#If you're worried about “bad fans” SUCK IT UP??? Every space you go in will have “Bad fans” because you're an unhappy little fuckwad

[deadcaralarm]

If i see one more person mad over their favourite music artists getting popular on tiktok i'll literally go fucking rabid. Dude. Are you kidding me. "No dont make this a tiktok song" i literally hope you fall in a pit and die

[lilac-hecox]

Green number 2 looks interesting if you want to do something with that 😊 (it's littlebitofglue here)

(Ty bb! <3)

2. "You're safe here, I promise." - Ianthony

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TW: Panic attack

--

It has been months since Anthony has had a panic attack, right around the time he reconnected with Ian his anxiety, while ever present, seemed to take a back burner to the increase in work and just how much happier Anthony felt being back around his best friend.

Today he is in the Smosh office sitting quietly on the couch in Ian's office. He has yet to make his own office in the building and really, he isn't worried about it. Something feels better about being with Ian in his office, sharing a space.

In an hour he and Ian are going to film an episode of their joint podcast, going over an old Smosh episode and telling stories about that time in their lives and what it was like filming it. Currently, Ian is wrapping up an episode due for Smosh Games, some complicated board game that Anthony can't really follow along with. While he waits for his best friend, he scrolls on his phone.

Ever curious, Anthony can't help but lurk in the discord channel they had created for their channel members. Typically the chat is fine, humorous, complimentary, but today when Anthony joins in he sees a wealth of messages springing up on the general chat channel. As he clicks on it Anthony is overloaded with a spam of hate messages popping up before his eyes. The messages range from the typical 'Smosh sucks now' to ones targeted directly at he and Ian. 'Anthony is so pretentious'. 'Yeah, I miss the old Anthony'. In-between the hate messages are their fans telling off the subsection of rogue commenters and people alerting the mods about what is happening. A new message pops up 'I hope the boys don't see these :( '

But Anthony has and he sees several more, calling he and Ian every name in the book, slamming them for their sketches, calling them bad, saying their lost their magic. Hateful comments are nothing new and Anthony has learned to ignore them, but for some reason today each one feels like a punch to the gut, a twist to the heart, maybe because it meant someone was willing to pay actual money to complain about how much they hated him.

Either way Anthony's chest starts to feel tight. He sets his phone down and realizes his fingers feel a little numb.

"Shit," he murmurs, but his voice sounds far away to his own ears.

Anthony tries to stand from the couch. He's not sure where he would go, maybe to the bathroom to splash water on his face, but as soon as he stands his knees buckle, his legs trembling and he folds to the ground on the floor of Ian's office.

Then he can't quite breathe and he's got one hand bracing himself on the floor, fingers wide against the concrete while the other finds his heart, covering it over his sweater and feeling the intense racing.

Anthony tries to remember his breathing techniques, the things he always uses to calm himself down, but his mind is going too fast, too panicked to recall anything. He hates being alone during a panic attack. Nothing scares him more than that and the fear only amplifies all his other feelings of panic.

Then, distantly he hears the creek of the door and footsteps.

"Hey, sorry that- Anthony?"

Then, Anthony sees Ian's water bottle hit the ground.

Then Anthony sees Ian kneeling in front of him, he feels cold hands cupping his face, lifting his head from where it was staring at the ground.

"Anthony," Ian says, his clear blue eyes wide and somewhat afraid, his jaw tight with nerves of his own, "hey, can you look at me and try to breathe?"

Anthony gasps, feeling so dizzy, the hand over his heart seeking out Ian's shoulder, his fingers gripping tight in Ian's t-shirt.

"It's okay," Ian says, his voice calm, though to Anthony he still sounds so far away, like he's underwater. "Take a breath with me."

Ian takes a deep breath and Anthony does his best to mimic it. Before, when they were roommates, what feels like so many years ago, there were a couple of times where Anthony had panic attacks at the house and Ian had been there to guide him through it, pull him out of it. Now, he was falling into the role like old practice, like he never stopped.

"You're in my office," Ian says slowly, one hand leaving Anthony's face and skating down his back, rubbing a soft circle, "You're with me."

Anthony can feel his breathing beginning to fall back under his control, his head so heavy, so dizzy.

Ian shifts closer, wrapping his arms around Anthony in a tight hug. It feels warm, it feels like he's holding all of Anthony's pieces together even as Anthony trembles harder than he ever has in his life.

"You're safe here, I promise," Ian says, his chin over Anthony's shoulder and his hand patting Anthony's back.

To anyone else it might look ridiculous, the two of them on Ian's office floor, Ian's smaller body cradling Anthony's larger frame, but to Anthony it is everything. Ian, in many ways, has always been a touchstone, a point of reference, some base in which Anthony can explore away from and yet always find his way back home.

Slowly, slowly, slowly, Anthony can feel his senses returning. In Ian's sturdy arms, he can feel his body going lax.

Ian must feel it too because he rubs the back of Anthony's head, fingers skating over the shaved down sides of Anthony's scalp.

"You're good man, I got you," Ian breathes.

When Anthony has calmed enough and he is kneeling limply in Ian's arms, he starts to feel ridiculous, feels like a dumb kid who got freaked out over a stupid internet troll. He's been in therapy long enough to know you can't really predict what might set you off, and maybe those comments were prodding at some deep pockets of his psyche that housed fears that Anthony didn't want to face.

He pulls back a little, exhales a shaky breath. Ian's hands slide to his sides and hold him firmly as if he's keeping him upright, and in many ways, he is. Now, Ian's eyes are a gentler shade of blue, like the sea after a storm.

"You okay?" Ian asks, his voice a soft whisper, a gentleness and vulnerability that had never been there before.

Anthony nods, "I-I'm okay." his voice is hoarse to his own ears.

Ian doesn't ask what set Anthony off and it isn't like before, it isn't because he doesn't want to know, it's more like he's giving Anthony the space to present it to him if he wants to, an offer more than a request.

Ian pats Anthony's cheek one more time, fondly, before he pulls back and he's sitting on his office floor across from Anthony. He takes his own deep breath and rubs his eye under the frames of his glasses.

"Been a long time since I've done that."

"And you're still good at it," Anthony says, trying out a smile that only feels a little off for the moment.

Ian gives him one back, something small, something like a secret. He stands and he offers his hand out for Anthony to take.

Anthony does, their fingers holding each other tightly as Ian helps get Anthony to his feet.

[tomwambsmilk]

This is such a long post that nobody asked for but I've been seeing Discourse again...

I feel like something that’s missing in most of the discussions I’ve seen on Tumblr about how streaming companies like Netflix have changed TV production for the worse is the profit motive. Or at least, it’s misunderstood. For example, I see a lot of people complaining about how Netflix only considers a show worthwhile if a bunch of people binge it as soon as it comes in, which is true - but I don’t know that everyone understands why, and it's lead to a skewed perception of what's actually going on, and why various studios and platforms make the decisions that they do.

The thing about Netflix is that it’s a public company that's currently unprofitable - so, every single thing it does is oriented toward "growth" (gaining new subscribers). Every show they decide to invest in, they do so because they think it’ll make people who don’t have Netflix want to get Netflix. And if they launch a show, and a whole bunch of new people join the platform, AND their viewer data shows that this show received disproportionate viewership in the same month all those people joined the platform - then it was a good investment. The further out you go from the release, the less correlation there is between the viewership of a show and new subscribers, so the less those viewer numbers matter to them.

Additionally, people talking about the show is more valuable to them than people actually watching it, because people talking about the show gives them free word-of-mouth marketing. Once your friend has bought a Netflix subscription, Netflix doesn't care what they watch, or at what pace. So obviously, if you can make everyone feel like they need to watch the entire show RIGHT NOW because everyone is talking about it and they can't avoid spoilers, that's a much stronger marketing strategy than letting people watch at their own pace.

And that’s why seasons are so short - a longer season costs more money and won’t bring in any extra subscribers, so it's a bad investment. It’s also why Netflix shows tend to be cancelled after only a couple of seasons - if a show hasn’t brought in many new subscribers after the first two seasons, it’s not likely to do so in the future, and so it becomes a poor investment, regardless of how many people already on the platform love it. And even beloved shows like Stranger Things eventually reach a point where everyone who loves it is already on the platform, and even though it's still massively popular it's no longer profitable on the same scale.

All of this is to contrast with network TV, where the revenue comes from advertisers. The more eyeballs are on a show, the more money a network can charge for ad space during that show. So the more beloved a TV show is, the more episodes you want in a season; even if the quality of some of those episodes is poor because the creative team is overworked and underpaid (ie exploited), people will still tune in and you’ll still make money. And that’s also how you end up with shows of 10-15 seasons, even if the show starts to suck around season 8 or 10; as long as enough devoted fans are still watching the show, they can still charge mega ad dollars and make a lot of money. A long-running show with name recognition will make more money, even when it sucks, than an excellent brand-new show with no name recognition. It also means that shows that are self-contained “plot of the week” type shows do a LOT better than stories with season-long arcs, because those shows are more likely to attract casual viewers in addition to regular ones, and people are less likely to abandon the whole show if they miss an episode or two. Plus, if you don't need to worry about the order a season airs in, you can make a lot more money off of rerun adspace outside of the regular season.

