#don’t even get me started on how another lane here is people who just don’t pay attention to media

[knowlesian]

gonna snap one day and run through the halls of media critique screaming A PLOTHOLE IS NOT WHEN THERE IS AN EASILY EXTRAPOLATED AND OBVIOUS ANSWER TO A QUESTION THAT THE WRITERS DID NOT THINK EVEN NEEDED TO BE EXPLAINED OUT LOUD BECAUSE THEY EXPECTED YOU TO USE YOUR BRAIN JUST A L I T T L E

[sweetestcaptainhughes]

What are you trying to say? - Trevor Zegras

Word Count - 3600

Author's Note - I 100 percent projected my own dysleixia hardcore into this. This was 100 percent written for the dyslexic girlies and learning disability girlies only. Also not me accidentally maybe becoming a Trevor girlie after writing this oh no. This one is by far my favorite segment.

Warnings - light angst but like it ends happy shocking for this page, who am I becoming???

Summary - In the talking stage with Trevor Zegras you're not sure how his joking personality will respond to your struggles that you have with being an adult with dyslexia, especially since it doesn't affect you how media expects it to.

Let me love you masterlist main masterlist

This isn’t something new to you, you’ve struggled your entire life with the fact that you're dyslexic. It’s a lot more complicated than people may recognize. Many people assume that it only comes up when you're trying to read something like a textbook or an article, and that when you’re finished with school it won’t really affect your daily life anymore but that’s far from the truth. In truth, being an adult with dyslexia affects you in little ways daily. From having difficulty knowing your left and right when given verbal directions, your spelling being terrible when texting others, mispronouncing certain words and being easily embarrassed when it gets pointed out, or worse sometimes the word is literally on the tip of your tongue you can even physically see in your brain but your mouth can’t form the proper sounds, how certain fonts you struggle to read vs others, or that black ink on white paper is the bane of your existence.  Although all of these are “little” things, it does impact the way you communicate with others. It does feel extremely frustrating sometimes feeling like people think that you're using your dyslexia as an “excuse” when in reality your brain is wired completely differently because of it. 

Since you first met Trevor and started talking to him, you had that fear you always do in the pit of your stomach, will he pick on you the first time that he truly can’t understand a text or the first time he hears you mispronounce a word despite years of speech therapy where you tried to but still you can’t pronounce correctly. Although, part of you knew that your fear was extremely irrational, part of you couldn’t shake the feeling that was until proven otherwise the jokester in Trevor would make a joke about something you truly couldn’t control. 

That is until today, when it happened it’s one of those rare days when you were driving and Trevor was in the passenger seat. His car was in the shop, and he needed a ride back from the arena to his apartment. Originally he was going to take an Uber but since you both already had plans after the morning skate you insisted on picking him up. 

“It’s easiest if you take this right up here to get back to my place.” He directs you without looking up from his phone,you tell him okay, turn on your left turn signal and get in the left lane. Trevor finally looks up from his phone while you're waiting at the red light for it to turn green to see you're in the wrong lane. 

“Sweetie?” asking in a questioning tone

“Hmmm” 

“This is the left lane. I told you to take a right.” Trevor says in a concerning tone as to how you were five traffic lanes away from where you needed to be. 

“sorry I thought you said ‘left’. I can make a u-turn?” Deciding in the moment you didn’t want to admit that you heard him correctly but processed the direction wrong, you offered as the traffic light finally turned green. 

“It’s alright we can just take the long way. Don’t worry about a u-turn.”  Not seeming to care at all that it will add an extra 10 minutes to the drive due to the mistake. 

As you continued driving you ended up making another wrong turn, Trevor put his left hand on your thigh and subconsiously rubbed small circles into skin to comfort your growing anxiety, he could feel this odd tension that was built up in the car. “Can you point please?” your voice barely over a whisper as you felt extremely embarrassed all of a sudden and started feeling overwhelmed all of a sudden. 

“Yeah Y/N/N I can do that, we could also switch places. I can drive you the rest of the way if you need it if you're feeling anxious all of a sudden.” Trevor was being really sweet, trying to fix the problem at hand thinking it was just some anxious thoughts and not your brain processing audible information incorrectly. 

“No, pointing is good.” Forcing yourself to look straight ahead because you don’t want to accidentally catch his eyes as he looks at you with a worried look. He squeezes your thigh in a comforting way and drops the topic. The rest of the ride felt quick as he pointed and said the direction you needed to go until you reached his apartment. Finding a parking spot in the garage you parked your car, as soon as you felt your foot on the brake, and your right hand pulled the gear in park, you leaned back automatically and sighed grateful you were done driving. Trevor still had his hand on your thigh, he turned his neck so that his head was also resting on the headrest. 

Trevor patiently waited until you opened your eyes, turning to him with a soft smile. “You ready?” you ask him, as you start to unbuckle your seatbelt. As you grab your purse from the back, your hand on the door handle. His hand that was on your thigh is gone and immediately pulls you by the wrist back into your seat. As he takes his other hand and gently places it on your cheek forcing you to look at him. 

“Can we talk about it?” His voice was steady, calm, confident but soft, almost as if he was scared of your reaction. 

Smiling a little wider now, in a split second you try to decide what you want to do. Do you want to tell a boy who you’ve only been casually talking to and hanging out with a handful of times - one of them being this current moment - about being dyslexic. Although it’s not that big of a deal in retrospect, it’s something that you can never take back once you said the words. Even though it’s something so simple and common no one ever looks at you the same again. Were you ready to tell Trevor, and see his face change permanently or did you want to live in ignorant bliss for a little longer. 

“I’m fine, it’s just when I drive somewhere new I like listening to the GPS and not a person telling me directions, it helps me focus better is all.” sheepishly you admit. 

Ignorant Bliss. That’s the choice you made. 

“Okay well next time, can you tell me that so I don’t have to watch you stress yourself out please?” His hand that was on your wrist, going down to your hand playing with your hand. Taking your hand that he was playing with, fully grasping his you squeeze his hand as a silent yes, and nod your head. He leans over the middle console and quickly peaks your lips as if it was a last minute impulse and he meant the cheek. “Thank you, let's go inside.” 

—-------------------------------

Living in ignorant bliss was great for a few weeks, until you started to actually like Trevor. Talking to a guy for a few months and it not going anywhere vs meeting someone and potentially seeing at least an exclusive relationship with them were two very different things. Knowing that you saw a relationship with him in the future meant it was only a matter of time before he found out that your dyslexic which again isn’t that big of a deal, but the fact that you also lied to him a few weeks ago. Not telling him is one thing, but lying when he asked why you were struggling to drive that day is a completely different act. 

Trying to put off the inevitable you tried to push the thought to the back of your mind. Somehow convincing yourself that if you didn’t think about it, then the problem would disappear he would never find out. I mean when you didn’t know how to spell a word while texting, you just spoke it into your phone. As far as grammar no one really had perfect grammar when texting including Trevor to be perfectly honest he probably didn’t even notice half the time. Plenty of people kept all their devices in dark mode for plenty of reasons, he had no reason to ask, although you did it because it helped your eyes stay focused on the words in front of you, not for the aesthetic. 

Even so, with all of these excuses as to why he wouldn’t notice you failed to remember that certain words you truly can’t pronounce the correct way no matter how hard you try. It all came crashing down tonight when you were at Trevor’s apartment cooking dinner for the both of you. Dinner was almost done at this point, when Trevor came behind you just now re-entering the kitchen after taking an expected call from his little sister. Trevor wrapped his arms around your waist, his head resting on top of your shoulder. 

“Everything okay?” you ask your curiosity getting the best of you, even though you know it’s none of your business. 

“Yeah she’s fine.” Pressing a kiss into where your jawline and neck meet. “smells good.” He compliments your cooking as he teases you one more time with a small nip with his teeth where he just kissed you, before pulling away and resting his head on your shoulder. 

Answering shyly, you let out a “thank you.”

“Anything I can help with?” asking genuinely although you're not sure if it’s to be kind or if it’s because he’s hungry but either way you’ll take it. As he slowly unwraps himself from you, getting ready to help you in any way you need. 

Without looking up from the chicken that you're grilling on the stove, trying to concentrate on the task at hand you answer him. “Yeah actually can you grab out the mellk from the fridge for the mashed potatoes.” Not even thinking twice about what you just said until you heard a chuckle coming from across the kitchen. 

“What babe?” standing in front of a now open fridge, he could have sworn you tried to say milk but botched the word so badly, it couldn’t have possibly been.

“the mellk” finally noticing what you asked for, knowing this is one of the words people can’t help but point out how you butcher it. 

“What are you trying to say?” he asked, truly confused now that he heard it twice. 

“M - il - k “ you repeat slowing down your mouth trying to force yourself to pronounce it properly but also not speak too slowly. Hoping that it's noticeable as you force your tongue to the roof of your mouth to make the “il” sound.  

A small chuckle leaves Trevor’s lips but it wasn’t a malicious way, it was as if he chuckled because he found it adorable. “Here's the milk baby.” walking back over to you and placing it on the empty counter space next to the bowl of steaming hot cooked potatoes. Taking the chicken off the hot burner you moved to the island to where the potatoes were. 

“Sorry” you mumble as he stands beside you, his hip resting on the side of the island. 

“For what?” His eyebrows frowned, his eyes focused the side of your face the only thing he could see. Focusing on the task at hand, you used the potato masher and mashed the potatoes. Opening the milk and adding a little along with some butter that you set out earlier. 

Feeling the rise of some anxiety in your stomach, hoping that you could procrastinate just a little longer on admitting that you didn’t tell him the whole truth. Deciding if now was the time or if you were gonna dig yourself in a bigger hole by wrapping yourself in a thicker web of tiny white lies. 

Finally turning your head to the side to face him and taking a deep breath. 

For good measure making one more deep breath before you barely utter the words, your nerves getting the better of you. “I lied.” 

Trevor’s face immediately changed from confusion and concern. In an instant it became shocking and almost hurt, that the girl he thought was actually going somewhere a month in, is admitting to lying to him. Not when he told her in the beginning that lying wasn’t something he tolerated after his ex lied to him for months and manipulated him. Not when he just told his little sister not even ten minutes ago on the phone that tonight he was gonna ask you to be his official girlfriend. “What are you talking about?” his voice cracking before he could even get the word out, quickly clearing his throat to cover up his own insecurities about the possible tension that could slowly be felt brewing in his kitchen. 

“Remember a few weeks, when I was driving you to your apartment from the stad-” 

“What the FUCK does that have to do with lying to me? When did you lie to me Y/N” Not only has Trevor never once raised his voice at you in a not joking way, but he’s never cursed at you, and his tone made you close your eyes and flinch at the impact. Immediately, seeing you flinch he sighed his hand going to lightly crease her arm closest to him. “When did you lie?” asking at a much softer tone than moments before. 

“I’m trying to explain.” Trevor could have sworn he felt his chest hurt when he heard you struggling to speak, as if you were trying to get yourself not to cry. “Please let me explain.” 

“Okay” he softly let out, as he squeezed your arm not sure if he was trying to comfort you or himself as he felt the possibility of you slipping through his fingers. 

“A few weeks ago when I drove you home.” finally turning her body fully turning to face him. “I lied, When you asked me what happened. I told you I need the GPS because I get overwhelmed.” Pausing to make sure that Trevor was following along, he nodded along, “I lied, sort of,” your voice picking up in speed with each word you uttered out  “I mean I do get overwhelmed while driving but it’s not because of that it’s not that I” 

“Baby please take a breath you're scaring me” His other arm is going to cup your cheek, even though he was mad before as he heard you fixated on driving him home a few weeks ago. He knew it couldn’t have possibly been any of the terrible ideas that popped into his head, at least Trevor hoped not.

 “I sometimes get my left and right confused.” Looking up trying to gauge his reaction, watching as one of his eyebrows go down, as if to say ‘that’s all.’ 

“Okay. So that was the lie? Everyone gets confused sometimes and makes mistakes baby it’s okay” His famous smile slowly takes over his face. 

“That’s the thing is it isn’t sometimes, it’s kind of a lot when I’m driving when someone is giving me directions without pointing, and there are other things too. I mean they're small but they still affect me almost daily and I just.” 

Deciding to take a breath because if you don’t you will be more likely to trip up your words or stutter. “I’m dyslexic and it’s not really how they describe the movies.” 

His smile dropped a little and you swear it felt as if your heart felt as if it had just dropped a hundred flights down the Empire State building. “Dyslexic. Like you mix up letters when reading?”

“Yeah but it’s more than that.”

“Okay. But why didn’t you tell me when it happened? Why did you say it’s because you get overwhelmed.” 

“Because I do get overwhelmed when I make dumb mistakes like that. Plus, everytime I tell someone they never look at me the same. A lot of times they are shocked, and they also sometimes judge me because how does it not affect me the way the media portrays it? Why do I mispronounce words, why can’t I tell my left and right when someone gives me a direction, why I can’t read maps to save my fucking life but yet if I don’t have my GPS running I’m bound to a wrong turn, why does sometimes my mind decide I either can’t come up with a word at all or I can physically see it but I can’t say it and I can’t spell it because I’m such a bad speller.” 

“Shhh” not trying to cut you off but also trying to get you to breathe. “So you didn’t tell me cause you were scared I would look at you differently? Or judge you when something you can’t control comes out at random times of the day? That’s why you told me to point instead of just saying it because you didn’t wanna tell me in fear?” Not sure his tone is showing remorse for you thinking that at all or hurting that you ever would think of him in that way. 

“Yeah.” you embarrassingly admit.

Trevor spent the rest of the night listening to you and how your brain was different due to your own personal experience with being a dyslexic. The next morning you found him reading an article about the effects of different lighting and how dark mode was the best for dyslexics and certain fonts were better than others. It made you chuckle as you told him you knew and that’s why your phone was permanently in dark mode.  That day, he changed all the settings on his tv’s in his entire apartment for dark mode, even all of his own personal devices. Finding it adorable that he went on a tangent when he found out certain apps don’t support dark mode and how he said it was discriminating. Finding it harder and harder for yourself to hide your soft smile as you watched him continue his rant, your heart swelling at how passionate he sounded. 

“I really like you, you know.” you admitted when he finally stopped complaining about how Mirosoft finally started supporting dark mode it was still ‘white paper’ on black ink so they really missed the whole point. 

“Oh yeah.” as he grabs you, pulling you towards him on the couch, tangling your legs with his. 

“Yup” popping the p for emphasis.

“I really like you too. Actually I was gonna ask you.. Wanna make this official and let me call you mine.” The blush was obvious on your face, immediately turning a light red shade, nodding your head he pulled you into a soft kiss. 

—---------------------------------------------

A few weeks later you were out to dinner with a few close friends and Trevor. Currently trying to tell a story about one of your new coworkers and how you didn’t like him but mid sentence you froze. Trevor had yet to see you freeze because the word you planned to say completely escaped you. Of course this wasn’t new to your friends as they saw the familiar signs, the way in which you paused, your lips pursed in a questioning way, your hand coming up and shaking knowing it was on the tip of your tongue and you just couldn’t think of it or couldn’t pronounce it. 

What your friends weren’t used to was seeing Trevor respond to it. His response to you struggling made all of them share a glance in approval of his small action. He took your shaking hand and slipped it into his own. Immediately your small flustered expression on your face turns to him. Your friends couldn’t hear what you were saying between yourselves if you were even talking at all, but they could see the care in Trevors eyes and how your frustration seemed to melt away.

“Hi” he whispers only for you to hear after a couple seconds pass. 

A smile breaks out on your face. “Hi” 

“What are you trying to say?” repeating the same sentence that he asked you weeks ago when you asked him to get the milk out the fridge. 

“I can’t think of it.” a sigh leaving your lips. 

“Describe it.” His forehead resting on yours as you look into his eyes. 

“You know, like a red flag.” 

“Like in dating? So a slang term?” 

“I think.” Pausing for a few seconds for your brian to catch up. “But I know it’s not called a red flag, but it’s like it, I think, like when someone does something and immediately you're like ew.” 

“An ick?” he softly suggests. Immediately your mouth forms into an o-shape in shock, making his mouth twitch into the slightest smile. Kissing his check quickly and whispering a quick ‘thanks’ and turning back to your friends. 

“Okay so like this new dude thinks he can come in and just boss all me and my other co-workers around. That’s not even the worst part like not only is he lowkey sexist, he literally only wears highwaters, immediate ick…” Trevor sat there half listening to your story with a huge smile on his face, hand on your thigh drawing patterns subconsciously as he sipped on his drink. He loves listening to you talk, how you get lost in telling stories and he’s happy he was able to help you instead of you pushing it to the side like you did all those months ago. 

That’s how it is from that night on, anytime you text him and he can’t understand it, or you can’t think of a word, or butcher the pronunciation; he will simply turn to you and ask “What are you trying to say?” 

[lexisecretaccx]

A+ Student pt.2

Other parts on my Masterlist!

(Fem reader, Matt and Chris, suggestive, little angst, not proofread! Everyone is 18+, idk what else)

Summary: Y/n is a great student in her college, always getting good grades. Her college professor Matt, thinks she can get even higher ones with some “extra credit.” That is until she meets her new gym teacher..

“There she is!” Lizzy calls over to me, sat next to 3 other people who I don’t know, she motions me to sit opposite her. “Who are these?” I whisper to her. She chuckles, “this is Ethan, this is Jamie and this is Kelly.” She looks to a blonde girl sat next to her who smiles at me, “I’m new, I think I’m in your English class.” She giggles, “oh nice.” I smile uncomfortably.

I don’t enjoy being around new people, I know you have to be to make new friends but I honestly don’t want new friends. I eat my food silently while they all talk and make my way to the library for the last period, which was a free period. Nobody else who I knew had one so I was alone but it’s usually like that anyway.

Lizzy enjoys being around people, she’s pretty extroverted but not me.

I sit down at a table in the library and open a book, not a book to learn but just a book. Icebreaker. If you weren’t familiar with it, it’s a smutty book so reading it in school is a dangerous task.

I turn to the page I was on and read it. Whilst I was getting into the story, I sense someone looking at me and I turn around. Matt is stood there flicking through a book, he quickly drops his head from looking at me. I pack my book into my bag, placing the bookmark into the page and I walk to him. “Hey professor.” I lean up against the bookcase next to him.

“Oh hey y/n, you okay?” He smiles at me, “yeah I have a free period, what you reading?” I ask him looking at the book in his hands. He shrugs lightly, “I don’t know I just picked a random book,” he laughs quietly due to us being in a library. “Uh, why did Chris make you stay behind earlier?” He slightly leads my arm so we can sit down.

“I threw a dodgeball at Rachel, because she was saying shit about me.” I whisper, he chuckles, “Rachel in the English class?” I nod. “I’ll give her a D- next test if you want.” He grins, “No don’t do that.” I laugh, “I was kidding.”

