#but she didn’t love how he made Donald feel

[aaandbackstabbed]

Donald:*taps pen*

Della: *taps pen in response*

Gladstone: stop that

Donald: stop what?

Gladstone: your talking about me in morse code.

Della: yes that what we’re doing. In our very limited spare time we took a class on a very outdated, very unnecessary form of communication just so we could talk about you infront of you.

[later]

Donald to feathery: that exactly what we did

[thezoe611]

"Nega-Scrooge looked at the little mouse with confusion, not understanding what he wanted to get to… …But it all made sense when Timothy pulled out a pink bow, worn with time… The old duck felt that he lost his speech when he saw that treasure that he thought he had lost. -… I'm sorry… You told me that if I stole again, they would beat the scientist… but I couldn't help it… - Timothy confessed, with his ears down-… I'm so sorry…- he apologized, holding the cloth object closer. Nega-Scrooge looked at him with shining eyes, unable to control his emotions when he saw his treasure again. With trembling hands, the old man held up the faded pink bow, while his mind was invaded by little Webby's memories of him. The girl always smiled mischievously, with her black bear teddy in her arms, as she ran alongside the triplets, wanting to participate in some training, to which Donald scolded them, saying they weren't ready, watched by Launchpad, Fenton, Gyro and several members of the clan… … Oh… His family… The old duck clung to the pink bow as if his life depended on it, eyes squeezed shut, unable to hold back the tears, overwhelmed with pain… and relief… …He didn’t lose his last treasure… Gosalyn looked at the mobster from where she was… The old duck who always watched with a smirk as Nega-Launchpad hit her, now cried like a heartbroken old man… … She was never going to forgive him for everything that Nega-Scrooge put her through… but… but she couldn't help but feel sorry for that poor old man… The young woman looked at Negaduck, who was staring at his enemy, serious. She took his hand, which he immediately clung to, not looking at her. -I-I'm sorry… Don't cry… I know you're mean… but don't cry…- Timothy asked, moving closer to the wheelchair. -Oh… Timothy Cratchit…- Nega-Scrooge looked at the little boy, smiling despite the tears running down his cheeks- What you have done… has been cruelty- -Eh?! B-But…!- the kid was confused, but the old man chuckled, tired. -As I told you before… You have great potential, lad… You could become a fearsome villain when you grow up- Nega-Scrooge told him, stroking his head, making Timothy blink-… But also so much empathy… That's what makes children so wonderful… They never cease to amaze you… - he assured, lowering his arm, and looking at his counterpart, who had approached, placing his hand on Timothy's shoulder. -… You don't deserve any empathy for what you did, and you know it…- the billionaire told him- But you have my understanding… If that can be worth anything…- -… Stingy… - the mobster smiled tiredly, leaning his back on the chair…"

Okay, this week marks 3 years since Unstoppable! I still have a lot of love for that project… even though I almost went crazy translating everything to English (and I know there are still spelling mistakes, I still apologize for that^^') (I guess that has put me behind with the "The Beauty and the Beast" project. I know I'll suffer when I finish and have to translate, but I'm not giving up yet!)

The thing is, I wanted to draw one of my favorite scenes, when Nega-Scrooge gets back the only thing he has left of his little Webby. I find his situation so profound and tragic. Yes, he should never have used Gosalyn to hurt Negaduck, and he was the one who tricked the villain in the past and tried to kill him… but losing practically his entire clan… The loss of the triplets, Webby, Donald, Gyro… It hurt him too much, and it gave him a great desire for revenge.

And Timothy appears. A child who, didn't change the mind of Mafia Boss McDuck, but made him remember how wonderful and mischievous children can be… opening once again the horrible wound of loss.

And although in the story Negaduck confesses [SPOILER] that he didn't kill the kids, that it was an accident caused by them, that would not have changed Nega-Scrooge. He would still blame Negaduck, he would still want revenge on him, and he would use the most precious thing for the villain for it: his love for Gosalyn, the closest thing he has to a daughter.

So yes, a rather complex character, one that I would have liked to write more about, I don't deny it.

I thank @rebellingstagnationblog again for allowing me to write this story. And also for the entire Geronimo Saga. Those stories helped me in a very stressful moment, to the point that this tumblr page is dedicated only to drawing random things from the story^^'

So that's it, three years since such a project in English. Thanks for reading^^!

[xandertheundead]

Everybody Samba! Happy Birthday, José!

Dancing wasn’t something Panchito ever really thought about too much.

Maybe it was because he had grown up with it all around him.

His mother teaching all her children from an early age on how to go with the rhythm when music was played, from holding them as small chicks on her hip as she moved about to actual lessons as they grew older. The parties that his brothers took him to once he was old enough and he watched how they pulled the girls close to them and moved so well to the beat that he couldn’t help but be impressed even if they were his annoying older brothers. Sometimes watching amazingly dressed dancers perform the Concheros dance when his dad would let him come to Mexico City with him to help with work needing done there.

Moving his feet and hips were something that just happened and luckily he was good at it, especially once he started to take music seriously.

Learning to move well while holding his guitar and holding a note had taken some practice, his brothers laughing at him and his sisters offering all of their annoying opinions. Eventually he was able to move his hips without missing a single cord or becoming too breathless to sing at his full potential, which he could not help but gloat when the girls started to pay more attention to him than the other boys around.

Dancing was something second nature. Something that he found fun to do especially with other people, but it had never been something that he loved or needed, music filled that area of his heart. So when he met Donald and José he wasn’t quite sure how to react to how much they loved to move, almost more than they did creating music.

He knew that Donald and José had known each other for a while before he had come around, sometimes feeling a little unsure as to where he stood when they would laugh at inside jokes or were off talking in their own world. It was never more apparent that they were more in sync than he was when they started to dance. The strangest thing to Panchito was that they didn’t even need music to dance, José would just start tapping a beat against a table or start whistling a tune and soon Donald and him were moving about the room with their hands clasped. The first few times it had happened, Panchito had felt awkward, something he rarely felt, not understanding and not wanting to intrude on their moment so he would go somewhere else to work on a new song or something for them.

It was around the fourth time that as he got up to go, a hand grabbed his arm and he looked over to see Donald grinning at him. “Where you going, pal?”

He looked across the room when he heard José laugh. “If you want to leave, meu amigo, you have to pay the tax.”

Panchito frowned in confusion. “Tax?”

José picked up two hotel pens and started to beat them against the notebook Panchito wrote their music in, the beat becoming louder as he drummed. “Yes! The dance tax! If you wish to leave you must dance with us, at least for a little bit!”

Being pulled around by Donald that first time had been strange but fun, Panchito unable to stop his laughter as Donald tried to twirl him but his height made it a bit difficult.

After that first time, even if he didn’t join in, Panchito never felt like an outsider anymore. From then on if he saw Donald shift a certain way or José start to rock his shoulders and they had no music he would make it for them. He would grab his guitar and strum a lively turn, the two of them yelling in excitement as they started to dance with everything they had. José had even let Panchito try his hands at the parrot’s magical umbrella, the Brazilian bird chuckling as he tried to get it to make sound when it had no strings or mouth pieces. José promised lessons if Panchito ever wanted to really learn and then played an amazing trumpet solo on it like it was nothing.

However, on the days he wished to join, he would use his voice to give them something to dance to. Spinning, swaying and shimmying with his friends as he sang loudly to any song he thought they might enjoy.

He was truly impressed with their moves.

When he had joined the group he had assumed that Donald would have no rhythm or moves, the duck’s flat feet and lack of Latin flare didn’t seem promising. He admits freely that it had been wrong of him to think that way, his friend able to move easily to any beat he played. Donald was also able to watch any complicated move that Panchito or José did and after only a few tries was able to pull it off with no real issues.

Panchito always felt a source of pride when strangers who judged Donald the way he had in the beginning were shocked and surprised when the duck started to dance. Panchito would always let out the loudest wolf whistle when Donald started to shake his hips, the stereotypical duck waddle turning into something tantalizing instead of awkward and he loved how red his friend would get at the attention.

He had also learned that he loved to watch Donald dance because of how happy it made his friend. The duck was usually so filled with anxiety and rage that when Panchito saw all of that fall away he wanted to give the loudest grito ever out of happiness. His dearest friend deserved to be happy all of the time.

Then there was José.

The Brazilian parrot was on a whole other level when it came to moving to the music. Having the skills and rhythm to move to the beat was essential when it came to being a good dancer, but the way José moved? It was more than that.

When José danced, everyone took notice, heads turned immediately as soon as José took those first steps.

The samba.

Panchito could still remembered the strange embarrassed feeling he had the first time he had heard José say that word. His accent curling around the letters when he said them, wistful and slow, as if he were speaking of a lover he could never forget and it made Panchito blush. He had thought the parrot was being dramatic, after all it wasn’t unusual for men like José and himself to have a love of the theatrics every now and then, so he had just pushed past the warmth in his gut, laughed and they moved on.

He had been a fool to laugh at that.

The samba was not just a dance to José he came to learn, it was so much more.

It was his art, the way he would twist, turn, shift and thrust was done with the same amount of love Panchito poured into his singing and playing.

It was his life, the way he could never truly be completely still, except for when intoxicated but even then he would dance best he could until he passed out.

It was in his blood. Generations of culture and love of his country pulsing through José’s veins as he moved, Portuguese coming out of his mouth fast as he moved so perfectly to the beat. Sometimes it struck Panchito dumb just watching how this frustrating and breathtaking friend of his could give himself so fully into something when in other areas José kept quiet.

The closer Panchito got to José, the more he could see that the parrot’s laidback and easygoing attitude was not truly who José was. He could be insecure, melancholy, angry, irrational, excited, petty, mean and sweet. It took years before the veil of José Carioca was pulled completely off and Panchito was allowed to meet Zé.

However, before José allowed him to see these feelings on his face, Panchito realized he expressed them through dance. The way he would stamp his feet roughly, movements become sharp and precise when he was angry or a softer sort of dance with small steps and his hips rolling slower when he was sad. After that, he learned that José was just like him, but instead of using his voice he used his body and it was truly beautiful.

[applejuicefruit]

I LOVE YOUR WORK!!!

can i request kylian x reader where they met through common friends and kylian started dating her just to make his ex h jealous but reader has trust issues like she had a bad childhood (you can write anything you want like her parents were violent or she hurt herself you can choose) and she opens up to kylian but eventually she finds out he was just using her? no happy ending please!! thank you so much!

This was hard to write but somehow I made it!

kylian mbappe x reader

TW: violence, child abuse, domestic abuse, suicide

If you’re sensitive I recommend to skip this story, it contains strong topics!!

Why not me?

You have no idea how your best friend managed to get you both into a private party in Paris but somehow she did it. She was your best friend or, your only friend, it depended on points of view. You were just glad of having someone in your life again, after being alone for so many years you were thankful you found someone like her.

So here you were, both of you sitting on a black leather couch sipping champagne and eating some snacks while people danced around you. You never liked clubs or parties, they always made you so uncomfortable, too much alcohol, loud music, people dancing and sweating, it just wasn’t your thing but you made a sacrifice when she asked you to go with her to this exclusive club in Paris. It was actually really expensive and you still had no idea how she got free tickets. One moment you were both sitting there drinking and talking with each other and the next moment you saw her going towards someone you had no idea of who he was.

It all came to mind when you saw her speaking with the one and only Neymar. The way they were talking and the way he was holding her you knew something was going on with them. Not love probably, you knew how she acted when she was in love, but maybe lust and passion and simply attraction? As long as she’s happy and consensual, you’re happy too!

Just a few minutes later she introduced you to Neymar, who introduced you to the rest of the team. You were kinda started to feeling uncomfortable with all of those people so you excused yourself and left the dance floor.

“Not a fan of loud music?” a voice came behind you. It was the one and only Kylian Mbappè, the guy you met earlier.

“Not at all” you joked and he laughed too.

“Would you like to go somewhere calmer?” he asked and you had no idea of what to say. Yes you were attracted to him but still, you met him ten minutes ago and due to your past you never trusted people so easily.

“Like where?” you asked and he kinda sensed your discomfort.

“Around Paris? My place? Your place? Mc Donald?” he asked you laughing and you smiled at him.

“Paris sounds nice…” you said and he agreed. You simply texted your best friend telling her you had left with Kylian.

He took you around Paris and that night you became close friends. After a few weeks he confessed his love for you and you did the same, you fell in love with him the night you met but you were to scared to tell him.

You’ve been dating for three months now, not much but you were slowly getting to know each other. He was very patient with you and you were very grateful for.

He never pushed you to do anything you didn’t want and he always made sure you were safe. He really cared for you.

One day you were at his place, casually watching some TV while you were both laid on the couch. He noticed a long scar on the back of your neck but the didn’t want to say anything about it in case it made you uncomfortable but curiosity was killing him.

“Y/n can I ask you something?” he asked and you turned to face him.

“Sure”you simply replied.

“You’ve never told me about your past…you know everything about me and still I don’t know anything about you, like do you have siblings? Did you live all of your life here in Paris?” he asked and you tensed a bit. He didn’t mean to sound rude, he was right, he knew nothing about you while you even knew what was his brother’s favorite dish or his mum’s favorite color.

“I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable…” he apologised the moment he saw you weren’t answering.

“No it’s fine…no, I don’t have any siblings and I moved to Paris once I turned eighteen, right after high school…” you spoke, your eyes never meeting his “…I didn’t have…my parents were bad people, my whole family never cared…” you started to explain him but it was hard for you to find the right words without scaring him or sounding broken “…my dad cheated on my mum with his secretary and when my mom found out she went insane…she was never home, always spending my dad’s money in alcohol and when my dad found out he threw her out…that was the last time I saw her, she never came back looking for me…I thought I could be happy with my father but when his new girlfriend moved into our home things became worse…” you took a deep breath not knowing if you were ready to tell him the whole story “his new girlfriend tried to make my life a living hell, stealing money from his pocket and blaming me, breaking things in the house and blaming me, she didn’t want me there and she tried to kick me out and even if I tried to explain my dad what was going on he never believed me, always saying it was my fault and that I needed to behave…” you let a few tears fall but you quickly wiped them “when I was sixteen my dad got tired of the chaos going on in his house so he became more violent, only with me…I got used of being greeted by slaps instead of hugs and kisses but one night things got worse…I was just minding my business in the living room when suddenly he got home mad because his girlfriend stole his credits card while at work, he took all of his anger out on me…” you stopped a moment before continuing, it hurt you to remember “he punched me so hard I fainted twice…I remember screaming for help and even if the neighbours heard no one ever came…he threw a glass on my back, that’s the scar…I remember laying there all night in my own blood since the morning came, no one ever came to help me…it was to hard for me to stay there but I had nowhere to go…but after that night things seemed to be better, my dad used to get mad at me less times but still, when it happened it hurt so bad that I felt like dying was the only solution…” you showed Kylian the faded scars on your wrist and he looked at you with so much pain that you swore he almost felt guilty for everything you have been through.

“One night I tried to kill myself, only for my dad to find out and call and ambulance…but I really really wished I died that night…” you broke down crying and Kylian took you in his lap, his arms around your body keeping you close “I thought things got better when I moved here in Paris, I fell in love with a boy, Jack, he seemed nice and all but I made the mistake to trust him so much to telling him all of my story only to find out he told his friends and they joked about it everytime they saw me…they would say things like ‘try again, the second time is better’ or ‘broken girl, broken family, daddy issues’ they kept joking about it and Jack never stopped them. When I confronted about it he said it wasn’t a big deal and that some people got it worse…that night we broke up…I trusted him, I trusted him with telling him about my past and he simply didn’t care…” you looked at Kylian and he softly kissed your forehead “the only person who knows about it now it’s my best friend, she never judged me, never made jokes or laughed about it…and you now…” you finished and Kylian looked stunned.

“I wished I could have protected you…” he hugged you and held you close, leaving some kisses into your neck and collarbone “you’re too kind for this world, we don’t deserve you…” he said and you laughed.

Kylian held you close all night after you told him about your past, almost too scared you would break.

You were now five months into the relationship and you never felt so happy in your life.

You had the whole weekend planned since Kylian didn’t have any games and you were going to tell him your idea when you heard him speaking to someone on the phone. You knew you shouldn’t have listened but your instinct told you to stop and listen the whole conversation.

“I don’t know man…I don’t know what to do…” he said and even if you didn’t hear what the other person was saying you recognized Neymar’s voice immediately “I really care about her, I do…she’s nice and she takes care of me and I think I have feelings for her, fuck I really do have feelings for her but this wasn’t the plan…” he said and even if you were on the verge of tears you stopped and listened to what he was saying “I still love her, Iwanted to make Rose jealous, I wanted her to come back to me and we’ve been texting for the past days but I don’t know…I really wanted Rose back but now I don’t know what to do…” Kylian said but stopped when he heard noises coming from his door “shit man I have to go” he said hanging up.

You tried to leave the home but Kylian stopped you.

“Y/n please let me explain…” he begged you.

“Explain what? That I was just a plan to make your ex jealous? That you just used me? That you don’t care about me or my feelings?” you said completely crying.

“It’s not that I swear…I love you y/n, shit, I do really love you but I realised it when it was too late…please don’t ruin everything for this…” he said and you couldn’t believe your ears.

