#closed starter: Homecoming Date

[ogdencollegerp]

THE ANNUAL HOMECOMING GAME & GALA

The first weekend of the fall semester is usually one filled with excitement to be back on campus, and with Ogden’s football team often carrying the homecoming game to a win (including last year !!!), the gala that evening is a beloved campus tradition. Last year, G made their debut onto campus when the announcement of the homecoming court and THE GOLDEN GIRL was named Homecoming Queen despite her not having returned....leaving students feeling more anticipation than ever for the gala.

Or perhaps that's dread.

IC DATE: SEPTEMBER 2ND, 2023

OOC DATE: JANUARY 24TH - FEBRUARY 4TH

Don’t forget to tag any aesthetic or outfit posts and starters with #ogden homecoming 2023 and #ogdenevent !!!

PLEASE NOTE: Current threads do not have to be paused for the duration of the event, but any starters (both open and closed) should be taking place the night of the Homecoming Gala. Feel free to DM the main with any questions or concerns !!! 

[fondueforme]

closed starter for @questionsforjamie

That was awesome and a disaster at the same time. The Cheerios are all on edge now and not only that, they still have the dance to get through. I know who I'm vot-

“Brittany, you're doing it again.”

Brittany stopped walking and turned around, Jordan nearly running into them. “Thanks, Celeste. I'm just going to visit my sister though so you can go. We can get more footage at the dance.” They waved the other off and waited until they were once again on their own in the school hallway before continuing to walk. They made sure their lips were shut for real this time before picking their inner voice over back up.

Ahem. Where was I? Right, the Homecoming dance.

They sighed, having dreaded it, which was so not okay because it was a dance. There were very few things Brittany loved more than dancing. But here they were, dateless with both their friends being nominated for Queen. That wasn't the part that bothered them though, (not even being without a date did because really, if you thought about it, everyone else's dates would end up as their date so who cared) but if they focused on what did bother them, they were going to get a headache and be sad. No one wanted to dance with a sad person.

Maybe Kitty falling had been a bad omen. Maybe Brittany should just go home and check on Lord Tubbington, they could both get a head start on editing tonight's video… They were stuck in a full on spiral as they entered the designated janitor's closet and bee-lined for a beanbag chair. They only paused in their freak out to swear that next year they would help their sister plan something like this better so it wasn't in a closet. While it was actually kinda cozy thanks to the decorations, it seemed like a step back.

"Jamie," they sighed, falling back into the chair, "I think the football team winning triggered the apocalypse."

[asktayenbell]

Tayen giggled a little. "I felt like getting you something. Open it." She smiled and put the corsage on, blushing a little at the compliment.

She examined the flowers with a cute smile on her face. "Are these moonflowers?"

@asktayenbell continued from here

“Oh, thank you.”, she replied, taking a look at her date, “Your dress brings out your eyes”, she pointed out.

“Damn, I didn’t know we were doing presents. I thought those were reserved for Christmas or something. I brought this though”, she showed Tayen the corsage.

“I heard it’s a thing people do here”, she explained. She had chosen orchids which were native to Greece and moonflowers.

[deancasbigbang]

Title: Viva Las Vegas

Author: one_more_offbeat_anthem

Artist: Scarlett Dixon

Rating: Teen

Pairings: Dean/Cas, background Alastair/Abaddon, implied Sam/Rowena

Length: 21000

Warnings: Mentions of gambling, prison, and alcohol

Tags: 1920s AU, Getting back together, Heist, Found family, inspired by Ocean's 11, inspired by The Sting

Posting Date: October 6, 2022

Summary: The year is 1924. Prohibition is in full swing, Nevada’s gambling ban is still being enforced, but in a post-war environment, skirts are short and good cheer is abundant.  Unless your name is Dean Winchester. Eight months ago, Dean was put away for racketeering (read: illegal gambling) for working at an underground iteration of closed casino Hotel Nevada, and to make matters worse, his partner (and best friend) Cas Novak broke up with him via a letter halfway through his stint in prison. Back in Las Vegas, Dean’s looking for revenge: he knows that Alastair Cunningham, manager of Hotel Nevada, framed him, and the only solution seems to be doing a heist to rip Alastair off in return.  But there’s a bit of a problem: to make this scheme work, Dean’s going to have to enlist all his closest friends and family…and that includes Cas.

Excerpt: It was near one in the morning when the house finally cleared out, leaving only Bobby and Dean. Sam’s absence was another noticeable thing—even once he’d gotten his fancy law degree and started working, he’d still stayed with them, with Bobby predicting it was to save up until Sam had a girl to impress.  “Okay, we gotta talk,” Bobby said. In the days before Prohibition hit, he would have said this with a drink (although Dean knew Bobby had some moonshine hidden away somewhere).  “About what?” Dean sat down heavily in his chair, the dishes done once again.  “Don’t play dumb, boy. About Cas. And those kids. And your brother.” “What do you want me to say, Bobby?” Dean let out a long sigh. “Everything's down the drain. I get framed by Alastair, and then Sam’s run out of town, Cas leaves me, and Claire and Jack take up jobs they shouldn’t have to do. And there’s nothing I can do about it.” “Sam’ll come back soon, he’s tough. And Jack and Claire are growing up. In fact, Claire is grown up. You gotta let them make their own decisions, even if you don’t like ‘em.” “And Cas?”  Bobby sat down next to Dean. “I don’t think all hope is lost. I saw the way he was lookin’ at you tonight, the same way he always looks at you, like you hung the moon or something.” “Bobby, he hates me!” Dean put his chin in his hands.  “Did he say that?” “Might as well have.” “But he didn’t.” Bobby leaned back in his chair. “I think you’d be surprised, if you let yourself talk to him.” “If.” “You’ll do it soon enough, I know you.” Bobby chuckled. “You never go down without a fight. Don’t let yourself do it this time.” Maybe Bobby was right, but as Dean prepped for bed, it was hard to believe that. He’d had a different vision of how his whole homecoming would go. For starters, someone would have picked him up from the prison, or at least have been there to walk with him, and that someone would have been Cas. Everyone would have begged the night off for a real welcome-home dinner, and chances were, he’d spend the night at Cas’s (or Cas would stay at Bobby’s).  Instead, he was going to bed alone. 

DCBB 2022 Posting Schedule

[backtohawkins]

BACKTOHAWKINS IS NOW OFFICIALLY OPEN FOR INTERACTIONS

The date is Monday, May 30th, 1988. Memorial Day.

You think back to the weatherman you watched on the news earlier; The weather is warm with a sunny, cloudless sky, and maybe a chance of rain later in the evening. You hated his voice. You hate the news. At this point, you know it’s all a sham. With the news flicked off and the day in front of you, you begin getting ready, mind swirling with what lies ahead. Hawkins has closed down a majority of it’s small business’ for the day and opened it’s two pools in remembrance ( or, in celebration of summer officially beginning, depending on who you ask.) Locals can be found taking a dip, hosting barbecue's, and planting flags on any bare stretch of grass in sight. School is out, the kids are pouring back home from their semesters at College, and like always, everything is shaping up to be perfectly normal in Hawkins.

It’s been two years since anything “bad” has happened here. Last year, you could hardly believe that everything was going to be fine, but now that two years have ticked by, you’re putting a lot into this summer. This summer isn’t just summer, it’s a sliver of hope. 

Needless to say, for once, a day in Hawkins is bursting with opportunity; mischief, the local farmer’s market, swimming, an underfunded memorial day parade, or a cookout hosted by the Wheeler’s Karen Wheeler in honor of Nancy’s homecoming. It all seems to be happening. Trips to lover’s lake or the quarry aren’t out of the question and nothing is too far of a distance as long as your stereo or walkman is pumping. So go ahead, dive in and see what this summer has in store!

please remember to tag all open starters bth:starter and to have fun!! can’t wait to see everyone on the dash <3

[karlajoyner]

Stressed Out (Sunset Curve x Reader)

A/n: So starting off I've made a master list that I'm posting real soon for you all to access my stories without the scrolling. In order to post it I have to update my post about my requests/taglist and soon because I do get a lot on that comments that ask for more Charlie or more Owen and I wanna give you guys that but I also wanna make sure that I get through the requests that you guys send me with plots and storylines. It just makes it like a thousand times easier to have something to work off of. Opposed to me coming up with my own storylines that I have to do a lot of reading on my own to get my gears working! But again thank you guys for the comments! And finally I wanna say thank you for sending in your requests and your feed back. It is much appreciated!

Disclaimer: Alex is bi in this one not taking away from the fact that he's gay in the show it just runs best for this storyline! There is no Bobby btw! Haven’t written a foursome with 3 guys before so it might suck ass. And it’s not much but it’s something so enjoy my fellow fantoms!

Warnings: Smut (18+)

————

I internally groaned walking into school. I wasn't the worst student. But by far I certainly was not the best. Which is why I had a reputation since I first arrived to high school.

That and I was in a band with 3 of my best friends. Who all happened to be guys. Hot guys at that.

Which automatically made me the schools slut. It was fine with me but the boys didn't like the label.

No matter how true it was.

"Hey y/n heard you gave Mike Dawson a blowjob this weekend. Just when I thought you couldn't be anymore of a slut"

"Mind your fucking business Hayley" I heard a familiar voice speak up for me. A smirk spreading on my face as I felt an arm wrap around my shoulder.

"Did she come to you right after Patterson? What's it like to be her sloppy seconds?" Hayley Becker spoke with a wicked evil smirk plastered on her face.

"Fucking amazing actually. God the long nights we have. It's so great" I heard another familiar voice from my left. A large hand intertwining my fingers with theirs. She rolled her eyes clearly not expecting my boys to speak up for me. But then again neither was I.

"Slut"

"Skank"

"Whore"

"Bitch" I spoke as the bell rang.

"Just watch your back y/l/n" She said before turning around and walking away.

"She will!" Reggie shouted after the dark haired girl. The three of us expectantly looking at our bandmate.

"What? I didn't even get to tell her we would too" I sighed shaking my head at the boy.

"Thanks for sticking up for me guys but I can do that myself"

"We know. But your our girl. And apart of this band so we're kinda obligated" Alex spoke as the four of us walked to first period.

"Your really not"

"Come on y/n you know we're still gonna do it"

"I know and I only let you today cause I can't deal with that bitch at this time of day. I mean seriously it's 8:00 o'clock in the morning. Does she not have anything better to do than spread rumors about me?"

"Apparently not. So you and Jake Mills behind the church?" Reggie asked.

"Didn't happen considering I was with you idiots all weekend. You know your the only guys I touch" I bit my lip hearing the three of them chuckle.

"Yeah well it better stay that way. I don't wanna hear Trevor O'Connor bragging about banging you in the boys locker room again"

"Schools golden boy?" I questioned.

"He tried starting the rumor yesterday during p.e but we quickly shut it down" Reggie explained as I stopped a few feet away from the science room to continue talking.

"So Hayleys boyfriend wants to bang me? Wow"

"Yeah but don't even fucking thing about" Luke said pushing me up against the lockers beside us.

"I wasn't. Unless you guys piss me off" I grinned pushing him off of me. Opening the door a few feet away and walking in.

"Gentlemen. And Ms. y/l/n. Your late"

"Sorry Mrs. Daniels we had to deal with something"

"And did this something give you tardy passes"

"It did not"

"Detention. All of you"

"That's nothing new to them Mrs. Daniels"

"Shut the fuck up Hayley" I scoffed taking my seat beside Alex.

"Ladies stop it before I send you to the principal"

"Yes Mrs. Daniels" Hayley and I spoke in sync.

"I can't believe Luke dated her" I whispered towards Alex glaring at the blonde bimbo.

"Jealous?"

"Why would I be? I already have him. And I could have her boyfriend too if I wanted him" I said taking down the notes on the board.

"Mrs. Daniels I can't focus on the lesson because they're distracting me with their talking" Hayley spoke pointing an accusing finger at us.

"We are not!" I shouted sitting up.

"Yes you are probably talking about who your gonna whore around with next"

"Yeah it's your boyfriend if you don't check yourself Hayley"

"Trevor would never do that!"

"I'm pretty sure he would"

"Ladies principal office right now" I scoffed standing up.

"Wait!" Luke shouted standing up. Everyone's heads whipping toward him. He made his way over to me groping my left boob.

I scowled at how hard he squeezed glaring at him.

"Dickhead" I muttered.

"Mr. Patterson! You too principals office" We looked at the other two boys expectantly. Alex immediately rolling his eyes before standing up.

"We could do this the easy way or the hard way Mrs. Daniels"

"If she goes we go"

"I cannot send you two away for absolutely no reason Reginald" Mrs. Daniels spoke challenging the boys.

I close my eyes preparing myself for what came next. Alex was quick to slap my ass while Reggie pulled me in for a sweet kiss. Immediately earning gasps from my classmates.

"Now I can do it. Office all of you! And detention today after school!"

I groaned walking out of the principals office with my bandmates.

"Detention for 3 weeks. Seriously?"

"To make it worse we have to spend 2 of those with Hayley" I spoke seeing the blonde talking with Trevor just a few feet away. Being sure to send them a harsh glare, I finally turned back to the boys.

"Hey you'll be with us everything's gonna be fine" Reggie said throwing an arm around my shoulder leading me away to our next period. That we conveniently had together.

"No it won't. I also have to chaperone the stupid homecoming with Hayley" I cried wanting nothing more than for the day to be done for.

That afternoon we spent in detention not leaving until late afternoon. Due to the fact that my detention went on longer than the boys.

I walked into the studio behind Luke not really in the mood to practice.

"What's wrong y/n/n? You seem down" Reggie asked as I plopped back onto the couch.

"I'm just tired is all. And a little stressed out"

"But we've gotta practice baby, for our next gig. Sunset Curves so gonna rock that book club" Luke said picking up his six string. I watched as Alex and Reggie sent him a glare, the boy immediately putting it back down.

"Or we could take a day off" He spoke coming to sit to my left while Reggie was on my right.

"That sounds amazing" I mumbled feeling Alex begin to massage my shoulders from behind. I craned my neck allowing him more access. Now feeling a little more relaxed than before.

"So tell us y/n/n why are you stressed out?" Luke asked as I shut my eyes.

"Well for starters I'm so gonna get my ass beat when I get home" I sighed feeling Reggie begin to rub my arm to comfort me. Something he did often with how anxious I got.

"And there's just nothing I want to do more than run your ex girlfriend over with a bulldozer" I mumbled hearing a chuckle escape their lips.

"Sounds like a plan" Alex said as Luke intertwined our fingers.

"We'll make a day out of it. Just us four and a bulldozer" He joked making me giggle. The laugh got caught in my throat as I felt a soft kiss on the side of my neck.

"Seriously guys? Not today. No way" I spoke opening my eyes.

"We just wanna help you relax"

"That's what you said last time. I couldn't walk right for 2 days" I mumbled the last part.

"We'll be gentle" Reggie spoke.

"I know you will Reg. It's them I'm worried about" I spoke earning a pointed look from Alex.

"Okay Luke"

"Am I that rough?" He asked a frown forming on his face.

"Sometimes" I admitted feeling a little bad.

"Gee I'm sorry baby" Luke spoke kissing the back of my hand.

"It's okay. I like it when I'm in the mood" I said watching as Alex walked around the couch.

"Well then boys why don't we help our girl relax for today" Alex said bending down in front of me. I bit my lip as he spread my legs open feeling a slight breeze hit my covered core.

"Well there's no need for your skirt or these" Alex spoke toying with the waistbands of both my skirt and panties.

I shimmied out of them with ease leaving me exposed to my best friends like I'd been many times before.

"She just gets prettier every time"

"And wetter"

"Mind if I taste baby?" Luke asked. I nodded my head, watching as he dipped his long fingers in between my folds. Moaning as he pulled them back up to see them glistening with my cum.

"So good" He whispered putting them in his mouth.

"Okay I want a taste now" Alex said opening my legs a little wider.

"Guys. A little help" I huffed as Luke and Reggie hooked themselves on each of my thighs to keep me still.

"Please" I begged getting more turned on by the second. The blonde didn't hesitate to latch onto my core. A loud moan escaping my lips.

"Oh fuck" I struggled to keep still as he moved his tongue skillfully through my folds. Lapping it inside and out as moans fell from my lips.

I whimpered as Reggie slowly began to rub my clit making the pleasure intensify.

"Use y-you're f-fingers" I mustered out Alex obeying my request sticking two fingers in my wet pussy. Picking up the pace. My eyes screwed shut as a familiar feeling of bliss coursed through me.

"Look at me baby" Luke muttered turning my head to look at him with his free hand. I opened my eyes looking into his blue ones covered with complete lust.

He was quick to smash his lips onto mine as the other two worked on building up my orgasm. Which wasn't far at the pace Alex was working on me.

