#cheers to this game i need to play it again at some point the cast is so cute ???

[hemmingsleclerc]

Worth it┃sirius black

summary: where Sirius is completely in love with James's sister, but everytime he wants to ask her on a date somehow ends up doing something embarrassing

just sirius being a dumbass in love

･˳ . ⋆ .˳⁺⁎˚ ⋆･˳ . ⋆ .˳⁺⁎˚ ⋆･˳ . ⋆ .˳⁺⁎˚ ⋆･˳ . ⋆ .˳⁺⁎˚ ⋆･˳ . ⋆ .˳⁺⁎˚ ⋆･˳ . ⋆ .˳⁺⁎˚ ･˳ . ⋆

Sirius Black, known for his confident attitude and big ego, became a totally different person when it came to Y/n Potter, James' twin sister. From the moment he first saw her on the Hogwarts Express, he fell in love with her. Her bright eyes, her laughter that echoed through the halls, and her loyalty to her friends captivated Sirius in a way he couldn't explain.

However, every attempt Sirius made to impress her seemed to end in humiliation. Whether it was tripping over his own feet, accidentally dropping a potion in Potions class while he was trying to show off, or simply forgetting his words when she stared at him or smiled, Sirius managed to humiliate himself over and over again and the marauders found endless fun in his failed attempts.

One particularly incident occurred during a Gryffindor Quidditch match. Sirius had been practicing tirelessly, determined to catch Y/n's eye with his skills as a Seeker and impress her (again). As he zoomed across the pitch during the game against Slytherin, he spotted Y/n cheering enthusiastically in the stands. Heart pounding with nerves, Sirius dove towards the Snitch, only to misjudge his speed and crash into a ring, sending the Snitch away to the opposite end of the field. The entire stadium bursted into laughter, including Y/n, who clapped a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle her giggles.

"Nice one, Pad! Maybe next time you'll catch something other than the ground," James joked mercilessly after the match, laughing his head off, slapping Sirius on the back.

Sirius tried to laugh, but inside he felt enormous disappointment and shame. He had wanted with all his might to impress Y/n, to show her that he was more than just a prankster or a reckless troublemaker. But every time he tried, it seemed like he only managed to make a fool of himself.

Despite his repeated failures, Sirius refused to give up, she was worth it and he wasn't going to give up so easily. He found himself casting nervous glances at Y/n during meals in the Great Hall, trying to work up the courage to approach her. However, every time he decided to talk to her, his tongue would get stuck and his palms would sweat. Even simple greetings turned into awkward exchanges in which Sirius would end up stumbling over his words or making some ill-timed joke that fell flat.

One rainy afternoon, Sirius was sitting in his dorm with his friends. Peter and Remus were playing a game of wizard chess nearby while James lay on his bed playing with his snitch, occasionally casting sympathetic glances in Sirius' direction.

"You know, mate," Remus began tentatively, moving a knight on the board, "maybe you should just ask her out straightforwardly. None of this grand gesture stuff. Just be yourself."

Sirius sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I've tried, Moony. Every time I try to talk to her, I end up making a complete fool of myself. She probably thinks I'm an idiot by this point."

James chuckled "Nah, she doesn't think you're an idiot. Just a bit… charmingly clumsy as she told me."

Sirius rolled his eyes, but he couldn't help but smile at his friends' attempts to cheer him up. Deep down, he knew they were right. Maybe he had been going about it all wrong. Perhaps what Y/n needed was not grand gestures or witty banter, but simply honesty.

The next day, Sirius was walking through the black lake, letting his feet walk without any direction, however he realized that he was precisely addressing Y/n who was reading a book in front of the lake. His heart raced as he made his way over, his friends watching with anticipation from a distance.

"Here goes nothing," Sirius muttered under his breath, taking a deep breath to steady his nerves.

As he approached Y/n, she looked up and smiled warmly at him. Sirius felt his legs weak.

''Hey Y/n''

''Hey sirius, what's up?''

''everythings fine, um I wanted to ask you something''

Sirius felt his throat dry and his mind went blank.

''Are you okey sirius? you seem a bit...pale'' Y/n asked doubtfully, standing up and getting closer to Sirius.

''No! I'm good don't worry!'' Sirius was actually planning on pretending to faint, or running away.

''Okey?..Well anyways I also wanted to ask you something''

Sirius was about to open his mouth to let the words out but Y/n interrupted him.

''I was wondering if you'd like to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?" Y/n said smiling ear to ear

Time seemed to stand still for Sirius. His eyes widened in shock, his mouth hanging open. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Did she just ask him out before he could ask her?

Taken by surprise, Sirius took a step back, his heart racing even more. To his surprise, he tripped on a tree root and fell to the ground with a thud.

Laughter erupted in the distance, echoing through the garden. James, Remus and Peter had been responsible for these as they were almost crying of laughter, unable to contain their amusement at Sirius's latest fall.

Sirius lay on the ground for a moment, his face burning with shame. He stood up as quickly as he could, trying to maintain some semblance of composure and dignity.

Y/n rushed over to him, concern mixing with her laughter. "Oh my god!, are you okay?"

Sirius nodded, his cheeks still flushed. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just… just caught me by surprise, that's all."

Y/n chuckled softly, offering him a hand up. "Sorry about that. I couldn't resist."

Despite the embarrassment, Sirius couldn't help but grin. "No need to apologize. I… I'd love to go to Hogsmeade with you."

Y/n smiled wildly, relief evident in her eyes. "Great! It's a date then."

Sirius felt a wave of relief and excitement. He had managed to get through another embarrassing moment, but this time he had turned out better than he could have imagined.

As they separated, the rest of the marauders approached him, still laughing at him. James patted him on the back, shaking his head in amusement and hugging him by the side and Sirius couldn't help but do a little victory dance.

Despite all his fumbles and embarrassing moments, he knew one thing for certain: Y/n Potter was worth every stumble and every awkward pause.

[dancing-dawn]

atsushi for the ask game 🙏

Oh my darling boy, my sweetest joy, oh, how this ask has brought the brightest smile upon my face. Hihi this is gonna be a long one, I tried my best to restrain myself, I swear!

Favourite thing

Boldsushi! SASSUSHI! I love how unapologetically cocky and no-bullshit he gets when surrounded by utter madness and at some (many) points he feels like the only reasonable person in the room. He is also literally the most unique and lovable (once you get to really know him) protagonist I've ever read. My boy is so complex and to me, out of the whole cast, he feels the most like a real person.

Least favourite thing

Atp I adore canon Atsushi so much, the only thing I dislike is his fanon perception. In particular - people who just do not get why he's a compelling protagonist and not a "weak pathetic crybaby." I am pointing knives at everyone who still dares to STILL utter those lies this after recent chapters.

Favourite line

*clears throat*

"Away with you... you fool."

...but! Considering that is not an original thought but a shamelessly stolen flirty dramatic ass pick-up line from our second best boy xD I'll give you another, the silly and the serious:

"All this cause of Dazai, well, Dazai, my ass!"

-> oh the amount of times I have rewided to hear this over and over, laughing hysterically every single time, oh dear

Ok now for the serious one:

"Akutagawaaaaaa!"

"People need to be told they're worthy of being alive by someone else or they can't go on."

-> I love this one because of how blatantly wrong he is. And by wrong, I mean having an unhealthy mindset plagued by deep-rooted trauma, and this being the only way he's learned to cope. That's why he's a fascinating character. He's not saying this as a "lesson" or "moral" to the audience, nor as an objective truth - he's simply stating what he believes in and what drives him to keep going. Obviously this is an incredibly dangerous life policy to have because if you surround yourself by people who don't have your best interest in mind, and you rely on them to tell you what your worth is and why you're allowed to live - then you're just doomed, you're playing with the hazard of life and walking the thinnest line between hope and despair.

I can get into how this also connects to Akutagawa’s influence on Atsushi as he, subconsciously or not, helps him grow in the direction of living seperately from his past and abiding by his own ideals (something that is mirrored by Aku's own struggles), seeing his self-worth and taking action EVEN if faced with his biggest fear of being alone, even when the world is against him and there's no one there to pat him on the back and tell him he did a good job, even when everything and everyone has fought for is gone and he's left to pick up the pieces and he needs to believe his strength goes beyond the tiger's prowess, that he exists for a reason and he is enough, he is allowed to believe himself worthy of going on...

...but this wall of text is gonna have no end, so maybe another time!

brOTP

Kyouka & Atsushi. There is just no stronger familial relationship than those two and their influence on each other's lives is very sweet and very important. For me this hits especially hard in Beast and makes me tear up, just a bit (totally). I also regularly think about the crepe scene and it fills my heart with warmth and joy. Big brother Atsushi, my love, I will die for you (im almost starting to sound like yk who, jesus).

OTP

Ahem, *clears throat again*

*picks up the microphone* *leans down and whispers*

"Skin Soukoku."

*the crowd claps and cheers, showering me with bouquets of daisies and black roses* *i bow and take my leave, the faintest trace of a smile on my face*

nOTP

mmmm I actually don't have one, I think?? Even tho I will die on my sskk hill, I respect all ships with Atsushi because they're just wholesome and fun if you imagine then in an alternate universe (where Aku somehow doesn't exist *cough*) I guess if you're fooorcing me to choose, I will have to say Dazatsu because it just doesn't make sense to me, I cannot even see it making sense in any universe or scenario - for me they are simply mentor and mentee, barely even friends at max. The hierarchy gap here is just too large, I feel. But I enjoy some cute fanarts here and there for fun nonetheless <3

Random headcanon

He is absolutely ogling every single cutesy tiger-themed article of clothing and furniture he sees but needs to restrain himself due to the imaginary flies coming out of his wallet. Kyouka notices this someday and buys him a baby tiger plushie or some cartoony tiger bedsheets (*cough* which I may or may not have already written into my wip *cough*).

Unpopular opinion

Considering my only habitat is sskk circles with very insighful people who understand his character mmmm it's a bit hard for me to know what is unpopular. But I'm gonna say that his flashbacks to the orphanage are not reduntant at all, no matter how repetitive they get, because it honestly feels like how a real person would experience trauma. It's not sugar-coated or glorified for the interest of the story, it just feels genuine yk?

Song I associate with them

Lacy - Olivia Rodrigo, because of this gorgeous animatic by @piedpip3rrr

For the love of everything, please just drop everything for a minute and watch this, if you haven't already.

Everything about it is sheer perfection - the storytelling, the relation of the characters to the lyrics, the incredibly expressive and gorgeous drawings, the coloring (that has a storytelling of its own even!!), the subtle motions that just pull on your heartstrings with every single beat. I love this thing <3

Favourite picture

*pushes my sunglasses slightly over the bridge of my nose and slides this across our imaginary table*

*disappears into the shadows*

...

*feral shouting resonates through the aforementioned shadows*

Ok OK LIsteN. I think, and I am correct, that we as a fandom have failed spectacularly by getting over this panel WAY so soon. Yes, I have the "you fool" one printed out at my desk and I stare at it lovingly every half hour or so, but THIS ONE! Oh, this belongs in a museum. I would pay money if I had to, just to rest my gaze upon it for a mere second. I believe I need not express myself on why it's so magnificent... but I'm gonna do it anyway, becuz who's stopping me, my blog my rules woooo! :D

1. Peak of Harukawa's new art style. Hands down. The softness of his features. The tender look in his eyes. The composition is strikingly dynamic and just heartbreaking to take it all in. There is a dream-like quality to it that makes it feel ethereal, yet it depicts a living nightmare.

2. Oh, the hand reaching out for Aku. The way he turned his whole body to face him mid fall. As if he's seeking comfort because he's scared to die alone and he's scared of leaving his partner, no matter if he knows his strength and believes in him with his whole being. The way there is not an inkling of regret in his eyes, because he's finally done the right thing. It's his closure, his retribution, his response to a sacrifice in his own name that he didn't believe himself worthy of. But now he understands. Need I say more?

P.S. Link to the Aku sequel because they shall always come as a pair <3

[stevetonydatingsim]

Steve/Tony dating sim announcement & writer casting call!

The best part about a multiverse is all the different Steves and Tonys we get—and imagining them meeting. And kissing. And flirting. And maybe doing something a little spicier.

But why stick with imagining that when we can make it a reality? When we can make a Steve/Tony multiverse dating game? 

That’s right, we’re making a game and it'll be free to play! What exactly does that entail? The Steve/Tony dating sim (name TBD. We’re all ears for any ideas you have) will be a visual novel-style game that’s mostly dialogue with some simple minigames thrown in. You get to play as a Steve or Tony from one of the many universes that exist who’s thrown into a rift in reality with a bunch of other Steves and Tonys. You’ll get to decide whom to work with to invent, fight, flirt, and date your way back home. 

We’ll be sharing updates on the game development and launch on this Tumblr so make sure to follow us!

Who we are

The Steve/Tony dating sim team is made up of passionate Steve/Tony fans who have come together to write and illustrate the dating game of our dreams, coded by the wonderfully talented @v-thinks-on. You can read more about us here.

How this works

In order to make the game, we need writers for the player and love interest characters, artists for the visuals, and more. At this point, we’re looking specifically for love interest writers, but make sure to follow us as we’ll be looking for volunteers for other roles in the coming months!

Love interest writers can either work on their own or with a partner(s) to plot out and write a simple narrative arc and series of dates for a potential love interest character (a character that the player can choose to interact with and date). They construct the foundational beats for the story and dialogue for the love interest character, and they provide choices for player responses (you can indicate that the player can respond angrily, morosely, or happily to a certain line, but you’re not writing the player dialogue yourself). Later, player writers will insert responses to the existing love interest’s dialogue you wrote. It’s kind of like roleplay! 

