#Logan really likes apple jack

[mooneater0-0]

I’m silly I’m silly I’m silly im silly im silly I’m silly

[raleighcarrera]

best of me

ride or die | logan x mc (ellie wheeler)

a picture of logan and ellie in their thirties for @rodappreciationweek and the time capsule challenge 🌼

tags: @choicesarehard ; @lovehugsandcandy ; @pixeljazzy ; @troublemakerinspace ; @zigtheeortega ; @jaxmatsuo

~2.3k words | T

“mr. wheeler!” 

logan looked around the parking lot, squinting into the sun. one of his students was running at him full speed, holding his cell phone aloft and waving it around excitedly. “what’s up, alex?”

alex drew to a stop in front of him breathlessly. “i got in,” he said, lips splitting into a big grin. “cal tech, i got in.”

“hey, that’s awesome!” logan said, reaching out to clap the student on the shoulder. “congrats, alex. that’s a huge accomplishment.”

“dude, thank you so much for your recommendation,” alex said, nodding enthusiastically. “you’re honestly the best teacher i’ve ever had.”

“give yourself some credit,” he smiled, “you worked hard, and cal tech is lucky to have you. just don’t forget to come back and visit, yeah?”

“for sure,” alex agreed. with one last grin, he was gone, and logan finished getting his things in the car so he could head home, the rest of the students and faculty in the parking lot of mar vista high well used to the roar his devore’s engine made by now, after three years of teaching.

ellie’s car was already in the driveway when he arrived back at the house, and logan frowned when he parked on the street and jogged up the walk to their front door. it was early for her to be home; usually his day ended well before hers. as he walked inside, he wondered absently if the fact that she’d had an early afternoon meant she’d started dinner, and if he was possibly lucky enough that she was making that noodle thing he liked so much.

“ellie?” his keys landed in the bowl by the door with a familiar clink, his shoes kicked off one by one on the mat. “babe?”

“in here!” the stressed-out voice of his wife filtered in from the spare room. as soon as logan took a step towards the hallway, there was a sudden and aggressive rapid tap-tap-tap on the hardwood floor, and their dog ran at him at full speed, jumping up onto his legs with an excited bark.

“hey, clark,” he said gently, bending down to scratch the dog behind his floppy ears, “everything okay in there?”

the pointed silence that followed seemed to speak for itself. he followed the hallway down to the spare bedroom and found ellie sitting on the floor, surrounded by ripped-open cardboard boxes and indistinguishable small plastic pieces.

before logan could ask what she was doing, she frowned up at him and said, “i’ve been trying to put this baby carrier together for three hours.”

he arched his eyebrows at her, looking over the small mess she’d created in the middle of the room. “you’ve been here for three hours?”

ellie pulled a face at him, her lips twisted into a grimace. “morning sickness that lasts all day again,” she explained, scrunching up her nose. “jack caught me coming out of the bathroom and sent me home after lunch.”

“oh, no,” logan said sympathetically, dropping down onto his knees on the one free space of carpet. “i was hoping that’d’ve gone away by now.”

“you and me both,” ellie sighed, puckering her lips at him for a quick kiss. “i guess it was too much to hope for a baby without a rebellious streak a mile wide.”

“i’m still holding out for your dimples,” he grinned, “and that laugh. as long as the baby gets both of those, they’ll be set for life.”

“the baby is five minutes away from sleeping on the floor. i’m about to trash all of this and go take a nap.” the downtrodden expression on ellie’s face tugged at his heart in a way her cute little sighs always seemed to manage to. logan was already smiling when she squinted up at him hopefully and asked, “will you help me try to put it together?”

as if there was ever a chance he’d say no. “’course,” logan answered, “two heads are better than one, right? although you are an engineer...”

“believe me, graco is going to be hearing from me,” ellie grumbled, rolling gingerly to the side to shuffle awkwardly out of the way of the pile of pieces she’d already started putting together. she was just a few months along but already starting to show and moving about differently for it, unaccustomed to her new shape. “there is no reason these instructions should be more complicated than my master’s thesis.”

logan laughed, leaning over to take a peek at the paper spread out between her legs. “hey, they’re not so bad.” he easily snapped two pieces into place, forming the base of the carrier. “there we go.”

“show off.” ellie rolled her eyes, pushing another piece his way with a disdainful sniff. “i’m still calling them to complain.”

“and you totally should,” he said easily, “because they suck and you’re brilliant.”

“exactly,” she agreed. without looking up he could tell that her eyes were narrowed, her lip curling further with every piece he added onto the carrier, the methodic click of each settling into place ringing out loudly in the silent room. finally, ellie groaned, “god, i hate you. i knew this would be so easy for you.”

“okay, but that’s what i’m here for,” he reminded her with another soft smile, reaching out with his free hand to squeeze her knee. ellie huffed when he continued to turn a plastic screw one-handed. “to handle all this shit for you so you can relax. i know you have the hardest job, here.”

“you are the most annoying person i’ve ever met.” ellie’s sigh sounded wistful. when logan lifted his gaze he found her staring at him adoringly, her eyes wet. “i love you.”

“i love you too, baby. any idea what you want for dinner?” he looked away to concentrate on lining two tiny pieces up, frowning when they wouldn’t stick quite right. “come here for a sec, yeah? need some tiny fingers.”

ellie shot him a look, but leaned over anyway, wiggling her hand in the tight space he indicated until the two pieces sealed together with a pop. “maybe i don’t need a refund on my degree after all.”

“they should’ve paid you to take it,” logan agreed indulgently, nudging his shoulder gently against hers. “dinner?” he prompted again.

his wife groaned theatrically, flopping back onto the carpet. her arms and legs spread out like she was making a snow angel, disturbing the bubble wrap and cardboard that littered the room. “i want sushi,” ellie said sadly, “and a wine spritzer.”

“what about apple cider?” he asked gently, eyes still on the baby carrier even as one hand felt blindly for her calf and dug its thumb into her muscle for a massage. “it’s almost the same thing.”

“it’s not even close,” she sighed. “but fine. thank you.”

“you got it. why don’t i finish up in here, and you see what we have in the kitchen? it’ll just be a few more minutes.”

“rub it in,” ellie muttered, rolling slowly to sit up. “okay. i feel like i should do something nice for you. maybe i can make that noodle thing you like.”

logan beamed at her, leaning in to steal a kiss. “that’s sweet of you, babe. thank you.”

ellie laughed, kissing him back before she asked, “why do i feel like this was all an elaborate set up to get me to make your favorite dinner?”

“because you’re a naturally suspicious person?” he guessed, lifting his hand to smooth her hair back off her face. “i don’t know.”

“i think it’s because you’re too charming for your own damn good.” but ellie was smiling when he pulled away, and that was all that mattered. it was the only goal he ever had. 

“no such thing,” logan smiled back, gently nudging her away. “i’m right behind you.”

“yeah, yeah,” she said, waving dismissively, “show off.”

he watched her walk away, staring until she disappeared around the corner, and then turned back to the mass of plastic and screws that was slowly starting to resemble an actual baby carrier. squinting down at the instructions, it was only a matter of minutes before he had the rest of it assembled, and then a few more while he backtracked, checking over his work to find where he’d missed the one remaining piece that had been left over.

he took the time to clean up in what was eventually going to be their nursery, eyes sweeping over the boxes and gifts that cluttered their spare room. there was a ways to go before they were anything even close to ready for the baby, and he knew ellie’s due date would be here in the blink of an eye.

would he ever really feel ready? it seemed insane, when he sat and thought about it -- he and ellie were going to be parents. more than home or dog owners or two people with jobs and bills, it seemed like a responsibility he felt no where near prepared for or equipped to deal with. sometimes he still felt like a stupid kid himself.

though he had absolutely no doubts about ellie. ellie took to every kid she met like a natural -- his students adored her, riya’s twins thought she was the greatest thing in the world and were still only lukewarm where he was concerned. the kids in the program they volunteered with couldn’t get enough of her.

she kept their house running and all their plants alive. she kept him so happy he was delirious with it, in a way that had felt utterly foreign at first but now seemed so common. 

enviously, he knew she’d be mother of the year without even having to try.

the rest of the room was tidied on autopilot as logan remained lost in his thoughts, and when he finally made his way into the kitchen it was, to his delight, to the tune of ellie in the middle of making his favorite dinner, the room smelling as amazing as the sight of her rushing around so domestically looked.

his heart gave a weak lurch as he stepped up behind her at the counter and wound his arms around her waist. his nose pressed into the dip at her shoulder with a sigh. “all done. next stop... crib.”

“don’t remind me,” ellie groaned, “my dad has been on my ass for weeks.”

logan winced. if there was one thing he knew about detective wheeler, it was that he was just as opinionated as his beautiful daughter. “maybe he could come with us to pick it out.”

“maybe he could mind his own business,” she suggested instead, stirring the boiling pot of pasta on the stove. “he acts like he knows everything there is to know about babies.”

“well,” logan said, nosing at the hair at the nape of her neck, “he did raise the most amazing person in the entire world. maybe we should give him some credit.”

“okay, kiss ass,” ellie laughed, “he can’t hear you. but fine. if you really want, we’ll all go next weekend.”

he shrugged. it was personally something he felt indifferent towards, but a few extra points with ellie’s dad never hurt. most of the time he was pretty certain detective wheeler still wanted him dead. “i think that’d be nice.”

“i bet you do,” she murmured, twisting around to hold the spoon she was holding out. “taste.”

he did, chewing and swallowing slowly. “it’s done,” logan said sadly, knowing the words meant he’d have to move away. ellie laughed as he pulled his arms back and went to set the table instead.

he headed to the fridge for the bottle of sparkling cider, making a show of popping the cork like champagne and pouring ellie a generous amount into the giant wine glass she hadn’t been able to use in awhile. she rolled her eyes at him as she put the serving bowl on the table. “it’s not the same.”

“it’s pretty close,” he argued, lifting his own glass up and swirling it like he’d seen many pretentious people at restaurants that made him uncomfortable do. “it’s a beautiful vintage,” he declared, as though he had any idea what that was supposed to mean, “with notes of... apples.”

gratifyingly, ellie dissolved into giggles, shaking her head. “i can’t stand you,” she said fondly, all smiles. he grinned back at her, lifting his glass to his lips. 

“to the baby,” ellie said suddenly, lifting her glass, too, and bumping it into his.

“to you,” logan corrected her, clinking his glass into hers a second time.

ellie narrowed her eyes at him. “to you.” their glasses knocked again.

“nuh uh,” he countered childishly, “you’re the baby’s mom.”

“you’re the baby’s dad,” she laughed, bouncing up on her toes to try to get at his glass even as he lifted it above his head and twisted out of her way.

“this is ridiculous,” logan grinned, “just let me toast you, oh my god.”

“no, it was my toast,” she said, jumping up and splashing apple cider out of her glass and onto the floor, “stop trying to hijack it!”

“okay, okay.” he held his hand out to concede, backing away to drop into his seat at the table. ellie followed suit, smirking triumphantly at him. she still loved to win. “to all of us, jeez. me and you and the baby.”

“to all of us,” ellie repeated, and this time, their glasses touched gently, the sound barely audible over the giggles that were building up in her throat again.

he flashed her a goofy grin before he tipped his head back and drained all his cider in one go. 

sure, it might’ve been nice to have had something stronger, but --

“mmm,” ellie sighed, smacking her lips as she set her glass down, “you were right. this is so much better.”

[terror-slut]

OUTLAST as a live action: the fan casts.

(This is all in good fun. You don’t have to agree at all and that’s absolutely fine! In fact, let me know who you have in mind for these amazing characters.)

I think it’s safe to say that Outlast has a lot of potential as a horror movie. While the game is obviously more focused on getting away (duh, it’s survival horror) a movie could be more plot oriented, with the comics translated to the big screen as well. The notes explaining the backstory of Mount Massive Asylum could be visualized by flashbacks. The main “variants” are interesting enough for the movie to rely on them for a strong horror aspect (as well as the general plot, obviously) instead of resorting to (too many) cheap jumpscares. That’s what really separates the good horror movies and games from the rotten apples, folks.

Without further ado,

starting off with the one and only:

DAN STEVENS as MILES UPSHURE.

Obviously, Miles is an unseen protagonist. Sorry to Miles, but we gotta give you a face if we want this movie to actually... be a movie.

Luckily, we’ve got Dan Stevens on our side. Dan is English, but he’s proven time and time again that he can do a mean American accent. Furthermore, Dan is incredibly versatile. He’s also done horror before, so I think we’d be able to persuade him to get on board. Besides, Apostle (2018) was basically Outlast II anyway.

ALTERNATIVE CHOICE: ANDRÉ HOLLAND.

Incredibly talented, underrated and likable, which can prove useful for the MC. André, like Dan, has done horror before and was incredible in it.

J.K. SIMMONS as ‘FATHER’ MARTIN.

Listen. J.K. Simmons is not gonna do this. But I’m just saying. It would be one hell of a movie if we could get him in on our fictional live action. A girl can dream of her favorite fan cast, can’t she?

LOGAN LERMAN as BILLY HOPE.

I want Billy’s back story to be portrayed as dramatically as possible. It IS tragic. Now I know Logan can cry. I’ve seen him do it before. He’s actually a tad too old to play Billy, but we can shave him and apply some make up and we’ll be good to go. With Logan comes his younger fanbase, which will introduce a younger generation of Outlast stans.

ALTERNATIVE CHOICE:

Jack Kilmer. He is the right age BUT despite being a nepotism baby, relatively unknown.

CARY ELWES as RICHARD TRAGER.

Alright, Cary is not gonna do this. But he would be the perfect casting choice. Right age, has done horror before, versatile. I want Rick’s back story and history with Jer to be portrayed in the movie, because it’s very entertaining to me and it’ll give us a better mental image of how terrible and terrifying Rick actually is, before being mutilated by the Morphogenic Machine.

(Part 1 because Tumblr won’t let me post more than 10 images (???) and I don’t know if anyone cares enough to read this lol)

[tothemaxxx]

My Favorite Films and Performances of 2020

“I wish I could’ve seen it on the big screen.”

It was a strange year, and even stranger year of movie watching. In 2020 I saw only one of my top films in a theater, which is crazy (like much else over these past months). But the experience of keeping up with the movies this year was a reminder that great filmmaking can transcend the specifics of the viewing experience. In your living room, in bed, projected onto the side of a garage, streaming on Twitch, broken up into multiple sittings, maybe even on your phone (desperate times)… if doesn’t matter as long as it connects with you. A great film has the power to soothe and transport, to alter your perspective, to re-wire your brain. So while I didn’t get on a single airplane last year, I definitely went places. And I’m grateful for these changes of scenery. For the time-travel as well; last year in my house, we found great comfort in revisiting a bunch of old favorites. It was also an opportunity to finally watch a number of those older films that had someone evaded us… a year of catching up, now or never. We were members of a weekly movie club for some months — that was cool. Another pleasant silver lining was the emergence of virtual film festivals, which have been a fantastic opportunity. I hope that they can continue in some form when this pandemic is in the rearview. Because, you know, getting to Park City is a real schlep. All this to say: like you, I’ll always remember 2020. In this truly crummy year, the movies really helped.

I’m including some of the film festival stuff that’s coming out a little later, because the boundaries between 2020 films and 2021 films feels blurry to me without proper theatrical releases.

TOP 5, loosely ranked. I love these deeply.

1. LOVERS ROCK, Steve McQueen

2. NOMADLAND, Chloe Zhao

3. ANOTHER ROUND, Thomas Vinterberg

4. TIME, Garrett Bradley

5. MARTIN EDEN, Pietro Marcello

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

The rest of the Top 25, in alphabetical order. I loved these.

À L’ABORDAGE, Guillaume Brac

BACURAU, Kleber Mendonça Filho

COLOR OUT OF SPACE, Richard Stanley

THE FATHER, Florian Zeller

FIRST COW, Kelly Reichardt

I’M THINKING OF ENDING THINGS, Charlie Kaufman

JASPER MALL, Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb

LUXOR, Zeina Durra

ALEX WHEATLE / EDUCATION / MANGROVE / RED, WHITE AND BLUE, Steve McQueen

THE NEST, Sean Durkin

NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS, Eliza Hittman

NEW ORDER, Michel Franco

THE PAINTER & THE THIEF, Benjamin Ree

THE PERSONAL HISTORY OF DAVID COPPERFIELD, Armando Iannucci

POSSESSOR, Brandon Cronenberg

PROMISING YOUNG WOMAN, Emerald Fennell

RELIC, Natalie Erika James

SAINT FRANCES, Alex Thompson

SOUND OF METAL, Darius Marder

THE TRUTH, Hirokazu Koreeda

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

I also enjoyed (some more than others):

Apples, The Assistant, Babyteeth, Bad Education, Black Bear, Blow the Man Down, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Butt Boy, The Climb, Da 5 Bloods, Deerskin, Emma, The Father (Bulgaria), Greed, His House, The Hunt, I Used to Go Here, I'm No Longer Here, Impetigore, The Intruder, The Invisible Man, Kajillionaire, La Llorona, Let Them All Talk, Lost Girls, The Man Who Sold His Skin, Mank, Never Gonna Snow Again, News of the World, One Night in Miami, Palm Springs, Preparations to Be Together for an Unknown Period of Time, Rebecca, She Dies Tomorrow, Shirley, Slow Machine, Sorry We Missed You, Soul, Spree, Straight Up, A Sun, Swallow, Tenet, Tesla, Tommaso, The Traitor, The Trip to Greece, True History of the Kelly Gang, Uncle Frank, Under the Open Sky, The Vast of Night, Vitalina Varela, Wendy, The Whistlers, Wildland, Young Ahmed

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

And these documentaries!