"Holy shit!" I panted pulling away and throwing my head back at the amazing sensation of my orgasm hitting.

"You squirted princess" Alex grinned wiping away the liquids dribbling down his chin. I giggled at his swollen pink lips placing a quick peck to them.

"What now baby?" Luke asked rubbing his hand on my thigh.

I looked at the three boys before discarding any remaining clothes I had left. Watching as their eyes raked me up and down like many times before.

"Reg can you just fuck me today. I really need gentle" I begged as his cheeks turned bright red whenever I asked him to do something. Whether it was sexual or not.

"Sure beautiful" He smiled lopsidedly pushing his lips onto mine.

I sighed in content as he pushed me down on the couch. My head landing on Luke's lap giving me a little leverage.

"She's something else" Alex spoke to no one in particular.

"Your telling me" Reggie panted pulling away to undo his belt and jeans. I bit my lip looking up at the boy with the blue eyes. Who no surprise had a smirk plastered on his face.

"Condom" I heard Alex say presumably to Reggie. But I was too entrance in Luke's gaze wanting to include him. Upon hearing a ripping of a package I glance back at the boy who was hovering above me.

"I can do something for you after if you want" I bit my lip speaking towards Luke.

"It's okay baby. It's about you today" He said moving his hand down from my collarbone to my boob.

Reggie and I moaned simultaneously as he slowly entered me. Immediately stretching me out.

"So tight" He muttered beginning to move at a steady pace.

A squeal escaping my lips as Luke pinched my nipples paying close attention to each of them. He'd always been a boob guy.

I pulled Reggie down towards me our lips meeting in the middle as his speed began to increase.

Then there they were again. Fingers were now rubbing circles on my clit presumably Alex's sending my body into pure ecstasy.

I moaned loudly into Reggies mouth as I felt myself my inner walls clench around him. Earning a groan from the bassist. His thrust becoming more sloppy.

"Shit. Shit. Oh fuck" He cursed as his orgasm hit. Mine coming seconds after.

"Holy fuck Reg" I panted coming down from my high.

"That was pretty fucking hot princess" Alex spoke as Reggie got off of me to go throw away the condom.

"I try" I joked sitting up. Luke immediately removing his muscle tee and handing it to me.

"You do know this isn't gonna cover much up right?" I questioned him putting it on anyway.

"Who said we wanted you to cover up baby" He said pulling me under his arm. I sighed contently placing my hands on his bare torso.

"Anyways Reg why don't you go run her a bath inside the house" Alex suggested throwing me my panties that had been thrown onto the lazy boy.

"Got it!" Reggie said coming over and placing a chaste kiss to my lips before running out of the garage.

"I get to clean her up in the shower. Called it" Luke said as Alex wrapped his arms around my waist.

"Just as long as I get to put her to bed"

"Guys I've orgasmed twice today give me a break"

"Are you feeling more relaxed princess?"

Alex asked grinning at me.

"Much. Now if we could do that consistently for the next 2 weeks then I might be able to get through detention with Hayley without ripping her head off" I spoke earning a laugh from the two boys. Both of them knowing well that I wasn't joking.

————

Up Next: Carrie Wilson x Reader

Owen Patrick Joyner x Reader

Charlie Gillespie x Reader

Alex x Male Reader

Luke Patterson x Reader

Charlie Gillespie x Reader

————

@lolychu @headheartbellarke @bookish0918 @kcd15 @ifilwtmfc @moviesbooksandfandoms @lovesanimals @lavender-writer @kaitieskidmore1 @morganayennefertyrell @iloveteenwolf @ghostofmgg

[charmingwords23]

Fanfic: Exponential Growth

Teresa hadn’t been expecting her family to grow by two members in one day. 

- OR - 

Teresa was already pregnant in the finale and I’ll prove it with this fic...

Link

Teresa couldn’t sleep. Each time she would close her eyes and try to relax, something would distract her. The side of the pillow against her cheek wasn’t cold enough, so she’d flipped it. James was too far away, so she’d snuggled closer. Then she was too hot, so she’d shifted away. Her back was aching from lying on it too long, so she’d rolled onto her side. The waves crashing outside the bedroom window were unusually loud - had they always been like that? Maybe they needed noise-reducing drapes. Did those exist? She had tossed and turned so much last night that James had eventually grumbled in his sleep and thrown his arm over her waist in a vain attempt at keeping her still.

By the time the dark of night started to fade to gray, Teresa had tried counting sheep, counting the seconds between the breaking waves, and counting the whiskers between James’s ear and chin (she lost count on that one). When nothing worked, she had mostly just lain with her eyes on the ceiling, mind racing but never settling on a complete thought. So when the clock turned to 5:30 AM and the seagulls outside started to squawk, Teresa gave up and decided she might as well just get up.   

Teresa turned her head toward the sleeping man beside her. James was lying on his side, his right arm slung lazily over the bottom of her ribcage so that his fingertips brushed her hip bone. His soft hair flopped over his forehead and jutted out in different directions, in a disarray still from when she had run her fingers though it the night before. She studied the way his dark lashes rested against his cheek and how his lips parted so slightly with his slow, rhythmic breaths that anyone who wasn’t looking wouldn’t even notice. 

He always looked so peaceful when he slept.

She didn’t know she could love a person so much. Teresa’s chest felt tight, compressed by the overwhelming urge to draw so close she wouldn’t be able to tell where she ended and he began. She wanted to wrap herself under his skin and tie their souls together. 

Instead, she gingerly reached out a hand to smooth her fingers over his brow, careful to keep her touch light as a butterfly wing. 

He didn’t stir. With a silent sigh, Teresa carefully withdrew her hand and slid her body out from under his arm. She perched on the edge of the bed and reached for James’s shirt on the floor. She remembered throwing it off of him the night before, and a ghost of a smile formed on her lips. She shrugged into the shirt and stood up, swiping her hand over the back of her neck to free her long curls from the neckline of the shirt. 

James groaned quietly behind her, rolled onto his stomach, and ran his hand over the bare sheets that were still warm from her body. “What are you doing?” His voice was low and muffled against the pillow where his face was half-buried. 

“I’m going to take a bath,” she whispered, shifting the shirt so that it sat evenly on her shoulders instead of gaping off to one side because of its size. 

James grumbled in protest. He grabbed a hold of the edge of the shirt and tugged at it. “Come back to bed,” he mumbled, never opening his eyes. 

Teresa shifted around to smile at him and shook her head. “Can’t. Too much to do today.” He huffed and buried his face further in his pillow. Teresa leaned down to kiss his bare shoulder once, then padded across the floor to the adjoining bathroom. She clicked the door shut behind her before turning on the light. 

As she drew the bath and added her favorite oils to the water, she drummed her fingers against her thigh - her restless energy increasing. She moved around the bathroom, collecting fresh towels and wash rags to set on the stool next to the tub. 

Today was the day. 

Finally, after four years, her entire family was going to be together again. 

She, James, Kelly Anne, and Kelly Anne’s daughter Lena had lived a quiet, content life together since disappearing from their old lives. They ate meals together, they played in the sun together, and they watched movies together; but no amount of happiness had been able to completely fill the Pote-shaped void in their lives. Since the moment James and Kelly Anne had joined Teresa at the beach, Teresa had felt both a happiness she had never fathomed and a longing for the day when Pote would be reunited with them to make their family whole. 

Teresa had teared up when they got the news last month that Pote would be released with time served in the upcoming weeks. 

In the present, Teresa dipped a hand into the bathwater to check the temperature. Satisfied that it was hot enough to relax her muscles but cool enough to not cause a sweat, she stirred the water around with her fingers and then shed James’s shirt, letting it fall to its most common resting place: the floor. She dipped her toes into the water, then slowly sunk her body in - letting the warmth caress her skin. 

Teresa tried to allow the calming lavender scent she had added to the water relax her. She began massaging her skin with her favorite scrub and making a mental list of what she needed to do today to get ready for Pote’s homecoming. 

She would need to refresh the sheets in Kelly Anne’s room so Pote would have a nice, fresh bed to sleep in. Kelly Anne had already washed the small starter-collection of clothes they’d purchased for Pote, so that was done at least. She wondered if she should ask James to go into town to buy a couple of bottles of Pote’s favorite Mexican whiskey? Teresa had already prepped the meat for the soup she would make tonight - letting it marinate overnight for extra flavor. She did need to bake the bread this morning so the dough would have time to rise this afternoon, but that wouldn’t be too difficult. 

Teresa had been making preparations for Pote’s return for over a week, and still she felt the nagging in the back of her mind like she was forgetting something important. 

She rinsed her face in the bathwater, then massaged her washrag over her forehead and cheeks. 

She had thought of everything, right? She had made his travel arrangements - all at a premium to ensure the highest discretion. Despite Teresa’s mixed feelings on the matter, James had successfully infiltrated the prison and passed off coded travel directions to Pote. Teresa and Kelly Anne had stocked up on Pote’s favorite foods and ingredients, and Teresa had even helped Kelly Anne start compiling a list of potential houses on the island where she and Pote could move with their daughter when Pote was ready. They had started leaving an empty chair at their dinner table and telling Lena it was where her Papi would sit when he arrived home, so she wouldn’t be confused. 

Teresa shook her head. No, she was sure she had covered her bases. Pote would be home today and everything was almost ready for his arrival. 

When she had scrubbed her skin clean and the water started to turn more tepid than warm, she swam her hand to the bottom to unplug the stopper, then lifted herself from the water. She grabbed her clean towel and patted it against the rivulets of water that trickled down her body. Shaking off as much water as she could, she stepped out of the tub and exchanged her towel for the fluffy white robe hanging on a nearby wall hook.  

Teresa made her way to her designated sink at the bathroom vanity and released her hair from where she had tied it up before her bath. The soft strands of curls cascaded over the shoulders and back of her robe. She ran her fingers through it and decided it might need a few spritzes of the leave-in conditioner she kept on hand. 

She scanned the vanity top - eyes passing over her most-used lotions, soaps, and moisturizers. Where had she put it? She glanced at James's sink. The only supply he kept out was his hand-soap, and Teresa knew she wouldn’t have put her conditioner in any of the drawers that held his razor, aftershave, nail trimmers, or any of his other things. Her lips pursed together in consternation as she started opening the various vanity drawers and rifling through them. 

Not with the nail polish; she would have never put it there. 

Not with the extra hand towels. 

Not with the cold medication, ibuprofen, and cough drops on hand for the occasional illness. 

She opened the largest under-sink drawer and began to root through the little shelves that held her blow dryer, hair straightener, and additional hair and skin products. In her digging, she bumped something onto the floor with her elbow. Teresa huffed and crouched down on her heels to gather up the tampons that were spilling out of their box and onto the floor. She made a mental note that she needed to get more of them soon. She’d been meaning to pick some up but - 

Wait. 

Teresa froze just as she was setting the little box back under the sink. She blinked a few times, her eyes flitting to the side, trying to recall a memory. 

What day was it again?

How long had it been?

She tried to count backwards in her mind and felt an uncomfortable crease forming in her brow. 

Wait, wait, wait.

She shut the cabinet door and scrambled to her feet. There was a buzzing in her ear, and she could feel her heart starting to beat against her ribcage. She swung the bathroom door open. James was still lying on his stomach with his face half buried in a pillow. He grimaced at the bright yellow light from the bathroom but didn’t open his eyes. The gray-blue light of dawn filtered through the drapes to illuminate the curves of his exposed back where the sheet had ridden down to his hips.  

“James,” she whispered, a hint of urgency in her tone. 

“Mmm?” 

“What day is it?”

“Wednesday,” he rumbled, his voice heavy with sleep and still muffled by his pillow. 

“No,” she prompted, “I mean the date.” She brought her thumb up to her lip and started chewing on her fingernail - still trying to mentally calculate the passage of time. Out here on the beach, everything moved so slowly that Teresa barely ever kept track of the day of the week, much less the day of the month. The only time she ever really checked was when she knew her cycle must be coming up - 

James frowned and opened one sleepy eye to glance at her. “The ninth.” Teresa’s gaze drifted down, lost in her counting. “Why?” he prodded, voice thick and lazy. 

The answer to the most important math problem she’d done in years - maybe in her whole life - sprung to her mind. It had been 36 days. James must have noticed something in her expression, because he started to shift himself up onto one arm. She swallowed. “No reason,” she whispered in a rush, backing into the bathroom and shutting the door again, resting her back against it for a second. She heard James huff and then settle back into the bed. 

She needed to be sure. 

She rushed forward to her vanity again and threw open the drawer where she knew she had stocked a few pregnancy tests in the back. Lena’s surprise appearance in Kelly Anne’s life had convinced Teresa to always keep one or two tests on hand. After all, she had always been one to plan for all contingencies. 

It turned out she had accumulated three slim boxes. Teresa scanned her eyes over the instructions and then yanked the packages open. 

The three minutes between when she set the last used test on the counter top and when she could pick them up to see the results felt like the seconds were wading through quicksand. Teresa sat on the edge of the bathtub and stared off into space. 

Her mind went back to a handful of weeks ago when she and James had watched from a short distance on the beach as Kelly Anne told Lena about her Papi and how he would be coming home soon. The words had tumbled out of her mouth before she’d even really registered them. I think I want that. James had assessed her, surprise and something else clear on his face. 

“A kid?” he’d asked. She’d nodded. He’d grinned and pulled her into his side, planting a kiss on the top of her head. 

They hadn’t been trying, technically. But they also hadn’t been not trying. 

When her birth control pills had run out shortly after that, she had just stopped refilling them. When the moment had come each time they had sex the last few weeks, they’d just skipped the condom. They weren’t in a rush, but they weren’t preventing anything anymore either. 

She always thought it would take longer. 

James was going to be so smug. 

When the three minutes had passed and it was time to look at her results, Teresa already knew in her heart what the tests would say. She stood, ignoring the slight tremor in her hand, and took the two steps to the vanity where the tests were laid out. 

Two lines. 

A plus sign. 

Pregnant. 

Teresa sucked in a breath and backed up to sit on the edge of the tub again. Her eyes pointed toward the bathroom door, unfocused, and her hand drifted absently to press against her stomach. A baby. A new life to love and be responsible for. Old Teresa rarely let herself dream of the possibility, but here in her new life, she was starting to get used to dreams becoming reality. 

She was going to be a mother. 

A soft knock rapped against the door. 

“Teresa?” James’s voice was gravelly, like he’d just climbed his way out of a deep slumber and his voice wasn’t ready to forfeit the sleep yet. Teresa wasn’t prepared to say anything, so she didn’t. Her mind was too distracted by a barrage of images: tiny toes, teddy bears, lullabies, pink lips and soft eyelashes. 

She heard the door click open and saw James stepping inside while scratching a hand over his bare stomach where the elastic of his sweatpants hung low on his hips. His hair looked like a charming mess, and he squinted his eyes against the light. Her vision was starting to smear around the edges. Somewhere in the depths of her mind she realized the blurriness was a side effect of gathering tears.

“Teresa, what -” She could feel the moment James’s eyes landed on her, and even through her blurry vision she could see him stop his movements. His voice was awake and demanding in the next heartbeat. “Are you ok? What’s going on?”

She blinked rapidly and lifted her eyes to his face. Her chest was starting to burn with something that even after four years, she was only just starting to recognize: joy.

His brow was furrowed and his lips were turned down at the corners. She supposed she’d be worried too if she walked into the bathroom and saw him crying in a robe on the edge of the bathtub. He crossed the distance between them and crouched in front of her. His hand automatically reached up to press the back of his palm against her forehead. “Hey,” he breathed, searching her eyes. “Are you feeling ok? What’s wrong?”

She planted her hands on the sides of his neck, his bare skin warming her palms. Her own lips wobbled into some semblance of a smile. “Nothing,” she exhaled. “We -” she cleared her throat and jutted her chin toward the vanity. “Look.” 

James stared at her for a beat, confusion written on his brows. He stood and stepped away from her grasp. She watched his eyes connect with what was on the sink and stop moving. He spun back around to face her, his eyes wide and his mouth dropping open slightly. She laughed then and clasped her hands together over her heart, the elation that had been bubbling in her lungs spilling over to the surface. “Teresa,” he murmured, turning to the sink again and stepping closer. His eyes scanned through the tests, and his hand reached out as if to grab one of them, but he pulled it back. 

He spun to face her again, taking steps toward her as if in a trance. She felt his eyes boring into her face. “You’re pregnant?” His voice was soft, like the words were a prayer. 

Teresa bit her lip, but even that couldn’t hinder the corners from turning up in a smile. James laughed and ran a hand through his hair, his eyes bright. In a moment, he was crouching in front of her again, his palms smoothing up her neck and his fingers cradling the back of her head. “You’re serious?”

