldier.”

Eren put the swords back in their hilts, “They’re ultrahard steel. Good for cutting flesh.”

The look Levi gave him was nothing short of incredulous.

Eren laughed, “Just kidding, these aren’t really made of metal, but they do make a good slashing sound!” He emphasized this with a wave, as if to cut Levi in half.

He didn’t want to know the rest of the details, “Aren’t you a little too old for trick-or-treating?”

“Levi, it’s 2017. If you’ve noticed, there are a lot of teenagers going from house to house for treats and no tricks, hopefully. All my friends are wearing the same costume I’m in.”

Levi wondered how many there were. He held back a snort at the idea of a bunch of High-School students in weird military attire (He still didn’t know the significance of the harness), marching along the streets and chanting roll-calls begging for Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Laffy Taffys.

Not wanting to waste the evening out in the windy cold, Levi turned to fetch what Eren had arrived for in the first place, “Citrus green or…”

Eren’s gloved hand on his shoulder stopped him in place.

“This is the last time I’m ever going trick-or-treating,” he paused, tightening his grip, “and I want you to come along this time.”

Levi looked over his shoulder, admittedly shocked despite his cool gaze.

“I don’t have a scythe and robe with me,” he still found within himself to joke.

There it was again, that life-expanding laugh. There was a glint in Eren’s eyes that Levi couldn’t place, and he felt a prickling sensation spread through his body from where Eren touched him.

‘Don’t get ahead of yourself. He’s still a kid after all, but you know you’re willing to buy him all the treats he could ever want in the world,’ said the nagging voice in his head.

“I’m also too old,” he added.

“Pshh, you don’t look that old to me,” Eren gestured to Levi’s height. Levi scowled and punched him in the arm, making him release a pained chuckle.

“Oh, and another thing…” Eren reached inside his jacket and pulled out a parcel; unwrapping it.

Inside was a jumbo pack of Matcha-Green Tea Kitkats.

“I bought them myself,” Eren said proudly, holding it up for Levi to see, “earned cash and all. I can guarantee that you won’t find any suspicious substances in them.”

Levi snickered. On the other hand, he couldn’t recall ever feeling such a strong surge of admiration.

“Thanks, kid.” He offered Eren one of his rare smiles.

Eren wasn’t finished with his surprises just yet. “Say, if I offer you this….” he flaunted the Kitkats in Levi’s face with one hand while the other went into his jacket again (God, how many stuff was he hiding in there?), bringing out a larger parcel. It was slightly open, but Levi’s eyes widened upon seeing the belt straps inside.

Levi reached out with careful fingers to pull the folds apart, revealing the costume—the same one Eren was wearing.

“…will you be our Captain for Halloween, Levi?”

Levi didn’t even realize he had nodded until he felt a pair of strong arms around him. This close, he could make out the faint smell of citrus; just like years ago. His cheeks were beginning to warm up so he gave a few awkward pats to Eren’s back and eventually pulled away from him.

“There’s only one problem to deal with, I guess.”

Eren’s body went stiff, “What is it?”

Levi grabbed the harness and the rest of the belt straps, holding them up in distaste.

“How the fuck do you put these on?”

[moiraineswife]

can you do the ship meme you answered with philippa and whoever else you'd like to answer it for please?

u can indeed!!!!!! i’m going to take advantage of you nonnie and answer this with the last two f/f ships I haven’t done yet. (since I’ve already done Sheala and Triss it seems reasonable to just make things neat and complete) 

Philippa/Yennefer (bc……………yes) 

falls asleep on the couch- Probably Yennefer tbh. Phil has been ranting for a solid 20 minutes about some grievance/scheme/plot/plan/combination of the above and like, pauses for breath/Yennefer’s input only to discover Yennefer dozing in blissful ignorance on the couch in front of her, not taking in a word (Phil would be highly miffed if she didn’t look so adorable in her sleep) 

makes friends with the neighbors- They’d probably mostly keep themselves to themselves but Yennefer will make polite small talk with them if approached by them in the street (and she’ll frog-march Phil away from them if she so much as opens her mouth in their presence…….She will, however, happily allow Phil to aggressively make out with her in front of any neighbours  who disapprove of them, however. The opportunity is just too good to miss (she draws the line at allowing Phil to invite them over for dinner one night, she’s pretty sure they’ll have a heart attack, which is either going to be induced by Phil fingering her at the table or slipping poison into their soup. Depends on her mood.) 

is the adventurous eater- Probably Yennefer. I can see Phil and Yen getting a little restless and travelling quite a lot together. Yennefer would want to try all the delicacies in the new places they were in. (Phil refuses point blank…….unless Yennefer innocently suggests that she can try licking them off of her, then she gets much more interested) 

hogs the covers at night- Tbh they probably both have a tug-of-war every night because they both want them. Phil yanks them off Yen, Yen yanks them off Phil, growling is done, sex is probably had nine times out of ten and then they collapse in a messy heap together, too tired to argue over the covers. Problem solved. 

forgets to do the dishes- Phil. Yen has never described herself as a neat-freak, and never will, but Phil takes messiness to a new level. “I was going to get them eventually, Yenna, don’t fuss.” “Phil, things were breeding on it.” “……..Anyway.” 

tries to surprise their partner more often- Yennefer probably like, makes vague attempts at romantic surprises early on in their relationship and then……gives up. I just can’t see Philippa having a single romantic bone in her body, seriously. Even if she genuinely adores her partner it just…..Doesn’t work. She will make an effort for Yen’s birthdays, though (usually) because she likes being spoiled and fussed over every now and then, and Phil knows that. And when she actually tries she can do the whole romance thing really quite well (she just….doesn’t quite see the point in it. but baby steps, baby steps) 

leaves dirty laundry on the floor- Both of them. It gets aggressively torn off and discarded as they make their way to the bedroom. By the time they’re done with each other, neither of them really feels inclined to tidy up after themselves. (Bonus: Phil wearing Yen’s shirts the next morning (bc i picture Phil being extremely!smol and this image Pleases Me (and Yen))) 

stays up til 2 AM reading- Philippa omg. Yennefer grumbles about it because, ‘Phil, it’s 2am, will you please put the light out and sleep?’ To which the answer is, inevitably, ‘I’ve only got 124 pages left, Yenna, don’t nag.” To which the inevitable answer is Yennefer easing the book out of Phil’s hands, marking the page, closing it and placing it on the bedside table, and kissing her deeply before she can complain. 

sings in the shower- Probably Yennefer. She doesn’t always know all the words and it goes from like, enthusiastically yelling the words to like…vaguely mumbling the bits she doesn’t know…to enthusiastically yelling again. Phil is either deeply amused by this or vaguely irritated, depending on how much sleep she’s had/how sore her head is/how well her latest Scheme is going.) 

takes the selfies- Yennefer probably takes slightly more than Phil but I actually can’t see her going overboard with them? Just a few every now and then at special events and stuff. This is…Another thing that Phil is a bit like ‘No’ on. Unlike the romance thing this is something that she just…Won’t bend on. (She does, grudgingly, allow other people to take their picture for them if they’re out together…and tries not to grimace too much (she inevitably looks like she’s just swallowed a lemon but she insists that she’s trying)) 

plans date night- Hmm, they probably take turns, actually? They get a date about and the other just completely goes with what they want to do and let’s them totally run it. Phil’s are usually fancy restaurants with stunning views that Yenna is just sort of…okay who did you murder to get us in here, Phil? (Philippa just smiles rather disconcertingly, and even more disconcertingly doesn’t answer) Yennefer probably gets tickets to see some performance or other that’s in town and then back to the house for wine, dinner, and sex. 

and finally, the delightful tiny crack!ship interesting to a grand total of me, me, and me: Philippa/Assire: (idk either, i have no explanation, don’t look at me, just go with it) 

falls asleep on the couch- Right, I’m not saying that Assire slipped a light sleeping potion into Philippa’s tea because she hadn’t slept in about three days and Assire was getting worried but….Phil snuggled down and fell fast asleep on the couch about two minutes after finishing the drink Assire sweetly  made for her and insisted she take while it was still hot so like…draw your own conclusions. 

