#This is what you get for ignoring TBI's

[crinkled-emotions]

When the world tilts

Tyler faces the consequences of his previous actions. Kate learns what it means to stick by his side.

Warnings: migraines and everything that comes with them

My first Twisters fic?? On tumblr?? It's only a couple of months late guys 🤦‍♂️

There's been a really big focus lately in AFL regarding head injuries/multiple concussions and the implications for later in life which slightly inspired this, but also. Tyler was a bull rider right? He definitely had one too many TBI's that weren't checked out properly.

-

“Ty?”

“Tyler?!”

Boone and Kate were the first people to crouch down beside him. Tyler’s eyes remained tightly closed but he could tell Kate was standing in front of him, Boone standing slightly to the side with a hand on his shoulder.

“What’s wrong?” Kate asked. The only thing Tyler could do was let out a groan of pain, pitching forward as the world around him went dark again. Kate didn’t even hesitate, gently cradling his head against her shoulder. Despite the throbbing pain in his head Tyler took a slow breath, coming up to wrap his arms around her waist.

“It’s a migraine,” Boone determined. Tyler couldn’t even nod or shake his head, too busy trying to block out any light with Kate’s body.

They’d been out storm chasing that morning; something that made the adrenaline pump in their veins and every worry fly out the window of Tyler’s decked out (repaired) truck. Kate now had front seat privileges, but only when she could beat Boone to it. They’d just finished up and come to a small town diner to analyse their data when Tyler had felt the rapid onset of a migraine. He’d had a feeling he had one coming on when he’d woken up that morning, buried under his pillow because Kate was already up with Javi talking about data for her research. She was making great progress on her thesis and the tornado wrangler viewers loved her. Things had gone a little blurry just as they were all walking out with full stomachs of waffles and coffee. Next thing Tyler knew he was on his knees on the gravel in the parking lot.

“What do we do?” Kate asked, adjusting to hold Tyler against her a little better. The gravel was rough against his denim-covered legs so he couldn’t imagine she was enjoying the feel of it on her bare skin. She was in shorts, considering how warm it was outside.

“We need to get him up,” Javi interrupted hers and Boone’s conversation.

“Wait,” Tyler blurted suddenly, “don’t move me yet.”

“Vertigo?” Kate asked. The hand on his neck moved up into his hair and tangled in his hair. In the past someone touching his skull when he felt like this had definitely made him puke; Kate’s fingers were light and comforting and... not vomit-inducing.

“Yeah.”

“Okay. You’re okay.”

Tyler shuddered. The longer he stayed down the more he knew he probably wasn’t going to be going chasing for at least another couple of days.

-

Gently closing the motel room door behind herself, Kate joined the rest of the Wranglers by the picnic tables and the RV. Boone was the first to glance up.

“He asleep?”

“For now. What the fuck was that?”

“Too many concussions not enough recovery time,” Dani said simply. She offered the laptop in front of them to Kate for look at. Kate did a quick check over it, but her mind was on her boyfriend. She hadn’t known Tyler forever like these guys but something told her this wasn’t entirely medically normal.

“How long has he had these migraines?” She asked everyone. Boone and Lily exchanged a look. Then, they shrugged.

“That last bull really fucked him over. Didn’t think he was coming home when he didn’t wake up after the first day in hospital.”

“Did he get them checked out?”

Kate’s stomach dropped when everyone nodded, Boone offering her a pen and a piece of paper.

“He’s been to a few doctors; all of ‘em said it’s a consequence of his past life.”

“That’s bullshit.”

Everyone’s eyes glanced toward the closed motel room door; Kate felt sick to her stomach at the thought of Tyler in that much pain.

“How often do these happen?”

“Too often,” Dani said simply. Kate stood, dusting her shorts off.

“I can’t just leave him like that.”

“He usually just sleeps ‘em off, give him time,” Boone said. Javi nodded.

“Dude probably just wants to wallow in self pity alone.”

“He was crying when we got him into the truck, guys.”

She left them to it, grabbing a book out of the truck and heading toward the motel room door she’d just left.

-

“Tyler?”

He wasn’t asleep- he was too restless to be asleep. The closer Kate got the more she got the gist.

“What can I do to help?” She whispered. Tyler’s eyes slowly opened and his brows knitted together tightly.

“Nothing helps,” he croaked. Kate reached out, hesitantly placing her hand on his back and rubbing in gentle circles.

“I’ll be right back. Are you nauseous?”

“Not yet.”

Kate took her phone into the bathroom and closed the door behind her, turning on the tap and searching for a cloth. While she waited for the water to cool she began doing a google search for home remedies. They were limited considering they were in a shitty motel, it was the middle of summer and the air conditioning was louder than Boone and Javi’s singing after a couple of drinks. Damp cloth in hand, Kate turned the lights off and slipped back into the main part of the room. Tyler had rolled on to his other side and was completely silent. For half a moment Kate hoped he’d managed to fall asleep in the short time he was gone, but then he let out a pained groan and brought his hands up to his head again.

“Hey,” Kate started carefully, “I have something I want to try. If it doesn’t help we stop, yeah?”

“Mmhmm.”

“It’s going to be cold.”

Kate perched herself on the edge of the bed by his legs, carefully draping the damp cloth over his forehead. Tyler shuddered, then slowly exhaled.

“Feels good,” Tyler whispered. The deep furrow in his brow, present since he’d collapsed in the diner parking lot earlier, began to ease. Instead of asking if she could stay Kate got herself comfortable against the headboard of the bed and turned the volume to silent on her phone.

“Y’don’t have to stay,” Tyler murmured. Kate squeezed his hand when it came up to rest on her thigh.

“I’ve got you.”

That seemed to comfort him. Tyler’s eyes closed again and, for the first time since he’d gone down, he seemed like he was ready to get some sleep.

About an hour later Tyler startled awake, groaning as he reached for Kate’s hand. She squeezed his fingers, frowning when he started trying to sit up.

“Woah, hey, what’s wrong?” Kate asked, trying to stop him falling off the bed.

“Gonna hurl,” Tyler warned her. She let go and he threw himself into the bathroom door before managing to get it open. By the time Kate scooted over the bed to go after him Tyler was doubled over the disgusting toilet, dry heaving uselessly.

“Oh, shit, Ty.”

She went to kneel beside him but Tyler put his hand out.

“Give me a sec.”

“Copy that.”

Kate’s eyebrows raised but she didn’t protest, slowly backing out of the room and closing the door carefully behind her. Listening to Tyler try to hurl his guts up through the bathroom door was hell but she respected his request for privacy- something told her he tended to tough these out on his own. She reached for her phone.

Kate: please tell me you know what to do

Boone: don’t try aspirin

Kate: that’s not useful

Boone: he’ll be fine in a couple days

Kate: DAYS

Boone: told you it was bad

Kate: not this bad???

Kate: what do you usually do when he gets like this??

Boone: he handles it on his own

Kate: you can’t see but I’m facepalming

Boone: vibes

Kate: BOONE

The bathroom door opened and Tyler was silent as he stumbled back to the bed. Kate didn’t have the heart to ask if he’d brushed his teeth as he pulled his knees to his chest and groaned in pain. He lifted his head, frowning.

“You’re still here?”

“Did you... not want me to be?”

“The violent puking didn’t turn you off?”

“Oh no, that was particularly disgusting.”

Kate could see he appreciated the sad attempt at a joke but didn’t have the energy to laugh, letting his head fall back on to the pillow. She made her way back to his side, offering a bottle of water.

“Try and get some of this down. What painkillers do you usually take?”

Tyler went quiet again, eyes closing as he tried to breathe through the pain radiating in his head.

“There’s ibuprofen in my bag,” he managed to get out. Kate frowned.

“Do you not take something to help when this happens?”

“Just comes back up.”

“Ugh.”

She took the water bottle back when he was done with it, leaving it on the bedside table.

“Could you stay?” Tyler finally asked. Kate dutifully got back into her previous position against the headboard, a little surprised when Tyler scooted closer to rest his head against her leg. He wasn’t burning up, thankfully, and he seemed to hurt just a little less when he was touching her.

“Thanks,” Tyler muttered into her thigh. Kate rolled her eyes.

“Get some sleep.”

-

Kate was relieved to see the sun when morning broke. She hadn’t slept all that much, caught between sitting up with Tyler and listening to him violently hurl from outside the bathroom door. She had no idea how intense migraines were until she spent time with him in the midst of one. Tyler wasn’t one to complain, not even when he’d had that huge gash in his leg and a fractured femur from being trapped under that water tank. If anything, he’d been quite jovial. She wasn’t sure if it was the migraine itself or if it was what the migraine reminded him of that caused him so much pain, but he wasn’t particularly chatty when he felt like his brain was trying to evacuate from his skull. He’d finally gone back to sleep around 5am and Kate heaved a sigh of relief, untangling from him to stretch and use the bathroom. When she returned she crawled under the covers and closed her eyes, throwing an arm over Tyler’s waist as an afterthought.

-

When Tyler opened his eyes almost twelve hours later, the first thing that was brought to his attention was how hungry he was. His burning migraine had decreased to a dull, mildly irritating throb and he shifted, rolling on to his other side. This caused Kate’s arm to fall off his side and he missed it immediately. Instead of accidentally killing her with his puke breath he shifted to tuck her under his chin, slowly exhaling when she sleepily leaned into him.

“Not sick?” Kate whispered, half-asleep. Tyler shook his head.

“M’okay.”

“Good.”

She patted his side, burying into his chest. Tyler yawned, enjoying the cuddle. Kate was not a cuddler by any means; she usually slept on one side of the bed and he chased her all night.

“Ty?” Kate whispered after a moment. He hummed.

“Yeah?”

“How long have you been having these migraines?”

Tyler frowned.

“I don’t know... a couple years. They just started one day.”

“Was it because of... your accident?”

A sore subject just as much as her accident was, Tyler immediately winced.

“Yeah.”

“Must be hell.”

“Sure is.”

Kate shifted, glancing up at him from her spot tucked in his arms.

“And you put yourself through that alone?”

Tyler shrugged.

“What was I gonna do, ask Boone to hold my hair back?”

That earned a soft snort as Kate held him a little tighter.

“Well, unfortunately for you, I’m not going anywhere. The next time you feel one coming on, tell me and we’ll stop you scaring the locals in a diner parking lot.”

“I didn’t scare the locals-“

Kate nudged him with her foot.

“You scared the shit out of me, let alone the locals.”

“Sorry.”

A moment of silence. A brief pause. Tyler’s stomach rumbled.

“Okay, I’m up. I’m going. Brush your teeth while I’m gone.”

Kate managed to get up from the bed, grabbing her phone to take with her. She paused by the door to the rest of the world, clearing her throat.

“And please, for the love of god, try and have a shower.”

“Are you gonna be there?” Tyler deadpanned cheekily just as Kate opened the door. He knew she heard it when she groaned right as the door closed behind her.

-

[princessbrunette]

stepbro!rafe with reader who prances around the house alwaaays braless n shes just oblivious on how that makes her big brother feel :(

i forgot if i have requested tbis or not, if i did u can ignore !! xx

୧ ‧₊˚ 🎀 ⋅ 🍡 ˖°

you were in your own home, of course you were gonna stroll around without a bra on. surely he couldn’t expect you to wear one all the time, especially when you and rafe were often left to your own devices at tannyhill— growing comfortable enough together for you to assumably not have to worry about that kind of thing.

it started off just going braless beneath big sleep shirts when you walk around the kitchen in the morning — something that was pretty unnoticeable if you weren’t particularly looking and fairly appropriate to wear around the house. but you got comfortable, and apparently according to your lack of— must have burned all your bras over time or something. rafe started to notice your nipples peeking through little crop tops and baby tees, flashing him a cute smile as you’d pass him in the hallway which he’d barely catch because he was too focused on staring unabashedly at the way your tits would bounce with each step.

you’d even gone braless with a couple of tank tops, which would drive rafe up the wall, shaking his head at you in faux disgust which you wouldn’t even care for— thin material clinging to the shape of you, nipples practically piercing through the fabric.

it was one day you were prancing around cleaning the living room in a thin baby tee, braless, and tiny little booty shorts. rafe was feeling particularly high strung that day, and decided enough was enough.

“hey, come to my office okay? we need to talk.” was all he said before he marched off, expecting you to trail behind. you furrow your brows, setting down the duster you were using to swipe the dust from the shelves as you walked, no, bounced along behind him.

once you’re in there, he shuts the door and doesn’t give you much space to move about, standing directly infront of you.

“whats the matter, rafe?” your voice is high and worried, making him shift on his feet, licking his lips irritably.

“you know, i’m… i’m getting real tired of you not respecting me as a man, okay?” he rambles, eyeing you.

“what do you mean?”

“you really think this shit,” he plucks at your clothes, startling you. “is appropriate attire to walk around the house in? around your stepbrother?” he tilts his head, voice raising a little bit and you glance down at yourself, a flicker of shame behind those innocent eyes. he closes in on you, lowering his tone to a volume just above a whisper. “i’m a man okay? i have needs, and — and you are making it increasingly harder to ignore those needs. do you understand what i’m saying to you?” he grits his teeth, emphasising the t on each word making your eyes widen, head nodding.

“i’m sorry, rafe. it’s just comfortable.”

“yeah, well, you’re kinda killing me… and that’s not fair, is it? riling me up like that? without letting me touch you?” he seethes, eyes squinted and you hate when he’s mad at you, bottom lip puffing out which in hindsight probably only riled him up more.

“you— you can if you want. just want you to stop being mad.” you offer pathetically, eyes glassy and apologetic and he’s stopped in his tracks.

“yeah? you—you want your stepbrother to touch you?” he makes a face like he’s disgusted by the mere offer and your face falls, confused and ashamed. before you go to take it back, he gently taps you on your shoulder, making you lean against the door he closed behind you. “thats why you wore this shit, isn’t it?” his warm hands graze you, sliding up your body until they’re cupping your free’d tits through the thin fabric of your shirt. they’re warm and squishy and he can’t help but give them a generous squeeze, the act making your cunt throb, back arching into his palms only confusing you further.

“r—rafe.” you’re trying to warn him of the way it’s making you feel, thighs pressed together and eyes fluttering, but he’s already well aware — mouth flicking up into a smirk.

“yeah. i know. didn’t think i would do it, right? you know this is what girls like you get.” he starts to lift your shirt until it’s tucked above your tits, the two of them now free and being fondled making you mewl. “you gotta learn that your actions have consequences. i’m… i’m the older step brother that has to step up, teach you shit… m’proactive you know i— i gotta handle you so you behave yourself. nothin’ wrong with that, right?”

he’s rambling now, erection vividly pressing against his pants but his eyes wide, expression unreadable— like he’s searching for something. moral justification, maybe. he knew it was wrong, but he was trying to convince himself other wise. all he needed was that green light.

“rafe it’s okay.” you whisper. permission.

he steps back suddenly, leaving you prey-eyed and jostled against his door, top still pulled up above your tits. he sways on the spot undecided for a moment, itching his nose as he eyes you before uttering words that would change your relationship forever.

“take off your clothes, alright?”

୧ ‧₊˚ 🎀 ⋅ 🍡 ˖°

[cripplecharacters]

Good morning/evening to y'all!

In your list of frequently asked questions, there was no mention of speech disorders? I was wondering if you answer questions for that too? I'm sorry to bother you if you don't.

If you do, I have two things I'd like to ask, if you don't mind!

First of all, my character is a 4-year-old boy with a stutter from brain trauma. How much does age affect this? Are there better to be cured or is it more severe? What would be the best sort of action from parents towards child?

Secondly, what does stuttering feel like, physically? Does it include tightness in the throat, thirst, numbness, or anything like that?

Thank you all.

Hello,

Yes, we have at least one mod with a speech disorder and I can answer them.

Depending on how old he was when the trauma occurred, he may not even realize that he does it. Some things, like the multiple syllable repetition unless he has a more minor form of it, he may notice and feel frustrated with, but stuttering can also include pauses and drawing sounds out which he may not even notice. Because he has the injury now, when he's still learning language like a sponge soaking in water, it's going to be harder to treat. In my experience, speech therapy that started when I was five never managed to actually improve the way I spoke. It's harder to improve in this situation- possible, to my knowledge, but harder.

Curing a stutter from a traumatic brain injury is going to be difficult. It's not likely and it's probably not something his speech therapist would even consider- when there's a lot wrong with speech and there's a reason behind it that can't be worked around, like a TBI, sometimes a speech therapist will just focus on trying to improve one aspect, or they might not even bother at all. If getting rid of his stutter is the goal, that's going to take years of work and it might not fix everything. It can be a severe condition- some people can have a severe stutter from the brain injury- but mostly it's just hard to treat because we have a permanent modification to how our brain works.

The best sort of actions his parents can take is listen to him. It might be frustrating for people to listen to someone who stutters and they might experience isolation because people don't want to talk to or listen to them, it does so much to have even one person in your life who will listen to you speak without impatience, interrupting, or ignoring. Because he's also going into school, listening to him is really important. School is very difficult for people with speech disabilities (for all disabled people, really.) He may experience teachers who are impatient or ableist, or he might experience isolation from his peers or even bullying. It's important his parents listen to him about any issues he may be facing so that they can step in and advocate him. They're the most important people for him to have in his corner. Listening to and communicating with any child is important, but it's very important that his parents listen to and communicate with him. At the very least, it creates a safe place for him at home. At best, he'll talk to his parents about bullying and they can put up a big enough fuss that the issue will be resolved.

As for what it feels like, it feels like the mouth kind of pauses. Like you're trying to say something but there's a barrier in your mouth, so you have to force every sound through it, and that's hard to do. A lot of people who stutter report physically tensing up trying to speak, leading to tension aches wherever they tense, usually in the face or neck, and that tensing is kind of subconscious as if there really is a barrier and you need to physically force the words through the barrier.

As you try and get words out, you might become stressed or frustrated, and that usually makes the stutter worse, which just makes your frustration and anxiety worse. They feed on each other and it sucks.