And finally, growth looks different for a network. On Netflix, a single person can only provide a single unit of growth, because you're only going to purchase one subscription, so there's very little incentive for Netflix to cater to existing subscribers so long as the platform is 'good enough' for them to avoid cancelling. On the other hand, network growth is calculated based on viewership. So, let's say I watch "The Office" on NBC every week, and nothing else. And then one day, a friend tells me how much they love this other NBC show, "30 Rock", that's halfway through its second season, so I start watching that. That's growth for NBC! They can now charge a little bit more for ad space on 30 Rock than they could before - and it's happened without a whole new person needing to be introduced to their network. So there's a strong incentive to pay attention to what existing viewers want, rather than just focusing on what brings in new viewers. After all, not watching one specific show is a much easier decision than cancelling an entire platform subscription. (The downside of this is that network TV creators are far more beholden to the demands of the audience than a show on a platform like Netflix or HBO, and that can lead to sacrificing some creative integrity).

Overall my point is that the entire structure and shape of TV shows has ALWAYS been motivated by profit. That doesn’t mean the complaints about Netflix are invalid - they are VERY valid and I agree with most of them - but I think it’s important to diagnose the problem correctly: the people with the money to make a tv show are also usually the people who would like to make as much money as possible off your tv show, and will manipulate it accordingly. What’s the solution? I’m not sure, but pretending that these studios are making decisions based on “bad data” or “not understanding what people want” or just pure caprice is simply naive. Its not that they don't know what you want - they just don't care.

[rivetgoth]

Hi, I wanted to ask your perspective on something happening in my local goth scene, if you're willing to give it. I'm really anxious right now because my favorite local goth night just hired their first gogo dancer and I'm really worried that it's going to change the energy in a way I don't like.

First I'm worried that this means that the stage is off limits for dancing. One of my favorite things is dancing on the stage with folks or watching other people really vibe as they dance on the stage. I'm really anxious about potentially losing that. Also, it serves as overflow space when the dance floor gets full, so less people would be able to dance.

Second I haven't liked the vibes of events with gogo dancers at them because it feels kinda hierarchical. I really love this goth night is because it's chill, it's mostly middle aged folks and it's a lot less performative/about the aesthetic than the other goth nights here. At the one goth night with a gogo dancer it felt like everyone was judging everyone else and I felt really out of place for wearing a more casual (but still goth) look. I just don't want to loose the one place I can truly dress however I like without caring what people think and don't feel like I'm lesser than anyone.

I just can't really tell if my concern is reasonable or if I'm overreacting/overthinking this. Like I said, there's only one regular goth night with a gogo dancer so I can't tell wether the bad vibe comes from the gogo dancers or is completely unrelated to them. I'm hoping since it seems like your goth scene has more events than mine that you might be able to tell.

Tbh I wouldn’t say your concern is unreasonable because I totally get what you’re saying—While this isn’t consistently the case (I’ve been to nights with dancers that were really fun!), I will say that all of the worst goth nights I’ve ever attended had gogo dancers as a major advertising highlight and I wouldn’t fully call it coincidence; I think this has a few effects I’m not a fan of, like 1. Bringing in normie men who show up purely to gawk at the dancers, which usually in turn means they have this weird “goth woman fetish” and no experience with the goth community so they don’t really know how to act around anyone there 2. It just feels like it changes the vibe of the event itself to be less oriented towards socializing and dancing and stuff? Like you’re there to “watch a show,” you know?

But that said, I also don’t think you need to worry just yet. I am personally friends with a good number of alt or goth gogo dancers. So many of them are fantastic people. Tons of fun and really cool and talented. For clarity I don’t interpret what ur saying as being disparaging towards them, I’m not defending them from you lol, but I guess I say that to say… it’s not inherent that having paid dancers at your events will bring the vibe down, and I don’t want what I’m saying to sound like I’m talking poorly of the dancers themselves. There’s a chance the vibe won’t change all, and you may even be able to connect with new people in the community this way too. Here in LA it’s not uncommon at all for dancers to be around for goth nights, so while it’s totally possible for nights that heavily emphasize dancers to suck, I’d say it’s by no means a guarantee at all. It’s gonna come down a ton to the vibe/atmosphere that actually ends up forming. EVERY goth night is so so different and constantly evolving as new people come in and out and the promoters make changes and the DJs either cycle out or start making changes to their sets, etc etc. I genuinely don’t view having gogo dancers as a curse, I think it’s gonna come down huuuuuugely to the broader atmosphere of the space. For all you know the vibe might not click and the promoters just choose not to hire her again—Or she ends up being really cool and chill and adds to the atmosphere and maybe you even meet some cool new people via her and her own friends and social circle. You really never know.

I ultimately think gogo dancers are a neutral component to a goth night, and the issue with their presence is almost always a higher-up promoter/management thing. They themselves don’t make the vibe better or worse, they can contribute to either. There are some AMAZING goth dancers who are super talented, super sweet, and help bring a great vibe to the night. Maybe this is controversial but I even think a small handful of annoying normie guys showing up for them isn’t the absolute worst since often they’ll tip, so the dancers get some extra money, and a lot of the time if it’s just a few guys they kinda keep to themselves or aren’t there to cause trouble or anything and they’re still gonna pay for drinks or entry fees and help keep the night going. Normies showing up will always be a thing, if they’re chill idc. But like I said, on the other hand it can totally lead to a sort of downward spiral in atmosphere, if the emphasis on the dancers threatens to turn it into functionally a Goth Woman Zoo for normies to stare and the night starts prioritizing actual goths less and less in favor of this weird voyeuristic “look at how crazy and goth these hot girls are” vibe. At the very least those spaces tend to be very uh… heterosexual, since the guys showing up to see the women are often the type that have one very narrow view of what “goth” is and it’s a thin, conventionally attractive, potentially sexually available, mildly kinky (but submissive!) cis woman with like, tattoos. So yeah. I also totally feel the concern about losing dancing space lol, there’s one club here with two goth nights a week, one that has gogo dancers and one that doesn’t, and the latter is way more fun in part because it’s fun to get up on the dancing cubes yourself or watch your friends and other people get up there haha.

Ultimately I wouldn’t say it’s overthinking to have some concern—tbh ANY time a club you love makes a major change it’s valid to be worried about the space’s atmosphere changing for the worst, and gogo dancers in my mind can sometimes allude to future changes that aren’t promising—but I would also say that it’s too early to tell yet. Gogo dancers aren’t an inherent negative and like I said it soooo comes down the rest of the space’s vibe and atmosphere, the other clubgoers, the handling from the promoters and event runners, etc. So I wouldn’t lose hope or get too stressed about it yet either. It’s really gonna be case by case, and if you want a bit of genuine optimism I’d say if the event has always been consistently good, adding a gogo dancer doesn’t really necessarily concern me too too much since implicitly that means most/every factor before was good before, like the DJs and the people showing up, and it’s not like that should change overnight because they hired a dancer. I’d try to stay open minded, if the right people show up and the right music is playing it should be a good time regardless. It also wouldn’t hurt if you’re really concerned to talk to the promoter or the DJs or someone else involved in the club’s production and hear their thoughts about the goal of hiring dancers and even voice concerns, but that would probably be something to consider after seeing how it pans out initially.

[prettytanuki]

Why Mastodon Sucks #3: It's not a Blog & It's not a Forum, It's a Group Chat / Reddit Clone

If you've tried posting stuff on mastodon and got no replies, no interaction, or anything at all, don't worry, it's not you, it's mastodon, and it's not a bug, it's a "feature".

What's happening is that nobody is seeing your mastodon posts AT ALL.

Why is nobody seeing them if you're posting it? Because in order for someone to see your post on mastodon, one of the following must be true:

They're looking at your profile.

They follow you.

They follow someone that boosted that one specific post.

They follow a hashtag that you used in your post.

They searched for a hashtag that you used in your post.

By chance they were browsing the newest posts of the instance just when you posted.

You can't count on 6 for anything, so let's ignore it.

Everyone starts without followers, so 2 isn't going to happen. If nobody sees your post nobody can boost your post or see your profile, so 1 and 3 are out as well.

This means that if you're new to mastodon, the only way for people to SEE your post is by using hashtags.

And you have to use a hashtag in every single post you want people to see. A post without hashtag reaches ONLY your followers (and their followers if they boost it).

I mean this because in some mastodon instances you can't search posts by text, you can only search ONE hashtag in the default web interface (you can search more if you enable the advanced interface but it's a mess). So you can't search for "one piece" to find one piece, you have to use the hashtag one piece and they have to use the hashtag one piece, and only then you can find each other.

So hashtag means JOINING A CONVERSATION. You need the one piece hashtag to join a conversation about one piece. Without it, you're talking to your followers (or no one).

It doesn't matter how much you talk about one piece, or how high quality your one piece fan art looks, or if you're literally the creator of one piece himself, if you don't tag your post one piece, nobody who wants to talk about one piece will know about it!

As tumblr is a site that's all about hashtags I guess you would know how much of a bad idea it is to require that two people use the exact same spelling of a hashtag to see each other posts.

This makes sense for brands like #twitter because there's only one name: twitter. Can't miss that. But for pretty much every fucking topic in the entire damn planet there's 5 6 different words for it. How many times people have tried joining a subreddit only to find out a subreddit whose name is only a slightly different spelling of that one is the popular one they wanted?