“Me? Ruin everything? You did it the moment you said you still loved your ex…fuck I can’t believe I was so stupid to believe someone could ever like me…you know what? Forget about everything, forget about what I told you, forget these past months and forget about me. You got what you wanted right? She texted you back so you won…” you said crying but he wouldn’t leave your arm.

“No y/n you have to believe me…I love you, I do…Yes I used you to get back to my ex but now I don’t care about her, I don’t, please baby…I’m so sorry…” he said almost crying. You had enough. You had enough of people who constantly used you and treated you bad.

“No I’m sorry for opening up to you, to tell you everything about my life, to have trusted you because I really trusted you Kylian…I can’t believe this is happening but…we’re done Kylian, I can’t do it…I really can’t…” you said going to grab your jacket and purse.

“What? No no y/n you can’t say this…I made a huge mistake but I can’t lose you, I know I’m a dickhead I know but I can’t lose you please…scream at me, punch me, spit in my face, tell me how much you hate me but please don’t leave” Kylian said, realising too late that he had fallen in love with you and that he just screwed up everything. He just lost you over a stupid idea he got when he saw his ex hanging around in Paris with some models, he got jealous and he knew he wanted to make her jealous too but he fell in love with you. Definitely not his plan.

“It’s too late Kylian…I’m sorry this is how it went…but you used me and hurt me and made me feel like I wasn’t enough…I need to focus more on myself and you can’t be a part in this…but I do really hope you and Rose have a nice life…” you said leaving his apartment. You heard him screaming your name but you couldn’t look back.

Instead you got into your car and started wondering what was wrong with you. “Why couldn’t people love me? Why not me? Why can’t I be loved?” you thought while driving back home.

[just-an-emily-existing]

Hey pookie, hopefully this can distract you from everything because I can only imagine the feelings you have now 🩷💕

Regarding the ships in your au, how did they realise they had feelings for their partners? And also- what is their favourite thing about their partners?

(Sending lots of (platonic) love and support, even if I’m MILES away from you rn, I’m still always just a message away) 🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷🩷

I knew you’d come in clutch, tysm for this bestie. I’ll do this for me and Douglas, Oliver and Toad, Rosie and Mavis, and Thomas and Percy. But I will try and go into deeper details on every couple's origin story. Let me know if you want any othe short couple stories. But these'll be short stories lol

Happy Reading!

For me and Douglas, it started when he first saw me. He instantly fell but I didn’t, I just wanted to get on the train to Sodor. But we kept bumping into each other like at the store or just on the street and we became friends, he showed me more of the Little Western and I showed him my drawings. Word quickly got around that Douglas has a crush on the new human girl. It was Donald who ended up snitching and telling me he liked me. I was honoured to be someone's special person. I immediately told Donald to take me to him. Luckily Douglas was taking a break and laying down next to Dilly's pond. I confronted him and asked if he liked me. Of course, he was a blushing and stuttering mess but he eventually spat it out that he liked me. By this time I was really starting to like him too and we agreed to go on a few dates to see if we’d be a good match. After one summer date in July, Douglas accidentally called me his girlfriend, but I didn’t mind, I liked the new title and by the end of the night, we become official! Of course, we had to keep our relationship on the down-low cuz at the time, human and engine couples were unheard of and kinda taboo. But after being yelled at by an old angry couple, it was STH who made the announcement for me and Douglas' relationship to be accepted.

For Oliver and Toad, they met after Toad was transferred to a new engine after being in an abusive relationship with Samantha (One of my Oc’s). Like Douglas, Toad instantly fell for Oliver, but Oliver was SO oblivious. Toad would leave subtle hints that he likes him but Oliver never caught on. Once Oliver was sent for scrap, Toad, Isabel and Dulcie were sent to be transferred to another engine, but Toad wasn’t having it, he had spent years with his love and refused to accept this fate. On the night Oliver was supposed to be scrapped, Toad came up with the idea to run away to Sodor. Oliver loved it and the four of them ran that night. Unfortunately the four were captured one night and were sent to the nearest scrapyard and left on a siding to rot. It was them that Toad finally told Oliver his feelings, seeing that they were not going to make it. Oliver was taken aback but accepted his feelings, although not truly feeling the same, he felt honoured to be the someone Toad was utterly devoted to. Oliver promised to go on a real date once they got to Sodor. Toad was confused but with this newfound energy, Oliver felt determined to live, not just for himself, but for Toad, for Isabel and Dulcie, and his siblings that he lost long ago. After being rescued by Douglas and were properly fixed up. the two finally had their real date and it went wonderfully! They were able to truly express how they felt for each other and explore their new home together. It was actually Oliver who asked Toad to be his “Precious Shell” (That’s Oliver's pet name for Toad) and he happily agreed. From then on, the two became inseparable, always pulling trains together and hanging out with their friends.

For Rosie and Mavis, I like to think they met after Rosie was rejected by Thomas and was feeling really down in the dumps. She and Mavis were scheduled to work together at Brendam Docks, but Rosie just couldn’t seem to focus on her work, only Thomas and his rejection. Mavis finally asked what was wrong and Rosie explained everything. Mavis listened and gave her input when needed. She told Rosie to try and move on and focus on herself cuz it was obvious Thomas isn’t interested and Rosie deserves some self care. Rosie understood that was the best move. Of course she tried, with Mavis' help and all but she just couldn’t get over him. He was perfect in her eyes and seeing him and Percy made her all the more heartbroken. As the days turned into weeks, Rosie tried hard to take Mavis’s advice. She immersed herself in her work, hauling goods, helping friends around the island, ect. But every time she saw Thomas, her heart would race. She admired the way the sunlight glimmered off his shiny blue paint and the way he laughed. Mavis noticed Rosie’s struggle. Encouraging her to join in fun outings, she suggested they go on a scenic trip to the seaside. Rosie hesitated but finally agreed, hoping the change of scenery might distract her. They talked, laughed, and shared stories the whole day and really got a better connection with each other. Mavis had a warm energy that made Rosie feel valued. Eventually, as the sun began to dip below the horizon, turning the sky a canvas of oranges and purples, Mavis told Rosie that she was loved, not just by those around her but by everyone on the island, and she didn't need the approval Thomas to feel good about herself. Rosie felt a warmth spread through her as she gazed into Mavis’s eyes. In that moment, something shifted within her. Maybe the engine she had always been destined to be with wasn't Thomas after all. It was Mavis, right there beside her, always supportive and always caring. Weeks turned into months, and their friendship blossomed into something deeper. Rosie began to notice how Mavis made her laugh like no one else could, how they shared a powerful connection that felt electric. One evening, as they stood side by side overlooking the same beach, Rosie took a deep breath, feeling a sense of freedom wash over her. Rosie finally spoke her mind and told Mavis how she felt. Mavis was surprised and asked if she was ready for a relationship. Rosie was sure, her feelings were true and was able to move on from Thomas fully. Mavis was happy to see her love become the best version of herself and from that day forward, Rosie and Mavis became a couple. Thomas and Rosie are still good friends, and are happy to have a stable friendship.

For Thomas and Percy, whoooo boy it's a crazy one. It started off as Thomas not really liking Percy (Then, pre-trans), thinking he's a bit dull and Percy just being oblivious to his subtle dislike. But of course, they grow to become good friends after working many jobs together and just hanging out as friends. Percy starts transitioning after a few years of being on Sodor, using he/him pronouns and having Thomas' support through it all. The day Percy became fully Percy, he showed off his new male human form to Thomas before anyone else. It was a bit of a shock to him but he still thought of him as a friend and would continue to call him his best friend. But little by little, after many years, they start to fall for each other and began pining for each other. Everyone could easily tell they liked each other, especially James, the engine they'd tell their feelings for the other with until finally James had enough of their pining and wishing for them to just get together already, so he planned a surprise date for them. With a plan forming in his mind, James decided to set up a special date for Thomas and Percy. He carefully devised a strategy to get them both to Tidmouth Sheds where hopefully, the two could open up to each other. Once there, James had planned a nice picnic for the three of them, as they all had the day off and had the whole sheds to themselves. It was very awkward cuz Thomas and Percy just couldn't seem to get the ball rolling, so James finally just spilled the tea. The two were embarrassed and tried to get James to shut up, but finally see that they had nothing to fear, cuz the feeling of love was mutual. Finally Thomas and Percy opened up and told the other how they really feel. James sighed in relief that he was able to bring a satisfying end to his favorite rom-com, which was Thomas and Percy lol.

[tokuvivor]

Duckverse June Week 1: Happy Birthday to the Duck Twins and Daisy

Round 2 of Duckverse June is now under way! (@duckversejune2024) Once again, I promise that @secret-tester, @queer-in-a-cornfield, and I will do the best we can as your hosts. That, of course, doesn’t mean we’re not gonna do the prompts ourselves, though.

So to that end, for Week 1, I give you…

The Perfect Cake

“No. No. No. Oh, gosh, that’s extravagant. No. No. Definitely not.”

Donald was feeling anxious. His, Della’s, and Daisy’s birthdays were all coming up. And within two days of each other, no less.

He and Della were planning a day out for their birthday, just the two of them, before celebrating with their family. As for Daisy, he wanted to take her out to dinner. Beyond that, he wanted to make her a cake. But even looking through the cookbooks at the mansion, he still didn’t think he’d found what he was looking for.

“Uncle Donald? What are you doing?”

Donald whirled around to find Huey standing behind him.

“Oh. Hi, Huey,” Donald greeted his oldest nephew. “I want to make a cake for Daisy’s birthday, but it’s so hard to choose what kind to make.”

“Hmmm…” Huey pondered, tapping his chin. “Does Aunt Daisy have a particular kind of cake she’d like?”

“Not really, no,” Donald lamented. “She has her favorites, but when I asked her what kind she wanted, she told me to surprise her. So it could be anything! What am I going to do, Huey?”

“Okay,” Huey answered. “First thing, Uncle Donald. Take a deep breath.”

Donald breathed gradually, calming himself down.

“Good,” Huey continued. “Second, you’ve totally got this! You could make Aunt Daisy literally any cake in the world, and she would love it because you made it for her. You’re a very romantic guy; no matter how you make the cake, the most important ingredient is heart.”

“Heart,” Donald repeated.

Wait. Heart. Donald suddenly thought back to that one time he brought Daisy over for a date on the houseboat (the one that Storkules third wheeled on). He had made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the shape of hearts. That was brilliant, actually.

“Heart! Huey, you just gave me a great idea!” Donald gave the boy a quick hug, and rushed back into the kitchen.

Huey was surprised. What could he have said that got the gears in Uncle Donald’s head turning so quickly?

“I did?” he called out, confused.

Donald hadn’t found anything in any of the books for a peanut butter and jelly cake, but he could look on his phone. He saved the link, just to be safe, looked for the ingredients, and then got to work.

He made the cake, and while each of the layers were baking, he set to work on the frosting and ganache.

Della soon wandered into the kitchen. “Hey, bro, what smells so good? Ooh, peanut butter,” she remarked, swiping a finger through the frosting.

“Hey!” Donald exclaimed.

“I’m surprised you didn’t anticipate for me, Donald,” laughed Della.

“Old habits die hard, I guess,” groaned Donald. “Anyway, if you must know, this cake is for Daisy’s birthday.”

“Oh,” Della replied. “Ohhh. Like your first date on the houseboat.”

“Precisely,” Donald answered.

Della put her hands to her heart. “That’s really thoughtful, Donald. I’m sure she’s gonna love it.”

“Thanks,” Donald replied. “I’m glad to see it has your seal of approval,” he added while noticing a bit of frosting still at the corner of Della’s bill.

“Also,” Della continued, “I wanted to confirm if you booked us for laser tag already.”

“Don’t worry,” reassured Donald. “I’ve got it all taken care of. Sunday is all about you and me. The itinerary is good to go.”

“Great,” Della answered back. “Ooh, I can’t wait! Okay, you’ve got Daisy’s cake to knock out, so I’ll leave you to it.” And she gave Donald finger guns as she reversed back out of the kitchen.

Donald shook his head and laughed. Della was a pain in the tail feathers, but he could always count on her as his biggest supporter when it came to Daisy.

It was Friday. Daisy’s birthday. She had to work for most of the day, but Donald took her out to dinner at a nice restaurant, while May and June were sleeping over with Webby.

Donald was anxious. He hoped that Daisy would like the cake. Daisy, on the other hand, was rather excited. She couldn’t wait to see what Donald had come up with for her birthday!

When they got back home, they made their way to the kitchen, where Daisy sat down at the table, while Donald took the cake out of the fridge. Daisy was practically on the edge of her seat.

“Alright,” Donald announced, removing the cover from the plate. “And…voilà!”

Daisy gasped. It was a very lovely cake, decorated with a rich peanut butter frosting, and garnished with two strawberries, with the words “Happy Birthday Daisy” written on it in pink writer’s icing.

“Do you like it?” Donald asked.

“Like it? I…I love it,” Daisy proclaimed. “The piping work you did is impeccable. What exactly is it?”

“Peanut butter cake, peanut butter frosting, and strawberry jam ganache,” listed off Donald.

“Why, I-like our first date,” Daisy gasped.

Donald nodded, a proud grin on his face.

Tears welled up in Daisy’s eyes. “How exactly did you come up with it?”

“Well, it wasn’t all me,” admitted Donald. “It was Huey that gave me the brain spark, and I just went from there.”

Daisy grabbed Donald’s face and kissed him appreciatively. “Oh, Donald,” she whispered. “It’s lovely. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, my love,” Donald replied. “Now, why don’t I get some candles, and then we can eat?”

Daisy nodded. And so, after Donald got a good picture of the cake, as well as of Daisy blowing out her candles, he cut into it, and then he gave a piece to Daisy.

Now Daisy could get a good look at the inside of the cake. Of the three layers, the two on the inside were frosted directly on top, and then had the strawberry ganache added on.

She took a bite. Perfect. The cake was nice and moist, and the frosting wasn’t too overly sweet.

“Delicious,” she said to Donald.

“I’m glad you like it,” Donald beamed.

“Now go on, try it,” Daisy urged. “The master chef needs to sample his handiwork.”

Donald blushed, and carved out a slice for himself.

‘Ooh, yum-yum-yum-yum-yum-yum-yum,’ he thought. Now that was some good cake.

[bathomet-writes]

science, baby!

summary: You and Donnie were intellectual equals, him with his inventions and you with your college studies. When you spend the afternoon studying in his lab, you can't deny the chemistry you two share.

relationship: Donnie x F!reader

warnings: romantic, fluff, humor, awkward flirting, love confessions, kissing

word count: 7,637

author's note: an anonymous request!! hope u enjoy!! 💖💖 (just fyi there's brief mentions about halfway through of...bewbs...if ur unfomfy with that i'm sorry!!)

Donatello knew he wasn’t good with feelings. He’d been getting better at processing and expressing them only recently, no thanks to Dr. Feelings. He supposed it also came from just getting older, interacting with more people and such. But just when he thought he was becoming slightly better at getting a handle on his emotions, there was you. 

You were a fly in the ointment, a wrench in the plans. Everytime Donnie thought about you, he got irrationally annoyed. It made no sense. 

“She is such a know-it-all, and I would know.”

You were one of April’s classmates from college that had slowly been integrated into their little social circle over the last couple of years. Donnie was usually either indifferent or mildly suspicious of most people April introduced his family to, even if she did have good taste in friends. But you had gotten into his good graces only because he found out that you were in the STEM field. You were a biochem major, or was it clinical laboratory science? 

He should probably know at this point, you were talking about your school work a lot more lately. The point being that you were at least a bit of an equal to him, being into science. An inferior science, but still. 

“Ugh…” Donnie sighed, removing his battle shell. 

After a long day of saving the city from villainous teen hackers and general badassery, he needed to unwind. The seclusion of his lab called out to him like a siren song as he shuffled past the living area of the lair. From the couch, Leo gave him a lazy wave of his foot as a greeting. 

“Donald.”

“Nardo.” He grunted.

Leo immediately notices the absence of Donnie’s battle shell, quirking his eyes up from his comic book. He must have had a long day if he didn’t even bother waiting until he was in his own room to take it off. 

“If you’re going to your lab you’re gonna want to stay decent. There’s a weirdo in there doing homework.” He smirks. 

Donnie stops dead in his tracks, his hand hovering over the security keypad of his door. 

“Pardon?”

“Relax, it’s just Y/N. She asked if you would mind if she used your space for a while.”

With gritted teeth, Donnie slowly spun his head around to face Leo. He was a pretty reasonable guy, but his lab wasn’t exactly a study hall. There were rules, we live in a society, you don’t just go into another man’s lab when he’s not around.

“I do mind, actually!” He shouts, nearly spitting. “How did you even open the door?”

“That’s what we said! And she just let herself in.” Going back to his comic, Leo slumps down into the recesses of the couch. 

Donnie’s eye twitched so hard he looked like he might bust a blood vessel. 

“Fascinating.” He growls. 

Alright, that tears it. You were officially the most annoying person he knew. Donnie quickly punched in the code, completed the retinal scan, and charged into his lab to see you sitting there. And in his chair of all things. There were plenty of stools and benches around, but of course, you just had to be sitting in his gamer chair. 

You straighten as soon as you hear the door slide open, the mechanical hiss loud enough to hear even with your headphones in. 