American Murder: The Family Next Door, The American Sector, Assassins, Beastie Boys Story, The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, Bloody Nose Empty Pockets, Boys State, Brainiac: Transmissions After Zero, Circus of Books, Class Action Park, Collective, Crip Camp, David Byrne's American Utopia, Dick Johnson is Dead, Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, The Go-Go's, Gunda, Miss Americana, MLK/FBI, The Mole Agent, Mucho Mucho Amor: The Legend of Walter Mercado, My Psychedelic Love Story, Mystify: Michael Hutchence, Narrowsburg, On the Record, Other Music, Sisters with Transistors, Spaceship Earth, The Way I See It, Whirlybird

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

And these shorts:

Bye Bye Body (which I edited), Fit Model, Friday Night Pizza for Daddy, Hard Cracked the Wind, The Human Voice, John Was Trying to Contact Aliens, Michael's Preference West, What Did Jack Do?, World of Tomorrow Episode Three: The Absent Destinations of David Prime

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

My favorite performance of the year:

Frances McDormand as Fern in Nomadland

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Favorite ensembles:

À l’abordage, Another Round, Bad Education, Babyteeth, Bloody Nose Empty Pockets, Blow the Man Down, Emma, First Cow, Kajillionaire, Let Them All Talk, Lovers Rock, Mangrove, Mank, One Night in Miami, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Promising Young Woman, True History of the Kelly Gang

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

More memorable (and in some cases under-discussed) performances:

Christopher Abbott as Colin Tate in Possessor and as Gabe in Black Bear

Idir Ben Addi as Ahmed in Young Ahmed

Riz Ahmed as Ruben Stone in Sound of Metal

Daniel Algrant as Kelvin Kranz in Let Them All Talk

Maria Bakalova as Tutar Sagdiyev in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm

Haley Bennett as Hunter Conrad in Swallow

John Boyega as Leroy Logan in Red, White and Blue

Rob Brydon as Rob Brydon in The Trip to Greece

Jessie Buckley as Young Woman in I’m Thinking of Ending Things

Nicolas Cage as Nathan Gardner in Color Out of Space

Salif Cissé as Chérif in À L’abordage

Sheyi Cole as Alex Wheatle in Alex Wheatle

Cleopatra Coleman as Trina in The Argument

Carrie Coon as Allison O’Hara in The Nest

Michael Angelo Covino as Mike in The Climb

Willem Dafoe as Tommaso in Tommaso

Charles Dance as William Randolph Hearst in Mank

Catherine Deneuve as Fabienne Dangeville in The Truth

Katie Findlay as Rory in Straight Up

Sidney Flanigan as Autumn in Never Rarely Sometimes Always

Johnny Flynn as George Knightley in Emma

Julia Garner as Jane in The Assistant

Robbie Gee as Simeon in Alex Wheatle

Chris Giarmo as himself in David Byrne’s American Utopia

Betty Gilpin as Crystal Creasey in The Hunt

Ethan Hawke as Hank in The Truth

Kris Hitchen as Ricky Turner in Sorry We Missed You

Anthony Hopkins as Anthony in The Father

Jonathan Jules as Dennis Isaacs in Alex Wheatle

Sandra Guldberg Kampp as Ida in Wildland

Joe Keery as Kurt Knuckle in Spree

Udo Kier as Michael in Bacurau

Orion Lee as King Lu in First Cow

Delroy Lindo as Paul in Da 5 Bloods

Peter Macdissi as Walid "Wally" Nadeem in Uncle Frank

Matthew Macfadyen as Wilcock in The Assistant

George MacKay as Ned Kelly in True History of the Kelly Gang

Yahya Mahayni as Sam Ali in The Man Who Sold His Skin

Luca Marinelli as Martin Eden in Martin Eden

Tuppence Middleton as Sara Mankiewicz in Mank

Mads Mikkelsen as Martin in Another Round

Wunmi Mosaku as Rial in His House

Elisabeth Moss as Cecilia Kass in The Invisible Man

Kelly O'Sullivan as Bridget in Saint Frances

Shaun Parkes as Frank Crichlow in Mangrove

Robert Pattinson as Neil in Tenet

Paul Raci as Joe in Sound of Metal

Kadeem Ramsay as Samson in Lovers Rock

Gayle Rankin as Marissa in The Climb

Tanya Reynolds as Mrs Augusta Elton in Emma

Tyler Rice as Detective Russell Fox in Butt Boy

Andrea Riseborough as Hana in Luxor

Cecilia Roth as Marta in The Intruder

William Sadler as the Grim Reaper in Bill & Ted Face the Music

Kenyah Sandy as Kingsley Smith in Education

Amarah-Jae St. Aubyn as Martha Trenton in Lovers Rock

David Strathairn as David in Nomadland

Michael Stuhlbarg as Stanley Edgar Hyman in Shirley

Swankie as Swankie in Nomadland

Tilda Swinton as Woman in The Human Voice

Kristin Scott Thomas as Mrs. Danvers in Rebecca

Steve Toussaint as Ken Logan in Red, White and Blue

Alec Utgoff as Zhenia in Never Gonna Snow Again

Jairaj Varsani as young David Copperfield in The Personal History of David Copperfield

Ben Whishaw as Uriah Heep in The Personal History of David Copperfield

Sharlene Whyte as Agnes Smith in Education

Letitia Wright as Altheia Jones-LeCointe in Mangrove

Ramona Edith Williams as Frances in Saint Frances

Kôji Yakusho as Masao Mikami in Under the Open Sky

Youn Yuh-jung as Soon-ja in Minari

Helena Zengel as Johanna Leonberger in News of the World

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

Favorite pre-2020 films I saw for the first time in 2020:

Blood on the Moon, But I’m A Cheerleader, Crooklyn, Cure, Daughters of the Dust, The Death of Dick Long, Deep Cover, The Draughtsman's Contract, Eyes of Laura Mars, Give Me Liberty, Greener Grass, Hardcore, High Hopes, The Last Party, Long Day's Journey into Night, Maiden, One Day Pina Asked, Persona, Right Now Wrong Then, Right On!, The Seventh Victim, Slightly French, Synonyms, Tammy and the T-Rex, Variety, The Watermelon Woman... and a tip of the hat to Coppola's new The Godfather Part III recut, The Godfather, Coda: The Death of Michael Corleone

[candied-peach]

ao3: “discord symphony” rating: T warnings: some remus typical stuff, pre DWIT, sympathetic remus, sympathetic deceit, intruloceit genre: fluff description: Remus writes a song.

"How's this?" Remus asks, from his position bent over Deceit's desk. They would have met in Logan's room, but the possibility of discovery was a bit too high and Logan wasn't quite ready to explain his relationship with the two Dark Sides, particularly when Thomas remained unaware of one of them. Deceit's room, it was, then.

Deceit lazily lifts his head, uncoiling from the warm spot on the bed.

"I remain all ears, my love," he says.

"As the others might say, 'lay it on me'," Logan contributes, propped up against the wall, his laptop open on bent knees. Remus grins, his smile a little too wide for his face.

"Adam and Eve bought knowledge, for the small price of a little sin," he sings. "They also lost eternal life, but what's fruit without the pits?"

"Apples don't have pits," Logan says, on autopilot. Remus shrugs.

"Say that when it actually happens," he advises. Deceit's eyes flick between the two and he wisely decides not to mention that nothing says it was an apple, to begin with. He remembers the devastating effect misusing 'infinitesimal' had on Logan. Besides, nothing says it wasn't an apple.

"I like it," Deceit chooses to say instead. "Very Biblical. Foreboding."

"Isn't it?" Remus asks happily. "I thought you'd like that, Double D."

"You need more than that, though," Deceit says. "Any more?"

"Working on it, working on it," Remus says, skating his pen through the air as he thinks. "I am the DUKE and it's high time that I dropped in!" He sings it as he writes it, scribbling it down as fast as he can to keep up with his own melody. "And since you haven't puked yet, we'll know they're wrong when they call you sick!"

"Not sure I understand that part," Deceit says, a slight frown touching his lips. "But if it sounds right to you, then go for it."

"I need something for my brother," Remus says, tapping his pen against his teeth. "What epitomizes dull and boring?"

"Unicorns and dragons," Deceit suggests. "That sums up Roman's creativity, wouldn't you say, Logan?"

"He does battle against the Dragon Witch often enough," Logan agrees. "And unicorns are probably a staple of his side of the Imagination."

"They are," Remus confirms with a grimace. "They don't even do anything. Just prance around and look pretty. Mine drink blood," he says proudly. "But could Roman appreciate that? Oh, no, all of a sudden, they're 'scary' and 'perverting the very idea of a unicorn.'" He makes quotation marks with his fingers, nearly poking himself in the eye with the pen.

"Well, I like them," Deceit says loyally.

"I got it!" Remus blurts. "It's unicorn horns and dragon tails, Roman's dull creativity. If you want the spectrum A to Z, then you'll need a little help from me!" He does a little shoulder shimmy in his seat, and Deceit grins. Remus continues, transcribing the words as they come. "From unicorn porn to rats impaled, I give these thoughts generously. If you really wanna challenge your viewership, then you need to stop limiting me!"

"I have a feeling that at some point soon in this, the others will want their say," Logan comments. "Perhaps it would be to your benefit to allow for that."

"Probably," Remus says cheerfully. "I'm good at ad libbing." He waves his pen airily. "Like a box of baby birds in a meat grinder!"

"That...does not really follow from the idea of ad libbing," Logan says. Remus shrugs.

"I dunno, I ad libbed it," he says, and snickers. Deceit can't help but snort at that, and a moment later, he catches Logan's lips twitching into a reluctant smile.

"All right, so assuming I can go into this, how's this?" Remus asks a few minutes later. "People don't like me much, Thomas, but that's only just 'cause I'm honest. Good and bad is all made up nonsense. Thomas, speaking of honesty, recently a snake offered me a morsel from the tree of knowledge." He stops, pointing the pen at Deceit. "That's your cue," he says.

"You wanted to be more honest, so have a good ol' heaping of Remus, the most honest Side in your mind," Deceit says, deadpan. Remus cackles.

"I like it!"  He says.

"You want to be more honest and be direct dealing with your issues," Logan suggests. "No longer will you deceive yourself about the ugliness within you. Not that you're ugly, cephy," he hastens to reassure his boyfriend. Remus grins.

"I know what you mean," he says. "It's not like me popping up like a jack in the box at a funeral is gonna make him happy to see me."

"Somehow, I find it fitting that Logan is the one speaking for, presumably, myself," Deceit says, with a slight laugh.

"More ad libbing, I think," Remus mutters, the tip of his tongue caught between his teeth as he writes. "Ooh, how's this? You don't need to feel ashamed with your dear old Duke, you need not feign decency. Do you see this house on fire? I see it, too, 'cause you've got a fiend in me!"

"Nice word play," Deceit says, approving. Logan nods in agreement.

"I like it," he says. "I presume that's a reference to Toy Story?"

"Got it in one," Remus says, pointing the tip of his pen toward Logan. A yawn escapes him as he bends his head, staring at his work, and with a start, Deceit realizes it's nearly midnight.

"Come to bed," he coaxes. "You can finish your song in the morning."

"They plan to film in two days, though," Remus says, rocking back and forth. "I gotta be prepared."

"You will be," Deceit assures him. "I'll keep you on task tomorrow and I'm sure that Logan will, too, when he comes down here."

"Do you promise?" Remus asks. Deceit nods firmly.

"You've done more than enough for one night," Deceit says.

"It is important to sleep and refresh one's self," Logan adds. Swayed by both of his boyfriends, Remus sets his notebook down, capping his pen, and clambers into bed, settling to one side of Deceit and resting his chin on the top of Deceit's head.

"The day after tomorrow's gonna be big," Remus says, vibrating in his eagerness. Logan settles on Deceit's other side, reaching over with one arm and clasping Remus around the middle, briefly stilling him.

"Yes, it is," Deceit agrees. Remus smiles, wide and sharp.

"I can't wait," he says.

tag list: @k9cat @paravigilant-virgil @croftergamer @airiervessel @littlestliu @ambersky0319 @yalltookmyurlideas @did-he-just-hiss-at-me @ihateitwhenyourejustvague @iamthenewqueenofgames @matthindavick @killjoy-3000 @bexxbeauty

[thefivecalls]

Things I associate with each of the sides for no reason

Logan:

I understand he's supposed to be dark blue or indigo. Regardless, he will always be teal. This teal:

For some reason when I got detention that one time I got a Logan vibe so yeah theres that

"Space... The final frontier..." But uhhh just the opening has his vibes

Why is he always whereing a neck tie and not a bow tie? If anyone has necktie vibes its Janus not Logan

Logan also has chaos incarnate vibes that are only in check because of his last shreds of humanity one of these days he'll break and when he does thomas can and will set something on fire using bill nye the science guy tactics

He is waking up early and going to bed late

He is framing posters

He is dancing in your bedroom to awesome music that has never been such a vibe before that moment and will never be again.

Broken clocks

Beaker from the muppets? I don't quite get it but yeah

Rock of ages

Getting a pitcher of soda or tea or whatever and setting it on his desk, then getting 23 straws and taping them together so he can lay in bed on his phone and safely drink it without spilling

Grilled cheese

Kahoot music

Remus:

Death waltz. Not the synthesia no the one that takes 14 people to play.

Canoeing

Obviously he has close combat weapons but have you thought about giving him a bow and arrow? I have and yes thats a vibe because he is one of three people I've ever met with those vibes ok

Portable speakers

He is bonfires and fireworks.

He is hyperfixating on something and writing a story until 4 in the morning.

Potions!

The fact that witches ingredients are actually just named strange things but are edible somethings? Like mustard seeds being newts eyes and the like

Acid

In my human anatomy class we dissected deer hearts and when we found the blood clots we called them the Forbidden Jellies.

The county fair

The circus that comes around at fall festival time

Homecoming game in football/rugby

I feel like if he played an instrument he'd be a baritone

The lime green smoke Disney villians have

Roman:

Zootopia the movie

Hopping. Or bouncing in place.

My family's crest?? I think its because of his crest but he had those vibes before the outift upgrade???? Idk

The ponytail thing that give you a unicorn horn when you've got short hair but bangs that are beginning to grow out

He is picnics at the park

He is also going shopping

He is also dancing in the rain at four in the morning with the outside lights on and the music blaring but its ok the neigbors are four acres away and they sleep like the dead.

When I went to my first metal concert and I saw the mosh pit? The exhilaration that comes with wanting to join but not wanting to get crushed is a Roman thing.

Pancakes

Cold pizza at midnight

Succulents!

Fire and cane whiskey

The warm smiles that the bearer never gets to see because they don't get the chance to see it in a reflection

Butterscotch

Janus:

Springtime showers that makes snowmelt rivers

Prom. Dont ask this is just a him vibe ok

He seems like the guy that would make a blanket cacoon/nest when his bedsheets are in the wash and can I say mood

Sunlight

Looking off my back porch and seeing the feilds of corn beginning to dry out in late fall every three years.

Pumpkin soup

Apple cider

Lemonade

Not only is he snowmelt rivers he is also the first thunderstorm of summertime

Sun tea. Not the brand the stuff that you make via harnessing the suns power

Cucumber facemasks

Wildflower honey

The person who youd never guess goes to comic con but is actually the one who wins first place in the costume contest every year

Oversized sweaters

German Sheppards and yellow labs sunbathing after playing for hours

Antique mirrors

Burlap canvas bags

Oil paint

Espressos at ten at night

Late night chinese food runs

Dragons

Spice. Not the average spice either I'm talking could eat a carolina reaper and yes he'll be more red but he could still talk and thats more than I can say for myself

Virgil:

The red rubber balls from kick ball in elementary. By god I can smell the plastic just thinking about it

Flappy stims! Almost every time I flap he comes to mind I never really questioned it

The weighted blanket my dad got that I steal from him all the time

'He's a Mary poppins in a world of hasselhoffs" my friend once said that not even talking about Virgil but like. Come on.

Basically all of Star Lord's vibes are Virgils

Deadpool

Jack Skellington (kinda obvs)

Sample perfumes that are like the size of a pinky

Telescopes

Not writing an essay but instead learning all about world history or astronomy or psychology

Earings. Specifically hoops

Black pearls

Boardwalks that have tiny shops along them with a bunch of food.

