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icequeenoriginal · 4 years

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The Meaning of FamILY

Note: I am so sorry for this taking centuries to come out, I blame laziness and writer’s block. So here it finally is, @khadij-al-kubra, the fic you requested. Again, I am so so sorry this took so long to get out. Also, this takes place a year after Intimacy and All Its Forms. Also Happy Late One Year Anniversary of this AU’s blog.

Thank you @theromnempire for editing. You’re the best!

Names of side characters belong to @hi-i-love-u-bitch. This AU belongs to @ask-spiderverse-virgil and @sugarglider9603

Trigger Warnings: Deaths mentioned, two past minor character death, crying (Let me know if I missed anything)

Pairings: Prinxiety and Logicality

Roman was ushered into the living room by his older sister. He couldn’t understand why. Normally when his father came home, he would see Roman sitting at the kitchen table, doing his homework and his father would walk over and ask about before changing out of his work clothes.

Maybe it was a celebration! Or maybe a surprise! But…why was Amá crying?

Roman’s mother looked up and locked eyes with her confused, innocent son. It made her burst into more tears and Roman ran to comfort her.

“¿Amá?¿Por qué lloras mami?” Roman asked while tilting his head to the side.

Lupita couldn’t help but smile at Roman, almost forgetting what had just happened. She frowned, and more tears fell as she realized what she had to do now.

“Roman ...mi Valiente chico…tengo algo que decirte...se trata de tu padre…”

Roman woke up with a start like he did every year on this day. It’s always the same memory that would wake him up like clockwork, ending right before his mom said the words that shattered his world forever. Roman’s brain liked to torture him but pretend to forget the worst part.

He decided not to think about it and just dressed.

Roman never noticed how quiet the house actually was on this day. Any other day of the year, even if he was the first to wake up, there was some kind of noise. It could be anything from the humming of the ceiling fan or people rushing to get breakfast ready. But today, nothing. All the sounds of the apartment were swept out as if the family occupying the house needed a reminder of what was happening

Maybe Roman just lost his touch with reality on this day. He was never sure, not that it really mattered. He knew the world did not stop just because he is in a shitty mood. Did that ever make him feel any better? No, but it gave him a false motivation to get up and get ready for school.

He walked to the twins' room, like every day, to get them ready for school. Any other of the 365 days of the year, the twins would already be awake, fully ready to run around and make Roman’s morning even more hectic. Today, both had a blanket over their heads and he could hear his little sister sniffling.

He wished it was because of a cold. It never was.

“Vamos, es hora de levantarse,” Roman said, just loud enough for the twins to hear, worried if his voice went any height they could hear how broke it was.

“NO!” both Jenni and Marco shouted, pulling the blanket simultaneously over their heads. Roman wanted to laugh at the sight, badly.

Instead, he sighed “No no, you guys gotta get up and go to school.”

“NO!” Marco shouted

“It’s a bad day today!” Jenni cries

“I know guys but we can’t miss school,” Roman said softly.

“We’ll go to school tomorrow!”

“Yeah, when it’s not Papi’s death day!”

Roman inhaled sharply, it was the first time of the day someone acknowledged what the 17th of February meant. The house somehow got even muter, if that was possible. His sister and brother burst into tears and Roman felt his face heat up. But he couldn’t cry, he was-

A soft, reassuring hand landed on his shoulder as he took a step forward.

“Amá…” Roman said, his voice strained

Lupita’s eyes were full of storms of sadness, threatening a downpour. “Roman ... ve y desayuna.”

Roman shook his head. He could do it, he had to. His mother had enough on her plate. “Pero Amá--” Lupita cut him off.

“Está bien. No te preocupes por eso”

Roman sighed “Okay.” He was too tired to argue. This day seemed to already take so much out of him and it had hardly had started.

Roman sulked to the kitchen and made himself some toast. Something quick, easy and he was least likely to get sick from. He stared absently, unfortunately making eye contact with his father in an old happy family photo. He sucks in his breath as silent memories began to haunt him like they always do. He hated those more than any amount of his siblings sobbing or screaming in agony. He could tune those out with music, his one constant. These just got louder and louder no matter what he tried.

What snapped him out of the pitiful void was a vibration from his phone. He pulled it out to reveal a text notification from Patton.

Bestie <3: I’ll be on the fire escape in a minute! Alex stole my sweater again :(((

Roman frowned, had he really taken that long to get ready? He hadn’t even made anyone’s lunch or even breakfast. He wasn’t even sure he was ready to talk to anyone today. Much less to get their glances of pity. Constantly hearing “sorry for your loss” got old quick. Besides, he didn’t want to bring anyone down, especially his best friends, just because of what today is. He sighed and texted Patton back:

Romaine Lettuce :): It’s okay. I’m gonna swing over to school today, go on without me.

Roman saw that Patton had read his text but he didn’t reply. Roman didn’t think much of it, he figured he was still chasing Alex around, and just grabbed his toast as soon as it was done in the toaster.