For example, your script may look something like this:

Tony616 “So, you’re a Steve, huh” If <angry response>: Tony616 “Sorry I asked” If <happy response>: Tony616 “You’re a cheerful one, eh?” [the player gets closer to Tony616]

To get a more detailed understanding of how this works, see this guide here. We’re also happy to answer any questions, and we have a Discord server where we brainstorm and talk as a group.

Existing love interest storylines (more to come later!)

The following characters have arcs that are outlined already, and their writers are looking for a partner to collaborate with. Here are short pitches to give you a sense of each character’s emotional journey through the game.

616 Tony 

Iron Man V.1 128 Tony is newly sober for the first time and still hiding that he’s Iron Man. The player can either help Tony open up or drive him to drinking again. 

1872 Tony

Pre-canon Tony has lost faith in humanity and himself. Will the player convince him to get back on his feet? Or will he think everyone's better off with him at the bottom of a bottle?

616 Steve 

Avengers V4 Steve has just returned from the dead after his fight with his Tony about the Superhero Registration Act. He wants to trust Player, but can he?

MCU Steve

Post-2012 Avengers Steve is lost and doesn't know his place in the new century. Through his interactions with the player, he finds his home and purpose.

Don���t see a character you want to write for on this list? 

You can volunteer to write any Steve or Tony you want! In fact, we actively want more Steves and Tonys. This is a multiverse dating sim, after all, so the more the merrier. To help you choose, here is a list of universes we have writers for and available universes (if you want a universe not on this list, that means it's available)! Just contact us with the canon character you’re interested in writing for and whether you’d like to work solo or with a partner(s).

The only exceptions we have are a Steve or Tony who doesn't exist in the universe you picked (e.g., we won't accept Noir Steve as he doesn't exist in Noir) as well as Hydra Cap and Steves and Tonys who are canonically under 18 due to the nature of the game, the type of game people want to make/play, and how the game-making process works.

We don't foresee issues with other universes, particularly as we're in the "you do you"/"YKINMKATO" (your kink is not my kink and that's okay) camp when it comes to fandom. However, we'll be considering other universes on a case-by-case basis as we may not know or remember all the universes that exist. Because of this, we recommend giving more than one character option in your application if possible!

How to apply

Please email stevetonydatingsim@gmail.com with the following information:

Confirmation that you’re over 18 (just let us know you’re 18+; we’re not asking you to share personal info)

The best way(s) to contact you

What character you’d like to write for (universe and name). If you have multiple, please order by preference

Do you want to write alone or with a partner(s)?

A writing sample focusing on Steve and Tony (link or attachment), ideally with a good amount of dialogue. This doesn’t have to be a complete piece with a beginning, middle, and end; it's more to get a sense of your style and understanding of characterization, so all we ask is that it’s easy to follow. This can be something you’ve already written or you can write something new for this application. We don't have a minimum word requirement; if we need more from you, we'll let you know.

Contact us

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions. You can reach us by email, Tumblr Messenger, askbox, Twitter DM, or Bluesky DM. Thank you!

[allthingssteddie]

Steve wasn’t expecting his parents to be at his game that day. They never showed up before so he’s not sure why they bother now. But as Steve’s playing his dad keeps criticizing him from the stands he can’t help but be distracted and in that moment. Steve's team is down by one point with seconds left. And as he trying to shoot the shot the opposing player blocks Steve's shot, and they both crash to the floor.

Leaving Steve to fall and in the result his spine gets injured. Leaving him paralyzed. When they get to the hospital he undergoes surgery and as he wakes up he tries to move but his legs aren’t working he’s freaking out and his parents are by his side. the doctor explains what happened and he asked if he can ever walk again the doctor tells him there’s a slight chance and Steve can’t believe his father when he huffs and he blames it on Steve telling him he should of been more focused. Steve starts to blame this on him self too. But as the weeks go on at the hospital his dad puts him in a private wing with hope he can get physical therapy. But Steve also knows that his dad is embarrassed by him. At this point Steve just feels depressed and hopeless. But one day Eddie walks in his room he’s a Candy striper and he’s trying to cheer Steve up but it doesn’t work at first but over the weeks when Steve’s quiet Eddie will read to him and eventually Steve starts to talk to him back and Eddie tries to encourage him to try therapy but Steve feels like it’s useless. Eddie tells him he will be there with him if he wants at this point they are starting to develop feeling for one in another. But one day Eddie slipped into Steve's hospital room, the dim lighting casting shadows on their faces.

"Eddie, what are you doing here?" Steve whispered.

"I needed to see you," Eddie replied, his voice barely audible.

Steve's eyes locked onto Eddie's, filled with concern.

"Is everything okay?" Steve asked.

Eddie nodded, his gaze drifting to Steve's hand. He took it, his fingers intertwining with Steve's.

"I had a heart surgery as a kid," Eddie began, his voice filled with vulnerability. "Multiple surgeries, hospital stays...my uncle Wayne had to work multiple jobs to afford it."

Steve's grip tightened around Eddie's hand.

"I'm so sorry, Eddie," Steve whispered.

Eddie's eyes met Steve's, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I never told anyone about this. Not even my friends."

Steve's thumb traced the scar on Eddie's chest, sending shivers down his spine.

Their gazes held, the tension between them palpable.

Without breaking eye contact, Steve's lips brushed against Eddie's.

Their kiss was tender, filled with emotion.

As they parted, Eddie smiled.

"I've wanted to do that for so long," Eddie whispered.

Steve's smile mirrored Eddie's.

"Me too," Steve replied.

Also side note i was thinking at some point Eddie had to get another surgery and Steve would help Eddie get through it like Eddie helped him through this physical therapy.

[toons-inkwell]

Finding "Frankie" AU. Chapter: 1

Warnings: Death, blood, this is a horror game AU ya know so all that.

Words: 4,980. (Check reblogs after for author's notes if interested)

The sound of metal springs rapidly coiling and relaxing reverberated off concrete walls deep in an area hidden from the public's eye. What once was an attraction built to harbor cheer, joy, and entice adults and children to come play now was a demented trap built to trick unsuspecting fools looking for money. Posters and murals depicting what the mascots were supposed to look like were plastered all over, nothing but imagery that would give people a false sense of security before finding out what those mascots really looked like. Originally cartoons, the cast of a once beloved TV show now were twisted beyond recognition. The one the springs belonged to and what lurked through staff only areas was none other than the titular protagonist and namesake of the entire show, Frankie. Of course Frankie was a bit different from his on-screen appearance, in fact he wasn't Frankie at all. Sure his name was effectively the same and he had some semblance to him in terms of appearance, but from the very moment he was created he was told a different story. He was born of the soul and in memoriam of one of the departed showrunner's who died too soon, "Franky"—with a Y. Out of grief the remaining showrunner and the brother to the deceased crafted him to carry on the legacy, for him to help continue the show even in its... New format. He didn't like to think about that though, truth be told he didn't know what he was in his current state. He held no memories of what he was like, what Franky was like, nor did he feel like something that was once a man. All he knew was that he was created to help his brother get their show back and if that meant being a ruthless monster who would rip contestants apart, so be it. He knew his place and that was right alongside his brother–

["FRANKY!"]

Franky's long lop-ears twitched as he heard his name be called out over the facilities' intercom. His body jittered unnaturally, all the springs connected to his limbs froze up and he rotated his head to face a camera on the wall pointed directly at him. On the other side of the screen watching him dwelled his creator and only family, the real Frankie.

["Sorry there Franky, didn't mean to alarm you yet we got SO MUCH to do in such a SHORT amount of time that I thought it was important enough to use the intercom to speak to you!”]

The rabbit’s ears twitched again. With a tilted head he looked at the camera and stood still, not wanting the rustling of his springy joints to drown out whatever was about to be said

["While nobodies watching right now that won't mean they won't be soon! As of this very moment I've been getting everything in order for when they are! Apologies Franky for not telling you sooner but I'm sure you'll be happy to know that we managed to earn enough donations to get this show renewed for ANOTHER SEASON!... Just barely at least..."

Franky's ears raised slightly hearing the last few words muttered quietly. Keeping the show running as well as all the expenses of the parkour palace had eaten up most of the money they were supposed to be saving up to renew the long canceled television show. He usually didn't concern himself with the finances but if it was affecting the chances of them getting what was once theirs it would soon become his issue as well.

["Heh, don't you worry your big ears about it! Just meet me in my office, we have some BIG things to discuss this new season, I'm thinking for a little shake up!"]

With directions being given, Franky scampered towards the other rabbit’s office, scrunching down here and there whenever he needed to go down an elevator or up stairs. He often wondered why he didn't have an office like Frankie did, did he merely not need one? He did run on electricity, at least his body did, so wouldn't it make more sense to give him some sorta special room where he could recharge instead of having to share a room with the other mascots? Was it that he didn't... Deserve one?

With a shake of his head he dismissed such a silly thought and he pressed on into one of the final areas of the little show they had crafted. A momentous attraction dubbed "Frankie's Frozen Peak" that was ripe to face the action of people attempting to reach the top. Sadly no one even made it past the first area, let alone this final one. Despite the rather grim decor he had been commanded to setup, not a single soul was ever able to bear witness to the various platforms, hazards, or the rising pink "slime" that were installed into the mountain. Franky didn't really care about the lack of use the mountain saw though, in fact the less people he had to deal with the better. The only thing he really paid attention to in the immediate area were the various cardboard cutouts placed along where people would line up to participate. The friendly smiling face of what he was modeled after and what a cartoon should look like followed him as he veered to the side and ignored the mountain, instead heading towards a staircase on the side. With a quick stretch of his hand to the very top, Franky let his stressed coil arm relax and skyrocket him upwards. The entire stairway shook once he landed on it, his heavy feet kicking up dust as he tilted his head towards the human sized door with a sign next to it reading "CEO OFFICE". It was a tight fit but he was more than adept at squeezing into tight spaces, with a contract of his springs he waddled over and opened the door to the office.

There awaiting him sat Frankie, his supposed brother and the one destined to eventually take the role as the host once this silly gameshow came to an end. While Franky himself looked rather unruly with rows of horrendous sharp teeth, a maw always partially agape, and accessories that consisted of old scrap metal with a sloppy, almost worn down paint coating them, Frankie had none of that. The once human was what the TV show Frankie was supposed to look like, pristine, cleanly, and friendly looking. The only real difference between the cartoon appearance of the magical rabbit and Frankie’s body was the fact that Frankie had these small beady eyes and while his was smaller than his own prototype body, it was still quite large unlike the tiny toon that was showcased everywhere. Once upon a time when Franky first awoke Frankie himself was human as he once was. His brains and nervous system wasn't exactly attuned to his body like they were now but he could still remember opening his eyes and through faded vision being greeted by a smile of his brother who welcomed him back into the world. His creation was what led to Frankie becoming as he was now, once he was created and subsequently Henry Hotline, Frankie perfected the process and ditched his old human self to become Frankie to take back the old TV show and renew his place as the host. Franky was aware once the TV show was renewed he would not be showcased in it, he wasn't perfect nor anywhere near as appealing looking as his brother, but being the main one who the cameras focused on when slaughtering the contestants was more than enough to satiate his desire for fame. After all he has 57 seasons worth of footage of him doing what he did best, and soon it was to be 58.

"FRANKY!" Frankie greeted as soon as he saw his brother's rustling limbs and head squeeze down the corridor "took ya long enough! Now take a seat because you may wanna sit down for this one"

Franky looked towards the wall and noticed a chair. Considering his torso was twice the size of it he silently rejected and stared back at his brother.

"...Okay that's perfectly okay—now DOWN TO BUSINESS!" Frankie reached down and from his desk he pulled out a file holding a stack of miscellaneous papers "we got a lot of ground to cover... A lot..."

Although Franky didn't know what was in the folder of the papers, the intensity of his brother's stare alerted him to something being off. The air grew thick and he felt unsettled to know that something changed his brother's usually cheery mood. If he was capable of sweating in his metallic body he would at the sudden light switch tone shift and feared the worse about their current show and the future renewal of the original. With a small raise of his hand he reached over, hoping to take a peek at what could possibly be considered "a lot".

FWHIP

Frankie had slammed the folder shut and leaned back "HA! No, no, no, no! You don't need to worry yourself about this!" Frankie opened it once more and sifted through the papers, his head moving with each scan of the contents "I wouldn't want you to get stressed with all this, after all I know how sloppy you can get when you're out of the zone, wouldn't want a repeat of season 26 would we!?"

Franky's hand went back into its resting position and a growl emerged from his mouth. It was his personal way of expressing subtle annoyance although it quickly subsided at the mention of season 26. The cries were something that stuck with the viewers even after all this time.

"That's what I thought, now as for what we gotta discuss–" Frankie picked up a piece of paper displaying a graph, one that had the direction one line steadily set in the red "things haven't been... Great with the gameshow and for the past 3 seasons we've had to dip into the savings just to keep this place up, running, and funded"

Franky let out another growl, this time one of worry. If they weren't profiting or bare minimum breaking even with each season that meant there would be no big Finding Frankie comeback. With how much they desired to get that show back it made him fear their dream would be out of reach.

“What I wanted to go over with you was the ratings regarding the past few seasons and why we are actively losing money, it seems here that nobody getting far becomes boring, honestly the fact that barely now it's starting to become repetitive is a miracle!" Frankie chuckled and waved his hands in the air "now we are running a gameshow here and while we certainly can't let anybody win there's at least gotta be players to play in it"

Franky didn't understand...