Going to a club or a party with flashing lights and even though you're kinda nervous you have fun and live like tomorrow is still a dream away.

Ripped movie posters that the theater is selling

Tying ropes together to make nets.

Fairy lights

Taping movie theater tickets to your wall after you've gone and seen it

Scarecrows sitting on bales of hay at sunset next to my willow tree and the cicadas are on their 13th year so they're the loudest they'll ve until another 13 years have passed

The glint in someone's eye when they think of something mischievous

Bang by AJR

The corpse bride's tale/song

Patton:

The lazer eye meme. This one

Graham Crackers. Not smores, not candy crack-just the cracker ok

Pep rallies

The pet store??

Sugar sculptures

Corn pits (strictly midwestern thing)

Driving for hours upon hours and seeing the strange statues some towns have as you pass them by

Silver sparkles

Art herpes glitter

Photo booths

Riding in the back of a pickup truck on the county's main road

Wedding crystals cabinet where you put the fancy china you're going to give to your children that never gets used once but is probably worth half your house

The chubby bunny challenge

The moment when you tip your chair back too far and you know it but you can't do anything because you'll be on the floor in a second anyway

The thing maya did from Girl Meets World when she slammed lockers closed and caused the chalkboard to let its dust fly

Dusk.

That moment when everything is going by so quickly so you step back and watch the world go by for only a few seconds but then you're back in the present laughing with your friends

Snow cones melting and getting the syrup all over your hands

Orange Side:

All things citrus but especially lemons no not oranges lemons

Sunglasses

Men in black 1 not the rest just the first

Pineapple too hes got a lot of pineapple vibes

Combat boots but with spikes

Also lace?

And tea. Like, all kinds of tea but especially the really expensive stuff that I've only tasted like twice thats imported from Ireland

Himalayan salt lamps.

Sensies. the wax melting things

Candles too

Once we meet him I'll have more but this is it for him for now

Thats it! If this gets notes I might do emile remy and thomas but I think I'll leave this be for the moment. Have a great day y'all!

[esoanem]

VIII.

“I didn’t want to believe you could be capable of doing something like that. But I couldn’t convince myself that you weren’t“

Major Content Notes:

None!

Wikipedia Synopsis:

The hunt for the Urca de Lima begins when Silver divulges the schedule to Flint, taking them to the ship's location. Rackham stops paying Ms. Mapleton, which causes her to threaten to blackmail Rackham. She threatens to tell the locals what really happened to Mr. Noonan. Meanwhile, Vane makes his way back to New Providence with his new crew. Eleanor's situation changes when a small band of men take over Hornigold's fort and start sinking supply ships in the bay. Gates threatens to call off the attack of the Ranger, so Flint kills him. The final scenes of the season show that the Walrus has beached itself upon the same isle as the Urca de Lima.

This is the final episode of the season so quite a lot goes down, but for the first time I don’t think we’ve needed any major content notes. There is some blood & gore, and nudity at various points, but nothing especially graphic

Summary:

Rackham is docking Mrs Mapleton’s pay because of her skimming. She threatens to tell all the merchants that he murdered Mr Noonan, saying that they’ll band together and see Jack hanged for it. Jack calls this insubordination and fires her. As she reiterates her threat, Max arrives, and points out that the merchants are all enjoying steep discounts (affordable now the books are in order) right now and that because of that, they won’t much care what Mapleton has to say

At sea there is a terrible storm, with the Walrus and Ranger climbing waves as tall as their masts. Belowdecks, as the crew play music and card games, Dr Howell has made a peg leg for Randall and is trying to get Silver to convince him to wear it, saying that a crutch is too big a risk in this weather. Randall is reluctant. Silver tries to convince him by sarcastically pointing out how he’s helped Randall in the past, before throwing the peg leg to him, but Randall just tosses it to the floor and goes back to eating his apple

“Oh, Mr Silver, how can I ever thank you? First you save me from ending up as a stain on the Walrus’s underside, then you secured my position on the crew on the verge of an historic haul, and if that weren’t enough, you’re still trying to find something comfortable to put at the end of my stump. From the bottom of my heart, thank you“

Two crewmen come down from the deck saying that a launch from the Ranger has arrived with Captain Gates. Logan wonders “what could be so fucking important that he has to row through all that shit out there for it”. Silver hears this and hurries to Flint’s cabin

He sits down, and Flint pushes an inkwell over to him saying they’ll make landfall in the morning and need the last part of the schedule. Flint compares what Silver writes out to a book of his own reconnaissance, of bays and inlets in the right area that could reasonably be used for the Urca to take on water. Flint tells Silver to take the information to de Groot and set a course for Division Bay. As Gates says he better get back to the Ranger, Flint says it’d be better not to tempt fate and pulls a bottle up

“Talbot Rhodes’ private stock. I’d been waiting for an occasion. My reckoning is, tomorrow we’ll be able to afford a lot more of it or -”

“- we’ll be too dead to care”

Mr Scott comes into Eleanor’s office to tell her that Captain Lawrence is almost ready to leave. She is worried by the storm, calling it a ship-killer and wondering if God is on Mr Scott’s side in opposing this plan. Mr Scott reassures her, saying that the trouble might have happened anyway, with or without the schedule

“Tomorrow, a thing that you conceived out of thin air becomes real. A thing that will give this place a chance to find some small measure of peace. That is not nothing”

Back on the Walrus, Gates & Flint are finishing the bottle, and reminiscing about the man who found it, Mr Cregg, the carpenter’s mate who could sniff out booze on a prize ship like a bloodhound. Flint tells a story of one time he found a bottle hidden behind a baseboard on a prize and, thinking it was the captain’s best booze he took a big swig in front of everyone, only to realise it was piss.  Gates is trying to seem friendly, but in cutaways he seems melancholy, mourning his lost friendship with Flint, whilst Flint seems to be acting as if nothing has happened between them. Gates remembers that he brought Cregg over with him, having both served under Avery together as kids, before getting up to leave, a tear in his eye

"For years, he went on how he’d got this huge stash hidden away, and I should live to survive him because one day, I will be a rich man. As you know, we lost him on the Pembroke. 

So I open his locker and what do I find? 

Twelve pesos, a busted pocket watch, and a letter with instructions to deliver it to his sister in New York.

Lying sack of shit was Mr Cregg!

So I bought the boys a round with the pesos, traded the pocket watch for a bit of tail, and spent two weeks that winter in New York, trying to deliver that fucking letter to his sister. Looked high and low, never found her. So on the way home, I waited until we were in open water and I could see no land in any direction and I dropped it over the side. Return to the sea. 

There are no legacies in this life, are there? No monuments, no history. Just the water. It pays us, and then it claims us, swallows us whole as if we’d never been here at all”

Anne bursts in on Jack whilst he’s taking a bath. She yells at Jack for cutting Mapleton loose without telling her, saying she could tell the entire island about them killing Noonan. She then says the fact he’s keeping council with Max is bothering her even more, and accuses Jack of fucking her

"Jesus H Christ I can’t win with you. She’s in the camp with the men and it’s ‘come on Jack, let’s go kill everyone see if we can’t get around there, hope you don’t mind, made that decision on your behalf’ and now she’s out making us a small fortune by the way and you’re pissed off about that too, might you consider making up your fucking mind about her, please!”

After telling him to fuck himself she leaves, and sees Max standing by a mirror naked, drying her hair. Anne looks bashful, and hurries downstairs as Max turns around and puts on a dressing gown smiling

Vane arrives at Nassau with a few rowing boats full of the men from the lumber camp. They row past a series of lobster pots before beaching the boats and stepping ashore

The Walrus & Ranger are sailing along the coast flying Spanish colours, Division Bay is just past the next headland. Flint gives a brief speech to the crew, before ordering full sails for their final approach

“Llisten here! When we clear the point ahead and spot the Urca at anchor, we’ll begin our final run at her. The Spanish banner may earn us a few hundred yards of confusion before the captain identifies us and opens fire so we’ll close fast on her, hammer her well with our guns, and then take the fight to her decks. That fight will be the fight of our lives make no mistake. But on the other side lies paradise!”

As they round the point though, there is no ship to be seen. The entire crew, including Flint are dumbfounded, and after asking de Groot if he’s sure of their position, Flint storms into his cabin leaving the crew bemused on deck

Eleanor meets Naft, Frasier, & Lawrence at the end of the pier, where she hands Lawrence two manifests, one true, one false, and a substantial purse and wallet for bribery. Lawrence is impatient and wants to leave. As Eleanor comes off the pier she is met by Hornigold & Scott. She tells them that she still needs to remove her father entirely, that she knows he’s on the Underhill estate scheming to undo everything they’ve done. Hornigold reacts in disbelief

“You’re truly amazing, in the moment when stability is at hand and the world is at your feet, your first instinct is to go out in search of someone new to fight”

Scott asks for a moment with her but is interrupted by cannonfire, the shot landing near Hornigold’s ship. After a couple more shots, they realise the cannons being fired are from the fort. Hornigold realises someone other than his men must be in the fort and, as we see a mast break Scott says they need to get off the beach. As they march towards the tavern, Jack comes out of the brothel to ask what’s going on, when he’s told that someone’s taken over the fort he looks over at Anne who swallows anxiously

Gates comes aboard the Walrus and is led to Flint by Dufresne who tells them that the crew have agreed to Flint’s plan. They will land the Walrus and then he has two days to send out scouts to find the Urca. Flint gives the order and heads into his cabin. Dufresne tells Gates that de Groot is bitter that they didn’t listen to him about the cook, that he says there’s no Urca out here, that justice has been delayed long enough, he wants Flint tried immediately, and he believes that for all his talk Gates is just protecting Flint

“I’m protecting all of us! These men are right on the edge, and he wants to rile them up more by talking about a lying thieving captain, then stand on a deserted beach and talk about elections? Before you know it, half a dozen men will have laid claim to the captaincy, council will divide. it won’t be dark yet before the fighting starts

We’ve got to see Flint pay for his crimes, but we’ll do it at home, and we’ll do it like civilised men and that’s how we avoid the abyss!”

Dufresne asks how they can trust Gates, as they know the two of them spent the last night together drinking. Gates hands him a letter asking if it’s good enough, which Dufresne reads and seems surprised by

Sails are spotted, a Spanish man-o-war, and it will be on them in half an hour. Flint signals the Ranger to raise the black and fire two shots off the Walrus’s bow, as well as rigging a spring to the foreward anchor and dropping her immediately. Below you can see, the main anchor cable connected to the bow of the ship running straight up, with a second line, the (slightly slack) spring tied onto this and connected to the stern. By tightening the spring, he can pull the stern out to windward, and turn the ship without moving

De Groot is astounded that Flint means to fight the man-o-war, but Gates shouts to the crew that they have their orders before dragging Flint into his cabin. Dufresne and de Groot share their concerns

"If he engages that ship in battle, we’re dead!”

"I know”

"I know you know, but does Mr Gates?”

Gates tells Flint he can’t let him go down this road. Flint ignores this and explains his plan to Gates, the man-o-war will see them as a Spanish merchantman under attack by pirates, the Spaniard will pass them by to give chase and, before she realises her error they’ll turn and have her trapped, the Walrus raking her stern to bow, and the Ranger raking her bow to stern, and that the warship shows that the Urca is here after all

"all I see is an empty bay, a gardacosta warship, and a captain that’s lost his fucking grip on reality!”

Flint says that the ship isn’t a gardacosta (coastguard) here on patrol, that the only explanation for it being here at this time is that it’s an escort. Gates points out that the entire justification for the venture was that the Urca would have no escort. Flint suggests that they changed their plans, at which point Gates says he’s leaving with the Ranger, leaving Flint dumbstruck in disbelief. They hash it out, furious at each other

“What did you just say?”

“I’m going to weigh anchor, I’m going to make a run for it, and if I can keep ahead of her before dark there’s just a chance we could slip away”

"Without the ranger, I have no chance against that ship”

"I know”

"So you’re deliberately challenging my authority here? Deliberately violating you duty?”

"My duty? My duty is to them, not to you! Although I have violated it more times than I can remember in your defence. Helped you deceive good men, who put their trust in me because I was convinced they would be better off for it! But not here! Not this! This is fucking madness!”

"Mr Gates, if you walk through that door with the intent of subverting my plans, I will have no alternative but to interpret that as an incitement of mutiny”

"You think I’m inciting mutiny?

"You are inciting mutiny!”

"I’m managing one! There are men out there right now that know about Singleton, the book, the cook, all of it! They know! And they mean to see you hang for it!”

Flint goes quiet, asking if Gates told them

"After Billy, I just, I didn’t want to believe you could be capable of doing something like that. But I couldn’t convince myself that you weren’t. That’s when I realised that this has got to end.”

"So what then? You preside over a trial that sees me hanged?”

“No. I’m going to go home. And I’m going to see you and Mrs Barlow secreted away before anybody knows you’re gone. You’re going to go to Boston. You’re going to take the pardon that she’s offered you and that is the last that you and I will ever see of each other”

Flint looks ashamed, and downcast, and begs Gates not to do this. Gates tells him to take a moment, that he’ll deal with the crew, and goes to leave. Flint looks up, and stares intently at the back of Gates’ head, his lip quivering into a snarl

He starts up, slams Gates into the door, and chokes him from behind, repeating “this is not what I wanted, I’m sorry” before snapping Gates’ neck. He repeats “I’m sorry” as his snarl softens and he starts crying, cradling the body of the closest thing he had to a friend

The door creaks open, Flint’s face immediately hardens again and he draws his pistol. It is Silver, saying he came to back Flint up in his case that the Urca can still be won. Flint drops his arm, looking exhausted. Silver comes in and hurriedly closes the door behind him, locking it, before checking Gates’ neck for anything incriminating. Flint bats his hands away, asking “what the fuck are you doing to him” before telling Silver to stop. Flint is utterly defeated, but Silver tells him there is still a way out

"There’s no way out of this”

"Take it from me. There’s always a way”

A letter is delivered to Hornigold and the rest of the consortium, saying that a small band on men were seen approaching the fort from the west that morning, but no-one could identify them, and all the local crews are accounted for. Mr Scott asks if the fort’s great guns could be repositioned to aim at the street. Hornigold’s only response is that he hopes whoever it is won’t be mad enough to consider that and proposes to retake the fort when he is interrupted by Vane & his men on the street outside demanding to speak to Eleanor

Flint steps out of his cabin and, looking Dufresne straight in the eyes tells him that Mr Gates’ heart gave out. He gives orders to signal the Ranger with the plan, telling Mr Thompson he’s in charge, to sail North and, when the Walrus fires on the target, to tack hard to port and join them. Dufresne barges past de Groot into the cabin. As he looks down at Gates’ body, Silver starts speaking

“The question you need to ask yourself is what good can I do. 

You can call this murder, a number of the men might even believe you, but will that be enough to stop this fight that is about to happen? 

Because if it’s not, a fight we might win becomes a battle we are doomed to lose because the men went into it infected with your suspicions, with your doubts.

 So, Mr Quartermaster, is that truly what’s in their best interests?”

Dufresne steps out and walks straight past de Groot again, over to Flint.

"When the warship draws close, she’ll ask our last port of call. Saint Augustine is the closest and as she’s likely a customs ship, we must identify our cargo as anything but tobacco; Seville regulates the trade heavily”

Vane is Eleanor’s office, his boots up on her desk, rolling a cigar as she comes in, and sweeps his feet off asking what the fuck he did

"Spend enough time on an island, you begin to forget there’s a whole world out there. A world where the rules are different” he puts his feet back up and goes back to rolling his cigar “I went out there and found men who don’t know the rules here and who don’t much care to learn them. They helped me surprise Captain Hornigold’s men, we took his fort, and not once were any of them burdened with the though ‘what if this were to upset Eleanor Guthrie’”

He threatens to keep sinking ships, and maybe even sink the Walrus when she comes back with the Spanish gold, just out of spite. He says that because the fort controls the bay, Hornigold was her partner when he controlled the fort and so now, he should get to be her partner. He says being a tenant didn’t work out so well, and now he’d like a stake

He then describes the first time he saw her, when she was thirteen, and sneaking out despite Mr Scott’s rules. He says that despite her age she walked between the camps like she owned the place, completely fearless. He then suggests that all she really wants is to not have any men bossing her around, and that he has no intention of telling her what to do as long as he gets what he wants. She begrudgingly agrees, but promises that she will drive him out once he inevitably gets comfortable

“I know you. Better than your father, better than Scott, maybe better than anyone. You don’t give a shit about money, or respect, or the things you’ve built here. I think you’re just tired of fathers telling you what to do and so I’m offering you a life free from them. With me in that fort, you do as you like as long as it doesn’t cross me you’ll hear no complaints”

"You know I have no choice but to say yes. But before I do, know this: you’ll sit in that fort for a while, you’ll get comfortable, and that’s the day I’m going to push you and your men right into the fucking sea”

As Vane saunters out, he dismissively nods at Hornigold, calling him “Ben”. Eleanor tells him that Vane now has his seat on the consortium. She tells Hornigold that it’s no use him trying to take the fort, because she told Vane about the tunnels he’d have used to launch a surprise attack. She defends this as acting in everyone’s best interests and Hornigold leaves, promising that this won’t be the end of this

“You told me to keep emotion from clouding judgement, to act in everyone’s best interest. I believe that’s what I’m doing”

Vane enters the brothel and is met by a nervous Jack. He says that in some ways it had to come to this: him deciding if Jack lives or dies. We see Mapleton standing behind Vane’s men. Vane confronts him about killing Hamund and his men, and we see Jack speechless, and Anne wearing a frightened expression for pretty much the first time

“Hamund brings you out of bed, marches you down to the wrecks to look for a stash of stolen pearls and somehow only you and your dog make it back alive?”

