#So I drew this on the family computer instead :)

[likesdoodling]

Wanted to do some more apothecary diaries stuff, so I did. :D:D:D

[capricioussun]

🎨👻🚓 for Void?

The man the myth the it girl herself <3

[🎨] is your muse artistic? do they want to be?

Yes! I’ve always loved the headcanon that Papyrus is a very skilled artist, and that’s bled into the others in its own way. Void is a painter primarily, or he sketches in charcoal when opting for something quicker and more casual. Very similar to Edge in that respect, with the primary difference being that Void draws more from emotion as time goes on, and branches out from loose realism/slight impressionism into impressionism/surrealism. As far as wanting to be, it was honestly never something he’s put much thought into, just something he does when he wants to unwind. He likely wouldn’t consider himself artistic.

[👻] if your muse were a fantasy creature, what kind would they be? why?

Oooh this is a good one. If he were to choose, probably something like a guardian spirit, something mostly peaceful that looks after others and has the ability to keep them safe. Why? He has so much unresolved guilt trauma. As for me though as much as I’d love to give a more in depth answer, I’m honestly not too well versed in specific fantasy creatures, at least not enough to kin assign one to Void! Just going off aesthetics though I’d probably make him some sort of fae or shadow entity, or maybe some sort of dragon. Mostly just because I like those things. He’d make a very cute dragon <3

[🚓] would your muse break the law?

Absolutely, and I’m sure he does all the time lol. He’s got his own code, and if it means helping or protecting others, or otherwise doing something he sees as needing done, he doesn’t really care what anyone else has to say on the matter. That being said he leans morally good so that’s not really a bad thing…usually.

Prompt

[sommerbueckers]

My Brother's Best Friend Pt3??

(smut😏)

A small breeze crept through my open window and a chill settled in my bedroom. I typed away on my computer, trying to finish up the last of my homework before Thanksgiving break came to an end. The week had been exactly what I thought it'd be and some change; Paige and Micha came home from college and spent the entirety of the break playing Fortnite and arguing over silly superheroes. The rest of the Bueckers family joined us for Thanksgiving dinner too where Drew graced us with a few of his dance moves. And to top it all off, I had gotten a 25% discount on a pair of Ugg boots for being the first person to purchase from the website on Black Friday.

I finished off the last of the water in my bottle, twisting the cap back on and tossing it toward the trash. I missed, badly. The sound of the plastic defeatedly hitting floor echoed through the room, though it wasn't louder than the laugh that came after it. I snapped my head to my door to find Paige standing there with her arms crossed, leaning against the frame. She had that adorable stupid smile plastered on her face as she looked at me.

"That couldn't have been worse if you tried" she laughed.

I rolled my eyes, twisting the chair around as I said, "Micha isn't here."

"I know that," she nodded, "I just got off the phone with him."

"So...why're you here?" I frowned.

"What? I can't visit my favorite cheerleader now?" the blonde asked with a pout, "That hurts my heart Sunny."

My unimpressed look didn't falter.

After a moment of silence she sighed, seemingly struggling to say what she was thinking.

"You and Micha are driving back today, shouldn't you be packing or something?" I asked, "Unless I've got the date wrong."

I stood up and walked over to the calendar I had hooked on the wall. My eyes traveled over to the large red circle, inside the writing read 'Paige and Micha go bye-bye:(.'

Paige cleared her throat from behind me, "No, you've got it right."

I turned around, staring at her from across the room.

"I just-"

"You just what?" I interrupted without thinking.

"I came to say goodbye" she admitted.

"Goodbye to me?"

"Yes you."

"Why me?"

"Jesus Sunny!" she exclaimed with a smile, "I can't say 'goodbye' to you?"

"No you, you can," I stammered.

Paige nodded contently, "Good."

She pushed off the doorway and began walking toward me, her arms opening the closer she got. I wasted no time wrapping my arms around her neck and pulling her close to me. We hugged for a little lot longer than we should've, both too embarrassed to say it but not enough to show it. I breathed in her scent, hoping to remember it long enough for it to last until I saw her again.

I loved the way I had to stand on my toes to reach her, how she never complained about having to bend over to hug me. Though truth be told I don't think she really minded.

I had gotten used to the sound of her laughter again as it rang throughout the house, how she always did the same celebration dance when she beat Micha in a game, how she never failed to make me feel seen whenever we were in the same room. I was crushing so hard on this girl it wasn't even funny.

When we pulled away, she took a step back.

"Were you serious when you said you were gonna unplug your tv if one of my games came on?" she asked, already knowing the answer.

"And miss the chance to see you all sweaty? No way..." I smirked.

She laughed loudly, I wanted to record it and add it to my Spotify playlist. Instead, I checked my watch and sighed.

"What time are you guys leaving?" I asked.

Paige shrugged, "Not sure, whenever he gets back I guess."

"Hmm," I hummed, "that could take hours."

I stepped closer.

"Yeah," she laughed, "or he could be back any minute."

She stepped closer.

At that point, you could cut the tension with a knife. I stared at her; ski slope nose, blue eyes, perfect teeth hiding behind those perfect lips. I just needed to last until winter break, that was only two weeks. I had gone far longer than that before, so surely I could do that...couldn't I? God I needed wanted her so bad.

In an instant her lips were on mine, her hands cupping my face as she held me in place. For a moment I was frozen, my eyes wide with shock while my brain processed what was happening. And when it did...boy did things take a turn. I pulled her closer by her shirt, our bodies pressing against each other as much as they could.

I felt her hands move from my face down to my ass, squeezing roughly. I laughed when her tongue slipped into my mouth, sending a fuzzy feeling from my chest down to my thighs. I couldn't help but let out the quietest moan at the feeling, my need for her growing with every second that passed.

I couldn't believe this was happening; Paige and I, me and Paige. It felt like sophomore year all over again, except I was sure by now, both of us had gained enough experience to actually have some fun. The thought of Paige fucking other girls was almost enough to make me cringe...almost. I didn't though, because right now those other girls didn't matter, I did.

She turned us around and pressed me against my vanity, my hands immediately grasping the edge of it to keep me from losing my balance.

We broke away from our kiss, giggling like schoolgirls at the way my perfume bottles and lotions had fallen from the sudden force.

"Too much?" she asked breathlessly.

I shook my head, "Not enough."

As she reconnected our lips, she trailed her hand up and down my inner thigh. I opened my legs, giving her access to where she wanted.

"Wider" she said.

I obliged, parting my legs further to allow her hand to trail closer to my spot.

This girl could tell me to jump and I'd ask 'How high?'

I felt her hand slide into the waistband of my leggings, and by her smile, I knew she had discovered how intense my need for her had gotten. I knew I was soaked, she knew I was soaked...now what was gonna be done about it?

She rubbed my clit through my panties so painfully slow that I could feel myself crumbling bit by bit.

I whined as I threw my head back, "Faster Paige, please faster."

She placed soft kisses on my neck, teasing me as she moved my panties from side to side. I was fucking throbbing. When she had finally had enough, she slowly began moving her fingers up and down my folds. I moved my hips to match the pace, my shaky breaths filing the room.

Up and down.

Circles.

Up and down.

Up and down.

Circles.

The patterns were driving me insane, and my shaky breaths soon turned into tiny whimpers. I wanted to come at the sight of her: staring down at me hungrily with those gorgeous eyes. Her lip taken in between her teeth as she focused her attention on pleasing me.

I was a needy mess. My face rested in a permanent pout as we held eye contact, my cheeks growing hot. She laughed lowly, almost as if she was teasing me. I felt her fingers speed up as she rubbed circular motions on my clit, it was so sensitive it almost hurt.

"F-fuck...just like that" I moaned out, nodding my head.

"Mmm you like that?" she smirked, once again changing her speed.

"Yes..." I whispered breathlessly.

Her middle finger razzed my entrance, pushing in only a little before pulling back out. She was enjoying the effect she had on me, the way she gauged my face for a reaction every time she did something new gave her away. Steadily, she inserted a finger. I gasped, sucking in all the air around me. I smiled at the sound that cut through the silence as she began to fuck me. Having to hear how wet I was for her was embarrassing, but I didn't even care.

"Faster" I pleaded shamelessly.

She laughed.

"Tell me how much you want it" she demanded.

She wanted me to talk? Of all things that she could've been hearing: moans, whimpers, strings of curse words as she fucked me senseless, she wanted to hear sentences? When I didn't respond she pulled her finger out, her left hand gripping the back of my neck while her right rested just outside of my entrance.

"I want it," I said, my voice pathetically desperate, "I want it so fucking bad."

She smiled smugly, giving me the most delicate kiss on my lips that I had ever gotten. She didn't back away as she slammed two fingers into me, listening for my reaction. She didn't have to listen very hard because the scream that I had let out was loud enough to alert the neighbors. She couldn't hold back her laughter as she watched my face contort from the pain and pleasure. She began pumping her fingers in and out, giving me time to adjust to it before quickening her pace.

"You're doing so good for me" she whispered, not taking her eyes off mine. "You take me so well."

I tried to play it cool but I just couldn't. I had gripped her shoulder tightly with one hand while keeping the other firmly behind me. The most pitiful moans fell from my lips as she started to speed up. I was practically dripping as I came close to my climax. I tried to hold it, not wanting this euphoric feeling to end, but I couldn't help it as I tightened around her.

"You gonna be a good girl and come for me, hm?" she asked teasingly.

"Y-yes" I panted.

"Yeah I know you are, go 'head mama" she cooed.

I buried my head into her shoulder as I came, my sweet cries muffled by the fabric of her t-shirt. She held her fingers in me for a moment, helping me through my orgasm before carefully sliding them out. I shuddered at the absence of them.

She smiled proudly at her hand, slowly bringing it to her mouth and sucking her fingers clean. She's definitely done that before. She pulled me in for a hug and kissed my head, "You're so adorable."

I smiled against her chest, and that's when we heard the front door open. Micha was home.

"I think that's my cue" she murmured into my hair.

I nodded sadly. "Two weeks?"

"Two weeks."

OKAY GIVE ME ANOTHER CHANCE ???🙏🏼🙏🏼 This smut was not very good but it's literally my first time ever ACTUALLY writing it so...how'd I do???

Just let me get some more practice and I promise y'all won't be disappointed, trust. Also this wasn't proofread so if there are any typos or whatever that's my bad...