People who stutter also might have what are called secondary symptoms, like the reflexive tension I mentioned earlier. These secondary symptoms can include grimacing, blinking, movement or another part of the body, like the arms, legs, or feet, issues maintaining eye contact or even issues looking at the person they're talking to at all, and changes in the pitch or volume of the voice. You might also see adaptive behaviours from the person trying to hide their stutter, such as using word substitutions, meaning replacing a word they might stutter on with one they can say easier, interjections such as uh, um, etc, filler words such as like, and quickly revising sentences to either hide a stutter or rephrase the sentence to make it easier to say, things like "I want- I'll have the pasta." Stuttering and those secondary behaviours can lead to him trying to avoid speaking, which he definitely shouldn't do (shouldn't avoid speaking, I mean.)

Also, you might want to consider exactly where the TBI was and how severe it was, because location and severity can also cause other symptoms. An injury to the cerebellum, for example, will impact his fine motor skills. Look into the areas around the specific places that control speech, too. If the injury was bad enough or at the right angle to hit those places, he'll also have symptoms associated with a TBI to those locations.

Thank you for sending this.

Mod Aaron

[birdybirdnerd]

👀 bifrost incident stage play????

youve opened pandoras box my friend. get ready

okay so i had this idea back in 2019 when i first got into the mechs and specifically first heard tbi. im a theater kid and have chronic amv/animatic brain where i visualize things real easy, so when i first listened to this album i was SLAMMED with the realization that, actually, tbi is PERFECT for a stage adaptation

imagine, if you will:

inspector lyf, at his desk side-stage and in front of the curtains. stalking across the stage, talking direct to the audience as he waves the black box, setting the stage and the story ahead and theorizing as to whats going on

the first chords of odins launch speech are heard, and the curtains open wide on the exterior of the train, odin at a podium, and a crowd listening intently

during each of lyfs speaking parts (cold case/person of interest/etc), he walks across the stage and explains things, as the set changes behind him. new characters arrive, spotlights shining as lyf wonders what theyre doing there, if they were the one that sabotaged the train

in the style of kabuki theater, the stagehands are dressed all in black, silently moving the set around the actors, changing things and completely invisible, the audience accustomed to ignoring them at this point

lokis song comes, and the whole time she sings, she is beset by these stagehands, dragging her around like another set piece, harassing her, interacting with her but still invisible to everyone else. sigyn tries to get her attention during her song, tries to pull her into their wedding dance- but the stagehands keep pulling loki into dances of their own, all while sigyn has no idea why her wife wont so much as look at her

losing track, lyf is losing track and the suspects are lined up onstage, singing, taunting as lyf stalks among them, grabbing their arms and faces and demanding answers. as he loses his mind, falling into despair, they turn to him and grab him back, pull him down, yell the only words they have left at him as he despairs.

the live band is dressed in theme, all steampunk-ed up, on a mini stage off opposite lyf with minimal lighting on them, until- expert testimony comes by, lyf bemoans having to go to the imprisoned bandits that annoy him so, as he crosses the stage, only for the lights to rise on the band and guess who theyve been the whole time!

red signal. lyf stands center stage, frozen in place as he chants, summoning that squamous something from beyond the veil, as those stagehands, all-black, all-invisible, shift and change before the audiences eyes, pulling out rainbow scarves, makeup once hidden shining bright and vivid in sudden black light. they dash off the stage as the rip between worlds widens, run amok the audience, slamming through doors and screeching as lyf voice raises higher, higher, until-

intermission

and when the audience comes back, the stage is... wrong

more black light, the set has warped and twisted. rainbow lights shimmer brighter on the backdrop, splashing in pools on the stage and the actors faces. the stagehands run free now, the monsters from behind the veil, the unholy things now attacking the actors directly, tearing them apart as the train falls into chaos

thor confronts the all-mother, transformed; she stands at the top of a podium now, the top of a platform while her costume has expanded around her, grandiose robes melting into a massive, writhing puppet manned by the stagehands, a bright and staring eye projected behind her head, staring at the audience, watching. thor fights off the hands, loses, and finally throws his hammer at the eye- replaced with a bright, white crack as the stars claim them both

loki and sigyn share a final tender moment in the engine room, they get their dance in before sigyn slips the line into her wifes arm. they share a final kiss as the curtains close on them, leaving...

lyf, standing center-stage. bottle in hand, exhausted, terrified. he bids the audience good luck, laughs wryly about the bandits disappearing - at some point, the live band quietly disappeared from their side-stage - and slips behind the curtain

terminus

the radio static fizzes, and as we hear the panic spread across the galaxy, the curtains part for bows. the bell tolls, flashing that bright, staring eye back as all other lights go off, plummeting everyone into dark and stark relief

-

so yeah, ive thought of this a normal amount

[myrthing]

I am James Somerton.

or, This Is Not A Defence of James Somerton Because He Fucking Sucks

The thing I've been thinking about since I watched Folding Idea's unlisted video about Somerton's second apology yesterday is how much I recognised myself in Dan's analysis of James, and how conflicted I've felt since then.

I should start by saying that as a Swedish lesbian woman with autism, ADHD and MDD, who has neither college degrees nor work experience, but who does have scruples, burnout, a sense of responsibility, some talents (if no way to consistently use them), a desire to create, basic financial sense, and a living parent who can read; I'm actually not like James Somerton at all.

But those are really rather superficial differences, aren't they? What got me thinking is the line with which Folding Idea ends his video:

"Ambition without actions and avenues to achieve them are called fantasies."

That is both an accurate analysis of James Somerton's personal failings, and a summary of me. The ambition to be something without the ability to put in the work needed to succeed. A deep-rooted optimism about how things will always work out in the end, somehow.

In James's case, this is currently demonstrated by his unwavering conviction that he will be able to return to YouTube. He hasn't considered the alternative. I don't think he can—the idea that he has permanently destroyed his chances of being a youtuber is too big, too real, so instead of engaging with that reality, he pretends to himself that he can't see it. Out of sight, out of mind. Literally, apparently, if we take James's account of his TBI at face value.

I want many, many things. I have many, many ideas. I would like to be a successful [anything]. I have imagined myself in many careers, from freelance editor to self-published author to youtuber. Anything that would, like James, enable me to work from home. It's partially desperation: after all, how else would I get a job as a disabled woman in her mid-30s who has never been employed and who can't go back to school?

I'm also loath to the idea of doing work. Self-employment is hard and it requires dedication. I would like to have already achieved my success, thank you very much. None of us can say what the reasons are behind James's unwillingness to work (although laziness is certainly not unlikely). For me, though? It's probably a combination of certain autism symptoms that I've dealt with since I was a child, and the burnout I suffered from in high school. Those aren't excuses, they're embarrassing weights I carry around to remind me of why I'm a failure.

This is what has been on my mind because of Somerton. I found myself not empathising with him, but recognising certain attitudes as a mid-30s adult with a disability (between the TBI and epilepsy as Somerton describes them, he certainly qualifies as disabled) who has been largely shielded from consequences. Although James certainly also seems willfully ignorant of his actual faults in a way I don't think I am. If nothing else I do know how to genuinely apologise. And I can cite sources! I know how to do that even without completing though school or managing even one term in university!

My mother—who can read, thank you very much—would eviscerate me if didn't. Besides, I entered fandom shortly after Cassie Clare's plagiarism scandal. It was instructional.

This is a goddamn ramble, so I'm going to end this by putting all cards on the table, and admit I actually have one (more) thing in common with James Somerton:

My dad, you see, can't read.

Because he's dead. I'M SORRY I'M NOT SORRY I CAN'T NOT MAKE THESE JOKES HE DIED WHEN I WAS TWO

[callsign-bunnie]

Another slasher au and it's abo! But, what if the omegas were the slashers?

(You can do whatever characters or ships, I'll love it either way)

I'm not sure I'm happy with this but have it, anyway

--

The night after

Rodolfo accepted the plastic cup from Gaz, using it to scoop water from the bathtub and then dump it over Roach’s hair, watching the much smaller omega’s face contort in pain. He must have had a pretty large wound on his skull…

Carefully, Rodolfo reached up and parted Roach’s hair, wincing as he, indeed, found an open wound. It wouldn’t need stitches, but he could see why Roach was in pain. He touched it and Roach cried out, and Rodolfo could hear Soap snarl behind him.

“Calma, Soap, I need to make sure he’s okay.” Rodolfo sighed, glancing back at his friend, who was leaning against the doorway, holding an ice pack to his lip.

Gaz was sitting on the large sink, his knees pulled up to his chest. “What are we going to do?”

Rodolfo didn’t have an answer, so he just turned back to Roach, reaching up to push the towel on his hair back into place. Gaz had bought him and Roach a few hair towels that had buttons to keep them in place. They… didn’t do the job very well since Rodolfo had to keep pushing his back into place.

Soap sounded belligerent as he answered. “We go to the fucking cops, Kyle.”

This answer actually surprised Rodolfo, quite a bit, since Soap had a very massive “fuck the cops” attitude. For good reason, Rodolfo and Gaz also hated them. Both had seen the way friends and family were treated by them. Alejandro had had a pretty decent altercation with one over a broken tail light. 

But… Rodolfo understood why Soap may have given the suggestion. This was… a horrible deal. 

“What good will that do?” Gaz asked, sounding more exhausted than irritated. “I’m black, Rodolfo is hispanic. You whore around, and Roach is mentally disabled.”

Roach made a soft sound of protest, which was the most Rodolfo had been able to get out of him since the party. He went right back to hunching in on himself and putting his chin on his knees, though, and Rodolfo examined the bruises on his arms and back. 

“I’m sorry, Roach, but it’s diagnosably true. You have a tbi and you’re autistic. Do you really want to go up against Alpha Theta Mu? Soap, it would be their word against ours… Not to mention what they’d do to Alex and Alejandro…” Gaz trailed off.

Rodolfo couldn’t help wincing. “He’s right, Soap…” He glanced back at Soap, again, who was glaring at the floor. “Why would they believe us? And even if the cops do, what will they do to Alex and Alejandro? What will they do in retaliation?”

Soap’s glare only seemed to deepen before he was slowly softening and his shoulders were dropping. “I… I should have gotten there, faster, I should have- I should have done something-”

“You stopped it.” Gaz reassured Soap. “That’s the best you could have done.”

“Almost got killed for it.” Rodolfo turned back to Roach and shifted, trying to ignore the ache in his body, the pain in places he’d rather not think about. “In a week, Roach and I will get tested. Pregnancy, STDs, everything. Okay, Roach?” He gently touched Roach’s face, making him look at him.

Roach sniffled and looked up at Rodolfo before nodding a little. 

All four omegas flinched when they heard the door of the apartment close. “Gaz?? Baby?? Why’d you leave early?” They heard Alex’s voice, sounding deeply concerned.

Gaz immediately got up. “I’ll go talk to him…” he trailed off as his phone pinged and Rodolfo and Soap shared a glance as Gaz’s brows furrowed as he checked his phone. Then, Gaz let out a blood curdling scream, covering his mouth.

Alex was in the bathroom, immediately, as Gaz broke into hysterics. He didn’t even seem to see the other three, Soap almost shoved unceremoniously, out of the way. No one was upset, though, it was just alpha instinct, they knew. “Baby?! What’s wrong?!”

“My pictures!” Gaz shoved his phone in Alex’s face, tears now streaming down his face. It was… odd, Gaz was never this way. Ever. “They’re fucking everywhere!!” He yanked away from Alex, leaving the bathroom, and Alex was quick to follow him.

Rodolfo frowned, deeply, and met Soap’s eyes, seeing deep concern in them as they heard Gaz losing it in the other room. Then… Rage. It mirrored Rodolfo’s own. “I don’t know what we’re going to do… but they’re going to pay for this.” Rodolfo murmured. 

Soap slowly nodded. “They will.”

Rodolfo turned back to Roach, taking a deep breath. “With blood.”

-

You know that one friend group? The one where it doesn’t quite make sense for them to be friends? None of them have any common interests, in fact they seem like polar opposites. Well, that was Rodolfo’s friend group. Rodolfo Parra, Kyle Garrick, Johnny Mactavish, and Gary Sanderson. To outsiders, the most they seemed to have in common was just that they were omegas and they went to the same college together.

Rodolfo Parra was Valedictorian. He was prom queen in high school. Deeply intelligent, top of his class. He wasn’t in any sororities, but he was lead of several organizations in the college and was, generally, known for having a busy schedule. Many wanted him, but none could have him. Though, his eyes were on an alpha who seemed entirely oblivious to his attention. 

Generally, too, he was known as frigid and a prude. He wasn’t, he actually had a fair amount of interest in sex, but not with anyone who was offering it. And, his time was precious, he wasn’t going to waste it on just anyone. Anyone but Alejandro, that was, his childhood best friend who he’d been in love with for… probably forever.

Then, of course, there was Kyle Garrick. Everyone called him Gaz, and while he was also incredibly intelligent, he was mostly a jock. He was head of the volleyball team, he also played on the football team, he ran cross country. When he was a kid, he did ballet and gymnastics, too, though he had since dropped out. He was well off, financially, due to his adoptive father, John Price’s money.

He was also in a long term relationship with his adoptive father’s best friend’s adopted son, Alex Keller. They’d been together since Kyle had presented at the age of 14, having presented late, and they were already on the track to marriage. Alex was on the American football team, he was a business major, and he was in a frat, the same, actually, as Alejandro.

Johnny Mactavish, or Soap, was frequently credited as it being a wonder he was even in college. Besides the almost debilitating learning disabilities, he also frequently got in trouble. He boxed, despite being an omega, and he partook in many less than legal activities. He was an art major, and that art often showed up in places it shouldn’t. He did drugs, he slept around, and he had gotten into several fights.

One of his two favorite muses for his art was Ghost Riley. His real first name was Simon, but no one called him that. He, Ghost, and the fourth mentioned omega, had been in a situationship for quite a while, three years, in fact. He was desperate for something committed, but Ghost wasn’t budging.

That fourth mentioned omega, Gary Sanderson, or Roach, was quiet. Timid. He was an entomology major, he was selectively mute from autism and his father abandoning him when he was five. He was also Kyle Garrick’s adopted brother. Nobody really knew much about him, not even his closest friends, not even Ghost or Soap. 

He was in the drama club, but he did crew work, running sound and lights. In fact, he was the one credited for the “best sound in the state” and he was frequently put in charge of sound and lights for the entire production, having a small team he liked to boss around to make sure everything was perfect.

No, it didn’t really make sense for them to be friends, but… somehow, though none of them really knew how, they had become friends. Best friends. Nothing would ever split them up.

Definitely not now.

-

Monday before

Rodolfo leaned against the kitchen island, watching Soap cook. He wasn’t entirely sure what Soap was even cooking, but he was sure it would taste good. Or… it would taste horrendous. There was really no in between. Rodolfo probably wouldn’t eat much of it, on a diet. He was trying to lose weight, so he was just eating a cup of yogurt for dinner and hoping for the best.

He’d noticed, lately, that Alejandro went after omegas a lot skinnier than him, so… Once again, he was trying to desperately change something about himself to get Alejandro to like him. It was exhausting, sometimes, but… he was desperate. 

“Why yogurt?” Soap asked, eventually, glancing back at Rodolfo. Soap had voiced a few opinions about this diet that Rodolfo was trying, but he’d backed off when Rodolfo asked him to. “Like… low calorie or whatever, but why yogurt?”

“It’s good for omega health.” Rodolfo shrugged. Admittedly, he didn’t like yogurt very much, but something about it was supposed to be good for their health. Or… something. 

Soap raised an eyebrow. “How?? It’s fucking yogurt.”

“I don’t fucking know.” Rodolfo huffed, shaking his head. “The article I read said it was just good for our health!”

Gaz suddenly came into the kitchen, still in his football uniform, though he’d appeared to have taken his shoes off. “It’s good for our PH level, as well as good at preventing yeast infections and it apparently boosts fertility.” He answered, going to the fridge and getting a water bottle out, uncapping it and dumping some kind of powder into it through a funnel. It turned the drink green and Rodolfo almost laughed at the face Soap made at it. “It’s good for digestion, too, and then since it’s dairy, it has calcium, which prevents bone disease.”

“Of course you would know that.” Soap snorted and turned back to the stove. “I don’t think it’s enough to consider a meal.”

“Obviously not.” Gaz laughed, shaking his head. “Not just one cup, anyway. Maybe for breakfast.”

Rodolfo cringed into himself as Soap gestured back to him. “Tell that to Rodolfo. His diet supposedly says it’s a good dinner.” Soap retorted. 

“It’s low calorie.” Rodolfo defended as Gaz turned to look at him. “I’m just trying to lose weight… Not all of us have the benefit of being in 80 sports or being a gym rat. My body retains fat more than your bodies do.”

“Yes! In an attractive way!” Gaz immediately exclaimed. “I would kill for your curves and you’re trying to get rid of them?”

“For Alejandro.” Soap snorted, again. “Alejandro likes skinny omegas and Rodolfo has decided he has to fit that.”

“Rodolfo!” Gaz exclaimed.

“Oh fuck you both.” Rodolfo huffed, shaking his head. “Neither of you get it. Ghost wants you, Soap, and Alex is looking for a fucking ring for you, Gaz.” He glared at both of them. “You got the alphas you wanted. Alejandro doesn’t want me.”

“There are other alphas!” Gaz cried, though Soap didn’t answer, avoiding Rodolfo’s eyes. “There are plenty of other alphas, find one! Why do you have to do this to yourself for that one-”

“I don’t want any others!” Rodolfo burst out, fighting the tears that pushed to the surface. “I want Alejandro!”

Gaz quieted, finally, and then he seemed to soften. “Rodolfo…” He murmured and then sighed. “Alejandro is an idiot. You are gorgeous… Please don’t change yourself to fit him… What if you lose weight and he still doesn’t want you?”

Rodolfo went quiet and then he shook his head. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore. Where is Roach?” As soon as he asked it, the other omega popped into the kitchen. “Oh, nevermind. Hello Roach.”

Roach waved hello and then he went over to Soap. ‘Smells good. What are you making?’

“Pasta recipe I found.” Soap answered, humming. He let Roach try a small bite and Roach smiled, telling him that it tasted good. 