“Oh, there you are! How was your day?” You take out your earbuds and regard Donnie with as much friendliness as you can muster. You had a feeling he would be a little peeved seeing you like this. 

Unfortunately, your prediction was correct. Donnie calmly steps forward after setting his shell on the rack on the wall. With a sharp inhale and his hands folded behind his back, he opens his eyes. 

“Doing a little studying, huh? Some light schoolwork?”

With a soft chuckle, you spin back around to the work table. You almost forgot you still had your thumb on the plunger of your pipette. Carefully, you deposit the rest of the sample into the tube. 

“Yup,” you chirp. 

“Mmhmm. No, that’s great. You comfortable? Could I get you a pillow or a glass of water? Perhaps a more ergonomic chair with custom Corinthian leather upholstery?”

You detect the thick sarcasm in Donnie’s voice, smiling to yourself. You remain focused on your work however, you were almost done anyway. Without looking up, you sense Donnie standing right behind you, practically breathing down your neck. 

“Is that what I’m feeling? You spare no expense, Don. It’s so luxurious.” You sigh, shimmying your shoulders. 

Donnie clears his throat before grabbing the top of his chair to spin you around. He wanted to look you in your cute, dumb face if he was going to lecture you. Wait, your face wasn’t cute. Even if you were wearing green-tinted protective goggles. Lab safety looked incredibly attractive on anyone! But with the way the subtle purple hue of his LED lights hit you…

“What are you doing in my lab, using my equipment?”

Dang, you were even wearing a lab coat. He secretly hoped that it was one of his that he kept in the closet with this other spare– No, enough of that. He was mad at you. 

“I’m using my own, thank you very much. And I needed to get out of the lab on campus. It’s way too crowded right now with finals and everything. Plus it stinks of chemicals.”

Smiling sweetly up at Donnie, you give him a gentle pat on his hand to dismiss him. He sputters watching you angle your foot onto the floor to twist the chair back around. 

“And now my fortress of solitude will as well. Thanks for that.” He makes a point to sniff indignantly at you and the bevy of chemicals you had lying around. 

“Anytime.” 

You screw on the cap of the test tube, moving onto the next one on the rack. It’s a little awkward with latex gloves on, and you feel yourself fumble grabbing the new tube. Maybe it was just nerves from being watched by Donnie. It did feel sort of hot in here all of the sudden. 

Peeking over your work, you see Donnie pull up another chair across from you at the table. He looked pretty steamed, almost like an angry tea kettle the way he was glowering at you. Without thinking about it, you find yourself smiling again. You quickly try and bite at your lip to cover it up. You at least had enough self-awareness to know that you had a bit of a crush on Donnie. Sure, he was kind of a control freak. And somewhat graceless when it came to matters of the heart, no matter how much he insisted that he wasn’t. 

He was quirky. Well, more like a weirdo with a god complex. But you were sort of the same. 

You both had a lot of things in common, a passion for science notwithstanding. When you first met him, you just assumed he was yet another aloof bad boy-type. You’ve been down that road before, and it never ended well for anybody involved. Not to sound like a total stereotype, but there was a little more to Donnie than all that. It just took years of wearing him down to see his true nature. He was fun, and funny! Didn’t help that you found him hot too. 

Donnie’s flat articulation makes you almost drop your test tube when he finally speaks up. 

“You’re lucky the ventilation system I installed in here is top-of-the-line.” He sighs, leaning back into his chair. 

He thankfully didn't notice your flub as he looked up at the ceiling. You try and find something witty to say back, but you come up empty. Instead, you reach your hand out to the box you need from across the table. 

“Pipette tip?” 

Donnie looks back down, his drawn-on eyebrows furrowing. “The what?”

You huff, pointing to the container right beside him. You would get it yourself, but you were a little preoccupied. Plus you had tragically short arms. 

Donnie knows this as well and gives you a smug smirk. His hand comes up and flutters over the box, teasing you. 

“These?” He leers. “Why don’t you just…” 

He deliberately slides them over to you. It’s a painfully slow joke that makes you blush a bit. You shoot your arm out again, only with a little more gusto. 

“TODAY, PLEASE!” You scream, startling Donnie. 

He jumps and pushes the box all the way over. “My god, woman. As I was saying–“

You frown as he tries to bore you with more shop talk. Donnie just could pass up an opportunity to brag about his lab and how much better he was than you. He thought he was better than most people, to be fair. 

Donnie was annoying sometimes, but you much preferred hanging out with him than the other students over at Eastlaird. The other clinical laboratory majors were mostly sorority girls who never talked to you, which was fine. You didn’t really have anything in common with them other than your career interests. The chemistry and biology students weren’t much better though. They were a more diverse mix of people, but they were so stuck-up. Even more than Donatello. College would be much more enjoyable if he was there with you, but moments like these would just have to do. 

You finish up your pipetting before looking around for the trash can. You swore you put it right by your feet, but you can’t find it anywhere. Delegating Donnie as your temporary lab assistant, you call out to him again. 

“Biohazard Bin.” You announce. 

He blinks, spinning around in his chair. He was mindlessly scrolling on his phone, so he didn’t really hear you. 

“Biohazard, what now?”

You get up from his gamer chair and it slides out from under you. “Unless you want infectious diseases all over the place?”

Finally, Donnie gets up as well and helps you search around. How was it that you were able to lose all your stuff in his lab all the time? He’s found plenty of articles of clothing of yours strewn about after you left the lair before. In spite of himself, always managed to gather them up and keep them in a little “lost and found” laundry basket he put by his door. You both knew it was only for you, and you actually found it kind of sweet. 

With a simple look beneath the work table, Donnie finds the red trash bin lying underneath. Of course it was. 

“Here you are.” He grumbles, kicking it over to you. 

You stop it with your foot before it topples over, glaring at him. Donnie sure was being a little stinker today. “Thank you.”

Carrying it back over to the table, you sweep your arm and push all your refuse into the bin. You place it on the floor and move to make the last couple of notes in your lab book. It was mostly full of bored doodles, but it had all your observations and measurements listed out for your reference. Curiously, Donnie walks over to you and leans over your shoulder. He was eager to see what you were even doing, not bothering to just ask you himself. 

To his horror, your notebook looked like a mess. The drawings were fine. They were even a little adorable. But your hastily-written out equations were so…confusing to him. You didn’t even use numbers half the time! You just drew out weird shapes and stuff in place of numerals, it was mind-boggling. He loses his cool when he sees you write out ‘2 + 2 = 6.’

You snicker, feeling his head inch closer to yours. You knew that would get him. 

“You’re not even— ugh! You’re not doing it right!” He grabs at your notes before being stopped by your hand on his wrist.

“Do not rip it up.” You warn. 

“I was simply going to crumple it up and toss it into the biohazard bin.” He sneers, pulling his hand away.

“How would you know anyway? Medical science is my domain.”

You slide past him and grab for your backpack, slamming your notebook shut and dumping it in before he could look at it anymore. You definitely wouldn’t want him to see all the other doodles you did in the margins. There were a couple silly drawings you did of him in there, and you would probably combust on the spot if he were to look at them. 

“Even an idiot could see that your math is all over the place. Hell, I don’t even know what to call it. These are the ramblings of an insane person.” Donnie points over to your backpack as you tuck it under the table with the rest of your equipment. 

“You probably don’t even use that calculator of yours. The Texas Instruments are wasted on you!”

He seethes thinking about how lucky you were to be able to go to school when he couldn’t. He’d looked into online classes, at your behest, but it just wouldn’t be the same. He needed to learn, but he also needed to be around peers. People who shared his love of science, to rub elbows with the academic elites. Donnie really did crave more in-person social interaction, but what with the whole…turtle situation, among other things, it just wasn’t possible.

“Listen, Dee. You do things your way, I do them mine. Who cares about how naturally attuned I am to the natural world and how I don’t need to do fancy equations to do….science?” You wiggle your eyebrows at him mockingly. 

“You’re so right. I don’t care.” He turns, crossing his arms over his chest. 

You mirror his pose. “Really?”

“Nope.”

You walk around Donnie as he stands there, eyes shut in defiance. You can’t help the way your gaze wanders over him, taking in his body language. You found yourself sometimes ogling him and his impressive physique lately. He was mostly brains, but Donnie sure didn’t slack in the brawns department as well. 

Internally, Donnie notices you scrutinizing his form. He chuckles to himself, of course you were taken by his appearance. Who wouldn’t be? He usually prided himself and other people based purely on the mind. Personality and intellect were far more important than physical appearances, but he couldn't deny that he thought you were kind of hot. You know, just because he appreciated you in an aesthetic sense. Nothing more. 

“Dost I detect a bit of jealousy, fair maiden?” You stop in front of Donnie, bending slightly forward to get a better look at his face. You can see the corner of his lips move a bit. 

“Okay, now you’re just making fun of me.”

His eyes pop open when he realizes you’re but inches away from his face. Taking a shaky step back, Donnie attempts to tamp down the blush that tries creeping into his cheeks. 

You yawn and stretch, an even expression on your face to juxtapose his flustered one. “Not making fun, just forming a hypothesis.”

Shrugging off the lab coat, you carefully fold it up and hand it over to Donnie. A bit taken aback, he quietly takes it from you. He didn’t think he was right about you borrowing his clothes, but you did. And so casually too. You even folded it up the way he liked it, with the sleeves wrapped around the coat and everything. 

There it was again. Annoyance bubbling up in his gut. It felt a little more like butterflies in his stomach, but Donnie didn’t know how else to describe the emotions he was feeling right now. 

“Uh-huh.”

Donnie gulps, feeling unusually sheepish out of nowhere. You borrowed and used his stuff all the time, even being so bold as to enter his lab when he wasn’t there. He should still be mad at you, but he wasn’t. He swore you were really testing his bad-boy resolve right now, especially with the way you so easily moved around his space. Like you practically lived there. You opened up several drawers and cabinets to replace other materials you ‘borrowed’ from him, mostly just the protective gear like goggles and gloves. 

Jeez, he felt like he was going soft. Donnie places his lab coat on another counter to hover behind you again. He watches on, almost admiring as you pack up the last of your lab equipment. He recognized most of the materials, but there was one thing that looked unfamiliar. Some kind of plate with an erlenmeyer flask. 

Sucking up his pride, Donnie pokes at your shoulder from behind. 

“What’s that?” He whispers. 

His voice was so quiet, so polite. It kind of threw you for a loop. Turning around, you give him a small frown. “What’s what?”

“That. That thing.”

He points over your shoulder, and you feel your frown grow into a smirk. Maybe you could tease him like he did to you earlier. Feigning naiveté, you look him in the eye. 

“I’m kinda busy here, Don.”

He heaves, picking up the plate and shoving it into your smug face. 

“You know what I’m talking about! This thing that spins the liquid? I ascertain that it’s some kind of magnetic stirring device.”

Donnie moves it around in his hands, regarding with a cold, scientific stare. It doesn’t really do much to cover up the blush forming on his face. You smirk even harder, lowering his hand. 

“The…magnetic stirrer?”

His eyebrows shoot up, looking from you back down to the plate. It wasn’t that straight-forward, was it? You looked pretty serious so Donnie takes you at your word. 

“I see.” He cocks his head to the side. 

You feel your heartbeat thrum in your chest watching him. He looked so enraptured with his head tilted like that, almost like a dog when it hears a new sound. If Donnie had ears, they would most certainly be perked up. You don’t bother to hide the warm smile that forms as you continue to enlighten him. 

“You just put a magnetic doohickey in the flask and turn it on. I like it when the little tornado happens.” You grin, spinning your finger around to illustrate your point. 

“Yeah, that part’s pretty cool.” Donnie nods and hands you the plate while holding onto the flask. The so-called ‘magnetic doohickey’ was just a little pill knocking around the bottom, and he spins it around in his hand, watching it clink against the glass. 

You stand there for a second, him looking at the flask and you looking at him. You were both equally captivated.

After a while, Donnie realizes that you were probably waiting on him to hand you the flask. You were staring at him, after all. What other reason would you have to do that?

“Sorry,” he coughs, handing it back. 

He looks you in the eye as you take it from him, your love-struck gaze nearly knocking him on his ass. He’s never seen that look on you before? At least, he didn’t think so. Donnie wasn’t that great at reading facial expressions either, but with your tinted cheeks and lowered eyelids, you were either drunk or coming down with something. 

His heart dances in his ribcage as you walk past him, leaving him absolutely dumbfounded. You get even more comfortable when you take down your hair that you had pulled up into a loose bun. Your locks were a bit messy, but to Donnie they looked so inviting. He wondered how it would feel to touch your hair, just to see how it felt. For…scientific purposes. 

“Enough science for today. I wanna relax…” You sigh, looking around the lab. “You don’t mind if I still keep floating around your space?”

You looked back to see Donnie absentmindedly wringing his hands together in worry. Or was he rubbing his palms together menacingly? You couldn’t really tell.

Donnie stammers a bit before shoving his hands into his pockets. Or at least at the side of his legs. He kind of forgot that he didn’t have any pockets. It was just the best bad-boy pose he could think of on the spot. Eventually, his hands flounder about until they land behind his head. 

“Do what you will.” He tosses a lazy look your way before marching away. 

“Sure.” You chuckle, strolling over to follow him. 

You were used to following behind Donnie, you always kind of felt like you were trying to catch up with him most of the time anyway. His legs were just longer than yours, giving him a quicker gait than you. You were physically different in a lot of ways, obviously. Intellectually, you felt a little bit behind him as well. Sure, you were smart. You wouldn’t be where you were in college if you weren’t. But more than that, the fact that Donnie saw you as that much of an equal that he let you into his lab so much, let you watch him work on his own projects, it was secretly one of your favorite things you got to do with him. 

You would never tell him that, of course. But you were grateful for Donnie taking the time to show you so much of his private life. It was a little piece of him that not many people got to see. You looked up to him, for better or for worse. 

Walking behind him, you find yourself in a completely new environment. You knew he was expanding his lab all the time, slowly renovating more and more of the abandoned subway tunnels that the turtles called home. But this room was practically a greenhouse! There were countless plants covering the walls, pots and rows of soil laid out in a very organized fashion. So Donnie-like, this couldn’t have been anyone else’s handiwork. 

“Didn’t know I was into gardening, huh? I know, it’s a bit of a shock to most people.” He smiles and stretches his arms out, presenting his organic creations to you. “Behold, my oasis.”

You have half a mind to tease him about it a little. You really didn’t have any idea that he had a passion for plants. You expected to see a man-eating plant, “Little Shop of Horrors” or something like that. But, it was just a regular garden. You marvel at the wide variety of produce he was growing. 

“I didn’t know you had such a green thumb. Well, greener.”

You spin around, taking in all the sights. There were pumpkins, watermelons, carrots, anything and everything you could imagine. Maybe you wouldn’t ever have to go to the grocery store again. 

“Isn’t it magnificent? I’m most proud of the tomatoes, I think they’re just starting to ripen.” Donnie smiles, leading you over by the small of your back to the planter on your left. 

You don’t miss the little bit of physical touch he gives you. Back when you both weren’t as good of friends, you sort of kept a tally of how many times Donnie would instigate a handshake, a hug, anything physical really. You told yourself it was simply for research, but you knew you were lying. 

“Ohh, nice.” You coo, looking over at the tomatoes. Most were still in the early stages, too small and too green to eat just yet. But there were a couple that were ready. You poke at one hanging on the vine. 

“I need to adjust the humidity though. It’s getting a little too hot for the poor things.” 

Donnie taps at his tech gauntlet, adjusting the temperature in the room remotely. Looking down at his wrist, you get a sneaky idea. You haven’t really tried outright flirting with him before, content to just daydream and doodle your crush away. You thought it would go away eventually if you just ignored it. But, it didn’t. And you wouldn’t know if it was worth it or not if you didn’t at least try. 

While he’s still distracted by his screen, you casually try to lean up carefully against the planter. Placing your hands upon the curve of your waist, you playfully wink at Donnie when he looks back up. 

“Aren’t I a hot little tomato?”

You see several thoughts flash behind Donnie’s eyes as he looks you up and down. He looks almost frantic, before finally settling on abject disgust. 

“That is vile.”

Not one to pass up a challenge, you level him with a little kissy face and pop your foot. “Hey, I remember someone mentioning they had a childhood crush on Cheery Tomato.”

Donnie purses his lips. There you went, being annoying again. Even he knew flirting when he saw it right in front of his face. Yes, he did have a proclivity for people who were cute and mean. He hated to admit it, but you fell right into that category. 

“Perhaps I did.” He admits, rolling his eyes. 

You strike another pose, jutting out your hips to emphasize their presence. “And Atomic Lass?”

“My queen…” Donnie sighs, clutching at his chest dramatically. He couldn’t deny his history of fictional crushes. 

“Who would have guessed you had strange tastes?” You drop the coquettish act and go back to a neutral stance. 

Judging by the way Donnie was looking at you, with a little less revulsion, you figure that your attempt to flirt wasn’t a total wash. You’d have to keep trying though, you definitely needed more data points. You watch as he briefly attends to his other plants, checking their water levels and taking notes on their growth. 

“Be that as it may, you are not a quote, unquote ‘a hot little tomato.’ Tomatoes aren’t that attractive of a fruit.”