The mascot saw his brother's confusion and sighed, with a shake and roll of his head to mimick and eye roll Frankie spoke in a quieter, more serious tone "Listen, while I know you just loooovveee~ ripping the contestants to shreds or squishing them underneath your feet we gotta break even this time or else there may not only be no TV show, but there may be no gameshow or even parkour palace!" Frankie held his head as it spun around on his spring neck before stopping "All you gotta do is simply hold off until I give the signal, heck maybe at least let them meet Henry, I'm sure he's probably dying to chat with somebody that isn't over the phone."

Franky didn't like the sound of that. He didn't like the sound of that one bit.

His entire body vibrated in discomfort. The very idea of anything different being done made him unleash a guttural noise from the depths of his head that was lined with bolts. Springs of his emitted a rattling sound as they stretched out, his hands and feet pushing against the confines of the tiny room. It was his show, not Henry's, why would the audience care if the contestant met Henry or not!? It was bullshit on every degree and account, until they got the money HE should be the one with all the attention on him. This gameshow would be the only time he got the spotlight so why was it being stolen by the person who the show was named after—Oh wait! That's right! IT WASN'T! The shows named Finding Frankie! NOT FINDING HENRY FUCKING HOTLINE!

"FRANKY!"

Franky froze up. The heavy tone carried by the other rabbit made him feel like his entire body had spontaneously rusted. Although incapable of seeing any emotion other than a giant smile, he could feel the rage in those black dots that stared at him.

With Franky slowly retracting back Frankie sighed, releasing his anger at his brother "...listen, I know you love to kill but just this once let at least one live okay? Just long enough to give the audience false hope, donate some more, and then once we reach a goal you can do with him whatever you please" With a wag of his finger Frankie switched back to his energetic persona, speaking hoppy and jolly "we're running a game show here, we gotta at least showcase somebody actually running through a few obstacles right?! This isn't just some snuff livestream!" Frankie suddenly perked up and looked towards a printer that had a stack of cold papers in the output tray "well... At least it wasn't intended to be" Frankie reached over and looked at a few of them, each page lined head to toe with requests of donors. It was times like this the once-human wished he could grimace and not be held back by his wide smile "I'm pretty sure everyone who sends us some of these just wanna watch you kill people in different ways, pretty uhh... pretty disturbing stuff now that I think about it" he scratched his head seeing only a few of the very graphic descriptions "eugh... whatever—THIS IS A GAME SHOW AT THE END OF THE DAY!" Frankie tossed the papers and let them fly about in the air before turning to Franky one last time. With a shoo gesture he gave one last command "go tell Henry he'll be expected to actually chase a contestant this time around, maybe that could liven up that old sourpuss, last I saw he was letting the stress of that talk show of his get to him again”

Franky said nothing and did as he was told, crawling out through the small area he fell all the way to the floor of the mountain parkour area. The springs his legs consisted of broke his fall upon landing down, his torso bobbing for a few seconds absorbing the impact. As he made his way to Henry's local he couldn't help but feel... Robbed? Was robbed the right word? He didn't know, all he knew was that he didn't like this direction the show was going in if it meant he was going to get shelved. The people didn't want to see Henry, and they definitely didn't want to see some loser in a costume run about, they wanted him! They wanted Frankie—or at least who they believed to be Frankie. His name was pronounced the same and even if he wasn't the host Frankie, that title belonged to his brother, he was going to cherish every moment of attention he could get where the audience believed him to be the one and only. Just the thought of having to give up something that belonged to him made his body quake but he tried his hardest to not show any emotion, not wishing to risk having an outburst that could easily be recorded on one of the many CCTV cameras scattered about. He'd just tell the objecthead the plan and get ready for what attention he could garner by only killing 3 of the 4 contestants immediately.

"Ring! Ring! Ring! Ring! It's all they FREAKIN' DO!"

Franky came to a halt as he heard the familiar voice of the talkshow host lament his frustrations. He was only at the museum and was surprised to find Henry out of his household, the mascot just trying to exert the pain of his head constantly ringing. The monstrous rabbit couldn't help but watch the sad display before him, smelling the distinct scent of rot that filled the air from a few of the people who he had killed.

Henry stood with his back to him, preoccupied with using some of the blood of the past contestants to create a grim mural as a testament and hopefully message to all those that saw to stop calling in "why does Frankie gotta insist on playing reruns—actually better yet why do the MORONS that watch them call the number—WE AIN'T ON AIR! QUIT CALLING MY GOD DAMN PHONE!" Henry placed his hands on his receiver, repeatedly picking it up and slamming it back on the hook to hang up whoever was calling "AGH! If I could get my hands on that stupid rabbit and his STUPID FREAKIN' SMILE I'D–"

Henry turned around and was met with the sight of two springs extending upwards. The rabbit had approached him as he rambled on and upon looking up and seeing Franky face to face he felt his blood and oil run cold. Henry dropped the receiver he held and let it dangle off to the side by its cord, his pitch black eyes eyes fixated on nothing else other than the rows of large sharp teeth and black spheres with glowing circles on the center that the rabbit had. His limbs felt heavy as he took a step back and tried to speak, his once normal voice now broken revealing a nervous one overlaid with what sounded like dead air or static.

"F-Franky! How nice of you to stop by! What can I uhh... Do for you on this lovely day?"

Franky didn't respond. Instead his eyes "blinked", the blue light turning off and back on. With a slow look past the mascot he stared at the mural behind Henry, one made out of pain from simply serving his role. Henry's "eyes" followed the path Franky's took, landing on the crude drawing he made depicting him with the message "DON'T CALL" next to it.

"Oh that?... Uhh d-don't worry about that, I'll clean it up, I promise! I know Frankie leaves you in charge of decorating after all" Henry clasped his hands together, the blood smearing further over his glove-like hands "I didn't mean to make that mess I just... Just... I can't deal with this GOD FORSAKEN ringing anymore, you understand? Right?"

Henry's voice glitched again, going back to its previous tones as he surveyed Franky's eyes for any sign of sympathy. Instead all he saw were those cold lights staring back at him. With a raise of a giant "gloved" hand Henry soon began taking more steps back, the springy appendage coming near him.

"Woah! Woah! Hold on there Franky!" Henry felt his back touch the smooth surface of the wall, the dark blood smearing all over his suit "Listen I wasn't talking about you! It was your brother who I was mad at!"

Henry winced and shrunk under Franky's gaze. With a past memory playing back in his head where the rabbit had been commanded to hurt him, the telephone head covered his face in order to spare whatever damage would soon come. Franky's big hand approached closer by the moment and Henry could only imagine the worse, what if Frankie had heard him and commanded his monstrous sibling to teach him a lesson. What if the Deputy had put him up to it? That quacking AI was always looking for every excuse to lock him up and maybe this was the opportunity the duck was looking for. His mind raced with ideas of both what Franky would do to him or what set the beast off. The constant flip flop between thoughts made his head rattle and shake as if he was getting a call. The migraine he had a moment ago returned in full force and he fell to his knees, desperately grasping at himself to keep his head still and quiet down.

click

"Huh?"

Henry opened his eyes, the heavy weight of a hand was brought atop him but there was an odd sense of relief brought along with it. Instead of hitting him or using those hands to crush the plastic his face consisted of, Franky had reached down and fixed the receiver back on its hook. The rattling stopped and the talk show host sighed, relief filling him as Franky continued to look down at him. This time with the knowledge that the rabbit had no malicious intent or cause behind his surprise visit.

Truth be told Franky pitied his fellow part machine part man. Henry was the second creation made using the leftovers of another deceased person, another predecessor to what Frankie was and his perfection. The mascot head wasn't as hideous as he was, but he still suffered from the result of imperfection and ultimately being just a prototype. While the idea of a character whose head was a telephone was a good idea on paper and worked well in an animated format, sadly when that fictitious character became a reality he suffered from horrible pain from the nonstop calls he received. Each time anyone would call in on the hotline Henry would be forced to advertise on his show or press a button on the many rotary phones placed about the facility it would go directly to his head. Even if he was nowhere near the museum or household he could hear the ringing every night when he was charging. The ringing and attention had driven Henry mad and Franky wished for nothing more than to relieve him of the horrid sound and pain, to be able to take over his segment just so the object head could catch a break. Sadly he couldn't, instead all he could do was be there and hopefully provide him some solace.

"Franky... You gotta stop, you can't just scare me like that!”

Franky understandably knew where Henry was coming from and gave a small nod in response. Against his will back when Henry lashed out at a caller on his talk show Frankie had sicked him on the telephone and knew where the fear stemmed from. He couldn't fault him for thinking in such a way and recoiled his hand away, letting Henry catch his bearings before giving him the message.

"Err– thanks for hanging up for me" Henry stood up and dusted himself off, although still dirty he tried to maintain what the pristine color of his red suit should look like "Now did ya come all this way to meet with lil' ol' me or did the higher-up boss man send ya?"

Franky raised 2 fingers.

"Of course..." Henry made a sighing sound and pressed his blood stained fingers to the numbers on his head, repeatedly turning the metal dialer around he said "What is it now? I certainly didn't blow up at anyone last night nor do I think I did anything to make the big man mad" he looked back to his drawing and pointed at it "it wasn't for that... Was it?",

Franky shook his head and pointed to one of the turned off TVs. It was at this point Henry got the message, it was an all too familiar gesture signaling what soon would be the airing of a new season of the gameshow they starred in. Well, they all supposedly starred in it but it was only really Franky who did the dirty work of taking out contestants. This season was clearly different though, Franky pointed at him and Henry didn't know what to make of the gesture. The cogs in and wires in his brain started to turn and after staring into those glowing blue eyes of his mascot partner in crime it all clicked.

"Wait! Wait! Wait! No! ya don't mean that I–!?" Henry pointed at himself "But I thought you were the–" he turned his finger to Franky "I know I am using their bodies for paint but I don't–" Henry gestured to the bodies before finally letting his arms rest to his sides. With another sighing noise he looked upwards, hoping he was mistaken "You don't mean to tell me the boss wants me to actually participate in the show right? I thought you were supposed to kill 'em quick!”

Franky continued to point at Henry and gave another subtle nod. He didn't like the idea either but ultimately knew better than to get jealous, besides this would be a temporary break for the object head where he'd be free of the ever present ringing. Franky regretted thinking such harsh things earlier, seeing how Henry reacted it was clear he didn't intend to steal the spotlight in any way shape or form. The rabbit overall did enjoy his phone—associate? Friend? Brethren? Whatever he was—he found Henry not only somewhat humorous but a stark contrast to his brother. While he occasionally worried and was fearful of what Frankie would do, Henry was the complete opposite and actually feared him. Franky didn't exactly like being feared but he understood it, trying his best to appear friendly and to ease any nerves he caused to someone he never wished to harm again.

This friendly and relaxed attitude did help. Henry took a step past Franky and started to head out of the camera’s blindspot, watching closely as the rabbit tailed him "Well I can give it a shot but I wouldn't know what to actually do, it's just chasing them and trying to grab ‘em right?”

Franky stood still. That was essentially it at a first glance but there was a bit more complexity to killing in his book. There was a right and wrong time to do it, like when they are trying to run back out from whence they came and they are only a step away before you quickly grab them, yank them back, and watch as they scream as they watch the exit they were so close to get quickly farther and farther. It was small things like that that made killing a lot more than just “grabbing someone”.

“Honestly if it's as easy as you make it look then I'm sure I can put on a show that'll be close to what you're capable of” Henry stroked his phone as if he were slicking his hair back and nudged Franky’s springy legs “of course no one does it better than you big guy, honestly it may be better if I give them one little scare and BOOM! You can come out and finish ‘em!”

Franky immediately nodded at the suggestion, his head rocking so fast his spring made it bounce up and down a bit.

Henry gave a small chuckle at the rabbit’s enthusiasm and kicked a vent open “alrighty I guess that's settled, be seeing ya once we're on air then Franky”

With one final wave the objecthead departed and Franky finally calmed down, giving a wave as he watched his friend intently.

Was Henry truly his friend? It was very well established the object head did fear him to a certain degree but simultaneously Henry was the only one he felt truly comfortable with. He loved Frankie of course but sometimes he couldn't help but feel like he just wasn't his brother. As horrible as that was to say, certain moments made the rabbit consider he was wrong in one more way than he thought. He held no memories of what Franky was like when he was alive nor did he have any interest to have those memories. Franky, the original, would probably unconditionally do what he was told and not question the commands of someone that was family.

So why was it that he was questioning Frankie?

It didn't make any sense and he felt himself grasping at ideas in his head that would perhaps explain. Instead all that Franky could think of was what happened with Henry and the mural still on the wall. The demented drawing made from the deceased was a straight cry for help made because Henry was created with a massive flaw. Frankie surely didn't intend for Henry to be pained by the very shtick he was known for but why was it that he forced the telephone to do his show every single night? Why did he force Henry to continue pretending to want people to call in? The question that plagued him most of all and was what caused Henry to fear him in the first place was why did Frankie force him to punish Henry for rightfully getting mad once? It wouldn't have affected the show that drastically and it was a small mistake. Was it simply that he was in the wrong here? Were the begging words of Henry truly meant to be ignored and he was supposed to blindly carry out such a task without question? Franky didn't know. He felt like he probably didn't need to know. After all, with a new season coming on the air he should focus on getting things set up for the incoming contestants. Everything had to be perfect, and if it meant blindly following orders then so be it. It wasn't just about the TV show anymore, this was about Frankie and his desire for this entire gameshow to grow into what it originally was. To be so much bigger, better, so much more than they currently had.

[sholangagaga]

What's your opinion on Monty?