“Quite a moment. Jack Rackham with nothing to say. Had I a shrewd quartermaster right now, he would tell me that I can’t let what you did stand, he would say that an offence like that demanded an example be made of both of you, the bloodier the better, but today I’m a little less worried about perception than I used to be. As long as I own that fort, it doesn’t really matter, so the street will know what you did, they will know that you betrayed your brothers for a woman. That story will spread far and wide, and you’ll never sail beneath the black again. You’ll sit in this place and rot with the rest of the whores. Something tells me that will sting worse than dying”

The man-o-war comes alongside the Walrus, and Silver shouts across, with Flint behind the rail next to him feeding him lines. He says that they were attacked by pirates, that their last port of call was Saint Augustine, and that they are carrying tobacco. De Groot questions Dufresne about this

"If I’m not mistaken, you told him to state us as anything but a tobacco trader did you not?”

"II did. He means to prove that ship is not gardacosta, that it’s here for the same reason we are. If that ship lets us pass, he will have both renewed the men’s lust for gold and their faith in his judgement”

“Time and again he gambles with our lives, that is when he’s not taking them in cold blood and once more his influence grows. We’re at his mercy with no way to challenge him”

The Spanish ship sails on and Flint orders all hands to quietly go to their stations, and to fire at 300 yards. The Walrus starts pulling on its spring line to bring the stern out slowly, so the Spanish ship thinks they’re just drifting. At 100 yards, he orders the gunports opened and sights down a gun saying “we only get one shot at this. If we miss, we die”

Just after 200 yards Dufresne pulls his pistol on Flint, accusing him of piratical crimes against his crew, that he murdered Singleton, Billy, & Gates, and that he planned to steal a portion of the treasure fleet for himself. Flint gives the order to fire, but the crew do not. Belowdecks, de Groot is taking Silver into the Surgeon’s cabin. Dufresne hands the letter to Logan saying it is a confession from Mr Gates of his knowledge of & complicity in Flint’s crimes, and Logan confirms that it is written in Gates’ hand

Flint continues to repeat the order to fire growing frustrated at the crew’s inaction, shouting that they’re going to lose the enemy and don’t have time for this. Eventually he strides down and grabs one of the slow matches used to fire the cannons and goes to light the touchhole firing the cannons, but is shot in the shoulder by Dufresne

Silver wrestles with de Groot, but is knocked to the ground. As de Groot readies his pistol, he is knocked out by Randall who has hit him on the head from behind with the peg leg. Flint is pressed against the side by a gunport watching the Spanish ship slip away when one of the Walrus’ cannons fires, taking him, and the entire crew by surprise. Silver looks out at them, saying that it had to be done. Flint tells Dufresne to fight

“There’s no running now. Fire, Mr Dufresne. Everything you’ve got. Don’t waste this moment”

Dufresne hesitates, and the Spaniard’s sternchasers fire, hitting the Walrus. At this, Dufresne and Flint both start shouting orders to hire, and the crew slip into battle. Both the Walrus and Ranger get some volleys in, scoring several hits and causing a small explosion and fire onboard the man-o-war

The man-o-war comes about, her gunports open, and she fires. The Spanish broadside tears into the Walrus sending yard arms crashing down, and gun carriages flying. We see the Ranger’s magazine explode, and more and more holes be shot into the Walrus. As Silver tries to help an injured man, crying out for the doctor, Flint is knocked into the water. Seeing people and debris continue to be sent flying from the Walrus, he stops treading water and allows himself to be dragged under by the weight of his clothes and equipment

Eleanor is on the bridge between the tavern and brothel and Max comes out to meet her halfway. Eleanor starts to apologise to Max, but she tells her not to, saying she was “standing between you and your dreams for this place, you did what you had to do” and Eleanor reminds her of her words, that Nassau is just sand and cannot love her back but Max pushes back

"Sand has its virtues. On sand nothing is fixed. Nothing is permanent. Fates change so quickly. 

Yesterday Captain Hornigold was immovable from that fort and Captain Vane was a beggar, now look at them today. 

Yesterday I was a whore of little consequence, easily dismissed, easily forgotten, today I am a madam with an income and allies, and a woman who has learned the most important of lessons, never let anyone stand between you and your ambitions. Thank you for teaching it to me”

Vane sits in the fort as we see Lawrence push off, Hornigold’s damaged ship still in the bay, and Hornigold and Scott look on. Eleanor watches in the shallows, teary-eyed over what her ambitions have lost her

Flint wakes up on a beach, topless, a bit of cloth pressed to his wound as a dressing. He sits up and we see Dufresne, Silver, several other pirates, and the Walrus next to them on the beach with several holes clean through her hull. Flint asks why he’s still alive and Dufresne tells him to get up. As Dufresne leads them over the island they’re wrecked on, Silver says he was certain about his information regarding the Urca

“Unfortunately, you & I failed to take into account the weather. The Urca de Lima wrecked at sea last night. Dashed by the storm”

As we peek over the brow of the hill and see the Urca broken in two on another beach, the Spanish sailors unloading her onto the beach with the man-o-war at anchor in the bay, Flint seems to regain his resolve

[popculturebuffet]

Close Enough Reviews: Skate Dad

Josh tries to bond with his daughter through the art of skateboarding but ends up upstaged by a younger skateboarder with abs for days. Also Teddy Ruxpin begs for death but death won’t come. Since I don’t have as much to jaw jack about since this episode is on it’s own and I already reviewed i’ts pairing brother, full reveiw’s under the cut. 

We open with a cold open gag divorced from everything else.. a first for this show as even the Turn Down for what bit in “Logans Run’d” help set up Candace being gone for the weekend. But yeah it’s the bit from the trailer of Josh, Bridgette and Alex getting ready for a concert only for the other two to drop Josh off because he has no free time and just wanted to pretend. Also josh drinks a Glowstick. So majestic. 

In the main plot we start with something I can relate to: a small child watching youtube videos while ignoring the world around her. Having two nieces, 9 and 6, I can relate so hard it hurts. Josh fails to get her to pay attention to him and tries getting them to do something they can do together by reliving his childhood. Again, easily relate to this. Things go poorly as TeddY Ruxpin bursts into flames and tape hilarously and Candace is throughly unintrested in simon and a magic 8 ball. Josh is understandably depressed, Teddy begs for death but death wont’ come, their gag not mine and Emily comes in with Josh’s old skateboard.. which actually DOES get Candace’s attention. Josh naturally latches onto this and decides to teach her out to skate.  The group go to a skate shop and Josh relates his own experince going.. while leaving out the fact his dad was a total asshole who rather than go into the grungy skateshop with his son and be present just went back to the car and pointed at his watch. Which he apparently did so much a later bit in the episode shows josh’s photo of him is just that. It’s some nice character stuff: like I hoped the show would it explains WHY Candance isn’t spending whole weekends with her grandpa: Josh likely dosen’t want to subject her to the same crap he went through and it shows why josh is trying so hard to connect with her: besides just generally being a good dad HE Never had a dad who wanted to do anything with him and wants to be better.  The skate shop they end up in though is more apple store, to the point Candace wonders if their in one, as their greeted by an employee and then the store’s owner the Gooch, a modern skater whose a totally nice guy actually, offering artensially crafted skateboards, a nice gag and impressing Emily and Candace, while Josh is understandably jealous and paranoid about being upstaged by the guy. Candace picks hers which is satanrific... which is not only great but it’s made even funnier by Emily only being horrified by it because it’s 100%, with Gooch offering the above one of his abs. Finding the dark lord satan more approraite than some dude’s john oliver level shredded pecs, Josh goes with the satan one.  The Ramierz’s head to the skate park, and in order to one up Gooch who candace now clearly idolizes, Josh attempts to show her an Ollie and instead wangs himself in the balls iwth the board bad to everyone but his families laughter. Also we get a great visual gag of the paramedics skating the gurney up the ramp when they go to fetch josh.  Back at the house Josh is depressed about not being able to teach his daughter and is in a wheelchair, having an iron plate put over his crotch due to his injuries because of course he has. The crew REALLY seem to love the fact they can now do nutshots huh? I don’t blame them given they probably couldn’t on regular show, which I find weird given you can do jokes about eating feces, even if you don’t show it, as loud house has horrifingly shown us, but not someone getting hit in the balls. I just find it a WEIRD double standard. 

Anyways Josh lets the pain pills takes him away and has a nice dream of being a skate dad and something I like about this show is it really uses the animation well and plays with it more than regular show did. Regular Show did so too, it just didn’t do it nearly as much and the animation bump for this series is fairly easy to see. Probably helps Close Enough has an episode order for the season closer to say steven universe, so there’s more room in the budget to make the standard stuff look gorgeous. 

Back at the plot, Josh wakes up to find himself in the car some time, days or weeks later. Turns out Emily signed Candance up for lessons with the Gooch, and Josh takes it about as well as you’d expect and gets even more insned when the gooch innocently starts acting fatherly to her. It’s decent character stuff; Josh isn’t NORMALLY this crazy jealous or possesive, at least so far, but it’s understandable to be upset when someone else is being fatherly to your kid and doing things YOU want to be doing with them. Candance calling him papa gooch causes Josh to flip out, amble up and angrily rant at the nice man with the 6 pack before challening him to a bombing run, which I had no idea what that was and is basically what candace started with: Riding down an inciline while body riding the board.  Naturally Josh is worried about his chances but refuses to admit it, Emily is wondering what the shit has gotten into her husband and Candace, being candace, starts street bombing down the incline with her parents and gooch in persuit. Josh is still being a dick but eventually realizes how much of one he’s being when he points at his watch and instead of just being defensive and mean, is honest with the goosh and politley asks him to let Josh take care of this himself. Goosh relates to that as his own dad never took him skating and he took it up to spite him, the two now have mutal respect and goosh wooshes out. What a legend. Anyways JOsh and emily speed after her, and end up on the same board holding Candace, and we get the bit from the pitch trailer of josh grinding on his nuts and josh saves the day, and wins the familys respect and brings Goosh to tears... what a man what a man what a mighty good man, say it again lord!

Final Thoughts: Another more standard episode, this one is eleveated a bit by josh’s character stuff.. it’s just a bit thiner than Emily’s stuff at the open house a few episode back or in the following episode as Josh comes off as kind of a bit too dickish before the end as Goosh is really just nice. I know it’s the point but it’s still hard to watch. Overall it’s still another great episode and a joy to watch. It’s also getting me to notice a trend of the episodes, at least so far we’ll see as we go, opening with the weaker of the two and closing with the stronger one. No episode’s been outright bad but with the six so far the second ones’ have been the standouts while the first ones are just the series standard quality. It also is the first episode without Alex or Bridgette in it as even other episodes without them so far have still had token apperances and the lack of Jason is felt.. but it somehow didn’t hurt this episode and it felt understandable given they really had nothing to add.  This was a short one, I have more to go, until we meet again later days. 

[could-always-be-gayer-2]

So I made a Descendants AU

And I decided to change some things so here ya go

Side note: I plan on drawing these bois and maybe their families

Auradon students:

Patton

Son of Giselle and Robert

Takes after his mother in alot of ways

Is a very talented seamstress

He works in his mother's boutique on Auradon and makes all his own clothes as well as gowns for the royals

Hes always seen with some kind of forest animal with him or on him

Vegetarian 

Very animated and believes everyone deserves love

Wears his heart on his sleeve And takes everything to heart

His older half sister Morgan use to despise him

He doesn't believe in hatred

They argue sometimes since he gets stuck in his own fantasy world sometimes but they make up in the end

Now they're inseparable 

He came to Auradon prep after she moved out for college

Emile

Son of Peter Pan and Wendy

Raised in England, was told stories of Neverland but never actually seen it

Family motto is 'Never grow up’

'Tried to fly as a kid, did not end well

Is alot more like his father then his mother

Tarzan and Peter would share stories of their childhood with their sons and thankfully their wives got along wonderfully 

Logan is like a brother to him

Logan always says he'll never believe in Neverland until he sees it for himself, Emile knows this is just a ploy to get his dad to take them one day

Emile applied to Auradon after finding out Logan had to move

He didn't want to be alone when Logan inevitably moved away

Going on adventures is no fun alone 

Logan

Son of Tarzan and Jane

Raised in England 

Smart and civilized like his mother

Curious and one with nature like his father

Met Emile in England at school, Em’ shadow tripped him when he was walking to school one day, he was too busy reading to notice

Distant relative of Belle and Adam, he doesn’t know exactly how

After Belle’s passing,  his parents told him they would have to move to take care of the school

Logan didnt argue but was sad to leave England Emilie 

He didn't have to apply, he was given immediate admission but he took the admission test anyway

He scored second highest

Emile got a perfect score

Remy

Son of Snow White and Prince Florian

Allergic to apples, if consumed he passes out for an uncertain amount of time

Has 7 uncles

Every birthday he gets new jewelry made by his uncle, he keeps everything in a box that he trusts with his godfather (the huntsman) and only he has the key

Taller than all of them and doesnt let them forget it

Can communicate with animals like his mother 

His best animal friends are a deer, skunk and rabbit

Doesn’t really care gender-wise and wears whatever he wants

He tells everyone his preferred pronouns are “Fairest of them all”

Roman

Son of Anastasia Tremaine, Adopted son of Cinderella nad Prince Charming

Roman didnt live on the Isle but was taken in by his Aunt and Uncle (Charming and Cinderella) after his parents passed away due to unknown reasons

They raised him as their own and never told him who his real mother was

He was brought up as their heir never lifting a finger, had maids to dress him and cook for him, he was down right spoiled and the entire castle knew it

His godmother (Snow White) thought he was too pampered and told his parents about Auradon a prep school she was sending her own lazy son so they agreed to ship him off with Remy in hopes he’d learn to be a prince rather than a brat

His favorite colors pink

He loves to bake

He's afraid of mice

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Villian Kids:

Virgil

"Son" of Oogie Boogie, Son of Jack Skellington and Sally

He was made by Dr. Finklestein for Jack and Sally soon after they were married

Oogie lived and hid as a human on the Isle and works as a Tailor

When he learned of Virgil' creation, he grew jealous

He ordered Lock Shock and Barrel, who still follow him, to steal him which they succeeded

Oogie hid him away for himself and raised him as his own with Lock Shock and Barrel as his older siblings

Deceit 

(he needs a name)

Son of Mother Gothel and a Stabbington brother (No one knows which one)

Likes to call himself royalty because of Rapunzel when they aren't actually related

Master manipulator

Never knew his mother and was raised by his father and uncle

Started stealing at a young age, a master pickpocket 

Once stole Mistresses Maleficent's staff and she punished him by burning half of his face

She’s his idol

Although she was angry with him, she was also impressed so she took him in as an apprentice and taught him some magic

His magic is enchanted in a pair of gloves he never takes off and he wrote down practically everything she tells him

Just like Diablo she thought he needed a right hand so she entrusted one of the daughters of Kaa to watch over him 

Remus

Son of Drizella Tremaine

Remus grew up with only his mother and grandmother in a small one bedroom cottage

His grandmother took the room and his mother took the couch leaving him on the floor

His mother never lifted a finger and made him do absolutely everything and his grandmother only ever lifted her hand to dish out unfair punishments

The worst punishment is when they’d lock him away in the attic for days on end with no or little food

One day as he was doing his normal chores his grandmother comes by and in the clams voice announces that ‘She is sending him to Auradon’ which enraged his mother

In what felt like two seconds he was packed with what little he owned, standing in line with the other VKs, ready to leave the Isle and start a new life in Auradon

….or at least that’s what everyone else thinks

His real plan was revenge for his mother and grandmother, and if he cant get to Cinderella directly then he’ll go after the next best thing

His favorite color is green

He hates cooking

He’s claustrophobic

He hates animals

Tag List!