Teresa bent her elbows to grab onto his forearms below his wrists. “Yes,” she confirmed, her voice sounding light and breathless. 

His answering grin matched her own. He leaned forward and rested his forehead against hers, then kissed her nose and pulled back enough to meet her eyes again. “How do you feel?”

Teresa knew he didn’t mean physically. She blinked again, and the tears building up in one of her eyes finally snuck over the edge and onto her cheek. James wiped it away with the pad of his thumb. “Happy,” she admitted, her smile growing. 

“Me too,” he confirmed, the emotion in his eyes dancing. Teresa moved one of her hands from his arm to his face, smoothing her thumb over his lips and then brushing his hair back from his face. She hoped their child had his deep brown eyes and soft dark hair. 

Teresa leaned forward to capture his lips with her own. By now, kissing James was as familiar as breathing, yet somehow her stomach still turned over when one of his hands fisted in her hair and the other one skimmed down her back to steady her where she still sat on the edge of the tub. She planted one of her hands against his jaw, relishing the tickle of his short beard against her flesh. 

His lips against hers were joy. Adoration. Reverence. 

“We’re having a baby,” she mumbled against his lips, her own curving against his. When he pulled back a few blissful moments later and grinned at her, she mirrored his expression. He laughed softly and tucked some loose curls behind her ear. 

“What?” she wondered aloud, her skin barely able to contain the euphoria bursting forth from deep inside her chest. 

James focused on that same strand of curls and ran his fingers down it, his grin turning into a smirk. He met her eyes again. “I just remembered when you said we shouldn’t get our hopes up because it might take me a while.” 

Teresa wasn’t sure whether she wanted to pinch his side in rebellion or devour the smirk from his face. 

 ---

The morning and afternoon passed in a flurry of activity preparing for Pote’s arrival.  Kelly Anne was a basket of nerves, cleaning and then recleaning every surface in the house - wanting everything to be perfect. James had offered to take Lena swimming after lunch to occupy the little girl, and Kelly Anne had almost cried in appreciation. A few minutes later, James had changed into his swim trunks and had hoisted a cackling Lena onto his shoulders. 

He had squeezed Teresa’s hand and thrown her a wink when the pair passed her on their way outside. 

It was a miracle that Kelly Anne hadn’t noticed the dreamy smile that had clawed its way onto Teresa’s face, but then again, Kelly Anne had other things on her mind, Teresa supposed. 

A few hours later, Teresa decided she needed a break when Kelly Anne asked her opinion on the fifth outfit she had changed into. James and Lena had returned from their swim, and James had headed for the shower while Lena joined her mom and tía in Kelly Anne’s bedroom. 

“Is this one too much?” Kelly Anne was babbling. “It’s too much, isn’t it. Ugh, I knew it.” 

Kelly Anne started tearing off her most recent tank top despite Teresa’s assurances that it looked great. 

“Mommy, when is Papi coming?” Lena whined, kicking her feet over the edge of the bed. 

“Soon, baby. Why don’t you go brush your teeth?”

Lena pouted and flopped onto the mattress. “I did that already!”

Kelly Anne barely spared her daughter a glance in the mirror. “Well brush them again, then.” 

“But I don’t wanna!” Lena wailed. 

Teresa grabbed the little girl’s hand. “It’s ok. I’ll take her outside for a while. We’ll build a sandcastle.” 

Kelly Anne nodded at Teresa and mouthed “thank-you.” Teresa nodded at her friend, then let the tiny brunette out of the house. 

Kneeling in the sand and watching Lena dig around and build her dream castle, Teresa couldn’t help imagining a few years down the road when she might be doing the same with her old child. Lena prattled on about dragons and moats and princesses, and Teresa humored her - helping her decide on the best place for her drawbridge. Once, James had helped the girl build a sandcastle and had insisted that she place her towers and drawbridges in tactically sound places. Lena had no idea what that meant, so now she constantly asked “Here?” before altering her creation with additional structures. They scoured the beach together for shells to decorate the castle, and Teresa relished the feel of little Lena’s hand in hers. 

Not long after, Teresa looked up to see Kelly Anne waving to her from the back porch. Deciding she really did need to run inside and check on her bread before Pote’s arrival, Teresa ruffled Lena’s hair and made her promise to wait right there until her mom got to her. The girl nodded, and Teresa started walking back up the boardwalk toward her house. Kelly Anne gave her arm an appreciative squeeze as they passed one another on the boardwalk. 

When Teresa walked into her air conditioned living room, James set his glass of water down on the coffee table and stood up from the couch to meet her. 

“Hey,” he’d said casually, reaching out to grab her by the elbow gently. She’d stepped toward him automatically, letting her eyes roam over him. He wore a light button-up shirt with polka dots and the pink shorts with tiny lobsters on them she’d given to him for his birthday. His hair was soft and windswept, despite his shower not long ago. He looked as handsome as ever. She signed, a soft smile blooming on her face. James wrapped his arms around her waist, locking her in place in front of him. “You made sure Lena put the towers in the best strategic places, right?”

She threw her head back and laughed. He watched her with a grin on his lips. 

“You doing ok?” he added quietly, a secret smile lighting his eyes. 

She reached up and kissed his cheek in response. “Yes. I’m going to check on the bread.” She patted his cheek with her hand, and he turned his face to kiss her fingers before he dropped his arms and let her step away from him. 

Only two minutes later, just as Teresa was peeking under the dish towel she had draped over the bread dough while it rose, Lena ran into the kitchen. 

“Tía Teresa! Papi is here!”

Eager, Teresa had and made her way to the back door. She could see James hugging Pote just before she stepped out onto the porch. “Welcome home,” she called, her face breaking into a happy smile at seeing her dearest friend again after so long. She approached him and pulled him into a tight hug, the wind tousling her hair. 

“Teresita,” he said, crushing her against him. 

“Hola,” she breathed with a shaky voice, rubbing his back. She had gotten regular updates on Pote throughout the last 4 years, but having him back home with her was exactly the emotional powderkeg she had expected. Her insides screamed between excitement, guilt, happiness, and regret. The happiness was winning. She pulled in a breath and stepped back from him. “You look good,” she pointed out, keeping her hand on his shoulder. 

Pote regarded her with a smile for half a second. “You look different,” he appraised. Something about the twinkle in his eye made her blink. Could he tell? Was she...glowing...or something? She shook her head slightly, her smile basically permanent at this point. 

“Four years,” she mused.

“Better late than never,” he assured her. “Your plan worked, Teresita.” 

Teresa’s smile turned sad. “I’m sorry you missed so much time with your daughter.” For a moment, she thought about her own child. She had always felt remorse over Pote not being around for the first few years of Lena’s life, but now...the thought of James not being here for their child and how she knew it would tear him apart brought a new level of understanding to the pain. 

Pote shook his head and glanced around between the three people standing on the porch with him. “Nah. If something had to go wrong, I’d rather it be on my end.” 

“So Teresa’s plan worked,” Kelly Anne supplied, “We’re safe.” 

Safe. There were only a few loose ends left, and Teresa needed to know they were tied up. She had to make sure it was all really over. She wouldn’t let her child be born into a world where having Teresa Mendoza as a mother could be a death sentence. So she inquired about Boaz. About Chicho and Marcel. Pote assured her that everything was taken care of. No one suspected she was alive, and there were no past enemies left out there who would come looking anyway. 

They were really and truly free. 

Teresa could feel James’s eyes on her. She knew he would be thinking the same thing as her. How today their freedom meant even more to them than it did yesterday. 

When Pote rubbed his hands together and asked to be shown to the kitchen, the group laughed. Teresa’s brilliant smile bubbled up again. “Actually,” she pointed out, “I’m cooking for you tonight.” 

While Kelly Anne explained to Pote some of the biggest changes in their lives, James had pulled Teresa into his side and dropped a kiss onto her forehead. She laid her head on his shoulder and her palm on his chest, letting the familiar beat of his heart drown out the demons that had tried to peek through the crevices of her mind moments ago.  The biggest and most consequential change in her and James’s life was something neither of their friends knew about yet. In time, James and Teresa would tell them, but now was not the moment. 

At dinner, no one but James seemed to notice that she brought a pitcher of a local, tropical fruit juice to the table instead of the cocktail she had mixed up the day before. Kelly Anne and Pote were too distracted about being together to take in much else, but James had squeezed her hand under the table and given her a conspiratorial smile. 

When Pote talked about how happy he was to be eating as a family, Teresa zoned out. If only her past self could see her now, surrounded by her family and preparing to start a little one of her own. She imagined how a year from now there would be a high chair added to the table for family dinners, and she felt her lips tilt up at the corners wistfully. She thought the Old Teresa would be proud of her. 

Kelly Anne and Pote were lost in their own conversation. James, the one who always saw through her, squeezed her hand again and asked if she was ok. The knowing glint in his eye made her think maybe he had had the same flash to the future when envisioning how their family dinners were about to change. 

“Yeah,” she whispered, content, before leaning forward and connecting her lips to his for just a moment. An “I love you” kiss for no reason other than that, that she loved him and she was happy and she couldn’t stop herself. She caressed his cheek softly before leaning away, and he stared at her in the way that always turned her stomach over. Like he adored her. Like he was in awe of her. 

Pressing his lips together to keep his grin at bay, he turned back to the group. “A toast,” he proclaimed, grabbing his glass. Pote and Kelly Anne looked away from one another and grabbed their own glasses. Teresa followed suit. James raised his glass up. “To a new life,” he declared, a sly glance her way. 

Cheeky bastard, she thought, fighting to control her smile. 

---

That evening, Teresa sat side by side with James on the stairs of their private boardwalk. She was pressed into his shoulder, one hand hugging his bicep and the other held gently between his palms. The wind blew strands of her hair against her neck and cheeks. The late evening sun was starting to begin its descent, but she was snuggled close enough to James that the chill of the sea breeze didn’t bother her. 

Together they watched Pote and Kelly Anne play in the waves with their daughter. 

Teresa didn’t have to be a mind reader to know that she and James were thinking the same thing. The notion of parenthood had only lived inside of them for about 12 hours, but already she could see it so clearly. How they would hold their child’s hands - one of them on each side - and swing him or her over the tiny incoming waves. How their child would laugh, and play in the sand, and enjoy the feel of the cool sea water on his or her feet. 

How together they would move heaven and earth to make sure their child was safe, and happy, and loved every single day. 

Teresa looked over at James, and let her smile overtake her. 

This will be us, she said without speaking. 

She knew he would understand. 

His answering smile was one part bashful and one part enamored. She knew with certainty that his dreams of their future matched her own. He rubbed his thumb over her hand that he held, letting his eyes make his promises to her. 

She snuggled impossibly closer and leaned her head against his shoulder. “So,” she started, a hint of humor creeping into her voice. “I guess we need to encourage Pote and Kelly Anne to start house hunting sooner rather than later. I wasn’t expecting our family to grow by fifty percent in one day when I bought this house.” 

James chuckled and tucked some loose hair behind her ear. “Do they call that exponential growth?” 

Teresa buried her nose in his shoulder, inhaling the scent of the sea that now permanently clung to him. “No, you’re thinking of one-hundred fifty percent.” 

He started playing with her fingers in his hands. He didn’t look at her this time, but the corners of his mouth turned up. “Yeah? So what’s that, like 3 more kids?” She looked up at him with raised eyebrows. “Give me some time and I’ll make it happen.” 

Teresa threw her head back and laughed. When he pulled her in more tightly and pressed his lips against her hairline, she thought exponential growth didn’t sound too bad.

[solitvdcs]

* kathryn newton, cis female + she/her | you know adeline de-larouche, right? they’re twenty-three, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, their whole life? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to ultimate by lindsay lohan like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole awkward angles and fifty shots for the perfect instagram picture, matching your manicure to your shoes, beach day without actually going in the water thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is october 29, so they’re a scorpio, which is unsurprising, all things considered.

trigger warning for alcohol, rehab, and abortion

full name: adeline cora de-larouche

birth date: october,29, 1997

pronouns: she/her

hometown: irving, north carolina

sexuality: bisexual

height: 5′1″

eye color: blue

hair color: blonde

build: athletic

tattoos: three zelda life hearts on the back of her neck (one for each triplet)

piercings: none, it’s a pain in the ass taking piercings out for competitions

style: preppy boho, basically

favorite color: pink

favorite food: sushi

zodiac: scorpio sun, libra moon, leo rising

mbti: estj

hogwarts house: slytherin

enneagram: type 3 wing 4

temperament: choleric-sanguine

alignment: chaotic neutral

bio bullet points

so you’ve read the story twice before: well-off family, cold and absent mother, parents divorce at age 3 and dad remarries later on and they have a brady bunch esque life (i could never write it up as good as mack and tessa, so i leave it at that)

adeline, the oldest triplet, had always been the attention hog of the three — possibly of the eight total, and from a young age, she knew exactly what to do to get the attention on her. cry when you need to, kiss up when you need to, throw a tantrum when you need to… she had her claws dug into her dad and stepmom and older stepsiblings before she truly understood what she was doing, but once she did understand, she didn’t stop

ade wanted to be the best at everything, and though she had a natural talent for many things (gymnastics, singing, dancing, painting the nails on her left hand without help), she also wasn’t one to give up if she wasn’t getting it. “where there’s a will, there’s a way” was her motto, and she believed if she kept doing the right things she would always come out on top. and it kept working for her, so why fix something that’s not broken?

by high school, ade had learned how to work her way to the top of every pyramid, literally and figuratively. a flyer on the cheerleading team and starter in a couple track relays, member of any club she could physically fit into her schedule, fluent in french and learning other languages along the way; she was a walking ivy league application. she was president of most of the clubs by her senior year, cheerleading co-captain, head of the prom committee; the only thing she hadn’t nailed down was prom queen, but she had gotten homecoming queen (a lesser title, in her opinion, but she digresses). she worked extra hard for everything she had, and though half the work was kissing up and being fake, it was worth it

she was also known for being a tease, where she would flirt and kiss and make people want her, but would leave them hanging before things got too serious. it was her way of protecting herself, keeping everyone at arm’s length. plus, she didn’t really think any of the people she went to high school with were “worth it”

ALCOHOL/REHAB TW dad’s rehab stint didn’t affect her outwardly, because she’d already spent her whole life developing the image she wanted everyone to perceive. she did, however, jump into a “leadership” role in the household to help their stepmom, though she was definitely more bossy and controlling than maternal. maybe remnants of her own mother left in her, but she wouldn’t acknowledge that END TW

the only de-larouche triplet to leave home, ade got a cheerleading scholarship to usc, as well as major academic scholarships and grants. and freshman year she met a senior boy, fell in love, and gave away the thing she’d been holding onto so tightly. and her first time was all it took to result in something that could throw her perfectly curated life plan completely off track.

ABORTION TW the “love of her life” ghosted her after getting what he wanted, and she never told him about the late period. she drove herself to planned parenthood, sat by herself in the waiting room, and drove herself back to campus after. she never breathed a word of it to anyone, not even atty and drom. she closed herself off to love after that and continued what she’d always done: climbing the ladder END TW

ade graduated summa cum laude with a degree in computer science, ended her tenure as president of her sorority and cheerleading captain, learned american sign language, and had no further pregnancy scares. and while she fell in love with california, she missed her family more and moved back home for grad school. her life now revolves around her programming job at a local video game company, guesting on atty’s twitch stream, and teaching gracelynn how to get her way (much to atty’s dismay)

[geneticmisfit]

TIMELINE. 

HIGH SCHOOL:

Freshman Year

-DECEMBER OF 2015 -Gains his powers after being bitten by a radioactive spider during a class trip to Doctor Curt Connors’ lab in Empire State University. -Spends the Christmas Break discovering and learning about his abilities, makes his First Suit out of some old pajamas.

-JANUARY 2016

-Being a kid and wanting to make a quick buck with his abilities, he enters a wrestling competition against Crusher Hogan.

-It’s the classic wrestling origin. Peter gets swindled out of money, a burglar steals money from the fight manager, Peter lets the Burglar go out of anger and spite for the manager. -Uncle Ben is murdered, Peter goes after the assailant and is horrified to discover it is the same Burglar he had let go earlier. -When you do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen, they happen because of you. -Guilt stricken, he realizes the importance of Power and Responsibility and starts to fight crime, initially stopping small crimes, petty robberies, etc.

MARCH TO JUNE 2016:

-Rumors of an Insectoid-Man spread quickly throughout the underworld, it is initially believed to be a Lie made by crooks who want to dodge blame, but more and more YouTube videos of a man in a red and blue pajamas doing extraordinary feats quickly kills that possibility. -At the recommendation of his teachers, Peter starts interning at Connors’ Lab in ESU, it allows him to get a closer look at the kind of spiders that bit him, and leads him to discover that the irradiated spiders are a project Connors is working on under the funding of Oscorp. -During his crime fighting, he unknowingly halts several of The Big Man’s jobs. -Frequently swings into and stops the crimes of Alex O’Hirn and Flint Marko. -He runs into his first Out of the Ordinary Bad Guy when he ends up fighting Stilt-Man, instead of going for his legs he just punches him out cold.