As he moves to the pumpkins on the ground, he pulls out a piece of tailor’s tape to measure their circumferences. If he was going to grow the world’s largest gourd, he’d have to step up his game. Thinking about plant food and soil salinity management was the only thing keeping him from getting worked up about the way you were standing there. With your stupid, attractive hips and your sultry ways. Why was he so weak to your feminine wiles?

“So what fruit am I exactly? A sassy strawberry? A plucky peach? A beguiling blueberry?” You crouch down next to him, playfully bumping his shoulder. 

His eyelids drop looking over at you. Two could play at that game. 

After giving some serious thought, Donnie tried to compare you to the most applicable fruit. The most obvious answer to him would probably be something more unconventional, like a passionfruit. You were very passionate about most things, be it schoolwork or your shared interests. It was honestly the most attractive thing about you. But that would be too easy. 

“You’re…much more of a meddlesome melon.” He smirks, rubbing at his chin with his thumb and forefinger.

Your sensuous smile drops as soon as the words leave his mouth. If there was a sound effect to encapsulate the mood right now, it would be a pane of glass breaking. Or a car crashing.

You stand up so quickly you almost fall over. “A MELON?”

Somehow unaware of your shock, Donnie goes on. He felt Don Suave all of the sudden, a new twinkle in his eye. 

“Yes. Sweet, edible, fleshy.” He purrs, shooting you a lurid smirk. 

Did he really not realize what he was saying right now? Unconsciously, your eyes drop to look down at your chest, then back up at Donnie. 

“I beg your pardon?” You inquire. You’re almost impressed by how shameless he was being. Almost. 

Once again, you see Donnie try and put the pieces together in his mind. Slowly, it dawns on him. The inherent insinuation, the unintentional innuendo. For a split second, his eyes follow yours, down to your–

“Gah—! T-That’s not what I meant to say! I guess my mind just kind of went to—“

He puts his hands out, trying his best to placate you. But he quickly pulls them away, seeing how he was accidentally gesturing toward your chest. His face goes bright red, rivaling the hue of his prized tomatoes. 

You blush, covering yourself up. “Stop talking about my boobs, dude!” 

You’re not really angry with him, and you can’t help but start to laugh. Especially seeing the terrified expression on his face as he runs away from you, back out into the lab. 

“FORGET I SAID ANYTHING!”

“Pfft–!” You chuckle, chasing after him. “No wait, come back!”

You have to book it to catch up with him again. You’re afraid you might have traumatized him by the way he’s curled up underneath his work table. You get on your knees again and crawl toward him. Like a feral cat, he scrambles away before you get too close. 

“Well, it’s been nice chatting with you but, gosh, would you look at the time? I really should be getting back to…science stuff.” He clasps his hands together and paces around to the other side of the table. 

You poke your head out and look up. “Science stuff?”

“Yes, yes. Now off you go!”

Taking the opportunity, Donnie grabs you by your hands and lifts you off the ground, leading you toward the doors. You gasp, feeling him so easily move you around. 

“I can do science stuff too, y’know. Why can’t we do it together?”

Donnie gives you an exasperated look before picking up the pace. “Because you’ll distract me.”

“Oh, will I? Are my melons really that meddlesome?” You make yourself into deadweight, causing Donnie to actually use some force to pick you back up. 

With an impish smile, you watch as his face contorts with barely contained rage. 

“I will resort to physical violence.”

“I would love to see you try.”

Oh, you were really working on his last nerve. With no hesitance, Donnie lifts you up by your wrists and spins you out into the middle of the lab. Your head swims a bit at the sudden motion and you start to see stars. You hear Donnie grab for his tech bo and switch it to its full length, readying himself into an offensive position. 

If Donnie couldn’t best you with a battle of wits, he would just have to prove himself in an actual battle. 

“We may be evenly matched in terms of intelligence, but so soon you forget that I am also a ninja and a master of the mystic arts?”

He smirks, challenging you. After you come back to your senses, you take a moment to see if he was joking or not. You usually knew when Donnie was serious, and he seemed pretty serious. You didn’t have any ninja skills to speak of, so you were suspicious. He wouldn’t attack someone so cute and defenseless, would he?

“You’re all talk, purple. Let’s see if you can back it up!” You shout, shifting your foot placement to blade yourself to him. 

Donnie and you stare daggers into one another, waiting for someone to make the first move. Looking at you draw your hands up into fists, he gets a much-needed reality check. He wouldn’t actually use his bo on you. Even he was above something so boorish. 

However, he wasn’t above using other means of subduing you. His eyes flit over to your backpack, then back up to his own collection of chemicals. He quickly pads over to his stockpile, throwing the cabinet open and cackling like a mad scientist. 

“What the–?” You turn your head, watching him rifle through a bunch of unlabeled containers. 

“I’ll show you. I can create bioweapons just as good as you.” He chuckles, his eyes going dark and sinister.

You suddenly feel yourself become a little threatened. But, you try to keep your cool. Surely he wasn’t going to do weird experiments on you or anything. Not that you wouldn’t let him, in a much less hostile context. 

Huh, where did that come from? You shake your head and turn to fully face him. 

“Oh yeah? What are you gonna do, make elephant toothpaste?” You joke. 

Donnie chuckles lowly, taking two unmarked plastic jugs in his hands. He didn’t really remember what was what in his cabinet, he was still in the process of alphabetizing everything by elemental names. That wouldn’t stop him from unleashing a little bit of hell on you though. 

“Mere child’s play! Watch as I combine a simple pnictogen hydride with some sodium hypochlorite, and…” 

Your eyes go wide, and Donnie reaches for an empty beaker at his desk. For a smart guy, he was honestly kind of stupid. You step forward and put your hands on his his, stopping him before he manages to pour the liquids. 

“Wait, that’s ammonia and bleach.” You frown. 

Donnie shakes his head and chuckles at you again, a little more condescendingly. “You’re quite astute, but I suppose the layman's terms are more your speed.”

Okay, maybe you would die, but you really wanted to punch him right now. 

“You’re making chloramine gas.”

He looks down at the containers for a moment before his eyes slowly meet yours. “Which is…?”

“Donnie,” you sigh. “It’s mustard gas.”

You mourn the fact that Donnie’s education was basically all self-driven and restrained mostly to what he could find on the internet. But you thought it was kind of common knowledge that you should never mix household chemicals like that. Donnie’s irises shrink, suddenly cognizant that he was this close to making a lethal gas. 

“…Ah.” 

He stills, about to put the ammonia and bleach away. 

Then you both watch in slow motion as the tiniest drops from each container spill out and drop into the beaker. With lightning-fast speed, you launch yourself onto the table and shove the entire piece of furniture out of the way. With a loud crash, the beaker shatters onto the floor and the two potentially deadly drops land somewhere on your shirt. In your haste, you fall unceremoniously to the floor as well. 

“Oww…” You hold your hand, a sharp pain shooting up your right arm. 

“JESUS CHRIST!” Donnie shouts, picking you up and moving you to the counter. 

He makes quick work looking you over, assessing your injury and making sure you’re not too hurt. 

“Look up, how many fingers am I holding up?” He points up all six of his fingers to wiggle in your face. 

“Less than ten, like usual. I’m fine, I promise.” You smile, shaking out your wrist. “Just landed a little wrong. But what about you? Were you trying to kill us all?”

Donnie sputters, bringing his hands down to look at them. They did almost kill you, even if it was by accident. 

“I don’t understand. How did I not realize?”

Sometimes, Donnie couldn’t see the forest for the trees. He was so preoccupied with flexing his stupid knowledge on scientifically accurate chemical names that he didn’t even realize what he was doing. His hands drop to his sides, feeling positively shameful. 

You feel your heart sink a bit seeing him so dejected. With a gentle kick to his side, you try and console him. 

“Because the only thing bigger than your brain is your ego.” You quip. 

When Donnie doesn’t reciprocate your joke, you realize maybe now wasn’t the best time for it. 

He rubs at the side of his arm, too embarrassed to even look you in the eye. 

Sighing, moves to sit beside you on the edge of the counter. “I guess I just have a little too much intelligence.”

You give him another little nudge, bumping your foot against his. 

“Not a whole lot of wisdom.”

Finally, Donnie looks up at you. The DND reference isn’t lost on him, and he smiles a bit.

“Sorry for almost killing you. I want to say it won’t happen again, but…” He scratches at the side of his face awkwardly. 

“It’s fine. I’ve accidentally made poison plenty of times. Just let me handle the chemicals from now on, okay?”

You reach your hand up and stop just before you touch Donnie’s back. You knew he was really sensitive about people messing with his natural, leathery shell. You don’t want to make the comparison to him having a tough exterior that housed a soft, sensitive inner self, but you can’t deny that it’s an apt comparison. 

When Donnie realizes that you’re asking for his permission, he gives you a small nod. He’s actually a little touched that you’re being so delicate with him, when all he’s done is be unnecessarily rough and callous with you. 

With the lightest touch, you pat him on the top of his shell. The velvety, slightly ridged texture was such a contrast to his brothers’. It feels a little weird, but nice. 

Those wretched butterflies return to Donnie’s stomach, as well as the blush on his cheeks. He couldn’t really refute it any longer. Now that he was feeling you pet him so tenderly, he realized the answer that was staring him in the face all along. 

He had a crush on you. A massive, embarrassing, debilatating crush.

After a minute or two of Donnie staring unabashedly at you, you try to break the tension. 

“What?” 

Without breaking eye contact, Donnie murmurs softly to you. “Nothing.”

You pull your hand away and place it back on your lap, twiddling your thumbs. You look around the lab, thinking of how best to navigate this situation. Donnie was giving you major heart eyes right now, even if he didn’t realize he was. Maybe you would have to be the one to take the lead on this. 

“Seems to be a lot of chemistry going on around here lately.” You raise your hand up and cough into it, peeking back over to Donnie. 

“C-Chemistry?” He stutters. 

In his head, a million thoughts raced. Donnie had an internal dialogue with himself, trying to figure out the next course of action. 

Oh my god. Did you just stutter?

No, this is not happening. Keep it together, man.

This is just playful banter. Don’t think about it like flirting. Now say something, anything!

After the voices in his head quiet down, Donnie takes a deep breath and says the first thing that comes to his mind. 

“You’re pretty.”

You stop looking around the room, angling your head back to him. “What?”

Without thinking, Donnie tries to backtrack. He did think you were pretty, he really did. But playing the role of the emotionally distant loner just wouldn’t let him give you a genuine compliment. 

“Pretty dumb! Hahaha, just kidding! Unless?” He spits, folding his arms and laughing awkwardly. 

Okay, anything but that.

You watch as sweat begins to bead on his face, almost making his bandana darken in color. Donnie was a bit of a novice when it came to flirting, apparently. It was sweet. 

“You’re pretty dumb too. Pretty and dumb.” You smile, scooching closer to him. 

Abort mission. Disengage, Donatello. Don’t make it worse!

Donnie unfolds his arms and waves his hands around, defaulting to lecturing you instead of acknowledging your flirty comment. Info-dumping was sort of his only form of defense at this point. 

“Love is just a mix of dopamine and oxytocin. Therefore, I am not in love with you. I am just feeling a chemical imbalance within my brain.” He states matter-of-factly. 

With a mock gasp, you put your hand to your mouth. “That’s awful! Do you think it’s contagious?”

Donnie’s eyes search your face, not reading your tone at all. “That’s not— do you not know how the hypothalamus works?”

You’ve had just about enough of this cute charade, and you slide until your thighs are flush with one another. It shuts Donnie up completely, and your eyes meet. 

With a cheeky smile, you lean even closer to his flustered face. “I don’t think you know how any of this works.”

Donnie’s face shifts in a multitude of shades, going from jade to scarlet. It’s a little weird to see a turtle blush, but you kind of liked it. But you didn’t want to torture the poor guy any longer, deciding to just cut right to the chase. 

“For your own sake, I’m going to say this as plainly as possible: I have a crush on you.”

“Oh.” Donnie’s eyebrows raise. He’s a bit astonished, but he’s grateful for your straightforwardness. 

So far so good, now to go in for the kill.

“May I kiss you? On the mouth. Sorry, I don’t know why I had to specify that.”

You blush in spite of yourself. You were usually pretty smooth, but for some reason Donnie’s dopey look was making you weak in the knees. 

Donnie wets his lips a bit, growing slightly more aware of how dry they felt.  

“Maybe just…mouth adjacent? To start with.” He shudders.

Donnie couldn’t believe it, but he felt all the tell-tale signs. Heart palpitations, limbs tingly and numb. He thought he was having some sort of episode. 

“Sure,” you smile. 

As you close the gap between you two, you make sure to just narrowly avoid hitting his lips. You gently place a kiss upon his cheek, lingering there for a bit longer than you ought to. To your delight, you feel Donnie’s tense shoulders immediately relax when your lips touch his skin. 

“My god.” He sighs, leaning into you. 

With thinking, Donnie starts to twist his head around. He thought he would be able to control himself from jumping straight into it, but your warm breath on his cheek was just too much. 

As he turns his head, you move yours as well. 

“Wow, I didn’t think I was that good.” You chuckle against his chin. 

Donnie doesn’t even have enough of his faculties to give you a snide retort, too blissed out to speak. He somehow blushes even harder. 

“Aah…” A soft sigh was all he could muster. 

Jesus. Donnie was kind of cute when he was shy. Taking his silence as your okay to keep going, you cover every inch of his face in kisses. He never said you couldn’t smooch him multiple times. You grab him by the sides of his headgear and plant a couple more onto the vast expanse of his forehead, making him giggle.

“Ghehehe!” He chortles. 

You stop, pulling away to look him in the eye. It seems that it took you both by surprise. 

His eyes then begin to shift around nervously. “Uh…I didn’t mean it.”

“Aww!” You gush, smooching him on his snout. “Muah, muah, muah!” 

“Hey, quit it already!” 

Donnie shakes you off of him before pulling your hands away. He doesn’t realize the position he’s put you in, holding your wrists to the side and allowing him to tower over your form. You have to crane your neck just to maintain eye contact. 

“Sorry, too much?” You give him a lopsided smile. “I didn’t realize you were such a hothouse flower.”

He nearly chokes hearing you call him such a delicate term. But you were unfortunately right, Donnie was vulnerable around you. More vulnerable than he let himself be around anyone else. His annoyance fades away looking down at your slightly flushed expression. 

“It's weird, you’re like a whole person, who likes me…and I didn't create you in a lab. You’re real.” He smiles, a genuine show of his true emotions. 

“What was that?” You wouldn’t just let him slip in that bit without a questioning look.

With a small chuckle, he drops your wrists. “Nothing.”

You absentmindedly bring your hands up, your fingertips brushing against your lips. You just realize you just confessed to Donnie, after nearly years of pining after him. Where did you stand now?

Donnie, feeling a little more comfortable, lets his head fall a bit. His forehead knocks against yours. He didn’t know how, but he figured he should probably give you some sort of response. 

“I don’t hate you.” He hums into your hair, covertly reveling in your scent. “I mean, you know…”

You smirk. “Not exactly the declaration of love I was expecting. I suppose I should take that as a compliment though.”

“That’s the idea.” He sighs, snaking his arm around your waist.

You don’t mind Donnie sublimating a more traditional ‘I love you too’ with some physical touch. Maybe that was just how he communicated his feelings that were too big to put into words. You understood, without having to tease him too much. You’re happy just to be this close to him. 

You make the move to place a hand on his upper thigh and return his embrace, hoping your touch was enough to tell him he was doing just fine. He still seemed a little nervous about holding you like this. 

“I’ve never given you a compliment before.” Donnie muses to himself, moving his other hand up to pet your head. “Now that I think about it.”

“That’s absurd, of course you have!”

You try to list out an example…but you honestly couldn’t think of any. Your mouth opens and closes dumbly, making Donnie laugh. 

“See? I’m bad at this.”

While he’s preoccupied with his private pity party, you reach over to his other leg and swing Donnie so that his legs lay on top of yours, effectively making him sit on your lap. The audacious move startles him, and his arms wrap around your neck seemingly by themselves. 

“If I may be so bold…” He blushes, pushing your head into his chest. “I have a feeling you’re going to be working in my lab a lot more now.”

“You’re not as dumb as you look, Donnie.” You smile, cuddling up against him. 

You’d be doing a lot more in his lab, but it probably wouldn’t be studying. 

taglist: @saspas-corner

[malarkgirlypop]

MEDIC! Part 26 (Donald Malarkey x Fem!OC)

Well hey gang, I have been so busy I left Emily all alone. But got some inspo and finished the chapter. I don't think the inspo was that happy but oh well whatever floats my boat apparently. Babe learns in this chapter that he is a feminist! He's so sweet! We love him! George also is a cutie, and so are Don and Emily. A bunch of cuties in this chapter, I tell ya.

Based on the HBO show and the actors who portray the characters, not hate to anyone involved.

Tag list: @next-autopsy, @panzershrike-pretz, @xxluckystrike, @bucky32557038ww2, @b00ks1ut, @footprintsinthesxnd, @paula-912, (please tell me if I missed you seriously)

I buried my face into Don’s chest as the light streamed through the cracks in the curtain. I hadn’t felt more rested in years. His arms held me close all night, shooing away all the monsters that lurked in the corners of my mind. For once I had dreamt, and it had been a pleasant dream. Not that I can remember exactly what happened, but the anxiety that normally tightened in my chest when I woke wasn’t there. Don wriggled under me, his hand coming up to cup my cheek. His fingers pulled me gently to look up at him. I smiled sleepily at him, my eyes still half closed.

