#and then him finding a friend in donna and trying not to fuck it up like he did with martha and it ending with him having to wipe donnas

[clockwayswrites]

Cozytober Days... the rest? Game night, Wrapped in a soft, fuzzy blanket.

masterpost

It was unnerving how everyone’s attention turned to him as soon as he exited the bedroom. Jason scooted his chair back in clear invitation and Danny took up the offer. Once he’d settled into Jason’s lap, one of Jason’s large hands pressed comfortingly against Danny’s stomach, he gave a little wave to the table.

“People, this is my boyfriend Danny, he/him,” Jason said. “Danny, the protective jackass—”

“Hey!”

“—is my friend Roy, he/him. Next to him is Kori, she/her. Then we’ve got Cass, my sister, she/they; Babs, she/her; Dick, one of my brothers, he/they; Tim, another brother and a menace, any; Donna, she/her; and Wally, he/him.”

Danny looked around the group, trying to take in all the names and faces. Faces at least were easier. He leaned back against Jason’s broad chest and smirked a little. “Lots of red.”

Jason snorted. “Yeah, no, that would be Dick’s fault. He has a thing for dating redheads.”

“Jason,” Dick said with a pout while Roy gave another offended ‘hey’.

“We,” Roy continued and motioned between himself and Dick, “did not date.”

Wally coughed obviously into his hand. “Fuck buddies.”

Tim slowly leaned forward to look at Dick. “Really? Even Roy? You have a problem, Dick.”

“It’s not my fault that redheads are the best people,” Dick said primly.

Kori and Roy high-fived with a ‘hell yeah’. Danny hid his smile behind a stolen sip of Jason’s drink. He could see why these people were Jason’s friends.

“Do you want us to redeal, Danny, or are you going to be on Jason’s team?” Babs asked.

Danny quickly motioned to Jason. Being out there with them was enough for right then.

“Okay,” she said with an easy smile.

Play resumed; Jason explained the basic rules quietly into Danny’s ear. Everyone was (almost suspiciously) patient and accepting of Danny being there and didn’t even prod him for any information until the absurd amount of pizza had been delivered. Danny squeezed in next to Jason on the large arm chair, still needing to be close if he was going to be out there.

It was Dick who started. “So Danny, how did you and Jason meet?”

“Library,” Danny said after he had swallowed his bite of margarita pizza. They variety the group had ordered was impressive. “At GU.”

“A library is usually a good place to find Jason,” Roy teased.

Jason just took another bite of his supreme and flicked Roy off.

“Are you still at Gotham University?” Babs asked. After Danny’s nod she added, “What degree are you getting?”

Those words were a little harder to force out, after what had happened that day. Jason’s thumb brushed under the too large sweater and against Danny’s skin. Danny took a breath. He could do this. He didn’t care what that professor thought. “Social work.”

“Oh, that’s great! I’m a librarian myself. It’s nice to have more people going into social based works,” she said with a really kind smile.

Danny smiled back and tucked himself a little shyly closer to Jason. He didn’t mean to be shy about things, but it was a lot of attention all on him. He wasn’t used to that when he wasn’t out as Phantom, and Phantom was years in the past at this point and something that Danny was still working through in therapy.

Tim was apparently ‘next’ and asked, “Where are you from?”

Danny motioned over his shoulder. “Ohio. Glad to be gone.”

Roy barked out a surprised laugh like that, but Tim just squinted for a moment before pulling out his phone.

“Holy shit,” Tim said, “that is actually the direction that Ohio is.”

Danny just shrugged.

“He’s like a passenger pigeon,” Jason said with a chuckle. “Danny always seems to know what direction north is, so as long as he knows where something is relative to where he is, he can find his way there.”

“Passenger pigeons are extinct,” Tim said.

“That too,” Danny quipped back, hiding his large smile with another bite of his pizza.

Jason’s laughter definitely confused everyone, but he just shook his head and didn’t explain. Thankfully, the attention left Danny for a bit, though there was obvious effort to include Danny in the conversation, verbally or not. It was… sweet of them. It was a surprise.

It was even more of a surprise when Wally suggested that Danny play a main roll in the next game.

“See, one player actually isn’t supposed to talk out loud at all!” Wally explained excitedly as he unpacked the box. “Their job is to play the ‘ghost’ who is giving clues to everyone else about who killed them and where with these cards!”

Danny took a sip of his beer to avoid laughing at the idea of him playing a ghost in a game.

“Because you’re a ghost,” Wally continued, “you can’t say anything to the ‘living’. So you wouldn’t have to talk! Which… like, I’m hoping doesn’t come across as rude at all? I just thought maybe it would be something fun. If you don’t want to do it or don’t like the idea or if I’m being a total jackass right now—”

Wally really could talk fast, couldn’t he? Danny made his thoughts known by taking the folded up game screen and setting it up in front of himself.

Instantly, Wally grinned. “Yeah? Okay! So let me explain how this game all goes. Come on, guys, get your butts over here.”

There was some good natured grumbling, but the few people still clustered around the island came back over to the table. A folding chair had been added to the now cramped space so that Danny had his own seat (not that he would have minded continuing to sit in Jason’s lap).

It proved fun playing the ‘ghost’ in the game. There was a surprising amount of thinking he had to do on his end and then he got to watch the rest of the pull the clues apart in all of the right and hilariously wrong ways. This group’s ability to over analyze was amazing and Danny enjoyed watching every moment of it. Thankfully they got there in the end.

“I am avenged,” Danny said when their final guess was right.

The table cheered and some of them high-fived. Danny smiled as he watched. It was much easier to smile then than it had been at the start of his visit. The smile turned into covering a yawn though as the exhaustion of everything hit.

Jason obviously noticed. He leaned forward to gather up the cards. “Okay you invading heathens. I think that’s the last game for the day. I know some of you have other shit to get to also this evening.”

“I guess it has gotten late,” Dick said, jumping obviously in to support Jason’s order despite some of the other good natured grumbling at the table about having to wrap up already. “But Danny, if you want, we’re having brunch at the Manor on Sunday, you’re welcome to join us.”

Danny froze at the offer. He couldn’t help the gut response even though he relaxed again quickly. Jason had been right, at least about those who were at the table tonight, his family were fine with Danny’s lack of words. After the initial awkwardness, Danny had been okay with not being able to say everything he wanted—or as much as he ever was okay with it.

“That sounds nice,” Danny said after a moment of thought later. “If I can make it.”

“We get it if not,” Dick said with an understanding smile. “It was still great to meet you. Now I can bother Jason about his cute boyfriend.”

“He so will,” Tim said from where he was trying to untangle the mess of coats and hand out the right thing to the right person.

“Of course he will,” Jason grumbled, but there was a softness to the complaining. He reached over and draped an arm behind Danny’s chair, apparently content to let the others do the picking up from their surprise invasion.

“It’s my legal right as a big brother,” Dick said.

Cass raised her hand.

“Yes, you have that right too as a big sister,” Dick said to her. Cass grinned in Jason’s direction.

“Okay, yeah yeah,” Jason said. “Wally, take the leftovers if you want them. I’ll deal with the dishes and bottles. Get, vermin.”

“Apparently we are mice now,” Kori said to Roy.

“Or rats.”

“Or bats.”

“Oh, totally not bats, only the Gotham vermin gets to be bats.”

“Duh.”

The group continued to debate what type of vermin eat of them was as they pushed through the door and out of Jason’s apartment. Jason got up after the door closed and they had a few moments of silence to lock the door and start shoving plates and glasses into the dishwasher.

“Thanks for putting up with the surprise invasion,” Jason said.

“They were nice. It was… nice,” Danny said. He folded up the chairs that could and set them against the wall.

“Still. And also I’m proud of you for coming out and being part of it. I know that’s hard for you on the good days.”

“It is, but this… this helped it be a better day,” Danny said. He was still speaking slower than normal, but at least the words were coming to him now.

Jason glanced up with one of his soft smiles. “I’m glad. I knew they’d love you.”

“They don’t love me,” Danny said. He could feel himself blushing, but stubbornly ignored that and picked up the beer and soda bottles to empty and recycle.

‘’You’re bound to be the new family favorite,” Jason teased.

“Lies. Can’t. I’m not even a Wayne.”

“Not yet,” Jason said it so easily and yet Danny couldn’t only look at him in surprise.

Jason came over and kissed Danny, gob smacked expression and all. He took the rest of the bottles out of Danny’s hand, dumped them in the recycling, and then pulled Danny close.

“I’m thinking soft blankets, catching up on some bad reality shows, and cuddling on the couch,” Jason said.

“I, yeah,” Danny said, trying to get his mind moving again. “That sounds like a really nice nice.”

“Good.” Jason kissed Danny again. “Go make one of your little nests of blankets. I’m going to start the dishwasher and I’ll be right over.”

“Got it,” Danny said and basically bounded to the couch and wrapped a blanket around his shoulders right away.

He didn’t know about the future. He didn’t know if he would be a Wayne or what would happen with school or where he’d be in five years. He didn’t know any of that, but he did know that coming over to Jason’s worked as it always did and the day was ending much better off than it had been. He did know that he loved Jason. He did know that Jason loved him. And right then, all of that was just perfectly enough.

[mysterycitrus]

[a roy pov companion snippet to persephone part two]

There was a time, just after his father’s death, when Roy would fall into fits of choking suffocation.

His throat would close, his mouth turning itchy and hot and tight and he’d gasp and claw at his own flesh, desperate for air. Wheezing, bent over on all fours, struggling to breathe and desperate for relief, swallowing around that phantom smoke in his lungs that clung to him and refused to leave.

Brave Bow would find him in the dirt, press a calloused hand to his forehead and brush his hair from his eyes. He’d had the same hands as Roy’s father, then – steady from years fletching arrows.

Calm, boy, he’d say. The fire is gone, and you remain. You remain, and for that you must breathe.

It’d taken years before Roy felt it again, crouched with a needle in his arm and Oliver Queen’s shadow casting him in darkness. That same, encompassing squeeze that pushed his organs taut against his bones, stretched like taffy and drawing all air from his body. It’d been Dinah there with him, that time. Different callouses, with that same tender gentleness.

Then, Jade. Lian. Ollie. Donna. His comfort changed shape, and he learnt to drag himself out of the fire by himself, breathing around the fist in his mouth. The feeling became familiar, and so did the way it would leave him trembling and skittish. In and out. Inhale, exhale. You remain, and for that you must breathe.

Now, he’s sitting on a rooftop in Queens, and the smoke has returned to drown his best friend, because Dick Grayson believes there is evil in him. That all the good he’s done is poisonous. That he bears the burden of a grown man’s mistakes. Because – because Bruce Wayne couldn’t let one good fucking thing in the world lie.

He carries through the motions, watching himself from outside his own body as Dick thrashes, refuses to breathe until Donna physically compresses his lungs for him, forcing him to inhale. His heart is beating so fast it’s as if it’s not beating at all.

Never in his life has Roy wanted to kill someone more.

Donna is staring bullets into the side of his head as they descend into Dick’s apartment, holding him with a tight grip. Dick, younger Dick, seventeen-year-old hurt and miserable and alone Dick, stays silent but his eyes flutter like he’s about to pass out. The bruise on his face has only darkened in the hours since they left Jason Todd’s apartment, and the yellow spots on his cheekbone have started to purple. The bags beneath his eyes are deep.

How did I never notice he was like this? Roy thinks, half incredulous at himself. How did we let this happen that first time?

There was an answer, but it was for an older Dick who still carried all his cards to his chest. Would they be forgiven when that Dick found out what they knew about him? How they knew him now, better than they had before?

Garth, bless him, is holding a performatively casual pose as they gently push Dick through the open window. The soup is in a bowl – the slightly misshapen one that’d been Damian’s first try with a kiln – and Garth looks at him, then the soup, and pivots to start the kettle instead. What Dick really needs is solids, and maybe some protein, Roy knows, but the chances of him just throwing it back up again are high.

“Garth,” Roy says, and Garth turns those big, glistening eyes at him. It’s like staring into a lava lamp. “I’m sorry, but nobody wants any fucking soup.” Then he risks putting his hands on Dick’s shoulders – the kid doesn’t flinch, thank God – and says: “You, stay there. I need to go put my head in the shower.”

He presses down gently until Dick sits on the couch, carefully avoiding Donna’s gaze as she tries to catch his eye and rubs his hands over his face. Inhale, exhale. The smoke thickens, twists, chokes. Roy tilts a little but manages to regain his balance, and passes Donna as she goes to Garth, still fretting in the kitchen. Trusting, finally, that Dick wasn’t going to bolt right this second, he walks out towards the bathroom and immediately collides with Wally.

Wally’s still buzzing a little, and the hairs on Roy’s arms stand on end as he’s zapped when Wally grabs his elbows to hold him upright. There’s a deep line between his eyebrows, but when he looks up over Roy’s shoulders at Dick, his face goes slack. This worked out, actually. It’d keep help keep them both occupied to talk out their feelings, until Roy could get back in control of himself.

“Easy, fleetfeet,” Roy says. “Babysit for a second, would you? I need to wash my face.”

“I thought we decided we didn’t want him to run,” Wally hisses back, but Roy just gives him a shove in the couch’s general direction and staggers down the hall.

He hears Wally move forward as he manages to kick the door shut, falling against it as he starts to gasp. Roy presses his head back against the tiles, squeezing his eyes shut and desperately inhaling in through his nose and out his mouth. His throat itches. A throbbing pain starts at his temple, beating with his heart and radiating to his jaw and neck and shoulders until he tenses into a spasm.

In, out. Breathe, hold, release. Roy manages to swallow, but the noise he makes sounds like a sob, and he fumbles with the faucet until he can trust that the water is drowning him out. Again, and he claps a hand over his mouth. Everything feels ready to snap.

He got through it that first time, says a voice in his head. It sounds a lot like Connor’s patient grace. Remember? He’s still here, just the same.