CIVIL WAR INCIDENT - JUNE 26TH 2016

This is where the first of the several big canon rewrites comes in. For starters, the Airport Fight happens in New York instead of Germany, and Tony does not recruit Peter for his cause or give him the new suit. What happens is as follows,

-Peter sees the news of The Winter Soldier’s attack on United Nations. ( For the purposes of this rewrite, let’s say Bucky gets extradited to the U.S. for interrogation and trial and he is held in the same SHIELD base Steve woke up from his coma or whatever ) -Peter and Ned argue about Spider-Man not going for Stilt-Man’s legs during their fight. -Hearing the news of JFK suddenly closing down and rumors of people spotting ‘Very Serious Government People’ , Peter puts the two and two together and leaves abruptly, heading to the Airport in hopes of ‘Auditioning’ for the Avengers, because that’s what you do when you are a 15 year old with superpowers. -Beginning of the airport fight and Steve and Tony’s argument happens the same, majority of the fight happens the same way. -Peter, as Spider-Man, jumps into the fray during the Line Up. He immediately swings to Tony’s side because Iron Man is the hero he idolizes the most at that point in time. -Tony and Peter banter, with Tony not wanting a kid there and Peter being a dumbass kid and wanting to impress Tony. -Peter does not fight Steve, he is only there to take down Bucky and Prove His Mettle as a superhero. -The entire sequence with Bucky and Sam versus Spidey happens as shown. -Seeing Giant-Man appear and grumbling himself about the whole Stilt-Man argument still, Peter realizes he can go for Scott’s legs to take him down and does the whole AT-AT takedown move. -Gets knocked back onto the ground like in the movie, Tony goes to check on him to make sure this dumbass kid didn’t get himself killed, seeing he is alive and well, Tony is impressed but he tells Peter to go home. -Bedroom scene occurs as a post-credits scene, it becomes less about Tony recruiting Peter to his side and more about figuring out what the deal with this Spider-Man Kid is, leaves the suitcase with the Stark Suit as he leaves, says they’ll be in touch.

HOMECOMING - END OF AUGUST - SEPTEMBER 23RD 2016 / SOPHOMORE YEAR

-Peter turns sixteen in August 10th. -The movie happens largely the same -a Film by Peter Parker and the Limo Conversation naturally doesn’t happen considering the afromentioned changes to Civil War. -Tony does not save Peter from drowning, Peter gets out of the lake on his own.     Reason for this change is that this scene makes Tony way controlling and uncaring towards Peter? Which, compounded by the following scenes, really paints Tony in an awful light. It also makes it more impactful that the next time, and thus the first time, Peter properly interacts with Tony since Civil War is in the direct aftermath of the Ferry Fiasco when Tony comes to collect the suit. They are then both valid in their arguments in that Peter has let the Stark Suit’s abilities get to his head and act way reckless than he should, ( Stark Suit thus serving the same narrative purpose as the Symbiote Suit ) but it also makes Peter valid in that Tony has been completely ignoring Peter ( at least on the surface / from Peter’s point of view ) until it was too late. -Rest of the movie unfolds as shown. -Toomes is Peter’s first proper Super Villain.

OCTOBER 2016 - MAY 2017

-Toomes’ arrest causes his Alien Weapons empire to fracture and for alien tech to be more readily available to the highest bidder ( In the movie it seems like Toomes really wanted the sales to be more gradual and under the radar ) -Shocker breaks away from Toomes’ crew and ends up joining the Enforcers, working for Hammerhead, who works as the Right Hand Man for The Big Man. -Spidey’s encounters with the Enforcers leads Peter to learn about the existence of The Big Man. -Phineas Mason is still at large, Peter dubs him ‘ The Tinkerer behind Toomes ’ toys ’ because he does not directly know who he is but highly suspects his existence. -A Mysterious Benefactor starts bankrolling experiments for Super Mercs, armed with the alien tech, with the, initial, goal of ‘distracting’ Spider-Man from the Finer details of The Big Man’s organization (if he’s too busy fighting Super Villains, he’d be too busy to stop Illegal Shipments ya kno). -Alex O’Hirn undergoes the procedure to become the Rhino, having the experimental alien armor fused to his skin, and only able to perspirate through his face. It is due to this fact Peter manages to take him down the first time, ‘ overheating ’ him to get him to pass out. -During this incident, Spidey gets Rhino to spill the identity of the Big Man, one L. Thompson Lincoln, aka Tombstone. -It is also during this time Spidey has his first run-in with Captain George Stacy. -He goes to visit Tombstone to tell him he knows about him, promptly gets his ass kicked and high-thwips it out of there.

THANOS INCIDENT - MAY 2017

Welcome to the Big Canon Rewrite Number Two, here, Peter does not go to Titan. First part of his appearance happens as shown, with Peter seeing the giant Q ship up in the sky and sneaking out of the bus to help Tony and co. fight the Aliens, but after losing Strange to the ship’s tractor beam, he stays on Earth and helps with the clean-up in the aftermath. Maybe even bumping into a few Defenders while doing so wink wink nudge. As a result, he does not get the Iron Spider-Man suit, sorry Marvel’s toy department.

ENDGAME - DATE UNKNOWN

Okay here’s the deal, it literally does not matter how long it has been since they’ve been blipped. Literally anyone important to a plot has been Conveniently Snapped, only reason there is a five year jump is so they can age Cassie so she can become Stature in Ant Man 3, and have Tony have a family for the Drama of it. Literally that’s the only reason, there is a reason why Far From Home makes a joke out of it. So for the purposes of sanity, let’s just say they were snapped throughout the duration of the summer and they conveniently get brought back at the beginning of the school year. -This means Peter is a part of the Final Fight but in his Stark Suit instead of the Iron Spidey suit, he also does not activate Instant Kill (why the FUCK would he, Russos!!!!!) I don’t care either way about the hug, so that’s up in the air, but he definitely does not cling onto Tony’s body lmfao nah. It is nevertheless very upsetting and near-traumatic for him to see someone die in front of him (again!)

JUNIOR YEAR

SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2017

-Peter is now seventeen. -And he’s got PTSD like a motherfucker lmfao. -Getting turned into dust and coming back has everyone rattled, so the Criminal Underworld is working overtime. - Captain Stacy comes to Midtown to teach about Criminology, and also to keep an eye on his kid considering the circumstances. -Silvio ‘Silvermane’ Manfredi, head of the Maggia, is also due to be released on parole by the end of the year, so various Mob factions are trying to prepare themselves. -As a result, schematics to make more Rhino-like people hit the market, Spidey and O’Hirn actually end up teaming-up together to destroy the schematics, resulting in a three way fight between them, Hammerhead, and the Manfredi mob. -Hammerhead’s recent repeated failures shakes Tombstone’s faith in him. -The Enforcers get fancy schmancy Combat Enhancement Suits, courtesy of The Tinkerer, and Spidey has to deal with them. -Hammerhead stops the Enforcers’ getaway attempt in secret, signaling a rift between him and Tombstone. -Manfredi is released right before Christmas.

JANUARY 2018

-The Gang War(tm) begins in full force. -Spidey’s hands are full navigating the powder keg of a situation, with Tombstone and Manfredi vying for control, with Hammerhead planning something behind the scenes.

FEBRUARY 14TH 2018 -Hammerhead arranges a meeting of the factions in Metropolitan Opera House, without Tombstone’s knowledge. -Once revealed, Tombstone does not take kindly to this disobedience. -Hammerhead reaches his breaking point and attacks Tombstone. -Silvermane decides to take both of them out to eliminate the competition fully. -Silvermane, in a mechanical combat suit of his own (because comics bebey) attacks Tombstone and Hammerhead, resulting in a three way fight. -Spidey arrives and has to fight the three of them. -After a long and exhausting battle, Spidey prevails, Silvermane is arrested once again, L. Thompson Lincoln is publicly revealed to be The Big Man of Crime, and Hammerhead is nowhere to be found. -Tombstone posts bail, but Captain Stacy tells Spidey that his crime empire is crippled and there is a power vacuum. One that a certain Wilson Fisk will take advantage of soon.

LATE FEBRUARY - JUNE 2018

-Spidey is basically doing clean-up duty in the aftermath of the Gang War(tm) -He is trying to find where Hammerhead is, but comes up empty. -All Spidey can find are the rumors that he went back to his old employment under the Maggia. -He takes down last of the known Manfredi fronts before preparing for his Europe trip (it’s the restaurant fight from the FFH trailers)

FAR FROM HOME - JUNE 2018 -Happens largely the way it is depicted in the movie -He does not have the Iron Spider Suit still, in case you forgot. -Smaller differences being Peter being pegged the ‘New Iron Man’ less because of his ‘Mentorship’ under Tony and more because people are just fucking desperate for a new Big Hero, which is where Mysterio comes in. -He sees Ben’s grave instead of Tony’s during the Mysterio Fun Tour of Trauma, Zombie Iron Man still comes out of it tho because Symbolism ( not because Tony is a new Uncle Ben figure, but because it represents Peter not always being able to save everyone, even though Tony’s condition was out of his hands.) -BIGGEST DIVERGENCE: Unless plotted, I generally DO NOT recognize Peter’s identity being outed. There are two options / variations I could go with                    -Peter IS claimed to be Spider-Man, but after a Movie’s worth of adventures, he enlists the help of either a skrull or Chameleon (Dmitri the Bus Driver in FFH) to have Spidey appear in the same room as Peter and re-establishes his secret identity.                    -Mysterio just brands Spider-Man as a menace and that’s that. In any case, this leads to..

SENIOR YEAR

SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2018

-Peter turns eighteen. -Branded as a menace, Spider-Man is now disliked and hunted by most authorities. -Captain Stacy, however, does not believe Mysterio and is one of Spidey’s few friends still left in the police force. -He also makes numerous remarks towards Peter and Spider-Man that suggests he figured out his secret identity on his own. -Anastasia Kravinoff arrives in New York with the intention of Hunting Spider-Man. -At the same time, Mac Gargan is hired by The Mysterious Benefactor to undergo the Super Merc procedure to hunt Spider-Man. -Kraven has her first encounter with Spidey, in which she manages to tear off a piece of his suit that she later uses to track his scent. -Mr Harrington’s class trip to Bronx Zoo is promptly ruined when Kraven shows up tracking Spidey’s trail. -The publicized skirmish in the Zoo attracts the attention of Gargan, now in a mechanical suit with a long, poison-tipped tail, stylized after Gargan’s favorite arthropod, which easily earns him the nickname ‘Scorpion’. -Spidey manages to escape, but barely. -It all comes to a head in New York Botanical Garden is a totally epic final showdown. -Maybe Rhino gets involved too and it’s a full on Survival of the Fittest in the jungle. -Peter gets stung by the poison tail but manages to shake it off. -He gets speared in the thigh at least once during the battle. -Scorpion and Rhino get imprisoned in the Vault, Kravinoff gets arrested as well but she posts bail and gets out scot free because she’s got Powerful Connections(tm)

JANUARY - MAY 2019

-Doctor Connors achieves a breakthrough on his Cross-Species formula -He tests it on himself, and initially achieves great results by regrowing his arm. -Over the following weeks, however, more and more side effects start to show by patches of green scales on his skin, increased aggression and hostility and occasional lapses in intelligence. -Around March, he has his first Lizard transformation. -Peter suspects it’s Connors, but he does not figure it out until April. -With each transformation, Connors stays as Lizard longer and longer. -I am basically ripping off the plot of the first TASM movie. -Peter and Gwen manage to synthesize an antidote. -Connors has a similar goal as to his movie counterpart, but he decides to Unleash the Lizard virus on top of Empire State Building. Because a) King Kong reference with Lizard climbing the antenna, and b) Connor going from Empire State University to Empire State Building, it’s a fun progression. -Spidey and Lizard fight on top of Empire State, with George Stacy coming to Spidey’s aid. -Spidey manages to administer the antidote to the Lizard, reverting him back to Connors who retains no memories of his actions as the Lizard. -Stacy gets injured by Lizard and before succumbing to his injuries, tells Peter to keep Gwen safe and ‘out of it’. -Lizard’s true identity remains unknown to the public, but Connors decides to relocate his family to Florida to get away from the noise of the city. Before leaving, he tells Peter to seek out his old colleague Otto Octavius if he wants to further his studies.

END OF MAY 2019

-Peter Parker graduates Midtown School of Science and Technology. -He applies and is accepted by Empire State University. Peter does not consider any other college as he wants to stay in New York for obvious reasons.

FRESHMAN UNDERGRAD

SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2019

-Peter is nineteen. -He starts his studies in ESU -He is still not the Most Popular -Peter reconnects with Harry Osborn (they are Old Childhood friends and Harry used to be in Midtown for the first year but then he went to Europe, as you do.) -Spidey is still branded as a menace and hunted, though not as ferociously as before as the public’s opinion starts to turn positive ever so slowly. -The Mysterious Benefactor has Alistair Smythe build robotic spiders to hunt and slay the Spider. Like Spider Slayers. Catchy name huh. -Peter has various encounters with Slayers while trying to figure out who is behind them -He eventually discovers it’s Alistair Smythe and tracks him to Oscorp. -Smythe unleashes the Ultimate Spider-Slayer, The Black Widow to try and stop Spidey once and for all. -Fight spills to the power plant, an Oscorp employee who is currently working on the plant, Max Dillon, gets caught in the crossfire and gets electrocuted. -Spidey manages to take down Smythe, Dillon is hospitalized. -Norman Osborn publicly denounces and distances himself from Smythe ( he’s The Mysterious Benefactor if you haven’t caught on yet ) -Norman profits both from making Super Mercs and Spider-Hunters for various factions behind the scenes, and for building housing units to hold said Super Mercs and Spider-Hunters, Vault is his creation. -He is also a terrible dad, but he does genuinely care for Harry, go figure. -Harry starts taking Gloublin Green, an experimental enhancer, to boost his academic and athletic life, as his body is regularly failing due to a hereditary disease (NOT the Goblin disease, the one Harry’s mom had in the PS4 game) -Max spends Christmas in the hospital and gradually transforms into Electro. -Black Cat drops in to give her Christmas Greetings by saying the mob is salvaging the parts from Spider-Slayer fights to re-arm themselves, also notifies him to the existence of a new Big Man consolidating power. -Peter thinks it’s Hammerhead, the only loose end from the previous Gang War, and starts his investigation into him. -Peter discovers Hammerhead leads the Maggia now, having quickly climbed through the ranks after the fallout of the last Gang War.

JANUARY - MAY 2020

-Harry joins the ESU football team, his performance enhanced by The Green. -Electro is Born and he’s Angry -He blames Smythe for his condition and tries to attack Oscorp, not knowing that Smythe is imprisoned. -Spidey arrives and fights him, fight eventually spilling to Times Square -Is it obvious I’ve started ripping off TASM 2 yet or.... -Electro is arrested and sent to Ravencroft for rehabilitation. -The news of a new Big Man starts making the rounds. -Harry’s Green Juicing gets bad, he starts blacking out.

SOPHOMORE UNDERGRAD

SEPTEMBER - DECEMBER 2020

-Peter is twenty. -He starts interning for Otto Octavius after Doctor Connors’ suggestion. -Flint Marko returns after a long absence in the streets, Spidey learns that Marko left the life of crime when he fell in love and got married, but returned back into it once he learned his baby was born with a disease and he needed the money for surgery. -Bet you didn’t expect me to rip off Raimi in this. -Marko is offered money to undergo a Super Merc experiment of his own, inspired by the Elementals Mysterio faked back a few years ago. Experiment uses bio-electricity generated by Electro, but it goes ‘wrong’ and Marko is turned to dust. -Sike he can control it, he’s Sandman now. -Spidey and Sandman fight, once Peter learns of his motives, he tries to get him to stop. -Marko is told to stop the movement of an oil tanker so the new Big Man can siphon it dry. -Spidey and Marko fight on the tanker, tanker explodes, Marko expresses remorse for he only wanted the money and not to hurt anyone, so he helps usher the ship crew to safety and contains the explosion, turning into glass due to the heat. -Sandman is presumed deceased, but he survived and just blew away gently in the wind. -Maybe he’s out there somewhere who knows.