“Amá! I’m heading out to school! I love you! Bye!” Roman didn’t wait for a reply and ran up the stairs that lead to the roof as he put on his costume. Web swinging always seemed to calm his nerves, or more accurately, distracted him. Something about one mistake and you can fall to your death really makes your other problems seem small. As he was about to fire his first web, a voice shouted for him to halt.

Patton ran up to him, also in full costume “Wait for me!”

“Pat?” Roman asked, not trying to hide his confusion. “What are you doing here?”

Although Patton had the mask on, It wasn’t hard to tell he was smiling. “I’m going to swing with you.”

“You don’t have to.”

“I know but I want to head to school with you like I always do.”

Roman felt a mixture of happiness and guilt swirl around in his stomach, creating an unpleasant cocktail make just for him. Not that he knew what a cocktail tasted like.

Roman gave a small smile behind his mask “Okay then Pat, I’ll race you” and took off without another word.

They swung without another word, which relieved Roman. He didn’t want to be asked about how he was doing, the answer was obvious and Roman was tired of being asked it.

Unfortunately, this feeling did not last and Roman quickly returns to his self-pity and dark thoughts. Roman was so lost in his brooding thoughts of the bombardment of sympathy that he would receive through the day that he did not see the tall building in front of him. Thankfully, Patton did and webbed Roman quick enough so that he landed on the roof.

Well...landed is a generous term here. With how fast Roman was going, Patton had to quickly web him and throw him on the roof of the building.

Patton landed gracefully next to him. He placed his hands on his hips and said: “Okay, that’s enough swinging for you, mister!”

“I’m fine Patton, I just wasn’t paying attention this time.”

Patton shook his head, “You’re distracted, understandably so and I know you don’t want to talk about it, even though you should, but I won’t make you. It’s not safe Roman! I can’t let my best friend get hurt again! Not on my watch…”

Roman could see the agony swept into Patton’s eyes. He knew that memories of the year before, bad ones brought nothing but pain, were swarming Patton’s mind. Memories of Roman avoiding him, the fighting, the robot battle, all were tearing Patton down. It was a look far too familiar to him.

Roman ran to Patton as he began to shake. Roman muttered an apology that seemed small to himself but was perfect to Patton. Once Patton was able to calm himself down, he hugged Roman tightly, to show he was never going to let him go.

“Let’s walk to school okay? I know a game we can play. It’s called “Beautiful Things’. As we walk, we point out the beautiful things we see and why we find them beautiful. Alex and Georgie made it up after Frankie…passed…and we played it all the time”

Roman raised his mask just above his lip to show that he was smiling “That sounds great, Patton, I’d love to.”

So they snuck off the roof, changed, and walked. They pointed out birds, children, babies, and music playing from cars. Roman had no idea that such a simple game could bring him so much calm, but it did. He never realized there is so much good in the world, that was what they, as heroes, fought for.

When they got to school, Roman headed to his locker. To an outside viewer, it was nothing out of the ordinary. But for the four, it was breaking the sacred tradition. First, they would meet at Logan’s locker as it was the closest to the entrance. Then they would make their way to their own lockers while catching up with one another. Finally, they would arrive at homeroom to get ready for the school day.

However, as Roman watched Patton saunter over and embrace Logan, his feet didn’t want to go anywhere except towards an island of isolation. He didn’t want to ruin the happy mood, especially after making Patton think of Frankie so early in the morning. What best friend forces you to remember your dead brother?

He opened his locker and slowly pulled out the books he would need until lunch. When that took less than a minute. He stared at the objects he taped onto the door of his locker over the course of the year. At the top was a small mirror that he suddenly did not want to look into. At the bottom is a whiteboard with reminders of tests written by Logan, supportive messages from Patton, and quick doodles by Virgil. He felt the tug of a small smile on his lips, though it went away quickly.

He had only begun scanning the dozens of photographs he had before two arms snaked their way around his waist. He felt warmth in his chest as his boyfriend’s lips were pressed on the space between his shoulder blades.

“Morning” Virgil said, tiredness leaking into his speech.

Roman smiled softly and leaned slightly into the touch. “What leads you to my neck of the woods?” Roman asked as if he did not already know the answer.

“I needed to escape before I drowned in the puppy love.”

It wasn’t the answer he was expecting so he pressed on, “What do you mean?” Roman turned his head slightly to look at Virgil. Virgil, without lifting his cheek off Roman’s back, unfortunately, removed one of his arms from around Roman and gestures to his right.

In distance, Patton has Logan’s shirt held carefully in his fingers, playing with the buttons as he talked to Logan. Logan watched with nothing but love and appreciation in his eyes. Roman couldn’t help but sigh at the couple, he was part of the team that got them together after all. One of his best accomplishments, if he’d say so himself..

“It’s so sweet...disgusting.” Virgil continued. Switching from resting his cheek on Roman’s back to his chin, he looked up and said, “Now give me my good morning kiss.”

Roman chuckled and happily obliged. When they pulled apart, Virgil asks “I’m going to ask you a stupid question.”

“No question is stupid, love, ask away.”

“Are you okay?” “I stand corrected.” Virgil elbowed Roman in the side, both happy for their spider-strength for the opposite reasons.