So using a hashtag in a post is like creating a thread in a subreddit, except you can't get banned from a hashtag the way you can get banned from a subreddit. Following a hashtag is just like subscribing to a subreddit too.

But you know what's not like reddit? Mastodon.

Because mastodon has character limits. In the most popular instance, it's 500 characters, which means if you want to include many hashtags and you're going to go through the effort of typing them out that will quickly use up all your characters. This also means all replies end up looking like twitter threads. It's really the worst of two worlds.

On top of that, replies are hidden within posts and mastodon doesn't even want to show a number of how many replies something has. Imagine reddit didn't show you how many comments each thread had. You want to join a conversation, but you don't know where a conversation is even happening. And it's insane to blame this on modern social media addiction because even the oldest forums told you how many replies a thread had.

Is tumblr better?

Absolutely. In two ways.

First, you can have SPACES in your hashtags. You don't tag one piece onepiece, you tag it ONE SPACE PIECE the way God intended! And it's not even in the text of the post, it's out of the main body. For how important hashtags are in mastodon, they surely have learned nothing from the leading website about hashtags.

Second, a tumblr is a blog, not a chat. I think this may be the most important thing and the top reason why mastodon sucks so much. People who write blogs, who "shout into the void" ultimately yearn that their voices are heard by someone one day. It's like writing a book. You're happy someone reads it. Finding something someone wrote 15 years ago on the internet is also a delight. There's no inflammatory sharing of text out of context to get followers on pitch forks or anything like that. We just feel connected by reading other people's thoughts.

Mastodon thinks this "internet book" is not a book you want others to read. It's a diary and it's private and people have to jump through hoops to find even a page. But it's also... on the internet? And with federation it's actually much harder to lose control of the book than with a centralized platform like tumblr because once you post something it gets copied to other servers across the globe controlled by people you don't even know about.

With this perspective it's not a book you just "write your thoughts into it." But it's based on the microBLOGGING platform twitter where people just wrote their thoughts on it. How come?

Connecting these dots together, there's no way this "social media" works in any traditional leisure form. My guess is mastodon is great for people in INDUSTRIES specially tech ones to talk about professional topics with each other and network by hashtag, because for pretty much everything else it feels off.

But what if you just followed people instead of using hashtags?

If you're the sort of person that shouts into the void, you want a post about THING to be found because it's about THING, but you don't want followers because you just post every stupid thing you think of like "why mastodon sucks" and so there's really no reason for anyone to follow you and your haphazard stream of consciousness.

If I regularly post about anime and people followed me because of that, that would suck when I start posting about something else because then my thoughts they may not care about end up in their feeds and nobody wants that to happen.

[kozumebunny]

Hear me out, Devildom is ususlly cold and MC lived in some place like Arizona/Florida/anything really and Obey Me brothers going there only to meet the heat

Idk I thought it'd be funny lol

- ♤, a person who lives in Florida

Oh! An anon with an identity?? Insane

Also Florida humidity is gross spades (that is a spades symbol right??) its so bad for my hair it sucks all the moisture out of it

Lucifer takes it in a stride. Chances are he is the most PERFECTLY packed brother. Has left over space in his suitcase to bring things back. Cycles through all of his outfits and even has a little trash bag for his dirty clothes? Has sunscreen and a hat. He probably isn't a fan of the heat but he won't complain.

Mammon complains. He complains so much its annoying. His leather jacket? He tries to wear it in 80 degree 75% humidity. Why? For the fashion? Because it's his safety jacket? I don't know. He's stubborn. His sunglasses do come in handy here though! Won't wear a hat either. He doesn't want to mess up his hair.

Leviathan doesn't want to get out of his hoodie because it makes him feel safe. Out of all the brothers most likely to suffer from heat stroke. He does enjoy the humidity, although it's my personal head canon it comes from him enjoying more wet/moist environments! He likes the indoors anyways so he probably would hide out indoors anyways. Beach days with this guy? No he doesn't like the feel of sand.

Asmodeus wears a crop top with a heart shaped booby hole cut out. I'm right and I should say it. Thrives in the heat. Wants to go to the beach, get a tan. Has a little thing of sunscreen on him at all times. Doesn't like the heat only because he starts to sweat.

Satan isn't crazy about the heat. It just makes him feel like a wet puddle. Dresses like a normal person in shorts and a t shirt. Probably wants ice cream. Won't wear a hat but also refuses to wear glasses. Walks around squinting at everything. Probably gets a sun burn on his face or on the back of his shoulders/neck.

Beelzebub isn't bothered by high heat. He cooks a lot so he's used to it. But for extended periods? Nope. He becomes sleepy in warm weather. Dresses reasonable and probably reminds you to put on sunscreen every hour or so. He's terrified you'll get a sunburn, he's worried because you're human and you won't recover from sunburns as fast as he will.

Belphegor is a hermit, so he probably doesn't really think about weather. Warm weather is a bonus to him as he can nap outside and be warm, but cold weather is also a win to him as he can stay inside and cuddle under blankets. Still wears a hoodie outside, likes to be reallyyy warm.

[elidelochans]

Idk if you're ever gonna see this but did you ever end up writing the Elucien full fic you wanted to make back in April? The one where he meets and startles her late at night. I just couldn't find the link and I really wanted to read it. No worries if it doesn't exist! Just thought I'd ask :)

*Sorry for any typos. I can’t find my glasses and my vision sucks lmao

Hey Love!

I've been sitting on this ask for about a week unsure how to answer. (I didn’t mean to have it sit that long I was busy with Halloween.)  Even though it's a relatively easy answer I wanna take this opportunity to state why my answer is what it is. I made a post a few months back but I can’t locate it.

Wouldn’t be surprised if I upset some people with this response but I need to get it all out. To be honest and transparent (blame the trauma and anxiety hooray!) I’m going to preface this by saying when I say acotar fandom, mention shippers or character stans I don’t mean all of them. I’ve met some amazing people within this fandom who I love to bits, it’s just better to use broader terms. I don’t mean to offended these are just my personal thoughts and how I feel as an individual. If anyone reading this does get offended well that says more about you than me doesn’t it?

Short answer: it’s in my docs. No I don’t have plans to finish it at the moment.

 And here's why aka the long answer:

I am taking a huge step back from acotar. To put it simply, since acosf especially it hasn’t been a good fandom. There's been so much toxicity and immaturity within it. And Its honestly exhausting to see. No matter what social media you're on people are just...well they're ugly about alot of topics. Whether its ship wars, characters, or the story itself. It's just this circle you know? It's not just the E/riels or the Rhys can do no wrong stans. There's negativity in every corner of this fandom. Yes, all fandoms have this. Were all human and we wanna defend what we enjoy and what characters we like. However with the length people go to in this fandom to attack one another is shocking. People will literally chase someone on social media to drag them because of their opinions. I've seen this type of behavior in Harry Potter, Supernatural, Star Wars, Game of Thrones, a little in Stranger Things etc. Name a fandom I’ve seen it. I’ve never seen it to the magnitude that is Acotar. I mean I got dragged for posting a vote for overlays that I’m buying, people have poked fun of Sjm’s kids, bullying artists on insta, fic writers to the point they don’t want to be active anymore, commenting/reblogging fics with how much they hate the ship, among other things. 

Around the time I began working on this fic there was more E/riel, Gwynriel, Elucien drama. On top of my recent experience with the voting this just added to my unhappiness and cause me to realize that I had fallen out of love with this fandom. I didn't wanna write for it. I didn't wanna make edits or posts for it anymore. Because why? Why dedicate my time and energy for such a hateful fandom? You’d think the toxic fans would be tired. But no. It’s always the fans that wanna be active and enjoy the space that become tired. That’s what I am. Tired. I’m over it. I know I’m not the only one. 

I would really love to finish that fic and perhaps one day once I’ve distanced myself for some time and feel good going back I will. I do know what happens and it gets bad before it gets better. Because your ask was so sweet if you want the breakdown/outline of what happens I’d be happy to answer that. Aside from that consider me on hiatus from the acotar fandom. (You can still send me asks about acotar or anything sjm. but as far as original content it’s gonna be a long time.)

[jessiebanethedragon]

so i randomly thought about a fic with crosshair with his iconic line "you miss me? how touching" and im kinda shocked about how it doesnt exist! so i went to you to request this 👉👈 bcs you're one of my fav fic writers and i'd like to see it from you, no pressure though! bcs i know you dont exactly have all your hours to provide us with fan content :] <3

Hello! thank you so much for this request i’ve been in love with the idea for so long sorry it took me ages to get it written! anyways here it is! 

love ya oxoxox Jessie

Miss you (Crosshair x separatist!Reader)

You met Crosshair in a hurricane of cruses, punches and a bloody nose on his part. And from the glare he sent you way after Hunter had wrestled you into binders, you knew the mutual feeling of hatred was obvious. And of course, when the republic so graciously offered to help you make amends, in return for separatist intel and a forgoing of your prison sentence they put you back into the clutches of Clone Force 99. 

Crosshair could not stand you. With enough cheek and sass to rival his own, and looks that were infuriatingly good, the resident sniper had it out for you. 

But to be fair, you hated him as well. You hated how tall he was, how his deceivingly slim frame gave way to sturdy muscle that your hands had been over top of on a singular occasion that you couldn't get out of your head. 

“Tell me the layout again.” Sergeant Hunter demanded, standing over a disastrously incorrect map of a separatist base. 