JANUARY - MAY 2021 -Norman discovers Harry’s Green Usage, he gets Harry to stop. -Stupid boy drinking the Green instead of inhaling it like his dad did I mean what -Harry discovers the Green exacerbated the progression of his illness. -Spidey meets Yuri Watanabe, who is the lead detective and later Captain who is after the Big Man and the Mob. -Peter discovers the identity of the actual new Big Man, it’s Wilson Fisk, quickly filling the power vacuum after Tombstone’s defeat. -Spidey and Fisk fight, with Fisk seriously injuring Spidey and him having to swing away.

JUNIOR UNDERGRAD

September - December 2021

-Peter is twenty one. -As Harry’s illness progresses more and more, he and Peter’s friendship is strained, Peter is unaware of the illness.   -Norman starts winding down Super Merc experiments as he turns his focus into curing Harry. -He also readies for a mayoral run because he’s nothing if not a multitasker. -Harry wonders if Spider-Man’s abilities can cure him, wants a bit of his blood, Spidey is like ‘ew no wtf’ -Great Harry hates Spidey now. -Desperate, Harry springs Electro out of Ravencroft to sic him on Spidey and make him bleed. -Electro is like ‘Sure’ but once freed, he immediately goes to the Vault to try and kill Smythe. -You just can’t trust bio-electrical beings nowadays. -Spidey fights Electro in the Vault. -Electro cuts the power to the Vault and releases a bunch of inmates, but Spidey stops him before he can cut the power that holds the more super powered inmates. -Electro is imprisoned in the Vault.

MARCH - MAY 2020 -Yeah Peter had a quiet winter for once can you believe it. -Norman is elected mayor of New York, using his role in the building of the Vault to boost his approval ratings, motherfucker was playing the Long Game. -Norman revives his old genetic experiments to find a cure for Harry. -Devil’s Breath experiment is resurrected. -Harry’s condition worsens, Norman decides to send him to ‘Europe’ to heal. -In truth, Harry is in Oscorp in ‘stasis’. -Spidey’s attention turns yet again to the rising gang activity, he channels his focus into taking down Fisk.

SENIOR UNDERGRAD

SEPTEMBER 2020 - MAY 2021

-Pete turns twenty two. -He spends most of the year working on his thesis like a good nerd. -Spidey is occasionally tipped toward Fisk fronts by a Mysterious Goblinafactor -Norman wanted to bust into the Crime Scene being the Goblin and taking over the Big Man’s turfs but Fisk beat him to it so he has to be content with just being the Mayor for the time being -Goblins am I right. -He’s also the one who supplied Silvermane with his own armor. -Also the one who maaaay have broadened the rift between Hammerhead and Tombstone by sabotaging Hammerhead’s plans behind the scenes. -He is the Big Man behind the Big Men if you will. -Anyway back to Peter -Turns in his thesis, graduates ESU. Strength of his thesis is what convinces Otto to have Peter also come into work with him in the Brand New Octavius Industries. -Norman is content to just play the Mayor and let Fisk be as Spidey and Yuri gather more and more evidence.

POST-GRAD / INSOMNIAC’S SPIDEY STUFF -Events of the game happen broadly the same -Fisk is taken down, Mister Negative enters the scene, Devil’s Breath Incident happens and Spidey gets his ass thoroughly kicked by Sable, etc. etc. -Otto turns into Ock. -Ock facilitates the Vault Breakdown (MCU got a Raft up and running and it ain’t in NYC sooo, Vault it is) and forms the Sinister Six. -However instead of Vulture being part of the Sinister Six, it’s Kraven. She’s back for a proper rematch. -Unless plotted, May does not die from exposure to the virus, she just gets really messed up and hospitalized, but she gets cured later. -Events of the DLC happen largely as shown as well, Hammerhead techs himself up, Yuri goes Wraith, Sable kicks Spidey’s ass again but also grows a Heart. Aw. -Osborn resigns in disgrace, but as luck would have it, Fisk and Li’s arrest leaves a nice Goblin-shaped hole in the criminal underworld for Gosborn to fill. -Norman discovers Harry’s ‘cure’ is sorta sentient.

WILL GORMAN GOSBORN FINALLY FACE OFF WITH SPIDER MAN? WILL SPIDEY LEARN THE REAL MASTERMIND BEHIND EVERYTHING? WILL HARRY GET GOOPED? WILL PETER FINALLY DISCOVER WHY KIDS LOVE THE TASTE OF CAP’N CRUNCH?

ALL THAT AND MORE, NEXT TIME ON, THE SPECTACULAR ADVENTURES OF THE AMAZING SPIDER MAN!

[ogdencollegerp]

THE ANNUAL HOMECOMING GAME & GALA

The first weekend of the fall semester is usually one filled with excitement to be back on campus, and with Ogden’s superior football team almost always carrying the homecoming game to a win, the gala that evening is one of the most anticipated events of the year. But this year, with the first week of classes having come and gone with nary a sound or sight of Greer....something just feels off. After all, can you really celebrate the start of the new year without The Golden Girl having made her appearance?

IC DATE: SEPTEMBER 3RD, 2022

OOC DATE: JUNE 10TH - 19TH

PLEASE NOTE: Current threads do not have to be paused for the duration of the event, but any starters (both open and closed) should be taking place the night of the Homecoming Gala. Feel free to DM the main with any questions or concerns !!! 

[rylandgreen]

Homecoming

Location: Potter Estate parlor by the fireplace Date: January 15, 1982 mid-morning Starter: @trustingpotter​

Ryland kept his eyes firmly on the ground as he watched James fiddle with the floo powder, taking his own handful without looking up when the box was offered. Ryland still didn’t want to do this, and he didn’t particularly want to bring James fucking Potter with. For years, he’d had no problem with the lad, but despite so graciously opening up his house to Ryland, he didn’t come off particularly gracious. While he didn’t know what he’d done wrong, clearly there was something James wasn���t happy about that involved him.

But he was here and willing to go with, and as pathetic as that sounded in Ryland’s head, it was a reason to trust him. He needed to be home. He needed to know what had happened to his house in Bath, to his wand left carelessly on the fireplace mantle. He also needed space. After being in such a small space for song long, Ryland had thought a whole manner would be enough, but there were too many people. Plus, he kept skidding past the planning room in the hall without wanting to acknowledge it. It wasn’t making life easy.

“I’ll see you there,” he eventually said. “Please don’t be late.” Ryland knew he might be walking into a trap. Instead of thinking about that again, he stepped into the fireplace and called out, “14 1/2 Royal Crescent!” before dropping his handful of floo powder.

The feeling was a bit nauseating after going so long without, but Ryland didn’t waste any time before stumbling out, potential traps be damned. He didn’t want to still be standing there when James arrived. He kept his eyes closed for a few seconds, and when there was no immediate tingle of tripped magic, he opened his eyes. Everything seemed the same. Maybe his wards were still in place after all. “James Potter entering by floo,” he told the house. If they were preserved, he didn’t want to trip up James on entry.

There was one way to know for sure if others had been by, and Ryland took a deep breath before turning around. His finger tips almost tingled as he picked up his wand for the first time since September. It had a slight layer of dust on it, but the wand still felt the same as it had when his great-uncle had first handed it to him.

Ryland was still standing there beside the fire staring at his wand when James came through. “The wards don’t seem to be broken,” he said, a hint of marvel in his own voice. Yes, Ryland had designed them, but some had been untested. Besides other people had cast all of them, so it was entirely possible something could have happened that he hadn’t intended. That was the risk he had to take when he didn’t trust the strength of casting them himself.

[stevie-steven-stevington]

Febuwhump Day 22: regret

Fandom: MCU Characters: Peter Parker, Happy Hogan Category: Gen Rating: T Warnings: none Words: 1.6k

read on ao3 

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this literally has no plot lol but i’m sleepy. also i haven’t seen the iron man series in like 2372 years so my characterization is entirely based on hoco bye

this one goes out to @parkrstark, who suggested doing something with happy and peter :)

The kid’s annoying.

It’s a fact. The kid talks too much, too fast, and it’s annoying. That’s just how it is. He wishes that was a good excuse for ignoring the calls. And the texts. And the incessant, unnecessarily long voicemails. He wishes he'd kept a closer eye on the kid because then maybe he wouldn't have missed his own Homecoming to fight his date's dad. He wishes his negligence hadn't indirectly caused a world of trauma for a high school sophomore. He can't fix it now, but he can at least try to make amends. Peter seems like a pretty forgiving kid. 

He starts out small. Proper greetings when Peter gets into the backseat of the car, asking him how school was, letting him ramble on about decathlon practice or chemistry or his friends or...whatever he's talking about. Happy's not really listening, but he hasn't put up the divider either. Progress. He can almost think of Peter's voice as background noise, if he focuses hard enough on the road. Peter doesn't seem to need much input from him, anyway, so as long as he gives a hum or a nod every once in a while, the kid's content to just talk. Happy drives and Peter talks. And it works. Peter's smiling, so that's something. Guilt still gnaws at his insides, even as Peter chatter animatedly about the new LEGO set his best friend, whose name Happy can't remember, just got. They're not close, not by a long shot, but they're okay enough.

After Germany, Peter usually calls Tony when there's a problem. Tony is mentoring him now, something Happy never thought he'd live to see - Tony Stark with a kid. Not because he didn't think Tony would be good with a kid, but because he never thought Tony would settle enough to have one. Which, technically, he still hasn't, but who is he kidding? Most of the calls he gets from Peter, now, are just patrol reports. He doesn't give them every time anymore, but Tony insists that he still gives them whenever something major or out of the ordinary happens. After Germany, Happy listens to every voicemail. No matter how long, how uninteresting, how tangential, Happy listens to all of them. Sometimes Peter actually has a cool story or a funny anecdote - the time he fought a guy in a hot dog costume who tried to steal cash from a taco stand because he was bitter that their mascot had a better suit than him sticks out. Other times, it's just Peter telling him about how he helped a kid find her dog or something in that vein. It's sort of endearing, in a way. The voicemails, as much as he hates to admit it, are nice to listen to. And it's nice to get an update, outside of the weekly lab visits, on how Peter's doing. It's nice to get semi-regular confirmation that the kid is, in fact, still alive. He brings up a story from one of the more recent voicemails one day, because Peter got cut off by his aunt in the middle of his retelling, and Happy's kind of curious as to what came next. "Hey, what happened with that guy you were following the other day? The one you thought was stalking that girl." Peter stops in the middle of his sentence. There's a level of surprise on his face that Happy doesn't like. "I - what?" Glancing between the road and Peter in the rearview mirror, Happy says, "From the voicemail. Last...Tuesday, I think? Something like that." Peter's mouth opens and closes like a fish for a solid twenty seconds. Happy's starting to wonder if he said something wrong when Peter practically chokes out, "You - you listen to the voicemails?" It's a fair question. Happy hates that it is, but it's fair. He's not shocked that Peter still assumes he doesn't listen to the patrol reports, because he didn't before and letting the kid ramble in the car isn't going to change Peter's whole perception of him. He didn't do it right the first time, but he'll get it the second time around. He's not going to let the kid down again. "Yeah, I listen to them," he says, gruffly. Peter nods slowly in the backseat, eyes wide. There's way too much awkwardness going on here. "So are you gonna finish the story?" "O-oh, yeah, sure. So it turns out he was stalking her..."

It's not until Peter steps into the car with possibly the saddest look Happy has ever seen on anyone other than Tony or Rhodey that their relationship really clicks. Peter slides into the backseat, unceremoniously dropping his backpack at his feet, and promptly leans his head against the window and closes his eyes without so much as a hello. Wrong. There's so much wrong here and he haven't even started driving yet. "The hell happened to you?" Happy asks, realizes belatedly that maybe he should've waited for Peter to speak up. Or just let him talk to Tony instead, since they're actually close. Or at least been a little more gentle about asking. Too late now. Bleary eyes drag over to him. The kid picks at a loose thread on his jeans and mumbles, "Nothing. M'fine." "And I'm Iron Man." He gets no reaction. Jesus. "Kid. Did someone say something to you? Or is this like - like a PTSD thing or -" "What do you care?" There's no real bite to it. Just tired resignation. It might be worse. Peter's not even angry about it - Happy wonder, sometimes, if anger is even in Peter's vocabulary - he's just accepted that Happy doesn't like him and never will. God, he's an asshole. He doesn't not like the kid. He's never really not liked the kid. Peter's annoying, yes, and likely will never stop being annoying, but it's in the same way that a younger brother is annoying. Like whenever he speaks, Happy wants him to shut up, but when he actually does, it feels like something's missing. He didn't get that part, before, because Peter never actually did seem to shut up, but he gets it now. And he does care. He never wanted to, but the kid's grown on him. Apparently, he's good at that. "Peter - look, I'm sorry for not answering your calls," he says, and he really is. "I'm sorry I didn't take you seriously. I know I've been a dick, but I'm...trying to make up for it, okay? So if you don't want to tell but, then fine, whatever, but you - you can, if you want." He's met with silence. Okay. He deserves this. Happy puts the car in drive and pulls out of the school parking lot. Regret stirs in his stomach once again.

They're halfway through the drive when Peter says, "There's this guy at school." He leaves it hanging there, still staring out the window as the city flies by outside. Happy's not quite sure if guy at school means a bully or a crush, but the way Peter says it has him leaning toward bully. "Uh huh?" Happy prompts, keeping his eyes fixed on the road. He's always hated having people stare at him when he's upset. Peter doesn't speak for another two minutes. Happy's starting to think he's not going to when he slows to a stop at a red light and Peter pulls away from the window. "He's an asshole. He - he calls me Penis Parker and says I'm not smart enough to be on the decathlon team and acts like I ran over his dog just because I'm a starter and he's not." Does starter mean the same thing on decathlon as it does in sports? Probably. Happy doesn't really think the specifics are that important here anyway. Now that he's thinking about it, he's pretty sure Tony mentioned something about Peter having a bully once or twice before. "I can talk to him if you want. Man-to-man." "No. Christ, why do you and Mr. Stark both jump to scaring the shit out of a high schooler?" "Because we both know you won't." Peter scoffs, somewhere between indignant and exasperated. "That's not even - it's not even that big of a deal. He's a jerk, yeah, but it's not a big thing." "The look on your face when you got in the car said otherwise," Happy says, before he can think better of it. He doesn't want to push too hard and make Peter shut down, but again, it's a little too late. Thankfully, Peter just sighs, fingers running through his hair. "I - it was just something he said earlier. I was already a little on edge today, and he...went a little too far. But I'm okay, Happy, really. You don't have to - I mean, I know you have better things to do than worry about me anyway, but -" "I do worry about you. You have no regard for your own well-being, it's terrifying." "I -" "You're like another Tony, except Tony's a grown ass adult and you're like - fun-sized." "I am not -" "You're tiny and have no sense of self-preservation, of course I worry about you." "I didn't get in this car so you could insult me," Peter says, but he's smiling. There's still a sad tinge to his eyes, but he's smiling. "I'm not insulting you, only stating facts." "Lies. Lies and slander." Happy laughs. "Sure, kid. Whatever you say." The guilt doesn't lessen. But he thinks they're on the road to recovery.

[silvokrent]

An excerpt from the zoological text The Hunter’s Encyclopedia of Animals (First Edition).

Chapter VII: Qurupeco

The qurupeco (Cantio sirenius), or peco for short, is a species of equatorial bird wyvern that inhabits the landmasses around the Elde Gulf. It is the smallest of the extant membranalans, averaging in length from 5 meters to 7½ meters (16.4 feet - 24 feet) when the neck and tail are fully extended, with a wingspan of 11 meters (36 feet). It is exceptionally lightweight for its size at 91 kilograms (200 pounds), a result of its pneumatized skeletal system. The qurupeco’s latitudinal limits fall around the Isthmus of Metape, where tropical jungle transitions into the deciduous Shilkore Forest. Its range encompasses the majority of Arcolis’ eastern seaboard, the southern region of the Elde subcontinent, and the islands scattered in-between. It is capable of acclimating to all the biomes within its range, occupying less ideal habitats such as xeric deserts and the foothills of the Latio Volcanic Belt. There exists a healthy breeding population as a result of conservation efforts through the International Hunters’ Guild, intended to reduce the overharvesting of eggs.

The lifespan of the qurupeco is 26 years, with no distinction between the longevity of the sexes. Sexual maturity is reached around 2 years of age and typically follows the adult qurupeco’s second molt. The qurupeco is one of the most specialized members of its clade, as demonstrated by its morphological adaptations to piscivory, its array of antipredator adaptations (deimatic displays, vocal mimicry, and fighting accessories), and its thermoregulatory responses to living in hot or dry environments. Breeding coincides with the commencement of the monsoon season, when precipitation creates ideal and energetically efficient conditions for reproduction. Rainfall triggers a decreased diurnal temperature variation that lessens the metabolic demands of homeostasis. The seasonal flooding of whitewater rivers also leads to a spike in prey abundance, as many fish species migrate to the várzea to feed and spawn. Mortality in the qurupeco mostly involves chicks or eggs as a result of predation, nest collapse, natural disasters, or starvation.