Gaz sighed, turning to Rodolfo. “Are you going to that party this Saturday?”

“Maybe.” Rodolfo shrugged. “Are you?”

“The whole volleyball team is going. They want us in uniform for some reason.” Gaz shrugged. “Wayne wanted you there…” He sounded like he was holding something Rodolfo wanted in front of his face, some sort of delicacy or currency. But… Rodolfo didn’t want Wayne. 

Wayne had made it clear he wanted Rodolfo, though.

“I don’t know. Maybe.” Rodolfo simply answered, again. “Alejandro is going, so I’ll probably go for him. Though, he’s probably going to chase another hookup and I’ll feel like shit… Nevermind, maybe not.”

“Actually,” all four were startled by Alex coming into the kitchen, speaking. Right, he had a key to their apartment that they shared and he was over there most nights, despite living in the frat house. “Alejandro won’t be there this Saturday. They sent him off for some reason. He’s talking at one of the high schools, I think.” Alex went over to the fridge, kissing Gaz’s cheek before getting out a soda. 

“Hello, man who doesn’t live in our apartment.” Soap huffed. This was a back and forth between them, since Ghost was often over as well. It was mostly affectionate. Mostly.

Alex chuckled. “Evening, Soap.” His accent came out full force and no one missed how red Gaz turned, watching him shift around. “How are ya?”

Soap rolled his eyes.

Rodolfo thought back to Alex’s statement, furrowing his brows. “Wait, on a Saturday?”

“Some assembly.” Alex shrugged. “I don’t know, I didn’t go to that high school.”

“Your bougie ass went to private school, we know.” Soap rolled his eyes. 

Alex half grinned. “Anyway, I’m off to practice and then Ghost wanted to hang out later. So, I’ll see all four of you later.” He leaned over and kissed Gaz’s cheek before leaving, waving bye. Everyone waved bye, back.

Soap rolled his eyes. “He’s sweet.” He snorted. “At least he talks to you.”

Gaz raised an eyebrow, and Rodolfo perked up, now curious. “Oh? I thought things with Ghost were going well?”

Roach looked away from them, his expression turning somber. Soap rolled his eyes, clearly irritated. “Yeah, they were… But, now, all of a sudden, he’s… ghosting us. Both of us.” He nudged Roach. “I know he’s probably going through something, and… Alex is usually the only one who can get near him when he is, but… this isn’t fair. We just want to help.”

Rodolfo softened, empathizing with his friend. He went over and hugged Soap from behind, nuzzling his shoulder. “I get it. Alejandro’s bipolar is… a lot for him to handle but fuck if he’ll let me help.”

“It’s infuriating.” Soap glared at the pot. Rodolfo would admit that the food did smell good. Maybe he’d let himself indulge a little and eat some. “It’s like it’s hardwired into alpha brains that they’re just not allowed to accept help, ever!”

“It’s socialization.” Rodolfo shrugged, accepting a bite of the food when Soap offered it and deciding he would definitely indulge and have a plate. “They’re raised to believe they shouldn’t need it.”

‘Well he does! So just let us give it!’ Roach signed, clearly indignant. ‘I hate that he does this… At the very least, how is it fair to us that we have to just… be ignored when he goes off like this??’

Soap agreed and Rodolfo finally pulled away, turning to Gaz, who had hopped up to sit on the counter, pulling his leg up. None of them did anything with food on that counter since one of them was usually sitting on it. All four of them were incredibly hygienic but… well, maybe that was why. 

“Your turn.” Soap said, finishing cooking. “What’s up with you and Alex?”

“Nothing.” Gaz shrugged, laying his face on his knee. “Alex and I are perfect. I love him, he loves me.”

Soap groaned and Rodolfo couldn’t help chuckling, softly. “Come on, there has to be… something. He can’t just be the perfect alpha…”

Gaz seemed to hesitate before sighing. “Well, there is… something. I don’t know, sometimes he… gets me too many gifts. I feel bad because he won’t let me get any in return for him, but… he is constantly getting me gifts.”

Soap and Rodolfo both shared an indignant look. “The problem with Alex…” Soap started, staring at Gaz, “is that he… spoils you too much??”

Rodolfo covered his mouth, unable to help laughing softly, especially as Gaz turned dark red and huffed. “You said there had to be something wrong! I told you what was wrong!”

“Oh my god.” Soap shook his head.

Roach looked incredibly amused. ‘They were worse in high school.’ He signed and Soap muttered something in scots before he shook his head. ‘I think it’s sweet. At least Gaz is faring better than us.’

Rodolfo couldn’t deny that, sighing softly. “One of us had to be lucky. I’m happy for you, Gaz.”

Gaz seemed to pause before turning more red. “Did you really mean that Alex is looking for a ring?”

“He dragged Ghost with him to look at them.” Soap sighed, smiling. “He hasn’t found one, yet, as far as I know, but… he’s looking. Wants something perfect.”

Gaz seemed to just melt. “Oh…” He smiled. “Well, you three will be my bridesmaids, obviously.”

“Hell yeah.” Soap grinned, fist pumping. “Well, food time, let’s eat.”

All three immediately agreed. 

-

Right before

Rodolfo made a face as he listened to everyone around him. He really didn’t enjoy parties, but Gaz and Soap had convinced him to go. Why… he didn’t know. He had a feeling they wanted him to find a new alpha to focus his attention on but… he didn’t know.

He didn’t tell them the truth of why he wanted Alejandro so bad. Quiet BPD was so covert and how could he explain to them that Alejandro was his favorite person?  That would open a huge can of worms…

He frowned when he saw Roach was there, going over to him. “Roach? Why did you come? You never come to parties?”

‘I got a text from Gaz that he needed me to come!’ Roach answered, furrowing his brows. ‘I didn’t know if it was an emergency or not… So, I came.’

Rodolfo blinked, confused. Even if it had been an emergency, he doubted Gaz would have asked Roach to come… Gaz didn’t like Roach being at these things. “Come on, lets go find him.”

Roach nodded a bit and followed Rodolfo through the frathouse. He had to duck around a few already drunk party goers. He hadn’t grabbed anything since none of it was diet, so he was fully sober and… jesus christ. He’d never been sober for the entirety of one of these, before.

Everyone was really loud and kind of obnoxious and he just was not enjoying being around them. No matter, he could just ignore them, but… he didn’t know if Roach had that ability. Even still, he gently guided Roach across the house until he found where Gaz was hanging out with the other members of the volleyball team. “Gaz!” He called.

Gaz turned to look at him and it was fairly obvious that he wasn’t fully sober. “Rudy!” Gaz grinned and came over. They’d never found out why the volleyball team had needed to be in uniform, but all of them were. “Roach??” Gaz frowned, immediately, as soon as he got to them. “Why are you here?”

“He said you texted him!” Rodolfo answered, frowning and glancing at Roach, who nodded in confirmation. Poor kid looked deeply uncomfortable, hunching into himself.

Gaz shook his head. “No I didn’t,” he said as he pat his pockets before frowning even more. “Shit. Where’s my bloody phone??” He glanced back at the team and then shook his head. “Here, let me find you somewhere quiet and then I’ll look for my phone. Maybe I accidentally texted you, though I don’t remember texting anyone to come. Hold on.”

He led them upstairs to where the bedrooms were and Rodolfo stayed close to Roach, watching him to make sure he was okay. “Here.” Gaz said when he found an empty bedroom. “Just stay in here, close the door so no one comes in.”

Rodolfo nudged Roach into the room and smiled, softly. “I’m gonna go find Soap, okay?”

Roach nodded, though he looked a little irritated. However, he didn’t sign anything and just went and climbed onto the bed, crossing his arms. Rodolfo decided to assume it was just because he’d been called there for no reason and not because they may have been kind of treating him like a child.

So, he shook it off and closed the door. Gaz sighed. “I’m going to go look for my phone but I really don’t think I texted him. Do you think… maybe Soap did and he misunderstood or?”

“I don’t know.” Rodolfo shook his head. He doubted someone got their hands on Gaz’s phone, since Gaz had a pretty secure password on his phone. “I’ll go get Soap, I’m sure he’s drunk so he’ll be all over Roach and he can keep him occupied up here.”

Gaz nodded a bit. He’d been apprehensive about Soap and Roach getting together, but Rodolfo had managed to get him to come around. It’d been a bit like pulling teeth but Soap made Roach happy and vice versa so… Gaz had eventually warmed up to the idea. Especially after watching Soap do the Terminator Stride across the fucking campus because someone had called Roach the R slur.

Rodolfo still was surprised that the kid had made it out alive.

He glanced around the living room, trying to spot his very recognizable friend. Well, he didn’t find Soap but he did see Alex with a friend of Alejandro’s, Valeria. She was an alpha and… Rodolfo didn’t really like her but he tried to keep it cordial.

He went over, tapping Alex’s shoulder. “Alex, have you seen Soap?”

Alex raised an eyebrow as he turned around. “No, why?” He tilted his head. “Oh, wait, yes I did. I saw him in the kitchen, he seemed upset about something. Why?”

“Roach is here… he claims that Gaz invited him but-”

“Gaz wouldn’t do that.” Alex shook his head. “I get it. Yeah, like I said, Soap was in the kitchen, last I saw him.” He nudged his head in the direction of the kitchen. 

“Thanks.” Rodolfo relaxed, glad he at least had somewhere to start. He headed towards the kitchen and relaxed even more when he heard Soap’s very distinct voice come from it. 

He seemed to be joking around so Rodolfo was glad to hear he was in a good mood. Right when he got to the doorway, however, he jumped back as Wayne suddenly stepped in front of him. “Rodolfo! Hey!” Wayne smiled, softly. 

He was one of the higher members of the frat and he’d been trying to court Rodolfo the entire four years they’d been there. He felt bad, he was sure Wayne was a great alpha, but he had another alpha on his mind. So, he cringed back a bit. “Hey, Wayne… I need to… to…” He stopped as he saw Soap was following someone to the backyard. Great, now he’d have to track him down out there.

He went to just go around Wayne, but Wayne again stopped him. “I was wondering if you’d maybe want to go out tomorrow? Nothing super fancy, just lunch or something.”

Rodolfo winced, glancing around Wayne. “I… I’m sorry. I can’t. I…” Quick, make an excuse. “Gaz and I were going to hang out and I don’t want to bail, I’m sorry.”

“Oh, it can be a different day, then!” Wayne shook his head. “I’m free for a little bit. What day works better for you?”

Rodolfo tried not to get mildly irritated. “Uh… I’m gonna be busy the next few days…” Through the window, he saw Gaz had caught up to Soap and he relaxed, hoping Gaz was going to send Soap up. “We can… can hang out, now, if you want.” He decided to throw Wayne a bone.

“Oh?” Wayne appeared to perk up before he was grinning. “Awesome! Here, can I grab you a drink?”

“Oh… no thanks.” Rodolfo shook his head. “Nothing is diet.”

Wayne frowned and then shrugged. “Hang on, I’ll be right back.” He then left, appearing to jog upstairs, and Rodolfo furrowed his brows, a bit confused. Oh well, Alejandro and Alex were the same.

He came back down, a bit later, and Rodolfo softened as he saw a can of diet seltzer, some sort of mango flavor. “Here.” Wayne held it out. “I went ahead and opened it, though… I dunno, I can’t really think of an excuse why.”

Rodolfo smiled, shyly. Wayne was sweet… “Where did you get it?”

“Oh, I stole it from one of the other members. He’ll get so fucked up, tonight, that I’ll lie and say he drank it.”

Rodolfo laughed, softly, and sipped it, softly. It was a bit salty, which was an odd sensation, but he decided that might be due to the carbonation. “Thank you…”

Wayne shrugged. “Anything for you.” He smiled and then he was gently tugging Rodolfo away from the kitchen and to a more secluded corner. “How have you been?”

“Fine.” Rodolfo nodded, continuing to sip the drink. He was dog shit at small talk, so he just wasn’t planning to bother, sure Wayne would catch on. “I typically don’t come to these, but my friends begged me to. Mentioned you asked for me to come?”

Wayne seemed to turn a bright red and rubbed the back of his neck, appearing sheepish. “Yeah… I uh… I don’t really get to see you unless you’re at a party. Well, and if Vargas ends up abandoning you.”

Rodolfo flinched and looked at the floor. That was a low blow, Wayne didn’t need to say that. “I um… I think I should go find my friend.” He said, suddenly not wanting to be here and talking to Wayne. 

Wayne, however, seemed to almost panic. “Wait, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that… I just… I don’t like how Vargas treats you.”

Rodolfo paused and then softened, unable to help it. Someone had noticed… Yeah, his friends do, but he complained about him all the time. He would hope they’d notice. “What do you mean?” He asked, maybe being a bit coy.

Wayne shrugged, “he treats you like you don’t exist, half the time. I… You deserve better.”

Rodolfo melted and hugged himself. “He’s my best friend.” He still felt the need to defend Alejandro, since it wasn’t Alejandro’s fault that he wasn’t in love with Rodolfo.

Wayne shook his head. “You still don’t deserve that.”

Rodolfo flushed and then drank some more of his seltzer. He noticed that his head felt a little heavy and he frowned, since he didn’t usually get drunk or tipsy off of one seltzer. He checked the alcohol proof, seeing that it was only 10%. He’d drank seltzers with more and felt less affected than this.

“I um…” He tried to remember what he was going to say, furrowing his brows. “I think I should sit down.”

“Are you okay?” Wayne asked, sounding concerned. “You look pale? Do you want to lay down?”

Rodolfo closed his eyes for a moment, feeling suddenly so unbelievably tired. He really hadn’t drank that much, how was he this drunk already? Maybe laying down was a good idea…

He nodded and then started to follow Wayne up the stairs, which ended up being a challenge because he was struggling to get his feet to cooperate. Maybe it was the diet… aspartame usually made alcohol have a stronger effect.

He leaned heavily into Wayne, needing the support. His skin started to feel hot and he tried to fan himself, since this was so unbearably unpleasant. Finally, they made it to a room and he was guided to a bed, where he immediately laid down, lulling his head to the side.

He closed his eyes and then he was opening them to someone yelling. His entire body hurt, his head was full of fog…

He became aware that someone was sobbing into his chest, looking down and recognizing Roach, who had a jacket wrapped around his shoulders. His head was bleeding and he was bruised all over, from the looks of it. 

The yelling.

He looked to his right, trying to clear his vision enough to see that Soap was on the floor, someone on top of him and choking him out. Rodolfo didn’t even thing about it, just shoved Roach off and ran over, slamming into whoever was on top of Soap as hard as he can, sending them both flying across the room.

The sensation of sliding on carpet made Rodolfo aware he was completely naked, but he didn’t care, trying to find the will to drag himself to his feet so he could keep fighting. But, instead, he was only kicked down, gasping and coughing for air.

Soap, however, seemed to have recovered much faster, grabbing whoever it was and shoving them out of the room before promptly shutting the door and locking it. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Soap cried and frantically glanced around the room before he was coming over and helping Rudy up.

“You need to get dressed, we need to go!” Soap said and Rodolfo flinched hard at the sound of heavy banging on the door. Carefully, Soap helped them both get dressed and then he was moving them to the window where Rodolfo became aware that Gaz was, helping them climb out.

When did Gaz get there? Why did he get there?

Whatever, Rodolfo just climbed onto Gaz’s back when prompted, whimpering with pain, and let Gaz carry him to Soap’s busted up old jeep, carefully climbing in when he could. Roach climbed in, next, and curled up to Rodolfo tears streaming down his face.

“Everyone but Alex and Alejandro were in on it.” Soap muttered. “I heard someone joking about it, that’s how I found out.”

“Fuck.” Gaz cursed, hitting his hands against the steering wheel. Why was he driving?

“Let’s go,” Soap said, shaking his head. “We need to go, now.” 

Gaz just nodded and then peeled out of the parking lot.

-

The week after

Rodolfo relaxed when the test results came back negative on everything for both of them and they drove to the apartment where Gaz and Soap had supposedly ordered a fuck ton of pizza. Good, Rodolfo was starving.

He’d given up on that diet, it sounded so… silly, now. Losing weight just to be skinny for an alpha. There were darker beasts, there were bigger monsters. Alejandro had texted him a few times. He and Ghost seemed to have been vaguely aware that something had happened, but they didn’t seem to know what.

None of them planned to tell them, either.

Rodolfo didn’t blame any of their three alphas… But, he didn’t want them to know. He didn’t want to cause issues. They hadn’t quite decided what they were doing, yet. In fact, that’s what they were planning to discuss that night, but they knew they didn’t want them getting caught up in it. It had sort of been unanimously agreed upon.

He let Roach get out, first, so he could watch him and then he carefully got out, taking a deep breath. He wasn’t sure how this night was going to go and he’d be honest, it scared him a little. But, things needed to be paid for, and so this meeting was necessary. But how would they make them pay?

With blood. 

The worst part was that he wasn’t even sure he wanted to fight against this idea. Neither Rodolfo nor Roach felt safe in their own homes… They didn’t feel safe sleeping at night. Gaz had had to switch to online classes and he’d barely let Alex touch him. Apparently, Alex didn’t know who had sent out the pictures, though it was fairly obvious who.

Rodolfo had gently asked if Gaz planned to tell him and Gaz had just lost it on him. “Rudy, I’ll be fucking lucky if he still wants to marry me! Fuck telling him that his frat sent my pictures everywhere!” Rodolfo didn’t really think Gaz had to worry about that but… he wasn’t going to tell Gaz that his fear wasn’t valid, either.

Rodolfo, himself, just felt… ruined after what had happened. Which was silly, he wasn’t a virgin, and neither was Roach. He’d had plenty of sex before… He’d had plenty of sex that he definitely regretted, but none of it had made him feel quite so tattered… so… damaged. He hated this feeling, this need to rip his own skin off to feel cleansed…

Taking a deep breath, he shook it off as he and Roach reached the door, unsure when they’d even started to walk up to the apartment. He was sure they’d locked the car and he certainly didn’t want to go back to find out. So, he just unlocked the door, rushing in and locking it again, very quickly, once Roach was inside.

