#as in lesbians demanding he teach them his ways

[piratefishmama]

Eddie and Robin taking Steve as their 'token golden retriever straight friend' to a queer bar in indy only it has a rodeo bull and subsequently Steve ends up going home with literally almost every single phone number in that place cause

"I got an uncle with a ranch over in Texas, didnt I tell you that Robbie?"

[miauentity]

Sharing my own TNMN headcanons bcoz why nawt?! (Below the cut)

lemme start with the girlies

♡ The Sverchzt twins are french-russian

♡ Elenois is a lot more shy/reserved and has low self-esteem. Selenne, on the other hand, is quite the opposite. I'm basing this off solely on their nightmare counterparts Lilith and Anazareth, specifically their responses when you ask them about their appearance

For reference, Lilith only says that "everything is in order with her appearance" while the other residents say theyre perfect or in the case with Anazareth, that she's "just as beautiful as ever"

♡ Speaking of Lilith and Anazareth, I really like the trope that they are the polar opposite of each other; from stylistic choices, orderliness to even intimate preferences.

Lilith likes to be clean and tidy. She's also a masochist (not necessarily in a sexual way) which is why she likes to wear insanely tight corsets. Anazareth doesn't care about the messes she makes, and certainly prefers to see others suffer her wrath.

♡ Lilith is a lesbian (Elenois too). Like really, the Lilith?! The first woman made from soil at the same time but not with Adam's flesh??? The first feminist !?!?@, 😍😍. Ok in all seriousness, both could be sapphic-leaning and im open to that

♡ Lilith and Anazareth aren't actually who they were named after. They were named after two mysterious "evil" spirits who helped their mother out during difficult times. Eventually, all three were unjustly executed for worshipping "demons" and engaging in "witchcraft" in the victorian era

♡ Angus is trans. But doesn't know that it's not a common cis experience to want to be a woman as a self-identifying man

♡ Despite separating, Francis still harbors feelings for Nacha and is a bit creepy about it. Though, Nacha has moved on (sort of). Francis continues to be a milkman despite the crappy pay so that he could regularly deliver cases to her restaurant. He also sneaks in bottles for Anastacha

♡ ok this depends on the doorman you interpret but if they are young, Margarette would definitely treat them as her own nibling/grandchild since she's never had her own. She is quite affectionate, would teach the young doorman how to crochet and invite them for tea occassionally

♡ Lois is as hospitable as Margarette. Roman is too wary of strangers and gets a bit cranky whenever there are visitors coming over. But honestly its ok bc Lois keeps him grounded

♡ Robertsky also suffers from low self-esteem. But unlike Elenois, he copes with it by being conceited. He is jealous of Albertsky for being "more popular with the ladies" when in reality, it's just an exaggeration of his perception of his brother.

♡ the Peachman brothers own their shoemaking business

♡ Arnold publishes educational books and writes activist journals. He is quite popular for his involvement in politics and almost crossed the DDD once... in response, the DDD secretly sent a doppelganger of him with stitched eyes as a warning

♡ Steven is a former veteran and likely suffers from PTSD. He switched to becoming a regular pilot in the local airport since there was a very high demand for the job

♡ Mclooy managed his own restaurant before officially retiring. He is a really, really good cook and often volunteers with Nacha when the neighbors gather for a potluck/ cookout.

♡ Rafttellyn only married Alf for the money 😭😭😭😭 i mean come on, shes young, married a lawyer whose probably leagues older than her, is a housewife and carries expensive jewelry and a designer bag 😳

♡ I really like the idea that Mia and Afton are just each other's beards. Mia probably has a crush on Nacha and may or may not be subtly flirting with her.

♡ On the flip side, if they are in a genuine relationship, I do think that Mia resents Afton and is falling out of love. Maybe because Afton is too obsessed with his job that he doesnt give enough attention to her

[neko-naruto]

we might just bite underneath the moonlight

Summary: Chilchuck can't help himself from helping Marcille on the rebound of Falin's death, even if he knows that's all he'll ever be to her, the rebound

Tags: heavily suggestive themes, wound cleaning, the hot springs itself isnt sexual but the making out is, complicated relationships, check Ao3 port for full tags

Authors Note: "Ace write a normal fic for dunmeshi please" fuck ya life, femme4butch lesbian marchil with a brief meijack cameo at the start. in all seriousness the marchil fanart is fucking fire and i had to write *something* for ya'll, it ended up much longer than it was meant to be. hope ya'll enjoy and if ya do consider dropping a reblog or checking the Ao3 port, it really means a lot

https://archiveofourown.org/works/56221963

"Being butch is being chivalrous," Chilchuck explained when his first daughter was old enough to ask why he never dressed like a gal and always wore tape around town.

"Right..." Meijack said, only a hint of confusion on her voice.

"It's like an honour code," Chilchuck said, a bit firmer this time, "A way to confirm that you'll always be the fists they need in a fight, or the one to foot the bill on a date- you're too young to get it."

"Dad, I asked a question, now answer it." It's almost a demand, proof that she is old enough to get it. Proof that she could leave any day now if he wanted it or not, which he really doesn't.

Chilchuck sighed, "It's not something I can teach, it's something that you fall into if you're meant for it."

-/-/-/-

Taking the hit is a reflexive thing, he still hates himself for it. Throwing himself in harms way for the femmes and letting the men take it head on is how he is whether he means it or not.

Blood bursts from the wound along his shoulder but he tries to strafe back into the dodging regime before anyone can register he took a hit for Marcille. He wipes down the wound and oh, yep, that's an arrow lodging itself in his spine. It has enough force to make him stumble and trip and fall, banged against a column and ears ringing.

Death by living armour.

This one is new.

He can hear it clunk as it steps ever closer and closer, fun. He sacrificed himself for Marcille, the girl who wouldn't even spare a second glance at the butch who won't see sixty. Humorous. Ironic. Tragic...?

No, no, not tragic, not tragic for Marcille. She couldn't care less about him, she couldn't care less about men. And to her, he's part of men. He's something so well disguised he'd never be clocked as anything but another dumb guy.

And he can live with that, that might just be the pre-death clarity talking-

A scream is ripped from his throat with the sword plunging deep into his flesh. As mortality is ripped from his body his hands fly to the blade and then he's gone.

-/-/-/-

The bandages wrapped tight around his chest are stiff now, he supposes that they've been down for long enough without a window to change them that they would get nasty. He's pretty sure it's giving his clothing the funk what with the sweat and blood seeping into it that he can't wash out while still wearing it.

He hitches his backpack a little higher up as they reach floor four. Cool air washes over him comfortably as the slow and lazy flow of the water bounces back and forth. It's comforting, he never thought he'd yearn for floor four. Full of sirens and kelpies and deception galore, seemingly calm but full of danger.

Senshi's laying down a pot already and Laois is probably drooling over whatever it is that their latest companion is cooking. And Marcille is brushing her hair, undoing the braids slowly and letting it fall down over her shoulders and Chilchuck isn't allowed to stare.

He wouldn't dare stare, not without her permission at least. That's sacred to her, her hair, her magic, it all ties into one thing that's the core of her existence. It'd be kind of obscene to catch a glimpse of that without her permission, even if Chilchuck is a rogue, a thief, and a cheat he has standards.

"I'm gonna wash off!" Before he gets a response he's trudging over to a sharp corner to slip behind.

The ledge sort of crumbles off the further he strays from the initial landing of the floor. Turquoise glow casting up from the water below, it's scary to expose himself in a false isolation. No one is watching, it's fine, no one is going to walk on over. Well, maybe Laois, but Laois is a dumbass who absolutely would.

First the scarf comes off and his breath hitches as it rises over his head. He should've changed his wraps before coming down to the dungeon, he should've known better. He's been doing this adventuring shit since he was a kid how did he not figure something so simple by now.

He kicks off his socks and shoes next, lining them up next to his bag. In an effort to avoid the inevitable, he retrieves his towel and fresh bandages. They're dropped near the edge as he proceeds to disrobe.

The leather armour slides off much easier then the scarf did, so much easier. With the first step taken, everything afterwards becomes so much easier and he supposes it's that way with everything. Even so he's hesitant to slide off his gloves and reveal scarred flesh to no one but himself and the gentle glow of the lake.

He'll never be able to tell what's harder to take off be it the pants or the shirts, but he still shucks off his pants first. He's starting to feel the nausea, the insecurity, the fear. Of what? He's not quite sure but he swears he's breaking a code of conduct of some sort by stripping down and washing off to save himself from potential infections.

Chilchuck steps down from the ledge onto a raft before taking off his shirt, only then does he dare even think about the bindings wrapped so tight around his chest. He doesn't even have anything to bind, god, why does he even bother. His ex-wife was the only one who could see through the facade and want for what he is anyways, not like he'll luck out with some bi chick again.

Slowly he sinks into the light blue waters, arms rested on the planks of the raft as the stiff gauze soaks. He's slow to unravel the binding and he can only give a stiff exhale because wow, he forgot what it's like to have chest weight. Familiar but foreign, something he barred because he was sure he didn't get as many jobs looking like a girl.

A cigarette would go great with having a soak and relaxing a bit despite all the stress. He doesn't have any of those so instead he dunks his head and washes off, same refreshing feeling. It's nice to get off a couple days of grime, just relaxing enough that he zones out to the point he doesn't register the outside world until Marcille drops her staff.

Oh, fuck.

"Marcille," Chilchuck begins, back still turned to her.

"Y-Yeah?" Marcille asked, trying desperately to beat down the red up to the tips of her ears.

"How much did you see?" Chilchuck asked.

Marcille doesn't answer.

"How. Much."

"Enough." Marcille choked out.

"Look, just toss my down my clothes to the raft and I'll get dressed. Let's act like this never happened, for both of our sakes." He's screaming at himself for saying that. This is his chance, his one, singular chance, and he's butchering it.

Marcille does as told and averts her eyes.

"Didn't anyone ever teach you that it's rude to peep on a lady?" Chilchuck has the gall to ask it as he drags himself out of the water and towels down. He hears a small squeaky sort of sound from Marcille in response, he shrugs it off and tugs back on his pants.

"Well, yeah, of course they did."

"Lemme guess, you didn't think I was this?"

"Yeah." She tugs down the hem of her sleeves a bit, "Did you properly disinfect any wounds?"

"Don't be an idiot, I don't have any wounds to disinfect, and I would've if I had." He's lying, he didn't have the time to reopen a scabby one that had bits of gauze stuck inside, merely skin deep but still an issue. His gloves slide on back with ease but he has to tug just a bit to ensure that they cover all the scars properly.

"Are you almost done? Senshi sent me to get you for dinner." Marcille tapped her foot anxiously on the ground. Very briefly, she wonders if Chilchuck can hear the fact that her heart is racing. She wonders if her heart could just stop right here and now to save her from the shame of it all.

"Hold your horses," Chilchuck answered with. He hisses as gauze comes to lay atop the wound again, he'll tough it out.

Before Marcille can stop herself she whips around to face him, "I knew it! You are hurt..." Her enthusiasm peters off and the red on her face intensifies as Chilchuck scrambles to cover his chest.

Chilchuck's sputtering a bit, scrambling for words to try and get across the exasperation, "I told you to be patient!"

For a brief moment there's silence.

And then.

"Do you want me to clean the wound?" She speaks almost too quietly for even Chilchuck to hear.

"It's fine, I'll manage." He keeps wrapping the gauze as he speaks, when Marcille steps closer he stops. With a heavy sigh, he speaks, "Look, you weren't supposed to find out, no one was. So let's forget about it. Let's both just forget this ever happened so you can go live your good life with Falin, sound good?"

Marcille shook her head, "I can't, I can't let you risk getting an awful infection and dying a slow death."

"Oh yeah? How come?" Chilchuck questioned as he watched Marcille step forward again. He tries to step back but he's been thoroughly cornered to the ledge, he knows that if he steps any further he'll fall in.

"You're my teammate."

"You never spared a glance at me once."

"I didn't know you were, were, you were-"

"A woman?"

"You weren't supposed to be."

"Yeah, I don't get as many jobs with my tits out."

The crassness makes Marcille go even brighter red, it makes Chilchuck smirk. She waves it off, "Just! Let me help."

He hesitates, "Fine."

And with slow motions he undoes the wraps just enough to let the wound be exposed. It lays below the clavicle and Marcille's hands are soft as they trace over his skin far too slowly. He tenses as well kept nails brush over the edge of the scab and pry the bits of gauze and discoloured dry blood.

His blood is red and her hands are pale. The contrast is staggering and he tries his best not to watch because this isn't right. Something is screaming at him that this isn't right or good or lawful because she wasn't supposed to know unless she asked. And he wasn't supposed to be walked in on while he was washing off and changing his wraps-

"Do you want me to call you she?"

Chilchuck goes rigid, shoulders raising and eyes widening.

"Got it, not she."

"You're the second person to ask me that after my wife."

"Oh."

"You haven't earned the right yet." A choked sound slips out as the magic weaves through his flesh and purges it of the potential infection. She retracts her hands and he tries not to reach out for them in response to the motion, "Not yet at least."

Her eyes aren't on his, he can't tell if they're cast to the floor or not. He reaches to fully wrap his chest up again, gauze unfurling to lock himself back up again. The way he should be, it's safer, it's better, it got him three kids who he misses dearly and more jobs than he'd ever needed.

"You look pretty," Marcille confessed, ears drooped just a bit. She feels like she shouldn't be saying it.

Chilchuck gives an amused huffing sort of laugh, "Ya think?"

She nodded.

"It's not just because I'm shirtless is it?" As he speaks he tugs his shirt back on, along with his scarf. He just stuffs his leather over armour in his bag, too stuffy to wear it now that he's hot under the collar.

That gives her pause, "Well-"

Chilchuck sighed, "Think before you speak, don't give an older gal hope."

-/-/-/-

There's an undeniable itch deep inside of Chilchuck's bones and he can't place his finger on it, can't tear himself open to satiate it. He just feels nauseated, vaguely dizzy, and his stomach is in intensive knots no matter what he does to quell it. Cramps? No, no he took his contraceptives.

Did he?

Fucking hell, did he?

He can't remember and he can't ask Senshi to cook up something that'll help with cramping because he'll lose respect if he's outed as a woman. He thinks. He presumes. Senshi's a nice guy, has lots of respect for Marcille, a classically womanly woman.