But this is so much worse, Roy replies internally. Can’t you see? Because now he knows it’s not gonna end. It’ll never end.

No. This is too much.

The first time he grabs at his phone, it falls from his trembling fingers and lands on the floor with a crack. It takes him one, two more tries to retrieve it, and instead of standing he folds himself onto the floor, sat pressed against the wall next to the basin. The blue light makes his eyes sting and seeing Lian smiling back just makes that rolling nausea return, thinking of a young Dick Grayson stare at his daughter in wonder. Eight years old, like Dick’s own father hadn’t fallen when Dick was that age. Like Dick had lost a father all over again a decade later. It hurts so bad.

Thankfully, when he swipes through his speed dial, she answers.

“You’re late with an update, boyo.”

For a moment, he can’t even get the words out, just audibly breathes into the receiver with his eyes shut and his free hand twisted into his hair.

“Roy? What happened? Is Dick alright?”

He has to swallow around the lump in his throat again.

“Is Lian there?” Roy manages to get out in a croak. He truly doesn’t know what he’ll do if Mia’s taken her to MOMA or something. Maybe permanently move into Dick’s bathroom. “She free to talk?”

“Sure.” He hears Dinah move and begin to walk. She’s calm, but her steps are quick and loud down the line. “Give me an answer, Roy. If you want to talk to her because you’re bleeding out-“

“No, no,” Roy says. “No, it’s just – it’s been a long day.”

It’s only about twelve pm, but Dinah doesn’t comment on it. He hears a door open, then shut. His heartrate picks up again.

“Dinah,” he says, and he hears her stop. “Dinah.”

She knows, clearly.

“He’s seventeen, Dinah.”

“Yeah, Babs said.” A pause. “Seventeen, huh?”

“He’s…” Roy stops, tugs at his hair a little. “I can’t tell you –he’s been saying-”

“You were all kids. You know that right? The stuff you were doing wasn’t normal, in retrospect. Makes sense he’d freak you out.”

But it’s not just that. It was the casual acceptance of baiting Deathstroke. Dick’s conviction of his own fault about losing Robin. His terror of confronting Bruce. The profound, absolute loss of everything. Dick Grayson lost his father at eight years old.

Roy can’t reply to that, really, so Dinah says:

“Here she is.”

There’s a shuffle, another pause, then –

“Daddy?”

The tension leaves his body so fast he almost drops the phone entirely, and his legs properly unfold into a sprawl.

“Hey, princess.”

“You okay?” Her voice raises in pitch slightly, like when she’s getting nervous. He’d put a lot of effort into stopping her from sounding like that, so it’s jarring now. “Dinah said… Dinah said-“

“I’m fine. Really. I just wanted to check that Mia wasn’t buying you more Legos from the giftshop with my card.”

“They were mermaid Legos,” Lian tells him, worry gone entirely and now a little huffy. “And Mia said – Mia said you were a landlord. And could buy them.”

“Daddy is not a gazillionaire like Batman.”

“Does Batman have Legos in the Batcave?”

Batman has bloodied memorabilia of all the people he’s let down, Roy thinks privately, but says instead:

“No, but he has a dinosaur.”

“A real one?”

“No. It’s like the one’s out of Jurassic Park. A robot dinosaur.”

“A robot dinosaur,” Lian says rapturously. “Can we visit sometime? With Uncle Dick?”

I am never letting either of you near him ever again, is the correct answer, as much as Dick would throw a fit over it. Roy clears his throat, rubs at his eyes, and changes the subject.

“Maybe. But I want a school update. I didn’t get to talk to you about it, yesterday.”

“Well,” she stops, and he can hear her think it over. “I’m better at spelling than Cassidy, because she always forgets her ayches. But I taught her a trick for it. I can teach you too!”

My best friend was only eight, he thinks.

“Yeah, baby,” he says in a hoarse voice, and tilts back his head. “Tell me all about it.”

[xerith-42]

Some things we may have forgotten

I've been rewatching MCD and taking extensive notes on it in hopes that I'll never have to watch it again and this is just a list of things that I don't see mentioned or brought up very often/ever that we should talk about and think about more

In the first episode Garroth tries to attack Vylad (angst potential) and Vylad literally just combat locks him by logging out of the game. This is objectively funny and should not be rewritten in any capacity. This should be canon as it is in every universe.

Aphmau's cat Meowki gets randomly killed in Episode 12 by a skeleton while Kiki is right upstairs. Just saying, there's some angst potential there.

In episode 11 Garroth reveals that he knows some medicine. Pretty sure this is never brought up again, but we could always bring it up.

Logan is apparently good with a bow while Zenix is trash at it despite being a self proclaimed "expert archer" which I think is very funny (I know this is part of Zenix's cover but what if we took it seriously it would be so funny)

Zoey is originally from the river village, as is Donna. Pretty sure they retcon that for Zoey, but I like to think the two of them could have been friends before Phoenix Drop.

Garroth actually almost dies in episode 15. Like Dr. Doctor says he will probably die soon at the start of the episode. And he doesn't get healed until episode 20. He literally spends 5 episodes laid up in bed dying.

Brendan's at his side probably angsting the entire time I'm just saying if you want sad gay fanfics, it's sitting right there!

Azura and Garroth were friends as kids??? Hello???? I think this is just a massive plot hole considering what Garroth's actual backstory ends up being asjfgshjdfgjk

Okay but if we twist it a little bit, they were friends as kids as in like at the guard academy??? Bc they're like vaguely teenage/young adult so maybe that's what she means? In which case I wanna think about that more because childhood friends to lovers is one of my favorite romance arcs ever. But is it really childhood friends if you met when you were like... 18?? And you're in your like mid to late twenties probably, I wouldn't really classify that as childhood friends.

WAIT IT GETS WORSE!

I don't... I don't even have a joke here, this is just a massive plot hole. Like all of this is just not true to Garroth's backstory as we know it. Grew up in the same village? You mean O'Khasis?? Where Garroth also FAKED HIS DEATH????

I literally don't know what to say to this I was just trying to find silly little facts to try and incorporate into my rewrite and instead I found a massive gaping plot hole

Moving on, in episode 19 when Aphmau confronts Zenix and they fight, he actually apologizes to her. As if he regrets having to hurt her for the sake of his/the Shadow King's goals.

The Lord of Brightport says the Shadow King "used to be a lord". Which like... Okay, I can bend backwards a few ways to say that he could be referring to how Shad started Falcon Claw, but how the fuck does this dude know that??? I feel like Laurance constantly just stumbling into plot holes by complete accident

Dale is apparently a Garmau shipper, going as far as to ask Aphmau if she plans on hooking up with Garroth. I like to think that he and Molly have a bet going for how long it takes for one of the two of them to finally fess up.

Raven's mom tried to eat him??

Okay then.

[tallochar]

Just got hit real hard by a drive-by idea where Flashpoint doesn't happen and Dick just takes a few months off to chill (read: Donna shows up and drags him off to have adventures now that Bruce is back in town and everything seems status quo again)

And when he comes back it initially looks like that set up so many fandom fics have where Tim has been isolating himself / been left to his own means and only works with the others out of politeness.

And the moment Dick clocks that that's what the others think is happening, he can straight up feel the grey hairs trying to show up, because while he had phone calls with Tim (who seemed to be coping better with everything that went wrong in his life) and Damian (with whom Dick did not talk about anyone outside of Damian and, occasionally, Bruce, which was already hard enough on Dick without bringing the others in) he had also thought that things had sort of started settling back into what Dick used to think as normal before Bruce "died" on them.

Except Damian and Jason don't know how to pick up on that sort of thing, Cass is still doing her Hong Kong / Journey of Self Discovery Thing as far as anyone seems to know / Bruce is CLEARLY (to Dick and Alfred and absolutely no one else) still communicating with Tim because he's on an even keel but also he must have done something to piss off Tim because Tim is doing the Politely Co-Workers Thing at Bruce (with Alfred's approval and support so Bruce must have fucked up REAL BAD) and it's stressing Bruce out so much that Dick can practically see the tension lines heading to a breaking point in the man why is no one else seeing the tension lines.

Plus Barbara and Dick were still on not-so-great terms when Dick split from Gotham, so he's not had much luck talking to her and some desire to call her but not enough to actually call her a lot, just some, which hasn't made Babs less pissed at him, so he's not getting information on that side and of course if Barbara is pissed at him and Tim is pissed at Bruce and Dick wasn't around for Tim to bitch about Bruce in person (and Tim would NEVER on a phone line, not even a secure one) then Dick is 1000% sure that Tim and Barbara have been having a shared and supportive bitch fest for however many weeks / months Dick was away that has just solidified them in a block of their own.

All of which means that Dick's little brother has been left unbothered, unnoogied and unsupervised for all the time Dick was away and like, sure, some people would think Dick would feel horrible for that and want to octopus-grab him and cuddle him but those people would be wrong because Dick is now honestly terrified to find out WHAT Tim has been up to without supervision and limits.

Between YJ, his civilian friends, his other friends in the superhero community, whatever new people Tim for sure rustled up, the lack of supervision on who Tim teams up with and for what, all the villain-frenemies he might have decided it was worth cooperating with, Tim being pissed at Bruce enough to keep a physical distance if not a communication distance...

And then, just as it is hitting Dick that, of course just keeping track on the phone was a bad idea to begin with why did he think that was a good idea and that what with Barbara and Tim in agreement and both Tim and Barbara at odds with Bruce and Alfred firmly entrenched in his usual If-Tim-Is-Handling-Master-Bruce-I-Will-Not-Hear-A-Thing-Against-The-Lad british politeness artillery position, this means that no one who would not enable him in the Wrong And Not Dick Approved Ways has been actually keeping as close track of Tim as he should have been kept track of (because *will smith hands memes* TIM!) ...

... Red Robin swings by, Azrael in tow, clearly going after Lynx.

And it's not that new Azrael that they had, which was still an Azrael but wasn't the Worst of the Azraels.

It's fucking Jean Paul Valley, who is supposed to be dead and clearly did not have the goddamn grace to decide to stay dead.

Dick, internally while outwardly having a BSOD moment: Tim. Tim you had just told Dick you were going to check out a couple of leads tonight. Tim why are you swinging from rooftops with JPV in tow. Tim why is JPV ALIVE. Why did you NOT tell Dick about it, TIM. TIM.

[thebearer]

just thinking about carmy x shy reader who used to have the biggest crush on him when they went to school!! and carmy thought she liked mikey !

oh my god i can totally see him and now i can only think of two ghosts by harry styles ahhhh. little fluff blurb ahead for the soul <3

they go to prom together, their senior year just as friends. carmy bc donna is making him, and you... bc carmy asked you out lol. mikey set the whole thing up, he knew how much you likes carm. you were always coming over and following carmen around like a lost puppy. mikey felt bad for you, sorta, felt bad that you were so hopelessly in love with his oblivious younger brother.

carmen moved to new york and you stayed in chicago, only to reconnect years later at none other than mikey's funeral. carmen looked bad, sad and distant, but there was a glimmer of his old self when he talked to you. familiar. good.

it was a challenge, pushing yourself into the life of carmen berzatto again. two old friends catching up over coffee, first. then going to a ghost tour, because mikey used to swear it was the most entertaining shit (swore he'd see uncle jimmy on there eventually too lol). you'd help him at the beef when he'd call, helplessly needing assistance fixing some odd appliance. he'd make you greasy italian sandwiches and you'd spilt them sitting at the sticky booths, reminiscing.

it wasn't until weeks later, when things started to take a turn for the best. when carmen realized that "oh shit she's like into me into me???" he'd kissed you that night, in your apartment living room. it was rushed and a little sloppy. he'd blushed so hard after that, stammering and nervous in the low light of the room. you'd only grinned, pulling him back in.

"i- fuck- i didn't want to-to come across like that. i just... i'm sorry. i don't know why i... it felt- i don't know, i'm sorry." carmen is a stuttering mess, feeling his heart rate rise and like he might throw up at any given second.

"why are you sorry? i liked it, carmy, c'mon." you just give him a sideways, lopsided grin.

"what? are you- are you fuckin' with me right now? don't... you liked it?"

"of course i liked it. sophomore me is shitting herself right now."

"in a good way?"

you laugh, nodding. "in a very good way. c'mon, bear, don't fuck with me right now." you glare at him playfully. "you don't have to act like you didn't know i was in love with you."

"what?" carmen's eyes bulging tells you otherwise. "you-you... no, you didn't like me. you liked mikey."

"mikey?" you repeat. "carmen... i liked mikey because, i mean he was mikey, everyone liked mikey. but i had a crush on you."

carmen wasn't sure what to say, heart pounding hard in his throat, strangling the words. "really?"

you nodded, grinning gently. "i mean, you were too obsessed with claire bear to notice-"

"-oh, c'mon. don't do that." carmen cringed shaking his head.

"you did!" you laughed, jabbing his chest lightly. "you'd always talk to her in math and sketch all those pictures." you tried not to sound as hurt as your fifteen year old self had been. how you'd cried into your pillow when you found them. how you tried to make yourself look just like claire, act like her too so maybe carmen might notice you.

carmen blushed, looking down at his shoes. "well, i, uh... if it makes you feel any better. i-i was drawin' you too, ya know." he couldn't look at you, blushing positively boyishly at the admission.

it was silly. so silly and so sweet and it shouldn't have made you feel the way you did, but it did. you kissed him, two hands on the side of his cheeks, tumbling back on the sofa with him. a long, overdue kiss.

the next day, carmen asked you to come by the beef, telling you there was something that got dropped off for you while trying to figure out bills.

you opened the envelope to find a faded, crumpled piece of notebook paper, the light etchings of you on it with the algebra homework from mr. weir's junior year class.

[agaypanic]

Hi! I have a request for Micheal Kelso x reader where it’s like the storyline with him and Brooke except when reader tells kelso she’s pregnant they decide to get married

Better a Friend Than a Stranger (Michael Kelso X Pregnant!Reader)

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Summary: After having a drunk hook up with one of your friends, you agree to pretend it never happened. But soon you find out that there’s growing evidence of your one night stand with Michael Kelso.