Roach went and just sort of curled up to Gaz, who was on the couch. Soap was setting up a few pizza boxes, sitting on the floor, and he had a notebook set out with a couple pens. “Gaz and I talked while the pizza was arriving… Halloween.”

Rodolfo tilted his head as he crossed the room to sit on the floor with Soap, noting that the TV was on, though the volume was low. “Halloween?”

“Whatever we do… the best time to do it will be Halloween.” Gaz answered, pulling Roach into his lap and then wrapping around him. Roach seemed to settle in a bit more happily and Rodolfo could hear him purr softly. Gaz also seemed to relax, petting Roach’s hair and sighing. “We can be masked and… Alpha Theta Mu will be hosting a massive Halloween party, so…”

“Easier access. Would also make sense for us to be there.” Soap finished and then looked at Rodolfo. “The whole frat is pretty much required to go, so… everyone would be there.”

“Yes.” Rodolfo agreed, though he immediately had a problem with it. “So will Alex and Alejandro.”

Gaz and Soap both seemed to wince. “Hadn’t thought of that…” Gaz admitted and put his chin on Roach’s head, seeming to consider. “We’ll have to find a way to keep them home, I guess…”

“Or away from whatever we do.” Soap nodded. “What… do we plan to do?”

Well, Rodolfo had a few ideas. “Well… I have one idea but I know that… It's insane. But… for a different idea, we could kill ourselves.”

“They won’t bloody care about that!” Gaz laughed and Rodolfo couldn’t honestly blame him. “They’d point and laugh.”

Rodolfo shrugged and then sighed, since he couldn’t disagree. “Then… let’s kill them.” He glanced around, seeing none of the three seemed to be disagreeing with the idea, though they did avoid looking at him or each other. “What if they’ve done similar to others? What if they decide to do worse to us?? They’ve already attempted to destroy Gaz’s life-”

“What if we go to prison?” Soap asked, sighing. “Murder is… a heavy charge. Mass murder is heavier.”

Rodolfo shook his head. “If it looks like we’ll get caught, then… we’ll kill ourselves. Gaz’s life is already on the path to destruction because of them. If we let them continue to… exist, what will they do to the rest of us three?”

Roach moved so he could get his hands free and then he was signing, ‘our dad will be destroyed…’

Rodolfo bit the inside of his lip and his shoulders dropped. Professor Price would be destroyed. So would Laswell and her wife. So, he sat up, straightening his shoulders and setting his chin parallel with the floor. “You’re right. So… I’ll take the fall. I’ll confess to everything and I’ll kill myself.”

“No-” Soap immediately said, lunging forward and taking Rodolfo’s hand. “No! I’m not going to let you do that! You’re my best friend…”

Rodolfo softened. “I know… but it’s what needs to be done, Soap.”

Gaz had been silent the entire time, staring at the coffee table. Suddenly, his demeanor changed and he was chuckling softly, shaking his head. He leaned forward, dragging Roach with him and grabbing a slice of pizza. “Don’t be dramatic, Rodolfo. No one needs to die. Or… none of us four do.”

Rodolfo and Soap both slowly turned to look at Gaz, who had leaned back, now eating his pizza. “What do you mean?” Soap asked, narrowing his eyes.

“We’ll just frame someone. Wayne has an omega sister. We’ll frame her.” Gaz shrugged. “Her name is Lyla or something… She has three friends, too, and she’s known to be… vindictive. We’ll cook up some reason why she would kill her brother and his frat and then… we’ll fake their suicides. Leave the confession in the note.”

“What about our DNA?” Rodolfo asked, tilting his head, though he was starting to like this plan. Ultimate get back at Wayne… framing his sister for his murder. He liked it. He liked it a lot. 

“We’ll be at the party.” Soap spoke up and he was starting to half grin, nodding. “I like it… I mean, we don’t plan to slaughter everyone there, right? Just… the frat. It wouldn’t be unreasonable for us to just… escape.”

Oh Rodolfo really liked this idea. “Alright. Let’s fucking do it. But… how many people do you estimate will be there?”

“Probably close to a hundred.” Gaz winced. “Maybe more…”

That would be a bit of a problem. Four against a hundred weren’t great odds. “Then… we need to find a way to separate the frat from everyone else.” Rodolfo sighed, shaking his head. “Make sure everyone else leaves but the frat doesn’t. Or… everyone is just inhibited enough that they can’t really fight us or identify us.”

“Well, the identify can be done by changing our costumes.” Gaz shrugged. “Lyla is a cheerleader and so are her friends. I think I could get my hands on a couple uniforms. As well as masks. But, you’re right about that first part…”

“Molly.” Soap shrugged. “I could get an ass ton of it from a couple friends. Volunteer to bring the beer.”

“Too unreliable, what if not enough people drink it?” Gaz asked, frowning. “We need to make sure that they’ll drink it…”

“One of us needs to get rid of everything else.” Rodolfo sighed, leaning back on his hands. “Someone quick.”

Roach bit his lip before signing, ‘I can usually go unnoticed… I could sneak in if someone keeps them distracted and steal everything and stash it somewhere.’

“Alright…” Rodolfo nodded, liking that idea, too. “How do we get the molly into the beer?”

“Dad and Laswell own a brewery.” Gaz shrugged. “I’m sure we could unseal and reseal bottles there. Pop the drugs in and then… reseal the bottles before sending them off.”

“While this plan is definitely coming together,” Soap suddenly spoke up, sighing, and suddenly looking disappointed. “Alex and Alejandro. What do we do about them?”

Gaz considered and then sighed. “I don’t know. We’ll figure that out. If anything… Soap, you don’t play much of a part, maybe you could… get injured or-”

“Wait!” Rodolfo cut him off, suddenly getting an idea. “Ghost hates halloween! His brother died on Halloween!” He then paused, seeing all three of them stare at him oddly. “Sorry, a bit too bombastic.” He mumbled and then got out his laptop, pulling up pictures of a cabin. “Alejandro’s family has a cabin up in the mountains. If… it was suggested, I think they’d blow off their frat to take him up there to take his mind off of the holiday.”

All three of the others seemed to consider before Soap was nodding. “Yeah, I think that’s good.” Soap agreed. “Makes me feel a lot better about Ghost, too… He won’t have to be alone on the holiday.”

“Whatever we do, however,” Rodolfo continued, grabbing his own slice of pizza. “Wayne is mine. I get to kill him. Agreed?”

All three seemed to somber before they were nodding. “Agreed.” Gaz mumbled and Soap repeated it. “We’ll split the rest up evenly.”

So the plans were set.

-

The week before Halloween

The month came and went without incident. Gaz returned back to classes and he pretended nothing had happened. Rodolfo became cordial with the frat, again, though he talked to Alejandro less and less. He would even smile at Wayne when he saw him in passing, hell he’d even made casual conversation. It was rather funny, honestly, to see Wayne’s perplexed expression as Rodolfo waved at him.

They’d carefully prepared the beer, pretending to show interest in the business to Price and Laswell and then something had mysteriously called them away, so they’d brought in the prepackaged beer they’d had and drugged the bottles with the molly that Soap had gathered. They’d gathered boring halloween costumes, going basic but recognizable. Rodolfo was a zombie, Gaz was an angel, Soap was a sexy nurse, and Roach was a faery. 

Rodolfo had just picked up the costumes, in fact, with Roach. They sat in the back of his car, folded neatly in boxes.

He parked and then jumped when someone knocked on his window a minute later, checking on Roach who had screamed rather loudly. He softened when he saw Alejandro outside his window, frowning a little and rolling down the window. “Alejandro?”

Alejandro looked like shit. He supposed he hadn’t been talking to him much, but… this seemed a little extreme. “Valeria said she saw you with Wayne at a party a month ago and I know… I know this isn’t the time but you’ve not been talking to me and… I know you probably don’t feel the same but… but… I…” He seemed to hesitate and become unsure of himself.

Rodolfo frowned and gently told Roach to stay in the car before getting out, shaking his head. “No, I wasn’t with Wayne.” He lied, not wanting to pretend he had been but not wanting to tell the truth of what had happened. “What are you saying, Alejandro?”

“I… fuck…” Alejandro shoved his hand through his hair. “I’m in love with you and I know it’s dumb but… God, I’m so desperate for you to love me back and I know you probably never will so I’m hoping that you’ll just reject me, now, and then I can move on.”

Rodolfo was in shock and also awe, staring at Alejandro. “What?”

“I’m sorry…”

“No, wait,” Rodolfo stammered, shaking his head. “You’re in love with me?”

“Stupidly, yes.” Alejandro nodded. Rodolfo could see that his hands were shaking and, for a moment, he worried this might be mania. But, Alejandro couldn’t lie when Manic. Rodolfo wasn’t quite sure why but his filter just came off and he was horrible honest. To a detriment. “I know you’re likely not in love with me, but-”

Rodolfo clenched his jaw. This was horrible timing… He wasn’t sure how the party was going to go and if things went wrong and he had to take the fall, Alejandro would feel awful… “I… Can… Can we wait for when you come back after Halloween? I’m not rejecting you, I just… I need to think about things. This is a lot…” He lied. Maybe he should fully reject Alejandro, but… just in case things went well, he wanted to leave this open.

God, he wanted this more than anything.

Alejandro seemed almost confused by his answer but nodded. “Of course… I… Of course. I… Coming to your apartment and confronting you at your car feels kind of ridiculous, now.”

Rodolfo wasn’t even sure he was processing the situation, so he just shrugged. “When will you three be back?”

“Week after Halloween.”

“We can talk about it, then.” Rodolfo offered, smiling a little. “We’ll go get dinner or something and discuss things, okay?”

Alejandro seemed to relax and nodded. “Thank you… Thank you, Rodolfo.”

“You don’t have to thank me.” What horrible, horrible timing. Why wasn’t Rodolfo feeling… more? He hardly felt anything. Was he really that numb? Was he really so numb that he just wasn’t feeling anything over this? No….

He did feel something… He felt sort of hopeful, but it was barely there. “Um… Roach and I were going to go in so we could eat…” Rodolfo said and Alejandro winced.

“Right, right. I need to go home and pack, anyway. We’re leaving, tomorrow. I… Thank you. Here, can I walk you and Roach up to the door?” Alejandro asked and that did get an emotion because Rodolfo almost swooned over how sweet that was.

Rodolfo looked back at Roach, who was still in the car, and Roach nodded a bit. He looked exhausted, which… was fair. They’d both been out for a while that day, picking up those costumes. Gaz should have already grabbed their cheerleader outfits, though Soap was apparently not going to be wearing a cheerleader outfit. Instead, he was going to be swapping to one of the frat member’s costume once they were dead, since he could fake the build fairly well, and he’d be killing the ones that fled by gaining their trust.

“Sure.” Rodolfo answered, since… honestly, they’d both feel a lot safer if Alejandro walked them to the door. “Hey, um… is there a reason Ghost is hardly talking to Soap and Roach?” He asked as he helped Roach out of the car. 

Roach seemed to immediately glare at him but Rodolfo only shrugged, not feeling bad. They wanted to know, and so did Rodolfo. Alejandro winced. “I… I… Yeah. But… I’ve sort of promised not to tell anyone.”

Rodolfo narrowed his eyes at Alejandro, who appeared to almost squirm under his gaze. “Look, I understand that it’s potentially jeopardizing my chances but… He’s my friend, I can’t… do that to him. He trusted me with a secret.”

Rodolfo dropped his shoulders and just sighed, since he got it. Alejandro was being loyal… he’d hope anyone else would do the same for him. “Alright. I’ll accept that.”

Roach didn’t look like he wanted to, but Rodolfo nudged him and Roach softened, sighing. Finally, they started to walk up to the apartment, falling into silence. When they reached the door, Roach went in first, waving bye to Alejandro before immediately beelining to Soap, who was in the kitchen and cooking dinner. 

Rodolfo turned back to Alejandro and smiled, softly. “I… I um… Regardless of whatever decision we come to… I’m… grateful that you were in my life. Don’t forget that.”

Alejandro frowned and looked like he wanted to speak but Rodolfo just quickly went in, said goodnight, and then closed the door. Thankfully, Alejandro didn’t knock on the door and try to talk to him, so he went to the kitchen, where Soap was cooking. “Gaz got the outfits.” Soap informed Rodolfo as he came in. “Did you get the costumes?”

“I did.” Rodolfo nodded and relaxed. “Looks like everything is set for Friday.”

Soap chuckled, feeding a bite of the food to Roach, who was sitting on the counter. “Can’t wait.”

Despite his initial hesitancies, he seemed to be the most excited. In fact, he’d bought a baseball bat and stuck nails into it, intending that to be his weapon until he changed his outfit, and then he had a couple of knives like Gaz would be using.

Rodolfo had been… kind of a nerd in middle school so he knew how to sword fight. He didn’t know if he was super adept but… he was sure he’d do fine against a bunch of frat assholes who didn’t have swords. Especially since he’d found two long thin but very sharp blades. 

Roach had been very quiet about what weapon he planned to use, but… Rodolfo had started to notice boxes were showing up in his room, though he wouldn’t talk about it. 

Rodolfo went to the long box that had his blades in them, opening it and touching them, carefully. Shoulder sheaths which would strap over his chest. All of their weapons were going to wait in the car until they were needed. 

“Can’t wait.” Rodolfo agreed and closed the box, again.

-

Friday rolled around and Rodolfo was now watching himself in the mirror as he dressed himself, careful about his makeup before turning and startling at Gaz, who was in his doorway. “We’re still doing this, right?” Gaz asked, already in his angel costume.

God, Gaz was gorgeous. White, torn jean shorts, an oversized grey sweater which showed most of his shoulders and collarbones. White knee highs and sneakers as well as fairly delicate white wings which hung sort of crooked. Rodolfo envied his friend, wishing he was as slim and pretty as him.

Despite Alejandro’s confession, insecurity had still dug at Rodolfo, making him wonder why Alejandro had never told him before. Alejandro had always been so confident, why wouldn’t he just confess to Rodolfo? It’d eaten away at him, telling him everything that was wrong with him, until he couldn’t handle it, anymore.

He shook it off and smiled. “Of course.” He nodded, turning back to the mirror. He’d kept the makeup light, easy to wash off, though they’d be in masks when they changed their costumes. “Have to, at this rate, we’ve gone through all of the trouble of preparing, haven’t we?”

“Definitely.” Gaz met his eyes in the mirror, looking to almost relax. “I… want them to pay. For everything they’ve done.”

“Oh, they will.” Rodolfo promised, straightening his shirt and then turning back to Gaz. “We’re still meeting Soap and Roach there, right?”

“Yes.” Gaz answered and leaned against his doorframe, looking awkward and crossing his arms. “Have you talked to Alejandro? Alex won’t answer his phone.”

“No,” Rodolfo answered, touching up his mouth. “But, it is Halloween, they’re probably focused on Ghost.”

“I hope so…” Gaz furrowed his brows and then sighed, shaking his head. “Anyway, I’m going to go ahead and get everything in the car.”

“I’ll meet you down there.” Rodolfo promised.

When he was done with his makeup, he finally pulled his shoes on and then grabbed the last case of beer, rushing down to the car as fast as possible, before his anxiety could catch up to him. He checked on everything and made sure it was all perfect, before they headed to the party.

Once there, Rodolfo found Wayne and a few of the others were in a state of pandemonium, Wayne yelling at a smaller alpha, his name was Toby. “You fucking dumbass! If you bought the alcohol, where is it?”

Rodolfo went up to them, amused. “Wayne?” He asked, feigning confusion. “What’s going on?”

Wayne seemed to startle and then turned to Rodolfo, softening as he saw him. “Oh, Rudy. Hey…” Don’t call him that, he wasn’t allowed to. He was Rodolfo. “This idiot forgot the alcohol.”

Rodolfo blinked and then glanced back at Gaz for a moment. “Oh… Well, you’re in luck! Gaz’s dad gave us a bunch of beer for tonight. You know… under the table. We got quite a few cases of it, we could bring it in until you guys get a chance to get out and get more alcohol?”

Wayne paused and then grinned. “God, you’re brilliant. Hell yeah, that’s perfect.”

Rodolfo relaxed and then nodded his head to Gaz, who left before coming back in with most of the beer, making two trips. They both helped them set up and Rodolfo grabbed one that he knew wasn’t drugged, while Gaz feigned not wanting to get drunk that night.

Soap and Roach arrived a moment later and they met up somewhere quiet while others started to arrive. “Toby…” Rodolfo murmured, glancing at the alpha who was now being kind of gross with an omega. He saw Wayne interacting with a trio of cheerleaders. The tallest, who Rodolfo had been informed was his sister, what was her name again? Anyway, she didn’t look happy, putting her hands on her hips and glaring at Wayne.

Wayne rolled his eyes and said something which really seemed to set her off and she stormed off. So, Rodolfo decided to take the opportunity. “One of you three lure Toby away. He’s close to Soap’s build and his costume has a mask on it. I’m going to take care of the sister.”

“Got it.” Soap nodded, though, of course, he had to take a moment to touch the wings on Roach’s back, both making eyes at each other, before Soap was leaving and Rodolfo saw him meet up with Toby, touching his arm and immediately flirting with him.

Rodolfo noted the way Roach immediately turned away, looking upset. He gently touched Roach’s arm to assure him and shared a glance with Gaz before turning and quickly following after Wayne’s sister. He followed her out to where several other cars were parked, seeing her go to one and light a cigarette. “Hey!” He called, jogging over to her.

She looked startled, turning to look at Rodolfo and pausing before frowning. “You’re that omega my brother has a crush on.”

“You’re his sister, right?”

“Yeah, Lia.” She nodded. “What do you want?”

Rodolfo didn’t bother to be fancy with his words, glancing around before grabbing her and yanking her down to the ground. He sat on her while she struggled, covering her mouth so no one could hear her scream. He probably should have done something a bit more… clean, but instead, he just grabbed a rock and hit her over the head with it, knocking her out pretty quickly and dragging her to the car, shoving her in after tying her up.

He dug around in her pockets until he found her keys and grinned, knowing how they’d have her kill herself now. Pocketing them, he got out of the car and closed and locked it. The inside locks had been sawed off so they couldn’t be pulled back out and Gaz had somehow disabled the buttons, so the only way to get out was through the keyfob, which he had.