“You’d be better off without a map at all!” Exclaimed throwing your hands up in defeat, “the weapons room is here, on the west side of the basement. Not on the east side of the top floor.” You went through the entire map again and again, in order for Hunter to relay it to Tech when him and Crosshair got  back from intel. 

“I still don't understand why we have to be out in the middle of nowhere.” Tech’s voice crackled through the comms. 

“Because She can’t be trusted.” Crosshair hissed. 

“She has been completely honest with us thus far.” Tech retorted, 

“She has a name” You called into your vambrace, 

“Fine, The separatist cannot be trusted.” Oh you could hear the smirk in his voice now. And the damn sniper wore it so well… 

“Ex-separatist.” Wrecker kindly pointed out in your defence. 

“Enough. All of you, Tech what's your status?” Hunter cut in, giving up on the holo-map completely. 

“Approaching the south entrance stand by.” You furred your brows, south, why did they go to the south. You distinctly remember telling them to go North… oh, oh shit. 

“Tech! Abort mission!” You said into your comm, grabbing your blaster and pack off of the walls of the ship. “Tech! Do not approach the south entrance. I repeat do not engage at the south entrance!” Why, Why did they never listen! You looked at Hunter and Wrecker who seemed unbothered. 

“Where do you think you’re going, Spitfire?” Wrecker asked teasingly, “South entrance is unguarded.” 

“According to your map, but according to me the south entrance is next to…” “The Barracks.” Hunter finished for you, before running into the cockpit shouting into his comms. You and Wrecker shared a look of panic. 

“Are you coming with me or not?”  You asked him, and his eyes darted to the cockpit where Hunter was currently firing up the engines and the ramp that was beginning to close. 

“I’ll meet you there Spitfire.” He promised, brothers come first, you could understand that. And even though you knew the Havoc Marauder could get there faster, something other than your brain told you that you had to go on foot. And so you threw yourself out of the rising ship, and onto the forest floor of a separatist planet. 

And that, well that brings us to the present situation, finding yourself once again in a pair of binders and your comrades nowhere to be found. In hindsight, trampoline through the undergrowth like a bantha on spice wasn't the best idea. But maybe you cared more for Clone  Force 99 than you’d like to admit. 

“Where are they?” Whorm Loathsom sneered, far too close for comfort. 

“The term ‘they’ is pretty ambiguous, could you perhaps speci-fy” your sentence was cut off as his clawed hand met your throat, your own hands fumbling at his face as you struggle for air. 

“I’ll ask you again, traitor. Where are the clones you’ve been travelling with?” Loathsom didn’t let up on his grasp, and the corners of your vision were beginning to blur. 

“At... your... mother’s.” You choked out, still trying to wriggle out of his grasp. His claws were beginning to cut into your skin, and you knew blacking out was imminent. 

“I don’t think you have the time for sarcasm.” He hissed, increasing the pressure causing you to flounder in his grasp. “Now, i’m giving you a chance for redemption here. Tell. me. Where. They. Are!” Maker, you realized, he’s going to do it, he’s actually going to kill you. And just as yours eyes fluttered closed and you began to black out, you hit the floor with a resounding thunk. Only to be pulled onto your feet again and into something familiarly solid. 

“Miss me?” Crosshairs voice was heaven layered honey over the sounds of wheezing and laboured breaths. 

“Crosshair?” You gasped up at him, his arms around your frame moving to pick you up. 

“How touching, you almost look pleased to see me.” You blinked repeatedly at his smirk, before wincing as he began to move. 

“Where?” He asked, setting you down again. You tried to speak again but your lungs were still working double time. “What did they do to you?” He whispered, “I should've been faster.” 

“Crosshair,” you tried again, essentially mewling into his chest, “I can’t…. Can’t” you were panicked, scared, trying to chase a breath you just couldn't catch. 

“I’m going to kill them. I’m going to kill them all.” He snarled, standing up again with you safely in his arms. Maybe Clone Force 99 cared for you more than you thought. 

Bed rest sucks, you decide about one day into Techs mandated recovery schedule. What sucks more is him and Hunter marching you back to you bunk every time you try to get up. So, naturally, you resort to sneaking around during the night when the self-proclaimed medics of the Bad Batch are asleep. 

You clutch a cup of some kind of herbal drink, Wrecker and Tech keep them by the box load so you figured they must be at least decent. But right now you’re wondering if you missed something because the stupid wet herb-flower bag thing keeps flopping around in the cup every time you try to take a sip. And the thing is way too hot, so you resort to blowing the steam away as it rises. 

“Shouldn't you be in bed?” Crosshairs voice comes from the doorway into the hull of the Marauder. 

“Miss me?” You ask, mimicking him from before, enjoying the irony. 

“Nope.” He says, popping the ‘p’. You scoff at your mug of hot herbal whatnot. “Wrecker was beside himself though.” 

“Was he?” You tease your sniper, and a part of you wonders when he went from being ‘the’ sniper to ‘your’ sniper. 

“Yeah, inconsolable in fact.” Crosshair moves from the doorway over to your spot  in the hull of the ship. 

“Really?” you arch an eyebrow, standing in an embarrassing attempt to meet his height. But he’s closer than you calculated and in your adjustment you fumble and find yourself against the wall. 

“Aw, little Spitfire’s all choked up, mind the pun.” Crosshair sneers at you, stepping firmly into your personal space. 

“I do in fact.” You retort, “mind the pun, i also mind you in my personal bubble.” You go to plant a hand on his chest to push him away, but he’s so solid. Maker, why is he so warm and firm under your hands. Why, oh why, does he have to feel so perfect to your palms. And in the three times you’ve now touched him, Crosshair’s starting to feel familiar. 

“You gonna push me or just cop a feel?” He raises an eyebrow, but you miss it under the blush on your cheeks and your gaze hits the floor. His hand comes to your chin, index finger underneath while the thumb caresses your cheek. 

“I didn't get to thank you… for coming back for me.” You’re not sure where this is coming from, but it happens anyways. 

“You’ve got a weird way of apologizing Spitfire,” He murmurs looking back to your hands in his chest, watching your eyes react as he moves his other hand to your hip. He smirks oh so proudly when you sigh and relax into his hands, and move yours to hold his face and lightly  scratch at the short hair on his neck. 

“Crosshair…” You exhale looking at him, and the energy between the two of you does the rest of the talking as he leans down to connect his lips to yours. 

Kissing Crosshair seems to contradict everything else about him. It’s slow and soft, he takes his time memorizing the feeling and shape of your lips of his. And with all the time he’s spent pushing you away, now he’s pulling you impossibly close. Your kiss is akin to the second half of your nickname. Crosshair is on fire, but he can't bring himself to care. For you, he tastes of a forest after rainfall, crisp with mist and peaceful. You don't want it to ever end, but the burning in your abused lungs forces you to pull away. Immediately he pulls your foreheads together, a Keldabe kiss, because it’s the best he can get as you both heave for air. 

“I did miss you. And I was worried.” He tells you, lips brushing against your own  as he speaks. 

“I know,” You say, pressing a second kiss to his lips where you can both feel the other smile. 

[omegangrins]

A Rant on the End of Tremors 7: Shrieker Island

As the main man said,

Throwing caution to the wind because this blew up elsewhere.

If you can do it with Justice League, fuck it, let's do it for every shitty movie we've got.

While we're at it, can we change the ending of the 7th Tremors movie so *MAJOR FUCKING SPOILERS* Burt Gummer doesn't die or at least bring Jamie Kennedy back, or Marvel style recast Jon Heder, so he dies saving his son instead of a random-ass person who could have easily saved themselves. Or cut the forced montage of Burt clips at the end so his death is at least ambiguous. Seriously beyond pissed about that one. THAT is no way for him to go.

I would also like to point out that the next Tremors *HAS* to be titled Tremors 8: Ouroboros and bring everyone back for Burt's funeral . Otherwise, what's the fucking point?

I have feelings about it, people. *FEELINGS!!!*

One of my favourite childhood memories is picking out Tremors 2 from the local gas station's movie rentals and forcing my parents to watch it. I was probably 5-6 at the time.

Let's say that it's been a lifelong love affair ever since. It took me another 10 years before I even watched the 1st. Probably why I hold good sequels in such high regard.

I didn't even know about the 1st until it played as a trailer in front of 2 and never thought to watch until years later. That's a testament to its filmmaking if I ever knew one.

So seriously, that's how they chose to kill off one of the most well known and prolific characters in a movie/TV series known around the globe? With an unnecessaryily needed death and a montage of clips from all the other movies that are obviously better than this one.

And I'm saying that as someone who defends Chibnall/13th Doctor...

...and I'm fucking fuming because THIS is how you *actually* destroy something people love and hold dear to their hearts. It's like the ending of Game of Thrones. His shitty ass death has made it a loooooot harder to rewatch. And they are one of my favourite series!!! Not flawless but fun. But I will defend every other movie and all the episodes except this. Honestly I'll still defend 7/8ths of this one as well.