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for kicking my little brother out after a fight?

yes, the title is catching, so bare with me please.

my family and I (19NB) live like cottage core folks. we have separate sheds here and there that are modified to be tiny houses, whilst there are actually 3 houses placed and modified on our land. I switched many houses to find the most comfortable one, and that I have. Our aunt (M, dunno her age) is visiting us currently, and because we have no proper space for her to sleep, she's sleeping with my mother (R, mid 50s) as her husband (C, late 50s - early 60s) is forced to sleep at my house for the time being. There are many reasons as to why I'm uncomfy with this choice, a lot of them are personal, but one that stands out the most is that I'm uncomfortable with sleeping together with other folks, unless I trust them the most. I took some of my belongings to another house, along with one of the wifi motors we use (we have two) and tried to sleep in a house that my brother (N, 18) occasionally visits to cook his food. The first night was doing fine, until the second night kind of got worse, and where I would be called the asshole.

N has level 3 autism, as I have level 2. he doesn't understand not like change, and so do I. I was invading his space where he should be cooking, yet I try not to get into the middle of his process. he noticed I slept there now and decided to force me to cook for him, and I simply calmly told him he could do it himself. that part, I know he can understand, but he chooses not to do so for some benign reason. after trying to bother me several times, he decided to grab my stuff and use them without my knowledge, which quickly made me furious and aggressively told him to get back to whatever he's doing. that wasn't the right thing to do, admittedly, which resulted to throwing a Yeti stainless cup at my head and computer. that was where I drew the line entirely and have forcefully kicked him out of the house where he was cooking, all because he wanted to be rude and abusive towards me.

I called C to handle him momentarily as N was beating on the windows and yelling bloody murder, we were lucky that we didn't live in an urban neighborhood. C accused me for starting all of it when I calmly explained what was happening, and he kindly took it and left me be. on the other hand, R barged in and yelled at me for 1. taking the wifi motor to another house and 2. kicking N out. I was already exhausted and told her the same thing that happened, yet she refused to listen and still has blamed me for the troubles that happened. I told her why I was here, that was not relevant for her at all. I told her I needed space and a place to sleep since the other houses were not best suited for me, that was not relevant either as she looked at me stupid since her two options were let C sleep in her house with M and have R sleep in her car, or have C sleep at my house whilst M and R continue their shenanigans late at night.

not that this is too relevant, but to add damage to the situation is that this has been an occurring thing with how R treats N and I, with no little respect or freedom at all. every boundary that has been established has been either bent far beyond repair or blatantly crossed and ignored selfishly. This is not the first time she's acted this way towards us, and will probably never be her last. Instead of working through the situations that are brought up, she refuses to take accountability and let everything fall into her own hands, which never really works out at the end for everyone.

After the argument, I slept at an old house that was completely trashed, absolutely stunk, and did not feel comfortable at all. I do not have enough spoons to handle this on my own, and I refuse to help my family through the mess to avoid unnecessary consulting and other comments.

I will admit fault about not thinking through this situation, but I still need an opinion on this.

AITA for kicking my brother out for throwing a cup at my head? AITA for trying to find a place to sleep peacefully at my own comfort place?

(paws, in case something happens)

What are these acronyms?

[miraculousmaker]

Alrighty. Magnus Protocol 1. Here we go.

this will be SPOILERS, fyi.

So, already, we’ve got someone referencing only needing social media drama and coffee to live. I’m keeping my EYE on that, wink wink.

Backwards compatible. Haha.

Oh god they’re playing into our hunger for found family. This is a punch in the teeth by Rusty Quill, i swear to god.

Something automatically turning on to spy on important conversations, as usual.

“What sort of incidents?” “…you’ll see.”

The arbitrary filing system, back at it again. I absolutely love how convoluted the Freddie system already is.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

‘Automatic reading’, ‘started a year ago’, I’m about to cry.

Dangly gray haired old man balls.

Also, in case you weren’t aware, if the ‘really old text to speech’ starts pausing and using inflection, IT’S NOT TEXT TO SPEECH.

Omg this series is going to give me an aneurysm, this is great.

Anglerfish sort of monster for the first ep again!!?? Bc it drew the person in instead of just toyed around like a not-them would have. The entities are probably going to be slightly different, but still!!

More inter office drama, and we are always privy to it. This is going to be great.

My guy learned German just to figure out some old source code and I’m /not/ supposed to find him incredibly endearing? He sounds so done with everything and I love him.

The way I almost started crying when our favorite eldritch man started talking through a computer, in an alternate world, ABOUT THE INSTITUTE. I’m really hoping there’s going to be a point where our guys escape the computers bc if not I will claw their eyes out and feast on them.

VICTORIAN ASYLUM vibes in the burnt down institute?????

Strange symbols, eh?? Also, all the papers being gone is just such an obvious point that I’m not even going to address it.

EYES??? THE SPELUNKER’S EYES??? MAGNUS BRO IS STILL AROUND, OR SOMEONE SIMILAR???

What is it with people reconnecting with exes over incomprehensible horrors? Is that common in the UK?

Aw Colin, no need to be freaked out. Sure, they’re feeding off of the ‘incidents’, but they’re sort of like annoying flies.

This is going to be great. It feels like coming home after years of hopelessness. Even though I’ve only been ‘in’ for the past few months, this is… life.

[your-old-sins-tournament]

12 YEAR OLD OCS; SIDE B

Hollystar [Orion] (she/her)

She is a warrior cats cat. And she becomes the leader of her own new clan because she is just that cool and epic. Like Starclan blessed her with the nine lives and everything. She had a forbidden romance with her deputy cat and everything

Elenora [@gentleralts] (she/her)

It's an ambiguous time period between 2007 and 2009, and a youth is sitting at their family computer. An online friend on a forum they frequented introduces them to a little website called tektek. This site had all the avatar building assets from Gaia Online (not the forum i frequented back in that day by the way) without having to own any of the items, providing an easy-ish way to show off your RP characters, or to just build stuff for funsies. This youth would not go on to make an actual Gaia Online account until 2017, having learned that tektek has been long shut down and Gaia had instituted a similar sort of avatar building function on their own website. It's just not the same ):

Elenora came about from playing around with what was available in tektek and making up lore for her and the world around her in my head. By this point in time I was kind of starting to feel The Shame™ around my creative interests and never saved whatever I built of the characters I made for this world and rarely drew them out. I even have a specific memory of tracing over one of those How to Draw Anime books to make Elenora and her sister and then throwing the drawing away in the shitty transparent plastic trashcan I had in my bedroom. However, since I recreated Elenora so many times in tektek I still remember what most of her base items were like a decade and a half later.

In Elenora's world, everybody is born with a specific power which is shown by the color of their eyes, hair, and the magic marks on their body. It was mainly elemental stuff like controlling fire or water or electricity or whatever, but a specific one I remember that wasn't an elemental thing was the ability to communicate with animals and get them to do what you want them to if you were powerful enough. Most people had one power type but it was still possible to be born with two powers, usually manifesting in a separate hair and eye color. The amount of magic marks on someone's body correlates to how much potential power they have, and once in a lifetime there's one person of each power born with all the marks, similar in the concept to the Avatar from AtLA but they're all separate girls that are born at the same time and the ones from the last generation don't die right when the next generation is born.

Elenora was born with full black marks, which gives illusion powers and control over shadows. However, she lives in an authoritarian society where those with black mark powers must be killed. She was born alongside a twin sister in a home birth, and their parents kept Elenora's birth a secret until she was able to use her illusion powers to disguise her marks. Things were all fine and dandy with Elenora honing her powers in secret until one day their house got raided and her sister sacrificed herself, claiming she was the one disguising herself to hide black marks instead. This sets Elenora off on a journey along with the ghost of her sister to find all the other girls with full marks and have adventures and overthrow her kingdom's government or something. One specific adventure plot I remember involved them running into a necromancer doing shit in the graveyard where her twin sister is buried, and her ghost merging with her zombie body brings her back to life. Unfortunately, I don't remember anything about what kind of personality she might have had besides "guilt over dead sister."

Description

A teenage girl with pale skin, pointed ears, black eyes, and black swirling marks on her body. She has long black hair tied back into a single braid, and wispy bangs. She wears a cream colored blouse. She is accompanied by the ghost of her twin sister, who has chin-length silvery-blue hair and red eyes

[unvale-io]

what inspired you to make unvale

This is a bit of a lengthy response, but I loved drawing growing up (specifically thousands of iterations of Kirby… that was my guy). Eventually, digital art drew me in, and I actually had to build my first computer to run Photoshop to do art and photo editing. I joined a Photoshop class, and after completing the years' assignments in two weeks, I moved on to building my own portfolio of work. Over the course of the year, I learned Flash, made gifs, and built a body of work I created that was proud of–maybe for the first time in my life. Unfortunately, it was on the school computers… Instead of saving my original work, the teacher deleted everything I had made except the assignments. I didnt even get to share with my family. With no community support, losing that body of work and representation of my progress was enough for me to give up completely. My creative journey ended at 14. I think social media today has a similar impact on young creatives, increasing fear of failure and causing the psychological feeling of having your work disappear, unvalued, into the void if it doesn't become popular. Trying to appease the algorithm means you are creating for others and not yourself. And what used to provide connection and community, now causes stress, competition, and lowers self-esteem. The early period of your creative journey is the most important and dynamic. It defines your path forward. It's also the most fragile. We need to build a better space so people don't lose their dreams and end up in tech like me 😉. - Casey, Co-Founder of UnVale

[kikithedreamerwriter]

OC!Sayuri x Bayverse!Leonardo

🗣️taglist: @sharpwindow @pheradream-15 @m1dnyt3-w0lf

Enchanted to Meet You: Part 1

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

WELCOME PAGE

MASTERLIST

MEET MY OC

New York City was wide awake when Sayuri was burning past the midnight oil. No slumbering eye was spared from the bright evening lights, the hustlers were still chasing their dreams on the streets, and the cars didn’t seem to stop for anything. Sayuri breathed in deeply, the city didn’t smell good but ever since she got here she has always felt a presence of energy that convinced her that she needn’t to sleep at all. Six months since, and this presence remained.

She got up from her makeshift workspace on her balcony and elected to lean against the railing. She was aware that America was going to be a whole new frontier, but she never imagined that things would be so different. She began to miss her family home. In stark contrast to this bustling epicenter of the world, instead of ambitious bulidings, there were cedars and maples so old that they were witness to her ancestors. Every person in this city was a stranger, while every person in her hometown was an old friend. The pace and gait of every matter here was hurried, but time seemed slower in her youth. And the silence… oh the silence… you could only hear the murmur of the leaves, the hum of the cicadas in the summer, and the reverence of mountains mighty.