Oh I've been waiting for an ask like this to come across my inbox after how popular my Bonnie theories have been. (full theory and spoilers under the cut)

Short answer: I think he's neat!

Long answer: I think Montgomery Gator is one of, if not the, most tragic character in the entire Glamrock cast. And his tragedy, while of course upsetting to see, is also incredibly endearing from a narrative standpoint.

What does that mean? Well, let me explain.

Monty was not made to be part of the band. That much we know in the canon lore. He was his own animatronic, with his own attraction and his own thing. Whether or not he was there from the very beginning when the Pizzaplex was built, or maybe they added him later to bring in more diversity and subvert the burden on the main band, I don't think we'll ever know. (since every main band member has their own attraction, which probably subtracts from their available time to perform main shows throughout the day)

The only bits and pieces we get of Monty's "life" before his joining the band is narrated through the Gator Golf attraction.

Monty's story starts with him as a One Man Jug Band, playing by himself in his swamp.

Now it's already pretty apparent that the Monty we see here is way more docile and doe-eyed than the one we encounter in Security Breach, but maybe that's the point.

We all know the stories of humble beginnings, of rags to riches. To me, Monty was one of those stories. A little guy who ended up catching a big break down the line.

Now to get this out of the way, I don't believe Monty shattered Bonnie or the theory that Monty hated Bonnie (I went into detail here if you want the full explanation). We actually can easily debunk that theory in a few different ways, but the main thing is everything we see about Monty implies he actually admired Bonnie.

In his ride you see how he looks at Bonnie, His Showtime outfit incorporates yellow stars (like Bonnie), and he even still uses Bonnie's bass.

Now if you hate someone, if you hate them enough to kill them and take their place because you felt you deserved their fame, would you emulate that person? Would you use and wear their items, thereby constantly reminding yourself of someone you hate so much? Why would you go through the trouble of getting rid of them, of wiping them from everyone's memory, just to keep things that will always tie you to them? That doesn't make much sense to me.

You could argue that the items are trophies of his 'kill', but wouldn't you keep trophies or things of the like somewhere no one could see them? Why flaunt them and again, bring attention to this person that you hate so very much?

I think it's the exact opposite. Monty admired Bonnie, the depths of which we probably won't ever know the extent of, and when Bonnie disappeared, Monty took his place but never forgot the person who got him there. He wears Bonnie's glasses (which we never see Bonnie wear aside from in his neon portrait, which may imply that he might have given the shades to Monty directly at some time before he was shattered) and he uses Bonnie's bass, which was ALSO given to him according to the Gator Golf ride

I've seen people say that this scene is actually showing that Bonnie was just setting his bass aside after a show and Monty stole it, thereby using it for his own gain and I. . .don't see how people can infer that from the image? It looks like Bonnie is literally holding it out to Monty, who is on one knee and accepting it with respect and a cheerful expression on his face. Besides, you need some MASSIVE balls to just. . .steal a band's instrument after the show and just get away with it? Especially from what we see in game, there'd be no feasible way Monty could do that without the audience or technicians being like "What the fuck are you doing"

So yeah no, this looks like a mutual passing of the torch.

Anyways, Monty uses the shades and bass as a nod to Bonnie, he was a sweetheart with a baby face who got thrown into fame to replace his idol. I think, in some regards, Monty might've felt conflicted. Like, here he is in his dream job, but at the cost of someone he cared about.

You know who Monty DID hate though? Freddy. We can infer from plenty of sources and in game material that Monty HATED Freddy, and the reasoning for that could be literally anything, but it's not odd for a bandmate to dislike their leader/member because they're more popular (you see it a lot in IRL bands too, the favoritism and jealousy)

It's also easy to see that fame changed Monty, as it does for plenty of people. Having so many eyes on you, feeling the euphoria of all the love and attention day in and day out, it gets to your head. It changes who you are, muddles your humility. And we can see that Monty acts in the stereotypical Rocker way, conceited, destroys his greenroom and other things after shows, etc. It's an all too common trope and its sad to see it happen to Monty, though a lot of his rage could also be compounded by Glitchtrap/Vanny/Mimic being annoying (Notably, you never hear of Monty destroying his shades or his bass. Perhaps there are some things that he's oddly protective of)

And then in the main Security Breach, you only meet Monty at his worst. Angry, Corrupted, feral. You spend your time running from him (since Bonnie's shades protect him from most of Gregory's gimmicks), you hear from second-hand conjecture that he was probably the one who shattered Bonnie (which probably weighs on him too, the children asking where Bonnie is, and the technicians maybe side-eyeing him thinking that he's just a meathead who destroyed Bonnie to take his place) and each time you see him, he just gets more and more split from that sweetheart who was happily playing in his swamp.

Not to mention how he "dies"

Monty comes for Cassie, ruined beyond salvation, his mind still gone from all of the torment he endured being controlled and shattered over and over. To save herself, Cassie uses the Faz-wrench to activate the power and escape, only for the electric currents to turn the water into a death trap.

The thing that decommissions Monty, that finally puts him out of his misery, is Bonnie. That's Bonnie's neon portrait (a bit damaged from the dilapidated building) and it is the very thing that electrifies the water, destroying Monty's hardware. Whether or not its karma for Monty shattering Bonnie, or some sort of heartfelt prose that the thing that finally allows Monty to rest is the one person he cared about most, who's to say? You could argue it both ways, but isn't it just a tad more comforting to think that even in death, Bonnie was always looking out for his understudy?

Monty's story and character progression is a trope of Falling from Grace, of Icarus flying too close to the Sun and plummeting to the unforgiving earth. The more I learn about him, the more I feel bad for him. I think he deserved better. Roxanne for her redemption in Ruin, but Monty is left open-ended. A monster and murderer to some, a washed-up rocker to others.

But I think Montgomery was more than that. I think he had the capacity for gentleness and love, but he was in a position where the world was against him. His older and more experienced bandmates always destined to be loved more than him. He was basically an entry level teenager around mastery level adults. He might've lost his mind back then to the pressure and the negativity, resorting to violence for attention. No one was there for him, and Bonnie, the only person who probably would've been there for him and understood him better than most, disappeared without a trace, leaving him all alone in a world that would never fully accept him.

Yeah, I like Monty a lot.

[nazmazh]

I think I've realized why I've taken to Lethal Company moreso than I have other "Definitely needs to be multiplayer"/collaborative games (Yes, you can try to play LC solo, just like Minecraft, all the zombie survival base-builders, etc. But they all work best with a group):

Because my schedule's rather asynchronous with a lot of my friends, I'd pop in when I'm able, but in the meantime my friends would have developed so much more of the base/tech tree/etc. Which is great for getting geared up and running out to do things, but it's so easy to feel completely left behind, and have utterly no idea what's going on with new mechanics, or just not having gained the personal experience/skill to equip to you do things in the world like they are. Plus, like, it just feels kinda bad to show up, grab a bunch of gear, help for like, 1, maybe 2 best-tier available things, then not help again until they're several tiers down the road - You're just mooching gear and appearing occasionally, y'know?

Lethal Company has a built-in mechanic (unless you're using specific mods) that after a certain point, the loot quota will become impossible to meet. Total party wipes - complete ones, not just a lost round, though those happen too and are fine - happen at some point, and the game is reset - All the new gizmos you had are gone. What little decor there is to the base gets wiped out.

This means you jump back in and off you go again, no muss, no fuss.

And even with better weapons/tech, there's only so long you can be out in moons before the ship will leave, so your daily cycle's gonna be overall pretty similar. Plus, there's certain monsters that are just plain immune to all damage and can fuck up even the most experienced of salvagers - Your coil-heads, your ghost girls, etc.

Even discounting them, the traps, hazards, and regular monsters can still end you very quickly - You don't get any extra health/defense ever. No immunity to lightning or quicksand, and a bracken or balaclava worm can still mess you up if you don't notice them in time.

So basically, there's only so much anyone can do to gain better equipment in this game, and personal skill and familiarity with the game are helpful, they're not complete protection against what the game throws at you. You're expected to die frequently. Everyone is. It's not a huge deal if/when you do.

Also - The whole use of cycles means that the gameplay loop only lasts so long - One day's visit to a planet at a time. Then 3 days before you have to sell items and get a new quota to meet.

Plus, like my current ongoing-staple, Dead by Daylight, once dead, you can spectate your friends and cheer them on - Bonus, your other dead friends join you in doing this. Meaning you can take a quick break if you'd like, or have something to do while waiting for next round [Okay, yes, you theoretically might want to stick around and watch to cast a vote to JUST LEAVE, but it's not super-common that we've encountered scenarios where that was necessary] -- Also, the orbits between rounds mean that you can take a break without hampering your friends, everyone can be ready to get going before you start - Something that's not really possible in real-time/persistent games).

Actually, the group I'm in has been having a lot of fun with doing low-gear runs, since that's going to be the default state of many runs - We'll get a ton of flashlights, and the teleporter to recover bodies/the occasional emergency evac. And that's usually it - We might get a handful of shovels here and there, to varying degrees of success. We've started using ladders for certain pain-in-the-ass fire exit ledges.

But almost nobody uses walkies, because that tends to get us killed as often as not because of the noise - Or you have to shut them off preemptively, which means they're not helpful anyway. And I say this as the team's most frequent ship-duty guy. If monitoring, I can usually get doors and hazards from the monitor screen and hopefully send codes when necessary.

Limited gear makes it easier to replace when you have a crew of like, 8+ people at any given time (because if you're playing this game, you really, really should be playing with a mod that lets you have an utterly ridiculous number of crew and get everyone in on things). Having that many people contributes further to the overall slapstick mood/feel of the game.

Anyway, yes, TL;DR: - I've been loving Lethal Company. And I think I'm understanding why this game is clicking for me while cooperative survival/base-building stuff hadn't been.

Can't wait for more content (might have to take a shot at modded new moons/facilities, perhaps).

[shrapnelstars]

Cat Quest 1 was annoying as hell. Cat Quest 2 is pretty awesome so far.

1 really felt like a scrubbed mobile game. You couldn't upgrade specific armor pieces. The upgrades had to come via getting dupes from lootboxes, and there was so much fucking equipment in that game that you basically could not get decent levels on anything you wanted. The stupidest thing I encountered was that the game kept picking this one wizard staff to keep upgrading while neglecting everything else. It was level 63 by the end of the game when the rest of my armor was barely in the 20's. You couldn't do a mage build in that game because everything still required you to do cqc. There was no such thing as ranged, and the mage equipment docked armor and HP, so there was no point. Just lean all the way into physical so you could take advantage of HP and armor bonuses. You also still had to hit enemies physically to refill your magic bar.

1 also did the one infuriating thing "cozy" games always annoy me with. Making you click through 40000 ellipses text boxes because it's trying to highlight some unfunny cringe self-awareness joke. There were also liberal doses of "come stand here, now stand here in this spot 2 inches away, now stand 2 more inches away" in order to string together cutscene dialogue, instead of letting you stand in one place and click through the conversation. What made all of this worse was that if you die after a bit of dialogue, you have to re-click through it all over again, and the dialogue boxes all force you to sit for 2 seconds before it will let you click past them. There is a quest where you have to sit through a character repeatedly saying "heh" one text box at a time, and then you are sent into a dungeon where a swarm of fast enemies can OHKO you. You have to specifically save after that guy's 30 annoying ass text boxes before you go into the dungeon, or you will have to sit through them again.

2 has better dialogue so far, your characters move faster, and mage is a viable build because it's actually ranged this time. Specific spells still require cqc, but the basic attack is ranged, and you can cast shield on yourself. I'm actually genuinely enjoying the mage build this time. There are more interesting puzzles, and you can upgrade specific equipment pieces. The game feels more like a legitimate game and not mobile slop, and characters don't waste your time with making you step 2 inches away every 2 seconds to continue conversations. They will just say their bit and move on.

I really like that these games are simple arpgs where enemies each have different attack patterns to consider in order to dispose of them. You don't have to pay full attention to the story, and you can just run around and explore and do dungeons while listening to some vids or something. They are very cheerful and brightly colored, and you get to play as cats and dogs. I really want more arpgs and dungeon crawlers with cute art styles and characters without them having to be anime themed or have some gimmick obtuse mechanic that weighs the whole thing down.

Next payday I'll pick up the third game. I really want more simple, cute takes on other genres. "Cozy" can mean more for games than what it is now, with the term currently being hitched to some pretty unnecessary traits that devs seem to take as "requirements". Cozy doesn't have to mean farming, one word self awareness text boxes, time gated elements, not being able to save whenever you want to, etc. I really feel like devs looked at Stardew and felt that they had to copy everything that game did in order to be "cozy", and that's not true. You can branch out into other areas and do whatever you want. I feel like the only requirements for a cozy game are that the game lets you play and stop at your own pace (including if that pace is FAST), and if the game is designed to let you relax and enjoy it without needing dedicated focus. This is why I personally class games like Balatro and Vampire Survivors as cozy.

Cozy should not inherently mean that the game goes out of its way to waste your time and test your patience. The cozy games subreddit has been discussing this, as well.

[user230507021118079]

Never Alone - Ch. 8

summary: "𝘐𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘮𝘺 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘏𝘰𝘨𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘴, 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺. 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘪𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘰𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦. 𝘚𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘴𝘪𝘥𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴…𝘐 𝘩𝘰𝘱𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘯𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘧𝘦, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦."