He saw Gaz was dragging another girl over, recognizing one of Lia’s cheerleader friends. “She…” Gaz panted and shoved her in front of Rodolfo. “She… followed Lia out…” he huffed. “What do we do with her?”

Rodolfo held up the keys. “Kill her.” He shrugged. “Lia killed her and the other and then drove off a bridge.”

“Genius.” Gaz nodded before he was getting out a knife, smoothly slitting her throat and just shoving her somewhere she wouldn’t be seen. “Roach is getting the other.”

“Go tell him to just kill them and I’ll go see if Toby has been taken care of.” Rodolfo said. “Once this is all done, we’ll change and get started.”

“Rog.” Gaz joked and then they were heading inside, again, splitting off. Rodolfo ended up being the one to find Roach, seeing he was being borderline harrassed by another alpha, who kept calling him “Bug Boy”. 

“Come on, bug boy, loosen up for a night…”

Roach glared at the alpha but then Rodolfo was tilting his head at seeing Toby smoothly slide up beside Roach, his arm snaking around Roach’s waste. He had his mask on and it appeared covered in blood, but the alpha didn’t even seem affected. “Fuck off.” Toby- No, Rodolfo would recognize his best friend’s voice, anywhere. 

Soap growled at the other alpha who immediately shrank back and left. Rodolfo shook his head, kind of amused. He went over to them and smiled. “Was the other taken care of?”

Roach nodded. ‘Gaz told me what to do. Let’s go get changed.’

Rodolfo agreed and they both said goodbye to Soap before finding Gaz and going outside to get changed. They kept watch while each changed and then Rodolfo strapped his blades to his chest. It’d been a while since he was in one of these uniforms. He hadn’t missed the shoes at all.

Roach seemed unhappy with the outfit, trying to tug the skirt down in the back. ‘Isn’t this inappropriate?’

“It’s better for movement.” Gaz explained and chuckled, softly. “You look pretty?”

Roach just glared at him and unhappily put the mask on. They were simple, white theatre masks. Rodolfo’s was tragedy, Roach’s was comedy, and Gaz’s was apathy. He hadn’t even been aware apathy was a mask you could get.

Rodolfo jokingly grabbed Lia’s poms from where they’d been discarded, shaking them before doing a quick cheer which had him kicking his leg back and putting one pom on his hip, the other in the air. “Let’s go, cowboys, let’s go!”

Gaz laughed, shaking his head. “Cowboys?”

“Vaqueros.” Rodolfo nodded. “¡Venga Vaqueros!” He did the mimes of shooting pistols along with the jumps. “We had English cheers, obviously, and a few Spanish ones. Alejandro played on the football team. Center midfielder, and I cheered.”

Gaz looked impressed, having pushed his mask up to his head. “I never knew you did sports.”

“No one considers Cheer a sport.” Rodolfo answered, shrugging. “It was a pain.”

“I know, that’s why I don’t fucking do it.” Gaz laughed, just sort of shaking the poms. “Hey, weren’t you prom queen?”

“I was!” Rodolfo nodded. “Top of my graduating class, too.”

“Man, you really are an overachiever.” Gaz laughed and then shrugged. “Anyway, are we…” He gestured back to the frat house.

Excitement overtook Rodolfo again and he put the mask fully on his face, grinning. “¡Vamos!”

Roach perked up and then he was getting out a box. It was rather large and he headed around to the back, so Gaz grabbed Soap’s baseball bat and then closed the trunk before they were following Roach around to the back and then inside. Soap was quick to meet up with them, taking his baseball bat back. “Knives won’t be necessary, I’m just gonna use this.” Soap sighed. “Since I didn’t end up walking around with it.”

“Perfect.” Gaz said and then he and Soap were fistbumping. “How are things going in here? People drinking plenty of beer?”

Soap laughed. “Oh yeah. Several have already passed out. Wayne… took an omega up to his room. Rudy, you want to-”

“On it.” Rodolfo already said, sliding past them. “Take care of whoever you can in the meantime.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Soap chuckled and then Rodolfo heard them both leave. He just smoothly marched up the stairs.

He wasn’t planning on killing Wayne just yet. He just wanted to make sure he couldn’t leave or escape. He found Wayne’s room purely on memory, despite how drugged he’d been the last time he’d been there. He knocked before just opening the door, surprised it wasn’t locked.

Wayne was quick to jump off of the omega he was on, covering himself. Rodolfo noticed the way the omega didn’t immediately move, her head just lulling to the side. “Get out of here!” Wayne growled.

Rodolfo rolled his eyes and went over to the bed, looking at the omega on it and gently making sure she was covered by a sheet. Slowly, he reached up and pulled out one of the blades, turning to Wayne. “Kneel.”

“Get out.” Wayne repeated, snarling. “Leave.”

“No.” Rodolfo answered, going back to the door and shutting it, locking it. “Kneel.” He repeated, turning back to Wayne. “Or I’ll force you to.”

“How?” Wayne snarled, flexing in an attempt to make himself look bigger.

Rodolfo tilted his head and then he looked at the blade, seeing it glint in the dim light of the moon streaming through the window. He looked at Wayne and went up to him, dragging the tip across the skin of Wayne’s chest, watching blood bead up as Wayne tensed and his face scrunched in slight pain. “It’s sharp. Kneel.”

Wayne was very quick to get on his knees, then, and Rodolfo could only just laugh, reaching up and pushing the mask to the top of his head, seeing Wayne’s eyes widen with recognition. “Rodolfo…” He breathed.

“Yes.” Rodolfo confirmed and went around behind Wayne. “I want you to sit up here and I want you to think about what’s going to happen to you.” He looked around before finding some rope, rolling his eyes. Wayne, shockingly, didn’t fight him off too hard as he tied him up, his eyes just watching him with silent horror.

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know yet. But… it’s going to hurt.” Rodolfo shrugged, making Wayne sit against the window. He stuffed a sock into his mouth before putting tape over it, so he couldn’t scream. Then, he crouched down, tapping Wayne’s left foot with his sword. “Left or right?”

Wayne’s eyes widened and that certainly put a fight into him because he was suddenly screaming through the gag and Rodolfo nodded. “You’re right. Both.” He moved and raised the blade before jolting and turning to look behind him as the door was suddenly bursting open, Gaz bursting in.

“Rudy! Alex, Alejandro, and Ghost are here!” 

“What?!” Rodolfo shrieked, staring at him in horror. “How do you know??”

“Soap saw them!” Gaz cried. “They didn’t recognize him.”

Frustration roze in Rodolfo’s chest until he was screaming and bringing the blade down across Wayne’s ankles, cleanly splitting through them while Wayne’s face contorted in pain. “Fuck!” Rodolfo quickly roze to his feet and shook his head. “Get her the fuck out of here. Just… put her somewhere she’ll be left alone!” He gestured to the omega on the bed, who still didn’t look conscious.

Gaz nodded and quickly went to the omega, putting a shirt on her and then carrying her out. 

Rodolfo turned back to Wayne and crouched back down. “You earned everything that happens tonight.” He hissed before standing and leaving the room, slamming the door behind him. He started to look around, vaguely aware his shoes were covered in blood.

He jolted when someone grabbed his arm, relaxing when he saw Soap. “Soap, I heard about the alphas arriving.”

“Ghost found Roach.” Soap quickly said. “Roach ran away, but he knows that Roach, at least, is here. It won’t be hard for them to realize we are, as well.”

“Fuck.” Rodolfo cursed and shook his head. “What the fuck do we do?”

Soap cringed, though it was hard to see under the mask. “I don’t know… Maybe Roach could distract them?? Get them to leave??”

Rodolfo decided that might have to be the best option. He and Soap quickly rushed downstairs, avoiding where people were, and Soap quickly led him down to the basement.

Rodolfo was blown away by the sheer amount of blood, but Soap paid no mind to it, just guiding Rodolfo over to a small closet, where they could see Roach was crouched down, two bloody poms discarded behind him. Two frat members were sitting with their backs to each other and Roach appeared to be putting something on them.

As they got closer, they could see that both of the frat members were crying, tears running down their faces, though they were gagged. “Shh…” Roach was whispering, his voice rough and clearly not meant to be used. “They’re startled by sudden movement…” Roach whispered and Rodolfo jerked back at seeing Roach was putting some sort of beetle on them.

In fact, there seemed to be several of the beetles all over their bodies and Roach was just getting more out and putting them on the frat members. Rodolfo tried not to gag as he saw another body in the corner of the closet, several insects crawling over him.

“Roach,” Soap started, hardly looking fazed. “We need you to distract the alphas. Get them to leave. Can you do that?”

Roach turned and looked at them, his mask pushed up on top of his head. He seemed to hesitate before nodding and turning back to the frat members. They both seemed to be doing their best to be still, but then one of the beetles started to climb on one’s face and he started to jerk and fight.

Rodolfo was quick to leave as he started to hear muffled screaming, pulling Soap with him. They kept Roach in their eyesight, watching him slowly stand and stare at both frat members as they screamed. His expression was soft and then Roach shook his head, getting out a bottle of something and dumping it over them.

The muffled screams were shockingly louder somehow and Rodolfo’s stomach turned, unable to imagine being in that situation. “He’s terrifying.” Rodolfo could hear the grin in Soap’s voice, rolling his eyes. 

“Very.” Rodolfo agreed, holding his stomach. “Roach!” He called and Roach turned to look at them. “Are they dead?”

‘Almost. They won’t recover from this.’ Roach signed, coming over. ‘I’m satisfied, I’ll go get them to leave.’

“Good.” Rodolfo relaxed and then backed up as Soap moved forward and grabbed Roach, pushing his mask up before kissing Roach deeply. 

“God, you’re gorgeous.” Soap murmured when he pulled away. “Terrifying and oh, so sexy.”

Roach seemed to giggle bashfully before he pecked Soap’s cheek and then he was practically skipping away, going back upstairs.

Rodolfo looked around the bloody basement. “So… this is where you’ve been killing everyone?”

“No.” Soap shook his head. “Just came and cleared it out, first.”

Rodolfo nodded and then turned towards the door when he heard someone coming down, watching a random party goer enter the basement. Their eyes went wide and they appeared to stumble back before they were suddenly screaming and running back up the stairs.

“Fuck!” Soap cursed and Rodolfo was quick to follow him after them, attempting to catch them before they could make it to the top of the stairs, only managing to right at the top. Rodolfo tackled them and was quick to draw one of the swords, sliding it across their throat and ignoring the way warm blood spluttered across his skin, coating it.

They gurgled and reached up, holding their throat, their eyes wide as they looked up at him. Then, Rodolfo stood and turned to look at Soap, wiping his sword on his skirt. They threw the body back down the stairs and Soap shook his head. “One oopsie.”

“I think this is our sign to just get the job done.” Rodolfo sighed, shaking his head. “How many are left?”

“Less than 20.” Soap answered and then counted for a moment. “18.”

“That’s six for each of us. Is that counting Wayne?” Rodolfo asked.

Soap shook his head. “Alright, six for each of us. How do you suggest we get them split up?”

“Hmm… I’m sure there’s some upstairs. I’ll clear that. You clear down here with Gaz, and get anyone who goes outside.” Rodolfo answered and Soap nodded. 

They split up, again, and Rodolfo passed through the living room, glancing and seeing Roach was in a corner with the three alphas, relaxing. His mask had disappeared and Rodolfo was quite surprised to see Ghost was hugging Roach. All three appeared to be asking him questions, so, at the very least, they were distracted.

Why the fuck were they even there?? Why weren’t they in the fucking mountains?? He shook his head and quickly went upstairs, checking rooms. A few of the doors were closed so he looked for the ones that would be obviously occupied with frat members. As it was, he found three of them smoking weed in one of the rooms.

He went in, watching them notice him. He imagined one of Roach’s text books talking about them. The fraticous douche in their natural habitat. Smoking weed and sexualizing omegas. One grinned, her black hair plastered to her forehead. “Hey, princess, you looking for fun?”

“Maybe.” Rodolfo answered, putting on this fake giggly voice he’d heard Soap pull out when trying to get his way. He used his foot to kick the door shut behind him and went and dropped to sit cross legged in front of them. “Do you know what Wayne does to omegas?”

“Oh, don’t worry your pretty head about that.” The one closest to him said. They all appeared to share a look before he was touching Rodolfo’s leg. “Focus on that fun, instead.”

Rodolfo sighed, shaking his head. He wouldn’t feel bad, now. He supposed he’d gotten lucky finding three in one room since that was half of who he was supposed to take out. He stood and pulled one of the swords out, watching their eyes vaguely catch onto what was going to happen.

In a flash, they were moving, but the drugs appeared to have slowed their systems down so much that Rodolfo hacked the first one’s head off before he could even touch Rodolfo, swinging and stabbing the sword directly through the second, kicking them down.

He took a breath and slowly pulled the second blade back out, turning to face the third. “Do you know what Wayne does to omegas?”

“I’m sorry…” The third started to cry. “We don’t have any hand in it, we- oh god…”

“But you don’t stop him, do you?” Rodolfo stalked towards him, watching him stumble back and then hit the closet door. “Do you?” He repeated.

The third shook his head, blubbering like a baby. Rodolfo rolled his eyes. “Of course not. One day, you may even do it yourself.”

The alpha dropped to his knees. “I’ll do whatever you want. Anything you want. I can give you money, I can get you drugs, I can do anything you want…”

Rodolfo wasn’t tempted, even for a second. He grabbed the alpha’s hair and forced his head back, taking the sword and slowly pushing it through his neck until it pushed through the other side, watching the alpha’s eyes widen as he startled to gurgle and cough. “You can’t give me what I want.”

He pulled the blade out and kicked the alpha to the side, going and retrieving his first blade from the second’s stomach. She was still alive, coughing up blood as Rodolfo pulled the blade out of her stomach. “Fuck you… cunt…” She gasped out.

Rodolfo made a face. “Those aren’t very creative last words… Maybe you want to try again?” He crouched down after sheathing his blades, again. “Or… no?”

She didn’t answer, just continuing to glare at Rodolfo before her head was lulling to the side and her eyes were closing. Good. He stood fully, again, and wiped his hands on his dress, turning and leaving the room. He heard loud noises coming from downstairs and frowned, going down the stairs and seeing most everyone was gone.

He could see through the windows that people were running and as he walked through the second floor of the house, he could see several dead bodies that he recognized as frat members.

Good.

He went back upstairs, paying it no mind. He trusted his friends to have it under control and decided to check on Wayne, going to his room and opening it to find Wayne was still there. Blood surrounded his ankles and he was very very pale, but breathing. Though, hardly. He was clearly close to bleeding out so Rodolfo went over to him, grabbing his hair and making him look at him. “You could have avoided this…” He murmured.

Wayne barely looked at him, just closing his eyes.

“Rodolfo?” 

Rodolfo jerked around, recognizing Alejandro’s voice, immediately. “I- Alejandro- How did you recognize me?” God, what a stupid first question. 

Alejandro looked to be in shock, staring at Rodolfo. “I’d recognize you, anywhere. What are you doing?”

“I…” Rodolfo turned to look back at Wayne. “I… Alejandro, I-”

“Why are you doing this?” Alejandro came up to Rodolfo, making Rodolfo look at him. “Why?” He pushed the mask up onto Rodolfo’s head, looking right into Rodolfo’s eyes.

Rodolfo looked back into Alejandro’s, finding himself almost frozen. “He… he raped me…” He gasped out, finally. “They deserve this…”

“You’re killing people.”

“They all knew…” Rodolfo teared up. The pain, fear, guilt, everything, welled up inside him and he jerked back away from Alejandro, crying. “They’ve EARNED THIS!” He cried, gesturing to Wayne. “They fucking deserve more than this!”

Alejandro continued to stare at him with shock and it just made Rodolfo more emotional, covering his face and then screaming. He yanked his blade out of it’s sheath and turned to Wayne, about to swing, but his arm was caught. “Rudy-” Alejandro said softly. “What will killing him do?”

Rodolfo turned to stare at Alejandro, blinking a little and then he felt himself harden. “Stop him from doing it, again.”

Alejandro seemed surprised by that answer and he glanced between Wayne and Rodolfo for a moment before shaking his head. “I feel so stupid… They sent me away from that party you went to. Of course they did… Rodolfo, I’m so sorry I didn’t protect you…”

Rodolfo paused before softening. “I…”

Alejandro slowly let Rodolfo’s hand go and backed up, nodding to Rodolfo. Rodolfo didn’t hesitate, finishing the swing and cleanly cutting Wayne’s head off. He backed up as the head fell and then he was being turned around, Alejandro kissing him deeply. 

Rodolfo melted and leaned into the kiss, wrapping his arms around Alejandro’s waist. They didn’t speak much after that, Alejandro guiding Rodolfo out of the house and to where the other cars were parked. Soap, Gaz, and Roach were already there, their respective alphas with them and… honestly, neither looked fazed by the blood on their omegas, either. “What do we do now?” Soap asked as Rodolfo approached. “We’ve pretty much got everyone. Turns out there was less than 18. I can’t count, who knew?”

Rodolfo couldn’t help laughing, softly, and shrugged. “Let’s torch the place and get rid of Lia.”

That’s what they did. As they watched the place burn, Soap got out a cigarette and lit it, offering it to Rodolfo, who gladly accepted it, taking a drag. “Come to my place after this…” Alejandro murmured into Rodolfo’s neck. “Please?”

Rodolfo nodded a bit. “Of course…”

“I’m guessing this is what you wanted to wait for before talking about… us?”

“Yeah…” Rodolfo winced and gave Soap the cigarette back before turning around in Alejandro’s arms. He was met with another soft kiss.

“I’m sorry… I’m sorry I wasn’t there to protect you.” Alejandro murmured. “I feel so fucking guilty, I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be…” Rodolfo softened and reached up to cup Alejandro’s face, nuzzling him. “You would have protected me if you’d been there. I know.”

“I’m going to be a lot better about it now.” Alejandro agreed and then softened. “Come on, lets go…”

Rodolfo melted. “Do you guys think you can handle Lia?” He asked Soap and the others.