makes friends with the neighbors- Assire makes shy, polite conversation whenever they pass in the street (while repeatedly stamping on Phil’s foot to stop her interjecting with sardonic commentary. She just mutters her comments directly into Assire’s mind via telepathy instead and the poor girl spends the entire thing not to snort with laughter at Phil’s…Insights.)  

is the adventurous eater- Assire adores spicy food, the hotter the better, and she takes great delight in feeding it to Phil every now and then and watching her turn scarlet and reach for a glass of water. Assire isn’t fussy at all, there’s probably a grand total of like three things in the world she doesn’t like, and two of them she will make herself eat to be polite.  

hogs the covers at night- Phil the blanket burrito strikes again. Fortunately, Assire doesn’t really mind this because she always tends to be quite hot at night, and Phil has a nice habit of tugging the covers off of her just as she’s starting to get too hot. So instead of grumbling, Phil gets a grateful little kiss on the side of her head and they both go back to sleep. 

forgets to do the dishes- Philippa. Assire is very neat and very tidy and basically scoops the dishes out from under Philippa the second she’s finished the last bite of her food so that she can wash them up. There is not a spec of dirt anywhere in Assire’s house. (She got so pissy with Phil one time she flew straight in through the window and got rain and feathers EVERYWHERE. Phil has not done so again. One does not piss off Assire, even if one is Philippa Eilhart) 

tries to surprise their partner more often- Omg Assire does but it probably backfires spectacularly because she’s probably just !!! i have a surprise for you! And Phil is all ;) mhm? what might that be? ;) and Assire just, I’ve adopted a cat! And Phil is just……….you have got to be kidding me. And it’s literally the ugliest cat Philippa has ever seen in her entire life, half-chewed off ears, riddled with fleas, matted fur, skinny as anything, but Assire is looking at it like it’s a priceless treasure and telling Phil that she found it outside all alone, with no-one to take care of it. So now they’ve adopted it. And Phil is just like ???? you are too pure how did I ever fall in love with u?(Also Phil is totally allergic to the cat, and it hates her as much as she hates it…but it’s also crafty af like her so it will curl up in her lap and purr and be all over her and Assire is so happy because “look, he likes you Pippa!!” Phil is looking into its demonic yellow eyes knowing full-well it’s only doing this to get her covered in cat hair so she spends all night sneezing. And she just glowers down at it and grinds out through gritted teeth, “Yes, he does, isn’t that lovely?” Meanwhile she’s planning about six different ways to poison it without Assire noticing (she never does but dammit she’s tempted) Also, apparently Assire attracts scheming devil-beasts and somehow manages to tame them? there you are))  

leaves dirty laundry on the floor- Philippa does and Assire gets grumpy (and also the cat sleeps on them, to further infect her with its fluff) So between Assire’s disapproval and the demon-cats scheming, Phil starts tidying up after herself a little more, cursing both of them to high heaven. 

stays up til 2 AM reading- Actually probably both of them? Philippa is probably researching while Assire is reading some fictional book that keeps making her cry (she concludes her research at a reasonable time, the night is devoted to pleasure reading), but they’re both up and in the same room and they both have that kind of ‘I’m starting, I’m finishing it’ type of mentality? (Assire is the one who stops Phil reading though, because her book comes to an end while Philippa gets caught up in an endless circle of checking this and that and the other and Assire just, no reading time is over it’s time for bed now, Philippa)  

sings in the shower- Assire probably sleepily mumbles something without really realising she’s doing it when she takes morning showers (it takes a little while for her to wake up) 

takes the selfies- Probably neither of them, tbh. Assire is too shy and Philippa is too…not bothered. They don’t have very many pictures of themselves, and Assire is always a little bothered by that fact and tries to get more taken of them. Philippa indulges her bc Philippa does not say no to Assire about anything. 

plans date night- Philippa plans them when they actually go out but sometimes Assire will just announce that it’s date night to stop Philippa working. When Assire plans it, it basically just consists of her deciding she’s feeling distinctly underappreciated and she cooks Philippa some nice food and then spends the night sitting on her so that they spend some quality time together with absolutely no interruptions for work/scheming. 

[keencollectivezombie]

Midoriya Kou - character details

For a few weeks now, I was thinking about making posts in which I will describe my OCs and will add other interesting information about them. I mean, I am pretty sure that from my writing, most people didn’t gather much... so this way I want to disclose my characters to my readers. Charts will be gradually updated as I’ll write next chapters so be prepared for spoilers. 

I will sometimes use links to pictures or I will mention other anime characters for you to get better idea of what I have in mind. I don’t want to post directly what people made without their consent and I am too shy to ask them for it. 

Now, let’s start by my most successful OC so far: Kou from Abyss!

Introduction 

Midoriya Kou is main character of my Boku no Hero Academia fanfiction named Abyss. From the name most can already guess that she is relative of protagonist from BnHA - more precisely she is his twin sister. As such they are the same age and until the end of Primary school they were always together. Before starting Junior High she moved away to their grandparent’s house and started to attend different school than her twin. However, she came back to live with her mother and twin once she finished her Junior High school.

The meaning of the name Kou I use in this fanfiction is ‘light’ and I actually do have a reason why I used this meaning (I actually have more than one, but that would spoil more than I am okay with). It is supposed to represent that in her second life she was given chance to live in ‘light’ while most of her past life was spent in ‘dark'. If she actually takes this chance fully and stays in light or if she gazed into abyss for too long to be able to stay, remains a mystery for now~.

Past life

Kou is reincarnated OC and remembers most of her past life, but as she never saw anime or read manga, she doesn’t know that she was reincarnated into anime world. 

There is not much to say about her past family as she was unplanned/unwanted child and her parents didn’t really like her, but they at least took care of her basic necessities. Though they, along with other people she sometimes interacted with, cut all ties with her after she ended up in prison.

When she was 10 years old, she met Theo. Who, after short while, became her best friend and at the same time the most important person to her. She spent her next eight years pulling him out of troubles that he got himself into because of his kind and virtuous personality. However, few weeks after she turned eighteen, Theo died in her arms. Losing all her reason, she tried to kill the one responsible, only to end in jail. 

Once she got out, she firstly gathered money, experience and information, moving around in darker side of the world. Once she was sure she was prepared enough, she successfully killed the person responsible for Theo’s death and then... well she just did whatever. Not really happy about living, but not wanting to die either. She worked as courier, transporting various things that are best not to be specified.

Then, she died when she was thirty after making a novice mistake and ended up being reborn. Her second chance as Midoriya Kou started!

Appearance

Because she is twin of Izuku, she is very similar to him in appearance. However, there are several differences between this pair of twins.

The first being their hair. While Kou’s hair is very curled, it isn’t to the point where it can’t be tamed. She usually makes one or two braids out of it, because she doesn’t have patience with long hair (she only let her hair grow because her mother liked it that way), but when she does let it free, it is just ‘curly’ and it doesn’t stand into all directions like her brother’s tends to. However when she combs it... she ends up resembling a poodle (she is still unaware that all she has to do, to not resemble this dog, is not comb her hair, thus she stays with braiding). Anyway, her hair is lighter than her brother’s but not by much. I’d say the color would be something like this. That’s probably all for hair. (If you can’t visualize how she looks with braids, this is pretty close to my image).

The next is that while Izuku has few freckles under his eyes, Kou’s cheeks and nose are completely sprayed with them. Her mother thinks it look cute and Kou is like ‘Meh’. 

She is taller than Izuku by quite a lot in their early teen years, but by the time of High school the difference evens up a little, because of his growth spurt, however she is still taller than him by few inches. 

Their face shapes and eyes are similar, though Kou looks more ‘harsh’, probably because of her ever present scowl and glare. 

Personality

Calling Kou antisocial would be an understatement of a millennium. She doesn’t do ‘friendly’ stuff and for most cases she doesn’t even do ‘civil’ stuff. But to not be so harsh on her, if she is in a good mood and if the person in question didn’t offend her in any way, she can be fairly mild towards them.

However, mostly, she is just rude person who glares at everyone that aren’t part of her ‘okay group’ - into which is nearly impossible to get as that person either had to be very persistent or they have to strike her weak points (one of them being sweets).

Thus she is considered unapproachable and ‘run on sight’ person. The rumors that circulate around, labeling her as delinquent certainly don’t help with this image. She does nothing about them as; 1) she doesn’t care and 2) they are kind of true... She can’t help that she likes to fight, okay??