A/N: mentions of pregnancy (duh) and throwing up. reader is in the friend group, not a one night stand with a stranger thing like kelso and brooke were at the concert

***

If you’ve ever hooked up with Michael Kelso, more often than not, you don’t want to admit it. It’s not that he’s bad in bed. It’s just that he’s, well… Kelso. A horny goofball who’s dumber than a dog half the time. 

If you’ve ever hooked up with a close friend, more often than not, you don’t want to admit it. A lot of times, it happens because of a lapse of judgment or a spur of the moment. If your other friends knew, the group dynamic would become unbalanced. 

So when you hooked up with one of your best friends, Michael Kelso, you immediately made him swear to secrecy when you woke up the next morning. He pouted about it, wanting to brag about his recent lay. But Kelso agreed it would be best to keep the little drunken mistake between you. You got dressed, grabbed some breakfast, and headed over to Eric’s to hang out with the gang and pretend that you hadn’t fucked the night before.

A few weeks later, you started to feel uneasy. You had no clue what the cause could be. Thinking back, you hadn’t eaten anything bad or weird, or been around anyone who was sick. 

But when you had to call out of work because you suddenly started throwing up one morning, and then the next few mornings after that, you knew something was definitely wrong.

“I just don’t know what it could be.”

“Are you sure it’s a cold?” Donna asked. Being your closest and probably most responsible friend, you asked her to accompany you to the pharmacy. “I mean, you don’t really look like you have a cold.”

“Well, I’m sick with something.” You sighed in desperation. “I’ve been throwing up almost every day for the past two weeks. I can barely keep anything down, but somehow, I’m gaining weight. I just don’t get it.”

While looking in the medicine aisle for something to treat your symptoms, you didn’t notice Donna leave your side with haste. She came back just as quick, startling you by thrusting some boxes into your hand.

“No.” You said immediately after reading what the box contained. “No way.”

You looked up at Donna, who looked back at you deadly serious. “Yes, way, Y/n.”

“There’s no way I’m pregnant, Donna.” But you yourself weren’t even convinced by your words.

“When was the last time you got your period?”

Donna looked at you quizzically, becoming more and more alarmed the longer it took you to answer.

“...Fuck.”

***

“What am I gonna do, Donna?”

You sounded completely drained, sitting on your bed defeated. In your hands were three pregnancy tests that you had just taken, all positive. You kept looking at them, waiting for them to change to negative signs. But they never did.

“Well…” Donna gently wrapped her arm around your shoulders, pulling you into her side. “You’re not in school anymore, which is good.”

“I think that’s the only good thing.”

You and your friend sat in silence for a minute, trying to wrap your heads around the situation you found yourself in. “Y/n, who’s the father?”

You stiffened at the question. Unfortunately, you knew exactly who it was. “Fuck.”

“Who is it?” Donna took you out of her comforting hold and grabbed you by the shoulders so you were face to face. You clearly didn’t want to answer. “Y/n, it can’t be that bad, right?” She laughed. “I mean, it’s not like it’s Kelso’s or something.”

Your eyes widened at the name before darting around the room to avoid Donna’s gaze. She gasped.

“No.”

“...Yeah.”

“No.”

“Yes, Donna. Yes!” You wriggled out of her now iron grip and fell back on the bed, looking up at your ceiling. “I slept with Kelso, and now I’m carrying a Kelso baby.”

Donna looked at you with complete disbelief, and you honestly couldn’t blame her. Although you loved Kelso, sleeping with him, drunk or sober, was considered a bit of a low. “Y/n, I think I just have one question.” You yelped as Donna whacked you on the shoulder. “How could you be so stupid?!”

“Hey! Don’t hit me, I’m pregnant!” You pouted, lightening the mood just the slightest bit. You sighed. “Look, we were both drunk. And we used a condom, but I guess it broke or something. But in the morning, we agreed to never speak of it.”

“Well, you’re gonna have to speak of it.” Donna pointed at your stomach. “It’ll be better for him to find out from you directly instead of seeing your stomach be the size of a watermelon.”

You shuddered at the thought and sighed, hating that Donna was right. “I know.” 

***

Before telling Kelso about your situation, you avoided him for a few days. Well, not him specifically. You didn’t want to be in the Forman’s basement because you didn’t know how you’d react to the constant lingering smell of weed. Kelso, along with the rest of your friends, just happened to always be in the Formans’ basement.

But you had to tell Kelso eventually. So, after a week of wallowing in your house, you drove to the Formans.

As you pulled over to park on the street, you saw the boys playing basketball while Donna and Jackie chatted on the hood of the Vista Cruiser. Getting out of your car, you didn’t know if your stomach was turning from your nervousness or your breakfast.

You sped over to the girls, doing your best to avoid the rowdy boys and their somewhat rogue basketball. “Y/n, where have you been?” Jackie asked pointedly, scooting over to make room for you between her and Donna. “You can’t just leave me to be surrounded by testosterone for a whole week.”

“Um, Jackie?” Donna narrowed her eyes at the small girl. “You do know I’m a girl too, right?”

Jackie laughed. “Not by the way you dress, Donna.”

“Sorry.” You butted in. You were nervous enough as it is; you didn’t need to deal with this squabble. “I was getting over a bug.”

“You were sick?” The three of you were startled by Kelso towering over you. He tossed the ball in his hands to the side. “Donna, play for me.” You knew your friend wanted to say something about Kelso bossing her around, but you also knew she wanted you to talk to him alone. So she caught the basketball Kelso tossed her and started playing with the other boys. Kelso took her seat next to you. “You were sick?” He asked again.

You nodded. “Still am a bit.”

“Ew.” Jackie jumped off the Vista Cruiser, moving to one of the lounging chairs in Eric’s driveway. 

You laughed at her reaction, turning back to Kelso. “I’m not that sick.”

“Good. Good…” Kelso stared at you for a moment, and you didn’t know why. Then suddenly, he grabbed your elbow and pulled you around and into the Vista Cruiser. Before you could ask why you were now hiding from your friends in Eric’s car, Kelso started talking again. “You know, I can’t stop thinking about that night.”

You sighed. Maybe it was a good thing that you were now away from any listening ears. “Yeah, Kelso, about that night. I-”

“I know we said we’d never talk about it. But…” He trailed off, staring at you again. “God, I can’t stop thinking about it. I can’t stop thinking about you.”

“Kelso…”

“And I don’t mean that in a ‘I can’t stop thinking about your body’ way. Well, I do, but not just in that way!”

“Kelso.”

“But it’s weird, because I don’t think I’ve ever felt like this before. Not even with Jackie, but don’t tell her I said that because even though she’s tiny, she’d kick my ass.”

“Michael!”

“What?”

“I’m pregnant!”

While your friends continued their basketball game, everything in the car stilled. Michael looked like he was gonna throw up. You felt like you were about to. Your lip started to quiver. He was just staring at you.

“Say something.” Your voice wavered slightly, and you took a deep breath to try and calm yourself. “Kelso, please.”

“It’s mine, right?”

Resisting the urge to roll your eyes, you nodded. “Yeah, it’s yours.” You looked out through the windshield, too scared to see his reaction. Donna was the only one keeping an eye on you, and it seemed she was debating coming over to help you get through breaking the news. 

But Donna was suddenly out of your sight, because Michael gently grabbed your face and guided your lips to his. Your eyes fluttered shut as you reciprocated the kiss, feeling relieved that Kelso’s reaction was at least affectionate. 

When he reluctantly pulled away, Michael was quick to speak. “I wanna be with you.” The words shocked you into silence, allowing him to continue without fear of rejection. For now, at least. “I know I’m not the most responsible guy, or the smartest, or the- that’s not the point! The point is, ever since that night, I can’t stop thinking about you, Y/n. I want to be with you, I wanna help you raise this kid, I wanna spend the rest of my life with you! Okay, that’s a bit dramatic, but I don’t care because-”

You silenced Michael’s mindless rambling by kissing him again. You were so overwhelmed with emotions, you didn’t know what else to do. But the action seemed to ground you both.

When you separated again, Michael had another thing to say. “Let’s get married.”

You couldn’t help but laugh, stroking his cheekbones with your thumbs. “Don’t you think we should date first?”

“There’s plenty of time to date after marriage.” That made you cackle.

“This is so backward.” You said with a sigh. “I always thought it was date, marriage, kids. Not the other way around.”

Michael shrugged, wrapping his arms around you. “Who said we had to do things the traditional way?”

He leaned in to kiss you for a third time, but this time, you were interrupted by the car door behind him opening. You both looked over to see Eric leaning into the car, looking horrified.

“What the hell are you guys doing?” He asked, although it seemed he had a good theory. “Don’t make out in my car.”

“Aw, come on, Eric.” Michael rolled his eyes. “What’s the worst that could happen? I already got her pregnant.”

“What?!”

[hijinxinprogress]

Young justice and the titans not getting along makes no sense to me. You’re telling me the titans did dumb shit and hated being micromanaged by the league but then a couple years later they’re doing the same thing?? that’s so dumb?? the titans are like “god you remember what we were doing when we were their age?? Were we that small?? Fuck, do you know what we’re supposed to do besides feed small people?? This would be so much easier if any of us went to therapy”

The titans help yj get away with shit all the time

“Young Justice just blew up one of Luthor’s vacation homes, did you know about this?? Where are they!?” “Who’s young justice? It’s not my fault…I plead the fifth…?”

Kori has claimed Kon and now has beef with Luthor and Clark

Besides Wally, Bart is closest with Kori and they trade stories about their homes bc it’s nice to talk to someone who’s gets it

Greta and Garth are like sitting at the bottom of a pool and gossiping about their teams

YJ and the titans have city wide manhunt games once a month and the jl hates it bc they wake up to their children trending bc they’re jumping off buildings or breaking into civilians’ houses to get away from each other

They race spaceships if they’re not on planet

Greta and Garth are the worst gossips so they just tell each other absurd things about their teammates completely aware that everyone will know within the next 4 hours

Everyone else makes jokes about how Kons what would happen if Kori and Nightwing had a son (he has anger issues, curly hair, he’s alternative, isn’t white, & he’s the mom friend)

Roy and Cissie only compete amongst themselves bc everyone was so sick of them winning that they started cheating or in Kori’s case incinerating the targets

One time he was talking to Kori about mental health stuff and she’s comforting him and mentions that “yeah you get that from nightwing” and nightwing cuts in “Kori, you do that too?? Don’t lie to him”

Whenever Kon loses his temper he’s not afraid of people thinking less of him for it bc it always sparks up the never ending debate about whether Nightwing or Starfire are responsible for Kons temper

“NO FUCK THIS, FUCK YOU, AND FUCK HIM, YOU FUCKING-” “he gets that from you” “he’s floating rn wdym” “yeah his fucking eyes are glowing that’s definitely Kori’s temper” “look at him doesn’t his face remind you of when kori was pissed after I broke my collarbone?” “no listen dick has that same crease between his eyebrows when he’s mad”

“I’m your leader, assholes” “rn all you are is the leading cause of that baby’s short temper”

Kori helped Kon with controlling his powers bc Clark wasn’t gonna do it

Wally and Bart get along!! From the beginning 

Besides Nightwing Tim is closest with Vic not even bc they’re fucking nerds but bc they’re both so unbelievably petty

Anita and Rachel should not be left alone together bc they’re always doing nonsense with magic

They mentioned air boarding so Tim and Vic are trying to find the schematics for a hoverboard…💀 Anita and Rachel figured out how to make people feel like they’re suffocating without killing them or doing permanent damage (all the scarring is psychological)

Cissie and Donna get along really well and Cassie pretends they’re jealous

Also, Cassie gets along really well with Roy and Cissie will loudly complain about her older brother hating her

the jl is so tired bc they thought the titans would be helping them with yj and they were wrong

[chefkids]

Do you think that JAW’s and Molly Gordon’s relationship will affect how the writers explore sydcarmy? Do you think that sydcarmy just may be platonic and Claire will come back into the story??

No. This is not Outer Banks. (full shade)

The scripts for Season 4 were already written before those two started fucking around. JAW is definitely not going to be the one to push back against sydcarmy for obvious reasons... Ayo, Miss 'Favorite Scene is The Table Scene', definitely was on board for them despite her desperate attempts to act disgusted at the thought of them getting together. She's a professional and would never ask them to change the entire plot for her. I don't think either of them care if Molly would be bothered tbh lol A job is a job and they were hired first. Chris Storer has been locked in on his plan. He's not going to change it for them.

Claire is definitely coming back to the story. But it's not looking too great for them so far. I'm sure they'll makeup by the end, but are they going to end up together? Hell no. Her entire character is just a plot device for Carmy to try avoid Sydney and avoid his family drama.

In order for the entire series to work and pay off it needs to get past the platonic mental barrier Carmy is in. I do not think they're going to leave it open ended, because quite frankly a large chunk of the audience is too stupid to see the obvious signs and would still say they were just good business partners and friends if Carmy doesn't explicitly tell Syd he likes her. They're definitely going to get together at the last minute.

Ironically, even though the entire series has been about Carmy trying to make something good happen and to find happiness again, I feel like very little time will be given to Happy Carmy once him and Syd work things out together and break that platonic threshold. Because TBH I don't think Chris Storer himself knows how to make the show when it is happy and continue the plot, nor is he interested in showing a functional kitchen and a healthy relationship between them for a full season. He wanted the show to be about children of alcoholics breaking out of the toxic cycles, while sycarmy has always been in the plan, I think that was more Joanna's doing and while he's on board with it, it's not what has kept his interest in making the show. I think once the Donna plotline is done and sydcarmy gets together, he's not really interested in telling the rest of their story or The Bear's, despite the fact that most of the audience and FX themselves clearly want to see it and have asked him to tell it.