We chat and I text him so he gets my number and the bell rings so I leave to go home. As I’m walking I get a text from Matts number, “extra credit 6pm? 27 Saques Lane.” I smile to myself before texting back, “sure see u there.”

I feel my cheeks heat up, am I really doing this? I get home and walk upstairs, showering, making myself look presentable and also slipping on a red lacy set, just in case.. I put on sweats and a crop top that shows my cleavage the perfect amount. Am I delusional? What if he doesn’t mean what I think he does? I start to feel anxious but I get a cab to his house.

The cab driver pulls up outside Matt’s and I pay him before hopping out of the car. I walk up his large driveway, this house must have at least 4 bedrooms or more, there’s a minivan in the driveway and a fancy Porsche. “Woah.” I mumble to myself. I knock the door nervously, someone opens the door. “Oh hey..” he says.

“Sorry I’m just heading out now, who are you?” He tilts his head slightly, “oh I’m y/n, I’m here to see Matt?” I speak, anxiety filling my chest. “Oh yeah he’s in the living room, see ya.” He walks past me without letting me say another word. “Okay..” I whisper. I walk in and I can hear music or something coming from the room next to me.

The door is glass so I peer through and see Matt laying back on a big couch facing a modern fireplace with a massive tv on it. How can he afford these things? I think to myself.

I open the door and walk in, Matt instantly turning his head to face me. His gaze softens as he realised it’s me. “I’m so sorry I didn’t hear you knock!” He stands up and walks to me, “it’s fine, the other one of you three opened the door.” I smile, “Nick?” He asks me and I shrug, “probably, it wasn’t Chris so yeah.” I laugh and he chuckles.

“Come sit.” He sits back down and I sit next to him, he turns the TV off and directs his attention to me, “so what extra credit should I do?” I lean closer to him, “like write a short story or do some quizzes or something else..” I look him up and down, the grey sweatpants sitting perfectly and the tight black tshirt is doing all sorts of good things.

“I like the third option.” He whispers before leaning in and brushing my hair out of my face. I know this is wrong but it feels so good. I press my lips to his and I melt into him, his soft lips move against mine perfectly.

He hums against my lips before pulling away too soon. “This is wrong.” He mumbled to himself. “I thought you wanted..” I go to speak but he cuts me off, “I don’t know y/n.. what if I lose my job?” He stands up and wipes his mouth, “fuck.” He breathes out. “I’m sorry..” I fidget with my hands.

“Don’t apologise.. please y/n? I just...” He pinches the bridge of his nose. “I wasn’t thinking straight.. you’re just so.. I don’t know.” He sits on the coffee table opposite me.

“So you don’t want me anymore?” I ask, and he huffs, “No I’m not saying that.. but I also am. I just love my job, and you’re great at the subject but I don’t want this.” He motions between us. My eyes well with tears, “what?” My voice cracks, “don’t cry, please? I’m gonna go for a drive.. clear my head but you can stay here until I’m back if you want.” He smiles and pats my shoulder.

He walks out the door, “what the fuck just happened.” I cry softly to myself, placing my head in my hands. I should’ve know that this wasn’t what he wanted truly. Fuck I feel awful, I’m a slut.

After 5 minutes I stand up to go leave and the front door opens infront of me, Matt wouldn’t be home this quickly, what if it’s Nick? He doesn’t know me and I’m crying in his hallway. “Oh fuck you scared me.” I look up to see Chris, I breathe out softly, “oh shit you okay?” He walks up to my and rests his hand on my shoulder, I shake my head. “No.” I squeak before crying harder.

Without hesitation he pulls me into his chest and hugs me, I pull my head off of him and he looks down, “I don’t wanna get makeup on your shirt.” I whisper and he chuckles. “It’s fine.”

We pull away from the hug, “that’s embarrassing.” I laugh lightly, and he tilts his head, “what is?” I shrug, “I fucking cried in my gym teachers arms.” He laughs softly, “that’s not embarrassing.. but why are you in my house crying?” He leads me to the kitchen and we sit up to the island. “Uh.. fuck I don’t know if I can tell.” I sigh.

“Matt? Right?” He asks. I nod, “We didn’t do anything, he just flipped out.” He cracks his knuckles, “well he is your professor maybe he got scared, he’s never been one to take risks.” Chris leans on the counter smiling at me. I sigh, “yeah but he made me think he wanted something.”

“It’s okay, when is he coming back?” He rubs my back comfortingly, I shrug. “I don’t know, he didn’t say.” Chris nods. The room has gotten tense, not an awkward tension but it’s indescribable.

“What did you mean earlier today?” Chris’ eyes meet mine and he hums in confusion, “when you said there was ways for me to get higher grades, what did you mean by that?” I ask again, the corners of his mouth flick up before relaxing, “it wasn’t what you were thinking..” he smirks.

“What did you think I was thinking?” I lean on the counter infront of me slightly, “I think you were thinking that I was implying something sexual.. weren’t you y/n?” He leans in slightly, I shake my head gently. “No I wasn’t thinking that.. you’re my teacher.” I scoff, “didn’t stop you from trying with Matt huh?” He leant in further.

“The difference between me and him? I like to take risks.” He leant in so his nose brushed against mine before he pulled away. I feel my cheeks redden, he laughs at my nervousness, “do you want-” I go to speak but the front door unlocks and both of us turn to face the door before Chris gets up and walks over to the fridge. Matt walks in and goes to check the living room before he notices me in the kitchen.

“Oh hey.” He spoke softly walking towards me, his eyes dart to Chris standing there opening a can of Pepsi. His jaw tightens, “hey Matty boy you okay?” Chris teases and Matt rolls his eyes, “see ya tomorrow y/n.” Chris spoke as he walks past me, patting my shoulder and going out into the hall. “Did you tell him.. or?” Matt starts to talk.

“I don’t want to talk to you right now.” I sigh, “hey what did I do?” He asks with genuine concern on his face, I scoff. “You led me on to believe you wanted something from me!” I stand up out of the seat. “Come on y/n, I’m your professor.. grow up.” He spoke, I just started walking towards the front door.

“Wait.. wait.” He yelled slightly before grabbing my arm. “Get off.” I hiss. “I’m sorry okay?” He whispers in my ear before letting go. “I’ll see you in tomorrow’s lecture, no hard feelings right?” He smiled and I just opened the door and walked out. I felt angry. Why did he pretend he wanted something and then treats me like shit.

Chris is nice though.. “y/n.. please come back.” I hear Matt calling from behind me and I turn around, I still can’t deny that I find him so fucking gorgeous he’s just kind of a dick.. “what?” I reply. “I’ll bump your overall trade to an A+.. I know how much you want it and you deserve it.” He smiles as he catches up with me, he brushes my hair out my face. “Thanks…” I feel drawn into him.

What kind of spell has he got on me? He’s manipulating me right? “What were you and Chris doing?” He asks me, as his hand rests on my arm, “the thing we didn’t do.” I whisper just to watch his expression change. It did exactly that and his gaze hardens, “what?” He mumbles, “we talked.. me and you haven’t done that.” I turn around and continue to walk away.

I turn away to see him walking back to his house slowly, I can’t let him manipulate me but I just don’t know.. there’s something about him.. but also about Chris.. maybe it’s the fact they’re both my teachers, or maybe it’s because they look the same but are so different at the same time.

I just don’t know what I want..

A/n: Team Chris or Team Matt? I have good plans for this but I cannot reveal and I also cannot upload too much bc of how busy I ammm! Ily all and thanks for 600 followers that’s crazy!

@blahbel668 @mattsleftnipple03 @rac00ns-are-c00l4 @hysteria-things @mattybslover @jakevwebber @braindead4l @mattybearnard @st7rnioioss @junnniiieee07 @sturniolosmind @fratbrochrisgf @sturniol0s @alwayssublimedelusion @certifiednatelover @freshsturns @riasturns @sturniololvrrr @maryx2xx @whicked-hazlatwhore @cammie4298 @sturnsjtop @sturnzblog @chr1sgirl4life @evie-sturns @milasturniolo @jaxyy219

[little-forest-goblin]

First impressions Pt.2

Regency!Five Hargreeves x reader

Synopsis: In the regency era every woman wanted to marry a man that was wealthy and had good status. there was little time to get to know one another. But you Y/N L/N are the most reluctant to these whole marriage to random men you don’t fully know.

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———————————————————————

God you were so nervous.

The doors of the manor were huge. You and your family stepped up to the doors and once opened you saw the party in its full glory. People dancing, some flirting, some drinking, some already drunk off their minds. It was a sight to behold. Trisha and Maggie gasped with wide smiles and looked to each other and quickly went inside. Mother and father where smiling and reminiscing about the days of there time when they were young and found each other. Colin had already hurried off having already found a beautiful girl he could dance with. This left you by yourself. You nervously entered and looked around the ball. God this was nerve wracking and honestly dizzying seeing people dance around and laugh and chatter away. You took a deep breath in then out and began to walk around. The hargreeves manor was quite beautiful and large but almost to much. Like they had so much money they didnt know where to put it or what to invest in. When you ended up around a table with glasses of wine you picked one up and sipped it. A good year. How suiting for such an event and a wealthy man. Your drink was cut short by your sister trisha hurrying to you “Come Y/N! Reginald and his son’s and daughters is coming!” trisha took your glass setting it down you laughed as she dragged you along excitedly “I was drinking that trisha!” of course it fell on deaf ears as they went to the front as the guests parted a pathway for Reginald. You stood next to trisha and maggie as reginald and his family started to make their way down the lane. There were 7 of them. 6 sons and 1 daughter all above 18 meaning suitable bachelors and bachelorette. Reginald stood at the front and his voice sounded “Thank you all for coming here today. I am honored to be graced with your presence’s. Now im not one for idle chit chat so i will introduce you to my children.” Reginald gestured to all of them but one caught your eye immensely. He held his arms behind his back his hair combed and cut precisely and an air of stoicism and sophistication. Five Hargreeves was his name. He looked honestly a bit miserable like he would rather be anywhere but here. You chuckled softly and whispered to Maggie and Trisha “Is it just me or does that one look awfully miserable?” Trisha looked to you and back to Five “him? five? I think he looks quite handsome.” you chuckled and looked to her “Yes but he seems to be quite a buzzkill, no?” trisha smacked you arm lightly with her closed hand fan. you chuckled and rubbed the spot and looked back to the front a second to late cause now the party was back normal dancing and drinking. Before you even got a minute break your mother took your arm along with maggie and trisha’s “Mother! what on earth are you doing?” trisha whisper yelled Your mother smiled “We are going to meet them!” you suddenly felt nauseous. Once you where in front of them Your father came up to reginald “Mr Hargreeves splendid party.” he shook his hand and reginald gave a tight lipped smiled “Yes i am just glad i could have everyone in unity.” your father chuckled “You know my wife and these are our three daughters Trisha, maggie and Y/N” you and your sisters took a polite curtsy. Reginald nodded “They sure are beautiful, George.” your father smiled almost proudly “Yes they are aren’t they.” As your father, mother and reginald talked you couldnt help but feeling a pair eyes on you. You look to see who is the culprit to see Five whose eyes looked you up and down and met yours not daring to look away. This sent a shudder down your back and goosebumps on your legs. His green eyes pierced you like no other. You kept your eye contact till it was interrupted by Trisha dragging you to the dance floor to come dance. You kept your eyes locked with his for a moment before looking away. Your stomach felt a knotted feeling in it. You tried to push it away and just followed Trisha “Trisha! slow down” Trisha giggled “No! come one come dance there plenty of handsome men tonight!” you chuckled and sighed shaking your head lightly and joined in on the dance.

You have been dancing for some time now. Your cheeks slightly red and your heart racing. The man you were dancing with was quite good at this you must admit. Eventually you stepped out to have a break as you caught your breath and stood to the side you noticed none other than five was next to you. Suddenly it felt like the air was right back in your lungs. You looked at him a bit surprised he noticed your look and turned to you “Problem Mrs L/N?” you went a little red in the cheeks not exactly expecting him to remember you “Oh um…yes everything is fine.” You looked away and back to the people dancing a bit of an awkward silence happened between you and him. He then broke it “Shouldnt you be dancing with a man? Perhaps finding a husband?” you looked to him with furrowed brows “why exactly is that your business what i do?” he looked to you “It was just a question” you and his eyes locked and that shudder went down your body again until you looked away and back the group. He stayed looking at you for a minute till he looked away again and back at the people. He gave a hmph and walked off. You furrowed your brows and shrugged thinking nothing of it.

Later in the night your sister trisha was conversing with you about the man she was dancing with which so happened to be viktor hargreeves she was swooning over him immensely. Just then nearby five was talking to none other then viktor. Viktor turned to five “The L/N family is quite something else, dont you think, five?” five didnt spare a glance at his brother “Yes something else indeed. You and that Trisha were pretty cozy with eachother no?” viktor chuckled “Yes i quite like her. Lively one she is. What about you and that Y/N? I saw you talking to her earlier” five shrugged “She is alright i suppose” Five said that but something else was in his eyes. was it intrigue? Viktor scoffed “Really thats it? God when are you ever gonna find someone.” five finally turned to him “Viktor i only just met her. Im not going to wed her just because she might intrigue me.” Viktor chuckled and shook his head “So you do not like than?” five thought for a moment. “In a logical standpoint, no” Now that hurt. You scoffed and shook your head. Now are you mad he didn’t instantly love you? No but He could’ve just said he would’ve wanted to get to know you better instead of a flat no! Trisha looked a little shocked herself. she looked to you seeing your embarrassed look she took your hands “Don’t worry about him! there is plenty fish in the sea and this sea has many i saw looking at you.” you looked to her and smiled softly “Your right your right but-“ Trisha shook her head “Ah ah ah i wont have it. You don’t want him anyway. He is a fool for not wanting you besides you said it yourself, a damned buzzkill. Miserable man.” you chuckled and then full on laughed as she pulled you back out to the dance floor determined to make you feel much better about yourself.

Sometime later a slower dance was coming on you ended up partnering with the man from earlier. you never caught his name and you know what might as well now “I don’t think i ever caught your name” he looked down at you and chuckled “Ah yes i suppose not. My name is Edward. Edward wentworth.” he brought your hand to his lips giving a light kiss to the knuckle bringing it back in place for the dance. You has to admit he was quite handsome himself. You giggled “Edward wentworth? What a fascinating name” You and edward seemed to talk the whole time. He seemed more interested in getting to know you than immediately proposing marriage. Your mind completely abandoned the memory of fives harsh words he exchanged with viktor as you talked and danced with edward. Unbeknownst to you five was watching across the way. his eyes burned with something he couldnt put his finger on quite yet. it took over his impulses and made him walk his way through the crowd to you and stop you and Edward.

“Excuse me? mind if i cut in?”

———————————————————————

Hey ya’ll i hope you guys enjoyed the writing. Sorry for any grammatical errors! i love you guys stay safe ❤️

[mysteriouslyjovialcolor]

United States 2018

-Just me trying to get familiar with this circuit before the weekend

-Oh also I’ve just realized they’ve finally added the halo this season

-Charles going up to Q3 in a Sauber, I know a qualifying genius when I see one

-Whyyy is Max starting p18

-Can I manifest a Daniel podium here or is that too ambitious?

-“This could be Kimi Raikkonen’s last chance to win a race with Ferrari” MAYBE he’d have had more chances if he didn’t have to always play the team game

-YESSS KIMI

-One Ferrari having a great start and another spinning around 90 degrees

-Wow people have already pitted lap one

-Wow Max is already up to p9

-Dammit Charles is down to p17

-Alonso out??

-Renault is 4th in the constructors?? How on earth!

-Red Bull is having a great race right now, I have an eerie feeling that’s all going to go away very soon

-“Lewis can win the championship today if he out scores Vettel by 8 points” I always somehow end up watching championship deciding races without meaning to

-Would be cool to see him win his 5th championship here though

-Yeahh, the feeling was right, Daniel is out

-“The man who smiles the biggest of all when he comes to Texas” AND HE WONT EVEN BE THERE THIS YEAR

-Screw you RB, VCarb and literally everyone else

-Virtual safety car and no one in the pit lane?

-Oh never mind, there’s a few people

-Oh is Lewis coming in too?

-Ahahah that bluff from Kimi

-Did Checo and Ocon ever stop squabbling? The answer I think, is no

-Somehow Max always makes overtaking a bunch of cars look so easy. How did he go up 14 whole positions that fast?

-“Let’s not do anything stupid” Yes Kimi!

-Let’s go!!! That was great defense!!!

-Ohmygod why defend like that only to pit

-Okay I’m just going to trust…the Ferrari strategists

-Going to un-curse RB for a second because that was some great strategy

-Please for once tell Sebastian to let Kimi through

-Yesss

-Verstappen p3!

-Sainz steadily making his way up the points

-It’s so funny watching the leaderboard and seeing Carlos fight Hartley and go from p9 to p8 to p8 to p9 while the commentators just talk about something else completely

-Sadly Charles has not gone up from p16

-George Russell!!

-Ah Charles has retired

-Ferrari playing the long game and it actually paying off??

-Lewis pitting, which apparently means the championship won’t be decided this race

-He came out p4 behind Bottas, which probably means he’ll get past him quite easily

-I actually need Kimi to win this race

“2044 days since he’s last won a race” Yes please win again now

-How are there 15 more laps? This race feels like it should be over now

-Max Verstappen: an interference for championship contenders since 2016

-Come on Sebastian, close that gap

-“Wouldn’t it be great for the romantics out there if Kimi wins the race here” Yes, yes it would be

-Oh god the top three are so close together

-“He’d actually be able to drink the champagne in the United States legally, because he’s 21 now” Haha

-So close togetherrrr

-This is nerve wracking

-Those zig-zag turns (I think turns 6-8) make everything look so much cooler

-Completely forgot there are others in this race aside from these three

-I’ve been trying not to say anything about Nico this whole time so as to not jinx him finally doing well, but there are only 5 more laps to go, so I should be okay (I hope)

-Anyway, Nico p6!!!!!

-Renault in general is doing well rn

-Carlos is right behind in p7

-If Lewis gets past Max, he wins the world championship

-I hope he doesn’t cause I need Kimi’s win to not be overshadowed rn

-Lewis can win the championship in the next race

-Milly Bobby Brown?? What are you doing here??

-Ohmygod!!! I don’t even have any words!! That fight between Lewis and Max was everything!! I had my hand over my mouth the whole time!!! I actually kinda need to see that again!

-Ohmygod Valterri going wide right after Lewis did, Sebastian up to p4

-Kimi Raikkonen Race Winner!!!!!!!

-Those last few laps were everything!!!!!!!

-Aww Kimi taking a moment in the car

-I’m almost in tears, that was amazing!!!

-Not Kimi asking Lewis if he won the championship or not ����😂

-Aww the mechanics singing the Italian national anthem with such enthusiasm (reminds me of Monza this year)

-This race turned around so fast, it was actually perfect

[noxemma]

Super late start, but here's the first chapter of a fic for @winchester-reload's Hot Summer Art challenge (better late than never, right?)