𝙖𝙡𝙡 𝙝𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙚𝙙𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚𝙤𝙣𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙝𝙞𝙢 𝙖 𝙘𝙝𝙤𝙞𝙘𝙚…

*the only characters I own are Ciara, her family, and Jade. all other rights go to she-who-should-not-be-named

blog masterlist || previous chapter || ch. 9

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

On one of the last days of school, the entire student body found themselves in the Great Hall for one final dinner. The room was abuzz with excited chatter, students talking about their summer plans and recapping stories that had happened over the year. Above them, hung green and silver banners displaying the Slytherin emblem. Their house had ended up being the house with the most points, so the decorations were reflective of that. 

Suddenly, the sound of a glass clinking drew all of their attention towards the front of the hall. The crowd of students fell silent, watching as Dumbledore slowly rose from his seat. 

“Another year, gone.” he began “And now, as I understand it, the house cup needs awarded and the points stand thus...In fourth place: Gryffindor, with 312 points! In third place: Hufflepuff, with 352 points. Second: Ravenclaw with 426 points! And, in first place, with 472 points: Slytherin house!”

Loud applause and cheers erupted from the table around her. Some of the grosser students started pounding on the table obnoxiously. Ciara and Jade shared an expression and rolled their eyes, but at the same time, couldn’t help but smile. 

“Yes, well done Slytherin, well done Slytherin.” Dumbledore said, slowly ending the celebration “However, recent events must be taken into account and I have a few last minute points to award.” 

Ciara raised an eyebrow, intrigued. 

“First-” Dumbledore started, “-to Miss Hermione Granger, for the cool use of intellect while others were in grave peril: fifty points!” 

Some people gasped, and a few members of the Gryffindor table started to look up hopefully. A few members of Slytherin next to her whispered nervously. 

“Second, to Mr. Ronald Weasley, for the best played game of chess that Hogwarts has seen these many years: fifty points!” 

Even louder applause followed this one. 

“And third, to Mr. Harry Potter, for pure love and outstanding courage, I award Gryffindor house: sixty points!”  

The far table cheers again, now rejuvenated with energy. Some students at the Slytherin table were shouting angrily. 

“We’re tied” Jade whispered from her side. 

“And finally-” Dumbledore stated “It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends. I award ten points...to Neville Longbottom!” 

The Gryffindor table erupted, and in contrast Slytherin had fallen silent. 

“Assuming that my calculations are correct...I believe that a change of decoration is in order!”

With a wave of his hands, the older wizard cast a small spell, and suddenly the banners above them flipped over, and now proudly displayed the red and gold Gryffindor colors. 

“Gryffindor wins the House Cup!” 

Now the entire hall was cheering, celebrating the demise of Slytherin’s seven year win streak. 

At her table, the more excitable students threw down their hats in disappointment, Malfoy was especially vocal. 

At her side, Jade just shrugged, completely unbothered. 

Ciara looked over at the other side of the room, watching the celebrating Gryffindor’s causing a commotion. She managed to catch Hermione’s eye for just a moment, and it looked to her like she was trying to apologize to her. 

Ciara simply smiled in response. 

The next morning, they were on their way back home. What a year it had been, she couldn’t wait to tell her parents all about it. 

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

blog masterlist || previous chapter || ch. 9

[gloriabomfim]

Dark Reg is jealousy of Tubb, Sploshy, Finbar, Reg, Winona, Terence, and Amelia are playing together

In the heart of the bathroom, a curious tension hung in the air. Dark Reg, the shadowy alter ego of the cheerful mechanical robot, watched with brooding eyes as Tubb, Sploshy, Finbar, Reg, Winona, Terence, and Amelia indulged in their playful camaraderie. Dark Reg's envy simmered beneath his darkened exterior, his malevolent intentions veiled by the shadows.

Dark Reg: (muttering to himself) "Look at them, frolicking together as if nothing else matters."

As Tubb orchestrated the games, his Scottish accent carried across the tiled expanse, setting the rhythm for their shared adventure.

Tubb: "All right, everyone! Let's have a splashing good time!"

Sploshy's energetic voice chimed in, adding an extra layer of excitement to the scene.

Sploshy: "Whee! Splish, splash, splosh!"

Dark Reg's narrowed eyes followed as Finbar, the mighty wind-up shark, showcased his prowess with a triumphant display.

Finbar: "Arr, arr, arr! The mighty shark strikes again!"

But Dark Reg's focus wasn't solely on the playful interactions—he fixated on the happiness that radiated from each Rubbadubber. Reg, with his endearing Australian accent, engaged in friendly banter with Terence, the crocodile-shaped soap bottle.

Reg: "Mate, you're gonna blow some bubble records with that nose of yours!"

Terence: "On my tooth! You know I've got this!"

Winona, the adorable purple rubber baby whale, remained a source of fascination. Her squeaks and playful water tricks captured everyone's attention.

Winona: (squeaking happily)

Amelia, the vibrant airplane-submarine hybrid, took to the air with daring maneuvers, leaving trails of excitement in her wake.

Amelia: "Neeeow, vrooom! Watch this, everyone!"

Dark Reg's jealousy twisted within him, an unsettling sensation that contrasted sharply with the joyful scene. He longed to join the camaraderie, to experience the simple happiness that seemed to elude him.

Dark Reg: (gritting his teeth) "Why should they bask in such merriment? I deserve my place among them!"

As the Rubbadubbers laughed and played, Dark Reg's inner turmoil reached a breaking point. With a surge of determination, he emerged from the shadows, his dark presence casting an eerie pall over the scene.

Dark Reg: (voice dripping with bitterness) "Enough of this frivolity!"

The others turned, their expressions a mix of surprise and concern, as they beheld Dark Reg's transformed appearance.

Tubb: "Dark Reg? What's gotten into you?"

Dark Reg: (mocking tone) "Oh, how heartwarming to see you all frolic in the sunshine of camaraderie. But do you truly believe you're the only ones who deserve happiness?"

Sploshy: "What's he talking about?"

Finbar: "He's acting weirder than a fish with legs."

Dark Reg's words hung heavily in the air, his resentment palpable.

Dark Reg: "I too deserve a taste of the happiness you all share. I won't be overshadowed any longer!"

Amelia, with her Cockney enthusiasm, tried to reason with him.

Amelia: "Dark Reg, there's no need for this. We're all friends here."

Dark Reg: (voice dripping with sarcasm) "Friends, you say? I'll show you what a friend is truly capable of."

As tension filled the bathroom, a palpable shift occurred. The camaraderie that had once flourished now faced an unexpected threat—one that stemmed from the depths of jealousy and the desire for acceptance. The Rubbadubbers stood united, uncertain of what lay ahead in this unexpected turn of events.

[moeblob]

I'm sorry Irving, but yeah. I forgot about Dark Deity for way too long. :c Please forgive me as I put the game off even more...

[jacobbyart]

title: after-parties ship: steve harrington/eddie munson tags: first kiss, fluff and mild angst, shotgunning, pre-relationship words: 2,275 steddie week: day three: first kiss summary: a note from steve was all it took. eddie was never going to be the same again.

notes: this is a scrapped chapter for hand-me-downs and other heirlooms! coincidentally, i also finished editing this in time for @steddie-week (plus the prompt and the story match)! : ) enjoy!

READ ON AO3

Steve Harrington was majestic under the blinding gym lights. Showered with screams and cheers, he had his fists in the air and a grin that rivaled the stars. A horn blared, then a long whistle. The game ended with a final three-point shot from the man himself and the crowd went wild. It was all Hawkins needed to win the game and win they did. 

His teammates, the cheerleaders, the somebodies on the bleachers ran to him, surrounding him with their praises. A pair of players lifted him on their shoulders and paraded him around. The masses wiped their grubby fingers on whatever Harrington skin they could reach as if he was some sort of saint with miracle sweat. 

The trophy now in his hands, Steve waved it proudly. He mouthed a thank you to everyone, anyone he could spot. For a moment, the King was back with his large eyes and his perfect hair, and his pretty smile.

Then, their gazes met. 

Steve’s smile dropped. 

Eddie pulled his cap down. 

Shame came first. Moving the next session with Hellfire had been met with disappointed groans and a lot of questions, ones Eddie couldn’t answer. Unless he wanted to be cast out by his own group of outcasts, he was keeping his mouth shut.  

Panic came next. That, Eddie was better equipped to handle. He had stuck close to the exit the entire game, making his escape quick. 

The night air was cold, but Eddie felt hot under all his layers. A few students littered the outside of the gym, earning him a couple of glances, but they ultimately paid him no mind. 

He knew it was a stupid idea, heading into the thick of it. Curiosity couldn't even begin to explain Eddie's inner turmoil and going back to when it all began would be futile. Eddie himself was unsure when his stupid crush on the King began. All he could remember was being a kid and finding those large brown eyes. 

It was difficult to rid his brain of Steve after. 

Eddie huffed as he finally reached his van parked behind a few trees on the outskirts of Hawkins High. It wasn't his usual spot. He hardly did deals so near the school anyway, but this was an exception, among the many others, for the night. He opened the back doors of the van and lit a cigarette as he sat with his legs dangling over the edge of the vehicle.

The loud cheering was now muffled by the distance but Eddie could still make out Steve's name. A part of him wanted to drive away, to forget that this night ever happened, that that note ever reached his locker in the first place. Steve was never meant to interact with him outside of sneers, backhanded compliments, and asshole middlemen. 

Heat and smoke filled his lungs. He raised the stick in the air. "To the Hawkins Basketball Team. May you all rot in hell."

He really was pathetic. 

One cigarette turned to two turned to three. Eventually, silence, save for the chirping of crickets and the wind passing by. If Eddie closed his eyes, he could easily imagine himself back home, his guitar close by and Uncle Wayne getting ready to head out for work. He would reach out for his guitar, claim that the silence was too deafening, and practice his chords and riffs till his fingers hurt. 

On his fourth stick, unlit and hanging low on his lips, a figure emerged. "Didn't think you'd show up," came its voice. 

Eddie wasn't prepared for the honey on his tongue. "Harrington." He turned to Steve's direction and found him in his letterman and training shorts, shorter than the ones he had worn while he played. Eddie had to look away. "How much're you buying?"

"How much you got on you?"

Eddie clicked his tongue. "Must be a big party." He rummaged through his lunchbox and handed Steve all of his stash. "That'll be twenty."

Steve hummed. He reached for his wallet and handed Eddie the bill. 

"Tommy too busy to do your bidding?"

Steve laughed. "I haven't talked to Tommy in weeks." He got into Eddie's van, mimicking Eddie’s position but keeping close to the opposite wall. "And no, this isn't for a party."

Eddie couldn't do much but nod. He went back to his cigarette and lit it. 

"Got more of those?" Steve asked. The weed was already safely tucked away in his bag. 

"It's some cheap brand." Eddie tossed him the pack anyway.

Steve merely shook his head as he placed a stick between his lips.

"Light?" Eddie asked, holding out a Zippo.

Uncertainty overtook Steve. His hand hovered over the lighter, cautious, but pushed it back down to Eddie’s lap. Instead, he leaned closer to Eddie, motioned for him to do the same with a curling of his index finger. Eddie complied easily, entranced. Then, Steve pushed his cigarette toward Eddie's and breathed the heat in. 

"You okay?" Steve asked, still so dangerously close. His eyes were big and brown and bright, reflecting the orange glow of the cigarette embers.

Eddie nodded. He could smell the expensive cologne on Steve and a bit of his lemony soap. He never took him as a citrus sort of guy. 

"Thanks," Steve murmured as they separated. He blew smoke into Eddie's face before he could lean back far enough away. 

"Rude," Eddie said as he tried to inhale it all. 

"You liked it."

Eddie's heart beat in his ears. "Bold assumption." The words left an odd taste in his mouth. 

"Maybe." 

Eddie waited for Steve to move. To up and leave him smoking on his own, but Steve never did. If anything, he sank deeper into the interior of the back of Eddie’s van with every puff. He lifted his legs and folded them in front of him. The tip of his shoe touched Eddie’s boot. 

“You look different,” Steve said. 

Eddie took the hat off and pulled at his hoodie. The material was soft and dark blue. Worn out in some places, but it kept Eddie warm. Warmer than needed now, though Eddie wouldn’t pin that on the hoodie. “My pa’s,” he said. “Thought I shouldn’t stick out too much tonight.” 

“Why’s that?” 

“Wasn’t sure if I should head inside or not.” Eddie faked nonchalance. He willed his hand to stop shaking. 

“Wanted to come see me play?” 

A twist in Eddie’s stomach. “In your dreams, Harrington. I was wondering what was taking you so long.” 

“The note said after the basketball game.” 

“And I’m supposed to know when that is?”

“Guess not.” Steve chuckled. He reached for the makeshift ashtray by Eddie’s side and discarded the last of his cigarette. 

Eddie did the same, his own cigarette burned to a shorter stub. “Don’t you have a party to go to?” 

“And miss out on all this fun?” 

“Asshole.” There was no bite to the word. Eddie pulled on his hoodie again, letting the evening breeze pass through the collar. When that didn’t do much to appease the heat bubbling under his skin, he took the hoodie off. 

“Hellfire,” Steve read on Eddie’s exposed shirt. It was from a pile of discarded prototypes for their club’s new uniform. The design hadn’t been approved by the school. Too perverse, they had said. Not perverse enough, Eddie had wanted to reply. “That’s the Demons and Dragons thing, right?” 

“Dungeons and Dragons. You know about D&D?” 

“Sorta. I got a few friends who want to join.” 

If Eddie showed any signs of being dumbfounded, Steve didn’t mention it. Friends of Harrington liked D&D. What was the world turning into? Could that have been the beginning of his fall from grace? Eddie could imagine it, the King succumbing to the flames of roleplaying games. “Kinda late for that now,” he said. “School’s almost out.” 

Steve rolled his eyes. “They’ll be freshmen next year.” 