[weirdthinkingdragon]

Shouldn’t Have Traveled

Yandere Diluc, x chubby reader x yandere Zhongli

Words: 5,700+

warnings: poisoning mentions, slightly descriptive murder, unwanted touch,  reader made fun of by others, physically clingy Diluc (you can pry that from my cold, dead, hands)

Took a pic of where the ending scene is for clarity. 

Sorry if anyone (besides Donna, Diluc, and Zhongli are ooc. Idk their personalities too well yet.

I’ve decided to leave Mondstat. Not for any reason anyone would think. It’s rather awkward and I’ll never admit the real reason to anyone. I can’t really stand being around Diluc anymore. Donna and other’s words are starting to get to me. 

What words? The scathing words of “He’d never like someone like you”. They say that’s due to my different appearance. The words never really hurt, but it’s getting irritating, and I’m unsure how much more I can hear them talk about it before I snap and deck one or more of them. That’s also why I can’t be around Diluc. Just seeing or interacting with him also brings up their words again.  

A few final things are being packed tightly into my large bag. My plan is to just stay at the hotel for a week or two and come back. Then again that plan might change, who knows? If somehow a job comes up and they’re welcoming, I’ll maybe live there instead. 

Thankfully I kept Mora saved up for a while and quit my job at Good Hunter. Being a cook there was exhausting too. One of Donna’s friends also being there obviously made things worse as she framed me for a lot of things, making the others not too happy with me. Think one of the only ones who do still like me is Barbara when they tried to frame me for making her food extra spicy. 

Another glance in my bag. Hmm… I’m a little low on things to drink on my travel to Liyue. Some grape juice would be nice, so I head towards Angel’s Share. 

The group of Diluc-obsessed parasites try to block me. 

“Yeesh, you guys still have a whole fence shoved up your asses? I should have known you have a poor tree up there now too. Sad it had to die for your personalities. All I’m doing is buying grape juice for travel.” I reply and give an eyeroll with it, entering Angel’s Share. 

Their insulted faces a sight to behold being the last thing seen.

A certain redhead was working, catching me by surprise. Really wasn’t expecting for him to be working instead tonight. Fuck. Ah, screw it. A last chat won’t harm anything. 

“Diluc?” 

His head whips towards the door instantly. His eyes zoning onto the bag I’m carrying. They almost seem to narrow. 

“I wasn’t expecting you to be working tonight.” I inform, sitting down in the free seat in front of him. My bag being placed onto the floor. 

Diluc places the glass he had in his hands onto the island and looks me in my eyes. “I decided to give Charles a break for the night.” 

“That’s one thing I admire about you-” His eyes widen slightly, meanwhile I mentally smack myself for letting that slip. “I- well- It’s how you treat your workers. Unlike many I’ve seen, you’re not as harsh with them, and more thoughtful.” 

I cross my arms and mumble “If only Good Hunter stayed the same, I would probably have stayed.”

He rather firmly slams the glass back on the island I didn’t notice he picked back up. “You’re leaving? Alone?” I could almost swear his voice slightly raised like he was worried. Maybe he is? Kaeya has told me he does care about others. As just said how he’s letting Charles have the night off. He  just doesn’t show emotions very well most of the time. 

“Yeah, I was planning on heading to Liyue early in the morning. I was hoping to get some grape juice for on the way there though. It would need to be in something portable. Bottles or even jars would be fine. Of course, I’d pay the fee for those too.”

Diluc’s frown deepens.  

The door open and closed, but I think nothing of it. 

“If you don’t have any, I could go find some and come back for you to fill them, if that would be alright. I don’t want to overwork you.” 

He shakes his head. “No, that would be fine. Believe it or not, it’s not the first time someone has asked for transportable items to be filled. I’ll work on it. You won’t have to worry about carrying them since I’ll be coming with you tomorrow.”

Wha- no! The whole reason I’m leaving is involving him!

“That’s alright. I couldn’t ask you to do that. You’re quite a busy person as it already is.” 

His eyes narrow at me. “I’m not taking “no” as an answer. I’m going with. You need a guide.”

His tone scared me a little, I won’t lie to myself. 

He crosses his arms and closes his eyes for a second, taking a breath in before looking at me again. “You don’t even have a vision. You also don’t know where you’re going, and I am worried, whether you believe it or not. I also was planning on going to Liyue as well to visit someone close to me.” 

I hate everything he said was nothing but logic. I would just ask him if I could ask a knight or something to come with, but knowing his strong dislike for them, it would be a bad idea. 

It stays quiet between us for a minute. 

“... Why don’t you go rest up for the night? It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

I wonder if I could get far enough before he could catch me if I left tonight.

“You’re giving away what you’re thinking. You better not. I will catch up. Don’t test it.” 

Ugh, fine. I’m still worried since he’ll be tired tomorrow. 

While leaving, the group comes up yet again with bottles in their hands. The door opening and closing must have been a friend I didn’t notice was there. 

They hold out the empty bottles towards me. 

… are they serious? What makes them think I’d trust them? They probably put poison or something in these. Doesn’t help they’re not see through. Yeah, no. I’m not using these. Their smirks are just making me more tired and not wanting to deal with their shit.

“Oh, you guys already know I’m leaving? Uh, thanks…” I take them, already knowing they’re going in the trash. 

“Just a little goodbye gift~” 

Wow, how thoughtful. 

They leave giggling. Probably from malicious intentions. 

“Would you like me to take those, (Y/N)?” suddenly asked a voice. I turn to see Charles. 

“You haven’t left yet?” I asked him. 

“I stayed to clean up a few final things in the back. It’s not my place, but I don’t trust what those women gave you.” 

I glance at the 3 glasses in my hands again. “That makes two of us. Are you sure they won’t be dug into by the cats and dogs around? That’s my main concern if I throw them.”

“I can assure they will be taken care of properly.” He informs. 

I mentally shrug. Eh, whatever. He’s reliable. I pass him the bottles and go to my house one final time. 

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

I feel a hand on my shoulder as I prepare to exit to the bridge with Diluc. Diluc’s not here yet though. Oh archons, if I ever come back, I’m not going to ever hear the end of I took their “precious Diluc”. Turning around, it’s Venti. One of the closest friends I made here, and only ones left. His face is far more serious than I’ve ever seen it. 

“... Stay safe out there,” He cautiously looks around. I do as well, and the nuisances are not around for once. Diluc however is seen with his own bag coming up. “Especially from him.” He quickly takes his hand off before Diluc could see. 

Diluc glares at Venti while walking up to me. “We better get going.” A hand of his is on my lower back, gently pushing me forward. 

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

Numerous quiet hours pass, and my feet are starting to kill me. I’m starting to think Kaeya lied to me it was an easy day trip. 

Looking at Diluc, he doesn’t even seem to be the slightest bit uncomfortable. The only noticeable thing is the bags growing under his eyes. 

I’ve been trying to think of things to make it less awkward, but nothing comes to mind. He hates small talk. 

“So… should I find a way to message you or something if I want to come back to Mondstadt?” 

Diluc stops for a moment. “... I’ll inform who I’m going to meet.” 

Okay. well, that was a good talk, I guess. 

About an hour later, I’m at my limit. Curse everything and whoever created pain. My feet are going to be sore for weeks at this point. How the hell do people wander like this? 

Diluc still stays vigilant and glares around at every direction like something will pop out. I’m more worried about him collapsing from exhaustion than anything. 

… why do I feel like I still would before he would at this rate? 

“When should we set up a small camp for rest for a while? I only brought my small one for more easy transportation, but I think we could both squeeze in.” though I’d much rather not. 

It’s already near sunset. Holy fuck I’ve been walking ALL day. 

Diluc gives a stare off into the distance in though,, then nods. “I’ll get some firewood.” 

I nod and dig out the tent. Fortunately, slamming the sticks in deep enough was pretty easy and I remember how to set it up from camping with a few friends years ago. 

Diluc comes not long after with an impressive amount of wood, and drops it onto the ground not far from the tent. He piles a few together and scrapes dirt into a pile around it. He then lights his claymore and holds it onto the wood until it starts to burn. 

I begrudgingly have to admit having someone with a pyro vision likely makes traveling a lot easier.  

We both crawl under and it’s so phenomenally awkward. Him closer to the back and I in the front. It’s really crowded just between us. We’re both just staring awkwardly at each other in the eyes. 

… something drops onto the tent. Then another, then several- it’s raining. How did we not notice that sooner? There was no point in making a fire. 

Nope, it’s now already pouring. “You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me.” I mumble, but the close proximity likely made him hear it. 

“I never need an umbrella, so I’d be fine. Hopefully the temperature won’t drop too much.”

The temperature does rapidly starts to drop though. Now I’m wishing I brought a second blanket with. My arms get tucked together, trying to keep a bit more warmth. 

Arms grab my sides, making me let out a surprised noise. “Wha- Diluc! I’m not sure if-” 

“Don’t care,” His arms quickly wrap around my back, squeezing me close. “I’d rather you not get sick while we’re on our way.” His great smelling cologn from proximity hitting my senses hard. 

The heat that rushes to my face is even warmer than the warmth radiating out of his clothes. 

“Uh…” What the fuck am I supposed to say? “Ooh this is nice!”??

It’s definitely not! Ugh, why did he have to be the one for this? I should have lied about when I was leaving… 

He tightens his grip when I uncomfortably try to squirm free. “Quit. Moving.” 

I stop and mentally sigh. It better not rain again tomorrow night. 

He never loosens his grip.

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

The tightness around me while slowly coming back makes me try to squirm free again, while the memories of last night catch up.

Diluc’s arms tighten more than last night. Looking at his eyes, he appears to still be asleep. 

The way I’m so torn between enjoying this, and being disgusted is wild. Donna’s words trying to come back. Thankfully the little I know about Diluc is he will never talk about this out loud, even with a blade pointed at him. 

For a second, I wonder if I should wake him or let him sleep. But he should probably get ready to get back to Mondstadt ASAP. 

Well, since it’s not raining anymore, and I’m still uncomfortable at this, I’m waking him up. 

Fortunately, my arms are free. I reach up and shake his shoulder. “Diluc, it’s time for us to continue.” my feet throb in protest at the idea. 

He lets out a sigh, almost like he was disappointed. He lets me go and I roll off onto the ground, then getting up. Checking my bag, it thankfully stayed dry.

I pack my bag back together, and we head off again, much to my feet’s displeasure. But from Diluc informed me earlier, we should be about halfway there. Luckily we’ve only encountered some hillachurls, and he gets rid of them so easily it makes me almost feel bad for them. 

The sights have been beautiful though. Almost to the point I could ignore the still-growing pain in my feet. 

“Here.” 

I turn to notice a clear bottle of grape juice handed to me and take it, finally realizing I haven’t drank anything in a while either. I drink it quickly. 

“It’s better to stay up with fluids and food for long travels. I’ve… learned my lesson before.”

Well, that’s a can of worms I’m not opening. In speaking of bottles though… “Sorry to change off that, but did Charles give you three that weren’t clear?”

Diluc frown gets worse. “He did, and told me how Donna and the others gave you them,” His voice dipped like he was disgusted even thinking about it. “Had them drink from the poisoned bottles they gave you. Unfortunately, it won’t kill them, but it better make them think twice about their actions. Next time I won’t be so lenient.” 

So they were poison- wait, what??? He’s fucking insane! I mean, sure, they were pretty bad and wanted to poison me, but poisoning them back isn’t right either! I force myself to stay calm. I can’t outrun him anyway, and I don’t know where I’m going either if requiring to leave the path. This does open my eyes more on him though. 

A secret part of me is touched he did such a thing for me though. 

“That’s a bit far, isn’t it? Couldn’t you get in trouble for that?” 

“I have my connections if they decide to try anything.” 

I shrug. Eh, whatever I guess. I am still staying a bit away from him, which he seems to notice. He comes over and grabs my bag, pulling me right beside him. 

“I also don’t think me being this close is necessary.” 

“You’d be surprised how quickly an ambush could happen. Especially if we encounter a ruin guard or abyss mage.”

Fat chance a ruin guard would be on the main path. Even I know that. 

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

Yet another day already flies by. I plop my backside onto the ground, take my shoes off, and rub my worsening sore feet. “Ugh, I’m not usually one for complaining, but holy Celestia my feet hurt. Smack Kaeya for me next time you see him for lying it was a rather short trip.”

Diluc jabs the stake quite deeply into the ground and is setting up the tent this time. “I’m surprised you got this far without complaining. If it’s really bad though, do you want me to carry you tomorrow?” 

Gods no. I could never deal with that embarrassment if anyone traveling were to see it. “No. You’d have a lot more to carry than just your bag already. Me and my bag is too much to ask.”  

He gives me a look I can’t understand. Kind of annoying it’s always been rather hard to understand whatever he’s feeling since he hardly shows it. 

“It wouldn’t be.”

“I’d rather not test it. Besides, we should be there by tomorrow noon, right?” 

He nods.

Looking at the darkening sky, it’s likely not going to rain this time. I glance at the tent, not wanting to stand up and walk to it. 

Diluc seems to notice and comes over, crouching down. An arm wraps under my knees, making me instantly realize his intention. “Wait- stop! I can do it!-” 

He puts his other arm behind my back, and easily stands up fully. “Don’t struggle.” 

I feel like I’ve heard stuff like that more the past few days than all my life before combined. 

He places me down on the blanket and sits next to me. Too close next to me. Honestly? I’m too tired to really care at this point. 

An arm wraps around my torso, keeping me closer. What is his obsession with touch!? He never is with anyone anymore, not even his own brother! 

A very gentle squeeze to my stomach makes me whip my head to look down at his hand. 

??? When did he take his glove off!? 

“... I’ve heard what many have been saying. If moving is really what you want, I can’t stop you. However, if you ever wish to visit again, both the Winery and Angel’s Share are always open for you to stay. As for me, I’m angry what they’ve been saying.”

I can’t look at him. I should have known someone like him would so easily catch on.