Chilchuck? Not a classically womanly woman. He'll be disowned, or called a fraud, something awful is bound to happen. But someone is bound to notice that he's lagging behind and in what can only be described as agony, and if its Laois, he'll definitely be diagnosed with a deadly disease of some sort.

Please let there be a natural hot spring somewhere, anywhere nearby. He won't be able to actually have a soak if the guys insist on joining but at least the heat would be a comfort.

Chilchuck dropped down next to the fire, "Hey, Senshi, what's for dinner?"

"Sautéed vegetables, it's a simpler dish compared to what we usually have. But sometimes a light dish is good after excessive amounts of complex dishes." As he speaks he tosses in a handful of diced herbs, "I might check for mushrooms around the springs once Marcille is done in there."

"There's actually a spring down here?" He sounds a bit more excited than he should, not even a floor back did he take a soak. But he yearns for the warmth like a cat yearns for the sun.

Senshi gives a nod, "Yep, great place. Two pools with a bit of a stalagmite barrier between them, quite nice. I set up some lanterns a while back, it's a quaint little section."

"Call me when dinners done, I'm taking a soak." He hiked up his backpack before trotting off to where he can hear Marcille's heartbeat and the slight ripple of water. Sure, he has to strain to hear it a bit, but he picks it out.

-/-/-/-

"Chilchuck, is that you?" Marcille asked from behind the stalagmite wall.

A pause, "Yeah."

"You don't have to be on that side, what if Senshi or Laois comes by?"

"I still have my shirt on, I'm just enjoying the heat."

"Oh."

"Lemme tell ya one thing about being a butch, Marcille." For a moment he wonders if he should give her the spiel he gave Meijack, but he chooses against it. No, no Marcille would know by now. Surely she's met normal butches before? Regardless, he sits against the stalagmite border and speaks, "After sixteen plus years of keeping your real self effectively hidden, you learn better than to make such basic blunders."

She sinks below the water briefly and the silence makes Chilchuck almost uncomfortable.

"I appreciate the concern."

"You can do that on this side of the divider."

"But what if Senshi or Laois arrived? Wouldn't look very good if I was peeping on ya, that'd ruin my reputation."

"But-"

"Marcille. I'm fine not getting in the water."

She stands up and ah ha, she's taller than the divider. And when Chilchuck tilts his head back to face her he can see so much of everything above the belt. Red rises to his face faster than it should and for some reason he can feel his jaw go slack as he stares.

Before even more precious seconds can pass he's jolting away. She leans on the border as best she can, arms crossed over her chest. He swallows thickly as he glances up again to meet her eyes.

"You're in pain," She declared.

"So what if I am?" He countered.

"Look, I read somewhere that Half-Foots get it particularly bad compared to other races due to their size influencing pain tolerance and durability. I've seen you hobble and you curl up in a ball and grovel when you're trying to fall asleep."

"Are you asking me to get naked and take a dip with you?" He tries to cut down his own embarrassment with vulgarity that usually makes Marcille squirm.

"So what if I am? It's only to try and help you out, I'm a girl too ya know."

"I know."

"Then how come you're so hesitant?"

"Reasons."

"You're still not over your wife."

"Don't pry, Marcille, it's rude."

Marcille steps back and sinks back into the water, "Whatever."

Only a brief moment of pause has to pass before Chilchuck stands up and walks over to the divider. He leans on it for a moment, "Look, I guess I could join you."

Marcille spins around to face Chilchuck, "Really?"

"Yes, really. Just, don't make such a big deal out of it."

-/-/-/-

It happens so much faster than he can keep track, maybe he's getting too old for this 'falling in love' thing. He's got three kids, he's definitely too old for this.

Maybe the heats clouding his mind, the temperature a comfort soothing his frayed nerves. His wraps are still on but they're coming off, slowly unfurling as the heat threatens to suffocate him with the way it's tied too tight. And Marcille is staring, mostly submerged, but eyes just above enough that she can watch.

"Marcille, don't make it weird." It's more of a demand than a plea but he can't tell if the heat on his face is from being perceived or from being in the hot spring.

"Sorry," Marcille mutters the word as she presses herself against the ledge, hair scattered around her like tentacles or silk woven from gold.

Chilchuck can't decide which comparison works better.

...

. . .

Marcille gives a short hum, "You look pretty."

The heat is stripping away his inhibitions.

"You look pretty too, unfairly so."

She edges ever closer to him, not sliding along the rocky bench-like formation of the spring, but pushing off.

"You think?"

Chilchuck nods, watching as Marcille glides closer with the grace of a mermaid.

"I don't think," He said, voice slow, voice low. Dropped lower than usual, a slanty smirk on his face. He leans forward a bit, "I know."

"You know?" Closer, closer, closer. She's so close but she's so far and the clock is ticking but time is coming to a screeching halt.

"Oh believe me I do, Marcille." He slinks down from where he sat to meet her halfway across. It's a small basin anyways, but it feels so much larger when the tension and the steam blends into one and he goes blind. He keeps his hands to his sides instead of reaching out because if he missteps with his motions then everything will go downhill.

She isn't afraid. That or she's just not thinking properly. Her hands are soft when they come to rest on his shoulders, one sliding up to the side of his neck. He leans into it a little bit, "Then that would make you one of the hottest ladies I've met."

Chilchuck laughed, "You thought I was a guy, do I really count, Marcille?"

"Now you do."

As she leans forward her hair falls, caging Chilchuck in and locking the door but hey, who is he to complain when it feels so good to give in? To get what he wants, it feels so good. Like fire. He's drowning in flames.

Her other hand works its way to the small of his abdomen and slides up to unfurl the gauze fully. It shocks a gasp out of him and further she presses onward, no inhibitions, no fear, no hesitance. What is she running on right now? What is in her head? What the fuck is making her do this, but holy shit, he does not want her to stop.

Eventually her hands are in her hair and pulling just a bit but her hands stray just a bit and he lurches back. Shoving her off at the shoulders and stumbling, he scrambles to retrieve his wraps.

"What the fuck, Marcille!" Maybe he's a bit louder than he needs to be but he needs to get the point across, "There are, there are boundaries."

It takes her a moment before her face goes bright red and her ears droop, "Oh god."

"It's not fine, but, it's not bad either." Chilchuck is rebinding himself as he speaks but he's still trying to ease the shattered mood, soften the blow. Don't be a douche, you can turn someone down nicely, but he isn't trying to turn her down either. He just needs to slow this down, way down, to a snails pace.

"I don't know what got into me, Chilchuck, I'm so sorry-"

"Marcille! It's alright." He steps close enough to reach out, hands held above the water. He gives a small nod and she places hers atop his, "It's okay, I don't mind fucking, but can we not do it right now with zero warning?"

Marcille nods, "Sorry."

"Stop saying sorry, it makes you sound like a coward," Chilchuck said, voice firm but with a hint of affection lacing it, "And you're not."

A small smile tugs at Marcille's lips, "Alright, thanks, Chilchuck."

-/-/-/-

Chilchuck sleeps without his wraps that night because they got soaked and he was running low anyways. When Laois asked Chilchuck didn't answer, when Senshi asked Chilchuck didn't answer. He didn't owe them an answer even if their assumptions would probably be way off.

They just come up to him one morning and offer to cut his tits off, he'd probably keel over laughing if that happened. His wondering of what's going to happen is very brief when he finds Marcille standing next to his bedding. She drops down to her knees, fingers curled to press nails into palm.

"Yeah, Marcille?" Chilchuck asked gently as he sat up. He stretched his arms over his head and fuck, his spine hasn't felt like that in years.

"Could we share a sleeping bag tonight?"

"What?"

Marcille stands up, "Nevermind."

"No, Marcille. What's wrong? Tell me what happened," He speaks sluggishly, a tired inflection to his tone.

"It's dumb."

"We almost had sex in the hot springs, that was dumb."

Marcille drops to sit down next to Chilchuck, "It was about Falin, we couldn't save her."

"It'll be fine, we're gonna save her. I promise." He's making wild promises. Ones he can't pull through on. But ones that he needs to make to get through the night breathing easy.

He places his hand on Marcille's back and she leans heavily into him, "I miss Falin."

Oh.

He's a rebound.

That's... fine, he knew from the start it'd never work out anyways. Why hope that it might because she kissed him? Why hope for something farther out of reach than the stars? He's dumb, he's an idiot, he isn't even a hopeful one.

This dungeon is getting to him, to fall for Marcille and be stupid enough to think that she'd mean it in any way more than deprived desperation. He still steels himself and hums along, "I miss her too." It feels like he's being stabbed as a much delayed realization hits him, the words falling out of him feel like blood being hacked up.

[rafesproactiveprettygirl]

can u do headcanons of joel miller x male reader where they end up living in a farmhouse like how ellie and dina did? (ellie is with them ofc)

Joel Miller x Male reader - Headcanons

a/n: ofc!! thank you so much for requesting! i apologize if this isn’t what you want considering i’m a biological woman myself and don’t understand a biological males perspective! and since you didn’t specify biological or trans male i just tried to blur the lines and make it to where both could read! hope you enjoy:) i’m sorry this took so long to get out 😭

• Obviously as Ellie herself is a lesbian, when she found out Joel was dating a man she was ecstatic! She didn’t feel scared to hide her sexuality and she knew Joel nor you would judge her. That brought you guys closer together!

• She wasn’t very happy when you two gave her the chore of feeding and watering the animals but she was more they happy to start once Joel told her she could clean up the animal shit if she wanted to complain.

• Dinner was always great, and most the time you and Ellie would have mini food fights, using your spoon as a sling shot to shoot your peas at each other! Joel would often groan and call you both childish and demanded you to pick up your mess. You both snickered followed by a “Sorry babe”, “Sorry Joel”.

• A lot of the times you two wanted to give Ellie the childhood she never had so you let her ride the horses whenever she wanted, stay up pass her bedtime, have family movie nights, eat candy for dinner, etc!

• You’d also give Joel back massages whenever he wanted and he’d complain about him getting old, but if you ever called him “old man” he’d scowl at you.

• Most the time when your grooming the horses he’ll be behind you, arms wrapped tightly around your waist, his head on your shoulder so you could feel his hot breath against your ear and he’d make small talk asking about your day.

• He was the one that did the hunting most the time, sometimes taking Ellie with him and you stayed home to relax. Sometimes the roles would switch and Ellie would teach you how Joel taught you.

• Joel always let you sleep in no matter how much you begged him to wake you up early, he wanted you as well rested as possible.

• He loves you so much that when you begged him to build a swimming pool for you in Ellie in the middle of winter he got his ass out there, in the freezing cold, and started digging for place to build the pool.

• The seasons with the Millers were always fun! Winter would be a bunch of playing in the snow, snowball fights between Ellie and Joel (most the time they ganged up on you), snow angels, etc! Summer you had swimming, sometimes Ellie would tan, you got to see Joel without a shirt on half the time so it was a win. Autumn was Ellie’s favorite, she liked the way the leaves changed color and when they fell of the street she’d make piles of leaves to jump in. The crunch also satisfied her. And the bunnies came out in spring.

• No matter how little or how much you guys have, you’ll always be a happy family:)

[sytokun]

The year is 2025. RWBY may or may not still be in hiatus, or cancelled, or still ongoing.

At least 50 more useless side characters have been added to the cast.

Maria and Pietro are still missing. Ruby comments by saying "Huh, I wonder where Maria and Pietro are". Yang replies "Maybe they're off on a date", Blake replies "Oddly wholesome" and they all laugh together.

The current villain is a dark-skinned male Faunus who happens to be a working-class family man who is fighting for a social issue that is oddly relevant to some real-life events in 2025. But it's okay guys, bad people corrupting noble causes is still totally a valid way to write villains.

Bumbleby is still not canon. Yes, they are still calling it a slow burn.

Cinder is still fucking alive, oh god why

Rooster Teeth has officially exhausted their entire supply of bright-eyed creators who aspired to work on RWBY. They finally hit their goal of either firing or expiring the contract of every last one. That'll teach them for having dreams.

The merch now consists of $500 shirts with RQBY sewn in microscopic fibre on the inside of the fabric. The show name was misspelled in the first print run, but enough people complained about it that RT just went "alright, fuck you guys" and didn't bother to change it since.

About half of RT's legacy staff have confirmed to be in some sort of really fucked up scandal. The other half made callout docs and tweets, which caused the fandom to be angry for a week before they went back to sharing fanart as usual.

RT is now currently using a new production pipeline, where every single animator's contract only lasts for a single episode, before they leave and they find new people to animate the next one. They're hoping to further optimise this process next year by making it per scene instead.

There is a new RWBY side anime coming out, animated by prestigious animation studio Cocomelon.

An entire team of four unambiguously queer Hunters were killed onscreen. CRWBY has blamed the first death on a team of rogue, disobedient animators accidentally drawing her kissing a girl and confessing her undying sapphic love for her - she wasn't meant to be seen as a lesbian. The second death was blamed on the fans, the crew saying "this was supposed to be a side character, but you all started liking her and demanding more screentime for her, so fuck you" in the Volume commentary. The third was a monkey Faunus with comically yellow skin, squinted eyes and a long moustache named Mu Fanchu whose Semblance involves him making monkey noises and his weapon is a giant banana - surprisingly, he turned out to be secretly evil. The fourth just died offscreen because she was a fan character who won an OC fan design contest, but they had no time to include her in the show - in fact, the time her death was mentioned was the very first and only time the character was introduced.

Jaune says onscreen "Somehow, Ironwood has returned."

Green Dust is now Fire Dust, which Eddy confirms in a Reddit post - not in r/RWBY, but in an obscure reply in r/fantasygeology. No one found that post until 2 months later and when asked, the reply was "Green fire exists, I can see how you can get them confused".

Ozpin has now reincarnated into Oswald Pint, one of eight new boys currently with RWBY's group and for some reason have more screentime and agency than the girls. Oscar died in Volume 11 Episode 3 in a sickeningly distressing torture scene - that's the episode, the whole episode was the torture scene.

The fandom is abuzz over the newest queer rep in the show: a talking glass of water named Clear, who is genderfluid.

RT releases a RWBY mobile game only available in two postcodes, is not written in English and discontinues it after 3 months due to "stupid fucking fans not engaging with our products". Fans continue to insist that somehow, this must still be either WayForward or SHAFT's fault.

Jaune Vs. Aquaboy is slated to release next year. In fact, Volume 11 stopped in the middle of Episode 4 and will be on hiatus for the next 3 years until the crossover is out.