Soap just snorted. “Yeah, I think so. Go, go ahead.” He waved Rodolfo off and Rodolfo melted, following Alejandro to his car and getting in when the door was opened for him. 

--

Do you want to be added to this taglist? Reply to this post that you wish to be added to the taglist and I will start to tag you in it every time I post it. You can also use this form!

@thegodofsleep @the-pluto-828 @sinclairbrosbathmat @wittymanatee @vergilnelosparda @roachboy @del79jji @thisisthedarknessofmymind @thatnerdnamedtj

@arwenprinses @vergilnelosparda @del79jji @thisisthedarknessofmymind @stardust-medic99

I'm not doing ship taglists for this one

[silliest-fckindumbboy]

🪦Consider this blog a TW in & of itself🪦

🩸My coining blog is @fckindumbboy-coins Requests are always open!!!🩸

🫀This will be a mix of RQ & para stuff! Its my safe space! I will like & reblog what I choose!🫀

🪦Block/ ignore dont report, I'm just trying to find safe community & without that, so many of us are in danger!🪦

🩸If you arent harming anyone unwilling to be harmed, do it up, bby; pro-consent🩸

🦷 Im Jynx

🔪 The body is 26; Agefluid, multiage- mainly nepedage and traumatot, but I also sometimes linger around the body's age

🦷 Agender, transmasc, boycunt, periboy, offboy, bordergender

🔪 Polyromantic, hyperromantic

🦷 Polysensual, polarsensual, hypersensual [unless touch-repulsed due to fatigue, low energy, sensory overload, etc.]

🔪 Greyace, hypersexual

🦷 Ductuaffectis, Alteraffectis

🔪 It/he/pup/puppy/clown/honk/rot/ick/demon/rat; I may also use plural pronouns on occasion

🦷 Married, poly

🔪 Ask me anything about anything!

🪦My tags:

fckindumbboy - anything thats mine

boybarx - anytime I comment/post/talk about anything/share my opinions

shøwøff - my pictures

boycoins - coining/flags

Papa♡ - anything to do with my Papa or my relationship

boyIDs- my hoard/IDs or terms I like (reblogs only- not my OGs)🪦

🫀On sys: I'm [Jynx] the current host of a DID system~ Pls keep in mind that, due to the nature of plurality, I may post things or reblog things that I dont typically post, agree with, or that I forget later on. Some alters MAY make themselves known, they may not, thats up to them to decide not me.🫀

🪦Paras & Kinks: LOTS! Obsessed with everything abuse, gore, pain, blood, cannibalism, & death! 3/3, get over it, youre not the thought police. I sexualize & extort my own trauma & mental illness~ Theres wwwwaaaaayyyyyyy more! Consang🪦

🫀SickSickSick: DID, BPD, DPDR, schizoaffective bipolar type, OCD, agoraphobia, C-PTSD, substance use disorder [recovering & hating every second], BED w/ anorexic & bulimic tendencies, GAD/ panic disorder, PNES, mild TBI, CI

We got the 'tism

ICT survivor

I have so much trauma, & always happy to share & talk about it [for anyone!] (I'm cisharmed, cisgroomed, cisabused, cisICTsurvivor, cistortured, cisSA/CSA, cisraped.. etc.)

Chronically ill & physically disabled!🫀

🪦I AM a radqueer! Get outta here if you cant deal with that! Im super duper inclusive & believe everyone has a right to be themselves (even if I may not agree with them!) I have absolutely no room in my life, my heart, or my safe space for hate, drama, or discourse!!! Im also a [REDACTED]queer! I value privacy & non-disclosure of stances or other information, I think everyone has a right to discretion & safety within the community & elsewhere. My business is no one's business unless I say so- no one's business is my business unless they say so. All information, conversation, etc. with me is strictly confidential. I dont believe in call outs or other forms of non-consenual information disclosure. 🪦

🫀Identities: Transclownspecies, puppykin, trauma-born demon, irl yandere, transHoH/transDeaf, real vampire [hybrid- sang & psi], DemiDead, DemiRot, Traumatot, permapuppy, permadissociated, permalockdown, permasick, devotabled, translabrat, ratkin 🫀

🪦MUDs: Unhealthy Relation-Victim Disorder, Glitching Mind Disorder, Plural Dysphoric Disorder, Imminent Death Disorder, Temporal Perception Distortion Syndrome🪦

🩸I BLOCK FREELY🩸

Anons: ⚙️, ☀️, bitey, 🐶🎉, 🕯, :3, 🍇

[clone-anon]

Gregor is just about always shown as happy and I think he is for the most part, but I've got a disability and he does too and it(mine) gets me down sometimes. Can I get reverse comfort for gregor on a bad day? I want him to know he doesn't have to feel happy all the time please

I was going to post part of this for WIP Wednesday, but I kept writing! As a Gregor lover, I love writing him so thanks for the request.

I did my best with Gregor's TBI and PBA. If anyone has feedback on this, please let me know. I know this is slightly different from how canon interprets him, but you're right! He's human and can't always be cheery.

Gregor met you just outside the restaurant. People might think it was a hole in the wall, but you both thought it had some of the best food on Corsuscant. You hugged him when you saw him, holding on for a few moments and feeling relieved he made it through another mission rescuing more of his brothers.

"Everything okay," you asked, looking up at him as he opened the door for you. He shrugged and giggled. You tried to ignore the stares from a couple just leaving the restaurant, but knew it got him down. You were seated in a booth and quickly ordered your usual.

"The mission was a success," he said, before crying. You moved to sit closer to him and put an arm around him. "I'm not even sad," he blurted out between sobs to somehow mixed with a chuckle. "I can't stop it."

You reached for his hand and gave it a squeeze, knowing he had no control over this.

"How do you really feel, Gregor?"

A few more sobs escaped before it stopped. "I feel happy the mission was successful. I did my part and no one was hurt. I'm a little tired. I'm glad to see you. It just seems all this is especially bad right now." He gestured to his face and expression. You knew what he meant.

The food arrived and he giggled at nothing. The waiter gave him a weird look and you looked directly at him with a firm, "That will be all for now, thanks."

Gregor rested his head against yours for a moment, feeling understood. As you both dug into dinner you added, "Always tell me how you feel, okay? I don't want to miss something."

"You never do," he said between bites. You both leaned on each other as you finished dinner and paid. A part of you wanted to yell at everyone who stared. Yell that he can't help it. That he's a wonderful person. That he's not attention-seeking. But you knew Gregor didn't want that kind of attention. You knew though, that some days were just tough and all you could do was be there for him.

As you headed out, you asked if he wanted to come back to your place. He could never resist that kind of invitation. When you arrived home, you both parked on the sofa. You sat and he took off his boots and gear before laying out and resting his head in your lap. Some more giggles escaped, but he took some deep breaths, his brain starting to give him a reprieve for the evening. You ran your fingers through his hand and chatted for awhile. He loved spending time with you. He once described your home as a haven from hardship.

"Can we watch a holo," he asked. You nodded and found something about two tookas going on an adventure. "Perfect," he said with a grin. You smiled to yourself and kept gently running your hands through his hair.

[chiffaust]

SORRY IF TBIS AENDS TWICE LMAO ANYWAY I WAS THE ANON THAT SEND THE QUESTION ABOUT THE REQUEST UHH HERE IT IS (FEEL FREE TO WRITE IT WITH SOMEONE ELSE IF U WANNA AUAUAU)

so rei with a friend (they have a crush on rei but hasnt confessed yet) thats an idol too !!! cool, right??? readers group is finishing a concert, ending with a song where reader is the main vocals (which is pretty rare for em,, i was thinkin something like this) and the day after the concert reader goes missing, and the rest of their group is oddly quiet about it,, and then rei accidentally stumbles upon them like a month later?? reader ends up confessing they cut off contact with everyone except their group and hasnt left their house because they were getting stressed,, and end up confessing that they like rei,,,

FEEL BETTER S. REI

〝 ☆ 𓈒 SYPNOSIS  𝄒  sometimes you feel like giving up on your dreams and die

〝 𓈒  CONTENT WARNING 𝄒  descriptive implications of reader being depressed, self loathing, if theres anything else i missed please let me know!!

(n.) — note hihi its been a while since i posted anything huh.. this fanfic is fucking long and unproofread so ignore if i did grammatical mistakrs or someyhibg... i am sorry for making you wait for a whole month for something likr this cesarsbeloved merry christmas 🤗

Everything starts and ended in a flash—you are starting to wonder whether any of these are real in the first place.

You used to like being on stage like this; singing your hearts out with your unitmates, trying to capture as many peoples attention as possible.

But these past few days, you feel nothing but dread whenever you're on stage. Is it burnout or are you really not that into being an idol anymore? You didn't know either.

And shouldn't you do your best since that Rei Sakuma had actually agreed to hold this concert with you—the esteemed UNDEAD with a unit such as yours. What an unlikely joint of events.

Well, it's all coming to an end anyways. You've decided to give everybody something they haven't seen before in a while, but would they like it?

You're sure that your other unitmate could hold this off better than you—hell, their voice is better than yours anyways. Why did they even agree to let you do this?

There isn't any room for regret now, the show's coming to a close. With a heavy heart, you sang. Your skips a thousand beats a minute; there was nobody to cover up your mistakes, nobody to help you. Even if they could, it'll be too late and you'd already embarrass yourself in front of the huge crowds.

Well at least UNDEAD isn't currently on stage to see you fail first hand, you suppose.

This is just terrible, this is why you don't like being the main vocal.

Your song surprisingly went right, nothing terrible happens but there's still something that looms behind you—some sort of sense of shame?

The moment you walked off stage, you instantly ran towards the bathroom.

The tap water sinking into the drainer was nothing but another white noise to you. All of your thoughts and emotions are whirling inside of you—it all felt so overwhelming to the point where you're sure you can break the edge of the sink that seemed like you're holding onto dear life to.

You wouldn't say you're insecure about how you look, but you'd be lying if you said it's not hard trying to look at yourself in the mirror right now.

Sometimes you simply wish you could look like someone else; someone prettier and more talented than what you are right now it's going to drive you to the edge.

Oh, and how you wish you could punch the mirror right now.

This isn't right, you should remain your composure. You've worked so hard for this, have you not?

But do you truly deserve it?

You shook your head, trying to regain your composure once again. It's terrible that you just ran off like that—they're all probably worried about you.

Your lips formed a thin line as you looked at yourself in the mirror dead in the eye. You only scoffed before closing the tap, preventing anymore water waste. You felt like you should apologize to whoever was paying this place's water bill for wasting water.

But nonetheless, you remained your composure. Your thoughts are all repressed to the back of your head; at least for now.

You unlocked the bathroom door, and opened the door. You didn't expect to see anything the moment you open the door, but to your surprise none other than Rei Sakuma himself was standing afoot, his hands behind his back as he did nothing but smiled.

"Ah... Sakuma-san...?" You stuttered, suddenly gripping onto the doorknob for dear life. "D-did I made you wait for too long...? Aha, sorry if I did." You sheepishly apologized, closing the door behind you.

"Ah, no. I was simply waiting for you to come out."

"So.. Like... You wanted to go to the bathroom?"

"Fufu, as I had previously stated; no. I was concern over your wellbeing, thus followed you here." He chuckled.

It's really... Surprising, indeed. Why would the Rei Sakuma be so worried over your wellbeing? And what did he even expect you to do in there?

"Thank you, Sakuma-san." You thanked, unsure on what to do other than that.

"There's no need for formalities; we're friends, aren't we? You can just call me Rei-kun ♪"

"Rei... Kun, huh?" You muttered out the name. You couldn't help but smile at his words, even you could feel your cheeks heating up.

"[Name], shall we go back to the others now?" He asks, his smile never falters even slightly as he nudges his head to the direction the others are, you suppose.

If you weren't blushing before, you are absolutely blushing right now.

"... Sure." You replied. You still wanted to keep your composure, you didn't want to seem weird over such simple friendly gesture.

But that was so embarrassing...?? Why'd he call your name like that??

"Well, Sakuma—urm, Rei-kun. Was there another reason for you to do this?" You ask, walking alongside him as you passed by workers who were doing their job to finish cleaning up for the day.

"You're sharp, indeed." He smiled, turning his head to you, "I did notice something rather unusual about your performance just now—by no means I am trying to say it's terrible; I am simply rather curious. About you, specifically." He continues his monologue before his gaze falls upon you once again.

"You weren't acting like yourself, were you?" He asked, his tone sounded nonchalant over such question—too casual, is that the word?

His question is also ridiculous. You don't know what he means. No idols by all means truly act like themselves on stage, do they? It's just ridiculous.

"Fanservice, sultry clothes to keep the fans hooked—shouldn't you understand it, Rei-kun? You're an idol; an esteemed one, that is." You sighed, shaking your head. "I am sure even you don't want to reveal all part of yourself to the public, so isn't it... Quite a hypocritical question to ask?"

"It isn't about fanservice and whatnot, it's about how you acted so indifferently than the others; you looked sad, [Name]."

"... Please don't try to poke your nose into something you aren't apart of." Your tone was something of an angry whisper more than anything. You gritted your teeth, your hands curled into balls as you look away from him.

"Of course I wil not, that is something I am not qualified to do, but do well remember that we all love and care for you." Suddenly, his hands were on top of your shoulders.

His grip on your shoulders were firm—so warm for a self proclaimed vampire. His smile was so gentle too.

"I will not force you to tell me about your problems, but if you ever need someone to talk to please remember that I'm always available." With that, his hands left your shoulders, and thus he turned his back on you, leaving you there.

He stopped on his tracks and glanced back at you, he suavely smiled at you with a wave before he walks once again. "Don't be too late, alright? Your unitmates must be worried sick about you."

Perhaps you should've listened to his advices, but are you going to? No.

It's been... Months? Since you last saw Rei, you hadn't even went outside for a while. You feel so dirty for not doing so, the only source of light in your room was from the computer screen.

Your whole place is a mess, but you felt no motivation to clean up; no motivation to do anything anymore, not even to eat.

Your phone was left with thousands of unread messages from your immediate family, all voicing their concern about your sudden disappearance, but you knew they all had ulterior motive and didn't bother—you just can't bother anymore.

Your friends had been understanding of your situation, but you had allowed none to go inside your apartment—either way, it's pretty disgusting.

You soon lean back onto your chair, feeling nothing but eternal dread. How did you end up like this...? You used to be so bright and cheerful. How did you turn into a loser who hasn't seen the sun in weeks?

You want to change, you want... To go outside for a change. You haven't hanged out with your friends in a while, you want to hang out with them again, you wanna laugh with them again.

But do you even have the motivation to even put a deodorant on? You must smell pretty disgusting for not showering in a while. Ah, you'll just force yourself to.

You didn't really think too much about what to wear. You simply put on whatever clothes that was the closest to you. A hoodie and a tracksuit, it's fine. It's starting to get chilly outside anyways.

You grabbed your phone and other essentials before going to unlock the door. You stare back at your apartment, sighing through your nose at the ugly sight. Alas, you left.

The leaves are starting to fall down, the atmosphere is starting to get colder—the winter days are near. Ah, just what happened to fall?

You felt terrible; you've made so many plans with your friends this fall but only to end up standing them up like this. But surely they understand, right?

And how is Rei doing today? Does he miss you?

... Why would you even want to know. Him missing you or not is the least of your concern. You should be trying to fix your life that's in shambles right now, not think of that bastard.

Your attention focused on the cobblestone path, silently passing by different people with different lives—ah, how you envy them. They are all probably living a normal, comfortable life with their loved ones.

A normal life without needing to overthink about the simplest mistakes you make and even if they did, they'd come back home with someone to comfort them. How envious you are of them, really.

You shook your head, trying to shake those loathing thoughts away. Ah, must you really think of that right now? Just focus on... Trying to interact with another human being or something.

You continued afoot; to where? Not that you have a peculiar place in mind to go, but the park is always the prettiest in times like these. Maybe you should go there.

And thus you followed with your idea. The moment you were in the park, you covered your your lower face with your scarf. There was so many people here, it'd be a terrible thing if someone were to find out you're here.

You doubt everybody thinks you're dead, but still. Being caught in a park like this would be embarrassing.

From where you were standing, you could already see the lake frozen up as the atmosphere grows colder around you—the snows are piling up at the side of the pathways, much enough for children to already start playing with it.

The laugher goes through your ear and left the other as you further walked near the railing of the lake.

Christmas is near... You wish you could spend it with your friends and family this year, but you don't think you can after going on a sudden unplanned hiatus like this.

A rather melancholic feelings arisen within you. Ah, this is just terrible. You grip on the railing tighter, trying not to let a single tear fall.

From the corner of your eyes, a man came a close, leaning on the railing also besides you. The distance between you two is big, but it still felt awkward nonetheless.

"Christmas... It's the most wonderful time of the year, don't you think so?" The man asks. You would've just nodded or replied with a short yes like any other person would, but his voice. He isn't just some random guy—his voice was rather familiar.

You look over to your side to see the Rei Sakuma standing right beside you.

Wait, how did he know you're here? Or does he genuinely think you're a random person? Wait, what are you even supposed to do now?

Should you show your identity to him? Should you just pretend to not know him? What should you do?

"I-I guess." You coughed, pulling on your scarf farther onto your face as you glance away from the man.

He would be lying if he said he didn't knew it was you, but you don't seem to be too ready to disclose everything from the looks of it, so he'll just pretend; he'll simply pretend that you both are nothing but strangers by lucky circumstances.

"The snow... Does it remind you of anything, may I ask?" His question was a weird one. Well, it's Rei Sakuma... He is known to be an eccentric, so you suppose his questions are oughtta be eccentric too.

"... Well, I suppose it takes me back to when I was a dumb kid, playing the snow with my friends." You responded, smiling fondly at the memory. "My friend accidentally hit me with a snow so hard I accidentally fell and slipped down and hurt my head. Funny story."

"Fufu, that is a wonderful story. It brings back many nostalgic memories of me and my little brother in the past."

"I suppose." You replied once again.

Soon silence followed. The lack of conversation made the situation awkward, for you at least. There was white noise of children laughing and people talking, but it doesn't matter.