“How did you sleep?” Don asked, looking down at me. 

“Like a baby!” I couldn’t help the giddy laugh that fell from my lips. My stomach doing somersaults. This had been the first time we shared a bed. Sure, we slept in close quarters in Bastogne, but in a hole with two other men in the freezing cold. So it was quite different to share a warm bed under a roof, with just the two of us. 

I grinned up at him, feeling so loved. I couldn’t stop smiling. Don’s eye glanced down at his wrist, where the watch sat on his arm. 

“SHIT!” He blurted sitting up, causing me to fall off his chest and onto the bed. I face planted into the mattress groaning. 

“What?” I asked annoyed, as he flung himself out of the bed, throwing the covers off me in the process. 

“We are moving out today! We are moving out now!” He said as he hastily got dressed. My eyes widened, looking at my own watch, fuck we were going to be left behind if we didn’t get a move on. Don pulled on his pants hopping around the room, one leg in and one out. He hopped on one foot trying to jam his leg into the pant hole. He wobbled around trying to keep his balance. I watched him fall in slow motion, his foot caught in the hole, as he tumbled to the ground. I burst out in giggles, the image of him falling replaying in my head. The more I thought about it the harder I laughed. 

“Em, stop laughing and get dressed!” He hurried me, but I could barely breathe, let alone get out of bed and get dressed. He joined in, unable to suppress his own laughter. 

“I’m crying!” I said in a high pitched voice through tears of laughter. I moved from off the bed still laughing as I got dressed, having to stop when the giggles became too much. I took a deep breath finally composing myself. I packed my things away into my bag, and pulled on my shoes. 

“I’m gonna grab my bag. Save me a seat.” Don said, placing a kiss on my forehead, before leaving out the door. I nodded as he left. 

I made my way onto the street, the men getting into the trucks. I spotted Lieb and the others loading into the truck. I moved faster towards them, Lieb saw me giving me a wave and pointing at the bench beside him. 

“IT’S MY DOG! SHE’S TAKING MY DOG!” I looked over my shoulder in fright from the loud voice that boomed over the noise. My eyes fell onto Lew, as he harshly threw his helmet to the floor while he yelled. I watched Winters and Lip in front of him looking sorry for the man. I didn't get to wonder about what that was about, as Christenson walked past me, his hand landing on my shoulder pulling me from my focus on Lew. 

“Let’s go Em!” He yelled, giving me a firm pat. I nodded, heading in the direction of the trucks. 

Lieb offered me his hand pulling me up into the bed of the vehicle. I sat down beside him and Web, saving a space for Don. He arrived shortly after, climbing into the back and sitting down beside me. I heard the men talking amongst themselves. 

“Sarge, what do you have in here? Germans?” Garcia said, heaving Bull’s rucksack into the truck.

“Hey, Perconte. You got a lighter?” I heard Ron’s voice carry over the rest of the noise. I glanced over, seeing him standing with a cigarette hanging off his lip. 

“No, sir. I don’t smoke.” Perconte told the Captain. I tilted my head, I know he doesn’t smoke but he does in fact have a lighter. It clicked, Perconte and Ron were very similar. As everyone knew Ron was very sticky-fingered, taking whatever he wanted without a care. But over time I had noticed that Frank was the same, however only a few people had picked up on his stealing habits. He quietly collected many things, watches, medical supplies, scissors, anything really. You would never see him take anything though, he was very sneaky in his ways. Then you would go through his things and find an accumulation of nicknacks. George told me when they first landed on D-Day that Frank went around collecting all of the watches off the dead German soldiers. By the end of the week both of his forearms were ticking so loudly George could hear it in his sleep.  

It made sense that Frank was reluctant to give up his trusty lighter to the Captain who was notorious for not giving things back.    

“Where are we headed?” Frank asked.

“We’re going to the Alps. Let me see that lighter.” Ron demanded casually, knowing that Frank did have a light.

Frank sighed, reaching down into his pocket, pulling out the lighter and handing it to Ron. 

“The Alps?” He asked again. I didn’t know where we were supposed to be going, but by the sounds of it, the men hadn’t been told the same thing. 

“Yeah.” Ron confirmed, lighting his smoke. 

“That near Berlin, sir?” Bull asked from beside him. 

“No.” Ron replied. 

“That’s in Bavaria.” Webster said from behind the Captain. I couldn’t help but chuckle, he just always looked so lost. “The birthplace of National Socialism.” Webster informed the men who didn’t seem to care for the piece of trivia he had blurted at them. 

“So that mean no drop into Berlin?” Luz asked Speirs, throwing the baseball he had into his glove on the other hand. We were supposed to be dropping into Berlin? Because I don’t know if I would’ve made it, not being parachute trained and all. Would I have been left behind? 

“No drop into Berlin. Hitler ordered the Waffen SS to hole up in the mountains and repel all invaders.” Ron raised his voice louder for all the men around to hear him. “He wants them to start a guerrilla war.” Ron told them men as he puffed on his cigarette.               

“Invaders.” Bull grinned. “Damn, I like the sound of that.” He strode off, probably in search of his own platoon. George climbed into our truck as well. Perco stood hanging off the framing, eyeing up the Captain. 

“They’ll die, the last man trying.” Ron said. He turned, walking away. 

“Sir.” Perco called him. 

“What?” He asked, swinging back around to face Frank.

“My lighter.” Perco said, extending his hand. He knew all too well that if he let Speirs get away with it now he would never see it again.

Speirs did a double take of the lighter he had in his grasp. Not looking all too keen on giving it back. Perco stood his ground, hand still out stretched. 

“All right. Nice lighter.” Speirs said, begrudgingly throwing Frank back his possession.

I settled back into my seat, talking with Don who sat beside me as we set off again. We fell into easy conversation with each other and the men who sat close by. 

George and Perco told Don how they snuck back to the barn we had been to previously to get more eggs. I laughed loudly saying that George was probably trying his luck again with the German woman since I wasn’t there to drag him away. He denied it adamantly, but from the twinkle in his eye I knew I was right. 

The men started singing loudly, they were all very excitable about going to the new destination. It was starting to feel like this was all almost over and hopes were getting high again. There was more joy, less sadness in the eyes of the men. We weren’t cold, or hungry. No one was dying, we weren’t being blown to pieces by Kraut artillery. We had showers and beds, roofs over our heads.

“He ain’t gonna jump no more!” The men bellowed as we bounced along in the truck. “Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die. Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die. Gory, gory what a hell of a way to die. He ain’t gonna jump no more.” I laughed as Don sang in my face, a bright smile on his lips. I was being nudged by George from across the truck, he was as usual egging me on to sing. 

“Christ was strapped around his neck, connectors cracked his dome. Suspension lines were tied around his skinny bones. The canopy became his shroud, he hurtled to the ground, and he ain’t gonna jump no more.” I made a face, listening to the lyrics. It was such a happy tune but the lyrics were about a man hurtling to his death from the plane. 

“Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die. Gory, gory, what a hell of a way to die. Gory, gory what a hell of a way to die. He ain’t gonna jump no more.” I joined in on the chorus, the men seemingly very pleased at my participation as George hooted and hollered. 

“He hit the ground, the sound was ‘SPLAT’, his blood went spurting high. His comrades, they were heard to say, ‘A hell of a way to die!’ He lay there, rolling ‘round in the welter of his gore, he ain’t gonna jump no more.” My eyes widened as I listened, jesus why is this song so violent? 

The men sung the whole song, with great enthusiasm. I on the other hand was a bit traumatised by the lyrics. 

“Hey Em!” George yelled over the rumble of the engine, I nodded leaning in further to hear him speak. “What does ‘pop that pussy’ mean?” I pulled back to look at him, to ensure I had heard him correctly. 

“I’m sorry?” I said shocked. 

“The other day, the song you sang, you said ‘pop your pussy’.” George asked, eyes wide like a small school boy. 

“Oh!” I remembered, finally putting together the pieces of what the hell he was talking about. It all finally hit me. I keeled over in fits of giggles. He had told O’Keefe that he would understand when he was older, but in reality George didn’t actually know. 

“Oh George!” I laughed, patting him on the shoulder. “Sweet innocent George.” I teased, pinching his cheek. 

“I am not innocent, I’ll have you know.” He exclaimed, shooing away my hand from his face. I laughed harder. 

“What do you think it means?” I asked, seeing if he had any inkling at all as to what it meant. 

“Well I know that pussy is in relation to the.” He paused a blush rising to his face. “Well you know the-” He motioned with his head down my crotch. “You know!” 

“Ok yes I know what you mean, continue.” I wanted him to stop jerking his head towards my privates. 

“But I don’t know what ‘pop that’ means.” George confessed. I bit my lip trying to suppress my laugh, why did he look so serious about this? 

“Ok so ‘pop that pussy’, just means to have sex. But I think it’s like a certain position.” I said, trying to remember what it actually meant. George nodded along. “I think it’s from behind.” I raised my eyebrows sending him a joking wink. There was a pause as we looked at each other before we both burst out laughing. 

“George, why did I have to explain that to you!” I complained while we giggled. 

“Well you sang it!” He explained throwing the blame back onto me. 

“You egged me on!” I threw it right back at him. 

“Yeah I just wanted to hear you sing!” He protested. I stopped straightening. 

“Why?” I asked. 

“You’re a good singer, I like listening to you.” He confessed. I blushed, pushing him gently.

“Stop, you’re so cute.” I said, hiding my face in my hands.

“I only heard you that one time, and now I want more!” George said. 

“Stop it!” I giggle, hitting him. 

“No, I don’t sing. Not for people. I just sing in the shower.” I shook my head. 

My mum always tried to get me to perform for people but I always got the worst stage fright. I think she was just so proud of me and wanted everyone to see me shine, but I hated being the centre of attention. She also begged me to sing at her funeral but I was barely functioning so I didn’t sing as she asked. I feel so guilty about it now. She always begged me to sing, much like George and I always said no. I think she would’ve asked me to sing for her even if I was terrible. 

“You would sing for me, right?” George asked, my heart felt heavy in the moment. The interaction reminded me so much of my mother. I guess this was my opportunity to take back my guilt. 

“I would sing for you anytime, George.” I lent my head on his shoulder, taking his hand in mine. His arm swung around my back pulling me in. 

“Ah, I knew you would.” He said, giving me a tight squeeze.     

My butt ached from the hard seats and bumpy ride. I was so bored, we had been driving for ages. Lieb had given me some of his gum to chew since I was starting to feel motion sick. Least the scenery was nice to look at, I pointed out every animal I saw like I was five again. 

“Oh cows!” I yelled pointing to the field we were passing. “Say hi to the cows, Don.” I waved over at them. “Hi cows.” All he did was laugh at me. 

“When are we going to be there!” I sighed defeated. I needed to pee, but we hadn’t stopped in ages, and it was hot sitting in the sun. I was so tired and just wanted to get off the truck to stretch my legs. 

“I’m sure we will be there soon.” Don said, resting his head on my shoulder. 

“Hey Don?” I asked, dipping my head down so he could hear me better. He hummed in response. 

“What makes you happy?” I let the question fall from my lips. I didn’t mean for it to be so deep, but it came out before I could stop it. 

“That’s a good question.” He said sitting up and facing me. 

“My family, my friends, you. You make me very happy. Sunny days. Pancakes in the morning. Going on walks. Kissing you. The sounds of birds chirping. Making you laugh. Your happiness. What else makes me happy?” He thought out loud. I couldn’t help the blush that rose to my cheeks. The flutter in my chest only grew faster, from all his sweet words. 

“Waking up with you in my arms, but that’s more than happiness. It’s love. You make me love everything. I don’t know how, but the days seem brighter, everything seems sweeter. The colours all seem so vivid. You just seem to make everything better, more brilliant.” I was grinning now like a mad woman, my face hurt from how hard I was smiling. Don moved forward, placing a kiss to my cheek. I just about swooned off the truck. 

“Hey love-birds, knock it off will you, you’re making me sick.” Lieb kicked at us from across the truck. I poked my tongue out at him in response. The other men joined in around us throwing out complaints. But all with smiles on their faces.   

I stood out by the trucks as they cleared the buildings. I felt torn in my feelings. I hated that we had to kick them out onto the street, but what if they supported Hitler’s views I didn’t feel too bad. I watched the families exit the building looking around for their next move, they sent glares in my direction. I lent against the truck waiting for the men to tell me it was clear to go inside. A family passed by me, the parents spitting at my feet. I looked at them, disgust clear on my face. The mother of the family glared back, I watched as she noticed that I wasn’t a male, her face contorting into a look of determination. The woman was quick, darting over to me, I didn’t even get a chance to react as she took me by the collar of my shirt. 

“Du bist keine gute Schlampe!” She cursed in my face, I didn’t need to know German to figure out she wasn’t saying anything nice. “Du solltest verdammt noch mal sterben!”

“Hey, what the fuck do you think you’re doing?” Babe shouted as he marched closer. The woman loosened her grip, but was still staring me down. She spat in my face, I flinched back, recoiling from her. Babe didn’t even have time to grab her before she scurried away. I wiped her spit from my cheek feeling repulsed by her actions. 

“What was that all about?” Babe asked, bending down slightly to make sure I was ok. I shook my head, confused myself. Did she think because I was a female that she could accost me so easily? 

“I have no idea. Is the building cleared?” I asked just wanting to go inside and wash my face. Babe nodded. He led the way inside. 

I had asked Babe not to say anything about the situation he had witnessed, he had complained, saying the woman needed to be dealt with. 

“Babe we are only staying the night, we took their houses from them, in an aggressive manner. Other than spitting on me she didn’t really do any damage. It’s fine, just leave it.” I tried to calm down the red head, as he frantically paced back and forth in the small room. He had been so wound up, looking ready for a fight. He had threatened before to go and find her and bring her to Speirs.  

“What about we go play some cards, I think Luz and Tab said they were going to play.” But it was no use. He was so angry for me. I think he was even angrier because I wasn’t. It was terrible to say but as a woman, in any time, it was something I was used to. We are always taught to be pleasant and polite. It was unbecoming to be overly emotional. It was normal to be harassed and assaulted, and just to be ok with it. It was normal, something we got used to. It made me so sad to think about the percentage of women who were assaulted every year, and that there were no repercussions for the assailant. I didn’t even realise it before but I had belittled the things she did to me. She only spat in my face, it could’ve been worse, I’m not physically injured so I’m fine. But I was still assaulted, she had manhandled me, and then spat in my face. I sighed, rubbing a hand over my face. I wasn’t angry. I was sad.

“Babe.” I uttered softly, he stopped his pacing noticing the change in my tone. 

“Let’s just go.” I had given up. 

“But-” Babe started. I shook my head softly, my brows knitting together. 

“It’s done. I don’t want to think about it anymore.” My voice said softly, it didn’t even sound like my own voice. He nodded, sighing. 

“Oh, Babe, it’s ok.” I tried to reassure him, taking his hand in mine. 

“But it isn’t.” Babe countered. 

“No you’re right. It isn’t, but I’m used to it.” I gave him a small sad smile. I almost burst into tears seeing the realisation wash over his features. As if everything clicked into place for him. He understood what I meant, and what that meant for me. That he couldn’t protect me, not always, as much as he wanted too.

“Let’s go.” I whispered gently tugging at his hand still clasped in mine. He nodded gently, following behind me.

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

Chapter 27

[cloud-navi]

So I finished DuckTales (2017), my thoughts:

⚠️ Spoilers ahead ⚠️

- Bradford Buzzard:

His feelings for hating adventure and chaos is valid but he should have told his grandma to fuck off and got therapy instead of trying to destroy it. Also its not his fault that Della took the Spear of Selene even if he told her about it.

You can’t have one thing without the other, there must be chaos if there is stability and vice versa.

- Webbigail Vanderquack and Bentina Beakly (Agent 22):

It was a good twist, but it makes me question where FOWL got Scrooge’s DNA to make Webby and why her exact clones (sisters) aren’t perceived as Scrooges kid like Webby is.

My theory: “The Papyrus of Binding only appears to a direct heir of Scrooge McDuck” I think it mean’s physically and emotionally. If June and May are Webby’s clones that means they are just as much Scrooge’s physical child as Webby is, except they don’t have a relationship with Scrooge. Scrooge even before knowing Webby was his kid thought of her like his Grandniece, like family, making her an heir like the boys.

For how much Beakly talked about how important and strong a family is together when getting the boys to talk to Scrooge again in Season 1, it doesn’t make much sense to have her go in alone without informing the family of what she knows of FOWL from SHUSH.

Goldie O’Gilt:

I love her so much, except in the ImpossiBin episode, there she was okay. At the end of the ImpossiBin episode Goldie calls Scooge assuming he took the fountain of youth when they agreed to keep it for both of them, (she went back to steal it for herself so she says). They made progress in the Youth Fountain episode and having Goldie call him about it being gone kinda defeats the whole purpose of their bonding in that episode. Except I understand they needed a character to tell him it was gone like the other missing mysteries but I find it defeated the whole point.