Speaking of Jaune, he just killed Nora. In fact, he did it just as I was posting this. Oh, he's killed Ruby too. And Clear our genderfluid queen, and Aquaboy as well. Oh god, he's looking this way, help me

The year is 2025, and if one thing hasn't changed, it's that hardcore RWBY stans are still around. When asked about the state of RWBY, they had this to say:

"RWBY is still amazing, and CRWBY is still amazing. Shame about those queer and PoC employees... oh well! I'm supporting manufactured fictional minorities so same thing, really."

[louhilainen]

Tsukuyomi, Shura and Douma from Olympia Soiree as parents!

Contains major spoilers up to Akaza's route!!

Tsukuyomi

Tsukuyomi likes peace and quiet… BUT THOSE DAYS ARE OVER FOR HIM WHEN BYAKUYA MAKES DADDY TSUKUYOMI INTO A REAL DAD!! xDDD 

Not gonna lie, he has an adjusting period as he becomes a father of a noisy brood after living on his own pretty much as he pleases. (Yosuga was an easy kid, and didn’t cause him any trouble lol). Many times he craves just for a moment of solitude, but those kinds of moments are far and between when the children are still little. But he has enough life experience to know that children are only small for once and years go by fast, so he enjoys every moment with them when they still need him. 

Tsukuyomi is definitely in his element as he guides and teaches the children. He has all sorts of knowledge and skills that he passes on be it reading, writing, mathematics or painting. If one of them shows interest in something specific, he always encourages them and makes sure they have the opportunity to learn more. Even though their children are in agreement that their dad tells the same stories over and over way too much and his existence is an overall embarrassment to them, they love him and he is the first person they come to for advice and support. Let’s face it, as raised by him, they are pretty strange themselves xD

As Tsu doesn’t have a day job, he’s basically SAHP, while Byakuya girl-bosses her way around the island xD Although Tsukuyomi does not share Byakuya’s drive for making an island a better place, he always supports her in her goals and offers advice if asked. Byakuya likes to drag him to help her in her projects,  although he grumbles objections now and then. But if it makes her happy, then he’s all for it. 

When their children grow up and start leaving their home, he is happy and relieved that their children have found their place on the island. But he definitely feels an empty nest syndrome (“Everything I love always escapes me…”) But not to worry! Byakuya will always have something “small” for him to do! (“Tsukuyomi, it’s 5 AM, it’s time to feed the chicken, rearrange the furniture and build props for the girls' new play!” “Yes, my dear…”) And when the children have children of their own, Grandpa Tsukuyomi’s babysitting services are desperately needed! 

So he will never have too long a moment of peace and he is at times a little baffled how things turned out like this. But he enjoys having a busy and a fulfilling life and is very satisfied with having a purpose. From his perspective, his life, after marrying Byakuya and having a family with her, went in a blur. But he feels he did more living during those decades than in centuries before that. So he has no regrets for forsaking his immortality to be with her.  

Shura

Shura and Byakuya make a power couple! When dealing with other people, with Shura sweet talking to them and Byakuya’s earnestness (yet calculated), they end up making promises they regret. Shura teaches Byakuya to be more shrewd while Byakuya shows her that kindness is sometimes more useful than subtle threats.

(I don’t know how they get pregnant, either by lesbian magic or they use sperm donors.)

When Byakuya’s pregnant, Shura spoils and pampers her so much that it makes her a little uncomfortable… 

Shura spoooooils their children so much! They can have anything they want, be it from dresses, dolls, make up. She loves getting them gifts and is very affectionate with them. But on the other hand, she is also very demanding and  strict and makes sure they know what awaits them. She knows all the eyes on the island are on their girls, always assessing them and waiting for them to fail, so she makes sure they are prepared for that.

Shura is fiercely protective over her girls. Especially when they get older and with her experience with her husband, Shura can be a biiiiit over projective. Basically, she doesn’t trust men. 

She assures her daughters that they can do anything even if they are girls no matter who says what. Having children also forces Shura to acknowledge that nothing in the island would change until women are treated more than living wombs. She realizes that she herself has kept the system living by her own actions. But she and Byakua swear to make the island a better place for women so their children and other women can live happier lives

Tsundere Grandpa Douma

Whenever Byakuya’s and her spouse’s children visit, chaos begins. They use the railing of the stairs as a slide, run in the house, making all the servants and Douma run after them to make sure they don’t hurt themselves or destroy the house. They ask millions of questions about Douma’s life in the Outside world and ask him to read books from them. Douma has to use every wit of his to keep children entertained. 

When their parents come to pick them up, Douma complains and asks not to bring them ever again. But when the children hug him and tell them that they had lots of fun, Douma’s heart melts. After they are gone, Douma goes to his study and sighs a breath of relief. It’s quiet. Just as he likes. But why does he feel so… lonely? When would they visit again? The servants notice when Douma misses them as he stares out of the window and keeps sighing. They send a word to Byakuya and her spouse that it would be nice for them to visit again as the Master misses his grandchildren tremendously…

[mitzisarchive]

due to popular demand (no one asked, i just wanted to do this) here’s a marauders’ character study based on mitski songs. keep in mind that most mitski songs have some romantic meaning, but as an aro i don’t usually see things that way, so i won’t be using that interpretation.

as a former sirius kinnie i had to start with my starboy.

so here’s “Sirius “Why didn’t you stop me” Black”

why didn’t you stop me is special because every lyric hits insanely hard, but the thing that makes me associate it with sirius is the immensely grief the song displays

something bad has happened, something that the protagonist of the song initiated, and in consequence they’ve ended the relationship with a close one. the protagonist is heartbroken, because even if they ended it, they thought the other part would go after them.

a common mistake i see when people talk about sirius is not acknowledging his family. it’s often a big topic until he runs away and then it’s all good? now, this is my own interpretation, but having an abusive family can fuck you up in tons of ways, and i personally headcanon sirius having a twisted sense of love

look, he loves (loved) regulus, he’s his little brother and he cares (cared) about him, and that’s the only kind of true love he’s ever know. but his parents? walburga and orion fight CONSTANTLY. they’re always fighting about every little thing, and the only time sirius sees them together they’re arguing. that leads to a distorted sense of romantic love in which he thinks love is constant arguments.

of course he goes to hogwarts and learns he isn’t in a normal family, and so he learns about other kinds of love: he learns about friendship, and james potter teaches him about stable relationships, but that ain’t enough. y’all can choose if you want to believe he ever dated marlene in their straight era, (as someone who headcannons sirius as a demi person, i choose not to) but if he did, it would be an unstable relationship in which he’s constantly seeking conflict, so it ends because marlene is both a lesbian and over that shit.

then remus happens, and this time sirius falls hard. he’s head over heels for moony, so he shows it the only way he’s ever known and they’re always fighting, not in good ways tho. it’s not necessary that sirius actually puts a stop to their relationship in order to relate him to the song, but the feeling is there, sirius is always creating conflict and waiting for remus to chase him.

sirius has been neglected his whole life by his parents, so he thrives on the attention, he needs the chase in order to feel loved because that’s all he knows.

then the prank happens

as i personally headcanon sirius with a bipolar disorder, and the prank as a result of a manic episode, and after he comes back for it, it happens “why won’t you chase after me”. of course he understands why he doesn’t want to be near him, but at the same time he knows that if he was in remus’ position he would go after him. so why won’t he? maybe he never loved him after all?

of course, this is just a representation of sirius’ fucked up concept of love, which of course changes when he and remus finally end together so Sirius has to learn about healthy romantic relationships.

or, well, this is be the cowboy, there’s always more angst

[roseonthewindow]

Thanks for publicly being a schizo freak at every opportunity, it makes it really easy to show people how stupid folks like y'all are

English do you speak it? clearly not so lets go for the rundown: Boxing camp YOUR LITTLE PIRNCESS FUCKER was deemed TOO DANGERIOUS to SPAR with women WHY THE FUCKING HELL DID OLYMPICS PAIR THAT MAN BITCH UP WITH WOMEN IF THEY WERE NOT RIGGING IT!!!!! You lose a point there not gain one stop counting gains where there are losses. RWBY did go to shit form all the feminist lesbians' bullshit because over time its all the series became. Unironically it was already a niche but the part of the fandom that was into that pairing was minimal. While the occasional hint was not regarded as invasive to the plot the overall OP lesbians' thing is just disturbing in general. The struggle and challenge and mystery was lost. Any sort of growing element was also lost. On top of this your dealing with Monty and if you didn't know that guy has skeletons it's why he shut his ass up when I mentioned a certain event. He knows as well as I do what he did or more specifically DID NOT DO that lead to what it did and he fucking KNEW BETTER. As for Harris she is still not an elected canadine and can still be disqualified under the Constitution you if your American may want to read it in its entirety not just skim and DO bother to understand the context not just the words since words change meaning over 100+ years. If your not its important to remind you the constitution does not tell the citizens what they can do it tells the government what it CAN NOT do there is a SUBSTANTUAL difference there. If I'm so stupid how come I brought up there beigest jurisdiction issues with the attempted suits eh? your also absolutely retarded if you think the phrase "folks like you" is not racist as FUCK. If this is about agriculture and the way our elections work on a electoral college than get fucked. Its literally your only option there jackass coward. It seems like the only idiot here is you coming at me with an ad hominin attack but nothing else I could easily ignore this and it would be just as nothing but there are multiple ways to destroy an ad hominin attack what a shame your too stupid to know just one. Vindication is actually mine; Imane Khelif was ruled to be too dangerous to put against women in sparing none the less competition settings meaning it was even being unduly charitable a grouse mismatch and more proof of the IOC's utter incomitance. The downfall of RWBY as a franchise did start by feminist dogma bullshit more specifically the OP lesbians' girlfriends trope because this trope is actually not popular even in lesbians' things. The Democrat party is up to no good Kamal's running mate is a constitutional denialist IE A FACIST; she is the facist comunist dictatorial canadate no question about that one anyone with any forum of braincells can see that. BY the way facisim is not far right that is a bad take by communist political bad actors trying to protect their little plants in the system. If we get into another civil war because of that office whore I am buying a tank (because I can and fuck you) In total your argument is nothing of value because you brought up people I couldn't give a rats ass about (literal no name strangers) I just love pissing them off because its too easy. they stalk people demand purity because they are filthy sin incarnate and fail at every argument because they can not put their feelings aside when even calculating the issue so they fail to understand how trying to teach "Trans issues" to children 7 and under is literal pedophile behavior. In short: do you want to take more L's are are you done being a dumb piece of shit loser behind a gray mask like some nitwit coward too afraid to show their account? (because you know the price for that is you are a failure and it will be pointed out.)

[fr00t-snacc]

Comic History 101?

More like Bad Comprehension 101–

Lemme break this down:

The slowing of progress in comics was not the fault of the comic creators. It was the fault of that puritan pissant Fredric Wertham and his book “Seduction of the Innocent,” which lead to a series of Senate hearings, which lead to

The Comics Code of Authority

This BS was used to censor and control comics if their creators wanted them to get published. And it had rules prohibiting things such as:

• “Policemen, judges, government officials, and respected institutions shall never be presented in such a way as to create disrespect for established authority” TLDR don’t portray legal systems negatively in any way

• They forbade “sexual abnormalities” which while a very vague term also attributed to LGBT themes back in the day

• “Crimes shall never be presented in such a way as to create sympathy for the criminal, to promote distrust of the forces of law and justice, or to inspire others with a desire to imitate criminals” Basically the first point I showed, where TLDR you’re not allowed to create a morally grey criminal because it could instill a dislike of the legal system and such

And that was just the CCA! Let’s not even get into when Lynn Johnston was sent death threats for THIS comic strip back in 1993!

Or how about the story of how Jack Kirby, a Jewish American comic book artist widely known for the comic Captain America(where btw he drew CA punching Hitler in the face), scared off a bunch of Nazis who demanded his secretary call him down because they wanted to kill him because…well, he was Jewish!

Oh and sexism…dear GOD the sexism! That Wertham fella said that because Wonder Woman has strength and independence, she’s automatically a lesbian, and while I have no issue with that(what queer girl would not wanna huge buff Amazonian princess for a GF???) this was a no-no back then because almost everyone thought comics were a medium for children, so teaching children about homosexuality is bad.

As for racism, while I haven’t found any examples of that from back then(although I don’t doubt that was there), who’s gonna tell Dobson about Black Panther, the first black superhero who debuted in 1966? Or Storm from the X-Men, who made her debut in 1975? Or that the literal metaphor of the X-Men explained by Stan-motherfucking-Lee was racial discrimination and civil rights???

Huh…wow! It’s almost like this slowing of progress Dobson is talking about(which is only partially true I mean have you seen what they did to Ms. Marvel, the first Muslim protagonist of Marvel Comics?) goes both ways! It’s not the fault of just out of touch executives, it’s also at the fault

OF THE FUCKING PURITANS WHO WANTED TO RUIN OUR FUN

And yet here I am…finding barely ANY comics of his touching on this!

And I’m just touching major comics from Marvel and DC! There’s a huge history of the subtext and underground comix made during the era of counterculture to share unique stories with progressive themes!

B U T, this is becoming very long.

Don’t get me wrong Dobson has some valid criticisms of when comics decide to fridge their female characters…..no that’s it that’s honestly where the criticism kinda ends cuz everything else is such a huge mess-

So, what did we learn today kids? Dobson doesn’t truly know his comic history, puritans can go kick rocks, and Jack Kirby is the G.O.A.T.

Apologizes @hypocrisyofandrewdobson for hijacking your post to create this huge ass rant, but some educating needed to be done, and I wanted to show how Dobson’s claims of being progressive are performative at best, and false at worse.

Dobson digs out yet another old strawman SYAC comic in order to shit on both comic fans and take a shot at Trump again.

Notice the flags being used in the third panel and the website on the last one. Because all comic fans are apparently racist, sexist basement dwellers that only go to 4chan.

Don’t be a Dobson, kids.

[captainsjack]

thinking abt an american duos married shawngus lesbian jules au and the scene where jules is teaching them to dance instead of shawn and gus getting distracted by jules they get distracted by each other.

shawn keeps zoning in and out of the dance instructions because he keeps looking over at gus all hot and sweaty in that tight tank top and shawn keeps zeroing in on his muscles, glistening from both sweat and the sunlight. and gus’s sweatpants are also really tight and make his ass look really good and that’s definitely not helping.

gus also keeps stealing glances at shawn because even though he looks ridiculous in those stupid wrist band things and his shorts are about 2x too big, his hair is messed up and his face is flushed in a way that gus has only seen during and after sex which makes his mind start to wander. (shawn also looks hot regardless of what he’s wearing, something gus has always refused to acknowledge out loud simply because it’s not fair and also because if he did shawn would become 10x more insufferable).

anyways halfway through the lesson and they keep looking over at each other and making eye contact and eventually they’re making out completely forgetting about the lesson, with jules still in front of them whipping her ponytail around to the beat of the music completely unaware of everything behind her.

eventually she’s like “guys are you getting this?” and there’s no response so she turns around and shawn and gus are standing in the middle of the room making out, gus’s hands under shawn’s shirt and shawn’s at the back of gus’s neck.