It is impossible for anthropologists to study any aspect of human society — be it theological, economic, or agricultural — without at least a casual mention of the qurupeco. The cultural importance of this bird wyvern persists into the present day, particularly among the inhabitants of Loc Lac and Moga where it is associated with well-being, safe travels, and homecoming. Desert nomads reliably track qurupecos to find sources of water not guarded by barroths, while fishers have come to associate the qurupeco’s songs with mainland. This contrasts with the impressions of sailors from Schrade and Goldora, who feared that it would lure boats toward the shore with its voice and cause them to founder. Despite its reputation amongst seafaring westerners, the qurupeco was considered a novelty by the courts of the Unified Schrade Kingdom. It became custom for minstrels and bards to wear feathered brooches, or don hats with qurupeco plumes, as the qurupeco had become symbolic of gaiety, mischief, and seduction. Such was their popularity that there was a demand amongst nobles to import dwarf pecos from the Moga Archipelago, a demand that traders were reluctant to satisfy given lingering superstitions.

The transoceanic trade route helped secure the qurupeco’s economic importance. Its guano, which is rich in phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium, was a lucrative fertilizer, until it was replaced by the cheaper and more easily mass-produced guano of the domesticated gargwa (Theia orientalis). Eggs are a common delicacy in port towns like Tanzia. The Sea Folk used its carpal scales as an early form of currency, fletched arrows with its feathers, fashioned sailcloths from its wing and tail membranes, and carved fish hooks, awls, and beads from the flints. The flints themselves were used as early fire starters by applying mechanical stress (friction) to the bones. Their piezoelectric properties resulted in an electrical charge from tissue deformation, creating the sparks that were used to light kindling. One legend from central Arcolis, dated to 6,000 years ago, was born from this exact tool-usage. It tells of a qurupeco that took pity on humans and wyverians living under the tyrannical reign of fire-breathing dragons. To liberate them, the qurupeco equipped them with the weapon of their ancient enemy, and taught them the secret of fire.

Scholars have had little success in reaching a definitive conclusion as to the origins of the qurupeco’s name. Currently, there are two theories supported by the linguistic community. The first theory suggests that the qurupeco’s name is an onomatopoeia of its distinctive “coo-roo” alarm call that it performs when confronted by a predator. The other half of its name is based on the harsh “PEH-ko, PEH-ko” call that it makes immediately before its signature boxing attack, in which it brings down its flints and claps them against a predator.

The second theory suggests that the word qurupeco is a poorly-sourced loanword from the Archipelagic language of the Sea Folk. Because the indigenous of Moga practiced oral tradition for thousands of years, there are no written sources to verify the etymology. There is, however, a precedent for common names being derived from indigenous languages. One such example is the akantor, whose name is descended from an extinct language once spoken by the inhabitants of Pokke Village.

Taxonomy and evolution

A phylogenetic analysis of the clade shows that bird wyverns diverged from other theropods 125 - 150 million years ago. Unlike the other two families (the calcatrids and discuvultids) which seem to have radiated out of western Goldora, the Callodigitidae originated from Arcolis, based on fossil records and current distribution. Genetic testing found that the qurupecos are older than the other membranalan families, a conclusion supported by the retention of morphological features lost in the other lineages such as toothed beaks. Close relatives like the yian kut-kus (Discuvultus spp.) and hypnocatrice (Calcatrix rufa) range throughout temperate and tropical forests in Goldorolis and Fonlon, compared to the qurupeco’s narrower dispersal across savanna-desert mosaics, tropical coasts, and insular jungles. The qurupeco is differentiate from other membranalans by the flints, or heavily-modified thumbs on the exterior of the wings, amongst other traits.

It’s thought that membranalans became semi-terrestrial due to selection pressures such as competition with true wyverns.

Subspecies

There are at least 3 recognized subspecies of Cantio sirenius, which differ according to geographic range, size, coloration, and the presence or absence of certain body patterns. This number is controversial, as it’s not clear whether the qurupeco has a high degree of polymorphism, or whether the subspecies-specific phenotypes indicate sympatric speciation (despite the ambiguous reinforcement of breeding between members of the same morph). As a result of this dispute, publications inconsistently give estimates of anywhere from 3 to 7 subspecies, depending on the criteria used by the author.

The verdant qurupeco (C. s. sirenius), the nominate subspecies, occurs in the Sandy Plains, the coastlines of southeastern Arcolis, and the islands throughout the interior Moga Sea. Plumage coloration is majority green, with blue feathers along the nape and the length of the spine. Its appearance is inconsistent across ecosystems, with vegetation and geography heavily influencing the phenotypes of the native morphs. For instance, permanent residents of desert scrubland are considerably paler with dull laurel or yellowish feathers, and have a reduced surface area of blue feathers. These nuanced differences in appearance have been used to justify an upward number of subspecies, as selection pressures would lead to “desert morphs” better adapted to the Sandy Plains, “jungle morphs” adapted to the Flooded Forest, and so on. This is contradicted somewhat by the movements of vagrant populations that will occasionally travel into new areas and breed with the local morphs, thus homogenizing the sedentary population through genetic interchange.

The crimson qurupeco (C. s. versicolor) is endemic to the South Elde Peninsula, the islands throughout the interior Moga Sea, and Arcolis’ southeastern coasts. Its breast and underbelly are cream, while the remainder of the torso is red. The feathers along its nape, as well as the plumes between its shoulders, come in a range of turquoise. Its patagia are noteworthy for being bicolored, with an orange interior membrane contrasted against a light-green exterior. The white- and red-striped auriculars (ear coverts) are exclusive to this subspecies. The pigmentation of C. s. versicolor is believed to be a genetic mutation, and that there exists a correlation between it and allele for auricular stripe expression. This theory is inconclusive and awaits further studies on qurupeco heredity.

The island qurupeco (C. s. minor), more commonly known as the pygmy peco, is only found within the Moga Archipelago. On average, it measures at a height of 5’2” - 5'10” (less than 2 meters), and a length of 12’ (3.6 meters) when the tail and neck are fully extended. The island qurupeco differs from C. s. sirenius in size, with only marginally darker-green plumage. This subspecies is an example of insular dwarfism, having descended from a population of qurupecos that became permanent residents of the island less than 15,000 years ago. The limited availability of resources on the island necessitated a smaller body plan to cope with food shortages, one of the conditions of Foster’s rule. Additionally, small size is advantageous as it shortens generation time, and makes thermoregulation within a tropical environment easier. Despite having wings, island qurupecos seldom fly. When startled, they’ll explode into a short burst of rapid flight. Their diminutive stature lets them take advantage of wing-assisted incline running (or “WAIR”), enabling them to climb steep rocky slopes to escape predators.

Characteristics

The overall shape of the qurupeco is avian, with a pneumatized skeletal system and keeled sternum for muscle anchorage. Despite the retention of adaptations for flight, the qurupeco is semi-terrestrial. Its tridactyl feet have lost the back-facing toe that would have enabled it to perch on branches. To compensate, its feet have become semipalmate, a trait beneficial to striding atop loose substrates such as sand or mud, and wading through water. The upper and lower mandibles of the beak hold 24 teeth each. The teeth are conical and slightly recurved to prevent prey from escaping. The upper mandible of the bill ends in a weak nail, a slight downward curve vaguely reminiscent of the shape seen in balaenicipitid storks. A seamless hollow structure atop the beak — the casque — extends past the nasofrontal hinge and ends in a short, tapered lambeosaurine-like crest. The red gular sac is, contrary to popular belief, not a sexually-selected characteristic, as it is found in all qurupecos regardless of sex. The throat folds can be rapidly expanded and inflated as part of a startle display, or an antipredator bluff.

The wings are membranous and highly-vascularized, co-opted for thermoregulation. Its alar flints are specialized pollical bones, evolved to withstand abrasion and impact trauma. When forced to confront predators, a qurupeco will slam them into an animal using a clapping or “boxing” motion. The patagium, which attaches at the thigh, is entirely featherless. Because the wings lack any sort of propatagia, they are considerably less aerodynamic, less resistant to applied bending loads, and are unable to contribute to the maximum lift coefficient. These deficiencies are offset by the qurupeco’s powerful legs, massive supracoracoideus and pectoralis muscles, and near-constant flapping when aloft. The paddle- or fan-like tail (the rhipidura) features a membrane with almond-shaped eyespots, one on both the dextral and sinistral sides of the tail. In addition to acting as a counterweight for the flints, the qurupeco can unfurl the rhipidura and use it as a rudder.

The trait responsible for the reds, oranges, and yellows of the crimson qurupeco, and the greens and blues of the verdant qurupeco, is a polyenal lipochrome called psittacofulvin. The pigment is unique to the psittacines and the callodigitids, having separately evolved in both theropod lineages. Studies conducted using transmission spectroscopy have shown that psittacofulvin is synthesized within follicular tissue and deposited in the barbs and barbules of the feathers. By itself, this pigment is responsible for the expression of the vibrant colors of C. s. versicolor. In the nominotypical subspecies C. s. sirenius, spongy nanostructured barb cells reflect in either the blue or blue-green wavelength. These spongy structures are enveloped by the psittacofulvin, which acts as a spectral filter by “mixing” its yellow-coloring, blue-absorbing properties. This effect results in the predominant green hues and the concentrated blue plumage on the nape and mantle regions of its body.

Wings

Membraned wings are a homoplastic trait amongst several theropod lineages, notably the true wyverns (Viverna), pseudowyverns (Paradraconia), and scansoriopterygids (genus Yi). Unlike its relatives, whose patagia are supported by elongated digits, the bird wyverns’ wings are a superficial cross between the appendicular skeletons of birds and pterosaurs. With the exception of the pollex (thumb), the fingers are fused into a single structure called the synphalanx that supports the membranalan patagium. It was originally assumed that all, or at least some, extinct bird wyverns used quad launch to vault themselves into the air. This theory failed to gain traction due to little supporting evidence, namely a lack of a disproportionate ratio in forelimb to hindlimb robustness, as would be expected of quad-launching fliers.

Instead, the qurupeco utilizes vertical takeoff to achieve flight. In the preliminary phase, the qurupeco moves its wings upward in a “clap” position, while contracting the appropriate muscles in its powerful legs. At the same time, bone alignment contributes to the preparatory phase through a pitch down of the trunk and a flexion of the ankles, hips, and knees. The crouching movement stores elastic energy released during the propulsive leg push-off and contributes to leg muscle loading. During leg push, the wings contribute little, if any aerodynamic lift; meanwhile, the entire lower musculoskeletal system extends to assist with forward momentum. At the moment the feet leave the ground, the upward movement increases airflow over the lifting surfaces, which allows “clap-and-fling” to generate enough lift for positive vertical flight. The height provided by the initial leg push lets the wings make a complete stroke without touching the ground. Once clear of the ground, the qurupeco can transition to level flight and the more economically-energetic steady-state aerodynamics mode. Kinematic analysis of liftoff and landing found wingbeat amplitude and frequency to be at its highest during takeoff.

Casque

Internal anatomy of the qurupeco’s cranial appendages was first described through radiography. The interior of the casque is hollow, supported by bony ridges and rods. It ends in a hollow, tubular crest that protrudes slightly past the base of the skull. Together, the casque and connective crest work to amplify the qurupeco’s calls. Rapid expansion and contraction of the flexible sides of the casque changes the air volume in the cavity, creating a resonance chamber.

Syrinx

The qurupeco derives its binomen from the syrinx, a duplex vocal organ located at the base of the trachea. It is surrounded by an air sac which permits the syrinx to act as a resonating chamber for sound. Its proximity to the lungs results in a structure where the trachea bifurcates into two primary bronchi. Unlike the larynx of non-membranalan and non-avian tetrapods, the syrinx is composed of highly-specialized cartilaginous structures, connective tissue masses, membranes, and numerous muscles. Sound is the result of a self-oscillating system of airflow that produces vibrations of the membrana tympaniformis (the walls of the syrinx) and the pessulus (a delicate bar of cartilage at the vertex of the bronchi). Qurupecos vary air pressure to influence the tension of the aforementioned tissues, resulting in changes to sound shape, loudness, and pitch. Because of the syrinx’s forked shape and position relative to the lungs, qurupecos can achieve lateralization of song and produce two simultaneous sounds.

Like many passerines and psittacines, the qurupeco can mimic ambient noise. Sound acquisition starts through social learning, with chicks imitating their parents and any neighboring adults within the loosely-associated flock. As the qurupeco matures, it expands upon its vocal repertoire by mimicking the sounds of different species, including other predators. To date, the qurupeco is the only species outside of the hominins that demonstrates predator diversion and misdirection behavior. Researchers have extensively documented instances of qurupecos scaring potential threats (either nest thieves or larger carnivores) away by replicating the sounds of sympatric megafauna. The subject of one study involved a brooding qurupeco that successfully deterred jaggis by replicating the calls of common raths. The fidelity of its mimetic calls is so accurate as to make discerning them from their sources near-impossible, as evidenced by members of the mimicked species sometimes investigating.

As a member of the clade Membranala, the qurupeco is a poor flier. Although capable of evading most terrestrial animals, when confronted by other volant predators flight becomes insufficient. In scenarios where camouflage isn’t available and it would be otherwise overtaken while fleeing, a qurupeco will attempt to solicit intervention from larger carnivores by mimicking their vocalizations. Species that demonstrate high levels of intraspecific territoriality and aggression (diablos, tigrexes, barroths, et cetera) will respond to what they perceive as an intruding conspecific. A team of Guild ethologists studying call-response effectiveness in the Flooded Forest found that in 140 trials, other predators investigated the qurupeco’s call on 95 separate accounts, or roughly 67.85% of the time. Of those 95 instances, the arrival proceeded to attack the qurupeco’s original assailant, while the qurupeco successfully fled 80 times (84.21%). During one of those trials a rathian was summoned in response to not another predator, but rather the field team, which had ventured too close.

In addition to rendering the calls of other animals, qurupecos can mimic a wide range of human sounds such as gunshots, airship engines, hunting horns, and even spoken language. Anatomical constraints limit its ability to accurately replicate certain sounds like labial consonants [m p b f v].

The evolution of this specialized function of the syrinx is contentious, as it directly violates the learning mistakes hypothesis. This model explains the convergent acquisition of vocal mimicry in many bird species as accidental, rather than selected for. In general, songbirds learn their species-specific songs by comparing songs they hear to a mental template. Sounds that fall within the parameters of their template are learned, while sounds outside it are disregarded. In avian species with complex songs and relaxed-parameter templates, heterospecific songs and ambient sounds that are auditory matches get copied by mistake. The qurupeco’s ability to not only learn, but selectively employ and tailor its diverse mimetic repertoire as an anti-predator strategy, makes this the first case of vocal Batesian mimicry. The greater implication is a question of the qurupeco’s intelligence, which has been speculated to be on par with that of corvids.

Behavior

To contend with temperature, qurupecos exhibit crepuscular behavior, limiting their activity to dusk and dawn. While an accurate generalization, it doesn’t entirely account for individuals that live in areas with dense forest canopies or access to highly-stratified vegetation that offers shade. In places with ample relief from heat stress, qurupecos can become more active during daylight hours. At night, the qurupeco relies on unihemispheric short-wave sleep (USWS). One half of the brain enters a state of subconsciousness while the other hemisphere (and the opposite eye) remain alert. This mechanism allows the animal to rest and avoid predation. Ethologically, the qurupeco is an important animal of study as it boasts a wide number of anti-predator adaptations, including the exaptation of its gular sac as a deimatic accessory. By rapidly inflating the skin at its throat, the qurupeco can appear larger than it actually is, and buy itself time to:

• Scare away smaller carnivores • Flee from larger predators • Wait for larger animals to respond to its mimetic calls

Intraspecific interactions

Qurupecos are communal-parasocial. During the breeding season, interactions are limited to the breeding pair and parent-chick dynamics. Otherwise they are somewhat gregarious, willing to fish in semi-associated temporary “flocks” that contain anywhere from 4 to 20 individuals. These congregations occur at bodies of water where food is abundant, with the qurupecos spaced about 21 meters (70 feet) apart. Foraging groups like this usually disband after several days. Groupings like this are thought to be advantageous as there’s relative safety in numbers. In the presence of sea-dwelling predators, congregations of three or more qurupecos may engage in cooperative interspecific kleptoparasitism. Insular and coastal individuals have been observed harassing plesioths (Plesichthys coxa) to steal their food, as they aren’t able to fetch fish from the sea floor themselves.