“I mean it, Ro. I know you hate being asked that question, especially today, but I rather you get annoyed with me than let something happen like last time. So I’ll ask again, are you okay?”

“I am.”

Virgil raises an eyebrow “Am what?”

“Fine.” “I asked you if you were okay”

“Same difference.”

“Big difference, people only say they’re fine when they don’t want to admit they aren’t okay.”

Roman just looked away, having nothing to really say, plus he didn’t want to argue. Virgil sighed and hugged him again. Roman doesn’t push away, the pressure behind his eyes getting more and more unbearable. His emotions were already becoming too much for him to handle. He hugged back, relishing in the warmth of another person. It was stupid, in his mind, since Virgil was just hugging him moments ago.

With a sigh, Roman pulled back. He brushed his knuckles gently against Virgil’s cheek and whispered “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay because I’m sorry too,” Virgil said softly.

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Virgil couldn’t help but smile at that. “You know what? You’re right. I don’t. And with that, I’m going to spend this whole day cheering you up.”

“Virge…You don’t have to. Really! There’s no reason to-“

Virgil suddenly poked Roman chest, silencing the boy. “Do you remember the day that marked the anniversary of my grandpa’s death?”

“Of course I do, you were so upset. You didn’t even want to leave your room”

“Yeah, and you know what you did? You broke into my room, like some lunatic by the way, wrapped me up like a burrito-“

“It’s called a blanket burrito for a reason.”

“Don’t interrupt me. You wrapped me up, put on all my favorite movies that I wasn’t even aware you remembered and fed me snacks as we cuddled. Not even Logan had thought of doing that, he would just let me lie under my blankets while he just sat in the room.” Virgil paused to smirk before continuing “And I was never more grateful for you than at that moment.”

Roman’s face began to heat up. He couldn’t help it. No matter how big or small the compliment that Virgil would give him, he would turn into a blushing schoolgirl, ready to throw himself at Virgil and pepper him with kisses.

He opted to just hug Virgil again, a silent thank you. They were in public after all. They had some class.

Virgil embraced him for a few moments before the warning bell went off. “Listen, I’m going to make sure today is not going to be total shit for you.”

Roman chuckled in response, “Thanks, stormcloud.” Roman took a step to walk to his class but stopped when Virgil firmly grabbed his hand, “Huh?”

“What? I can’t hold my boyfriend’s hand as we walk to class?”

Roman chuckled, if there was one thing he knew about Virgil is that despite his boyfriend’s wariness of physical affection, Virgil always saw things through. Roman gently squeezed Virgil’s hand, absorbing the love that came from that simple gesture. Logan told him a few months ago about Love Languages and how physical touch was definitely his. It was a nice bonding moment for him and Logan, and it made Virgil really happy. Roman was rewarded handsomely for it.

Compared to every other year since his dad died, this was actually a pretty good day. Virgil would bring him to every class, even the ones were Virgil’s classes were nowhere near. Virgil had to keep reassuring Roman that it was fine, “I will just use my invisibility and sneak in. It will be funny to see how confused my teachers will be.” It made Roman genuinely laugh, something seemingly unachievable on this day.

The classes he did share with Virgil were the best. Virgil left his non-writing hand resting on Roman’s shoulder, giving him a gentle squeeze whenever he felt Roman quiver, shake or tense up. Which was often since their teacher would not stop shooting Roman sympathetic looks, even after Virgil glared at her. Other classes that Virgil wasn’t in, Virgil would wrap his hoodie around Roman before he headed off to his next class. People would focus on this action and how cute it was that Roman would forget, even for a few minutes.

Around lunch, Roman’s mood changed from melancholy to calm, relatively speaking. He wasn’t walking with his head down, and even partaking. The numb and somewhat painful feeling in his chest was still present, but it was no longer the black pit sucking his emotions into it like usual.

Already seated at the lunch table were Logan and Patton, whispering and smiling at one another. Before Roman could announce his presence to the couple, Virgil tugged him back. He nearly made Roman fall backward in the process, but they both knew it wasn’t intentional. They always forgot how strong their spidey strength actually was.

“Sorry!” Virgil said instinctively though he did start laughing as Roman caught himself.

“What was that for?” Roman asked once he regained his balance.

“I needed to tell you before I forget, I asked Thomas if we could borrow his living room for a movie night and he said yes. Ask your mom if you can stay over.”

Roman smiled, “That sounds great”

Virgil smiled back as the two sat in their normal seats. As soon as the two entered Patton’s vision, his eyes light and he pushed a plate covered in tin foil towards the couple. It wasn’t anything uncommon, Patton using any excuse to make people food, from “Virgil had a headache” cookies to “You saved a bus filled with little kiddos and the city still won’t give you a key!” double chocolate cake. Roman removed the tin foil to reveal donuts. It shocked Roman, he had a bit of an expectation that Patton would make one of Roman’s favorite desserts; like he always did in years past.

Roman looked up at Patton puzzled and Patton reached over the table to squeeze Roman’s arm as it rested on the cafeteria table. “I know you don’t want to make this day all about you, so I made something we all consider a normal snack. Is it okay?”