“hey!” jules yells and turns off the music and shawn and gus break apart.

gus looks vaguely apologetic but shawn has a clear “girl wtf” look on his face.

“come on you both desperately need my help if you want to win this thing so start paying attention.”

shawn says “win?” at the same time as gus says “you’re right, sorry won’t happen again.” and unlocks himself from shawn’s embrace with a resulting sound of disappointment from shawn.

jules turns back and plays the music and tells them to follow along; gus tries his best but it’s hard to focus because he’s already semi-hard and shawn’s right there next to him giving him dirty looks and sad little pouts. shawn barely even tries to keep up with the dance moves anymore, he moves his hips a little in an air of at least somewhat trying, half heartedly looking at jules and trying to mimic the arm swings. mostly he keeps looking over at gus who is also looking at him (not helpful) and shawn can clearly see his bulge through his tight sweats so within the next 10 minutes the lesson is forgotten again and shawn has gus pressed against the desk.

jules ends the routine and at the lack of applause turns around in annoyance to see shawn and gus making out again, gus’s hands tangled in his hair and shawn’s around his waist.

“hello??” jules half yells in annoyance and shawn sighs exasperated and turns around.

“yeah?”

gus tugs at his shirt from behind him and places little kisses on his neck.

“you all asked me over here to help you with this routine and now you’re ignoring me?” juliet huffs.

gus lifts his head from shawn’s neck and responds “um technically you came over and demanded you teach us so we don’t embarrass ourselves” in a somewhat apologetic and also girl stop complaining so we can fuck tone.

shawn just nods and continues rubbing gus’s thigh.

“but you do need my help or you’re going to lose. is that what you want?” jules crosses her arms.

“you do know we’re not here for the actual competition right?” shawn counters.

jules huffs “you could at least try and pay a little attention to what i’m trying to show you.”

“we did!” jules eyes gus. “well at least at first” he adds sheepishly.

jules starts to say something but then shawn cuts in “look jules i appreciate it, i do, but now i’m going to fuck gus whether you’re here or not, so it’s really up to you if you’d like to stay and watch.” which earns a small kick in the leg from gus.

jules rolls her eyes and mutters something about not blaming her if they come last in the competition but grabs her cd player and bag and leaves. shawn has gus pinned to the wall before jules reaches the door.

[symphonicmetal101]

OCS MASTERLIST

I will add to this as I recieve braincells from the great unknown

Vizzie: me! Or a glorified self insert at least. She/they, 19 ish, 5'4, Queer and polyam, becomes Devildoms Queen (was not born a demon)

Jasper and Caspian: Vizzie's long lost brothers. Not fully human before all three siblings became demons. (18)

Jasper is gay and polyam as fuck, twinky little slut, emotional baby that demands attention (he/they) 5'7

Caspian is quiet demiboy, also an emotional baby but only lets his s/o see that (he/him) 5'9

(Also Caspian and Vizzie have slightly darker skintones than shown in this picrew)

Kai: Vizzie's childhood friend. Seperated from each other when they were 4, reunited in the Devildom years later, but they bring out the part that never grew up out of each other (demisexual, panromantic, he/him, 6'1)

Nanami: a bimbo-y little gorgon who genuinely just wants to make friends, but always forgets her enchanted glasses so she accidentally turns people to stone. (17, she/her, 13 feet long in her sneky snek form, 6'6 in her human form, figuring out her sexuality, leaning lesbian?)

Rouge: shes part of a family of 11, (I have names and picrews for all of them but there is a 10 pic limit on posts fhsjdb) a very shy and timid succubus until you piss her off. Fiercely protective of her family. Hates being summoned. Bisexual, leaning fem aligned preference. 19ish.

(Gia and Var are her parents, then Avon, Azro, her, Mary and Kay the twins (shhhh), Nyra, Belle, Manny, and Bubba)

Mazanine: RADs youngest and most ambitious teacher. She runs almost all the fine arts programs and acts as a mother/counselor figure in a lot of her students lives. One of the first aquatic demons to find a way to adapt to dry areas long enough to teach and whatnot. Shes an amazing cook, and speaks with something similar to a Nigerian accent.

Casimir: they're a ghost that haunts the HoL. Once upon a time they were Barbatos cousin from another timeline. They were sent to this timeline as a punishment and a last ditch effort to save their life. Has a lot of hate for angels. Little shit. (Genderfluid, they/she/he)

X and Nazari

X- was/is the oldest of a noble family. Ei did not want the role, gender or political, which lead to eim running away and becoming a bounty hunter of sorts. Ei are well practiced in traditional Devildom medicine. X visits eir little sister from time to time in secret as ei were disowned by the family. Ei dont care.

Nazari- was left to fill the role her sibling refused to. She's extremely driven but does hold some resentment towards her sibling. She has prophetic dreams, which help her in her decision making. She hasn't told anubody about it yet.

[arbitrarycategories]

erasermic isn’t canon. but I genuinely believe that they COULD HAVE BEEN. not for writing reasons, but for reasons to do with the characters themselves.

1) the Rooftop Gang originally included Shirakumo Oboro, Aizawa Shouta, and Yamada Hizashi. The earliest we are ever introduced to the gang is in their second year, when they are a part of class 2-A and already have an established friendship. (This is in the Vigilantes/Illegals manga).

2) Sushi the cat is introduced to us in order to showcase the relationship between the trio. Aizawa walks to class in the rain, sees a kitten in a box on the side of the road, and immediately assumes there is nothing he can do for it with his current resources and talents. He leaves his umbrella to keep it dry, and continues to school. When he arrives, Yamada comments on how he is soaking wet and expresses concern for his health. Aizawa tells him that it “fits his mood”. Shirakumo makes a grand entrance, returns Aizawa’s umbrella, which he found, and reveals that he picked up the cat. This showcases both Aizawa’s low self-esteem, Yamada’s caring nature, and Shirakumo’s enthusiasm and heart.

3) Sushi the cat is brought to lunch on the rooftop. The boys briefly debate what to do with him. We can infer that none of them have pet friendly homes/budgets. This spurs the introduction of KAYAMA NEMURI, who is fresh from her work study. She is introduced in costume and as a third year, putting her a year above the boys. She is able to take in Sushi. This inducts her into the Rooftop Gang.

4) Kayama joining the Rooftop Gang helps to solve a conflict introduced earlier in the chapter: the three boys have yet to find a work study. Yamada is able to solve the problem on his own, joining with an agency known for full-force, all-out, power-fueled attacks, suited for his Voice quirk. To Shirakumo and Aizawa, Kayama extends the offer to come with her on her work study.

5) Shirakumo and Aizawa, on their work study, have the importance of both efficiency in battle and being able to comfort civilians afterwards emphasized to them. Shirakumo demonstrates the positive effect he has on Aizawa’s self-esteem (and possibly mental health) again as he helps him find his smile. Shirakumo also offers him his goggles, to help with some of Aizawa’s quirk drawbacks. When the boys start wearing matching goggles, Shirakumo proclaims that they can market as a team now. Aizawa shows a positive response to the idea of being partners with Shirakumo.

6) The work study goes very, very wrong. A giant villain attacks. The agency that Yamada is working at attempts to combat it but miscalculates what the villain’s weakness will be. The villain absorbs the attack, enhances it, and fires it into a building in front of him. Shirakumo and Aizawa are in the vicinity of the building, attempting to evacuate civilians from the area. Aizawa is flung back from the blast. Shirakumo is crushed by rubble. A speaker he usually has hanging on his belt as part of his hero costume, however, is undamaged and in Aizawa’s vicinity. Aizawa is able to defeat the giant villain using Erasure, strategy, and fueled by the encouragement that he hears from Shirakumo’s speaker. When congratulated by a Pro for defeating the villain alone, Aizawa insists he wasn’t alone because Shirakumo’s encouragement pushed his forwards. The Pro reveals that Shirakumo was dead on impact with the collapsing building, and that the encouragement Aizawa heard was likely some sort of hallucination to keep his body going in a high-stress environment. (Knowing what we do about Kurogiri, it is unclear whether or not this is true. An analysis for another day.)

7) Aizawa cracks down on combat and withdraws from his friends and peers. HE becomes ruthlessly efficient. There is a time skip, so we do not see the immediate fallout. We do see that Yamada and Kayama, who previously ALSO wore the matching goggles (and planned to be in an agency together), no longer wear the goggles. Aizawa has modified his to the version we see in the main manga. The three friends no longer plan to open an agency together. Additionally, Aizawa has shed his self-doubts about being powerless and unsuited for hero work, though this is spurred mainly by defeating that villain “alone” and not by working positively on his self-esteem.

8) Aizawa announces his intentions to be an independent, underground hero, so he can focus only on villain fighting. He calls it “logical”. His teacher expresses concern over this attitude.

At this point, the chapter focusing on AIzawa’s backstory ends, and the rest we are left to interpret from what little we see of him in the Vigilantes manga background. It’s obvious, however, that losing Shirakumo BROKE something in Aizawa. Shirakumo was the leader and glue of the friend group. HE came up with the idea of opening an agency with the Rooftop Gang. HIS goggles were the identifying, unifying feature between the four of them. It’s shown that, of all Aizawa’s friends, he was likely CLOSEST to Shirakumo.

From a shipping standpoint, this is interesting. Yamada and Shirakumo are introduced in the flashback chapter with a focus on Aizawa. Yamada flings an arm around his shoulders and teases him for being a “gloomy gus” and thinking he’s “powerless”. Shirakumo laughs that Yamada has his hands on Aizawa, calls it scandalous, and immediately demands to be let in on it. These three were well on their way to being a throuple. Rooftop Gang’s perfected form is a throuple + their lesbian friend, though no sexual orientations are ever specified/confirmed in the manga itself. Shirakumo dying throws a wrench in it.

It traumatizes all of them, Aizawa most of all. They all start to separate, though evidence shows that they still stay together and consider each other close friends. (In the Vigilantes manga, Kayama asks Aizawa where Yamada is, and later Yamada where Aizawa is, implying that they keep close tabs on each other.) Life starts to happen. They lose time for personal relationships. Kayama is recruited to teach at UA. She drags Yamada into it. They bully Aizawa into it. They remain friends, but live busy, hectic lives. 

The reason erasermic isn’t canon is basically because they got so busy that romance wasn’t something they were thinking about, and then time passed. They were on their way, until trauma happened, and since then there is always something missing. 

Isn’t it tragic?

[shittypaperwork]

Secret Love

Pairing: Yelena x fem!reader

Genre: Fluff

Warnings: Smutty at the end!

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

You weren't one to easily get scared or anything, but that woman let you feel shivers down your spine.

You were a Titan warrior but with no Titan. You helped Magath at teaching the kids and train with them, you were basically a kind of a teacher to them, especially to Falco and Gabi. You had good connections with them and often walked around with them and Reiner in the city of Liberio.

Basically everyone loved you. Even Zeke had a thing for you. You were always kind, especially towards children, you were intelligent like Pieck and had the strength of Reiner, kinda the perfect mix.

Therefore you had that beauty that nobody could deny, you were really beautiful. Even Pieck would date you. Porco was always flirting with you. You were even friends with Nicolo.

But nobody knew you were a lesbian.

But the one person that you didn't sympathized with was the one and only Yelena. She was just... different in many ways.

Firstly, you couldn't identify her gender. On first sight, she was male. But as she spoke, she was definitely a female. Then, she looked creepy, especially if she was in a bad mood, wich was everytime. You never saw her smile once. But you noticed that she was close to Zeke.

Maybe a little too close for your liking.

You were there before she was and Zeke told you about her. You thought you could welcome her and introduce her to everything in the HQ. But as soon as you saw her and she noticed you, she turned away. She just avoided you with a look of disgust in her eyes.

Since then, very little has changed. She respected you as a person, but ignored you all the way like she did on you first approach. You two had talked a few times, but it was never something personal. Just when you had to.

But little did you know that she didn't ignore you out of rudeness, no. Neither of disgust.

She was shy.

As she saw you, she didn't know how to approach you. And since she didn't knew anyone other than Zeke, she didn't know what to do. Zeke didn't told her about you.

In her eyes, you were perfect in every way. She wanted to protect you with everything she got. She just had... communication problems. She was never good in communicating. So you two never really talked.

You on the other hand feld a bit sad because it seemed like she would hate you, and you didn't like that feeling of hatred. Especially when you did nothing wrong towards her. But at some point, you didn't even tried anymore to talk to her. You just accepted how things were and moved on.

She didn't wanted that. She wanted to become friends with you, she wanted your heart. She loved you since your first approach. But she always thought that you were straight and would like someone like Porco or Reiner, because you always seemed so close.

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

"The bell rang, so you can go, training is over for today kids! Meal so ready, so don't rush yourselves. Don't forget your homework!", You happily stated. You looked at Magath.

"Alright, we will see us tomorrow at 7am like everyday.", He said and began to pack his things.

"I think today was interesting for them. I mean Titanology is interesting, especially for Gabi or Udo. God I love them.", You said while smiling as you too packed your things.

"Yeah, Gabi loves Titanology. It's obvious. Good, we see us tomorrow at 8 am for maths. Have a good day." He said and turned away.

You were happy and you loved your job. Magath and you were good friends and you loved to teach Titanology.

You got out if the room and went to your private room. You threw your bag on your bed and changed in something nice. T-shirt and jeans was your favorite wear. You made yourself a ponytail and put your bandage around your arm. Then you went straight into the cafeteria.

The older ones had a separate place in the cafeteria from the kids, so they could discuss things. You always sat beside Pieck and Porco, your best friends. Yelena mostly sat with Zeke and Onyakopon. You had the perfect view of her.

"How was your day (y/n)? I heard you teached Titanology with Magath today. I bet Gabi was on 100%.", Pieck friendly asked.

"Oh yes, she totally was. She is very cute.", You said while sitting down between them.