Lena and Violet Saberwing:

To me it looked like Violet’s parents adopted Lena and I’m all for that. Also love the hinted gay rep with their dads.

Magica De spell:

While it was Scrooge that blocked her spell, it was still her spell that she shot that turned her brother into a raven. Theres no reason or obligation for Scrooge to have caught him and give him to her when they were both terrible people. If anything her brother got a new chance at life as a raven instead.

I wish there was kinda a redemption arc when she was training Lena, if not for Lena a little redemption for Gladstone because I like those two.

Fenton Crackshell (GizmoDuck) and DarkWing Duck:

I like Drake with Fenton regardless if he’s Drake or playing DarkWing but I feel like he needs to accept that GizmoDuck is also a hero. Bro needs to know the difference between hero and vigilante.

Fenton is pretty bbg too <3

Launchpad McQuack:

Giant himbo and I love him so much.

Daisy Duck:

Love her, not much else to say. She had standards, that was clear when we heard what she said while driving away from their second date except she still fell in love and was willing to put up with Donald enough to go rescue him and keep going out. Overall a girl boss <3

Huey, Dewey and Louie:

While Dewey should have come forward earlier about looking for Della I understand his intentions more then Huey did when he found out. Louie was right, its not okay, but in the beginning Dewey was just trying to find if she was alive or not, not where she was. He was sorry because he ‘got caught’, he was genuinely sorry. It’s difficult to want to tell someone you’re finding all this stuff about someone you all seek when none of you know if they’re even alive or not. Dewey didn’t want them to lose hope that Della may be alive even if he found out she might not have. Yes he should have told them but I understand he didn’t want to them to be more hurt that she’s unalive instead of just missing. Also they aren’t even teenagers and communication skills are ass with teenagers what makes you think they’ll be any better as 10 year olds?

Again, their anger is misplaced when they’re mad at Scrooge for building a Spear of Selene.

Scrooge McDuck (sugar daddy?):

I like his character and I feel theres a bit of development through out the show with him and the kids, to be a teacher you need to be able to learn from your students.

While yes, he shouldn’t have built the rocket right there he also didn’t tell Della about it. Not his fault she left. Also the audacity to find out it wasn’t really his fault or the fact he nearly went bankrupt looking for her and they didn’t apologize at all.

Donald Duck (DILF):

Literally the best man in the whole show. He put his family first the whole time even when he should have taken breaks except he stepped up. We know that he had some form of falling out with Scrooge because of Della but even so he stepped up to take the kids and stayed in DuckBurg instead of moving anytime in the 10+ years they lived there. I have a feeling they stayed because he knew deep down that he could somewhat still count on Scrooge if not Beakly. Why else would he have stayed and gone to Beakly to watch the kids, granted he didn’t want to talk to Scrooge, Scrooge still took them in and watched them while Donald was off getting a job.

Donald may not be their bio-dad, but he is no way a fucking Uncle. He raised those boys by himself for 10+ years, through their formative years and until they were old enough to know he wasn’t their bio-dad. He stepped in to be a parent because Della chickened out and chose to go to space even when he told her she shouldn’t so she can be with her kids.

Donald Duck, not an uncle, a father.

Della Duck (cool-ish weird Aunt):

My opinion has not changed, she still isn’t a mother to me. Della is an estranged aunt that comes by and is the ‘cool aunt’. She willingly, without obligation, without threat, consciously CHOSE to leave her kids. Regardless of if she knew she would get killed or stuck in space, “there were too many variables” -Huey. She had a fight with Donald that specifically told her that it was a giant, dumb fucking idea with kids on the way. The idea that anyone would accept her back as a parent so blindly is so dumb. Yes she’s their egg-layer, but there is no way in hell she is their mother. A MOTHER would never choose to leave their children unless they positively fucking had too (obligation for safety). Whether or not she regrets it holds no power because she still chose to leave for a stupid reason.

Season 1 finale: “Get away from my kids” by Donald Duck will forever hold more power and significance then anytime she ever says it because she gave up parent rights before they were born. No parent would willingly, without valid cause like their safety (not fucking exploring space for funzys) would leave their child.

Over all:

Scrooge and Donald are DILFS and Della can get bent.

[memekeymouse]

ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh three musketeers clarabelle my beloved

I’ve been thinking so much about her recently, from how she ended up where she was at the beginning of the movie to where she ended up after it. enjoy

It’s not explained why or how she ends up working for Pete (can’t imagine it was genuine loyalty given how easily she ended up switching sides) so what I’m thinking is that. Clarabelle is actually a SUPER skilled swordswoman, much more competent than Captain Pete— yet she was fine being his lieutenant because she has no interest in having responsibilities, only thrills. She only went along with Pete’s plans of taking over France because it was exciting (and she didn’t know the Princess personally either so honestly? She couldn’t care less)

After the movie though…..she really had to reconsider her priorities after the Princess she had NO qualms with dethroning, instead of punishing her and sending her to jail like she did with Pete, instead decided to pardon her and name her the new Captain of the Royal Guard. A decision many people (Daisy included) were reluctant about, yet nobody questioned it. And it’s not like Minnie knew Clarabelle that well either beyond working under Pete, which just confuses and humbles her even more

Why DID Minnie pardon her, though? I wanna believe that despite being a hopeless romantic who doesn’t really care about titles, Minnie can be a competent ruler when she needs to be. And she must’ve realized that leaving the spot of Musketeers Captain vacant after an attempted coup d’etat was not a good look in front of their neighboring countries. And with that being said, Clarabelle was naturally the best choice being Pete’s subordinate with her talent, so. That’s reason number 2 though. Reason 1 was that the story of Goofy and Clara falling in love appealed to her as a hopeless romantic lol. But also, because Clarabelle doesn’t want to have responsibilities, her promotion is a reward AND a punishment: that’s like 3 birds with one stone

As I mentioned, a lot of people are skeptical about Clarabelle being the new Captain. This includes Daisy (mostly because she worries about Minnie), Donald (mostly because he worries about Goofy) and specially Mickey (because he worries about BOTH Minnie and Goofy. And he’s not forgetting any time soon that Clara nearly drowned Goofy AND helped Pete almost get rid of Minnie…….oops). However, they all want trust their friends’ judgement

Mickey’s solution to this? He decides to ask Clarabelle to train him personally in addition to their regular Musketeer training. Their latest adventure proved that, power of friendship aside, he and his friends were severely lacking in formal Musketeers training, so who could possibly be better to train them? It’s a genuine concern, but he’s also doing it so he can get to know her better, try to figure out what her intentions are. Keep an eye on her

Clarabelle, amused, agrees, saying that the future Prince/King Consort should be skilled with a sword more than any Musketeer anyways. Mickey pretends he doesn’t hear her :) She also absolutely knows what Mickey is REALLY after, but she never acts upon it because, well……..it’s justified. She’s got nothing to hide anymore anyways

What starts as a secret mission for Mickey and another source of amusement for Clarabelle slowly turns into genuine bonding time for both of them. Mickey is slow to learn at first but he’s got potential AND determination. Clarabelle wears him to the bone and it pays off

During one of their sessions, Mickey finds out that Clarabelle was an orphan like him and his friends. Unlike them though, she had no friends or anyone else to depend on— so everything she did, she did for herself. She lived life not caring about anyone or anything else, only about finding the next thrill in her life, which is how she ended up working for Pete. The reason she switched sides though….is that Goofy made her feel something back at the bridge. A thrill unlike any other she felt before, and one that involved caring about someone else other than herself. That doesn’t mean his love immediately ‘fixed’ her; she’s still very socially inept…….but she’s learning. She wants to learn

Eventually Mickey becomes almost, if not AS much of a beast with the sword as Clarabelle. Their “friendly” sparring sessions are pretty intense, even horrifying to onlookers (except for the people that already know them). They are having the time of their lives :)

SIKE!!!!! this was me selling “Mickey and Clarabelle are siblings” propaganda all along!!!! And it WILL happen again >:)

[remembertheplunge]

Two men with no choice but to be there

May 18, 1995

Donald had a stroke. He was too ill to talk to me tonight on the phone. Pat was there, caring for them both, Donald and his Mom. I said I’d be there Sunday AM for a visit.

May 21, 1995

Drove to Patterson to take Donald donuts and fresh flowers. He and his Mom were thrilled.

Donald now loses his hearing.

May 22, 1995. Monday

Talked with Donald tonight. He sounded drifty, floating. Yet, he was crystal precise as to fact and time. I told him that I was very concerned about his physical deterioration. His 84 year old Mom can’t care for him alone.

July 6, 1995

 My Mom said to me tonight “Don’t match up with a person with Aids again soon…I’m worried about your mental health.”

July 11, 1995. Tuesday

Los Gaviotas  Restaurant in Patterson threw a big 5 year anniversary party tonight. There I sat, writing my notes and enjoying the spray of events! Then on to Donald, and then to his Mom’s, and then back to Donald.

Donald sees men in his room One man is in a tank top. One looks like his boy friend. They are men who are not there, at least our eyes. They at times speak to Donald.

I’m so glad that Donald is in the hospital. He needs that close care. But, how much longer must he endure this?

July 14, 1995

Sweet time with Donald. Such an alone experience. Two men with no choice but to be there (Donald and I)…one giving a back rub, one receiving it. I asked him “When all is gone, what’s left? What’s the meaning? He said He’d go to a gay bar in Stockton. (after death) I said “Where is the meaning there? He said “I haven’t thought that far ahead yet.” I said “ You have handled this so graciously. You are so kind (Donald now being nearly blind due to complications caused bt Aids),  He said “Oh great, I get the posthumous award?” I said “ Yea, a great thing!” A nurse wanted to show him pictures of her grand kids. He tried , but he could not see them. She, wearing her badge complete with Aids red ribbon, then proceeded to tell him what they looked like, what they wore.. Fuck the eyes! He’s got ears. As one nurse walked by laughing, he yelled out, catting around with her.

I massage him, especially his back. He loves that.

 Around 5pm, he started yelling for home. His Mom was there.The nurses and I tried to console him. This is home, as horrifying as it is.

July 16, 1995

I again didn’t visit Donald. 2 days away now. Poor dear thing. My whole soul and being however are with him. I just needed breathing space.

July 17, 1995

Sweet time with Donald tonight. He wants to die happy, meaning, with the knowledge that he will be remembered.

He feels abandoned now by friends and family and by and large , he has been abandoned. Yet, his Mom is very devoted. Pat was there tonight and Donald’s friend Bob showed up. Even in this advanced stage  of Aids, Donald wants to score!

July 18, 1995

A visit again with sweet Donald. He floats in and out of full and of partial hallucinations. He goes hot, then cold, in a minute.

July 28, 1995

Rodney died yesterday at 11am. Lots of gasping, per the nurse. Rodney’s Mom had just stepped out. The nurse ran to get her. His sister was not there. Donald and his Mom set feet away, in their space. Grueling beauty. Unspeakable. (Rodney was Donald’s Aids patient room mate. They were patients in the  Patterson hospital , where the last stage Aids patients in Stanislaus county were sent Note. 2/12/2024)

July 29, 1995

Donald said as I left today “You made me happy.” He made me happy, too. I had purchased a card for Rodney , his roomy who died. Donald’s Mom, his friend Randy and I signed it. So will the hospital staff. That meant a lot to Donald. And, I brought him flowers which he can’t see, but that he appreciates. His Mom can see them however.

White flowers for brevity of life and for peace.

[harrietpotterandthedemigods]

So, I just finished watching Ducktales 2017. What a gem! But of course my brain did its thing and now I’m imagining all possible post-canon fanfics.

Specifically all the potential Percy Jackson crossovers! Or, should we say Percy “Quackson”?

My main concept is linked to a mystery the characters never address. Which is quite surprising if you think about it. Especially since Webby has dedicated most of her young life to mapping out the Duck’s entire family tree. But Huey Dewey and Louie wanted desperately to know what happened to their mom, yet they’ve never expressed any interest in who their father is.

Now that doesn’t have to be all that weird. I imagine the boys grew up not knowing much about their mom aside from little nuggets Donald would tell them, like; “oh your mother loved this dish” or “your mother actually wrote this lullaby I’ve always been singing to you”. Just enough for them to be curious about her, but they probably realized it made their uncle sad to think about her, effectively stopping them from asking about her. (Though I imagine Donald would have answered many of their questions about Della without hesitation, like how she was as a person.)

When it comes to their father, Donald might not actually know who their father is. They might be the result of a one night stand? I’d say it’s actually quite likely since Della never mentions an ex or anything about her love life for that matter. Maybe Donald never asked in case Della herself didn’t know? It does seem like she was always the wild child of the two. That’s all fine, but it means Donald had no way of dropping lore about him in the same way he probably did about their mom. Actually, forget what I said earlier. Donald did not know who their father was. Had he known, he would have made sure the boys knew him. Because Donald is a good parent.

That said, the boys knew nothing about their dad. But they didn’t lack a father figure. Paired with the previously mentioned point, it makes perfect sense why the boys would not feel the need to know about their father. Unlike with their mother, they never had to feel like they were missing out on having a dad. Donald filled that role. He never calls himself their dad, but he does refer to them as his boys (I’m actually sure Daisy was mentally preparing herself to having to be a stepmother in those vents). And the boys clearly admires him and look up to him, the season one finale clearly shows it. Almost to the point of rubbing it in our faces.😅

So even if the boys were to find out who their father is, it might now be that big of a deal to them.

Huey, Dewey or Louie: Oh, okay, cool. Uncle Donald is still our main father figure, so, yeah, that role’s been filled. Nice meeting you, though.

That said, WE can still be curious though.

And the absence of any clues whatsoever practically gives us free rein to speculate!

Now since I talked about a Percy Jackson crossover, and I’m writing it on this side blog, you probably saw where this was headed.

I suggest that Huey Dewey and Louie are demigods!

Both the Greek and Norse pantheon are real in the Ducktales universe. (Though the liberties taken with the portrayal of Norse mythology are almost offensive in my opinion. Jörmungand is the enemy of the warriors in Valhalla, dam it! He’d never be seen as the underdog man of the people there!) And though we only ever see three Greek gods, we do know many other gods took a liking to the ducks. That’s what Zeus was so jealous of Scrooge for, after all. So it’d be pretty safe to assume that if the boys are demigods, they’re Greek.

Now in this adaptation, the triplets have distinctly different personalities, as opposed to earlier adaptations. That might lead to a possibility of them having different gods as fathers. There are examples of twins with different fathers in mythology. And it might feel a bit easier to match each triplet with his own godly parent.

But… I know a candidate who would fit as the father of all three, and, who I can definitely see falling in Love with Della Duck.

My friends, I suggest, the father of Huey, Dewey and Louie is none other than…

Hermes, Messenger of the gods!

Hermes is also a trickster figure and the patron god of travelers, thieves and anyone who uses the roads really. He isn’t picky about who he sponsors.

Apollo also drops hints about his personality in ToA. That he is a bit adventurous and a wild child.

You can’t tell me Hermes and Della wouldn’t be somewhat each other’s type. They could definitely be seeing each other at least for long enough to create a child, or three.

Additional to being a trickster and a messenger, Hermes is also a god of commerce. These aspects could very well be seen in Louie, who sees all the angles, defeats his opponents by out witting them, and strives to be as rich and successful as his Uncle Scrooge. Though preferably with less hard work and more witty poker strategies.

As previously mentioned, both Hermes and Della are adventurous and the wild child of their respective sibling groups. It should therefore not be a surprise that at least one of their children would be the same. Dewey is the adventurous triplet, and seems to have decided to follow in his mother’s footsteps and become a pilot. He could have gotten his wild attitude from both of his parents, or just one. He is also a bit of a theater kid. He loves to dance and, sort of, has his own talk show. That’s not a clear link to Hermes, but considering he invented two instruments as an infant, one of which became the characteristic lyre his brother uses to play, and is sometimes considered as a minor poetry god besides Apollo, I still think Dewey could have gotten the theatre side from Hermes.

Huey is not as easy. Hermes is neither the god of wisdom nor knowledge. Those domains falls to Athena and Apollo respectively. And Huey’s most prominent character trait is his per suit of knowledge. But I look at his hobbies. He functions as a sort of unofficial sidekick for Gizmoduck. Hermes often act as a travel companion for Zeus when he wanders the earth, and as the messenger of the gods he often assist other gods. Assisting others with tough situations is something all triplets do throughout the series. Also Huey is a junior Woodchuck. Don’t you think the god of travelers would encourage you to learn more about survival in the wild? Hermes is also a god of linguistics and in some cases acts as a mediator between other gods, and can sometimes choose not to fight an opponent he’s expected to fight, showing some levelheaded behavior and certain intelligence, which could be where Huey could get his brains.

But aside from Della and the triplets’ personalities, there’s another piece of evidence. Because we know of at least one instance where one of the triplets has interacted with Hermes.

In season 2 episode 11, Dewey has stolen Hermes’ winged shoes.

But Hermes is the god of thieves, remember? Do you really think he wouldn’t notice a kid was about to steal his stuff?

No way.

It’s my theory that Hermes has either known from the start that he and Della had triplets, or he saw the kids that were obviously Della’s during one of their trips to Ithaquack (is that how it’s spelled?) and simply but two and two together. So when one of them tried to take his shoes, he simply figured he’d let his son have some fun with them. The next time we see Dewey, he no longer has the shoes but he’s completely fine, no harm done.