Eddie’s mouth hung open. “Nerds and kids?” He laughed, half bitterly, half amusedly. Nerdy kids got Steve’s approval before him. Him, Eddie Munson, the nerdy kid of all nerdy kids in all of high school. So nerdy, in fact, that he was cast into the underbellies of its society. “What the hell happened to you?”

The smile on Steve’s lips was fond. “One of them is Nancy’s brother if that explains anything.”

And it did. Wheeler’s hand in this explained so much but it also churned Eddie’s stomach. “You still into her?” he asked instead. 

Steve sucked in a breath. “Nah,” he replied. He shifted himself, making the van bounce, then eyed the pack of cigarettes on the floor. “But Nancy’s Nancy, you know?” 

“I don’t.” 

“Do you want to?” 

“No.” 

“Jealous?” 

“So what if I am?” 

Steve laughed, magical, beautiful. 

Eddie couldn’t help but reach for the pack and light another stick. It was the last one for the night, Eddie promised himself, though the way his evening was going, he wasn’t sure if that promise was going to last. A poke to his foot almost made him drop his lighter, his heart beating faster and louder than ever. “Want one?” he asked—no, stammered at Steve. 

Steve shook his head but his gaze stayed on the stick. “I’ve been trying to quit.” 

“Wheeler put you up to that?” 

“What if she did?” A challenge in Steve’s voice. 

The jealousy in his stomach would simply grow, but Eddie couldn’t admit that out loud. He could hardly admit it to himself. Memories of Steve and Nancy in the school corridors flooded Eddie’s mind. He had watched them from afar, always from afar, holding hands and kissing and being in love, and his heart would squeeze itself at the sight. When he heard they had broken up, the giddy feeling trumped the guilt he felt for it. And then… 

But then, Steve was never the same again. 

“Jealous, I tell you,” Steve added. Another pass at the cigarette. 

“Nancy’s cute, Steve, but she’s not really my type,” Eddie tried. 

“And what is your type?” 

“Someone more metal than whatever Wheeler has going on.” Eddie choked on the smoke in his throat. “Someone different. Exciting.” 

“Someone, someone, someone.” Steve inched closer. “Gimme something specific.” 

“Volunteering to be my wingman?” 

“Something like that.” 

Eddie pushed himself back, the metal of his car poking into his skin. “Someone…” He was running out of breath. 

“Someone daring? Someone…carefree?” Steve was close now. His eyes locked into Eddie’s and he wasn’t looking away. “Someone with brown hair? Brown eyes? Someone good at basketball?” Then, he paused. He sighed, straight into the gap between Eddie’s lips. “Someone who used to be someone,” he murmured slowly, quietly, as if Eddie wasn’t meant to hear. 

“You keep staring at my cig,” Eddie said. 

“I keep staring at your lips.” 

“You know what shotgunning is?” 

Steve squinted. “I don’t. I’m gonna need you to show me.” 

It was easy, then it wasn’t. Eddie placed a careful hand on Steve’s cheek, gentle, gentler than he should be, and blew the smoke into his open mouth. He forced himself to keep some distance between them, didn’t push where Steve was uncomfortable. 

Only, a pair of lips sealed his own shut, and the rest of the smoke escaped through his nose. Eddie went rigid, then he went limp as Steve ran his fingers through his hair and climbed onto his lap. The way Steve kissed was soft; pecks that lingered a bit too long and tongue grazing but not overbearing. Eddie’s fingers tingled as he caressed Steve’s neck.

Seconds turned to minutes. Eddie almost burned himself with his forgotten cigarette but he didn’t let it faze him. It certainly didn’t faze Steve. He was plastered onto Eddie as if it was the reputation he had built for himself. The King kissing the Freak. What a sight!

In the end, it was Eddie who had to push Steve away, Steve’s letterman still in his fists. He searched for any regret on Steve’s face, but he could barely find surprise in those brown eyes.

“What is this?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know.” Eddie let go then. “What the fuck am I supposed to do with that, Steve?”

“I don’t know.”

“Fuck.” Eddie rested his forehead on Steve’s shoulder. Steve immediately placed a kiss on his temple. “This is fucked up. You’re fucked up.”

“There were rumors about you,” Steve said.

“So you kissed me to find out if it was true?”

“I kissed you because I wanted to.” Steve pushed Eddie back and cradled his face in his hands. “I wanted to know what it was like.”

“To kiss me?”

“To kiss boys.”

“Ah.” Pathetic, ridiculous Eddie. “You’re an asshole, Harrington.”

“So I’ve been told.” Steve leaned in again, capturing Eddie’s lips, and Eddie let him.

Because who was Eddie to deny Steve that? Who was he to deny himself that? He might be pathetic, but he wasn’t an idiot.

“Can you do me a favor?” Steve asked as they separated for air. He unzipped his jacket while Eddie kept him in place with hands on his hips. “Keep this.” He placed the jacket over Eddie’s shoulders.

“Why?”

“I don’t know just yet.” Steve got off Eddie’s lap. Eddie already missed the touch. “But I think I’m going to find out.”

“You can—”

Steve took hold of Eddie’s hand before he could reach his hoodie. “That’s not you,” he said. “I don’t want what isn’t you.”

Eddie blinked. “Next time then.”

“Bold assumption.” But Steve was smiling.

“Come find me, okay?” Eddie kissed Steve one final time. “You better come find me, Harrington.”

[sluttywonwoo]

the bet || j.ww x reader

Summary: you help your boyfriend’s best friend win a bet against your better judgement

Warnings: swearing, lil bit of jealousy, light smut (18+) 

Word Count: 2.8k

A/N: originally posted on my tom holland fic account ( @wazzupmrstark )

Masterlist

“Hey, can I ask a huge favor?”

You hoisted yourself up from your beach towel onto your elbows and pulled down your sunglasses to glare at the boy in front of you. You narrowed your eyes at him in suspicion. What could Kim Mingyu possibly want from you?

“What is it?”

He ran a hand through his still-wet hair awkwardly. “Um, the boys and I are about to play a game of volleyball, and we’ve bet some money on it…”

“Okay?”

“And, well, it’s me and Hansol against Wonwoo, Soonyoung, and Seungkwan. Wonwoo’s their best player and I was wondering if you could distract him? So that we have a better chance of winning?”

“Distract him… how?” you asked, not fully understanding.

“You know… whatever it is you do that drives Wonwoo crazy. He’s your boyfriend, I’m sure you know how to wind him up.”

“You mean you want me to get him hard during your game?”

Mingyu nearly choked at that. “Um, I mean pretty much, yeah. Just do something that will throw him off his game.”

“So you want me to help you guys cheat?”

“It’s not technically cheating.”

“I think your definition of cheating is much looser than mine.”

“So is that a no?” he asked.

You thought about it for a second. “Is there anything in it for me?”

“We’ll give you a cut of the winnings.”

You found yourself grinning. “How much did you guys bet?”

“Two hundred if they win, three hundred if we win. Basically whoever’s on the losing team has to cough up a hundred bucks.”

“Jeez, I can’t believe Wonwoo is risking that much on a stupid game.”

“Are you upset?”

“No, it’s his money he can do whatever he wants with it. I just think he’s a dumbass.”

“Not arguing with that.”

“Do you need me to remind you that you’re betting the same amount?”

“Fair enough,” he chuckled. “So you’ll do it? For a hundred?”

“Yeah, you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“Pleasure doing business.” Mingyu smirked and held out his hand for you to shake. You rolled your eyes at the formality but shook his hand anyway, just as Wonwoo came up to the both of you and clapped Mingyu on the shoulder.

“What are my best mate and my best girl talking about?” he asked, leaning down to kiss you.

“I wanted to go swimming, but Mingyu said you guys are about to play volleyball?” You piped up before Mingyu could say anything. Maybe you should’ve felt guiltier than you did about lying to your boyfriend and for what you were about to do, but hey, a hundred dollars was a hundred dollars . And if everything went according to plan, you’d be getting some good dick too. A win win.

Wonwoo frowned a little bit. “Oh yeah, sorry. Wanna play, love?” he offered. “There’s still some room on Mingyu’s team.”

You made a face. “What about your team? Can’t you make one of your other team members switch?”

He winced. “I love you, y/n, but you’re shit at sports.”

Any trace of remorse left over what you’d agreed to do dissolved in that moment. He fucking deserved what he was about to get.

“The stupid game is that important to you? Asshole,” you scoffed, and put your sunglasses back on before laying back down on the towel.

“Y/n,” Wonwoo whined, and crouched down next to you. “I-”

“Go play your fucking game.”

He stood back up, but lingered for a moment. You could tell he felt bad, but you weren’t having it. “Wanna go swimming after?” he asked in a quiet voice.

“Sure, whatever.”

You could tell he’d walked away when the shadow over you disappeared. You weren’t going to lie to yourself, you were a little pissed about the comment he’d made. Were you shit at sports? Yes, definitely, but could he have at least pretended to love you enough to be on the same team as you? Also yes. He should’ve known you were going to say no anyway.

While you were still fuming you hadn’t even realized the boys had started the game. Not even a minute in and you were already slacking on your end of the bet. You propped yourself back up for a moment to watch. You could see why Mingyu had asked for your help. Wonwoo and his team were dominating so far, and you couldn’t help but admire how fit your boyfriend looked as he served the ball to the other side of the court. You licked your lips absentmindedly, ready to pull him back to the car right fucking then.

You forced yourself to stop watching the game stood up from your towel, brushed yourself off, and began walking towards the water. You made sure to pull your bikini bottoms as far up your ass as you could in the process just to get Wonwoo’s attention as you walked past the volleyball net. Sure, you’d agreed to go swimming with him after the match, but you’d never promised to wait for him.

As you made your way down to the shore, you noted that not only Wonwoo’s head turned to watch you walk, but all five of the boys cast their attention away from the game and towards you. You glanced behind your shoulder for a second, and caught Mingyu’s smirk. He took advantage of Wonwoo’s lapse in concentration to spike the ball back over to their side and score a point.

You heard some yelling and protestation, but pretended to ignore it and continued to wade into the water.

It was warmer than you thought it would be, and deeper. There was a steep drop a few feet in that you might have tripped over if you weren’t careful. You only ended up staying in the ocean for a few minutes; Wonwoo couldn’t really get distracted by you if your whole body was submerged underwater. You weren’t there to swim around anyway, just to get your bathing suit wet so it would stick to your body.

You’d worn one that didn’t have pads in it so you knew that once you got out of the water the whole beach would be able to see your nipples poking through the fabric. You didn’t have a problem with that. Wonwoo might.

While you were down there you got your hair wet too, just for good measure. Might as well pull out all the stops since a hundred dollars were on the line.

You weren’t sure what the score was by the time you made your way back up to your towel, but you didn’t make an effort to ask. What you did know, though, was that Wonwoo was getting frustrated. Even from where you were you could see that his jaw was clenched and his brows were furrowed.

The opposing team seemed to be doing just fine though, and you stopped to watch them high-five each other after Mingyu scored another point by slamming the ball over the net onto Wonwoo side of the court.

“Damn, nice one, Gyu!” you called out from where you were standing, giving him a big smile and thumbs up. It was sort of dorky, not to mention a cheap shot, but if you knew Wonwoo as well as you thought you did, it’d be the perfect thing to rile him up.

“Thanks, y/n!” he shouted back and winked, ignoring the weird look Hansol gave him. “It’s about time you started rooting for the winning team!”

You struggled not to laugh when you looked back over to the other side of the court and saw all three boys scowling at Mingyu. You didn’t even know why he needed you in the first place, he knew how to push their buttons so well already.

Wonwoo’s fists were clenched now, and he looked this close to tackling his best friend to the ground. The two of you weren’t even flirting with each other, not really, but Wonwoo was the most competitive person you knew and it wasn’t always the best color on him. For you to be cheering for the team that he’s not on, and for that team to be winning- there was no doubt in your mind that he was royally pissed. Not to mention, that you just so happened to be cheering for his attractive best friend who may or may not have mentioned having sex dreams about you once or twice in passing.

It was good, but it wasn’t enough. Soonyoung made some offhand comment about how close the scores were so you knew you needed to keep going. You turned your attention away from the game again and lowered yourself down on your stomach on top of your towel and casually undid the strings of your bikini top to “sunbathe”.

If anyone asked it was so you didn’t get tan lines on your back, it was something that a lot of women did. In reality, however, you didn’t give a shit about tan lines, you just wanted to see how Wonwoo would react.

You pulled out your book to read while you tanned, tuning back into the game every once and a while to see how it was going. You could hear Soonyoung and Seungkwan yelling at Wonwoo to ‘pay attention’ or ‘snap the fuck out of it’ and smiled to yourself, excited for what was to come.

After several more minutes, your bathing suit was almost dry and you were starting to fall asleep on your towel. The volleyball game was taking way longer than you anticipated and you just wanted Mingyu and Hansol to win already. You didn’t have any other ideas to distract your boyfriend so you hoped they could pull it off.

Then, what you would call a fucking miracle happened. You were still nearly dozing off on top of your book when a pink Frisbee landed on the sand right in front of your face.

“Sorry about that!” called the voice of its owner and you squinted to see him jogging over to you. A few of his friends weren’t far behind and they all congregated in a little group in front of your towel. They looked to be about your age, maybe a little older. “Sorry to wake you up,” the ringleader apologized again, but smiled like he wasn’t really that sorry.

You propped yourself up on your elbows, one hand holding your loose bikini to your chest, while the other handed the Frisbee back to smiling guy. “No worries, I didn’t mean to fall asleep anyway.”

“What’s your name?” Ringleader asked. “I’m Jeonghan, and these are some of my fraternity brothers.”