She missed her grandmother’s weathered hand against her cheek and the fragrance of her cooking. She missed her grandfather’s kind smile, and his tight embraces. She looked back towards her computer. There was work to be finished and she can already hear her grandmother’s stern voice, scolding her to stop slacking around and get it done. Sayuri chuckled, and began to shuffle through her flashcards on electrolyte lab values.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Leo needed to get out of the Lair. With brothers of a flammable temperament, an annoying sense of humor, and an extremely imaginative mind, it was only a matter of time before a literal explosion occurred and he preferred to steer clear of it. The lack of assignments from the NYPD hasn’t been helping either, and with April and Casey on their Southeast Asian escapade, it was safe to say that everyone was bored and their extended time together has tensions running high. It has been three years since the Kraang invasion and the beginning of their partnership with the police. While Leo liked that they were being compensated now for their protection and cooperation and the cases did have its challenges, he can’t help but feel that he had reached a plateau in his life. Then again, when you’re a mutant turtle, life has a way of being naturally chaotic when you least expect it.

He strayed from midtown and began entering the Upper East Side apartments. It was a quieter part of Manhattan, and Leo often frequented the neighborhood whenever he felt a bit more overwhelmed than usual. He sat down at a random edge, overlooking Central Park. Just as he was about to cross his legs and slip into meditation, a rambling voice caught his ear.

“…Potassium range is… 3.5-5.2 mEq/L for adults and 3.4-4.7 mEq/L for kids… and my god do I really need to remember all this symptoms?! もういいよ！疲れたなー！”

It drew him to the edge of the rooftop and he slid silently into a fire escape at the side of a building. Right across from his line of sight his eyes met beheld her for the very first time…and she was ethereal. The terrapin leaned forward for a glance of the stray dark hairs that grazed her pale cheek. His eyes wandered across the bony prominences on her chest and shoulders. He breathed slowly as he watched her delicate fingers dance across the keyboard or when she caught them between her teeth. And her eyes… oh those eyes so lost in thought… when she looked so far into the night of the city her eyes were gleaming, iridescent pools of silver illuminated by all the lights. It was as if a drum was beating in his ears and another one was thundering against his plastron. There was no longer a plateau, only revelations. And every night, Leo snuck out to bear witness to them.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

Three weeks has passed since she first started studying at the balcony and Sayuri couldn’t help but feel that she was being watched. It was not comfortable, but it was not in an eerie sense either. She’s always possessed a strong intuition. So naturally, as a child, she was proficient at hide-and-sneak and guessing games. Especially when it came to finding her grandmother’s stash of secret sweets. That night, Sayuri stayed inside and dimmed down the lights. She decided to work on her dining room table, facing the glass sliding door to the balcony. It was not as if she was expecting anything to happen, after all it was only a feeling, and feelings are as easily passing as they were occurring. But when Sayuri returned from her kitchen past midnight after making herself a cup of tea, she surely believed that the sight before her was simply a figment of her imagination… He appeared to be a turtle with a stance of a man, standing six feet tall behind her glass sliding door, staring right at her.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

He couldn’t move. He couldn’t even breathe. It was as if there was a disconnect between his mind and his body and he couldn’t make sense of any of it. Should he wave and mouth a ‘hello’? Should he knock on her door? What if she totally freaked out and became a shut-in forever just because of him? Should he just lay there on her balcony and just shrivel up in utter embarrassment? Since the latter wasn’t an option, he fled. So swiftly that Sayuri wondered if he was ever real at all.

𓈒⠀𓂃⠀⠀˖⠀𓇬⠀˖⠀⠀𓂃⠀𓈒

For weeks, Leo did not dare to return.

And every night Sayuri remained at her balcony, toiling away at the hours until she stood up from her table for one final time of the night and looked out into the city. She didn’t know what she was looking for, but she was desperate to find it.

Will definitely post a part two soon! Please reblog and leave a like if you enjoyed it!

Let me know if you want to be part of my taglist!

[whispereons]

Planned

For those that don't know. This is EOS!Reader (Eye of Storm) who is isekai'ed into Genshin as an EOS created by @anemoarchonhoe Their lore and my lore may be similar but have differences.

This is dedicated to them and is only the beginning for this series. Yes, I am bad for starting a second series when I haven't finished the first. But writing is self-indulgent and so am I.

Freedom

What a wonderful thing.

You could barely imagine a life where you could choose everything to your liking.

Born and bred to become the heir to your family's business, nothing was truly in your control. From the food you ate to the clothes you wore and the hobbies you had.

You felt trapped.

Making friends was a difficult matter too. Described as cold, quiet, and intimidating. Your background only further pushed a wedge between you and everyone.

By the time you finished college for a major you didn't care for, you were already aware of how lonely life was going to be.

Everyday you pushed your introverted self to act confident in front of companies to make deals. Quiet and stuffy meals you rarely shared with your parents were the only rewards you gained.

You still dreamed of just running away with the money you made to somewhere you can start over.

But could you really do it?

You had the power and money you wished for, it could help you finally be free.

The only thing you lacked was courage to try. Yet no matter how long you spent in your suffocating life, you never gained that will.

Instead you settled for small choices that gave you a brief sense of freedom to find solace in.

Petting a animal on your way home, impulsively buying a small snack that looked tasty, spending a few minutes to listen to street performers before dropping a tip.

A small oasis that gave you the energy to keep going.

Hoyoverse, a company that had grown and expanded after their games exploded in popularity offered a deal. They wanted to use your building's screens for advertisement. Specifically for Genshin Impact.

You were always careful when it came to the company. But you only read the description of the game before impulsively deciding to accept it.

That day passed in a flash and you went home early with your mind stuck on it.

Why did you do that? What pushed you to accept so readily?

Waiting for Genshin to download, you ordered food from that restaurant down the street. A favorite among locals living here that you were eager to try out.

Checking on your computer the game was finished downloading. Pushing away the minor nerves you booted up the game.

It was beautiful.

The scenery was gorgeous, the mechanics came naturally to you and the story drew you in.

What really mesmerized you were the characters.

Quickly becoming addicted you spent almost all your free time on it. Your work may have been completed first but you put the majority of your love and attention on the game.

All the money that were sitting in your bank account was used on the Battlepass and Welkin Moon. You were much more hesitant to use it on the banners.

At least until half a year later Venti's banner came along.

The first character that you fell in love with on sight. The figurine's, commissioned fan art, and merch that you collected decorated your once empty house.

The small keychain of him that you attached to your bag became the new object of your parents 'concerns'. For the first time you fought against them.

The proceeding argument was breathtaking.

You gained the courage to defend and stick to your decision.

You felt happy.

You felt free.

Awaiting your rare day off you rushed home. The newest event was the bartender event. It was a Mondstadt event focused on Angels Share. It was obvious that Venti would show up.

You were disappointed to say the least when Venti didn't appear even once.

Was it due to the lack of alcohol? Humming a tune you decide to get yourself a drink.

Specifically an apple cider, that you wanted to try due to Venti's favoritism for it.

Opening the fridge and grabbing the bottle your phone starts ringing. Sighing bitterly you answered already aware of who it would be.

"Y/n pack a bag, I booked you a flight that leaves in 3 hours."

Pressing two fingers on your temple to soothe the inevitable headache you bite out, "Why the hell did you schedule a flight without telling me about it and in 3 hours no less?"

"Watch your tone, there's not a lot of time. Everything is set up already, the details will be explained later." You can basically hear the sneer in your mother's voice.

"How am I supposed to pack the correct documents when you won't eve-" the 'end call' beep echos in your home like a gun shot. Gritting your teeth you slam the phone on the table and stalk off to your room.

This isn't the first time she pulled this bullshit on you and it won't be the last.

You stuff the plain and uncomfortable clothes into the suitcase.

Weak

Neatly folding away any documents that might come in handy along with whatever company details that might be having a problem.

Weak

A car is pulling up to the house as identification, electronics, and your wallet are tucked into your bag.

Weak

The bitterness has burned away leaving your voice cold and empty as usual. Slidding into the backseat with your suitcase flat on the car carpet you ask, "Father which airplane am I-"

"I'll tell you when we get there." You don't say anything after that.

Weak

Buckling your seat belt that familiar hot pool of shame bubbles up in your gut. At this point you consider it closer to being your family than your parents are.

Closing your eyes you mentally prepare yourself for the news reporter on whatever country you're off to. The assistants that swarm you filling you in on whatever meetings and lectures you'll be forced to lead.

You fall asleep with the thought of forced pleasentries and uncomfortable conversations.

It felt like barely anytime had passed when you wake up to screaming. Whipping your head around to observe the area, flames merely graze your face.

The plane is on fire.

Screaming and crying make your heart race as you frantically press the seatbuckle to release you.

The smoke and heat cause you to stumble as you grab onto a oxygen mask. It clears your mind as you see passengers frantically running around while others are curled up in their seats.

You try to ignore the limp bodies on fire.

There's only a few flight attendants and they aren't in any state to help anyone.

The mask can't reach very far so you ditch it for a piece of cloth and try to get to the nearest flight attendant.

You stumble over debris and hysterical people as the fire and engine roar in sync.

Slumped against the wall, you can tell that her leg just isn't right. Her arm is bloody and you can't see her hand. She's coughing and struggling to breathe, the sight makes your heart hurt as you push yourself faster.

Grabbing the nearest oxygen mask you kneel down and press it to her face. You try to ignore the blood you're touching as you yell to be heard.

"Wha-cough WHAT DO WE-"

You cut yourself off with a scream as the plane breaks beneath you.

You're falling

The change in pressure leaves black dots in your vision and your stomach churns at the speed.

That suffocating heat turns into icy wind that sends shudders through your body.

Your body is at the violent winds mercy as you fall.

Gazing up at the cloudy blue sky a thought echos through your mind.

Can I finally be free?

Next

[imaginedreamwrite]

So all the texts for the text phot dump are so cute, and some of them made me chuckle quite a bit. How about number 6 and number 1 with Jake or Colin or both of them ? Plus I really don’t wanna get ahead of myself because I feel like my asks are getting lost because of Tumblr, yesterday also two were lost. But fingers crossed this reaches you

They were odd friends from college, the computer whiz who could weave his way in and out of a computer system without being caught, and the musician who could count on one hand how many times he’d had an empty bed. Jake and Colin were fast friends, if not polar opposites, and had moved on from college to a shared apartment where their differences hadn’t correlated to many shared desires.

Until they’re neighbour across from them had moved out, and a new addition had moved in with a powerful whirlwind that captivated both Colin & Jake. Their new neighbour was quiet, they’d learned, a little bashful and shy but both Colin & Jake were equally set upon getting to know you.

Through interactions in the hallway when you were coming home or leaving, Colin & Jake had gotten to know you well enough to transcend neighbourliness. Eventually the invitation to go out as friends was made and with the invitation had come a direct surge of chemistry between the three of you that was cathartic and electrifying.

Neither Colin or Jake had really known why you never let your guard down enough to let them ask you on a date, even with the last year of them flirting heavily. Whether you were oblivious to their flirting because someone from your past made you feel as if you didn’t deserve the attention, or whether you were dealing with some leftover ramifications from an ex, it was clear that you hadn’t known entirely how much they wanted you.