"Yeah she totally is. Falco thinks so too I guess.", Pock said while turning around to him.

"Yeah, he is totally in love with her. I mean it's obvious, even Udo and Zofia could tell. He should be a man and confess to her already. I bet she likes him too. They are the perfect match.", Colt said and laughed a bit.

Suddenly, Yelena looked right at you. You looked back, but she turned to Zeke again as he spoke to her. Weird.

As soon as you were finished with eating, you stand up and got back to your room. You made it yourself comfortable in your bed, and looked at the ceiling. Why did she stare at you like that?

In the afternoon you took your things and made your way into the shower. You hang your towel on an Hacken.

It took some seconds for the water to get warm, and as soon as it did so, you enjoyed yourself and let that warm water run down your body. You enjoyed every second of it. You took your shampoo in your hands and massaged your head with it.

Then you opened your eyes to get the other shampoo bottle. You noticed somebody standing right beside you in the other shower. You looked to your right and saw Yelena.

Weird. Normally you never meet Yelena in the shower, because she only showers very early in the morning, before you're even awake.

You stared at the ground and took you shampoo back in your hands. You caught a glimpse of her body. Beautiful. She had a good body. Not a big chest, rather a flat chest, she was thin but not too much. You stared back at the ground.

"Is something up with me?", She asked you in her deep monotone voice.

"N-no I just wondered why you're showering at this time, I-I mean if I'm right you're normally showering early in the morning, r-right?", You stuttered and looked on the ground.

"Yes, normally. But today I slept at that time so I had no time to do so.", She answered.

"O-ok, I'm nearly finished, so don't worry.", You stated and rushed yourself a bit with showering.

As soon as you were finished, you gut your things together and wanted to get back into your room.

But a long arm hold you back and shoved you onto someone body. Yelena. She hugged you. Her head was on your shoulder, her chest nearly at your throat. Her arms were at your back, holding you.

You were shocked and didn't know what to do, so you just stood there and let her hug you. After some time, she let go of you, turned around again and shoved you back.

You were completely confused. But you turned around too and rushed back into your room.

Some days has passed since that happened. You talked with Pieck and Porco about that and they were just as confused as you.

You were on your way to catch some riffles for training. You shoved them in a special bag and got out of the room. Suddenly Porco was right in front of you, and out of your shock you fell right into his arms.

To your surprise, his face was right in front of you and you both looked at each other. He began to grin at you and neared his lips. You were too schocked to react.

Of course Yelena had to come across you two and that scenery. She looked right at your face with disgust. But there was something other in her eyes, she looked a bit... sad? But she didn't said anything, she just went her way.

"P-porco! What the fuck?", You nearly shouted at his face.

"Calm down princess, I just wanted to tease you a bit.", He stated. You looked at him angrily.

"Whatever. Now let me go.", You said and he did.

It was afternoon again. You sat on you bed, reading a book about Titanology, especially about Titanshifters. It was really interesting. You felt a bit like Gabi.

You wanted to go on the toilet. It was really beautiful outside with all these stars out there. You loved stars and the night. You came across Yelenas room, wich was surprisingly dark. Normally she would do some paperwork around this time. You stood right in front of her door, noticing a sound. It was crying.

The door was slightly open, so you decided to take a look.

She sat there on her bed with her legs spread, her palm on her clit with 2 fingers inside of her. They were full of her fluids. Her right hand was at her breast, massaging it slowly. Her left hand was covering her mouth, and tears ran down her cheeks. She looked awful. She didn't even notice you.

"Y-yelena? Everything alright?", You asked friendly. She looked at you shocked.

"Go away (y/n), you shouldn't be here.", She said in a sad, deep voice while looking at her bed.

"Why are you crying though?", You replied worried.

"Nothing important. I don't wanna talk about it. Go away. Now.", She said in a demanding tone. She didn't even seemed embarrassed. But she looked hot like this.

Intead of doing what she was saying, you just hugged her deeply. You noticed that she was trembling.

"Yelena.... I'm sorry. Please don't hate me anymore, I really don't like that. I did nothing wrong.", You apologized.

"No.. I'm sorry. I-I am just... shy.", She stated. You let go of her and looked at her confused.

"You and shy? I thought you hated me!", You exclaimed.

"I don't know. I just think you are very beautiful (y/n), and I know I am weird. I mean you have a amazing boyfriend like Porco, so don't mind my feelings.

"Porco? My boyf- What are you talking about Yelena?? I have no boyfriend? And I totally think you're beautiful too. Is that the reason for your crying?", You asked kindly. She looked at you shocked but hugged you again.

"Thank you (y/n). I love you.", She just stated.

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

-> Masterlist

[khaleesiofalicante]

The Shadowhunters Chronicles time travel head cannons because I have ideas but no ideas.

ALSO PLEASE DONT STEAL THESE, BUT I WOULD LOVE ADD ONS

THL Meeting TMI

Charles coming to the future and being really conflicted on whether or not he should check old records to see if he’s council bc on one hand he’s Charles and he has a very big ego but on the other hand he also has a really big inferiority complex.

Matthew realizing that gender roles are very bent now and wearing skirts and make up and nail polish also having several piercings. Because she/they rights.

Also Matthew going to a bookstore in June and seeing the whole pride layout and just how many books there are about being LGBTQ and how explicit they are ans the wide demographics and generas and everything and just being by the way. 

Christopher realizing that there are way more elements in the periodic table now and just about micro organisms and flipping the fuck out. Like DNA was not discovered until 1980 this man would be having a field day.

We know that Alastair would watch so many Disney movies, just every musical he can get his hands on his watching. 

Also Alastair realizing that the Eiffel tower is now like one of the main things associated with Paris and everyone thinking it’s the coolest thing in the world. 

I propose the idea that Anna Lightwood would be actually be bad at hooking up with modern day women, because this one super hot lesbian would like ask for her Snapchat or something and she would have no clue what that is. 

Also Anna realizing that there are more modern day terms for gender and being able to finally identify as gender queer and maybe experimenting with pronouns. 

I don’t know why but I would love to see Cordelia in modern fashion. Or really any of them just, any of these kids going to a mall would be amazing. 

Lucie creating an AO3 account and immediately posting every single chapter of the beautiful Cordelia on there. Also her reading rpf fanfics.  

Will would later join her and make a Twitter account as well.

Kamala watching Bollywood movies. Also I feel like she get a really cool lesbian experience that she never really got and also I think she would love to know that gay marriage legalized and that there are opportunities for her to have children that don’t involve sex with a man. 

I would like to see what Matthews opinion on abortion would be because of his backstory. I feel like there’s no correct answer to this but I would like to see some ideas.

But also I would love to see Matthew meeting like future!Magnus and either thinking that he’s still the coolest person in the world or have his vision of him be crushed. Because Magnus is a father of two teenage sons, he hasn’t been an aloof party animal for a long time, he’s a full on Dad.

I think Matthew would also try to live with Magnus for a while only for it to backfire the second he comes home drunk. 

I feel like Charles and Matthew would both get arrested, Matthew would obviously try to go to a bar or get drunk or something, English law and American law are very different even today so a lot of the things Matthew enjoys doing he would be banned from but he wouldn’t realize that until it’s too late. Charles on the other hand would probably say something intolerant, because he’s Charles and it’s the 21st-century now, and piss off the wrong person and end up getting thrown out of jail cell. The real tragedy would be for the poor inmates and policeman who have to listen to these two fight until Clary can come and pick them up. 

Also Matthew getting help for the bullshit he’s been through and everyone just being openly gay please I need it.



TWP Meets TLH

Max and Rafe going to the past and being absolutely terrified of what’s going on and meeting Magnus from the past and trying not to have a breakdown because they’re dad doesn’t know who they are and they can’t go to him 

Mina going with Max and Rafael to the past and playing at the Hell Rule because you know she would.

Also Will knowing that she is Jem and Tessa’s daughter because she’s so beautiful just like his Tess and he knows that the only other person Tessa would love enough to have a child with would be their Jem. 

Everyone knowing that Charles is gay and in the closet because they can read this bitch very well.

And Max and Ralph trying to like keep the whole “hey there are new rules now and downworlders and Shadowhunters can share powers thing” on the down low and failing during a big fight and it being reviled with like Max using the seriph blade or some thing and then Rafe just straight up using magic and everyone’s like “Wwwhhaaaaaattt”

They were getting like serious trouble for this in Lake Charlotte with interrogate the hell out of them because wtf was that.

Magness from their present coming back to pick up the kids and seeing Will and everyone again. And Will asking how Magnus is only to realize this man has a family!!

Or even better Alec Lightwood Bane coming back to the past, through a portal, to come get his kids real quick and him seeing Past!Magnus and then flirting with him and Magnus being interested while the kids are like,”Really, this again”.

Kit going into the past and them being confusion because there are two Christophers, also how are you a Herondale?! 

Ty stealing cats. 

I would love to see how Rafe, Tavvy, Max, and Mina react to Church being alive.

Tavvy, who I have somehow not yet mentioned, getting like separation anxiety from his siblings and Ralph just hanging out with him a lot more and cheering him up and just being a good Parabatai .

Also Tavvy spoiling the entire Blackthorne line whoops. 

Also I feel like Max, Rafael, and Tavvy would very much not going to drive to the toxic masculinity of the time, and be super affectionate and nice to each other and respectful of women and it would be quite shocking for people.

Rafe would go to a ball or party and totally teach people either the Cupid shuffle or a bunch of other modern dances.

I feel like someone would make a comment about Max being half demon and a warlock, especially after they realize he can have runes. Not sure what the comment would be, but it might involve Benedick having a thing for demons and it would make everyone super uncomfortable. 

Also just the Lightwood-Banes, and Tavvy, seeing Magnus with another person and being so upset over this.  Bc their dads in love with someone else and that shit hurts.

Arguments over who’s related who and which line everyone comes from because I don’t think the modern gang would know exactly who they’re related to so the relate would be pretty open.

Everyone staying at the institute because no one would take all three of them and then Mina just tagging alone because she wants to.

I feel like Max or Rafe or maybe even Tavvy would screw up and accidentally call Will Dad or Alec and this would cause a lot of panic.

Once again a shopping montage because you never have enough clothes.

The Merry thieves and the modern squad hanging out and just having fun together would be cool. They could all go to each other’s houses or the devils tavern and drink. -Which would probably be Max and Rafe’s first time drinking bc American laws are weird and different and Rafe wouldn’t break the rules.

Or Alternatively him getting in a drinking contest with someone, Matthew, and not knowing that he’s an alcoholic until way later. He would then demand that this boy go to therapy.

OMG THESE ARE ALL SO GOOD WTF FJKHFKADSFKA. AARON THESE ARE PERFECT AND SO WELL THOUGHT OUT I LOVE IT OMG.

[casmick-consequences]

Hello please validate me by saying genderqueer Sam and headcanons

I swear to god I keep changing my gender hc's for Sam. For a while, they were genderqueer, then he was a demiboy, then she was a trans lesbian... fuck it.

Sam uses all pronouns (even neopronouns, which Jack loves using and learning about) but primarily uses he/they.

He lets their hair grow out even longer, and actually LOVES buns. This one's his favorite:

Eileen teaches them how to coordinate clothing and style, because we've ALL seen the show, he's been raised by a man who wears flannel religiously, that's not good in any situation.

And she helps them make it fit depending on the way he's feeling that day (feminine/masculine/androgynous)

She's basically the most supportive wife you could ever ask for. The only blurry thing about her are the pictures she made of Sam's "girl's night out" look when they were both drunk

Overall, everyone supports it. It took Dean some time, but y'know, that's his kid so he got over it pretty quick. He even went shopping and bought Sam some cute accesories (with the help and demand of Cas, ofcourse)

So yea Sam is a genderfluid icon and they couldn't be happier with the family he has around him. <3

Genderqueer Sam

Genderfluid Sam

Nonbinary Sam

Fuckin' put Sam in a gender blender and enjoy <3

[maybeimamuppet]

you happened

hey darlings!! happy wednesday!!!

let’s get right into it shall we?

tw for

discussion of canon events in mg (outing, etc)

discussion of canon events in the prom (homophobia, etc.)

this was requested by @spidy-nugget like forever ago so thank you for your patience and i hope you enjoy!

—

“Oh!” Cady says, interrupting herself in the middle of a sentence. “I just remembered! My cousin is coming to visit next week, do you guys want to meet her?”

“Emma?” Damian asks excitedly. Cady nods. “Yes! Is she bringing the-her… Broadway friends?”

“I dunno, she didn’t tell me,” Cady giggles. “But probably, she said they usually visit her at some point every summer.”

“I should probably be there to stop him from combusting if they do come,” Janis huffs. “But also, yes, I want to meet her too.”

“She’s an absolute icon,” Damian says happily. “God, her song. Still makes me cry.”

“You cried watching Finding Dory yesterday,” Janis retaliates.

“It’s a sad movie! Sometimes!” Damian defends. “Anyway, tell me all about Emma.”

“Okay,” Cady giggles again. “She’s a year older than us, and she’s my cousin on my mom’s side. Um… you know her whole… prom fiasco. I’ve only met her in person once when I was ten, for Rhys’ funeral. But we were pen pals when we were really little. And now we just text and stuff.”

“Cute,” Damian says. “And is her girlfriend coming?”

“Oh! Yeah,” Cady says around a mouthful of Janis’ milkshake. “Her name is Alyssa, she’s, like, super smart. Did every possible activity in high school, that kind of thing. But she’s been with Emma when we’ve Facetimed and stuff before and she’s super sweet.”

“Aww,” Damian coos. “I can’t wait!”

————-

Luckily for him, Damian doesn’t have to wait too long. Emma and Alyssa arrive the following week in Emma’s pickup. Damian has been pressed against the window all day, like a small child watching for the ice cream truck. He gasps dramatically when four people in matching sequined tracksuits also hop out of the backseat, grumbling about being cramped together for such a long trip.

Cady opens the door to let everyone in, and is quickly swamped by a crowd of people much taller than her. Janis pops up on her tippy toes to try and find her girlfriend to save her, but doesn’t succeed.

Everyone heads into the living room, and Janis laughs when she finds Cady being carried in like a sack of potatoes by one of the men that came with Emma.

“Emma, why didn’t you tell me your cousin was so adorable?” He demands. “Look at this, she’s so small.”

“Please put me down,” Cady squeaks. Janis heads over and reaches for her.

“Can I have my girlfriend back, please?”