Her bad points don’t end here, too. She can be easily angered and is very hot-tempered when It comes to her brother. Her morals are also a little screwed because of her past life. And she sometimes seems to think very lowly of herself even if she denies such a fact. 

But, in the core, she isn’t a bad person. If she sees someone in need and it won’t bring her much trouble, she is willing to help them. She would never kill a person without reason. And when she considers somebody family or friend, if someone hurts him/her, they’ll have her hot on their heels, roaring and fuming for revenge. 

She can also be quite reasonable and is able to think things through if situation calls for it (and if the situation in question doesn’t involve her brother). Her realist part sometimes brings her more trouble than anything as she is easily confused when someone behaves in a way she wasn’t expecting and can even freak out if the situation suddenly goes beyond her understanding and control.

She has soft spots for animals and sometimes for kids, if they aren’t annoying brats and can do killing puppy-dog eyes.

Kou can also be pretty stubborn when she sets her mind onto something - it can be viewed as good trait in some cases.

Relationships

Family Her family consists of her, her twin brother and mother. Father isn’t around for most of time because of ‘mysterious reasons’. After twins reached one year this little family was extended after their grandparents were introduced. Her mother is supposed to have an older sister, but her aunty still didn’t make an appearance. 

Midoriya Izuku (Kou either calls him Izuku or otouto) She has best relationship with her brother as she decided early on that he will be her most important person in this new life. However, still remembering what happened to Theo (and seeing so much of him in Izuku), she ended up doting on her brother and being very protective of him. To the point where it was unbearable for him and he ended up ‘blowing up’ after bottling everything for some time. Even if she decided to move away for Junior High, their relationship didn’t worsen and she is still in ‘doting’ mode whenever they call/text each other. She tries to restrain herself a bit, however. 

Midoriya Inko (called mom) Her relationship with her mom is very easy-going and pleasant. She loves her mother very much, but while she does see Inko as her mother, she can’t bring herself to depend on her the way child should, because she is mentally older than her. Inko is aware that the older of twins is different in many ways, but is very understanding and doesn’t force her to behave like normal kid, instead she accepts that her daughter is just special. She is sometimes sad that she isn’t depended on more, but all the more she treasures those rare times she can help her with something (for example how to use quirk).

Midoriya Aihi (called granny) Their start was pretty rocky as granny was mean to Inko and that wasn’t something Kou could stand. In the end, it turns out that Aihi is even more socially inept than Kou (and that’s quite a feat). Their relationship now is quite good as they share their love for drawing and as fellow unsociable individual, Aihi could be quite understanding at times. However Kou’s grandma is also very traditional woman and is easily displeased when Kou behaves ’unlady-like’. She started to teach proper manners to Kou from very young age to nurture a proper lady out of her, but as of now she gave up. Instead she changed her lessons as is now trying to make a good housewife out of Kou.

Midoriya Manabu (called grandpa) Not much I can really say about their relationship as he spends most of time with Izuku (he always wanted a son). He is kind to her and doesn’t ignore her and when they talk with each other it’s enjoyable for both, but they don’t have any need to seek each other all the time when they are in the same house. 

Midoriya Hisashi (called father) He dosn’t spent a lot of time with his family as his work is pretty time consuming and also if his relation to them were to be known, they could be put into danger. Kou has neutral feelings towards him (though she is pretty peeved that he left his wife like that) as she can’t really guess his reason for not being with his family (and still sending money). She always have near her bed the cat keychain he gave her (Izuku got one, too), though. 

Friends As I said before, Kou isn’t very friendly individual. One can even wonder why would someone want to be her friend, but surprisingly she has quite a lot of friends??? As of now, her friends include: Akaguro Chizome, Bakugo Katsuki, Ashido Mina, Shiozaki Ibara. And next chapter one other person will appear...

Akaguro Chizome (usually rudely called ‘Chizome’) More known to readers as ‘Stain’. Yes, I did this. Anyway what I want people to know first, is the fact that they met each other when Chizome was still very young and ‘unstained’ (heh... unstained... stain... get it?) by killing. In canon he would have already started to train his body few months before his parents died and their deaths would only cement the idea of killing (at least I am going with this reasoning, his past is very vague). But, he is different in this FF. He met Kou and while some may see what she did for him as ‘small things’, even those small things could make big differences. Anyway, so, he sees her like weird little girl that he can’t help but to be fond of and I suppose he sees her sorta like his little sister. And Kou? Well she is just like ‘Meh, I suppose now it’s too late to erase him completely from my life. He is here to stay I guess.’ But secretly she totally likes him (not in romantic way, mind you).

Bakugo Katsuki (nicknamed ‘shorty’ by Kou, sometimes called Katsuki) Hah. I personally very enjoy their relationship. They started as enemies/rivals/nemesis whatever you want to call them. They fought each other every time they met and Izuku was just standing there, in the middle (as Katsuki’s best friend and Kou’s twin), slowly developing a ‘totally done with your sh*t’ attitude. As time went, they somehow became friends and the number of fights lessened (mainly because Katsuki interacted with too much damn brats in kindergarten and she would never go near those kinds of crowds. Never again). As Kou took it upon her to reduce Katsuki’s ego every time she met him, he grew up to be different from canon. He is more closer to Izuku than he was in anime/manga and he is also a lot calmer (though with Kou being away from three years, he will probably become a little wild). He is more like the Katsuki in later chapters of manga. More serious, mature and well... certainly not a bully. Doesn’t mean he isn’t loud, arrogant, swearing brat, though - I don’t want to take this from him, he is very interesting character in canon, if he just wasn’t such a bully... Well anyway. Some people (read most) think that just because Kou won’t be here for a while, he will start to bully Izuku and be overall shit he was in canon. Nope. Not happening. I love Katsuki I made in my fanfiction, thank you very much. He will become even more violent and loud, though... 

Ashido Mina (called Mina) The newest addition into a gang and simultaneously the strangest one. She abruptly appeared, confused the hell out of our poor Kou, somehow managed to push her into socializing and then squeezed out a promise of meeting everyday during lunch break out of Kou. All of this in only few minutes. Scary girl. Even I, as an author, was surprised by her sudden appearance. She just pushed herself into my fanfiction. Very scary girl indeed. Ah well, anyway, her actions remains a mystery to all residents of Earth. She is future BFF of Kou.

Shiozaki Ibara (called Ibara) I needed someone to pair up with Kou for school things in Primary school and also for Kou to not look so unsociable... heh. And well, Ibara just happened to be that person. I don’t have their relationship fleshed enough as I came over the primary days pretty fast. I can only say that while they are sort of friends, they aren’t close... The both have more important friends.

Kirishima Eijiro (called Eijiro) Their relationship is difficult to explain as she doesn’t want to do anything with him as she thinks of him as ‘weird’ and all he wants is to be friends with this ‘girl with manly heart’. Also he kind of has a small crush on her which creeps Kou out even more and makes Mina laugh her ass off. 

Love interests  Ah well, this is added because I know some will want to know this in the future (or already want). So just saying this now: This fanfiction will probably be without any romance. I can make small ‘teases’ or crack pairings and probably some fluff, but there will be no actual romance. The thing is, I see Kou as aromantic person as while she can have platonic feelings. she can’t be romantically interested in anyone. There is also this thing that she is mostly 30+ years older than her peers (or at least her mind is) and is very much aware of it. So yeah, probably no romance.

Special traits 

Quirk Kou inherited her mom’s quirk - attraction. However while Inko can only attract smaller, lighter object, Kou is capable to attract heavier objects. As long as they are lighter than her she is able to attract them towards her (though heavier object are harder to attract). Also, when the object is heavier than her, she is instead the one pulled towards it, though the landing is very uncomfortable and she has problems landing on her legs. Kou likes to experiment with her quirk, so she is capable to do a lot of things with it now - she can attract things to her so fast untrained eye can’t catch it or on the other side she can make it go to her so slowly that it nearly looks like it isn’t moving. She can also pull people towards her, but only if they are lighter than her (it’s the reason why she makes sure to weight more than Izuku - she wants to always have the possibility of having him near her). She never tried to attract towards heavier people - the collision would surely be painful. She also likes to attract pointy things to her randomly - certainly doesn’t help her image, as anyone can guess.