I begrudgingly have to admit his shoulder is a lot more comfortable than the ground. At least not laying on his chest this time. 

“Who do you have to see, anyways?” 

“Someone you could say I’m very close with. I have something urgent to discuss with them. 

I let out a light chuckle. “Wonder who in the Teyvat got the attention to be cared about by the great Diluc. I’ll surely have to meet them.” 

“You will sooner or later when in Liyue.” 

Not going to tell me? Alright, he can keep his secrets. Not like he has a lack of them. 

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

I could kiss the dock we’re walking on to enter Liyue. The guards stand down pretty quickly upon seeing Diluc, so they likely know him. 

We get to a hotel and both order rooms. Diluc disappears not too long after, and I stay in my room to rest. I wonder if I should ask someone a tour of Liyue since I know very little about the place. 

But first, some rest.

Several hours later, I’m wandering around again, more refreshed. There seem to be a lot of great restaurants to try. 

“Hey partner! I reckon you’re new here? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around before.” 

I turn around to see someone with two ponytails walking up to me. She feels rather friendly, but still got my guard up a bit just in case. 

“Is it really that obvious?” I ask. 

“Yeah, But you don’t have to worry. We get a lot of people from all over visit here. So, what were ya lookin’ for? I might be able to help.” 

“I was trying to think of where to eat something, honestly. But uh… I’m not really sure what’s right to start with.” 

“That’s easy! You can try something at Wanmin Restaurant! I’m sure my friend there would love to figure out something ya might enjoy! C’mon!” She gestures for me to follow her. 

It doesn’t take long to get there, and there’s a girl cooking very enthusiastically. 

“Heya Xiangling! Got a new friend here for you to figure out what they’d like.” 

She whips her head up. “Xinyan! Ooh, a new person, huh? Where you from!?” 

“From Mondstadt.” 

How hyperactive can someone get? She somehow gets even more excited at the news. 

“Mondstadt!? Ooh! Just let me finish these orders, and I’ll try something you’d like!” 

Sooner than later she finishes, and makes something else I’m confused of, especially from never seeing such ingredients being used in food before. 

… Eyes are on me from behind. I decide to ignore it. It’s probably just someone curious or rude and not worth my time.  

Xiangling passes me something finished I’ve never seen before. I’m a little reluctant to try it, but eventually do after a moment’s pause. It’s delicious. 

I say so and nearly scarf it down. 

They smile back at me. 

“I guess you got another to try your new foods!” Xinyan pipes up. 

Oh hell yeah, I’m willing to try others she makes.

I jump out of my skin as a hand rests on my shoulder that isn’t Xinyan’s or Xiangling’s. 

“Oh Hey, Zhongli! Been a bit. Ya able to show the newbie here around Liyue? You’re a lot better at that than anyone.” 

“I would gladly show a tour around Liyue. I suppose it’s not unknown for me to be the one to do so anymore. Thankfully I’m free to do so now.” 

Hot damn that voice. Dude, don’t stop talking.  I turn to look at the man who was-

… I don’t like how he’s looking at me. It’s not aggression, disgust, etc. It’s more like wonder? Fascination? Something more like that which worries me worse than something negative or neutral. 

He offers his hand to me. Is it to give a handshake or to help me stand up? I reach out to grab his hand. I guess I’ll find-

He grabs it gently, and brings it to his face, kissing the back of it. 

Aw fuck, it was the weird 3rd option. Well, he’s a gentleman at least. 

“Are you ready for the tour, my dear?” 

My- my dear??? A little quick on the draw, Doesn’t he think? 

I stand off the chair. “Yeah! Even though I just got here, I can tell I like it here already.” 

He smiles like he’s very proud of that.

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

Great. I have a bad headache now with everything he’s tried to show and inform to me. This feels like something that should have been spread a few sessions. It was great to know, and I enjoyed it all, but this is too much. I can’t decide if Zhongli talking is helping or worsening the pain. 

I rub my forehead. Well, at least it takes away the pain in my feet. “Zhongli?” I cut him off on yet another story of information overload. 

He stops and looks at me. “I’m sorry to cut you short. I really like everything, and am totally down to know more, but it’s too much in one setting for me. Would you… maybe be free to continue tomorrow?” 

His eyes widen slightly. “Ah, I do apologize. I suppose giving more than just the best tour spots was too much. It appears to have given you a headache. Would you like to come to my place for a bit? I have some tea that would help.”

How about No? Have you ever heard of “stranger, danger”? Seriously, I could be a thief or you could be a murderer for all we know. 

“I’m good. Thanks for the offer, though. Just really want to go to bed.”

“Fair enough. Shall we meet at Wanmin Restaurant again tomorrow?” 

I nod and turn to head to my room. 

“See you then, (Y/N).”

A chill comes over me. Could have sworn my name was never mentioned with him. Or maybe I did? Ugh, head says no thinking. 

A group of girls come up to me. “You know, someone like you shouldn’t be interacting with someone like Zhongli.”

Ugh, seriously? He was just showing me around. He really seems to love this place and know the insides and outs. And they should shut up. Their voices are grating my nerves.

A shorter, younger looking woman with them rolls her eyes and almost seems to be playful about it. She comes up to me. “Hey! I’m Hu Tao! It’s nice to see a new face around here!” 

I blink a moment, trying to register how she’s super friendly to me already. Trying to sense if she’s just doing it to stab me later, I can’t feel anything off about her. Her being genuine makes it more jarring. Still keeping guarded though, I smile back at her. “Name’s (Y/N). Visiting from Mondstadt.” 

Hu Tao gives a massive mischievous smirk, like she knows something bit I don’t. “Mondstadt, huh?...” 

“What’s that look for?” I ask. 

“Nothing~”

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

It’s finally around noon when I exit my room. Something from the side jumps out. 

“Ha-what- Hu Tao! What was that for!” 

She giggles. “Nothing serious! It was just funny! 

Yeah, so funny to scare someone just exiting their room. 

“So what are you here for?” Might as well change whatever that was about. 

“To see how you like Liyue so far!” 

I was… not even here for a day? “Well, good so far. Though Zhongli feels a little odd.”

Hu Tao gives me the same massive smirk. “I Don’t know… I think Zhongli sure likes ya!” 

I try not to laugh at the impossibility, but the bark of a disbelieving laugh still comes out. “Yeah right. Not even in my dreams could that happen. I mean, look at him, and look at me.” I joke, while in the proximity of some girls making fun of me earlier. They’re around too, so may as well give them what they want, though it probably won’t help. 

She shrugs. “So? You’d be surprised!”

Thanks for the hope, but no. 

She runs off without another word. 

“I hope you’re well rested?” Inquired the too-familiar voice of Zhongli. 

Oh for fuck sake I just woke up for all this.

“Yeah. Weren’t we going to meet later, though?”

“A friend of mine informed me You’d be around here. With your headache from last night, I guessed it was going to take you a long rest before leaving. Would you like to eat somewhere before we continue where we left off?” 

My stomach growls in agreement. Ugh, stupid thing. “Sure. lead the way.” 

We reached a different restaurant.

One of the girls from before “Hey, look out everyone, they’ve come to eat all your food!” 

Yeah? And what if I do? I’ma nibble all your food for making fun of me. May you always have a mysterious bitemark in everything for eternity. 

A hand is placed on my shoulder. “I would like it if you’d refrain from such vulgar outbursts about someone innocent who’s come to visit Liyue.” Zhongli pipes up. 

The woman’s face was either red with embarrassment or anger at me. Maybe both. 

He lead me to a different one instead, and we ordered. 

I notice he keeps looking at me while we eat. What? He got a staring problem? I’m getting mixed signals of what he’s like. 

Someone came for the mora for our meals. 

Zhongli couldn’t seem to find his, making me nearly facepalm. Whatever, he’s a good man so far, as paying is just a favor for his touring I guess. 

“Ah, there. I apologize it took a bit to find.” 

The waiter didn’t seem to mind and left. 

“Well that sure took a bit to find. Having a hard time remembering where you put your mora doesn’t make sense to me.” I tease.

He nods at me. You’d be right. Thankfully someone very close to me has been watching out for my forgetfulness.” 

Good thing someone is for him.

He showed me the rest around the harbor, and even some grounds out of it. One place being the strange really tall statues by the thing in the sky, named the Jade Chamber I guess.

It was starting to get dark out.  

Zhongli looks over to his right, then stands in front of me. “Apologies, but I will have to cut this short. I need to… take care of something important.” 

His voice dipped into something that almost seemed to show anger. Yikes.

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

I was still restless after hanging out with Xiangling for a bit again, and left right out the town. It should be safe enough being so close.

The giant statues are visible all the way from here.

A pungent smell hits me as I walk the path. My eyes catch sight of a fight not far up ahead, making me hide behind the rock wall to make sure they wouldn’t see me. I peek up to see

!? Diluc and Zhongli… KILLING people!? The moonlight clearly showing their faces. Neither have psychotic smiles, making it all the more unnerving. Multiple dead Treasure hoarders dead, while one of the women that made fun of me already lying on the ground presumably dead too, and being burned. The pungent smell likely their burning flesh. I can’t believe they’re killers!” 

Zhongli pierces through the chest of the final woman still standing is the one who made fun of me earlier. She opens her mouth to scream, but Diluc covers her mouth.

“Surprised you’re helping. Doesn’t your contract prevent you from harming your Liyue people?” 

“That would normally be the case,” Zhongli then easily pulls his spear from the now corpse of said woman. Her body flops to the ground. 

I’m frozen in my spot. I want nothing more than to move, but my body won’t let me. 

“But that’s a good thing many don’t fully read contracts anymore. They broke my contract I made with them. They originally weren’t Liyue people. I could already tell from how they were not too kind to Liyue by making snide comments that they were nothing but trouble. The contract involved no demeaning remarks anymore, or they shall be removed from Liyue one way or another. It’s not hard to tell where they must have skipped. And they tried to damage Liyue’s newest, finest jewel.”

What the fuck does that mean!? I have to get out of here! Come on body! move!

Diluc sets fire to the corpse. “Suffer the wrath of the rock. Much better than that nuisance of a bard’s.” 

“I agree. I do also admit, I wish you could be here more often than around him. You’ll have plenty of time though. As for making you and our dear like me, that’s still a work in progress. Are you still sure you want to go through with it? Immortality can cause mourning of losing many.”

“I’m not close to many anyways. You’ve not been to Mondstadt, but outside of my work, I’m not well liked by many. They’re not exactly quiet when speaking their opinions. Besides, (Y/N) is in the picture now.” 

Me!? Their behaviors make so much sense now. Oh fuck, fuck, fuck! I REALLY have to leave! 

My body can finally move, and I take a slow step back. Hiding might be the best option since there’s no way I’ll be able to outrun them. 

*Snap*

Their heads whip towards the sound. 

OH MY GODS WHY WAS A STICK THERE!?

I can only hope they think it’s not a human. I hold my breath.

“In speaking of our dear, come on out. It’s safe now. I saw you try to hide earlier.” 

I don’t move. 

The sound of long strides comes towards me. 

I don’t get time to try to bolt before being grabbed by my wrist tightly, but not enough to hurt. My eyes get locked with Zhongli’s, who seem to almost glow a bright golden yellow.  

Diluc comes behind and rather loosely wraps his arms around me, his heat radiating off onto me with his close proximity. It slightly tightens before loosening again. A warning. A threat, showing he won’t hesitate to tighten his grip if I try to struggle free and run. their colognes combining almost making me dizzy. They’re not bad, but both at once is powerful.   

Zhongli reaches his hand and folds it under my chin, making me look up at him. “You must be quite lost, dear. I said we wouldn’t hurt you. And that was a promise.” 

He brings his face to mine and kisses my lips. I was so shocked I didn’t think of biting him until he pulled away. “Now, let’s get back, shall we? I’ll inform of what went on here, then I’ll join the both of you in cuddling. I’m patient, yet I cannot wait.” 

I should have just stayed in Mondstadt.

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

An: I’m sorry I made Diluc so physically obsessed or it seemed too repetitive to a point. I like to think due to his past, he’s touch-starved to the MAX. He just only shows it to a rare few how much he craves it. Yandere Diluc being even worse. That and I’m rather self-projecting of wanting my favorites being so obsessed with touch with reader lol. 

Not my proudest work, but screw it. Debated whether or not to post it lol. Was trying to write a more self confident chubby reader since apparently a lot of people are annoyed when they’re not. Even though I’m not self confident at all. Oh well. 

Also, writing full fics still feels like pulling teeth

[iriswestallenn]

This season was a mess

Season 1: My brother took his life and has left me his restaurant. Do I deserve this? Do I take this on? How do I navigate this grief?

Season 2: We found a shit ton of money plus uncle Jimmy is lending us more. We decide to tear down the beef and build The Bear. There is a deadline, we need to get it together, and we need to make this deadline.

Season 3: ...???? The restaurant is up and running. They are digging a bigger hole for themselves. Jimmy is broke now? Carmy is hung up on Claire. Everyone keeps bringing up Claire. Carmy and Syd have zero communication. They barely speak. Not even as friends- keep that. AS BUSINESS PARTNERS. Not once does Carmy ask why Syd hasn't signed the fucking contract that HE brought up to her. This season started off strong but wow wtf happened.

I wanna focus on two examples that I think illustrate how off this season was: I loved the standalone episodes. I cried during the Nat and Donna one. They were wonderful episodes that did not tie back into the plot because there was none. Season 2 we have a Marcus standalone right? Why did that one work whereas I feel these two didn't? (Again, I really enjoyed these episodes. This is about nothing flowing well) Because Marcus was sent to Copenhagen to become a better pastry chef. He was a cook in a sandwich place who did desserts on the side! He traveled to learn from Luca so The Bear could have a pastry chef. Woo! It all ties in.