Patton’s eyes read desperate and Roman, half because he wanted to be a good best friend and half because he did not want Patton to use his Empath powers, smiled, and nodded.

“This is perfect, Pat.”

Patton pulled back so he could properly muffle his squeal of delight since they were still in school and he did not want to get into trouble for “starting a disturbance.”

Logan whispered to Patton “You told me it was because you did not have enough time to make Roman his favorite cake.”

“...I can have multiple reasons” Patton whispered back, glad that Roman and Virgil were too busy bickering about the best Avenger to listen in.

Everyone ate their lunches and donuts, just enjoying the time they had together. Logan commented on how he heard that Roman and Virgil would not join them on patrol and he hoped that they “don’t burn down Thomas’ apartment”. That earned him a look from Roman, a “Logie!’ from Patton and a kick in the shin from Virgil all at the same time.

“It was a simple precaution!” Logan shouted, only to be told to quiet down by the cafeteria monitor.

It would later become a memory they would always look back on, Virgil even including it into his best man speech at Logan and Patton’s wedding, much to Logan’s dismay.

Once lunch was over, Roman snuck into the bathroom and sent off a text to his mom asking if it was possible if he could stay over at Virgil’s, adding that if she needed him to come home then it would be fine. He didn’t want to be selfish.

Roman figured he would get his reply by the end of the day since he knew his mom would be really busy at work and he wasn’t exactly sure when his mom had her lunch break. He put his phone in his pocket only to scare himself when his notification sound went off in the silent password. He pulled it out and his phone and had a new text from his mom.

Amá: Of course you can, Your sister is watching the twins today, go have fun. It’s what Papí would want.

Roman smiled, a single tear fell down his face. His mom was the best.

Roman’s afternoon classes came and went, nothing exciting or saddening happened of note. Though it wouldn’t have mattered, the prospect of cuddles and Disney movies filled him with so much excitement and joy.

As faith would have it, he had no play practice since their show season had just ended and Mr. Bell always gave them a week off so he could tie up any last loose ends and decide the dates for the next auditions. This gave him an extra two hours to spend with his boyfriend, perfect!

Roman ran up to Virgil’s locker and bounced on his toes as his boyfriend got his stuff together so they could head off. Virgil smirked and tilted his head to Roman, “You seem excited.”

Roman smiled and nods “I’m really excited for tonight”

“Oh?” Virgil teased “What’s happening tonight? I can’t remember anything important”

Roman lightly punched him in the arm “You’re so mean, remind me why I love you again?” “It was your choice to get into this relationship, Princey, don’t forget that” Virgil waved his hand as he spoke and Roman, to Virgil’s surprise, quickly snatched Virgil’s hand.

Roman smirked back “I am very aware, and I am so happy to have you.” He then kissed Virgil’s knuckles.

Virgil cursed his cheeks for the blush that always came when Roman did something romantic. He pulled his hand back and nervously giggled “Oh shush, let’s get going already.”

Man, did he love that boy.

After swinging over to Thomas’ apartment with Patton and Logan, Roman and Virgil quickly went to work on their pillow fort as the two other spider children spoke to their spider dad about the details of the patrol.

Once everything was set up, Thomas said “Great. Patton, you and Logan get my snack bag and go to the bodega on the corner, there is money in the bag so don’t worry about using your own money. Meet me on the roof in half an hour.”

Patton and Logan nodded and left to get their favorite snacks.

Thomas turned to Roman “Hey, Ro? Before you guys start, could you come with me to the roof?”

Roman was confused but agreed. He was a bit nervous, he felt like a child about to get yelled at and tried to think of what he could have done wrong recently.

Once they got to the roof, Roman asked, “If this about keeping your apartment clean, I promise Virgil and I will not burn it down. Logan already gave us the rundown.”

Thomas put his hand on Roman’s shoulder and softly smiled “I can feel you stressing out, even without Patton’s power. Don’t worry, I trust you. I just wanted to tell you something. Sit with me” Thomas patted Roman’s head when Roman released a sigh of relief.

The two sat on the edge of the roof, Thomas in his Rainbow Weaver costume with the mask on and Roman in his civilian clothes.

Thomas gazed over the city before saying “I know you are probably expecting me to give you a speech about grief and how to handle it, but I hated those speeches at your age when I got them because of my Aunt Patty. In fact, you remind me a lot of myself when I was younger, and I’m not just talking about being a fellow theatre geek. I never wanted to think about when she died and I would throw myself into helping people, with or without the suit. One thing led to another and I ended up beaten and bloodied in an alley on the anniversary of her death. When Talyn and Joan found me, I swear my Aunt Patty possessed them to yell at me for it. I thought Talyn might kill me themself.”

Roman laughed “I can see them doing that.”

Thomas chuckled and nodded “Oh yes. But what they and Joan did instead was patching me up and we had a FRIENDS marathon, ‘the police will handle crime for now’ Joan said. I broke down after three episodes because I love my friends so much. So before I start crying again at the memories, I just wanted to tell you that your friends--including Joan, Talyn, and I--are always here for you. Don’t make the same mistake I did and forget” Roman threw himself at Thomas for a hug “Never again, I promise.”