“And she’s gay!” The man says happily, passing Cady over like she’s a small dog. Janis holds her close and smoothes her hair back to where it was.

“Bi, actually,” Cady grumbles.

“Well, aren’t you something. Oh, my name is Barry, by the way. As if you haven’t heard of me.”

“Barry, we talked about this,” Emma chides. “They haven’t. Except Damian.”

“And where is this Damian? I want to meet him,” one of the ladies says. “Oh, and my name is Dee Dee.”

Damian enters shyly and gives a little wave. Janis cackles, “Dude, you’re totally starstruck, look at you!”

“Uh-hi,” he stutters. “I’m Damian.”

“Aww!” The other lady says. “Look at your little cheeks, what a sweetheart! I’m Angie.”

Damian blushes violently as he’s cooed over by Angie. Barry hauls her off to get a good look at him.

“I like this,” he says. “It’s like a mini me.”

“Just don’t break him,” Emma pleads. “Damian, can I trust you to babysit for a while?”

That prompts a, ‘Hey!’ from all four adults, and an eager nod from Damian. “I can show them around town.”

“This is not a town, darling,” Dee Dee says gently. “But what is there to see?”

“We have… uh-“

“There’s an IHOP!” Cady chirps. “And the mall. That’s kind of it until you get to Chicago. Or the lake.”

“This is the most precious soul,” Barry says happily.

“Dame, we did it. I never thought I’d see the day we found someone gayer than you,” Janis laughs.

“Oh, I like this one too,” Barry says. “Funky little lesbian. She dresses like Emma but goth.”

“I do love the hair,” Emma agrees. “I’m dressed more like Cady today though.”

They both look down at their almost-matching flannels and jean shorts, then back at each other with a nod.

“Same boots though,” Janis cheers, lifting a foot. Emma laughs and nudges it with one of her own doc martens. “Nice.”

“Precious,” Angie says. “Okay, we’ll leave you gals alone now. Damian, show us the sights.”

“It would be my pleasure,” Damian says, leading the adults to the door.

“Yes, show us to the… hopping eyes,” Dee Dee says, sounding both bored and intrigued at the same time. Damian waves goodbye to Janis excitedly and closes the door after him.

“Well,” Emma chuckles. “Oh, I hope he’ll be okay.”

“I think he’ll be fine,” Alyssa soothes. “He’s in good company, and he’s a theatre kid, he gets their… vibes.”

“Theatre kid is an understatement for that boy,” Janis tuts affectionately.

“True,” Cady giggles. “Anyway, we can hang out in my room, if you want?”

Emma and Alyssa nod, so Cady leads everyone up to her bedroom. Janis flops onto the bed and Cady crawls in behind her, lifting her head onto her lap. Alyssa and Emma look around curiously for a second before joining them.

“Who did these?” Alyssa asks, pointing to the paintings and collages adorning the walls. “They’re incredible, especially this one. It looks just like you guys!”

Janis flushes as she points to the one she won her art contest with, of she and Damian and Cady all together. “I did.”

“Dang,” Emma breathes. “You have some serious talent, Janis.”

“Thanks,” Janis squeaks.

“No, seriously! Do you have stuff here?” Emma insists.

“A few things, yeah,” Janis says confusedly, raising an eyebrow. “Why?”

Emma lifts her guitar case onto the bed and flicks the latches open, pulling out her famous instrument. It’s covered in stickers and little doodles, much like Janis’ jackets.

“Will you do something on this for me?”

Janis’ eyes go wide. “Are you sure?”

“Yeah, of course!” Emma chuckles. “There’s room down here if you want it visible, or on the back.”

Janis carefully takes the instrument and assesses the material, trying to put an idea together in her mind. She runs to Cady’s desk when one comes to her, where she keeps a supply of basic colors and brushes in case of emergency. Cady doesn’t mind keeping them, they remind her of her girlfriend.

Cady grins affectionately as Emma and Alyssa cuddle in together. “How did you two meet?”

Her cousin turns to smile at her girlfriend. “I kind of always knew of her from school and stuff, but we didn’t really get close until sophomore year.”

Alyssa nods in agreement. “My mom wanted me to be more creative and have another skill or whatever, so she signed me up for guitar classes. Just so happens she was my teacher.”

“You really sucked,” Emma teases. Alyssa scoffs, aghast, and shoves her so hard she nearly falls off the bed. “Ack! Hey, I was kidding!”

“I know,” Alyssa giggles. “I did suck, I’ve never been much good at artsy stuff.”

“I was never good at art either,” Cady chuckles at their antics. “Jay’s tried to teach me to paint a couple times and it hasn’t gone too well.”

She peeks around the other couple to where her own girlfriend is sitting cross-legged on the ground, tongue poked out to the side as she carefully brushes a stroke of paint onto Emma’s guitar. Janis looks up when she feels her gaze, and grins happily when she sees Cady.

“You have the right instincts, I keep telling you,” she says. “You just get cranky too fast and then start attacking me with it.”

Everyone else bursts out laughing. Emma says, “I don’t blame her, I hated art class. What were we talking about?”

“How we met, dummy,” Alyssa huffs, kissing behind Emma’s ear.

“Oh yeah! So, we started off with actual lessons, but then we started getting to know each other more,” Emma explains. “And then I came out and got kicked out, which… a lot of people heard about, so Lyss figured I was a safe person to tell that she was questioning.”

Cady nods, listening intently to the story.

“I came out to her that summer,” Alyssa says. “And she said she’d had a crush on me all along, and asked me out. So we went on a walk and then got coffee and the rest is history.”

“We forgot to mention the serious gay panic I had during our first lesson,” Emma chuckles. “But that’s the gist of it.”

“How cute,” Cady coos.

“What about you two, how long have you been together?” Alyssa asks kindly, flicking Emma’s ear gently as she aggressively plops down onto her lap.

“Four months,” Janis pipes up immediately.

“Man, you crushed on her for that long without saying anything, Cades?” Emma says, impressed. Janis pops her head up and listens in.

“Oh?”

“She never shut up about you for, like, almost a year,” Emma laughs. Cady flushes scarlet and looks down at her lap with a flustered squeak. “I’m assuming it was you, she never gave a name. But it was always a tall, hot artist with cool hair and nice muscles. And I think she mentioned your butt a few times, she thinks that’s cute.”

Janis cackles as Cady flops facedown onto her bed and groans into a pillow. “How cute, I didn’t know that. But I shouldn’t laugh, I definitely wasn’t any better.”

“How did you get together?” Alyssa asks, patting Cady’s shoulder in an attempt to comfort her. Janis snorts from the ground and Cady gives another groan into her pillow. “What?”

“You tell them,” Cady grumbles, poking her face out just long enough that it’s not muffled.

“Baby, it’s cute,” Janis coos.

“No it’s not!”

“Okay, fine, I’ll tell it in a way that makes me look just as dorky,” Janis compromises. “Caddy came to my school in September from Kenya, and she had these adorable little cargo shorts and socks with sandals on, and-“

“Hold on, what?” Alyssa insists. “Kenya?”

“Cady grew up there, her parents are zoologists,” Emma explains.

“How many conversations have we had with her? And you never thought to tell me she’s from Africa?”

“It never came up! We both had a lot going on the first year and then we just didn’t bring it up,” Emma defends. “And now you know.”

“Sorry,” Alyssa says. “Keep going.”

“It’s all good,” Janis chuckles. “Anyway, I fell for her so bad the first day that I dragged Damian into the bathroom at lunch and made him let her join our group.”

Cady pops her head up and looks to her girlfriend. “You did?”

“Yeah, duh,” Janis says. “We’re not known for socializing with the new kids, I just thought you were cute.”

Cady blushes again, but doesn’t return to her pillow. “Keep going.”

Janis chuckles and continues telling the story as she finishes her small painting on Emma’s guitar. “So we became friends that day, and then had… an ordeal, through the rest of junior year and didn’t really reconnect until spring.”

Cady’s told Emma and Alyssa the whole story, so they both nod at Janis’ quick explanation.

“We got really close over the summer, and apparently we were both crushing on each other. But we didn’t notice, somehow. And then I sorta snapped on her birthday this year and decided to fess up, so I made that,” Janis points to the black and white collage hanging next to one of her paintings on the wall. “But before I could give it to her, this little firecracker got wasted and started crying in my lap about how much she loved me.”

“I wasn’t that drunk!” Cady huffs.

“I found you lying on the ground singing yourself to sleep,” Janis giggles. “And you didn’t recognize me, clearly. Just climbed into my lap and spilled your guts. I was lucky it wasn’t literal.”

“Janis Sarkisian,” Cady grumbles. “Behave.”

“Fine, fine,” Janis chuckles. “Anyway, once she sobered up a little bit we had a chat and realized we both had feelings for each other, so we started dating. And now we’re here.”

“That did not make you sound anywhere near as dorky as me,” Cady huffs. “But yeah, that’s… that’s it.”

Emma snorts once the story is done. “That does sound like Cady. But if that’s what it took, then I guess it was worth it.”

Cady turns to look at Janis again. “It was. But you guys went through a lot more than us, that must have been tough on both of you.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Emma chuckles, trying to sneak a peek at Janis’ work. The angle isn’t quite right, so she gives up before she falls off her girlfriend. “You guys went through a lot. But yeah, it was really tough. I’m so lucky.”

“I’m the lucky one,” Alyssa murmurs back. “You guys know the story?”

“I do,” Cady says. “I think Jay and Damian just know the bare bones. It’s your story to tell, I didn’t want to give too many details away.”

Alyssa gives her a grateful smile, and Cady grins back. “Do you want to hear it?”

“Of course,” Janis pipes up. “I finished, by the way. Um, here.”

“Hey, you stole my idea!” Cady jokingly whines when she sees what Janis has done.

“But it’s so perfect!” Janis defends. Emma takes her guitar to see, and smiles at the new lion with a rainbow mane in the spot they’d picked. “And it’s kind of for both of us.”

“This is awesome,” Emma says. “Oh! I get it, it’s a pride thing! Pride of lions, and then… oh. Clever!”

“It was actually Caddy’s idea, she made me a rock with it at pride last week,” Janis says. “I thought it fit.”

“It does, you’re really talented!” Alyssa says, leaning over her girlfriend’s shoulder to see it. Janis’ text tone goes off, so she pulls her phone out of the pocket of her shorts to check it. Cady peeks over to see what it is too as Janis bursts out laughing. It’s a picture of Damian surrounded by his new friends, now in a matching tracksuit all of his own.

jamian: Sent a picture: JAN LOOKIT

danis: nice outfit

jamian: Thank u it really suits me doesnt it

danis: honestly

danis: yeah kinda

jamian: Sent a picture: Thank u

jamian: Anyway we’re going to ihop next yall should meet us there

danis: kk love u

jamian: Love u too

“I think your little crew adopted Damian,” Janis chuckles at Emma and Alyssa, showing them the photo of a very excited Damian.

“Aww,” Emma chuckles. “I’m glad they didn’t kill him, they can be a lot to handle.”

“He seems fine,” Janis shrugs. “Whose truck are we taking?”

“Oh, is that one in the driveway yours?” Emma says excitedly. Janis nods. “It’s nice!”

“We’ve been in Em’s all day,” Alyssa chuckles. “Probably best to take yours.”

“I call shotgun!” Cady yells, already tugging on her shoes and running downstairs.

“As if I’d let anyone else,” Janis mumbles affectionately under her breath.

————-

The waitstaff at IHOP look more than a little frightened at the size of their group, and especially at the crew in tracksuits.

“Ey, yo!” One of them calls. “Guys, come here! It’s that guy from the thing! That show!”

“Oh, for fuck’s sake,” Trent grumbles under his breath. “Why is it always that? I played Hamlet!”

They’re quickly escorted to a large table near the back, and Trent signs a few menus as a little gift to the now very excited waiters.

“Was Juilliard worth it?” He mutters to himself. Angie, who’s sat next to him, nudges him with an elbow to shut him up.

Janis and Emma both order for their girlfriends, and also order themselves the same meal of chicken and waffles. Dee Dee gets french toast, Angie gets an omelet, Trent gets some crepes, and Barry gets the most horrifically sweet looking pancakes anyone’s ever seen. Apparently they’re cupcake flavored.

Alyssa looks very content with her large Belgian waffle, and Cady seems delighted with her chocolate chip pancakes decorated with whipped cream to look like a face. It’s definitely from the children’s menu, but nobody says anything.

“So tell us about you guys,” Dee Dee says once their food gets delivered. She looks eagerly to her friends, as if to say, ‘Look how nice I can be when I want to.’ Barry claps quietly for her.

“What do you want to know?” Damian asks. Dee Dee puts her head in her hands, clearly not knowing how to continue. Trent takes over for her.

“How do you guys know each other?”

“Oh!” Damian says excitedly. “Janis and I have been friends, like, forever. We met in tap dance class when we were three.”

“And you knocked my fucking teeth out in that class when we were five,” Janis grumbles.

“By accident!” Damian defends amidst the giggles of their whole group. “I got really into it. Anyway, so we’ve been friends forever. And then little Caddy happened along in junior year, and we kind of kidnapped her for a while.”

“No, I needed to be kidnapped,” Cady laughs. “I was a total wreck. They actually sort of rescued me from the school bathroom at lunch.”

“You were eating in the bathroom?” Barry asks, sounding both empathetic and disgusted. “Oh, you poor sweet thing.”

“I was the new kid, y’know?” Cady shrugs. “Nobody wanted to eat with the dork from Africa.”

Angie chokes on a bite of her food, and Trent thumps her on the back. “From what now?”

“I’m from Kenya,” Cady giggles. “Well, technically I was born in Oregon. But I lived in Kenya for thirteen years.”

“Just, like, in the wilderness?” Barry asks in shock. “With the lions and tigers and… bears and stuff?”

Cady laughs out loud. “Pretty much. But there’s no tigers or bears.”

“But there were lions?” Trent insists.

“Oh, yeah,” Cady says like it’s entirely normal. “That’s mostly what we were studying. They were kind of my only friends.”

“And they never showed any interest in… consuming you?” Dee Dee asks worriedly. Cady laughs again.

“Lions are just big cats, you know, guys? As long as you’re careful and respect their boundaries they won’t hurt you,” she chuckles. “I got swiped at a few times when I was little, but I never needed more than fifteen stitches.”

“Fifteen?” Angie yelps.

“That is kind of a lot, Cades,” Emma chuckles. “I never had to get more than three as a kid.”

“Oh. Well, I was kind of asking for it, I was playing too rough,” Cady hums.