Hunting and diet

As a piscivorous animal, the majority of the qurupeco’s diet consists of aquatic vertebrates fished from brackish, salt, and fresh water. Prey-capture is conducted from along the shoreline or the banks of rivers/lakes, or (more seldomly) from wading within the water itself. Its eyes are forward-facing in spite of their lateral placement, giving the qurupeco both a wide field of view and the binocular vision necessary for gauging depth. Along with visual adaptations for prey acquisition, C. sirenius has evolved self-correcting behaviors to account for disparities between perceived and actual prey location underwater. Light refraction at the air-water interface causes submerged objects to appear to an aerial observer along the line of refraction, or higher relative to where it actually is, in accordance with Snell’s law. The issue of light refraction is circumvented by the qurupeco’s ability to spatially reposition its eyes through two distinct phases of head movement: pre-strike (velocity 52 cm/s, trajectory at a 60° angle to the vertical) and strike (velocity 270 cm/s, mean path angle 33°), until the prey’s real (actual) and apparent (perceived) depth are linearly corrected. The point between these two phases in which path angle and velocity change, termed point-of-strike (STR), is the stage at which corrections for refraction are made, as determined by the qurupeco’s eye height above water relative to the two depths.

In arid ecosystems, the qurupeco hunts within riparian zones for prey such as western chubs, popfish, sushifish, trout, pikeminnows, and barbels. While it primarily eats fish, it’s known to feed opportunistically on other animals, including amphibians, crayfish, small lizards, and the occasional rodent. Coastal dwelling qurupecos are accustomed to feeding on armorfish fry, glutton tuna (Thunnus vorator), Moga tuna (Katsuwonus katsuo), whetfish, sea bass, smelts, and mullets, along with crustaceans such as the Atlantis crab (Portunus lapicrustatus).

Qurupecos that reside in tropical rainforests and floodplains incorporate the largest percentage of fish compared to nonpiscine prey in their diet. Trees that grow along the water’s edge have evolved to rely on ichthyochory (seed dispersal via fish) in order to reproduce and avoid competing with their offspring. Many fish species adapted to feeding on the fruit congregate in these river galleries, a fact which is so noteworthy as to be reflected in their names (like the scatterfish, Brycon fragilis, named for its mutualistic role in “scattering” the seeds of the fruit that it consumes). Qurupecos exploit these locations for their relatively easy access to perches, carps, roaches, tilapias, and piranhas. They also fish for non-frugivorous species like burst arowanas (Osteoglossum autothysia), red-finned arowanas (Osteoglossum esculentum), fen catfish (Palustincola gravis), and mummichogs.

Enemies and competitors

As no other bird wyverns occur within the qurupeco’s range, there is no precedent for the types of interactions between them. Scientists speculate that in transitionary ecosystems that represent an intermediary subtropical-temperate gradient (such as the Metape-Shilkore interface), qurupecos may rarely come across south-ranging membranalans such as yian kut-kus and yian garugas (Discuvultus malevolus). In these hypothetical encounters, the kut-ku and qurupeco would likely ignore each other, as the kut-ku is an arthropod specialist. The yian garuga, however, is carnivorous and actively hunts animals half its size (including the yian kut-ku), suggesting a similar predatory interaction with the qurupeco.

Desert-adapted qurupecos face predation from a small handful of species, most notably pseudowyverns such as the tigrexes (Abinferno rex and brutum) and the sand barioth (Electodon xeros). During high-intensity droughts, raths (Mandibulaformia terribilis) expand their prey inventory to incorporate qurupecos, despite the qurupeco having a lower fat content in comparison to their staple prey, aptonoths (Parasaurolophus cristatus) and rhenoplos (Monceratops petroides). Disputes between the qurupeco and desert barroth (Aratrum limus) occur near bodies of water, where the barroth charges at the qurupeco for intruding at its wallowing site. Territorial provocations usually end with the barroth emerging as the victor, forcing the qurupeco to flee with sustained injuries 40% of the time.

Qurupecos found in várzea forests and along coastlines are susceptible to predation from a number of semiaquatic predators. Lagiacrus (Heres jormungandrii), plesioths (Plesichthys coxa), and (to a lesser extent) gobuls will seize qurupecos at the water’s edge. Attacks by any of these animals are always fatal, as the result of blood loss, asphyxiation, or drowning. There are few accounts of nargacugas (Xyrafiptera spp.) interacting with qurupecos, as they primarily target small ungulates and immature vipracanids, and of the two co-occurring species only one (the green nargacuga, Xyrafiptera glaucus) is active at the same time of day as the qurupeco. There is at least one record of defecated qurupeco remains found in nargacuga stool, suggesting that predation or at the very least scavenging on carrion does happen.

The main source of fatality in qurupecos is from nest thieves. Immature and subadult jaggis (Magnaraptor ebrius) and wroggis (Magnaraptor paluster) will take advantage of unattended nests during periods of food scarcity, when both parents are required to forage and are unable to guard the eggs or chicks. Ludroths may dig out nests located near banks or attempt to hunt subadult qurupecos, when they’re still small enough to take without risk of injury. The deviljho (Daemon vorax) is a recurring threat to qurupeco wherever both species overlap, with the sole exception being the Moga Archipelago and its outlying islands.

Attacks on hunters

Most incidents are the result of unintentional provocation. The majority of documented attacks on humans, wyverians, and lynians are the result of stumbling upon a nest with eggs or chicks. Qurupecos seem to regard people in the same capacity as dog wyverns, and will try to scare them away by screaming at them, inflating their gular sac, or kicking up sand. A failure on the part of people to retreat leads to the next tier of antipredator behaviors: boxing with the wings, followed by mimetic solicitation. Despite the somewhat reclusive nature of this animal, encounters between them and people are relatively common. Oology (egg collecting) is still a popular pastime, and qurupeco eggs are highly prized for their coloration. Guild palicos are sometimes loaned out to poulters to harvest eggs from nests, an arrangement which helps to regulate the number of eggs harvested per year, while also protecting non-hunters from injury and satisfying the market demand for them.

The ecotourism industry offers guided tours through qurupecos’ fishing grounds. All attendees are required to sign a waiver and are instructed on how to conduct themselves, so as to not cause the qurupeco to summon larger carnivores. With that being said, the Guild reports an average number of fifty hunters dispatched per year in response to SOS distress signals. Fatalities are rare and indirectly attributed to the qurupeco, as the majority of victims were killed by the larger creature summoned by it. All the same, the qurupeco is still capable of administering contusions and bone fractures.

Reproduction and life cycle

Breeding begins at the onset of the monsoon or wet season, when rainfall dramatically increases and causes a 10 - 15 meter rise in water level. During this time, male qurupecos construct display platforms (open arena mounds) surrounded by dense bush, fashioned out of soil or a pile of branches. Over the steady patter of rain, the males’ calls can be heard as far as a mile from their point of origin. Their performance incorporates every memorized sound at their disposal, in conjunction with various dances. Their ability to weave complex songs is a testament to their fitness, which surveying females attempt to gauge before making an approach. Should a female enter the arena and approach the male, both bird wyverns will engage in reciprocal displays such as synchronized head-tossing, billing, and mutual preening. A successful courtship is signaled by the female regurgitating food from her crop, as a gesture of approval. Copulation immediately follows.

Prior to ovulation, the male scrapes out a depression in the ground. The site for the nest varies depending on the ecosystem: in forests, at the base of a tree trunk between the buttress roots; in scrub, within a dense patch of grass or mesquite thicket; in open areas (coastlines, seaward cliffs), near bushes or underneath overhanging rocks. The only consistency across regions is that the nest needs to be built high enough to avoid being washed away by seasonal inundations. Nests are often reinforced with leaflitter or detritus harvested by the female, to help conceal the depression against the surrounding substrate. Down feathers plucked from the parents’ breasts can also be used for insolation and camouflage. The eggs are round or subtly-ovular, and average in size at a height of 12 inches (30 and a half centimeters) and a width of 10.6 inches (27 centimeters). Coloration is generally cream to gray, with streaks or speckling from the red- and brown-producing pigment protoporphyrin that helps disguise the eggs. A clutch can contain as many as five eggs, which are incubated in shifts by both parents. The green coloration of C. s. sirenius is especially advantageous in forested ecosystems, as it allows the brooding parents to conceal themselves and the nest by blending into the surrounding foliage. The incubation period lasts about 4 - 5 weeks.

Chicks remain in the attendance of their parents for the next two months. They are moderately precocial, capable of running within days of hatching, and lofting onto meter-high ledges a week after. Chicks learn to fish from both parents and are able to feed themselves within a week, although the parents still provide the majority of their food. When accompanying their parents on fishing expeditions, one of the adults may freeze and hide them underneath their legs or wings if predators are present, while the other qurupeco will try to ward them off. Given the high mortality rate in chicks, only 3 are estimated to survive into adolescence. At the end of the wet season, the qurupecos begin to disperse away from their parents.

Health

Diseases and parasites

Unlike its theropod relatives, the qurupeco has neither the uropygial or elaiopteral glands of birds and ailurmorphs, nor the pulviplumes (powder down) of certain species. To maintain feather integrity, the qurupeco bathes in sandy or dusty substrates. It will crouch over the soil and wriggle its body/flap its wings, sending up a large cloud of dust into the air. Afterward, it will shake the excess particles from its feathers to remove debris and dry skin, which preserves its plumage’s flexibility and insulative properties. Frequent dust baths are also thought to smother ectoparasites such as lice and mites, and prevent fungal growth.

Another function of psittacofulvin is that feathers pigmented by it resist bacterial degradation.

Distribution and habitat

The presence of qurupecos in any given place is contingent on there being bodies of water capable of supporting fish. Reliable food supplies have allowed this species to diversify across much of Arcolis and the southern Elde subcontinent, into an array of biome subtypes. An incomplete list — based on documented occurrences — includes desert shrublands, xeric shrublands, matorral scrublands, várzea forests, tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, montane forests, mangrove forests, and Moga cloud forests. Their altitudinal distribution can fluctuate during rainy and dry seasons, to accommodate anticipated changes in water level and to avoid flash floods at arroyos.

There are unconfirmed rumors that qurupecos have been found as far south as Aya. Assessment of these rumors has been difficult, as the Ayan people are part of a voluntary-isolationist nation. Attempts through the Guild to act as a liaison and broker entry into their borders have been largely unsuccessful.

[moviegroovies]

oh god after last time i really did think i was done but i must have unlocked some new level of hell because here we go, here we go, lost boys hcs PART 3!!!!

so ummmmm michael... is sort of dumb. 

like, ok, specifically??? i think he’s got a higher than average emotional intelligence, but he’s just one of those kids who’s bad at school. there’s some hints of this in the movie: when michael is telling sam that he can’t tell lucy about the vampirism thing, sam’s line is that it’s “not like getting a D in school, mike!”, implying that hiding that kind of thing is something the two of them have been over before, and a deleted subplot has him repeatedly insisting to lucy that he’s going to drop out of school to get a job and help her pay for things.

tbh i think he’s got that classic “child of divorce” thing going on. he feels like a burden on sparse resources and can’t stand the thought of wasting his days in school, where he doesn’t even want to be. he wants to help his mom! he gets a job for he so he can do that! what a good, sweet boy!!!

hmmm. dyslexic michael, anyone? like, i was going to say that he was particularly vexed by math & science, but the more i think about it, the more i’m leaning toward him maybe just being disinterested in those subjects, even though they’re the ones he’s better at, while english and history (but particularly english) really piss him off because studying takes so goddamn long.

so he gets like, C+/B- in math and science, consistent C- in history, and wavers C- to D+ or even lower in english. 

he’s so polite to his teachers that they help him when they can though, especially because they know he’s trying so hard, but he’s just not entirely gifted at this sort of stuff. 

the worst is when he has to keep his grades up to stay eligible for sports--that pressure just makes everything seem so much worse.

i think michael plays some of everything. he’s like, some kind of guard on the football team, not particularly their star player or anything, but i think he’s also got a starter position on the basketball team, and he is the star pitcher on the baseball team. 

physical stuff just comes easier to him than academic stuff, you know?

his high school girlfriend was a cheerleader, but they weren’t that serious. she was a kind of preppy girl, a little vapid, and it felt to michael like they only really dated because they were supposed to. breaking up with her kind of led to michael’s attraction to star; he saw her on the boardwalk and she looked like she dressed for herself and she was outwardly enjoying her time at the concert--plus, you know, she’s really pretty.

he hates to admit it, but michael’s favorite classes in school were the home ec classes that his guidance counselor suggested he take. he took shop first, which was okay, but really, what he liked to do the most was the cooking and sewing shit. when he joins the lost boys, he kind of “takes over” these roles from star (who had been pressured into acting the mother for all these assholes who could be her great grandfathers, easily), and it turns out that he’s a lot better at that stuff than she is. 

guess he was always kind of training to be david’s bitch after all.

the guys stop ribbing on him once he shows them how he can fix their clothes and shit, though. goddamn assholes.

michael’s main circle of friends in highschool was made up of other jocks, and like with his girlfriend, they weren’t super close. he often got excluded from stuff because he would insist he couldn’t do something or other on account of his mom needing him home that night, or he would get pissed at them for making fun of sam. 

michael said family comes first, fuckers!

he did drink and smoke and shit like that back in phoenix when he knew he wouldn’t be missed at home, though. he’s not a goody two shoes, really, he just didn’t want to make things harder than they were for his mom. 

one day he did come home drunk, and he’ll never forget how upset lucy looked. he still doesn’t feel like he’s made that up to her. ouch.

one of the guys michael hung out with, probably the closest michael had to a “best friend” was a dude named declan who he’d known since elementary school. declan as the only one of the jock guys who didn’t really hold it against him when he’d skip out on stuff, and the only one he ever even thought about telling the divorce shit to, although in the end, he chickened out of actually doing it. 

like i said, they weren’t best friends or anything, but they could have been, y’know?

one of the less nice dudes in his group (probs one michael got in fights with often) started dating michael’s girlfriend about a week after he moved. michael wasn’t really pissed by the time he found out about that; he had way bigger problems to worry about by then.

there was a guy that michael saw around who was kind of a beatnik loner outcast and almost definitely a fag. he liked shakespeare and oscar wilde and probably drew pretty things in the margins of his notebook, and the guys that michael hung out with trashed on him pretty much constantly. michael himself, however, had kind of a thing for the guy: he thought he was cool and would ask when he could to see what he was working on.

you know how michael acted around star at the very beginning of their association? that’s pretty much how he was around this dude. local bi disaster is bi.

the guy (i was going to say fuck it and name him after the guy who i’m sort of basing him on from peggy sue got married, but guess what my fucking luck is, that dude’s name is michael. jfc. let’s call him charlie) thought michael was just there to make fun of him like the others did, but he eventually, he might have come around to trusting that mike really was just interested in his art. 

maybe they made out or something before charlie eventually pushed back against him because he didn’t want to get fucking murdered by michael’s friends for making him queer if they got caught 

michael always felt like he should have pushed harder to have some sort of relationship with charlie, but once he moves to santa carla, there’s no use in thinking about it anymore.

unlike michael, sam did have a close circle of friends at school, even though he wasn’t as classically “popular” as his brother. 

it was probs this reason that made him take the move a lot harder than his brother did.

sam, also unlike michael, was/is really good at school. he’s super skilled at memorizing dates & facts (just look at him rattle off semi-obscure superman trivia lol), and pretty talented at writing to boot. he doesn’t like math as much, but if he works at it, it comes to him pretty quickly. 

gifted kid perks™

being that everything came easy to sam, and that he didn’t do any sports like michael did, he had a lot of downtime to read books and comics, keep up w/ pop culture, and hang out with his nerdy friends who liked to do the same. he was even in a d&d group

his character was an elf rogue.

it’s about gay rights

re: sports, it’s not that sam couldn’t be athletic, just that he didn’t ever really want to be. he used to do little league to be like michael and as a concession to his father, but really, he was always put in the outfield, and at the end of the day he would just rather read or watch tv than stand out in the hot sun playing this game he didn’t care about.

when they were little, michael trained himself to get better at reading so that he could read stuff to sam when their parents were fighting or their mom was away. he remembered how his parents (in better times) had read to him, and he knew it made sam feel better, so he put aside his difficulties and discomfort to read to his brother before bed.

the easiest things to read for him were comic books (he had some batmans and supermans and even a few wonder womans, although it wasn’t all superhero stuff. he also had richie rich and, of course, archies), which kind of sparked sam’s love for them--they were something he shared with his brother. <3

i’m thinking sam’s nerd club was the prototypical “mostly boys who never talked to a girl in their lives” type thing, but at the same time i’d like to imagine that at least one of them had a pretty brash (and nerdy) sister who pushed her way into the club, winning their respect by doing what sam did to frog brothers, only with star wars lore.

also, i’m kind of picturing a shy girl from their school who sam takes under his wing when she’s getting bullied, only to find out that she’s really into that stuff too.

she’s part of their d&d campaign; she plays a badass orc barbarian woman and consistently has the best luck with the dice. 

the girl is almost definitely a lesbian, but sam asks her to homecoming and stuff like that so that they’ll both have dates; they’re basically each other’s beards. 