It was quick to build, and even quicker to come to a cusp during the heat of the summer. By some miracle the three of you had gotten the same four day weekend with no restrictions, and given the heat blasting the city the decision was made for the three of you to leave. Colin or Jake had suggested a cabin by a lake that one of their family members owned, and they were quick to invite you.

On the day you were supposed to leave, Colin & Jake had made a quick descent for some last minute things for the four day weekend, leaving you to pack and give them notice when you were done. With a blow that drew them closer to their level of insanity, you’d sent them a text that you were ready along with a picture of yourself in some pretty little sundress with a bow at the back, almost as if you were wrapping yourself like a present for them.

Colin and Jake immediately blew up your phone with messages, both of them driven crazy by you and your self-defensive bashfulness.

Fuck you for looking so goddamn gorgeous today

I hate you

I mean I don’t hate you

I love you

But I hate you for being so pretty today

Your response was adorable, just as they had expected, and it was equally hilarious and endearing.

Wait, did you just flirt with me?

Have been for the past year but thanks for noticing

By the time they’d returned, there was a subtle shift in the air between you three. When they had arrived at your door to grab your things and leave, tension had churned and shifted. You appeared on the other side of the door with your bags and your pretty little sundress but instead of greeting Colin & Jake with your usual, you’d leaned in and kissed them softly.

“I think I’d like to take those dates when we get back.”

[rightsforharleykeener]

ANYTHING WITH HARLEY BEING A BIG BROTHER TO MORGAN OR ABBIE

HEADCANONS FICS IDEAS LITERALLY ANYTHING

OKAY SO I HAVE A REALLY BIG HEADCANON FOR THIS

so harley has always felt like he was never really a Big Brother to abbie because since their dad left, he's had to step into this parental role. like, he can't be an Older Brother to her because she needs this fatherly figure in her life to make up for the one she's lost, and obviously macy isn't around as much as she wants to be because she has to work. no one asked harley to do that, he just does it - so he's always been more of a father figure than a brother figure.

harley made meals for them, tidied the house, as well has having to get his school work done. on top of that, he always worked odd jobs that needed doing around rose hill because he knew they needed the extra cash, even when macy told him that she didn't need his help with money, and that she appreciated everything he did.

he didn't mind doing it at the time, it was normal to him - he didn't have time for a lot of friends because he was doing so much, so he didn't Quite compute that not everyone was doing the same as him. he knew he was doing More, but not as much as he actually was.

macy always cared for the both of them when she didn't have a shift. she was a good mother really, but she just needed to work to afford the house and food.

they moved to new york when tony found out about their living situation and how badly they were doing financially. he'd found out because harley was talking to tony about everything he was doing to keep the family afloat. tony decided to get them an apartment in the city, which was all paid for - macy didn't like it at first but she knew that it was best for her kids. tony agreed to let her pay the bills, but if they got too high then she had to tell him and he'd make up the difference she couldn't afford.

macy ended up getting a job at a restaurant - like she had in rose hill, so it was familiar, but the pay was so much better. harley started at midtown, because tony's intern goes there and it's a good school apparently. abbie isn't quite old enough to go to midtown yet, but she gets into middle school on a full-ride scholarship. harley's really proud of her, because he used to help abbie with all her school work and it's paid off.

harley has time for friends now, and that's when he realises that he was moe of a father figure to abbie, and not a brother figure. he learns this through seeing the way the people at midtown argue playfully over silly things with their siblings in the corridors.

harley never got that with abbie. he'd tell her off if she drew on the walls, or refused to do her homework, or forgot her manners when they were at their grandparents' house.

he was never a brother, harley was almost a father. from 6 years old.

when harley turned 16, tony and pepper had morgan. harley and peter would be asked to babysit morgan from time to time. harley would always say yes, even if peter didn't. it was like a second chance.

he'd take morgan to the park, like he did with abbie, but instead of being worried about her every move, he would mess around with her, and push her down the slide, and encourage her to do the monkey bars, even when she was terrified she'd fall off. harley would hold her up until she got the hang of it.

he'd take morgan to get ice cream or cake, depending on the weather. sometimes, they'd go into a small lab that tony had made for morgan (child friendly, don't worry) and they'd make new and improved nerf guns. they'd run around the house and shoot tony (sound familiar?).

sometimes, harley and morgan would argue about how something worked, how it could be improved, or how they could prank tony.

they were siblings.

yes, he felt responsibility, he had to look after her. but harley felt like a brother.

no, of course harley never forgot about abbie. he continued to look after her, and he'd spend as much time as he could with her everyday. but abbie was growing up, and harley would never get to do those cliche sibling activities with her.

abby had a large group of friends now. harley would drive them to wherever they wanted to go that day. harley would watch a movie with abbie whenever they had time. but their dynamic still didn't feel like a brother-sister relationship.

with morgan, it did.

harley felt guilty about it sometimes, but he begins to realise that, actually, the situations were entirely different.

he was a father when he needed to be and a brother when he needed to be for abbie.

but he will always be a brother to morgan - even if it isn't biological. he doesn't need to be a father for her, but he did need to be for abbie. and he thinks that's okay.

[tobiasdrake]

Episode 24: The Sigh of Haruhi Suzumiya, Part 5

Been dreading this one because I really liked the confrontation at the end of Part 4 and some individual scenes have been neat but for the most part this arc has been extremely gross.

Also, had to change the shady piracy website that I'm taking my screenshots from. We're watching the show on Crunchyroll but we have to do "Someone in the extended family has a subscription and we all share" shenanigans for all of our streaming services so nobody knows who had the Crunchyroll password and I can't get it on my computer.

Yuki has a cat now. I wonder if she'll get to keep it. I would love to see Yuki transition from stoic robot with no furnishings to stoic robot who is a cat person now.

Her apartment filled with just that one kotatsu and also a scratching post, cat tree, cat tunnel, and food dishes.

Sitting at the kotatsu with a book open on the table, reading with a cat in her lap. Petting its head mechanically; The same exact motion on repeat like a metronome. "Kitty," she says aloud in her emotionless monotone.

In any case, we got through this shooting session without more Mikuru grossness so I'm hoping Haruhi learned something from yesterday's meltdown and reconciliation. I mean, this is still happening:

But that's still gonna happen. Haruhi gonna Haruhi.

I just. Would really like to see character growth come out of this gross arc.

Shamisen is amazingly verbose and capable of a complex understanding of language.

I want to keep him. I desperately want to keep him. Can we keep him? Please tell me we get to keep him.

I will trade this character for him.

Aww, we're sending Shamisen with Kyon. That's a shame. I was all set for Cat Ladybot Yuki.

At this point, the only reason I feel confident that those guys aren't another Haruhi Thing (TM) is because that's not her genre. XD

Part of me thinks it's for the best that Haruhi doesn't read medieval fantasy and didn't make a world with dragons and shit. But then I remember that she did make a world with reality-bending data aliens. Being as sci-fi nerd isn't any better than a fantasy nerd in this regard.

Who's up for a religious schism!?

Mikuru offers a conflicting interpretation of Haruhi to what Itsuki's been saying. Itsuki believes that, in the event three years ago, Haruhi created the universe. That, essentially, all things in existence are only three years old. There is no past beyond that point, which meshes with something Mikuru told us early on.

It's impossible to travel back in time beyond three years from today, for reasons unknown. This would make sense if there is no past, as Itsuki speculated.

If the universe sprang into existence fully formed from the timequake three years ago then it would be impossible to travel beyond the timequake.

The computer bug came to our time from a parallel reality 208 million years ago, according to Yuki. In order for that to be true, there must have existed a period of time 208 million years ago.

This doesn't disprove Haruhi creating the universe in the timequake. She could have created time retroactively. But it does mean that the nonexistence of time beyond the timequake cannot be used as evidence to prove that Haruhi created the universe, because time does exist beyond the timequake. Mikuru's organization can't reach it, but the Data Integration Thought Entity's awareness can.

Which, itself, makes sense since it's already been established that the aliens have a better grasp of time than the time travelers do. In any case, it seems likely that the world existed before three years ago.

As Yuki clarifies, Mikuru instead believes that the world was always like this but Haruhi has the ability to discover strange and mysterious things. There were always aliens, but Haruhi's abilities simply drew them in, basically.

I don't think that's correct either. Kyon brings up that all of the espers spontaneously developed their abilities and awareness of Haruhi during The Event Three Years Ago, which is fairly significant proof that the world was altered. Yuki's counterpoint... sucks?

"Maybe he lied."

I mean, sure, but if we go down that rabbit hole then maybe Haruhi has no powers and Yuki's just been using her alien magic to fake all of it this whole time. Anyone can be lying about anything, Yuki. That's a bad argument.

Obviously something happened three years ago because all three of them agree on that. Yuki, Mikuru, and Itsuki have all independently testified that some fucking shit went down three years ago that brought them all here.

I've already made my argument against Itsuki's interpretation. A decisive argument against "The world was always like this" is Mikuru herself. You could say that the extradimensional bug always existed, and Haruhi's logo simply drew it to her. You could say that the Celestials are a natural phenomenon that are simply being stirred up by Haruhi's emotions. You could say that Shamisen is actually a talking cat because of reasons, that simply crossed Haruhi's path.

But Mikuru Beam is pretty hard to equivocate. Haruhi gave Mikuru the ability to shoot a photon laser out of her eye, which she did not previously possess. (The time loop also comes to mind.) So. No, Mikuru. The world was not always like this. Haruhi is doing shit.

The most plausible explanation is the alternative one that Itsuki first introduced. The one where Haruhi did not create the world but did remake it. Her power simply erupted one day and expanded across the universe like Devil Homura's Labyrinth.

I get the point they're making here about the complexity of belief. Like a proper religion, at the end of the day, it is difficult to draw any factual conclusions about the true esoteric nature of Haruhi Suzumiya. But I think, if you look deep enough, there are sufficient pieces to draw suppositional conclusions, at least - but those may vary from person to person.

We'll never truly know.

Okay, I'm loving the idea of Mikuru and Itsuki's factions being hostile to one another and the inter-group drama that such an idea would create. Especially since we all have to play Nice Happy Club Friends in front of Haruhi.

Religious schism and political intrigue in my slice-of-life show about goldfish scooping with the local cosmic horror? Yes please.

But I feel a little uncomfortable with the idea that *gestures at Mikuru* ALL OF THAT was stuff Mikuru went along with because she's trying to honeypot Kyon.

It feels like they're trying super hard to salvage what they've done with Mikuru and are instead making it worse.

That said, what I do like is that we didn't have any more gross Haruhi Molests Mikuru jokes in this whole episode. Itsuki's mad at Kyon for not fixing the "Haruhi's movie is warping reality" problem but I'm satisfied that Kyon and Haruhi's meltdown did result in changed behavior, at least for now.