Fighting style In her past life Kou used to fight a lot and she still retails memories of her fighting style, though she had to alter it a little because her current body doesn’t have and probably would never have, as much strength as her past had. She usually hits the most vulnerable and painful areas to quickly immobilize the person she fights, using her smaller and usually more flexible body to attack from directions other party isn’t expecting. This style requires her to know human body quite well - she doesn’t regret all those long weeks spent on remembering each part of a body, it was quite satisfying to know more about one subject than most people. She is currently trying to incorporate her quirk into her style, too, and it is going quite well - others don’t expect things to fly at them from different directions when they fight someone. She also doesn’t mind playing dirty - spitting, biting, targeting crotch isn’t above her. Both Katsuki and Chizome were unfortunate enough to learn this first hand. While she was quite skilled in using knifes in past - she didn’t really had any chance to use knife in her new life as for her, using knife means she wants to kill the other person. She, however, always has pocket knife on her. Just in case.

Likes & Dislikes & Hobbies

Likes She likes to eat sweet things. A lot. It’s practically the only thing she spends her pocket money on. Strawberry flavored ones are best, but others are cool, too. She likes every person in her ‘okay group’, her family and her cat named ‘Miss Cat’ (Did I already mentioned that she has the worst naming sense? No? Well then, I am saying it now). Her new homeroom teacher is okay. Every type of vehicle is cool to her, but cars and motorcycles the most. She enjoys driving, but altering them and rummaging through them is fun too. Her favorite subjects in school are English, Physical Education, Art and Physic. She surprisingly finds Math okay in this life, maybe because she never paid proper attention to it in past life. She likes to wear comfortable clothes, that don't restrict her movements.

Dislikes She dislikes vegetables, but she eats them without protesting. Though she very much refuses to even touch broccoli. She doesn’t like practically everyone that aren’t in her ‘okay group’. But there are some specific groups of people she very much dislike with all her being. Those being bullies, people who annoy her deliberately, people who make fun of her brother and... her Primary homeroom teacher - she deserves her own group. Her most hated school subjects are Japanese language, Biology (only because of her Primary homeroom teacher), History and Geography. And school in general is a pain in the ass for her.  She refuses to wear frilly clothes and hates school uniforms with passion.   Her biggest fears are angering granny and bugs.  Also she isn’t a biggest fan of Grandma’s lessons. 

Hobbies At the moment her hobbies include drawing (she enjoys drawing mangas), teasing Katsuki, fighting with random thugs, thinking up the most vicious revenges, hiding in a restroom and talking with her brother. Also as of last chapter her hobbies include engineering.

[kassebaum]

I asked for a prompt that's about a 'game night' with Kara, Lena, Alex & Maggie. I'd like to know if you could add or make another (if you can) with a 'Truth or Dare' or 'Spin the Bottle' game where Maggie dares Lena or Kara into kissing or doing stuff so when Alex & Maggie make their leave Kara & Lena can finish what they started. Kind of like the one with Clark seducing Lena with more Maggie/Lena, Kara/Maggie & Alex/Lena interactions. I'm so sorry if I'm asking too much. It's just an idea. 😅

^^Fun Fact; I have the same secret talent as Maggie :D

‘So it’s just the four of us again tonight?’ Maggieasked as her and Alex went to put the food in the kitchen.

'Yep’ Alex replied as she balanced a tower of pizzaboxes on her arm.

'So what’s going on between the two of them?’ Maggiequestioned.

Alex just looked at her, a confused look on herface.

'Oh come on! You’re telling me you haven’t seen theway they act round each other?’ Maggie asked incredulously and nodded towardsthe sofa where Lena was twirling a strand of hair around a finger.

Alex shrugged, 'They’re just friends…’

Maggie tilted her head and gave Alex a pointedlook.

'What..?’ Alex exclaimed.

'That’s lesbian activity Danvers…’ Maggie teasedand smiled when Kara giggled loudly at something Lena said, 'case in point…’she continued.

'Lena and Kara..? Is Lena gay?’ Alex questioned,'I’ve been wondering about Kara… she always got too flustered around Cat…and she did tell me she wanted to date Lucy that one time…’

'Oh Lena is definitely gay’ Maggie said confidentlyas she grabbed two beers from the fridge.

'Quite confident there, aren’t you Sawyer?’ Alexgrinned.

'The rolled up sleeves? The popped shirt collar?Total Power Lesbian.’ Maggie stated as she handed one of the beers toAlex.

'Hmmm’ Alex hummed as she turned towards the sofaand tilted her head in a move she had subconsciously picked up from Maggie,'I’m still not sure I see it…’

'I bet they just need a little bit of a push…’Maggie said thoughtfully.

'A bet? Wana make it interesting?’ Alexgrinned.

'What did you have in mind?’ Maggie retorted, agleam in her eye.

'Winners choice?’ Alex shrugged.

Lena glanced up from the sofa, barely managing todraw her eyes away from Kara, and spotted Alex and Maggie talking in hushedtones by the fridge.

'You two love birds going to join us?’ She calledout with a raised eyebrow.

'When did you guys get here with food?!’ Karaexclaimed excitedly.

Alex rolled her eyes and picked up the potstickers,Maggie follow behind with the pizza and napkins.

'Oh I’m totally winning’ Maggie whispered to Alex asthey walk towards the sofa.

'What makes you so sure’ Alex quizzed.

'We walked in with pizza and pot stickers tenminutes ago and Kara has been too engrossed with Lena to notice’ Maggie saidwith a smug smile.

They settled down to eat; Kara taking an entirepizza to herself. The conversation quickly turned to which game they shouldplay.

'Not Monopoly!’ Maggie exclaimed, 'Lena totallythrashed us last time- I’ve never meet anyone so ruthless in my life!’

'Then I’m vetoing Clue, Detective’ Lenasmirked.

An idea hit Maggie and she grinned triumphantly asshe exclaimed 'we should play Truth or Dare!’ She was determined to win thisbet.

Alex almost choked on her beer while Kara grinned,her cheeks full of pot stickers.

'How very… old school…’ Lena chucked, 'I’m in,let me grab another glass of wine.’

The game started off relatively tame, full of theusual questions and dares; what’s yoursecret talent? What’s your guilty pleasure? Sing something from Frozen!

This is how they discovered that Maggie could do ‘theworm’, Alex still had a Spice Girls album on her iPod and Kara, much to Lena’samazement could sing, really sing!

Lena’s turn came up and Maggie dived in as quicklyas she could; 'So Lena, truth or dare?’

'Truth’ Lena grinned and took a sip of herwine.

Maggie decided to go for it; she took a deep breath,a confidant smirk on her face and asked, 'Who was your first girlfriend?’

Lena arched an eyebrow in surprise. 'Veronica atboarding school’ she replied coyly.

Kara spluttered.

'Veronica… as in Veronica Sinclair? Roulette!?’Kara asked in shock.

'The very same, obviously minus the snake tattoo…’Lena laughed as she took in Kara’s surprised face.

Kara didn’t know what to say; she was aware therewas a bit of a flirtatious nature to their relationship, but if Lena likedwomen… that changed things.

Maggie just cocked an eyebrow at Alex.

’That doesn’t mean anything!’ Alex mouthedback.

‘I think it’s your turn Detective’ Lena stared at Maggie,an evil gleam in her eye.

‘Truth’ Maggie replied, retaining eye contact withLena.

‘You ever used your handcuffs in the bedroom?’ Lenasmirked.

Maggie just grinned and took a swig of her beer; thecolour adorning Alex’s cheeks answering the question for her.

‘That’s an image I really didn’t need…’ Kara shookher head.

The very next moment Lena and Kara both reached forthe final pot sticker, their fingertips brushing as they hovered over theplate.

'You have it’ Kara smiled shyly.

Alex hit Maggie repeatedly on the leg as she watchedKara relinquish the last pot sticker to Lena with a puppy dog smile, the pairof them not losing eye contact.

'You see it now?’ Maggie hissed.

'Kara just gave Lena the last pot sticker! Kara hasnever given me the last one!’ Alex whispered her eyes wide. 'Oh my god, they’retotally in love…’

'And you’re totally wearing that little red number Ilove when we get home…’ Maggie grinned and wiggled her eyebrows.