Like I said, it's easily fixed too. Fucking vice versa swap out Jon Heder for Jamie Kennedy, who the movies have been building up for the last two, and have Burt save his son in front of his old flame. Boom, you won't even need the montage of clips cause you can just have Travis and his mom reminisce about Burt instead. Show not tell. I don't even care he died by Graboid (although in all honesty, I've allways wanted El Blanco to take him down or Burt kills himself from the PTSD. It would have AT LEAST MADE SENSE. Hell, the best would be a heart attack to callback Val's "Yeah, Burt, the way you worry, you're gonna have a heart attack before you get a chance to survive World War Three.". But none of us ever get the best death.). And it's not even about Burt sacrificing himself to save a nobody. Cause that could work too. BUT YOU NEED TO BUILD THAT SHIT UP. Not just fucking drop it like it's hot.

Like I said too, the first 7/8ths ain't bad but it's an entirely different story than a swansong for a hero.

It's all about some billionaire scientist/cowboy hunter dude who likes to get his jollies off hunting the biggest and the baddest who ends up inviting people to this island so they can hunt down Super-Graboids he designed for shits and giggles. But then some Shrieker-fy....

And the pretentious douches come and die one by beautiful one while Burt tries to save them anyway and it's all spectacularly dumb fun until it comes crashing down in the final 10 minutes. Fuck, they should just cut the last 10 minutes. Then it's a perfect little Tremors ditty.

#RELEASETHE7THTREMORSWITH10MINUTESFROMTHEENDCUT

This isn't even about Jon Heder either. He's just doing his job. Hell, do what /u/VoiceofRonHoward pointed out.

"It is clear that Jon's character was just pasted in over Jamie's, the artifacts of the father-son relationship are all over it. They should have gone full Marvel and just replaced Jamie with Jon and acted like nothing happened."

CAUSE FUCK YES!! The only time a story sucks is when they don't commit. Commitment makes all the difference. Now, I'm pissed double-pissed they didn't do that instead since Heder and Kennedy are similar in terms of white-boy-ness.

Even Michael Gross agrees:

"Yes, yes. Now I can't presume to speak for Jamie [Kennedy]. My understanding was they asked him and he said no. And so that's why they went with somebody else. So I had nothing to do with that decision. I just heard the stories. I missed him for that reason. You begin a relationship with the character, and you want to continue it....

...As you build a relationship with this son, we had two, it would've been nice to have three, but that was the hand I was dealt."

One of my favourite bits of Tremors lore comes from the 5th too so it's not like I hate sequel changes out of hand:

"This is a warrior dance. Our ancestors hunting the lnkanyamba and the Impundulu.

"What's that?

"Impundulu. It's what you call the Ass Blaster.

"Ass Blaster.

"Yes.

"Yes.

"Hey, you know, you make Ass Blaster sound good.

Primitive cultures fighting Graboids, Shriekers and Assblasters. I just love that thought.

Hilariously, my meta opening to the 8th movie would be a flashback to 10,000 years ago and a Neanderthal-like Burt Gummer teaching others how to drive Graboids off cliffs like they did with mammoths.

Thank you for giving me the space to rant. Cause fuuuuuuhhhhhhhhuuccck!!!

Here's Michael Gross' own words from his AMA that prove the people making Shrieker Island didn't know their shit.

"The Tremors series is one very close to my heart and I want you to know how appreciated your continued effort is for your core fan base.

My only question would be were there ever any studio decisions made for Burt that you refused to comply with? Or was everybody pretty much always on the same page on what to do with the character?

Thanks again for your dedication.

- Josh"

"Thanks for the kind words, Josh. As regards the first four films, with Wilson and Maddock as the writers, we were very much on the same page. 5,6, and 7 were a bit different, because there was a 13-year hiatus between 4 and 5, and we had to refresh our memories while "reinventing" the franchise for a new audience. I will give you one example: in an early draft of Shrieker Island, a new writer wrote a draft where Burt threatened to shoot one of the bad dudes, and I had to tell him—this is true—"Burt never intentionally points his gun at another human being."

And his own thoughts on Burt's "death" and how to bring it all back together again.

Universal and the director [came] to me with this idea, and they said, 'This could be emotionally very powerful, if we have to say goodbye to this man after 30 years. And I hemmed and hawed, and I thought about it a little bit. And I said, 'You're absolutely right about the emotional gut punch this can be.' And I said, 'You're going to hurt a lot of people's feelings.' And I said, 'But I thought this franchise was over after four. So I could certainly live with it being over after seven.'

"What we negotiated -- well, it wasn't really a negotiation, we all agreed on this -- is that we kind of left the door open. >!Because although Burt is gone, we never see a corpse. We never see his remains. Everybody assumes he's gone. Is he buried somewhere? Is he unconscious somewhere? We never see Burt dead. We see Burt gone. We see Burt not returning. What does that mean? Has he been knocked out? Does he have amnesia somewhere? Does he wander off? Is he in a kind of coma? So yes, the way it ends is pretty profound."

"As regards to the end of Tremors 7, let me just say that while people ASSUME Burt is gone, we never see his remains, do we? Just sayin.'

"The only reason he has become the main character is that everyone else in the original cast moved on to other things. I NEVER thought of him as the central figure, but it just worked out that Michael Gross, like Burt Gummer, was a "survivor." :0) "

"No one would like to see it more than I!!! One of my greatest regrets is that so many other cast members fell away over time. Reba was on to other things, Kevin said no to a second, Fred said no to a third. I would LOVE one last go with all of them, but it is not up to me. :0( "

"There are no guarantees, but for those who wonder aloud if this is the final film, I will say what I have said before: SALES drive sequels, Show biz is 5% show and 95% business, so if this latest addition to the Tremors franchise, sells well, [Universal] will follow the money, and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment may will be back for more."

/u/ActorMichaelGross, the bell has been rung and the song sung. Get the producers on this ASAP!!

I was also the first person to discover the symbolic foreshadowing of Stumpy's end with Earl's sleeping bag in the original movie.

Let's just say, I really *really* love these movies. So if anyone knows anyone, hook me up to the producers of this series and I'll Justin Lin in the Fast and Furious out of this shit.

Since I don't think it's good to critique without proposing either, I say we can make up for this fuck up with the next movie. We'll call it Tremors 8: Ouroboros. After the snake which eats its own tail.

We find out Burt faked his death to get the Proudfoot Corporation to let down their guard and when everyone from the previous series comes back for Burt's fake funeral they give him ever loving shit for being such a paranoid whack-job that he would fake his death to fool a government agency. Why would he do this? He found an old photo of Hiram Gummer with a Graboid warning on the back and asks himself why this valley, why these things, why allways me? And we find out, it's not Burt. It's that lifestyles of extremes will end up in places of extremes. Burt and the Graboids are survivors of different species. Sure the Proudfoot Corporation IS using Mixmaster to combine Graboids, Shriekers, and Ass-Blasters into one super creature for the military but it pales in comparison to Burt looking at his life and wondering in shame how many ancient giants like himself he has killed. And with that, he actually dies, and we keep the ball rolling with the rest of the characters trying to stop what they allways thought was just another one of Burt's crazy conspiracies.

That's why it's Ouroboros. Everything comes back around. We could end/start the movie with Grady, Earl, and Jodi opening a Monster World in Perfection Valley a la Desert Jack's Graboid Adventure. I don't know. I'm fucking trying harder than the people they paid to do this already.

It ain't perfect but I'm building on sand here so changes are gonna get made.

Like if the makers of Tremors notice this,

Then DM me because fucking A you guys need some help.

[icharchivist]

Usually I'd agree that they'd space out the Dragon Knights content more, but I'm not too sure about this time around. We're also getting a new Dragon Knights music album next month so it really feels like they're dedicating a lot of this year's content to the knights. We've been getting a steady influx of content almost every month since Vane's big role in the Sauna event by now. I wouldn't be surprised if they ended the year with a holiday unit. Or it could end with the album, who knows.

I guess if they want to make it the year of the Dragon Knights and just go ham, they could, and i'd welcome anything they throw my way, i'm starved as hell

with the album coming it's not impossible that we get announcement for skins too, like the first album brought, so....

but that's exactly why i feel like it's too much already dFLKJDF

and truly like, i'd welcome it with open arms if i hadn't seen the way people can get huh, pretty annoying to be kind when they get too much screentime, for good or bad reasons.

And it would kinda sucks if smaller saga still get disregarded because they decided to give Knights content over and over

again i would love it like, words cannot even describe how much i love and cherish them, but realistically i worry too much about the backlash and the company tends to worry about that as well so kdhfjdf let's. let's see.

we'll see in December anyway o7

i mean i was thinking too comparing to 2020 which was also kind of kishi-full in a way? We had an Aglovale anni skin, Light!Percival, Vane's 5*, Light!Gawain and Florence and if i recall that stopped there. So since this year it was V!Aglo, H!Vane, S!Sieg, The EX Art for Wind!Sieg, Light!Arthur many events (bistro rerun, the summer event with sieg in rerun, sauna event, sieg event rerun, StW) it is already so. so many in comparaison LDKJFDKLFJ

and people are also already speculating "what if the kishi shows up in Lunalu event" since Lunalu is in universe really fan of them (she has a major crush on Siegfried from their crossepisode, we saw how she was with Percival in the Sauna event, in GBVS she appears in the background and starts having nose bleed if you fight with either Percival or Lancelot, and her SSR's fight is against a shadow Aglovale) which would just. I mean. I'd love to. but man.

Also i feel like if we get fed too much this year we may get sparce content next year and starving until Lamorak uni- i mean the next Kishi event........ so long........