She's still an asshole.

But at least she's backed off of the sexual harassment that these episodes had dialed up so high. So that's something.

Oh hey we're FINALLY having the lunch conversation that was promised all the way back in episode 6. Kyon's finally going to break the rules and leak everything to Haruhi.

And just like Yuki promised: Haruhi doesn't fucking care what you think, Kyon. In fact, she thinks you're making fun of her. Good job.

[dio-the-thot-exterminator]

Weird question, but who has the embarrassing videos of their school play

[baby Meredith on the left, baby Debbie on the right]

That is an interesting question! We have a couple of choices >:)

Loriann

First option would be Loriann (Loriann is Matilda and Debbie’s mom).

Loriann would have some videos, this was back when they were a happy family <3 Since Loriann was a busy business woman she didn't have much time to go to their school events.

But the ones she did attend she recorded! (She would later put them in a storage unit and forget about them bcuz now it makes her sick to her stomach).

These videos would have been mostly of Matilda, she is a big theater kid and was also involved in every school function.

Idk if they are even cringe bcuz its Matilda, you know, they’d prlly be fire.

Matilda

Now Matilda would be the one who has videos from when Debbie and Meredith were super young.

(Since everyone hates Debbie now no one's going to let her be in a play, they’d prlly try n kill her, plus she sucks at everything).

I have conflicting opinions, both Debbie and Meredith would NOT want to participate, so they’d be tree #1 and tree #2.

But I also think it would be silly if they were given lead roles bcuz Matilda pulled some strings, her little sister is not going to just be a side character…Debbie flops.

Matilda would still encourage her though.

Debbie starts crying every time she's on stage.

[Lisa on the left, Becky in the middle, Hanna on the right. I drew this while trying to make mashed potatoes its kinda rushed 😭]

Becky

Becky is an obvious choice bcuz she wants to be a star.

When she's in her villain era she would TOTALLY do a CinemaSins style video with the play recordings and then upload them to the Rune youtube channel (she's such a meanie).

If she hates someone, she'd do some digging and find the videos, using them as blackmail (she alr has copies ready to distribute don't fuck with her)

Secretly tho in her diary she's scribbling about what she would do to make it better and how she should've been cast instead. 

Also Becky doesn't think she ever flopped (except that one time…) she's the best and has been since she was a weebabe.

That being said any play she would have been in is AFTER her glow up.

Becky would look back fondly on it. It would not be embarrassing for her, however it would be embarrassing for other people involved (mainly Lisa and Hanna).

Lisa hates it the most but Becky is like “take a chill pill, you’re standing next to ME!! It’s soooo unlikely anyone's going to notice you buggers” 

Here are some honorable mentions since they don't have schools or school plays they can't rlly record anything. But in spirit if given the opportunity I know they would. 

The Doctor 

The Doctor is the very supportive parent, attending all of his children's events and recording everything.

The parent who is helping make the costumes and stage props, and then afterwards takes you for some ice cream.

Honestly the best one on the entire list.

The Doctor has on occasion snuck Pheobe out of the lab to The Madam’s performance room so she could mess around on the stage.

That's his lil baby <3

These last 3 are kind of similar they are boring bitches.

Isla 

Isla does not care at all, but she is one of The Scholars so it's in her nature to record everything down.

Because she's imprisoned though she would not have access to a recording device.

She's kind of glad because she wishes she could never experienced this foolishness again..

The Scientist

The Scientist is also one of The Scholars so yes it's being saved.

He would also not care at all and think it's a waste of his time…

He’s still bringing out a camera and recording it in 4k while also transcribing it…

For archival purposes of course (he a fan)

Natalia

Since she's a robot everything is automatically recorded and saved to her memory.

So she would have it…but it's against her will!!!

She's a walking computer, it's her job to store information about everyone.

She doesn't understand the purpose of it, or why it would be embarrassing.

So if you were talking about it she’d deff pull it up and instantly start playing it “oh…you mean this video?” “wtf why do you even have that!??!”

If she ever needs more space in her memory she is deleting them instantly, they are useless to her. 

that's all I could think of off the top of my head. sorry for typosss

[spoks-illogical-art]

Choose a few ocs and tell me how'd they react to their PC bluescreening mid-work and after updating the wallpaper is different.

Ttly didn't happen to me

what the something slightly similar happened to me too recently? lmaoo

bonus hcs for what would be their wallpapers normally

Vincent - work computer - solid color default wallpaper - if it changed he would not have much of a reaction lmao he would just silently change it back sorry majestic dolphins jumping out of water with god rays all around em its solid blue color city; home computer - a picture of him, Mattie, Lai, Drew and Chester - he knows where all his files are so he would just find it again and change it back no problem

Mattie - work computer - one of the default ones with a sunset or something, she would get slightly annoyed if it changed but maybe another default one would also be nice she can get used to em; home computer - a screenshot from The Y-Files, she would get annoyed fr cuz she would have no idea where did she get that wallpaper from but then she would just find it in a folder where it shouldn't be lol

Laionel - now I realized that I should actually curse him with the existence of the family computer concept but I won't do it I'm not that evil lol, he would have several wallpapers with his favorite animals like foxes and penguins and dinosaurs, If they changed he would have a small problem to find them all again and would get a little bit sad but he's smart he can figure it out ^^

Drew - probably some joke wallpaper maybe a meme collage I can't think of an exact example rn, he would curse the dreaded machine and scramble to find it back, probably accept defeat as he wouldn't be able to find it again, and choose another one he wanted to use anyway

Chester - a picture of a meadow behind his house at sunrise that he took, if it changed he would get really sad, would leave it as the new one for a week before trying to change it back, the picture would probably be in the first folder he would check

Tim and Ryland - both would have the same picture of them together, if it changed for any of them the other could just send it again or be like hey we should take a new one anyway haha

Howard (if he had a computer) - a crude drawing in ms paint of him shooting a laser at Beta8 that's exploding, if it changed he would just snap his fingers and bring it back into existence or actually make a new even more crude one with Tim on fire or sth

Nekor(he's actually at Chester's computer who doesn't know that he has two wallpapers) - a bad quality png of a kefir bottle. that's it. If it changed he would panic and wait for Chess to bring back his one, and then set the kefir one back again.

bonus 2 part of one of my wallpapers i made pierro genshin impact hold weed and theres tiny rhys blands on scaras head

ok but fr my laptop has trouble with connecting to wifi sometimes because avast is being stupid and i have to restart it to let avast update then and I had to do it recently and when it was booting up again instead of the default cave one on the screensaver there was a rhino??? and it was only then its back to the cave again now idk what was up with that lol

thank u sztefa u are my savior ^^

[rjshepherd]

I'm like 90% finished stuff for the con but like. I live in the UK and the entire country is currently melting so like HELL am I getting under fabric rolls to sew.

Instead I drew DB lookin cute

Here's some headcanons for y'all

As mentioned DB is from sloth but a lot of his family come from envy. Lot of old money types going into medicine.

Somewhat estranged from them but not due to the same reasons as moxie. His family love him, they just don't approve of his career choices. Wish he'd have gone into medicine, maybe fine a nice girl and settle down to start a family

They don't know he works in greed, I doubt they'd approve of him working in lust

His tongue is not naturally forked, he had it done in college.

While in college he studied biology and computer engineering

His skeletal hands don't hurt him and due to hell magic they have full functionality. However without skin he can't feel with them. He has a hard time telling temperature and misses running his fingers through his hair.

The whole skeletal thing happened in greed, he got burned (literally and figuratively) during a heist gone wrong

That same heist however did lead him to working for Crim and eventually dating Stu

He's currently working 3 jobs in lust : a stage hand/ technician in Ozzie's , part time cam boy and occasionally as a bouncer with Stu, when they can find the work

He doesn't need to be working so hard, they actually have a really nice apartment, but his dream is to retire early to a nice place in envy with stu

He's great with makeup, he's even done Verosikas when she's been too hung over to do her own.

His favorite food is duck spring rolls with sweet and sour dipping sauce.

Despite being a shark and a carnivore, he really doesn't like fish all that much

[invisibleraven]

Dress You Up In My Love

Five times Julie wore her mom's Sunset Curve shirt and one time she didn't.

Word Count: 7.2k

Relationships: Julie/Luke/Reggie, Alex & Julie, Julie & Tia Victoria, Julie & Ray

AO3 link!

Inspired by a conversation in the Canoe Crew Discord server, which spiraled into this sprawling little story, that like most of my stuff, got away from me.

Dedicated to my fellow crewmates, love all of you, it's a genuine honour to paddle alongside you. Enjoy this silly bit of fiction!

1. Alex

Alex rapped gently on Julie’s door, waiting in hopes that she would answer it. He knew he could just phase through, but after all her lectures on boundaries and Reggie’s attempt to be ‘classy’, he wasn’t taking chances. Thankfully Julie did open the door, though she looked a tad confused to see him.

“The other two are being doofuses, and Willie is working at the club tonight, can I come hang out here where it’s quiet and they won’t think to look for me?”

Julie rolled her eyes affectionately but stepped back, arm extended towards the room. “I’m studying though, so you’ll have to be quiet yourself.”

Alex mimed zipping his mouth shut before flopping onto her mustard yellow loveseat. Julie took a spot on her bed, nose already back in a text book. There was soft music playing in the background, and Alex nodded his head to the beat. Honestly, while he loved Sunset Curve’s style of rock, he also appreciated the different types of pop and dance stuff that had come out in the twenty five years since. Julie had even made him a playlist for an old phone she had lying around.

Better that than them using Carlos’ computer. Sure he knew about them now, but he still drew the line at them using his stuff.

Alex breathed a little deeper, finally letting the calm of the space wash over him, sinking deeper into the couch, and he debated having a nap. Thank goodness they were still able to sleep though eating continued to elude them. Though maybe that was for the best since it was tainted food that did them in.

He liked Julie’s room honestly. Liked the little touches of whimsy from her mountain of pillows to her plethora of lamps to all the little knick knacks she had strewn about. He remembered Olivia’s room; full of band posters on the wall, her stuff everywhere until she moved out and then it became a blank and barren guest room. He remembered staring at the pale rectangles on the wall wishing he had gone with the posters instead of being left here to fade like the paint beneath them.

He idly wonders how long it took his parents to similarly convert his own room, and quickly shakes off that train of thought. It proved best not to think of his family, he was positive they hadn’t spared him a thought since his funeral.

Well, maybe his sister had, but then again, she hadn’t come back after he told her how coming out went, barely had time for his calls when he was alive. So maybe not. He hadn’t bothered to find her since coming back either. Didn’t want her to disappoint him further.