Thomas hugged back “Thanks, kid. Now go have fun.”

Virgil looked up from his phone when he heard footsteps coming towards him “What did Thomas want? Hey, are you okay?” Virgil pops out from under the fort and cups Roman’s face to wipe the tears away.

Roman smiles “I’m fine, really. I’m just...thank you, for putting up with me”

Virgil kisses him “It’s not putting up with you, it’s loving you. Ready to start Tangled” “Of course my love”

Tag list (Ask if you want to be added or removed):

@corkeecoderyt @per-seph-o-nee @3milystuff @asymmetricalgarbage8888 @fairytailtwists @sanders-sides-rebloger @mycatshuman @sanderssidesfluffyangst @unikornavenger @0callmevirge0 @gloomingwitch @roxiefox24 @ijustreallylovesanderssides @unisaurioamorfo @nadja-chamack16 @angelic-cali

#sanders sides #thomas sanders #spiderverse au #prinxiety #logicality #roman sanders #logan sanders #virgil sanders #patton sanders #joan #talyn

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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years

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Michael After Midnight: Duke Nukem Forever

I like to kick off each new year with a truly magical review. Remember when I kicked off 2018 by reviewing a Jesus porno? Let’s be real, I peaked with that one. I’m not even gonna try to top it. What I will do, however, is talk about something I’ve wanted to discuss for a long time: Duke Nukem Forever.

This game almost needs no introduction; its stay in development hell and its tumultuous development is the stuff of legends, second only to Half-Life 3 in infamy among gaming vaporware. And it somehow managed to stay in infamy because despite releasing, UNLIKE Half-Life 3, most people who bought it really wished that it hadn’t. It turned out Duke was in the oven a bit too long, and the game we got was a mediocre shooter that was already out of date by several years when it finally released, not helped by its potshots at better series and use of extremely dated memes (Leeroy Jenkins? Really?).

Thankfully, I was divorced from this decade-spanning drama, being barely aware of the game until a few years back. Being a fan of Duke as a character - he is a loving spoof of the kind of action heroes I enjoy after all - and curious about the game after reading the fascinating history behind its development, I ended up playing it and… I thought it was okay. Yeah, I was expecting a lot more from this game in either direction, but it ended up being a rather middling, decent experience.

So let’s talk about what’s unironically good first: the interactivity. There are a LOT of little things Duke can interact with around the world, from a whiteboard you can doodle on to a functional pinball machine. None of this is groundbreaking by any means, but there is a certain childish thrill from picking up a turd from a toilet and flinging it around or from smacking some alien wall titties. There’s even an enjoyable dream sequence where Dukeis at a club that has tons of interactive elements in it! The fact that a lot of these interactive elements can lead to increases in Duke’s health is an added incentive to spend time doing them.

I actually enjoy some of the level design in the first half of the game, in particular the segments where Duke is shrunk down. I don’t know about you guys, but there’s something I really find charming about hopping over fryers and climbing through conveniently placed holes in the walls of a shitty fast food joint. It’s the sort of stuff I imagine when I’m bored at work. If the whole game had been as creative and fun as these parts and had expanded on the interactivity more, I think this would have been worth the wait a bit more… but unfortunately there’s more to this game.

After the first couple of segments, the level design plummets. The portions where Duke has to drive through the desert are especially jarring as they are incredibly barren with little to do or discover. This is then taken to the opposite extreme when you get to the final area, the dam, which is downright labyrinthine at parts and absurdly difficult. You will likely not die any place more than in this level due to the ridiculous number of enemies they cram into the tight corridors and underwater sections. It makes you wonder if this area was made so difficult to hide how short the game is - things wrap up after the dam level ends, with one ridiculously easy final boss left once you escape.

Then again, you may be thanking your lucky stars this game is mercifully short, because Duke and the world he inhabits are pretty intolerable. The entire world has become a monument to Duke’s ego, with just about everything revolving around him. Duke is like a Mary Sue escapist fantasy - a huge macho man who kicks ass, takes names, gets blowjobs from twins and his genderbent counterpart (apparently it is Bombshell’s model behind the glory hole in Duke’s dream, so he can literally go fuck himself), and is adored by literally everyone. And yeah, Duke was always kind of like this… but somewhere along the game’s journey somebody forgot that the tongue of the writers is supposed to be firmly planted in their cheek. The issue here is that the game is taking everything about Duke DEAD SERIOUS. We’re supposed to see Duke as the supreme god-tier badass who makes Master Chief and Gordon Freeman look like pussies, but it’s hard to buy into that idea when we are only told this while playing as him is just an unfun chore.