@sparkletastic-cookiedough

@broadwaytheanimatedseries

@chelsvans

@fanders-unite

[sanderssidesfanfiction]

We’ll Carry On - Chapter Forty Three

We’ll Carry On Tag

General Content Warnings: Sympathetic Deceit Sanders, Substance Abuse, Abandonment, Minor Character Death, Transphobia, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Dissociation, Bullying, Homophobia

February 16th, 2019

Logan woke up slowly, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. It was a Saturday, so he didn’t have to worry about his alarm going off. Something was different, though, and he couldn’t put his finger on it. He stared at the ceiling for a minute. His hair had been cut, but he had gotten used to that, mostly. He was in the Picani’s place, not the Harkness’ place, which he was also used to.

Roman walked in their shared bedroom, grinning. “Hey, sleepyhead. Your legal dads are waiting for you downstairs with a celebratory breakfast.”

Logan blinked, frowning, trying to absorb that information. It hit him over the head like a sack of bricks: he was adopted yesterday! That’s what was different! He was legally part of a family again! He grinned, sitting up. “All right, all right, I’m up,” he said, grabbing a sports bra and getting dressed. Today was going to be a good day.

February 15th, 2020

Logan sat up in bed with a stretch and a sigh. It was February fifteenth, according to his phone, which had a little reminder about “Dad and Ami go crazy today.” He tried to puzzle that out for a minute before he remembered: the anniversary of his adoption. Dad and Ami had done a celebration for Roman about a month before, and they had asked Logan what he wanted in terms of his. He said he didn’t want a lot of fanfare, just maybe picking out lunch or dinner and his family there to support him.

The odds of that actually happening were slim to none, but hey, he tried. He climbed out of bed, got dressed, and stumbled down the stairs, rubbing his eyes with his free hand. “Ugh,” he grumbled as he walked into the kitchen.

“Morning, Lo,” Dad said with a smile. “Sleep well?”

“Debatable,” Logan responded, voice creaking in protest of being used.

“Have some juice to help your voice,” Dad said, gesturing to the fridge. “Then you can help yourself to breakfast, because I know you wanted to experiment with cooking.”

“Mm,” Logan hummed his thanks and went to the fridge, bringing out apple juice and pouring it into a glass Dad passed him. He took a grateful sip, letting the sugar coat his throat. He put the apple juice back and pulled out an egg. “Show me how to make one sunny-side up?” he requested.

“Sure,” Dad agreed.

Roman came down and grabbed breakfast as Dad was teaching Logan to cook the egg, and Dee, Virgil, and Pat soon ran to the den and turned on the TV for Saturday morning cartoons. Logan took his breakfast, successfully cooked, into the dining room to eat and think. Roman came over to him with a Pop Tart and spoke as he ate. “Any idea where we’re going for lunch or dinner?”

Logan pulled a face. “Roman, don’t talk with your mouth full. I don’t need you spraying crumbs all over my breakfast.”

“Mm. Shorry,” Roman mumbled. He swallowed. “Still, any idea?”

Logan shrugged. “Not really. I don’t really want to go anywhere super fancy. Maybe...like, Panera. Their sandwiches are good, even if it makes me sound like a ‘basic white girl.’”

“You are not basic, nor are you a girl,” Roman pointed out.

“True,” Logan allowed. “But people will say I sound like one anyway, even if I pass as a guy.”

“Why?” Roman asked.

“Well, if I pass as a guy, they aren’t using it to misgender me, they’re just insulting my taste,” Logan said with a shrug. “As far as I’ve gathered, at any rate. People are...not my strong suit.”

“Yeah, I’ve gathered that before,” Roman said with a grin and a bite from his Pop Tart. “But seriously, why do people compare guys to girls as an insult?”

Logan shrugged. “Because effeminate men are not supposed to exist, I suppose.”

Roman nodded, before frowning. “Logan...”

“Hm?”

“If you were...I don’t know...able to get surgery at one point, if that’s what you wanted. And your breasts were gone. So people very clearly saw you as a guy. Would you ever wear dresses or skirts or makeup?”

Logan considered. “I’m...not sure. I suppose I would give it a try, but...I don’t think I would go out of my way to do it often. I’m more androgynous-to-masculine in my style.”

Roman nodded. “That’s fair. I was just wondering if you didn’t like feminine things because you didn’t pass, or if you just didn’t like feminine things.”

“No, I’m just more masculine in style,” Logan said. “However, I do like pastels. I don’t wear them often because they make me look more ‘soft’ according to people at school, but they are fun to wear, provided I don’t get misgendered wearing them.”

“So when you’re an adult and have had all the surgeries you want, you’ll wear pastels and be the man of your dreams?” Roman asked. “Oh, wait, my mistake, Jack is the man of your dreams,” he teased.

“Roman, I will kill you,” Logan warned.

Roman just laughed, finished his breakfast, and left the room. Logan sighed and finished his breakfast before retreating to his room to read for a few hours. He considered writing, especially because he had seen a fascinating Sherlock Holmes theory recently, but he didn’t have the energy to write too much today.

So he read, curled up on his bed, until there was a knock at the door and Dad poked his head in. “Hey, did you want to go out for lunch as a celebration?” he asked. “Or should I come back around dinner?”

“Lunch is fine,” Logan said, putting down his book and standing. “I was just thinking we could go to Panera. Somewhere simple. Everyone likes something there, and we don’t go very often. Besides, I like their sandwiches.”

Dad smiled. “Sounds perfect. Shall we go?”

Logan nodded and followed Dad downstairs and out the door as Ami wrangled the boys into the van. Logan just sat in his usual spot, scrolling his phone. To him, it felt more or less just like another Saturday. The exception being that they were going out to lunch at a place of his choosing.

When they finally managed to get everyone inside the restaurant and figured out their orders, Ami suggested, “Why don’t you find a table, Logan? I need to grab something from the car, but the boys can stay with Dad, or they can help you if you want.”

Logan squinted. It wasn’t like Ami to forget something in the car. This was probably what his surprise was going to be, like Roman’s surprise was the book from his mom. Still, he didn’t want to ruin the surprise for the others, and Dad and Ami were clearly desperate for him to play along. “Okay. Dee, do you want to help me find a spot that’s quiet enough for you?”

Dee nodded and the two walked away from the rest of the group. Logan sighed. Dee looked up at him. “Dad and Ami are trying to surprise you,” he signed.

“Yeah, I figured,” Logan said with a tired smile. “I didn’t want a lot of fanfare, though. It’s an important day, true, but I don’t like all the attention on me. Some is fine, but all? That makes me uncomfortable.”

Dee nodded in understanding. “Same,” he signed.

They found a table in the front, by the windows that no one was using. Most of the people around here were quiet, too, so Logan and Dee took a seat. Logan stared out the front window and sighed again. “I know this is supposed to be a happy day, and it is, but I feel...I don’t know,” he muttered.

“Bittersweet?” Dee asked.

“Monachopsis, maybe. I just always, always feel like I’m slightly out of place. Even in this family, where everyone belongs, I feel like I...don’t. And usually it doesn’t bug me, but today, I guess I thought I could relax and fit in with the rest of the family, but I still feel...off,” Logan said.

Dee shrugged. “I felt that way for a while,” he admitted. “I thought the second I did something bad Dad and Ami would send me away. Because they’re good people and I’m me. But I screwed up, and they forgave me, and we moved on, and I’m still here. You do fit in, even if you don’t feel it. And it’s okay if you don’t feel it.”

Logan signed a quick “Thank you,” to Dee as Patton and Virgil ran over, giggling, and Roman and Dad were carrying trays with lunch behind them.

“That should be everyone’s lunch,” Dad said. “Now we just have to wait for Ami.”

Patton and Virgil giggled more and Roman grinned. Dee looked about as lost as Logan felt. “Did I miss something?” Logan asked.

“Dad told us what he and Ami got you for your adoption anniversary,” Roman said. “And we all agree you’re going to love it.”

“What is it?!” Dee asked frantically. Virgil whispered in his ear, so quietly that Logan couldn’t hear it. But Dee gasped loudly and held his hands over his mouth as he exclaimed, out loud, “Really?!”

Patton nodded. “Yeah! They decided they should kickstart it now, to help later on!”

Dee turned to Logan. “You’re gonna love it,” he signed, practically bouncing in his seat.

Logan felt a little stunned at the sheer energy at the table. This wasn’t fanfare, but it was attention, and he wasn’t sure how he felt about it. Ami came over, with an envelope about the size to fit a greeting card. “Sorry for the wait, everybody!” Ami said. “There was no way I could just give the game away the second we came inside and I was holding this!” He passed it to Logan. “But you’re free to open it now.”

“Okay...?” Logan said, sliding his finger under the seal of the envelope.

Opening it, he saw it was indeed a greeting card. It said “Bye bye ta tas” on the front. He opened the card and his eyes widened in surprise. There were five twenty dollar bills residing in it, and when he took them out, the inside of the card said, “Hoping all goes well with your top surgery!”

“Maybe the card was a little preemptive, because obviously you’re not getting top surgery yet...” Ami said.

“...But we figured we could kickstart the fund to help you get there, since you’ve told us that’s the route you want to go,” Dad finished. “We told your grandparents our plan and they immediately contributed fifty dollars to the cause.”

“I...I don’t...” Logan swallowed. “I don’t know what to say. ‘Thank you’ doesn’t begin to cover it.”

“Say you accept, and maybe let us tell you there’s a jar at home with your name on it,” Ami said with a grin. “We want to support you in whatever way we can, Logan. And if we can help fund your top surgery, we’ll do it.”

“I...okay,” Logan said, still staring in shock at the card.

“Also, Logan, you might want to eat before your food gets cold,” Dad gently prompted.

Logan jolted upright like he had been shocked and nodded, putting the money back in the card with the envelope and the card on his lap. “Right. Good point. Thanks.”

Everyone started to eat, excitedly chatting. “That’s such a cool anniversary gift!” Patton exclaimed. “Helping to get top surgery! How much does that cost, anyway?”

“Like, a couple thousand dollars,” Roman said, pulling a face. “And that’s not counting what you have to pay the hospital, and the doctors beyond the surgeon, and the consultations. So a hundred bucks won’t get the entire thing done, but it’s a decent start.”

“Yeah,” Logan agreed softly. “It’s a long process, but I’ll get there.”

“I know you will,” Patton said, with all the certainty that he would use saying gravity existed. “Because you don’t let other people tell you what to do. You do what you want when it comes to your body. That’s super cool, and super brave.”

Logan tried not to feel choked up at that, and failed. He felt a few tears slip through his façade, but he let them fall. This was his family, they wouldn’t judge him for crying. Dee pat Logan’s leg softly and Logan laughed, giving Dee a quick, one-armed hug before going back to eating.

“Wait,” Virgil said. “Why do you need a surgeon to do that job?”

“Because breasts aren’t just fat,” Roman said. “They have veins and stuff and you could get hurt if you didn’t know what you’re doing. So you need a surgeon.”

“Oh,” Virgil said. He wrinkled his nose. “That’s still expensive, though.”

Logan sighed. “Yeah. But one day it’ll be worth it,” he nodded before continuing, “I’ll look like the man I was meant to be, and no one is going to take that away from me.”

[mamashitty]

Samwell Elementary Chapter 14

Title: Samwell Elementary School Fandom: Check, Please! Chapter 14, you can read previous chapters here Word Count: 2,198 Ship: Zimbits Find it on my AO3 & pillowfort! Blurb:Jack and Bitty enjoy their fresh new relationship. And also, this is the last chapter!

Jack shuts his alarm off just a second or two after it goes off. He has been awake for a few minutes now, staring maybe a touch dolefully at the empty space on the bed beside him. He and Bitty are being cautious about the start of their relationship, there are no sleepovers at Jack’s house when he has Maisie. Neither one wants to confuse her and they are keeping the relationship a secret for now. Relationship. He is in a relationship with Eric Bittle and that fact alone makes it difficult to not smile, even if he can’t tell everyone about it just yet. He gets out of bed and goes to get ready for the day before he wakes up Maisie. It is always easier getting himself up and dressed first before he gets her going. He wants to stop by the nearby coffee shop before he drops her off at school. They have a new seasonal flavor that he thinks Bitty is going to love.

“MR. BITTY HI!” Maisie all but shouts as she skips down the hall ahead of Jack. Bitty crouches to get to her level and he holds out a hand that his daughter exuberantly slaps in a high-five. “Like my new leggings?” The leggings are covered in tennis rackets, in homage to Camilla. This week Maisie is all about her Mom and tennis. Jack notices that she goes in spurts with her passions and he loves it. It keeps Jack on his toes.

“I love them, Maisie. Rhiannon is already in class if ya want to go say hi to her before we start,” Bitty says and Jack bends down to give Maisie a tight hug before she scampers off into class. A few weeks ago she had insisted that she put her backpack away in her cubby without his help and since then there has been no turning back. It stings a little to see signs like that of Maisie getting older. He’s happy, though, that Bitty can distract him from those thoughts for a minute. Maybe two if they are lucky and no other parent shows up. Bitty approaches him and Jack’s lips tug up into a smile as he hands over the peppermint atrocity that he knows Bitty will love.

“Thanks, Jack,” Bitty says, and he brings the drink up to his lips. Jack licks his own lips as he watches Bits take a sip. He wishes they could at least hug right now. At least he can get a kiss from Bitty later on.

“Is it good?” Jack asks, his voice lower than necessary.

Bitty lifts an eyebrow before smirking and nodding his head. He looks like he is about to say something, but then he gets cut off by the appearance of another parenting dropping off a student. Jack waves to him before walking away. He manages to make it all the way to his car before fishing out his phone to leave Bitty a text, a text he knows won’t be checked until Bitty’s kids are in their art session with Lardo.

“Jack, I think Shitty and Lardo are sleeping together.”

Jack is laying on his bed, staring up at his ceiling. The amount of time he and Bitty spend on the phone at night makes him feel something like a teenager. He never really had this when he was younger. It was all hockey, all the time. He and Kent—well it was never like this. Neither one of them had it in them to make it like this when they were teens. It makes Jack happy, though, that he is finally embarking on this rite of passage that so many other people hit earlier in their lives.

“What makes you think that, Bud?” Jack asks, smiling. He is always smiling when he talks to Bits.

“Well,” Bitty begins, his voice quieter than usual—not quite a whisper but not speaking at full volume either. Jack fights back a laugh, not wanting to interrupt Bitty. “Lardo’s car is in the drive, and I’m baking some pie for the class tomorrow because we are celebrating Logan’s birthday. Anyway, I may have made some extras. Shitty never came down from his room so I decided I’d see if Lardo wanted some, but she was not in the basement. And Shitty’s door has been shut for quite awhile. I don’t hear much coming from the room but he always knows when I’m baking and heads into the kitchen.”

“Bitty, are you upset that we might not be the only ones in a secret relationship?” Jack chirp and he is unable to stop the slight laugh that escapes him.

“No! I… okay, maybe a little.” Bitty says and Jack can hear the pout in his voice.

It takes a lot out of Jack for him not to blurt out three simple words right now. Three words that convey exactly how he feels for Eric, but he knows it is too soon. This relationship of theirs too young. It does not matter that Jack has been falling hard for Eric since the first time he saw him. That he knows he has never really felt this way for anyone, not even Camilla and he had been married to her. Oh, there had been love between him and Camilla—but this… this is so different. He knows he does not need to say those words, not yet, and so he stuffs them down and contents himself with listening to his boyfriend.

They stay up way too late talking on the phone like they do most nights if Jack is not too tired after a game.

“HAPPY NEW YEAR!”

It is 8:30 on December 31st, but the television says that it is midnight. Maisie is ecstatic and jumping up and down as she throws confetti and streamers into the air. She drinks some bubbly apple juice and dances around the living room with Camilla and Steve. Jack watches, feeling warm and happy. He wishes Bitty and Shitty could see this, and he is glad he remembered to pull his phone out to record it. Then it is his turn to dance with Maisie, so Camilla takes his phone and he dances around the living room with his daughter. He scoops her up in his arms and spins twice before setting her down.

“I love you, Papa!” Maisie shouts.

“I love you too, Corndog.” He says, hugging her tightly once more before she squirms away.

It is ten now and Jack is at Shitty’s haus. He is glad that he and Camilla came up with the plan to celebrate an earlier New Years with Maisie. He thinks that next year he might let her try to stay up until midnight for real. He’s also happy that he gets to spend the last couple hours of the year with his boyfriend and ring in the new one with him too. He and Bitty’s plans are to celebrate midnight with their friends and then sneak out to go to Jack’s house because Maisie is staying at Camilla’s for rest of the week as Jack will be on the road starting tomorrow morning. Staying up and out until midnight is probably a dumb idea on Jack’s part but he wants to because he knows it will make Bitty happy.

Bitty who is slightly flushed in the face from a couple of drinks. Bitty, who keeps touching Jack’s arms lightly as they talk. Bitty who shines brighter than everyone and everything else in the Haus. Bitty who is currently being pulled away from Jack and the wall by a drunk Shitty.

“BITS MY BRAH! DANCE WITH ME!”

Jack smiles as he watches his best friend dance with Bitty. He does not notice Lardo until she nudges him gently in the side and that is when he tears his gaze away from the dancing duo.