"I have a question for you, if you don't mind answering it." He suddenly spoke, his gaze didn't stray away from the distant buildings and his smile stays the same.

"Ah...? Go on?"

"Whenever you think of Christmas, does anyone come to mind? Christmas is a wonderful time of the year; even you have someone who you cherish deeply, no?"

You stayed silent. To him, his silence says it all.

"Ah, my apologies. A rather rude question to ask someone whom you've just met, huh?" He tried to damage control everything. "I apologize again, stranger. You must have somewhere else to go."

He pushed himself away from the railing, and soon turned his back on you. It reminds you all like that moment you shared with him on your last show.

"Until we meet again, kind stranger." He turned his head back to you for one last time.

Before he could leave, you instantly grab ahold of his biceps. His smile never falters yet you can see the confused look on his face.

"Sakuma Rei-kun. Please don't leave yet." You brought your scarf down, flashing him your face for a few moment.

"Ah, [Name]-chan. It's been a long time, hasn't it?" He asks, flashing you a closed eye smile as if he did not just try to pretend that you both are nothing but strangers.

"How did you know I was here?" Was your first question to him before you let go of his arm.

"I did not. It was simply a coincidence." His response deadpanned you mentally. "Perhaps even God has decided we'd be more a fit to be together and brought us in the same path once again...?" He chuckled at his own unfunny joke.

Your heart skipped a beat at his statement. Well, that was simply just a joke. He likes to tease around, yeah. It's a joke, don't get your hopes too high...

"I'm sorry for disappearing. I... Should've told you sooner that I'd be on hiatus, huh? Well, sorry. I'm a bad friend; if you even think of me as one..."

"No, don't fret over it, [Name]. I was concern about your sudden disappearance, but I'm sure you have your own reasons—whatever it is, I truly do hope that it's settled."

"I have been so lonely without you, you know? Without my best friend beside me, just who will I tease otherwise?"

"You are not funny, Rei-kun." You replied.

"Fufu, alright, alright. I'm sorry." He apologized, yet the chuckle he lets out says otherwise.

"But it has truly been a while, [Name]. I'd like to know more about everything that happened during your disappearance. Shall we grab a cup of hot tea?"

"Nothing happened. I was just fighting my own demons during my hiatus, I guess."

"Oh? Are you saying you summoned a demon during your break?" He asks, looking genuinely confused at your statement.

"It's... A slang." You muttered out.

"Ah, I see. What a weird slang, fufu. Perhaps I'll ask the children about it later." He chuckles, leaving you dumbfounded yourself.

You couldn't help but chuckle at his own words. Seriously, this guy such an eccentric.

An "I love you..." suddenly rolled down your tongue before you could even realize it.

Silence soon followed once again. You weren't sure whether you said that loudly or not, but the look on his face says the former.

"You... Love me?" He asks, bringing his hand to his chin as his cheeks were tainted with pink hues.

"Uhm, no... I didn't say—uhm, you're dreaming. Nothing about this is real." You stammered out, trying to hide the fact that you're far more than embarrassed that you accidentally confessed to him.

"Fufu, there's no need to be embarrassed about it, in fact; I do love you too."

Those words that rolled down his tongue, it was... Too surreal, you suppose? No way the Rei Sakuma from the unit UNDEAD would like—no, love you back, right?

What a strange turn of events.

[destinyc1020]

Yeah yo Im done. Y'all too much for me. You cannot not even express an opinion without someone saying anti tom or anti uncharted. I played those games I enjoyed them and was excited for the film, and I didnt like the film b/c it can be better it lacked so much of what action films do and fails to capture the charms and wit of the game. Like instead of accusing me of being anti tom or anti uncharted like ask yourself what aspects of the film you liked, what things in the script worked for you, what about the CGI or character that you liked cause Im curious to hear your persepctives. All I keep hearing is its fun, silly or tom is shirtless okay cool is that it. So then tell me what parts of the film were fun or silly. I shared my grivances for the film, box office doesnt equate enjoyment. You can buy ticket for something and come away massively dissapointed. Like criticism is part of watching a movie. Friday night at freddys was successful and people loved it and at the same time people were also critiquing it saying how it could have been better and what was lacking despite being box office successful. Like I said tom has charisma and I wished the director utilized , its not even a bad take this is common complaint for the film.

Im sorry that this isnt a space for that conversation here. I regret being paet of tbis fandom, I literally just gonna focus on other things in my life. The convos here arent even worth it, so much more important things to focus on. But not liking something and then it being framed as me hating tom is silly when I never said tom is bad actor or dumb for picking uncharted or discredited the films box office success.

Anon, you're perfectly welcome to your own opinions on my blog. That doesn't mean that everyone will agree. 🤷🏾‍♀️

I just think that a lot of Tom fans (including myself), are just a little sick and tired of so-called fans constantly nitpicking about Tom, or every single project that he does.

It's one thing to be generally positive and list a few areas that you feel need improvement, vs having smthg to complain about regarding him and his career just about every single WEEK. 🥴 The latter just gets old. 😩

And honestly? I feel like he gets a lot of unnecessary pressure and complaining than needed.

Instead of fans being happy for a POSSIBLE new project for him, a lot of you all have been complaining about how you hated the first movie. 😭

I mean, you don't have to like every single movie your fave does, but isn't it easier to just watch the films you want to see and just ignore the ones you don't? 👀

Anyway, I think some fans are just a bit sensitive because of the unnecessary nitpicking.

If you're not an anti, then thank you for clarifying that for us.

[soaps-hoe-141]

Back Together

Part 14

Pairing: Soap x Ghost

WC: 3.9k

Synopsis: Soap is taking the Lieutenant home this time

Warnings: Katy Perry

The next couple of days the team wasn’t allowed in the room without being searched by the hospital and base security. During the visit a nurse was posted outside their room just in case something, somehow got past the initial search. Their visits following that night were outstandingly boring as every time they had even the slightest uptick in conversation or fun the nurse would stick her head in just to be sure they hadn’t found anything they weren’t supposed to. Soap was cleared to move around the next day, Ghost’s frustrations obvious as he was still crutchless per nurse Allbright’s orders. A couple days after that the doctor cleared him to leave the hospital as he hadn’t shown any symptoms of TBI or concussion in the past 24 hours.

Ghost ignored him as he pulled a pair of pants on, careful not to lift the hospital gown too high. He sat back against the bed and pulled the gown off, scratching at a fresh new scar on his shoulder that a piece of shrapnel had torn into his skin during the explosion. He glanced up again looking across at Ghost who had his eyes on the ceiling. There hadn’t been any more escape attempts since they had put Ghost in here with him, but it was obvious the man was already thinking up his next great plan. He glimpsed a few sparse glances his way as he pulled a shirt out of the duffle bag that Price had brought him from his car that was still sitting on base. The Captain returned as if thinking about him had summoned him, the Scotsman was standing and buttoning his pants when Price walked in. Soap looked at him with a small smile, reaching out to take the papers in his hand. “You are officially discharged Sergeant. You aren’t cleared for duty yet but these are your instructions for taking care of yourself. Make sure you do it.”

Soap nodded as he took them, skimming over the words with little interest before glancing back at Ghost who had been quiet since nurse Allbright had told them Soap would be allowed to go home today. “What about Ghost, Captain?”

Price looked over Soap’s shoulder at the man who was ignoring them still before he shrugged, “He still has a few months Soap, why?” The Sergeant stayed quiet for a few seconds until a beep sounded from the Captain’s phone. He turned back to Price to watch as he pulled the phone out of his pocket and frowned at the screen. “We’re getting spun up. Not you two though, you both still have some recovery time. I have to go.”

He started to turn and leave before Soap said quickly, “Let them discharge him Cap, I’ll take care of him. I don’t want him stuck in here, shite’s depressing and he’ll just cause trouble if we leave him in here alone.”

Price’s brows furrowed and he eyed the both of them before relenting with a slow nod, “Alright, but-” the Captain held up a finger at him making sure that Soap was paying attention to him before continuing. “He can’t be walking around and messing up his leg any worse, understand? Also he has to agree to all of this as well, he might not want to be stuck inside with you for however long it takes.”

Soap nodded quickly, “He will, sir, just let them discharge him.” He added to himself then ‘I sure fuckin hope he will at least.’ Price nodded and then gestured towards Ghost in his bed still staring absently up at the ceiling. The shorter man gave a quick nod as Price left to go get Ghost discharged and to grab his little booklet on what to do if something goes wrong and how to take care of himself and the cast. Soap moved slowly, watching his hazel eyes through the holes of the balaclava. “Ghost?” He didn’t get an answer until he touched the man’s shoulder and got a grunt of acknowledgement from him for the first time in an hour. “Hey Lt. You want to get out of here? Go home?”

He watched as Ghost sat himself up then with an interested look in his eyes, “Damn right I do, Johnny.”

The Sergeant smiled at that, “Nice Lt. Price had a couple conditions though.” The eyes looking at him narrowed suspiciously before he continued, “First, I have to stay with you. Second, you can’t be standing up and walking around, especially without me. And third, you have to agree to all of this and whatever the fuck the little care packet thing says. Understand?”

Ghost continued to watch him for a second, thinking on the proposition, before giving him a minute nod, “Fine.” Soap knew that it was too easy, that he was not going to be singing to the same tune when they were out of here, but he would handle that then. He just needed Ghost to be onboard to get the fuck out of here the right way because he’d hate to see the trouble he’d cause getting out of here the way he knew the man was going to do otherwise. Price came back in with nurse Allbright on his heels, casting a worried look towards each of them. Both men watched as she produced a pair of crutches holding them out in front of her and Ghost muttered under his breath, “Get me the hell out of here Soap.”

Price said his goodbyes quickly, hurrying out to head for the mission briefing the other three members of the team were getting spun up for. Soap followed the Captain out heading in the other direction to get his car and pulled around to meet Ghost and nurse Allbright at the front entrance. The Sergeant jumped out to help the Lieutenant into the front seat, listening to the nurse as she gave him last minute worried instructions. He gave her a calming smile and a light pat on the shoulder, “We’ll be alright lass, thank you for putting up with us.”

She gave him a short snort as she shot back, “Neither of you made it easy that’s for sure. Stay safe you two, I don’t want to see you back in here any time soon.”

Soap smiled as he rounded the car, stopping before he got in to cast one more goodbye her way, “No plans to nurse Allbright. Goodbye lass.” He shut the door and hit the gas, enjoying everything blowing by him in the window, he was half sure he gave the nurse a heart attack as he looked in the rearview. He glanced in the passenger seat to find Ghost already watching him, a smile turning up the corners of his mouth at the unnoticed attention the man was paying him. “So Ghost, since we have to bunk together like we’re back in the barracks again, where’s your place? Mine isn’t very cripple friendly. There are a lot of stairs.”

A dead eyed stare took over his neutral look from a second ago. He didn’t answer for several seconds until Soap shifted uncomfortably in his seat, “I’ll let you know when to turn.” Soap gave a nod and then reached down to plug his phone into the car’s radio and turn on his early 2000s playlist, singing between Ghost’s quiet pointing and directing. When Ghost pointed to a small bungalow Soap was belting out Katy Perry so loud he missed the quiet instruction, even missing when the masked man turned in his seat to watch the house go by. “CALIFORNIA GURLS WE’RE UNFORGETTABLE DAISY DUKES BIKINIS ON TOP!!! SUN-KISSED SKIN SO HOT WE’LL MELT YOUR POPSICLE OHWOAHOH!!” A breath and before Ghost could try to get Soap’s attention he was belting out again, “CALIFORNIA GIRLS WE’RE UNDENIABLE! FINE, FRESH, FIERCE WE GOT IT ON LOCK-” Soap turned in his seat, his smile wide until he saw Ghost blinking at him and pointing behind them. He glanced back where they had come from and then it hit him and he asked, “I missed it, didn’t I…” The Lieutenant gave him a quiet nod, still pointing behind him and giving Soap this look that almost had him laughing. He thought for a second and then said, “Yeah, ok let me just…”

He glanced around taking advantage of the empty road to whip the car around so he didn’t have to pull off to the shoulder of the road. Ghost lunged for the handle holding himself upright just barely until they were cruising back down the road again. The Lieutenant turned his head sharply from the road in front of them when they were driving easily once again and nearly shouted at Soap, “Bloody hell Johnny, already have a broken leg and now you’re gonna give me fuckin whiplash.”

Soap smirked and gave a low, little laugh, “Keep talking I’ll give you a little more than that Lt.” The man in the passenger seat seemed to clam up at the innuendo before Soap remembered their awkwardness over the weeks prior to the accident and shut his own mouth. Both sat a little taller in the seat until they neared the bungalow again and Ghost pointed to it. He didn’t say anything else but Soap pulled into the empty driveway. He’d have to arrange to get Ghost’s truck back to his house at some point. somehow. First he needed to actually get him inside though. Soap threw the car into park and basically ran out, opening the passenger door and then the backseat where they had thrown the crutches in. “Alright Ghost, one second and I’ve got you.” He set the crutches against the car and then leaned down to grab Ghost by his upper arms and pulled him up and out of the low seat.

Ghost grunted as he stood, holding onto the roof of the car as Soap gave him his crutches. “My keys are in my pocket.” Soap nodded and hesitantly reached into his pocket until Ghost cleared his throat and clarified with a stiff voice, “Other pocket.”

The Sergeant pulled his hand out and with a tight-lipped smile and a muttered, “Sorry,” before he reached into the other pocket pulling out the keys and hurrying up the few steps to the small porch on the front of the bungalow. He had the door unlocked by the time Ghost made it up the two steps and he stepped aside to let the other man go in first. The inside was rustic, surprisingly well decorated, and almost obsessively clean even after being devoid of life for so long. “Damn Lt. how’d you afford a place like this?”

Ghost sat quickly on the brown leather couch, relaxing back into the cushions with a sigh before quietly answering, “Don’t ask questions you don’t want to know the answer to, Johnny.”

Soap felt a smile tugging at his mouth as he followed Ghost into the living room. An open archway led into what he thought was probably a kitchen, and a hallway led further into the home but turned with only one door before the rest was obscured. “Did you go to the market before we left or do I need to have dinner delivered?”

“I’m not sure, go look. Kitchen is that way,” Ghost pointed towards the archway and Soap nodded, disappearing further into the dark house and flipping on lights as he went. The first room through the archway wasn’t a kitchen though, it was a small dining room with a slender vase of flowers that needed to be changed sitting in the middle. Four mahogany chairs with gray cushions sat around a matching mahogany wood table and the homeliness of it made Soap’s chest tighten, he hadn’t seen anything like that outside of his own family’s home. He certainly hadn’t seen it at any of his partner’s homes and they never brought him, the unpredictable SAS operative home to the parents. He wasn’t exactly the type of man you showed off to your family at Christmas or Easter, he was the secret you kept hidden from your loved ones. The Scotsman cleared his throat and continued on through the room into the kitchen where a silver double door fridge with two pullout drawers, one of which was a freezer, was nested between two dark gray granite countertops with mahogany cabinets underneath them. Fuck this house was beautiful so far and he’d barely even seen any of it. How Ghost had ever afforded this place was a mystery to him.

Soap opened the fridge, it was basically empty save for a few things that didn’t go bad very fast like condiments and preserved foods. The Scot sighed and checked the other two drawers, there was a bit of sandwich meat and cheese in the first drawer that was still in date but the meat was nearing its expiration. The freezer drawer at the bottom had some ice cream and a few frozen meals in the bottom in case Ghost didn’t have the time or desire to actually cook anything. Soap shook his head slowly, “Nope, that won’t do.” He pulled out his phone searching for a place on the cheaper side nearby he could order them dinner from, they had just suffered through hospital food for a little over a week. There was no way Soap was about to eat a frozen fuckin dinner. Neither of them were, they both deserved better than that.

He nearly dropped his phone when he heard the familiar, raspy voice behind him ask, “Is there anything to eat?”

He shook his head quickly in answer, “No I’m ordering Mexican from that new place that opened up near the bar, they have free delivery right now for the first month of their opening. What do you want?”

Ghost gave it a careful thought for a moment before he answered, “Enchiladas and elote.” Both of their stomachs rumbled at the thought when Soap nodded.

“Do you want everything in it?” Ghost nodded immediately and Soap added his order to the cart. Without thinking much about it the Scotsman pushed himself up on the counter, before going back to his phone, not glancing up at Ghost whose eyes were glued to him unable to break away. Soap swiped through the menu slowly, one finger tapping slowly against his thigh to a beat only he could hear as he scrolled. “Hey Ghost,” he glanced up quickly looking at the masked man who was leaning on his crutches, “the elote comes with four, can I have one of yours? I don’t want much but I’m going to get tamales and elote sounds good too.” The masked man nodded his answer and Soap went back to ordering their food before he leaned to the side, reaching for his wallet and putting in his card. Finally, he looked back up, “Alright it should be here soon.” He seemed to notice for the first time that Ghost was standing up then, “Seriously Lt.? The second rule was literally not to be up and walking around a lot yet. You’re supposed to be sitting down.”

The tall man shrugged and turned quickly, heading back into the living room to sit back on the couch with Soap following close behind him like a sheepdog nipping at his heels. He hadn’t even noticed it at first but there was a fireplace against the wall across from the shorter side of the brown leather sectional. Ghost sat back, putting his cast up on the shorter side of the sofa and leaning back into the cushions. Soap sat on the opposite side, catching Ghost’s gesture with a nod to the mahogany table that sat beside the sofa, “The remote is in the drawer. Put something good on, I’m tired of the hospital channels.” 

Soap smirked and gave the other man a mock salute before answering with, “Aye sir.”

------

“Oh come on Lt.! He’s clearly cheating on her!” Soap’s hand was outstretched at the TV where a man was denying vehemently that he had been sleeping with another woman despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Ghost was shaking his head, “I don’t think so, I don’t see it in his eyes.”