Tags, Rating, Word Count, AO3 link, etc. at the bottom

Beside Your Side

Fic Summary: Dean convinces Sam to look into a potential case where people are going missing from a New Jersey beach town. Of course, they have to bring Cas and Eileen along, just in case it's not a monster. Dean is excited to get the case over quickly and enjoy a well-earned vacation with the people he loves the most. Nothing ever seems to go the way Dean plans it though, and this case is no exception.

Chapter 1: Down to the Seaside

Dean

“Dude, really?” Sam quirks a brow and gives Dean a look that would make him feel guilty if he was actually bullshitting. But, for once, he’s not and he can’t stop how giddy it makes him.

“I’m serious, Sammy! Over the last couple of weeks, five people have gone missing and then a day or two later, a mysterious sand sculpture shows up on the beach looking just like them! Tell me that doesn’t sound like our kind of thing.”

“I mean, it does, but-” Sam hedges.

“But what?” Dean tries not to whine or pout or let on just how excited he really is. “We can’t take a case because it’s on a beach? Can’t go because, God forbid, if it does end up being nothing, we might take a day or two and enjoy a vacation for once? C’mon, Sam. Haven’t we earned it?”

“Geez, fine! We’ll check it out,” Sam huffs. He maintains his stern expression for a few seconds before a twinkle lights his eyes and a small smile starts to form. “But I’m inviting Eileen. Just in case it is, you know, nothing.”

“Deal, but then we have to invite Cas too. It’s only fair he gets to join in if you’re bringing Eileen,” Dean blurts excitedly, already daydreaming about spending time in the sand and sun with the people he loves most. It takes a few too many beats for his brain to catch the slip and he quickly adds, “It’s not like I have a girlfriend, so it’s only fair I get to invite my best friend. Plus, you know, with his grace thing, some R&R might do him good. And if not, then at least a case will take his mind off it.”

“Uh, yeah. Sure. Of course, Cas should come.” Sam makes a funny face and looks like he wants to say more, but mercifully stays silent.

“It’s settled then, we’re headed seaside. I love New Jersey!” Dean whoops as he hustles to his room to dig out swim trunks while Sam lets out a groan.

---

“Ughhh! I hate New Jersey!” Dean growls as Baby inches another few feet forward before stopping again. This vacation case is not going at all how he planned, and they haven’t even made it to the beach yet. He tries to tell himself that he’s only frustrated because of the standstill traffic they’re caught in, but he knows it has more to do with the angel in his passenger seat who’s been silent for nearly the entire trip. Normally he doesn’t mind the silence with Cas.

That’s probably because, normally, it feels peaceful. Not this odd tension. I don’t even know why he’s being weird. People are usually happy to be invited on vacation, Dean stews, gritting his teeth as the truck in front of him bursts forward a few hundred feet only to grind to a halt as another car cuts it off trying to merge into the marginally faster moving lane.

“Jesus! If everyone could stop being an asshole, we could all get where we’re going sometime this year!” Dean shouts, funneling his mounting frustration into road rage.

“I told you the traffic was going to get bad,” Sam huffs over the phone. “It’s your fault you spent so long grocery shopping.”

“Whatever, you’ll thank me when you see how expensive everything is on the island!” Dean can practically hear Sam’s eye roll and hopes Sam can hear his responding one. “Anyway, you guys are probably almost there, right?”

“Yeah, we should be just a few miles away-”

“There’s the bridge!” Eileen excited shout drowns out whatever his brother had been about to say. “I’m so excited; it’s been at least three or four years since I’ve been to a beach.”

“Wow, you really did make good time. Okay so the key should be under the mat if you want to go in and start getting settled. Don’t expect too much though. It’s pretty small and Mom’s friend said it hadn’t really been updated since we were there last, which is at over two decades so...”

“Dean, I’m sure it will be fine. I still can’t believe that Mom and Dad actually took us on vacation here. What was I anyway, like a month old?”

Dean grins as he recalls nearly faded memories of the four of them. Snippets of sand, waves, boardwalk lights, sticky fingers, toothy grins, and a huge umbrella covering his mom and baby Sam flash through his mind. Some are so strong like his father lifting him over the waves and some are so faded they are more feelings than tangible memory, but they’re all still precious.

“We came late July, so you were almost three months, smartass. But yeah, what are the odds and that Dad still had the contact info in his journal and it would still be available to rent on short notice? Anyway, given the rate we’re going, which is zero, we’ll probably be an hour or so behind you.”

“Okay, well, we'll see you when you get here, jerk,” Sam initiates their standard farewell, and Dean silently curses him for it.

“See you when we get there, bitch,” Dean responds reluctantly. The line goes dead, and he heaves a frustrated sigh now that the conversation with his brother isn’t distracting him from the traffic or the blue gaze he’d felt swing his way partway through the conversation.

Another twenty minutes of mind-numbing traffic goes by before Dean’s skin starts to itch. He swaps tapes then switches to the radio, but nothing helps quell his mounting awareness of the solemn, blue-eyed angel in his periphery.

“Dean?” Cas says so abruptly that Dean nearly jerks his foot off the brake. “Something’s been bothering me.”

“Really? I couldn’t tell,” Dean tries to tease but an exasperated edge sneaks in.

Cas frowns, but goes on, “Why am I coming with you?”

“Why wouldn’t you? You’re part of the team and we’ve got a potential case,” Dean quickly delivers the line he definitely did not practice.

“Dean.”

Dean makes the mistake of meeting Cas’ gaze, and he gulps at the intensity of it.

“Sam and Eileen are a couple, not to mention seasoned hunters,” Cas states before his words soften. “I’m effectively human again. How did you put it? A baby in a trench coat.”

Dean cringes at having those words flung back at him. Cas’ shoulders slump and he sounds like he really believes he has no place on this trip simply because he can’t access his grace, which is unacceptable.

“Cas, I should have never said that. So, you might not be able to do your normal angel stuff but-” Dean starts.

“Then why-?”

Dean cuts Cas off with a growl and a smack to the steering wheel.

“You’d know if you’d let me finish. Christ, you’re here because I want you here! I want to finish up this case quickly then relax on a beach with my family like we deserve after everything we’ve been through. I want to hang out with my best friend when Sam and Eileen go off on dates instead of being left alone like the sad schmuck I am!”

Like what you read? You can find the rest of the chapter here on AO3

Rating: Explicit

Chapters: 1/? (hopefully 9 😂)

Chapter Word Count: ~6,000

Tags: No Archive Warnings Apply, Castiel/Dean Winchester, Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester, Case Fic, Established Eileen Leahy/Sam Winchester, Beach Case, Cannon when convenient, Mutual Pining, Idiots in Love, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con (Dean and background characters), Non-Consensual Touching (Not between Dean and Cas), Hurt/Comfort, I promise it's not as dark as it sounds, Fluff, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Smut, clueless Sam Winchester, Chick-Flick Moments, Cannon typical misunderstandings, Angst?, One day I'll learn how to tag, WIP, JackieDeeArt's Hot Summer Art 2024 (Supernatural), Hot Summer Art, Greek Mythology if you Squint, No Beta, Everyone is bad with words, Except Eileen who is the only emotionally stable person for miles, Dean Winchester Loves Castiel, Castiel Loves Dean Winchester, Angel Grace Dysfunction

[dialovers-translations]

DIABOLIK LOVERS Para-Selene Vol.5 Sakamaki Laito Animate Tokuten CD

Original title: DIABOLIK LOVERS Para-Selene Vol. 5 逆���ライト アニメイト 各巻購入特典ドラ

Source: Diabolik Lovers Para-Selene Vol. 5 Animate Tokuten CD

Audio: Here

Seiyuu: Hirakawa Daisuke 

Translator’s note: Bowling master Laito kind of threw me for a loop, but it also makes sense? Like he strikes me as the type of guy who would be unexpected skilled at a bunch of random things. In general, I’ve been really enjoying these ‘date scenario’ CDs. They actually did a good job making every one of them unique and choosing fun locations for each boy. I know the chances of us getting another DL anime are really slim, but if they do decide to make one, I really hope it’s not a season 3 based on DF or LE but a bunch of OVAs instead based on the drama CDs.

“...What’s this? There’s quite a lot of people here despite it being so late at night. I guess bowling is pretty popular. I thought I’d be able to do all sorts of fun things with my Bitch-chan, such a shame! ーー Ah! Our lane is over here. Ah! Check out the monitor over there! It actually displays our names as ‘Laito’ and ‘Bitch’! I love your name. It really stands out amongst the others! I would have loved to be able to input ‘Bitch-chan’ instead, honestly. I felt pretty bummed when they told me that I could only input up to five characters. Right, Bitch-chan?”

You frown. 

“...? You’ve been quiet this whole time. What’s wrong? Did you want me to add the ‘-chan’ as well?”

You shake your head.

“Then what’s the matter?”

You complain about him wanting to come here. 

“Eeh~? Is it really that strange? Even I feel like playing a game of bowling every now and then. There’s no ulterior motive behind it!”

You squint your eyes. 

“Oh dear. You’re still suspicious of me? ...Fine. I’ll fess up the truth. ーー We actually gave here today because I wanted to do you a favor.”

You tilt your head to the side.

“Mmh. We’re usually active at night, so most places where high schoolers like to hang out are closed by that hour, no? So we’re limited in the things we can do, right? Well, you might be fine with that, but you’re still a blossoming high school girl, so I figured that you might fantasize about the kind of cute dates depicted in shoujo manga and such. ーー I thought it wouldn’t hurt to go on a typical high schoolers’ date for once, so I started looking around for places which are open 24/7, which brings us here today. How’s that? Do you understand now?”

You nod.

“Nfu~ I’m glad. With that misunderstanding lifted...Now that we’re here anyway, why don’t we get started? I’m up first, aren’t I? Let me think...Which ball should I pick? ーー Ah. This one will do.”

*Thud* 

“It has the same color as your hair. I’ll throw it as hard as I can, imagining its your head instead~”

You protest.

“Nfu~ Oh come on, you may say that, but I know you’re happy deep down! You love to get pushed around by me, don’t you? ...Ah! When it’s your turn, why don’t you pick a ball in the same color as my hair? I don’t dislike the idea of being at your mercy either~”

You refuse. 

“Geez...You’d be able to get so much more of of life if you just enjoy it as one of many fetishes. You’re so easily embarrassed. Fine. ...I’ll throw the ball, okay?”

Laito faces towards the lane.

“Let me think...I’m supposed to throw it leaning down...or from up top? 

You seem surprised he has never bowled before. 

“Eh!? Bitch-chan...Do you really think I’ve come to this sorta place before? Today’s obviously my first bowling experience!”

*Rustle*

“But don’t worry! Experience isn’t what matters...It’s all about chemistry...!”

Laito throws his ball.

*Clatter clatter*

“Huh? I knocked all of them over. Is this what you’d call a ‘strike’?”

You seem very impressed.

“...Nfu~ I got praised~ Anyway, is this really so amazing?”

You nod.

“Heeh...I wonder if I am a natural at bowling? Control is key, so it might be the perfect game some someone who is very technique-minded such as myself. In that case, I’m quite curious what you are capable of, Bitch-chan~”

You frown.

“Now, now, no need to be so modest. Show me what you’re made of. Go give it a shot! ...Nfu~ I’m very much looking forward to this.”

You walk towards the lane.

“Break a leg, Bitch-chan~! Throw it with everything you’ve got!” 

You throw the ball. 

*Thud thud* 

“Nfu~ Ah-ahー I guess the excitement ended up being her downfall. What a shame. ...They call this a ‘gutter’, don’t they? I can’t believe you didn’t even manage to knock over one of them. ...Ah, come on. One more try, no?”

*Thud* 

You try once more.

*THUD*

“Ahー You really suck at this, don’t you?”

You seem disappointed.

“No need to be so sad. My strike might have been just a fluke. I’ll go next, so watch me, okay?”

Laito walks up to the lane again. 

“...Hah!”

*CLATTER*

“Aah~ I guess it wasn’t just beginner’s luck! I might have a knack for bowling after all! ...In that case, Bitch-chan, why don’t you come over here with your ball?”

You pick up your ball and approach him.

“Okay! Let’s practice how to hold the ball!”

*Rustle*

“Geez, no need to be so surprised. We came here to treat you to a good time today, so I’ll teach you very gently~ Come on, hold the ball.”

*Rustle*

“Hmー That won’t do.”

*Rustle rustle*

“You need to stretch your arm a little more.”

You try to scoot away from him, asking why he is touching you.

“What are you saying? I’m fixing your posture! I think I proved earlier that my bowling skills far exceed yours, so don’t you think it’s in your best interest to take my advice?” 

You frown.

“I mean, it’d be kind of difficult to tell you what to do without clinging to you like this, is it? I’m positive that it’d be so much easier to teach you good posture through direct touch!”

*Rustle*

“Come on, lean back against me and stand straight.”

*Rustle*

“Don’t move! You want to be able to throw the ball properly don’t you?”

You tell him to move away. 

“How mean, telling me to back off! I’m only trying to show my good heart by teaching you! I mean, if you lose this duel against me, you’ll get punished, remember?”

You seem surprised by that. 

“I mean, duh? Didn’t I tell you? All games have some kind of punishment game attached to it, don’t they? You have to expect those kind of things! By the way, now that you’ve already thrown once, you’re part of the game, so there’s no backing out~”

You ask him if he would punish you right here in public.

“Fufu~ Why would you ask that? ーー I get it. You’re curious about what this punishment would entail, aren’t you~? Were you perhaps hoping that I’d suck your blood~?”

You deny it.

“Nfu~ No point in trying to deny it~ I bet you imagined my fangs sinking deeply into your fair nape, didn’t you? Aah~ I suppose I have no other choice. That wasn’t the plan, but I’ll live up to your expectations and make the punishment something deliciously painful~ Please look forward to this punishment...which will turn both your body and soul to putty~”

You try to make a run for it.

*Rustle rustle* 

“Ahaha~ Oh come on, hold up! I told you that there’s no way out, didn’t you? You better behave...or I’ll do it right here, right now.”

You immediately stop resisting. 

“Nfu~ Good girl. Besides, there’s only a 50% chance that you’ll get punished, so just remember that you could always win and try to make the best out of it!”

You sigh in defeat.

“Well then, let’s continue your lesson. Now, where’s your spine?”

*Rustle*

“Nfu~ Found it~ Mm~

*Rustle rustle* 

“What are you saying? I’m helping you straighten your back! By tracing my fingers across your spine like this...See? You pushed out your chest which improved your stance! Try to hold this proper posture, okay?”

You ask him if he knows what hte proper posture for bowling is.

“Eh? No idea! How am I supposed to know what is the ‘right posture’ for bowling when I’m still a newbie at the game myself.”

You ask him what he has been teaching you then. 

“You’re just so terrible at this, I’ve just been giving you random points and then it was up to you whether or not you’d take my words for granted. ...Anyway, ahaha~ They’re really hard to miss when you’re standing looking straight ahead like that.”

You tilt your head to side.

“Over here. These bite marks on・your・neck~”

You squeak.

“They’re the proof of the love we share with each other every night~ It’s too bad you can’t really see them unless you move this close. I promise I’ll make them stand out even more by biting you nice and hard when we get back home, so rest assured~”

You complain. 

“You’re adorable when you pretend to dislike something. However, no losing on purpose because you want to get bitten ,okay?”

You insist that you would never do that. 

“I wonder~? You’re a naughty girl who seduces other by feigning discomfort. You want me to completely overpower you, run away with the victory and inflict pain upon you as a result, don’t you? And then you’d try to play innocent by saying ‘Oh I don’t actually want this, but it can’t be helped because I lost the game~', won’t you? ...Sure. Two can play that game. I like that sort of thing as well after all. I’ll make sure to slowly drive you into a corner...and then tease the living hell out・of・you~”

Your cheeks grow hot.

“Oh? What’s wrong? ...Nfu~ You’re flustered, aren’t you? Oh come, you are so shy~ ...Anyway, let’s get this game going! Try throwing the ball following my tips from earlier.”

You nod and throw the ball. 

*CLATTER CLATTER*

“Wow~ You actually knocked them all over! I’m shocked!” 

You rejoice.

“Nfu~ Congratulations, Bitch-chan. Judging from your sheer excitement, could it be that this is the first time you’ve ever hit a strike?”

You nod.

“Mmh, mmh~ I’m happy for you! In that case, why don’t we end on a positive note and wrap up the match right here? It’s obvious you’ll lose after all.”

You protest.

“I mean, even if continue to bowl one strike after the other now, you already threw a gutter once, so you have no chance at getting ahead of me.There’s no way I’d give away the win now.”

You shake your head. 

“Ah~ We can keep going until I have a slip-up if you want, but in return, your punishment will get more and more severe, the longer the game lasts. I believe you’d be much better off admitting defeat right now and simply heading home with me. 

I’m fine with either scenario. We’re here on a date today for you after all. You can choose whether you want to call it a day right now and quickly get your punishment, or if you’d rather have me tend to you thoroughly after I’ve messed with you a little longer.”

You call him out on being unreasonable. 

“Nfu~ Exactly. I might be messed up. But you love this crazy guy, don’t you? In which case, you have no other choice but to play along with me and slowly become insane as well.”

You sigh.

“Fufu~ Since you sighed in defeat, does that mean you’ve made your choice?”

You choose to go home. 

“Nfu~ Sure. As you wish. Well then...Shall we head home, Bitch-chan~? I’ll treat you to plenty of the good stuff which you love oh-so much~”

ーー THE END ーー

[equal-shipping]

Kaishin Reveal and What It Means For You

Okay I need everyone to keep their shit together because I think this is being blown out of proportion. What follows is a quick rant about what the hell is going in the DCMK fandom and what is going on in fandom in general cause I don’t know why I’m seeing so many people lose their shit over something that was most likely going to happen followed by a quick lesson by a ‘fandom elder’ on how to ignore canon and make a ship your own. 

Spoilers ahead and whatnot. 

April 11th the DCMK 27 movie came out and information was revealed about how Kaito Kuroba and Shinichi Kudou are now cousins. Twitter lost its mind, Tumblr lost its mind, Discord servers are being created and now everyone is wondering what the hell should they do. 

I’m going to be honest, if you are a creator for KaiShin, please don’t delete your work. 

Either archive it or orphan it but please don’t delete it.

You put time and effort into this, into something you love, and just because the mangaka is so SO set in his ways of every single ship being friends to lovers does not mean you have to follow the same format. This doesn’t make you an incest shipper or whatever, it doesn’t make you a person who you don’t want to be, it’s just something that you had no idea of knowing was going to happen and I hope that you can look back at it fondly. 

Anyways, for those enjoying Kaishin on the sidelines all I’m going to say is Pick a Lane. 