‘So how do we get them to… you know’ Alex said quietly as she mimed kissing with her hands.

‘Follow my lead Danvers’ Maggie chuckled as Lena andKara remained oblivious to anyone outside their bubble, ‘pick dare’ she mouthed.

Maggie cleared her throat as Lena brushed a straystrand of hair out of Kara’s face.

‘I pick a dare’ Alex said, unable to unsee thelittle glances her sister and the CEO kept throwing at each other, or the wayKara’s hand remained on Lena’s knee.

‘I dare you to kiss me Danvers’ Maggie interjectedquickly.

Alex giggled and leaned over to place a quick kissonto Maggie’s lips, her eyebrows shot up when Maggie pulled her in for apassionate kiss. When they pulled away their gazes lingered on each other and Maggiebit her lip thinking of what she was planning to do to Alex when they got home.When they both came back down Kara was bouncing in her seat.

‘My turn!’ She squeaked, ‘Dare!’

‘Well it’s only fair that since Alex and I kissed,that you and Lena kiss… So…’ Maggie raised her eyebrow and looked pointedlyfrom Kara to Lena.

‘Why does Maggie get to come up with all the dares!?’Kara exclaimed, trying not to think about how her lips would feel against Lena’s.

‘Coz I’m the best Little Danvers’ Maggie grinned.

‘I don’t know if I should feel offended…’ Lenapouted.

‘pfft’ Kara splutted, ‘who wouldn’t want to kissyou!’

Maggie snorted.

‘Can… Can I kiss you?’ Kara asked suddenly nervousand not wanting to freak Lena out.

‘I can’t have you forfeit a dare now, can I?’ Lenaflirted playfully.

Kara’s tongue darted out to wet her lips as sheleaned in closer to Lena; she heard a spike in Lena’s heart rate the splitsecond before their lips met.

Kara gently pressed their lips together and felt herstomach flip; Lena’s lips were softer than she ever could have imagined. Lena broughther hands up to cup Kara’s face as she deepened the kiss, her tongue slowlyswiping over Kara’s bottom lip.

Kara moaned as Lena’s tongue slipped into her mouth.

Maggie nudged Alex and tilted her head towards thedoor, ‘we should leave them to work thisall out…’ Maggie mouthed. Alex nodded and grabbed their coats as theyslipped as quietly as they could out the door.

Finally Kara and Lena broke away from the kiss,their foreheads pressed together.

‘Wow’ Kara murmured.

‘Hmmmm’ Lena bit her lip.

They turned to face Alex and Maggie and found thesofa was empty.

Kara smiled at Lena and pressed the remote to switchon the TV, before snuggling down into Lena’s arms.

Meanwhile, Maggie and Alex walked down the stairshand in hand in a comfortable silence.

‘So, err, the red lace number was it?’ Alex askedwith a slight glint in her eyes.

Maggie just grinned and slid her hand into the backpocket of Alex’s jeans.

[greenscissors]

Name chart

-this has been in my drafts for a while, so fuck it, I'm just gonna upload it. Its really just for me to keep track of who’s who.

Also, this was updated randomly for a while, though most of it I just dumped here today.

Will keep updating whenever.

Victor: Sad sad purple man. A curious, happy child, who turned into a sad, scared, timid child, who turned into a sad, timid man. His life has changed SO much for the better after meeting Wonder. He actually started going out. Thank you Wonder, you turned this hermit into less of a hermit. L.O.V.E.S pretty clothes. Wanted to learn how to sew at a young age, finally learned when he was around 20. Has had many years to practice. He’s around 110. Not sure exact age. Around 110. Past a little. Maybe he's 118?? Around. After his mother died, would constantly have nightmares and night terrors about it. Couldnt sleep. Eventually turned to not so great methods of getting to sleep once he got older. Has a fondness for butterflies. He likes their wings, they're pretty. Likes pretty things in general. A fan of tea. Its the only thing he can cook. Has started to get cooking sessions from Ilo. Loves Ilo. He loves Ilo. God does he love Ilo. Have I mentioned he loves Ilo? He does. A lot. Is planning a life together with his boyfriend, soon to be maybe husband?? (Ilo.) Is happier now because of that. Recently got his mom back, in a way. The tree she turned into is planted near his house now. Constantly visits her. Like everyday, if possible. Just talks to her. Would like to think she's listening. Taught himself French, English (writing, their language is spoken the same as English (CAUSE I WASNT ABOUT TO COME UP WITH A WHOLE NEW FUCKING LANGUAGE, FUCK THAT, FUCK YOU FOR THINKING I WOULD THATS TOO HARD I BARELY HAVE PLANTS AND ANIMALS OH MY GOD MY WORLDS BARREN AS HELL PLEASE HELP) but not written the same), ballroom dancing, sewing, and piano. Maybe other stuff? Is smart (he better be, he's had more than 100 years of life to learn stuff.) Soft spoken. Was a lot more sassy, and I need to bring that back, I've fallen into this awful pit of writing him WAY too timid, I need sassy Victor back I miss him. Was totally freaked out the first time he found Earth. Now has gills. (thanks Ilo) Helpful. Now he will not drown when he spends time with his fish boyfriend. Likes spicy food. His favorite fruit are cherries. Now has half a pair of matching earrings with Ilo. Like rings. It's very hard to draw. :/         Gay. Taken. (by Ilo)

Sage: Hound Wonder and Victor tamed in the Little Vic older Wonder AU

Rascal and Lifur: Two chitters Victor tamed in the LVOW AU

Ruler: Victor’s favorite fish that lives in the pond in the, you guessed it, the LVOW AU.

Raphael: “Pet shop” owner. Probably smokes. His voice sounds like it. Idk where he is now??? He MIGHT be alive??????? I hope he is he's garbage and I wanna use him. Loves to fuck with people. Good at mind games. Smirks way too much. My most anime character yet.    

Sirin: Pronounced Seer-E-in.  Hates Raphael with a burning passion. Black Market leader. Used to be shit, but now is less shit. Actually pretty nice. He’d punch someone for saying that though, he has a reputation to uphold. Loves Ari and would murder armies for him. If he ever gets his hand on a guitar or bass, would love to learn it. Trying to learn how to write English. Has not the best handwriting. Its not awful though, he used to have to write a lot. H A T E S paperwork. Likes his hair slicked back. Loves snakes, a snake from his world specifically, called the Spiked Bandit. Got it tattooed on his back. I have been told it looks like a tramp stamp. Oops. Snakes are his favorite, but he likes lizards too. Is not a fan of squishy animals. Got his name from shop keepers as he was growing up in the streets. Loves his name. Its a word in old Grey language. Means “snake”, “thief,” “trickster,” “lier.” God he was so proud of that name as a kid. Since he had to steal to get food, it would be a pretty good thing to literally be called thief I guess. Anyway, he was good at it. Got kidnapped at a very young age, and “used” at the black market. The old boss had taken a liking to him. It was not a good time. Once Sirin got a little older, he started to be able to use his magic, at the same time the black market decided he’d be good as an actual worker. As he trained for whatever common workers in the BM do, (I dunno, scale buildings and stuff. Learn the lay of the town, good spots to run, hide. Steal people. Sell drugs. Ect. Illegal stuff.) he would teach himself how to use his magic at night. Doesnt like fighting close. His magic usually manifests as chains, appropriate. Can change the density (?? how much they would hurt. Ex: getting hit by a pillow, vs, getting hurt by a chain.) how many they are (can make up to six at a time), how fast they can move, can suspend them for a few seconds, if they are spiked or not. He can also form spikes along his body. Is mostly a reflex, and he can accidentally hurt people with that. EXTREMELY scared of accidentally hurting Ari that way.      Born High Winter day 15 probably. Was dumped in the trash shortly after being born. (his mom was young, she couldnt take care of him. shes dead. Dads still alive in a different town.) Used to have a tattoo marking him as “property” of the black market, PROMPTLY sliced that off once he killed the old boss and took his place. Actually, now that i think about it, his back is REALLY fucked up from that. Wow. Okay. Will update that when drawing him. Besides that mess, his back is littered with smaller scars, along with the edge of his shoulders, a bit around his neck, a little on his sides, and some around his hips. Will not allow people to see his back. If someone gets to see his back it means he really trusts them.  Halfling, unknown to him until recently. I'm not really sure about his age yet. He could be like around 40, but maybe not, cause like, its more like he's in his 20s so maybe he's just in his 20′s idk. Is perpetually tired. Seems to always have some dark under his eyes. Would eat pure sugar if he could. He could. He has. One of the first things he did once he was no longer under the black market was buy a few cakes then ate cake until he threw up. ......Then started eating cake again. Skin is a light green, and a little rough if you rub it one direction. Sorta like shark skin, but less. Can see in the dark. Eyes glow when under stress, or extreme emotions. Once Typheous was killed (by him) he put Sena in charge. Checks up on her occasionally. Put an old abandoned building to use, made it free housing for some of his lower ranking workers, as well as the orphan kids around town. Would always bring food to them. Can't really do that anymore, he's never around. The building looks kinda like a warehouse/hotel?? Idk. No body really knows who started the house, only that it's a safe, if dingy and kinda cold, place to find shelter. It's dry at least. Sirin made sure no one knew who did it (reputation.) He has a small apartment there. Keeps his clothes in the cupboards. Not a lot of furniture in there really. Has a habit of going out in the cold without proper clothing. Sits and just thinks sometimes. Used to sometimes just sleep in a tree outside of town when it was warmer. Has anger problems. Still a little bit of an asshole, depending on who he's talking to. Has a burning hate for apples. Will still eat them though. Hates spicy food. Likes meat. Has had a hole punched through him by Seldom. Was briefly a doughnut. A person doughnut. Gosh this boy is just fulla injuries past and present. The hole situation is better now.              Pansexual. Typheous: (Tie- fee- O ss) Used to be Sirin’s second in command. Meaning, Sirin loved to annoy the hell out of him. Used to be in charge of a lot of the stuff in the market. VERY homophobic. Was garbage, not the best kind. Was the “new leader” for a short time, as Sirin was stuck with Victor/Wonder/and Ilo. Poked around in stuff that was none of his business, was an asshole about it, and is dead now. Bye.     he was straight. Very. Very. straight.