Next, a flashback in S2 that worked. The Christmas episode. We meet their mom, Carmy brings up the restaurant idea to Mikey. We see Mikey's state of mind, we get background on Sugar's nickname/how she got it. We see how the family treats Carmy. We get a bunch of them asking Carmy if he's gonna ask Claire out. We get Richie and Tiff still together in contrast to present day Richie dealing with his ex getting a fiancé. Almost every single thing we got in this flashback related back to present day concerns. We touched so many corners. Mikey, Donna, Richie, Sugar. In ONE flashback.

Whereas, Tina's (bless her she's a doll) did nothing for the present day story. We see Tina struggle, we never get to hear the exact reason why. Does she hate this new environment? Does she wish she was just making sandwiches with Ebra? Is Carmy getting on her nerves? Sure, that could be a given but they never let her say it. We get her flashback that focuses on finding a new job, and the convo she has with Mikey. The convo is mostly about dreams, wants. I saw someone say that Tina's episode was an ode to everyone just trying to try. Not looking for a title, not competing, just trying. I agree and I love that. Why did it not relate to whatever she's going through in present day?

The rebuttal for my critiques could be, not everything has to tie in. Some things can be standalone. That's true but in my opinion... it shouldn't be done for a 40 min 10 episode show. Esp not one that tied in the flashbacks and standalone episodes in previous seasons. Why did we suddenly stop doing that this season?

This season felt aimless. Let's talk about Claire lmao when Tiff brought up Claire on that bench with Richie, I went huh??? TIFF is bringing up Claire now? WHY! I had to remind myself that she is literally a family friend they've all known for yeaaars. But me? We, the audience? We don't fucking know Claire! "She's his peace." His WHAT? When??? Stop trying to convince me of this and show me in season 1 and 2 that this woman is his peace.

If you decide to drag this Claire shit out for the entire season, oh bby, you're gonna need the audience to feel the same anguish Carmy is feeling. We should be thinking, fuck, Fak is right she is his peace because remember when she pulled him out of x y z? But at the same time they're not good for each other right now because of x y z. We have so little to go off of with these two and they made Carmy hung up on her the whole season lmaoo please.

I'll end with that, actually. You mean to tell me that the entire restaurant let Carmy act like that for months and NO ONE- not even broke ass Jimmy, told him, you need to stop. It took "Computer" coming in to get them just a little bit together? And even then? Still switching the menu, still not listening to Syd, still butting heads with Richie? You shitting me? And does Carmy know he's a fucking uncle now? DOES HE CARE? Oh fuck me this season was ass.

[only-one-brain-cell]

Syd fell first but Carmy fell harder

Ok here me out, ok so when Syd and Carmy first met it’s very obvious that he likes her man had heart eyes when she walked through the door. HOWEVER we are talking about Carman Berazatro here so in typical Carmy fashion he repressed his feelings which at this point is just him thinking she’s attractive. (But I’ll get to that later) Sydney meanwhile has been crushing hard core on Carmy, or the Carmy that she’s seen in Food and Wine and made her favourite meal, the Carmy that she had invisioned in her mind. She very quickly is about to find out that she was WRONG (don’t meet your hero’s kids) and that the Carmy in front of her is not at all the Carmy that she imagined. Now Sydney has to deal with that fact and I think in s1 that’s what she’s doing trying to learn the real Carmy… it’s a very though lesson especially during the take out instance. Sydney quits for many reasons but she does come back because while Carmy is a asshole there are moments between them where she sees parts of the Carmy she imagined, the one that’s passionate about food, about cooking and about the restaurant which the two of them are trying so desperately to fix.

Early s2 when their cooking at Carmys is when I believe that Sydney is in. When it’s just them and there’s no stress of the workplace they can finally be them. Carmy opens himself up to Sydney which he doesn’t do often and she likes this version of Carmy, she’s falling in love with this Carmy who is infinitely better then the one she thought of in her head. I’d like to think that during these moments they talk about their family and Carmy opens up about Mikey, about Nat and about Donna so she gets a sense of who Carmy actually is.

Carmy continues to deny his feelings for Sydney he has to try even harder. They are spending more and more time together and she gets him, not only gets him but understands him. She understands him on a level no one else but Mikey seemed to get but he can’t do it. He can’t fuck everything up by trying to be in a relationship with her and she probably doesn’t even like him back so what’s the point. So Carmy continues to deny his feelings and well

Enter Claire.

Carmy initially rejected Claire after giving her a fake number. She did get his actual number and he can try to get over Sydney by being with Claire and try to enjoy his life for tie first time…. Ever. Very quickly he found out that it is not working because he is spending to much time with Claire while he’s desperately needed at the restaurant, the restaurant everyone is working so hard to renovate for him. Because everyone believes in him, that he can make the Bear good, that he can make Mikey proud. But of course Carmy is running away from his problems, from Sydney, from the stress of giving the Beef a whole new makeover and trying to get everything ready in a limited time frame. Of course everyone comes boling over in the finale when he’s locked in the walk in and Carmy decides he’s no longer going to provide himself amusement or enjoyment while in the moment he may have been talking about Claire a unsaid part of that incudes Sydney as well.

So that’s what he does in s3 he is pushing back because I believe the table scene is when he fully realizes I love her I am in deep deep deep love with her and I can’t deny it any further. So he’s going to get her the star because he loves her, he would do anything for her. So he pushes himself, to be better, he pushes everyone else to be better for the business but also for the star. He knows everyone is gonna wind up hating him but as long as Sydney gets what she wants he doesn’t care because she deserves it.

Sydney hates that he’s pushing back and putting all this pressure on her, she hates that she loves him and he’s shutting her out so when Shaprio comes to her with the offer she’s scared. Scared to tell Carmy because of what he’ll say, she’s scared to even consider leaving because of all the friends she’s made. There is such a push and pull with them in s3 where Sydney is pushing mainly herself but also Carmy, she is pushing him to NOT be that guy, to not be the guy she knows he’s not. “You need to calm down” is her wake up to him that this is not ok, that it doesn’t have to be like this. That overnight he did a complete 360 and is now acting like a different person.

Meanwhile Carmy is pulling away from everyone. It’s the only way he knows how to do things, it’s how he was trained. Sure while he’s had positive role models in his life, (Terry) it doesn’t outweigh how her grew up, (Donna) or how he was able to take his skills to the next level. (David) This is Carmys pattern, something he’s done probably ever since childhood always pushing people away aside from Mikey that is and focusing on his skills so he doesn’t have to think about what’s going on in front of him. (again Donna) Carmy avoids problems and Sydney is one problem that he can no longer avoid, that he shouldn’t have to avoid. I am begging Carmy to no longer avoid Sydney and TELL HER THE TRUTH!

I’m also begging Sydney to do the same. Sydney builds up walls for herself, she doesn’t let people in she keeps a distance from most and doesn’t tell them a lot about herself. I believe she chose who to let in like Nat and now Carmy and a part of her hates that she let him in. Because if she wasn’t so in love with him she wouldn’t have, she wouldn’t have been come back in s1 but she did. Now she has to choose if she wants to run away from that, run to Shaprio and his offer or face the music.

Basically both of them are idiots in love who have problems communicating and not dealing with their problems., their two sides of the same coin.

[taylormenguista]

Harvey x Acts of Service

I would like to start by stating two things:

1. I know the concept of Love Languages isn’t actually real - I’m doing this just for fun. Relax, it’s not that deep

2. English isn’t my first language, so please ignore any grammar mistakes I might make

Let’s start by dissecting what happened between Harvey and his mother.

We also know that, off-screen, when he was older, he connected the dots and said he was gonna tell his dad if she did it again. The first time, his mom made up a lie and just asked him to not tell his dad; the second time, she promised she wouldn’t do it again. Both times, she manipulated him through her words, but didn’t live up to what she said. Bobby wasn’t just a friend, like she said first, and she kept hooking up with him for years, even after she said it was over between them.

As a consequence, Harvey doesn’t believe in what people tell him - he believes in their loyalty once they show it to them. When he swore his loyalty to someone, he didn’t bother saying it over and over again - he would just prove it by doing whatever was necessary.

That’s why, when Donna begs him to comfort her, he says “he doesn’t have the time for words.” Yes, he was overloaded with everything that was happening, but he also didn’t believe that telling her would change anything - he needed to act to actually help her.

He doesn’t tell Louis he doesn’t want him to leave the firm - he just tears his resignation letter in front of him. He doesn’t tell Mike he’s scared as fuck he might go to prison - he does everything he can to avoid it, and once he realizes he can’t, he tries to switch Mike with himself. He doesn’t tell Donna he’s sorry for choosing Paula for a second (even though he should’ve - she let him off way too easily) - he tore her resignation letter and told her he would be okay if she came back. He does it, instead of just telling he will do it.

His mom told him many lies and made him lie to his dad - she said one thing and did another. Harvey is the opposite - he does one thing without bothering to even tell anyone he’s doing it, because he knows most people knows he will solve the problem.

That’s exactly why Donna leaves him at the end of season 4 - because he finally said what she wanted to hear, but he didn’t do anything about it. She knows he’s a person who does whatever he wants, so she assumes he doesn’t want her.

After all those years, she heard him say he loved her, but that was it. She still had hope he would, one day, wake up and realize what was right in front of him all that time, but once he said he loved her but left her apartment and then decided not to try to be with her, she thought it was over. And she left, because she couldn’t be around forever, waiting for him.

That’s also why her “I want more” was becoming partner and then, later, being COO. Harvey wouldn’t take the shot with them, but she knew he would go to the end of the world for her when it came to their work. So she knew he would find a way to promote her.

So, unlike at the end of season 4, she chose her career instead of her hope that Harvey would come around.

In season 7, she also didn’t choose to leave the firm and pursue something else instead - she saw how Harvey acted like she betrayed him when she left him back in season 4, because she acted as if she didn’t care about him. For him, leaving him and working for someone such as Louis, who fucked him up many times, was a betrayal. She left him because there was one thing he couldn’t do, and she couldn’t accept it nor make peace with it.

(I’m sorry for the next sentences, because I’m about to meet Paula)

When Donna left him in season 4, he found someone else to talk to; to vent; to complain about; and to receive advice from. He couldn’t count on her anymore, and found it on a therapist - as a consequence of his panic attacks. If I had to guess, without his panic attacks, he would just vomit everything on Mike, who would try to tell him to fix things with Donna - and then he would go to Jessica, as he did, and who basically told him to get over it. Paula was the only one who seemed open to listen to him and give him advice (even though she was terrible at it) - and she did so because she was his therapist. He told her he realized he wanted to share everything with her, but he just didn’t fucking realize it was because she was his therapist, and not because he wanted to be in a relationship with her. Harvey just couldn’t separate things, and Paula made a huge mistake by not separating them herself.

She decided to give it a choice, even though she’s heard over and over how Harvey felt about Donna - she even told him they loved each other while dating him (what the fuck is wrong with her?). And then, during half the time of their relationship (if you can call that a relationship), they talked about Donna. She forced him to fire her and, in the same night, he realized the huge mistake he made - and went back on it.

He wouldn’t allow Donna to do it because he knew she would do everything and more for him when it came to their work, and there was no way he would get rid of that for someone who forced him to make Donna leave.

And guess what? When he wasn’t disbarred, he looked around and tried to find someone to celebrate it with - he went for Alex, who told him he wanted to go home to his wife; Robert was sad and went home to his wife because she was the one he wanted to share that moment with; Samantha asked him what was she supposed to do without Robert there, to be the one she always shares things with. And then it clicked for him - Robert went home because he was sad, and he wanted to be comforted by the person he loved; Alex went home because he went through a lot with Harvey almost getting disbarred and Zane taking his place; Samantha had no one to go to - but Harvey was glad he didn’t go down, and Donna was the person he wanted to share it with. Because when the chips were down, she would do anything for him. But when they were up, he took a long time to realize she was the one he wanted by his side - he looked around and she wasn’t there, and then he went for her.

And Donna? Like Mike said, she knew from day one about his secret - and she kept it from everyone because they are a team, and they’re there for each other for everything. And she is the one who gets him - who left when he said but didn’t do it, and who stayed when he did it.

Because he’s a person who does it.

Edit: just found this interview with Gabriel Macht, Harvey’s actor, in which he summed up pretty much everything I wrote. Here it is:

“Then it got to the point where he needed her from a work standpoint and she was his right hand, and he could not live without her to navigate the world of law how he saw fit,” he recalled. “He understood that if they did get together, then that would be the end of his career, He was so career-motivated for so long that he put it out of his mind. She’d start dating people here and there, and I think he would question himself along the way. But at a certain point, and as the years went further, I think he realized that there’s something more than just your work life, your career.” Macht continued, “Everyone’s going home to their loved ones and maybe I’m not seeing what’s right in front of my stupid face. So that’s why, I think, it clicked for him and it clicked for her. And they were both at the right place at the right time, and that’s why they’re finally connected.”

I want to highlight “(…) everyone’s going home to their loved ones and maybe I’m not seeing what’s right in front of my stupid face. So that’s why, I think, it clicked for him (…)”, because that’s exactly what happened in 8x16. He saw everyone going home to someone they loved, whether to be comforted or to enjoy each other’s company, and he saw Samantha, who lost the one person who was that for her, and he looked around and his person wasn’t there. His person wasn’t at the hearing nor at the firm, and he wanted to talk to her about what happened and share with her his highs and lows.

Throughout the show, we’ve seen Harvey went through many problems and obstacles - and Donna was there for him every step of the way. And when he finally got something serious off his back and could truly breathe, he realized he need her to be there too when “his chips were up.”