Ignore Canon 

If you are an old time shipper then this may not be new for you. I mean Gosho literally had another ship that turned out to be cousins like at this point it’s ‘who is my cousin’ being played in the entire Detective Conan manga. You either already guessed it, are an active incest shipper (hi, hello, tis a me) or you are used to your favourites dying. This situation is no fucking different. 

Wolfwood is dead, in my head he is alive and well and treating his Plant husband right. 

Sora is missing, not in my head where he is kissing Roxas and Riku and Kairi and whoever else wants to get at the sunshine of the KH universe. 

Ben is dead, NOT IN MY REYLO FANFICTION. 

If you are a person who actively kept up with the manga or actively kept up with the show it is possible to ignore canon because they do not suddenly go super deep into being cousins and knowing about each other. They both don’t know if they are cousins or else the jig would be up immediately and the manga would be finished. You CAN ignore canon and if Kaishin is a ship that brings you joy and just serotonin production I implore you guys to choose this lane if you still want to enjoy Kaishin. 

It’s by far the healthiest option and teaches you how to curate your own fandom experience. 

Alternate Universes and You 

I was in the Hannibal fandom for a while and I clearly remember the ‘Hannibal is not a Cannibal’ tag on AO3. I thought it was hilarious but I would never dare to make fun of it because that is a prime example of CURATING YOUR FANDOM EXPERIENCE. 

Here are some examples on how you can start tagging: 

Not Cousins AU

Kaito and Shinichi aren’t family 

No Family Relation AU 

Pre Kaishin reveal 

Or just make a quick blurb of how you mean this drawing/fic to be perceived. Again, this is your experience and you get to make the space you want to make. It’s up to you to make/interact with the content that makes you most comfortable. Again, if you want to delve into AU’s then that is up to you and I think it’s a pretty good lane for those who just feel weird about the whole reveal. 

Stepping Away

Your moral values are your own, people, and I am in no position or even want to judge them. If you feel uncomfortable about this now, see your love for Kaishin diminishing because of the reveal or just don’t see yourself shipping Kaishin in the future then you are more than capable of measuring your response and stepping away from the ship entirely for your own health. 

Is it going to be sad? Yes, but they are fictional and I recommend having an idea of what you have in your life outside of fandom that makes you happy that you can focus on as you go through this. College, work, whatever hobbies you may have taken up–hell put all your eggs into another ship that you know also brings you joy! 

Do not let this dictate your day or your month or your year. This is just fandom, you don’t have to make a big statement unless asked about it, you do not have to justify your decision to anybody, curate.your.fandom.experience. 

I’m going to end this with a repeat of what I just said. 

This is all fictional. We are playing in a fictional sandbox where we can all make whatever we want in any capacity and as long as it is tagged correctly then nobody’s lines have to be crossed. If you just started enjoying Kaishin, find out how you still want to enjoy it or step away. If you have shipped Kaishin for a while, do the same fucking thing! The east side of the fandom is having a field day with the movie, why can’t the west have some fun too?! 

I’m going to ship Kaishin (however all my reblogs will be moved to my other blog for incest-y stuff and just other content people may not vibe with in general) and hell I might just join the Kaishin Big Bang for the hell of it because I have been shipping this ship since I was 15 years old and I’m about to be 30 so….I’m staying fucking seated cause you aren’t getting me out of this chair, Aoyama, you aren’t getting me to ship Aoko with anyone other an Akako so suck on that. 

Be safe, be smart and curate y’all.

[little-worm-grant]

Jake's pov: Little Detour

Jake Lockley & Steven Grant

665 words / Masterlist.

If you like what you see, leave a like or reblog and follow me ♥

Summary: Steven's not at all pleased to discover the other alter still working for Khonshu. Jake's determined to show him he's not as bad as he seems.

Previously: Jake's pov: Night Shift

Driving home, Jake called it an early night. Couldn’t do anything while Steven was around and acting like he was the devil. “Old birds left you be, hasn’t he?” Taking a turn, the streets were quieter in the evenings but the city never slept.

“Guess someone forgot to include me on that little deal of yours, no?” Jake carried no maliciousness in his tone. More on the edge of sounding playful. Kept glancing to the rear view mirror which held the other’s face. This was his first time around someone from his head that wasn’t his own damn voice. It was interesting, to say the least. This how Marc felt? No wonder he was so strung up all the time.

He wasn’t going to focus on much else with Steven around. “This what it’s normally like in our head? Can’t say I blame Marc for wanting to use you like a stress toy.” Just making conversation. Keeping his eyes on the road. The occasional glance back to check Steven was still there.

“You don’t need to say it. I see how you look at me. Like I’d make a meal out of you si?” Jake gave a toothy grin and shrugged nonchalantly, “There’s still time.” He didn’t think he needed to justify why he hurt people, but Steven seemed to think he did so he entertained it.

“It’s because I know I have to, but I don’t do it for Khonshu.” He wrinkled his nose. Khonshu was exactly like a grizzly parent he’d have to endure over Chanukah. Be their entertainment without much say or choice. Their old lady was always worse around the holidays. “They were bad people who do worse if I don’t step in. You’d do the same, mi alma, so don’t go acting all cute on me now. Safer for everyone if I step in.”

He laughed light when he felt Steven try to shove himself to the front. A little impressed the small firecracker was still trying to overpower him. “Oh you’re a bribón, knew there was a fire in you somewhere. You want the body? All pushy and not asking. Here. You drive.” Jake pushed Steven the rest of the way into the front. Allowing the idiot to see his own mistake of wanting the body when he couldn’t drive. Jake didn’t leave him to figure it out alone, words firm but kind.

“Take a left. Need to move over the left lane. Car coming behind you. Pull in after it. There you go. You’re getting it. Red light, start to brake. The other pedal.” The car jolted to a stop and Jake chuckled from the mirror. “You did good, not your first try, no? But that’s enough.” He took over the body as easily as he’d given it up. A show of what he was capable of doing any time he wanted. Giving Steven a look in the mirror. “Just take it easy mijo. We’ll be back home before you know it. I need to make a stop first. I’ll behave.”

He parked the cab up on the streets, threw some coins into the parking meter and headed down to a local bar. Some of the smokers outside greeted him and offered him a cigarette. Jake took it and put it into the back of his ear just below his cap. Saying he was just stopping by. Stepping inside was greeted with a whole new wave of people happy to see him. Friends. People he’d helped some way or another. Networks of informants he’d been building up.

Jake was essentially pulled around the room with friends wanting to check in and say hi before he headed to the bathroom. Only two rooms he was able to lock the door and give himself a little privacy. Going to the mirror instead of the toilet. “You see it now? What I do. So go ahead and blame me. I can take it. But know I’m not your stress toy either.”

[detectivereads]

Superman Vs Meshi vol 3 By Satoshi Miyagawa & Kai Kitago

5/5

This post is for fan entertainment, I’m not being paid.

Click here to see Vol 1

Click here to see vol 2

Ok, when reading the first chapter, I remember why for such a long time I didn’t really like Superman, but maybe I just didn’t like the people around him. Because the first chapter has Clark Kent and Lois Lane talking about the last chapter of volume 2 about her article that she was told to write.  Clark comes out to Lois and tells her that he is Superman, but I guess Superman can do a mind reset and he changes his mind about letting Lois know about his identity and reset her mind. Lois now doesn’t remember the Superman is Clark Kent. But you want to know how he does it…with a kiss.

(*Cue table flipping and punching the dry wall in anger*)

I know I haven’t followed Superman in any form, and any knowledge I do know is from the Justice League Animated series or any other cartoon, but when can he do that????

Now cut to later when Superman is with Batman at a very popular restaurant, Superman is still thinking about the kiss that he doesn’t remember anything about the food he has eaten (that is the real crime right there) Batman really wants another hamburger streak but he doesn’t want to wait in the long line and he even contemplates about the restaurant but stops because he doesn’t want to be a jerk and cuts in front of people who were waiting their turn.

So, Superman popping a mint into his mouth and resets Batman’s mind, (before you ask no Super doesn’t kiss Batman. Apparently, he can reset minds with his breath see picture above thank you @deathmetalunicorn1 for helping me with photo.)

So, with no memory of standing in line, Batman and Superman get back in line to eat hamburger steak.

In some of the later chapters and huge fight happens with Doomsday and Superman dies.

However, no one told Batman, so getting a special artifact (Mother Box) and it opens up to place where certain items are needed to help Batman make the life saving cure: Okonomiyaki. Which upon completing the dish, and the smell going over to Superman he wakes up.

So, the breakdown of this, Superman dies, and Batman finds it weird that his body is not decaying so this leads Batman to suspect that Superman is not dead. So, with the help of Mother Box, it opens a boom tube to a Japanese grocery store when Batman gets the items to Okonomiyaki, and lo and behold Mother Box doubles as a microwave. So, Okonomiyaki has saved Superman life.

Later in the book we get to see Supergirl, and she is just Superman she loves Japanese food.

Now we have another Lex Luthor chapter, Superman and Lex are talking about Darkseid which Superman had hope that Lex would join forces with the League which Lex flat out refuses and says he has to leave to go to a big fancy lunch, when leaving he happens to see Superman going into one of his buildings and buying bento.

Now this bit where Lex was spying on Superman picking out his bento, I was really questioning Lex’s sanity. Then he busted in when he sees Superman taking a cold bento instead of fresh bento. (Pretty much they have lunch together.)

The last chapter of the book is of the heroes fighting Darkseid. During the fight Darkseid hurt Batman. So, both Superman and Flash do flash point and sends Superman to an alternate time where Lois Lane is Chief editor of the Daily Planet. The overall goal is to fight Darkseid.

I won’t spoil the rest of the book because I thought the ending of this volume was well done.

As I said I don’t know if there will be more (I hope there will be) but for now it looks like a 3-volume series. 

When I first started this series, I thought ‘Oh lord Superman is a dork” but as I got engrossed with the manga, I still think he is a dork but I think I could see myself having friendly banter about food with him.

I would recommend this series to a foodie or a superhero fan.

[huffle-dork]

Swap Beyond the Crystalverse Chapter 16: Resurgence

Co-written with @crystalninjaphoenix Read Swapboys | Read Crystal’s AUs

Other Multiverse Stories: SITCV | SATCV | GITHV

SBTCV Masterpost

Bro lands hard on an asphalt surface. It's evening, just after sunset and he's arrived on a small one-lane road. It cuts through green hills, and along it is an old, crumbling stone wall, about waist-high. There's a rickety set of telephone lines running along the other side. 

Bro groans as he pushes himself up and rubs at his head. “M-Motherfucker…!” He curses to himself. 

There is no sign of anyone. Except for a single car, parked right in the middle of the road--there's no room for it to pull to the side--with its headlights on. It's old, gray with a couple dents. And from here he can see someone in the driver's seat.

Bro blinks as his eyes adjust to the new scene, blinking in confusion at the car. He looks around to see they’re alone. “…this is something out of a horror movie-“ he mumbles.

The person in the driver's seat of the car doesn't react to his sudden appearance. Actually... he's not moving at all. Wait a second. Is he wearing a hat?

Bro stays there for a second. Then he groans and starts to walk over, “if this gets me killed Alt is gonna be sooo mad at me.” He walks over to the car and tries to get a closer look at who’s in the drivers seat. “Umm.. hello?”

The man has his eyes closed, but as Bro walks closer, disrupting the light of the headlights, he opens them up and tilts his cap back. 

It's... another Chase. He's wearing a gray shirt with a blue holster--but no gun--and has longer hair and a thick beard. His eyes widen as he sees Bro, and he goes a bit pale.

Bro blinks a bit in surprise then tries to smile and waves as he gets a bit closer, “uh… hey! You okay, dude?”

This Chase does not look reassured at all. He instinctively tries to back up, but of course, he's sitting in a car seat. He reaches for the keys in the car and tries to turn it, but the engine stalls. Panicking, he looks at Bro again. "The fuck are you trying to do this time?!" he says, loud enough that he can be heard through the glass of the car windows. "T-trying to freak me out with my own face?!"

“W-What?!” Bro exclaims and quickly shakes his hands in front of him, “N-No way dude! I genuinely wanted to know if you were okay! I-is your car broken? …I dunno how to fix it but I can probably get you help!”

"Oh, so it's a trick! Well I'm not fucking falling for this!" Chase tries to start the car again, but it still stalls. "Did you do this?! I-it was fine when I parked!"

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Bro says, “I’m not trying to trick you I just- fell here! I don’t even know where we are!!”

"We're--!" Chase stops, looking around. "A-actually, uh... I'm not sure. I just sort of... drove." He looks back at Bro warily. "I-I'm not falling for it. I'm not falling for it." He says that more to himself than anything else. Bro didn't notice it before, but he has dark bags under his eyes, and his cheeks are a bit hollow.

Bro’s face falls and then he sighs, “Look dude- what can I do to prove to you that I’m not… whoever you think I am? Cuz I can at least tell you from experience… you’re - Chase Brody, cuz that’s who I am.” He puts a hand on his chest. “But I’m… I’m also a hero- I don’t go around tricking random people on the road.”

Chase shakes his head. "I-I don't--you can't--You're not me, you're just--pretending to be someone else, I-I can't be fooled, I--" He grabs at his hair. "Can't you just leave me alone?!" His breathing is speeding up.

Bro backs up and holds up his hands, “Jesus dude! Just… try to breathe! I’m not gonna hurt you! I don’t want to! But if I’m… I’m distressing you I’ll- try to see if I can find someone to help, okay?” He backs up more, not sure what else he can do before pulling out his phone. Maybe he has service…? Or maybe he can try to get Alt to help… he might be able to like- fix this car better than he could.

Unfortunately, it looks like they're in an area without any service. They really must be out in the middle of nowhere. 

Chase tries taking some deep breaths, watching Bro with wide eyes. His initial fear is slowly tempered by confusion. His eyes dart up and down. "W...wait," he breathes. "You're... not..." He trails off. "You're like... an actual person. Not... oh god." He laughs. "Y-you probably think I'm crazy now."

Bro blinks back at Chase then laughs quietly, “I mean…. Maybe a little? But I’m sure it’s for a good reason… are you in trouble?”

Chase laughs darkly. "That's the least of it. Fuck, bro." He leans back, rubbing his eyes. "It's a long story, and you're probably not gonna believe me.

Bro goes to hop onto the stone wall and leans forward. “I dunno dude, I’m seen a lot of impossible things lately. I’ll believe most anything- besides… seems like we both are kinda stuck here. For now, at least.”

Chase stares at him. Then he laughs. "Yeah. Sure. Why not." The back of his head hits the seat's headrest, and he rolls down the window a crack so Bro can hear him better. "If I told you that I was being haunted by some fucking... glitchy energy being, and also this weirdo science place that I just escaped from, would you believe that?"

“Yeah,” Bro says right away, “the place is called IRIS I’m guessing?”

Chase's eyes snap wide open. He obviously wasn't expecting Bro to actually believe that, much less mention IRIS. "H-how do you know that?! Were--were you there, too?!"

“No I’ve never been here before,” Bro says nonchalantly, shrugging. “But I’ve been to about a million different universes now and the main science guys to worry about are usually IRIS.” He kicks his feet, “I wanna say that the glitchy guy… god I don’t want to say Anti actually- but glitching is usually his thing…”

"You know him too?!" Chase gasps, sitting up straight. "You--What are you talking about?! Universes? IRIS and An--him? Wh-who the hell are you?! Are you really--me?"

“Yup,” Bro says, popping the p. “I’m Chase Brody, but back home I’m a hero known as Bro Fantastic. Right now- me and my brother have been traveling through different universes, trying to stop another Anti from finding a way to delete them. He just… tossed us straight into this one.” He sighs heavily, “I thought we were close to being done.”

"...h-holy shit, dude." Chase stares at Bro blankly. "That's... that's a lot." He shakes his head. "I-I don't have a brother... and I'm not a hero. Though I used to run this YouTube channel called Bro Average, it's kind of the same name." A pause. "I'm... I'm sorry, I gotta process that, it's... a lot."

“That’s okay dude, I know it’s a lot.” Bro laughs lightly. “I’m kinda an anomaly when it comes to other Chases so I bet it’s weird to see me.” He hops down from the stone wall and stretches, “but you know- you don’t gotta be stuck here. I can fly us somewhere safer- maybe see if we can get your car a tow?” He grins.

"F-fly?" Chase repeats, eyes wide.

Bro grins and hops into the air, floating a bit off the ground. “Fly!”

"Jesus fucking hell!" Chase unlocks the car door and hurries out, looking up at Bro and gaping. "Fucking--hero?! Superhero?! Holy shit! God!"

“Superhero!” Bro beams then lands back on the ground. “Sooo- not everyone likes flying but we can like- I dunno find a nearby pub or something. Somewhere so you’re not stuck out here in the dark cuz dude? This is how you get murdered by a serial killer-“ he laughs. 

Chase frowns. "I don't think he would let me get murdered by a serial killer... He... got me out of IRIS. I don't think he wants anyone besides him to torment me." 

Bro knits his eyebrows in concern, “Jesus… this Anti sounds intense…” 

Chase shakes his head. "That's dark. Um. Anyway. I-I guess it's better than nothing? Hang on. I want to try it one last time." He goes back into the car and tries turning the keys again. But nothing. He sighs. "Gotta be an engine problem, since the headlights are working." He turns the keys, putting them in his pocket, and grabs a backpack that looks to be stuffed full. "Alright. Let's try this."

Bro grins at Chase and then goes to scoop him up. “No swear bro! Hopefully there’s something close by! Let’s go!” And then he bursts into the air, holding Chase tight as they take off into the night sky.

Chase yelps, but then clutches him tight. Huh... this... isn't so bad. It all seems so small from down here.

 ----------- 

Alt lands in a very awkward space. A bathtub. In a bathroom, of course. 

Alt yelps in surprise as he lands fully prone in the bathtub. He sputters in confusion then glitches to his feet, holding himself up against the wall. 

The walls here are bright white tile, and the small, generic-looking room is lit by a yellowish light around the mirror. There's a towel rack behind the toilet filled with white towels. The counter is filled with a handful of toiletries, toothbrushes and deodorant and such being the only bit of personalization in this generic room. The door is slightly ajar, and voices come through the small gap, too distant to decipher. 

"Are you okay?" Anti asks from Alt's phone.

“Y-Yeah I think so…” he mumbles to Anti. He looks around, “t-that fucker… can you tell where he took us…?”

"I heard him say something before we fully disappeared," Anti says. "Based on it, I am 90% sure he shot us to the other end of this multiverse branch. Either we are in U-0803018CC or one of its various different timelines." He pauses. "Okay. Alt. The version of us here... he's bad. Probably not as bad in intention as the one who sent us here. But still bad. I don't think the guys here will react well to seeing me..."

Alt blinks and takes out his phone to talk to Anti as he goes to sit on the edge of the bathtub. “…what did you hear him say? What’s up with this world’s Anti?”