Cisor: (Si- sore) Raph’s hound. Aggressive. Was probably a cute puppy.

Ciro Niver: (Si- row  Nigh- ver) Gilli and Lita’s little brother. A. Dor. A. BLE. Wonder did something to him, and I guess he has a little magic now??? Idk. Will clarify. Almost died cause Seldom’s an asshole. I think he's 6 at the moment. Somewhere around there. Pretty sure it's 6 though. Never met his dad. Loves fluffy animals the best. A rascal. Thinks his sister is loud. Would be the kid that says girls have cooties. His sister has cooties. He loves his sister. Hates when his mom makes soup with the gross green leafy stuff in it. Likes when they have meat. Likes the new house, but misses his old room. He shouldn't. He used to live in a tiny cold attic. His mom used to have to crouch when she went up there. And she's short. EVERYONE had to crouch when they went up there. Kinda misses the squeaky stairs.            Straight, when he's older? And I guess now?? Does it work like that??? Idk he's 6. His greatest love is his toys at the moment.

Tide: Gilli’s boy friend. Has a smoking problem. Likes to never wear a shirt. That doesnt work too well in Winter.      Gay.

Itella: (E- tell- la) Victor’s caretaker and guardian. Seldom killed her. Was totally cool, a complete badass. I miss her. Had a spider torso. Loved to wear low cut dresses with tons of ruffle at the bottom. Kinda mean, but for the best. Loved Victor. Super smart. Used to be an assistant/ partner with Nico. Kept lots of plants around in her house. Her house was a mess. Books and plants everywhere. Dusty in places. Never ate in front of Victor, didn't want to frighten him as a child. The habit stayed even when Victor was older.             Asexual, aromantic.

Seldom: Victor’s father. Dick. Was banished from whatever the name of his people’s lands are called. I gotta name stuff. Conquest’s son. Blind in his lower eyes, and had his lowers arms removed when he was born. They didn't work.     Straight.

Rune: Victor’s mother. Dead. Killed by her husband, Seldom. Very nice. Now a tree. Still very nice. Died Summer day 2???????? Same race as Rapheal, whatever that is. They turn into plants when they die, I still gotta develop them.      Straight.

Nico: Reformer. Knows Tulli. Is someone close to Itella. Not sure of their relationship yet, besides partners in business, like, coworkers. They do science or something?       Aromantic. Pansexual.

Riva Niver: Gilli's mom. Super sweet. Has a stutter. Extremely relived to have a new house, thank you Wonder. No longer has to worry about brittle stairs that Ciro woNT STOP RUNNING ON. Still sad about her husband’s death, but tries not to let her children see that. Loves her kids more than anything.     Straight.

Sena:   Silver. Girl left in charge of the black market in Sirin’s stead. Used to just work the shop they used to hide an entrance. Was understandably freaked out when she was just put in charge of the whole market. Many people would like her dead now. She's got a good bodyguard though. I hope she doesn't die, she's nice.

Lita Niver: Ciro/Gilli’s sister. An adorable miss. Best friends with Miki. Loves cute clothes, sweets, going out and getting drunk and hitting on cute guys. Wishes she had a boyfriend. Works at a cafe across the cafe Miki works at. Isn't treated so great there. :/  Is optimistic. Has a shitty apartment that she refuses to believe is shitty. Its shitty. its basically a closet. Very small. I love her.     Straight

Ryko: Centipede man. Will wait days at a time for food. Could eat any animal really, but prefers the taste of people. Sadistic. An asshole. I love him. Has cool tattoos on his arms. They might not be tattoos and just markings. They're probably markings. He's a fucking centipede man who lives in the fucking jungle, WHO IS GONNA GIVE HIM TATTOOS?? They're markings.       ????? I dont know What the fuck he is. Straight??? Maybe.

Serena: Purple haired man’s sister. A human. Getting married soon. A no-nonsense attitude.            Straight.

Arrvin: Human. Serena’s brother. Has dyed purple hair. Has a pigeon named Randy. Sweetest guy he's so great. ;w; Wants to be an architect probably. He lives in an apartment. I dont know how he gets the money yet. He sure does have a job though. Maybe a few. Can make bomb ass waffles. Birds love him. Maybe he just always has birdseed in his pockets. Can birds smell that??   Asexual, panromantic.

Cena: Reformer who lives out in the jungle. Has a relationship of sorts with Ryko. Is blind, but good at getting around. Unlike the other Reformers, doesnt keep “helpers” around. Isn't lonely though. Prefers silence and tea. On rainy days, she likes to sit in her library near the window and just listen.

Ossis: Wolvos who lives up North. Friends of Felix, and Cole. A good good happy boy. Likes eyeshadow. Kinda tough to get where he lives, whenever he goes to a big enough town he's sure to pick some up.

Kai: Leader (?) of the Wolvos. Kinda hate loves Felix and Cole. Like, the kinda love where they’re just constantly exasperated with them. Lives up North, with the main tribe. I still really need to work on him.

Gilli Niver: (Gi- lee) Tide’s boyfriend. Lita and Ciro’s big brother. Very easy going. Owns a little shop with Tide. I think its a bakery?? Favorite season is Spring. A fan of bitter drinks paired with sweets. Used to do drugs. Bad, bad Gilli. Doesn't anymore. Hates Winter.          Gay. 

Miki: The coolest. Best friends with Lita. Speaks with a bit of an accent. Would kill to protect Lita. Probably knows how to properly hide a body. Buff as hell. She’s so fun to draw, I love her.       Gay. Gosh she loves girls.

Felix: Wolvos. Adorable. A soft boy. Gets into trouble sometimes. Seems to know everyone. A person who would always have “"a pleasure to have in class” written on their report card. Prefers always being in semi wolf form. Likes running for miles when he's out of town, and is an actual wolf. Owns a stand with his brother. It's across from the fabric seller Victor always buys his fabrics from. Has heard a lot about Victor (everyone has, only bad rumors though), and would like to actually met the guy one day. Has a favorite scarf and likes to wear it. Dresses well.             Bisexual.

Lokell Niver: Riva’s dead husband. Was a nice dude. Died in an accident.