I imagine Hermes might have appeared off camera and been like; “Hey, I’m glad you had fun with the shoes, but we shouldn’t risk your life by angering Zeus. I’ll take them back and next time you can ask and I’ll supervise.”

I don’t think he’d have told Dewey who he was to him, because a god for a father would become a big deal to the triplets once they found out. And Dewey would probably not repeat the same mistake again by withholding information about their parentage.

So that’s my headcanon. Huey Dewey and Louie are demigod sons of Hermes.

A post-canon crossover fic could therefore feature a satyr taking the boys to Camp Half Blood and learn sword fighting from “Percy Quackson”. How their relationship with their father would then look like once they’re claimed could be up for interpretation. Personally, I’d like to think that between Percy’s trust that gods can change for the better if they want to, and Apollo doing exactly that, Hermes is inspired to become a more present parent to his kids at camp. So if you want to be wholesome, Hermes basically becomes part of the McDuck family through his sons.

But hey, that’s just a theory!

Feel free to share your thoughts about this!🤗

[reanbowful]

pocky game with them (⁠◕⁠ᴗ⁠◕⁠✿⁠)???

Hi anon! Gahhh this is too cute!!! Thank you sm for requesting this I love you so much!!!

“pocky kiss”

if you play a pocky game with them

(ben, alex, jake, donald, wolf)

ben park / park humin

(you guys have to know that I was punching air while writing this knowing I won’t ever be able to have something like this with him)

The corniest, cutest, most beloved, disgustingly sweet couple ever.

You were on a date together with Ben-

Well, you were on a date with Ben. Alex and Gerard came to tag along.

The initial plan was for the three of them to go play pool as usual. But Ben being Ben, fucked up the timeline and you are already in Eunjang to go on your date with him.

Which was today.

So then Ben came up with the most Ben Park idea ever.

He decided that you two can get your date while him and his friends can still hang out. Two birds with one stone!

Obviously Alex and Gerard thought it was a horrible horrible idea.

But you shrugged and invited the two of them along, making them reluctant to reject your offer.

So that brings you all here.

Let me begin by saying how HEAVY you guys are on pda. And it’s even worse for both Alex and Gerard that you two are so unfazed with what’s going on around you. Namely how uncomfortable you two have made them feel.

Ben has his arm around you, looking like an overgrown puppy. Completely oblivious to the way Alex has been averting his gaze and Gerard slurping his water awkwardly.

“Babe.”

“Hm?”

You held out a pocky stick from your parfait in front of Ben’s face.

He took the sugary end into his mouth as you nibbled on the plain side. Biting quickly through the dessert and kissing you after he finished it all.

Gerard and Alex blushed when they see the interaction. It’s even worse that you and Ben merely wiped the edge of your mouth from the whipped cream and continued conversing like normal.

Finally after one torturous hour, your guys each bid your goodbyes as you have to leave for your cram school.

“I’m never going through that again.”

“Same..”

alex go / go hyuntak

It was a truth or dare game.

You were at his house for a sleepover, or as Ben calls it, an ‘Eunjang fun night’. You visibly cringed when you heard him say that.

But anyways.

You guys did what most high schoolers would do at sleepovers.

That’s right, reveal embarrassing stuff, and do embarrassing stuff for you guys to reveal later on at uni.

“Alright, y/n. Truth or dare.”

“Dare.”

“Call your ex and tell him you miss him.”

Alex snapped at the dare that was rolled on Gerard’s phone.

“She’s not going to do that..!”

Oh, did I forget to mention that if you bail there will be a penalty?

You sighed at your boyfriend’s dramatic reaction and went to pick up a pocky stick.

“Alex, come here.”

Putting them in your mouth, you grab Alex by the back of his neck.

He yelped, but recovered quickly. Taking the other end and began to bite his way through the stick. His hands on your waist as you move to straddle him for a better angle.

When you’re done, Alex was still pouting. But with a light blush across his face.

You flicked his forehead, chuckling at his dramatic antics.

“Why so jealous, dummy. You know I’m yours.”

“Still. You can’t.”

“Yes, yes. What do you want me to do? Send a video of us playing the pocky game to him?”

“I DIDN’T SAY THAT!”

jake ji / ji hakho

This scenario with Jake is just sooo fitting.

You guys are having a cooking date together at your house. Wanting to bake a cake for your mother’s birthday.

“Jake, we have all the ingredients, right?”

“Yep, I checked it already.”

“Alright, let’s start.”

(okay, you two are also arguably in nomination for cutest couple on this list right after Ben)

Tying each other’s apron, you rolled your sleeves. Grabbing the mixing bowl to start making the batter.

The whole afternoon consisted of you spilling flour all over the place, Jake accidentally cracking an eggshell into the batter, flour fight, hand mixing since the mixer mysteriously malfunctioned, getting tired hand mixing, double checking the recipe, another flour fight, switching with each other every ten seconds to mix the batter.

And finally, it’s done and in the oven. All ready to bake.

You smiled as you watch the batter rise in the oven, content that you could actually get it done. (neither of you have any baking experience)

“Mm.”

You felt a pat on your shoulder and turned your head to the side, only to be met with Jake holding a pocky stick in his mouth at you. Pointing at it while gesturing for you to come closer.

You shake your head, complying to him for once. He did helped you with the cake and cleaning up after all.

Biting through the pocky stick steadily, he held you by the side of your face as he inches closer.

A ding broke the two of you apart.

You were turning to check on the cake when Jake brought you back to his lips. Making you smile, but still try to pull away.

“Whyyy?”

“Jake, I need to check on the cake.”

donald na / na baekjin

“Stop smoking, it makes you ugly.”

“You say that and you have a cigarette in your mouth right now.”

You both have been trying to quit smoking for a while now (y/n has a tough life too, go easy on them), really feeling like you should start caring for your health these days.

So, it became your new year’s resolution.

But still, old habits die hard.

The two of you still find yourselves buying packs of cigarettes mindlessly and only remembering that you’re quitting after.

“Damn it.”

Naturally, you had to come up with some ground rules.

Opening the jar you guys keep in his office, you take a pocky stick out.

“Donald. Aaa~”

You handed him the end that’s covered in chocolate, putting the plain end into your mouth.

Donald pulled you onto arms as he took the stick into his mouth. Biting away since he knew you disliked chocolate.

You moved your body, sitting him down on his chair once the treat has disappeared into your mouths.

You pressed your lips onto him, tasting the residual chocolate on his tongue.

“Baby, what’s the point of this if you won’t even eat the damn chocolate?”

“Shh. I just need to develop a new addiction.”

wolf keum / keum seongje

It was during Ganghak’s school festival.

His class decided that they can use Wolf’s fame and good looks to rile girls into their booth.

The game: You have two minutes to try and make Wolf’s heart rate go higher than yours. Touching is prohibited, from both the player and from Wolf. If Wolf touches you, then the game stops and you win instantly.

Wolf sighed, the heart rate monitor beside him showing a constant 80-84.

So far, they were securing a great profit.

The guys were too damn scared to even approach the booth, and the girls don’t stand a chance with their stammering and stuttering every time Wolf merely look at them.

“Woah. Look at this booth!”

His eyes darted lazily towards you and your friend.

Damn girls again.

“Welcome to our booth. Entrance fee is 2000 Won. Remember, no touching is allowed.”

Hwangmo explained with a friendly tone.

“Y/N, you can do it, can’t you? I reallyyy want that camera, y/n, pleasee.”

You looked at the camera, it was surely a pretty nice prize for a school event.

“What happens if he touches me?”

“Then you automatically win the grand prize.”

“I’ll do it.”

Wolf is still eyeing you from his seat throughout the time Hwangmo sets the heart rate monitor onto you.

“You ready?”

Putting a pocky stick over your mouth, you leaned over towards him.

Wolf raised one of his eyebrows, but complied anyway. Taking the pocky stick into his mouth as you did the same.

With each bite, both of your faces grew closer to each other. And Wolf was doing fine, until he wasn’t.

As the room between both ends of the pocky stick decreases, his heart rate slowly increases.

It was probably around the three centimetres mark that his heart rate began to jump up like crazy.

102.. 117.. 125..

Can’t take it anymore, he held his hands up to your shoulders to stop you from advancing.

“Oh? He touched me.”

Hwangmo watched in disbelief as you walk away with the digital camera in your hand.

In his seat, Wolf can be seen covering his face with the palm of his hand. A shortness of breath and pink was adorned across his cheeks.

“I guess we’re closing in early..? I mean, the grand prize has already been taken-”

“Whatever, I’m out of here.”

[man-down-in-hatchet-town]

Karma Police

IT'S THE MID-SEASON FINALE BEFORE THE HIATUS! As always, spoilers for The Case of the Greater Gatsby episode 14 under the cut!

So, after the information onslaught that was the previous two episodes, "Karma Police" was a little bit of a breather—at least up until the end. Just lots of cannibalism jokes and character moments as both Ford and Fig start to show the strain of the case in their own ways (Ford’s increasingly surfacing anger, Fig’s anxiety and fainting spell). Which means that you guys get a relatively shorter essay after the absolute monster I posted earlier.

To start with, Fig’s line about the stress of working multiple jobs and how they keep you from keeping up with life events? Too real. Really, Fig’s whole unraveling physical and mental state throughout the entirety of this episode was the perfect encapsulation of my experiences over the last couple of months.

Meanwhile, either TD is way smarter and more conniving than we’re giving him credit for (possible; after all we have yet to receive confirmation of his admittedly convincing alibi) or he is innocent. His issues with blood certainly don’t remove him from the suspect list, but if he had known that Fitzgerald didn’t bleed a drop he probably wouldn’t have passed out thinking about it. But then that brings us back to the question of Mo and just who he’s reporting to. If Mo was on the lot telling Mel about Fitzgerald’s death, wouldn’t her husband/assistant know the details? Or did she kick him out? Regardless, I continue to be fascinated by the Hammermeister marriage. I have so many questions I don’t think I actually want the answers to; you know those two have either never taken so much as a sock off in front of each other or else are the kinkiest bastards you could ever possibly meet.

On the Ford side of things, what fun to get Dylan again so soon! But Shipwrecked better not think I didn’t clock Donald not telling Ford where he was on the night of the party. I’m pretty confidant that Donald did not commit the murder—on a meta level he’d just be a strange choice—but his obfuscation and successful derailing of Ford is suspicious, though that might not have even been intentional. After all, he didn’t know that Vivian was about to show up.

Speaking of Vivian, the PHIGHTINGALE OF IT ALL! Ford’s anger at her lies feels deeper and more personal—you can just taste how strongly he resents their inescapable attraction and connection. And Vivian continues to walk all over him. Her story makes good enough sense, I guess, but I’m still not sure she’s telling the truth, as it’s a little too early in the story to conclusively point the finger at Barnaby. Though I suppose he could have shown up without actually being the murderer…. Meanwhile, after a whole episode of being grilled over his use of the word “grill,” Ford learns that Vivian uses it too, and judging by her tone has met many of the same reactions as her favorite employee. I love everything about their toxic, magnetic, inescapable dynamic. It’s noir perfection. Or, as @its-short-for-jackalope put it, “I think Ford & Vivian are actually soulmates 😂.”

Which sucks for Ford, because Viv’s pulled a fast-one over on Bixby! Whatever his other designs with Mel or Fitzgerald’s murder are, this plot against Bixby seems to a major card up Mo’s sleeve. But while I can see why taking over Bixby’s would benefit Mo, but what does Vivian get out of it? Higher pay? Let’s not forget that Mo made up her alibi on the spot for the night that Fitzgerald was killed. Was he protecting her as part of his takeover? Or is blackmailing her with knowledge of the night Fitzgerald died as part of his coup? I have so many questions about these two and why Vivian’s chosen to tango with this cop in particular.

And a moment of applause for Matthew Mercer’s evil laugh at the end of the episode! What a way to go out. Matt is absolutely incredible in everything he does and Greater Gatsby is no exception. I’m so happy that MK’s brought him into the fold.

Well, that’s it for the time being! I hope Fig and Ford come back soon (have they announced how long the hiatus will be?) but in the meantime I will be re-listening and you can bet your ass I will blog any new revelations that come to mind.

This is man-down-in-hatchet-town, reporting from Tinsel Town, signing off (from these responses, not from the blog).

[sweettjrose]

Detective Mickey Pilot: Character Backstories - The Core Four

Surprise! To celebrate finishing my first fanfiction with the Detective Mickey Pilot. I thought it would be fun to share the backstories I made up for the Mickey and Friends characters as part of this version of the world I made for the Pilot. I ended up having to split it into two parts, so I will share the first part with The Core Four today and the second part with the Sensational Side Characters tomorrow.

If you haven't read my pilot yet, it is pinned to my main account, though I am hoping to post an improved version on AO3 once I get a chance.

I also want to give a shout out to these lovely people as they have been very supportive of my fanfiction and have really helped me keep going:

@local-meme-lord @mafik-sun @asritca @lordspectrus @alioks-blog @noniebella @cartoonslovers

I can't explain how much seeing all your hearts, shares, and comments to my story as it grew meant to me. You are all amazing and I can't wait to share more with you.

Well without further ado. Here are the backstories for Mickey Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Peg-Leg Pete, and the Phantom Blot.

Mickey Mouse - Estimated Age: Late 20's - Early 30's

Mickey Mouse has lived in Mouseton for almost his entire life. He had a decent relationship with his parents, though he was much closer to his older sister Felicity and family friend Captain Churchmouse. He loved to listen to Captain Churchmouse about his adventures over the sea, and imagine what kind of adventures he would go on if he ever decided to leave Mouseton. He also loved to spend time with his sister, taking pictures for her homemade articles with his trusty Ol’ Reliable and just generally being with her. As a kid, he used to be quite the troublemaker, though it came from a good-nature desire to help. Overtime he developed a more modest and mild personality, but is still the brave and curious mouse we know today. He met Minnie in kindergarten and they have been together ever since. He met Donald during a regional Junior Woodchuck camping trip where they were bunk bed buddies. Even after the camp Mickey still kept in contact with him through emails and they would visit each other in Duckburg or Mouseton as much as they could. Eventually Mickey would meet Goofy who was working as a janitor at his high school and would help him out in watching Max and Goofy would help him learn life lessons. In high school, Mickey and Minnie finally started dating, despite having a crush on eachother since middle school. They have been dating ever since and can’t even imagine a life without each other.

Mickey was inspired by his sister to become a journalist just like her. So he went to college and got a journalism degree at Mouseton University. During his time at college Mickey’s relationship with Donald and Goofy deepened as they formed a bit of a trio. When Mickey and Donald finally graduated, the group split as Donald moved back to Duckburg to new responsibilities and Goofy decided to move to Spoonerville for a “promotion”. However they all still try to keep in touch through group chat and visit each other whenever they get the chance. His relationship with Minnie was also long distance for a bit when she went to a different school and eventually Paris to study fashion. Mickey actually found Pluto around this time, which helped him feel less alone when they weren’t there. After graduating, Mickey was able to get a position at the Mouseton Argus with help from his sister. They didn’t get to work together for long as Felicity ended up leaving for a position at a national news network and the Editor in Chief who liked her and Mickey retired and was replaced with one that didn’t. This new Editor in Chief refused to let Mickey be a part of any major stories and often forced Mickey to do busy work under false pretenses that Mickey will eventually be able to move up. This led Mickey to go after his own stories in hopes that he could prove himself as a journalist. Little did Mickey know that this would result in the capture of one of the biggest criminal masterminds of the world as well as a new opportunity to work as a crime-fighting detective. However, is this the direction that Mickey wants his life to go? Has the capture of the Phantom Blot improved his life… or did it make it worse?

Fun Fact: Mickey is actually a pretty good artist. He specializes in ink drawings and uses very simple organic shapes to make beautiful designs in the whitespace. Often when his friends are down he'll make them cards with unique characters he thought of to cheer them up and a kind message. He also made comics for his sister's newspapers and for the Mouseton Argus. His comics tend to vary between being experimental and artistic or silly gags.

Minnie Mouse - Estimated Age: Late 20's - Early 30's

Minnie Mouse was born and raised in Mouseton. She has a great relationship with her mother, though unfortunately not a great one with her dad and her many half brothers. Though she ends up making up with one of her half brothers, allowing her to bond with her nieces Millie and Melody Mouse. Her mom worked as a gardener and often had her clothes torn up or damaged from working. Minnie would often patch these, which gave her a love for sewing and eventually fashion design. She first met Mickey Mouse in kindergarten and they have been close ever since. Often when her mother was away at work, she would visit Mickey’s house and they would go on adventures in their local neighborhood. She was the more organized of the two, but also not afraid to speak her mind if she felt like she or any of her friends were being disrespected. She is known for her famous or rather infamous “talks” that tend to make people regret messing with her. She had a crush on Mickey since middle school, but it wasn’t until their junior year of high school that they finally confessed their feelings at the same time and started to date. They are still in a very loving relationship and care very deeply for each other. Minnie’s love for fashion design evolved into a dream to own a boutique store in Mouseton where she can display and sell her own designs. 