"Something about going back to the start," Anti says. "U-0803018CC is the oldest universe on this branch of the multiverse. So I think that could fit. And this world's version of us... Imagine me, specifically me, but evil."

“…that’s hard to imagine, not gonna lie.” Alt says with wide eyes, “…so… computer-y energy glitch that can possess and manipulate tech… and is very powerful?” He pales a bit, “…that’s not good…”

"Exactly." Anti nods. "I... might be able to shield you from his view. But I'm still not at full power, while he doubtless is. So we should hope we don't get his attention." 

“…it’s fine.” Alt says, trying to put on a brave face. Though… the last time he took on something like this Anti… he got possessed by him. He’s not eager to relive something like that. “I-I’m sure… all we need to do is find Chase and we can ask Sam to get us out of here and back to JJ’s world… then this can finally be over.” He tugs on his necklace.

Anti briefly manifests, looking out the ajar bathroom door, then returns to the phone. "Looks like we're in a hotel room, by the way."

Alt blinks towards the door and winces. “…I’m gonna fucking startle whoever is out there so bad-“

"It's this world's JJ, Schneep, and Marvin," Anti reports. "And... yeah, you are. Unless you want to try to avoid them entirely, but I do think they could be some help. Safety in numbers, and all that. Just... prepare for bad reactions." 

“…fuck you and your logic…” Alt grumbles. He warily looks to the door and slowly pulls up his mask. Then, he starts to creep towards the door and tries to look through. 

Across from the bathroom door is a closet with some suitcases inside. To the right is the hotel room's door, and to the immediate left is a small kitchenette with a microwave and mini fridge. Beyond that tiny kitchen space is the rest of the room. The hotel room has two king size beds, both of which have ruffled blankets and wrinkled pillows. There's a nightstand with a lamp in between them, and a TV on the wall across from them. A dresser sits beneath the TV. A desk sits in one corner, and an uncomfortable-looking armchair and a lamp sit in the other. The far wall is all one big window, with an open doorway leading out into a small balcony area, barely big enough for the table and chair outside on it. The evening air is cool as it comes in. 

"If you are going to sit out there, you could at least close the door so that the temperature stays the same," says a man sitting at the desk. He's wearing glasses, and also a green sweater with the symbol of a caduceus embroidered in a small spot near the left. 

"Aww, but then I wouldn't be able to hear your lovely voice!" says the man sitting out on the balcony. He's wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt, and has wavy brown hair that's not-quite-chin-length. 

Hotel rooms always get cold, anyway, the fresh air might be an improvement, signs the man sitting in the armchair. He's wearing a button-up shirt and a blue vest, and has a thick mustache.

Alt swallows shakily then backs up and looks back down at his phone, whispering, “…I don’t wanna do this- Can’t I just… go out and look for Chase? If the Anti here is that bad they’re not gonna trust me one bit!” 

"Well you can try," Anti says. "But they're going to notice you."

Alt makes a frustrated noise and stuffs his phone back in his pocket. Then he starts to pace, “Okay okay- let’s try to keep the glitching down and…! What’s a believable reason for someone to just- show up in a bathroom?? I can’t make an illusion of anyone they know because I don’t really know these guys! Why did I have to fall in the bathroom???” he whisper screams to himself.

"Hey. Hey. Deep breaths." Anti manifests, putting a hand on Alt's shoulder. "Can't do much if you panic, right? Look, try not to bury yourselves in lies you can't keep up. Maybe say something about you being a magician--they know about those guys. No illusions. Imperfect illusions will stand out to a practiced eye." He gives him a small smile. "You can handle this."

Alt glitches back as Anti touches him and tries to keep his breathing under control. Then he bares his teeth a second and throws Anti’s hand off. “Y-You don’t get it-! This trip… it’s been easier because Antis have been good or not around but I- the rest of these guys? Every universe… they’re my friends! They have my friends’ faces and I… I can’t- I can’t stand to see them look at me like I’m him-!” he says, his voice getting a little choked up. “It’s too hard…! It hurts every single time!”

Anti shakes his head. "You're right. I probably don't get it. But I can understand it. I know all about these evil Antis. And I know... what it's like to have a friend look at you like you're a monster." He hesitates. "Back in my own world... that's what they made my Jack think I was. My closest friend. He thought I wanted to torture him. I-it's different now that they've used a different spell... but that went on for a long time. And... you're right. It hurt every time." He pauses. "But we're not like that. We're not like that. And we can show them that we're not like that."

Alt at first doesn’t look towards Anti, just balls his hands into fists and looks away. But, slowly he looks back to Anti as he confesses what he’s been through and his eyes widen. “…oh I…” he knew- he’s seen Anti’s memories… how did he forget? 

Alt wipes at his face with his sleeve and then squeezes his eyes shut. “…I know. I know we’re not like that… it’s just…” he pulls off his mask completely, blinking back frustration that wants to leak out of his eyes. Finally he sighs and nods, “…yeah… I… I can show them. I’m not like that…”

Anti nods. "You're a good guy, Alt. Not perfect, nobody is, but you're good. And they should be able to tell." 

Alt smiles weakly at Anti.

"Do you guys hear that?" 

"Hmm? What?" 

"Shh!" A pause. "I thought I heard voices or something." 

Anti stiffens. "I'll be right by your side," he whispers, and disappears into Alt's phone again.

Alt freezes as he hears the others voices and then swallows shakily. He looks around then- might as well show them what really happened, right? He glitches back into the bathtub, letting himself fall with a surprised yelp and then exclaiming out loud, “ow! What the fuck?!”

The footsteps are immediate. All three of them rush over to the bathroom and fully open the door. The man in the blue shirt is in front, clutching a black wand with white tips—a classic stage magician’s wand. The other two are behind him, peering over his shoulders with wide eyes. “Hey! H-how did you get here?!” The man in front shouts, raising his wand. “The door was locked!” 

The man in glasses goes a bit pale. “M-Marvin, is that—” 

“No, it can’t be,” the man in front says. “I set up wards against him specifically.”

Alt looks up at the others with wide eyes and tries to push himself up, “u-um hi?? I-I don’t know how I got here- I’m sorry-!” His heart is beating wildly in his chest.

“Yeah—I don’t know how you got here either,” Marvin says. “Ow! Schneep, don’t squeeze my arm like that!” 

The man with the glasses—clearly Schneep—quickly let’s go of Marvin’s arm. “Sorry, but—i-it must be—he must be—him.” 

Marvin narrows his eyes at Alt, but the other man—this world’s JJ—tilts his head and looks thoughtful. Then he shakes his head. Not him. 

“H-how can you be so sure, Jamie?” Schneep asks. 

He would never even pretend to be vulnerable like this. Marvin lowers his wand slightly. 

“If anyone would know, it’s JJ,” he says. “But… that still doesn’t mean it’s good news. Who are you?” 

Alt seems to relax a bit as JJ vouches for him as he pulls himself up, “M-My name is Alt… I’m a… a magician. I just got… thrown in here.” He says quietly.

"A magician? Hang on." There's a puff of green smoke, and suddenly Marvin is gone. Then he's back only a second later, appearing in another puff of smoke. 

"Was that really necessary?" Schneep mutters. 

"Stitch in time, and all that." Marvin puts something on his face. It's a white cat mask, with the four card suits on its forehead. The inside of the ears are green, the nose is red, and there are wavy whiskers and streaks of pink on the face. As Marvin pulls it on, his eyes flare green. "Yeah... you have some sort of magic aura. It's uh... all electrical and shit. But every magician's powers manifest differently." 

JJ nods slowly. What do you mean you just got thrown in here? 

"JJ, he might not know what you're saying," Marvin says.

“No I- I can understand him,” Alt says with a shy smile. “And um… you guys might not believe me but I… I’m from… another universe. Parallel to this one… and I got thrown into this one before I could go home.”

"A... parallel universe," Marvin repeats, raising his eyebrows. "O...kay, then?" 

"Oh, actually, there is some proof of that," Schneep says. 

"Where? In what scientific journal?" 

"Ah..." Schneep hesitates. "Well, I... I heard it while I was..." He leans close to the others and mutters something. 

JJ glances at the two others, then back at Alt. Oh good! I do have a notebook if you ever need help. So... what is it like... in your other world?

Alt finally steps out from the bathtub, flushing slightly. “Um… it’s… well- there uh… I know all 3 of you just… differently. My Schneep is an actor and deaf and my JJ is a therapist… and uh Marvin is-“ he briefly looks away, “…I don’t know where our Marvin is actually-“ he lies.

"Oh, wait, you know our names?!" Marvin gasps. 

"Marvin, we have been using our names," Schneep points out. 

"Oh." 

JJ chuckles silently. 

"Hey both of you shut the fuck up." Marvin rolls his eyes. 

Alt laughs too. 

"Alright. If you're from another universe, do you know our two other friends?" 

We shouldn't assume we're all friends in every universe, though, JJ points out.

Alt nods, “Yeah Jackie and Chase. …my Chase is actually my brother. He’s uh- he’s a superhero. And my Jackie is a youtuber, he does parkour and shit.” He then smiles warmly at Jj, “you’d be surprised, actually… most of the times you are.” 

"You know their names?!" Schneep gasps. 

"Ooookay. You're either a really dedicated stalker with a wild fucking imagination... or you're telling the truth." Marvin lowers his wand some more. 

JJ blinks. Most of the times? 

"Wait--that implies that--oh!" Schneep's eyes widen. 

"Huh?" Marvin blinks, clearly not getting it.

Alt’s face falls, “It’s uh- really rare. Usually it’s cuz you just- haven’t met each other yet!” He says quickly.

No, I wasn't noticing the "most" part, JJ says. But that... you even know that... 

"Have you been to other worlds?! Besides ours?!" Schneep interrogates.

“Oh uh… y-yeah,” Alt says sheepishly. “I’ve been to… a lot…”

"...huh." Marvin's not sure how to respond to that. 

"O-oh!" Schneep's eyes widen. "Well, ah--I-I still am not sure about--all this. But, ah... do you want to... talk about them?" He's trying to tamp down his curiosity with caution, but the curiosity is winning. 

Here, let's leave the bathroom, JJ says. 

"Oh yeah. We can... do that at least. This is a bit awkward." 

Alt laughs, “Y-Yeah… a bit.” 

Marvin steps out of the way, and the others do too.

Alt suppresses his glitches and follows them out of the bathroom. He’s gonna try his best to… make sure they can trust him. 

Sorry about the mess, JJ says. 

"Hey, we're actually pretty neat!" Marvin says. "Or uh... you guys are." 

Alt goes into the room and goes to sit on a bed. “Uh… what do you guys wanna know?”

"Well, ah... h-how do you get to other worlds?" Schneep asks. "And why are you traveling? Are you learning for some sort organization or just traveling for yourself? Are there constants between worlds or are they all bizarre and different?"

Alt blinks at all of Schneep’s questions. “Well… we had a device- called the TRVLR- but it got… broken. We finally have all the pieces though! We just… need to find a way to fix it. I’m… traveling with my brother but we got the device from… an organization yeah. It was defective though but I managed to make it work with… my magic. And yeah! There’s constants- like you all being friends… and you’re usually a doctor, Schneep. And Marvin is magician and jj sometimes has magic or is an actor and uses sign language and.. always has his mustache.” He laughs. “Chase has a YouTube and his hat… Jackie is a hero and is always in his hoodie. But… there are so many bizarre ones for sure.” 

"That is... that's really fascinating." Marvin laughs. "And you sure know a lot about us. So... I'm inclined to believe you, but uh... not entirely. I mean, it's easy to find information about people." 

JJ grins and wiggles his mustache as Alt mentions it. 

"A... TRVLR...?" Schneep repeats, eyes going wide. "Did... did you get it from an organization called IRIS?"

Alt stiffens a bit, “Uh… yeah. How… how did you know?”

"We've... had some encounters with them," Marvin says slowly. "Schneep? Are you comfortable explaining?" 

Schneep nods. "I, ah... 'went undercover,' you could say. In their organization." He walks over to the closet and grabs something from an open suitcase. A white coat with the familiar IRIS logo on the sleeve. "Technically I am still undercover, I just used my vacation days for this trip." 

That 'traveler' name seemed familiar to you, JJ says. 

Schneep nods. "IRIS was working on a theory for such a device. They have blueprints, I think."

Alt’s eyes widen, “Oh… woah. As far as I know… IRIS is bad news… really the only good they’ve done for us was… having the TRVLR. Cuz.. me and my brother have been able to help people with it… meet new friends.” He smiles, fiddling with his necklace. “Seems like they haven’t made it here yet… huh.” 

"Oh no, you are right, they are fucking shady," Schneep agrees. "I know they have done terrible things, but I do not know the specifics yet. I have not found out enough, but I suspect they are, at the very least, kidnapping people." 

“Sounds about right,” Alt grumbles. He then blinks back up at Schneep at tilts his head, “…you guys are on a trip?” He asks. 

We're looking for those friends of ours, JJ says. Chase and Jackie. They... haven't... been around. 

"They're not in Mirygale," Marvin agrees. "Uh, that's the city where we all live usually. We're... worried about them. There's..." He hesitates, giving Alt a briefly suspicious look. "There's a guy who's been after us for a while. We're worried he got to them."

Alt blinks, then his stomach drops. Right… here it is. “They’re missing? ..well if my brother isn’t here- he probably appeared in front of one of them?” He says with a sheepish smile, “I-If my phone works… I might be able to find where they are.”

The three guys exchange glances. "Well... might as well try, I guess," Marvin says. "It's a better lead than what we've got, trying to follow their trail." 

We think that Jackie, at least, is somewhere in this city, JJ says. Not sure about Chase.

“Here… lemme see-“ Alt brings out his phone and tries to see if he can call Bro.He has service. But his phone rings... and rings... and rings... And then goes to voicemail. 

Marvin raises an eyebrow. "That's a long wait. I'm guessing you can't reach him?" 

“No… hm…” Alt says as he looks down at his phone. “…I guess I can see if he tries to reach back…” he then shakes his head and looks back at the others, “I…could try to help you find Jackie though… if you want.”

"That would be... great," Marvin says slowly, still a bit wary. 

JJ nudges him. 

"What? No harm in still being a bit cautious." 

I'm so sorry about them, JJ says. We've had some tough times... He smiles a little. Anything you can come up with would be great. Marvin's been using tracking spells but they're hit or miss. 

"I guess they never miss, huh?" Marvin mutters. 

Schneep raises an eyebrow. "Did you just... momentarily channel Chase?" 

"I think I did." 

“Wow what an ancient meme,” Alt laughs. 

"Ancient? That was like fucking... last year, wasn't it?" Marvin says thoughtfully. "Well, I guess it's ancient by internet standards." 

Alt blinks then laughs, “ah…my world is a bit… ahead, I think.” 

Marvin shakes his head. "Anyway. Yeah, JJ's right. For some reason my tracking spells are, uh... being glitchy. And they don't work for Chase at all."

Alt hums in thought. “…I’m not… sure- I might have some spells that could help? But.. kinda hard if we don’t have anything of theirs…”

"Oh! We do actually have something from Jackie," Schneep says, going back over to the suitcases. "Marvin uses it for his spells, too." He digs through the clothes and pulls out a small blue superhero mask, then walks back over. "Here, will this help?"

Alt looks over to Henrik and takes the hero mask, then reaches into his bag and pulls out his spellbooks, “…lemme see what I can find…”

Marvin slowly leans over to look at his spells as Alt opens it up. JJ also subtly shuffles over. Schneep rolls his eyes.

Alt blinks up then laughs, “Yeah my spells are probably different than yours… different worlds have different magic…” He wonders… could he channel the scrying magic from the eye tracker and combine it with a tracking spell to see where Jackie is? …it’s worth a shot isn’t it? He takes out the tracker and then lets it float in his hand surrounded by green blue magic. Then he sits crossed legged on the bed and puts the mask down in front of him and touches it with his other hand. He closes his eyes- and his necklace starts to faintly glow as he mumbles the words of a tracking spell and combines it with the magic of the tracker.

Schneep blinks. "What is that?" 

A talisman of some sort, JJ says. 

"It looks like Sam," Marvin says, fascinated. 

The three guys back away a bit, giving Alt some space to work. Marvin notices the way his necklace starts to glow and his eyes widen. "Oh! Chaos magic," he whispers. 

The tracker begins to glow a neon green, and Alt feels the sour magic inside it weave together with his own. Suddenly, a set of directions is beamed into his mind. They make no sense to him right now, but they probably will when they actually go searching. Left on Holiday Street, right onto Sunset Lane, right again onto Utterman Street--there's more, a winding path.

As Alt starts to get the directions he mumbles them out, knitting his eyebrows together, “Left on holiday street, right on sunset lane… right on utterman street- oh…! It’s- it’s all the directions!” He says brightly, his eyes snapping back open. He then grins at the others. “We can find him.”

Marvin's eyes widen. "That's real specific." He looks a bit suspicious about that, but after a moment, he nods. "Okay. Fine. Let's see where this heads. But if it's a trap, I'm gonna... fucking... kill you or something." 

At the threat, Alt shrinks back, biting down any need to glitch as he nods shakily. “Uh.. y-Yeah… right…” 

Marvin puts his wand through a belt loop in his jeans. "Anything you guys need?" He looks at Schneep and JJ. 

One second. JJ heads for the dresser, opening up one of the drawers, and takes out a small switchblade knife. He puts it into his pocket.

Meanwhile, Schneep reaches beneath the desk and grabs a red bag--a first aid kit of some kind. "Are you sure about this?" he asks the other two. 

We haven't been able to find Jackie in months, JJ says. We might be getting a bit desperate, and desperate times and measures and all that. 

Alt curls up a bit, putting his books back in his bag and pocketing the tracker. “…I only want to help… I promise-“ he says quietly.

JJ's expression softens, and he nods. It's alright. Don't mind them, they're just on edge. It's been a long year for us. 

Schneep nods. "Y-yes. JJ is right. We... are not... i-it is not you, it is our experiences." 

And neither of them are that good with emotions, JJ says. You would think a doctor would have better bedside manner. 

"Hey!" Schneep says defensively.

Alt looks up at JJ and tries to smile. Then he laughs at his jab at Schneep. “A-Alright…” He knows why they’re on edge… and they’re not gonna be any better if they see him glitch. So… guess he’s gotta try his best to be normal here. Even if he feels his need to glitch burning a bit under his skin.

"Alright, to the rental car then." Marvin walks over to the hotel room door, putting his hand on it and muttering a spell. The door glows green for a moment, which then fades. "Wards are down, so let's go. Who wants shotgun?" 

JJ whistles. 

"You had it last time!" Schneep protests. 

Alright, A-L-T can have it, then.

“Oh! Uh… s-sure!” Alt says, “I… uh got the directions after all.” He laughs nervously.

"Ah, right, that would make sense," Schneep says reluctantly. 

JJ chuckles. That's such an unusual phrase, you know. When did people start using it? 