“With a lion,” Alyssa insists. “Do you have pictures?” Cady nods and passes over her phone for them to scroll through her camera roll.

“Anyway, please keep going,” Angie says, leaning across the table to try to see.

“That’s basically it,” Janis shrugs. “Until you get into the whole mess that happened junior year.”

Cady and Damian nod in agreement. The adults all look very excited at the prospect of some new drama. “Do tell.”

The art freaks all look to one another warily, wondering who should begin. Cady decides to after a second of back and forth.

“Well, um… I sat with these two on my first day,” she begins. “But then just before lunch ended I met these three girls. We called them the Plastics.”

“Why?” Angie asks curiously. Damian shows them all a photo. “Oh. I already don’t like this one.” Janis snorts quietly as she points to Regina.

“Anyway, they said I should sit with them, and Janis and Damian wanted me to so I could spy on them,” Cady says sheepishly. “They have some… personal history.”

“Oh?” Trent asks. Cady looks to Janis, this bit is her story to tell.

“Regina, the one in the middle, outed me in eighth grade,” Janis says. “Carved slurs into my locker, that kinda thing.”

“Oh, honey,” Barry says sadly. “That bitch.”

Janis chuckles weakly. “Yeah. The other two just kind of went along with it. They were just generally bitchy to everyone. But I didn’t have many friends because of her, and I went through a lot of counseling and stuff because of it. Spent some time in the hospital for… reasons, but that’s not… something we need to discuss right now.”

Everyone nods, respecting her privacy. Cady continues telling the story. “So, I pretended to join them and would kind of report back to Janis and Damian. I learned that they had this book, called the Burn Book, where they would write mean things about people from the yearbook and stuff. And at the same time I was crushing for a long time on this boy named Aaron, but he was Regina’s ex. She had dumped him earlier for another guy. And she was actually cheating on him with the other one.”

“Oh, can I tell this bit?” Janis asks. Cady nods and gestures for her to keep going. “So, around Halloween, Cady went to Aaron’s party, and I don’t know exactly what happened, but he basically got back together with Regina.”

“What kind of idiot-“ Trent begins, getting cut off by a stomp on the foot from Dee Dee.

“So poor Caddy came to my house,” Janis says, trying to keep down giggles at the memory. “Fucking slams my basement door open, but Dame and I were watching horror movies. Caddy was dressed as some corpse bride with a knife in her back and everything, and Damian screamed so loud, like, higher than I’ve ever heard. But she was crying, so we helped her and then came up with a revenge plot.”

Dee Dee suddenly looks very interested, leaning forwards slightly and resting her head on her folded hands.

“Caddy had these snack bars from Kenya, they’re… Swedish, I think?” Damian says. Cady nods. “They make you gain weight, like, really quickly. Regina was kind of obsessed with her weight and image and stuff, so we got Caddy to tell her they were actually a diet bar to help lose weight.”

“No,” Angie gasps. Everyone laughs at her reaction.

“Yeah,” Cady laughs. “I don’t think anything major happened until around Christmas. The Plastics did this dance every year at the winter talent show, and we had to wear these skimpy little Santa outfits. But Regina had already gained a fair bit of weight, so her skirt didn’t fit…”

“It fell off in the middle of the routine in front of everyone,” Janis cackles. Emma and Alyssa both look slightly scared of her. “Sorry. Personal vindication. But yeah, that was kind of the beginning of the end for her. Cady kind of… got lost in it, by that point. It was hard to tell if she was pretending or not.”

Cady looks down at her lap in shame, so Janis takes her hand under the table and kisses the side of her head a few times to comfort her. Damian keeps going with the story.

“So, Caddy basically overthrew Regina as Queen Bee of the school. She threw a little party and didn’t invite us or Regina, so she kind of was attacking both fronts. We got pretty mad and stopped associating with her, and Regina was obviously furious,” he says. “And so as revenge for that, Regina photocopied the Burn Book and spread all the pages around the school. I saw, like, seven fights before first period even started that day.”

“But didn’t they know that she had written it?” Trent asks.

“That’s the thing, she put herself in it,” Janis adds, now holding Cady on her lap. “So nobody suspected her. She went to the principal and blamed Gretchen and Karen, they’re the other two, and Cady.”

“I don’t like this story,” Barry whines. “Tell me something good happens.”

“Oh, just wait,” Janis chuckles darkly. “There was an assembly called that day, and they tried to make us apologize to each other and do trust exercises or something like that. I kind of went rogue and only apologized to myself and rallied the rest of the girls in our grade.”

“Go Janis,” Angie says, sounding impressed. “Stick it to the man.”

“Thanks,” Janis laughs. “But it only lasted a few minutes.”

“Damn it,” Barry groans. “What happened?”

“Regina got hit by a bus,” Cady says. Angie spits her mouthful of lemonade over Trent.

“She what?”

“Yeah,” Cady laughs. “So, that time kind of sucked for both of us. She was in the hospital recovering, and everyone was saying that I pushed her in front of it or that she jumped in front of it on purpose because of me.”

“She didn’t die?” Dee Dee clarifies. Everyone is more than a little concerned at the disappointment in her voice.

“No,” Cady chuckles. “Well, she died for, like, fifteen seconds, but she was resuscitated and she’s fine now.”

“And did you push her?” Barry asks. “We’re all friends here, you can tell us.”

“No!” Cady huffs. “I may have been a raging bitch, but I’m not an attempted murderer.”

“You didn’t feed anyone to a lion back in Kenya?” Janis teases gently.

“I’ll do it to you if you’re not careful,” Cady retaliates with a laugh. “Where did we leave off?”

“Regina got hit by a bus and you didn’t push her,” Trent says helpfully, still dabbing some lemonade out of his sweater with a wad of napkins.

“Oh,” Damian says. “Okay, so, I don’t… totally remember what happened in between that and Spring Fling, but it’s really not important.”

“I was suspended for the Book, that’s kind of it,” Cady says, gesturing for him to continue.

“Oh, yeah! Anyway, Spring Fling at our school is basically prom but for underclassmen, prom is just for the seniors. Jan and I were each other’s dates, she decorated our outfits and stuff, we looked killer if I do say so myself.”

Janis rolls her eyes lovingly and whacks him with an elbow.

“And Caddy was banned, so she wasn’t supposed to be there, but she showed up towards the end with the Mathletes,” Damian continues. “And she had been nominated for queen, and she won. So she went up on stage and gave the most beautiful speech I’ve ever heard and broke her crown, and we all got a piece. So now we’re all friends and life is good.”

“Nice ending, Dame,” Janis laughs. “Hasty conclusions. But that it is basically how it happened.”

Everyone blinks at them. Trent says, “That was like being in a war zone. Just one bombshell after another.”

“It kinda was, our math teacher got stabbed in the leg at one point,” Cady hums. “Anyway, what’s your guys’ story? If you want to share.”

“Oh, yeah, I’d like to know more,” Damian says. “Jan and I really only know the bare bones. What was in the news, and stuff.”

“You guys can start,” Emma says, pulling a face as Alyssa gently dabs some syrup off her lip. Alyssa giggles when Emma tries to bite her hand and kisses Emma’s cheek.

“Ooh, okay!” Barry says eagerly. “We were in a show. Well, Dee Dee and I. We were in a delightful little show called Eleanor.”

“As in…” Janis says confusedly.

“Eleanor Roosevelt,” Dee Dee explains. She seems surprised when the kids all nod in understanding. “You’ve heard of her?”

“Yeah?” Cady says, tilting her head. “She’s one of the most famous first ladies of all time, we learned about her in our history class.”

“Not nearly enough,” Janis grumbles. “Gotta make time for the men.”

“Amen sister,” Angie huffs.

“Really…” Dee Dee hums interestedly. “Anyway, it was… not a success. Poor advance sales, and then…”

“We bombed opening night,” Barry grumbles. “Apparently. But it wasn’t the show, it was… it was us. The media panned us as aging narcissists and we had to close.”

“On opening night?” Damian gasps in horror. Dee Dee and Barry both nod sadly.

“Regretfully, yes. So, we had to try to change the narrative,” Dee Dee says. “We decided to find a good cause and do something. So we were going to build houses for Habitat for Humanity.”

“But Barry has a bad back,” Trent pipes up. “So then we thought about, like, recycling or fixing poverty or world hunger.”

“But that was all too much for us to handle,” Angie says. “So I went on Twitter and found-”

“Me!” Emma says. “Apparently that all happened on the same night as the first assembly where the PTA cancelled prom in the first place. I guess we were trending.”

“And they only cancelled it because you two wanted to go together?” Janis asks sadly.

“Yep. Well, nobody knew about Alyssa, but they cancelled it because they knew I wanted to bring my girlfriend,” Emma explains.

“Those bitches,” Janis grumbles. “Sorry.”

“Believe me, we get it,” Emma laughs. “But my bit of the story isn’t quite here yet.”

“Oh, yes!” Dee Dee realizes. “So, we decided to help Emma, but we were completely out of funds and had no way to get all the way to Indiana from New York.”

“But I had just booked a non-equity tour of Godspell,” Trent half-brags. The other half seems rather depressed at that statement. “So we came on the tour bus.”

“Can I start our part?” Alyssa asks. Emma nods and squeezes her hand under the table. “So, they obviously gave no indication that they were coming. Emma and Principal Hawkins had gone to the State’s Attorney by that point and put some legal pressure on the PTA, so we had another assembly to discuss options.”

“We?” Damian asks.

“Oh, my mom was the head of the PTA,” Alyssa says casually. Damian chokes on his drink and Janis nearly drops Cady on the ground.

“Your mom cancelled your prom?” Janis asks in shock. Alyssa nods sadly. “Oh, because you… she didn’t know. I’m sorry.”

“It was what it was. She knows now,” Alyssa hums. “Anyway, I was there to speak for student council. I was mid-sentence, and then they come barreling into the gym with signs and yelling at everyone.”

“Educating everyone,” Barry corrects. “Loudly and with signs.”

“Right, educating. Sorry,” Alyssa laughs. “So my mom totally loses her shit. It’s chaos. I think Trent had a cowbell at some point?”

Trent reaches into a messenger bag next to him and pulls out a cowbell, resting it on the table with a quiet thunk.

“You just keep that with you?” Janis chuckles.

“For emergencies,” Trent explains. “You’d be surprised.”

Janis tries to think of what emergencies she’s faced that would either be helped or solved with the addition of a cowbell, and surprisingly, she can think of a few.

“Of course he keeps it all the time,” Emma chuckles. “I don’t remember… most of what happened that time. But after a few days they announced that the prom was back on.”

“Because of you?” Damian asks, looking to the stars.

“No,” they all say at the same time Emma says, “I think so.”

Everyone looks her way. “I told you this at the time, but you guys really scared people! I think you at least had a part.”

“How sweet,” Dee Dee says. “Let’s say we had an ensemble part in getting it back on.”

That gets a chuckle from everyone at the table, before Barry continues with the story.

“I, obviously, had to take Emma shopping,” he says. “She only had one dress and it was… a travesty would be an understatement.”

“I’m honestly not sure where it came from,” Emma chuckles. “Just think Little House on the Prarie but somehow so much worse.”

“So we went to the mall, and found this lovely blue dress and some good shoes,” Barry says. Emma looks like she would disagree with his choice of adjectives, but nods. “Did her hair and makeup all fancy, and bought her a corsage.”

“Aww,” Cady coos. “How sweet.”

“That part was fun,” Emma agrees fondly. “But…”

“When we got there,” Barry says. “Poor thing was so excited, but it was-it was just-“

Dee Dee continues for him, as Barry gets too emotional to keep going. “It was totally empty. Barry took Emma into the gym, and it was just horrific. There were barely any decorations, and they were just thrown up. I would be stunned if they spent more than ten dollars on the whole thing.”

“Oh god,” Damian says sadly. “I heard it was a fake, but I didn’t know it was that bad.”

“It sucked,” Emma chuckles sardonically, trying not to get too heavy in the middle of an IHOP. “More than anything. I didn’t care about the decorations, I just… it was so lonely, you know? I realized then that so many people I thought cared about me just didn’t. So many people I thought were my friends, weren’t. I had never felt more alone.”

“It sounds awful,” Janis says.

“It was,” Emma mumbles. Alyssa takes her hand under the table and gives it a gentle squeeze. Emma looks up and gives her a sad but grateful grin.

“I was at the… other prom. The real one,” Alyssa continues, seeming ashamed. “I had no idea what they had done, everyone on student council and the PTA hid it from me too. Some of my friends had seen us together and realized I was the ‘secret girlfriend’ and were trying to break us up.”

“Which worked,” Emma admits sadly. “I called her to try to get her to come to my own personal prom so I could at least have her there, but her mom was at the real one with her and she couldn’t leave. And I just sort of… lost it. I hung up and we didn’t talk again for a week.”

“I never blamed you for that,” Alyssa murmurs gently. “You were still trying to process everything and I just added to it.”

“No, you didn’t,” Emma insists. “We can talk more later. Anyway. I ran out, obviously. And Angie actually came after me, which was nice. She just let me cry and didn’t make me do anything. Helped me get my makeup off and stuff. She even slept on my bedroom floor in case I needed something. It was kind of like having a mom there, which I really needed.”

“How fucking old-“ Angie begins, but Trent claps a hand over her mouth. Emma laughs and continues.

“And then the rest of them came by the next day even though I yelled at them,” she says.

“With ice cream!” Barry butts in. “That’s an important detail.”

“Oh yeah, they brought me Häagen Dazs,” Emma laughs. “It was cute. Especially because they thought I wouldn’t know what it was.”

“Can you blame us? You live in the most yeehaw hick town in Indiana,” Trent says. “And that’s saying something.”

“It’s not that bad,” Emma tuts. “Anyway, they brought ice cream and were trying to convince me to do something to bring more attention to what was happening. Dee Dee actually got me on a talk show at one point, but I knew I would never be able to do something like that.”

“You still owe me a house,” Dee Dee grumbles under her breath. “But what she wound up doing was much better anyway.”

“The song?” Damian asks. Emma nods.

“I had it sort of in my head for a while, and I managed to piece it together in about a week,” she replies. “I was terrified, but it was just an overnight thing. I woke up the next day and it already had two million views.”

Alyssa squeezes her hand with a proud smile. “Half of them were me.”

“The other half were Damian,” Janis chuckles. “He made me watch it at lunch one day and we both watched it so many times we knew all the words by the next day.”