So yeah i guess i'm in the wait and see here, i'm not raising my expectations because it has already filled too much of them this year that i'd feel greedy to keep asking for more DLKJFDF BUT if we do get it i'll welcome it gladly.

But deep down i hope you're right if only because i want more content. but also my spark isn't ready for a new unit this close to the next, V!Aglo, S!Sieg and H!Vane made sure i was ruined for that, i'd love to have a break to be able to gather a spark (which is also why normally the units are spaced out DLKJFD) but. who knows. who knows TwT

[touyaz]

OO HELLO HELLO!! congrats on ur milestone love 🥺💘 id love to get a toxic matchup from u hehe <3

i suck ass at communicating and trusting people, will keep everything bottled up till i get found out or i can't take it anymore. also overthink too much </3 bc of that i need someone who's perceptive enough to notice when im not okay, and be patient but honest/straightforward ab it. im an introvert, my love language is physical touch and i don't prefer people w acts of service/gift giving as love languages (simply bc. i feel bad every time i accept a gift/service? idk it's weird but i can't take people doing things for me LMAO)

hope that's not too much!! have a beautiful day angel and make sure to drink lots of water mwah <3

aether !!! thank u very much, i hope you are doing well + taking care of yourself also 🥰💞 !!

i'm gonna say your toxic match-ups are ushijima + osamu!! ushijima's social skills are....... lacking, put nicely, and i think it'd be a struggle talking to him about deeper/ more serious things bc he doesn't really... make the situation easier for you? like, you could be working up the courage to tell him smth that's been eating away at you + you just want to get it out, and he'll be staring at you like 👁👄👁 + it makes you wonder whether he even wants to be there/ cares (he does but he does absolutely nothing to ease ur worries. just sorta sits there ominously. waiting.). osamu is better at communicating, but he's a very "they'll tell me in their own time" kind of guy, so even if he can see you struggling, he won't encourage you/ push you to talk unless it's been going on for too long. neither of them are particularly good w the emotional side of things which will def lead you to overthinking whether they even care bc they're not the most verbal/ expressive abt how they feel. osamu is better than ushijima, but he's still not the loudest guy, he prefers subtle acts of love which aren't as obvious, especially if youre in a headspace where you're beginning to think he doesn't like you bc he doesn't say it v often. rip to you but osamu's love lang is acts of service; like i said, he's not good at declaring his love, but he hopes you see it through his actions. if he can see you getting uncomfortable by that he's like,, at a crossroads bc it's hard to up and change the way he acts, but he can tell you're not the biggest fan? he'll probably continue it tho bc words are not his forte </3 thats not to say he won't initiate physical contact though, but he tends to do that in private/ only when w close friends. ushijima........ tbh, i think he likes having his own personal space, so you have to initiate physical contact bc it just doesn't register in his mind that he should do this stuff (esp at the start of ur relo) he's a work in progress </3 for similar reasons to osamu, i would say suna as well. i love them both but they suck ass at speaking to ppl + giving comfort when it's needed <///3

[bagels-and-seagulls]

I've been thinking about davenzi having a soft emotional moment and one of them says something about spending forever together or smth and !! they're suddenly nervous bc oh no! was that too much to say?? if you're interested in writing smth about that I'd love to read it!

“I used to count the stars when this happened,” Matteo muttered around the joint in between his teeth.

David watches him out of the corner of his eye. Matteo is slouched against the outside wall with his feet propped up onto balcony banister in front of him. He shields the joint with one hand and lights it up. If David didn’t know better, if he hadn’t been here to stop Matteo from clawing off his own ears from where the world was screaming around him, then he would think that Matteo was fine, that he was just another teenage boy lounging around on a lay Friday night, that he wasn’t ripping himself apart at the seams.

He hums and fixes the blanket that fell from around Matteo’s shoulder. It was too cold to be out here, he thought to himself, but when Matteo asked to go out on the balcony to get some air, to cool down his face from where the tears made him feel like he was on fire, to block out the world that was behind his bedroom door, David’s worries about the wind got stuck in his throat. He just grabbed the blankets off the bed and followed him out.

Matteo doesn’t elaborate, just takes a drag, and David asks, “Why’d you stop?” in that low, quiet voice that is reserved for Matteo only.

“Couldn’t count that high anymore,” Matteo shrugged, and David closed his eyes to try and stop thinking about a young and sad Matteo, counting stars through his tears every night.

David takes the joint from between Matteo’s lips and sucks it in. He holds onto the joint for a second longer, seeing if he could run it down faster. Matteo snatched it back too quick though.

They sit in silence for a while. David didn’t know how long they were out there. It was long enough for the cold to lock up his joints and make his ears start stinging. The only thing he could hear was sizzling down of the joint with each of Matteo’s breaths.

He looked over to see Matteo staring down at his hands. He was balling up his hand in a fist before flexing out his fingers, like he was itching to do something but was trying to stop himself. The joint was down to its end on the other and too close to Matteo’s skin for David’s comfort. “Hey,” he said. “Give me that.”

He plucks the joint from between Matteo’s knuckles and stomps in out next to him.

“What if this never goes away?” Matteo whispers, still looking down in his lap. “What if I’m like this forever, and you’re stuck talking me off the ledge when we’re 90 or some shit?”

“Hm?” David hums and turns towards Matteo. He thinks he can see the moment when Matteo realizes what he said, what he implied, what it all meant. He could see the wheels turning around in Matteo’s head, watched as his lungs clamped up and stopped the his breathing for a second, saw when the anxiety levels started rising up to the top of Matteo’s head until he was about to start panicking again.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean-“

David pushed himself into Matteo’s space until he was cramped up against his side. He wraps his arms tightly around Matteo, thinking maybe he can squeeze all those bad feelings right out of Matteo’s pores. “I always thought when we were all old and wrinkly, you won’t be smoking so much and instead have a hobby like needlepoint or knitting or something,” he says into his shoulder. “I don’t want to get kicked out of the old folk’s home because you have arthritis in your hands and can’t fan the smoke out the room fast enough, and we end up getting caught.”

Matteo holds himself incredibly still, and David worries if he’s breathing. He runs his fingers down the back of Matteo’s wrists until Matteo turns his palm over to link their hands. Matteo starts slumping further into the wall behind him. “Old folk’s home, huh?”

“Yeah,” David looks up at his face and sees that Matteo is still staring up at the sky. “We’re going to be causing chaos in all the hallways. I’ll hang onto the back of your scooter and we’ll throw confetti into everyone’s rooms to remind them to get the sticks out their asses because we’re old, not dead. And the nurses will say we’re the worst people there, but they secretly call us the cutest old couple they’ve ever met behind our backs.”

“That sounds nice,” Matteo says after a minute with his eyes closed and his hand clamping onto David’s so tightly that he can feel his nails in the soft skin on his knuckles.

David hums again. “David and Matteo Schreibner, the elderly menaces of society.”

That gets Matteo to shake his head and snort. He finally looks down at David with a small smile that has David scrunching up his nose and wanting to grin. “Matteo Schreibner, huh?”

David nods and leans up until his nose is pressed into Matteo’s temple. “You’re never getting rid of me now, monkey. Stuck with me forever.”

send me prompts :)

[gamegrumpiess]

Don't Forget About Me PART ONE?

Its been a fucken minute. I've been working a lot really. Trying to get my place together since I moved and what not. I have free time again! So here you go. Also! If you want me to continue this, let me know!

Dan x Reader

Warnings? Might be a bit sad, but nothing worth crying over.

You can request some shit!