And maybe this would be better if they had polished up Duke’s character a bit, but he’s really inconsistent. Jon St. John is still absolutely fantastic with the voice and the delivery, there’s no denying that, but he unfortunately is portraying a really lame iteration of this beloved character. I think the point where I lost faith in this Duke is when, after finding the blowjob twins trapped in alien cocoons and begging him for help, Duke’s response is to just tell them they’re fucked. This is in stark contrast to him going apeshit when the aliens stole his babes, and is yet another sign the writers just didn’t GET Duke. Duke is an overly-macho chauvinist, yes, but he DOES care about babes. He’s more Johnny Bravo, less conservative pro-life blogger. Here though? This is just an uncharacteristically misogynistic response, and it is never commented on again. It’s just so jarring and bad that it kind of hampered my enjoyment of the game.

Still though, there is something halfway charming buried under the garbage. There are flashes of fun here and there that show promise of a better game, but they are always ultimately crushed. I feel if this game had come out in a more timely fashion with the innovations it does have, it would be considered revolutionary, but alas, we don’t live in that world. Half-Life 2, Halo, BioShock, and countless other franchises came and redefined what an FPS could be while this game was floundering between studios, leaving it so that when this game finally dropped, there really wasn’t anything special about it save for its protagonist, who himself felt like a relic from a bygone age who had become in earnest the very thing he once parodied so effectively.

It’s hard to really recommend this game; even among first-person shooters, which tend to age like milk, this game has aged very poorly. If you’re curious about it like I was, well, there are worse things to pull out of a bargain bin; the game is dirt cheap on most consoles. Generally speaking though I’d say just get the equally cheap yet infinitely better Duke Nukem 3D; it’s frankly amazing how much better that game has aged despite it being a game released in the wake of the original Doom.

What the future holds for Duke is rather unclear; at the end of this game he says he’s gonna run for President, but I dunno, the idea of an overly macho, violent, misogynistic celebrity becoming president is pretty far-fetched, riiiiiiiiiiight? Let’s not end this on a depressing note that reminds us of the bottomless stupidity of American politics, though. Let me tell you the one genuinely good thing this game brought to the world:

I brought the cover insert of the game to be signed by Jon St. John at a convention, and when I presented it he said in a tone that clearly was used to being dunked on for the game “Be honest, what did you think of the game?” And I told him, “There were a couple parts I didn’t like, but overall I thought it was fun,” and the guy just lit up. It just made me really happy that someone liking this dumb game brightened his day like that, and honestly? It wasn't a lie. I did have fun with this game, despite its flaws, and if it let me brighten the game’s star’s day by saying I enjoyed it even a little, I’m glad it exists.

#Michael After Midnight #Review #Video game review #Duke Nukem #Duke Nukem Forever #FPS #development hell #Jon St. John

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mpmwrites · 6 years

Note

“stop making empty promises!” or “maybe in another world.” for Hankvin || or || “i love you.” and “well, it’s the thought that counts.” for reed900

Hey I did them all! They’re already up on AO3, but here they are together! Partners, Hurt, Lesson, and Enough

Partners

“Oh, you dick!” Gavin seethed with mock annoyance. “It’s afuckin’ partner game, you just intentionally knocked me out!” He complained,straightening before slumping back into the couch at Hank’s side. Hank chuckedat his frustration and sat back too as the chime of coins being awarded to themblipped on the screen.

“It’s just fucking Mario Party, Gav. We both get coinseither way.” He sported a genuine smile at Gavin, both from the company and therare time they got to just have fun together.

“Yeah, but we’re still losing! I refuse to fucking letDaisy beat me.” Gavin explained as he leaned forward to take his turn.

“Us, beat us. Partner game.” Hank goaded, smilingto himself.

“Fuck off.” Gavin scowled as the mini-game screenappeared.

“Oh I’m good at this one.” Hank smirked, Gavinglared sideways at him.

“You’re only good at it because I’m not.”

“That might be true, but it’s kind of funny how shityou are at the timing games.” Hank said as the game started with arhythmic whistle. A cheerful song played and they began trying to punctuate thenotes with shakes of their controllers. Gavin missed the first, and the second,and didn’t fail to notice how Hank got each of them perfectly. On the thirdone, he elbowed Hank quickly. “Hey, asshole. That’s cheating.”

“Maybe.” He leaned against Hank on the fourthpass, harsher, but grinning. “You the Mario Party Police?”

“Gavin, you can fuck with me all you want, but you’restill gonna lose this one.” Hank chuckled, shrugging the smaller man awayfrom him forcefully. Gavin fell to the cushions in an overly dramatic reaction,laughing with mirth as he stretched his sock-covered feet into Hank’s lap and accidentally made Hank drop thecontroller.

“Doesn’t mean you’re gonna win.” he shrugged when Hankswung an incredulous look on him. The shit-eating grin he held barely abatedhis laughter at Hank’s shock.

“I’m gonna kick your ass next time we playversus.” Hank promised, giving a weak punch to Gavin’s thigh beforepushing his feet back onto the floor. Gavin took the hint and sat back up,their shoulders pressed together comfortably.

“Stop making empty promises.” Gavin teased as Hankstarted his next dice roll and he let his head drop to Hank’s shoulder.