“Hey, Lardo.”

“Jack,” she says, her gaze drifting from him towards Shitty and Bits. Since Lardo is watching the two of them, Jack figures he can get away with it too. Silence falls between him and Lardo, but it is comfortable. It is usually comfortable between the two of them.

“Bitty has been really happy lately,” Lardo says after a few minutes, and Jack can feel her eyes on him. He turns to look at her, but her face is obnoxiously blank.

“So has Shitty,” Jack ventures, and he sees Lardo’s lips twitch into something of a smile before she is pushing off from the wall she had been leaning on.

“Happy looks good on them both,” Lardo says before she slips between the dancing Shitty and Bitty, only to take Bitty by his hand and lead him into the kitchen. Shitty shouts something dramatic before his eyes land on Jack and then suddenly Jack has an armful of Shitty.

“THREE… TWO… ONE…”

It is midnight and all around them couples are kissing. Jack wants to kiss Bitty. They have plans, though, to stay mostly a secret until the end of the school year. They are at a party with mostly teachers from Bitty’s school. He notices that Lardo and Shitty are kissing—and it is definitely not a friendly chaste thing—and he nudges Bitty to point that out. Bitty laughs and then he is looking at Jack, and Jack is looking at him. And suddenly it feels foolish and stupid to Jack to keep this all a secret.

“Bits…”

Bitty is close to him, closer than he was a few seconds ago. Then they are kissing too, Jack thinks that they both closed the gap at the same time. The kiss does not start out smooth, more teeth than anything in their rush, but they smooth it out. It might have been half a minute late into the New Year but Jack has no complaints. The sounds of the party are dull to him now as he focuses just on Bitty and his lips.

“I FUCKING KNEW IT!” Shitty shouts and Jack stops kissing Bitty just before Shitty engulfs the two of them in a hug. Bitty’s face is flushed and he looks happy, happier than he did a few minutes before. Jack feels lighter too. They had not kept the secret as long as they had intended too and Jack thinks that it might be better this year.

“’Swawesome and congrats,” Lardo says and they bump fists.

“You too,” Jack says, with a smirk and he notices that her cheeks turn a faint red.

It is late. Well past Jack’s bedtime. He and Bitty made it back to his house a little after 12:30 and they immediately changed into pajamas. Bitty, once again, borrowing a pair of pants from Jack. He is too tired to do much more than kiss, and they have been lazily kissing goodnight since they made it to Jack’s bed.

“This is going to be a great year, Bitty, “Jack says, once they stop kissing. He stifles a yawn and Bitty nuzzles his face against Jack’s neck. Jack loves the feel of Bitty’s breath there, and he sighs, content.

“I think so too, Jack.”

He can feel the pull of sleep and knows he should not fight it, that he will have some regret staying up as late as he did tonight, even if it feels worth it now. Bitty is so warm in his arms, and Jack never realized what he cuddler in bed he could be. He likes falling asleep with Bitty in his arms and he always wakes up a little disorientated when wakes up and they have slipped apart in the middle of the night. He is grateful he gets to spend the final night before a long roadie with Bits in his bed, and his thoughts feel a bit like a broken record these days.

“G’night Jack,” Bits says, his voice thick with the pull of sleep.

“Goodnight, bud. I love you,” Jack says, too tired to stop those three little words from escaping. He feels Bitty tense in his arms, and suddenly, Jack feels too wide awake. He does not want to take those words back. He feels like he will be fine if Bitty is not quite ready to say them back. He just wants Bits to know… even if it is too quick.

“You don’t have to say anything back,” Jack is quick to get out, and he feels Bitty relaxing once more into his arms.

“Jack,” Bitty says, shifting until he can look him in the eyes. Jack flashes him a smile, probably oozing with worry. “I love you too. We are both a little crazy, aren’t we?” Bitty says with a breathless laugh.

Jack says nothing, he just kisses Bitty because Bitty loves him back. And maybe his boyfriend is right and maybe they are both a little crazy but Jack would not trade that for the world. The kiss turns into more than a kiss and Jack resigns himself (without much of a fight) to being exhausted for the road trip tomorrow and that be okay because Eric Bittle loves him and he loves Eric Bittle.

Life is better than good.

[logan-go-nom]

New Years Resolutions

Paton loves his boys, not that they know it. But his new years resolution is to change that. It proves to be ore difficult than he had thought.  This will eventually have more added onto it.  Warnings:None (i think)

Paton had 4 new years resolutions. A substantial decrease from last years 47. And all four of them could basically be summed up into quit being a scaredy cat. But he heard somewhere that breaking it down helps you to be more likely to do it. So he broke it down into confess to roman, confess to virgil, confess to logan, and confess to deceit. And well… its March and he is still pining just as much as he ever was. He got close to confessing to at least one of them several times, not that he ever did.

First it was Roman. Logan and Virgil had gone out so Patton had asked Roman if he wanted to watch a movie. They were sitting watching a movie together, and Roman made a comment about how Jack and Sally really love each other. Paton had said “not as much as i love you.” And roman laughed it off, like just another one of Paton’s silly jokes. Paton could have clarified. But if Roman wanted it to be a joke… Paton was terrified. The second wrench in his resolution-Virgil and Logan started dating. Then Deceit started actively avoiding him.

It wasn’t even halfway through the year and Paton was ready to give in. But no, he was just so stubborn. And what he is doing isn’t stalking it’s… gathering information. AKA, stalking deceit so he can ambush him. He had thought the dark side would be easier. And to an extent, he would be, in theory, if Paton could actually talk to the snake. But every time he thought he could get him, the man would get away or in some cases, straight up disappear.

Paton was at his wits end with it. So instead of sneaking around and lurking behind corners he stomped over and grabbed deceits wrist. “Now you listen here and you listen well,” Paton hadn’t meant to sound mad he was just frustrated, so he took a deep breath and relaxed a little, “I have been trying to talk to you and you have been avoiding me.” Deceit looked shaken. “You are the deceitful side, so you know when people are being less than honest,” It isn’t a question but Deceit nods anyway, trying to pull his hand away but not getting anywhere, “Okay so look, I have something to get off my chest and i feel most comfortable telling you, right now. I-”

“You like Logan.” It’s like a slap to the face. Paton reels and finally drops Deceits wrist. Deceit laughs. “You totally haven’t been staring at him and Virgil like someone stole your golden apple.” Sarcasm drips from Deceits voice, almost tangible.

“No i- Well okay yes, i do but- It’s not” Paton stutters, “What i was going to say Dee, is that i like you. Deceit your-”

“Declan”

“Right, Declan, you might not be- wait what?” Paton whips his head back up to stare into the heterochromic eyes.

“My name may or may not be Declan,” Deceit smiles, “If you want to use it.” Paton nods and grins.

“Yeah, Declan. You might not be what most people would consider my ideal match, but you are funny, in your own sarcastic sense, and you do care. I can see it. I can tell that it hurts you when we pick on you.” Paton smiles, “You have a heart. I can tell.”

“I feel like this is the worst possible time for you to kiss me,” Declan winks and grabs Paton’s hand. Paton’s mind is reeling as Dee leans forward and brushes their lips together.

“The other day you seemed a little rattled when i brought up Logan and Virgil” Declan leaned into the hand on his cheek as they sat at the table in his room eating breakfast. The others didn’t really know about them yet, “I’m not worried, just curious.”

“Well, it’s complicated i guess,” Paton smiles, trying to dispel some of the fear in his boyfriends eyes. “I do like them. And Roman.” Declan looked, simply stated, like someone ran jis kitten over with a lawnmower then threw it in the compost bin. Paton strokes his scales gently, “And i definitely like you too, baby, i promise.”

“Then-”

“Polyamory” Paton blushes just the tiniest bit, “i did some research, stole a few books from Logan’s room, and i think the proper term is polyamory. On a side note, did you know that adultery is not the act of doing things adults have to- like taxes and eating the right food. It’s actually another word for-” Declan pushes a gloved hand over his mouth.

“Oh and you are the first person to figure this out. It’s not like any of us have been trying to tell you since you started using the word.” He can feel paton smile against his hand.

“Yrglesreoft” Declan moves his hand away and Paton tries again, “Your gloves are soft” Paton smiles at the blush slowly creeping across Dee’s cheek at the compliment.

“So the other day…”

“My new year’s resolution was to tell you all how i feel” Paton smiles again, not really looking at anything until he focuses again on his boyfriend. Paton grabs Declan’s hand, “ut i am happy with this, here and now.”

Deceit smiles weakly at the almost compliment. “Will you always be?” Paton shrugs in his nonchalant patony way.

“I suppose we can burn that bridge when we get there.” Declan laughs.

“Pat, that, that is the worst possible way you could have messed that statement up”

[belladonnablake]

All odd numbers 🖤

1: Golden mornings or peachy sunsets?: boston summer sunsets are always peachy but there’s something about the morning sky after it snows that is just as good? sunsets for summer and mornings for winter3: Do you wear scarves often? do you have a favorite?: i’d like to wear scarves more often than i do but i don’t know what to do with the back of my hair when i do? so maybe i will more often once it’s styled if i ever go to a hairdresser before the next time i die? but i do have a fave! i bought myself a tottenham hotspur scarf in the north end more than a few years ago and i’ll. try to take pictures of myself wearing it. i’ll try to take pictures of myself this year because i didn’t last year lol5: Is there a food you’ve never had but always wanted to try?: there’s a lot of things but i can’t think of too many right now! a lot of it is regional food you can’t find in new england or you can but you have to go out of your way. i’ve tried both rabbit and gator in the past couple years and i want to try more meats. caribou would be nice too. this is one of those questions i could talk forever without ever answering it completely so i’ll cut it here you’re welcome7: Do you listen to ASMR?: not too often but i’ll listen to rain or like moving water in general when i write on occasion, otherwise the music i’m listening to influences the music i’m writing. but nothing more than that9: What’s a little thing in life that you love?: i answered this but because it’s a question that can be answered more than once so i’m gonna do that. i love winter jack jack daniels. it’s like apple whiskey. i love my new pink and green joycons and i love the green and pink colour scheme in general. i love my new hoodies too. one is a powell peralta hoodie with a small logo on the front and big on the back, of the bones skeleton with the red hood. and the other is a thrasher hoodie with green font and a pink jellyfish11: Wobbly lines or using a ruler?: my hands are shaky and have always been shaky so my straight lines, they’re straighter than i am but they’re still bad. i don’t even think i own a ruler but if i were going to draw a straight line i’m going to need one lol13: Do you have any candles? what scents are they?: one of them is apple something and the other two are sparkling icicles and sweater weather which like. i don’t know how to describe either but it’s not the same as lighting a sweater on fire or sticking an icicle up your nose15: Do you have glasses?: another one where i’ll try to take pics for later but i have green aviators, red aviators, and purple aviators. all sunglasses off of rainbowoptx dot com17: What’s your favorite season and favorite month in that season?: winter autumn tie but my fave months are october, november, and december, and all but ten days of that are in autumn? 19: Favorite Ghibli and/or disney movie: it’s been years since i’ve seen either so forgive me if my memory fails me but i remember princess mononoke, kiki’s delivery service, and spirited away the most out of all of either ghibli or disney? and i should probably rewatch them soon as well as the others to see if that still stands21: What snacks do you usually get at the theater?: i don’t think i’ve ever actually gotten snacks at the theatre? i haven’t been in years, but there are a few things either out or coming out that look like they’d be worth going even if the concept of theatres is something that i don’t really understand? ...i’m thinkin bout once upon a time in hollywood baby! the best candy for theatres is reeses pieces and like any of the bites candy? cookie dough bites etc23: Would you fill your house with plants if you had a green thumb?: i keep my liquor bottles around to use them as vases tbh. there really isn’t a place for plants in our apartment, or maybe there is and i haven’t found it25: Do you have a favorite type of art style? (eg: soft looking, no to little color, sketches, crisp and clean, minimalist, pixel art etc.): my style varies all the time and i try to do all of the above, i’m very inconsistent myself. but i’m very fond of 3D modeling atm!27: Do you like nicknames?: i like nicknames if i like the person using them? i’m a person with a lot of names because i’m a dumb kinnie and hate using one name exclusively and i guess all my names are nicknames but like. i don’t like how nicknames for most people are shortened names or how they think shorter names are nicknames for a longer name idk like i’ve got a cousin named liam, that’s not his nickname. his legal name might be william but that’s not his name. his nicknames have nothing to do with that. and like there’s nothing wrong with nicknames that are shortened versions of a name but i hate how that’s what most people think of them as29: Do you still like old memes? (tell the truth): i don’t like how meme formats are the same and the reaction image changes. i like reaction images but i don’t like how some of them become memes and then it changes to a different image for the same format. i like the new wave of doge memes and i still like pepe and i love how stupid dat boi was 31:  Are you a fashionable person?: i’m a crusty folk punk that wears the same flannel every day but doesn’t know how to make crust pants33:  Cookies or brownies?: i don’t love either and would rather just eat raw cookie dough. i think there is such a thing as too much chocolate and brownies do have too much and cookies are often borderline but i do like a baller macaron or cheesecake cookie35: Do you find the crickets chirping outside your window relaxing?: i live in a city so... replace crickets with drunks screaming anything from the lyrics to everlong to i need you! we need you! we need you! we need you! we need you! fucking idiot! i don’t have further context for either but ya that’s relaxing to me37:  How often do you doodle?: not as often as i should because of the perfectionism thing giving me this fear of practice? i blame public school for killing off as many artists as they can tbh39: What’s your favorite random piece of decor in your house and room?: mr. durdam... he is a hollow plastic penguin around kneehigh next to the tv stand / amiibo shelves. we also hung waluigi from the ceiling for a while.41: Any birthmarks?: i got two dots on my wrist, one larger one smaller. looks like an exclamation point !43: First video game you ever played?: it was either one of the early zelda games or one of the ps1 games? i was too young to form memories but i know it was one of the two. i know i played arcade games at some arcade on hampton beach when i was that young too. qbert that orange FUCK45: Do you use gifs/ memes a lot when replying to people?: i’m trying to get better at remembering to save reaction images and remembering to use them. i don’t even know how people use the gifs when replying to people because i was stuck with a phone that couldn’t update its operating system for years and now i have a new phone with an up to date operating system and i’m still figuring things out47: Ideal temperature outside?: so it’s either gonna be below freezing so it’s able to snow or like... around 50 or below and literally feels like nothing at all. because i hate when it’s too hot to wear beanies. i like when it’s cold and i like when it’s not hot or cold. but i hate hot49: How often do you hear airplanes outside?: if i were to go outside and lie down on my back i could watch airplanes all day long. it’s a little different than being on castle island but it’s still close enough to logan to where planes are near constant but not too loud. i hear the train every ten minutes too. and the cars are always

[dr-gloom]

Simply Meant to Be

Whoo! Day 1 complete! I’m glad I wrote this ahead of time ahahaha

This was written for the sander’s sides Halloween challenge by @sanderssidesspook

Day 1: Costume Party

Fandom: Sander’s Sides

Pairing: Moxiety

Summary: Virgil really, really likes Halloween, and Patton really, really likes Virgil.

Words: 4,985 (sorryyyyy)

Tags/Warnings: non-binary Virgil, Halloween parties, Virgil’s costume is @fangirltothefullest‘s Moxei, The boys are nerds, Remy is genderfluid if that wasn’t obvious, the costume is a pun

As always, will be posted on my AO3 and my blog’s fanfic page! Enjoy!

taglist: 

@hungry-red-panda

No one in their friend group loved Halloween as much as Virgil. That wasn’t an opinion either – that was proven fact. Virgil would always go all-out on their decorations, pulling out all the stops, never leaving a single tombstone unturned. They’d set up a smoke machine for the front porch, blinking glowing eyes for the bushes, and put up window-length pictures of a run down, spooky house in their windows to make it seem like you were seeing the inside of their house. The house was covered in cobwebs, carefully placed in such a way that it created a tunnel of web guiding innocent trick-or-treaters directly to their front door. They’d bring out this electronic Scream decoration that hung from a tree and was motion activated. It would let out a creepy moan, and invisible strings would move the arms up and down. One year, they dressed up as a mummy and sat in a chair on the porch, holding a candy bowl that said, “only take one, please”. They were full-sized candy bars, so it wasn’t a ridiculous request. If a kid took more than one, they’d give the kid a good jump-scare and laugh as the arrogant thirteen-year-old ran crying to his mom. They weren’t malicious though, and they didn’t hate children.

They just really liked Halloween.

Perhaps their favorite part, they had to say, was their Halloween parties. Everyone loved them, and no matter who they invited and what they expected, they always ended up with more people than they planned for. Last year, so many people had shown up that they were flooding into Virgil’s front and back yards. They couldn’t count how many times someone set off Scream and drunkenly tried to fight it. Thankfully, it was mostly cloth, so they didn’t damage it. The only plastic parts were the hands and face.