"Well it's not really a thing over here, we all picked it up from Chase, I think," Marvin says. "Chase and his American-isms." 

"It is because in the days of Old West stagecoaches someone sitting next to the driver would have a shotgun to fend off highway robbers," Schneep says. "Chase told me." 

"Ah." Marvin nods. He opens up the hotel doorway. "Well... here we go. Hope we'll be back to pick up the rest of our stuff.”

“Oh- huh… that’s a fun fact.” Alt laughs. He follows after the others, clenching his phone tight in his pocket. He can help these guys… then find Chase and get out of here. 

They don’t have to know…

 ————— 

Bro flies for a while before a town comes into sight. It's about an average size town, with a couple tall buildings in the center but mostly a bunch of smaller ones. It's definitely night by the time they land.

Bro lands someplace out of sight and then gently helps set Chase back on his feet. “You good, dude?”

"Y-yeah." Chase stumbles a bit. "You know, I'm normally afraid of heights, but something about that was... nice." 

Bro grins, “Isn’t it? Ugh I love it! The view, the breeze!” 

Chase shakes his head. "Anyway uh... sorry, what are we doing here, again?"

Bro blinks and thinks to himself then snaps, “Oh yeah! We need to find help for your car… maybe aaaa tow or the police station?” He looks around, “…do you know what town this is?”

"Uhhhh... no." Chase shakes his head. "I've been driving randomly for a while. Hang on." He takes his backpack off and unzips the front pocket, pulling out a map. "Okay so I started there... I think I went there... or maybe there...?" He scrunches his face up as he thinks. "We're kinda isolated. So I thiiiink we're in Arcon? Or maybe Cliffwick?" He chuckles. "Weird names."

Bro laughs too, “Yeah, they are!” He looks around and whistles, “Alright! Then we should probably explore then- see what we can find!”

"Yep." Chase nods and looks around their immediate vicinity. "Uh... there's a gas station--or a petrol station, I guess--over there. And there's a couple business, I think that place is a hair salon? And a couple local restaurants. Oh hey, look, coffee place."

“Oh fuck coffee sounds so good right now…” Bro groans. “Petrol station is probably a good place to start though.”

"Yeah, probably." Chase pats his pockets. "I have some cash, so we can buy like... gas station candy bars or something." 

Bro laughs. “Hell yeah love gas station snacks!” 

Chase laughs too. "Alright, let's go." 

The inside of the station is normal enough. Very typical. There are fridges with drinks, shelves of candy and snacks, and some small commodities like phone chargers and sunglasses. There's an older man standing at the cash register. A large mirror hangs behind the checkout counter, reflecting the rest of the store.

As they walk in Bro goes up straight to the man at the register and smiles. “Hey dude! We were wondering if you knew of like… a tow service around here? My friend is stuck pretty far down the road from here.” 

"Hmm? Ah yeah, of course." The cashier gestures at a rack of papers next to the door. "There's a list of local businesses in there, you're sure to find something in there." 

"Thanks, bro," Chase says, going over to the rack and flipping through them. His eyes widen and he looks at Bro. "Ah. I was wrong. We're in some place called Leanlow." He giggles to himself. "Names are weird."

“Leanlow? Ha! That’s a fun name.” Bro grins. He then leans over Chase as he looks.

Chase flips through a booklet, scanning the list of names, until he reaches something that might help. "Ah, look. Benson's Tow and Mechanics. That'll help for at least getting the car into the town. Uh... then we got to get it checked out and fixed... probably find somewhere to stay for the night... or at least, I'll have to do that, I dunno if you'll want to stick around with me."

“If you don’t mind dude I can stick with you!” Bro grins, “you’re worried about that Anti guy, right? I can protect ya!” He looks outside at his dark it is. “Hmm… I gotta figure out where my brother is though… and it’s dark… maybe we should focus on getting a place to sleep first.”

Chase nods. "Yeah... that's fair." He pauses. "Okay. Uh... I'm gonna buy some snacks and stuff, I think. You can try calling your brother again, I guess? Or calling the tow company, whichever you want to do first." He takes out another booklet and hands it to Bro. "I think there's a list of hotels and motels in there too."

“On it, bro!” Bro gives a little salute and takes the booklet. He then digs out his phone and tries to see if he can call Alt better out here.

Chase smiles and heads off, browsing the aisles. 

Looks like Bro has service now. His phone rings... and rings... and rings... Until eventually the other end picks up. "Hello?"

Bro brightens, “Alt? You okay, bro? Where are you?”

"I'm fine," says Alt's voice. "Completely. I'm close by. Actually, I can see you right now. Look around. Can you see me?"

“What?? Really?” Bro asks with raised eyebrows. He quickly tries to look around.

The store area is empty except for him, Chase, and the cashier. Maybe Alt is outside? 

No... he can't see him. 

But then Bro glances at the mirror behind the counter. And he sees the reflection of someone who isn't in the store. A man wearing black, with blood dripping down his slit throat, eyes entirely blacked out. His hand is raised, pressing a phone to the side of his head. "T͡he͟re ̵I am̀."

Bro gasps and stumbles back, staring at the mirror with wide eyes. “W-What the fuck?! Y-You’re not Alt!” He growls and presses his phone close to his face. “Where is he?! What did you do to him?”

A static-traced giggle comes from the phone line. "Let your imagination run wild, Chase. I'm sure you'll figure it out." 

Bro goes pale, his stomach dropping. “N-No- no you-!” 

"Hey, bro, everything okay?" Chase calls over to Bro. And then he follows his line of sight towards the mirror. Instantly, he goes white as a sheet and lets out a strangled scream. The reflection turns to look at him and waves. Then, in between one blink and the next, it's gone. 

The phone line goes dead. 

Bro jumps as Chase screams and nearly drops his phone. Once the line goes dead he lowers his phone and looks at Chase with wide eyes. “…t-that’s who’s been after you right? I… I think he has my brother-!”

Chase nods slowly. "H-has him? Has him where?" 

"Hey, you lads alright?" the cashier asks, looking at the two of them in confusion and concern. 

"W-we're fine," Chase says. "Here, uh... we're sort of in a hurry. To--get the car fixed and stuff. So, uh, here." He sets his snacks down on the counter and takes some cash out of his pocket. He looks over to Bro. "Uh... do you have any idea how to find... the person we're looking for?" he asks tentatively, glancing back towards the cashier.

Bro moves out of the way so Chase can buy his stuff but he shakes his head. “I-If my phone went straight to him then… I dunno! I don’t even know if he’s in this city or not- I… I don’t know…” he looks down at the floor with wide eyes, it fully sinking in just how lost he is- with no way of finding where Alt could be.

"It's—it's going to be okay," Chase says slowly. But he doesn't look confident. "H-he's not going to be far. Since, uh... that guy was here too." His eyes flick up to the mirror. "W-we'll figure it out." 

The cashier hands him his change and snacks. Chase quickly puts the change in his pocket and the snacks in his bag. "Have a good night." 

"We, uh... Yeah, you too," Chase says hurriedly. He looks back at Bro. "C'mon. We can't... go meet him in here." Then he heads for the entrance.

Bro tries not to spiral and nods, following Chase out- sparing one last look at that mirror before hurrying out.

It's a bit colder outside. Or maybe they're just noticing now for the first time. "Okay. Uh..." Chase shakes his head. "What would he... Where would he... take someone? Why would he take someone?"

Bro shakes his head. “M-Maybe it’s because… my brother is… is also an Anti. But he’s not bad! That’s just… an old name of his.” 

Chase shudders a little. "I-I have a bad feeling about this. B-but it'll be fine! You're like--literally a superhero!" He laughs. "I-I don't think that exists in our world.

Uh... okay. Okay." He trails off, then sighs. "I... I don't know, bro. My mind's going a million miles a minute. I know I can help you with this, but I don't know how. We just... need somewhere to sit down and think, I think."

Bro holds his arms. Then he blinks at Chase in confusion, “…There’s no superheroes here?? What about Jackie? …he’s usually something like that-“ he hums in thought. Then he nods and looks back around. This all… feels very familiar and it sends a shiver down his spine. But he nods his head towards the coffee shop. “Yeah okay… let’s go talk in there.”

"Jackie?" Chase blinks, confused. "Oh, uh, yeah. Coffee shop." As they walk down the street towards it, he asks. "So... who's Jackie? A friend of yours?"

Bro blinks down in confusion at Chase, “What?! You don’t know him?? That’s… that’s so weird! Usually you guys are all… friends. Jackie, Schneep, Jj, Marvin and you!”

"Yeah, um... no, they don't sound familiar." Chase laughs a bit. "What kind of name is Schneep? That has to be a nickname or something, right?"

“…yeah it is- it’s part of his last name… you seriously don’t recognize the name, Henrik von Schneeplestein?” Bro asks, looking more and more concerned.

"Henrik? Oh, so he's like... German or something?" Chase laughs. "That explains the name. But no, I don't know him. Or any of those other names. But hey, maybe I'll meet them someday." 

Bro looks very very worried, but… last world some of them hadn’t met. Still… this feels off- 

They reach the coffee shop door and he pulls the door open. At that exact moment, with universal comedic timing, a man in a red hoodie runs at Chase from the inside and slams him with a hug. "It's you!" he shouts. "I knew I'd find you! I knew that's what they were trying to say! Oh my god, are you okay?! Oh you look terrible!" 

Bro jumps back as the hoodied man rushes at Chase. Then, he beams, looking relieved. 

"Uh--" Chase wiggles free of the hug. "S-sorry, I think--I think you have me mistaken for someone else." 

The man in the hoodie blinks. He gives a nervous laugh. "Uh...Chase, it's me! It's Jackie." Then he looks at Bro. "...wait. Huh?" He rubs his eyes. "Am I seeing double?"

“Oh hi! I’m… also Chase but not the one you know! Long story but uh-“ Bro glances between the two of them. “…maybe you’d like to join us for coffee…?”

"Yeah, of fucking course!" Jackie laughs, nodding. "I mean—it's been so fucking long since I've seen you, I was so worried." 

"Uh... sure." Chase looks really confused, but he walks over to the counter. "Let's order something." 

"Right!" Jackie nods. He glances over at Bro. "We'd better have a long talk after this." 

Bro nods to Jackie, “Course dude.” 

Then Jackie looks back to the counter. "Hi, can I get a regular latte for Jackie? That's, uh, my name." 

Chase laughs nervously. "Y-yeah, and uh... do you have Lyon's tea?" 

"We sure do," says the young woman behind the counter. "Great, give me a regular one of those."

Bro looks to the woman and smiles, “Just a black coffee for me… maybe two extra espresso shots? Think it’s gonna be a long night!” He laughs.

"Got it!" She nods. "And the names for both of you?" 

"Oh, uh... Chase," Chase says. "And uh..." He looks over at Bro, blinking in confusion. "Should we... our names are, uh..." 

“Bro is good for me,” Bro says with a smile.

"Alright!" The woman nods. "That'll be just a moment. You can sit down, but please note we will be closing in half an hour." 

Bro smiles sympathetically at the woman, “Thanks, we’ll try to be quick…”

Jackie laughs nervously. "Don't worry, this won't take too long." He looks over at Chase and Bro. "I've kinda been loitering here a while. Sam kept bothering me when I tried to leave." 

"Sam?" Chase repeats. 

Jackie blinks. "Oh come on! It's Sam! They're—" He glances around. "Let's sit down." 

There's a small sitting area in the coffee shop. Jackie starts walking over there, and after a moment, Chase joins him, still looking mildly confused.

Bro hurries after the others. His eyes widen and he blinks in surprise, “Oh! You have a Sam here too! Nice!” 

"You know Sam?" Jackie asks. "Well... you shouldn't be surprised by this, then." He leans down to the side and grabs a backpack that was leaning against the chair--clearly this is where he's been loitering. He unzips its main pocket and a green glow comes out. Peeking out is a baseball-sized floating green eye. 

"What the fuck?!" Chase shouts. 

The baristas behind the bar glance at him in confusion. 

"Sorry!" Chase calls to them.

Bro just grins wide and leans in close, “Hello new Sam! I’m Chase! Or Bro- whichever you’d like!”

Sam waves their nerve-tail at him. 

"Come on, you can't tell me you don't remember Sam, Chase!" Jackie whisper-shouts. "I mean—we were all so shocked when they appeared. We thought they were just the logo of Jack's channel!" His eyes widen. "You... you don't remember Jack either, do you?" 

Chase shakes his head. 

"H-he was your best friend," Jackie whispers. "A-and I'm your friend, too. Do you... remember any of us?"

Bro looks between the two of them with sad eyes, “….i think something happened to him…” he tells Jackie quietly. “He said… he says he was being chased by a… a weird glitchy thing. Anti… and he was just- broken down by the side of the road in his car when I found him not too long ago.”

"I knew it was Anti!" Jackie hisses. 

Chase raises his shoulders defensively. "Y-you know, too?" 

"Yes! I-I know... a lot... about him," Jackie says hesitantly. "I knew he was involved in this. Ever since the kids disappeared." 

Chase's expression softens. "The... kids?" 

"Your kids," Jackie says. "Bobby and—" 

"—Trevor," Chase finished. "I... I remember them, yeah. And their mom, Stacy. I... I know something happened to them. But I-I didn't do it." 

"Do what?" Jackie blinks. "Chase. They're fine. They're back in Mirygale." 

"...h-huh?" Chase looks very confused. "But—I—he said—a-and at IRIS—"

Bro’s eyes widen even more, then narrow in anger, “Right IRIS- those fuckers… maybe they’re behind this! Scrambling with his memories!”

"From everything I've found out about them, they'd be capable of that," Jackie mutters. "And... so would he."

 Bro grips his hands into fists, his eyes glowing slightly. 

At that moment, the barista calls out their names for their orders.

Bro  blinks and he sighs, getting up. “I’ll get the drinks.” He hurries over to the counter to pick back them up.

The barista smiles at him as he gets there. "Here you go," she says, handing them off. 

When Bro gets back to the others, Jackie is talking. "—and JJ and Marvin. It was the six of us—though, I mean, we only met JJ after Jack went into the coma, so those two don't know each other." 

"A coma?" Chase repeats, alarmed. 

"Yeah." Jackie nods. "That's a long story."

Bro sits back down and hands out the drinks- taking his own and taking a long drink before asking. “…how long has Chase been missing, Jackie?”

"Since last year," Jackie whispers. "Um... the end of May, 2018." 

Chase blinks. "Wh-what? I don't..." Shadows flicker in his eyes. He hides it by taking his tea and drinking it. "Um... if you're really me from another universe, Bro, you probably don't know what year it is here. It's July, almost August. 2019." 

"So more than a year, really," Jackie says. "We've all been... so fucking worried." He shakes his head. "I-I've been looking for you on my own for months." Then he processes what else Chase said. "Wait. Another universe?"

Bro blinks and then grins sheepishly, “Oh yeah I’m… I’m Chase Brody… so him- but from you know… another universe. One where uh- I’m a superhero.”

Jackie blinks, then grins. "No way! That's so fucking cool! What are your powers? Cause I have like—I've developed some special skills of my own with the help of Sam, but like—an actual superhero?! I'm just a vigilante with powers!" 

"When did you get powers?" Chase asks, surprised. 

Jackie looks at him, eyes wide. "So you know that they're new?" 

"I... uh..." Chase blinks. "That just... I-I don't know why I said that."

Bro blinks in between them. Then he beams, “Hey!! That’s good news!! That means something is still there!!” He then looks back at Jackie and smirks, “I uh… I can fly. That’s how I got Chase and me here actually. And I can like.. concentrate my energy to where I need it to give me super strength or speed or even like- shoot lightning from my finger!” He makes a finger gun gesture with a laugh. “What are your powers??”

Jackie giggles excitedly, flapping his hands. He glances back at the baristas and adjusts his position slightly, blocking their view of him with his back. "Watch this." He forms a fist and punches his open palm. As it hits, a ring of pale silvery-green light forms around his fist. "I got this energy stuff. I can like, shoot out beams of it, or keep it around my fists like this to make my hits stronger. I also figured out how to do the same thing with my kicks recently! And I can form a sort of full-body shield, but it doesn't last long, only a couple seconds, so I have to time it well." 

Bro’s eyes sparkle with excitement. He also stims a bit, “That’s so cool!!!” 

"It really is!" Chase nods. "Damn... I-is it magic? Is... magic real?" 

Jackie nods, the energy dissipating as he picks up his coffee cup. "Yeah. Marvin's a magician, he's really good at magic. JJ is also into witch stuff—and that's called magick, too, but it's spelled with a K at the end." 

"Wow." Chase leans back. "So I... forgot magic was a thing, then."

“Seems like it.” Bro shrugs, taking another sip. “My brother, Alt, is also a magician. He’s always telling me that his magic and my powers are the same but- I dunno… they feel different to me! Maybe if I ever like- could do magic I could see,” He laughs.

Jackie nods. "Marvin said the same thing when my powers showed up! He's like, 'it's basically just magic, isn't it?' and I was like, 'fuck no, I'm gonna be a superhero!'" He laughs, taking a sip of his latte. "Well, if you're from another world, what're you doing here?" 

"Oh yeah, I probably should've asked that earlier." Chase laughs. 

“Bro I wish I could tell you,” Bro sighs. “The thing is- me and my brother have been going from universe to universe for a couple days now… we’re trying to find all the pieces to our device that let us travel around more freely cuz it was broken. But like! Last world we found all the pieces! But the thing is… we’re also being chased down by an Anti… an Anti that wants to delete other worlds. He… he sent us here- and now… this world’s Anti might have Alt…” as he says this he squeezes his mug tight, fingers trembling a bit.

"Oh... fuck." Jackie whispers. 

"Right... you uh... did mention that," Chase says. "I-I guess the whole... flying thing... and other universe thing... kind of took a lot of my... thoughts." 

"That sounds real bad," Jackie says. "But, uh... I might be able to help you find Alt? I-if An—if he took him, then... he'll have him in his own little pocket dimension. Me and Sam... we might be able to find it? But, uh... that place has a bad effect on Sam." In the backpack, Sam flicks their nerve-tail in agreement.

Bro looks up in surprise and he looks at Jackie desperately, “R-Really? T-that’d be great! I… I dunno what this Anti would want with Alt but… if he managed to do this to Chase then…”

Chase looks down at his tea and takes another quiet sip. "Honestly, I... don't know if either of you guys are really here," he whispers. 

Jackie reaches over and grasps his shoulder. Chase looks down at it in surprise. "Well we are," he says fiercely. "And we're not going to let him fuck with your head any more. Chase, I... I'm staying at a motel nearby. You don't have to go with us to save Alt. I can take you there a-and you can stay in my room. Take a nap." He laughs. "You look like you need it." 

Chase nods slowly. "I always feed tired these days..."

Bro looks sympathetic and nods, “Yeah dude… we’re gonna help you… but you don’t need to come with me and Jackie. You should get some rest…”

"I'd like that," he says quietly. "Have a nice bed... that would be nice." 