Hurt

“Are you fucking kidding me?!” Gavin laughed,rolling his eyes, though he felt like shaking apart from a different emotionentirely. Hank didn’t answer immediately, and Gavin was yelling again,“This whole time, this whole fuckingtime you’ve been planning this, haven’t you?!” Shirtless, he flicked ahand through his hair, his other fisttensing and digging short nails into the heel of his palm. “Just leadingme on until you thought you didn’t have a goddamn choice!”

“I never fucking lied to you, Gav.” Hank’s voice,though he wasn’t yelling, was obviously straining to keep his tone even andrestrained. “You knew about Nat before we even started this shit.” Heavoided eye contact, knowing that it would only make this whole thing worse. Justlooking at Gavin in just those navy sweatpants that he liked to put on, withnothing underneath, when he knew Hank was coming over was enough to shootanother bolt of guilt through him. He felt too warm, but knew taking off hisjacket would be some kind of concession, one he couldn’t allow himself.

“Yeah I fuckin’ knew! Fuck, I’m so fuckingstupid.” Gavin seethed, beginning to pace on the sealed concrete floors ofhis reclaimed apartment. Hank watched the way his shoulders flexed with pent upanger and had to forcibly ignore the pang of lust that the sight ignited.

“Don’t say that. It’s my damn fault.” Hankadmitted. “I shouldn’t have let this go so fucking far.” Because,that was really the truth of it. He was dating Natalie for only two weeksbefore Gavin had transferred into central, and had been precariously balancingthe two of them for two months before he caved and let Gavin blow him after adinner date with Nat. He knew then, that Nat was maybe who he could settle downwith, but he wasn’t gonna be able to just walk away from Gavin.

He told Gavin a week after he proposed that they should stopall of it. Gavin answered by dragging him to his bedroom and keeping him up allnight. Part of Hank wanted this argument to end the same way. A big part of him.

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have.” Gavin wasn’t yellinganymore, but he breathed spite. “Takes two to fucking tango.”

“Yeah, and when there’s three you start tripping overeach other’s feet.” Hank bit back. “I tried this months ago, Gavin.I’m fucking sorry that you wouldn’tlet me, and that I couldn’t make myself actually do it.” He sighed. Gavinstopped moving, looking at his feet with his arms wrapped around his chest.Hank recognized the same look from that night exactly eight and a half monthsago, because Gavin looked so small and hurt and that was exactly why Hank wasdoing it all over again. Gavin was trying to hide all of it from Hank, and Hankwas pretty sure the worst part of it was the fact the he could see Gavin falling apart from theinside. "She doesn’t deserve this,Gavin, you have to know that.“

"Yeah, and I fucking do.” The final word came out as a sob and Gavin flinched atthe restraint that failed him. He raised a furious palm to his face to rub hiseyes. “Fuck.” He cursed at himself, turning away from Hank. Hankmoved closer anyway, standing just behind Gavin and feeling like an ass. Which,he knew, he definitely was.

“You don’t.” Was all Hank could think to say.Gavin spun on him, all wet cheeks and fury as he shoved Hank as hard as hecould.

“If you really fucking believed that, this wouldn’t behappening. I don’t know what the fuck you thought was going to happen tonight, Anderson.” That solidified thetruth for Hank, and he knew enough just to keep his mouth shut. “Did youthink that you were gonna show up and tell me this and I was just gonna smileand nod?! Maybe in another world, Hank! I don’t give a fuck about her feelings!I don’t fucking care if this is the right thing to do! I’m selfish and I’msaying that this isn’t fucking okay! You can’t make it be okay! She doesn’t even have a goddamn clue about any ofthis and I’m the one that has to just fucking sit here and be the one leftbehind while you get your shitty white fucking fence!” His voice grewhoarse as he ranted, a deep red flush traveling down his neck.

Hank wanted to yell back. He wanted to tell Gavin that thisdidn’t feel good for him either. He needed Gavin to know that he was right, andthis wasn’t fair. He wanted Gavin to hurtthe way he was; to tell him that Gavin wasn’t capable of committing the waythat she was, and that’s what Hank had been waiting to see in Gavin over thepast two years.

He didn’t say anything as Gavin panted, waiting for aretort.

He stepped closer, and planted a kiss on Gavin’s cheek, andsaid goodbye.

Lesson

Gavin smiled as RK manipulated the fingers on his righthand. Sitting across from the android at Starbucks, they’d taken their lunchbreak as another lesson in communication. Learning sign was easy enough, butGavin struggled with matching his expressions properly to the motion of hishands. True, there were times when he had to ask RK to fingerspell a sign hehadn’t learned yet, or encourage him to slow down, please, but they weregetting there.

Pointer, pinky, and thumb extended, RK released his hand, satisfiedwith its arrangement.

“What’s that mean?” Gavin spoke.

‘I, L, Y’ the successive letters came in quick response. Ifall letters were presented at the same time, it formed the sign that Gavin hadbeen shown. Gavin waited for further explanation.

RK pointed to himself, crossed his arms, and then pointed toGavin.

Gavin started back at his honest expression, not surewhether or not this was all a genuine confession or simply a lesson he waslooking to closely at. After a beat, RK was signing frantically, his eyesshifting way nervously and Gavin caught less than half of what he was saying.