Silis: Some guy Sirin's friends with. Owns a building company. Said company will work for the BM when hired, usually through Silis being paid in both money, and organs. He eats em.   Looks bored half the time. Loves gold stuff. Trans. Is already done with someone's shit before he even meets em. Naga.

March: A cute goat (maybe fawn, idk yet not set in stone, I think he's a goat) guy. Can disguise his voice to sound like anything. Loves masks. Has a neat lil collection in his house. Prefers loose clothing. Likes reading. His magic takes the form of purple electricity. Trans. Unlike Tulli, Nico, ect, he can't really change how he looks (ex: Tulli can turn into a bird, “dyes” his hair, Nico’s a tree, ect) but makes up for it with the voice thing.

[scotwresnet]

Creativity can come in many formats and not just through the normal channels of painting, drawing, writing or making music. The mere act of gathering, editing and presenting ideas is an art form in itself and I am lucky enough to have had the chance to speak to someone who does it for a living and on a grand scale. All very cryptic I’m sure you’ll agree but it’ll all become obvious to you very shortly so stay with me. Welcome to another edition of SWN Behind the Art. Let’s begin…

Can you start by introducing yourself and what it is you do?

My name’s Scott Reid, and I’m one of the Creative Producers for ICW.

My job covers a lot of bases, but long story short, I work with Dallas to put together and book ICW shows, produce Fight Club episodes, work on our video content that the company puts out, and generally help drive the creative direction of the show. Basically, if you can see it live or on screen, I’ve probably got something to do with it!

When did you start and how did it all come about?

It’s been a bit of a long journey to where I’m at right now. I was at the first ICW show at The Garage in 2012, and was just blown away by what I was seeing. A few chance meetings and conversations later over the next year, I started writing and creating the official ICW magazine in 2013. From there, I just became more and more involved with the company, be that through editing videos, filming backstage, helping sell merch, but the whole time, I was also around booking meetings and creative sessions, just soaking up knowledge, and learning as much as i could about how and why things are done.

Dallas always welcomed my opinion on things, even as far back as 2014/15, but it was probably from around early 2016 that I started making any real major contributions creatively to the show. Now I’m a fully fledged writer on the show, which is a great job. Definitely worth the time it took to get there.

To many of us fans it would be considered one of the dream jobs in the wrestling business but I’m sure it’s got as many fulfilling moments to complete headaches and heartaches. What are the highs and lows of being a creative producer?

Its definitely a fulfilling job. It’s an incredible feeling when you’ve been working on a show like Fear & Loathing for months, and then it all comes together on the night. Not just from a perspective of everything going the way you hoped it would, but knowing that fans enjoyed themselves is a great feeling. It’s one thing to write something and think “I would love to see this”, but when you hear an audience react to something positively in the venue, you just can’t beat that. If people are paying their money to come to our show, I want to leave the venue that night knowing they had a good time.

On the flip side, there’s definitely hard times with the job, specifically with things that are just completely out of your control. When you’re writing a show, you have your plan for the matches, but there’s so many things that can cause a change to a match, or even a whole story line, that you can’t do anything about. 

Wrestling’s very physical and dangerous, and with that comes injuries that can happen at any time. If someone gets injured the day before an ICW show, then we don’t have any other choice but to come up with an alternative. The show must go on, as they say! Learning to roll with the punches in a calm and logical way can be hard, but its just something that comes with the role.

In wrestling, I’m presuming, it’s easier to get a crazy angle or story line through than a tame one right? What is the craziest angle you’ve ever suggested?

We’ve had so many ridiculous conversations that I’ve probably forgotten most of them, but the most prominent one that springs to mind that actually happened was having Good Housekeeping III main event at Fear & Loathing. When Liam Thomson returned to ICW after his injury, there was initially very different ideas of what he would be doing. Fan outcry for a second Good Housekeeping Match was so loud though, so I went to Dallas, and suggested doing it, and building towards a third match at Fear & Loathing. The fact that we could even get a second match out of such a mental concept was amazing in itself, never mind doing another one a year later in the main event of the biggest show of the year! It’s a testament to how good Liam and Wolfgang are though. Those two made those matches really special.

I’m also responsible for the giant sponge in Good Housekeeping II. I didn’t really pitch that to anyone, I just showed up on the day of the show with a 6 foot tall sponge. I still don’t tell folk where it came from. I want it to become an urban legend of Scottish wrestling!

Haha I won’t persue that any further then, I like an urban myth too. With that being said what’s your favourite angle that you’ve created? Favourite people to work with?

It so hard to really appreciate how something’s going at the time, because so often, it’s over, and you just move onto the next thing.

That being said, i remember being really happy with the BT Gunn/Mikey Whiplash feud into Barramania 4, with the Death Match for the World Title. I was really heavily involved in that story, and the creativity from the others involved just made it all the better. The best stuff comes from collaboration, in my opinion. Ideas from one person building on the ideas of another can create gold.

There’s so many people that I enjoy working with. Coming up with ideas with The Kinky Party is always a lot of fun, as there’s very few things that are off the table with them. Wolfgang is another one who’s a lot of fun to work with, because despite having done this for 15+ years, he’s still got the same enthusiasm for wrestling. I say all the time, and i really mean it in the best way, he’s like a big kid who just loves wrestling, and it’s hard not to be drawn in by that type of love for what you’re doing. Kay Lee Ray’s always someone i look forward to working with as well, especially on a show day. Kay Lee’s someone I could probably say two words to, and I could trust that she’d still go out and absolutely nail it, but she’s a perfectionist, so it’s always good to be able to sit down and really flesh out ideas with her at a show.

I really enjoy writing some of the darker elements on the show, and when stuff like that is being put together, BT Gunn is someone who I can really get on the same wavelength with. He’s fearless when it comes to trying out ideas, so when we’re trying to push the envelope, he and I really work well together. Mikey Whiplash is very much the same. Producing stuff with him has always been like a treat for me. There’s almost nothing that’s out of bounds with him, and that makes my job a lot more exciting.

Has lockdown been a blessing or a curse for you? Have you had more time to write new storyline’s or plan for future shows etc?

At the beginning of Lockdown, i was obviously really gutted. I felt like we had some really good stuff going on, so it was sad to see it come to a halt, plus i love the thrill of a show day, so not having that has been weird. That being said, I feel like lock down has allowed us to shift our focus and do some good stuff elsewhere. We’ve really worked hard to make ICW On Demand as accessible and interesting to people as possible during this time. People are bored, so we wanted to make sure we can still give them some entertainment! The ICW iPhone/Android App is something that we’ve spoken about for a while, so it was great to get that released, and we’ve even recently launched the ICW App on Amazon Fire TV. That’s something people have been asking about for a while, so hopefully a lot of people are happy with it.

As far as storylines go, there’s not a day goes by where I’m not writing ideas down, but it’s everything’s so up on the air at the minute, that everything we’re doing creatively has a bit of a question mark over it. Once we have a clearer idea of when we’ll be able to run shows again, we’ll be diving head first into things though.

Now that I’ve completely freaked you out about what you’ll have to go back to after lock down, all the stresses and strains of being a creative producer haha. Are you creative outside of wrestling as well? Do you draw, write, create music or anything?

I’m nowhere as creative elsewhere as I once was. As a young kid, I was never without a pen or pencil in my hand, drawing something, but then I got older, and wrestling caught me! haha!

I really engulf myself in work, so when i’m not doing that, I just try and relax where I can. Cinema and comic books are two of my biggest loves. I’m always watching or reading something, and even then, I’m usually working in the back of my head. I’m always watching something and thinking how I can draw influence from it in filming promos, or the how I can present something a specific way on a show. All my creativity goes to ICW! 

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Just really want to thank all the fans who have continued to support ICW in the past few months. Means a lot that in such a difficult time, people are continuing to share our content, pick up merch, subscribe to On Demand, and engage with us on the lock down show on YouTube and Facebook each week. Hopefully we can get back to normal sooner rather than later, and see everyone! Until then, everyone stay safe!

Where can people contact you? Social media pages etc.

Both my Instagram and Twitter are @scottreidicw. Nice and easy!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I’d like to thank Scott for taking the time to answer my questions and giving us all an insight into how the creative process works in the world of professional wrestling. An absolute pleasure to talk to him.