Of course. You should’ve guessed. They were all jacked, tan, and had an air of privilege about them that you couldn’t miss. They were objectively cute, sure, but nothing in comparison to your boyfriend playing volleyball behind you. Not to mention their pack mentality freaked you out a little.

“I’m y/n,” you said and held your free hand out to them to shake, still keeping your other hand on your bikini top so you wouldn’t flash them. “Are you guys on a holiday break or something?”

“Yeah, just trying to make the most out of our last few days.”

“You from around here?” another boy asked, not being subtle at all in the way he was eyeing you.

“No, we just took a little day trip,” you explained and cleared your throat, wondering how long they’d stick around and when Wonwoo was going to come over and dick you down out of jealousy.

“We?” Ringlea- Jeonghan asked, cocking his head to the side. “Are you here with your friends?”

“Her boyfriend, actually,” Wonwoo piped up calmly from behind you. You looked back and saw him standing a few feet behind your towel with his arms crossed. He could be annoying, but fuck if he didn’t have good timing.

“Oh-uh, well I was nice to meet you.” Jeonghan mumbled abruptly and nodded to his friends to get back to their Frisbee game. They were gone before you could even say goodbye back.

“Attracting all sorts of attention today, aren’t you, love?” Wonwoo sneered and knelt down beside you.

His words went straight to the heat between your legs and you turned over onto your back to get a better look at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” you lied, daring him to challenge you.

“I think you do, y/n,” he continued. The way he whispered your name sent a shiver down your spine. “I mean, you’re practically naked in front of the whole beach right now.”

“I’m wearing a swimsuit.”

“You know what I mean. And all for what? To make me jealous? So I’d fuck you? Because you could’ve just asked, baby.”

You whimpered, but didn’t say anything and leaned up to kiss him, desperately wanting to feel his lips against yours. He leaned in too, but stopped just short of your mouth, pulling back a bit to look into your eyes. “I could just pull your bikini bottoms to the side, no one will notice.”

You moaned softly, wanting nothing more than for him to do exactly that. You weren’t even sure if you could wait to get home at this point, you wanted him inside of you now. He put a hand on each knee and spread your legs apart, whistling in awe at the wet spot on your bathing suit. You felt your face heat up in embarrassment. “I haven’t even touched you and you’re already this wet.”

“All because of you,” you panted, reaching out for him, but he pulled back.

“You know all of your teasing made me lose the game, right? I couldn’t focus because I was so distracted.” You nodded. “I was so fucking hard the whole match because of what you were doing”

And then your dumbass had to open your big mouth. “So Mingyu told you?”

Wonwoo pulled back, and gave you a confused look, clearly caught off guard. “Told me what?”

“Y/n, that was incredible, you were perfect!” Mingyu exclaimed as he ran up to you and Wonwoo, holding out a hundred dollar bill to you.

You winced as you took it, wishing you hadn’t said anything.

“Y/n, what the fuck?” Wonwoo demanded, even more frustrated than he had been a minute ago. “What were you incredible at?”

“Fucking distracting you, dude. I asked her if she’d be in on the bet with me for a cut of the winnings since you guys had more team members.”

Your boyfriend glared at you. “Is that true?”

“I mean, it’s just a game… and I thought it’d be fun,” you said quietly.

“That’s what you guys were talking about earlier, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah, she didn’t need any convincing she was totally down-”

“Mingyu,” you interrupted, pinching the bridge of your nose, “please, if you have any mercy for my pussy please shut the fuck up.”

His face went scarlet and he shut his mouth without further comment.

“So that’s it?” Wonwoo asked, obviously not ready to drop the subject yet. “You’re just gonna sell out your own boyfriend that easy?”

“You said you didn’t want to be on a team with me!”

“Don’t turn this around on me! You’re the one who helped them cheat!”

“Oh I don’t know if I’d call it cheating,” Mingyu interjected again.

“Shut up, Mingyu!” you and Wonwoo both shouted.

“Look, I’m sorry,” Mingyu said quietly. “If I had known it was going to be this big of a deal I wouldn’t have asked her. I just thought I was being clever, that it’d be a fun way to beat you guys, but I’m sorry I went too far.”

Wonwoo sighed and ran a hand through his wet curls. “It’s fine. I’m sorry I overreacted.”

“So… we’re good?” Mingyu asked, holding out a hand to help Wonwoo up.

“Yeah, we’re good. Next time, though, we’re playing fair.”

“Deal.”

“Y/n, you still want to go swimming, love?” Wonwoo asked, turning back to you.

“We’re not- we’re not going home?” Despite everything you were still incredibly horny, and you’d been patiently waiting for Wonwoo to rail you for what felt like hours now.

“Not yet,” he said and helped you to your feet. “Let’s make the most of our beach day.”

“I think the rest of us are going to find an ice cream shop,” Mingyu added. “Winners are buying. Do either of you want anything?”

“No thanks, we’ll hang out here by ourselves for a while.” Wonwoo answered for the both of you.

He wrapped an arm around your waist as you walked down to the water together and you relaxed, enjoying the feeling of his warm skin on yours. Only once you were out of Mingyu’s earshot did he lean down and whisper “your ass is going to be seven shades of red for that little stunt once we get home,” in your ear. Now it was your turn to be distracted.

lmk what you thought; i always appreciate feedback)

wonwoo tags: @wonw00t 

shoot me an ask if you’d like to be added to my taglist

[sonianvmd]

thh characters with a crush on you

warnings: none, maybe some swearing but otherwise nothing major

oH and mentions of murder and death but this is danganronpa so im going to assume u expected as much

a/n: so we kickin this blog off with a bang, writing for LITERALLY THE ENTIRE TRIGGER HAPPY HAVOC CAST LMFAOAOAOAO (excluding hifumi, yasuhiro, and the two despairs doe bc i’ve already made that clear)

also some character’s sections are shorter than others im sorry i just couldnt think of as many bullet points for them *tiktok cry emoji*

edit: I FORGOT CELSESTE FU K SORRY

spoilers under the cut!!

★ 彡 ★ ミ ★ 彡 ★ ミ ★

makoto naegi

when he realizes he likes you, he doesn’t necessarily panic or anything, but he does get nervous

nervous around you, that is

y’all saw how he was with sayaka

if he says anything that might sound intimate then he’ll immediately rephrase it or reassure he didn’t mean anything by it

he really only does have good intentions but his wording just kinda flops sometimes

he appreciates how you listen to him and value what he says

you don't make him feel dumb or inferior compared to a bunch of ultimates with actual talents

he’ll muster up the courage to tell you eventually

let’s hope his luck comes through 😁

byakuya togami

now when THIS man realizes he likes you, he a bitch nigga bout it 😐

he can't believe he fell for a common plebeian such as you

but it was hard not to

the way you preferred to get to the point

the way you were aware of your situation and didn't sugarcoat how you felt about it, although you certainly were nicer with it than him

he's ruthless

anyways

you knew your priorities and spent no time trying to use your resources

he noticed how much you had in common; in you, he saw himself

and we all know how this mf feels about himself 😐

he’ll be quick to defend you in class trials

he won’t realize he’s doing it but he just subconsciously protects you

but just because he doesn't notice it, don't mean the rest of the class brushes past it as well

yeah they on his ass LMFAOO

kyoko kirigiri

kyoko is very good at keeping her composure so she won’t be very obvious

she’ll probably just hang around you more

she’ll also defend you in class trials, calmly

“oh, it couldn’t have been [name]. i remember seeing them in their dorm around the time the murder took place.”

hifumi probably finna say some dumb shit like “aye what was you doin in their dorm doe” but anyways

she finds you respectable

if you have anything to contribute, she’ll let you take the floor

when she tells you, she’s very composed, but also very indirect LMFAO

she’s not too sure on how to express her interest in you but maybe she’ll go about it like “well, [name], now we’ve made it here, would you like to step back into the world with me?” or somethin else along those lines idk

take her hand

pls

toko fukawa

y’all know her whole “master togami” shtick

yeah so 😁😁😁😁

no but fr, toko ofc still has her borderline stalkerish 🧍🏾‍♀️ tendencies

she’ll often find herself staring at you, either in the library or in the morning meetings everyday at breakfast

but she isn’t as straight forward as she is with byakuya

i actually think she’d be mad shy and non confrontational

the whole thing she kept up with him ? yeah, never again

if you approach her first then she’ll be able to get a few words out but for most of the conversation, she’ll just nervously play with her braids

you’ll most likely put two and two together

unless ur a makoto kinnie bc then you’ll have to wait till someone else puts it in place for u but anyways

if you decide to approach her about it, you’ll kinda be backing her into a corner bc she’s just bad at deflecting things lmao

she’ll eventually confess (begrudgingly but hey i mean its better than nothing)

expect much stuttering and a gesture like giving you a small gift

and not to be that writer that uses japanese terms in english writing but toko seems like a tsundere but not really if that makes sense?? so she’d probably shove it in your hands and if you try to say something then she’ll just try to play it off as not a big deal lol

calls u a baka 😍😍

aoi asahina

i know y’all all see how she is with sakura

yeah.

aoi is the kind of person who’d like to spend time with their crush rather than shy away from them

she values you and your friendship very much

bring her donuts

just trust me bring her donuts

she doesn’t really realize she’s into you like that for a while but believe me, she is, the whole time

and yeah i think she’d be nervous to tell you bc that’s just natural but ultimately she’d be cool about it

uh oh looks like we goin for a swim

sakura ogami

similar to kyoko, she’s very calm

despite her big and bad appearance, she really is a sweet girl

she cares for you and your well-being very much

will indeed go on x games mode for you

the way she tells you is very sincere and well spoken

kith her

naow

im sorry this is like the shortest one i couldn’t think of much for her 😔😔

leon kuwata

flirtatious ass mf

and he’s lightskin

so this just cannot go well

y’all know that bit where it’s like the guy yawns and stretches his arms up and then wraps one around your shoulder

yeah that’s literally him LMFAOO

he’s very confident

he was fairly well known with the ladies at his old school so you know he’s rhockin wit it ‼️

but

you feel.. different than usual ??

those girls were just lil flings n dates bc he was nice enough to accept their confessions and it boosted his ego anyway so it was a win win

but you

he was genuinely interested in you since he had saw you the first time

he didn’t just acknowledge your appearance

he learnt about your personality and your hobbies and what you liked and such, and he really cared and wanted to hear you talk about it all

he felt the need to really make an effort to show you how much he respected and had affections for you

he doesn't tell you in a grand way

probably just asks you out to a movie or somethin

he's chillin

mondo owada

you know

for being the biggest, baddest, most respected biker gang leader

or just for being in a biker gang period

mondo’s a huge softie lol

yeah he gets violent but he’s a sweet guy who cares about and is loyal to his friends

so mfs need to be nice to you

or they gettin whooped

when he decides it’s time to tell you how he feels, he thinks over his words and he’s all confident there’s no way you’d reject him but then he sees you in the halls and goes 🧍🏾 LMFAOOO

he’ll push through but it’s like he’ll walk up to you and look away from you because he refuses eye contact and just go

“so y/n, would you wanna.. tch.. come to a drive-in movie with me or somethin’?... dumbass.”

real smooth mondo i think you got em good job

please tease him LMFAOO it’d be so funny

he’d probably yell but you can tell he’s not mad so you just keep going with it

but once you’re done tormenting him, you do agree to the movie, don’t worry 🙏🏾

also mondo would call his s/o doll

that is all

chihiro fujisaki

my fav dude in a dress <3

chihiro would be quite shy, but that’s just how he is tbh so no surprise there

he’s very kind so he’d check up on you often just to see how you are

he cares about you v much

the way he confesses is one that consists of a red face as he offers you a box of candy or something similar

and he’d feel honored that you reciprocate his feelings

he’d be very scared to tell you his secret but once he does, he’s delighted to hear it doesn’t make any difference to you

he doesn’t know how he got so lucky with you

not only because woooo they like me back but also because you like him despite,, well everything about him LMFAOO

sweet lil boy

i’d feel like he’d talk about you to alter ego a lot

and when u meet the program for the first time, he’s like “oh! you must be [name]! master’s told me all about you :)”

sobbing i miss him

kiyotaka ishimaru

okay here’s the thing

if taka were to like someone

i can’t tell whether he’d be more strict because he doesn’t want them to get in trouble (and also so it would hopefully divert any suspicion that he DOES like you since he treats you the same as everyone else, only more)

or if he’d hold back more because he favors them LMFAOO

so imma write a lil bit for both

in the case that he was even stricter:

he’d prefer to be around you because he believes the best way he can make sure you stay out of trouble is to make sure you don’t get into any in the first place

of course it’s impossible to monitor you every second of every day but he does his best to make sure you’re doing well

if he sees you do anything out of line, he’s shutting that shit down IMMEDIATELY

but in the case he let up:

he’d still lecture you but noticeably less than the other students

if your feet were resting on top of a desk, he’d ask you to move them and then leave you alone rather than yell at you and forcibly move them himself

if you notice his behavior towards you in comparison to the other students do not tease him about it he will go as red as his eyes /hj

either way he’s confessing to you with a polite but exaggerated bow while holding out a well thought out letter with both hands

sayaka maizono

she will tell you

idk why but i feel like she’d be straight up lol

she’d make sure she’s sincere

she is the ultimate pop idol and all so she wants to make sure you know that she really does like you and isn’t playing a sick joke on you or anything

ok bc

while i do think she’d tell you

i’d feel like she’d be a little indirect just to see how you feel

like she’d give you a free ticket to one of her upcoming concerts with a kind smile

and naturally, you're like :o

and of course you come to support her

and seeing you smile at her from the crowd and cheer her on was the encouragement she needed to push her to ask you out

for real this time

she asks if you wanna come to a concert with her and ur like “oh yeah i love ur shows!!” bc ur dumb and then she’s like “no i mean.. for another artist” and eventually it hits you that she’s asking you out and ur like “oH YEAH YEAH SURE THAT SOUNDS GREAT YEAH OK” LMFAOO

———

i really hope that this is good LMFAOO this is my first time writing for dr so 😃👍🏾

fun fact i finished toko’s section first and taka’s last 😁😁

and i’d like to thank @mius-imagination @bloodygir n the rest of the discord for helping me figure some of these characters out *simultaneously whips and nae naes*

bye ive been working on this for like weeks this took forever

———

edit: here’s a deleted section bc i kept blanking for this character 😍

[angrelysimpping]

share the breakdown whitney scene if you can pls ive spent hours in game roaming around lol

my pleasure

[after getting save by Whitney]

You think you see eyes watching from the shadows as you rise to your feet. Before you can get far, Whitney grabs you and shoves you against a locker. He slams his hand beside your head, blocking your escape.