This year, they were doubling their supply of party snacks. They bought enough Halloween candy to feed a small army, and when the cashier had to ring up half of the store’s apple supply, Virgil had to look away with a red face. They’d rolled their cart of candy, apples, chips, dips, punch mix and – yes – more decorations to their car, refusing to make eye contact with anyone they passed. Once they’d finally loaded everything up and backed out of the parking lot, they drove nearly ten miles under the speed limit, practically vibrating with excited energy. Halloween was in three days.

God, it was going to be amazing.

Their house had been decorated inside and out for eight weeks now. They had decorated the front yard as soon as they’d seen Halloween merch being sold in stores, figuring that if they could see it in stores, it was acceptable to decorate their house (not that they cared about what was socially acceptable). Patton had helped them, the two of them making a day of it and having fun using all of Virgil’s decorations and scaring each other. Virgil had to say Patton’s impression of Scream was spot on.

The night before Halloween, Logan and Roman come over from across town and Patton makes everyone dinner, since Virgil couldn’t cook to save their life, and they all settle in for a Halloween movie marathon. Patton and Virgil sit on the couch together, and no one makes fun of them for cuddling, and Patton pretends to be scared because he knows that Virgil doesn’t want the others to know how anxious horror movies make them. Patton doesn’t mind; he’ll gladly pretend to be scared if it makes Virgil happy.

Once they cycle through the acceptable horror films, they watch more family-friendly Halloween movies (per Patton’s request) like Halloweentown and Nightmare Before Christmas. Virgil appreciated the change, and they sang the songs along with their friends. Patton sang Sally’s parts, and Virgil sang Jack’s, the two of them flawlessly singing the couple’s duet later in the movie and sharing smiles which turns to laughter when Patton gives Virgil an eskimo kiss. Roman waggles his eyebrows and Virgil turns red, flipping him off.

They were midway through Scary Godmother when Patton nudged Virgil’s shoulder and they realized Roman was asleep against Logan, who didn’t look too far behind. Virgil smiled to themselves as they got up and grabbed a blanket for the pair, draping it across their shoulders. Logan shoots Virgil a tired thankful smile and closes his eyes. Virgil looks back at Patton, who’s blinking sleepily at the movie, and smiles. “Come on firefly, time for bed.” Patton whines but gets up, taking their hand and letting them drag him back to their room.

Virgil grabbed a Guns ‘N Roses tank top, an old shirt of Patton’s that he’d left the last time he spent the night, and two pairs of sweat pants, handing Patton his shirt and one of the pairs of sweats. Patton smiles and takes the clothes, stripping down to his boxers and changing into the offered clothing. Virgil blushes and turns away, changing their own clothes quickly and joining Patton in bed. Patton pouts at Virgil, “Let’s cuddle. Please?” Virgil laughs softly. “Fine. Cuddlebug.” Virgil turns around and Patton wraps his arms around Virgil’s middle, pulling them close until their back was pressed against his chest. He smiles against the back of Virgil’s neck, whispering, “Tomorrow’s going to be great, I just know it.”

Virgil hummed in agreement and closed their eyes, not realizing how tired they were as they almost instantly fell asleep.

Virgil woke up late Halloween morning, awareness trickling in like a small creek as they squinted against the light filtering in from the window. They cursed under their breath – Patton always opened the curtains when he stayed the night, and Virgil always woke up with sunlight in their face. Virgil rolled over with a soft groan, holding themselves up by their elbows. “Pat, wha-….” Their voice trailed off as they looked around. Patton wasn’t there, and his spot was cold. Virgil huffed slightly and rolled onto their stomach to look at the clock and swore loudly as they fumbled to untangle themselves from the blankets. They were so late!

Well, you can’t really be late to anything when you had nothing scheduled, but they were supposed to be getting the party ready! They had so much stuff to set up, and they’d slept through the morning – it was almost noon! They fall flat on their face, their foot caught up in the blanket sending them to the floor. They huff and shake the blanket off, getting onto their hands and knees before standing up, starting slightly when Roman stood in the doorway with a smug look, arms crossed over his chest. “Well that was hot.” Virgil could feel their face heating up as Roman laughed. “Shut up. Why didn’t anyone wake me up?”

“Pat told us if we woke you up early he’d hide the Crofter’s.” Virgil snorts and rolls their eyes. Of course. Another glance at their digital alarm clock has any semblance of humor leaving their face, though. “Get out of my way, I need to prepare for the party.” They try to move around Roman, who’s wide frame easily blocks most of the doorway, but Roman won’t let them by. “Roman, seriously.” Their breathing picks up a little. What if people start coming while they’re decorating? What if they aren’t finished and they have to stop, and people hate it? What if it doesn’t meet anyone’s standards because they didn’t give themselves the time to properly decorate? What if people hate it so much they stop coming? Then Virgil will be alone on Halloween and-

“Whoa, Virge. Hey, look at me. There you go.” Roman smiles when Virgil looks up, not realizing that they were staring at their hands, picking nervously at their cuticles. “This is why I’m not letting you out yet; you need to calm down first. I will not stand by while you run yourself ragged trying to make the ‘perfect party’. It’s always amazing and you know it. Take a deep breath.” Virgil nods, squeezing their hands and focusing on the slight sting of their nails digging into their palms. They took a couple deep breaths, counting out the steps in their head until their mind was clearer.

“Okay, Prince, let me out.” Roman studies their expression before he steps out of the way with a sweeping bow. “Of course, Shay.” They walk past Roman, rubbing the last dregs of sleep out of their makeup-free eyes. Just one more thing to add to the list of 1,000 Things To Do Before 4 PM. Costume.

Virgil wanders into the kitchen to find Patton finishing up on lunch. Patton turns around and smiles brightly at the sight of his friend- making Virgil’s heart skip a beat – and clapping his hands together. “There you are sleepy head! You hungry? Lunch is almost ready.” Virgil pouted slightly and slunk into a chair. “I wouldn’t have slept so late if someone hadn’t threatened the Crofter’s.” Patton doesn’t even look apologetic as he turns back to the stir fry. “V, we both know you seriously needed the extra rest. Just how much have you been sleeping the last few weeks?” He leveled Virgil with a look over his shoulder, and Virgil pales slightly.

“…About 9 hours a week.”

“Exactly. Don’t you feel better now?” Patton starts to serve up the food onto four plates. Virgil hated to admit it, but Patton was right. They felt a lot better after sleeping ten solid hours. They hadn’t even realized how exhausted they felt until they didn’t. But then again, that always seemed to be how it was; their work kept them up at the strangest hours, and they were plenty used to getting little-to-no sleep.

Being a writer was hard, and nobody understood.

Patton sets a plate in front of Virgil, startling them out of their thoughts. He smiles a little apologetically before poking his head out of the kitchen to call the other two into the kitchen. He sits down across from Virgil with a grin and starts eating as Logan and Roman wander in. Roman sits next to Patton, starting to eat with mumbled praises of Patton’s cooking. Logan sits beside Virgil, giving them a small smile that they return, and they quickly hide their face when Patton looks over, starting to eat.

Virgil wolfs down their food, thanking Patton and tossing their plate precariously into the sink before going about party preparations. They still have a few decorations to put up (read: half of them), they had to make sure their backyard wasn’t a complete disaster, and they had to prepare all the food they’d gotten a few days ago. They practically run to their garage, throwing the door open and getting the last two Halloween boxes down, carrying them into the living room and starting to pull out decorations, starting with the living room, moving through the entryway and then the kitchen. They paused once those rooms were done. Should they decorate the hallway? People would be using their bathroom, so… Yeah, they should definitely decorate the hall and bathroom. They check the boxes to make sure they had enough, smiling to themselves. It was a good idea to buy more decorations when they’d gone to the store.

By the time they’re starting on the hallway, their three friends have finished eating and silently start helping as well. Patton starts getting the snacks together, pulling out bowls and arranging food and opening bag after bag, dumping them into the Halloween themed bowls. Roman goes about getting the activities together, grabbing the large barrel-like bucket out of the garage and filling it with water, cleaning the apples Virgil had bought and putting them in the bucket before moving onto the next thing. Logan went into the backyard, making sure the decorations had maintained their integrity and doing some light yardwork to keep the yard neat.

Virgil finished decorating the bathroom, smirking to themselves at the sinister spirit girl they’d affixed to the mirror. That thing was so creepy if you saw it with the lights off. They did one last glance-over of the bathroom and hallway before heading to their room and getting their costume together, slipping into the bathroom attached to their room to apply their makeup. Hopefully (more than likely) the others had thought to bring their own costumes.

It was a well-known fact that Virgil refused entry to anyone not in a costume, and this applied to their friends too.

What? They wanted authenticity, plus it made the party more fun. If their house was full of adults in casual day clothes it’d feel too much like a faculty Christmas party. They ended up accidentally slipping their arm in the hood of their costume and stared at it in confusion for a moment before realizing their mistake, taking the hoodie off and trying again. They adjusted it to make sure it wasn’t too bunched up and sat on the bathroom counter, grabbing their makeup. The great thing about their usual makeup routine and this costume was that they were pretty similar in style, so they didn’t have to use those cheap oily Halloween makeups.

They carefully apply the makeup, having been practicing for days to get it right so that they wouldn’t have to be stressing about it now, and look at themselves in the mirror. Sufficiently creepy. Very nice. They adjust their costume one last time, pulling the hood over their head and tying two of the sleeves behind their back before leaving their room. They mess with their sleeves, wondering if they should have made them shorter – seriously, why did they think making sleeves almost twice as long as their arms was a good idea? – and walk into the living room, where the other three are. Roman is dressed as The Beast (after he turns back into a human, of course), Patton as Belle, and Logan is dressed as Cogsworth, minute and hour hands drawn on his face. Virgil snorts, sitting on the back of the armchair away from all of them.

Patton looks away from the TV when Virgil sits down, gasping and jumping in alarm. That… is exactly why Virgil was sitting on the armchair instead of the couch. They turn their head away, their hoodie obscuring their face. Maybe this costume wasn’t such a good idea after a-

“I LOVE IT!!!” Patton jumps up and launches himself at Virgil, hugging them around their waist and pausing. “Wait… do you HAVE EXTRA ARMS???” Virgil startles slightly at the hug, blushing and nodding. “They’re fake, obviously, but yeah.” Patton squeals and hugs them again. “I love it kiddo, that’s so amazing!”

“…Thanks Pat.” Their face was burning. How red were they right now? Could anyone see under the makeup?

Roman and Logan get up, coming over to the armchair. Roman walks around it to see as much of the costume as possible, starting slightly and laughing in amazement at the hood. “This thing is positively creepy, it’s perfect.” He pokes a fang and draws his hand back when it actually hurts. He won’t be doing that again. “How long did it take to make this?” Virgil shrugs. “A couple months. I didn’t have much free time between writing and preparing for Halloween.” Logan ran his fingers along the yellow stitching; an odd choice, but it fit so well that he couldn’t really raise any complaints.

“Your work is exquisite, as always.” Virgil tries to hide their smile. Patton flips his hair over his shoulder – because he couldn’t be Belle without the wig, Logan, he just couldn’t! – and lets go of Virgil. “So! When is everyone going to get here?” Virgil looks at the wall clock over the couch. “Well…. I told them 4, so we should have-“ A knock at the door sounds. Virgil sighs. “absolutely no time to ourselves.”

They go to answer the door, Remy forcing his way inside almost as soon as the door’s open enough to slip in. “Guuuurl! Love what you did with the place, and that eyeshadow? So gothic chic.”

Virgil rolls their eyes. “Like you have room to talk-“ They check Remy’s necklace; the ‘he’ pendant is dangling from the thin chain. “Mr. Friday Night Makeover. What’s up with the costume?” They gesture up and down Remy’s lanky frame. The left half of Remy is a witch; green skin, black dress, long gnarly nails and wild black hair under (half of) a witch’s hat. The right half of Remy is a wizard; white beard, blue robe decorated with silver stars, and (half of) a pointy wizard hat. Remy tsks and flaps a hand dismissively. “It’s like, the Halloween version of that half-man-half-woman costume. Keep up, Virge.”

Huh. That was actually…. Kind of clever. Virgil rolls their eyes. “Yeah, yeah. You gonna stand in my doorway all day or do you wanna watch a movie with us while we wait?” Remy walks further into the house, raising an eyebrow at the other three on the couch. “Wait? Babe, this is Halloween! You’re throwing a party! There’s no such thing as waiting.” A Starbucks cup appears in his hand almost as if out of nowhere.

It’s another twenty minutes of watching movies and gossiping (because you can’t be friends with Remy without being pulled into his gossip) before anyone else arrives. It starts with the occasional ringing of the doorbell, Virgil getting up to let people in, everyone kind of congregating in the living room to watch movies. Then the ringing was near constant, until the house was crowded, the TV was turned off, and Virgil just had their door propped open so they didn’t have to keep answering it. Virgil had their Halloween soundtrack playing from the speakers, and they wandered through the crowd, keeping their gaze a little low.

They loved these parties – obviously, since they hosted them – but they’d never been good with crowds. They chat with a few friends, a stranger or two, but they mostly keep to themselves. They lost the other four about an hour ago, unable to find them in all the strange costumes and disguised faces. You’d think a poofy yellow dress would be easy to spot, but you’ve never seen a house full of superheroes, gorgons, genderbends and princesses. It was a lot.

Scream went off for the 46th time that night, Mufasa stumbling back with a cry and slapping the ghost.

Virgil scoffs and wanders into the kitchen. It was usually empty, since all the food and games were in the other rooms. They look out the window at all the cars parked along the street, and the groups of people in their front yard. They sat on the counter, watching people pass and looking for their friends.

Patton hadn’t even realized he was separated from the others until he’d turned to point something out to Virgil, only to realize the other wasn’t there. He shrugged to himself, figuring that the others were all adults and could take care of themselves. Besides, this was Virgil’s house! It was fine. He wandered through the front and back yards, through the house, and back again, talking to people and complimenting costumes, figuring he’d find his friends when he was meant to. He smiled as Thriller came up on Virgil’s playlist and the crowd cheered. They had such good taste in music.

He walked through the back of the house just to cover his bases, finding Virgil’s room empty and a very wet Roman being assisted by a very exasperated Logan in the bathroom. Apparently, he’d fallen into the apple bobbing bucket. That was just hilarious, and sad. In fact, he could say it was…

“Don’t you dare.”

“Oh my god.”

“-applesolutely terrible!”

Twin groans followed him as he shut the door with a laugh. He heads into the living room just as Thriller is ending, and he spots Virgil sitting in the kitchen. He bounds into the room, hugging Virgil tightly and missing the blush on their cheeks. “Virgil! I’ve been looking all over for you, kiddo! Are you okay?” Virgil clears their throat and nods. “I’m fine, Pat. I was just trying to find you guys, figured it might be easier if I didn’t move.” Patton nods and takes Virgil’s hand, in no way missing how the other’s cheeks color. “Well, here I am! Come on, let’s go party!” Virgil rolls their eyes and hops off the counter, letting Patton drag them back into the fray.

Patton sticks by their side, not letting go of their hand as they wander around the room, chatting occasionally. Virgil feels completely relaxed, grounding themselves with the feeling of Patton’s hand in theirs. The blush never quite leaves their face, their cheeks a little pink, and they hope people just assume they’re drunk. Monster Mash starts up, and Patton gasps loudly, spinning to face Virgil. Oh no.

“Dance with me!”

Shit. “I don’t know, I’m not much of a dancer, Pat.” Patton pouts. “….Fine.” Virgil concedes, and Patton cheers, dragging them to a clearer part of the room. Virgil never could resist those puppy dog eyes, even when they were surrounded by fake brown ringlets.

Patton was not by any means a good dancer, but Virgil loved watching him. His face was so carefree, enjoying the moment with his best friend and not caring what other people thought of him. The mood was infectious, and soon Virgil found themselves giving in and starting to dance too. They didn’t think they were any better than Patton, but dammit they weren’t going to let that keep them from having fun. The crowd had backed away slightly as the two danced, giving them more room, and when the song was over, Virgil burst into laughter. That was the stupidest thing they’ve ever done. Well….. yeah, no, dumbest thing ever. They looked at Patton, who’s lips were parted slightly and a slight pink on his cheeks. He smiled, a look in his eyes Virgil couldn’t place. Black Magic Woman started, making Virgil turn absolutely red, and Patton got a mischievous look in his eye. He held out a hand to Virgil. “Wanna dance?”

Virgil wanted to quip back that they already had, Patton didn’t need to ask, but the words died in their throat and they nodded. Patton’s smile grew as they took Virgil’s hand and spun them so their back was facing him. When Patton stood behind them to the left and took their hands, their eyes widened. He wanted to..? But they’d taken that class two years ago! As a joke! Virgil was going to totally embarrass themselves! They didn’t have time to object; as soon as they were in position, Patton started moving, and Virgil went with him on instinct. They thought belatedly that if Patton was in a dress, then they should be leading, but it’s not like it really mattered. Besides, Patton always lead.