Gay Rights.

one of the only ways michael could ever really relate to his dad was when they played baseball and the dad taught him Sports™ things, so sam not being at all interested in that stuff made him kind of a disappointment. even still (or maybe for that reason), michael was always the mama’s boy, while sam spent a long time desperate for his dad’s approval.

maybe bc michael and lucy tried really hard to protect him from just how shitty their dad really was, to be honest.

speaking of michael and sam’s dad, i’ve been doing a lot of thinking about him, and now i’ve got Opinions. 

contrary to what i guess is the general fandom consensus (at least from what i’ve seen? but my scope might not be that big regarding this character, so if i’m wrong, i’m wrong lol) regarding the dad, i can’t see him being particularly abusive physically. 

however, given how sweet and agreeable lucy is, i get a sense that there must have been something REALLY insurmountable in their relationship to make her decide that divorce was the only option. the way i see it, michael and sam’s father started as one of those anti-establishment punks who eventually grew up and just... snapped back the other way entirely to end up as the establishment himself. 

main justification for this is that scene w/ michael and star; he doesn’t just refer to his mother being an ex-hippie, he refers to his folks. plus, i mean, there must have been something about the man that endeared him to lucy, right?

so, over the course of their marriage, the guy goes from being a radical dreamer type with maybe some kind punk rock aspirations to being like.... reagan’s “moral majority.” 

he starts totally stomping down his old dreams and, in the process, mocking lucy for holding onto anything from their past (you know how she told sam part of the reason she divorced him was that “he never believed in the closet monster”? that was a symptom tbh). i imagine that this, in itself, was soul crushing, but what was really the last straw was when he started in on michael and sam: getting mad and telling michael that he wasn’t going to make it in the MLB and that he had to get his shitty grades up if he wanted to amount to anything (only making him hate school even more lbr), and openly disliking sam’s rejection of sports and stuff in favor of his comic books and MTV.

before the end, i think michael got in a lot of fights with his dad when he’d make passive-aggressive comments at sam for not being enough of a man. 

who made you the fucking authority on that, huh?

if he was ever actually physically violent with anyone, it was probably michael during these fights, or mayyyybe even lucy when she’d step in.

eventually, something just tips lucy’s goddamn scales, and she snaps and goes out right then and there to file for divorce. they never saw the point in signing a prenup or anything back then, y’know, so without really fighting for it, lucy wasn’t going to get anything in the divorce. 

she doesn’t. they leave arizona with just about the clothes on their backs.

if anyone actually fought against the divorce proceedings, honestly i think it was the dad. he had this idea of his respectable nuclear family, and, even though he was basically an emotionally neglectful POS to his sons, he hated the idea of his wallstreet suit-type coworkers coming to know that his home life was anything less than perfect. 

as a last ditch effort, he probably tried to win lucy back at the very last minute, even twisting her arm in an attempt to get her to stay for the boys’ sake, but he clearly no longer knows what attracted her to him in the first place, and the “effort” just makes her sad.

in her mind, she’s already gone by then, you know?

finally, he just ives up and signs the divorce papers. for a hot second it really fucks him up; he goes in to work unshaven and haggard, he’s back to eating like a bachelor, his heart isn’t in what he’s doing. this isn’t about grief over losing his family, though, is the shitty thing. not really. instead, he’s just dealing with uncertainty over how to remake his image. 

unfortunately, that’s about as much karma as their dad gets. by the time lucy, sam, and michael are gone for good, he finds it’s easiest to just pretend that they never happened. lucy didn’t demand it, but he sends the occasional bare bones childcare check in the mail and feels like he’s the goddamn father of the year or something, and meanwhile, he remarries a woman that’s both younger and more conservative than lucy, sooner or later fathering a son with her.

lucy isn’t cruel; she doesn’t want the boys to be totally cut off from their father, and even though they both pretty clearly sided with her in the divorce she offers him visitation rights and partial custody (saying that they could stay with him at least every summer and for whatever other holidays he wanted), but he mostly rejects this. 

when the boys try to call him to ask, he gives them a noncommittal answer about them maybe visiting next summer, after they’ve all gotten settled in. 

they pretty much stop calling after that. 

remember how i said michael has an above-average emotional intelligence? he’s definitely the one who helps lucy through the divorce the most. he picks up on the signals she sends about when she needs help and when she needs space, and chides sam for pushing her too hard every now and then.

sam, on the other hand, is definitely a good kid who cares about his mom a lot, but he’s a little more selfish and has a harder time acting like he’s got no problem leaving phoenix for her. the only real fights the two of them get into before all the vampire mess are centered around sam not being sympathetic enough to lucy and michael getting onto him for it.

i think that their dad might end up being a much better father and husband for his new family, and when the eventually visit him long enough to realize this, michael and sam... aren’t sure what to think.

like, they’re glad he’s not repeating the same mistakes he made before, but it’s not fair, is it? to see your little half-brother get the father you always wanted but never got. 

their new stepmom is a sweet lady, though. she really does want to try and welcome sam and michael into the family. sam, michael, and their dad all try, but in the end they find it uncomfortable, and the boys know it’s just a facade on all sides to make her happy. 

everyone is a little bit relieved when the boys just give up and go back to santa carla. 

when michael meets the lost boys (& subsequently learns about dwayne’s past with jasper and, you know, the total boner david has for him, and oh yeah, the fact that these guys are kind of universally gay asf), his only experience with gay shit had been his closeted fumbling with charlie and like, negative stereotypes from media, so he’s kind of amazed by these totally queer dudes who just... take no shit. 

like, he gets challenged to a motorcycle race and their leader doesn’t back down at all from the fight michael tries to incite, they take him back to drink and hang out in a semi-nasty man cave. these dudes aren’t what he expects from fags at all (they’re not sissies, and that’s kind of the end of his knowledge about the gay community at that time lol), and he just doesn’t... know what to think about them.

he kind of wants to be them.

like, you know how immediately after seeing them for the first time, michael buys himself a leather jacket and goes to get his ear pierced? there’s a reason for that, babes!

in other news, michael is a cancer and there’s nothing y’all can do about it.

i mean, i have Evidence behind my theory but also i’m just right.

but like, going back to that scene with michael and star again, when he’s introducing himself, you know how he tells her that he was nearly named moonbeam or moonchild or something like that? well, another name for cancers that i’ve seen is moonchildren, after the way cancer is ruled by the moon (and bc the term “cancer” itself has some... other connotations).

in conclusion, lucy really was That Bitch sgdfhghdh

[paranetics]

kai and adam, 18

18. “This is without a doubt the stupidest plan you’ve ever had. Of course I’m in.”

Adam is in a constant state of stress; his neck and shoulders are tight with worry because of high school and Michigan and Kai standing right there and laughing. He’s talking to Skeet, his hands in his pockets, backpack at his feet and he’s smiling. Even from twenty feet away Adam knows his right cheek is dimpled.

“Found you,” Mira says, appearing at his side. “Finally.”

“I wasn’t hiding,” Adam snarks, still watching Kai. Mira tracks the line of his gaze, rolling her eyes when she sees him. 

“No, just stalking the baseball captain again.”

“It’s not stalking. We’re friends,” he protests, finally turning to face her. 

She shakes her head lightly. “Adam, dude, you’ve been pining since freshman year.”

“Shut up,” Adam responds. They’ve only been friends since freshman year. There’s no room to pine when you’re friends because in some aspect, at least, Kai occupies a space in Adam’s life. 

“Whatever,” Mira says. “Do you think Reeve would go to homecoming with me?”

Adam glances at her sideways. “Reeve?”

She shrugs. “I would ask you, but, you know,” she purposefully cuts her eyes in Kai’s direction. Adam scowls.

“You should ask him,” Mira continues, oblivious. 

“No way,” Adam says. He glances Kai’s way and catches his eyes. Kai waves enthusiastically across the hall and Adam meekly raises his hand in response. The thing is Adam turns to liquid around Kai, everything that makes him cool to the rest of the student body deserts him in a heartbeat when Kai looks at him from across the classroom and mouths hello. 

“Okay,” Mira says slowly, watching the whole thing. “I heard that Vanessa was thinking about it, anyway.”

Adam watches as Vanessa slides up to Skeet and Kai, sliding her arm through his and grinning, nodding like she knows what’s going on. Adam grits his teeth and revises his earlier plans.

“I’ll think about it.”

–

He does. Obsessively. His calculus professor has to call his name four times before he responds, then he gets the question wrong. On his way out Reeve stops him at the door.

“Are you alright?”

“Hi, Reeve,” Adam says. “Have you seen Mira?”

Reeve’s eyes narrow in sharp suspicion. “What? Why?”

“No reason,” Adam says, backing away, arms tightening around his textbook. “I gotta get to English.”

Adam escapes, and stops at the base of the stairs, glancing between the hall and the doors that lead to the parking lot. He makes a split-second decision, ditching his last class of the day. 

He texts Mira.

I think I need your help

no she says immediately.

Mira he texts come on. It’s Kai

fine she sends, then i’m in class ya dip smell ya later

Later, when class actually lets out, she calls him. Adam explains, half-heartedly, his idea. 

“Oh,” Mira says, “oh wow.”

“You like it?” Adam asks.

“Oh, oh, no,” she says. “This is – without a doubt – the stupidest plan you’ve ever had.”

“Are you in or out?” Adam snaps, irritated.

“Of course I’m in,” she says. 

–

Kai has a game on Friday so Adam gets everything together by Friday. Reeve grabs his elbow on his way into calculus. 

“Dude,” Reeve says. “I had no idea.”

“That I’m gay,” Adam says flatly.

“What? No. Everyone knew that.” he waves his hands. “Just… it’s Kai. He’s captain of the baseball team. You do the trivia team for fun.”

“You are aware I’m a starter on the soccer team,” Adam says. “And Kai does robotics.”

“Yeah,” Reeve says. “Whatever. You do the trivia team. For fun.”

“Okay,” Adam says, heading for his seat. “Good talk, Reeve.”

“The trivia team,” Reeve says behind him, anguished. 

–

He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s so nervous he’s gonna mess this up, hands deep in his pockets as he talks Mira’s ear off, verbally pouring all his angst on her. What if Kai doesn’t want to be friends after this? What if it all falls apart? What if Vanessa and Kai really-

“Adam,” Mira interrupts. She rolls her eyes at him. “You’re literally wearing his letterman. Shut up.”

Adam glances down at himself. “Well. He asked me to. Oh, come on,” he adds defensively when she just stares at him blankly. “It’s not like that. Maybe.” he glances nervously at the field. 

“Jesus Christ,” Mira mutters. 

Adam opens his mouth to snark at her but Reeve and Skeet slide into the seat next to Adam, bundled up and looking tired. He glances at them, then leans forward and counts all the people, making sure they’re in place.

“Hi, loverboy,” Reeve says.

Skeet says, “I call best man at your wedding.”

“Excuse me,” Mira yelps, hand to her heart like she’s been wounded. “Who will I be?”

“No offence, Mira,” Skeet says, “but I’d write a better speech.”

“Knock it off,” Reeve says. “The game’s starting.”

Baseball is actually painfully boring at parts, but Reeve’s one of those competitive people super emotionally invested in the actual outcome. They try not to get too loud with their conversation. Adam starts sweating bullets when the game goes into overtime.

“Are you kidding me,” he says at the sky.

“He’s not gonna answer, big boy,” Reeve says. “Sorry.”

Adam scowls at him, wishing that he could black out and autopilot his way through this. 

“At least we’re winning,” Skeet observes. “It’d be awkward if you made this grand gesture right after he lost.”

“That’s the plot of a rom-com right there,” Mira says, grin so wide her face might break. 

“I don’t know,” Reeve says, “they look pretty close to catching up.”

They all glare at him, and say in unison, “Shut up, Reeve.”

–

The game ends and Adam feels his stomach drop to his feet. He stands, wipes his hands on his jeans and looks at his friends.

“I’m going to fuck this up,” he says confidently and starts down the concrete steps to the chainlink fence as the announcer comes over the mic.

“Kai Sanderson, please redirect your attention to the stands,” a deep voice says. 

Adam can see the line of his shoulders straighten and step away from his celebrating team, looking up at the stands with this complacent expression of mild curiosity. The row he was sitting in stands up, takes off their jackets and spell out one word: HOMECMOING? Mira looks down her line, beaming proudly until she realizes Reeve and Skeet have managed to mix up their places.

Kai jogs up to Adam at the fence line.

“Kai Sanderson, please do the honors of accepting Adam’s request.” The announcer sounds like he’s laughing.

“Uh,” Adam says. “This might be awkward, and possibly friendship ruining. And I don’t want you to feel like you’re on the spot to say yes or anything! But I’ve liked you for three years and, I just,” he gestures vaguely behind him.

“Oh,” Kai’s grinning, cheekbones going pink. “Wow. I’m stupid.”

“How?” Adam asks. Kai lifts his shoulder.

“I kinda thought we were already dating.”

“What,” Adam says, mind tripping over itself, hastily backtracking through September and August, snapshots of all the time they’d spent together. 

Kai had taken him to the movies, to an ice cream shop, out stargazing, canoeing, for walks in the forest. He’d given Adam jerseys and jackets and picked him up in the mornings and at night, bringing him coffee and donuts and practicing Spanish for hours on the phone. 

“You met my parents,” Kai says, sheepish. “I asked if you wanted to see The Meg with me. Scary movies are a classic ploy. I thought you knew it was a date.”

“Is that why we shared a milkshake at Dairy Queen?”

Kai laughs. “Dude, that’s why you’re wearing my jacket.”

send me a prompt and a ship + i’ll write a drabble!

[elite-7]

A Million Dreams (Rayllum Week Day 3: College

*Slight spoilers for Katolis University! Rayllum Week Day 3: College AU*

He couldn’t breath, or talk, or do anything except stare at her. His homecoming date was amazing, heck even beautiful. She was a goddess shining in the moonlight. He takes a deep breath while extending a shaking hand out for her.

After all the hell they both went through to get to this point. He couldn’t help but smile at his best friend. She was his stronghold when he was weak. In turn, he was her shoulder to cry on when she needed him. With Longhorn not being here to protect her, Callum wanted to be her protector, her friend, and maybe lover?

He couldn’t believe that he was too chicken to ask her to be his date in the first date. It was her that asked him when he was alone. Away from Claudia and the public. Rayla took him to the bleachers where they first met and asked him. He obviously said yes.

There he was, at her apartment, waiting for her to come out of her room. She told him she needed to put something in her hair, but in truth, she was perfect to him. His heart jumps as the familiar creaking noise of the door opening caused him to turn around. He didn’t want to be rude, or creepy.

“You look like one of your paintings when you stand like that.” Her voice gave him the chills as he slowly turns around to meet her. She was gorgeous.

Rayla was wearing a midnight blue dress with jewels all over, making it seem that she was a starry night sky. Her dress fell to her ankles and flats in the same color appeared.

Callum was wearing a suit, matching Rayla’s, and matching pants. His shoes were black in color. His hair was combed back neatly. A small braid that his friend had done for him earlier still appeared by his ear.

“You look beautiful.” it came out breathlessly, different that what he had hoped for, but her reaction made his heart soar. Her cheeks flushed as she stares at him.  

So there he was, offering his hand, and was please when she took it. He brought her closer to him. Her sudden growth spurt had him angling his face to meet hers. He reaches up and puts a flower in her hair.

“You look tiny.” Rayla smirks as she watches him roll his eyes. She puts her arms around his neck and they stay like that for awhile. She could hear his heart beating even when she wasn’t listening.

“Well the goddess’s would be jealous of how stunning you are.” Callum says grinning, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer. “Being the starter has its benefits huh?”

“Goddess’s? Are you becoming a historian now? Who are you and what did you do to Callum!”

“Maybe.”

Someone clears their throat while stepping into the room. The two teenagers pull away from each other while sharing beet red faces. Together, they stood beside each other with nervous grins.

It was Runaan and he wasn’t too thrilled to see Callum hugging his daughter so close. They seem more than just best friends. He has to chat with Rayla at some point.

“Are you two ready? We’ll be late.” he asks tapping his foot. He watches Rayla’s mouth open and shut and smirks slightly.

“We are ready sir.” The boy, Callum, says respectfully and takes his daughter's hand. Runaan smiles a bit more at this. Even though she sees him and he sees her as a friend, Runaan can just see the world their going to make.