Finally his eyes landed on Julie and he had to do a double take. Because there, blazed across her chest was the Sunset Curve logo.

Where had she gotten that?

He could see that she (or whoever gave it to her) had bedazzled the shirt, and he had to grin. Reggie had wondered about bedazzling their shirt back in the day, but the cost proved out of their sights. Plus Alex questioned the shirt surviving the process of it given their tendency to fall apart in the wash.

Reggie had been floating doing a few with the logo matching the spray painted sign in the garage before they died though. Alex had been all for that idea, loving the thought of people wearing their merch bedecked in rainbow.

Look, he had been out in the 90’s, but played that a little close to his chest because, again, it was the 90’s. Luke was out to them and his folks, but if it didn’t affect the band, he didn’t see the point of announcing it to anyone. Reggie… well Alex was fairly certain that Reggie had only very recently discovered that his attraction didn’t stop at just girls. Bobby hadn’t been interested in anyone other than aesthetically, but the less Alex thought of Bobby, the better. It still stung too much.

“Nice shirt,” Alex finally says.

Julie looks up at him, then glances down and grins. “Thanks, I found it with my mom’s stuff. Pretty comfy actually.”

“Yeah, we fought to get good quality ones, well as much as we could for broke teens. Surprised that one held up this long, they used to be done after a few good wears,” Alex replied. “I’m fairly certain Reggie owed the guy a million favours in the end regardless.”

“D-did Reggie design your logo?” Julie asked, and Alex bit back a grin at the subtle pink tinge to her cheeks. Look, he loved both of his boys, but Reggie had never been lucky in love, and with Luke failing time after time to make a move… Well maybe Julie saw the appeal in a guy who looked at her like Reggie did and openly called her an angel.

But he wasn’t getting into it until he needed to console one or both of them with sad movies and snuggles.

“Yep,” Alex said, popping the p. “Reg designed all the merch, he had the highest art grade. I mean, you’ve seen Luke’s handwriting, so no way were we trusting him with it, and I can barely manage a stick figure.”

Julie bit back a chuckle at that and then went back to her studying, but every so often Alex would catch her gazing down at the logo and toying with her curls. He grinned and shimmied into a ball, lowering his snapback over his eyes. Time to get in a nap, and hope those hopeless cases figured themselves out soon.

But he was still telling Reggie that there was a chance he had given Julie’s mom a shirt oh so long ago, just to see the reaction. Because there was no way in hell that he hadn’t done so without flirting, and that was too delicious to keep to himself.

2. Tia Victoria

When her sister dies, Victoria Alvarez vows to step up and help her brother-in-law with the kids. Ray is so lost without Rose, unable to cope with losing her so young-or at all really. The first few months Victoria pretty much moves into the Molina household, making sure the kids are fed and keeping their grades up. Signs them all up for counselling with the nice man from her Pilates class. Julie confesses she’s not the biggest fan of Dr. Turner, but she also seems in less of a funk after seeing him.

Victoria eventually goes home, restricting herself to only popping by three times a week, usually with food. Look, Ray cooks a mean bowl of spaghetti and makes a decent breakfast, but the kids can’t live on that.

She also takes the chance to finally grieve.

Yes, she had mourned and wept along with everyone else, but then she had her family to help, so she put her own feelings aside. She had been doing it for a lifetime, putting others first.

But those first few days after returning home? Victoria is selfish and breaks down in tears due to Rose’s absence.

That was over a year ago now though, and while things are still tender and oh so slowly healing, Victoria feels like it doesn't ache quite as much. Ray has learned a few new recipes, Carlos is excelling on his baseball team and apparently in math. He claims it’s because of his new Big Brother Reggie, but clams up when Victoria wants to meet the young man.

But Julie?

Julie has blossomed in the past few months. While Victoria still isn't the biggest fan of Julie’s dreams lying with the success of her band, she will admit their music is good, and Julie seems to be fully out of her funk.

That’s why Victoria is here, to see Julie, see if her band might be willing to help at the local women's shelter that Victoria volunteers at. Maybe not to play, but bands doing outreach always looks good on social media right?

Only when she enters Julie’s studio/the family garage, she freezes. Because at first glance, Victoria could have sworn she was looking at Rose at the piano. A head full of wild curls and a sweet melody playing through the air. She chokes back a sob and claps when Julie finishes, her gap tooth grin making the vision of Rose vanish in a flash.

“That was beautiful sobrina,” she says.

“Thanks tia,” Julie replies. “It’s just something I’ve been toying with for the band.”

She stands from behind the piano, stretching out her limbs and Victoria bites back a smirk. She recognizes the style of bedazzling on the shirt, recalling Rose doing it for the bands she really loved. Sitting at the table, tongue stuck out as she carefully poked each bead through, adding flourishes and adjustments as needed.

“I don’t remember Rose mentioning that band before,” Victoria says, gesturing at the shirt. It reads Sunset Curve in a swirly design, a road leading from the words. “It's definitely not a concert I took her to.”

“You went to concerts?” Julie asks.

Victoria scoffs at that. “Who do you think took your mami to her first show? Bon Jovi,” she says with a sigh. “It was her sixteenth birthday present from me. We had a great time, even if we were in the nosebleeds. Both got a shirt, your mom bedazzled them both, kept it until it fell apart. I think mine is still in storage somewhere.”

“Who else did you go see?” Julie asks, sitting on the ancient leather couch that had come with the house. Victoria sits across from her detailing all the great 80’s bands they went to see. Less after she went to college and Rose started the Petal Pushers, but they went to every show they could together. Then Rose met Ray, and Victoria lost her concert buddy.

“It was fine really,” she said with a shrug. “Some of those bands I wasn’t a huge fan of. Poison isn’t really my scene, and I wasn’t the biggest Rush fan.”

Julie giggles at that, and Victoria has no idea why it’s funny but she’s missed that laugh, so she lets it go.

“Do you still go to shows?’ Julie asks when her giggles have finally subsided.

“Not really,” Victoria replies with a wistful sigh. “Between work, volunteering, Pilates, and my family… when would I have time? I go to your shows mija, that’s enough for me.”

“W-what if we went to a show together?” Julie asks.

“To see this Sunset Curve?” Victoria asks, gesturing to her shirt.

“Oh no… they’re not… I was thinking maybe Taylor Swift?”

“I do like her stuff,” Victoria muses. “Okay, I’ll see if I can get tickets. Make it your birthday present, just like I did for your mom.”

“I’d like that,” Julie replies with a grin.

“Me too,” Victoria says, reaching out and squeezing her hand. “Now, I actually came here to ask you a favour…”

3. Luke

Luke will admit that clothes have never mattered much to him. He’s ripped the sleeves off most of his shirts, and is wearing the same pants he’s had since his last growth spurt back in the 90’s. As long as he’s covered enough not to get arrested he doesn’t really care what he’s got on.

It probably also has something to do with the fact that his wardrobe consists of whatever he had stored around the studio and had shoved into his duffel before he ran away. So his choices are limited, but beggars can’t be choosers right? Plus he’s dead, so who really cares what he wears?

But he usually notices what Julie is wearing. Her style is pretty damn cool, even if it’s violently different from what girls wore in the 90’s. Though he isn’t sad to see the death of shoulder pads. Even if most of the punk girls that hung around after their gigs wore mostly plaid and crazy prints. Luke has no idea what’s cool anymore, but he knows that Julie always looks good.

But then one afternoon as he’s writing yet another song, he has to stop and do a double take. Because Julie is wearing a Sunset Curve shirt.

Sure it’s bedazzled and cinched with a scrunchie at her waist, but the logo is there like a blast from the past, zapping him back to the afternoon in late ‘89 when Reggie showed him the design. Watching him and Bobby spray paint it on a large black drop cloth. Alex laughed his ass off as they struggled to hang it without ladders or getting the still drying paint on them.

Luke shakes himself and grins at Julie, nodding at her shirt. “Where on Earth did you get that?” he asks with a laugh.

Julie doesn’t even know what she’s wearing as she has to glance down and then blushes. “Oh, I found it with my mom’s stuff. I guess she was a fan of you guys or something? I mean she had your demo and this shirt.”

“Oh yeah, we sold them at every gig we could,” Luke replied. “Plus Reggie gave them to every cute girl he came across.”

“Reggie? Really?” Julie asks like she doesn’t believe it.

“Oh yeah, Reg was a huge flirt,” Luke replies, grinning. “Always a crooked grin and a wink for a pretty face. I think his favourite line was that the shirt was a size beautiful.”

Julie laughs at that, loud and pure, sending a shot of warmth to Luke’s heart. Gosh she’s so cute, with her little nose scrunch and twinkling eyes. He wishes he wasn’t such a coward about telling her that though. He’s always been chicken about confessing his feelings. Not wanting to ruin things between people he cared for, not wanting to be rejected by those he doesn’t.

So he stays silent and pines away until the crush fades.

Thus him not telling Julie how much he adores her.

Or Reggie how much that little chemistry joke affected him.

Luke is fine being alone romantically, really he is.

“Did that work?” Julie asks finally.

“Not often,” Luke admits. “But sometimes, yes. He had the best luck out of the three of us anyways. Not that Bobby was ever trying all that hard.”

“Yeah, Trevor came out as aro ace when he released his third album,” Julie says. “He adopted Carrie not long after.”

Luke still stings when he thinks about Bobby, but he is happy that he was able to live his truth. That doesn’t excuse what he did, in no way, but he knows how much pain it is to live in the closet from Alex, and he wouldn’t wish that on anyone.

“So was Alex handing out shirts to cute guys then?” Julie asks.

“Nah, he was too anxious to really hit on guys. I did though.”

“You?” Julie all but shrieks.

“You… know I’m not straight, right?” Luke asks.

“No! Why would I know that? You’ve never said anything!”

Luke flushed, he wasn’t big on the whole coming out thing, he just always assumed he exuded a vibe of being fairly open about his preferences. He chuckled and ruffled the back of his head. “Yeah, sorry. I’ve never been one to care about what my partner is or how they identify. I just… like everybody.”

“So you’re… pansexual?”

Luke shrugged again. “I’m not real into labels, but after Alex started questioning himself, he brought back all these flyers from some local queer associations. Pansexual seems to fit me best, but I’m cool with just being ’not straight’ or ‘queer’ or whatever.”

“Oh… cool. I’m bi,” Julie says, sitting down next to him. “Does this mean we’re a queer band now?”

“Reggie’s still straight,” Luke replies.

Julie just hums at that, and Luke wonders a bit. Thinks back to Reggie’s reaction to his little chemistry experiment. The blush, the stuttered response, the way his wide green eyes were trained on Luke’s lips for a period afterwards.

Oh.