“Fuck his eyes Lt. he literally got caught coming out of her apartment at 3:00, not to mention the ridiculous number of texts between the two at all hours of the day. Give me a good reason for that,” blue eyes stared expectantly at hazel, waiting to hear whatever reason this man thought he could come up with. But it never came, he just received a shrug from the big man. Two empty to-go boxes sat on the table in front of them, one having held Ghost’s enchiladas and the other Soap’s tamales. They were both leaning over on an elbow as they ate their elote, Soap nearly done with two while Ghost was still on his first.

As the Scotsman finished his second he glanced down at the last one and then back up at Ghost. He threw the finished cob into his empty box and leaned back against the cushions as they watched. He didn’t realize that the other man had noticed his wanting gaze at the last piece of elote. Not until Ghost said quietly, “You can have the last one Johnny, I’m done after this one.” Ghost sat up still working slowly on his piece.

Soap looked at him quizzically before asking, “Are you sure Lt.? I got them for you.”

Ghost nodded as he took a bite and muttered out with his mouth full, “‘M soe, eat if.”

Soap chuckled at him but relented with a nod and took the last piece finishing it off just as Ghost finished his. He checked his phone absently, it was midnight already and he was honestly exhausted, feeling the dull ache returning as he laid there. “Alright Ghost, I need to get some sleep. My head’s starting to hurt again. I’ll help you get ready for bed though, let’s go big man.”

Ghost eyed him then with a look before shaking his head, “I don’t actually have a bedroom yet. The rest of the house isn’t really finished.” When Soap’s head tilted in confusion he elaborated, “I put everything else in myself too. The fireplace and the cabinets in the kitchen, the sinks, and the showers. I just haven’t gotten around to the bedrooms or the master bathroom yet. The guest bathroom is mostly done though. I was gonna work on the bedrooms when we got back from this last spin-up but then this fuckin leg thing happened and-” his knuckles knocked against the cast and Soap nodded his understanding slowly.

There was something immensely attractive about the fact that Ghost had put this house together himself but he pushed the desire down, that wasn’t what he was here for. He was here to be a very needed friend for the man who had done the same for him and he had every intention of doing his best to return the favor without any strings attached. “Oh, well what about your clothes? You shouldn’t stay in those clothes, you’ve had them on all day, and those sweats definitely need to be changed.”

Ghost gestured down the hall, “I have some boxes in the master bedroom waiting for whenever I find a dresser. I’ve been living out of those for a while now.”

Soap pushed himself up slowly, grabbing all the trash and the empty cups they had been using and saying, “Alright well wait here. I’ll bring you some more clothes in a few minutes. Let me know if he was actually cheating on her or not.”

The Lieutenant nodded and he saw the smile on his lips since his mask was pushed up his face to eat earlier. Soap disappeared into the kitchen to throw everything away and wash the glasses quietly, humming quietly to himself as he did. As he was putting the glasses away he heard Ghost’s voice call back to him, “I told you! He didn’t do it!”

“Yer bum’s oot the windae!” Soap rushed back to the living room to listen as the man’s wife apologized to him for doubting him. “Dè bha thu a' dèanamh aig an taigh aice aig trì sa mhadainn an uairsin?” He nearly shouted at the TV.

Ghost was chuckling from where he was laying on the couch, arms crossed over his chest. “English Johnny,” he said in between the quiet chuckles.

“That’s bullshit Lt. The man was at her place at three in the fuckin morning! Who the bloody hell just goes and does that shit if they aren’t doing something!?” Soap was leaning against the back of the couch, his fingers digging into the leather until he felt Ghost’s eyes on him and looked down.

The tall man gave another huff of laughter as he answered, “I was at your apartment for nearly three days two different times. And one of those you slept an entire day cause you were hungover as shite.”

Soap gave him a thoughtful look and nodded, “That’s fair, you make a good point. I’ll give you that one.” He stood back up, heading down the hall slowly. “I’ll have to think about that one Lt.,” he called back to the man still laying on the sectional as he began looking through the doors. The first door that he could see before the bend in the hallway was the guest bathroom Ghost had mentioned earlier. He kept going down, opening another door to find the second bedroom he guessed. The last door was the master bedroom, it had an attached master bathroom but he didn’t go that far in. Stooping to pick through the boxes until he found a pair of shorts that the Lieutenant could pull over his cast and a thin t-shirt. He met the man back in the living room, “Here you go Ghost, I’ll be right back. I’m gonna grab my duffel.”

The big man nodded and set himself to changing as Soap headed back out to his car. When he came back inside the man had changed into his shorts but had thrown the shirt on the table instead covering himself up with a blanket on the longer part of the sectional and making himself as comfortable as he could with a cast on his leg. Hazel eyes looked up at him as he came around the sectional. Ghost nodded to a few blankets sitting on the stone of the fireplace, “Mi casa-”

Soap gave a small smile and finished for him, “Es su casa.” Ghost nodded and closed his eyes. He left the living room to change into a pair of shorts, foregoing his t-shirt himself. Honestly he hated sleeping with too many clothes, it made him feel like he was being suffocated when he had too much fabric clinging to him. He came back and Ghost had set his mask on the table, turning to hide his face against the couch cushions so he didn’t have to open his eyes but he knew just from the lack of light snores that he wasn’t asleep yet. Soap grabbed a few blankets, laying two on the hardwood floor next to the fireplace and using the last one to cover up with. He felt a look on his back but he didn’t turn around, he still remembered very clearly that Ghost didn’t want this, them, and he was going to respect that as best he could. And he knew the temptation would bring an ache to his body if he slept too close to him like he had done in his own apartment. He was enjoying what had become an easy friendship and he didn’t want to screw that up, not again.

[drafthorsemath]

Let’s get some fun recommendations goin around here! What’s a piece of clone content (art, fic, etc) that has stuck with you as being notably excellent? Tag it in your answer so we can all find some new fun to read! If you want, of course; feel free to ignore! 💕

Okay a couple recs

This wonderful modern au by @techslander with cover art by @wrenkenstein featuring Tech and Juno.

This fic by @eclec-tech with Crosshair and Phee

A lot of people probably know of Doc's Misadventures by @staycalmandhugaclone, but I would be remiss if I didn't add this fic where Crosshair notices something about their new squad member. (CW for past abuse)

If you like spicy Crosshair then this exists by @lightwise and @freesia-writes.

I also cannot forget my sister's art. She did Crosshair, Tech, Tup, and two versions of Gregor. This haunting piece of a clone trooper always gets me. On a personal note, she also made art of my fic with Crosshair and Omega.

For some education, there's this post by @fox-trot about Gregor, PBA, and TBI. I refer to it any time I think about writing Gregor just because I want to get it right.

Finally, anyone who hasn't done so needs to check out @cobaltbeam

Okay that's more than a couple, but deal.

[fandom-hoarder]

I'm about to watch walker 4x07... (copypaste from DM with the bestie <3)

The way the jackal notebook looks like John's journal, cordell waking up to that instead of geri has me 👀👀👀👀

Luna is watching hawk's shadow hahhh

God, cassie talking about the double standard for women dating 👀👀 will this be explored

Omg tactical gear and all, on a hunch👀👀👀

Stella so pretty

Witt being awfully pushy istg

Campus security thinking it's just some drunk frat dude, after seeing that video, is willful ignorance lmfao

Lmao I'm over here like, hell no I'm not letting you in my house without a warrant, jfc

I knew they would draw on him for reaching for something but goddamn😬

Lmao Bonham's shade at cordell teaching stella bad technique

Cordell is looooooosing itttttt

"I'm not gonna lose my friend to this" hiiiiii have you looked in a mirrorrrrr

Having cereal for dinner cuz he's solely focused on the case hahhh relatable

See, this is why geri had to leave

He's gotta have no tether at home

Is it too much to hope for an Emily's ghost moment before the end of this case 👀👀👀👀

Corpus Crooner ?? Lolol

Omg

Even good karaoke gives me secondhand embarrassment lol

Lmao that chest shot

The closeups on Luna lol they know what they're doing. I'm always so amused

Lololol is bonham IGNORING Abilene

Ooof stella is like damn

Dtr tho lol

He's not gonna show up to boot camp is he...

"He's a zookeeper" lmfao jfc

ROTTING DOG

[Why are commercials so weirddddd (i know why but good LORD)

Why is kevin hart literally in EVERYTHING]

Oh it's this kind of zoo lololol

Serpentarium lmfao

I FUCKING KNEW IT. HE'S MISSING AUGIE

Gotta be consistent, i guess lmao

Omg that fall sync up

THE FRUIT

Augie!!!

Aaaaaaahhhh head injury!! Lol jared has acting tbi DOWN

Lmao lovey dovey cassie

I love trey and augie so much 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

He's really been an influence in his maturity

"I'll make it up to him" that's a familiar line

Yeah, liam, tell himmmmm

"Dramatic" ooh and that flippant affect 😯😯😯😯😯😯

He is LOSING it losing it 👁👄👁

BLACK GLOVESSSSS???

Oh i see

IS HE WILL GRAHAMING IT???

😱😱😱😱😱😱😱 YOU CAN'T END THERE OMG

Hahhhhh please let this get renewed god

Rewatching the ep immediately lmfao

What difference does a 5pm curfew make if you're not around to enforce it lolol

Eating cereal so you don't have to think about cooking and staring at the thing you're reading...also relatable

Cassie unable to separate work/life on the romantic side parallel to Cordell's inability to work/life balance on the work side 👀

Cordell is like a bomb sniffing dog that alerts for everything

(There's a series of YouTube shorts about a retired bomb sniffer that false alerts everywhere he goes😅 reminds me of that)

It's funny in all that ranch house they don't have somewhere else to put the home gym 😅

Bonham so snotty on the "our ranch" lol. Sounds a little bit "my ranch" sir

Did stella even get a new room or anything? Is she still in the same dorm the guy used a KEY to get in?

Once again, the coming inside to ask questions part makes me sooo 😬😬😬😬😬😬

I am so not letting 4 rangers IN TACTICAL GEAR into my house without a warrant. Don't care HOW innocent i am

You think i warrant that much prep, you can GET a warrant

Serial killer case not enough to excuse it. That's how cases get thrown out, buddy

Goddddddd only augie even knows her dorm was broken into. Like it is just hitting me how they all really don't know what she's going through. Yeah girl, get some self defense from grandpa

I knew augie was gonna help that kid as soon as he failed the trial time lol

Everybody and his literal mama: Cordi, you're letting the case consume you

Cordell: well that's just, like, your opinion, man 😉

Stella's braid is so cute. Lol bonham giving abilene the snub understandable, but stella just staying focused on her punches and also ignoring her😅

Wonder if cordell is going to miss August's high school grad, too 👀👀👀👀👀👀 y'know, to keep it all even lol

Lalala what is a warrant lololol

The visual storytelling on this show is so ON POINT this season. The music, the video syncing with these multiple parallels in the bootcamp/zoo scene, the main plot/secondary plot parallels. They're FOCUSED

AUGUST, PLEASE DON'T JOIN THE ARMY. PRETTY PLEASE.

I'm soooo happy about liam being like "stella is going through it and you in particular should be there for her on this but you're ignoring it"

[tempertyzias]

SIDEBLOGS - art only: @incivisi - trigun: @twistedchristianscience - dungeon meshi: @mithursday - rainworld: @songstillsinging - mspfa: @tempertempermspfa - kin: @cavaliercanine - ☆ - I do have an 18+ sideblog but you have to ask me what it is sorry

Intro under the cut cause I don't like having a long pinned post

I am very indecisive and therefore have a billion names including but not limited to Temperance, Twist, Tyzias, and Moose. it/he/she/vey. more about me can be found on my neocities site (warning my site has moving / flashing gifs!)

I'm a queer disabled animal that likes making stuff! Outside of art, I do lots of things like glass / metal / woodworking, taxidermy / vulture culture, and, as my main job, fursuit making!

you're welcome to spam tag me / generally tag me in anything (especially posts about shrimp, please!), send me asks and messages, etc, I love interacting on here! but Watch Out I have a TBI + various mental illnesses + brain fog so I might just. repeat what you said / part of what you said (I do this a LOT) or not respond at all- I promise im not ignoring you!

also tags: #temper talks - I say things #tempered talks - talking about health related stuff, filter this tag if you dont wanna hear me complain about joint pain all the time #temper temper - anything related to my mspfa #yeah I can quit... if I wwwwant to get queued - queued post tag

again I don't like having a long pinned post so that's all thank you :9

[collabsfullfillment]

😭 CRYING - what makes them cry? do they cry easily?

🍟 FRIES - do they order food often? or they prefer to cook their own food?

(for whoever)

😭 CRYING - what makes them cry? do they cry easily?

Sunshine: It usually happens when he's thoroughly ashamed of himself, or scared for the safety of his loved ones. Though it doesn't happen often... he's cried a lot more in his life than he's let on. He's also a sympathetic crier, but the people in his life aren't big on crying.

Ambrosia: She is not a frequent crier. Hell, she can count the amount of times she's cried in the last twenty years on one hoof. She only breaks down when she feels like she's unable to find a way to move forward or make something work.

Static: They tear up easily, and they hate it. They have a low pain tolerance, they get scared and embarrassed and frustrated more easily than they'd like, and trying not to cry just makes them cry harder.

Glimmer: Tends to get sniffly if things don't go her way, or if she feels rejected. She knows enough to excuse herself to compose herself, or to tell the other person to ignore her tears and continue the discussion- the last thing she wants to do is manipulate someone via her RSD.

Rover: Can't remember the last time he cried. Can't remember much of anything, really, his memories are fuzzy from a TBI. He's never been much of an empathetic person, even though he's a helpful one. Stress tends to roll off his shoulders.

Lucky: Tears up when she feels burnt out. She tends to push herself harder than needed, and when she gets overstimulated, or needs to get her weight off her bad leg, or is dealing with frustrating customers, she needs to go to the back and calm down- which happens at least twice a week.

🍟 FRIES - do they order food often? or they prefer to cook their own food?

Sunshine: Much prefers to cook than order out- he'd legitimately be happy if you just gave him a lifetime's supply of rice grain for his rice cooker. But changing it up every so often is nice...

Ambrosia: Like Sunshine, she massively prefers to cook, but unlike Sunshine, she likes to experiment with a variety of recipes.

Static: Orders takeout frequently, and honestly doesn't know how to cook beyond heating things in the microwave.

Glimmer: Pretty evenly split between ordering takeout and cooking. She's not the best chef, and messing up a recipe can ruin her mood for the rest of the day- ordering takeout after that feels like admitting defeat, though.

Rover: Doesn't have the luxury of ordering takeout. Survives off what he can find in the wild for the most part, canned and preserved food is a rare treat to indulge in.

Lucky: Doesn't have much money to afford takeout, and doesn't have the energy to cook. She'll stop by the corner store every so often to buy cheap junk she doesn't have to prepare, but she eats very little of it.

[solrika]

Vent post.

Id put it behind a cut but I’m on mobile :/ also this is very ramble and not at all coherent but oh well.

I always have a bit of an issue with posts like this that are like “your trauma and how you react to it doesn’t make you a bad person” because. Uh. Cycles of abuse are a thing, you can absolutely do bad things out of trauma responses. You can absolutely be a shitty, hurtful person from a place of pain. (Staring at the entire state of Israel and its treatment of Palestine). Especially in the context of that post, which specifically mentions anger issues and addiction.

I’m not replying or reblogging said post because I truly don’t think that’s what op was going for, the greater point was “autism isn’t just sunshine and roses but can create real issues for people,” it’s just… an accidental unfortunate implication. But it’s late and I’m dealing with my own neuroatyoical issues flaring up atm so. Yelling about implications and the need for nuance and space for caretaker burnout on my own blog. Probably dealing with some buried trauma of my own.

(Also the USA healthcare system sucks for people who can’t easily take care of themselves, I dunno what it’s like outside the country but in here you need SO Much Money just to get barely adequate care for TBIs or Alzheimer’s or shit. )

There’s a little byplay in the notes that I think is important—someone says “I don’t have autism but I got secondhand trauma because my sibling does,” someone else responds “fuck you, of course allistic is making it all about them self” and a third person goes “hey it’s very common for the siblings of disabled people to be neglected in favor of the ‘squeaky wheel,’ I know it hurts to hear but disability hurts more than just the disabled person.” That plus some of the notes describing damage that autistic people have done (and largely regretted) to others… Disabled people can cause harm. That’s a thing!!! Being disabled does not make you blameless! Cool motive still murder!

And your disability can absolutely cause secondhand harm even if you don’t mean it to! My little sister no longer feels like the smaller sibling because my parents spend more emotional energy on me—and that’s a mild case, my disability only really began being an issue when we were both in college. It’s nothing compared to her friend, whose adult brother suffered a TBI and can’t live at home because it’s not safe to have a huge man around who can’t regulate his strength when he’s upset. It’s not at all his fault that he’s like this, but it’s a horrible situation and ALL involved should be able to say that it’s horrible.

I have done shitty things because of trauma responses, and I have worked really hard to create strategies to keep those shitty behaviors from happening again. I give myself—and others—a bit of a pass when a situation is truly uncontrollable. Or when someone is actively trying to ignore boundaries I’ve set to protect myself, but… that’s not the same as going “I have anger issues. Huh. Oh well! I will continue having destructive trauma responses and do nothing to mitigate it!”

I dunno. I’m sure some of this strong reaction of mine comes from being lashed out at by people in the midst of their own meltdowns, even though those have been more TBI related than autism related. Still. The meltdown was unavoidable but the ways they acted during were… hm. Not great.

At least stay away from vulnerable entities when you’re like this. My partner removes himself from the dog when he’s having a meltdown because the dog can provoke him into physically lashing out. (The dog has no idea, of course. The dog is very stupid and only barely understands what me crying means. ) He can’t control the meltdown happening but he can step away from things he could hurt. I really wish the people who hurt me had stepped away from the child I was.

I wish I’d gotten an apology, too. Like at least apologize for your shitty behavior, please!

(This whole “writing my own separate post and not tagging op” is one of those “hm. Am having Emotion. How to express it without causing pain to others” things I’ve tried to cultivate.)

If you don’t fucking MANAGE damage to others, others won’t want to be around you. If you hurt someone they are absolutely within their rights to set boundaries to protect themselves.

I dunno. I started at point A and I’m not sure where I went from there. Don’t be a dick I guess.