"Forgetting something?" he asks. "Where's my thanks?"

(1) Break down (0:05) | + + Whitney's Dominance (2) Get on your knees | Promiscuity 4 | + Stress | + Whitney's Dominance (3) Reward with a kiss | Promiscuity 1 | + Whitney's Dominance | + Lust (4) Just thank him | - Whitney's Dominance

(1) Break down (0:05) | + + Whitney's Dominance

[high love/low lust]

The weight of everything is too much for you. You throw yourself at Whitney, wrapping your arms around him and burying your head into his chest. You try to speak, but you're only able to muster a few feeble sobs. You overhear his friends murmuring and snickering around you.

Finally, Whitney reacts. He grabs you by the wrist and pulls you off, his face twisted in contempt. "I'll be back," he tells the group. "I need to slap some sense into this slut." His friends' jeers follow you as he pulls you away from the crowd, over to a secluded supply closet. | + + Stress

(1) Next

He shoves you against a shelf, locks the door, then turns to face you. You shut your eyes and brace yourself. You tense up as you feel Whitney's hand clench around your shoulder, but nothing comes. You slowly open your eyes, and realise you're in Whitney's arms.

"Fuckers," he murmurs. "If anyone's gonna break you, it'll be me." He slinks to the floor, pulling you down with him. You don't resist, settling into his embrace. It's oddly comforting. | - - - Trauma

You stay like this for a moment, until Whitney pushes off you. He throws the door open and kicks you outside. "Go. Bother me with this shit again, and I'll really give you something to cry about."

You numbly comply, staggering back towards the school grounds as you try to make sense of what just happened.

(1) Next

[low love/ low lust] [low love/high lust]

The weight of everything is too much for you. You throw yourself at Whitney, wrapping your arms around him and burying your head into his chest. You try to speak, but you're only able to muster a few feeble sobs. You overhear his friends murmuring and snickering around you.

Finally, Whitney reacts. He shoves you away with a frown. "You really are fucked," he mutters, before turning to his gang. "Come on. We don't play with broken toys."

He leads his goons down the hall, casting a glance over his shoulder as he leaves.

[high love/ high lust]

The weight of everything is too much for you. You throw yourself at Whitney, wrapping your arms around him and burying your head into his chest. You try to speak, but you're only able to muster a few feeble sobs. You overhear his friends murmuring and snickering around you.

Finally, Whitney reacts. He grabs you by the wrist and pulls you off, his face twisted in contempt. "I'll be back," he tells the group. "I need to slap some sense into this slut." His friends' jeers follow you as he pulls you away from the crowd, over to a secluded supply closet. | + + Stress

He shoves you against a shelf, locks the door, then turns to face you. He points to the floor. "Down." You thoughtlessly do as you're told, slumping down to your knees.

"I know what'll cheer you up." He smirks as he pulls down his school trousers. He positions his immense cock in front of your face, hands on his hips as he stares down expectantly.

(1) Allow it | Promiscuity 1 | + Love | + Whitney's Dominance

[start noncon]

[fight them off]

Whitney staggers back. "Fucking bitch," he snarls. "See if I save you next time." | - Whitney's Dominance

He storms away. Bemused, his friends follow after him. You think you see eyes watching from the shadows as you gather yourself.

You fix your clothing.

[make them cum]

Whitney lets out a sigh as he reclines against a locker. | - Lust

He sends you on your way with a smack to your rear. "If I catch anyone else fooling around with you, I'll beat their ass," he says. "And yours." | + Stress

You fix your clothing.

(2) Resist | - - Whitney's Dominance

You turn your head away and weakly kick at Whitney. It's hardly forceful, but it's enough to get him to back away. He leans against the door, staring down with a scowl. There's a moment of silence before he speaks.

"I don't know," he mutters. Even through his agitated tone, his voice is softer than usual. "I don't fucking know."

He throws the door open and storms outside. You lie still for a moment before following suit.

[prettytoxicrevolver]

Engaged | Mat Barzal

Requested? Nope

Warnings? None

Summary: Mat proposes to you

Word Count: 1,929

Everything in italics is a flashback!

“Good morning (y/n)!!” you hear someone yell and you instinctively pull the covers over your head.

The person jumps onto your bed, pulling the covers back down and your eyes peek open to see your best friend grinning above you.

“Tito, go away,” you groan trying to yank the covers back.

“(y/n), get up,” he says

You shake your head and hide further away into your bed. Tito being his excited puppy-like self won’t take no for an answer and finds your waist, wrapping his arms around you and pulling you up out of bed. You end up in his arms bridal style, with a look on your face that could kill.

“Choose your next words wisely,” you warn, finally opening your eyes to look at him.

“I have coffee and food downstairs. Take a shower and then we can go shopping,” he says and a smile creeps onto your face.

“Wise man.”

Tito grins, carrying you into the bathroom and dropping you down before telling you he’ll be downstairs. You shower quickly, getting dressed in something decently cute, and head down to the kitchen where Tito waits.

“There’s my girl,” he says and you curtsey fakely making Beau laugh.

“Yeah yeah. Where’s my coffee?”

Beau laughs, holding your coffee out to you which you happily take. You take a sip and hum in agreement. Beau laughs once more and you spin, heading towards the door.

“Well let’s go!”

The minute Mat received the text from his best friend that you and he were off shopping, he heads over to their shared apartment. He anxiously grabs everything, the rose petals, the outfit he would change into, the ring, and anything else he thinks he needs to propose. He bounces around the apartment, anxiety running through him, as he runs through the plan in his head one more time.

He had wanted to propose to you for ages. The idea coming strongly to him one night when he came home late from a game, your sleeping form curled into the couch, wearing his jersey, and your homework set out before you. He leaned against the doorframe and thought that he wanted to come home to you every single night. And every single day after that, that was the only thought in his head. That he needed you here, with him forever.

He employed the use of Beau, both of yours best friend. He knew he had to get everything ready and had to get you out of the house for the day so you wouldn’t be suspicious of his actions. He told Beau to get you a cute outfit and go as far as get your nails done together for the day before Beau would bring you to the building where he was proposing. He hoped everything was going to go perfectly.

You were becoming slightly suspicious more and more as the day went on. You weren’t sure exactly what was going on, but when Beau suggested you tried on every dress you set your eyes on, decided he would pay for most of your clothes, and then said you should get your nails done and the two of you could talk during it you knew something was up.

Far be it from you to decline a free manicure, so as you and Beau sat together at the salon you cast your eyes over to him.

“What is going on?” you ask and he coughs, stuttering for a moment before responding.

“Nothing? Why would something be going on?”

“No reason,” you decide and he nods.

Once your nails are done Beau tells you there’s one more place you have to stop. You get to the strangely familiar building, the two of you climbing to the top floor. Your nerves take over as Beau leads you to a room. He casts you a smile before swinging the door open. Your jaw drops at the sight before you.

It was a penthouse, one of the more gorgeous ones you had ever seen. Rose petals litter the floor, light music playing in the background, and there was Mat standing just past it all. A white button-down stretches across his broad shoulders, gray slacks falling over his legs. His back is turned to you and you take a moment to gaze over his figure.

“Go,” Beau whispers behind you.

You smile at your best friend, making a mental note to thank him later. You step into the penthouse and the door shutting causes Mat to look at you. He turns, his hair falling over his eyes and a nervous smile appearing on his lips.

“Come here,” he says holding a hand out to you.

You make your way over, a nervous step about you but you take his hand and he pulls you in. Mat wraps an arm around your waist, pecking your lips nervously before taking a step back.

“Hi baby,” he says.

“Hi. What’s all this?” you ask your head swiveling to take in the decorations, the music, and the gorgeous view.

“Okay I’m gonna say a lot right now, so just give it a second before you say anything okay?”

You nod and Mat smiles, intertwining your hands in front of him. You look up into his stunning hazel eyes and a smile widens across your lips.

“Do you like the view?” he asks and you finally cast your eyes across the balcony to see the skyscrapers littering the sky, a beautiful sunset falling in the back.

“It’s beautiful,” you breathe out and Mat smiles, staring lovingly down at you.

“Yeah, it is.” You turn to look back at him and Mat grins at you.

“My love, you have been the most important thing in my life since I’ve met you. I know every single person from announcers to the press to media to even fans has hyped me up and given me the biggest ego possible. But none of it matters unless I have you by my side.”

You let go of one of Mat’s hands, to come up to your mouth, shaking nervously.

“You bring out the best in me, you always have. And there are millions of girls who throw themselves at me when I’m on the road,”

Your smile drops for a moment, your head tilting to look at Mat and he giggles lightly. He holds his free hand up, telling you to wait a moment.

“Hey (y/n/n),” you turn to look at Tito, and he nods his head in the opposite direction.

You look to see a girl, hand wrapped tightly around Mat’s bicep, and gazing up at him as if he’s the greatest thing God has ever made. She wasn’t wrong to look at him that way, but you should be the only one to do that.

You grimace at Tito, handing him your drink which he takes, smiling knowingly. You march over, trying to keep your jealousy in check as you approach Mat and the random girl.

“Well hi darling,” you greet coldly and Mat looks up at you, panic flashing across his face before a proud smile sits upon his face.

“And you are?” you ask swiveling your attention onto the girl.

“I’m,” she starts and you hold your hand up to stop her.

“Not his girlfriend I’ll tell you that.”

The girl flounders before you flash her a smile that gets her to turn and rush away. You turn to Mat, and he shakes his head, a laugh approaching his lips as he raises his glass.

“You are terrifying when you’re jealous,” he says and you smile.

“Just protecting what’s mine,” you shrug and Mat sets his glass down.

“No need. I’m not gonna go anywhere.”

“But none of them are you. No one will ever compare to you. You are my everything. You make my stomach erupt in butterflies every time I see you and you remind me that all of those cheesy love songs are true. And as much as you jokingly say you hate it, I know you love it when I serenade you”

“Mathew Barzal come back here!” you call to your boyfriend who rushes up to the microphone in the middle of the bar.

“Hi everyone,” he says and you press your face into your hands.

“I just wanted to come up and sing some karaoke! This song goes out to my beautiful girlfriend.”

You groan, the rest of the boys you came out with laughing and patting you on the back as they watch their teammate and your boyfriend make an absolute idiot of himself on stage. It was one of your favorite songs, and you smile like a dork, holding a hand up to your lip as you bite it trying to push the smile away.

“Baby, I love you!” Mat yells at the end of the song.

You cackle loudly and Mat makes his way over to you, pressing a kiss to your lips.

“And even if you’re not listening to me serenade you, I know you’re here for me through anything and everything. Fuck you would bail me out of jail if I needed it,” he says and you giggle lightly and nod.

“And you’ve loved me on my best days,”

You sit anxiously waiting for Barzy to come out of the locker room. The isles just won the game that gets them into the playoffs, and you were beyond excited to sit and watch every game. Just as you were looking around, you feel a pair of arms wrap around your waist.

You shriek, before giggling loudly knowing Mat’s strong arms around you. He sets you down, and you spin around, your arms coming to wrap around his shoulders. He slips his around your waist, holding you tight against him. You both giggle excitedly, and Mat pulls away for a moment quickly pressing a kiss to your lips.

“You’re going to the playoffs!!” you yell and he smiles wide.

“And you’ve supported me, cheered me on, and loved me through the worst ones,” he continues.

“And darling,” he says, grabbing your hands again and you look up at him.

“You’re even there to take care of me when I’m fucked up,” he admits and you laugh.

“Baaaaby!!! Oh, baby girl!!” Mat yells and you flinch knowing he’s drunk.

You turn and Mat drapes himself over you, the alcohol apparent on his breath. He smiles lopsidedly, pointing to someone random over your shoulder.

“Hey! This is my girl, and I love her so much!!” he yells drunkenly, and you grin.

“And my love, you’re drunk.”

Mat frowns at this accusation, but when he sees your face again, a smile reappears. You grin, falling for this boy even more at the moment before grabbing one of his hands to rest firmly over your shoulder and dragging him out of the party.

“And this is easily the longest speech of my entire life, but you’re everything to me. I come alive when I’m around you and you always bring out the best in me and I-” he pauses and you squeeze his hands in encouragement.

He keels down, pulling one hand away and digging out a velvet box. He pops it open, before casting his eyes back up at you.

“I guess what I’m saying is that I fuckin’ love you. And I want to know if you will marry me?”

“Mat you’re so dumb of course,” you say diving into his arms.

“I love you so much,” you tell him pulling back as he slips the rings on your finger.