Jackie's eyes well up with tears. "Y-yeah, I bet it will be. Let's... let's get you there, then. W-we can drink on the way."

“Yeah- yeah.” Bro gets up and tries to help Chase up. “Come on dude…”

Chase lets him help. Jackie gets to his feet and quickly zips up the backpack, putting it on his shoulder. "Come on, I'll show you guys the way. It's a short walk." 

Bro smiles and gently guides Chase after Jackie. 

[padfootastic]

reread + remus ask + oscar stan anon here! I had not even realised that ask got so long.. whoops! And this one is going to be equally long haha

I've honestly never really thought about all the implications that come with "hiding Remus is a werewolf at all cost" because you're right that the way it is handled in canon implies he wasn't even allowed to be there to begin with. I always thought there just weren't any rules against werewolves at Hogwarts (maybe people always thought of werewolves as adults and not as kids? i dunno) and that if he'd been found out there would have been rules made which would result in him getting kicked out before the year was even over. So more an implied rule than anything official with repercussions for Dumbledore (and Remus other than getting kicked out) if anyone found out.

It does pose some questions about Dumbledore and what he intended when he allowed Remus to go to Hogwarts though? Was this a trial case and did he decide it was too much of a hassle? Was it a one off thing from the beginning? Did Remus think it was a trial case and he somehow ruined it for any future werewolf children? Did Dumbledore tell Remus (at eleven!) that he should be very grateful for the opportunity and also very afraid of anything going wrong or did Remus/his parents figure this out alone? Why was Remus chosen and not a different werewolf child (I'm assuming werewolf children aren't extremely common but it's known that Greybeck(?) attacked kids right?)? Very intriguing!

Oscar and Sirius interacting is going to be The Best! Can't wait!! And another chapter with a lot of Sirius??? Christmas coming early fr. Also next chapter !!! More Sirius!!! I'm so excited!!! Sirius leaving cause he was to overwhelmed is such a mood ngl. Especially when it's because of unexpected help and change like me too dude me too. Also I forgot to mention him last ask but Kingsley >>>>>> Unbothered! Staying in his lane! Has a brain, knows how to use it and actually DOES use it! What an icon!

yoooo i love long asks so pls pls send me more haha

and ooh that actually makes a lot of sense. remus existing within the firm grey area of legislation and a headmaster taking advantage of loopholes, but the question is why? to what end? the answer would, of course, depend on what view one holds of dumbledore and his motivations, from bumbling, harmless grandpa on one end and absolute evil manipulative bastard on the other. equally likely that he wanted an innocent to receive education, but also that he was doing it as a social experiment, and even that he wanted to get a bright, young mind in his debt.

another tack, i recently read a fic where due to circumstances (like riots and pogroms), stringent werewolf legislation is introduced while the marauders are in school which requires every werewolf to declare, register, and essentially tag themselves. this means remus HAS to leave school but in addition, there are various other werewolf students who are also in hiding who’re forced to leave. that would honestly make the most sense if you don’t think dumbledore was manipulative as fuck; that the offer was given to multiple kids, but that they all kept it secret so it never came out. schrödinger’s werewolf, if u will. of course, it doesn’t make fit as neatly within canon bc if the shrieking shack was set up for remus and he was the only one using it, then it stands to reason he’s the only werewolf. so. we’re right back to where we started with the speculation haha

my personal assumption is that it was probably something like ‘a favor for a good friend’ type of a thing. dumbledore and lyall knew each other, maybe socially, maybe politically, and lyall could’ve requested him to help, and dumbledore did this. slightly nepotistic, but more believable than anything else bc that’s often what happens irl as well. this is also motivated by my impression of dumbledore as a soft core traditionalist or, at the very least, someone so comfortably entrenched in the status quo that he has no wishes to change it bc when have we ever seen it in canon? (again, not relevant to plot but even in his micro actions, this is what comes across to me) so it doesn’t seem likely that he lets remus in bc he’s championing werewolf rights or sumn ykno?

the whole pattern is simply reinforced by remus’ attitude and deference towards dumbledore as he ages. he’s indebted, to an almost unreasonable degree, and that makes me think that remus felt like dumbledore took a personal risk, at the cost of his reputation/positions etc etc, to let remus in, which is why he carries such a large burden of responsibility on his shoulders. not something he’d feel if it was an impersonal offer, ykno? so i’d very easily believe that he (and possibly lyall/hope) made remus believe, at eleven, that he should be very grateful for this opportunity and the kid just internalised it for life.

anyway, sorry for my rant in return haha clearly we’re both heavily invested in this 🙈🙈 i’d love to know what u think!

regarding FoD, yes!! i’m trying to get the tone right for oscar and sirius but this is a bit of dialogue i wrote just today and it seems to be on the right path 🙈

“I don’t deserve that, Mr. Armitage, not his love nor the work he’s put in,” Sirius replied tiredly.

I think that’s a bit unfair, Mr. Black,” was the chiding reply and it took him a while to cut through the melancholy and realise that Oscar was being entirely serious in his censure of him. He looked at him, nonplussed.

“And if I may, if there’s anything I’ve learnt in all these decades, it’s that love isn’t deserved. It merely is, and all we can do, every single day, is honor it. Try and be someone worthy of it. Can you honestly tell me you think you’ve deserved the love you’ve received in the past?”

Warm hazel eyes, filled with love and protectiveness and strength, flashed in his mind. ‘You’ll always have me, Si’. (Lies, lies, lies, he left, didn’t he, damned lies)

The warmth of a Potter Christmas, Effie and Flea’s love displayed in abundance, not a second where he felt alone.

Another set of emerald green, equally protective, equally loving, twice as understanding.

The answer was crystal clear in Sirius’ mind. No, never. He didn’t even have to voice it for Oscar to continue.

“But did that ever stop you from accepting it as the gift it was? From loving them in return?”

And just like that, Sirius understood what the man was trying to tell him. It was eerily similar to what James had tried for years, if done much more sneakily.

and sirius leaving just <3 very plot-necessary but also because mans just. cannot. he needs answers that he knows sirius won’t be able to (or even want to) give with the rest of the order present and also, everyone’s already on edge and sirius chiming in won’t help. at all. it would derail the entire thing. he can have his breakdown in peace and wait patiently for harry to come and explain. simple. easy peasy (spoiler: it wasn’t lol)

and haha yesss kingsley is shaping up to be an unexpected favorite truly. he’s the calm and peace we all need in life. harry certainly appreciates it.

[natusvincere]

Lois Lane Reporting Live|| Felix and Vic

Timing: About a week ago Location: The Grit Pit Partings: @recoveringdreamer and @natusvincere Summary: Vic has somehow come up with the idea that the Grit Pit is operating as a secret underground ring to harm vampires, Felix becomes the unfortunate victim of her investigation. Warnings: N/A

Felix had been… employed by the Grit Pit for some time now. They’d fallen into the routine of it, even if they wanted, more than anything, to get out. They knew the people who were there regularly, from the frequent spectators with their loud voices and angry words to the upper management and their cruel games. More than anything, though, Felix was familiar with the other fighters. They’d faced most of them in the Pit at one point or another, and the ones they hadn’t fought, they’d seen in the locker room often enough to recognize them on sight. Most of them didn’t bother with small talk or getting to know one another — it made things a lot easier if you weren’t friendly with the people who you might be asked to brutally beat at any given moment — but Felix recognized them all pretty well. Even newer fighters were typically paraded around by someone proud of having trapped someone new, even if the fighter in question was still unaware of how binding their contract was. 

So it was a little weird that Felix didn’t recognize the woman standing in the locker room tonight. 

She wore thick-rimmed glasses, though Felix wasn’t sure if there was actually a lens in them. She held a notebook and was dressed in a smart suit. She looked like a cartoon of a stereotypical journalist, and it put them on edge just a little. Strangers in the locker room were never great, but strangers who looked like they might start asking questions were worse. Ducking their head, Felix did their best to slide by the stranger without attracting any attention.

Victoria was not a stranger to violence.  In her over three centuries on the Earth, she had seen more than her fair share of it, even before she was undead.  Her own death and turning (and subsequent years after as a baby vampire) were full of particularly violent memories as well, despite how much she wished to forget them.  But violence, and all that came with it, were never something she enjoyed.  She couldn’t understand why people would come to a place like the Grit Pit, where fighters were paid to be screamed at and beat the shit out of one another.  It seemed extremely barbaric and inhumane.  Over time, she had convinced herself that there had to be something more going on there.  Somehow, she now believed that it must have been a front for something even more nefarious than just overt violence- was this part of a larger trick to destroy vampires?  One that she had missed back when she was on the wrong side of morality when it came to the beasts?

She wasn’t sure.  If she were more of an objective person, she might have been able to step back and see that this sort of conclusion was not a logical one to jump to.  But her determination to be a better person had been having its way of superseding logic altogether lately, which is how she had ended up at the Grit Pit with a fake journalist pass and a mission to out them for their ways altogether.

“Hey you!”, she called to the person seemingly avoiding her eye contact.  She had watched them hesitate in their fight multiple times mere moments before- maybe they were just the person she needed to get to the bottom of whatever was going on here. She tried her best to hide any hint of Sweden in her accent, which still seemed to peak through despite speaking English for hundreds of years. Her attempt at a ‘journalist’ accent was somewhere between Brooklyn and Australian. “I’m workin’ on a beat for Wicked’s Rest Times.”  Did the town even have a working newspaper?  “About thriving local businesses.  Why don’t you sit down and tell me about how you came to work for this fine establishment?”

They’d never been particularly lucky. Their entire life seemed to be a reflection of that very simple fact, shining through so brightly that it was blinding. From their mother’s death to their father’s overwhelming grief to Leo’s manipulation to the Grit Pit, Felix’s life seemed to be a snowball of bad luck rolling down a hill, growing larger and larger with each inch of ground it gained. So of course they couldn’t avoid the attention of the stranger in the locker room. Of course she’d call out to them specifically in an accent that was… strange and hard to pin down. They shouldn’t have been surprised about it in the slightest.

They tried to pretend not to hear her, tried to hurry the process of shoving their things into their duffel, but the luck that had never been on their side before didn’t seem keen on running to meet them now. They dropped a sock on the ground, leaned down to pick it up only to knock their duffel over and spill the contents on the floor of the locker room, effectively trapping them for the amount of time it would take to clean it all up. That gave the woman — the journalist, because of course she was a journalist — plenty of time to approach them. Felix tried to suppress a groan.

What was she asking about? Thriving local businesses? Was that what the Grit Pit was? The reminder of their contract’s nondisclosure clause churned in their gut, and they shook their head quickly. “Um, no, sorry, I don’t — I mean, I don’t have a lot of time. I have, uh, somewhere else to be right after this, and I’m not very good at talking to people anyway, so you probably don’t want to interview me. Um, there’s a guy over that way who might be able to answer your questions, I bet.” They gestured vaguely to where Wyatt had disappeared, feeling a little guilty for throwing him under the bus but knowing he’d be better at getting rid of the journalist, anyway.

—

This person must have been nervous.  Clothes were tumbling from their bag before they even had a chance to muster a response, and Vic glanced down at them before she stepped closer to her interviewee.  There was a small part of her that felt bad that they were nervous, but a bigger part that reveled in it.  Nerves put people on edge, and Vic knew from experience that people on edge were more prone to spilling their guts.  In the least literal way, of course. Even if the information they gave her was miniscule, Vic was hopeful whatever she got out of them would leave her closer to rescuing vampires from whatever was going on at the Grit Pit.  Ignoring their protests and their gesture to someone unknown behind her, she held out her hand for them to shake. 

“The name’s Missy Spitz.”  Believe it or not, Vic had come up with that alias hours before.  No one would trace anything back to her if this person came up with any good juice.  “You know, an employer isn’t allowed to keep you from talking to the press, nor are they able to retaliate for information released.”  She wondered if her lies would cost this person their job.  Perhaps they’d find something upstanding and nonviolent instead.  Maybe this would work out well for everyone.  

“This won’t take too long.  I just need to know a bit more about your employer and I’ll be on my merry way.”  As if to show how unthreatening she was, Vic leaned down, picking up one of the fallen shirts and helping to fold it.  It was stinky and sweaty, and although she folded it neatly, she pinched two fingers together to hand it over.  “Now, how long have you been working for the Grit Pit?”

—

Her hand was directly in front of him, and Felix was a little too polite not to reach out and shake it, even if they had no real desire to continue the conversation. They glanced back towards where Wyatt had disappeared to, but he’d already exited the locker room and seemed to have no plans of returning. Felix did another quick sweep, hoping to find some familiar face to rescue them, but it was no use. It wasn’t a full moon, which meant Samir wasn’t around, and most of the other fighters didn’t talk to him. Even if they did, it seemed everyone else had already dispersed. No one seemed keen on hanging around the locker room too long when the night was over, especially not when some stranger was there asking questions. Felix was on their own here.

“That’s not your name,” they blurted, then immediately regretted the outburst. “Sorry. I mean, maybe — maybe that is your name. But it doesn’t really sound like a real name. I don’t know anyone named Missy Splitz. I don’t even think Splitz is a name. Missy is a name, maybe, but it’s more of a nickname. Isn’t it? Is, um, is your name something else, and people just call you Missy? Or did you choose the name Missy? It’s not a bad name. I think it’s fine. I just don’t think — I’m not — Um.” 

Maybe this would work in their favor. If Felix couldn’t convince the reporter to leave by asking, maybe they could make conversation so incredibly awkward that she’d choose to go away just to get out of it. It didn’t seem like the kind of thing that would happen quickly, however. She began making claims that an employer couldn’t make you not talk to the press, and Felix let out an awkward, uncomfortable laugh. An employer, he wanted to say, could make you do a lot of things when that employer was something like the Grit Pit. But just thinking the words made their tongue burn, either because of the contract or because of some mental block their mind had created to protect them from it. 

Still stuffing their clothes into their bag, Felix avoided eye contact. “I really, um, I’m sorry, but I don’t — I don’t really have a lot of time to talk. I have to go home to feed my cat. She has to eat at the same time every night, or else she gets mad. And I don’t — I don’t want her to be mad at me, so I’ve gotta… I really can’t stay. Sorry, uh, Miss Splitz. Missy Splitz. Are you sure that’s your name?”

—

Vic put her hand on her chest, feigning shock and offense at the person’s declaration.  “Excuse me?”, she said, accusatory and flushed.  “It’s Missy Spitz.  Not Missy Splitz.  And I sincerely hope you didn’t just insult my reputable mother and my extremely loving and attentive father, who are both alive and well, by insulting the name they gave me when they laid their eyes upon my small, newborn face.”  She worried, for a moment, that she was taking this character too seriously, but that moment was brief.  “Missy. Spitz.”, she said, interrupting them with finality.  “No nicknames, no jokes, just a given name.  It’s generational, actually. Passed down… from my mother’s side.  I’m the 17th Missy Spitz in my family.”

She didn’t need their eye contact to win them over, all she needed was for them to give her the information before someone more important caught her back here.  She adjusted her fake press pass she had made, hoping he realized she meant business.  “Your cat can wait.  It’s important for children and animals to experience age-appropriate uncomfortable emotions, so that they’re better equipped to process them.  It helps with a trusted adult guiding the way, of course, but your cat can wait.  The skinny on the hooey?  It needs to be spilled now.”  Years ago, she read a book about a journalist who used that term.  Thank goodness for her extensive research.  

Again, this person was insulting Vic’s pretend name.  She was starting to get for-real offended, instead of just in-character.  “You cannot seriously be throwing around such raucous accusations when you yourself have yet to even tell me your name.  How am I meant to write a proper report without your name?  Go on, fighting-person.  Tell me your name, so I can mock you as well.”

—

“Oh! I, um, sorry! I thought — I thought you said Splitz.” Felix turned bright red, hands trembling a little as they continued stuffing things into their duffel with a desperate speed. This, of course, caused its own issues; the trembling made it hard to get things into the bag properly, and more items were dropped and picked up and dropped again. “I’m not — I wasn’t, uh, insulting anyone. Especially not your parents! I was just, um, you know, it’s not — I haven’t heard that name before. I just — I was curious if you chose it yourself or not. I know, you know, a few people who have chosen their own names, and I think it’s cool. I don’t think I’d be able to choose my own name. I’d get overwhelmed, because there’s so many names out there. Like, where do you start? Right? But it’s cool, uh, that your parents named you Missy when — when you were a baby. And it’s cool that it’s a family name! Do you, um, did your dad… take your mom’s last name, then? If it’s from your mom’s side? I think that’s cool, too. I think it’s weird how people expect a woman to take her husband’s last name, but not the other way around. Right?” 

They were hoping the cat excuse would get them out of this, but Felix had never been particularly lucky. The journalist — Missy Spitz, not Missy Splitz — was adamant, and Felix was bad at saying no even when they couldn’t say yes. Their eyes darted to the door of the locker room, though they weren’t sure if they were hoping for another fighter to come in and take Missy’s attention or a higher up from the Pit to come yell at her to go. Both options seemed cruel in one way or another. Missy earning a spot on the Grit Pit’s radar was a bad thing, and wishing for another fighter to be put in an uncomfortable position like the one Felix was in now seemed mean spirited. But Felix wasn’t equipped to handle this, and they knew it. “I don’t — I don’t have any… skinny on the hooey. Honest. I just, um, I’m just trying to go home.”

Wincing as she claimed they were insulting her again — they really hadn’t meant to! — Felix kept their gaze trained on the duffel that they’d more or less given up on packing. Their hands were shaking so much now that the bag’s zipper was banging absently against the bench every so often, the hollow thunk seeming to echo through the empty locker room. “I don’t — I don’t really think you should write a report. There’s a lot of cooler things to report on! Have you seen the leg? You should write a report on the leg!”

—

It was almost comical how the clothing kept falling in the bag as the Wildcat was trying to load it up.  If Vic really worked for the newspaper, she might have drawn a silly comic of the sight  Missy Spitz was a professional, though, so she had to find a way to stifle her amusement.  “I’ve never heard anyone call their child ‘Wildcat’ either, but you don’t see me questioning you, now do you?”  She kind of liked this strange, anxious groveling the fighter was doing, and she smirked with a weird sense of power as they continued to fawn.  Yes, she was important.  Yes, this person should be worried about how they made her feel.  Is this how CEOs felt?  Maybe once Rosie was grown up, Vic would try her hand at being a CEO.  She would only hire grovelers of course, and people who didn’t like pineapple on pizza.

Wildcat’s question threw her off, and actually made her drop her smug, satisfied look.  She hadn’t thought of that little detail when she made up the lie about 7 generations.  “Oh, of course!  My very loving, feminist father didn’t dare dream of asking his wife to take his name.  He even made our beds every morning.  I had a lovely childhood.”  Vic was starting to feel sort of jealous of Missy Spitz and this fantastical life she led.  “It’s unequivocally weird.  Society is not as forward thinking as it assumes it is.”