“Slow down, I can't…” Gavin protested, shaking hishead. “RK.” He tried again, his voice louder. The android froze,looking stunned. “You serious?” He implored carefully.

‘Gavin, I love you.’ RK repeated, frowning slightly. 'I’msorry.’

“You don’t have to be sorry.” Gavin sighed,“I love you too.”

Enough

Gavin swung opened his front door as he took off his jacket,tossing it on the recliner nearby and toeing off his shoes quickly.“Hey,” He greeted the android currently seated on his couch,engrossed in something on Gavin’s portable. Rafe didn’t move in the slightest,offing no greeting. Gavin moved over to the couch, leaning over the back of itto look over Rafe’s shoulder “I said Hey.What’re you so interested in?” Before Rafe switched over to the whiteboardapp, Gavin caught a look at a website he’d seen before. The site wasn’tsomething Gavin used personally, but had seen Rafe use to find techs that couldperform repairs or software changes if he needed them. He had told Gavin thatsince Cyberlife had done little for his well being, he had no interest infurther interference form the company, reclaimed or not.

'Nothing of importance. Welcome home.’ Rafe doodled on theblank screen, offering a smile that Gavin had seen him practicing in the mirrorbefore. The whiteboard app wasn’t as efficient as simply offering Gavin aninstant text readout of Rafe’s thoughts, but Rafe preferred the personal aspectof writing them himself.

“Don’t say it’s fuckin’ nothing.” Gavin frowned,reaching for the device. Rafe held it out of his reach and fitted Gavin with anannoyed look.

'You have no concept of privacy.’

“Yeah, you’re using myportable. I don’t know if it counts as invading your privacy.” Gavinsmiled, hopping over the back of the sectional and landing half in Rafe’s lap.“Just fucking tell me.” Gavin frowned, leaning heavily on theandroid.

'I unintentionally insulted you this morning.’

“Shit happens.” Gavin shrugged, though he felt a pangof hurt at the memory of the argument.

'It would not have happened if I was fully functioning.’ Theexplanation was written smaller, the letters formed slowly and withapprehension. Gavin’s eyes twitched over the words and he straightened.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean? You never saidyou were hurt.” Again, that same feeling rang through his chest, tintedwith guilt at having not noticed.

'You misunderstand. I am not hurt.’ Rafe offered quickly. Heerased it again almost as quickly as Gavin could read it. 'I am trying to findsomeone who can install an auditory output function.’ The admission came with afrown, his eyes downcast.

“You want to talk.”

'Yes.’

“Why?” Gavin frowned harder, his eyebrows creasingtogether, “I mean, you never said so before and now all of a sudden?Because of this morning? Did I fucking make you feel like you need it?”Gavin stood, tension keeping him from staying still.

'No. I want to communicate with you.’ The writinggrew slightly less precise as Rafe rushed what he wanted to say. Gavin crossedhis arms.

“You don’t get to fucking say that when you won’t evenexplain to me what the fuck is going on.” He watched as Rafe blinkedslowly, his face remaining impassive. He shook his head briefly as his handwent white where it held the portable up in front of him. Words began fillingthe screen, almost faster than Gavin could read them. His lips parted as hiseyes flickered back and forth to take in what Rafe had to say.

'Like this morning and just now, I can only show you text. Icannot give you inflection or emphasis or feelingin what I wish to say to you. It’s become challenging for you and I to enjoyeach other’s company because of this. You misunderstand what I say because Icannot express it properly, and it frustrates me to see you upset. The logicalanswer seemed to repair my faults so that when I tell you I Love You, you canunderstand how I feel.’

He watched as Gavin read, tension bleeding off of him in thesilence and the ease visibly showing in his posture. When the text stoppedscrolling, he watched Gavin’s eyes pass between his face and the screen severaltimes. He watched as Gavin hung his head for a moment, rubbing his eyes andbiting his lip, exactly the way he usually did when he was fighting over whichthoughts were anxiety and unnecessary irritation. He waited as Gavin foughtagainst himself for what he really wanted to say.

“You know, I’m not that great at this either.”There was still a rough, defensive edge to his words “And my voice worksjust fuckin’ fine.” he sighed, dropping back to the couch with one legfolded under him. He ran a hand through his hair briskly.

'I know.’

“Yeah, well, you should know then, that having or nothaving a damn voice isn’t what makes you a shitty communicator.” Hefinally looked up to meet Rafe’s eyes, then looked away again. “I like youjust fine the way you are.” He admitted quietly. “It’s the thoughtthat counts, but I don’t need you to change for me.” he nodded, staringdown the cat, who was listening intently to his every word. He shifted slightlyand looked to Rafe again, holding his gaze. “But it’s important to you,and I’m going to try to be a better listener.” He made an attempt at anapologetic smile, “Can’t that be enough?” He begged.

Rafe lurched toward him, dropping the tablet to the cushionbetween them and enveloping Gavin in a grateful embrace.

#dbh #dbh fanfic #reed900 #gavin x rk900 #hank x gavin #hankvin #fanfic #nonverbal rk900 #prompts #dbh prompts

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