And if you’d like to be featured in Behind The Art you can send in your art to:

Instagram: @themaskedembroiderer Twitter: @TEmbroiderer Or email us ScotWresNet@gmail.com Or use the hashtags #scottishwrestlingart or #scottishwrestlingfanart

Behind The Art #17: Scott Reid

Behind The Art #17: Scott Reid

Behind The Art #17: Scott Reid

[scottish-wrestling-network]

Creativity can come in many formats and not just through the normal channels of painting, drawing, writing or making music. The mere act of gathering, editing and presenting ideas is an art form in itself and I am lucky enough to have had the chance to speak to someone who does it for a living and on a grand scale. All very cryptic I’m sure you’ll agree but it’ll all become obvious to you very shortly so stay with me. Welcome to another edition of SWN Behind the Art. Let’s begin…

Can you start by introducing yourself and what it is you do?

My name’s Scott Reid, and I’m one of the Creative Producers for ICW.

My job covers a lot of bases, but long story short, I work with Dallas to put together and book ICW shows, produce Fight Club episodes, work on our video content that the company puts out, and generally help drive the creative direction of the show. Basically, if you can see it live or on screen, I’ve probably got something to do with it!

When did you start and how did it all come about?

It’s been a bit of a long journey to where I’m at right now. I was at the first ICW show at The Garage in 2012, and was just blown away by what I was seeing. A few chance meetings and conversations later over the next year, I started writing and creating the official ICW magazine in 2013. From there, I just became more and more involved with the company, be that through editing videos, filming backstage, helping sell merch, but the whole time, I was also around booking meetings and creative sessions, just soaking up knowledge, and learning as much as i could about how and why things are done.

Dallas always welcomed my opinion on things, even as far back as 2014/15, but it was probably from around early 2016 that I started making any real major contributions creatively to the show. Now I’m a fully fledged writer on the show, which is a great job. Definitely worth the time it took to get there.

To many of us fans it would be considered one of the dream jobs in the wrestling business but I’m sure it’s got as many fulfilling moments to complete headaches and heartaches. What are the highs and lows of being a creative producer?

Its definitely a fulfilling job. It’s an incredible feeling when you’ve been working on a show like Fear & Loathing for months, and then it all comes together on the night. Not just from a perspective of everything going the way you hoped it would, but knowing that fans enjoyed themselves is a great feeling. It’s one thing to write something and think “I would love to see this”, but when you hear an audience react to something positively in the venue, you just can’t beat that. If people are paying their money to come to our show, I want to leave the venue that night knowing they had a good time.

On the flip side, there’s definitely hard times with the job, specifically with things that are just completely out of your control. When you’re writing a show, you have your plan for the matches, but there’s so many things that can cause a change to a match, or even a whole story line, that you can’t do anything about. 

Wrestling’s very physical and dangerous, and with that comes injuries that can happen at any time. If someone gets injured the day before an ICW show, then we don’t have any other choice but to come up with an alternative. The show must go on, as they say! Learning to roll with the punches in a calm and logical way can be hard, but its just something that comes with the role.

In wrestling, I’m presuming, it’s easier to get a crazy angle or story line through than a tame one right? What is the craziest angle you’ve ever suggested?

We’ve had so many ridiculous conversations that I’ve probably forgotten most of them, but the most prominent one that springs to mind that actually happened was having Good Housekeeping III main event at Fear & Loathing. When Liam Thomson returned to ICW after his injury, there was initially very different ideas of what he would be doing. Fan outcry for a second Good Housekeeping Match was so loud though, so I went to Dallas, and suggested doing it, and building towards a third match at Fear & Loathing. The fact that we could even get a second match out of such a mental concept was amazing in itself, never mind doing another one a year later in the main event of the biggest show of the year! It’s a testament to how good Liam and Wolfgang are though. Those two made those matches really special.

I’m also responsible for the giant sponge in Good Housekeeping II. I didn’t really pitch that to anyone, I just showed up on the day of the show with a 6 foot tall sponge. I still don’t tell folk where it came from. I want it to become an urban legend of Scottish wrestling!

Haha I won’t persue that any further then, I like an urban myth too. With that being said what’s your favourite angle that you’ve created? Favourite people to work with?

It so hard to really appreciate how something’s going at the time, because so often, it’s over, and you just move onto the next thing.

That being said, i remember being really happy with the BT Gunn/Mikey Whiplash feud into Barramania 4, with the Death Match for the World Title. I was really heavily involved in that story, and the creativity from the others involved just made it all the better. The best stuff comes from collaboration, in my opinion. Ideas from one person building on the ideas of another can create gold.

There’s so many people that I enjoy working with. Coming up with ideas with The Kinky Party is always a lot of fun, as there’s very few things that are off the table with them. Wolfgang is another one who’s a lot of fun to work with, because despite having done this for 15+ years, he’s still got the same enthusiasm for wrestling. I say all the time, and i really mean it in the best way, he’s like a big kid who just loves wrestling, and it’s hard not to be drawn in by that type of love for what you’re doing. Kay Lee Ray’s always someone i look forward to working with as well, especially on a show day. Kay Lee’s someone I could probably say two words to, and I could trust that she’d still go out and absolutely nail it, but she’s a perfectionist, so it’s always good to be able to sit down and really flesh out ideas with her at a show.

I really enjoy writing some of the darker elements on the show, and when stuff like that is being put together, BT Gunn is someone who I can really get on the same wavelength with. He’s fearless when it comes to trying out ideas, so when we’re trying to push the envelope, he and I really work well together. Mikey Whiplash is very much the same. Producing stuff with him has always been like a treat for me. There’s almost nothing that’s out of bounds with him, and that makes my job a lot more exciting.

Has lockdown been a blessing or a curse for you? Have you had more time to write new storyline’s or plan for future shows etc?

At the beginning of Lockdown, i was obviously really gutted. I felt like we had some really good stuff going on, so it was sad to see it come to a halt, plus i love the thrill of a show day, so not having that has been weird. That being said, I feel like lock down has allowed us to shift our focus and do some good stuff elsewhere. We’ve really worked hard to make ICW On Demand as accessible and interesting to people as possible during this time. People are bored, so we wanted to make sure we can still give them some entertainment! The ICW iPhone/Android App is something that we’ve spoken about for a while, so it was great to get that released, and we’ve even recently launched the ICW App on Amazon Fire TV. That’s something people have been asking about for a while, so hopefully a lot of people are happy with it.

As far as storylines go, there’s not a day goes by where I’m not writing ideas down, but it’s everything’s so up on the air at the minute, that everything we’re doing creatively has a bit of a question mark over it. Once we have a clearer idea of when we’ll be able to run shows again, we’ll be diving head first into things though.

Now that I’ve completely freaked you out about what you’ll have to go back to after lock down, all the stresses and strains of being a creative producer haha. Are you creative outside of wrestling as well? Do you draw, write, create music or anything?

I’m nowhere as creative elsewhere as I once was. As a young kid, I was never without a pen or pencil in my hand, drawing something, but then I got older, and wrestling caught me! haha!

I really engulf myself in work, so when i’m not doing that, I just try and relax where I can. Cinema and comic books are two of my biggest loves. I’m always watching or reading something, and even then, I’m usually working in the back of my head. I’m always watching something and thinking how I can draw influence from it in filming promos, or the how I can present something a specific way on a show. All my creativity goes to ICW! 

Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Just really want to thank all the fans who have continued to support ICW in the past few months. Means a lot that in such a difficult time, people are continuing to share our content, pick up merch, subscribe to On Demand, and engage with us on the lock down show on YouTube and Facebook each week. Hopefully we can get back to normal sooner rather than later, and see everyone! Until then, everyone stay safe!

Where can people contact you? Social media pages etc.

Both my Instagram and Twitter are @scottreidicw. Nice and easy!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

I’d like to thank Scott for taking the time to answer my questions and giving us all an insight into how the creative process works in the world of professional wrestling. An absolute pleasure to talk to him.

And if you’d like to be featured in Behind The Art you can send in your art to:

Instagram: @themaskedembroiderer Twitter: @TEmbroiderer Or email us ScotWresNet@gmail.com Or use the hashtags #scottishwrestlingart or #scottishwrestlingfanart

Behind The Art #17: Scott Reid

Behind The Art #17: Scott Reid