Their movements were smooth, coordinated, perfectly choreographed as they moved in sync, swaying their hips as they danced together. A smile danced on Virgil’s lips as they moved with Patton, swallowing their laughter in favor of not messing up. By the look on his face, Patton wasn’t feeling too different. They felt so much happiness and energy, their chest swelled with it and almost made it hard to breathe. When Patton put his hands on Virgil’s waist and they moved together, barely a breath between them, Virgil couldn’t keep the blush off their face. Patton spun Virgil back around to face him as they danced to the final part of the song, movements growing quicker as the tempo picked up. They were both panting slightly, not breaking eye contact, trusting the other to move as fluidly as them and stay in sync. On the final note of the song, Patton’s arms wrapped around Virgil and dipped them, making their hoodie fall back.

It was silent for a moment before the surrounding crowd broke out into loud cheers, Virgil and Patton finally letting their laughter loose as they gazed into each other’s eyes. Their cheeks were pink, though from the dancing or something else, no one could really say. They caught their breath, Patton still holding Virgil. When he realized this, his cheeks darkened and he straightened up, letting go of Virgil. They tried not to be too disappointed, feeling the loss of Patton’s arms as if they were being exposed to the cold for the first time. People closed in, asking Virgil and Patton where they’d learned to dance like that, how long they’ve been together, if they competed in shows. The second question made Virgil blush even worse, and both they and Patton rushed to tell their audience that no, they weren’t together, they were just really close friends.

They’d taken a salsa class together as a joke (and a dare from Roman, who already knew both salsa and tango, the show off) a couple years ago, and haven’t danced together since. It’s not that they hated it, or didn’t like dancing with each other, it was just… complicated. Salsa was a pretty intimate dance style, and as Virgil’s feelings for Patton grew, they found it hard to dance with him without letting their feelings carry them away. And now they were feeling all of that again, watching Patton’s face as he talked to old college friends, gesturing animatedly as he talked about their first few lessons when Virgil kept stepping on his foot. His eyes were alight with memories and Virgil couldn’t help by stare at how his lips wrapped around the words he spoke.

They started slightly when they realized they were staring, quickly excusing themselves from the conversation and absconding to their room. They pulled their hood back up as they walked, only to tear it off their head again once their door was shut behind them. Their sleeve-covered hands came up to cover their face, careful not to rub any makeup off as they took deep breaths. Come on Virgil, you need to relax. Now is not the time to swoon over your best friend of seventeen years. You’re throwing a Halloween party, go out, be a good host, and have fun. Just bury these feelings deep down until everyone goes home and then you can eat a pint of Ben & Jerry’s, okay?

Virgil nods to themselves, heading back out into the party (after making sure their makeup wasn’t messed up, of course) and mingling in the crowd. They got dozens of compliments on their costume, and even more when they informed people that it was hand-made. They hadn’t seen any of their friends since they came out of their room, and they figured Patton probably went off looking for Roman and Logan when Virgil disappeared. They made their way outside, declining the offer to bob for apples; if they did, their makeup would most certainly be ruined. Not to mention the water; it’d be murky with black eyeshadow. Eugh.

They headed back inside, gravitating over to the dining room table to see the carved pumpkins on display. It’d been Patton’s idea to have a pumpkin carving contest, and Virgil didn’t see a problem with it (aside from the cost of the pumpkins. Jesus Christ) and had it set up in the dining room. It looked like everyone was pretty much done, but there were still a couple pumpkins left, so Virgil sat down and grabbed their tools, getting to work.

Patton found them there half an hour later, still working on their pumpkin. They were carving something more three-dimensional, so they weren’t just carving out chunks and calling it a night. They were carving (more like witling, honestly) the famous Nightmare Before Christmas scene, with Sally and Jack on that hill. They were fortunate enough that the pumpkin they chose was thick-skinned, so they had plenty to work with. They were about three-quarters done with it, focusing more on the scenery after having finished the two characters. Patton smiles, standing back for a few minutes to watch before moving forward to sit by Virgil, smiling at them. “That looks really gourd! Maybe you should’ve been a pumpkin carver instead of a writer.” He joked, and Virgil blew their hair out of their face.

“Not enough money in pumpkin carving, I checked.”

Patton laughs, hugging Virgil around their shoulders. God, he loved them so much. They were so amazing. Virgil blushed slightly at the close contact and focused on the pumpkin, Patton watching silently. Once Virgil was finally done, they sat back with a soft sigh.

“Well, you should enter that, you’d definitely win!” Virgil smirks and rolls their eyes. “I’m the judge, Pat.” Patton blinks.

“Oh, right…. Do you wanna see mine?”

Virgil raises an eyebrow and nods, and Patton gets up to grab his pumpkin, hidden behind all the rest. His heart is pounding as he places it next to Virgil’s pumpkin, smiling as he sits back down. This was a huge risk, honestly, and he was just hoping that Virgil wouldn’t be mad he wasted a pumpkin. Virgil just stares at it silently for a moment, and Patton starts to worry that they really will get mad. He chews on his bottom lip, watching intently. Slowly, Virgil’s face turns red, and they glance down at their lap and nod. Patton squeals and hugs Virgil tightly, knocking the both of them to the ground. Virgil opens their mouth to protest, but Patton cuts them off by kissing them (he’s going to have black lips now, great). Patton was right, today was great.

On the table, in front of all the other pumpkins, sits a mostly-finished carving of Jack and Sally on a hill. Next to it, a crudely carved out Jack-O-Lantern with a storm cloud and a heart with glasses, separated by five jagged words.

Will you be my boyfriend?

[sidespromptblog]

Deceit’s Hunger: Part 9

One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, and Eight

They stayed that way for a while, with Deceit’s face buried into Virgil’s shoulder and Virgil, in turn, gripping the other side tight supporting his full body weight as he continued to run a soothing hand up and down the other’s back.

The movie was well over by the time that Deceit had stopped crying, just the emotional upheave from all of it making him slump bonelessly against Virgil, then again it wasn’t like Deceit was all that heavy. He’d lost a lot of weight in the weeks that he had been fearfully huddled up in his room, he was, of course, getting better with Logan there to instruct him on how to do so and Virgil there to enforce it. Truthfully, Virgil was relieved at the progress that Deceit had made, he had worried himself sick in the days that Deceit had been unconscious. It wasn’t like any of them could truly die, at least not from his knowledge, but it had still been a tense couple of days where they had been forced to make Deceit steadily drink down a watered down mixture of sweet milk so that he could start to get at least some nutrients back into his body.

He remembered waiting there by the deceitful side’s bed, just watching him waiting for some sign that he would wake up and in the end, be alright. Those had been the scariest days, calling on Logan any time that Deceit’s breathing had gotten abnormal, moving Deceit around on his bed so that he wasn’t just laying in one spot for too long, and just waiting.

The waiting was always the hardest part.

The baited breath as he walked into Deceit’s room, being afraid to make a loud noise for some reason, and finally when he had started to just talk to the other’s unconscious body.

It hadn’t been much talking at first, Virgil had let him know what he was doing and why he was doing it as if Deceit could hear him when he had been unconscious. Then after a while, he supposed that he had just gotten used to it, until the day he had snagged a storybook from Roman’s room. It helped the time go by much faster, the stories weren’t exactly something that he’d read in his spare time, considering that they were far too cheerful and no matter what, they always had a happy ending to them no matter how bad the situation had become. But then again, perhaps the happy endings were a good thing back then, perhaps, in the days when he had read to him, Deceit needed those happy endings. Just like he needed them right now.

Speaking of right now though, Virgil listened to the occasional sniffle that Deceit gave as if he still had plenty more tears to shed but for Virgil’s sake he was trying to rein them all in. Listening to the other’s breathing, he noted his breathes.

In for four seconds, holding it for seven, and and out for eight.

Again and again, the cycle of Deceit’s breathing continued and continued, almost like the other had thought that he wouldn’t recognize his own calming technique. Regardless of that, he felt more than a little proud of Deceit as the other started to calm himself down, although he did happen to wonder if he had taught himself that little trick because no one had been there for him before. The dark sides certainly weren’t this touchy touchy, and when they were it was usually a tense pat on the back or a nudge from them. It had certainly taken him a while to learn how to even get this far, and it was mostly thanks to Patton he even knew how to properly comfort someone.

He felt Deceit move now, as the other raised his hand up presumably to brush away the tear tracks on his face, and it was almost interesting in a way to see the other putting himself back together after completely breaking down no more than an hour ago. Nevertheless, a lonely almost crushing feeling panged in his chest, as soon as Deceit started to pull away. It was completely illogical, but in the oddest way, he wanted to...hold on just a little bit longer.

It had felt nice when it was just the two of them in their little bubble together, it had felt nice to have Deceit trust him enough to even let go like that. But for now he just watched the other draw away, and almost immediately a frown curved on Virgil’s lips, a mask was sliding into place on Deceit’s face.

“Don’t do that.” It surprised even himself how rough his voice sounded, “I know what you’re doing, and you don’t have to hide your emotions away to save face.”

Deceit’s own expression shifted somewhere between surprise and shame now that Virgil had picked up on the subtle cues that he himself had used way back when, back when he hadn’t been apart of the family and back when he too had constantly felt hurt by their jibes towards him.

“I..I don’t know how NOT to…” It was a small confession, but surprisingly truthful one from Deceit, and seeing the pure exhaustion on his face Virgil knew that normally, Deceit would have lied, but right now this was another facade that he just couldn’t keep up.

So Virgil smiled what he hoped was a friendly smile as he grasped Deceit’s hand once more, “I said that you would be safe with me right? I said that I would protect you, so just...trust me. Trust, that I’ll see you and nothing more.”

His warm hand gave a gentle squeeze to Deceit’s cold one, and he watched as Deceit’s adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed nervously at the touch and the implications that came with those words. Trust, really had never been one of his strong suits, trust was something that he had all but abandoned when he had locked himself inside of his room terrified to even come out or to tell anyone what had happened. Trust...was something that he had never dabbled in before, but he could at least try. For Virgil’s sake, for him…

Wordlessly he nodded his head, and watched as Virgil’s expression shifted into relief as he clambered up from the couch. Tugging him up along with him, Deceit followed Virgil’s every movement as they both sank down.

Much to his surprise, they weren’t back in his own room, looking around he noted the wide bed with Halloween-esk sheets and covers, that were a deep purple and black that seemed to entirely make up Virgil’s wardrobe. The walls all had a deep purple wallpaper to go with it but with slanted and messy thin white vertical lines that trailed from the ceiling to the floor. On Virgil’s nightstand, there was a jack o'lantern nightlight that glowed a bright orange as soon as Virgil pressed a button on the stem of the pumpkin.

Needless to say, he felt pretty awkward standing there in the middle of Virgil’s room, it had become almost second nature to have the anxious side in his room. However, he had never in all of his life thought that he would be allowed inside of here, this was something special, this was...Virgil putting a lot of trust into him.

Once again he felt a great ball of something lodging in his throat, was he nervous? Was this what nervousness felt like to everyday people? It was unbearable, how was he supposed to even say anything, if he constantly felt that weight in his throat?

It took a good minute before he found the initiative to move his legs let alone to swallow that lump in his throat, and when he did he made his way over to where Virgil was sitting on the edge of the bed. The anxious side was messing around with what looked like a big ball of tangled up wires that were giving him quite a lot of trouble, so peering over his shoulder Deceit felt a low and rumbling chuckle leave him at the sight of the tangled up headphones that Virgil was trying to wrangle into a half decent fashion.

“Here.” He interrupted the other plucking the wires from his hands, and in an odd way, he found the process of moving his fingers and untangling the mess a lot more calming than his breathing exercises.

Once he was done, Deceit passed it on over to Virgil watching him plug the headphones up into his phone before selecting something and holding out one of the earbuds for him. Deceit hesitated for just a second before he took it, slipping it into place, found himself laying on his back right next to Virgil as the soft droning voice of an audiobook played in his ear.

Really he didn’t know what at all the book was or what it was even talking about, but the voice worked well enough to calm him down as his eyes started to drift shut and he felt Virgil moving something warm over the both of them as he started to descend into the abyss of sleep.

Only faintly feeling the arm curling around his middle, and just barely feeling the warm chest pressing against his side.

Tagged:

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[bookclub4m]

Episode 146 - Books and Food

This episode we’re talking about Books and Food! (Or Comestibles while Consuming Content!)

We discuss finding podcasts in the woods, reading in cafes, cheezos, why you should carry small rocks around with you, dropping food on books, which crustaceans are most likely to be anarchists, lists of cozy mystery novel titles, and how we’re (not really) influencers. Plus: Books that have spin-off foods!

You can download the podcast directly, find it on Libsyn, or get it through Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, or your favourite podcast delivery system.

In this episode

Anna Ferri | Meghan Whyte | Matthew Murray | RJ Edwards

Media We Mentioned

Delicious in Dungeon, Vol. 1 by Ryoko Kui,

Drifting Dragons, Vol. 1 by Taku Kuwabara

Otherworldly Izakaya Nobu, Vol 1 by Virginia Nitouhei and Natsuya Semikawa

The guy being really excited about eating spaghetti

Redwall by Brian Jacques (Wikipedia)

Dragonriders of Pern by Anne McCaffrey (Wikipedia)

Serve it Forth: Cooking With Anne McCaffrey

Tequila Mockingbird: Cocktails with a Literary Twist by Tim Federle

Nanny Ogg's Cookbook by Terry Pratchett, Stephen Briggs, Tina Hannan, and Paul Kidby

One Piece: Pirate Recipes by Sanji

 A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers

Links, Articles, and Things

Cafe Deux Soleils

(Apparently it’s for sale, someone buy it so RJ can keep going)

Zenaida's Cafe

Matthew’s pastry/tea picture on Instagram

Kamala Khan (Wikipedia)

Episode 143 - Amish Romance

Arthropods of Anarchy

Episode 059 - Food and Cooking

Uncommon Grounds: The History of Coffee and How It Transformed Our World by Mark Pendergrast

Thug Kitchen: The Official Cookbook: Eat Like You Give a F*ck by Matt Holloway and Michelle Davis

Episode 007 - Cozy Mysteries

Feta Attraction by Susannah Hardy

Killer Crullers by Jessica Beck

Floured Felonies by Jessica Beck

Illegally Iced by Jessica Beck

Chili Con Carnage by Kylie Logan

Chili con Carnage by Hillary Avis (yes, there are TWO books called this)

Sconed to Death by Lynn Cahoon (Matthew managed to pronounce this one in a way where the pun title is not obvious…)

Strangled Eggs and Ham by Maddie Day

Hot and Sour Suspects by Vivien Chien

Death by Dumpling by Vivien Chien

Fatal Fried Rice by Vivien Chien

Dim Sum of All Fears by Vivien Chien

Jack Reacher (Wikipedia)

Episode 006 - Books in Translation

The Dinner by Herman Koch, translated by Sam Garrett

Unpacking (video game) (Wikipedia)

Turkish delight (Wikipedia)

Apparently The Willy Wonka Candy Company no longer exists?

The Storm Crow

Phileas Fogg snacks (Wikipedia)

Sprouted bread (Wikipedia)

The Temptation of St. Anthony (Dalí) (Wikipedia)

15 Non-Fiction Relationships/Romance by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) Authors

Every month Book Club for Masochists: A Readers’ Advisory Podcasts chooses a genre at random and we read and discuss books from that genre. We also put together book lists for each episode/genre that feature works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, & People of Colour) authors. All of the lists can be found here.

I Can't Date Jesus: Love, Sex, Family, Race, and Other Reasons I've Put My Faith in Beyoncé by Michael Arceneaux

It's Complicated (But It Doesn't Have to Be): A Modern Guide to Finding and Keeping Love by Paul Carrick Brunson

Nedí Nezų (Good Medicine) by Tenille Campbell

Respect: Everything a Guy Needs to Know about Sex, Love, and Consent by Inti Chavez Perez

Single and Forced to Mingle: A Guide for (Nearly) Any Socially Awkward Situation by Melissa Croce

How To Get Over A Boy by Chidera Eggerue

That Can Be Arranged: A Muslim Love Story by Huda Fahmy

If Someone Says "You Complete Me," Run!: Whoopi's Big Book of Relationships by Whoopi Goldberg

All About Love: New Visions by bell hooks

Radical Friendship: Seven Ways to Love Yourself and Find Your People in an Unjust World by Kate Johnson

Love's Not Color Blind: Race and Representation in Polyamorous and Other Alternative Communities by Kevin A. Patterson

She's Just Not That Into You: The Fab Femme's Guide to Queer Love and Dating by Aryka Randall

It's Hard to Fight Naked by Niecy Nash

Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow & Ann Friedman

Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab

Give us feedback!

Fill out the form to ask for a recommendation or suggest a genre or title for us to read!

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Join us again on Tuesday, April 5th when we’ll be discussing the genre of Contemporary Fantasy!

Then on Tuesday, April 19th we’ll be doing our occasional Non-Bookclub Media Consumption episodes!