“The leg is not a thriving small business.  What good would that do my reputable article?”, Vic accused, now feeling annoyed.  Wildcat wasn’t giving answers, and their eyes were shifting anywhere but Vic’s, seemingly looking for an out, so she knew it was time to pull out the big guns.  Like the paparazzi did in hollywood.  No more asking if she could ask questions, she just needed to ask them loudly until she got an answer.  “Do you have any comments on the rumor that the Grit Prit is just a front for more nefarious ongoings, including the planned harm and destruction of specific groups of people that occupy this town?”, she asked, holding an invisible microphone near his face. It felt more official, somehow.

—

“Well, that’s a nickname! It’s not on my driver’s license. Which — Which is a valid driver’s license, by the way. It doesn’t expire for another year.” They weren’t sure why that felt important to add. In all honesty, Felix was floundering. They felt like they were in trouble, and they didn’t want to be. “Um, is Missy a nickname? Is it short for — Missandra?” They wanted the conversation to stay away from the reason she’d come here, even if that was probably impossible. Felix wasn’t enough of a wordsmith to properly distract someone from their intended conversation. Felix was barely enough of a wordsmith to carry on any conversation at all. 

At least Missy Spitz, like most people, didn’t mind talking about herself. That was a nice way to distract people, sometimes. Felix liked to think it made them happy, too. People liked sharing little facts about themselves, like the fact that their families had nice fathers who took their mothers’ surnames and made the bed without asking. Felix tried to swallow the envious feeling at the idea of Missy Spitz’s father, who had probably never sent them into the woods with a shovel and a corpse and refused to let them back in the house until the grave was filled in entirely. “That’s cool. Your dad sounds really cool. What, uh, what’s his name?” 

The conversation was spiraling, getting away from Felix in a way they didn’t know how to control. The leg wasn’t what Missy Spitz wanted to talk about. Missy Spitz’s forward-thinking, feminist family wasn’t what Missy Spitz wanted to talk about. Felix’s inability to get their sock to stay in their duffel wasn’t what Missy Spitz wanted to talk about. Missy Spitz wanted to talk about the Grit Pit, and Felix didn’t. Their heart picked up its pace as she asked a particularly hard-hitting question, their stomach churning. They felt sick, felt uneasy, and they didn’t know how much of that was the contract and how much of that was them. These days, that was something that happened a little too often. “I think I left my stove on! I really need to go turn off my stove. I’m sorry I thought your name was Missy Splitz!”

—

Oh.  That made way more sense.  Of course they would use nicknames in a seedy place like this.  Vic should have known.  This just pointed to more nefarious activities at the Grit Pit.  She wrote the word ‘fraud’ with a sad face in her little notebook, the first note she had jotted down since she’d arrived.  “So what’s your real name, then?  Does it worry you to utter your real name in earshot of your controlling boss, or is that anxiety I’m picking up on about something else?”  She paused, though not because she realized the irony that she was faking her own name, just like the wildcat, but to come up with a believable answer to his question.  “It’s short for Misandry, actually”, she deadpanned.  She wanted to smirk so bad, because that was funny, but instead, she just stared at them.

The mention of her father took all the joy out of her mind.  Although, she supposed Wildcat wasn’t asking about her father, they were asking about Missy’s.  Misdandry’s.  “His name?  His name is Franklin Delano Spitz.  Although most people lovingly refer to him as D-man.  He’s very jolly too, you see?  I’m sure he’d disapprove of whatever is going on here too, but I wouldn’t want to worry a sweet, old man with the likes of this.”

Journalists lied all the time, right?  Vic wondered how far of a lie she could tell without the whole situation becoming a bit ethically gray.  Was it wrong to let this person think that wonderful fathers like Franklin Delano Spitz existed in this cruel world?  Wildcat seemed to be going through a sort of moral crisis on their own, too, and Vic was beginning to wonder if she was pushing this too far.  Sure, she hadn’t gotten too much information about the Grit Pit yet, but the confirmation that something else was going on was the definite first step she needed to pursue this further.  “Well that was irresponsible of you.  Don’t you have a neighbor you can call to check it before you get there?”  Even with her harsh words, Vic finally allowed some distance between herself and the fighter, closing her one note notebook in the process.  “Listen.  I’d hate for you to start a fire just because you stuck around for an interview.  I think I have all I need.  Unless… there’s anything else you think might be valuable?”

—

They debated whether or not it was wise to give a journalist their real name, conflict rising in a way they hated. It wasn’t fair not to, was it? Missy Spitz had given Felix her real name, complete with its origin and a brief family history. Wouldn’t it be cruel to deny her the bare minimum in response. “Um, I’m — My name is Felix,” Felix said, stomach churning with doubt the moment the name was out. Did she have a point? Should they be worried about saying their name to a reporter where their bosses might hear? Felix had heard rumors that fae could take someone’s name — what if that was the punishment for this? Their eyes darted towards the door that led to the offices, their palms sweaty. They needed to get out of her before they really messed up. “Oh, Misandry is a beautiful name,” they muttered, afraid to comment anything else.

“D-Man. That’s cool. I like it when people have nicknames.” They felt another wave of guilt at the idea that they were doing something to upset Missy’s father, though they didn’t know the man at all. Disappointing fathers was something Felix had some experience in, but they didn’t think it was the sort of thing made easier by experience. “Oh, I don’t think he should be worried. Everything’s fine!” It wasn’t. Nothing was fine. Felix felt like they might be sick.

They shook their head quickly, deciding to cling to their flimsy excuse of a stove being left on. “No, I — I don’t have any neighbors. I, um, I’m a — a hermit. I live, uh, out in the woods.” Well, not anymore, though they wouldn’t say that to Missy. They needed to remove themself from this conversation before it became too late to do so. “I’m — I’m pretty irresponsible. I’m working on it, I’m trying to be better.” That wasn’t a lie. Felix knew they needed to improve on… more than one aspect of their life. But they wanted to be better. They really did. “No,” they muttered, looking down at their bag again. “I’m — I don’t have anything valuable. I’m sorry.”

—

“Felix”, said Vic, nodding in absolution.  Felix the Wildcat.  It was as solid of a name as any. She pretended to write it down in her notebook, although their name was never what she was after, just the information they could have provided.  She hoped they wouldn’t be too disappointed when they never ended up featured in a newspaper article.  Maybe she could write a fake one and send it to them, just in case.  “Thank you”, she said.  “My ancestors 17 generations ago thought the same thing.”  She wondered what kind of life Rosie might have if she went around with a first name like Misandry.  Either really horrible, or absolutely fantastic, probably.

“Oh, so does he.  He loves anything fun, and indulged in my hobbies as a child.”  Maybe she should write a children’s book about this fictional Misandry and her wonderful parents.  Her life seemed fascinating.  Poor Felix still looked like they were going to pass out, though, so she decided to stop fantasizing and pay more attention to the task at hand.  She knew all the first aid she needed to for a 3-year-old, but she wasn’t sure she’d be able to revive an adult.  Maybe all that fighting was getting to their head after all.

“Go”, she said, shooing them away with one hand and using the other to put her notebook in her pocket. “Before you make your hermit village into a forest fire and cause another travesty in this wild town.”  She reached down to grab a last discarded shirt, placing it in their hand before they had a chance to leave.  “And Felix?  Don’t you worry.  With a little hard work, we can all overcome irresponsibility and solitude.”  Vic was proof of that, if only Felix knew the real her.  “Don’t worry.  Your secrets are safe with me.”  With that, she tipped her makeshift journalist hat, smirking as she watched Felix scurry away.  Maybe she didn’t get a ton of information about the Grit Pit like’d wanted, but she knew Missy Spitz work as a journalist was far, far from over.

[ienianstories]

Toxic Yuri - March 28th

You storm up the stairs, annoyance rising in sync with each skipped step. Fifteenth floor, apartment three. 15/03. Third building from the corner of Fifteenth Street and Daffodil lane. Infuriatingly specific, as always. You slam the stairway door open, fury carrying your feet faster and faster down the carpeted hallway to apartment three despite the protestations of your lungs. As you round the last corner you can already see the door hanging slightly ajar. Typical. You burst in, sweeping whatever of your gaze that isn’t seeing red across the open concept floor plan.

There she is. Sat straddling the window sill, only one leg and one arm still inside, like she’s been waiting for you. Her red hair flows in the wind whipping by, a few strands crossing her face that’s contorted into a malicious, mischievous smirk. Over one shoulder you can see a large, black fabric sack. A cliche, honestly. That’s part of what’s so infuriating about her. It’s all an act to piss you off. You take a step towards her, and she lets herself slip a little further out the window. It’s all an act, but you still freeze in a panic, watching her pantomime almost falling to her death. She giggles at you, making mocking scared faces and shaking her head.

You stamp your foot in a small slip of a tantrum. “You know there’s no reason for any of this, right? Everything you have in that bag you can get for free! At literally any mall in Ienia!”

She leans back into nothingness, laughing easily even as your stomach drops. “Ah, but things are always just a little bit better when someone doesn’t want you to have it.”

“So, you’re just here to cause misery? You followed me to another country just to.. to take things away from people? To get off on others suffering?”

Her sparkling green eyes turn to you, laser focused in a way that makes your organs squirm. “No. You haven’t been paying attention, have you? I put in all this effort and you still don’t hear me.”

You throw your arms around in frustration. “Then what? What have I missed? I know you’ve been using important dates to plan these stupid little burglaries. Presents you gave me. Your clever little code isn’t so clever, you know.”

“Then why haven’t you beaten me to a single one of these?”

You stand there, mouth agape. You close it, open it to speak, close it again, then walk in a baffled little circle. “What?” That’s not the best you can do. You reformulate. “Just because I know the pattern doesn’t mean I can read your infuriating mind! How could I?”

She laughs again, leaning far back out into the empty air outside the window. This time the laugh is a little sad, her eyes soft. “I give you plenty of time. Maybe I’m the only one actually committed to this relationship.”

“YES! That’s why we BROKE UP!” The fury flows out of your heart. “I wanted a fresh start! I wanted out of our shitty hometown, I wanted out of our life, I wanted to be someone different! That’s pretty much the definition of not being committed to a relationship!”

“This is new, isn’t it?”

You stop, stunned again. “New?” You reprocess. “NEW? Yeah, yeah I guess spending my free time chasing down my ex to try and prevent her from committing pointless petty burglary is a new life. I guess having to be the one who can follow your pattern is a new life.”

She sighs and shakes her head. “You really don’t appreciate everything I do for you. Maybe this isn’t going to work out.” She swing back further, only a hand and a calf holding her to solid ground.

You lurch forward in a panic, desperate to not see your ex splatter on the ground fifteen stories down. “No, no. Please. Don’t do that. Just tell me what you want, okay? What am I missing?”

She laughs again, sad again. “You should have been asking that months ago. Now the questions have changed. Sorry, Sheila, you’re too late to fix that.” Then she slides out the window.

You scream and lunge across the room, hopping a couch and sticking your head out the window. You don’t see anything. The adrenaline and cortisol flooding your brain stop dead in their tracks when you see her standing on the wall outside the window. She’s grimacing, bracing herself against the force spell streaming out of one arm that’s holding her against the wall.

Despite the effort she’s throwing into the spell, she still speaks evenly. “Aww, so you do still care, maybe there’s hope for us yet.”

Your long black hair is blown over your eyes, obscuring your vision for just a second. When you pull it back, she’s gone. You collapse against the window sill she just occupied for a moment, then scream. You’re going to be ruminating on this one.

[scholarhect]

one fun story i have that i didn’t tell at the time for privacy reasons is how i lived like half a block from whitechapel gallery & on one sunday (i had one week left at my job & then i was flying out of london wednesday) i was having a weirdish day but i knew i wanted to see whatever was there before i left so i walked in an hour & a half before they closed. i didn’t know what the exhibition was, i just knew the one i’d seen when i went over the summer ended in october & there would be a new one. last time i’d gone the main doors to the start of the exhibition had been wide open but this time they were closed & there was a table in front of it with a woman sitting at it with a laptop. i wasn’t at all in the mood to talk to anybody and i wasn’t sure what the vibe was there so i hovered around the books they sell in the front for a bit & then went straight for the doors, like you do when you walk past somebody who might want to talk to you. i figured i’d stop if anybody told me to stop, but nobody did. so i got inside and there was a big tall wall with lots of medium-sized works that were mostly pencil on paper or had very limited color palettes, like just black & white & red, what i mean is low contrast, so basically it was hard to make out details at a distance, so i take a look & try to parse what i’m looking at & i realize i’m seeing a lot of naked women. lots of sex and orgies and women cutting men’s dicks off. turns out the exhibition theme is straight up just the works of one person, it’s all nicole eisenman who is a badass & funny butch(?) lesbian. it’s organized sort of chronologically but also by theme, the first book is all drawings & paintings with a certain sense of humor and it’s mostly about identity and lesbians and stuff. then past that it’s a lot of big paintings with people in places, then some really touching sort of slice of life/romantic ish paintings, then some cool sculptures (like, big heads, with water running through them & shit), then most recently these huge wall-sized political paintings. about trump & stuff. obviously i can’t sum up the whole thing, whatever. i spent like over an hour in there. then i get to the end of that series of rooms & to the area with some chairs & a little exhibition from students in the area it’s cool whatever then i go to leave the area & when i close the door behind me there’s a sign on it that’s like “DO NOT ENTER this is a paid exhibition & you have to enter through the front.” oops. past that there was a little room with this cool huge moving sculpture and another big painting, as like a free section of the exhibition. then i walked out. nobody stopped me. i didn’t actually realize it was supposed to be paid, like sure i guess based on context clues i should’ve realized, but like seriously it didn’t cost money over the summer so i didn’t know ! but either way the gallery was about to close so i just walked out. then i didn’t want to go home because it was like 6 so i walked down brick lane (i miss brick lane…) & got some food but i wasn’t huge on it… i also listened to chappell roan. that was my evening. i love this story i feel like walking into that room and getting slapped in the face with funny sexy sarcastic LESBIANISM is exactly what i deserved that day. also i think i deserved to see it for free. the universe said i deserved it. i still don’t know how much they were charging for it. in conclusion i didn’t take any pictures but that night i went & found one of the paintings i’d seen online. here’s the picture of it i found exactly where it was hung at the gallery

crazy. but i have to say the picture doesn’t do it justice, this thing was huge, you could walk up close to it and read the names on the file folders. you really just have to see it. it’s kind of weird to know i could go back but this wouldn’t be there, and i just probably will never see it again. which isn’t something i think about when i go to art places & see art. but i liked this one

[siriuslysatorusimping]

Ok, so SOOO much to unpack here, brace yourself. I posted prior on as anonymous 🫥 to get some quick info out, but now I’m really hankering in to unpack.

Ok, so I get it, Gojo definitely has valid reasons to suspect Rinko, but also…

I agree with anonymous (ง'̀-'́)ง, I was ready to fight Gojo (and everyone else who’s an ass to Rinko). Congrats, you have turned a group of Gojo simps to an army of Rinko protectors 🛡️

Anywho, back on point here. Gojo suspecting Rinko was valid because literally everything pointed to her, and while they do communicate to each other often, Rinko has proven to not always share everything because of either Clan shit, or I suspect to keep the barrier of friends with benefits with Gojo.

That said, like, Gojo literally out here claiming she’s his “You’re mine”, like it’s nothing. It’s definitely something, and I get Rinko not addressing in the moment, but she has to question it (Right? 👀)

Also, thank you for representing her feels so eloquently 🥹 as someone who’s recently discovered I have PTSD and panic attacks, and trying to recover from, you handled her own feelings so well! Sometimes reading those experiences can make it hard for myself, but I was able to get through it. So thanks 😊

Well hello! I will also address your anon message in this, so everything is below the cut!! 😊😊

If you're new and HAVEN'T already, you can read Another Level on AO3 :)

I'm pasting your Anon message:

I’m so very impressed with the recent writing of Rinko and Gojo’s life. The way you handled Rinko’s breakdown was true to form of the panic instilling, the body dissociating - all scarily accurate. Literally was screaming at Gojo the entire time to help her breathe by breathing. From my own experience with panic attacks, having a loved one help you through it works wonders (even if you may not want it, you need it). Rinko’s story has found a special place in my heart, and you do her justice in expressing it in your writing. Truly impressed

OKAY.

I will first address the panic attacks and how accurately they are written:

I have had panic attacks for as long as I can remember. I have also had PTSD from past relationships. I recently discovered that I am also autistic 🙃 and 'autistic meltdowns' are often mistaken for panic attacks in undiagnosed people. So, there's that.

I have written about my mental health for a long, long time. Many years. If you'd like, I can share those, but I don't want to make you feel pressured to read them! (also don't want to out myself for how much of myself I've accidentally written into Rinko 👀)

AN ARMY OF RINKO PROTECTORS YES.

I can tell you who will be LEADING that army:

Don't you HURT HIS ADOPTIVE MOM COUSIN.

Gojo staking his claim and what Rinko thinks:

I'm gonna be real with you. Rinko thought almost nothing of him saying that for two reasons: 1) He was drunk. 2) She straight up thinks he is the dumbest man alive.

Rinko genuinely thinks that Gojo is just stupid and doesn't realize that things he says and does send messages of more than being friends.

Why, you ask? Let's take a lil trip down memory lane:

We'll start with this bit from Let Me Know You:

“Friends don’t typically do this,” she said quietly, a small laugh escaping when he pouted. “Unless you’re going to tell me this is how all of your friendships are? Because that’d be very interesting.” That made him laugh, his eyes crinkling at the corners, hand moving to the back of her neck to pull her lips to meet his again. Pressing his tongue into her mouth, his other hand went to her shirt again. “I’ll admit this might not be a conventional friendship,” he murmured, unbuttoning the few buttons she’d managed to fasten earlier. “But that’s what makes it fun. We can have sleepovers-”

Then, I Say "Sayonara":

But she couldn’t, she wouldn’t, tell her mother about her ‘unconventional’ friendship with Gojo Satoru. Not the typical friendship, he would always say as he grinned, pressing a gentle kiss to her temple or forehead. Such a contrast to how he would spend the next few hours taking her apart in every way he could.

AND THEN, FINALLY, New Memories:

“You know,” she said, reluctantly allowing him to pull her along with him again. “That isn’t exactly how friends-” “Not a typical friendship, baby,” he cut her off. “Now,” he paused, grabbing her by the waist and warping them to her apartment. “Get changed.”

I'm going to write an Author Discussion once we've gotten through (Please) Prove Me Wrong, so that will break down quite a bit and hopefully answer some of your other questions!! 😊😊

Full disclosure: Gojo's POV was never meant to be as big of a deal as it's become, and I am struggling to write it rn 🙃🙃🙃

Thank you for reading and sending these TWO amazing asks 🥹💕