(y/m/n) - your mom's name

(y/l/n) - your last name

(h/t)- home town

~~~~~~~

~1992~

Young Danny's POV

"Dan! Dinners ready!" My mom yells from downstairs. "I'll be right there!" I pause my game and make my way down. It's been freezing in my room lately, New Jersey winter really taking a toll on our house. The heater isn't installed yet, though I wish it was. I only have so many blankets.

"Dana, Leigh, there's new neighbors across the street. They've been here for about a week, I met the woman and her fiance last night, but her kids weren't home. I think it'd be a good idea to welcome them all. After dinner we'll all go down together. Is that a good idea?" My mom and dad have always been really nice like that. I feel wave of anxiety rush over me, it's not that I don't want to meet them, I just feel weird going to their house just to introduce ourselves. Dana nods her head and goes back to eating her soup, so content with her life. I'm not looking forward to this...

After we all finish eating, my mother tells us to get ready and look decent for the neighbors. What would 'decent' be? A regular shirt with jeans? I'll be in my jacket so I guess it really doesn't matter. After I get myself together, I walk downstairs to see Mom and Dad waiting for me and Dana. "Alright, let's go guys!" Dana comes out of her room dressed and ready as well. "I'm ready!" She yells with her childish voice. At least she's excited, because I'm not.

*ding ding dong ding*

A woman opens the door with a smile. "Oh, hello Debbie! What brings you here?" My mom smiles back at the woman, "I thought we could all come welcome you to the neighborhood!" The woman looks shocked a bit before she opens the door wide and invited us all in. "So this is my husband, call him Avi, my daughter Dana, and my son Leigh. He likes to be called Daniel, though." The woman smiles and shakes my dad's hand and mine. Dana has gotten a little bit shy, so the woman kneels down to her height. "Hi Dana, I'm (y/m/n). I work with kids your age all the time! You know, we have a pet turtle, his name is Cheesy. Would you like to meet him?" Dana's eyes light up at what (y/m/n) said. She nods her head frantically as the woman points to a glass talk with rocks and a little bit of water. "He's right there. Go ahead and talk to him!" As Dana runs to look at, what I assume is Cheesy, the woman turns back to us. "My fiance is at work right now. But my daughter and son are here. Y/N!" (Y/m/n) yells upstairs. "I'm coming!!" A little voice yells back. A girl came downstairs into view. She looks my age, but I haven't seen her at school, is she new? "This is my daughter, y/n. My younger son, Jacob is taking a nap in his room. Shes been working on her room all day." My mom smiles at y/n, "hey y/n! How old are you? Do you go to school here yet?" Y/n looks down, clearly a little shy. "I'm 12 years old... I don't go to school yet here, I'm new, I kind of don't want to." She states truthfully. She's only a year younger than me, but she seems very mature for a 12 year old. Then again, I'm kind of mature for a 13 year old.

As time goes on, y/n and her mom start breaking out of their she'll a little bit. Ms (y/l/n) says they just moved here from (h/t), she left her husband a while back and met a man who lived here. So I guess the man who lives here now isn't y/n's and Jacob's actual dad. Something about that is really sad to me, I have both of my parents. I can't really imagine what it's like to only have one in your life. "Is y/n going to go to the same school as Leigh?" I knew that question would come up. And turns out, yes she will. I'm not really complaining. At least she'll have one person she knows. I'm not entirely popular at all, but at least she won't be alone. Y/n looks at me and smiles. She really does have a sweet smile.

~later that night~

"Debbie, she's out there again! Poor kid, I hope she's okay." My dad calls out to my mom. "She's out there almost every night. Do you think she's okay?" I get curious and look at the time. 10:18 pm. Who would be out this late? Sure, it's a Saturday, but it's so cold outside this time. It's probably going to snow soon. I walk out to my mom and dad to see what's going on. "Who's outside?" Mom points out the window and I look out to see a figure sitting in the empty driveway across the street. "Almost every night, y/n just sits on the cold driveway. Her mom works graveyard shifts a lot. I wouldn't doubt it if she's home alone, poor thing." My mom puts her hand over her heart and looks down, her motherly instincts kicking in. "Leigh, could you please go out there and see if she's okay? She's always out there for hours at a time." I comply to what my mom says, mostly because I don't want to disappoint her by saying no. Also, I'm a little curious as well as to why she's out in the cold so late.

Y/n POV

Space is so cool. I've loved the stars and planets since I was a baby. On the nights when my mom is working, Jacob stays with my stepdad at his place. He's only 5, I get it. At this point I'm used to being alone. It's not a bad thing. I like it. When I was younger my dad would always leave me by myself so he could work. I was old enough to take care of myself though, little 7 year old me. I would do this back then as well. Sit outside and look at the sky. Even on days when the sky would be covered by clouds, I'd still stare In wonder above.

I hear a door close across the street and a skinny boy huddled up in jackets walk out of it. I hope he's not coming here, I'm not good with boys one on one. They make me feel awkward. Plus, he's a good looking boy. That makes it way worse. "Y/n, right?" He's standing right above me. I smile slightly, "Yeah, that's right. Aren't you cold?" He's very skinny, probably doesn't have body heat of his own like me. Im on the thicker side of the wall when it comes to looks. I'll probably always will be, but that okay. "Yes I'm freezing. But I saw you out here and I thought I should ask if you're okay."

I look up at him, "I'm okay. I just like looking at the stars. I'd rather be out here looking at the sky than in a quiet house." I tell him truthfully. "Are you home alone?" I nod and smile. "Yea, my mom works at the children's hospital and my little brother is with my stepdad at his house. I dont go because my stepsisters don't really like me. Which is fine, I don't really like them either." He sits down by me, criss crossed and hands in his pockets. "Are you okay on your own, though? My mom is worried too." His mom? Why would she be worried about me? I guess I am out here a lot. "Tell your mom im fine, and thank you for worrying. I appreciate that." He looks back to his house and then to me again. "Do you want me to sit here with you for a bit?" I smile again, "Sure. Just don't get frostbite in my driveway." He laughs and I join in as well.

~1997~

Y/n POV

I've known Dan for almost 6 years now. Since that night he'd be sitting on my driveway with me any chance we could. He's grown up a lot, but so have I. I'm proud of him, really. He just graduated high school, the only thing is, he's leaving for college. I still have 12th grade left. It sucks, my best friend is leaving. In the 6 years I've known him, I've grown to have a massive crush on him. He's gotten a lot taller, his hair has grown more, he's just this tall silly nerd. I'm not one for cliche cheesiness... But I really do love him. The times hes had girlfriends, it's been pretty painful. There's been more than a few nights when I'm on the driveway alone, or I'd have to eat lunch with Joe and Dylan alone because he'd be out with his girlfriend at that time. I'd be in pain, but I would never let it get to me. If he's had other girlfriends, it's clear he doesn't like me like that. And that's fine, I'm okay with just being his friend. As long as he's in my life at all I'm okay.

But he's leaving.

Dan's POV

My last night here in New Jersey is tonight. The flight for Boston leaves tomorrow morning, early as hell too. I'd have to go to bed soon if I really want to catch it. My room looks so empty... All my memories of growing up are in this exact house. I went to go see Ms (y/l/n) earlier today and say goodbye before she went to work, even said bye to Jacob. Y/n wasn't there, (y/m/n) said she was at band practice. I told her not to worry, I'll probably see y/n tonight since I usually sit with her in her driveway at night. Luckily, it's not cold anymore. Summer weather keeping me cool enough to not wear shorts, though. I walk out and see y/n sitting where she usually sits. Except now with a cat in he shirt to keep the cat warm in the cool weather. She looks up at me and waves, and I can't help but smile a little and wave back before starting to walk over.

If I had a choice, I'd take her with me. She's my best friend, I don't want to leave her alone. Joe and Dylan are leaving as well, she'll be alone at school and she'd have no one to sit with at night in her driveway. 6 years spent with her, and I wouldn't want to change it for the world. She's a really good friend.

"Hey.." she says, careful not to wake the cat in her lap. "Hey, I'm leaving tomorrow morning.. I wanted to come say bye to the cat." I say jokingly. She rolls her eyes and nudges my leg as I sit beside her. "Shut up, Dan. I can't believe it, you're going to college." I can't help but agree. I shake out my hair a little bit. "Yup. I really want to be a musician, but my dad said hed pay for my college if I go into advertising. I really don't want to, but I cant pay for myself on my own." She pets the cat again and shrugs. "Soon enough, you will be a musician. You'll have thousands of fans, be on stage rocking out like you've always wanted. You'll have people recognize you in the street wanting a picture and an autograph. You'll be so successful, as long as you put your passion in it." I can't help but smile at her. That is my dream, always has been. "It's gonna be weird without you guys. Senior year... I have one more year before I leave too," she looks at the sky again. "It's kinda scary. I won't be a kid anymore. Growing up in general is scary." I grab her shoulder and look in her eyes. "Hey don't talk like that. You're gonna be a great voice actress like you've always wanted to be. You might even become a singer too. You have to put passion in it too. You'll be in all your favorite anime shows, and video games. You can do it too. Don't forget that." She looks down and nods. "I will. Hey promise me something though." I look at her and encourage her to go on. "Don't forget about me. I know you're gonna grow up and find all the success in the world, just don't forget about this time in your life. Our friendship, who you are. Don't forget, please." I give her a sad smile and lean in to hug her. "I could never forget about you. You're one of my best friends. Don't worry. I'll keep in touch as much as possible, I promise." She smiles and hugs back. I start to walk back to the house when I hear her call my name again, "Dan!......." I turn back to her and she looks down before looking back up to me. "Be safe out there." She stares at me and I nod. "You too, y/n.."