Reggie will tell him when he’s ready he supposes. But maybe Link can drop some hints that he’d be okay with Reggie liking guys and girls. Maybe in song form. And maybe… just maybe he can be brave enough to admit to him that if there are feelings involved, well they have a whole afterlife to work them out.

“So, you wanna help me with this song?” he asks Julie. Maybe he can be brave with her too, just not right now. “It’s a bit harder than our usual stuff, but given the shirt…”

Julie rolls her eyes and gives his shoulder a shove before taking his notebook to start scrawling a melody. And with the afternoon light hitting her, in a shirt for his band, well Luke has never found her more beautiful.

4. Ray Molina

Ray Molina wouldn’t cite himself as the most perceptive man on the planet, but he did manage to pick up on more than he let on.

Like pretending not to notice when Rose would blatantly flirt with him, just to see her exasperation and then her joy when he ‘finally’ got the message and asked her out.

Or when Victoria claims she made too much food when it’s really a way to save his family the apparent horrors of his cooking. He simply thanks her and keeps her dish for the next day, happy enough with his spaghetti. Hey, the kids have never complained, especially since when they did he told them they were welcome to learn how to cook and prepare supper themselves.

Though as a side note, Carlos got pretty good at it after the disaster that was that first French dip sandwich and Julie excels at baking. Ray isn’t going to complain about either of those outcomes.

But the biggest dupe is pretending not to know about the three ghosts ‘living’ out in his garage.

Look, he loves his daughter, but Julie has not once shown interest in his work as a photographer, so he very much doubts her prowess when it comes to ‘holograms’ that can play music and interact like she claims her bandmates can.

And Ray has been around the block a few times, had a distant aunt who could commune with spirits, so it doesn’t surprise him to see the gift appear again in his bloodline.

Plus Julie is a truly terrible liar.

He’s just giving her time to tell him the truth. He and Carlos have a running bet as to when she’ll crack, and Ray has every intention on winning. Because Carlos is also a bad liar, but also a much worse secret keeper and had blabbed about the ghosts to Ray almost immediately after Julie confessed to him. Ray had ruffled his hair, told him he knew and swore his son to keep it hush hush.

“Your sister deserves something that’s just hers for a while longer mijo,” he had said.

Carlos had scowled for a moment, but then agreed. But he did confess to also getting to know all about the band. Ray learns to love them through Carlos’ stories, through their music, and most of all, from how happy they make Julie.

Even if he vows to keep his eye out on Luke’s massive crush that Julie seems to reciprocate. And the Reggie-ness of it all. All while pretending he can’t see the three teenagers milling around his house since after their Orpheum performance, and worse, not responding to their conversations.

Especially when it’s just Reggie talking to him like he’s an old friend-or the father he never had and so rightly deserved. That is harder than anything, and at night he writes the boy letters in response, storing them in the shoebox with all his letters to Rose. One day, he’ll give them to Reggie, or even better, answer back. Show that boy more than the mere scrap of affection he had gotten from his own family.

Tries his hardest not to wonder why Rose didn’t come back and sent these boys in her stead. No good can come from going down that path.

It of course, all comes to a head when Julie comes down the stairs in a very familiar shirt.

It doesn’t hurt anymore to see his daughter in Rose’s clothes, even though Ray sometimes has to pinch himself to tell the difference, Julie looks so much like her mother on the best of days, and in her old clothes, it is sometimes like a blast from the past.

But this shirt…

He remembers the night Rose came home with that shirt and a demo CD in one hand, a devastated Trevor-back then still going by Bobby-in the other. The shirt had lived in a box for a long time after that, and Ray can recall her bringing it out to bedazzle a year or two later. Trevor was long gone by then, soaring the charts with a song that made Rose scowl and flick the radio off every time she heard it.

Ray still doesn’t know the story behind that, only that she and Trevor buried the hatchet some time later, and he was a constant presence in their lives until he got too big, and then Carrie and Julie had their own falling out before Rose passed. He supposes he’ll never know the truth behind it, but he’s lost too much in his lifetime to dwell on it.

“Morning mija,” he says, offering her a plate of eggs and toast as she sits at the island.

“Morning papi,” she says, pouring herself a glass of juice, since Ray has forbidden her coffee. She already has the Alvarez height, no need stunting her growth further. Plus he’s seen what Flynn is like on sodas, he does not want to see what happens to his daughter if she were to add caffeine to her system.

“I don’t think I’ve seen you wear that one before,” he remarks, nodding at her shirt.

“Yeah, I found it buried with all of mom’s stuff and thought it looked cool,” she gives an off hand shrug but doesn’t meet his eyes.

Ray sips his coffee slowly, not saying a word. Watches Julie nibble her toast and almost slyly wave someone off in the background. Ray knows if he turned around he’d see at least one of her boys-Reggie if he was taking bets, given he usually joined them for meals, lamenting his inability to eat, but loving the family atmosphere.

Ray swears if he ever meets Reggie’s parents he’d smack them both for screwing up such a sweet and kind boy like they did.

“Your mom loved that band,” Ray finally says. “They played at some club or another she was working at, they gave her that shirt and their CD. I remember her playing it a lot for a long time afterwards. Never saw them in concert though. Always wondered why, if they broke up or something.”

He’s giving her an out, but he’s also looking right at her. Urging her to tell him the truth, once and for all.

“They… they died,” Julie almost whispers. “I looked them up afterwards. Right before they made it big, they all died. Or well almost all of them. I don’t know what happened to the member that survived.”

“I think you do mija,” he says softly.

Julie dips her head, ashamed, biting her lip. “Yeah, yeah I do.”

“Trevor never really talked about them,” Ray finally says. “Not to me at least. Maybe your mami once and a while. He found it too difficult I think. He was grieving for a long time, and then he devoted himself to making music. I guess I’m not surprised that he never brought up his old band when you guys used to talk.”

“No, he never did.” Julie almost sounds bitter when she says this, and Ray feels like there is a layer to the story he doesn’t know, but leaves it alone for now.

“I think we might still have the CD around, if you want,” Ray offers. “They were pretty good, as I recall.”

“I’ve heard it, they were,” Julie says, then sucks in a breath. Amends her statement. “They are.”

“Mija?”

Julie bites her lip, wrings her hands together. And suddenly there are three boys surrounding her, hands gripping her shoulders, offering support.

“It’s okay Jules,” Reggie says. “We’re here, no matter what.”

Ray clocks the loving look between them and oh, maybe it’s not just Luke he needs to keep an eye on. What he thought was one sided looks to be mutual, and given the fond look Luke sends the both of them… well he’s not sure if that complicates or simplifies things, but he has bigger things to worry about right now.

“You can tell him, he might be cool about it like we said,” Luke chips in.

“He’s still a dad,” Alex says with derision, but Ray can see his tiny smile. “But he’s still a pretty good one Julie.” Ray bites back his thanks at that, just waiting for Julie to speak.

“Sunset Curve died in 1995. They… they became ghosts, but they only reappeared as ghosts last year,” Julie says. “I know because I can see them. I know that sounds crazy and please don’t send me back to Dr. Turner because it’s true!”

“Breathe Julie, just tell me it all and then we can talk about all that.”

Julie takes a few deep breaths and nods. “Last year, when we were thinking about selling the house, I found their demo out in the garage…”

She launches into the tale, the boys interjecting at parts to help fill the tale. And Ray just listens. Listens to how these three lost boys literally dropped into his daughter’s life. How she can somehow make them visible, how their music saved her in so many ways.

Holds back his rage at Trevor, at this Caleb, at the unfairness of it all.

“A-are you mad?” Julie asks when she reaches the end. The boys are still all but wrapped around her, offering her support. But they immediately let go when Ray opens his arms and Julie rushes into them. Presses a kiss to her head. “I could never be mad at you mija. Well as long as we avoid sneaking out again,” he says with a chuckle. Julie laughs weakly, looking up at him. He wipes away a tear and smiles. “Now, do your boys want to join in on this hug or are they going to stay over there like sad puppies?”

“You can see them?” Julie shrieks.

“Of course I can,” Ray says. “I think anyone who you care for can… have you not noticed?”

“I mean, I knew Flynn and Carlos could, but…” Julie turns to her boys and smiles. “They usually can’t touch them.”

“Well let’s try it anyways,” Ray says and keeps his arms open.

Reggie beams and rushes in, his form almost solid and cool, but still wavering. Luke comes next, a bit more hesitant, but his bulk is a little more solid, making Reggie the same. Alex holds back until Julie all but pulls him into the embrace and smirks as he bites back a smile. Ray can feel them under his hands. They’re colder than humans, and he can feel no breath or heartbeat, but they’re still there, solid and real under his hands.

And so the Molina family gains three new members that day, even if he knows there’s a lot to figure out. Ray just smiles and holds his new sons close, hoping this hug makes up, just a little bit for all those they hadn’t gotten in life.

5. Reggie

Reggie is sure if he digs deep enough in his old backpack that he’ll find another shirt buried there. He’s kind of tired of wearing the same three things, plus it’s a killer on Julie’s laundry. He could have sworn he kept a Sunset Curve shirt in there somewhere…

But oh, then he remembers. The night they died, he gave the last one to the incredibly cute waitress at The Orpheum. Even gave her his size beautiful line and best wink to go along with it. He idly wonders what happened to her, and if she gave Bobby her number while they were out dying in an alley. He can barely remember her face now, but that’s how it is with Reggie-he strikes out, he forgets and moves on.

Sure, he’s hit on a few girls more than once because of this, but sometimes he got lucky that second time, so no complaints.

Of course now his flirtation pool is reduced to fellow ghosts, of whom he knows very few and the small selection of lifers that can see him.

Which mostly means Julie. And well, he hasn’t tried flirting with her, but he’s made a few comments that are right on the border and delights when she blushes or giggles and then beams at him with her beautiful gap toothed smile.

But it’s not flirting because it’s so damn obvious that Luke and Julie are gaga over each other and Reggie has no chance there.

Even if Julie’s smile makes the butterflies in his stomach go wild.

Even if he was seconds away from pulling Luke into a kiss during their last mic sharing duet.

Even if his long dead heart still seems to long for them both, when his brain reminds him he can’t have either.

Reggie is just… destined to be alone it seems.

It’s cool though. He’s still friends with Luke and Julie. So he can still spend time with them, just like he still spends time with Alex now that he has Willie. Plus he can hang with Flynn who calls him eye candy but still tells him she’s not into dudes. Which is cool, because while he likes Flynn, he doesn’t want to date her either, and delights when she updates him on her flirtations with the cute girl in her Chemistry class, or her ongoing on again off again love/hate relationship with Carrie.