[marksbear]

So how about Dom reader asked out Steven on a date. It's their first date and steven is really nervous and wears his outfit from episode 1.( He looked so fucking fine in that I won't let it get out of my head) steven meets him at a vegan restaurant that reader picked and they have a nice time getting to know each other. End of the date and reader walks steven home to make sure he gets there safe. Steven is shy and kissed reader which turns heated and then him asking if he wants to come in for tea or any excuse to get him inside to not end the date. Once they get inside it leads to them making out and reader telling him out Hot he looks in the black button up. They take their time undressing and leads to reader asking if they want to have sex and he says yes. Reader gets him prep all nice and slow and steven is loving it but then once he sees reader dick his eyes widen. He thinks in his head that oh no he can't fit it inside and says how big it is. Reader asks if he still wants to keep going (consent is sexy) and it awakes a size kink inside steven saying he's got this. Reader kisses him to try and distract him but once he puts the tip in steven yells on how big it is,how its going to rip him apart, how it's filling him up and once reader bottoms out steven cums. Which then leads to reader once again asking if they still want to continue and steven still yes and leads to him being overestimated and he still yelling about the size of reader and how big it is and how he loves it inside him.-🐻‍❄️

Sorry if this took a while! But I hope you like it!

Warning! Big dick reader, size kink, gentle dom reader for half the smut then other half pure monster, HEAVY SMUT.

STEVEN GRANT X DOM MALE READER

Steven nervously walks inside the restaurant praying slighting that the man who asked him out wasn't playing no sick joke on him or something.

In Steven's eyes the man was out of his league.

Past!

They met at the museum during Steven's shift. The man was with a handful of people. They went where he went like a lost puppy. Steven guessed that he was the group leader from the way they all treated him like a king.

"Guys! Go follow the tour guide real quick. I wanna buy a few things." The man tells his friend group waving them off before he walks to the souvenir shop.

Steven's back is turned from the man not even noticing him yet. The man takes some random things from the shelf and sets them down by the register. "Excuse me sir?" The unfamiliar voice startled Steven a bit and whipped his body around mumbling a "Sorry mate."

Steven lets out a quiet gasp when he realizes it's the "handsome man" Donna calls him. "Uhm- Sorry again. Would this be all?" Steven asks checking out the items. "No there's one more thing i'd like to buy, but it's not on the shelf." The man says with a smirk forming on his face. "What is it? I can sneak to the back and get it for you."

"It's to buy you dinner." The man responds back smiling to himself when he hears Steven let out a gasp. Steven tries to say something back, but ended up stuttering or choking on his words. To save himself he ended up doing a weak nod yes. "Great Steven." The man takes the receipt and uses one of the pins that was for sale to write his number on it and slide the paper back to Steven. "My name is Y/n by the way. When you text me I'll give you more details and see you tomorrow."

Y/n takes the bags and gives Steven a small wave bye before catching up with his group.

Steven looks down at the receipt smiling to himself as he reads the number.

Present!

Steven looks around in the restaurant feeling sadder and sadder when he couldn't find Y/n anywhere. A waiter walks over to the confused Steven and asks "Excuse me sir? Are you looking for anyone?" Steven nods his head yes and says. "Yes! I'm looking for Y/n L/n." The waiter smiles and asks Steven to follow them.

The waiter takes Steven to a private booth and opens the door for him. Steven walks inside eyes widened from the beautiful scenery.

"Steven! I was beginning to feel worried." Y/n stands up giving the waiter a thank you before pulling Steven a chair. Steven sits on the chair as Y/n pushes it back to the table. Y/n moves back to his seat and tells Steven.

"This is a vegan restaurant. I remember you saying that you were vegan before so I picked a place where you can eat and all that." Y/n hands Steven the menu before talking about whatever came to mind.

The two talked like they knew each other for years. They talked about the happiest moments of their lives to the saddest point of their lives.

They talked about loving fishes and Steven even got to ramble about all the Egyptian knowledge he knew.

Steven told Y/n about his sleeping problems and his mental health problems for exchange Y/n told him about his fears and problems. They talked like a married couple. Knowing everything the other hated or likes.

They talked and ate for the longest time until the restaurant had to close. And that terrified Steven. He didn't want the date to ever end. He feared that it was just a one time thing. Steven never had told anyone things that he told Y/n. He felt such a connection and he knew Y/n felt it too.

TIMESKIP

As they leave the restaurant Y/n turns around looking at Steven. "Let me walk you home. It's late and dark I wanna make sure you make it home safe. I held you captive there for so long, so it's the least I can do." Y/n gives Steven a trusting smile. "Well... Yes i'd like that a lot." Steven smiles before turning the direction to his home walking while Y/n walks by his side.

Once they finally arrive Steven lets out a whine when he sees his house across the street. Y/n walks Steven to the door while Steven is currently freaking out in his mind. "I had such a lovely time with you Steven." Y/n tells him. Steven nods his head yes agreeing. "Me too! I-I really enjoyed the time we had together." The conversation goes cold. Both of them saying a word, but it's a comfortable silence.

Y/n checks his phone for time opening his mouth to say something, but closes it when Steven puts his hands on his cheeks cupping his face before pulling him down for a light kiss. The kiss was supposed to be quick and simple. Until Y/n puts both his hands down on Steven's waist pulling him into a deeper kiss.

Once Steven pulls away both of them are gasping for air. "W-would you like a cup of tea?" Steven asks a bit out of breath looking up at Y/n. "Yeah. I would love some." The two swap one more kiss before hurrying inside.

As soon as they get into Steven's house they're already on each other. The two making out on the door. Y/n was quick to take control pushing his tongue inside Steven's mouth exploring every inch of it. Y/n pulls away holding Steven's chin as he tries to chase his mouth again trying to kiss him again. "God Steven...You look so fucking hot. So hot in this fucking button up."

Y/n tugs on Steven's shirt collar a few times before pulling him into a heated makeout. Y/n picks up Steven taking them both to the bed not even caring about the sand on the floor.

Steven watches in awe as Y/n takes off his shoes and socks before taking off his shirt. Y/n lets out a small laugh when he feels Steven's eyes all over him before climbing over him kissing him deeply as he unbuttons the black button up. Y/n strips Steven down slowly kissing each single exposed skin as he does it. And once Steven was completely naked Y/n takes off his own pants and underwear. "Do you want to have sex? I want to make sure you don't feel like i'm forcing you." "Yes! I-I want this." Steven answers and nods his head yes. Y/n nods and sucks on his own fingers before pulling them out then pushing one finger inside Steven slowly.

Steven lets out quiet moans and whimpers moving his hips back and forth grinding on Y/n's finger. Soon enough Y/n adds another one and begins to curve and twist his fingers stretching him out slowly. Y/n thrust his fingers in and out picking up the pace a little. Steven is in pure bliss. Loud moans escaping his lips not even caring if anyone heard him.

Y/n pulls his fingers out when he thinks Steven is about ready and moves between Steven's legs limning his tip to Stevens hole.

Steven jaw drops. "N-no way in hell that's gonna fit inside me! It's so big! Too big to fit inside me..." Steven stares at Y/n's dick shamelessly while a million thoughts fill his head, "Steven. Do you still want to continue?" Y/n asks looking up at him. "Yeah! I got this. I think I can handle it." Steven says mostly to himself.

Y/n moves up closer to Steven kissing him deeply and passionately trying to distract him as he slowly pushes his cock into Steven's hole. Once only the tip was in Steven breaks. "OhHh g-god!~ so big! You're so big!" Steven screams out in a moan arching his back and throwing his head back. Steven's cock already leaking precum. Y/n kisses Steven's jaw as he moves slower into Steven's hole. Once Y/n was half way inside Steven he was a moaning crying mess. "You're too big!~ Mhmm~ oh god you're splitting me in half!~ Too much you're too big!" Steven cries out holding onto Y/n's shoulders for dear life. Y/n gives Steven one more kissing before thrusting the rest of his cock inside Steven hitting his prostate dead on.

Steven cums hard with a loud moan. White covering and staining his stomach. Steven's face became hot from embarrassment and from all the pleasure he's feeling going straight down to his now sensitive cock. Y/n is staring down at Steven's stomach looking at the bulge in his stomach. "Hey Steven. Do you still wanna continue? I mean that you already came and i'll only overstimulate you if we keep going." Y/n asks with a slight warning.

"Y-yes I---I want this." After Steven answers Y/n gives Steven a quick kiss before using his hands holding up Steven's legs by his thighs. Y/n moves his cock out until only the tip is inside him then slamming the rest back inside him.

"Again! Please~ I love your big cock inside me!" Steven moans out tears threatening to fall. Y/n repeats the action again then again and a few more times causing Steven to cum the second time. Some of Steven's words don't even come out correctly coming out as moans and cries. Steven cock begins to harden again even though it had already shot a load not even long after.

Y/n begins to fuck Steven recklessly snapping his hips back and forth in a brutal pace not even caring about how rough hes being. "Ha-harder! fuck me harder!~" Steven moans out a beg as his chest and stomach stained with cum and tears. Not needing to be told a second time Y/n pounds into Steven mercilessly. The headboard bangs onto the wall with each thrust and the bed squeaking and shaking.

Steven struggled to keep his eyes open, but when he does his eyes will meet Y/n's own filled with lust and hunger.

Steven's body trembled every time he made eye contact. Steven hasn't felt this vulnerable in a long time or truly never. "I loveee feeling you inside me! You feel so big and good! Making me-- feel so full!~" Steven moans out praises and whatever on his mind.

Y/n's thrust became faster and faster once he felt his orgasm beginning to rise. Y/n's thrust was like an animal trying to breed its partner. He gotten rougher and sloppier. Steven cried and screamed from being used at this point he had came hard and didn't even realize until he stopped. His cock and hole ached. His hole was stretched to fit Y/n's cock now from all the harsh thrust.

"Steven! Steven oh fuck! I'm close! I'm gonna cum! Wh---where do you want it?" Y/n asks with a warning throwing his head back fucking Steven at a fast pace, but gotten softer with the thrust. "I want it inside! Please inside!" Steven begs.

With a few more thrust Y/n cums deep inside Steven with few quiet moans. Y/n thrust lazily into Steven as he rides out his orgasm and helping Steven with his own. Steven cums hard again and honestly forgotten what number it was.

"Don't. Please don't pull out." Steven begs struggling to keep his eyes open. Y/n gives Steven a weak "Okay." Before turning Steven around and lays on the bed spooning him while he's still deep inside.

"I think we broke the bed. If not bed I know we broke something." Y/n tells him. But doesn't get anything back from the sleeping male.

Next morning

Steven woke up feeling like he got hit by a bus and that he couldn't feel his legs. Steven looks around tiredly and is a bit sad when he doesn't see Y/n anywhere. Steven looked down at his clean body and struggled but got up to get dressed. After he's done getting dressed he looks at Gus fish tank.

"Don't freak out Steven. I only went to go buy us breakfast! It really depends when you're reading this but i'll be back in 1-10 minutes!- love Y/n." Steven reads out loud and couldn't help but smile to himself.

After a while Steven hears the door knock. Steven goes to it unlocks the locks and opens it. "Y/n!" "Hey Steven." Steven lets Y/n inside with a smile stuck on his face. After Y/n puts the bag of food down he sits on the edge of the bed motioning to Steven to come here. As Steven makes his way to him Y/n takes off his shoes and socks. Y/n spread his legs open letting Steven stand between them.

"I feel like a douchebag for leaving you by yourself sooo~ How about I give you the good morning you deserve. If it's okay with you." Y/n tells Steven taking off his shirt before dragging Steven down on the bed with him.

"You're gonna make it up to me?" Steven asks.

"Hell yeah I am." Y/n flips Steven on his back kissing him passionately as they fumble around with their clothes.

THE END

[littlest-nightingale]

Nobody asked but here's my newwho agere timeline lmao (9-15)

Okay so we start with Rose. Rose is a certified silly little lady. Okay well lady makes it sound like she's all prim and proper but she isn't. Anyway Rose regresses. her mom doesn't know, and neither does Mickey. But because she's spending sooo much time with The Doctor and he's already... well, a time traveling alien (and therefore used to "weird" things) she entirely trusts him with her regression. (honestly slay. i don't think it gets much cooler than having a time traveler for a cg so go off) BUT ANYWAY The Doctor has briefly heard of agere but never seen it, it just never interested him as much as the myriad of other fun things about humanity. But now he's got Rose and he's definitely at least going to try taking care of her. And he's. okay at it. a bit too protective but he's still fun and very willing to learn. they make friendship bracelets. he knows more about my little pony than he ever intended to. and notably, the TARDIS has a playroom now. There are stars on the ceiling and bed with a blanket nest and shelves and shelves of silly little toys because he just can't say no to her and it's great.

Then he regenerates and. uh oh

Rose, on top of being stressed about, uh, EVERYTHING ELSE is also worried about loosing her caregiver. Spoiler alert: that doesn't happen. Ten is a wonderful caregiver, even more playful and silly yet still very protective (he actually time travels with her when she's regressed, which is more than can be said for Nine) and everything is fine and dandy until uh oh, he loses Rose! fuck!!!

During the time between Rose and Martha he doesn't touch that playroom at all because uh oh! guilt! grief!!!!!!! all around sad! The big big sad!

That doesn't stop the Doctor from trying to regress himself, after a while. it's helpful, he 100% understands why Rose regressed so often. Anyway.

by the time Martha comes around he's doing it pretty often. he's never going to tell her shit about it, but when she isn't there, he's regressing pretty often.

Around the time he finds Donna again, he's actually opened up the playroom again, slightly adjusting it for himself but still keeping most of Rose's stuff. Donna doesn't know, but she does buy him a rather pathetic and skinny little stuffed animal as a joke, because it reminded her of him. it's his best friend.

Then, he regenerated into 11. 11 doesn't regress the entire time he's traveling with Amy, because Amy is a little and he ends up as her cg, and he doesn't tell her because he doesn't want her to worry. Rory is, understandably, a little bit pissed that Amy trusted the Doctor with her regression while he, HER HUSBAND, didn't know, but do you think they're going to address it? no. no they are not.

After Amy and Rory die, all of Amy's things were shoved into a closet in the playroom during a fit of grief and not touched for decades, because it just felt wrong to move them afterward.

While 11 is hiding in the clouds above London, he regresses involuntarily a LOT. he's just. very very sad.