She is a huge advocate for bow-centric fashion and believes that she can bring bows back into style. She went to a fashion school outside of Mouseton for a couple of years, but then ended up getting a chance to study abroad in Paris for the rest of her education. Despite showing great skills and taste, Minnie struggled with many of her peers making fun of her designs claiming that bow fashion will never make a return. Thankfully she had the support of her friends and her long distance boyfriend to keep going. She eventually graduated and moved back to Mouseton, sharing an apartment with Clarabelle Cow and Lilly Lamb. She started her own online store called “Minnie’s Bowtique” and hired Lilly Lamb as well as another friend Penny Pooch as employees. Lilly helps with whatever is needed, but later becomes the marketing and social media manager. Penny is temporarily working here as she applies and interviews to get a job in graphic design. Minnie met Daisy Duck online on a forum for small business owners and they’ve been best friends ever since. They often provided each other support for their business and once it was revealed that Daisy’s new boyfriend was Donald, Mickey’s best friend, they started to hang out more as a friend group. The site has been doing decently, gaining meaningful albeit slow growth. But Minnie hopes that once she makes enough profit, she can fully complete her dream and open her own physical store. Can she truly be able to accomplish her dreams as it feels far away from becoming a reality? Would it even matter if the love of her life doesn’t survive his new much more dangerous job? Can she truly get what she wants in life?

Fun Fact: Minnie loves to play softball. She has been a part of a softball team since she was in middle school and even today still plays on the Mouseton Mousers team at the Mouseton Community Center. She is often the pitcher for the teams that she is on with very powerful and tricky throws, though she could still improve on accuracy. Mickey of course tries to make every single game and practice he can, cheering for her on the stands.

Peg-Leg Pete (Percy P. Pete/Percival) - Estimated Age: Mid 40's - Late 40's

Pete grew up in a very large criminal family in a rough part of Mouseton at the edge of town. While Pete had ups and downs with many of his family members, he was close to his mother Maw Pete (Parry) and his sisters Petunia Pete, the mother of Pierino & Pieretto and Petula Pete. But the one person he was the absolute closest to was his cousin Portis Egmont who was practically a brother to him. They bonded due to both being considered the “runts” of their generation and Portis even made him his prosthetic foot. The family Matriarch, Great Grammaw Pete (Patty), owned a settlement of townhouses that have been passed down their family for generations. It was common for members of the Pete family to drop out of high school and join one of the many criminal branches of the family. The family as a whole was never too wealthy, but supported each other through the money they made from their misdeeds. Pete dropped out of high school in his senior year so that he could join the Robbery and Theft branch of the family. He hoped to one day run the branch, but unfortunately his runt status often made that difficult. No matter how many schemes he shared and how many times he tried to prove himself, they either didn’t work or no one would listen to him. Eventually he got fed up and decided to break off from the family to start his own gang with Portis called “Pete’s Gang”.

The two did fine on their own, but decided to hire more members for their gang. They ended up hiring Scuttle and Trudy and together they committed some of the best crimes in all of their careers and formed a sort of family, both figuratively and literally as Pete proposed to and married Trudy after a couple months of working with each other. They even got to work with the Phantom Blot a couple of times just as he was skyrocketing to fame. However, this didn’t last long as Pete decided to take a risky but rewarding job for the Wind Willows Weasel gang. The job ended up failing, and when Pete got arrested he ratted out the weasels to reduce his sentence. But this ended up affecting not just the weasels, but also the rest of Pete's Gang as Scuttle and Trudy also got arrested because of this. Ashamed, he took the reduced sentence. When he got out, he did attempt a prison rescue, but was unable to find where the rest of his team went, leaving him all alone.

This caused Pete to go into another depression as he wandered around Spoonerville, the town next to the prison he was let out of, not knowing what to do. He ended up accidentally stopping a crook from stealing from a poor woman and gained her gratitude. This woman was Peg Percival who decided to take Pete out to lunch as a thank you. When she learned about how lost he was, she decided to take him in as a project. She let him rent a room at her house and got him a job as a used car salesman. Eventually they got married, he took her last name, and had Pete Junior or PJ. Though Pete likes his new family, he still thinks about Trudy and what could have been. He ended up becoming the owner of the dealership he worked at, and when she retired she made Pete the new owner and even let him change the name. Things were going great, until Pete realized that there were quite a few unpaid bills from the previous owner and that the dealership was not doing as well as he thought. It didn’t help that Peg was also pregnant with another child, Pistol. To make matters worse some of the members from the Wind Willows Weasel gang stopped by the dealership to get some getaway cars and instantly recognized him. When they questioned him, Pete quickly came up with the explanation that the dealership is a front for future criminal activity and was hoping to work with them again. He also gave them some free getaway cars, and helped them forge documents for them, in hopes of getting their good graces and to take suspicion off of him ratting them out. It works and he ends up working alongside them and makes quite a bit of money, enough to save the dealership and support his new growing family, without Peg knowing a thing. Scuttle even ended up dropping by from who knows where to help and Pete was introduced to the corrupt lawyer Sylvester Shyster who worked for the weasels and now helps Pete narrowly avoid any legal trouble. Pete even got back in contact with Portis, though he was too busy running his own criminal business to join in. Pete was so successful that he even started to impress his family, when they heard. He decided to open another “dealership” in Mouseton and move his family there so that he could work closer with them and expand his growing criminal empire. He has been in Mouseton for about a year and has been able to make massive amounts of money without the police suspecting a thing. But how can Pete keep this up? And could the new detective provide more trouble than he expected?

Fun Fact: Pete was actually part of his football team at the high school he went to. He initially joined as part of a scheme, but ended up liking it enough to stay on. He even teased the idea of going into professional football. Of course this never ended up happening, as he ended up being part of the reason why the football team lost the playoffs that would have taken them to the state championships. Though it wasn’t entirely his fault as there was a “goofy” cheerleader that got into the way. He actually still uses what he learned from football on some of his robberies.

The Phantom Blot (Full Name: N/A) - Estimated Age: Mid 40's - Late 40's

The Phantom Blot grew up in a very wealthy family. His father was a top executive at Wright & Thwaites, the largest producer of high quality ink in the world. His mother was a theater actress who had a decent career in supporting roles, but was mostly known for hosting incredible parties for the wealthy to meet and do business. The Phantom Blot was never really close with them as they were more focused on their own goals than him. However, he impressed everyone else around him and quickly gained a reputation as a child prodigy as he won nearly every competition he was in and aced all of his tests. Despite this, he was still as sneaky and manipulative as ever. Easily able to avoid getting in trouble, no matter what he did. Eventually, he decided to get into acting. He had some assistance from his mother but mostly had to guide the rest of his acting career by himself. At the private school he attended, he practically ran the entire drama department with the teacher. Being the director, lead actor, props and special effects manager, head of the costuming department, etc. After he graduated he went to Goosliard to study, while still performing whenever he could. He showed so much talent and promise that he was getting multiple offers begging him to star in their shows before he even finished college. The Phantom Blot's future seemed so bright, but also so empty.

One day, an acquaintance asked if the Phantom Blot would help them on a robbery, to pay off a big favor the Blot asked of him. The Phantom Blot, so disillusioned and bored with his life, agreed and they set off to rob a bank. However this heist ended up changing the Phantom Blot’s life as he realized how much he loved the heist and how effectively he was able to avoid the police during a chase. As the Phantom Blot still worked to finish school, he started to be a part of more and more thefts and realized he enjoyed being a thief more than he enjoyed acting. So he abandoned his previous life and started a new life as the “Phantom Blot”. As the Phantom Blot he accomplished some of the most incredible feats in criminal history and raking in billions of dollars. He gained a massive reputation around the world for being an unstoppable criminal genius who has never been caught and has always left the police befuddled in his wake. He even got a request by F.O.W.L to work as a top agent with one of the best salary and benefit packages they have ever offered. But his refusal ended up creating a rift between him and the organization. He continues to go on bigger and badder heists to prove himself. He prefers to work alone, but will hire others if it is required to complete a heist. One of the first groups he hired was Pete’s Gang and he continued to work with them a couple of times before they broke apart. Though he still works with Portis every once in a while. Except for an odd three to four month break, The Phantom Blot has been a frightening force that no one has been able to stop and most doubt that he even can be. Or at least he was, until a little mouse got into the way. Regardless, the Phantom Blot has achieved fame, power, and riches beyond anyone’s wildest dreams including his own and yet he still hungers for more. Can his greed ever be satisfied? And with a new mouse causing problems for him, is it possible that the Phantom Blot has finally reached his limit?

Fun Fact: The Phantom Blot is a fantastic singer. He was professionally taught by a private tutor while he was young and trained himself to have perfect pitch. His voice has a very operatic element to it that is both haunting and alluring. He typically doesn’t like to sing for others, unless he is performing, but he will often sing for himself in places he assumes are abandoned. However, if a place isn’t as abandoned as he thought, some others may catch his singing, though they never find out where it is coming from. This accidentally led to the creation of many urban legends about these locations being haunted by a musical ghost.

[a-silent-symphony]

We got Nightwish's Tuomas Holopainen to rank every single album by the band from worst to best

We asked Nightwish founder Tuomas Holopainen to rank the band's albums from worst to best - and some of his choices surprised us

From fantastical realms to elaborate filmic sagas and love-letters to Darwinism, the Nightwish discography is rich in intrigue – and low on dullmoments. As its central creator, Tuomas Holopainen is inextricably bound to the sounds, feelings and memories that saturate each of these nine albums.

His life is in this music. But if it came to it, in a castaway situation, which albums would he most (and least) want to be stuck with? It’s a tough call. “They are my children,” he pleads, “how would they feel if they saw the ranking? Wishmaster would be so sad!” Still, he did manage to settle on an order, and here it is...

9. Wishmaster (Spinefarm, 2000)

“It went to No.1 in Finland, but to me Wishmaster is one of those albums that was kind of ‘in-between’. It doesn’t stand out to me on a personal level. There was nothing revolutionary about it after [1998’s] Oceanborn.

It was made in a really good spirit – everybody in the band was happy after the success of Oceanborn – so this was just a natural continuation of that. But it didn’t really introduce anything spectacularly new for me personally. I think that’s my problem with it. If Ihad to pick a favourite song, I think I’d pick Dead Boy’s Poem; lyrically, it’s very much in the essence of Nightwish.”

8. Angels Fall First (Spinefarm, 1997)

“Our debut sounds so innocent because it was done as a demo. It was never supposed to be released, but we sent it to the record label and they said, ‘Let’s put this out!’ It still has my parents’ home address on the booklet.

“When I founded Nightwish in July 1996, I just wanted to do moody acoustic music. Since me and Emppu [Vuorinen, guitars] had a strong metal background, it was a natural transition to do something heavier, but that original acoustic band idea can be heard strongly. We couldn’t find anybody to sing, so I kind of dug a hole and fell into it myself.

"We played Elvenpath years later on the Decades tour, and I can’t understand how Floor was able to keep a straight face singing those lyrics – to her credit, she did! I just remember the kid that I was back then, writing those songs, and I kind of miss that kid, because it was all about Donald Duck and fantasy books and snowmen and things fantastical.

"Nymphomaniac Fantasia? Not my proudest moment. But it was done because there was a young kid who had some, I don’t know… issues, ha ha ha! Love-life gone wrong or something. It was a different time.”

7. Century Child (Spinefarm, 2002)

“After Wishmaster, I seriously considered quitting the band, especially thanks to the departure of the [original] bass player [Sami Vänskä] and my slight burnout. Then I went on a hiking trip in Lapland with Tony Kakko from Sonata Arctica, and he talked me over that.

"We needed a new bass player, and we needed management because until then it was me and Jukka [Nevalainen] the drummer taking care of the business side. So we got management, and we got Marko [Hietala, bassist/ singer until 2021], who was already a big name in Finnish metal – we were all big fans.

"There was a lot of bad stuff happening in the band as well – that’s reflected on the album. Slaying The Dreamer was a way to get rid of all that frustration. Artistically I found film music, Hans Zimmer above all, and that really can be heard on Century Child. But the album didn’t take us much on the next level. Artistically it did, but not commercially.”

6. Dark Passion Play (Nuclear Blast, 2007)

“It was a really easy album to write because all the emotions were there so strongly, after what happened with Tarja [Turunen, original vocalist who was dismissed from the band in 2005], and everything in my personal life. I was about to lose my mental health, and then doing the songs for this album saved it.

"I’m a very private person, but I write about some really personal things, and these people – Anette [Olzon], for this record – are singing it out for the whole world to hear. Ineeded to do a song like The Poet And The Pendulum, where I killed myself in the lyrics; I had to do it for my mental health, and it ended up being a wonderful piece of music.”

5. Imaginaerum (Nuclear Blast, 2011)

“Again, this was a pretty easy album to write – we all had a good time with it. When it comes to songwriting, I’m a morning person. I’ll wake up about six when I’m at home, then a litre of coffee and I’m off. Usually I’m done by two or three o’clock. I write songs upstairs in my little home studio – just a keyboard and a lakeside view. In the studio with the band, the other members and the engineers are more night owls. Also in the tour bus it’s always me up first, making coffee downstairs.

“It was clear from the start that this would end up being a film. We thought, ‘What haven’t we done yet? Let’s do a music video for every song on the album, and then somehow combine them to become this really weird film.’ It’s a very optimistic album. It just puts a big smile on your face.”

4. Once (Nuclear Blast, 2004)

“One of the best times that this band has ever had was 2003- 2004, making the Once album, and the first part of the tour after that. In late 2003 we flew to London to record the orchestras. I rang the studio doorbell and Rick Wakeman opened the door. I think I said, ‘Errr… [makes incoherent starstruck noise] Thanks!’

"We went to the studio, started playing Ghost Love Score and my face melted. Like, ‘I’m next to Wembley, listening to the orchestra playing a song that I wrote, this is really life at its best.’

"Something happened with that album – all the stars were aligned. I remember looking at the album charts and seeing ‘Nightwish, Michael Jackson, Anastasia’ and going ‘Really?!’ I don’t think any of us were quite prepared. You get sucked into this massive world of big tours and worship from the fans, then the money starts to flow in, and it’s easy to lose your perspective. Impulse purchases? I did a round the-world trip on my own, it was wonderful. But money has very little meaning to me."

3. Oceanborn (Spinefarm, 1998)

“Our ambition went through the roof after Angels Fall First, because we all realised that this is actually really fun. I was studying biology, Tarja was studying singing, I think in Germany, Jukka was studying to be a computer engineer, Emppu was working in a carpet factory.

"Music was just a hobby. And then we realised, ‘There’s something going on here, so let’s put all the focus in Nightwish for maybe a few years, and see what happens.’ It was eight hours every day in the rehearsal room, playing the songs and just really feeling it. It was the watershed album for us, it took us to the next level.

"All the guys, we had just gotten out of the army so we all had short hair, we had no idea about the metal scene at all. We were complete countryside hickeys who just happened to like metal music, and we were given this chance to show what we could do with a three-album deal. It shouldn’t have worked on paper, but somehow it did.”

2. Endless Forms Most Beautiful (Nuclear Blast, 2015)

“If Floor hadn’t come along, I think that would have been the end of the band. We got over an ugly divorce once [with Tarja], then again with Anette, then Floor comes along and everything shines bright again. She learned the setlist in 48 hours – when I called her, she was at her sister’s wedding. Even from the first show the fans embraced her. So we took a lot of that good feeling for Endless Forms Most Beautiful [named after a line from Charles Darwin’s On The Origin Of Species].

"We went to Röskö campsite in Finland to record. It’s a four-hectare area by a lake in the middle of nowhere, belonging to the Boy Scouts. We stayed for three months. Every morning we’d rehearse for a few hours, have lunch, go back, rehearse and then spend the evening with each other by a campfire, barbecuing, playing acoustic guitar, singing, going to the sauna and talking about the songs all the time. The Greatest Show On Earth, that’s the Nightwish desert island song. I’m sure we’ll play that at the end of the setlist until forever.

"We recorded Richard Dawkins’ part in Oxford. He’s quite the character. I’m a huge fan, so I was really starstruck. He did his parts beautifully, it was over in about 30 minutes and then he gave us a ride back to central Oxford in his Tesla. And halfway back he asks us, ‘So are you musicians or something?’ Ha ha! So his head’s somewhere… all the time! But he’s a wonderful guy.”

1. Human. :II: Nature. (Nuclear Blast, 2020)

“I immediately knew after Endless Forms Most Beautiful that ‘OK, we have to do more songs about this.’ And so the idea of Human. :II: Nature. was first to have songs about humankind, and then you play the other CD and relax and go into nature. My memories of making the album are of happy times, no conflicts. We returned to Röskö to make it.

"When the pandemic hit, it was like, ‘Should we postpone the release?’ But it was all printed and the advertisements had gone out to the papers. So the record label said, ‘Let’s go with it. Maybe people will have more time to concentrate on it…’

"Noise was a big single, but there’s also something about Shoemaker [named after famed geologist/astronomer Eugene Shoemaker]. It’s on the artsy side, but not in a pretentious way.

"Realising what evolution is… it’s about realising our mortality, at least for me. And it’s made all the difference. When I kind of realised that this is very likely the only life we’re gonna have – it’s only after that that I started hugging my dad. I never hugged my dad before that. I’ve just felt much more liberated and in the light ever since.”