To be continued?~

[nachtgraves]

If you're still taking writing prompts for ships could you do 14 with kuzuhina? Your kuzuhina fics give me life

Aww thank you! I’ve been super busy these past few weeks. Between my first apartment and getting all that shit sorted plus all the projects and assignments and essays and finals because only one week left in the semester oh god kill me I have had no time. BUT I FINISHED IT. It is rushed and I apologize but I was trying so hard not to write something that was like 4k again because I have a problem.

Title: Hinata Hajime Will Kiss the Boy // AO3Word Count: 1892Warnings/Tags: PG/PG-13. Somewhat established relationship, they’re in their twenties or something, AU.Prompt: First kiss

Nightsettles over one of the nicest summer days of the year. Hajime tries to settlehis nerves. The steaks are marinated and ready to be laid over the skillet onthe stovetop. The rosemary potatoes are in the oven and have another twenty-fiveor so minutes to go. The salad is awaiting a drizzle of raspberry vinaigrettein the fridge, alongside two bowls of chocolate mousse. Several options of redand white wine are resting in his cupboards. His best china are sitting on thecounter waiting for food to be laid on them, and his best silverware are laidout on the small dining table by the doors to the balcony, propped open to letthe cooling breeze in.

Tonightis the night. He’s finally going to find out if the lips haunting his latenight dreams and lunch breaks are as nice and soft and firm have made them outto be.

There’sa knock on the door.

“Ohgod. Okay. I can do this.” Hajime psyches himself up and quickly making surenothing will catch on fire or explode in the few minutes it will take to letFuyuhiko in, speed walks—he does not run—to the door.

Hislittle pep talk is forgotten the moment he opens the door and lays eyes on theshorter man before him. His throat goes dry and his heart stutters. “H-hey.”

Fuyuhiko,dressed modestly in a dark, form hugging vest over a long sleeved button downand dark skinny jeans looks up at Hajime and the brunet mentally agonizes overwhether or not his plain t-shirt and chinos are dressy enough.

“Yougonna let me in?” Fuyuhiko quirks a brow.

“Oh,right, yeah. Come in, make yourself comfortable.” Hajime moves out of thedoorway so Fuyuhiko can come in, shutting the door behind them and watchinganxiously as Fuyuhiko takes in his apartment. It’s not bad but it’s not asgrand as anything Fuyuhiko is probably used to. From their few dates, and theintel Chiaki has deigned to tell him, Fuyuhiko comes from a world of exclusiveprivate schools, brand name underwear, and private chefs.

“Smellsgood,” Fuyuhiko turns around and smiles. Hajime forces himself to avoid lookingat the other man’s mouth.

“Thanks,there’re potatoes in the oven and I just need to grill the steaks. You likeyours medium rare, right?”

Fuyuhikonods and Hajime leads him to the kitchen, turning on the stove and grabbing thesteaks. Fuyuhiko leans against the side of the counter and Hajime discovers he’sdeveloped some sort of performance anxiety. The blond’s gold eyes watch hisevery move and Hajime does his best to pretend it’s not affecting him.

“Ifyou want to help yourself to some wine, I have a couple bottles,” Hajime says,hoping his voice doesn’t sound as shaky to Fuyuhiko as it does to his own ears.He directs Fuyuhiko to where the bottles and glasses are and looks up from thesteaks when he hears a laugh.

“Nowwould be the time to tell me if you’re secretly an alcoholic,” Fuyuhiko says,pulling down one of the white wines. Hajime flushes.

“Iwasn’t sure if you had a preference. I know red is usually had with steak, butI’m personally not a fan of it.” Hajime admits this to the steaks sizzling inthe skillet, turning them over.

Fuyuhikoonly huffs a quiet laugh again and pours two glasses, coming back to stand byHajime and the stove and setting the second glass on the counter.

Theytalk about their day and Fuyuhiko asks about Hajime’s cooking repertoire.Fuyuhiko bullies Hajime into helping set up the dining table by taking thepotatoes and salad while Hajime serves up steaks on his best plates. Fuyuhikocomes back to the kitchen to grab the wine bottle and Hajime’s half-sippedglass. They set up the table and Hajime serves their meals.

Hajimeleads the conversation mostly due to his nerves, anxiety has him babbling butFuyuhiko doesn’t seem to mind. The blond sips his wine and eats his meal,watching Hajime with this look thatHajime can’t read. He’s relieved when the winds pick up and he has to get up toshut the balcony doors, using those few seconds to try and calm himself.Fuyuhiko enjoys the food, and Hajime grins while trying to deflect and downplaythe compliments.

“Doyou want to put on a movie and with dessert?” Hajime asks, clearing up thetable. “I just need to grab it from the fridge.”

“Yeah,”Fuyuhiko nods. He licks his lips and Hajime focuses on stacking plates andkeeping one foot in front of the other. The wine is definitely affecting theboth of them. Hajime’s head a little fuzzy and Fuyuhiko’s skin has gained apink tinge over the course of dinner.

Hajimeputs the dishes in the sink to deal with later and pulls out the bowls ofmousse from the fridge. Impulse has him grabbing a box of strawberries that hequickly rinses and puts in another bowl, bring the three bowls and two spoonsto the living room. Fuyuhiko has made himself comfortable on the couch. Hisvest is folded over the back and his feet are drawn up under him. He’s pulledup Netflix on the TV and is scrolling through the movies in Hajime’s list.

WhenFuyuhiko sets eyes on the bowls, Hajime grins at the very eager look.

“Chocolatemousse with whipped cream and strawberries,” Hajime presents with a littleflourish. He pulls the coffee table closer to the couch and sets thestrawberries on the table, giving Fuyuhiko his bowl of mousse and a spoon.Fuyuhiko takes a bite and his eyes flutter shut with a soft hum.

“That’sreally good, Hajime,” he says, eyes remaining closed as he sinks back into thecouch.

“Yeah?Thank you, glad you like it. What movie do you feel like watching?”

Theydecide on some random action flick but Hajime, in clichéd fashion doesn’t payattention to what’s happening on the screen. His eyes purposely ignore hiscommand and keep flickering to watch Fuyuhiko’s profile. Despite the dressysemi-formal attire he looks soft and relaxed curled up in the corner of thecouch. Hajime wants to reach over and run his hands over the blond’s buzz cut,trace a thumb over the soft relief of cheekbones, press his mouth to soft lipsstained red from the strawberries and lick at chocolate mousse residue in awarm mouth.

Hajimeshifts on the couch. He needs to get a hold of himself.

Fuyuhikoturns his head at Hajime’s shifting. He’s almost done with the mousse, havingtaken his time with it, savoring each mouthful in a way that has not helpedHajime with the situation of his rampant and rebellious hormone driventhoughts.

“Youwouldn’t happen to have more of this, would you?” Fuyuhiko asks. He licks hisspoon clean and pouts subtly at his empty bowl.

Hajime,unlike Fuyuhiko, has barely touched his mousse and has a good half of it leftin his bowl. He had other things on his mind and he had made the mousse forFuyuhiko, knowing about the blond’s not-so-secret sweet tooth. He reaches forhis mostly forgotten bowl and offers: “No, but you can have the rest of mine,if you’d like. I’m stuffed from dinner and doubt I can finish this, honestly.”

There’sa gleam in Fuyuhiko’s eyes that Hajime attributes to gaining more dessert buthe is not prepared for Fuyuhiko to scooch over, eating up the polite andsocially acceptable space Hajime had purposely put between them on the couchwhen he sat down, and take the bowl out of hands. And then he stays there, shoulders brushing and knees faintly touching.Fuyuhiko takes a big serving of Hajime’s mousse and languidly sucks it from thespoon with a pleased sigh and hum that is just this side of almost being amoan. Hajime is going to die.

Hajimeswallows the lump in his throat and jerks to face the TV. He has no idea what’shappening and Fuyuhiko is pressed against his side and doesn’t seem to have anydesire to curl back up on his side of the couch. A couch that is really not allthat small, pretty modest, actually, and there is plenty of room for two grownmen to sit on it without being half in the other’s lap.

Aftera moment, Fuyuhiko huffs and sets Hajime’s bowl on the coffee table. “Oh mygod,” he grumbles.

Hajime,alert and now worried looks over, question of concern ready on his tonguebefore there’s a hand grabbing at the collar of his shirt and a mouth pressedto his, halting any sort of sound from coming from his lips other than asurprised squeak that turns into a low groan of pleasure.

Fuyuhiko’slips are just as soft as Hajime imagined them to be and the added taste ofstrawberries and chocolate and a hint of white wine just makes everythingbetter. Hajime’s hands go to Fuyuhiko’s face and hips as he presses closer.Fuyuhiko eases his grip on Hajime’s shirt only to press his hands flat onHajime’s chest and push him back so Hajime is lying on the couch, head on thearm rest, and Fuyuhiko is plastered on top of him. Hajime is not complaining.

Aconfident tongue licks at his lips and he opens readily to Fuyuhiko. He’s happyto let Fuyuhiko lead and enjoys their first kiss turning into a second andthird and fourth, hands roaming over Fuyuhiko’s back, feeling soft fabric andwarmth and adventuring to hot skin and the firmness of muscle.

Whenthey finally need to pull back to breath, Hajime is panting and Fuyuhiko isflushed with bruised lips and blown pupils above him. Hajime wants to pull him backdown and mark up any bit of skin he can touch.

Allhe can say is: “Uh, wow. Um.”

Fuyuhikosnorts and sits up, straddling Hajime’s thighs and placing his hands on thecurve of Hajime’s hips. Hajime feels the blond’s palms like a hot iron thatseeps through his clothes. “If I kept going at your pace you wouldn’t have kissedme until Chiaki or Kazuichi or fucking Sonia orchestrated a convenientmistletoe or I pretended to stop breathing in the hopes you knew CPR.”

Hajimeflushes. “I—It wouldn’t—I mean.”

Fuyuhikoslides a hand under Hajime’s rumpled shirt and effectively cuts off Hajime’sstuttering, replacing attempts at protests and excuses and explanations with abroken moan at the feeling of a hot hand sliding against the sensitive skin ofhis stomach.

Fuyuhikogrins and Hajime wonders how long Fuyuhiko has been waiting for Hajime to makethe first move. Although a lot makes sense now. Fuyuhiko is a massive tease andHajime has been practicing a needless exercise in restraint.

“Shutup,” Hajime grumbles. He reaches up and manages to snag the front of Fuyuhiko’sshirt, pulling him back down. The blond goes easily and Hajime cups Fuyuhiko’sface in his palms, kissing him like he’s wanted to for the past few weeks sincethey first started dating and then moving down the list of types of kisses he’sbeen fantasizing of planting on skin and lips.