When Clara comes along, girliepop figures out pretty quickly that he's hiding something from her, and when she finds out she pretty much instantly takes up the role of caregiver. he is a sopping wet blanket of a man and goddamnit she's going to take care of him!!! 11 is incredibly hyper on days when he isn't regressed due to stress, he's bouncing off the walls crazy insane and Clara is insanely good with him. oh. and he's a leash kid. you cannot take him anywhere (not that that stops her from doing so) She gets him a little giraffe and some teethers and little sensory toys and y'know. he's her little guy 🥺🥺

And then we get to 12. 12, unlike 11, isn't very open about his regression at all. in fact, he actually tries to convince her he doesn't regress anymore, but Clara isn't dumb and sees right through it. Once he stops being a stubborn little bastard Clara realizes just how low energy he is. when 12 regresses, most of the time he just curls up and goes to sleep. She doesn't really need to do anything other than be there most of the time. they eventually get him a bean bag that goes next to Clara's desk in the TARDIS, so while she grades and does work he curls up and naps or plays with his sensory board or just sits there and watches. he's just very, very tired. they are the definition of the "excuse me he asked for no pickles" meme. she is so much shorter than him and this is unnecessarily funny to me. just imagine her being like "yeah I have a little!" and the little is an angry looking Scottish man who is several inches taller than her and looks like he hasn't slept in days. wonderful amazing incredible i have no notes.

He doesn't tell Nardole or Bill about it. Nardole is much too strict about most things to be a fun caregiver, and Bill is his student. Sure, she's also his friend, but he has no interest in telling her. So that's all fun and great but Missy. oh Missy knows. don't ask me how she knows I have no idea but she does and it turns out that they both regress and. bangs my head into a wall. them . ough

The Doctor is definitely not going to regress around her for a variety of completely understandable reasons but Missy is very, very pent up and stressed in that vault and goddamnit he is going to give her enrichment in her enclosure. So he starts buying her things behind Nardole's back, bringing her little science kits and books and dolls and whatever her little heart desires! She does his makeup and they watch movies and paint eachothers nails. Nardole is a bit suspicious but who gives a shit they're thriving.

Eventually Missy seems to be stable enough and one day he finds himself slipping with her, which leads to a several hour long playdate and a mess that they both have to clean up. After that they settle into a routine where they meet every other day and switch off who's the cg that day, if any. The watch more movies are make matching pacis and they cuddle it's great. once again 10/10 no notes can you tell that 12 is my favorite yet.

Then we get to 13 and brother 13 is the most miserable little guy on this list. 11 may have spent decades fluctuating between headspaces above Victorian London but 13 is so much worse.

If 13 settles down for too long she starts thinking too goddamn hard and it upsets her. on top of that, she doesn't want people to know about her regression because of the sexism she started experiencing after regenerating. She knows people already few her as more emotional and crazy than her past selves and if people knew about her regression, that would no doubt get worse. Plus, she has 3 whole people in the TARDIS, which she does consider to be her responsibility and therefore she doesn't want to put herself in a mindset where she couldn't help them if needed. She regresses around the fam once, completely involuntarily, and they never talk about it again. Every time 13 regressed it was involuntary, and most of those regressions were spent crying. This gets infinitely worse after the timeless child ordeal. she may not have those memories but she experiences them as nightmares or daydreams, kind of like how when "john smith" (10) wrote stories about being the doctor because he could very faintly remember it. These nightmares and daydreams are more common when she regresses because they are memories from her childhood. This is the first time that regression has been dangerous for her. She doesn't want to, but it just keeps happening, and there's nobody to take care of her through it all.

Despite being in an infinitely less stressful environment and having people to care for him, 14 avoids regressing. Maybe one day, but not now. not so soon. not when it might be unsafe. But that doesn't mean he's completely away from it. Rose is also a regressor! She regresses for stress relief and also to have a more .. fem childhood? y'know. you get it you understand

Rose tells 14 before Donna, because he's a goddamn time traveling alien and has absolutely no right to judge her. no matter what he will always be weirder.

anyway he's like. that's so cool of you tbh but you should tell ur mom too because she's an absolute sweetheart and I'll back you up on everything. So she does and Donna feels SO guilty about Rose not thinking she would be accepting even though Rose reassures her that anxiety is just like that. But she's also thrilled? like. ohh i get to take care of my baby again. oh this is great. i love my daughter

so the Doctor's like cool. that's fun- and then he remembers that he has a time machine that can go anywhere and. this toootally doesn't end in him taking his little niece to all sorts of zoos and parks and museums with a perception filter in so she looks like a normal child so nobody can judge her. definitely not. maybe don't tell Donna about that bit

15 is considering going back to regression, and he has no plans to inform Ruby (at least not for a while.) Ruby is a regressor, but she's too nervous to tell him.

[ticklishraspberries]

Movies Make Ticklers More Creative (Billy/Stu)

Summary: A bad horror film leaves Stu seeking entertainment in other forms, at the expense of Billy. (Thank you to the person who suggested I use the film Ghoulies as the movie in this fic!! Here is a YouTube link to the tickle scene in this movie, it is...Something for sure!! I haven’t seen the whole movie btw, just that clip as well as reading a few articles about it, so sorry if I’ve gotten any of the lore wrong. Regardless, it has an 8% on Rotten Tomatoes, so...)

As usual, Stu’s parents aren’t home, and he is filling the silence with the sounds of beer cans cracking open, hands rustling in the bowl of popcorn, girlish screams from the television speakers, and Billy’s commentary from the couch beside him.

After making their way through all the classic horror films, the boys have resorted to watching whatever they can find, whether they end up being fantastic deep cuts, or they absolutely suck, but joking about it makes it worth the watch.

Tonight’s movie is proving to be the latter. It’s a film called “Ghoulies” from ‘85, and it’s…Well, it’s keeping them entertained, for sure, but there is nothing disturbing (nor inspiring) about it. The scares are cheap, and the dialogue is atrocious.

Billy comments that the main chick, Donna, is kind of hot. Stu hums in agreement, but his heart isn’t quite in it. When the guy takes her out by the lake, though, their interests are piqued. This should be the part where Donna loses her chance of becoming the final girl, where she loses her virginity to the first schmuck who tries, and both the teens die a terrible death for daring to engage in premarital sex.

But that’s not what happens at all. Sure, it’s PG-13, but they were expecting at least a little action. But no, Donna and Mark stay fully-clothed and…Well, Stu snorts out a laugh as the kid starts tickling her instead of trying to bang her.

“This might be the worst movie that we’ve ever watched,” Billy says. His tone is deadpan, but there’s a smirk tugging on his lips.

“Oh, by far,” Stu agrees. “It’s not scary, and it’s not sexy. You can be missing one, but not both.”

Donna on screen is shrieking, begging Mark to stop tickling her. The scene feels eternally long, and since the screaming is that of laughter rather than fear, it feels much more ear-splitting than usual.

Stu looks over and sees Billy’s face screwed up in annoyance, and that sort of moping will just not do. Sure, the film sucks, but is good company not enough to make the guy happy?

“What a way to seduce a girl, eh?” Stu says, trying to crack some jokes and lighten the mood. “Tatum would nail me in the balls if I tried that.”

Billy just exhales through his nose in amusement, and Stu decides that isn’t enough.

“I mean, dude’s got no game. What did he say to her?”

“In the creepy voice? I dunno, I think he called her a little girl though, which is fucking weird.”

“Gross. She seems to like him, though. Maybe we should be taking notes,” Stu says, placing his beer down on the coffee table. They’re basically ignoring the movie by now, and he’s overcome with the strange desire to touch his best friend in that moment, to make him laugh like the girl in the movie, and that weird-ass scene gave him perfect inspiration on how to do so.

He and Billy have been friends since middle school, and Stu’s seen sides of him that no one else has. He’s pretty sure he’s the only person who has ever seen Billy cry, other than his parents. He’s the only person that knows Billy used to be scared of the dark, or that his mom had to sleep in his bed with him until he was ten because of that fear.

And, of course, he knows about the more fucked up shit that goes on in Billy’s head. He’s seen it first hand.

Stu also knows that Billy is ticklish, something he found out by accident and rarely used to his advantage, because last time he tried, he’d ended up with a pretty gnarly bruise on his jaw. But the risk seems worth it at that moment, so Stu takes his chances.

“Quit looking so miserable. The movie is shit, but I’m not,” Stu teases. Trying to mimic the weird, high-pitched voice the guy in the movie had adopted, he continues. “Cheer up, little boy!”

He reaches out a hand and prods at Billy’s stomach, which makes Billy shove at his hand with a suppressed huff of laughter.

“Fuck off,” he says.

Stu does not fuck off. Instead, he scoots closer on the couch, effectively trapping Billy between the arm of the couch and his body, and continuing to wiggle his long fingers against Billy’s stomach.

The light of the television illuminates Billy’s scrunched up expression, trying to hold back his laugh and seem pissed at Stu’s immaturity, but it only lasts a few moments before the bright, boyish giggles that are so unlike his personality come spilling out.

Stu grins in triumph. Billy’s actually sort of adorable when you get him like this: Guard down, acting his age, letting loose. He squirms like a fish on a hook, and Stu has to dodge his flailing limbs. His hair falls messily into his face, his cheeks look flushed.

“I’m gonna fuckin’ kill you—” he grits out, but it doesn’t sound intimidating at all.

“No you won’t,” Stu replies. “You’d miss me too much.”

Billy lets out a noise somewhere between a growl and a whine, before dissolving into laughter again as Stu’s fingers dance up his sides. It isn’t until his ribs become a target that Billy truly fights back, grabbing at Stu’s wrists and trying to shove his hands away.

Stu takes that as a sign to back off, because although it was a risk he willingly took, leaving this without injury is still the preferable outcome. He watches with a grin as Billy catches his breath, arms wrapped protectively around his middle.

“You’re an asshole,” Billy says.

“I know,” Stu replies.

Their eyes meet for a moment, and Stu feels his face flush for reasons he isn’t quite ready to confront.

By the time they look back up at the screen, Mark and Donna are dead and they’ve completely lost track of the plot. Neither of them are complaining, because it was a fucking dumb plot to begin with. Leaving the crushed cans and empty bowl behind, the two boys climb the stairs and crash into Stu’s bed for the night, a common occurrence that somehow feels different this time, like something between them has shifted, just enough to make Stu’s heart skip a beat when Billy falls asleep with his face pressed into Stu’s shoulder.

Like this, he looks innocent. He looks beautiful.

Stu makes a mental note to research other horror films with tickle scenes in them, just in case he needs an excuse to hear that giggle again. Even if the movies suck, spending time with Billy is worth all the shitty scares in Hollywood.

[insufferableprotagonistpoll]

Propaganda why Dean Winchester is insufferable:

Really mean to Cas (called him a child, zero respect for him, calls him family and casts him out when the angels are looking for him), and an absolute dick to Jack (threatening to kill him CONSTANTLY)

>Was a misogynist (loved to call women skanks, bitches, hoes)

>Used gay as an insult multiple time during the show's run (idc if he's gay an homophobic, that's still insulting)

>Beat up his brother for being possessed

>Beat up his brother for losing his soul (not his brother's fault)

>Used dubious consent to get his brother possessed in a different unrelated possession incident after possession was being used (badly...this is supernatural after all) as a metaphor for SA

>Threatened to murder his brother when he was hallucinating (yay we aren't ableist)

>Locked a child up in a box

>Threatened to kill the child he locked up in a box

>Made a creepy, sexual comment about a barely-legal high school girl

>Got the woman and kid he was living with memory-wiped

misogynistic scumbag. theres also a few different times that dean finds teenagers sexy with the most recent and prominent example that i can recall being the scooby doo crossover episode in season 13 where hes super into daphne who in the version they chose for the episode is 15-16 and is interacting with her as if shes a real person cause they got magicked into the episode. he treats everyone around him like shit and the only time the narrative agrees that thats a bad thing is when he has the mark of cain put on him and hes acting no differently than he does usually its just now acknowledged that hes treating others like shit. ive been rewatching the show for shits and giggles with a friend and wow he really does not treat anyone well but i wanna focus on how he treats sam for a second cause dude's hobby seems to be ignoring what his brother wants and lying to sam about doing stuff that directly concerns him the demon blood and souless things are reasonable cause those were both Bad for sam but theyre still part of a wider pattern and the most prominent example of this being when dean tricks sam into letting gadreel possess him and actually gaslights sam about it with the whole ordeal ending when its revealed gadreel lied about who he was and while possessing sam murders a friend of theirs. his voice is just also stupid as fuck im sorry this is just petty but he just sounds like hes trying so hard to be gruff n intimidating but he just sounds like a kid pretending to be batman

Dean’s list of sins is crazy long because of how long the show ran, but the key thing for me is that post-locking Sam in the bunker (season 4 I think?), I just can’t enjoy their relationship anymore. I normally love their sibling dynamic, but Dean’s ultimate worst past-the-point-of-no-return moment for me was demonizing (pun intended) his little brother for being “addicted” to demon blood, which only happened because of a series of events that were either Dean’s or someone else’s fault, not Sam’s. I also really dislike how the fandom treats Dean like this angel (pun intended) who has done no wrong and even tries to justify the MULTIPLE times he’s beaten up and otherwise abused his little brother. Canon Dean is like the polar opposite of fanon Dean: he’s homophobic and racist (jokes about a Black man being sexually assaulted in prison), misogynistic (take a shot every time he calls a woman a slur and you’ll die of alcohol poisoning), and abusive.

Propaganda why the Tenth Doctor is insufferable:

They’re so *edgy*

That one time he committed a genocide by drowning the last children of a near-extinct species (Racnoss) because their mother was evil. The closest anyone ever got to calling him out on it was when Donna noted that his take on a *different* set of weird alien babies (the Adipose) was a lot nicer than last time.

A combination of hypocrisy, sanctimony, and an equally insufferable fanbase. And the dissonance between what he actually does and how the narrative presents it.