And Ray can see him now too which is super awesome! They cheer Carlos on at his ball games, and talk about photography and Star Wars, Reggie helps in the kitchen, and they debate whether or not to reveal themselves to Tia Victoria. They’ve landed on no for now, just because she's still half convinced the house is haunted-look Reggie is sorry about that, but it was worth it to be a good big brother to Carlos.

So what does Reggie need romance for?

But then he sees Luke and Julie walking towards the studio, the twinkle lights making them glow and he has to sigh, wanting something like that. Someone to hold hands with and talk with their heads leaned in, like discussing something banal was a secret they wanted to keep from the world. He wants that intimacy, that warmth.

He wants them.

He means, how could he not?

Luke is wearing his most threadbare cut off, arms and glimpses of pecs on display. His riotious hair is curled and cowlicked but it makes him look boyishly charming instead of messy. He has on his brightest smile, and his eyes are almost gold in the twilight.

Then there’s Julie, all soft curves and a waterfall of brown curls. Her smile is sweet and open, that tiny nose scrunch that is downright adorable making an appearance. Eyes that you could melt in. And then he can see a sliver of skin from where she has her shirt tied up in the back.

Wait.

Julie isn’t wearing just any shirt, she’s wearing a Sunset Curve shirt!

It has been bedazzled and looks sick as hell, but Reggie has no clue where she managed to find one. A garage sale maybe? He doubts any of their fans from the 90’s held onto it, even if it would be a semi-collectors item due to their tragic end.

It looks… really good on her honestly. So much so that he gives an over exaggerated whistle and a shit eating grin. “Looking good darlin’!” he shouts.

Julie blushes and grins. “Thanks! And it’s just my size-beautiful.”

Reggie flushes beet red as Luke barks out a laugh while Julie giggles with self satisfaction. “Y-you stole my line!” Reggie sputters.

“It’s not a great line, cariño,” Julie says, patting his cheek gently. “But it must have worked on someone. Maybe 25 years ago.”

“A time or two,” Reggie admits. “We had our share of fans. Was actually hoping I had one left to wear, but I gave one out the day we died, and it turns out it was the last one.”

“Oh yeah, to that waitress at The Orpheum!” Luke exclaims. “Think you used the line on her too.”

“Pity it didn’t work, you might have stayed alive,” Julie laments.

“Eh,” Reggie says with a shrug. “She was cute, but if the line had worked we never would have met you Julie. And I think I’m happier this way than with some what if named Rose.”

“Wait… Rose?” Julie questions. Pulls out her phone and shows Reggie a photo. “This Rose?”

“That’s the one!” Luke exclaims. Reggie peers at the photo and the memory rushes back. But then he looks at the photo more closely, then at Julie, and pales. They could be sisters. Or…

“Fuck.”

“You hit on my MOM!” Julie shrieks. Then starts to swear in Spanish. Luke and Reggie shrink back, watching her huff and puff as she paces, then finally stops, and faces them. “Okay, we are never mentioning this again and I may have to go burn this shirt.”

“Please don’t,” Reggie says. “It might be the only surviving one.” Then his blush returns with a vengeance. “Plus you do look really nice in it.”

“Julie always looks nice,” Luke quips. “But Reg is right boss, you are making our merch work for you.”

Julie blushes at that, almost taken off guard. Reggie wonders if this is the first time Luke has ever really complimented something about her appearance and not her talent. It does track honestly. Look, Reggie loves Luke, has since they were ten, but he also knows Luke has a one track mind, and sometimes fails to remind those he cares about that they matter to him. That they are more to him than a voice or a bassline.

“Fine, I won’t burn it-but I don’t think I can wear it for a good long time after knowing that,” Julie concedes.

“And here I was going to suggest you wear it to our next gig,” Reggie jokes.

“Because that wouldn’t have people Googling you guys and figuring out the whole ghost thing at all,” Julie snarks. “Or accusing me of using your images unlawfully.”

“Yeah, let’s maybe avoid that,” Luke says.

Reggie knows he’s thinking about his folks again. He hasn’t been back to see them since Julie gave them Unsaid Emily, and it’s partially because he worries about them seeing him or not. He squeezes Luke’s shoulder in comfort, getting an appreciative smile and nod in return.

Wanting to drive away the weird atmosphere, Reggie suggests a movie.

“Not Star Wars again,” Luke groans. Reggie slumps a little. Look, he knows they’ve binged the series a few times, but Luke can’t say anything because Reggie honestly lost count of the amount of times Luke made him sit through The Wall.

“There’s a new Marvel movie at the theatres?” Julie suggests. “I was supposed to go with Carlos, but if you guys wanna come too…”

“I thought you wanted to see that new romance movie with the girl from that TV show you liked?” Reggie asks.

“Well yeah, but I doubt either of you want to see that. I can go with Flynn, it’s fine,” Julie replies.

“I want to go,” Reggie says. “I like a good rom com just as much as I like a sci fi or super hero film.”

Julie grins at that, holding out a hand. Reggie rushes to take it and they both turn. “Luke?” she asks.

“Isn’t that like… a date movie?”

“So?” Reggie says. “Friends go on dates all the time.”

“I don’t want to go on a friend date,” Luke says.

“What do you want?” Julie asks, her voice a tinge hopeful.

“I want a real date.”

Reggie drops Julie’s hand at that, takes a step back. “Well then you two should go. Have a lovely date.” He’s about to poof out, go wallow at the beach when Julie grabs hold.

“He didn’t say he wanted a date with me.”

Luke takes his other hand, and then Julie’s. “No, I wanna take you both. On a date date.”

“Me?” Reggie squeaks.”Us?”

“If you want,” Luke says with a shrug. Like it’s no big deal that he’s asking them both out at once. That he’s not asking them to consider a three person relationship. Reggie didn’t even think they could do that, but here they were.

“Julie?” Reggie asks, turning to her. She just grins and twines their fingers together. She seems fine with the idea apparently, and that eases Reggie’s mind to near calmness.

“So whaddya say Reg?” Luke asks expectantly.

“Yes!” Reggie exclaims, his smile almost blinding. Julie whoops and then presses a lightning fast kiss to his lips, then to Luke’s, looking a little flushed but ultimately pleased as she steps back. Luke turns and gives Reggie his own peck, and a cheeky wink. And Reggie…

Feels his heart leap once more. But it doesn’t stop, pounding away in his chest. Feels the warmth of Luke’s hand in his, the steady pulse in his wrist, and then they both look at Julie.

“Wh-what just happened?” she asks.

“I-I think you brought us back to life?” Reggie guesses.

“Oh… dios mio!” Julie swears. “We have to find Alex!”

“After our date,” Luke says. “I’m sure Willie will be better at calming him down then we will and another two hours won’t hurt.”

“We can see another showing,” Reggie says. “Because if we’re alive… Alex might not be able to see Willie.” Luke swears at that, and then again when he can’t poof.

They find Alex at the skatepark, look shell shocked, holding a board for dear life. And sitting right beside him, is Willie. A solid, breathing Willie who looks equally astounded.

They all have a good laugh about it, and a million questions, but nothing can be solved immediately. So they decide on a double date, and thank goodness that Willie has cash from the club because the ticket teller will kind of notice them trying to sneak in now.

Reggie doesn’t mind that he has to worry about things like money now. He has Luke and Julie’s hands in his, and an ancient shirt to thank for it. He can’t ask for anything more.

+1. Luna Patterson Molina

Luna stifles her giggles as she hides behind the boxes in the garage. Danny will never find her and she’ll finally be the hide and seek champion!

Only after a while, her legs start to get tired, and she has to move around to stave off the pins and needles feeling that’s creeping up from her toes. In the process though, she knocks over a box, contents spilling out onto the floor.

“Shoot!” she says, scrambling to put everything back before Danny comes any closer. It’s mostly old clothes that her parents no longer fit in but they kept for sentimental reasons. There’s a tattered Poison cut off, a worn red flannel, an old Los Feliz High t-shirt in a baby blue. And a bedazzled white shirt for some band called Sunset Curve.

The name feels vaguely familiar. Buzzing in the back of Luna’s brain until she remembers the old photos of daddy and papa with Uncle Alex and some other guy they never really talk about called Bobby playing. The photos were old, looking like the ones from abuelo’s wedding and not the ones printed off from the wedding of her own parents.

But whenever she asked about that, she got told that it was a story for when she was older. Luna really hates that answer, not knowing why this story was for when she was older than six. Her parents had told her there were scary bits, but she could handle that. She hadn’t hidden her eyes or even cried during all the old Disney movies that daddy had shown her, even when Uncle Alex had during Bambi and papa even shuddered when they watched parts of The Princess and the Frog.

Heck even Danny got scared during parts of The Lion King and Luna watched without a wince! Though she did cry at parts, but that was fine, her mami told her it was fine to cry when she was sad or upset.

Game forgotten, Luna took the shirt in search of her parents. They were sitting around the kitchen table. Papa was writing again, Daddy was putting together a salad while Mami was taking a casserole dish from the oven.

“Hey moonbeam, you’re just in time to set the table!” Daddy said.

“But it’s Danny’s turn!” Luna protested.

“Yes but if you do it then he has to clear the table which is your job tonight,” Papa says with a wink. Luna purses her lip at that but nods. She hates clearing the table, so she’ll gladly put out the dishes and cutlery instead.

“Whatcha got there mija?” Mami asks, gesturing to the shirt. Luna holds it up and her mother laughs.

“Oh wow, I forgot about that.”

“How did that thing survive this long?” Daddy asks.

“Lots of care and the fact that Julie hasn’t worn it since our first date?” Papa replies.

“This was your band right?” Luna asks her fathers. “Before you met mami?”

“It was indeed little girl,” Papa replies. “Greatest band ever until Julie and the Phantoms was born!”

“Why did you change your name? Was it because mami joined?”

“Well Luna boo, that is a long story,” her mother replies. “One you’re still a little young for.”

Luna is about to stomp her foot and protest which she knows won’t help her case, but she’s not exactly rational about it when Daddy lays a gentle hand on her mom’s shoulder. “Julie… I think it’s time. She’s almost seven, Danny’s nine. They’re gonna figure it out eventually.”

Julie sighs, then nods, looking at her daughter. Looking so much like Rose, like Julie herself with sprinkles of Reggie in her, those big green eyes and freckles staring right back at her. Sees Danny come running in, all Luke with her own colouring. “I suppose you’re right. Just after supper okay?”

Luna nods and doesn’t even care when Danny tags her and proclaims the reigning hide and seek champ. Instead she hurries to set the table, determined to do it right so as to not prolong supper, and thus, the story.

But she totally dons the shirt when they’re all snuggled up on the couch. And Daddy gets a picture to send to Abuelo and Uncles Alex and Willie. She has no idea why until a few weeks later when she sees a series of photos. Her, her mami, and Abuela Rose all wearing the shirt.

And it looks just as good in every single one.