“Aww,” Emma says. “You guys are so sweet.”

“We try,” Janis and Damian say at the same time, locking eyes and glaring at each other once they notice. Cady giggles at their antics.

“Anyway,” Emma laughs. “I wasn’t expecting even that many, but people just kept watching, and then I started getting all these comments on it that were so precious. All these other queer kids all over the world sharing their stories too. Eventually it got back to Principal Hawkins and all of them, and they helped figure out how to set up an inclusive prom. And funded it, which was very helpful.”

“Yeah, helpful,” Dee Dee grumbles under her breath.

“Once we saw where the money was going it was so worth it,” Barry says, gently kicking Dee Dee under the table. “It was beautiful.”

“It really was,” Emma agrees. “But god, it took forever to set up.”

“God, yeah,” Alyssa says. “Oh, and we got back together, like, as we were setting everything up, we forgot to mention that.”

“Oh yeah,” Emma says. “Her mom came when she heard what we were doing in the gym because we never got PTA approval-“

“So she was mad,” Alyssa butts in.

“Very mad,” Emma chuckles. “But you came with her and told her to stop talking, which was both hilarious and terrifying. And then you told me you loved me in front of everyone. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that.”

“Me either,” Alyssa says quietly.

“Aww,” Cady says, even though she’s heard the whole story before. It’s always a good one to repeat. “How sweet.”

“So after that whole thing we finished setting everything up,” Emma continues, smiling at her girlfriend. “And it was beautiful, even I was impressed.”

“You looked so happy when everyone started showing up,” Alyssa says fondly. “I was so proud of you. I still am. You gave so many people an incredible night they wouldn’t have had without you.”

Emma flushes slightly and looks down at her lap. Alyssa squishes her cheeks in her hand to get her to look back up.

“It really was an incredible night,” she says. “And we finally got to dance together, I think that was my favorite part.”

“That was good,” Alyssa nods. “But you’re a terrible dancer.”

“Hey! Just because I didn’t take dance classes for years,” Emma pouts.

“Oh, hush, I’m joking,” Alyssa says, kissing Emma’s cheek.

“You missed,” Emma continues pouting. Alyssa frowns in confusion and kisses her cheek again, but in a different spot. “You missed.”

Alyssa gives her a chaste kiss on the lips this time, and Emma finally smiles. Alyssa rolls her eyes lovingly. “You’re such a dork, goodness gracious.”

“You guys are almost as cute as Caddy and Janis,” Damian says, trying to snap them out of it and get them to remember the presence of the group.

“Almost?” Alyssa says, her competitive side making a slight appearance. “I think you’re biased.”

“Oh, definitely,” Damian agrees. “We don’t really have any unbiased judges though.”

“True. We’ll say it’s a truce for now,” Alyssa says. “Are we all done? I need to get up for a bit. I’m stuffed.”

“I think so,” Cady says, looking around at all the empty plates around. “We could go to the beach for the sunset, if you guys want. It’s not too far a drive.”

“Ooh, yes please,” Emma says excitedly. The adults play rock paper scissors to work out payment, and Dee Dee grumbles under her breath when she loses.

“Hungry kids. Why are pancakes so expensive?”

————-

“Oh, guys, look!” Damian says, pointing to a window of a thrift shop nearby. “We could go try on dresses!”

“We?” Janis chuckles, carrying Cady on her back. “You gonna get into a ballgown, D?”

“Why not?” Damian asks. “I have the figure for it, shut up.”

“I thought we were going to the beach,” Angie says.

“We can do both,” Barry says, seeming strangely excited. “Wear dresses to the beach.”

“Yeah, yeah!” Cady says eagerly, squeezing her legs together a bit to get Janis to go in, as if she’s riding a pony. “Please?”

“I am not paying,” Dee Dee says immediately. Everyone else nods, that’s only fair.

“Fine, fine. Come along,” Trent says, leading them into the shop as their gaggle of children follow like ducklings.

—-

The employees look a bit concerned as all nine of them parade to the discounted gown section and start looking for ones in their sizes. Damian finds his first, a royal purple gown with a high neck and a slit that would reach about to his knee. He takes it off the rack and heads over to the changing room, rapidly followed by Barry with his silver gown.

“How did-“ Emma stutters. “I guess they knew what they were looking for.”

Angie helps Trent find one that would fit him, an emerald green dress with long sleeves and a nice v-neck collar. He shrugs and follows Barry and Damian. Angie then moves on to find one of her own, and picks out a sleek black dress made of lace and with a shorter skirt, about to the knee. Dee Dee follows with one she seems to have grabbed at random, a nice yellow gown complete with a cape.

Alyssa picks a pink dress with a longer train, since she wore a short dress to both of her real proms and wants to experiment a little. Cady picks a yellow one, with longer sleeves and a bow in the back. The skirt is short, which makes her a little nervous, but she decides to give it a go.

Janis and Emma both look a bit lost, staring aimlessly at the racks and flicking through them weakly.

“Jayjay, try this one,” Cady says, offering a long, red, short-sleeved gown that looks like it would have a rather tight fit. Maybe Cady has some selfish motivations here, but she’ll never admit it. Janis raises a slightly suspicious eyebrow, but takes the dress and hauls her girlfriend off to the changing rooms.

“They all look so itchy,” Emma shudders slightly. Alyssa laughs and takes one of her hands.

“If you got one made of something like this it wouldn’t be too bad,” she says, showing Emma one made of an almost satin-like material. “And it’ll only be a couple hours at most. We’re going to the beach, sand is itchy anyway.”

“True,” Emma agrees with a little nod. “I like this one.”

“So try it,” Alyssa chuckles as Emma grabs an amethyst colored ballgown with a big poofy skirt. “Come on.”

Most of their group is waiting outside the rooms, clad in their ill fitting gowns. Trent’s is a bit too big, Barry’s is missing some sequins, and Angie’s has a small hole in the sleeve, but none of them complain.

Cady and Janis open the curtains to their respective rooms, revealing their dresses to one another. Janis is somehow not tall enough to fill her dress out, which makes her look a bit like Morticia Addams, but she doesn’t mind. Cady’s is almost perfect, but the skirt clings to her legs in an odd way.

“You look nice!” Cady says, gently adjusting Janis’ sleeve as Janis tugs at her collar.

“It’s a bit tight,” Janis says, sounding rather choked.

“I can fix that once we buy it,” Barry says, looking at himself in the mirror. Everyone looks at him in concern. “What? I have a stitch kit, I’ll just cut the collar off it.”

“Oh,” everyone says. Alyssa and Emma exit the changing rooms then, prompting coos from everyone.

“Emmy, you look beautiful!” Alyssa says, pulling her girlfriend into a hug. “The color really suits you.”

“Does it?” Emma says, sarcastically striking a pose. “It feels very… purple.”

“I like purple,” Alyssa hums, adjusting Emma’s skirt.

“You look really nice,” Emma replies, looking at Alyssa’s long dress. Hers is the closest to fitting correctly out of everyone’s.

“Thanks!” Alyssa says, putting her hands on her hips and popping out a knee. Emma laughs and kisses her gently.

“Okay, let’s go!” Angie says happily, having been taking pictures of everyone like a proud mom taking photos for her Facebook. Angie, Trent, and Barry split the cost among them, and they unleash their prom-ready selves onto the public.

—————-

“So you guys just graduated, right?” Alyssa asks, strolling down the shore holding hands with Emma. Cady and Janis are also hand in hand walking next to them.

“Yep!” Cady chirps.

“So you must’ve just had your senior prom too, what was yours like?”

“It was so fun! Damian took me shopping and I had the most beautiful dress,” Cady replies eagerly. “And Janis had a suit to match and it was… she looked… so hot.”

“Ooh,” Emma teases. “Scandalous.”

“Hey,” Cady says. “I’m allowed to think she’s hot.”

“Fair enough,” Emma shrugs.

“What about you guys, how are you handling your post-prom fame?” Janis jokes.

“Pretty well,” Emma chuckles. “Or at least I think we are.”

“You certainly are,” Alyssa murmurs.

“Oh yeah, aren’t you starting a nonprofit or something?” Cady asks.

“Wait, what?” Janis asks.

“I’m trying,” Emma laughs again. “Lyss’ mom is actually helping me. And trying to start a charity looks, like, super good on college applications, so that’s nice.”

“I thought your mom started this whole fiasco,” Janis says confusedly.

“Oh, she did,” Alyssa confirms. “But she’s cool with the gays now. She had a lot of questions and stuff, and she’s still having to work pretty hard at it. Changing opinions and thought patterns that were instilled in you from

childhood is tough. But she’s trying.”

“Yeah, she came to pride with us this year,” Emma says. “It was cute, she had a rainbow pantsuit and everything.”

“Go mom,” Janis chuckles. “I’m glad she turned things around.”

“Me too,” Alyssa murmurs quietly.

“Me three,” Emma says, squeezing her hand.

“So what’s this charity you’re getting going?” Cady asks.

“It’s called the Unruly Hearts Foundation,” Emma explains. “It’s a nonprofit that takes donations and stuff to throw other inclusive events around the country. Create safe spaces. And we also donate a fair bit to LGBTQ+ shelters and stuff, too.”

“That’s awesome,” Janis says. “I’m broke but I’ll donate a bit once I get my commissions business going.”

“Thanks, Janis,” Emma chuckles. “You know, we could use some branding. A logo, stuff for our website. If you’re interest-“

“Yes,” Janis interrupts. “I’m interested. Please.”

“Groovy,” Emma laughs. “I’ll be in touch, get Cady to give you my number.”

“You say groovy too?!” Damian asks eagerly as he makes an appearance. “These two always make fun of me for it.”

“Hell yeah I say groovy,” Emma says, giving Damian a fist bump. “Sometimes it’s the only word that fits the vibes, you know?”

“Yes!” Damian says. “See? Emma gets it.”

“I think ‘tits’ is pretty versatile,” Janis says. “You kind of look like Ursula, by the way, Dame.”

“Thanks,” Damian says, swishing his purple skirt around. “I’m gonna take that as a compliment.”

“It was,” Janis huffs. “As if I’d ever insult you.”

“You called me a ‘fucking deplorable kneecap’ on the way here,” Damian retaliates. Emma and Alyssa rode separately and burst out laughing.

“And now I have grown as a person. Developed myself.”

“It was ten minutes ago!”

“And? I’m not the same me I was two minutes ago, let alone ten,” Janis defends.

“Thank god,” Damian grumbles jokingly.

“Hey!” Janis says, breaking away from Cady and running after him. Damian shrieks and holds up his skirts to run away.

“Do we need to intervene here, Cades?” Emma asks with a slight chuckle as Damian and Janis sprint up and down the shoreline in a sort of oval.

“Nah,” Cady shrugs. “They do stuff like this about once a week. Janis knows she needs him, she won’t actually do anything.”

Just as she says that, Damian takes a hard left and runs full tilt into the lake. Janis pauses for a second before shrugging and running after him.

“Or maybe she will.”

“That water must be cold,” Alyssa chuckles in concern.

“Let’s find out!” Emma says boldly, tightening her grip on Alyssa’s hand and running them towards the water as well. Alyssa shrieks as they leap into the lake with a splash. Cady realizes she’s alone and also runs in, managing a cannonball into the water.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Barry yells, walking up on a sort of puddle of teenagers in soaking wet dresses.

“They’re being kids, let them live,” Dee Dee says. “Unrelated, can you swim?”

“Yeah, wh- don’t you dare,” Barry says, turning to face her.

“Oh, I would never,” Dee Dee says, aghast at the mere suggestion. Trent then comes sprinting up and tackles Barry into the lake. “But he would.”

Angie cackles and high fives her. Dee Dee crosses her arms over her chest and smiles down as Barry pops back up with a splutter.

“Dee Dee Allen!” Barry demands. “Get your ass in here.”

“No, I don’t think I will, thank you,” Dee Dee says casually, rocking slightly on the balls of her feet.

“Oh come on,” Angie coaxes. “It’s only fair.”

“I didn’t push him!”

“You had a role.”

Dee Dee ponders this for a moment before she begrudgingly reaches to take Angie’s hand, and they leap in together.

“Yay!” Emma cheers, delighted that all her friends made it into the lake one way or another. Some of them are significantly less happy about this, but everyone is laughing eventually.

“Hey, Caddy,” Janis says. She swims over to her girlfriend and kisses her gently, before booping her nose. “Tag. You’re it.”

Cady laughs as Janis swims away as fast as she can, rapidly followed by the rest of the group. Cady swims around for a second while she ponders her options to decide who to go after. Emma is a strong swimmer, being on her high school swim team and all. Alyssa is okay, but a bit weaker.

Barry seems to be the slowest, and gives her the best chance of success. He looks very anxious as Cady stares him down before lunging for him. He shrieks as Cady manages to snag his skirt and tap his arm under the water before she backstrokes away.

“Damn it,” he puffs. “I’m having elementary school flashbacks.”

“Better than middle school flashbacks,” Angie calls.

“Amen,” Janis says. She screams as Barry goes for her and swims away, huddling behind Damian for protection.

“Hey!” Damian whines, swimming away from her and creating a sort of three-way chase. Janis quickly gives up on Damian’s protection and swims to Cady instead.

“Protect me,” she pleads. Cady smiles as Janis hides behind her, peeking over her shoulder to check where the threat is.

“You’re so cute.”

“No I’m not,” Janis pouts. “I’m being stealthy.”

“Uhhuh,” Cady says as Janis clings to her like a precious little octopus. “If you get me tagged again I’m breaking up with you.”

“That’s fair,” Janis agrees with a shrug. Alyssa suddenly gives a shriek as Barry taps her leg under the water. “Uh oh.”

————-

After an hour or so of tag, the sun begins to set for the day. The water temperature plummets and everyone swims to shore to watch the sky be painted beautiful shades of pink and orange and purple. The adults and Damian head back to the car to go hunt for towels and dry clothes somewhere.

But Cady, Janis, Emma and Alyssa stay behind, deciding they don’t mind so much if they’re in heavy, cold dresses and getting covered in itchy sand. Cady holds Janis on her lap and Alyssa has Emma in hers, all of them staring out over the expanse of the water before them together.

“You guys should visit more often,” Cady says quietly as the first stars begin to make an appearance.

“Absolutely,” Alyssa says, looking down at her girlfriend. “This was an awesome day.”

“And we’ll have more,” Emma says.

Together.

—-

thank you so much for reading! hope you enjoyed!

lots of love,

ezzy